INTERIM CHIEF DONNIE WILLIAMS
POLICE PROTESTERS LODGE SEVEN
DEMANDS TO CITY COUNCIL
By Cash Michaels
staff writer
The energy from the ongoing demonstrations after the police killing of George Floyd is still strong in Wilmington, with demonstrators Tuesday demanding changes in police and social service funding.
They also demanded that interim Wilmington Police Chief Donnie Williams be made permanent chief after four months in office.
Chanting “BLACK LIVES MATTER, BLACK LIVES MATTER,”
the Wilmington Advocacy and Protest Organization (WAPO), presented their list of demands to the Wilmington City Council Tuesday during what they called their “Occupy the City Council Meeting” protest.
WAPO protesters marched from the steps of City Hall to the Convention Center where the Council meeting was being held.
Because on crowd limitation due to COVID-19 restrictions, only a few WAPO members were allowed in to the meeting, but they did present their list of demands, which included:
1. Five million dollars re-allocated for community-led restorative justice.
2. Citizen Review Board with subpoena power and budget power.
3. Required therapy and anonymous access to Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs).
4. Required cultural competency and training on local history.
5. Mandatory use of body cams when engaging with the public.
6. De-prioritize misdemeanor drug offenses
7. Instate Chief Williams as official police chief. Despite wanted changes to the new $35 million budget, the Council passed it without reducing any funding for the police Dept. Mayor Bill Safe said Interim Chief Williams indicated that he need an adequate funding level to maintain safety in the city.
The Council did not address Interim Chief William’s tenure.
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REV. DANTE A. MURPHY
PENDER NAACP CALLS
FOR SUPT.’S RESIGNATION
By Cash Michaels
Staff writer
The president of the Pender NAACP wants the Pender County Schools’ Supt. Steven Hill to resign, alleging that he has tolerated white teachers “openly” using racial slurs act Pender High School since last October, but has done nothing about it.
Chapter Pres. Rev. Dante Murphy, who led a group of citizens and Black Lives Matter members to protest and speak out during the Pender County School Board meeting Tuesday night at Topsail High School in Hampstead, also alleged in a prior press release:
- The abusive use of attorneys in covering up child sexual misconduct occurring within the schools.
- A lack of urgency in responding and bringing closure to several allegations of misconduct occurring within the [school] system.
-A culture of intimidation and fear by administrators speaking out against racism in the district.
A spokesman for the Pender County Board of Education indicated that an outside law firm, Blue LLC, had been hired to conduct a third-party investigation into the racial allegations, which were first reported on Facebook by a school system employee.
The Board has also requested that the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Dept. of Education to probe the matter as well.
Some of the signs carried by protesters at the school board meeting Tuesday night said, “What are you teaching your child that will stop them from killing mines?”; “Black Teachers Matter, Black Students Matter and should be treated with equality;” and “You Cannot Teach Black Children + Be Silent About the Injustices Against Them.”
On Facebook later that night, Rev. Murphy posted, “Thanks Pender County for standing strong for our children. We will not stop fighting and will not allow our children to be called the “N” word by school staff.”
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MIKE FORTE'S FACEBOOK POST
BRUNSWICK NAACP PRESIDENT CARL PARKER
BRUNSWICK DEMOCRATIC PARTY
CHAIR, NAACP CALL FOR GOP COMMISSIONER'S
RESIGNATION BEHIND "RACIST" COMMENTS
RESIGNATION BEHIND "RACIST" COMMENTS
By Cash Michaels
Staff writer
Tom Sapp, the Chairman of the New Brunswick County Democratic Party, has called for the resignation of county Commissioner Mike Forte after the Republican posted what Sapp called in a June 14th “letter to the editor”, “…deplorable,” and “…racist” posts on his Facebook page opining about the massive demonstrations in the aftermath of the George Floyd police killing.
In Forte’s post, he lamented “All whites should give their homes and wealth to a black family”; “All whites are racist”; “Remove historic statues because they offend” and “Defund Police Departments” as just a few of 20 apparent list unjust grievances against white people.
Commissioner Forte ended his grievance list with “ARE YOU WOKE YET?,” an apparent snide backhand to the social justice mantra of being socially conscious, or “woke.”
Brunswick Democratic Party Chair Sapp was not amused.
“As you can see it is tone deaf to the events happening around the country as well as absolutely false in many of the points listed,” Chairman Sapp wrote. “What makes this posting so deplorable is the fact that the taxpayers of Brunswick County pay Mr. Forte a salary and expenses to represent the people of this county. However, if that salary was as an employee of Brunswick County, he would have likely been dismissed as have other county employees in the past few days due to their own social posts that were deemed inappropriate.”
Sapp goes on, “Another sad point is that no other commissioner or Republican elected official has spoken out about this absolutely racist posting that only can do one thing, and that is to keep this nation apart. While many Americans are starting to understand the facts of systemic abuse of African-Americans in this country, one commissioner and his party continue to stand in the way of true freedom and justice for all, no matter the cost to the citizens of this country, state, and county. Of course the same party members and others who stand silent on Mr. forte's posting will certainly have something to say about my comments. It will range from law and order, to the adoration for a flag of a failed nation based on human bondage for economic posterity.”
“Mr. Forte should resign,” Chairman Sapp continued, “… and the county and state Republican party should call for same.”
Carl Parker, president of the Brunswick County NAACP, issued a release late Tuesday evening, supporting a petition for Commissioner Forte to "Immediately step down."
“This is a disgusting level of ignorance that’s painful to see coming from anyone, much less an elected official," Mr. Parker said. "No, we will not go backwards here in Brunswick County. We condemn his racist remarks, and regard them as a prime example of why he neither has the maturity, wisdom, knowledge, nor common decency to further represent the citizens of Brunswick County.”
"In addition to being an affront to our community and an insult to our membership, Mr. Forte’s post is in direct violation of both the Commissioners Code of Conduct and the Commissioners Code of Ethics as stated on the Brunswick County website," Mr. Parker continued. "The times we are in dictate that we not sit idly by while someone who is elected to serve ALL the citizens of Brunswick County spouts hate and division. Therefore, I urge you to join me and hundreds of other county residents in signing this petition demanding Mike Forte’s resignation."
Commissioner Forte is a retired businessman from New Jersey who moved to Brunswick County in 2005. He was elected to the Brunswick County Commission Board in 2015.
Commissioner Forte is a retired businessman from New Jersey who moved to Brunswick County in 2005. He was elected to the Brunswick County Commission Board in 2015.
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COMMUNITY LEADERS MEET
WITH BRUNSWICK SHERIFF
ABOUT POLICING CONCERNS
By Cash Michaels
Staff writer
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, Brunswick County Sheriff John W. Ingram has been petitioned by community leaders and citizens to ban the further use of “ knee holds and chokeholds”; review “all local and county law enforcement officer records of discipling or charging officers that have been charged with misconduct; and “ …immediately review their respective “Use of Force Continuum” to ensure that they have at least six levels of steps, with clear rules on escalation,” among others requests.
At a June 5th meeting, Carl Parker, president of the Brunswick County NAACP; along with Deborah Dicks Maxwell, president of the New Hanover County NAACP and District Director of the Walter B. White District of the NC NAACP; and a group of other community members, met with Sheriff Ingram, and presented him with their list of “six points of action” designed to forge a better relationship between the Brunswick black community and local law enforcement.
“This group came together in an effort to have honest and candid conversations about the events happening around our country in terms of race relations, discord and mistrust between the black community and law enforcement, concerns of police brutality against African Americans, and ways we can work together to enact change,” a Brunswick NAACP press release about the meeting said.
According to the release, Mr. Parker introduced the following statement to Sheriff Ingram:
“The Brunswick County Branch of NAACP was saddened along with the world by the untimely and unwarranted death of George Floyd. Our Branch issued a press release to thank Sheriff Ingram, the NC Sheriff’s Association and all local police chiefs that condemned that unconscionable death. We here in Brunswick County are angry like the rest of the Nation but we are turning our “Anger into Action.” Protesting has its place; but to create a more just and equitable system, there are other things that need to occur. Aligning with our National NAACP leadership, these are our six points of action that we ask you to act upon immediately”:
- • As a community body, will the towns, cities and Brunswick County immediately identify if each governmental body has a standing Citizen’s Review Boards – (These should be "Review" boards not "Advisory" boards), with subpoena power? If no review board, our municipalities should identify what accountability structures they currently have in place.
- Will all the local law enforcement agencies and Sheriff’s Office immediately review their respective “Use of Force Continuum” to ensure that they have at least 6 levels of steps, with clear rules on escalation?
- Will all local law enforcement agencies and Sheriff’s Office immediately ban the use of “Knee Holds and chokeholds” and deem this practice as unacceptable in Use of Force Continuums?
- Will the Sheriff’s Office immediately ask or conduct a review of NC State’s Open Records Acts to determine if local law enforcement and/or sheriff officer’s misconduct information and disciplinary histories are shielded from the public?
- Will the Sheriff’s Office immediately review all local and county law enforcement officer records of disciplining or charging Officers that have been charged with misconduct?
- Will all local law enforcement agencies and the Sheriff’s Office formally support and request that the Governor of the State of North Carolina establish a State-wide review board to examine events where Police and Sheriff Officers use deadly force and the results of such examinations be tied to recertification credentials?
- Meeting participants include - Sheriff John W. Ingram; Chief Deputy Charlie Miller; Carl Parker, NAACP; Deborah Dicks Maxwell, NAACP; Brayton Willis, NAACP, Sonya Patrick, Black Lives Matter; Dr. Jerry Oates, BC Schools Superintendent; Lynda Stanley; Jwantana Gardner-Frink; Audrey Smith; Samantha Ingram; David Boynton; Emmanuel Price; Brian Sanders; Elizabeth Bynum; Rev. Cameron Hankins; Felicia Woodard; Lamar Siler; Judge Pauline Hankins; Troy Simmons; Karla Stanley; Tiffany Fullwood; Rev. Lavar Marlow
A follow-up meeting will be scheduled for sometime in July.
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Editorial - WILMINGTON POLICE CHIEF DONNY WILLIAMS
[Editor's note - The Journal first published this editorial back in February, and since then, the Wilmington City Council has done nothing. Now, the community vocally said the same thing as part of their list of demands put before the Council Tuesday night, and the Council still did nothing. So we're republishing our February 2020 editorial in support of our community's demand.]
Let’s not beat around the bush here.
Donny Williams should NOT be Wilmington’s Interim police chief.
Donny Williams SHOULD be Wilmington’s police chief, PERIOD!
We know, we know…it is standard practice for the City Council to name the assistant police chief the interim police chief when the retiring police chief finally calls it a career, as former Chief Ralph Evangelous did on Feb. 1st (and we wish him well in his retirement).
But let’s be real….how much time do we need to know that Interim Chief Williams is a good man, strong leader, and top cop.
Even Chief Evangelous thinks do.
“For the past year and a half, I’ve had the pleasure of watching Assistant Chief Williams help to lead the Wilmington Police Department. His hard work and commitment to community policing continues to be an asset to our agency. I’m confident he will continue to move this agency forward, while focusing on the safety and well-being of our citizens.
“I fully support the decision of the city council,” Chief Evangelous concluded.
The only other endorsement that means more is from the community, and as far as we’re concerned, chief Willams already has that.
He’s a Wilmington native with over 29 years of service to the force, and the people. He knows the WPD inside and out, having served in just about every official capacity.
But beyond being an officer, a police captain, a deputy chief over Special and Criminal Investigations, and overseeing the department’s largest Patrol division, Chief Williams has always made time for our community’s youth, working to expand the Police Activities League (PAL) enrolling over 500 young people per year.
Chief Williams meets all of the requirements of experienced, and educated leadership, with a BA from Mt. Olive College in Management and Organizational Development. He is also a graduate of the Administrative Officer’s Management Program at NC State University.
Williams has also completed the 75th Session of Police Executive Research Forum Senior Management Institute for Police.
And last, but certainly not least, Chief Williams oversaw the design, development, and completion of the Haynes - Lacewell Police and fire Training Facility.
There really is no need for discussion here. We have an accomplished Wilmington native already at the wheel of our city’s police department, who has knocked down the door of every requirement we could ask.
So Wilmington City Council…we all know you have a thing for the dramatic, but let’s be real here. Chief Williams is just about all you could ask for to ensure that the citizens of the Port City are well protected, and respected.
Let’s not wait six months for doing what we all know is the right thing. Make Donny Williams Wilmington’s PERMANENT police chief as soon as possible!
A better servant of the people you simply will not find!
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REV. BARBER LEADS “POOR
PEOPLE’S” VIRTUAL
ASSEMBLY ON JUNE 20TH
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
It is touted to be “the largest digital gathering of poor, dispossessed and impacted people, faith leaders and people of conscience…,” and, led by Rev. Dr. William Barber, former president of the NCNAACP, it’s happening this Saturday, June 20th.
“The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival” is sponsoring the national digital event from Washington, D.C. “…to dramatize the pain and prophetic leadership of the poor…,” effectively “waking the nation to the interlocking injustices facing 140 million poor and low-income people - 43 percent of the nation.”
The Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March was originally planned to be a mass gathering and procession on the streets of our nation’s Capitol, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed those plans.
It is certainly no accident that this event is taking place during a crucial election year. Rev. Barber, president of social justice group “Repairers of the Breach,” and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign along with Rev Dr. Liz Theoharis, director of the Kairos Center at Union Theological Seminary say the virtual mass assembly and march is designed to “organize towards collective action to enact a moral agenda” for the nation, and “…demands that [Democrats and Republicans] address the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism…”
Ultimately, both reverends Barber and Theoharis hope that the collective energy generated by the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington will translate in a greater voice for poor people at the polls this November, and beyond.
“If the rejected millions—the poor without health insurance, without living wages, without clean water, without voting protections—unite, we can move the moral and political imagination of this country and revive the heart of our democracy,” they say.
The event has taken on more significance since the racial deaths of Amaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. In an “Open Letter to Our Nation’s Lawmakers on Systematic Racism, the Poor People’s Campaign wrote:
We lift up those who are taking action against police brutality and all forms of violence against black, brown, indigenous and poor people. Our collective public mourning is an expression of outrage, anguish and pain from these multiple pandemics of police violence, policy violence and economic violence. We are committed to ending systemic racism, poverty, militarism, climate crisis and a distorted moral narrative that denies, excuses and justifies violence against us.
“We need sweeping change. The long train of abuses demand it. Too many deaths demand it. And the protests demand it.
We demand that our politicians address the full extent of this violence — not only the police violence — that we have been suffering from for generations.
Somebody’s been hurting our people for far too long. And we won’t be silent anymore.
The Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, a digital virtual event, will be a two-hour program to be broadcast on Saturday, June 20th at 10:00am and 6:00pm, and again on Sunday, June 21st at 6:00pm . Visit June2020.org to tune in.
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REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D-NY)
REP. ALMA ADAMS (D-NC-12)
ADAMS FILES BILL OUTLAWING
ADAMS FILES BILL OUTLAWING
POLICE CHEMICAL AGENTS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
During the recent peaceful demonstrations spurred by the police killing of George Floyd, police officers in Charlotte literally trapped protesters on all sides of a parking garage, and then used tear gas and pepper spray on them.
A minister caught in the melee confirms that the attack by CMPD was “unprovoked.”
U.S. Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC-12), who represents Charlotte - Mecklenburg in Congress, was not pleased.
“The Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, as well as police departments across the country, should immediately and permanently end the use of tear gas,” Rep. Adams declared shortly afterwards. “Weapons that are illegal in war should never be used on American soil, especially against our own people."
This week, Adams, still angry about both the Charlotte, and the Washington, D.C incident where federal officers also used chemical agents to break up peaceful demonstrators, put her lawmaking where her mouth is, and introduced “the Right to PROTEST (Protect Real Objectors Taking Exception to Systemic Transgressions) Act.”
"Across our country, chemical agents are being used on protesters who are predominately peaceful,” Rep. Adams said in a statement. “Entire groups of protesters are being made to choke on gas, as well as being subjected to pepper balls and pepper spray, for the actions of a few protesters.”
"Over the past month, protesters were often the victims of indiscriminate force. On many occasions, they couldn’t breathe."
"The Right to PROTEST Act makes such indiscriminate use of chemical agents a federal crime, holding all police departments nationwide accountable. We cannot lose the trust of the public by inflicting indiscriminate punishments without judge, jury, or trial," Rep. Adams concluded.
The bill has several important cosponsors, including Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney.
“Troops are banned from deploying tear gas and chemical agents against enemies in war, and yet we are still using it here at home - that is unacceptable,” Rep. Maloney said. “I am proud to join Rep. Adams on her bill to stop law enforcement from indiscriminately using these tactics on Americans demonstrating their First Amendment rights to peacefully protest.”
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