THE CASH STUFF FOR THURSDAY, MARCH 20TH, 2025

                                                            ATTY BENJAMIN CRUMP

ATTORNEYS CRUMP, SELLERS

LEAD PROBE INTO WHY HIGHWAY

PATROL LIED ABOUT CAR CRASH

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

The man many call “Black America’s attorney general” because of his high-profile civil rights advocacy for the families of police abuse victims, is now representing the family of a Black man who died in a suspicious car crash in Raleigh last October.

Suspicious because the actions of a NC Highway Patrol officer investigating the crash has been called into question by the Wake County District attorney, leaving the victim’s family seeking answers.

In search for those answers, the family of Tyrone Mason has hired prominent Black civil rights attorney, and North Carolina native, Benjamin Crump to investigate the case.

Atty. Crump is well known for his advocacy in the infamous Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor cases, among others.

        Joining Atty. Crump is another nationally known and respected Black attorney Bakari Sellers, a frequent veteran political commentator on CNN, but also an accomplished wrongful death litigator like Crump.

Last Friday, attorneys Crump and Sellers held a news conference along with the family of Tyrone Mason to announce their official involvement in the case, and demand that justice be done.

Based on what is known thus far, Mason was killed in a single-car crash on Capital Blvd. in Raleigh in October 2024. The crash was investigated by State Trooper Garrett Macario.

But according to Wake District Attorney Lorin Freeman, Macario gave "false and misleading information" about the fatal crash to Raleigh Police. That forced D.A. Freeman to reluctantly dismiss the case because she had serious concerns about Macario’s credibility.

While reviewing the dash cam and bodycam video footage from the crash - footage that has not been made public thus far - Freeman said she saw enough evidence to convince her that she was not getting the truth from the investigating officer.

“It’s incredibly frustrating. We trust our law enforcement to tell the truth. And when we have reason to believe they aren’t, it’s disgusting, frankly. It’s frustrating,” Freeman told ABC11 TV station last January.

As a result of questions about Trooper Macario’s credibility, approximately 200 DWI cases he was previously involved in as a key witness have now been dismissed.

Atty. Crump told reporters Friday that D.A. Freeman “…wouldn’t have dismissed those cases if there was not something on that video, from the dash cam and the body cam, that was just God awful,” Crump said. “Just show the video.”

Macario and his supervisor, Sgt. Matthew Morrison, have both been on leave since D.A. Freeman raised those concerns. Both officers are on administrative leave, and are being investigated by the State Highway PatroL and the State Bureau of Investigation.

Henrietta Mason, the victim’s mother, told reporters, ““From Day 1, when they came to me and told me my son died in a single-car accident with no witnesses, I told them that is not true, someone had to be chasing my son.”

          Trooper Marcario has been with the NC Highway Patrol since 2018.

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DUKE UNIVERSITY AMONG 

OVER 50 BEING INVESTIGATED

FOR DEI PARTNERSHIP

By Cash Michaels

Contributing wrier

In an effort to intimidate over 50 private and public universities across the nation to cease their DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs and practices, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) under the Trump Administration is investigating them for allegedly violating  Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Now of the universities accused is Duke University in Durham.

The DOE’s Office of Civil Rights is accusing Duke and over 50 other major institutions of racially discriminating against white and Asian-American students because of their partnerships with the non-profit The PHD Project.

Founded in 1994, The PhD Project was launched with the goal of “…creating more role models (of color) in the front of business classrooms” and “diversifying corporate America by diversifying the role models in front of the classrooms,” according to its website. Over 1500 of its members have earned their doctoral degree, with currently more than 240 students in PhD programs. Ninety percent of the program’s members complete their business PhD, with many going on to work in higher education after graduation.

Among the members of color who were inductees into the PhD Project’s Hall of Fame with North Carolina collegiate ties was the late Quiester Craig, Ph.D., Dean Emeritus of the School of Business and Economics at N.C. A&T State University, inducted in 2011; and Dr. Fay Cobb Payton, professor of Information Systems/Technology at N.C. State University, inducted in 2017.

Members of the Hall of Fame were “presenters, mentors and advisors” who have helped recruit outstanding, highly qualified students from diverse backgrounds to enter and complete Ph.D. programs in a variety of business fields.

According to statistics released by the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Earned Doctorates in 2022, African Americans earned 7.5 percent of all doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens or permanent residents of this country, which is the highest number ever recorded.

Historically, the DOE’s Civil Rights Division investigates schools and programs accused  of violating the civil rights of students of color or females. But now that the Trump Administration has made eradicating DEI programs and practices from the American landscape a top priority, any program as seen as being primarily beneficial to students of color or women is now determined to be discriminatory and illegal.

In a press release, the DOE alleged that The PhD Project “…limits eligibility based on the race of participants.” The project counters that it has broadened its scope in recent months.

A visit to the project’s website shows not just men and women of color, but whites and Asian-Americans as members as well.

If Duke or any of the other over 50 universities under investigation are found to be in violation of the new interpretation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, they could lose federal funding.

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