SCLC National Magazine - King 2022 Issue

King Issue 2022

National Magazine

A Salute to SCLC First Lady

Cathelean Steele

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

Vol.50 / No. 5

Table of Contents Columns: 07. The President's Corner

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SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

10. Message from the Chairman 14. Message from the First Lady

Features:

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17. Hosea Willia ms as a Founding Fat her of A Bet ter A merica 21. Cat helea n Steele: Liv ing a Life of Courage & Hope 27. Cat helea n Steele’s Education Plat form: Justice For Girls 29. Love is A lways Ava ilable 31. Li ke a Thief in t he Night …..The Demonization of t he Black Vote in Sma ll Tow n Georg ia 46. The Queen Beyond The K ing **Cover Photo by Fa it h Sw if t ABOUT THE SCLC: Established in 1957, the SCLC, whose first president was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is an international organization made up of chapters and affiliates with programs that affect the lives of all Americans: north, south, east, and west. Its sphere of influence and interests have become international in scope because the human rights movement transcends national boundaries.

For additional information about the SCLC, visit www.nationalsclc.org.

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NATIONAL EXECUTI V E OFFICE R S

Dr. Charles Steele, Jr. President & CEO

Martin Luther King Jr. Founding President

Ralph D. Abernathy President 1968 - 1977

Fred L. Shuttlesworth President 2004

Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr Chairman

Joseph E. Lowery President 1977 - 1997

Dr. Charles Steele, Jr. President & CEO

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

Martin Luther King III President 1998 - 2003

Howard Creecy Jr. President 2011

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SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

PRESI DENT’S CORNER

Free Pervis Payne- A Black man like ME. Justice must be served for Pervis Payne.

By Dr. Charles Steele Jr., SCLC National President & CEO

Sweet tea, blues, rock-n- roll and barbeque are a few things I love about Tennessee! The mountainous plains of the state the and the beautiful weather in summer and winter make Tennessee a beautiful place.

Yes, there are many things to love. However, like most states in this country, Tennessee has it closet of bones. Memphis is where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the co-founder and first president of the SCLC, was assassinated on April 4, 1968. He was killed by a sniper’s bullet as he stood outside his room of the Lorraine Motel. Yes, in Tennessee you can also be guilty for being Black and in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is not uncommon for this to happen.

We’ve seen it throughout history.

Remember Emmett Till, a 14-year-old AfricanAmerican boy from Chicago, Illinois. He was brutally murdered for Allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. The only thing Emmett was guilty of was being Black and at the wrong place at the wrong time. Emmett was killed August 28th 1955.

Pervis Payne was convicted of his crime on June 27th 1987. Here we are in 2021 and we are still fighting for the release of Payne and for Tennessee to right the wrong that has been placed upon Mr. Payne for the last 53 years.

In 1987, Pervis Payne was accused of killing a 28-year-old white mother and her twoyear-old daughter. He has been on death row for 33 years. Since his arrest, Payne has maintained his innocence. Payne discovered the bodies, but, fearing for his own life, fled the scene upon arrival of police. A new investigation into Payne’s case reveals numerous errors in the investigation, a staged crime scene, hidden evidence, destruction of evidence, information that Payne is intellectually disabled, prosecutorial misconduct and a racially motivated prosecution. The trial prosecutor, who has a history of professional misconduct,

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played on age-old racist tropes: painting Payne as a super-predator who was drugged up on cocaine and looking to have sex with a white woman. The prosecutor went so far as to emphasize the victim’s white skin and Mr. Payne’s dark hand. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Why is this happening in 2021? First, let me say that I am thankful that Mr. Payne was removed from death row after three decades! Mr. Payne had been facing execution in Tennessee for three decades, despite living with an intellectual disability that makes it unconstitutional to execute him. In September of 2021, I spent two and a half hours speaking with the District Attorney (DA) in Shelby County, Tennessee asking the DA to take Mr. Payne off of death row and for him not to be executed. Mr. Payne was facing execution this December. I told the DA we needed to start the healing process because of the history of the enslavement of African-Americans for over 400 years. This execution of Pervis Payne (an innocent man) is unimaginable! I consider capital punishment as one of the most sinful acts to date! Thank God Mr. Payne can rest easy in knowing he doesn’t have to die by capital punishment for a crime he did not commit. However, this fight is not over! Mr. Payne is not free and he is still serving time for a crime he has always maintained he did not commit!

Let me leave this thought with you…don’t get complacent in these times that we are living in. I know the past two years has been one of the most exhausting and heartbreaking years in the history of this entire world. We are in a pandemic…I understand [not...]. However, please remember that we have been in a pandemic for a long time. We have been in a pandemic and epidemic of racism that has touched every corner of this world. This racial pandemic we have faced has killed countless African-Americans for hundreds of years. Yes, I agree this Covid-19 pandemic is horrific and yes, we are all in this together. BUT…are we not all in this together as we fight the pandemic and epidemic of racism and injustice? Is this not a crisis? Yes, it is!! We need to fight this just as aggressively as we are fighting to find a cure for Covid-19! We can’t become complacent, we can’t! too many innocent lives have already been lost. Lift your voices and speak out when there is injustice and right now Mr. Payne needs our voice. FREE Pervis Payne NOW!

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Honest conversations on race are key to creating an inclusive environment. Inclusion is the underpinning of a diverse organization and a requirement for a brighter, more equitable future.”

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2021 as employees around the company shared what his legacy and vision for a brighter future means to them and how we can continue creating change.

First all-employee Juneteenth Town Hall for a discussion on race with Hershey Leaders.

Michele Buck

Chairman of the Board, President & CEO

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

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As long I can remember, every Martin Luther King Day I start my day by watching his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and I feel thankful.”

Highlight how Hershey employees recognize and celebrate Dr. King by giving back and making a difference.

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All-employee Juneteenth Town Hall with Hershey leaders and speakers with From Privilege to Progress for a real, honest conversation on personal experiences, learnings and actions.

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FROM TH E CH AI RMAN

Chairman’s Corner

Honoring Mrs. A.M.E. Logan (1915-2011)

By Dr. Bernard Lafayette Jr., SCLC Chairman

The pattern was pretty much “set in stone” that when a Freedom Rider was released from jail or prison in Jackson, Mississippi, he or she would be given a meal in a local restaurant and an airline ticket to go back home. Governor Ross Barnett expressed praise for the “Mississippi Negroes” for not getting involved in the civil rights movement—and laid the blame on “outside agitators.”

When James Bevel and I were released from Parchman Penitentiary, we saw a need to stay and recruit some local people to participate. We consulted attorney Jack Young about staying, and he referred us to the District Attorney.

The DA knew that Bevel was already home, being a native of the state of Mississippi, and I, as Bevel’s friend, chose to stay with him.

With the help of Medgar Evers, we were able to set up an office across the street from his office and set about our work. Others from SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) were also set up and ready to mobilize. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay at the home of Mrs. A.M.E. Logan on Biloxi Street.

I was treated as a member of the family. She cooked wonderful food, which reminded me of my own grandmother’s cooking. Cornbread and collard greens and all the trimmings. I helped with chores around the house by sweeping up and cutting grass, etc.

Bevel and I were arrested a second time for continuing to recruit and organize in Jackson.

This time, we were convicted of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. As it turned out, some of our recruits were only 15 years old which was difficult to believe due to their size. Being in solitary confinement included sleeping on the concrete floor. When I returned to living in the comfort of Mrs. Logan’s home, I had to sleep on the floor until I could condition myself to rest in the luxury of a real bed!

I sometimes stayed overnight in Medgar Evers’ office while he dressed in regular clothes and borrowed an old truck to drive. His mission was to rescue tenant farmers who owed the plantation owner so much money they could not leave. He put them up in town, then sent them north to begin a new life. The typical migration from Jackson was usually to Chicago or East St. Louis. I got to know Medgar Evers quite well through those experiences.

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

Mrs. A.M.E. Logan was very supportive to all of us. I called her “fearless” and admired her very much. She was always dressed nicely, and she was very active in her church and in so many community affairs. To my knowledge, she was never hampered by law enforcement in any of her endeavors.

Mrs. Logan was never as well-known as Rosa Parks or Coretta King, but she is an outstanding example of the many women without whom the civil rights movement would not have been as successful. In 1991, when I was in Jackson at Tougaloo College to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides, Mrs. Logan and her daughter Shirley came to the school to visit with me. A photograph of them was taken during the visit and is included in this article.

Known as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” in Jackson, Mississippi, she was 96 years old when she died in 2011. According to the Mississippi Civil Rights Project, in 1943, she sold a rubbing oil that was developed by George Washington Carver and encouraged her customers to join the NAACP and register to vote as she went door to door selling her product. She became the official hospitality chair for the NAACP. Her father was an African Methodist Episcopal minister with great love for the church, so her parents named her A. M. E. In 1915. She inherited her father’s work ethic, passion for helping others, and economic independence. This led her to join in providing aid to the Freedom Riders who arrived in Jackson in 1961.

She was a co-founder of Womanpower Unlimited which was intended to provide a safety net, motherly nurturing, and support to the young civil rights workers. In her excellent book, “Womanpower Unlimited and the Black Freedom Struggle in Mississippi,” Tiyi M. Morris gives a powerful account of the organizing skills and social justice accomplishments these women, led by Mrs. Claire Collins Harvey, obtained over the years.

Mrs. A.M.E. Logan was elected to be the executive director.

Mrs. A.M.E. Logan & daughter Shirley

Womanpower Unlimited branched out to the whole country and formed, or affiliated with, numerous other organizations to augment the lives of Black Americans and of all Americans. They expanded to include programs such as voter registration drives, school desegregation, and participation in “Women Strike for Peace.” The book describes how the “bottom up” theory of decision making worked so that everyone was involved and had input into how things were done.

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A.M.E. Logan stayed busy. She was active in her church as well as many other organizations. She was a founding member and fi rst secretary of the Jackson Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 2010, the city of Jackson, Mississippi changed the name of Biloxi Street to AME Logan in her honor. She was still selling Avon products at the end of her life and was recognized as their oldest salesperson in 2010.

She was believed to be 96 years old at the time of her death, but whenever she was asked about her age or date of birth, she replied, “I am as old as my tongue, and a little older than my teeth.”

Writer’s Recommendations and Note: “Womanpower Unlimited and the Black Freedom Struggle in Mississippi” by Tiyi M. Morris (part of the “Politics and Culture in the Twentieth-Century South Series).

“In Peace and Freedom: My Journey in Selma” by Bernard LaFayette, Jr. and Kathryn Lee Johnson.

Online course “From Freedom Rides to Ferguson” gives Coursera participants an opportunity to learn from activist Bernard LaFayette, Jr. in the context of several locations important to the Civil Rights Movement. https://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/10/er_lafayette_coursera_course/campus.html Writer assisted by Jane Osgerby, who also has photography credit.

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SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

We’re all

unique.

Each person has different perspectives, experiences, and dreams. It’s through inclusion that we learn, grow, and create a better world around us.

At Lowe’s, we believe in making homes better for all, without exceptions. By celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., we also honor the legacy of equality for everyone. ©2022 Lowe’s. Lowe’s and the gable mansard design are registered trademarks of LF, LLC.

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FROM THE FI RST L ADY

Conversations We Must Have With our Girls

By Cathelean Steele, Founder, Justice for Girls

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Every year since 2010, the President has dedicated this month to raising awareness about sex trafficking. Research shows that 80% of all trafficking victims are women and children (UN TIP Report), girls specifically ages 1217. I am finding an immense amount of information encouraging everyone to become more educated and aware of this growing pandemic we call sex trafficking.

Parents, you must not assume that your child will never be in the presence of a trafficker. Research shows that sex traffickers (men and women) are generally well dressed, well spoken, and very persuasive. There is also the presence of social media platforms that have become major influencers in the way our daughters interact with others, the way they dress, and how they feel about their bodies. The social media platforms that I am referring to are Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and You Tube. Therefore, it is our responsibility to start conversations with our children at a young age educating them about the trappings all around us.

Survivors of sex trafficking have shared that they “didn’t always understand what was happening to them as they were being lured, groomed and later trafficked.” Parents become your child’s best friend, make them aware that promises from strangers can be dangerous.

Be aware of new friends in their lives and notice if your child is acting out of character. I was recently reading an article authored by Chrissy Duke, in her writings she wrote the following “Let me start by introducing you to the traffickers – those who exploit and enslave people.

Traffickers are men and women who seek out vulnerable people to exploit. They are friends, boyfriends, family members, internet trollers, and strangers, male or female.

Parents, make sure that your daughters know that they are loved. Teach them to recognize exploitation when they see it and also be aware of new friends that seek to separate them from their families and friends. Teach them to trust their gut. Let them know that the promise of expensive purses, clothes, jewelry or offers of large amounts of cash is not without consequences.

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

According to Covenant House “parents should look for changes in your child’s attitude.”

Please see below the signs of possible sex trafficking: . Becoming involved in an all-consuming relationship with a new boyfriend . Skipping school and miss curfew . Showing increased interest in their appearance . Doing things out of character like drinking or drugs . Acting secretive about activities, new friend or boyfriend . Have a new or unusual tattoo If someone you know is being trafficked please call the National Human Trafficking Hotline 1 (888) 373-7888.

JUSTICE FOR GIRLS is an educational awareness and prevention program designed to promote self- esteem and bring awareness of sex trafficking.

The only thing more important than starting the conversation is keeping it going.

We honor the men and women who began the dialog for social, economic and political justice through our commitment to help continue it.

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SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

Hosea Williams as a Founding Father of A Better America By: Rolundus R. Rice

The Rev. Hosea Williams is an anomalous figure who is both known and unknown in the historiography of the Black freedom struggle. I was perplexed when I approached the prospect of writing my dissertation on Williams as a Ph.D. student at Auburn University to my adviser. Dr. David Carter. Carter and I plowed through hundreds of books in the historiography of the civil rights movement to confirm our initial observations about the lack of ink that scholars had devoted to the fiery and bombastic agitator from Attapulgus, Georgia. Historians had relegated Hosea Williams to a few paragraphs or to a footnote to the pages of what had been otherwise solid treatments that examined civil rights agitation in the United States post the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. Some of the most celebrated historians of the period have chosen to give only scant and fragmentary attention to Williams’ contributions to civil rights before and beyond his fifteen-career with the local Savannah affiliate and national Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) from 1963-1979, and no author, prior to this writing, had attempted a scholarly biographical treatment of his life.

A few scholars and some of Williams’s contemporaries recognized the old warhorse’s contributions to the Black freedom struggle. According to David Garrow, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, “in the 1964-1965 timeframe, Hosea was as valuable as anyone in SCLC to Dr. King because of his courage and willingness to lead dangerous demonstrations…People may remember Andy Young and John Lewis, but…Hosea was just as important to the movement.” John Lewis, a founder of SNCC who participated in the Freedom Rides and marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Williams on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on “Bloody Sunday,” called the fiery activist an authentic hero. ‘’Hosea Williams must be looked upon as one of the founding fathers of the new America,’’ he said. ‘’Through his actions, he helped liberate all of us.’’ Joseph Lowery, a founder of the SCLC and Williams’ former boss who fired him as Executive Director of the SCLC in 1979, portrayed the old warhorse of the movement as fearless. ‘’Hosea wasn’t afraid of Goliath,’’ he said. ‘’In fact, I was thinking about it, and I don’t think there anything he was scared of.’’ He said Williams tackled ‘’the Goliaths of greed and indifference’’ that created a permanent underclass.

Williams has been portrayed as courageous, fearless, and integral to the modern Civil Rights Movement. However, few scholars stopped shy of recognized that Williams was actively

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engaged in civil and voting rights activism prior to meeting King and his subsequent fulltime employment with the SCLC. None have lionized him in the same way as some of the aforementioned iconic activists despite the evidence that supports the argument presented here that Williams justly deserves to be recognized as a first-ballot Founding Father of a newer, better America. Lewis, Lowery and Vivian, towering timbers who fell during the last three years, were all awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama—the first President of the United States of African descent whose initial ballot for the nation’s highest office was cast on a bridge named for a Confederate general on a cool day in March, 1965. It is time for Williams to posthumously receive the nation’s highest civilian honor.

The rich documentary trail of evidence that spans more than forty years of Williams’s activism supports the claim above. He was one of the principal leaders of the campaign that led to the desegregation of public accommodations in Savannah, Georgia, prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Dubbed as “Atlanta’s eternal marcher” in a column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Williams, at age 61, was still galvanizing marchers, approximately 20,000, in Forsyth County, Georgia, in 1987. Both sustained protests altered both Deep South cities. A deeper exploration of hundreds of additional civil rights campaigns remain beyond the scope of this article. However, the Hosea-led march that pushed President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim before a join session of Congress eight days after the melee on the Edmund Pettus Bridge merits quotation: “At times, history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox.

So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.” Presidential utterances are consequential. Johnson had strategically compared, and rightfully so, “Bloody Sunday,” to battles that ignited the American Revolutionary War, and the binding together of the northern and southern states that had been torn asunder over the issue of slavery. The principal actors in both sagas, George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant, later ascended to the presidency and were eventually immortalized by monuments and currency. Williams has a 3.3 mile street named in his honor in the district he represented as a member of the Georgia’s General Assembly from 1974-1983. Selma, a seminal campaign of the movement, canonized one American, and cannibalized another.

The events surrounding the organizing and planning of the initial march to Montgomery from Selma in 1965 have never been shrouded in mystery or the subject of serious debate among scholars and participants in “Bloody Sunday.” SCLC president, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., issued a firm directive to Williams to not proceed with the protest on the morning of March 7. “Call the march off today, Hosea,” said King. Williams refused. “No. Doc, I can’t support you,” Williams, the insubordinate, but loyal lieutenant said to a stunned King. King deploys Andrew Young to Alabama via airplane to postpone the march until the following day. From the safety of retrospect, any observer could understand the practical reasons why King did not believe that Williams’s plan to lead several hundred nonviolent marchers on a 54-mile trek from Montgomery to Selma without the necessary provisions was ill-conceived.

Williams, SCLC director of voter registration and political education, did not relent. He continually pulled from his arsenal of agitation to motivate protesters to join the march.

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

“I just really went wild in that pulpit…people were jumping all upside the wall,” recalled Williams. The documented chronology of the events has not changed in nearly fifty-six years. Marchers were beaten by Alabama State Troopers. The video and photographic footage was seared into the minds and memories of those who watched these images during ABC’s interruption of “Judgment at Nuremberg” later that evening. The public sentiment toward equal access to the ballot seem to have changed because of the march that resulted from one’ man’s defiance of another sainted civil rights leader. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, a measure that outlawed a range of ingenious legal tactics that prohibited Black citizens from participating in the political process, was signed into law only five months after the Selmato-Montgomery March.

My recent book, Hosea Williams: A Lifetime of Defiance and Protest, published by the University of South Carolina Press can be purchased in all major bookstores. The manuscript covers the Selma campaign and is separated into ten chapters that chronicle Williams’s complicated life from the year he was born to blind parents in 1926, until his passing in 2000 at age 74. My thesis is straightforward and matter-of-fact: Hosea Williams was of central importance to the most successful nonviolent revolution for freedom and equality in world history. He was bombastic, belligerent, barrel-chested and baritone – all of which he used in his arsenal of agitation. Williams was also imperfect. His decisions behind the wheel of his Cadillacs befuddled observers and somehow unjustly recast him into a caricature. He was also diagnosed with sleep apnea and suffered from chronic pain due to the beatings he endured at the hands of gangs of white civilian mobs and law enforcement.

He does not deserve a proverbial pass for his misdeeds. However, his hall of fame stat sheet, which includes more than 130 arrests; three civil rights acts that he influenced as an activist and strategist; documented protests at age 72 as a cancer patient and more than one million free meals doled out to Atlanta’s forlorn and forgotten, merit maximum feasible leniency when judging his legacy. One is left to wonder how Hosea Williams might have been portrayed if he had a chauffeur.

T H E I N T E R N AT I O N A L B R O T H E R H O O D O F

TEAMSTERS SALUTES

THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE On the Occasion of Black History Month

JAMES P. HOFFA General President

KEN HALL General Secretary-Treasurer

Rolundus Rice is Ph.D Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rust College

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DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION We are inspired by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “The time is always right to do what is right,” and proud to bring those words to life through Kroger’s FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION. www.thekrogerco.com/community/standing-together/

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

CATHELEAN STEELE: LIVING A LIFE OF COURAGE AND HOPE Debbie Ellison, Executive Director of Global Humanitarians Unite

The brave little girl who integrated two schools and rose above hatred grew into the woman who continues to fight racism and leave a better world for young people. It is this kind of courage and the longing to do what’s right that has carried Cathelean Steele through life.

She was an educator in Alabama for more than 25 years. Today she is the national program director and event coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and wife of the SCLC national president/CEO, Dr. Charles Steele Jr. She has also been the Coordinator for the National SCLC Conference for the past ten years and is the founder of Justice for Girls, a sex trafficking prevention initiative.

Born in 1951 in Eutaw, Alabama, she was the oldest of nine children. She says her father was a great follower of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and believed that integrating the schools would make a big difference. And since she was the oldest child in her family, he chose her to integrate.

She and her cousin integrated Eutaw High School in Eutaw her first semester of her freshman year. “My cousin and I were the only two Blacks on the bus,” she remembers. “We were called names and had spitballs thrown at us. I lived with my grandparents the first semester. The second semester, I moved to Montgomery with my parents. When I moved to Montgomery, I was excited because I thought, I won’t have to integrate again. My father made me do it again.

“I said, ‘Daddy, what school am I going to attend? Am I going to attend Carver High School?’

He said, ‘No, you’re going to integrate Sidney Lanier High School.’ ” When she was in the sixth grade, Dr. King visited a church in Eutaw. “And my daddy took me out of school so that I could meet Dr. King. We could not go into the church because it was packed. So my father said, ‘We’re going to stand outside in the parking lot across the street because when Dr. King finishes his sermon, he’s going to come outside and shake everyone’s hand.’ And sure enough, he came out and across the street, and I got a chance to shake his hand.”

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She says, “I think my father would be sad if he was alive now to see that all the schools that were integrated are now segregated again. So all we went through to integrate schools, now they’re segregated again.”

She remembers several racist incidents she experienced in high school which she believes taught her to be strong.

“When Dr. King was assassinated, we had a semiriot at school. They had to call in the police. And it happened because the African-American ROTC students lowered the flag at the school to half-mast because of Dr. King’s death. And, of course, that caused a big problem.”

She recalls sitting at a Lanier High School football game when a white student who lived on the street she lived on touched her on the shoulder. “I looked back, and he said, hi, and I said hi. And they beat him up so bad for speaking to me that he had to be hospitalized.

And I never saw him again. I don’t know if his family just pulled him out of the school. I don’t know what happened.”

She says some of her classmates “called me nigger a couple of times, and I had a football thrown at me. But it was just part of what we had to do.”

She has proved to be a positive influence on and prized partner to her husband, SCLC President Dr. Charles Steele Jr. “He has done some amazing things. I tried to encourage him to continue to do the work that he believes in and to be there in any way that he needs me. Regardless of how difficult it is, I have to be there for him.”

She says she encouraged him to run for the Tuscaloosa City Council, and he became one of the first Black City Councilmen in Tuscaloosa. When he was the local SCLC president, she told him he needed to start traveling the world to learn how the Civil Rights Movement has impacted the rest of the world. Since then, he has been to more than thirteen countries, and she has traveled to many countries with him.

“His first trip to Africa was with Dr. Joseph Lowry. And I encouraged him to go to Germany with Mikhail Gorbachev.” She recommended him to be the national president of SCLC. He was offered and took the job after serving as SCLC vice president and a state senator.

She calls her husband an equal opportunity protester. “He didn’t just protest for the rights of Blacks. He protested for the rights of whites as well. If there was an issue, it didn’t matter to him whether the person in the middle of the issue was Black or white.

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

What mattered to him was whether the issue was the right issue for that persecuted person.

He was locked up once for protesting for a white lady that was being mistreated on her job.

So they were protesting in front of the store where she worked. And he was arrested for that.

He was constantly being arrested.“ Even though the racist incidents she endured were difficult at the time, she sees them as “lessons learned.” And she says it prepared her to marry her husband “because I had no idea about civil rights. But we got through it.”

“I remember one incident that was pretty bad. He and this group locked themselves in the Board of Education. I was with my in-laws. One neighbor was an 84-year-old white lady, and she loved me. One day she called me and said, ‘You need to come home.’ When I got home, the police and fire department were there. Someone had poured gasoline on the front yard, and the fire had burned all the way to the hedges. They never found who did it, and I never heard anything about it again, no police report, nothing. My father-in-law wouldn’t let me stay at home after that. So, I stayed with my in-laws until Charles was back.”

Her friend, American civil rights leader and broadcasting executive Xernona Clayton, says, “Mrs. Cathelean Steele is one of the kindest persons that I have had the pleasure of meeting, knowing, and loving. She is obviously dedicated and committed to equity and justice for our nation. She has organized women and young girls to improve their skills and talents to navigate and escalate their opportunities in our country. I am an immense admirer of Mrs. Steele.”

Steele says she loves teaching Black history because “kids need to know their history in order to appreciate themselves. And I think that’s what’s wrong with our kids these days. They don’t know their history. They don’t know where their families came from. I think life would be better for them if they just knew.

“Mamie Till Mobley came to the school and spoke with my class.” Mrs. Mobley was one of her friends and the mother of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American who was brutally beaten and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant.

“She didn’t want Emmett to go to Mississippi. She really did not find out what happened to Emmett until years after Emmett died. She knew he had been brutally murdered, but she really didn’t know what led up to it. She said she knew Emmett whistled, but she said he only whistled because he stuttered. And she had taught him when he got ready to say a word, if he couldn’t get it out to stop and whistle. So for years, she thought he may have whistled trying to talk to Mrs. Bryant.”

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Her advice to youth…”Regardless of what anyone says about you, you need to know yourself, and I’m telling you, you are valuable. And it doesn’t matter what anybody else says about you.

It’s how you feel about yourself. You have to love yourself, have self-worth. You can’t listen to outsiders…You can’t tell me that I’m not worthy. I know that I’m worthy. So we just can’t let anyone else define who we are.”

Steele is the recipient of many awards and the author of Justice For Girls Curriculum and Smarty Arty, a children’s book. She is the mother of two daughters, LeKeisha and Charla, and the proud grandmother of Carson, Cruz, and Harper Grace and Paige.

She has been through a lot of challenges in her life, yet she remains hopeful and loving. She says she is most proud of her daughters, her husband, and everything she has been through.

“I think I handled it well. I haven’t handled it with animosity. It was just something at the time, I think it had to be done. And so, who am I to say that I shouldn’t have been the one to do it? It’s a waste of energy to be angry and bitter. It drains you of your potential.

“I think that my philosophy of life is to live, learn, teach, so that we can leave something for the next generation. What comes, we hope for the best. I just have to live my best life.”

And she has done just that, leaving for the next generation her legacy of hope and courage to do the right thing even though it may not be the easy thing.

Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company

Remembering His Life and Legacy

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (1929-1968)

morehouse.edu/kingcollection

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

Prevent Sex Trafficking

An iniiaave of the Southern Chrissan Leadership Conference SCLC developed as an educaaonal awareness project aimed at highlighhng the alarming growth of sex trafficking in our communiies.

A pracccal guide of interaccve lessons designed to increase the sense of value and worth of girls 5-18 thereby reducing the risk of commerical sexual exploitaaon.

For more informaaon or to partner please email us at jussceforgirls@naaonalsclc.org SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

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CATHELEAN STEELE’S EDUCATION PLATFORM:

JUSTICE FOR GIRLS!

By Maynard Eaton, Executive Editor It was a sudden brainstorm following her first brain surgery when SCLC’s First Lady, Cathelean Steele, cleverly created Justice For Girls, a National SCLC program she devised to rescue “at risk” young women from the lure of sex trafficking and other illicit lifestyle activities and a passion she has pursued and nurtured ever since.

“I just happened to pick up this magazine that had an article about sex trafficking,” recalls the former classroom teacher and mother of two girls.

“And when I started reading it, I guess I was just immune to the fact that so many young girls were being trafficked and so many girls were being kidnapped from their families, and actually walking the streets.”

Once First Lady Steele recuperated and returned to her SCLC office, she went to work educating parents and teachers about sex trafficking and introducing young women to the world outside of their communities. That was a decade ago.

“A lot of the girls told me, ‘Well, we’ve never been to the King Center,’ Mrs. Steele remembers.

“You live right here in Atlanta, and you’ve never been to the King Center? They said, ‘I’ve never been downtown.’ And I realized they really needed exposure, and that was one-way kids were being kidnapped and people were promising them things and they had not been exposed to.

So, that is when we started taking them hiking and taking them on college tours and various museums just so that they could see there is life outside of where they live, where they go to school, their surroundings. I guess kind of a companion piece to teaching them about sex trafficking.”

A retired public-school teacher who achieved special recognition for her innovative history teaching approaches in the State of Alabama, First Lady Cathelean Steele has a passion for mentoring young women — and standing for their future — that simply will not quit.

“When I was teaching, field trips were one of the things that I did with my students,” the revered educator tells me. “I would always take them on a field trip, whether it was to the state capital to see what was happening, and see how the government was run, or whether it was to Memphis, Tennessee, to where Dr. King was assassinated or whatever. Yes, the education played a part in it, the fact that I was a teacher played a part in my deciding to educate the kids on sex trafficking and to expose them.”

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

SCLC President/CEO, Dr. Charles Steele Jr., calls his wife and life-long partner a “game changer” and “primetime role model” as his SCLC First Lady because of her effective establishment and execution of our “Justice For Girl’s” program thrust.

“What makes it a priority Black female international concern is that my wife cares about the future and our next generations of young ladies, who will divinely impact young men,” President Steele opines. “Women have been wrongly left out of political and civil rights leadership for far too many years. My First Lady is not only changing that as an educator, but also pioneering a path forward for her mentees. It is her commitment and her calling.”

Gail Sutton is a friend and fellow First Lady of Atlanta’s historic Jackson Memorial Church who applauds First Lady Steele. “Justice For Girls is making a difference,” she opines. “First Lady Steele has pulled girls out of their comfort zone. She got the girls together and decided to take them various places, do different things, teach them how to become young ladies. It was just an impressive experience because the girls had not been anywhere. These young ladies that she has under her wing, they weren’t used to going to different places like going to a restaurant or on a hike.”

First Lady Sutton adds, “Sex trafficking, is a big problem because it could happen to anybody’s child – anywhere at any time. First Lady Steele gave us information on what to do, how to do it and who to call. She gave us all the different warnings to help our children not be that environment.”

“I think it’s also opened the eyes of a lot of parents that I’ve had a chance to speak with,” Ms. Steele says about the programs impact. “I think I’m making a difference because I have traveled throughout a number of Southern states that have SCLC chapters, and I’ve spoken to parents and young girls about Justice For Girls, not that I want them to have a chapter, but if you educate the parents, they will educate their kids. It opens their eyes.”

This work has also opened First Lady Steele’s eyes as an educator, while also becoming a significant segment of her legacy. “I love teaching because I keep learning something new all the time,” she says. “I’m sure it’s a part of my legacy. But my larger legacy is not just caring about girls that are sex trafficked but caring about our young people overall. As a teacher, I was just so always concerned about my students. So, I felt the same with Justice For Girls. But overall, I always cared about my students, all of them. And they knew that. And when I see students now, they always tell me, ‘Oh, Mrs. Steele, you were my favorite teacher.’ I bet they tell every teacher that.”

No, they do not because First Lady Cathelean Steele has proven to be the quintessential educator.

Maynard Eaton

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All of the things I just found too hard to say.

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SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

Martin Luther King’s Demand for Justice in the World and King’s Anti-Vietnam War Speech

By Heather Gray

Preface In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in jail in Birmingham because of his participation in protests against segregation. From his jail cell he wrote the lengthy and significant April 16, 1963 ‘Letter from the Birmingham Jail’. King included the following statement regarding injustice. He infers that ‘injustice’ requires taking action against it: I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. (King-1963) In this assertion, King wisely notes that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” which is a philosophy he adhered to throughout his civil rights career.

King wrote the Birmingham letter while John F. Kennedy was the US President. Then Kennedy was assassinated eight months later on November 22, 1963 resulting in Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson becoming the US President.

King was, on the whole, appreciative of Johnson’s civil rights advocacy, which included three major civil rights acts from 1964 to 1968: (1) the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin; (2) the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and (3) the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which covers fair housing for minorities. The 1968 act, however, was passed after King’s assassination in 1968.

King’s Stance on Injustice A few years after his 1963 Birmingham Jail Letter, King’s reference to ‘injustice’ expanded considerably in his actions and speech to include ‘international’ injustice. Regarding this, in 2017 scholar David Garrow noted: Finally, in early 1967, he (King) had had enough. One day Dr. King pushed aside a plate of food while paging through a magazine whose photographs depicted the burn wounds suffered

by Vietnamese children who had been struck by napalm. The images were unforgettable, he said. “I came to the conclusion that I could no longer remain silent about an issue that was destroying the soul of our nation.”

(Garrow: New York Times - 2017)

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King’s Anti-Vietnam Speech and his Assassination It was on April 4, 1967 that Dr. King gave his renowned ‘Beyond Vietnam’ speech at Riverside Church in New York City: King described the war’s deleterious effects on both America’s poor and Vietnamese peasants and insisted that it was morally imperative for the United States to take radical steps to halt the war through nonviolent means. (King Institute-Stanford) King knew that Johnson would not appreciate his opposition to the Vietnam War and he was right. As expected, Johnson was offended by King’s anti-Vietnam War posture and Johnson’s FBI director, Herbert Hoover, took note of this and began monitoring Dr. King more intensely.

Regarding King’s ‘Beyond Vietnam’ speech, the King Institute at Stanford University summarizes as follows: King referred to Vietnam’s devastation because of “deadly Western arrogance - we are on the side of the wealthy, and the secure, while we create a hell for the poor”. He called for a ‘unilateral ceasefire’. To King, however, the Vietnam War was only the most pressing symptom of American colonialism worldwide. King claimed that America made “peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments”. King urged instead “a radical revolution of values” emphasizing love and justice rather than economic nationalism. (King InstituteStanford) On April 4, 1967, exactly one year after King’s Anti-Vietnam War speech, King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

In a recent interview I conducted with Mukasa Dada (AKA Willie Ricks), who worked closely with Dr. King, he referred to the King assassination, and the impact of it being exactly one year after Dr. King’s anti-Vietnam speech. He said: “On the anniversary of Dr. King speaking out against the Vietnam War, he was shot to death.

This is what the United States does with certain things or certain victories… then you are attacked to discredited you. So, when Dr. King spoke out against the war in Vietnam on April 4, 1967, on April 4, 1968 they killed him.” (Dada 2021) I would venture to say, however, that while there were certainly efforts to discredit King because of his anti-Vietnam War speech, it was not successful. He was tragically assassinated but even up to the present day, King along with his anti-Vietnam War speech are honored and treasured by millions throughout the United States and the world.

Heather Gray is an activist, journalist and media specialist. She is the founder and editor of the “Justice Initiative” and I am the radio producer, along with co-producer Ernest Dunkley, of the “Just Peace” program on the WRFG-FM (89.3FM) community radio station in Atlanta, Georgia.

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

Dr. King’s Dream lives on in Montgomery, Alabama,

the Birthplace of the American Civil Rights Movement: A legacy of leadership now extends to Mayor Steven L. Reed.

One year ago, my administration came into office with the hope, vitality and vision for A New Montgomery. From Dr. King and Rosa Parks to Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative, Montgomery’s story resonates now more than ever.

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Love Is Always Available!

A commentary By: S Kent Butler

It’s called self-love! We must find our way to it! I believe doing so will change the world! We have been conditioned to sometimes hate ourselves. My thighs are too big, too thin, I have a zit the size of a mountain, I just don’t deserve to be happy. There is a slew of obstacles that get in our way and at times convince us we are unworthy.

I too have had my fair share of times when I turned on the self-hatred machine. When I just wanted to fit in. I wanted to be better at sports. I wanted to be liked by everyone. I wanted straighter teeth. I wanted to be perfect. What I didn’t realize was that I was already perfect. A human being that is beautifully and complexly made, but at times not allowing myself to accept or believe that fact. Like many others, I allowed society to dictate my perfection by viewing myself through the lens of others. To love myself in many ways meant that I was being selfish, conceited, or maybe even a bit too self-absorbed. Now, I realize that this wasn’t me talking but my listening to folks out there who didn’t love themselves, their own perfections (or flaws). These other people practiced, and modeled self-hatred and it led me to inwardly do the same thing to myself. Be careful who you take your lessons from. I learned from the best, my parents, my sisters, my relatives, my mentors, those individuals who have always had my best interest at heart. Their love of me opened pathways to ME giving myself permission to love ME as well.

With February soon approaching and being touted as the “month of love” what are the expectations people have of each other? Especially when society expects us to shower others with love and missing the opportunity to provide ourselves with the same. Ironically, some will miss the mark entirely and gravitate towards spreading hatred instead. Thus, finding gratification in life not by practicing love for one another, but by using hate.

My Role Models taught me the meaning of true Where do we start? I encourage you to start practicing the love by beginning with love! (Photo of my Mom, Dad, Sisters, Brother-inLaw and, Nephews) yourself. While we may not normally turn the love engine inward and hug on, dote on, and most of all “LIKE” on ourselves, how do we love ourselves? First of all, accept that

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

you have the right to be good to YOU. Allow love to come from within. It doesn’t make you a narcissist to do so, it actually frees you to live a life where you treat yourself well. Through this act you might actually do the same unto others. One of my favorite quotes, one I often use in my daily life, when teaching, and when presenting is by Haki R. Madhubuti in which he states that “Self-knowledge means a gut and an intellectual understanding of one’s self in connection to other peoples, cultures, and races. SelfKnowledge, if it is working, means self-love”.

We can change the world when we include self-love as part of our core philosophy and belief system. This action allows us to spread love beyond just ourselves and beyond our human-made communities! It’s a collectivistic idea that comes from cultures that believe in building up others True Love! (My daughter Summer and strengthening them so that they can build bigger Joy and I) and better together! I am a firm believer that when we open ourselves to learning from the worldviews and life experiences of others we grow! I also believe that embarking upon this journey can lead us to transformative change.

As ACA President, it is my hope to open doors to important dialogues and provide ACA members and others with the tools necessary to help create systemic change. Moving beyond simply talking about diversity and inclusion and creating and implementing a viable pathway to achieving this goal. A plan rooted in love that helps to create a cultural fabric, beautifully woven, that covers all of our communities. So, this February let’s take the necessary measures to love ourselves. ACA uses the tag line “Counselors Help”! I trust that we do! When we love ourselves and help others this results in our integrating social justice advocacy in our practice. Perhaps our counseling profession is the key to the changes we NEED to see in the world! Find your way to love!

Experiencing the world and allowing it to feed you! (Photo in Dubai)

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POWER THAT MOVES The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has lived out the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. since its founding by educating communities on advocacy, personal responsibility, civil rights, and liberty for all. As the energy industry continues to change, Alabama Power strives to create an inclusive workplace that is as diverse as the communities we serve. We are committed to fostering an equitable environment in all areas of our company, from our leadership development programs to our charitable foundations. Alabama Power is honored to partner with SCLC to continue achieving social, political, and economic justice.

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

In Memory of George Randolph.

We Join SCLC in Honoring the Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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655 Third Avenue New York, NY 10017

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

Like a Thief in the Night…..The Demonization of the Black Vote in Small Town Georgia A commentary By Yoshunda Jones

Recently, the Georgia Republican party initiated a hostile takeover of six county election boards, one of those counties was Spalding County. In Spalding County, House Bill 769 was sponsored

by Republican legislators David Knight and Karen Mathiak. This bill allowed them to fire the Black elections supervisor and force out three election board members that were Democrats which included the Chair of the elections board, all of whom were Black. The new board is composed of three Republicans, which includes a Republican chair, and two Democrats, one of whom is Black. The new board flexed their White supremacist muscles and voted against allowing for Sunday voting (Souls to the Polls) in the recent municipal election. This led to protests from Black citizens. Many people are questioning why this even matters. Let’s put some things into perspective. It may seem weird that the Republicans would take such interest in a county that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump. In the November 4th, 2020 election, Joe Biden won the state of Georgia with 11,779 votes. In Spalding County, Donald Trump won the majority of the vote, however, 11,356 votes went to Joe Biden which were cast by a majority of Black citizensDoes this make the picture clearer? If the Republicans can control the election boards of these smaller counties, they can control the votes. The Republicans took such great care to issue these bills across six different counties where some voted majority Democrat and others voted majority Republican. They made sure to do this so that to the naked eye, it would not appear as blatant voter suppression targeting the Black vote.

So, how exactly did Spalding County get here? Spalding County is no stranger to racism and White supremacy. The newly retired County Manager prided himself on being a man that “wears the hood” to quote him in his own words. In June 2021, the Spalding County Board of Commissioners voted against issuing a proclamation recognizing Juneteenth as a holiday.

This resulted in Spalding County being the ONLY county in the State of Georgia that did not issue a Juneteenth proclamation. This county VOTED AGAINST recognizing the end of slavery which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how things operate down here.

During one of the years that the County Commissioners decided not to renew the County Manager’s contract, he went to work for a technology company. Later upon having his

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contractrenewed, the County Manager convinced the County Commissioners to use this same company for all of the county’s technology needs. This company has the technology contract for the county board of elections. The owner of the company is now the Republican chair of the board of elections. The chair is a Trump loyalist and promoter of the big lie.

None of this is a coincidence. In a world of morals and ethics, this would be a huge conflict of interest, but in Spalding County it is just an everyday example of how the Good Ol’ Boy network operates.

After Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden, the Black elections supervisor and staff were harassed by Trump supporters over the phone with racial slurs and through physical intimidation. One of those Trump loyalists is now the new elections supervisor. This new elections supervisor is beyond incompetent. She did not give proper notice in the local legal organ for the recent municipal election. She has gone out of her way to give citizens incorrect information about candidate qualifying, absentee ballots, and felon voter rights.

She has down played major issues during the recent municipal elections. Again, none of this is a coincidence. But the rabbit hole goes deeper. Back in 2018, the Spalding County Republican party was seething from Stacey Abrams almost winning the Governor’s seat.

Republican Representatives Karen Mathiak and David Knight tried to introduce a bill that would put the County Manager in charge of the board of elections in Spalding County. This bill didn’t get very far, but the seed was planted for future voter suppression.

Why should this matter to you? Voter suppression bills are not just reserved for small town Georgia. The Republicans are launching a coordinated strategic attack on Black voters across the nation. Their battleground has become local politics as they realize that Black voters have begun to recognize the power of their vote. The Republican strategy can be seen in the continuous promotion of the big lie, their anti-CRT attacks on the local boards of education, and their hostile takeover of local election boards. Please do not think for one second that your Mayors, City and County Managers, and City and County Commissioners are not plugged into the state and federal government arena. Stay diligent, watchful, and proactive in your local governments. Rest assured that those of us in Spalding County will continue to shine a spotlight on this issue, fight against voter suppression, racism, and White supremacy.

We will not be silenced.

Dr. Yoshunda Jones is a community advocate and activist in Griffin/Spalding County Georgia.

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

We believe in equal opportunity for all regardless of race, creed, sex, age, disability, or ethnic background.

Farmers & Merchants Bank Arcade Beauty Harley Ellis Devereaux (HED Design) D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital Rosedale Federal Savings & Loan Association Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau Clay County Board of Education Eastern Fish Company Exodyne Inc Enterprise Bank of South Carolina Western Specialty Contractors Cooperative Energy Stewart Funeral Home Katz, Sapper & Miller, LLP KHCB Network Sutherland Food Service Inc D & L Coal Company

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in honoring the memory of

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. manhattan.edu

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The working men and women of the UAW proudly support the SCLC and your commitment to achieve social, economic, and political justice.

“[Right to Work’s] purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone.…Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer, and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped.”

Timothy J. Driscoll

Bob Arnold

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

A Voice for The Voiceless A commentary By: Dr. Charles E. McCollum,Sr., The Roanoke Valley North Carolina SCLC “I cannot subscribe to this emasculation of our constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the law and must respectfully dissent. We deal here with the right of all our children, whatever their race, to an equal start in life and to an equal opportunity to reach their full potential as citizens. Those children who have been denied the right in the past deserve better than to see fences thrown up to deny them that right in the future. Our Nation, I fear, will be ill served by the Court’s refusal to remedy separate and unequal education, for unless our children begin to learn together, there is little hope that our people will ever learn to live together.”

-Justice Thurgood Marshall...Dissenting, Milliken V. Bradley (1974)

The Roanoke Valley (NC) Southern Chirstian Leadership Conference’s most challenging and rewarding pursuits in achieving social justice and equality for the underserved and marginalized citizens of Halifax County, North Carolina, is the pivotal critical role it played in the passage of a Supplemental School Tax to provide equitable funding for educational opportunities and resources for Halifax County School District (HCSD).

For decades, the Halifax County Board of Commissioners intentionally and discriminately failed to provide adequate and equal funding for its county schools, as opposed to the city schools. As a result, students enrolled in the county schools in Halifax County School District (HCSD) were denied their constitutional and fundamental right to a quality and equitable education.

How Did Our Children Get Here?

According to a 2011 report compiled by The UNC Center for Civil Rights, Unless Our Children Learn Together - The State of Education in Halifax County - “Halifax County is a geographically large rural county with low density population and stagnant or declining public-school enrollment, and is one of the most economically distressed counties in North Carolina. It is also one of the few counties in the state that maintains three separate school districts, namely Halifax County Public Schools (HCPS), Roanoke Rapids Graded School District (RRGSD), and Weldon City School District (WCSD).

The most unique characteristic, according to the report, however, is the “stark racial and socioeconomic isolation among their students, which has its roots in the Jim Crow

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segregation that led to creation of the tripartite system. Although segregation in public schools was held unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v.

Board of Education, enforcement and implementation of the Court’s ruling did not begin in earnest until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, under which the federal government required school districts to make good faith efforts to start to desegregate.

As state and local governments began to be held legally accountable to end segregation within school districts, the continued separation of Black students from White students was most effectively accomplished by the creation and maintenance of separate school districts.

In North Carolina, White lawmakers determined where the district lines should be drawn, and they took advantage of residential segregation patterns and concentrations of wealth in the White community resulting from slavery and Jim Crow. This strategy, revived in the wake of the Civil Rights Act, has its roots in the founding of public education in North Carolina, and is still reflected in the eleven counties in the states that still have more than one school district. Halifax County is a stark example of this historical gerrymandering.

When the legislature separated the Weldon City School District and Roanoke Rapids school districts from the county system, both towns had significant White majorities, in sharp contrast to the rest of the county, where African American were the overwhelming majority.

Maintaining a divided system, the county and the state's more deeply entrenched patterns of racial segregation cause irreparable harm to the academic opportunity for all children in Halifax County, and stunt the economic viability of the region.”

Halifax County’s two city schools, Roanoke Rapids Graded School District (RRGSD), which is make up five (5) schools, and Weldon City School (WCSD), which make up three (3) schools receive supplemental tax, sales tax, and traditional local funding to maintain quality standards of education, where as opposed to rural Halifax County School District (HCSD), the largest of the three school districts, only receive traditional local funding, but is expected to maintain quality standards of education. Every time anyone spends money in Halifax County, part of the sales tax for every purchase goes toward funding education in Weldon City Schools and Roanoke Rapids Graded School District!

RV/SCLC Push for Supplemental Tax Since its genesis, Roanoke Valley (NC) Southern Christian Leadership Conference (RV/ SCLC has been on the forefront combating injustice wherever and however it may exist.

Denying our children of their constitutional and fundamental right to a quality education is an injustice that RV/SCLC refuses to overlook. From 2014 to 2016, Dr. McCollum, president of RV/SCLC and Mr. James Mills, vice president, appeared before the County Board of Commissioners on numerous occasions to get them to approve a referendum for a supplemental tax that would provide fair and equal funding for the students enrolled in Halifax County Schools, although a similar referendum for in 2012 for a supplemental tax was struck down by a 71.38 percent to 28.62 percent margin in earlier years.

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

After being repeatedly being told by a mixed multitude of doubters and naysayers who was clear in their convictions that a supplemental tax will never pass, and after having met with disappointment at times due to ‘unproductive’ meetings with a board who seemingly had a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, RV/SCLC however stayed the course.

Mr. Mills’ and Dr. McCollum’s argument before the Board as to why the Organization supported the supplemental tax included the following: • Approval of a supplemental tax can be geared toward empowering educators to create equitable learning environments to ensure all students have the opportunity to achieve their greatest potential.

• A Supplemental tax can help improve test scores, produce higher graduation rates, provide quality buildings and facilities, and updated instructional materials and equipment.

• The tax has the potential to equip schools with the latest technology and much needed supplies and resources, such as science labs, audio-visual equipment, new computers, art supplies, and resources to provide field trips for enrichment.

• A thorough and efficient education is delivered by qualified teachers. Offering competitive supplements and benefits will attract, hire, and retain qualified competent teachers to prepare students for future successes.

• Extra funding is a way to create better education and better job opportunities for opportunities for students to succeed and compete in today’s advanced industrialized society.

After months of debating on the supplemental tax issue, the commissioners decided to leave it up to the Board of Education to come up with a workable plan. McCollum was granted permission to meet with the School Board, advising them that the most feasible plan is to ask the Board of Commissioners to approve a petition from the Board of Education which will put a referendum on the November 8 general election ballot requesting voters’ approval of a supplemental school tax.” The Board welcomed McCollum’s advice and approved the referendum to be placed on the 2016 November 8 ballot. At the Board of Education’s request, the law then required Halifax County Commissioners to put the referendum on the November 8 general election ballot requesting voters’ approval of a supplement school tax.

The deal was sealed: the referendum was on the 2016 November 8 general election ballot!

With the referendum before the citizens to be voted upon, RV/SCLC employed a strategy to traverse the county, holding voters' education and informational forums to educate the citizens on the issue.

Despite opposing forces with negative agendas used as scare tactics to keep voters away from the polls, the supplemental tax passed by a 53.97 percent to 46.03 percent margin!

Voters from 16 precincts throughout the county were eligible to vote for the issue.

The passage of the supplemental tax was undoubtedly a monumental and historical victory for all the citizens of Halifax County. Giants do fall.

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When asked by Mr. Lance Martin, a local newspaper editor, “How they felt about the win,” McCollum was quoted as saying: “Praise God for that. I was pleased that the commissioners agreed to put the referendum on the ballot. Hopefully, it will change the educational and economic destiny of all children in Halifax County and its constituent members,” as where Mr. Mill was quoted as saying: “I hope we can move forward as a county by having a better educational system. It was morally the right thing to do. It’s an answer to a lot of prayers.”

To this end, I quote Dr. Charles Steele, Jr., SCLC President/CEO, “Education is the new civil rights.”

Like any other human being, every child, regardless of race, disability, ethnicity, or status, is endowed by the Creator with a fundamental human to a quality and equitable education, and to deny them of that right is an injustice of the worst kind. As in the words of the late Dr. King, “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Stater Bros. Markets proudly honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who dedicated his life to advocating for equality and justice for all.

We embrace equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion in our relationships with employees, vendors, and the communities that we are privileged to serve.

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By putting lives first, we’ve created a legacy that lasts For nearly 130 years, we have tackled some of the world’s biggest health challenges and provided hope in the fight against disease, for both people and animals. Today, we continue our commitment to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in pursuit of medical breakthroughs that benefit patients and society for today, tomorrow and generations to come.

Copyright © 2020 Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. US-NON-04146 02/20

Equal Housing Lender. ©2016 M&T Bank. Member FDIC.

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The Movement Continues!

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SPRING 2016 / SCLC Magazine

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

11

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The Queen Beyond the King By: Autumn Smith, public historian

While pursuing my undergraduate degree at Georgia State University, I took an African American Political Thought class, and my final was to write an essay on the political thought of Coretta Scott King. I had never given much thought to the ideology and philosophies of Coretta Scott King. Did she ever express her political ideas? Were her ideas any different from her husbands? These were questions I asked myself before starting my research. At the time of the class, I had just begun working at the Martin Luther King Jr Center for Non-Violent Social Change. I was aware of Coretta Scott King's contributions in founding The King Center and making Martin Luther King Day a national holiday. Still, I was not privy to learning her ideas and philosophies on issues apart from her husband. As I began to learn about the political thought of Coretta Scott King, I began to understand that she was an intellectual and phenomenal woman in her own right that had insightful outlooks on political and ethical issues. Coretta was an educator, musician, and activist who believed in social change through nonviolence before knowing who Martin Luther King Jr was.

As I started learning more about King, I began to draw similarities between King and Cathelean Steele, a woman who had recently become a mine mentor. Cathelean Steele is the founder of Justice for Girls, an organization that brings awareness to human trafficking within underprivileged communities, educating individuals and groups on ways to eradicate sex trafficking. Steele is the First lady of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and so was Coretta, but it is not their positions that make them similar. Both Steele and King are African American women who fought against society's restraints of only being considered someone's wife, to creating their own greatness. Both women are from small towns in Alabama that found themselves giving their life to a cause much bigger than themselves.

Both of these women have dedicated their lives to aiding in Civil Rights and Human Rights.

Cathelean Steele and Coretta Scott King have made huge impacts on my life with their fierce womanhood and dedication to Human and Civil Rights. Both of these women have been influential in my life with their ability to assert themselves beyond the boundaries people have placed on them by creating national organizations dedicated to equal justice. I have had the pleasure of working with Steele as a national ambassador for the Justice for Girls program, and I have been able to learn how to push past the boundaries society has placed on me as an African American woman. As an ambassador with the Justice for Girls program, I have traveled the nation and presented at the annual SCLC national convention on the rights of women and young African Americans. This opportunity granted to me by Steele has been monumental in my life and has given me the tools of social activism that I will be able to take with me on my life journey.

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

Women who are partners to powerful men often find their identity related to their partners, but Coretta and Steele have pushed past the obstacles placed in their way. It was Coretta's dedication and perseverance that founded and operated The Martin Luther King Jr Center for Non-Violence Violent Social Change. Although the King Center's mission is guided on the principles of Dr. King, it is the brainchild and product of her own efforts. The King Center has become an International tourist location that has promoted the principles of nonviolence and education of Civil and Rights. Cathelean's Justice for Girls program is a national program that has enabled sex trafficking prevention in every state throughout the country.

Steele also has coordinated the SCLC National convention for almost the last decade.

Coretta Scott King and Cathelean Steele have influenced me as an African American woman to believe that I can overcome any obstacle of patriarchy, misogyny, or racism that will come my way. As I journey through most of my graduate school career, I am often the only African American in the room.

While I am in those spaces, I have the confidence to know that my voice matters, and I can stand firm in my black Feminism because of the principles of Steele and King. I have the confidence to know that my presence matters, that there is value to my thoughts and actions.

The lessons of King and Steele have guided me to stand proud in my womanhood while in positions of authority, not allowing the systems of patriarchy or racism to alter my path.

Coretta Scott King once said, "Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul."

Women like Steele and King show that you can remain your own individual and still support those around you. These two women were given a life neither one of them planned for or ever expected, but they accepted their roles and executed them with dignity, style, and grace.

Cathelean Steele and Coretta Scott King have proven society's standards cannot define their womanhood. They are genuinely Queens beyond the Kings.

Autumn Smith is a Public Historian, that focuses on African American history between 1860-1968. Smith is currently pursuing a Master of Arts degree in History at the University of West Georgia. She has served as a National Ambassador for the Justice for Girls Program and has sojourned with the SCLC in the annual Selma to Montgomery Commemoration since 2015.

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

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Doris Crenshaw Founder & CEO, The Southern Youth Leadership Development Institute. Elected VP of the NAACP Youth Council at 12. Took her first autonomous ride in 2021.

“There are transportation inequities in all of the cities. This is one way of helping to eliminate that.” that

The number of Black people killed in traffic crashes rose 23% in 2020 compared to 2019, and just 4% for White people.* Traffic safety is an equity issue. Autonomous driving technology like Waymo’s is designed to obey speed limits and respect all road users, including cyclists and pedestrians.

Join the conversation at LTAD.com SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue *National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

STANDING STRONG WORKPLACE AND IN

NEVER ON THE SIDELINES

Latonya Crisp Recording Sec’y

Tony Utano President

Lynwood Whichard Administrative VP

SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue

Earl Phillips Sec’y Treasurer

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SCLC National Magazine/ King 2022 Issue