Vol. 49 No. 42
February 7, 2019 - February 13, 2019
This publication is a Certified DBE/ SBE / MBE in the State of California CUCP #43264 Metro File #7074 & State of Texas File #802505971 Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them and these will continue till they have resisted either with words or blows or words or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress. —Fredrick Douglass (1849)
2019 Marks The 100th Anniversary Of The Elaine Phillips Massacres That Claimed Over 200 Lives Of Black Men, Women, And Children
Publisher’s Corner Email: sbamericannews@gmail.com Clifton Harris Editor in Chief Publisher of The San Bernardino AMERICAN News
After 39 Years in prison, freed Delaware man stands by his innocence Had it not been for this attorney, Elmer Daniels might still be in jail. Here's why. Brittany Horn, Delaware News Journal
By Deangelo Manuel
Elmer Daniels speaks to the media following his release from prison where he served 39 years for a rape that has since been dismissed. (Photo: Daniel Sato, The News Journal)
Photo Credit: Conner LaCoste Helena, AR (BlackNews.com) -2019 marks one hundred years since one of America's deadliest massacres that claimed over two hundred lives of black men, women, and children. In 1919, over a hundred sharecroppers and local farmers met with the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America at a local church in a small rural community to discuss how to obtain fairer settlements from landowners. The black farmers were tired of being cheated out of their crops this made the white landowners upset, the birth to the bloody slaughter began. An article was written and published in Helena World newspaper said a white deputy was shot and killed by one of the black farmers. Not everyone agreed with the article that was published claiming that the black farmers shot first. The local sheriff formed a posse of 500-1000 and provided weap-
ons and ammunition to the posse. The posse came from Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Missouri to join forces to slaughter blacks. The governor called in five hundred federal troops, who arrested nearly twohundred and sixty African American men over three days. One hundred and twenty-two African Americans were prosecuted for these events, seventy-three was charged with murder and twelve were convicted. Some of the older black people in the community said the numbers were much higher than two hundred. When my father, Kirk Manuel, and I started researching the topic, some of the oral history told to us by older people in the community said that bodies were dumped in a lake called Old Town in Lakeview. They told us the lake turned red from the blood of the bodies. Our family roots go back five generations to Phillips County, Arkansas. Through oral
history, we learned about the massacre. Both of my paternal grandparents family lineage traces back to Pillow Plantation where both were born and worked. My father said my grandparents didn't leave the plantation until the early 60s and he told me that my grandmother, Obera Manuel, picked and chopped cotton, but once she left the plantation, she became a local civil rights activist in the 70's and 80's. After watching a Vice Documentary about Dr. Antoinette Harrell's work, a Peonage Detective who specializes in peonage and sharecropping research, we made an appointment to meet her in Louisiana to share our family history with her and to discuss the massacres. While visiting her, we encountered a supernatural experience that we never experience before. A hundred years of pain and suffering, murders, rapes, and lynching came through me and my father on that visit.
We brought pictures to show Dr. Harrell, she started feeling some type of energy coming directly from pictures of my ancestors. We learned something about our ancestors through this visit. "Dr. Harrell asked my father about my grandfather, did he own a switchblade? Did he smoke cigars?" She felt that he was in a room filled with smoke. She felt that he was involved in bootlegging. My father called my grandmother to confirm what she was saying was accurate. My grandmother confirmed the things that Dr. Harrell told us. We talked about the story of how my greatgrandfather, Reese Bailey, worked on Pillow Plantation until one-day old man Pillow wanted to beat one of my uncles for taking a peach from the peach orchard. My greatgrandfather told old man Pillow, "If you hit my child, you will have to call your boys and hang me, (continued on page 2)
**BLACK HISTORY MONTH SPOTLIGHT** First African-American chemistry Ph.D. honored with landmark during Black History Month Black History News WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2019 — St. Elmo Brady, the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry, is being honored by the American Chemical Society (ACS) with a National Historic Chemical Landmark. The designation will be celebrated on Feb. 5 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which awarded Brady his doctorate in 1916. The event coincides with February's Black History Month. St. Elmo Brady, the first African-American to earn a chemistry Ph.D., is being honored on Feb. 5 with a National Historic Chemical Landmark. "This landmark designation recognizes the outstanding accomplishments and leadership impact that Dr. Brady has had on the chemical profession," says ACS Immediate Past President Peter K. Dorhout, Ph.D., an alumnus who will present the university with a bronze plaque about Brady at the designation ceremony. "I am proud to be an alumnus of the university that was part of his legacy — dreaming, designing and executing the creation of four outstanding and impactful chemistry programs that have each worked to ensure access to higher education and the chemical professions for so many young African-American men and women over the last century." "Brady's most enduring legacy involves his efforts to enhance and create undergraduate curricula, graduate programs and fundraising
St. Elmo Brady, the first AfricanAmerican to earn a chemistry Ph.D., is being honored on Feb. 5 with a National Historic Chemical Landmark. Credit: University of Illinois Archives efforts at four historically black colleges and universities: Fisk University, Tuskegee University, Howard University and Tougaloo College," says Jonathan Sweedler, Ph.D., director of the university's School of Chemical Sciences. Each of those campuses will host a celebration of Brady's achievements and mount a plaque in his honor. Brady was born in 1884 in Louisville, Kentucky. After earning a bachelor's degree at Fisk in 1908, he taught for four years at Tuskegee and then earned his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois. He returned to Tuskegee to teach for
four years, then continued his career at Howard and Fisk — where he served as chair of the chemistry departments — and at Tougaloo. Brady died in 1966. Additional information about his life and achievements can be found at www.acs.org/bradylandmark. ACS offers a variety of resources for Black History Month. They include: An infographic about Brady and four other African-Americans who have made notable advances in the chemical sciences in the past 170 years A celebration of the achievements and contributions of 11 African-Americans who overcame great odds to pioneer some of the most important scientific discoveries and developments in U.S. history Videos about African-American chemists Five black chemists who changed the world Spotlighting black chemists and chemical engineers Previously dedicated landmarks for AfricanAmerican chemists George Washington Carver, Percy Julian and Norbert Rillieux. ACS established the National Historic Chemical Landmarks program in 1992 to recognize seminal events in the history of chemistry and to increase awareness of the contributions of chemistry to society. Past landmarks include the discovery and production of penicillin, the (continued on page 3)
A Delaware man who had his life sentence dismissed last week walked out of Howard R. Young Correctional Institution days later, a free man. Elmer Daniels and his attorneys say state prosecutors, in a lengthy court filing earlier this month to vacate the charges, took credit for work his legal team initiated to get him out of prison for a rape Daniels asserts he never committed. "Without my involvement, Elmer would have died in jail," said Daniels' attorney Emeka Igwe. "The attorney general wasn't going to look at his case or review his case. They want to act like they were benevolent and cared that he already served 39 years ... but he (the attorney general) only did what he did because they were forced to." The Delaware Department of Justice said it did review the case and did not determine Daniels was innocent based on the available evidence. Instead, it moved to dismiss the indictment based on the time served by Daniels. 57-year-old Elmer Daniels released from prison after 39 years after state dismisses rape indictment. John J. Jankowski Jr. and Daniel Sato, Delaware News Journal Had Daniels been found guilty of the same crime today, he likely would have spent about 15 years in prison. "The purpose of the state's papers was to provide the court with the information needed to decide the motion, not to assign credit for who is responsible for the outcome," DOJ spokesman Carl Kanefsky said. Igwe, however, contends that it is the state's responsibility – if prosecutors have enough information to prove a person is innocent – to correct an injustice. Since Daniels' conviction on a first-degree rape charge, the now 57-year-old man has maintained his innocence. He filed appeal after appeal after his conviction, but had no luck in getting his case overturned. "For the most part, it felt like no-
body cared," Daniels said Thursday outside Young Correctional Institution. "But Emeka did. "I literally told my story at an expungement summit. Imagine you're 18-year-old you, a black male given a great deal of time in prison and you wind up being ... 57 years old getting out of prison for a crime you didn't do. I simply asked, 'What would you do if a man did a lot of time and could prove that he's actually innocent but needs help?' And he said 'I'll help you.' " Flawed testimony led to his conviction 39 years ago. Now, prosecutors say he can go free. Nearly 40 years after Daniels' conviction, the state changed its mind – but it didn't call Daniels innocent. The state's motion to vacate the original conviction said testimony provided by an FBI agent about the use of hair evidence against Daniels "exceeded the limits of science" and may have swayed a jury into convicting him. It noted that due to numerous pieces of evidence, including the fact that the victim identified Daniels from a group of 300 photographs and "because of other evidence that cannot be disclosed without Mr. Daniels' consent because the evidence arose during his Board of Parole hearings," the state could not say Daniels was innocent. Elmer Daniels speaks to the media following his release from prison where he served 39 years for a rape that has since been dismissed.Buy Photo Elmer Daniels speaks to the media following his release from prison where he served 39 years for a rape that has since been dismissed. (Photo: Daniel Sato, The News Journal) "Nevertheless, because of the trial issues identified in the State's papers and the fact that Mr. Daniels had already served a sentence of 40 years, the State determined that justice was served by the dismissal of the indictment," Kanefsky said in a statement. (continued on page 6)
Our Values, Mission, & Vision Statement Our Values: Treat all people with care, respect, honor, and dignity. Tell it as it is with love, truth and integrity. Promote the interests of advertisers and sponsors along their strategic interest for the betterment of the community and beyond. Speak truth to power. Our Mission: To continuously improve communication between all people of the world. Our Vision: To be the best community newspaper in our region and the nation. Provider of: A voice for the poor, the underserved, those that are marginalized, Positive and edifying news about people, places and businesses. Keep San Bernardino, Riverside, and Los Angeles Counties informed about global trends while retaining the consciousness of local events and processes. Memberships and Associations: The San Bernardino American Newspaper is a member of the California Newspaper Publishers Association, National Newspaper Association and addociated with California Black Media.