REP. ALMA ADAMS
REP. ADAMS CHALLENGES
HOUSE GOP TO “MAKE SURE
JAN. 6TH NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Now that the Republicans in the U.S. House have won a slim majority, and with it, House leadership, beyond governing for all Americans, North Carolina Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC-12) has one challenge for newly-minted Speaker Kevin McCarthy - “make sure another January 6th never happens again.’
As she took part in last week’s four Republican marathon to choose a House speaker, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Democrat issued a statement on the two-year anniversary of the January 6, 2021 white supremacist siege on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and the peril the nation was in then.
“As we remember that day, the pain that persists comes not from Donald Trump and his Administration, the Members of Congress who collaborated with the attackers, or the numerous far-right and white supremacist groups that stormed the Capitol,” Rep. Adams stated. “We are well-acquainted with the content of their character, or lack thereof. Like the scorpion on the frog, they have shown they cannot change their nature.”
“Instead, our democracy continues to be wounded and threatened by those who abide the scorpions in their midst.
Rep. Adams lauded the work of the recently ended January 6th Committee, which was chaired by Black Democratic colleague Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, which uncovered important facts revealing former Pres. Donald Trump’s involvement in the U.S. Capitol attack.
“The findings of the January 6th Committee were unambiguous: then-President Donald Trump incited a riot and led an attack on the United States Capitol,” Rep. Adams stated. “I was there that day with two valued members of my staff. Thousands of staff members were traumatized and in fear for their lives. Hundreds of people were injured, including heroic members of the Capitol Police. Some people died because of Donald Trump’s actions. We should never forget them.
“However, due to patriots from both parties, democracy survived, and our country endured. I am thankful for the service of my former (Republican) colleagues, Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, who put country above party so we could get to the truth of what happened on January 6th, 2021.”
Adams seemed to hold out little hope that now that the Republicans are in charge of the U.S. House, some won’t engage in some of the same activities that led up to the January 6th attack.
Already, GOP congressmen like Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and others have promised to use the next two years to investigate Democrats, the FBI and Pres. Biden in an attempt to rewrite history prior to the upcoming 2024 presidential and congressional elections.
Observers say by creating an atmosphere where a Democratic administration is targeted by Republican congressional oversight, that allows many of the same who plotted the January 6th white supremacist attack to plot again without fear of federal law enforcement intervention.
According to the N.Y. Times, for example, a House Judiciary subcommittee headed by Jordan will focus on “the weaponization of the federal government,” including law-enforcement and national-security agencies.” Rep. Jordan says the subcommittee will receive the same funding and support the January 6th Committee got from the just ended Democratic Congress.
The Jordan subcommittee is looking to stop ongoing federal investigations, most likely into those still not prosecuted for the January 6th white supremacist attack.
In her statement, Rep. Adams states that moderate Republicans similar to former representatives Cheney and Kinzinger will have to step forward and confront the hard right-wing of their party in order stop them down the path that they’re headed.
‘Democrats alone cannot remove this cancer in our body politic,” Rep. Adams warned. It is time for Republican leaders to remember the fear and anger they felt on that day two years ago, and act to make sure another January 6th never happens again.”
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JAZMYNE CHILDS SEXUAL
HARASSMENT CASE AGAINST
REV. GATEWOOD POSTPONED AGAIN
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
As of now, there is no clear date when former NC NAACP Youth and College Field Secretary Jazmyne Childs and former NC NAACP Interim Field Director Rev. Curtis Gatewood will face each other in a Durham courtroom for Ms. Childs’ sexual harassment case.
According to Attorney Harvey Kennedy of the Winston-Salem law firm of Kennedy, Kennedy and Kennedy, which represents Ms. Childs, the civil litigation trial was supposed to begin next Tuesday, January 17th. But that date was recently continued (postponed) by the court at the request of the attorney for the defendant.
Atty. Kennedy said that the court may decide a new date within a month.
Kennedy added that the trial date had previously been continued to January 17th from an original date after he was involved in a serious accident.
The lawsuit was originally filed in February 2020.
Ms. Childs is suing Rev. Gatewood and the national NAACP for at least $15 million for emotional and mental distress, claiming alleged sexual harassment by Rev. Gatewood when he was her supervisor in 2017.
Ms. Childs maintains that she has suffered from depression, anxiety, nervousness and insomnia as a result.
She also seeks over $5 million in compensatory damages and more than $25,000 in punitive damages on each of three claims of battery, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
She alleges that the national NAACP and its president, Derrick Johnson, did nothing when the harassment was documented by an outside investigator and reported to him in October 2017. Ms. Childs resigned her NC NAACP position in August 2018 because, according to her suit, she feared that Gatewood “would continue to stalk and intimidate her,” even after he received a cease-and-desist letter from her in December 2017.
Johnson did not suspend Gatewood until 2019. Ms. Childs’ lawsuit states that the NAACP “is liable for the misconduct for Gatewood because the National NAACP ratified Gatewood’s conduct.”
The national NAACP president attended the NC NAACP state convention in Winston-Salem, where he “publicly scolded and rebuked Ms. Childs for going to the press and not handling the matter within the organization,” the lawsuit said. “Ms. Childs was present and heard President Johnson’s remarks.”
Pres. Johnson was reportedly added to the lawsuit because of his alleged remarks.
For his part, Rev. Gatewood has denied Jazmyne Childs’ sexual harassment allegations, calling them “baseless, frivolous and outrageously nonfactual,” though he reportedly told an Associated Press reporter at the time in an email that while he never intentionally harassed anyone, he realized his actions “may have been received as sexual.”
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