Garland Journal 2-24-22

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My Truth By Cheryl Smith Publisher

Every vote matters I didn’t get to show love on Valentine’s Day, by casting my vote in the primary election. Monday, February 14, 2022 was the first day of early voting and I wanted to walk into a polling location and cast my vote for the candidates of my choice.

No matter how long it took, I was going to go through every page, until the very end of the ballot, to make sure that I did my civic and moral duty. I wanted to cast my vote for those who came before me and were denied; for those who will never vote because of interactions with a system that stripped them of that right; and, for those yet unborn who deserve to have people with decency and common sense making decisions about their future. I missed that first day, and second; however it is my intent to not let this week come to an end without voting. Until I make it to the polls, I pray every day that I will make it to the polls because I would hate for some incompetent, ill-prepared, unconscionable and yes, unethical person to be elected because of my refusal to take advantage of the right to vote. Critics or devil’s advocates would say that I voted before and we still ended up with incompetent, ill-prepared unconscionable and yes, unethical people in office. True! You won’t get an argument here. Which brings me to my truth.

Dr. Ben Chavis of the National Newspaper Publishers Association recently stressed the importance of voting, especially in Texas where we have been dealing with so many oppressive and racist laws. I have to believe that every vote counts, that my vote counts, and that if you vote, yours will too. So, every day, I am having discussions about voting. Sadly, there’s no difference in the young mother of three who has found herself dependent on government assistance and the college-educated man working in corporate America, or the homeless person living under the bridge. People of all See MY TRUTH, Page 2

SERVING NORTH EAST TEXAS

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2022

Ahmaud Arbery’s Killers Guilty of Hate Crimes in Federal Court

VOLUME X

Former Garland businessman dies June 1, 1954 to January 21, 2022

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire

A federal jury found Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan guilty on all counts in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. The verdict came on the eve of the anniversary of Arbery’s murder. The McMichaels and Bryan chased Arbery through their mostly white Georgia neighborhood in their pickup trucks, cornering him before Travis McMichael shot the innocent jogger with a shotgun. The trio was convicted in state court and given life sentences. The federal charges included a hate crime that exposed each of the men’s history of racism. Throughout the one-week trial, defense attorneys tried to sell the

Clifton Curtis Sneed, Jr.

[Travis McMichael] was just looking for a reason,” Perras insisted. He also noted that if the men thought Arbery had committed a crime, they never alerted the police. Trial testimony from FBI in-

Clifton Curtis Sneed Jr was born in Dallas, Texas on June 1, 1954 to Clifton Curtis Sneed Sr. and Inez Latson Sneed. Affectionately called “Cliff,” he spent his childhood years with his father and stepmother, Rosie, in New Jersey. He graduated from Clifford J. Scott High School in East Orange, New Jersey and traveled back to Texas to attend Huston Tillotson College in Austin, where he also pledged Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.

See AHMAUD ARBERY’ KILLERS, page 5

See GARLAND BUSINESSMAN, page 7

On eve of the anniversary of his death, a federal jury found Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan guilty of hate crimes on all counts in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

jury that, while the men weren’t “likable,” their actions weren’t driven by racial hatred. However, Prosecutor Christopher Perras ferociously attacked that stance. The murder “was driven by their pent-up racial anger and


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