Youth Academy

Today we celebrate Miss Ida B. Wells on her birthday. Ida B. Wells, a Holly Springs native, was a journalist who covered the lynchings of Black Americans in the Deep South. She was a co-founder of the NAACP and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Ida B. Wells is a true Mississippi hero.

Watch this ACLU attorney tear down the 'heritage, not hate' Confederate monument myths (warning: distressing themes)

Congratulations are in place for Dr. Luther McDaniel, Principal of Gaines Elementary, who has recently been featured in Berry Magazine. Follow the link to read ...the entire magazine, Dr. McDaniel is featured on pages 22-24 https://issuu.com/berrycollege/docs/berrymagazine_summer2020 #BetterTogether

Something else we'd like to share today. This is a guest column by Marvin J. Nunnally, who is President of In Touch Management Group and was a recipient of the ...University of Georgia’s President’s Fulfilling the Dream Award, which is given to community leaders who make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of equality and justice a reality: As MLK said, ‘Hate cannot drive out hate While many want to bury their heads in the sand when it comes to race relations in our country, a course of recent unarmed black killings have brought the topic back to the surface. It saddens many that certain Americans are constantly talking about the Bill of Rights’ guarantee of the indelible rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness or lack thereof. Our prayers and hearts are with the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. The nation has seen the Feb. 23 video (shot by one of the accused) of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery being pursued by armed white residents of a Brunswick neighborhood while Arbery was jogging. Sadly, it took 74 days to arrest Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael charging them with murder and aggravated assault in the killing of Abery. It took the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Attorney General Chris Carr and a new prosecutor from Cobb County to finally start the wheels of justice for the Arbery family. This case reeks of corruption and cover up in the Brunswick town. On March 13, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman of Louisville, Kentucky, was shot dead by police who stormed her home as she slept while searching for a suspect who was already in custody. The emergency medical worker was shot at least eight times by officers, according to the autopsy. Defense attorney Ben Crump, representing Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, says Walker fired in self-defense because the police did not announce themselves and that he believed they were breaking into the home. Protest continues in Louisville during the investigation. Finally, the senseless May 25 death of Minneapolis’ George Floyd at the hands of Officer Derek Chauvin, while three other policemen stood by, has proven to be the boiling point for many protesters coast to coast. Floyd was handcuffed and on the ground while Chauvin appeared to grind his knee into the main neck artery of Floyd, cutting off air circulation for nearly nine minutes. This was being videotaped by onlookers and someone who continuously asked the officer to ease up off the man’s neck and let him breathe. The victim told the officer I can’t breathe. Chauvin even applied pressure for an additional three minutes after Mr. Floyd was bleeding out of his nose and was unconscious. Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, while three other officers involved in the incident were also fired. As a result of society’s history of acquittals and cover-ups of unarmed black killings, we have seen a number of protests across the nation. Some have been peaceful and well-intended, while others have shown chaos and destruction of property and businesses. Rightfully, governors have called in the National Guard to back up local police and issued curfews. As a black man, I encourage everyone to exercise your anger and frustration at the voting booth on June 9 and in November, while registering with Census 2020. I advocate a stronger relationship with God, who will hear your cry. Let’s become just as outraged as when armed militia storm a State Capitol demanding the state to reopen in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

You want to know why Black people are angry We can’t be handcuffed and put in the police car unless we are dead (#GeorgeFloyd) We can’t go bird watching in Cent...ral Park (#ChristianCooper) We can’t go jogging (#AmaudArbery). We can’t relax in the comfort of our own homes (#BothemSean and #AtatianaJefferson). We can't ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride). We can't have a cellphone (#StephonClark). We can't leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards). We can't play loud music (#JordanDavis). We can’t sell CD's (#AltonSterling). We can’t sleep (#AiyanaJones) We can’t walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown). We can’t play cops and robbers (#TamirRice). We can’t go to church (#Charleston9). We can’t walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin). We can’t hold a hair brush while leaving our own bachelor party (#SeanBell). We can’t party on New Years (#OscarGrant). We can’t get a normal traffic ticket (#SandraBland). We can’t lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile). We can't break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones). We can’t shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford) . We can’t have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher). We can’t read a book in our own car (#KeithScott). We can’t be a 10yr old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover). We can’t decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese). We can’t ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans). We can’t cash our check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood). We can’t take out our wallet (#AmadouDiallo). We can’t run (#WalterScott). We can’t breathe (#EricGarner). We can’t live (#FreddieGray). We’re tired. Tired of making hashtags. Tired of trying to convince you that our #BlackLivesMatter too. Tired of dying. Tired. Tired. Tired. So very tired. (Author Unknown. Copy and paste)

The AJC reviewed the video from seven officers during the incident to gain a clearer picture of the confrontation, and to better understand why Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms took the extraordinary step of ordering their terminations just 24 hours after the incident.

Words from our Columnist, Chuck Hobbs "George Floyd, 46, was lynched this week There is no other way to describe what we watched on that video, and the police ...officers who lynched himand those who stood idly byare murderers and accomplices to first degree murder. Yes, first degree murder, because the officer who I will not give the respect of naming had over eight minutes to reflect and yet he coldly kept his knee on Floyd’s neckand ignored his plaintive crieslike a savage animal thirsty for the kill." https://thehobbservationpoint.com//george-floyd-was-lynch/ See more

This is how to going to school is going to be from now on