VOLUME 96 - NUMBER 19
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA -SATURDAY, MAY 13, 2017
Trump: His support for black
colleges remains ‘unwavering’
By Darlene Superville
WASHINGTON (AP)
- President Donald Trump
declared May 7 that his
support for historically
black colleges and univer
sities remains “unwaver
ing.”
Trump sought to clarify
an earlier statement that
some higher education of
ficials interpreted to mean
that he planned to end a
capital financing program
that helps these institutions
repair, renovate and build
new facilities. Congressio
nal Black Caucus members
criticized the move.
The earlier statement
was attached to a spending
bill Trump signed May 5 to
keep the government oper
ating through September.
■ Trump said in the sign
ing statement that the ad
ministration “shall treat
provisions that allocate
benefits on the basis of
race, ethnicity and gender
... in a manner consistent
with the requirement to
afford equal protection of
the laws” under the due
process clause of the Fifth
Amendment. The Histori
cally Black College and
University Capital Financ
ing Program Account was
one of several programs
named in that section of the
statement.
In response, Reps. John
Conyers, D-Mich., and Ce
dric Richmond, D-La., who
is chairman of the black
caucus, said Trump’s state
ment was “misinformed
factually” and not “ground
ed in any serious constitu
tional analysis.”
“For a president who
pledged to reach out to Af
rican-Americans and other
minorities, this statement is
stunningly careless and di
visive. We urge him to re
consider immediately,” the
lawmakers said in a state
ment.
Trump said May 7 that
the earlier statement spelled
out “my intention to spend
the funds it appropriates,
including the funds for
Prosecutor reviewing
murder case of man
in prison 22 years
GREENVILLE (AP) - A dis
trict attorney says it is conduct
ing another investigation into
whether a North Carolina man
who has spent 22 years in prison
on a murder charge really com
mitted the crime.
The NAACP has fought to
have Dontae Sharpe’s conviction
overturned for years. Sharpe was
19 when he received a life sen
tence for the murder of 33-year-
old George Radcliffe in Green
ville. Authorities say Radcliffe
was shot during a drug buy in
1994.
An eyewitness recanted her
testimony just months after the
trial.
Pitt County District Attorney
Kimberly Robb told The Daily
Reflector that prosecutors are
finishing a review of the case
and plans to talk to Gov. Roy
Cooper’s office to review the
findings.
historically black colleges
and universities, consis
tently with my responsi
bilities under the Constitu
tion. It does not affect my
unwavering support for
HBCUs and their critical
educational missions.”
Trump highlighted his
signing of an executive
order earlier this year to
move an office dedicated to
these institutions from the
Education Department to
the White House. The
order also directs the office
to help these institutions
become financially stron
ger, among other steps.
Trump also noted that
Education Secretary Betsy
De Vos plans to deliver her
first commencement ad
dress this week at Bethune-
Cookman University, a his
torically black university
founded in Daytona Beach,
Florida, by civil rights ac
tivist Mary McLeod Bet
hune.
Marc Morial, the president and CEO of the National Urban
League, suggested that recent activism against many of the Trump
Administration’s proposals, caused the White House to change
course. In this photo, Morial speaks during the “2016 State of
Black America” launch event at the Newseum in Washington,
D.C. (Freddie Allen/AMG/NNPA)
Blacks Show Slight Gains in 2017
State of Black America Report;
Equality Index for Blacks Inches
Closer to Whites in the 2017
By Lauren Victoria Burke
(NNPA Newswire Contributor)
In their annual State of Black America report, called
“Protect Our Progress.” the National Urban League
(NUL) suggested that the nation should invest in a “Main
Street Marshall Plan” that would solidify gains made by
Black Americans during the Obama Administration.
The plan includes many policy ideas the NUL has
proposed in previous reports including funding for
expanding pre-K, increased Pell grant funding, increasing
the minimum wage, and funding for summer jobs.
“During the Obama era, the economy added 15 million
new jobs, the Black unemployment rate dropped and the
high school graduation rate for African Americans soared.
Now that progress, and much more, is threatened,” said
Marc Morial, the president and CEO of the National
Urban League, during a brief press conference about the
release of the 2017 report.
By the metrics the report used to assemble their data,
the 2017 State of Black America report concluded that:
• The overall equality index for African Americans is
72.3 percent, up from 72.2 percent the year before;
• The social justice index for Black Americans dipped
from 60.9 percent to 57.4 percent;
• The health index for Black Americans grew from 79.4
percent in 2016 to 80 percent in the 2017 report.
Morial also suggested that recent activism against
many of the Trump Administration’s proposals, including
massive cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, have been delayed or blocked completely.
“Because of the vital work of the Urban League and
other civil rights activists the administration has backed
off of many of their first massive proposed cuts,” said
Morial. “These cuts would be a massive move backwards
for African Americans.”
Morial has a familiar ask: A $4 trillion investment in
education, infrastructure and job training. The “Main
Street Marshall Plan” is one of the most detailed proposals
impacting African Americans put forward by any civil
rights organization in the U.S.
“These main streets are in big cities and in small
towns...they are where this nation’s poor and middle class
live,” said Morial. “We need action and not rhetoric.”
A special about the State of Black America will air on
TV One on May 31.
Learn more about the 2017 State of Black America
report at http://stateofblackamerica.org.
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
Ms. Kimberly Pierson, mother of Alton Sterling’s son Na’Quincy Pierson, cries as she speaks tc
reporters following a meeting with the U.S. Justice Department at federal court in Baton Rouge
La., Wednesday, May 3. An investigation into the police shooting death of Sterling in Baton Rouge
found that there was not enough evidence to prove that the white officers acted unreasonably and
willfully, a federal prosecutor said May 3. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
3 shootings by police put
spotlight on Justice Department
By Sadie Gurman and Errin Haines Whack
WASHINGTON (AP) - Three deadly police shootings of black people. Three sets of facts.
Three potentially different outcomes.
On the same day a white former patrolman in South Carolina pleaded guilty to federal civil
~ nghts~charges for killing a motorist, word came down that the U.S. Justice Department would
not prosecute two white officers in the shooting death of a man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And
a white suburban Dallas officer was fired after fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy as the car he
was riding in was driving away.
Civil rights activists are watching closely for clues to how the Trump administration’s Justice
Department intends to handle racially charged shootings by police. But drawing any conclu
sions about the department from those cases is risky, in part because each one is different and
because prosecutions of officers are difficult and rare no matter the administration.
And while Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said he believes sweeping federal investiga
tions of police departments can hurt officer morale and undermine crime-fighting, he has also
promised his Justice Department will prosecute individual officers who break the law.
“I don’t really think you can read that much into it,” said Jonathan Smith, a civil rights attor
ney in the Obama Justice Department, noting that in two of the cases, the investigations began
before Sessions took office.
Here’s a look at each case and how communities are responding.
WALTER SCOTT
Officer Michael Slager shot Scott five times in the back as the unarmed 50-year-old man ran
away during a traffic stop, and cellphone video of the 2015 shooting was viewed millions of
times around the world.
Slager pleaded guilty May 2 to violating Scott’s civil rights by shooting without justification.
He could go to prison for decades. The charges were brought a year ago, during the Obama
administration.
Scott’s mother said the admission of guilt was all she needed to move on.
But the Scott case was unusual. For one, prosecutors had video that clearly showed that Scott
was running from Slager and was at least 17 feet away when he was shot. That contradicted
an account the officer gave investigators before the video surfaced. In pleading guilty, Slager
dropped his claim that he feared for his life.
The community has been uneasy, but there hasn’t been the widespread unrest other cities
have seen.
Ashley Williams, an organizer with Charlotte Uprising in North Carolina who has staged a
number of actions around killings of black people by police, was unsatisfied with Slager’s guilty
plea, since he neither admitted to nor was convicted of murdering Scott.
“What’s happening right now, especially this week, is representative of the failures in the
system we’re told to rely on,” Williams said.
ALTON STERLING
The Justice Department declined to charge two Baton Rouge officers with civil rights viola
tions in the death of Sterling, who was shot during a struggle on the pavement outside a con
venience store in July. Prosecutors said they could not prove the officers acted unreasonably.
According to the Justice Department, the officers said they saw the butt of a gun in one of
Sterling’s pants pockets and saw him try to reach for it before he was shot: A loaded gun was
recovered from the 37-year-old man’s pocket, prosecutors said.
Authorities in such cases must meet a difficult standard of proof, a challenge that has compli
cated prosecutions in past police shootings.
“It is not enough to show that the officer made a mistake, acted negligently, acted by accident
or mistake, or even exercised bad judgment,” the department said.
Myra Richardson, an organizer with The Wave, a youth-led activist group in Baton Rouge,
said Sterling’s case is “representative of the longstanding history of violence that is sanctioned
by the state and mistrust in the police.” Richardson said organizers will continue to work on
behalf of Sterling’s family and in the broader fight to end killings of blacks by police.
JORDAN EDWARDS
It was unclear whether the Justice Department will investigate the shooting of the 15-year-
old on May 6. He was killed by a Texas officer investigating an underage drinking complaint at
a house party the high school freshman was leaving. The boy’s family has not called for federal
intervention.
The officer, Roy Oliver, was fired May 2 for violating departmental policy. Police said video
showed that the car Jordan was in was moving away from police, not going toward them in
reverse, as the Balch Springs Police Department originally claimed.
Rashad Robinson, executive director of the online racial justice organization Color of Change,
is calling for an investigation but is not yet pushing for federal intervention.
“Most of the time, we are calling for federal intervention when the state can’t actually do it,”
Robinson said. “It is not because we think that federal intervention is the only way. It is because
local officials have refused to hold individuals accountable. We want independent, clear inves
tigations.”
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