THE CASH STUFF FOR MARCH 27, 2025

 NC LEADERS REACT TO 

TRUMP BID TO ELIMINATE

DEPT. OF EDUCATION

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

Last week, President Trump made it official, and signed an executive order authorizing the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education, threatening 26 million students nationally.

Here in North Carolina, as elsewhere, reaction was split according to which side of the partisan divide North Carolina elected officials were on.

Maurice “Mo” Green, Democratic state superintendent of Public Instruction, issued a statement on X saying, “Dismantling the U.S. Department of Education raises significant concerns for our state’s schools, as federal funding represents nearly 11% of our education budget and supports over 14,000 public school positions.These funds are critical for all of our students, particularly our most vulnerable such as those with disabilities and from low-income families.”

Democrats on North Carolina’s congressional delegation also joined in condemning Trump’s move.

“I fully support any legislation and challenges to this EO, and I will do everything in my power to challenge the GOP and hold this Administration accountable,” vowed Fourth District Democrat Rep. Valerie Foushee, who added that Trump’s executive order was “ unconstitutional and heartless.”

Her Democratic colleague, Rep. Deborah Ross, joined the opposition chorus to call Trump’s action “Illegal and plainly wrong.”

Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC-12), Ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workplace Safety and a former teacher of 40 years, was perhaps the most profound of the Democrat representatives in expressing her opposition to the Republican president’s executive order.

“Executive orders are not laws and only Congress has the ability to abolish a federal department,” said Congresswoman Adams. “President Trump’s attempt to dismantle the Department of Education is blatantly unconstitutional and is yet another effort to sidestep the authority of Congress. This will be challenged in court and, make no mistake, we will win. The Department of Education was established through an act of Congress and only an act of Congress can abolish it."

Rep. Adams continued, ‘“It is cruel just for the sake of it and targets our most vulnerable children. Students with disabilities rely on the ED for special programming and funding. Hungry kids use ED funds for free school lunches, oftentimes their only reliable meal throughout the day. Low-income students use their schooling to build a better life for themselves.”

“I have always been a champion for education and I invite my Republican colleagues to be the same,” Rep. Adams concluded. “Let’s put partisanship aside, work together, and stand against this unconstitutional action so we can stand for our children’s futures.” 

Per North Carolina, according to numbers from Rep. Adams’ office, Trump’s order to shutter the U.S. Dept. of Education means the state would lose 10.9% of its funding for public schools, which means the salaries of 14,000 NC public school educators and staff would be put at risk, especially since in North Carolina, public schools are the largest employer in 44 NC counties, and a top five employer in all 100 counties.

In addition, school systems with students who have disabilities or students on the free lunch program, will also be at risk.

Still, members of  North Carolina’s Republican congressional delegation expressed support for Pres. Trump’s executive order.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC-5) actually attended the signing of Trump’s executive order, posting on X, “Love to see it.” Her Republican colleague, Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC-8), a pastor, added, “ Today is a great day to dismantle the Department of Education!”

-30-

                                                                       KEVIN HOWELL

NC STATE SELECTS ITS

FIRST BLACK CHANCELLOR

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

When it come to NC State University, Kevin Howell has always been part of the pack.

And now, Chancellor Howell is officially the Wolfpack leader.

Howell, NC State University’s first African-American student body president, was appointed last week by the UNC Board of Governors as the school’s first Black chancellor.

Howell is the 15th chancellor in the school’s 138-year history. He succeeds the outgoing Randy Woodson, who retiring after 15 years of service.

He takes office on May 5th, and his salary will be $600,000.

UNC President Peter Hans announced Kevin Howell’s selection, saluting his long record of service to NC State and the UNC System, calling him a “born leader.”

“His deep relationships across the state have helped drive investment and growth. I am confident that he will strengthen NC State’s role as a frontier research university, keeping North Carolina competitive in the most important fields of our future,” Hans said.

A native of Shelby, NC, Kevin Howell distinguished himself early, earning his bachelor’s degree in political science from NC State in 1988, serving as student body president during his senior year.

Howell then earned his law degree from UNC- Chapel, later serving as a legal clerk with the N.C. Court of Appeals.

He also served as legislative liaison for two North Carolina governors, and also director of governmental affairs for the NC Bar Association.

Howell returned to his alma mater in 2006, serving as assistant to the chancellor for external affairs, partnerships and economic development from 2023.

Currently, Howell is chief of external affairs for the UNC Health and UNC School of Medicine, where he leads “…the development and implementation of strategies shaping public policy and legislation for a health care system with 19 hospitals, more than 900 clinics, 3,000 physicians and more than 40,000 employees.”

“Kevin Howell is a leader with incredible connection- and relationship-building skills,” said Ed Weisiger, a member of the chancellor search committee and chair of the NC State Board of Trustees. “He is a trusted partner to those he leads and to those with whom he interacts and works. In short, Kevin simply makes organizations better and healthier by working in them. He is a great product from NC State who has shown his worth across time and in roles of ever-increasing responsibility. We are so pleased to have him return to NC State.”

One of the major challenges Howell will have to deal with is the Trump Administration’s proposed cuts to federal aid in the aftermath of the impending closure of the U.S. Dept. of Education.

N.C. State is a research institution, so federal aid and federal funding of research projects are vitally important. The White House claims that that funding will not be disrupted.

Those who know Kevin Howell personally, say that he is absolutely the right choice to lead NC State University now, and into the future.

After Howell’s election was officially announced, Rev. Carl Kenny of Durham wrote on social media about his longtime friend, “Let me tell you what I know about Kevin Howell, the newly appointed Chancellor at NC State University.  He's one of the kindest, even tempered and open-minded people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. It is for those reasons and others I selected  him to be the best man during my wedding in 1999.  I've witnessed him maneuver through difficult and complex situations when we both served as counselors in the former Office of Minority Affairs at Duke University.

If anyone is capable of navigating through this difficult political season, it is Kevin. He has the personality and class necessary to be heard without centering the need to control the moment. Anyone who thinks Kevin is a pawn to be used during this polarized season fails to fully understand the character of this amazing man.”

-30-

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.

-30-

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.

-30-

NEW CASH COMMENTARY FOR THURSDAY, MARCH 20TH, 2025

                       

                                                                  CASH MICHAELS

                      A NATION THAT NOW EMBRACES IGNORANCE

                                             By Cash Michaels

I’m a Black child of the 60’s, so a lot of the civil rights movement ethos is still very much a part of me.

One of the things I remember so crystal clearly growing up during that period is the extraordinary focus on education that leaders like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others in my community emphasized. 

“Education and learning have become tools for shaping the future, and not devices of privilege for an exclusive few,” he once said.

My mother heard the call, and spent what would have been our "buying-a new-house" money on sending me to private parochial schools, instead of saving her money and condemning me, her only child, to what were then lackluster but free NY city public schools, for the formative years of my life, to ensure that I would get the best, and safest education possible. 

Dr. King believed that the power of education could literally help change this racially troubled society to create a better future for little Black boys like me. 

         The great equalizer.

“Through education we seek to change attitudes...Through education we seek to change internal feelings (prejudice, hate, etc.)... Through education we seek to break down the spiritual barriers to integration; through legislation and court orders we seek to break down the physical barriers to integration.”

“One method is not a substitute for the other, but a meaningful and necessary supplement.”

And make no mistake, all of you mindless DEI critics, when it came to Black people and opportunity, Dr. King - an accomplished alumnus of Morehouse College and Boston University - stressed only one standard.

Excellence.

“In the new age, we Negroes will be forced to compete with people of all races and nationalities. Therefore, we cannot aim merely to be good Negro teachers, good Negro doctors, good Negro ministers, good Negro skilled laborers. We must set out to do a good job, irrespective of race, and do it so well that nobody could do it better.”

  Dr. King’s educational prescription for Black people to achieve their equality and freedom in this country became a popular and pervasive mantra in my community, leaving no room for anything less than maximum effort for excellence by subsequent generations of educated young people of color, who would later serve this country proudly, and with distinction, as teachers, scientists, military leaders, lawyers, journalists, artists, scholars, political leaders, ministers, medical professionals, businesspeople, cultural icons and yes, even president and vice president of the United States.

I can’t tell you how much pride I’m still filled with when I meet or learn of someone who looks like me who has risen to the apex of their noble and respected profession, thanks to the educational doors opened, and once insurmountable barriers conquered for them, by Dr. King decades ago.

Now if you’re white reading this, understand that this brief history lesson I’ve just given you is deeply engrained in my DNA. But it’s a history lesson so many others of my generation share.

Work hard, but just don’t get a job to pay the bills. Cultivate your mind and spirit so that you are indeed a fully functioning, fully contributing member of this society, I was taught by my community as a young Black man coming up. And take advantage of every opportunity you can to be the best that you can be, for yourself, your family and your country.

That’s my orientation as an American citizen of African origin. And I’m damned proud that my dearly departed mother insisted on, and sacrificed for my education, and that commitment is something I’ve intently passed onto my two children.

My oldest graduated from a prestigious university with her MBA several years ago. Today she has a family, and is gainfully employed.

My youngest is graduating Yale University in just a few weeks.

Dr. King’s prophetic words on education and excellence still live in my community today as a vital beacon for those who seek the challenge of purpose, and the achievement of economic self-determination.

So it’s no accident that I’ve taken up a lot of space and ink here establishing my high regard for, and absolute commitment to the institution of education, to sadly state the following - what our so-called president of 34 felony convictions and counting has, and shamefully is doing to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) in this country, may be his greatest crime of all.

Now I’m not going to sit here and swear that the DOE is, or ever has been an immaculate institution throughout the years, because, in fact, it hasn’t. But when it comes to providing much needed resources to help educate at-risk or special needs children; or help set a national teaching standard so that our young people are able to adequately compete on the world stage; or provide much needed federal student loans and grants; or Title 1 funding for low-income K-12 students; or creating meaningful learning programs students and communities can participate in; or IDEA funding for students with disabilities; or operate a civil rights office to ensure that all students are treated fairly, equitably and constitutionally; or enforce Title IX that protects against gender-based discrimination; or a host of many other ways the DOE helps to improve education in this country, it shocks me to the core that we are allowing a confirmed and convicted criminal to burn it all down to the ground with lies and ignorance.

“I signed an executive order banning public schools from indoctrinating our children with transgender ideology…,” critical race theory or radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling, Trump has proclaimed.

Well guess what, King Liar. In 2015, Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act, which forbids federal interference in the curriculums and teaching materials of local school systems. So if any public school districts are teaching about the crazy stuff you’re lying about, they've decided to do so on their own. DOE had nothing to do with it.

Keep in mind that Republicans, even before Trump, have always wanted to get rid of DOE, believing that the federal government should have nothing to do with local education. All King Trump has done is pick up the GOP torch, and slither away with it.

Once again it should be stated that it will take an act of Congress to legally abolish the U.S. Department of Education, but apparently it doesn’t take a whole lot for a deranged despot to fire every committed soul among the over 4,000 who served, on the whim that it makes him out to be some kind of “leader” or "hero."

Let’s state it again in plain language in case you haven’t gotten the gist of what I’m saying by now - Donald Trump is destroying the U.S. Department of Education because he is out of his pathetic and evil mind!

His apparent goal is to so control the direction of this country even long after he’s gone, that he feels the need to eradicate any vestige of truth telling, or truth teaching. So destroying literally ANYTHING that could possibly exist that would honestly document  the truth about America’s racial past, or reflect America’s commitment to atoning for the sins of that racial history today through programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, is King Trump’s top priority.

        The Washington Post reports Trump's Defense Dept. has even scrubbed the website for Arlington National Cemetery, where our honored military from the nation's past wars are laid to rest, of any information spotlighting Black and Hispanic military figures of color, as well as females, to insidiously "cleanse" the national cemetery's history of any taint of DEI.

        Men and women who proudly gave their lives to serve this country...their histories removed, all because a shameless, dastardly white supremacist dog who used bone spurs as his reason for not serving, wants it that way.

        I could scream. How could the American people stand for this?!!!

Right now, what little of DOE that's left is threatening Duke University, and at least 50 other private and public universities across the nation, with federal investigations for allegedly violating the civil rights of white and Asian students, all because those institutions participated in a program whose goal is diversifying the business world, according to published reports. 

        Duke, a private institution, could lose millions in federal funding for programs and research, a la Columbia University.

Per its website, Congress established DOE in May 1980, with a mission to assure access to equal educational opportunity for every student; supplement and complement the efforts of state and local school systems, the private sector, public and private nonprofit educational research institutions, community-based organizations, parents and students to improve education; and also encourage the increased involvement of the public, parents and students in federal education programs, among other mission goals.

In recent years, one of those other mission goals has been helping to making American students more competitive in the global educational arena.

The US Dept.of Education, on average, supplements roughly 10% of any local school system’s annual budget. Trust me, as much as they may complain about the strings attached, those locals are happy to have the money.

        And given the financial trouble many school systems find themselves in routinely, it's doubtful they would just takeover the mission of DOE, even with federal block grants that, from what I read, would phase out in ten years.

So in my book, DOE has tremendous value. It’s easy to be flippant and say let the states and local communities control their own education. Well guess what? The states and local communities are controlling their own education. All the feds are making sure happens is that local education is equally available to every child, and be of equal standard where possible.

After all, can you assure me that rural kids in Montana are getting the same education as city kids in New Jersey, if left to the states? Urban kids in Chicago the same as suburban students in California? Is the quality of teachers the same across the country? Would states allocate the same resources to educate all children, regardless of where they live or what they look like? Would disabled kids be afforded the same educational opportunities as other youngsters?

Is Mississippi or Alabama teaching their kids at the same standard as Connecticut or even North Carolina?

Many an attorney has gone to the bank over the obvious answers to those questions, and based on what Trump is pulling now, those lawyers will soon be feasting again.

Republicans live by the mantra of picking winners and losers, shamefully even with our children.

Already, the workforce of the DOE has been slashed in half by newly minted Education Secretary Linda McMahon. On Fox recently, McMahon - whose prior educational claim to fame is co-founding World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. -  bragged about taking “the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat,” shaving a workforce of 4,133 down to 2,183. 

Until it’s completely shut down by Congress, DOE will still administer student loans, Pell Grants, competitive grant making and funding for special needs students. Some of the other functions will be pawned off to other federal agencies (assuming they’re still in business) we’re told.

The new chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, put it bluntly.

“Donald Trump holds the future of 50 million public school students across America in his hands, and today he told those kids and their parents he doesn’t give a damn about them."

“Defunding public education doesn’t put America first—it all but guarantees that we will be last for generations to come,” Martin added. “Trump and the billionaire megadonor he installed as Education Secretary are pickpocketing our public schools, which will lead to ballooning class sizes, fewer teachers and aides, and a lower quality of education for our kids.”

By destroying DOE for personal and political reasons, in addition to ripping away hundreds of millions of dollars for crucial scientific research at our top universities, outlawing DEI policies and practices, and firing thousands of federal employees, King Trump is assuring that educational advancement in this country will be crippled for at least a generation.

In effect, under Trump, our nation is now embracing ignorance. He is deciding what our intellectual diet should be. That’s what dictatorships do.

Want a preview of what King Trump’s ignorant America looks like tomorrow, pay close attention to what his MAGA crowd does and says today.

All they know…all they want to know, is that they’re getting “their” country back thanks to Donald Trump, and soon, it will be “great” again, just like in the days before Dr. King began making trouble.

I am profoundly saddened by what we have become, and what we are on our way to further becoming, America. Unless Democrats can get it together, all I can do is pray for Almighty GOD’s mercies, because this is NOT the country I raised my children to live in.

        And it's certainly NOT the country Dr. King died to save!

-30-