Oklahama Cop Arrested for Sexually Assaulting 8 Black Women, at Least 2 While on Duty (Video)

An Oklahoma City police officer was charged Friday with raping or sexually abusing six women he allegedly threatened to arrest if they did not submit.

Officer Daniel Holtzclaw, 27, was charged with two counts of first-degree rape, four counts of sexual battery, four counts of forcible oral sodomy, four counts of indecent exposure, one count of first-degree burglary and one count of stalking. (Source: Read more)

NC offered $100M for Toyota HQ, twice Texas bid – WRAL

The Political Agitator response: Now this is quite interesting!

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina business recruiters offered Toyota more than $100 million in incentives for the world’s largest carmaker to move its North American headquarters to Charlotte rather than a Dallas suburb, but still lost out to a Texas offer half that size.

Only about a quarter of the nearly 3,000 jobs paying an average of $105,000 a year were expected to move from Southern California, meaning a golden but missed job-creating opportunity for the region, according to North Carolina recruiting documents and emails released to The Associated Press last week in response to a public records request.

State law requires the release of recruiting documents after a company has announced a decision on its preferred location, which Toyota did four months ago. Since Gov. Pat McCrory took office last year, state agencies often take many months to comply. (Source: Read more)

The State of Black America by William Reed Columnist

“The talented tenth, elitist thinking Negroes, have nothing to offer the masses of Black people. Their minds have never functioned in the all-important sphere of economic independence.” – Booker T. Washington

The state of Black America only goes as far as the state of Blacks’ politics. Blacks’ status and politics have remained static for 40 years. Records show that the vast majority of Black Americans are stuck in and satisfied with “the status quo.” Blacks continue to vote for the same people that they have time and time again over the past four decades. According to a recent University of Chicago study, African- American males haven’t advanced one bit since 1971. Overall, the economic status and state of Black America lacks movement.  

Blacks have been sold a bill of goods by Democrats and engage in political actions that are just plain nonsensical. For instance: Across the country, Blacks treat elected officials more akin to “celebrities” than “public servants.” Blacks and Whites are at opposite spectrums when it comes to economics and elected politicians. Polls show half of Whites saying: “If Blacks tried harder, they would be as well-off as Whites.” Just 18 percent of African Americans agree. Instead of attributing our state of rigor mortis to racism, Blacks need to take note that if they: “Keep doing what they’ve been doing, they will continue to get what they’ve been getting.” As their city crumbled around them, in lemming-like fashion, Detroit-area voters recently re-elected 85-year-old John Conyers to the congressional seat he has held since 1965.  Likewise, Black New Yorkers sent censured 13th District Representative Charles Rangel back to Congress. A political kingmaker, Rangel has served continuously since 1971.

The state of the Black race remains inert because we don’t vote with strategic plans or purpose. Black Americans’ economic status is thin as our overall dependencies and mindsets toward entitlements escalate. It’s as if African Americans can’t see beyond “big government socialism” and reliance on the state. Because of our emphasis on the political franchise, too often Blacks view government as omnipotent never giving thought to what good governance represents. Politically unsophisticated Blacks’ agenda are led by Democratic Party operatives. With a $17 trillion deficit looming over their heads and the lives of their children, Blacks continue to defend President Barack Obama’s lame-duck tenure as if all Americans measure as we do.

Since the well-intentioned federal programs of the New Deal, Blacks have allowed government dependency to destroy essential elements necessary for success: marriage, family and work. In a misguided ideology, those Blacks put all their eggs in government baskets, while opposing the free- enterprise system and its constructs, in every way possible.

As Americans go forward someone has to be held accountable. The enemy is either ourselves or the officials we keep sending back to public office. Under decades of Democrats’ political rule in Black populations, one in four lives in poverty – three times the rate of Whites. African-American unemployment rates run twice the rate of Whites and Black households have the lowest median income ($30,134) among race groups. Employed Blacks earn 77 percent of Whites’ wages in comparable jobs.

More than half of Americans rely on some form of government assistance – 165 million. Of these, 107 million rely on welfare, 46 million seniors benefit from Medicare and 22 million are federal government employees. Eligibility for Medicaid, food stamps, earned income tax credit, work pay tax credit and unemployment benefits total more than 70 percent of federal spending.

Blacks have to become oriented toward and viable in American free enterprise. There are about 1,500 wealthy Blacks. Two million Black families have annual incomes of $75,000 or more, but as a whole Black Americans have virtually no stake in the nation’s free-market economy and own little of manufacturing, wholesale and retail entities.

Blacks need meaningful capitalistic and private-sector endeavors. Terms such as “job creation” must become more commonplace in Blacks’ vernacular. To fully acquire American capitalistic success, Blacks must expand social and political views beyond liberalism and socialism.

William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and available for projects via the BaileyGroup.org

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Judea for Jews? by William Reed Columnist

The longer any colonial occupation endures, the greater the settlers’ racism and extremism tends to increase. Note what’s happening in the land of Israel and Gaza and how it smacks of White supremacy. The claims of today’s Jews, most of who come from the West, as being “God’s Chosen People” are among the first issues we need to question.

Despite America’s so-called, “even-handedness in the Middle East,” some Blacks are beginning to see events unfold through the eyes of the poor Palestinians and are appalled. Black people of conscience should be aware of the United States’ role in Middle East war crimes. The U.S. seeks the status quo and funds the Israeli military apparatus and stonewalls world diplomatic bodies while religious and racist factions kill Palestinians and take their land with impunity.

The arrogant actions of Israel only occur when a country feels that it’s justified in doing whatever it wants to do regardless of the impact. Citizen boycotts that isolated South Africa during apartheid is an effective way to raise the price of Israel’s actions. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has called on corporations profiting from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories to pull out. Tutu said that 1.5 million people have joined the initiative and: “Those who continue to do business with Israel fund perpetuation of a profoundly unjust status quo.” There have been several public divestures in recent months. The Dutch pension fund, PGGM, withdrew tens of millions of Euros from Israeli banks, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation divested from security firm G4S, and the U.S. Presbyterian Church divested an estimated $21 million from Hewlett Packard, Motorola Solutions, and Caterpillar. Seventeen European Union governments urged their citizens to avoid doing business in or investing in illegal Israeli settlements.

Western media and politicians have demonized Palestinian entities in the minds of Black Americans.  But, more Blacks are empathizing with Palestinians in what has transpired in Gaza. It’s not a war between two equal sides. It’s an onslaught by a powerful military state, against an impoverished, besieged and displaced people. Without justice for the plight of the Palestinians there will never be peace – without international pressure, Israel will never compromise and reach a just settlement.

A look at Gaza depicts it as a strip sandwiched between Israel and Egypt that’s been under Israeli siege for years. Fishermen are shot when they go out to sea. Trade is blocked. Travel is nearly impossible. Water is contaminated. Hospital supplies are lacking. The economy is kept in a state of controlled collapse, just short of cataclysmic implosion. Israel rations everything that enters Gaza. Israel occupied Gaza in the 1967 War and pulled troops and settlers out in 2005. Israel controls all of Gaza’s borders, waterways and airspace, while Egypt controls Gaza’s southern border.

There is an extremist, racist ideological current in Israel that not only justifies onslaughts on Gaza, but actually encourages use of enormous and disproportionate violence. Clear thinking Blacks should move beyond the norm to boycott and divest to end Israel’s stranglehold of Gaza and the West Bank.

Racially and religiously-biased members of American government, Congress and media support the siege of Gaza, the building of settlements and periodic massacres. Good people of conscience and color must demand that Washington observe our own laws and discontinue military aid to Israel. Education and political pressure is needed to reorient U.S. policy toward peace and justice in this region.

Black Americans need to ask: “Is this how we want our ($3.2 billion) of annual tax dollars spent? Then we should ask our congressional representatives to cut off this financial backing. The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) describes itself as “the conscience of the U.S. Congress,” but CBC members support Israeli actions without question. With the world condemning the massacre that occurred in Gaza not a single CBC member bothered to lift their voice against Israel’s genocidal assault or its ongoing apartheid state in general. – William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and available for projects via the BaileyGroup.org

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Africans Come to America by William Reed Columnist

As he winds through his second term with high “disapproval” numbers, Blacks are the only people President Barack Obama can turn to. As we enter August, a third of America’s voters think Obama is the worst president since World War II. Except for Blacks providing an upside, the first African-American president of the United States’ image is one of inexperience and ineptness. With his domestic and foreign policy portfolios both in tatters, Obama has turned to Blacks for support. This time it’s leaders from African nations that are “in good standing” with America. As he holds history’s first U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, Obama is hosting 50 African heads of state and more than 100 of their ministers.

Recent domestic polls have Obama being viewed as “less competent” and “more dishonest” than George W. Bush. Obama’s approval rating among American registered voters stands at 45 percent, but among Blacks, his job approval soars to 86 percent. Almost nine out of every 10 African American would support Obama no matter what, no matter how far America sinks under his leadership, even if they have no jobs and their own lives are in shambles. Seventy percent of Africans say pretty much the same about Obama.

The three-day Summit is the largest event any U.S. president has held with African heads of state and government. Those Africans coming to America for the Summit will be displaying the latest fashions, prints and styles of the continent. But, not much of substance is expected. It’s a “photo-op” to help Blacks, from here and there, feel good and in charge. Truth is, China, which devotes half of its $14.41 billion aid budget to its projects on the continent, regularly hosts individual African heads of state and has far outpaced the U.S. in trade and everything economic, in Africa. The structure of today’s trade relations between the U.S. and Africa is primarily dominated by fuel and fuel-related products.

Colonialist countries exploited Africa for centuries. As “the Black President,” Obama gets a “pass” for America’s colonial practices, but little else. These days China is the “most dominate” foreign country in Africa. The Africans are being very polite in coming to America because little else will come of the occasion other than a “Polaroid moment.” Obama has a long way to go to put America on economic par with China among Africans.

The African continent is home to more than a billion people that speak more than 2,000 languages. Only a few of Africa’s 54 leaders – Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, who is still the target of U.S. sanctions and the Sudanese whom the U.S. bombed and assisted in the separation of South Sudan – were not invited to the Summit.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is hosting the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Ministerial at the World Bank. Obama’s Power Africa initiative is a key Summit issue item.  “Power” is one of Africa’s most pressing challenges. According to the World Bank, only a quarter of sub-Saharan Africa has access to electricity and 10 percent per-year capacity growth is needed to meet electricity demand.

A Summit Business Forum will be presented by the Department of Commerce and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees will host a Capitol Hill welcoming reception.  The key Blacks on African issues there are U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), the Ranking Member on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Africa and the Republican majority’s Gregory Simpkins the Subcommittee staff director, who says his main focus is: “increasing economic linkages between the U.S. and Africa.”

Summit planners say the discussions will encourage progress in areas that Africans define as critical for the continent’s future: “expanding trade and investment ties, engaging young African leaders, promoting inclusive sustainable development, expanding cooperation on peace and security, and gaining better futures for Africa’s next generation.”

“Everyone must understand that Africans aren’t looking for people to save them, but for people to partner with,” says Melvin Foote, head of the U.S.-based Constituency for Africa.

William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and available for projects via the BaileyGroup.org

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A Rising Tide Lifts all Boats by William Reed Columnist

The Political Agitator response: I totally agree you take their money and use it to do what you need to do. Damn turning down the money would make no sense.

A version of the iconic slogan, “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste,” is playing out in the court of public opinion and it’s a huge debacle, as a major union severs its ties with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). Lee Saunders, the president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, should receive the 2014 “Foot in Mouth” award for a letter he sent informing Michael Lomax, the chairman of the United Negro College Fund, that the union would be ending its partnership with the educational organization in September. The union is angry about a $25 million donation that UNCF accepted from Charles Koch. The billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch have become targets of Democrats and unions, alike.

Saunders’ letter smacks of politics and lacks Black leadership values for our youth to emulate: “Like many supporters of the UNCF, I was deeply troubled by your decision to accept $25 million from David and Charles Koch,” Saunders wrote. Saunders contends that the UNCF chairman “has taken actions deeply hostile to public employees”… and there’s “a profound betrayal of the ideals of the civil rights movement.” The union intends to end its relationship with UNCF in September. Saunders also described the Koch brothers as the “single most prominent funders of efforts to prevent African Americans from voting.”

If ever there was a case of ideological extremism, this is it. Instead of saying, there’s not much we agree on, but helping Black youth graduate from college is one of them. Let’s unite and do some good. However, in his huff, Saunders sacrificed AFSCME grants that have helped nearly a hundred Black students throughout the course of the AFSCME/UNCF program.

Heads turned when UNCF announced Charles Koch’s no strings attached $25 million donation to historically Black colleges and universities and loan assistance programs. In his nonsensical justification of his taking money away from Black students, Saunders claimed that the Kochs are openly hostile to Black people. “We are doing this as a result of actions taken by the [chairman] of the UNCF that are not only deeply hostile to the rights and dignity of public employees …” Saunders’ letter told Lomax. “I was truly stunned to learn that you attended and spoke at a Koch summit.” Saunders shot hundreds of Black students in the foot because he’s fixated on the premise that “The Koch brothers and the organizations they fund have devoted themselves for more than a decade to attacking the voting rights of African Americans.”

UNCF chairman Michael Lomax, perhaps too pleased with the Kochs’ donation to worry about losing $60,000 from AFSCME, said in a statement: “UNCF has over 100,000 donors with a wide range of views, but all believe in helping young students of color realize their dreams of a college education. For over 70 years we have never had a litmus test and we have asked all Americans to support our cause.”

What Black Americans need is good leadership. AFSCME’s relationship with the UNCF revolved around the AFSCME/UNCF/Harvard LWP Union Scholars Program, in which sophomore- and junior- college students work with AFSCME during the summer and receive scholarship support. That program ends September 1.

It’s time to brand what Saunders has displayed as “feckless leadership.” Amid the plight of Blacks in America, it’s sad when a man in a position to lift up race-specific programs suspends them instead. Similar random accusations represent the history of Blacks and unions. Throughout the past century, unions have been on both sides of the racial divide, sometimes fostering discrimination; other times welcoming minorities.

Saunders is the first African-American president of the 1.6 million-member AFSCME. Saunders holds a Master of Arts degree from Ohio State University. We wish him wisdom to think and act in a leadership capacity that advances Blacks’ interests and causes.

Saunders shouldn’t stop AFSCME’s support of UNCF. If he needs a few bucks, he should poll his union partners for some of the $153 million they spend in political contributions. –William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and available for projects via the BaileyGroup.org

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Anywhere USA – Black Folks Are Where We Are Because We Choose To Be Right Where We Are!

Black folks are where we are because we choose to be right where we are and that is as individuals and as a whole.

In the home

When we don’t pull together then it is what it is. If we work together we can do some things and live a good life. But you see so many times everybody wants to be grown and we pass through this world not living the good life. We just live one day at a time.

In the community

When we are concerned about what is going on around us, be our brother’s and sister’s keeper especially looking out for children in our communities, we can have great communities. Today we are so tied up with our own mess that we can’t do things that we need to be doing. The community suffers and we continue to raise a generation who will carry the suffering on to the next generation.

On the job

When we stop being so damn jealous of each other on the job and start standing together we could be powerful. I can handle my own. When I see other folks being mistreated I speak up either in front of them and/or also going to the person who are doing the mistreating one on one. Some managers think that just because you earn a paycheck that they can treat you any kind of way. I think some managers are in denial, don’t understand or just don’t give a damn about their employees because what they need to understand is that everybody is grown and that we are there to collect a check after we have given them our labor. What part of that picture do they not understand?

Folks what I understand is that I got to work somewhere but what I also understand is that I am not going to be treated any kind of way when I give an employer a days work. Now if I ain’t doing my job then there are proper procedures to take to handle the situation, but come correct. But when some managers think that they can intimidate, harass and discriminate against us then if you see it happening to you and your co-workers and you don’t say anything you are part of the damn problem and not the solution.

When black folks wake the hell up and see they got the power we can begin to make things better for us at work and home.

Politics and Religion

If you don’t think politics and religion plays a role in our community then you are lost. You better get involved in both to some degree or you will get what you get without having a voice. Keep sitting back waiting on other folks. The sad part is some folks act as if they are in their own little world and talk about those who use their voice but they benefit when things are made better in the community and on the job.

What tickles the hell out of me is the so-called religious folks who allow mess to go with them and around them. How can you draw folks to the church when you don’t stand for anything? How can you teach your children to be productive and good when all they see is you going to work and having to struggle just to make ends meet? But maybe they don’t see it, because you act like you have arrived. But I know the children see it.

As I look at black on black crime, police brutality, how we allow them (racist white folks and/or Safe Negroes) to pick our leaders and attack our first Black President, I recognize and understand how easy it is for our young black males to do crime. Look around Edgecombe and Nash County alone and see how they have attacked young black male leaders. So what in the hell do the young black male have to look forward to? Read the local newspapers and see how young black male leaders have been attacked. Jealousy will continue to destroy us for generations to come.

Several years ago somebody said that our young black males were endangered species. I said oh hell no all black men are endangered species. Hell even the black man be he the best dressed, the best professional and the top Black man in these United States we are all treated like we are less than a damn dog. Hell I know we talk about young black males wearing their pants hanging off their ass but does it really make a difference? Well it do to me but really? I recognize and understand that when black folks come together we can be a powerful people.

I have been in the struggle since the early 90’s and I am still fighting. However I used to fight all battles but now I pick and choose what battles I fight so I can be productive in the fight. I look at how some folks are fighting some of the same battles that I have been fighting over the years but they are trying to feel they way. I have been there done that and can teach them some things but oh hell no some folks don’t want to hear it. You see jealousy is worst than the battle that they are fighting.

I feel that there is no fight that I get in that I am not victorious because I know how to fight and I have the skills. Some folks get discouraged because they don’t understand how to fight nor have the skills and just because it looks like they have lost they are really victorious. You see when you have the skills and deal in truth you can live with the outcome when other folks are in charge. But if you just wait a while you will see that the fight didn’t end with them because it ain’t over til God says it is over. Try me!

 

Food Critic?

Click on photo to listen to conversation with manager.

Food critic? Me?

Somebody said I ought to go around to different restaurants and post about their customer service a couple of weeks ago when I posted about Western Sizzlin.

Sounds interesting!

During the summer time I eat out much.

Open Letter To William Reed Columnist

I do apologize for not sharing your articles regularly for the past couple of months. I have been having some challenges personal and professional. I feel I am getting a handle on things now however still working on my challenges which will be ongoing for quite some time.

I get so many emails and I have not been able to keep up but emails such as your articles I have got to get back on top of things so that people can read some good stuff.

I am going to post several of your articles back to back.

Again I apologize and I will get back on top of things.

Appreciate you my brother and I look forward to sharing your articles with my several hundred viewers who read my Blog, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.

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DCN Food Critic – Waffle House Tarboro NC: Recommend At Your Own Risk!

Waffle House Tarboro NC
Monday September 1, 2014 Around 11:15 AM

My wife and I were sitting at the table and the waitress came over and I said will you wipe off the table? Waitress said I already did do you want me to do it again? I said yes. Upon placing our silverware on the table I noticed it was not clean and my wife noticed the same. My wife said wait until she bring the food. I said I don’t think I want to eat here. When she came back with the silverware she came back with plastic silverware. I said okay we are not eating here.

Recommend at your own risk!

DCN Food Critic – B’s BBQ Greenville NC: Yes Highly Recommend!

B’s BBQ Greenville NC
Saturday August 29

Picked up 2 slabs of Ribs, Slaw and 2 whole barbecued chickens.

They cook their food like I cook mines. They have real barbecued chicken. I don’t know of any restaurant that can compete with my chicken and theirs. However all of their food and sauce is gooood!

Highly recommend!

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Rocky Mount NC – In Response To The Closing of O.R. Pope Black Elementary School On The Edgecombe County Side Of Rocky Mount

The Political Agitator respond to: School board turns deaf ear to supporters of Pope Elementary

This response to Mr. Cordell is too damn ignant! I be glad when folks begin to respond to the original post and dissect it to attempt to discredit the original author with some facts instead of a lot words that amount to nothing.

To compare Mr. Cordell with a buzzard and others like myself whom have attended a meeting or several is about as damn ignant as they come.

Mr. Cordell addressed the issue in each paragraph so why don’t your ignant a+s do address Mr. Cordell per paragraph and prove him wrong? Hell if you can do that then I will agree with you but I doubt if you can nor do you care to because your mission is to attempt to discredit this black man.

Some folks trying to figure out why young black males do what they do? Hell I understand it because it does not matter how good we do, some ignant a+s white folks and some ignant a+s Safe Negroes are trying to discredit black men like Mr. Cordell and myself. The young black males so what is happening. I understand what is going on with all of the crime and killing. Hell it is folks like Lasko who promote trying to discredit the black male even when they do something positive. And hell no just because we do something positive does mean you have to agree with us, but damn don’t attempt to discredit us. Well you can go ahead because I am not a Silent Negro and I will respond. Just that i wish I could put a face with those who are afraid to say it publicly and hide behind code names.

Paid staff, paid school board members, paid superintendent and others ought to do their damn job and make sure mess like this do not happen.

The citizens of Edgecombe County did their part when they participated in the bond referendum even if they didn’t vote for it they damnit still participated.

I have not dropped the bomb nor has Mr. Cordell because that is not our duty to do folks job that get paid to do their job.

Although some folks like Mr. Cordell and myself have to carry our own burdens we still take time out to attend to some burdens that we face as a community. After working a days job for ungreatful folks and dealing with other things that we face, it takes a strong black man to endure.

I am Curmilus Dancy II and I sign my name to what I say and make it so people can see who I am and what I stand for.

Now Run & Tell That!

Comment:

Submitted by Lasko on August 24, 2014 – 9:51am.

How is it possible for a broken, insensible, corrupt and divided system to achieve what others believe the “children” will need in the future to become educated? #2. Why not accept responsibility as did our educators of yesterday and teach our children as Mr. Pope has? #3. Why is it that as the buzzards of the wild some only show up after the stench of decay? The question to be asked would be: “Why did it take so long to “save” O.R. Pope school? #4. It’s truly amazing how educators of yesterday was able to do so much more with so little and the educators of today do so little with so much, all the “leaders” of today are the product of the educators of yesterday, you’re a prime example Mr. Cordell. What happened, who dropped the ball or are we so dependent on others being responsible for your children? I can envision a mother gathering her children at the end of a hard days work from the fields into the humble shack of the plantation and reading the forbidden bible to her children. “Doing so much with so little.” We have to educate our children as did the educators of yesterday.

School board turns deaf ear to supporters of Pope Elementary

In the Oliver Ruthchild Pope Elementary School controversy and its ultimate closing and transferring of about 300 students to Dr. D.S. Johnson and Fairview Schools, one question has not been publicly addressed by our school board. Have you done everything possible to save the school? And the resounding answer is, no!

At its June meeting, the school board discussed and approved the movement of students, staff, faculty and materials. The school board granted the public two hearings many weeks later, which was just a mere gesture – like the cart before the horse. There were 10 speakers for the first session and five speakers for the subsequent session. Our superintendent eloquently Powerpointed the disparaging conditions at Pope, emphasizing the safety for both students and staff. Truth be told, the current structure should be demolished. The questions are, why is there little to no conversation concerning rebuilding another school on the current site? Don’t our children, our parents and our community deserve a brand new school?

The funds should be there. Edgecombe County commissioners have provided $3.4 millino to $3.8 million to Nash-Rocky Mount Schools in bonds dating back to 2004. That figure has increased tremendously and this does not include the thousands and thousands of dollars provided every year for all of the schools on the Edgecombe County side in Rocky Mount.

The Department of Public Instructions says there is not enough space to build another school on the Pope site to accommodate more than 300 students. My response – there are approximately 35 properties surrounding Pope. Some of these properties are boarded, and some are abandoned. The properties could easily be bought or taken by eminent domain.

Let us look closely at the school board. Certainly, there are a number of members who are hardworking and dedicated to take their oaths of office seriously. There are a few, I feel, who need replacing. A few years ago, the school board was considering closing Swift Creek Elementary in order to merge with Red Oak Elementary. But they were met with swift and fierce defiance from the white and black community forcing them to back-pedal on that issue. One school board member said she didn’t think the Nash County Commissioners would build a new school on the Edgecombe side, and she didn’t think it would be even legal. But the last time I checked, O.R. Pope Elementary School was in the Nash-Rocky Mount Schools district. Another member, although outspoken and a diehard supporter for the preservation of Pope, was absent at the Aug. 4 school board meeting, which ensured the three people desiring to speak would not voice their opinions. The board chair certainly could have been more understanding on this sensitive issue. And one could have not have been more amazed at the appalling silence of the white school board members. During the second session, the board chair granted all board members a 10-minute presentation with an additional 10-minute presentation, if needed. Not one spoke for or against closure. In the end, there was a white member who seconded the motion to close.

On my second presentation to the board, I asked them to sow the seed for a new beginning to our children, our parents and the entire community in the neighborhood/crosstown section in the form of a new school. Regardless of the educational overall goals – whether it’s the Common Core concepts, More at Four, Race to the Top, or No Child Left Behind (even though the money was left behind), this monumental effort will benefit all of us in the long term.

Robert E. Cordell Sr.

Rocky Mount