Emancipation Association to hold meeting with new officers
Submitted Photo
The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Emancipation Association will hold its next
board meeting on March 17 at noon at the Hanes Community Center with its
2015 officers. The 2015 Board of Directors is shown in the photo above.
Officers are seated: (right to left) Josephine H. Jones, president; the Rev. Miller
Allen, vice president; Alice Allen, secretary; Lam Dillard, financial secretary;
Jannette Piggott, corresponding secretary; Jean Moses-Petree, treasurer.
Standing (left to right): Martha G. Jones, Daniel Piggott, Betty Watson
Meadows, Sandra Armstrong, Levitha Mack, Wilhelmina Long, Barbara Hayes,
and Joycelyn Johnson.
Robinson to speak at Community Service Awards Gala
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
Dr. Elwood L. Robinson, the new
chancellor of Winston-Salem State
University, will be the keynote speaker at
The Chronicle's 30th Annual Community
Service Awards Gala on Saturday, March
21, at 6:30 pjn. at the M.C. Benton
Convention Center.
The awards were created "to simply
recognize people in this community who
arc making a difference," said Chronicle
Publisher Ernie Pitt.
The awards that will be presented will
be:
'"Rev. Dr. Nathan Scovens, Man of
the Year
"Randon Pender, Woman of the Year
?Camel City Caravans (Reid &
Kirsten Hinsley), Minority Business of
the'Year Award
?Ministers Conference of Winston
Salem & Vicinity (Bishop Todd Fulton),
Organization of the Year Award
?Big Brothers Big Sisters of Forsyth
County (Shawan Gabriel),
Human Relations Award
?Lenwood Davis, Nancy Young,
Evelyn Terry and Harry Davis, all
Lifetime Achievement Awards
?Chadwick "Chad" Cheek. Curator
of Art Award
?Children's Law Center (Iris
Sunshine) and Positive Image Peiforming
Arts (PIPA) Courtney Taylor-Porter,
both Special Recognition
?Claudia Schaefer, Linda Sutton
and Patricia Sadler, all Community
Service Awards.
Tickets are $30, and include"9P*Hx
month subscription to The Chronicle.
Tickets are available by calling 336-722
8624, ext. 100, or by picking them up at
The Chronicle, 617 N. Liberty St.
S?_
Speech
fiom page AS
closed fists. He too was a
"normal" young man indis
tinguishable in so many
ways from his peers. Not
completely satisfied with
the punishment to which he
subjected James Anderson,
he "deliberately used his
vehicle to run over James
Anderson ? killing him."
Dedmon now acknowl
edges he was filled with
anger.
I asked the question
earlier, but what could
transform these young
adults into the violent crea
tures their victims saw? It
was nothing the victims did
... they were not champi
oning any cause ... political
... social ... economic ...
nothing they did ... not a
wolf whistle ... not a sup
posed crime ... nothing
they did. There is absolute
ly no doubt that in the view
of the court the victims
were targeted because of
their race.
The simple fact is that
what turned these children
into criminal defendants
was their joint decision to ?
act on racial hatred. In the
eyes of these defendants
(and their co-conspirators),
the victims were doomed at
birth. ... Their genetic
makeup made them targets.
_i
In the name of White
Power, these young folk
went to "Jafrica" to "fuck,
with some niggers!" -1'
echoes of Mississippi's
past. White Power! Nigger!
According to the Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals,
that word, nigger, is the
"universally recognized
opprobrium, stigmatizing
African-Americans
because of their race." It's
the nuclear bomb of racial
epithets ? as Farai
Chideya has described the
term. With their words,
with their actions ? "I just
ran that nigger over" ?
there is no doubt that these
crimes were motivated by
the race of the victims. And
from his own pen,
Dedmon, sadly and regret
fully wrote that he did it
out of "hatred and bigotry."
The court must respond
to one letter it received
from one identified as a
? youth leader in Dylan
Butler's church ? a men
tor, he says ? and who
describes Dylan as "a good
person." The point is that
"[t]here are plenty of crim
inals that deserve to be
incarcerated," is well taken.
Your point that Dylan is not
one of them ? not a crimi
nal ... is belied by the facts
and the law. Dylan was an
active participant in this
activity, and he deserves to
be incarcerated under the
law. What these defendants
did was ugly ... it was
' painful it is sad ... and it
is indeed criminal.
In the state of
Mississippi we have tried
to bury, when there was a
jury verdict for those who
perpetrated crimes and
committed lynchings in the
name of White Power ...
that verdict typically said
that the victim died at the
hands of persons unknown.
The legal and criminal jus
tice system operated with
ruthless efficiency in
upholding what these
defendants would call
White Power.
Today, though, the
criminal justice system
(state and federal) has pro
ceeded methodically,
patiently and deliberately
seeking justice. Today we
learned the identities of the
persons unknown ... they
stand here publicly today.
The sadness of this day
also has an element of
irony to it: Each defendant
was escorted into court by
agents of an African
American United States
Marshal, having been pros
ecuted by a team of
lawyers which includes an
African-American AUSA
from an office headed by
an African-American U.S.
attorney ? all under the
direction of an African
American attorney general,
for sentencing before a
judge who is African
American, whose final act
will be to turn over the care
and custody of these indi
viduals to the BOP [Federal
Bureau of Prisons] ? an
agency headed by an
African-American.
Today we take another
step away from
Mississippi's tortured past
... we move farther away
from the abyss. Indeed,
Mississippi is a place and a
state of mind. And those
who think they know about
her people and her past will
also understand that her
story has not been com
pletely written. Mississippi
has a present and a future.
That present and future has
promise. As demonstrated
by the work of the officers
within these state and fed
eral agencies ? black and
white, male and female, in
this Mississippi they work
together to advance the rule
of law. Having learned
from Mississippi's inglori
ous past, these officials
know that in advancing the
rule of law, the criminal
justice system must operate
without regard to race,
creed or color. This is the
strongest way Mississippi
can reject those notions ?
those ideas which brought
us here today.
At their guilty plea
hearings, Deryl Paul
Dedmpn, Dylan Wade
Butler and John Aaron Rice
told the world exactly what
their roles were ... it is ugly
... it is painful ... it is sad ...
it is criminal.
The court now sen
tences the defendants as
follows: [The specific sen
tences are not part of the
judge's prepared remarks.]
The court has consid
ered the advisory guide
lines computations and the
sentencing factors under 18
U.S.C. 3553(a). The court
has considered the defen
dants' . history and charac
teristics. The court has also
considered unusual cir
cumstances ? the extraor
dinary circumstances ?
and the peculiar serious
ness and gravity of those
offenses. I have paid spe
cial attention to the plea
agreements and the recom
mendations of the United
States. 1 have read the let
ters received on behalf of
the defendants. I believe
these sentences provide
just punishment to each of
these defendants and equal
ly important, I believe they
serve as adequate deter
rence to others and I hope
that these sentences will
discourage others from
heading down a similar
life-altering path. 1 have
considered the stfrohcing
guidelines and the policy
statements and the law.
These sentences are the
result of much thought and
deliberation..
These sentences will
not bring back James
Craig Anderson nor will
they restore the lives they
enjoyed prior to 2011.
The court knows that
James Anderson's mother,
who is now 89 years old,
lived through the horrors of
the Old Mississippi, and
the court hopes that she and
her family can find peace
in knowing that with these
sentences, in the New
Mississippi, justice is truly
blind. Justice, however,
will not be complete unless
these defendants use the
remainder of their lives to
learn from this experience
and fully commit to mak
ing a positive difference in
the New Mississippi. And,
finally, the Court wishes
that the defendants also can
find peace.
Reeves is a U.S.
District Court judge for the
Southern District of
Mississippi. He made
waves last November when
he ruled Mississippi's
same-sex marriage ban
unconstitutional. That case
is currently under appeal in
the Fifth Circuit Court.
Excelsior
Written fays Somm-Art Williams
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BLACK THEATRE IS FOR EVERYONE!
This project was supported by ike N. C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Rnounm The North Carolim Black
Kipwtory Co. receive* upmatiuuaI fending from The Arte Council of Winsloo-Seiem end Forsyth County.