http://nnpa.org/black-unemployment-dips-to-10-3-percent-by-freddie-allen/
http://nnpa.org/record-level-of-criminal-exonerations-by-freddie-allen/
CASH IN THE APPLE
2-12-15
By Cash Michaels
WLLE REMEMBERED TONITE – Tonight,
Thursday, Feb. 12th, 7p.m. at the Hunt Library on the Centennial
Campus of NCSU, there will be a special mini-documentary and panel discussion
remembering the golden days of radio station 570 WLLE-AM, which is more affectionately known as “WiLLiE”.
WLLE was
THE radio station for the black community of Raleigh back in the 1960s, 70s,
80s and 90s before it was sold to a Lexington, Kentucky company in 1997. The
station produced some of the greats, including Dr. Jocko, Daddy-O, Sweet Bob Rogers, Chuck Harris, Chester “CD” Davis,
and of course, the legendary gospel king himself, Brother James Thomas.
CashWorks
HD Productions has produced a mini-documentary remembering WLLE for the occasion,
and it has been quite gratifying, indeed, to interview so many of the former
on-air personalities and supporters of the station. All of the memories about
what the station meant to the community have been both positive and
extraordinary.
On the panel
tonight will be Mrs. Margaret Rose
Murray, who hosted “Traces of Faces and Places” on WLLE for over 30 years; Jimmy “JJ” Johnson, who hosted “JJ’s
House Party” on WLLE starting in 1968; Thad
Woodard, just retired president of the NC Bankers Association and one of
WLLE’s biggest fans and supporters in his youth, and NCSU Prof. Sheila Smith McKoy, who will also share her memories,
and will moderate.
I worked at
the station during the 1990s, and I’ll be sharing some memories during the
panel discussion, so be there tonight,
Thursday, Feb. 12th, 7 p.m. at the Hunt Library Auditorium on the
NCSU Centennial campus. The event is free and open to the public.
HAYTI
HERITAGE FILM FESTIVAL – The 2015 Hayti
Heritage Film Festival begins tonite in Durham at the Hayti Heritage
Center. Independent films by black filmmakers from across the nation will be
showing their latest work, starting tonite at 6 p.m., through Saturday, Feb. 14th.
Indeed, my documentary, “Pardons of
Innocence: The Wilmington Ten,” will be screened Saturday, 12 noon at the
festival. Admission is free, but you do need a ticket. Contact the Hayti Heritage
Center at 919-683-1709, or email them at info@hayti.org.
COACH SMITH
– If ever there was a man who stood for all of the right things, and then
backed it up every chance he got the chance, it was UNC Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith. Smith died last weekend at the age
of 83, but the plaudits and accolades have been flooding in all week since the
news, and nothing but good things have been said.
Coach Smith
was a great man of dignity and purpose. He believed dearly in the goodness of
is fellow man, and during the ‘60’s civil rights movement, bucked the system of
racism and segregation by recruiting Charlie
Scott not only as his first black player, but the first black player in the
Atlantic Coast Conference. And he had no problem taking Charlie with him to a
“whites only” restaurant, and defying the folks there not to serve him.
Coach Smith
was also a man who believed deeply in the power of young people, and that if
given good leadership and structure, their talents will flow to the surface as
a team, an as winners.
Just ask Michael Jordan.
Two years
ago while doing research for our film on the
Wilmington Ten at the State Archives, I came across a letter Coach Smith
wrote to then Gov. Jim Hunt, asking
him to pardon the Wilmington Ten. If anything confirmed for me that this man
was all about freedom and justice, that letter did.
We join the
world in saying goodbye to Coach Smith, indeed one of the finest human beings
we have ever seen. Thank you, Coach Smith, for all that you’ve done. Our
prayers are with the family.
STUART - Over the weekend I came across a New York Times article about an memoir
by the late ESPN sportscaster Stuart
Scott titled, “Every Day I Fight (Blue Rider Press) which is due out in
March. According to the article, it was originally scheduled for release
sometime in May, in hopes that Scott would still be alive, but when it was
apparent that wouldn’t be the case, the publishing date was moved up.
As you know, Stuart Scott died of
cancer on the morning of January 4 of this year. He was 49 years old and the
father of two daughters.
The legacy that Stuart Scott has
now left is secure. With his brilliant rap style of delivering sports, Stuart
brought a new and younger audience to ESPN, making them as important to reach as anyone else.
His book, according to the NYT’s story, will detail how and why that happened,
and what Stuart felt was his true impact was.
By now you know the story of how,
on April 21, 1987, a young Stuart Scott, about to graduate from UNC – Chapel
Hill, came to WLLE – AM, where I was program director, seeking to get his first
sports reporting job. I remember the date because just minute earlier, we had Mrs. Coretta Scott King at the station,
and all of us were still coming down from that.
I didn’t have a job to give Stuart
(we didn’t do sports), but I did take the time to listen to his audition tape,
sit down with him and offer some advice about how he should proceed in
broadcasting.
I remember telling Stuart (because
I also use to tell my first wife, the late broadcaster Felicia Ledesma), to always be yourself. Apparently Stuart
listened, and the rest is history.
So I, for one, look forward to
reading Stuart’s new book, which also details his tremendous fight to stay
alive amid the darkness of cancer. And I
hope to speak to Stuart’s co-author, Larry Platt, an awardwinning sports
journalist.
I think it is very ironic that
Stuart, who is buried here in Raleigh, will now have the last word about his
life.
As it should be.
BRIAN WILLIAMS - If you’re a journalist, there is nothing
more devastating to your career than to be caught in a lie. Doesn’t make a
difference whether it’s a little white one or not, for the moment your readers
or listeners know that you are even capable of doing such a thing, your career
is pretty much over. The trust that you had built up with them for so many
years has been ruptured. Never again can they watch you, listen to you or read
your stuff without asking. “Is that true?”
NBC News anchorman Brian Williams, certainly one of the best in the
business, is facing the music on those questions now. Williams, who is also the
managing editor of “NBC Nightly News,” has wisely taken himself off the air
temporarily while his network investigates accusations that Williams has, in
years past, fabricated stories about major news events that other witnesses
claim just aren’t true.
All of this is based on Williams
recently admitting that he “misremembered” a military helicopter he was riding
in being attacked by rocket fire in Iraq in 2003. But military personnel riding
with Williams say that isn’t true, and a helicopter that took off an hour
before the one that Williams was on was actually assaulted.
NBC is now investigating claims by
Williams that he saw a body float by his hotel during the height of Hurricane Katrina on 2005, and also
that he had gotten sick from drinking infected water there.
None of this bodes well for Brian
Williams, and there are those who are saying if it wasn’t for the fact that his
newscast makes NBC tens of millions each year, he would have been fired as soon
a the stuff hit the fan. They point to several black journalists who were
caught lying who were immediately dismissed.
Go-to-guy Lester Holt, who does the Weekend Today Show and Weekend Nightly
News, will be filling in for Williams until a final determination is made. Many
say Holt should naturally takeover the Monday – Friday newscasts should
Williams be shown the door.
We’ll see.
But this much I know…what is
happening to Brian Williams is a tragic thing to see, because he’s already
admitted to half of it. How he survives any of this is anyone’s guess.
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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STATE NEWS BRIEFS 2-12-15
STATE DEMOCRATS
CHOOSE KEEVER FOR CHAIR
[PITTSBORO]
As many had expected, NC Democratic Party First Vice Chair Patsy Keever was
elected to become chairman of the beleaguered party by members of the State
Executive Committee. Keever, who represents the moderate wing of the state
Democratic Party, succeeded former Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller, who endured a
controversial two-year term. Keever’s immediate tasks are to bring a divided
party back together, retire the party’s debt, and fundraising for the 2016
presidential and gubernatorial elections.
GOV. MCCRORY DELIVERS
STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS
[RALEIGH]
Saying that his plan would make North Carolina a “national model,” Gov. Pat
McCrory shared his “State of the State” bi-annual vision in a joint session of
the state Legislature last week. McCrory said progress had been made during the
first two years of his administration, with unemployment dropping and more job
creation. The governor said the state deserves to “have the best of everything”
by way of improved educational opportunities, transportation, energy and
technology, in addition to greater government efficiency.
STATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
GET LETTER GRADES; POOR KIDS NOT FARING WELL
[CHARLOTTE]
Public schools statewide with high concentrations of high poverty students did
poor under North Carolina’s new performance grading system, released last week.
The majority of high poverty schools received a D or F, with only one actually
getting an A. Meanwhile schools with no more than 20 percent of students on
free or reduced lunch received an A or an B. Only one received an F. State
lawmakers say the new grading system helps parents better judge the job schools
are doing. Critics say the grades are too simplistic and unfair.
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MORAL MARCH THIS
SATURDAY
By Cash Michaels
Editor
Thousands of
demonstrators are expected to converge on Raleigh this Saturday, Feb. 14th
for the 9th Annual Moral March on Raleigh/Historic Thousands on
Jones Street People’s Assembly, starting from South Street in downtown Raleigh
(across from Shaw University) at 9 a.m. with a pre-march rally, with the march
to the State Capital beginning at 10 a.m..
Over 150
coalition social justice groups are coming together this year, bringing
together over 10,000 participants.
The Moral
March caps off an entire week of social action led by the NC NAACP and the
Forward Together Movement.
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TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS 2-12-15
NO PUBLIC HEARING SET
YET FOR STONE’S WAREHOUSE PROJECT
Even though the Raleigh City
Council unanimously agreed Jan. 21st to sell the vacant Stone’s
Warehouse building on East Davie Street to Transfer LLC to develop
into an upper-class mixed retail center, no public hearing
date has been set as of Tuesday of this week for citizens to express their
concerns. The sale means that the Rex Senior Health Center next door will now
have to move, meaning that elderly patients may now be inconvenienced. The development
will not allow for low-income affordable housing, even though it will be
located in Southeast Raleigh.
SEANC DIRECTOR STEPS
DOWN AMID PROBE
Dana Cope, the executive
director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, resigned Tuesday
amid published allegations that he used association money for his personal
purposes. Cope admitted that he had “blurred the line between is personal and
professional life. Published reports said a landscaping company that did work
at Cope’s home also got a no-bid contract of $109,000 to do landscaping work at
the SEANC headquarters. Another $8,000 was allegedly spent to pay for Cope’s
flying lessons, in addition various personal credit card charges billed to the
association. The Wake District Attorney’s Office has asked the State Bureau of
Investigation to probe the allegations.
WAKE SCHOOL BOARD
OK’S TEACHER RAISES
Last week, the Wake Board of
Education unanimously voted to approve raises for teachers and other certified
staff, even though bod members freely admitted that the raises weren’t
substantial enough to be what was really deserved. Some pre-tax raises were as
high as $100.00 a month, and as low as $16.50 monthly. The board wrestled with
how to adequately spread the $3.75 million it had on hand, saying that state
lawmakers had not done enough with teacher pay raises approved last year.
-30-
UNC COACH DEAN SMITH
EXCLUSIVE
DEAN SMITH WILMINGTON
TEN
PARDONS LETTER
REVEALED
By Cash Michaels
Editor
This week,
as the world mourns the passing of legendary UNC Tar Heel Head Basketball Coach
Dean Smith, he is being remembered as a trailblazer not only for his championship
winning hardwood strategy, but also for standing strong for social
justice, and against racial discrimination.
“He pushed
forward the Civil Rights movement, recruiting the first black scholarship
athlete to North Carolina and helping to integrate a restaurant and a
neighborhood in Chapel Hill,” said Pres. Barack Obama of Smith in tribute.
But while
many know of how Coach Smith recruited Charlie Scott as the first
African-American to play Atlantic Coast Conference basketball in the ‘60’s, and
how he supported former Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee when the black man tried against
all odds to purchase a home in an all-white Chapel Hill neighborhood, it
has never been revealed, until now, that Dean Smith also tried to use his
considerable influence with then Gov. James B. Hunt in 1977 to secure pardons
for ten wrongly convicted civil rights activists known as “the Wilmington Ten.”
In July
2013, while doing research for the documentary, “Pardons of Innocence: The
Wilmington Ten” at the NC Archives, a
Carolinian reporter discovered a previously unknown missive from Coach
Smith to Gov. Hunt. Dated July 25, 1977 on “University of North Carolina”
letterhead from Smith’s “Basketball Office,” a copy of the extraordinary letter
was made for possible use in the film. However it was never used in the
production, so the letter copy was held until this week, after Smith, at age
83, died at his home in Chapel Hill Saturday evening.
When Gov.
Hunt first took office in 1977, the Wilmington Ten – nine young black males and
one white female led by the fiery Rev. Benjamin Chavis - had already been tried, convicted and
sentenced to a combined 282 years in prison in 1972. Defense attorneys were
unsuccessful appealing those convictions to state courts, and an appeal to the
US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals was pending.
Upon taking
office, Hunt indicated that he wanted to review the historic case, and once all of the
state appeals ran out, he would step in if needed.
It was
during this time that letters from literally all over the country and the world
began pouring in to Gov. Hunt’s office, both pro and con.
One of them
was from Dean Smith.
Addressed
to “The Honorable James B. Hunt, Jr. – Governor,” Coach Smith wrote:
“Lee
Upperman, our former basketball manager and now one of the attorneys for the
Wilmington 10, has allowed me to read the Petition for Pardon of these ten
people,” Coach Smith wrote to Hunt. “Without knowing the full details, other
than what I have carefully examined in the Petition for Pardon, I would still
urge you as a citizen to truly pardon these ten who have already served what
many would consider a just sentence for what they had been determined guilty.”
Smith
continued, “Apparently there is no chance for a new trial and for them to serve
the number of years given them in a rather strange way, would seem to be
excessive.”
Coach Smith
concluded his letter to the governor with, “As a citizen who supported you for
Governor in the November election, I would urge you to pardon the Wilmington 10
if you do have that right.”
“Most
sincerely, Dean E. Smith.” The coach
signed it simply “Dean.”
But the
letter didn’t finish there.
In what
apparently was Dean Smith’s handwriting, he adds a postscript:
"Bob Seymour
has provided me with some additional material on these 10 people which would
lead one to believe injustice was done.”
Smith then
initialed the handwritten notation.
The
significance of Smith’s July 1977 letter is the fact that he marked the
envelope “PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL” meaning that he wanted his request to be
seen, and considered, only by the governor, and not be made public.
Given the
raging national and worldwide controversy about the Wilmington Ten case, and
how they were falsely convicted for the arson destruction of a white-owned
grocery store in Wilmington during the height of racial tensions there in February
1971, Smith would have found himself in the crossfire between civil rights and
law enforcement groups who were bitterly divided.
While
African-Americans and white liberals would have welcomed someone of Coach
Smith’s stature and high profile in support of their worldwide movement to free
the "freedom fighters" Wilmington Ten, Smith would have been instantly vilified by members of the NC
judiciary, North Carolina’s business community, and even conservative US Sen.
Jesse Helms - all of whom who considered the Ten to be dangerous radicals - and wrote numerous letters to Gov. Hunt opposing freeing
them.
His controversial involvement would have undoubtedly put an unwanted cloud over his basketball program at UNC if word ever leaked at that time, and his judgement on race would have once again been questioned.
His controversial involvement would have undoubtedly put an unwanted cloud over his basketball program at UNC if word ever leaked at that time, and his judgement on race would have once again been questioned.
Because of a recent change in policy, letters sent to the Governor's Office of Executive Clemency in the past ten years to be considered during pardons cases are no longer considered public record, in an effort to protect those who communicate with the governor, who has the sole discretion in issuing pardons.
In the
State Archives, an unsigned drafted letter dated Sept. 1, 1977 apparently from
Gov. James Hunt, responds to Coach Smith, thanking him for his missive, and
telling Smith that until all of the state courts considering appeals in the
case have decided, he will abide by a policy of not stepping in.
“If, at
some time in the future, we consider any action for any of the individuals
involved, we will give your thoughts due consideration,” wrote Hunt to Coach
Smith. “ I thank you for sharing your ideas with me on this case.”
History shows that a few months later, on January 23, 1978, Gov.
Hunt went on statewide television, and announced that he would not pardon the
Wilmington Ten, but would reduce their harsh sentences. However in December 1980, after
all of them had been released from prison, the US Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals in Virginia overturned the Wilmington Ten’s convictions citing “gross prosecutorial
misconduct,” and ordered North Carolina to either drop the charges, or conduct
a new trial.
The state
did nothing for 32 years, thus leaving the Ten in legal limbo. Not until the
National Newspaper Publishers Association, led by the Wilmington Journal, defense attorneys Irving Joyner and James Ferguson, and
the NCNAACP, mounted a successful national campaign in 2012 to secure ten
pardons of innocence from then Gov. Beverly Perdue, were they finally legally
exonerated.
Calling the Ten victims of "naked racism" and "political prisoners," Gov. Perdue said she granted the pardons of innocence because she couldn't find any evidence of their guilt, but did agree with the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that prosecutors in the case indeed broke the law in framing the ten activists.
Dean Smith was right in 1977 when he wrote, "...injustice was done."
Calling the Ten victims of "naked racism" and "political prisoners," Gov. Perdue said she granted the pardons of innocence because she couldn't find any evidence of their guilt, but did agree with the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that prosecutors in the case indeed broke the law in framing the ten activists.
Dean Smith was right in 1977 when he wrote, "...injustice was done."
This week
was the first time anyone associated with the Wilmington Ten case were told or shown anything about Coach Smith’s bid to gain their freedom.
After
reading the letter, Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, now president of the National Newspaper
Publishers Association, said in an exclusive statement to The Carolinian and Wilmington Journal newspapers, “Dean Smith was a bold leader who
stood for racial equality when it was not the popular thing to do.
Smith's courage made him more than one of the greatest basketball coaches
in the world. He triumphed off the court as well and won progress for all
humanity. Long live the legacy and spirit of Dean Smith.”
Another Wilmington Ten member, Wayne Moore, also paid tribute to the great coach and leader.
Another Wilmington Ten member, Wayne Moore, also paid tribute to the great coach and leader.
“I have known for a long time that Dean Smith was not
only a champion as a coach, but that he was also a champion for social justice,”
Moore, who now lives in Michigan, wrote. “Being the first coach to grant a scholarship
to a black player at UNC at a point where Jim Crow and Civil Rights were clashing
on the doorsteps of justice, took a great deal of courage. There were immediate
calls for him to be fired, but he stood his ground and went on to become one of
the greatest coaches in the history of basketball.”
“Still, his greatest legacy might rightfully
be the passion he openly displayed for racial justice and equality. The fact
that this letter is written on UNC stationery is a testimony in and of itself
to his bold approach he often took.”
Attorney Irving Joyner, professor of
law at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham, and one of
the defense attorneys for the Wilmington Ten, wrote, “I have always been an
admirer of the courage that Dean Smith exhibited in his coaching and community
affairs.”
“His
decision to bring Charlie Scott from New York to desegregate the UNC-Chapel
Hill basketball team changed the complexion of NCAA basketball at a time that
he was not forced to it. At the time, Dean Smith knew that desegregating that
basketball team and the campus was the right thing to do. For him, it was a
matter of principle,” Prof. Irving wrote.
“Likewise,
I treasure and appreciate his championing of the early efforts to pardon the
Wilmington 10 in 1977 and since that time because he personally knew that it
was the right thing to do,” Joyner continued. “I deeply regret that Governor
Jim Hunt did not accept his advice. Those and other equally courageous acts
endeared Smith to his community, his school, and to the many people who were
engaged in the struggle for equal rights and racial justice.”
Prof.
Joyner concluded, “We pray that these lessons of racial harmony and racial
justice will serve as an inspiration, and guide to others who find themselves
in positions of power and influence.”
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