HEARTBREAK AND DISBELIEF
AFTER SPEARMAN AUTOPSY
REPORT
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Reaction to the official autopsy report released last week documenting that former NAACP President Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, 71, committed suicide by a “self-inflicted gunshot wound” to his head, has ranged from disbelief to pure sadness from those who knew him best.
“Jesus, Lord, I’m heartbroken, and heartbroken for [his] family and friends,” opined Rev. Spearman’s friend and civil rights colleague, former NC NAACP Pres. Bishop William Barber.
The autopsy report confirmed what had been originally reported in July of 2022, that Spearman’s body, dressed solely in a t-shirt and pajama bottom, was slumped on a couch in the basement of his Greensboro home.
A large pool of blood was near the couch., having dripped down from the fatal head wound incurred from the handgun Spearman had used.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s report also noted slash marks on both wrists from a small cutting blade on the body.
“I am surprised at this medical conclusion,” remarked atty. Irv Joyner, chair of the NC NAACP Legal Redress Committee. “I don’t have a factual basis to dispute this report, but the findings are completely at odds with the Dr. Anthony Spearman that I knew and worked with.”
Others, like close friend, Rev. Dr. Cardes Brown Jr., pastor of New Light Missionary Baptist Church and chairman of the Justice Coalition USA, also found the autopsy report hard to swallow.
“While I understand the medical examiner made that determination based on his examination, the one thing that is not clear to me is that I knew Dr Spearman very well and I talked with him that night before his death,” Rev. Dr. Brown told The Carolina Peacemaker in Greensboro last week.
“We spoke every day. We were on the phone [that] Monday night [July 18th] from about 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. with members of the Justice Coalition. He (Spearman) was happy, the Justice Coalition was moving forward well with the defamation lawsuit [against the NAACP]. There was nothing indicative about him taking his own life. It does not belie what I know in my heart about Dr. Spearman’s character. The Wednesday before his death he was robbed at gunpoint. The person who robbed him was apprehended the next day. They arrested him and he was bonded out of jail. Then Spearman was killed.”
“Spearman was an advocate for human rights. He helped people. He loved his wife and his family. That was not Anthony Spearman,” insisted Dr. Brown.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s report found no evidence of death other than suicide, however.
Mark Cummings, Rev. Dr. Spearman’s attorney who filed the defamation suit against national NAACP President/CEO Derrick Johnson, NAACP Board Chairman Leon Russell and NC NAACP Pres. Deborah Dicks Maxwell, among others in June 2022, was also in disbelief.
“When you add up the knowledge you have of a person: for example, if I die, it surely won’t be [by] my doing. It might look like that, but I know Dr. T. Anthony Spearman would not do that. I knew him and we walked so many miles together. It does not align with the person I do know,” atty Cummings told The Peacemaker.
“You have all these relevant things that factor into this. Were these people questioned, was there a determination that he owned a gun? We know it was made to look like a suicide.”
Atty. Cummings was convinced shortly after Dr. Spearman’s death that he did not own a gun.
Still, others who knew Rev. Dr. Spearman, despite their shock, chose to honor the man they knew, no matter what darkness may have allegedly plagued him.
“In his notable leadership of the NC NAACP and the NC Council of Churches, as well as his long service as a pastor and teacher, Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman worked to make North Carolina a more just, equitable, and kind place,” said Dr.Timothy B. Tyson, Duke University Senior Research Scholar, and Spearman friend. “His light was love in the largest sense, and his labors cheerful and earnest. His tender regard for other people was his hallmark. His struggles and achievements bring to mind the words of the old gospel hymn, “Let the work that I’ve done, speak for me.”
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STATE LAWMAKERS FORM
HBCU CAUCUS TO EXAMINE
PRESSING ISSUES
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
For years, statewide advocates for North Carolina’s historically-Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have complained that legislators paid little to no attention to what happens to these schools, despite their stellar record of producing more teachers, military leaders, and engineers than their predominately-white counterparts.
North Carolina HBCUs also confer 43 percent of all bachelor degrees awarded to Black students.
What was further troubling was that, according to the Hunt Institute, North Carolina had more four-year HBCUs than any other state in the nation. Currently that number sits at ten. The state is also home to the largest HBCU in the country, NC A&T University in Greensboro.
It became almost commonplace to hear of North Carolina’s HBCU campuses literally falling apart because of deliberate underfunding by the NC General Assembly. Poor graduation rates and enrollments were also key issues that required state legislative attention.
Some even closed, while others, like Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, were close to failure.
But earlier this month, state lawmakers from both sides of the aisle came together to announce the creation of a bipartisan, bicameral HBCU Caucus at the NC General Assembly, believed to be the only one of its kind on the state level in the nation.
But it is modeled after the Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus, founded by NC Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC-12) in 2015. She cochairs that caucus with Arkansas Republican Congressman French Hill, Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware and South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott. It has over 100 members.
The NC HBCU Caucus is co-chaired by state Sen. Gladys Robinson (D-Guilford), an alumna of Bennett College for Women and NC A&T University; and state Rep. Zack Hawkins (D-Durham), an alumnus of both Elizabeth City State University and North Carolina Central University in Durham; along with Republicans state Sen. Carl Ford (R-Rowan), and Rep. Jon Hardister (R-Guilford). Each co-chair has an HBCU within his/her district.
The North Carolina HBCU Caucus’s goal? To help expand the collective economic impact of North Carolina’s ten HBCU’s, which currently stands at an impressive $1.7 billion annually.
But that’s not all.
“The mission of this joint legislative HBCU Caucus is to educate and engage members of the North Carolina General Assembly in a bipartisan and bicameral manner on the successes and benefits of the state’s 10 historically black colleges and universities,” said Sen. Robinson.
The timing for such an initiative couldn’t be better. HBCUs across the country have reportedly experienced a 30 percent increase in application rates since the May 2020 police murder of George Floyd.
Students from Winston Salem State University, Shaw University, NC A&T University and other NC HBCUs met with state lawmakers last week, urging them to better support their schools.
"HBCUs are important for our communities because they bring the history and they bring African Americans and other students like me to strive." said Shaw University student Zaid Steele.
The Republican chairs, at a recent press conference, committed to expanding “need-based scholarships” for HBCUs, an important point given that their party is currently in leadership at the legislature.
Sen. Robinson told reporters that the NC Legislative Black Caucus supports the efforts of the HBCU Caucus. She also made clear that the caucus will work to highlight the past and current successes of what are called the “NC10”, and address current issues plaguing HBCUs.
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