Page 23 - Florida Sentinel 5-26-17

National
Black-Owned Company To Replace 18,000 Corroded Pipes In Flint
3 Officers In Freddie Gray Case Face Termination After Internal Investigation By Department; 2 Are Black
The Freddie Gray case lives on with the Baltimore Po- lice Department’s decision to bring internal charges against five of the six officers involved in the case, with at least three of them also facing termina- tion.
According to the Baltimore Sun, Officer Caesar Good- son, Jr., who was driving the police van in which Gray sus- tained fatal injuries, along with Lt. Brian Rice and Sgt. Ali- cia White, could all be fired as a result of the internal disci- plinary action.
Officers Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, who made the initial arrest of Gray, face up to
five days’ suspension without pay. Officer William Porter is currently not facing any dis- ciplinary action in the case.
Investigators from the Mont- gomery and Howard County police departments finished re- viewing the case earlier this month and handed in a report indicating the results of the in- vestigation to city police May 12.
However, as the Sun reports, that report has not been re- leased.
The BPD asked the Mont- gomery and Howard depart- ments to conduct the investigation to avoid any con- flict of interest.
The five officers facing pun- ishment were informed of the charges Friday, according to the Sun.
Michael E. Davey, an at-
Six officers were charged and acquitted in the death of Freddie Gray that led to protest and rioting in Baltimore. Top row: Caesar R. Goodson, Jr.; Garrett E. Miller; Edward M. Nero. Bottom row: William G. Porter; Brian W. Rice; Alicia D. White. (Baltimore Po- lice Department)
torney who deals with internal- affairs cases for the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police, said that they are charged with “vi- olations of policy and proce- dure.”
The officers can choose to ac- cept the recommended punish- ment or contest the charges before an internal disciplinary panel or “trial board.” Those trial boards are open to the public under a new state law, the report notes.
Police Commissioner Kevin Davis imposes the dis- cipline and will ultimately have the final say, the Sun reports.
Gray was arrested April 12, 2015, and died a week after of a severe spinal injury that an au- topsy ruled he sustained while
riding in the back of a police van without being properly re- strained with a seat belt.
Prosecutors charged the six officers in the case with charges varying from miscon- duct to manslaughter to sec- ond-degree murder, and all officers pleaded not guilty.
Porter went to trial in De- cember 2015, but that trial ended in a hung jury, resulting in a mistrial. Nero, Rice and Goodson were all acquitted in bench trials last year. Prosecu- tors subsequently decided to drop the remaining criminal cases.
What the internal discipli- nary action means, however, is that investigators concluded that officers did break depart- ment rules in the case.
Student Petitions To Have High School’s Name Changed Because Person Was Largest Slaveowner In City
GREENVILLE, SC —- The arguments surrounding whether or not to maintain the Confederate monuments has migrated to the school sys- tem.
Several hundred Wade Hampton High School stu- dents want to do away with their school's name, which was chosen to honor Confederate lieutenant general Wade Hampton, III. Hampton was one of the largest slave- holders in the Southeast and according to historians, was a blatant racist.
“Honoring a man who owned and fought to keep students’ ancestors enslaved and op- pressed is not only inappropri- ate, but immoral,” said 16-year-old Wade Hampton student Asha Marie, who started a petition to change her school's name.
Not unlike the debates sur- rounding the Confederate flag, however, there are those that argue that the Hampton
name is an important part of preserving history.
“You look at what Wade Hampton has done for the community,” said Lynda Lev- entis-Wells, who graduated from the high school, coached basketball there and now rep- resents the school on the Greenville school district’s board. “No, no, I’m not for changing the name.”
As of last week, Marie's pe- tition has nearly 2,000 signa- tures. Her petition has also spawned a counter-petition from her fellow student Austin Rutter; that petition, which is for those that do not want the name changed, has almost 2,500 signatures.
Leventis-Wells, however, said people associate the name of Wade Hampton High School not with race, but with such positive initiatives as Spirit Week, which raises money for charitable causes.
There is some debate about who Hampton was and what
he represented as well.
Marie states in her petition
that Hampton had support- ers known as the Red Shirts, a violent paramilitary group who were responsible for the deaths of several Black people in the 1876 election where Hamp- ton ran for governor. She also writes that Hampton raised legal funds to defend members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Rod Andrew, a Clemson professor who wrote a biogra- phy of Wade Hampton, notes that Hampton’s legacy is actually a complex one.
As for the KKK support, An- drew confirmed that Hamp- ton did raise defense money for the KKK, but says the man was not a leader, or even a member, of the group.
As for an alternative to the school name, Asha Marie suggests that of former Mayor Max Heller. Heller was one of the prime movers behind Greenville’s award-winning downtown.
The residents of Flint, Michigan were exposed to high levels of lead. Jeff and Rhonda (Stevens) Grayer were hired to replace the city’s pipes.
FLINT, MI —- ”Frustrated” doesn't even begin to explain the years that have gone by and Flint, Michigan's residents still have no access to clean water. Along with the recent developments regarding the federal magistrate mandated settlement, W.T. Stevens Con- struction, a Black-owned con- struction firm, has been awarded a multi-million dollar service contract to replace more than 18,000 lead cor- roded pipes across the city of Flint, per BlackBusiness.org.
The construction firm, made- up of 25 employees, is one of just four companies recently contracted under a court order to complete the project.
Starting in 2014, the Flint water crisis started when over 100,000 residents were poten- tially exposed to high levels of lead in the drinking water, causing a declaration of federal state of emergency in 2016.
In March 2017, a $97 million settlement (from both state and federal funds) was ap- proved by a federal magistrate mandating that thousands of pipes be replaced. Additionally, the state of Michigan has com- mitted to reserving an addi- tional $10 million in case the
job requires it.
W.T. Stevens was founded by
the late Black entrepreneur, W.T. Stevens back in the 1990's. His daughter, Rhonda Grayer, now serves as vice president of the company and works along with her husband, Jeff Grayer, who serves as a project manager. Both are na- tives of Flint, Michigan, and Jeff is also a former NBA player who played for the Golden State Warriors and Mil- waukee Bucks for more than 10 years. So, their history with Michigan is richly cemented.
“This is home for me and my family and I wasn't going to sit back and do nothing as a per- son or as a businessman,” Mr. Grayer said in an interview with TNJ.com. “This is the biggest project our company has ever done and as a result of the water line contract our gross revenues have increased by about 70 percent,” he con- tinued.
His expectation is to have 6,000 water lines replaced in the city by the end of this year. “The target is to have all 18,000 lead corroded residen- tial pipes replaced by Decem- ber 2019,” he said.
Teen Who Killed Father Given
Plea Deal; #FreeBresha
Meadows Campaign Helped
Bresha Meadows hugged her loved ones and attorneys after her hearing Monday and said, “Today is a good day.”
The 15-year-old had just ac- cepted a plea deal that could see her back home and with her family at the beginning of 2018. She has spent the last nine months in jail after shooting her father in what attorneys say was self-defense after years of his abuse of her, her mother and other family members.
When asked what made Bre- sha accept the plea deal, Brad S. Wolfe, one of the attorneys representing her, said “It was an obvious and easy decision as it allows her to reintegrate into life.”
But is it a fair deal? Most ad- vocates for Bresha’s freedom have been saying that she should be allowed to be at home with her family so she can have the love and support she needs from the people who know her best.
Wolfe said, “Bresha’s family and the entire defense team is
Bresha Meadows ,15, may be home with family by 2018.
elated and relieved with this res- olution. This young lady just got her life back, when she was fac- ing life without parole.”
When asked how this convic- tion for involuntary manslaugh- ter could affect her in the future, Wolfe said that such a convic- tion is eligible for both sealing and expungement from Bre- sha’s record.
All everyone wants is to see Bresha happy and smiling again. Perhaps this will be the way.
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2017 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 11-B