Shown L to R: Ms. Bessie Smith, Mr. Arthur Bowens, Jr., Ms. Willie E. Davis
Post Mistress Ms. Willie E. Davis was honored at a Retirement Reception on Sunday, April 16, 2023 at the Robert Young Community Center in Eutaw, AL.Mrs. Bessie Smith, Eutaw postal employee who organized the special event, was Mistress of Ceremony. Ms. Willie E. Davis served 38 years in the United States Postal Service, beginning her career in Eutaw, in 1984, as a city carrier and completing it as Eutaw Post Mistress, March 31, 2023.
Ms. Davis was escorted at the event by her son Jerome Davis who presented a poem in tribute to his mother.Mr. Lorenzo French gave a tribute representing Mayor Latasha Johnson and the City of Eutaw as will as representing the Tishabee Community where he, Ms. Davis and her family call home. Elder Spiver Gordon presented a special community service certificate to Ms. Davis, commending her for, not just her exemplary postal service work, but for her continuous community service, especially to the less fortunate. Dr. Carol P. Zippert extended special appreciation to Ms. Davis for her caring service to the community, her patience, understanding and helpfulness.
Mr. Arthur Bowens, Jr., MPOO Area T, (U.S. Postal Service Supervisor), lifted special tributes to Ms. Davis, not only for her dedicated service in the postal system, but for her service in providing on-the-job training, monitoring and supervision of other employees in the postal system.Mr. Bowens also announced that Mrs. Bessie Smith has been selected as the new Post Mistress for the Eutaw Post Office and will be sworn in this month. Following other tributes to Ms. Davis, refreshments and fellowship were shared by all attendees.
Vice President Harris meets with three Tennessee legislators Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson
By Barrington M. Salmon
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Students of American history would not be surprised by the action engineered last week by Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton to expel two Black state representatives from the legislature after they protested the body’s lack of action on gun reform, said social justice activist, author Jacquie L’uqman’. What we’re seeing play out, L’uqman’ said, is the modern-day version of the period of conciliation in 1877 in the US South following Reconstruction. Under cover of the protection of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, African Americans enjoyed a relatively short period of being able to vote, participate in the political process, buy land, find jobs and use public accommodations. In response, the Democratic Party, the Ku Klux Klan and other malign forces eroded Black people’s hard-earned gains by changing state constitutions, systematically removing Black voters from voter rolls, and implementing barriers to voting including poll taxes, literacy tests and residency requirements. They also unleashed racial violence, lynching and murder, all with the intent of maintaining pre-Civil War social order in the South. “This is all a part of the White supremacist nature of this political system,” said L’uqman’, who describes herself as a Pan-Africanist, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist revolutionary. “During reconciliation, no one was ever held accountable. Tennessee legislators are the ideological heirs of those who carried out conciliation in the South. If we knew our history, this wouldn’t surprise us.” Republicans in the Tennessee house are maintaining a white supremacist, patriarchal, Christian nationalist, racist framework, while at the same time making it clear to Black people across the country that the then-expelled state representatives – Justin Jones and Justin Pearson – needed to know and be taught their place, L’uqman’ and other interviewees said. Jones was re-instated under massive public pressure on Monday this week and Pearson was set to be reinstated on Wednesday. But the meaning of the action has left a stinch that will not dissipate any time soon. The entire saga began when a heavily armed shooter entered The Covenant, a Christian elementary school, and murdered three adults and three 9-year-old children. The Jones, Pearson and Gloria Johnson, angered by the nonchalant approach of the Republican majority decided to make their voices heard. The trio were targeted for expulsion on April 6 for the “offense” of joining protesters who gathered at the state house to demand gun safety legislation as well as for approaching the lectern without the permission of House Republican leadership and using a bullhorn on the House floor. Labor union veteran Bill Fletcher, Jr., said this was about Republican silencing Black advocates on an issue they have no desire or intention of dealing with. “I think that this is not unprecedented. My response is welcome to the United States. This is completely, clearly outrageous. There were no charges. It was a purge, a slap at Black people and a slap at anti-gun violence,” said Fletcher, former president of TransAfrica Forum and noted author. “Republicans are saying they can do what they want. These are forces that are not interested in compromise. Their objective is to overturn the 20th century through the courts, legislation and intimidation.” In media interviews after Pearson and Jones were ousted, the trio and fellow Democrats said Republicans had routinely muzzled the Democratic minority. Republican leaders abused their power by denying Democrats the opportunity to debate; cut off Democrats’ mics; sidelined and ignored Democratic bills; and silenced their voice on committees. “We’re not allowed to speak, are cut off from debate and our bills are killed for sport,” said John Ray Clemmons, chair of the House Democratic Caucus during a recent MSNBC interview. “We’ve been under attack for years. Their removal is unjust and offensive to our democracy and is a black eye on the state of Tennessee.” L’uqman’ and Fletcher said the right wing conservative backlash politically, socially and economically is being driven by white men who feel marginalized in the country they see as their own. Fueled by former President Donald Trump, who serves as the white nationalist cheerleader, the Republican Party has embraced an agenda to ensure that power remains in the hands of a white minority. Republicans in Tennessee, Wisconsin, Florida and elsewhere have used extreme gerrymandering and redistricting – blessed by the US Supreme Court – to subvert the political process and grab and hold onto power. “It really is just the thin veneer of civility in democracies that is now just off in politics in this country. If we lived in a democracy, this wouldn’t have been allowed to happen,” said L’uqman’, host of L’uqman’ Nation. “That the GOP was able to expel two of three and did not expel the white women says to me that we don’t live in a democracy or a representative democracy where people’s views are listened to, respected.” L’uqman’ added: “We do not live in a democracy. The mistake people make is that they don’t understand that. No, this not an attack on democracy because we’ve never had it.” Critics in Tennessee and elsewhere have castigated Republicans for using their power and aggressive tactics to bludgeon Democrats and any other opponents while maintaining control and dominance. “I think we have to look at Tennessee in the broader context of the country. What happened there is tangentially related to the judge in Wisconsin who has not conceded,” said Dr. Wilmer Leon, III. “Even if he has by now, look how long it took. And look at what Republicans did in Jackson, Mississippi. I see it as a growing sense of entitlement and an ideology based on individual interests ignoring the people you were voted in to serve.” The expulsion of Jones and Pearson is likely just the continuation of what has long been an often bitter the tug-of-war between far-right conservative Republicans, Democrats and the majority of Tennessee’s residents. On April 7, the majority of the members of the Nashville Metropolitan Council announced that they will vote to reinstate Jones to the Tennessee state legislature. It is also position that Pearson will be restored to his former position. If that happens, Clemmons said, Republicans will certainly try to punish Democrats as well as the cities – Memphis and Nashville – which have significant numbers of Black residents and the diversity not present in rural Tennessee. In fact, Republicans are exacting political retribution in one bill passed to cut the Memphis city council in half; another to defund the convention center; and concerted attempts to wrest control of the airport and concert and sports venues from Nashville and Tennessee. “We have one party rule in Tennessee. They want to control everything, consolidate all power. There is a threat to take away money from Memphis if Rep. Pearson is reinstated,” said Clemmons.
Grand Jury of Greene County returns 21 true bills, including 20 felonies, one misdemeanor
The Grand Jury of Greene County, Alabama went into session on March 27, 2023 and ended the session on March 28, 2023. According to the Jury Foreperson, Kywon Benison, the Jurors were instructed by the Court regarding their duties and responsibilities. According to the report issued, the Grand Jury considered various criminal charges against various defendants and return herewith 21true bills, some of which were multiple count indictments, resulting in 20 felonies and 1 misdemeanor. There were 27 cases continue, all being drug cases continued because there were no Certificates of Analysis from the Department of Forensic Sciences. There was 1 no bill returned and1 no action because it was previously indicted. Pursuant to Alabama Code14-6-42, the Greene County Sheriff’s office has provided the Grand Jury with documentation verifying that a Prisoner Feeding Fund has been set up and is being maintained for the purpose of feeding the prisoners in the custody of the Greene County Sheriff Department. Indictments returned include the following: –LaJeffery Allentiz Carpenter was indicted on 3 Counts of Use of Official Position or Office for Personal Gain. Carpenter, a public official, District 2 Councilman of the City of Eutaw, Alabama, did intentionally use or cause to be use his official position or office to obtain personal gain for himself, to wit and several iPhone 12 belonging to the City of the Eutaw, and such use and gain were not otherwise specifically authorized by law, in violation of Section 36-25-5 (a) Code of Alabama, against the peace and dignity of the state of Alabama. -Kyle Wesley Turner was indicted for Burglary Third degree, Criminal Mischief I and Criminal Mischief III. -Gregory Birl was indicted for Felony DUI and Speeding. -Byron Lamar Ellis was indicted for Murder. -Derrick Dewayne Allen was indicted for theft of Property I. -Quaviz Dejuan Robinson was indicted for Theft of Property I. -Kenyon Deon Cheatem, Jr. was indicted on Assault II. -Andrew Bell was indicted on Burglary III and Theft of Property III.
Greene County Commissioners L to R: Tennyson Smith, Allen Turner, Jr., Garria Spencer, Roshonda Summerville, Corey Cockrell with EMS President Joe Powell and EMS Director Chris Jones in front of new ambulance.
Before the start of the regular monthly Greene County Commission meeting Monday, December 12, 2022, the commissioners welcomed a new refurbished ambulance to the Greene County Emergency Medical Services.
The Commission provided the funding for the new ambulance from its allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.
The Commission received a financial report from . The report indicates that county expenses as of November 30, two months into the fiscal year are in line with budgetary projections which should ideally show 16% expended and 84% available.
The Commission has $6,635,619 in accounts in Citizens Trust Bank, $4,030,259 in accounts in Merchants and Farmers Bank, and $873,562 in bond sinking funds. Most of these funds are pledged to budgeted expenses, with a smaller amount for discretionary expenses, mostly bingo proceeds and ARPA funding.
The Commission approved budgetary amendments dealing with elections and engineering costs on road projects. The Commission also agreed to advertise for a CDL licensed truck driver. They also agreed to continue the time for the garbage fee extension until December 30, 2022.
The Commission approved working with the Goodwin, Mills and Caywood architectural and engineering firm on repairs to the William M. Branch County Courthouse since only one bid was received for work on the restrooms, lobby, and courtroom.
A holiday schedule giving employees Monday and Friday off before Christmas and New Years Day, which falls on Sunday this year, was approved by the Commission. They also approved extending the time for employees who have accumulated over 208 hours of vacation leave time to utilize their extra time until April 2024.
The Commission adopted a resolution granting $500 to the Greene County Chamber of Commerce for the participation of the Stillman College Band in the Christmas parade. They also approved a resolution allowing the location of medical cannabis production and dispensary services in Greene County, if the state licenses a business to engage in those activities. The State of Alabama allowed counties to decide if they would allow these activities within their borders by the end of this year.
The Commission approved several annual agreements with the Alabama County Commission Association (ACCA) for insurance coverage.
The Commission agreed to accept a grant from ADECA for technical assistance on providing broadband in the county. An initial session under this grant will be held on December 14, 2022, for Greene County at the R. H. Young Community Center (old Carver School).
The Commission tabled the next three items on the agenda to get more information before making a decision. One involved a donation for a football booster banner for Greene County High School. The second was to allocate $5,000 in discretionary funds from bingo for each Commissioner to use for activities or organizations in their district. The third was for the use of $5.000 of ARPA funds for each the library, GCEMS, E-911 and the Greene County Industrial Development Board. Commissioner Spencer pointed out that these groups had asked for more funds, like repairing the roof on the library and that the amount allocated would not do the job.
The Commission also failed to give a second for a proposal from Commissioner Allen Turner for a 5-mil ad valorem property tax increase to provide raises for employees, support for Highway Department Projects support for PARA, senior citizen activities, GCEMS and E-911. Turner said he plans to bring his proposal up again in future meetings. If approved by the Commission this proposal must go to the Alabama Legislature for approval and placement on the ballot for a referendum by the voters of Greene County
Shown Darlene Robinson, BBCF Board President, Community Assoicates Mollie Rowe, Miriam Leftwich, Geraldine Walton and John Zippert.Volunteers load truck with waterL to R: Employee of Stay N On the Move Trucking Co. Amos Dewayne Cameron, his Dad Daniel Gill UHaul Driver and Rev. Wendell H. Paris of Jackson, MS, upon arrival in Jackson.
Submitted by Miriam Leftwich
Cities across the county had been collecting water donations since the beginning of September, after the clean water crisis broke out in Jackson, MS. The Greene County Community Associates, of the Black Belt Community Foundation, took the lead in Eutaw, Alabama to help our neighbors in Jackson get bottled water. We knew that we needed to help out however we could. Special thanks to our Mayor Latasha Johnson, who allowed the trailer to be parked on the premises of the Robert H. Young Community Center which was also the collection site. Stay N On the Move Trucking, LLC allowed use of a trailer and transported the collected bottled water to Jackson, Mississippi. Donations poured in from the beginning of the Water Drive up until minutes prior to departure. I am so grateful to this community, to all of the Pastors and the church families who took part in this drive, and to the Pastors and Deacons that helped to load and unload water from various destinations, to all of the Greek Letter organizations, Volunteer Fire Departments, Masonic and Eastern Star Lodges, Greene County High School Principal, students, and staff, Flowers Bakery, Tishabee Senior Citizens, Eutaw Housing Authority, Greene County Retired Educators Association, McInnis Mortuary, Greene County Ushers Alliance, Commissioner Allen Turner, Jr., Black Belt Law. All of the support that you showed was absolutely great. There were approximately 38 organizations and 45 families that represented by showing up and donating numerous cases of water. Donations poured in from as far as California. We even had donations shipped via FED EX. Hale, Sumter, Choctaw, and Tuscaloosa counties also contributed. All of the love that your residents showed us will never be forgotten. Approximately 325,000 bottles of water were collected. We are forever thankful to each and every one of you. We collected enough water to fill the trailer and had to get a second vehicle for the excess water. To our Sheriff and his staff, we tip our hats to you for such a wonderful sendoff. The Sheriff escorted the trucks from the Community Center to the Boligee exit. The drivers had a safe trip; water was delivered and those on the receiving end were grateful to have it and expressed their appreciation for a job well done.
The Greene County Commission met in a called meeting Wednesday June 22, 2022 and approved a schedule for additional payments to essential county employees. Each full time county employees will receive a total of $2,400; part time employees will receive $1,200 and temporary workers will receive $250. The commission will disburse 50% of the respective payments to employees on June 29, 2022 and the second half on December 16, 2022.
The resources for the essential workers payments are from the American Rescue Act Funds allocated to the county. The Greene County Commission received approximately $787,000 in May of 2021 and another allocation of approximately $787,000 one year later in 2022.
The county commissioners, as elected officials, are not eligible to receive American Rescue Act Funds.
In other business, Commission Chairperson, Allen Turner, Jr., explained the agenda item which was to consider the USDA Rural Development Wastewater Grant. According to Turner, Alabama State Senator Bobby Singleton will be announcing soon a $120 million grant for the Black Belt Region for wastewater treatment projects. Turner noted that for Greene County to be eligible, the commission needed to take action to participate. “ Our action today does not guarantee that Greene County will be selected to receive some of these resources, but if we do not vote to participate, we definitely will not be considered,” he stated.
The commission also held an executive session at this call meeting. No reports were forthcoming when the open meeting was resumed.
My name is Barrown Douglas Lankster, Sr., and I am seeking the office of District Attorney serving Greene Sumter and Marengo Counties. I am the 5th of 12 children of Mrs. Velma J. Lankster and Mr. Albert Charles Lankster. I am the father of Kristina R. Brown, Dr. Nakieta M. Lankster and Barrown D. Lankster, II. I am a 1968 graduate of George P. Austin High School; a l970 graduate of Selma University; a 1972 graduate of Livingston University and a 1975 graduate of Howard University School of Law. I was on the Dean’s List at both Selma University and Livingston University. I chose Howard University Law School because it was the alma mater of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. While a student at Howard University School of Law, I was the recipient of the Herbert Lehman Scholarship, Earl Warren Scholarship and the Howard Thurman Educational Scholarship. I made the highest grade at the law school, 1OO% in Evidence, and was awarded the American Jurisprudence Award for Excellence in the Study of Evidence. Upon my graduation from Howard, I had was choice of working at law firms in Washington, DC and New York City. I chose to begin my legal career at the Legal Services Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama, where I became Senior Staff Attorney. Dr. Richard Arrington, Jr., who was a member of the Birmingham City Council asked me to apply for a position in the Law Department for the City of Birmingham because they had never hired an African American lawyer to work in that department. I was assigned to the courtroom of Judge Peter A. Hall, a great civil rights lawyer and Birmingham’s first Black Judge. The Birmingham Bar Association, in 1979, submitted my name along with 2 other individuals to Alabama Governor Fob James to become a District Judge of Jefferson County. James selected Judge Sandra Ross but in an interview with Governor James, he committed to appointing me to the next district judge vacancy. I chose to return to the Blackbelt in 1980 opening my practice on January15, 1981 in Demopolis, Alabama. Commissioners Claude Jackson, Obadiah Threadgill and Ben Walker hired me in 1982 to be the Commission’s attorney. I served Greene and Hale County Commissioners as their attorney, as well. Mayor Andrew Hayden and the Uniontown City Council appointed me City Judge. District Attorney Roy hired me as an Assistant District Attorney for the 4th Circuit of Alabama. On November 3, 1992. I was elected by the people of Greene, Sumter County and Marengo Counties as District Attorney, becoming the first African American elected district attorney in the State of Alabama and the 2nd elected in the United States. I am the Chairman of the Board of Deacons and Sunday School Superintendent of the Eastern Star Baptist Church, Demopolis, Alabama. I believe integrity matter. I am again seeking the office of District Attorney for Greene, Sumter and Marengo Counties. I ask for your vote and support.
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – On Monday, January 17, the nation will pause to honor the life of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The only Black American to be honored with a national holiday, many will recall his historic civil rights achievements.
But Dr. King also stood as a tireless champion for economic justice. His last public speech, delivered a day before his 1968 assassination, was before a Memphis audience in support of a lengthy strike for fair wages among its largely Black sanitation workers. That prophetic oration, often referred to as his “Mountaintop” speech, also noted the city’s economic disparities..
“It’s all right to talk about “long white robes over yonder,” in all of its symbolism,” said Dr. King. “But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here! It’s all right to talk about “streets flowing with milk and honey,” but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can’t eat three square meals a day.”
When Dr. King moved his family into the city’s Lawndale neighborhood, he described it as “an island of poverty in the midst of an ocean of plenty”. “Chicago boasted the highest per capita income of any city in the world, but you would never believe it looking out of the windows of my apartment in the slum of Lawndale,” said Dr. King.
“My neighbors paid more rent in the substandard slums of Lawndale than the whites paid for modern apartments in the suburbs. The situation was much the same for consumer goods, purchase prices of homes, and a variety of other services.”
For example, the King family paid $94 per month for four rundown, shabby rooms. During the campaign’s open housing marches on Gage Park and other predominantly white places, new and larger apartment dwellers paid only $78 a month for five rooms[.
Fast forward to today and the cost of rental housing remains a challenge for millions of families[RP6] . The average fair market price for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,295 per month. Yet the highest rent affordable to an average full-time worker is $977, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLHIC). Its recent report entitled Out of Reach exposes the mismatch between wages people earn and the price of decent rental housing in every state, metropolitan area, and county in the U.S.
Over 7.5 million extremely low-income renters are severely housing cost-burdened, finds the report, spending more than half of their incomes on housing. On average, someone who works 40 hours per week all year round must earn $24.90 per hour to afford a modest two-bedroom home without becoming housing cost-burdened. The average renter’s hourly wage is just $18.78 per hour, however, and minimum-wage workers earn even less.
Additionally, ample research documents how consumers seeking to transition from renters to homeowners face even steeper financial barriers to building family wealth.
In 2019, prospective buyers of a median-priced home of $321,500 needed to save 11 years to accumulate a 5 percent down payment of $26,000 on that home, found the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) in its independent and recent report . But buyers seeking the least costly loans, conventional mortgages, needed a 20 percent down payment of $64,300 plus another $9,663 for closing costs.
“There is a huge disconnect between our collective view of America as the land of opportunity and this data, which show renters face a steep climb in saving for homeownership,” said CRL researcher and report author Christelle Bamona. “This climb is especially steep for Black and Latino Americans, essential workers, and people weighed down by student debt.”
The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) underscores CRL’s findings. Its 2021 research, the State of Housing in Black America: Emerging from the Pandemic Recession (SHIBA) found that although homeownership generates the largest part of building household wealth, fewer than 45 percent of Black households own their homes, compared to nearly 75% of whites. Further, Black homeowners captured only $198 million in savings from the Federal Reserve’s lowering of interest rates during COVID. Nationwide, the savings due to this policy change totaled $5.8 billion.
“Blacks have made little, if any, strides at closing the disparate homeownership gap between those of our White counterparts,” noted NAREB President Lydia Pope in the report’s foreword. “Systemic discriminatory regulations and policies continue to thwart any meaningful effort at closing the homeownership gap.”
For example, mortgage pricing, and under-appraisal of home values are examples of how the growth of Black homeownership and, in turn, wealth is systematically suppressed. Since 2019, the rate of mortgage loan denials to Blacks (16 percent) has consistently been double that of whites (7 percent).
While access to mortgage credit remains a central housing issue, housing affordability has worsened for a record 117 months of year-over-year increases, according.to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The November 2021 median price of existing-homes was $353,900, up 13.9 percent from November 2020 ($310,800).
Today the quest for economic injustice continues. Just a few weeks before Dr. King’s assassination, his prophetic voice remains as timely as it is timeless:
“Do you know that most of the poor people in our country are working every day? They are making wages so low that they cannot begin to function in the mainstream of the economic life of our nation. These are facts which must be seen. And it is criminal to have people working on a full-time basis and a full-time job getting part-time income.”
Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
Shawn Rochester, who authored the spellbinding book “The Black Tax: The Cost of Being Black in America,” and Robin Watkins, a highly regarded financial and operations accountant, have made Wall Street history. And the two are poised to break through more barriers in the financial world. Their latest venture, Minority Equality Opportunities Acquisitions Inc. (MEOA), has raised $126.5 million they’ve earmarked to help minority businesses and enterprises grow and prosper through mergers and acquisitions. “It’s amazing to be a part of this,” Watkins, a Drexel University graduate, stated. While Rochester serves as CEO of MEOA, Watkins counts as the company’s CFO. “I come from a family of entrepreneurs,” Watkins remarked during an appearance on PBS-TV and PBS-World’s The Chavis Chronicles with National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA) President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. The interview took place inside the new state-of-the-art NNPA television studios in Washington, D.C. Because her grandfather owned a trucking company and café in Lawrenceville, Virginia, and her father and other family members were entrepreneurs, Watkins leaped at this latest opportunity. MEOA raised the money after its initial public offering in August and now counts as the first special purpose acquisition company – or SPAC – headed by African Americans. “We are trading now on the Nasdaq under MEOAU,” Rochester, who earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business with a focus in Accounting, Finance, and Entrepreneurship. MEOA will target MBEs and Black-owned businesses nationwide. “We’re really a blank check company that’s funded through an IPO,” Watkins remarked. “The funds are held in trust to acquire another company. In this case, we are looking at minority business enterprises to take them public through our IPO. We are the only SPAC that is targeting minority business enterprises.” According to financial experts, SPACs generally have two years to complete an acquisition. If they fail, the company must return the money raised to its investors. For Rochester and Watkins, failure isn’t an option. Rochester said they are looking at companies with enterprise values between $250 million and $500 million with recurring and predictable revenues. The criteria include having a history of being able to generate sustainable free-cash-flow. “There is unprecedented demand for diverse suppliers, but many minority firms don’t have the resources to meet the demand,” Rochester said. “That’s where MEOA, and the decades of combined experience that our team has in operations, strategy, business development, and acquisitions enter the picture for the right business, to help accelerate growth,” he continued. Further demonstrating a commitment to racial equity and economic inclusion, MEOA engaged the Industrial Bank of Washington, one of the country’s preeminent Black-owned institutions, for its working capital banking needs during the SPAC and IPO process. The company’s directors are majority-minority including, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, MIT economist and Dean, College of Ethnic Studies, Cal State Los Angeles, Mr. Ronald Busby, Sr., President and CEO, US Black Chamber, Inc., and Mr. Patrick Linehan, Partner, Steptoe & Johnson. “The mission and purpose of MEOA will help to catapult minority enterprise in this country,” Rochester asserted. “As a SPAC, we have the opportunity to not only help drive significant change and unleash superior performance but to also signal to the broader marketplace that there is tremendous value in companies and teams that have long been ignored.”
Natalie and Derrica Wilson (left) founded the Black & Missing Foundation to raise awareness about people of color who have disappeared./ Allison Keyes / WAMU
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire
It’s been 13 years since Natalie Wilson and her sister-in-law Derrica Wilson founded the Black and Missing Foundation to help bring attention and closure to the ever-growing number of cases in minority communities. As incomplete and cringe-worthy, the number of the missing – one count suggests that of the more than 600,000 individuals currently reported missing, more than 200,000 are individuals of color – Wilson forges ahead. The recent case of the disappearance and death of Gabbi Petito, who was white and blone, has focused more attention on the missing people of color, including indigenous people, who go missing every year without similar press attention. She does so, even 13 years and some success stories later, emotionally. “We’ve come a long way,” Wilson declared during a recent visit to the new, state-of-the-art National Newspaper Publishers Association’s (NNPA) television studios in Washington, D.C. During a conversation with NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., Wilson punctuated the need for the Black and Missing Foundation with the story of Phoenix Coldena young African American woman who went in 2011 missing near St. Louis, Missouri. “I called every media outlet, and no one covered that story,” Wilson recalled. “Finally, an assignment editor got tired of me calling and asked me to send Colden’s profile.” In her interview with Dr. Chavis, which will air on PBS-TV and PBS-World as a special on The Chavis Chronicles, Wilson reflected on how the news media and even law enforcement fail to highlight missing people of color – notably missing Black girls. “I’m so grateful for the Black Press,” Wilson remarked. “They have used their platform to showcase [these stories]. Media coverage is important. It could speed up the recovery and add pressure on law enforcement to add resources to these cases, and that’s vital.” Wilson proclaimed that laws are needed to protect children, particularly victims of sex trafficking. She said she had witnessed young boys and girls arrested after becoming sex trafficking victims. “They need rehabilitation,” she exclaimed. Wilson recalled a case in Virginia of a young Black woman who went missing. “She was too old for an Amber Alert and too young for a Silver Alert,” Wilson stated. Ashanti Billie, 19, was kidnapped while heading to work in 2017. Authorities recovered her body 11 days later in North Carolina. Because she didn’t qualify for either an Amber or Silver alert – which notifies the public about missing children and senior citizens – family and authorities lost precious time. Virginia has now enacted The Ashanti Alert, which bridges the age gap. “This needs to be on the national level because so many of our missing are slipping under the radar,” Wilson stated. She pointed out that since the beginning of the pandemic, there’s been an uptick in sex trafficking, and children are more exposed to online predators than ever before. “They are tapping into our children,” Wilson said. “There was a young lady who went missing. She was a gamer, and she was talking to a man online. So, when she went missing, her family was so surprised that she was talking to someone online.” Wilson continued: “You’ve got to be nosey with your children. Have them sit in an open area so you can see what’s going on. Create a fictitious account and see if you can befriend your child online and share information to save their lives. Unfortunately, once they go missing, we don’t have any intelligence to help save them.” For more information about the Black and Missing Foundation, visit http://www.bamfi.org.
