Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh lord, why dont we?
Please note:
white baby getting ready to bitchslap
Black baby getting ready to cold-cock
Posted on 01/16/2007 10:03:31 AM PST by freespirited
This week Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong could be slapped with more charges related to his handling of the Duke Lacrosse case.
This week the State Bar Council will be holding its quarterly meetings in Raleigh. During this time, the agency could add ethics charges against the Durham district attorney.
Nifong recused himself from the Duke Lacrosse case shortly after the state bar filed an ethics complaint against him last month. He's accused of misconduct for statements he made to the media last spring.
In a letter obtained by Eyewitness News, defense attorney, Joe Cheshire requested to meet with Nifong in March about the statements.
"I do not understand why you will reportedly speak to the media in such certain, condemning terms before all the evidence is in, but you will not have the courtesy to meet or even speak with a representative of someone you have publicly condemned," Cheshire stated in the letter.
Nifong could also face additional charges for withholding DNA evidence that was favorable to the accused players. Evidence that is now in the hands of the state's Attorney General.
"We accept these cases with our eyes wide open to the evidence, but with blinders on for all other distractions," Roy Cooper said.
The State Bar Council meets today.
The council will decide this spring if his public comments about the case were a violation of the professional rules of conduct. Nifong's ethics meeting is scheduled for May.
No Federal Probe
The U.S. Attorney General's office has responded to Congressman Walter Jones' request for a federal probe of the Duke Lacrosse Case.
In a letter delivered Thursday, Alberto Gonzales' office wrote that it would be, "Premature to initiate a federal investigation pending a criminal trial."
This means the Attorney General will not be getting involved in the case at this time.
FBI to review Atlanta police killing of elderly woman
[snip]
Officials say the FBI will lead a multi-agency investigation into the shootout at the Atlanta home of an 88-year-old woman killed in a shootout with narcotics officers in Atlanta.
One open letter deserves another, and La Shawn Barber has just penned her response to the new-style Group of 88. As she notes, the statements and actions of the ad's authors almost make the critics' job too easy. Her description of the original statement is on the mark:
"The silly ad, a bunch of disparate statements uttered by anonymous, victim-minded black students, was a gratuitous, irrelevant, inflammatory piece of trash meant to inflame already high racial tensions and cast Duke's lacrosse-playing white boys as predatory, drunken brutes who routinely brutalize black women and look at big black men funny."
The new Group statement is the campus equivalent of Linwood Wilson's December 21st "notes"--a hastily put together document designed to paper over problems in the case (in this instance, likely civil suits down the road against the signatories), while hoping against hope that no one would actually be looking at the facts.
commune mama with an earth undone back stitch the corners rivers pulse her light you are the glowing prayer palm oil and pumpkin seed osun gathers our phoenix savior slice open hollow seas salve down the tomb wounds your epics are spit glued mystic wings conjure us all home
This crap looks a lot like the spam I sometimes receive that contains randomly-generated nonsense sentences. What a brilliant "artist" the "poet" is!
Oh no -- the author is ebony noelle golden. The idiot probably thinks it's a tribute to E. E. Cummings, who, in reality, did not approve of the rendering "e e cummings" despite its use by his publishers and others.
a. How did you find this?
b. Why did you copy it?
c. Do you know how to get this poor women, and the professors who aided her, mental help before they come to serious harm?
a. How did you find this?
---It's a gift
b. Why did you copy it?
---Goes to mindset
c. Do you know how to get this poor women, and the professors who aided her, mental help before they come to serious harm?
----you forgot the /sarcasm tag
"Ebony is a Visiting English Instructor at North Carolina Central University and an Adjunct English Instructor at Louisburg College. She continues to serve the community as a volunteer with SpiritHouse and UBUNTU and in the wake of recent events has joined a cadre of arts activists to educate and help to eradicate violence against women."
http://goldendharma.blogspot.com/
Please note:
white baby getting ready to bitchslap
Black baby getting ready to cold-cock
LOL!!
Jan 17, 2007 04:43 AM
Police take note, other items from Smith's apartment
From Staff Reports
DURHAM - Police seized several items from Denita Smith's apartment, including a handwritten note, according to a search warrant made public Tuesday.
Smith, an N.C. Central University graduate student, was found shot to death outside her apartment Jan. 4.
Investigator S.M. Pate did not report finding any physical evidence such as blood or hairs in the apartment.
The search warrant returned to the Durham County Magistrate's Office did not contain copies of the note or other correspondence.
Investigators also took a computer, photographs and two letters from Smith's apartment at Campus Crossings. The complex houses more than 500 NCCU students.
It is not clear what value any of the items might have to the investigation.
Shannon Elizabeth Crawley, 27, of Greensboro has been arrested and charged with killing Smith.
http://www.newsobserver.com/1497/story/533158.html
http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2007/01/group-of-88s-myths-and-realities.html
Just when you think this town's image can't get worse....
http://www.welcometodurhamusa.com/
http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A42448
JANUARY 10, 2007
Where are Durham's new, black leaders?
There's grumbling that no one is stepping up
BY CARL KENNEY
Let me tell you a secret. There's a lot of grumbling right now within Durham's black community. People have serious issues with what they perceive as a lack of leadership coming from those in political office and from the organizations designed to serve them.
Most people agree Durham gets a bad rap from those around the state. The city's negative image has led many to press for a public relations campaign that will focus on the good things happening in the city—things like growth in downtown Durham and the second wave of development at West Village and American Tobacco. This, coupled with the recent zoning change of Heritage Village and construction on the Black Wall Street, make this a great time to live in Durham.
It should be noted that black businessmen are helping to boost development in Durham. Brian Davis, who is black, is a partner in developing West Village out of the former Liggett & Myers factory. Davis is getting national attention for his bid to purchase the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies. If approved, it will make Davis the NBA's youngest owner and one of the most successful black businessmen in the country.
While Davis is pursuing the purchase of the Grizzlies and leading the redevelopment efforts at West Village, Carl Webb, who is also black, is making noise as a partner with Greenfire Development. Greenfire is one of the major players in downtown redevelopment and is backing the Black Wall Street project on Parrish Street. Webb came up with plans for Black Wall Street while serving as partner of Webb Patterson Communications. He recognized there are bigger fish in the pond, and teamed up with Greenfire to become one of Durham's visionaries of economic development.
The dealings of Davis and Webb are reminiscent of the early years of the Black Wall Street, when C.C. Spaulding, Aaron McDuffie Moore, John Avery and John Merrick started North Carolina Mutual and Providence Association in 1898.
C.C. Spaulding called a meeting at the Algonquin Tennis Club on Aug. 15, 1935. At that meeting, Spaulding was named the first president of the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs. Durham's black business leaders helped make the DCNA (now the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People) the most revered political action committee in the state.
The ascension of Davis and Webb bear witness to a major shift in the way power impacts change in Durham's black community. Spaulding and Moore were a part of the Durham Committee. The Committee was a powerful organization because it was able to galvanize interest from a cross section of the black community. The power was in its numbers, but its strength was in its leadership.
Davis and Webb are the type of leaders who once led the Durham Committee. There are other young, talented black leaders not involved in the Durham Committee—Chuck Watts at North Carolina Mutual, Rosiland Fuse-Hall and Beverly Washington Jones at N.C. Central University, Anita Brown-Graham at N.C. State University, and Sterling Freeman at the Wildacres Leadership Initiative all possess the skills the Committee needs. (One exception is Larry D. Hall, an attorney and former chair of the N.C. Black Leadership Caucus, who has remained active in the Committee while also running a successful campaign last year for the state House.)
It begs the question of why leadership isn't being passed on. Why have the Talented Tenth stayed away from the Durham Committee, and why haven't we seen a wave of new people serving as leaders? This is the basis of the grumbling among those interested in making a difference.
"People in city government try to hold onto their jobs instead of fighting for people," says Inga Willis, former owner of PeaceFire Galleries. Willis and Sema Flowers, her business partner, left Durham in July. They moved to New York, hurting over their stay in Durham. They left confused by the lack of support coming from those in city government, and discouraged with Durham's black leaders.
Willis said the big business moves in Durham make the city look good, but small businesses have vast resources that go unnoticed. Members of the Durham Committee never walked into her gallery. Many members of the City Council walked past PeaceFire Galleries, but never stopped in to support their business. As young business owners instrumental in starting the PeaceFire Relief Effort to help Katrina victims in Durham and across the Gulf region, they are leaders in their own right. They never attended a Committee meeting.
A generation is waiting to take the reins of leadership, but those who hold the keys refuse to let them go. The biggest news coming out of the Durham Committee is the fights at Committee meetings. Members of the Committee have been fighting since the May primaries. The root of the tension is over the Committee's endorsement of Worth Hill (who is white) over Joe Bowser, former head of the NAACP, for sheriff. Lois Murphy, a Bowser supporter and former member of the group's executive committee, wrote a heated letter of resignation in which she blasted Lavonia Allison, the chair of the Committee.
"You often told me that you would not allow anyone to 'pimp' the Committee, and I believed you," Murphy wrote in the letter dated May 24. "I have since come to believe that you do not want anyone else to pimp the Committee because you and you alone want all the spoils a pimp receives from her prostitutes. I just want to know what you have gained from pimping the Committee to johns (the current local mayor, senators, representatives, commissioners, sheriff, and some of the school board members, as well as all of the other elected and appointed positions you have helped these johns obtain)."
Conflict between Bowser and top members of the Committee came when he was forced to vacate the presidency of the NAACP after admittedly passing out fliers on Election Day in 2004 that read: "Joe Bowser, DURHAM BRANCH NAACP PRESIDENT, Recommends for Your Vote the Following Candidates. NO STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC TICKET VOTING."
Bowser represented Republican gubernatorial candidate Patrick Ballantine during the endorsement meeting of the Durham Committee. NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume notified Bowser in writing that he was suspended as president and that his life membership was also suspended because he engaged in political campaigning using his position in the nonpartisan organization. The endorsement of a Republican candidate did not sit well with Allison and other longtime Democrats on the Committee.
The fighting within the organization distracts the Committee from doing the work Durham's black residents crave. "They are paper tigers with a loud roar and no bite," says Melvin Whitley, a community activist. "They fail to address the problem of the poor and working class. They don't speak out about the 19,000 substance abusers in Durham County when 68 percent of them are people of color. "
The disdain is especially felt by those not connected to the political machinery. The membership of the Durham Committee is fading. Young people aren't joining the ranks of the organization. Those new to the city don't know about the Committee's rich history. Those who have been around for a long time are tired of the rhetoric surrounding the Committee and the local chapter of the NAACP.
"If they purport to speak for the black people in the community, they don't seem to make a point of getting input from the people whose voice they are supposed to be," says Paul Meggett, a 30-something attorney. "As I came to attempt to interact with both groups, I found them to be elitist and pompous. The Durham Committee seemed to only care about a small segment of Durham's black people."
"The Durham Committee has a history and significance in this community that is unmatched. However, succession planning would appear to be a challenge for the group," says Chuck Watts, senior vice president and general counsel at North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance. "No one can challenge Dr. Allison's contribution to the group over the last 40 years or more. Clearly the time for new leadership is nearing, and the decision regarding when a transition might occur and who might become the new leader is fundamentally for the organization to resolve."
Along with a decline in membership, the Committee is struggling to locate people interested in becoming the next chair. Once a powerful position within the black community, the chair of the Committee isn't the jewel it used to be. Rule changes have limited access to the position. The bylaws of the Committee were changed to prevent people from voting who failed to attend four meetings during the year. Before that, only Durham residency was required. The rule change not only impacts voting privileges but has bearing on those interested in leading the organization.
Allison's recent illness triggered concern within the community about who would take the lead of the Committee. The speculation was that she would step down from the organization, passing the reins over to her son, a local dentist. No other challengers have emerged. The disenchanted youth and young adults throughout the city aren't able to vote because they haven't been active. Many feel no obligation to participate because of what they perceive as a lack of vision and leadership. It's a vicious cycle that has negative implications in the way the Committee functions as a voice for all black people in Durham.
Great leaders have emerged. The bad news is the best of the best opt to concentrate on remaining focused on their own mission. There isn't enough time to tackle the demands of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People when there isn't a clearly defined agenda embraced by the community the organization is supposed to represent.
Those lost in the good old days fight to keep things the same. Those hoping for all things found in our dreams seek places to build on yesterday's foundation. You can't go forward when you keep glaring in the rearview mirror.
Mmm, who would that be?
Maybe the ones who run Durm?
Has Peterson crossed the line?
BY RAY GRONBERG : The Herald-Sun, Jan 17, 2007 : 11:11 pm ET
DURHAM -- Tuesday's City Council vote on the rezoning of Duke University's Central Campus may have put a permanent kink in the council's relationship with one of the Durham political scene's most persistent personalities.
Victoria Peterson, a local activist and perennial candidate for elective office, was the only person who spoke against the rezoning. She felt the council's wrath when she essentially argued that officials should reject the application in retaliation for the university's role in the Duke lacrosse sexual-offense case.
Peterson said rape and other crimes on and around Duke's campus are out of control, and she blamed it on Duke's students.
"Because it's Duke with their money and influence, you want to overlook a lot of the stuff they've done," she said. "They've embarrassed this community."
But Peterson's comments -- which came after activists from two neighborhoods surrounding Duke had endorsed the rezoning -- didn't sit well with the council. One member, Eugene Brown, interrupted with the word "enough," and Mayor Bill Bell asked Peterson to stick to the merits of the application.
When she finished, another councilman, Howard Clement, rebuked her.
"What has been said is not true," he said. "While there are issues on Duke's campus with respect to student behavior and issues on [N.C. Central University's] campus with respect to student behavior, to just grossly place those facts and issues as the overriding issue is totally inappropriate."
But Peterson continued to heckle council members as they prepared to vote, prompting Bell to warn that if she spoke again, he'd order her to leave the council chamber.
That quieted Peterson for a moment, but the confrontation resumed as soon as Bell adjourned the meeting, Peterson quarreling openly with council members Cora Cole-McFadden and Mike Woodard in front of a reporter and between six and 12 city administrators.
Both council members made their anger plain. Cole-McFadden -- who in 2005 crushed Peterson's most recent bid for elective office by 76-24 percent --- called the activist "a liar" to her face.
Woodard added that he didn't appreciate seeing Peterson in television news reports about the lacrosse case "spewing lies and venom," and marching with a hate group, the New Black Panther Party, that came to Durham last spring to picket the Duke campus.
Peterson was not deterred. "You guys kiss Duke's butt," she said.
On Wednesday, Brown said the incident damaged Peterson's standing with the council.
"I think she crossed the Rubicon last night. She cut her throat with her own tongue," Brown said. "She simply got out of control, it was off the agenda item, and there are a lot of people upset. She did a great job of alienating everyone on the council."
But Clement didn't think the council's ire would bother Peterson.
"She's not going to allow herself to just fly away," he said. "I've talked to her privately, but she only listens to what she wants to hear."
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-810195.cfm
I guess I am not the only one who cannot sleep tonight, LOL!
Victoria is not a Committee insider, is she?
"The biggest news coming out of the Durham Committee is the fights at Committee meetings. Members of the Committee have been fighting since the May primaries. The root of the tension is over the Committee's endorsement of Worth Hill (who is white) over Joe Bowser, former head of the NAACP, for sheriff."
The Rift in the Committee is exposed. Fights over the DA's office also? VP seems to be a committee unto herself.
Is Worth Hill a good Sheriff?
I bet there were plenty of fights over the DA's office.
I wonder who was able to convince Monks to stay in the race?
ROFLMAO!! :> :>
I can't tell you how glad I am that he read my appraisal of him.
This is a good reminder to myself that it always pays to be pithy.
My only regret is that I failed to misspell his name. Had I known he was going to read my assessment of him, I would have been careful to deliver a more fulsome insult. Hopefully, my adjective, "consummate", made up for that oversight. :)
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