CASH IN THE APPLE for
6-22-17
By Cash Michaels
HEROES –
What a strange world we live in. On Wednesday of last week, a crazed gunman
(don’t know what else to call him) went to a public park in Alexandria, Va.
with a loaded automatic weapon with the intent of killing every Republican he
could find.
Apparently
he knew that several Republican US congressmen and their aides were practicing
for a charity baseball games scheduled for later on in the week.
This madman
was plotting a massacre, and it is only by the grace of GOD he wasn’t able to
succeed.
That
“grace” came in the form to two members of Congressman Steve Scalise’s security
detail – US Capitol special agents Crystal Griner and David Bailey.
Both Griner
and Bailey are 32 years of age, and African-Americans. And both are credited
with, according to the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, president
of the United States, and not to mention various witnesses on the scene, with
risking their own lives to save the lives of several congressmen and their
aides when they drew their weapons and began firing at the gunman in an effort
to draw his attention away from the helpless politicians dressed in baseball
gear, with only baseball bats as their protection against a crazed gunman with
an automatic weapon.
How ironic,
indeed, that two people Republican congresspeople normally pay little attention
to, and in fact, do little by way of helping their communities, are the ones
who risked themselves as professionals, and human beings, to save their lives.
Agent
Griner was shot in the ankle as she engaged the gunman. David Bailey, an alum
of NCCU, twisted his ankle in the melee, yet still kept his weapon trained on
the clear threat that hunted the congressman.
Both Griner
and Bailey are young people in their early thirties. She wears her hair in
cornrows and is said to be married to another woman. Bailey got a degree in
physical education during his time at NCCU and is said to be a man of good
character who loves ketchup.
Both come
from a community that Republicans, as a party, led by President Trump, has
tried to hurt by disenfranchising the African-American vote, ending Obamacare,
and cutting public education funding.
So it is
truly a blessing that Special Agents Bailey and Griner survived all of that in
their younger years, and applied themselves enough to rise to the level of
competent law enforcement professionals whose skills and devotion to service
ultimately saved the lives of some of the people who regularly pass laws to
cripple their community.
It is also
ironic that Republicans rarely have anything good to say about
African-Americans unless it involves sports, the military, or coming to the
defense of a brainwashed black Republican.
In this
instance, the GOP were unabashed in their praise of Bailey and Griner as
“heroes.” That’s because the Republicans could not deny the ugly truth –
without those two black US Capitol police officers, thei bacon would have been
fried for sure.
No, I’m NOT
making light of what was clearly a very, very dangerous situation where upwards
of 25 or more lives could have been lost. Those two officers are indeed heroes,
not only top those Republicans, but the American people, and certainly to the
black community, because they positively represented all of us when it counted
the most. Both Bailey and Griner are
college educated, and obviously committed to ideals greater than themselves. They
are excellent examples for other young people to follow.
But most
importantly, Bailey and Griner are heroes because others saw the value of
investing in their education and upbringing.
That’s what
pains me about this story. We could have many. Many more young people of the high
caliber of David Bailey and Crystal Griner if only the powers that be realize
that investing in our communities, through education and economic development is
the way to do it.
This the
Republicans understand that now, or will it take another near death experience
for them to finally realize it?
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US CAPITOL POLICE SPECIAL AGENT DAVID BAILEY (L) POSING
WITH NC CONGRESSMAN G. K. BUTTERFIELD AT THE CONGRESSIONAL CHARITY BASEBALL GAME LAST WEEK. BAILEY THREW OUT THE FIRST PITCH. HE WAS CREDITED WITH CONFRONTED A GUNMAN DURING THE GOP BASEBALL PRACTICE JUNE 14TH. (PHOTO COURTESY OF CONGRESSMAN BUTTERFIELD'S OFFICE)
THE REAL REASON WHY THE
GOP
WITH NC CONGRESSMAN G. K. BUTTERFIELD AT THE CONGRESSIONAL CHARITY BASEBALL GAME LAST WEEK. BAILEY THREW OUT THE FIRST PITCH. HE WAS CREDITED WITH CONFRONTED A GUNMAN DURING THE GOP BASEBALL PRACTICE JUNE 14TH. (PHOTO COURTESY OF CONGRESSMAN BUTTERFIELD'S OFFICE)
COMMUNITY HAILS TWO
HERO
CAPITOL POLICE
OFFICERS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
As of June
14th, beyond the US military, the nation has celebrated two new
American heroes who not only reminded us of what true bravery is in the face of
certain danger, but also of the constant threats our elected officials face in
what many agree is a very divisive, corrosive atmosphere.
On the
morning of June 14th, US Capitol Police special agents David Bailey
and Crystal Griner, rushed into the line of fire when an angry gunman, armed
with an automatic weapon and reportedly searching for Republicans to kill,
began firing his weapon at a public park in Alexandria, Va. Where several GOP
members of Congress were having baseball practice for a charity game later in
the week.
When it was
all over, the gunman was killed, but not before he had shot and wounded at
least three others, included US House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La).
Rep.
Scalise is still in a Washington, DC hospital recovering from a bullet wound to
the hip that once had him in critical condition.
In a speech
on the US House floor later that morning, Speaker Paul Ryan, calling Bailey and
Griner “heroes” said, “We are, as ever,
awed by the tremendous bravery of the Capitol Police. “I expressed our profound
gratitude to them. It is clear to me, based on various eyewitness accounts that
without these two heroes — Agent Bailey and Agent Griner — many lives would
have been lost,” Ryan added.
Special Agent Crystal Griner, 32, who
was shot in the ankle, is known as a “high achiever” scholastically and former
basketball standout for Hood College in Frederick, Md.. Her former chief at the
US Capitol Police said she exuded “confidence and dedication.”
US Capitol Special Agent David
Bailey, 32, is a 2007 alumnus of North Carolina Central University in Durham,
from where he earned a BS degree in physical education, and was also a member
of NCCU Student Government. He reportedly attended high school in Maryland.
Bailey has
reportedly been a US Capitol police officer since 2008, and an administrator at
US Fish and Wildlife before that.
Bailey reportedly twisted his ankle during the
shooting, and he was released from the hospital that Wednesday afternoon.
In a
statement issued June 14th by Interim NCCU Chancellor Dr.
Johnson Akinleye, David Bailey is said
to have “…bravely put his life on the line to
protect and serve the community. This example of “Truth and Service” comes as
no surprise to his professors who knew him to be an engaged and empathetic
student who was committed to excellence.
Those who knew Bailey as a student
at NCCU recall a young man who cared about people, always kept himself
physically fit, and always had a close eye for detail, an important attribute
that serves him well as a law enforcement officer.
NCCU Professor David Nass remembers
teaching Bailey in “Motor Skills in Games” in 2004, and that he had the
“highest grade in the class.”
“What stood out about David Bailey
was his attention to detail and his preparation,” Prof. Nass recalls. “He was
the kind of personality you or I would want to teach our child.”
Another professor at NCCU, Virginian
Politano, said that David Bailey was a “good student” with a 3.5 GPA in her course. She remembers Bailey
as being “outgoing and personable”, and liked by everyone. Bailey was involved
in campus organizations.
“He was a good guy; always wanting
to help other people,” Prof. Politano said.
Congressman G. K. Butterfield
(D-NC-1), is an alumnus of NCCU, and says he’s knows David Bailey.
“He’s an heroic brother. I’m very
proud of David” Rep. Butterfield said Tuesday by phone from Washington, DC.
“I’ve known David for the past eight or nine years since he came on the [US
Capitol Police] force. I know him in a very special way because both he and I
are graduates of North Carolina Central University."
Rep. Butterfield added there aren’t
that many black officers on special leadership detail on the US Capitol Police
force, so African-American members of Congress instinctively bond with the few
who are, checking with them routinely to make sure they’re alright.
“We’re proud of ‘em,” the former
chair of the Congressional Black Caucus insisted. “We have fought to get them
these opportunities in the leadership detail.”
Butterfield
said he’s always been impressed with how professional and dedicated Bailey is,
and while he didn’t know Crystal Griner as well, has always been very impressed
with how professionally she carried herself while on the job.
Referring to the June 14th
shootings, Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC-12) said all members of Congress are
“really shaken” by the assassination attempt. She believes the time has come
for more “good guys” like David Bailey and Crystal Griner to provide better
security for her and her congressional colleagues.
“It could have been any one of us,”
she said Monday by phone from Charlotte.
Long before the events of June 14th,
Rep. Adams told her staff to consider any nasty phone calls or letters received
in their offices as “threats” and report them accordingly. That afternoon,
Adams released a statement:
“Today’s
shooting is a tragic reminder of the rising animosity and tensions in our
country.”
“One
of the things I think Congress has the responsibility for is setting the right
tone, because if we don’t, then the community outrage is going to get out of
control,” Adams says, acknowledging that other black congresspeople have also
gotten threatening calls and letters as well.
Rep.
Al Green (D-Tx) is most prominent on the list, ever since he announced that he
was sponsoring a bill to present articles of impeachment against Pres. Trump.
“We
just have to be a little more diligent about safety and security,” she
continued, noting that the days of not making mandatory security arrangements
at public events is over. “I am very concerned, not just for myself, but my
staff.”
Rep.
Adams also cautioned that Congress has to do a better job protecting itself,
but all Americans, especially when it comes to limiting the sale of guns.
One of the last shooting incidents
involving a US Capitol police officer from North Carolina took place in July,
1998 when Officer Jacob Chestnut was killed at the US Capitol building when a
gunman entered the security screening area and opened fire, killing Chestnut
instantly, and also a detective. Officer Chestnut was the first
African-American to be laid in honor in the US Capitol Building. Then Pres.
Bill Clinton delivered his eulogy.
-30-
DEFENDS RACIAL GERRYMANDERING
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
There is a
reason why Republicans in the NC General Assembly vigorously defend
“stacking-and-packing” black voters into a handful of so-called
“majority-minority” voting districts when drawing congressional and legislative
maps for North Carolina, even though the US Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled
the practice as unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
A reason
that Law Professor and Constitutional scholar Michael Curtis of Wake Forest
University School of Law doesn’t buy.
Republicans
maintain that they are complying with
the mandate of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to create districts where black
voters have the ability to elect congressional and legislative representation
of their choosing.
So several wildly
constructed districts were created by the Republican majority where black
registered voters comprised at least fifty percent or more of the voting
population.
“ It all
sounds like [Republicans] are wonderful and concerned with the rights of
blacks, doesn’t it,” Prof. Curtis asked rhetorically? “But the NCNAACP, black
legislators, and a bunch of other sued about it, and say that’s not the real
story.”
In
virtually every one of the districts the NCNAACP and others have challenged,
the candidate of choice of black voters was winning without a majority black
district,” Curtis continued. In those districts, blacks were less than 50
percent, but joined in coalition with white voters to elect candidates of their
choice.
State
Republicans, however, illegally and unconstitutionally twisted this reality.
“Instead of creating minority opportunity where it did not
exist (as the 1965 VRA required), the (Republican) mapmakers drew districts
where opportunity had been flourishing — where black voters, though the
minority, had been consistently electing their candidates of choice…” reported
Sharon McCloskey in May 2013 for NC
Policy Watch. “[Republicans]… simply added more, pulling black voters
across precinct, district and county lines to reach that 50 percent mark and
beyond, up as high as 57 percent, and leaving whiter districts in their wake.”
As
a result, the 1965 Voting Rights Act was actually used as a “gerrymandering
device,” Prof. Curtis said, an excuse to move African-American voters out of
key voting districts where they could normally would influence legislative and
congressional races.
Curtis says
state Republicans violated the NC Constitution when composing the 2011
legislative maps, ultimately making the legislative districts just about the
worst in the nation. He maintains that the adoption of an independent,
nonpartisan redistricting commission is the best answer for the future.
What will
happen now isn’t clear. A three-judge federal panel has ordered all sides in
the legal dispute over the legislative maps to submit arguments as quickly as
possible so that a hearing can be held and a determination as to when new maps
are redrawn, and possible special elections are held.
A federal
trial scheduled for next week in Greensboro challenging the 2016 congressional maps has now been postponed to
an undetermined date.
And on
Monday, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging Republican partisan
gerrymandering in Wisconsin next fall as going too far, a case that many legal
experts believe could have major ramifications for the nation, and especially
North Carolina.
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR
06-22-17
REPUBLICAN
LEGISLATIVE LEADERS AGREE TO A $23 BILLION
BUDGET PLAN
[RALEIGH]
Teachers would get a 3.3 percent raise, while state employees would see a flat
$1,000 more in their paychecks. Tax cuts for individuals and corporations will
wait until 2019, and another $100 million will go to Hurricane Matthew relief.
This are just some of the headlines from the proposed 2017-2018 budget spending
plan state House and Senate conferees unveiled late Monday. Both houses are now
expected to pass the proposal, an send it to Gov. Cooper, who wasn’t pleased
with the final product. No word yet on whether he will veto it. Cooper wanted
more money for education.
UNC-CHAPEL GET $1
MILLION TO HELP LOW-INCOME STUDENTS ATTEND SCHOOL
[CHAPEL
HILL] UNC-Chapel Hill says the Jack Kent
Cooke Foundation has donated $1 million to help low-income students to attend
the public university, and the institution is planning to raise another million
dollars from private donors in order to combine the funds, and expand the
number of students helped. The foundation is named after the former owner of
the NFL’s Washington Redskins.
PITT COUNTY D.A. TO
MEET WITH GOVERNOR’S OFFICE ABOUT DONTAE SHARPE CASE
[GREENVILLE]
Pitt County District Attorney Kimberly Robb sys she has scheduled a meeting
with representatives of the Governor’s Office to discuss the findings of her
recent review of the Dontae Sharpe case. Supporters of Sharpe say he was
falsely convicted of murder and imprisoned for 20 years. “At the
request of Dontae Sharpe’s lawyers, my office has conducted an in-depth review
of the murder case against him. After examining the relevant police reports and
witness statements, reading over court records from all prior hearings, and
interviewing relevant parties to the case, we have scheduled a meeting with
representatives from the Governor’s office on Thursday to discuss our findings.
Out of respect for his office, we will not make a public statement on the
results of our investigation prior to that meeting,” a statement from Robb’s
office said. On Monday evening, the Rev.
Al Sharpton joined NCNAACP Pres. Rev. William Barber and the Sharpe family in
Greenville demanding that Dontae Sharpe be released.
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