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ILLUME 94-NUMBER 4 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2015 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30 CENTS
Source: FBI completes federal probe of Ferguson
By Eric Tucker
WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI has completed its investigation
to the police shooting of an unarmed, black 18-year-old by a white
dice officer in Ferguson, Missouri, a U.S. official said.
The Justice Department has not yet announced whether it will file
federal civil rights charge against former Ferguson police officer
arren Wilson. But officials and experts have said such a prosecution
ould be highly unlikely, in part because of the extraordinarily high
sal standard federal prosecutors would need to meet.
The official was not authorized to discuss the case by name and
eke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Justice
apartment spokeswoman Dena Iverson declined to comment.
Wilson, who is white, was cleared in November by a state grand
ry in the Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown, a shooting that touched
f protests in the streets and became part of a national conversa-
in about race relations and police departments that patrol minority
ighborhoods. Attorney General Eric Holder visited Ferguson in the
lys after the shooting to try to calm tensions and meet with Brown’s
rally and law enforcement.
I Wilson, who shot Brown after a scuffle in the middle of the street,
Id the St. Louis County grand jury that spent months reviewing the
se that he feared for his life when Brown hit him and reached for
s gun. Some witnesses have said Brown had his hands up when
'ilson shot him.
To mount a federal prosecution, the Justice Department would
:ed to show that Wilson willfully deprived Brown of his civil rights,
lat standard, which means prosecutors must prove that an officer
lowingly used more force than the law allowed, is challenging
or the government to meet. Multiple high-profile police-involved
:aths, including the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed
'est African immigrant, in New York City, have not resulted in fed-
al charges.
Wilson, who had been on administrative leave since the shooting,
signed days after the grand jury decision. A lawyer for Ferguson
lid not immediately return a call seeking comment.
I A separate, broader Justice Department-led investigation into the
iractices of the Ferguson police department remains open. That in-
'estigation, which will examine potential racial bias among officers,
as the potential to have more sweeping consequences than any indi-
■dual criminal prosecutions, experts say.
I The New York Times reported that Justice Department lawyers
were preparing a memo recommending against prosecuting Wilson,
but that the memo was not yet complete and that Holder - who is
ipected to leave his position within weeks - had not yet made a
scision.
Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Brown’s family, said in a statement
at the family would not address speculation from anonymous of-
cials and was waiting for an official Justice Department announce-
lent.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, is conducting a separate fed-
al civil rights investigation into the police chokehold death of Eric
amer in New York City. In that case, too, a local grand jury declined
indict the officer. The U.S. attorney whose office is handling that
ivestigation, Loretta Lynch, has been nominated to replace Holder
id faces a Senate confirmation hearing next week.
The 28th Annual Durham Civil rights Workers Reunion was held Jan. 19, at St. Joseph A.M.E. Church
marking the Martin Luther King Jr., Holiday. From left to right is Mrs. Gwendolyn Owens, wife of st. Jo
seph pastor; civil rights workers Mrs. Vivian McCoy and Ms. Virginia Williams of Royal Seven fame. Ms.
Williams was one of seven who participated in the first sit-in in North Carolina at Royal Ice Cream,three
years before the N.C.A&T Sit-In in 1960. See story and pictures on pages 8 and 9.
Top UNC leader cites coincidence
in Ross replacement timing
By emery P. Dalesio
CARY (AP) - It was a coincidence that the oversight board
>r North Carolina’s public university system began rewriting its
i-year-old rules for finding a new president just before the current
ader was forced out, the board’s chairman said.
Members of the University of North Carolina board met to start
vamping the framework for replacing UNC system President Tom
oss by next year. But the process of rewriting the existing search
uidelines was set in motion before the surprise announcement car
er this month that Ross was being forced out.
“They’re unrelated to each other,” UNC Board of Governors
lairman and Charlotte attorney John Fennebresque said.
Fennebresque previously declined to explain the reasons behind
e move to replace Ross, who in 2011 took over running the state’s
5 public university campuses and a residential science and math
igh school in Durham. While Fennebresque praised Ross’ steady
ind. integrity and work ethic, he said the board decided it was time
i find a replacement.
A new policy could be adopted next month, setting out who will
: involved in finding Ross’s replacement and the process they will
ie. Four of the 32 members on the university governing board met
in. 9 and concluded the search policy adopted in 1996 was “overly
escriptive” and that no one group would oversee the process from
eginning to end, according to minutes of that meeting.
“It’s a complicated policy and we’re trying to streamline it to make
it more effective.” Board of Governors member Joan MacNeill said.
I The proposed changes include requiring search committee mem-
ers to sign a confidentiality agreement to prevent them from reveal-
ig potential candidates. Similar confidentiality agreements have
Jen required of campus leaders and the UNC Board of Governors
st month removed a Winston-Salem State University trustee after
fusing him of leaking names of finalists in that school’s hunt for a
sw chancellor.
The UNC board voted Jan. 16 to replace Ross in January 2016,
or later if a successor isn’t found by then. Ross made clear he wasn’t
lady to leave but accepted that the board had the right to replace
im.
Fennebresque declined to discuss an online petition asking the
INC Doard to reverse its decision and keep the 64-year-old Ross
eyond next year.
; Before becoming president of the 222,000-student university sys-
W in January 2011, Ross served as a state Superior Court judge,
resident of the private Davidson College, an aide to a Democratic
ingressman, and executive director of Winston-Salem’s Z. Smith
Reynolds Foundation, a major funder of social welfare and liberal
auses.
Republicans who took control of the General Assembly since
OSS took office have appointed all but a handful of the university
/stem’s board.
Famed civil rights protesters to have arrest records erased
By Meg Kinnard
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Nine black men arrested for integrating a whites-only South Carolina lunch counter 54 years ago may be heroes
in the historic record, but in the record of the law they are still convicted trespassers.
That criminal record will soon be erased.
On Jan. 28, a prosecutor is expected to ask a judge to vacate the arrests and convictions of the men known as the Friendship Nine.
The men say that brings both relief and a hope for the future.
The eight students at Rock Hill’s Friendship Junior College - Willie McCleod, Robert McCullough, W.T. “Dub” Massey, Clarence Gra
ham, James Wells, David Williamson Jr., John Gaines and Mack Workman - were led by Thomas Gaither, who came to town as an activis
with the Congress of Racial Equality.
About a year had passed since the sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, helped galvanize the nation’s civi
rights movement. But change was slow to come to Rock Hill. They decided to act together, getting arrested in February 1961 for ordering
lunch from a whites-only counter at McCrory’s variety store.
Convicted of trespassing and breach of peace, the men opted for a month’s hard labor in a chain gang rather than allow bail money to be
posted for them by civil rights groups. They did not want to contribute to the coffers of segregationists.
That decision drew national headlines, garnering the group the name the “Friendship Nine” and setting the standard for a “jail, no bail’
policy emulated by other protesters around the South.
Author Kim Johnson took an interest in the men’s story, studying their case and publishing a book entitled “No Fear For Freedom: The
Story of the Friendship 9” last year. After doing some research, Johnson went to Kevin Brackett, the solicitor for York and Union counties, tc
see what could be done to give the men a clean slate.
“This is an opportunity for us to bring the community together,” Johnson told The Associated Press. “To have the records vacated essen
tially says that it should have never happened in the first place.”
On Jan. 28, Brackett will argue a motion to vacate those convictions before a Rock Hill judge who is expected to do just that.
It comes too late for McCullough, who died in 2006. But some of the others returned to town ahead of the hearing to reflect on their experi
ence, telling the AP they hope their actions can still have an impact.
“It’s been a long wait,” Graham said. “We are sure now that we made the right decision for the right reason. Being nonviolent was the
best thing that we could have done.”
President Barack Obama and a young student touch fingers during at the Community Children’s Center
one of the nation’s oldest Head Start providers, in Lawrence, Kan., Jan. 22, 2015. (Official White House Phot
by Pete Souza)