http://nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/voter-suppression-overshadows-voting-rights-act-celebration-by-george-e-curry/?_sf_s=lead
http://nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/u-s-gun-violence-a-human-rights-failure/?_sf_s=lead
http://nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/civil-rights-groups-demand-federal-investigation-into-the-death-of-sandra-bland/?_sf_s=lead
CASH IN THE APPLE FOR
8-3-15
By Cash Michaels
“WLLE
REMEMBERED” RETURNS – Back by popular demand, NCSU Libraries and NCSU’s Africana Studies Dept. presents the CashWorks HD Productions presentation
of “WLLE Remembered,” a
mini-documentary about our beloved 570WLLE-AM
radio, the first black-owned and operated radio station in Raleigh that
came on the air from 1962 to 1997.
That free
screening will be held Saturday, August
15th, 2 p.m. at the Richard B. Harrison Library, 1313 New Bern
Avenue in Southeast Raleigh. Again, admission is free and the community is
invited. NCSU Africana Studies Prof.
Sheila Smith McKoy and yours truly will be the hosts. After the film, we’ll
give you a chance to share your memories of the radio station that all of us
loved and grew up with.
This may be
the last time that this documentary is screened, so circle the date and come
out to enjoy!
WILL AND JADA – Earlier this week
it was reported that actor Will Smith
and his wife, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith,
were divorcing after 17 years of marriage. This may or may not be true (Will came afterwards denying it profusely) but one
of the only reasons why we’re even bringing this up is because both
entertainers have significantly helped to shape the show business landscape
successfully for many years.
Certainly
for a time, Will was a mega box office star with most of his movies like “Men
in Black” and “I Legend” grossing well over $100 million or more. And Jada has
worked steadily on television in various projects, including last season’s “Gotham” in a role I strongly
feel deserved an Emmy nomination.
But what
also draws interest and attention to this dynamic couple are the longtime
rumors that they saw things a little differently than the rest of us in terms
of marriage and raising a family. There have been strong reports of Will and
Jada having an “open” marriage, buttressed by alleged quotes from Jada recently
saying, ““You gotta
trust who you’re with, and at the end of the day, I’m not here to be anybody’s
watcher. “I’m not his watcher. He’s a grown man. I trust that Will is a man of
integrity. He’s got all the freedom in the world, and as long as Will can look
at himself in the mirror and be okay, I’m good.”
So what in the ham sandwich does all
of that mean? And then, of course there are two of Will and Jada’s kids, Willow
and Jaden, both of whom have made headlines with their individually weird
situations. Jaden has been pictured in skirts, and a Batman costume at his high
school prom.
Plus the young man has mouthed off
about how education is a waste of time, and that he knows what he knows, and
that’s good enough. Indeed Will has told the press that Jaden is essentially
raising himself, and he sets few boundaries for him.
Willow was photographed with a 20
year-old shirtless man both lying on a bed (she had clothes on, but still). The
local California Dept. of Social Services has had to investigate the pair, so
to say that they’ve garnered more than their share of headlines is an
understatement indeed.
So this family has had its challenges
through the years, and we can only pray that despite breaking up, they will
find a way to survive the media madness, and hold on to each other.
CHIRAQ – The controversy over Spike Lee’s new film “Chiraq,” in production now, is that it
focuses on gun violence in the Windy City, gun violence that has thus far
claimed over a hundred lives thus far this year. Naturally the folks in Chicago
don’t like to have this negative light shined on their fair city, because the
title of the film implies that the black neighborhoods of Chicago are like a
war zone in Iraq.
Well here’s my question – with over one hundred shooting
deaths in Chicago this year alone, aren’t we well past being embarrassed about
it? And no, I’m not going to criticize the dedicated people on the ground there
who are trying to stop the bloodshed. To the contrary, I criticize the rest of
us for not doing more to support their efforts with resources, manpower, change
in policies, whatever it takes.
There have been so many people killed that the Chicago
Sun-Times has a special online section listing all of the murders! It is a
shame to see them range from middle-age men to young toddlers.
We have no idea right now how Spike’s movie is going to
turn out, but we do know that it will spark controversy (Spike loves
controversy) and discussion, if not outrage. My question is that will it spark
ACTION from us? Because if it doesn’t, then outrage won’t mean a thing.
Make sure you tune in every Thursday
afternoon at 4 p.m. for my talk radio show, ''Make It Happen'' on Power 750
WAUG-AM, or online at www.waug-network.com. And read more about my
thoughts and opinions exclusively at my blog, ‘The Cash Roc” (http://thecashroc.blogspot.com/2011/01/cash-roc-begins.html).
Cash in the Apple - honored as the
Best Column Writing of 2006 by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Columnist Cash Michaels was also honored by the NNPA for Best Feature Story
Journalist of 2009, and was the recipient of the Raleigh-Apex NAACP’s
President’s Award for Media Excellence in Sept. 2011.
Until next week, keep a smile on your
face, GOD in your heart, and The Carolinian in your life. Bye, bye.
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THE WILMINGTON TEN
NC APPEALS COURT
DENIES COMPENSATION
IN WILMINGTON TEN
CASE
By Cash Michaels
Editor
The outrage
continues to grow after the NC Court of Appeals this week, in an unanimous
opinion by a three-judge panel, ruled that the family members of Connie
Tindall, Ann Sheppard, William “Joe” Wright and Jerry Jacobs – four deceased
members of the Wilmington Ten, will not be awarded compensation for their false
imprisonment and years of suffering.
Their
families say one of the reasons why all four prematurely died is because of the
stress they had to endure both in prison, and after they were released years
later.
“This unjust ruling by the NC
Court of Appeals slaps equal justice in the face of history and this is another
recurring low moment in North Carolina's long pretense to treat Black people
fairly and justly,” said an angry Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, leader of the
Wilmington Ten.
The
judicial panel consisted of NC Appellate Judge Donna Stroud – a Republican;
Judge J. Douglas McCullough – also a
Republican; and Judge Lucy Inman – a Democrat who also wrote the lead opinion.
The NC
State Attorney General’s Office argued for the state.
Why did the
appellate court panel reject compensation to the four families? According to
the ruling, “Although the State and this Court solemnly acknowledge the
profound harm caused by the wrongful imprisonment of any person, we affirm the
Full [Industrial] Commission’s order dismissing plaintiffs claims because the
[NC] statute does not allow compensation based upon posthumous pardons of
innocence.”
Attorneys
Irving Joyner and James Ferguson – two of the original defense attorneys for
the Wilmington Ten in 1972 – represented all of the six living members – Wayne
Moore, James “Bun” McKoy, Marvin “Chili” Patrick, Reginald Epps, Willie Earl Vereen and Rev.
Dr. Benjamin Chavis, and the families of deceased members.
All ten
activists were framed for burning down a white-owned grocery store during the
height of racial tension in Wilmington in February 1971 over school
desegregation. In 1972, they were falsely tried, convicted and collectively
sentenced to 282 years in prison, only to have their sentences overturned by
the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in December 1980.
The state
of North Carolina, however, refused to either retry the Wilmington Ten, or
issue pardons of innocence for over 32 years thereafter, despite a federal
court finding of gross prosecutorial misconduct in their false convictions.
After a
yearlong campaign by The Wilmington
Journal, The Carolinian in
Raleigh, the National Newspaper
Publishers Association and the NCNAACP which generated international press
and over 135,000 signatures, Gov. Beverly Perdue issued pardons of innocence
for the Ten on her last day in office on Dec. 31st, 2012. Attorneys
Joyner and Ferguson subsequently won compensation from the NC Industrial
Commission for the six living members, but were rejected for Wright, Sheppard,
Jacobs and Tindall.
The lawyers
appealed to the state Appellate Court, only to be turned down this week.
In effect,
the state appellate court ruled that Wright, Sheppard, Jacobs and Tindall would
have had to been granted pardons of innocence before they died, according to a
strict reading of the governing state statue, in order for either they or their
families to qualify for compensation.
The law
covers “persons,” not “estates,” the judicial opinion noted, maintaining that
the legal language of the state statute is very clear. “These policy
considerations are more appropriately raised with the legislative branch.”
Reaction to
the ruling was swift.
“We are disappointed with the adverse ruling from the North Carolina
Court of Appeals regarding the estates of the four deceased members of the
Wilmington Ten, but this Court's opinion is not the final word,” said attorney
Joyner in a statement.
“This case was one of first impression before the appellate court and
sets a bad precedent. In a state with as many wrongful imprisonments and
convictions as has occurred in North Carolina, we recognize the need to
continue this legal battle on behalf of the affected Wilmington Ten members,
but also for other wrongfully convicted individuals whose cases might find
themselves in situations similar to our clients. There is no doubt, in the
minds of anyone, that the Wilmington Ten were victimized by the State of North
Carolina and now the State Attorney General is fighting this protracted battle
to deny just compensation for the harm which has been inflicted on these four
families.”
“The Wilmington Ten attorneys will
consult with the four families and make a decision soon regarding our next
steps in Court,” Joyner concluded.
Rev. Dr.
Benjamin Chavis, leader of the Wilmington Ten and currently the president/CEO
of the National Newspaper Publishers
Association, issued a statement from Miami, Fla.
“The current NC Attorney General should learn the bitter
lesson that former Governor Jim Hunt (who refused to pardon the Wilmington Ten
in 1978) had to learn reluctantly: Truth and justice can not be forever
repressed and suppressed,” Rev. Chavis said. “God does not like ugly and
this latest racist court ruling is despicably ugly before God Almighty!”
“The injustice of the
Wilmington Ten continues unabated …”
For the
families of the deceased members who were denied what they feel was just compensation
for their decades of grief, fear, pain and suffering, there was also anger, and
sorrow.
“There is no amount of money that can be paid for what
my brother went through,” declared Ophelia Tindall, sister to the late Connie
Tindall, who died three years ago this week. “This is very wrong, and wrong is
wrong, but God sees it all. I truly miss my brother.”
Judy Mack, whose mother, Ann Sheppard, was the only
female tried as a member of the Wilmington Ten, was also distraught.
“We are feeling like we have been kicked in the gut,”
Ms. Mack posted on Facebook after the ruling was published Tuesday. “We are
back at square one ! I felt today as I did as a young girl in the Burgaw
Courthouse when the guilty verdict was read. And yes I cried today as I did
then. “
“I do thank God
and all those involved that were instrumental in helping them receive pardons
of innocence. It's not just a pound of flesh that was taken, it was our HEARTS
that were ripped out !!! Ms. Mack continued. “They frame our love ones,
imprison them, deny them their rights. Their lives were threatened and changed
forever. They lost friends, family and the right to live free !! Yet, we don't
deserve compensation ??? !!!”
Like Rev. Chavis, Wayne Moore was one of the six
living members of the Wilmington Ten who did receive compensation after his
pardon of innocence. Still, he was very upset.
“I think this ruling is an insult to the memories of
Joe Wright, Connie Tindall, Jerry Jacobs, Ann Sheppard and to the dignity of
their families ,” Moore said in a statement. Most of us were only teenagers
when we were wrongly tried and convicted for crimes we never committed. No
amount of money can compensate for what we and our families have endured.”
“Today an old
wound has been reopened. The families of Joe Wright, Connie Tindall, Jerry
Jacobs [and Ann Sheppard] are my family. They often visited me in prison, and
supported me throughout the long and arduous journey for justice. It is why I
feel the exact same feeling today as I felt some forty-three years ago when the
jury came back with a verdict of guilty. Though my heart has once again been
broken, my spirit is alive and well. I am not satisfied, and I will not be
satisfied, until, [like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said] “Justice rolls
down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
“We will not rest until we find some semblance of justice for
our deceased brothers,” Moore concluded.
Thanks to the involvement of the NCNAACP, the pardons of
innocence
campaign
was successful in 2012. But this week’s decision by the NC Appeals Court also
disturbed NCNAACP Pres. Rev. William Barber .
“All
of the members of the Wilmington Ten - both those alive and the remaining
estates, deserve compensation,” Barber said. “They were wronged, they were hurt, and they were violated. This
hurt was felt by the individuals and their families.”
“The lawyers will continue the battle,” Rev.
Barber continued. “We can't give them back the years lost. Full
justice can never be realized to address an injustice that should have never
occurred, but we will continue to push until the full measure of justice and
compensation that can be provided, and is provided.”
Prof.
Timothy Tyson, Senior Research Scholar at Duke University in Durham, helped the
2012 pardons of innocence effort immensely when he discovered prosecutor’s
trial notes from June 1972, outlining how the state attempted to stack the jury
will Ku Klux Klan members, and keep black people off.
Prof. Tyson was also displeased this
week with the state appellate court decision.
“Given
that the Wilmington Ten have been conclusively found to have committed no crime,
but instead to have been the victims of the most blatant, intentional and even
criminal racial injustice by the state's courts, it seems unfair that there is
no compensation for the families of the deceased, who suffered immensely at the
hands of these courts,” Prof. Tyson says. “Just because the state dragged its
feet for forty years is no excuse for perpetuating this wrong.”
Attorneys
for the families are expected to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
-30-
KING'S "DREAM" NORTH CAROLINA BORN - A state historic marker in Rocky Mount denotes the site where Booker T. Washington High School once stood, and where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. first delivered his famous refrain, "I Have a Dream" nine months before the 1963 March on Washington [Photo courtesy of Rebecca Cerese]
EXCLUSIVE
KING DELIVERED “I
HAVE A DREAM”
FIRST IN ROCKY MOUNT
IN 1962
By Cash Michaels
Editor
It was 52
years ago in 1963, when civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was
delivering a stirring speech during the historic March on Washington about
jobs, equality and freedom, when his close friend, gospel singer Mahalia
Jackson, called out to him from those gathered to say something about his
“dream.”
King put the
rest of his prepared text aside, looked up at the hundreds of thousands who had
come to the National Mall in Washington, DC from across the nation, and the
tens of millions watching on television around the world, and from the steps of
the Lincoln Memorial, recited an iconic favorite refrain he had used several
times before to climax his remarks:
I say to you today, my friends, so even
though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It
is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream. I have a dream that one day
this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold
these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
Even now, world
history records King’s powerful words and delivery on that 28th day
of August, 1963, as perhaps the most significant of any era or generation. His
“I Have a Dream” speech has been forever cemented on that day and place.
But that
wasn’t the first time Dr. King actually uttered “I Have a Dream.”
NCSU Prof. W. Jason Miller, author
of a new book about Dr. King and American poet Langston Hughes titled “Origins
of the Dream”; and Rebecca Cerese, producer of the awardwinning documentary
“February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four,” are preparing to unveil well-documented
evidence next week to prove that it was actually in North Carolina almost a
year before when King first uttered his most famous words.
They will
let the world hear a recording of it.
It was November
27th, 1962 in the gymnasium of the now defunct Booker T. Washington
High School in Rocky Mount, NC when Dr. King, then the president of the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, explicitly used those words to share
his “dream” of America in a speech titled, “Facing the Challenges of a New
Age.”
North Carolina still had segregated
schools, so Washington High was a well-known all-black school whose large gym
was being used by the Rocky Mount Voters and Improvement League, and the local
NAACP chapter, for the event to promote the need for black voter empowerment.
The head of
the Improvement League, Rev. George Dudley, pastor of Mount Zion First Baptist
Church, invited Dr. King to come and speak.
It was one
of many visits the famed civil rights leader paid to the Tar Heel state between
1956 and 1968, though this was his very first visit to Rocky Mount.
The
December 6, 1962 front page headline of The
Carolinian Newspaper at the time was titled, “King Tells Rocky Mount
Audience: Don’t Wait For Freedom,” and the story went on report how Dr. King
told an estimated 2,000 people in attendance, “He who sits around and waits on
time to bring freedom will be waiting another century.”
After
reaffirming his belief in nonviolent civil confrontation, King also admonished
“Negroes in North Carolina” to “…get to voting” so that they can send
politicians of their choice to Congress to affect the passage of civil rights
legislation.
King’s
visit was also reported on by the Rocky
Mount Evening Telegram. Neither paper reported Dr. King’s recitation of the “I Have a Dream” refrain, but an acetate
reel-to-reel recording of the speech secured by Prof. Jason Miller confirms
King’s famous words were first delivered in Rocky Mount on that day.
Miller, the
author of the just published, “Origins of the Dream,” had the Rocky Mount
recording professionally restored by an expert in Philadelphia, and then
developed an accurate transcript from it.
It is from
that recording transcript that Dr. King is documented as saying the following
in Rocky Mount on November 27th, 1962:
And so my friends of Rocky Mount, I have a dream tonight. It is a dream rooted deeply in the American
dream.
I
have a dream that one day down in Sasser County, Georgia, where they burned two
churches down a few days ago because Negroes wanted to register and vote, one
day right down there little black boys and little black girls will be able to
join hands with little white boys and little white girls and walk the streets
as brothers and sisters.
I
have a dream that one day right here in Rocky
Mountain, North Carolina, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former
slave-owners will meet at the table of brotherhood, knowing that out of one
blood God made all men to dwell upon the face of the earth.
I
have a dream that one day men all over this nation will recognize that all men
were created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable
rights.
I
have a dream tonight. One day the words of Amos will become real: “Let justice roll down like waters and
righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I
have a dream tonight. One day every
valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low. Crooked places will be made straight, and the
rough places will be made strange, the glory of the Lord will be revealed and
all flesh shall see it together.
I
have a dream tonight. One day men will do unto others as they would have others
to do unto them.
I
have a dream tonight. One day my little daughter and my two sons will grow up
in a world not conscious of the color of their skin but only conscious of the
fact that they are members of the human race
I
have a dream tonight that someday we will be free. We will be free.
We will be standing here, we will be
able to sing with new meaning
My country, tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
May every mountain side,
Let freedom ring.
That
must become true all over America if this is to be a great nation. Yes,
Let it ring from the prodigious hilltops of
New Hampshire,
Let it ring from the
mighty mountains of New York,
Let it ring from the
heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania,
Let it ring from the
snowcapped Rockies of Colorado,
Let it ring from the curvaceous
slopes of California.
But
not only that, from every mountain side let freedom ring.
So
let it ring from Stone Mountain in Georgia,
Let it ring from Lookout
Mountain in Tennessee.
Let it ring from every
hill and molehill of Mississippi.
Let it ring from every
mountain of North Carolina,
From every mountain
side, let freedom ring.
And
when this happens all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and
gentiles, protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the
words of the old negro spiritual,” . . . free at last, free at last, thank God
almighty we are free at last!”
Next
Tuesday at North Carolina State University, Prof. Miller will unveil the
restored audio recording of Dr. King’s speech for the world to hear, putting to
rest, once and for all, any doubt that North Carolina, not Washington, D.C., nor
Detroit, Michigan in June 1963 – where Dr. King also delivered a version of the
refrain – is the actual birthplace of “I Have a Dream.
"As a resident of North
Carolina, this audio sheds new light on establishing the unappreciated
historical significance Rocky Mount, NC played in what has become the most
recognizable speech in American history,” Prof. Miller told The Carolinian.
The author of the new book, “Origins
of the Dream” about the fascinating intellectual relationship between Dr. King
and poet Langston Hughes, Dr. Miller, who is also co-producing the new
documentary, “Origin of the Dream” based
on his research, is excited about his new findings detailing how King actually
adopted some of Hughes’ “poetic “dream” imagery for his greatest speech.
"As a Langston Hughes scholar,
this audio offers the most substantial evidence yet available to confirm
Hughes's own personal belief that Dr. King's dream was inspired by his own
poetry,” Miller maintains.
Documentary producer Rebecca Cerese
agrees.
“As a filmmaker, I immediately
recognized that the discovery of this audio tape significantly deepens the
historical record by connecting the two American icons of Langston Hughes and
Martin Luther King,” Cerese, who is also coproducing “Origin of the Dream” told
The Carolinian. “Their
connection is a story that needs to be shared on film, and this audio tape
establishes the important contributions Langston Hughes' poetry made to the
civil rights movement.”
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS
8-6-15
NCHHS SEC. ALDONA WOS
RESIGNS FOR MCCRORY ADMINISTRATION
[RALEIGH] The controversial head
of the state’s Health and Human Services agency, Dr. Aldona Wos, announced that
after two-and-a-half turbulent years, she is stepping down from her post. Wos’
tenure has been marked by questionable hiring practices of close friends,
shoddy management of Medicaid, and wasteful spending by one of her top
managers. Wos’ relationship with even fellow Republican lawmakers was frosty at
best, but still, Gov. McCrory defended her tenure, saying that reforming the
state’s largest agency was a difficult tsk. Wos is the second high profile
McCrory cabinet officer to resign in as many weeks. NC Dept. of Transportation
Sec. Tony Tata immediately resigned last week to further pursue his writing
career, and possibly run for public office.
EVIDENCE BUILDS IN
TRIAL OF CHARLOTTE POLICE OFFICER
[CHARLOTTE]
Prosecutors are methodically building their case against white former Charlotte
police officer Randall Kerrick – charged with the Sept. 2013 shooting death of
black motorist Jonathan Ferrell - during the opening days of Kerrick’s
trial. The former officer’s black
defense attorney Michael Greene told jurors that Ferrell attacked Kerrick by
running into him, forcing the officer to draw his weapon and fire to defend
himself. But prosecutors say Ferrell was injured and scared after crashing his
car nearby in the middle of the night, and possibly couldn’t see the officer in
the flash of his patrol car’s headlights, thus running into to him as he cried
for help. Ferrell was shot 12 times and died on the spot. He was unarmed. Kerrick
faces eleven years in prison if convicted of using excessive force.
FEDERAL JUDGE NOW HAS
VOTING RIGHTS DECISION TO MAKE
[WINSTON-SALEM]
Last Friday saw closing arguments in the federal lawsuit by the US Justice
Dept., NCNAACP and others against Gov. Pat McCrory and the Republican-led NC
Legislature fro the 2013 passage of what many say are the most restrictive
voting laws in the nation. Plaintiffs argue that Republicans deliberately targeted
blacks, Latinos and college students in a effort to suppress their votes. The
defendants counter that the new laws are race-neutral and designed to limit
voter fraud. The federal judge who hear the case is expected to render a
decision in a few weeks.
-30-
TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS
8-6-15
SHAW STUDENTS PROTEST
NEW PRESIDENT’S SCHOLARSHIP POLICY
No sooner did new Shaw
University President-elect Tashni Dubroy begin her tenure leading the historically
black university, than she ran headfirst into controversy. Because of an
overall shortage of scholarship funding, Dubroy removed some scholarships from
the athletics department to use on the academic side and the Honors College for
students with high grade point averages, a well a students in the band.
Affected students were not pleased with the sudden changes, and held an afternoon
protest on campus, demanding that the scholarships be returned to athletics. Dubroy
says she will work to develop a fundraising campaign to pick up the slack.
RALEIGH RANKED SECOND
BEST LARGE CITY TO LIVE IN NATIONALLY
Another top national designation
for the Capital City to be proud of, as Wallethub
has ranked Raleigh Number Two on the list of
“Best Large Cities to Live In,” with Austin, Texas leading the way at
Number One. Among the 31 factors that Wallethub used to assess the rankings,
Raleigh came in Number One when it came to education, primarily because of its
top-ranked public school system and area universities. Charlotte, the Queen
City, came in 19th on the final list.
FORMER SEANC DIRECTOR
RELEASED ON BOND AFTER GRAND JURY INDICTS
The former
director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina was released on
bond earlier this week after he turned himself in amid two grand jury
indictments for obtaining property by false pretense. Dana Pope has admitted to
allegedly improperly using SEANC money for his personal uses like paying for
vacations and getting work on his home. Investigators say Pope, who served as
SEANC director for 15 years, spent upwards of
$457,000 of the organization’s money on himself. He was released from
Wake County jail after posting a $200,000 bond.
-30-
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