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DOVI7 12/01/17 **CHILL
UNC-CH SERIALS DEPARTMENT
VOLUME 97 - NUMBER 10
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2018
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENT!
NC police seek
investigation
into release of
beating video
ASHEVILLE (AP) - The police chief and the prosecutor
in a North Carolina city say they want to know who
turned over video of white officer beating a black man to
a newspaper, along with a memo about the case.
Asheville police Chief Tammy Hooper tells the
Asheville Citizen-Times that the release of the memo and
the video was illegal and an investigation is necessary to
determine the source of the leak.
“It is unlawful for us to do that. So that points to
another type of investigation that would have to go on
around that,” she said.
Body camera footage is not public record. The footage
and the memo were given to the Citizen-Times.
District Attorney Todd Williams also criticized the
release of the information and supported an investigation.
“The extrajudicial release of evidence in this case
prior to the completion of the investigation, such as the
body cam video, risks compromising a potential future
prosecution of involved officers and may require its own
independent investigation,” Williams said in a news
release.
Hooper on March 1 issued an apology to Johnnie
Jermaine Rush, who is shown in the video being pinned
on the ground and beaten by an officer after being stopped
for jaywalking in August.
City officials and community leaders, who first
learned of the Aug. 24 incident through the Citizen-
Times story, said they were outraged at the beating and
that police had not notified them about it or the ongoing
police investigation into the actions of the officer, Chris
Hickman.
Hickman is a decorated 10-year department veteran
who was transferred from the patrol division to detective
in 2014, the same year he received an medal of honor. On
Jan. 14, 2017, he was transferred back to patrol.
He resigned Jan. 5, 2018. He didn’t respond to repeated
emails and phone calls from the newspaper, the Citizen-
Times reported.
City Council member Sheneika Smith said state law
about who can see body camera video is too restrictive.
Leaders of local governments need to see the videos
when there are allegations of excessive force and possible
litigation, Smith added.
“When things get out of hand, who’s gonna protect our
citizens? At the end of the day that’s the real focus,” she
said.
Dewana Little, appointed by City Council to lead the
formation of a human relations commission, said review
could be done by committees that focus on equity issues
and police relations.
“There are all these hurdles to viewing the footage,”
Little said. “What is the point if we can’t hold them
accountable for things on the body cams?”
It’s not clear if the investigation has started.
In lieu of White
House visit, Warriors
take kids to museum
ose Tomas, the senior vice president of global human resources and the executive
vice president for Lockheed Martin (Ret.) (left) and Linda Gooden from the General
Motors Board of Directors (right) present Alicia Boler Davis, the executive vice
president global manufacturing for General Motors with the 2018 Black Engineer
of the Year Award. (General Motors)
Alicia Boler Davis Honored
with 2018 Black Engineer
of the Year Award
By Freddie Allen (NNPA Newswire Contributor)
The US Black Engineer & Information Technology (USBE&IT) magazine recently
celebrated the history-making career of Alicia Boler Davis, the executive vice president
of global manufacturing for General Motors, by honoring her with the 2018 Black
Engineer of the Year Award, during the BEYA gala in Washington, D.C. Boler Davis is
the sixth woman to receive the award.
USBE&IT magazine recognizes, Boler Davis “as a global ambassador of goodwill
for underrepresented minorities in science and technology, and for women in STEM,” a
press release about the award said.
USBE&IT magazine is published by the Career Communications Group, Inc.,
which was founded over 30 years ago to promote significant achievement in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics professional careers, according to the group’s
website.
Boler Davis began her GM career in 1994 as a manufacturing engineer at the Midsize/
Luxury Car Division in Warren, Mich. She has held many positions of increasing
responsibility in manufacturing, engineering and product development, according to
her biography.
Boler Davis was the first African American woman to serve as the plant manager at
a GM vehicle manufacturing plant at the Lansing, Mich., Consolidated Operations and
Arlington Assembly in Texas. She also simultaneously served in roles as plant manager
of the Michigan Orion Assembly and Pontiac Stamping facilities and vehicle chief
engineer, and vehicle line director for North America Small Cars, “positions she held
until January 2012,” according to the press release about the award.
The press release also noted that, in February 2012, Boler Davis was appointed
U.S. vice president of Customer Experience. Later that year, her role was expanded to’
vice president of Global Quality and U.S. Customer Experience.
“Under her leadership, GM improved vehicle quality and redefined customer
care and its interaction with customers through social media channels and Customer
Engagement Centers,” the press release said. “More recently, Boler Davis was senior
vice president, Global Connected Customer Experience where she led the company’s
By Brian McNally
WASHINGTON (AP) - With an offer to visit the White House
as NBA champions rejected and rescinded, Kevin Durant and the
Golden State Warriors instead spent their day off in the nation’s
capital touring the National Museum of African American History
and Culture with local students.
In town ahead of their game against the Washington Wizards
on Wednesday night, Warriors players, coaches and front office
executives met with students from Durant’s hometown of Seat
Pleasant, Maryland, which is 8 miles from the White House.
Traditionally, the reigning champs will be feted by the president
when they play at Washington.
The Warriors didn’t want to wade into much political talk at
their pregame shootaround Wednesday, a day after they went to the
museum.
Did they miss the pomp and circumstance of the customary White
House visit?
“No,” Durant said. “Not at all.”
His teammate David West simply shook his head when asked the
same question. Coach Steve Kerr? “You’re not going to get me to go
down that path, sorry,” was his reply.
The Warriors spent Tuesday at the museum with 40 students from
Seat Pleasant and 10 more from the Tragedy Assistance Program for
Survivors, which helps children who have lost loved ones that served
in the military. The private museum tour lasted three hours.
“The kids - their smiles lit up the room,” Kerr said. “Our guys
understand how much of an impact they can make on these kids. It’s
a reminder of how powerful sports can be and how transformative
sports can be for change.”
Gun Safety Is about Freedom
By Derrick Johnson (President and CEO, NAACP)
Fear at school was something the Little Rock Nine knew all too well. Facing vitriol, racism,
and merciless violence, the Little Rock Nine were escorted, for their own safety, by federal
troops to their high school classes. For those brave students selected to make the promises of
the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision a reality, fear and terror were a
normal part of the school-day routine.
Decades later, fear and terror still exist in our children’s classrooms. Due to the National
Rifle Association (NRA) and the politicians that support them, meaningful discourse on the
issue of gun control is nearly impossible, and in that silence, school shootings from Sandy Hook
to Parkland keep the classroom a battleground, not a place of learning.
Some African American communities know all too well the potential danger associated with
everyday activities, as gun violence spills into our communities from various angles. Yet, for the
most part, schools have remained safe places for our young people.
Given the disproportionate damage gun violence is having on our communities, the NAACP
has advocated for sane, sensible laws, to help eliminate or at least to decrease the damage and
death caused by gun violence. Requiring universal background checks on all gun sales and
transfers, banning military-style, semi-automatic assault guns, enacting tough, new criminal
penalties for straw purchasers and gun traffickers, and allowing the Center for Disease Control
to research gun violence as a major public health issue are just a few of the reasonable steps
lawmakers could take to stem the tide of gun related deaths in neighborhoods across the nation.
Poll: Nearly
6 in 10
Americans
say Trump
a racist
By Emily Swanson And
Russell Contreras
WASHINGTON (AP)
Large numbers of
Americans say they think
President Donald Trump’s
policies have made
things worse for African-
Americans, Hispanics
and Muslims. And more
than half say the president
himself is a racist.
A new poll by The
Associated Press-NORC
Center for Public Affairs
Research finds that 57
percent of Americans think
Trump’s policies have been
bad for Muslims, and 56
percent think they’ve been
bad for Hispanics. Forty-
seven percent, including
three-quarters of blacks,
think they’ve been bad for
African-Americans.
Fifty-seven percent of
all adults say they think
Trump is a racist. The poll
finds that 85 percent of
Democrats consider Trump
racist, but just 21 percent of
Republicans agree.
Trump has rejected
accusations of racism,
telling reporters at one
point, "I am the least
racist person you have ever
interviewed.”
Marion Barry statue
to pay tribute to a
flawed DC icon
By Ashraf Khalil
WASHINGTON (AP) - For
many Americans, Marion Barry
was something of a punchline.
The late Washington mayor
was largely known around the
country for having been caught
on video smoking crack cocaine
in a 1990 FBI sting.
But inside the District of
Columbia, Barry’s legacy
is far more complicated and
emotional. The man who
dominated a generation of
Washington politics is adored
by many as a champion of civil
rights and advocate for the city’s
downtrodden.
These complexities will be
on display this weekend when a
bronze statue of Barry, who died
in 2014, will be unveiled outside
the Washington City Council
building. The 8-foot statue by
sculptor Steven Weitzman will
loom over Pennsylvania Avenue
just blocks from the White
House.
The move to honor Barry in
such a way may seem mystifying
to non-Washingtonians. But
among Barry’s supporters, the
statue is an appropriate tribute
to a legitimate DC icon - a man
so popular and influential that
he walked out of federal prison
and immediately began winning
elections again with one of the
most improbable comebacks in
American political history.
“He was a living legend,” said
City Councilman Trayon White,
during an appearance March
1 on an influential local radio
show hosted by Kojo Nnamdi.
“Marion Barry was an integral
part of getting DC where it is
today... To honor a man like that
who touched so many people -
it’s right for the city.”