MONICA AND DAMEON SHEPARD
ATTORNEYS TRY TO DISPEL
RACE FROM SHEPARD LAWSUIT
By Cash Michaels
staff writer
It hasn’t even been thirty days since the civil lawsuit in the Monica and Dameon Shepard home invasion case was filed, and opposing attorneys in the case are already trying to weaken one of the litigation’s most compelling arguments - that a “mob” of angry white people, arms with weapons and led by a uniformed New Hanover County sheriff’s deputy - Jordan Kita - tried to forcefully enter the home of a Black Pender County family under threat of violence.
And they allegedly attempted so, because the Shepards were Black.
The May 2020 incident made national news precisely because of that reason, and yet shortly after the Shepard’s lawsuit was filed just a few weeks ago last month, legal representatives for those criminally charged intensified their campaign to buy their clients the public’s benefit of a doubt.
"This case is no longer a colossal misunderstanding. Instead, it is about destroying the Kita family’s good name and their lives, with a lie," said Jordan Kita’s attorney James Rutherford, in a statement, hoping to influence prospective white jurors.
The so-called “lie,” according to Rutherford, is that his client led the 13 or so armed angry white mob to the Shepard’s front door because the family was Black.
In fact, according to the Shepard’s lawsuit, Kita and his father, Timothy, led the group there because they were looking for someone Black who they mistakenly thought lived at that Pender County address.
The Shepards were only one of two Black families living in that neighborhood at that time.
Allegedly, Jordan Kita tried to force his way in past the Shepards’ door, but neither Dameon, nor his mother, Monica, would allow Kita entry.
After the incident, Kita was fired by the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, and criminally charged with forcible trespass, misdemeanor breaking and entering, and willful failure to discharge duties.
Still, atty. Rutherford maintains race had nothing to do with the incident.
"The Kita family is not racist,” he says. “They are a loving blended family full of inclusion."
"The damages caused by these false allegations against the Kita family are immeasurable," he continued in a statement. "This family is victim of a nationally broadcast smear campaign and look forward to the day they are vindicated."
And then there is atty. Woody White, who represents Robert Austin Wood, one of the alleged members of the white mob at the Shepards door who was seen carrying an assault rifle as he stood behind Deputy Kita, who also had his service weapon with him.
Wood, like Kita, was also criminally charged in the incident. He has pled not guilty to “going armed to the terror of the people” by the Pender County District Attorney’s office.
Atty White maintains that there was no racial intent to his client’s actions, and adds that Wood is the victim of “racial extortion.”
"Nothing bad befell the Shepard family; no racial slurs were used, no voices were raised, no threats were conveyed. It was a brief and seemingly uneventful misunderstanding that lasted less than 2 minutes last May,” atty. White said in a statement.
But atty James Lea, who filed suit on behalf of the Shepard family, sees it differently.
“What are you to think? Imagine what would have happened if you had 15 black people - three of them armed on the front door step of a white family’s house, and the Pender County Sheriff’s Dept showed up? What do you think would have happened in the kind of situation?, Lea asked rhetorically.
And Rev. Dante’ Murphy, president of the Pender County NAACP, isn’t buying the “no racial intent” argument either. He responded to atty. Woody White’s contention that the Shepard’s lawsuit was a “sad development.”
“Let’s remove any discussion of racism from the matter,” Rev. Murphy contends. “What remains is the dreadful thought that people could have easily died that night - and such a thought can be terrifying to those most likely to have died.”
Rev. Murphy continued, “A single person showing up at a stranger’s home with a visible weapon indicates the anticipation of trouble. But this incident involved multiple strangers and multiple weapons, and one of those persons prevented a homeowner from closing the door to their home. The threat of injury was clearly apparent.”
“That a lawsuit would result from this occurrence alone, regardless of historically racial issues, seems unsurprising,” Rev. Murphy wrote.
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MISSION: IMPROVING BLACK
COVID-19 VACCINATIONS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Amid strong skepticism based on historic distrust, the fact remains, African-Americans desperately need to be vaccinated against the deadly coronavirus, especially given an estimated death rate of at least twice that of their white counterparts.
Here in North Carolina, according to figures from the NC Dept. of Health and Human Services, while whites in designated groups thus far have received over 79 percent of the first dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine thus far administered across the state, African-American counterparts have only received over 13 percent, even though Blacks make up roughly 22 percent of the state’s population, and 21 percent of the cases.
Whites comparatively, are 62 percent of the COVID-19 cases statewide, according to NCDHHS.
At least 25 percent of COVID-19 cases that are deceased are Black.
“We do not see that we are vaccinating our African-American, our Hispanic community, our Native American community at the same rate we are vaccinating our white community, and that means we have work to do,” admitted Dr. Mandy Cohen, NCDHHS Secretary last week.
In recent weeks, NCDHHS has engaged Black leadership across the state to generate more trust in the community when it comes to individuals getting vaccinated. As has been well documented, the medical community’s torrid history with the African-American community in terms of unethical experimentation and low standards of treatment have prevented many from trusting a vaccine so quickly developed and released not even a year after the COVID-19 virus was first discovered.
Then there is the question of how thoroughly was it tested, and on who, before it was ultimately deemed safe to administer to the American public.
And even with those questions arguably answered, many still don’t want to be among the first to take the first dose of the vaccine, preferring to wait and monitor news reports of how those who have already taken it fairing.
To counter much of this Black churches - perhaps the most trusted institutions - are being enlisted to sponsor vaccination days in their communities. In Raleigh, at least 16 Black churches have become sites for vaccinations.
In Guilford County, 3,800 vaccinations were offered this week by appointment at county clinics at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, as well as the Greensboro Coliseum, and High Point University Community Center.
CN Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church in Charlotte partnered with Atrium Health mobile vaccine clinic.
Prominent Black leaders, like NCNAACP Pres. Rev. Dr. T Anthony Spearman, are publicly getting their shots, and actively encouraging others in the community to get theirs.
In New Hanover County, no new partnerships with Black churches have been announced this week, but there have been COVID-19 vaccination clinics at New Beginning Christian Church, Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church (150 last week), and in Brunswick County at Cedar Grove Missionary Baptist Church.
At the website for New Hanover Regional Medical Center (NHRMC), it is announced, “At this time, NHRMC does not have appointments available for our current supply of COVID-19 vaccinations. We will announce when new appointments are available when we have additional supplies. Please check this page for updates (https://www.nhrmc.org/coronavirus).
North Carolina is ramping up it’s administration of COVID-19 vaccinations, going beyond local health centers and hospitals, and sponsoring mass events in local stadiums and large locations that can hold tens of thousands of people at one time.
At least 300 Walgreens stores across North Carolina will also begin administering the vaccine as of Friday, Feb. 12th, to those 65 and older, healthcare workers, longterm care staff and residents.
Walk-ins are not accepted, so people are urged to go to Walgreens website to make an appointment.
Another pharmacy chain, CVS, will not be administering the CoVID-19 vaccine in North Carolina.
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PANDEMIC DOESN’T SLOW DOWN
NC SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVEMENT
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
If recent history is any indication, The social justice movement in North Carolina, led by the NC NAACP, is showing no signs of slowing down.
True, the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically slowed down most social justice marches and rallies in North Carolina, especially in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing of May 2020. But as the record voter turnout statewide last November proved, when citizens, especially Black voters, are anxious to meaningfully engage for social change, they will find a way to do so within the parameters of pandemic restrictions such as wearing masks and social distancing.
Last Saturday with the theme, “Hope in Action: Living a New World into Existence,” the NCNAACP sponsored the Historic Thousands on Jones Street Motorcade, where an estimated 120 registered vehicles made their way from downtown Raleigh to the state Capitol, displaying signs decrying injustice.
“This is one of the things that we put in place to give the sense that we are all coming together despite the pandemic that is going on around us,” NCNAACP Pres. Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman is quoted. In local news reports as saying. “We are not going to allow the pandemic, or any of it’s restraints from holding us back from doing forward together as we have been for the past fifteen years,” noting how long the annual HK on J Moral March and People’s Assembly, which is scheduled for this Saturday, February 13th, has been held.
Since 2008, over 80,000 people would annually take part.
This year, HK on J will be virtual via Zoom, with Rev. Spearman and past NCNAACP Pres. Rev. Dr. William Barber, current co-chair of the Repairers of the Breach, presiding from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. The HK on J Assembly Coalition is made up of the more that 125 North Carolina NAACP branches, youth councils and college chapters from across the state and members of over 200 other social justice organizations.
For more information, contact your local NAACP chapter.
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 02-11-21
ORANGE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD TO CHANGE SCHOOL NAME WITH SLAVERY TIES
[HILLSBOROUGH] The Orange County Board of Education is slated to choose a new name for Cameron Park Elementary School in Hillsborough because it was originally named for prominent slave holder Paul Carrington Cameron. That is also the reason why the name Cameron Village was dropped by a popular shopping center in Raleigh last month in favor of the new moniker, Village District.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION PASSES NEW SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS
[RALEIGH] After a spat of concurs, the NC Board o Education last week, by a 7-5 vote, passed new standards for the state’s social studies curriculum that will allow for a more diverse view of American and North Carolina history. However, students will still not be able to learn about systemic racism or gender identity because the words “systemic” and “gender” had to be removed first by the Republican schools supt. before passage. Black Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson bitterly opposed the social studies standards change, saying that systemic racism did not exist.
NC SENATE PASSES BILL REQUIRING IN-PERSON SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
[RALEIGH] Now it’s the NC House’s turn to ratify a bill that, if it becomes law, will compel North Carolina school students to return to the classroom for in-person learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The NC Senate passed the measure on Tuesday, sending it onto the House. Gov. Cooper and NCDHHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen recently did an about face and urged school districts to reopen their schools for in-person instruction.
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