Birmingham seeks to maintain Confederate monument ruling
The city of Birmingham is asking a judge to maintain his ruling that overturned a state law protecting Confederate monuments. In a court filing last week, city attorneys opposed a motion by the state attorney general to stay the decision while Alabama appeals. A judge last month ruled a 2017 state law barring the removal or alteration of historical monuments violates the free speech rights of local communities. The state argued that staying the order would prevent cities from removing monuments while the state appeals. Birmingham lawyers said the city has made no suggestion that a Confederate monument would be removed during the appeal. Alabama sued the city of Birmingham in 2017 after officials erected a wooden box that obscured the view of a 52-foot-tall obelisk honoring Confederate veterans. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Plan to honor Larry Langford, former Birmingham mayor convicted of bribery, sparks disagreement
A plan to honor a former Alabama mayor who went to prison for bribery is sparking disagreement in Birmingham. Birmingham’s current mayor, Randall Woodfin, has proposed renaming a city recreational facility for Larry Langford, an ex-mayor convicted in a bribery scheme a decade ago. Langford died in January after being released from federal prison because of poor health. Woodfin told the City Council recently that Langford made contributions and deserves to be honored. But al.com reports that council member Hunter Williams wrote Woodfin saying the city would send the wrong message by honoring a convicted felon. Langford was convicted of taking about $235,000 in bribes in return for directing lucrative bond work to an ally while he was head of the Jefferson County Commission. Those deals helped bankrupt Alabama’s most populous county. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
US Steel cites Donald Trump in resuming Fairfield Works construction project
U.S. Steel Corp. will restart construction on an idled manufacturing facility in Alabama, and it gave some of the credit to President Donald Trump’s trade policies in an announcement Monday. Trump’s “strong trade actions” are partly responsible for the resumption of work on an advanced plant near Birmingham, the Pittsburgh-based company said in a statement. The administration’s tariffs have raised prices on imported steel and aluminum. The manufacturer also cited improving market conditions, union support and government incentives for the decision. Work will resume immediately, the company said, and the facility will have an annual capacity of 1.6 million tons (1.5 million metric tons). U.S. Steel said it also will update other equipment and plans to spend about $215 million, adding about 150 full-time workers. The furnace is expected to begin producing steel in late 2020. The 16,000-member United Steelworkers praised the decision to resume work, which followed an agreement with the union reached last fall. “This decision paves the way for a solid future in continuing to make steel in Alabama and the Birmingham region,” Leo W. Gerard, the president of the international union, said in a statement. U.S. Steel shut down its decades-old blast furnace at Fairfield Works in 2015, idling about 1,100 employees, and said it would replace the operation with an electric furnace. The company then blamed conditions in the steel, oil and gas industries as it suspended work in December 2015 on an electric arc furnace at its mill in Fairfield, located just west of Birmingham. The project stalled until the announcement Monday. Trump imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on imported aluminum on June 1, 2018. The move was to protect U.S. national security interests, he said, but other countries said the taxes break global trade rules, and some have imposed tariffs of their own. Republished with permission from the Associated Press
Game on for the mayors: Randall Woodfin bets on Birmingham Iron in wager with Memphis mayor
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin is publicly announcing his support of the Magic City’s new Alliance of American Football (AAF) team, the Birmingham Iron. Woodfin took to Twitter on Friday in support of the team ahead of their first game against the Memphis Express on Sunday while simultaneously proposing a friendly wager with Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. “Hey @MayorMemphis. Up for a challenge? If the @aafiron picks up a W this Sunday, the @aafexpress gets lunch for the A.G. Gaston Boys and Girls Club. Y’all win and the Iron donates to the @MSouthFoodBank. #ForgeOn #BeatMemphis,” Woodfin tweeted. Hey @MayorMemphis. Up for a challenge? If the @aafiron picks up a W this Sunday, the @aafexpress gets lunch for the A.G. Gaston Boys and Girls Club. Y’all win and the Iron donates to the @MSouthFoodBank. #ForgeOn #BeatMemphis — Randall Woodfin (@randallwoodfin) February 8, 2019 “Challenge accepted, @randallwoodfin! Hope the @aafiron bring their A-game against the @aafexpress because in Memphis—we don’t bluff. #memphishasmomentum #wedontbluff,” Strickland responded. Challenge accepted, @randallwoodfin! Hope the @aafiron bring their A-game against the @aafexpress because in Memphis—we don’t bluff. #memphishasmomentum #wedontbluff — Mayor Jim Strickland (@MayorMemphis) February 8, 2019 “See y’all on the field Sunday 😎 #ForgeOn,” Woodfin said wrapping up the back-and-forth with a final Iron-related pun. See y’all on the field Sunday 😎 #ForgeOn https://t.co/hFBOoTWSWW — Randall Woodfin (@randallwoodfin) February 8, 2019 If you would like to support Woodfin or Strickland’s charities of choice, you can donate to them below: The A.G. Gaston Boys & Girls Club The Mid-South Food Bank
Velocity Accelerator companies start ‘boot camp’ at Birmingham’s Innovation Depot
Seven high-growth companies are one week into a 13-week intense “boot camp” of development that organizers believe is key component to the tech-sector economic development efforts to drive Birmingham forward. Velocity Accelerator introduced its seven cohort companies to the public this week. This is the third class of cohorts to go through the program at Innovation Depot. The companies range from startups to a 14-year-old business. What all of them have in common is that they’re established with a product and revenues and a diversity that is seen as part of the secret sauce that makes Velocity Accelerator work. “We intentionally don’t focus on one industry sector,” said Devon Laney, CEO of Innovation Depot. “I think it’s part of the strength of the program to have diversity in the industries and the sectors and to be able to attract companies from outside of Alabama to Birmingham and hopefully stay when they get done.” The past two Velocity Accelerator classes taught organizers that having companies at the same stage in their development was also important. “We wanted companies that were all at a very similar place – companies that all had revenue, they all had products,” Laney said. “They were all at a very similar stage so that the curriculum of the Velocity program would be applicable throughout the program at the same time to all of the teams so that they could move through the program sort of together, really, in a lot of ways, and progress at the same pace throughout the program.” This year’s cohort companies are: Fanboard was founded in Atlanta by Morgan Drake, Josh Fisher and James Simpson and marries augmented reality with live events like sports and concerts S(w)ervice was formed in Birmingham by Thomas Walker and Warren Wills and offers an on-demand auto maintenance solution with appointment bookings and vehicle valet services. Babypalooza is a Birmingham company founded by Cecilia Pearson that is a parenting platform where live events intersect with technology to make it easy for new, expectant and hopeful parents to access the products, people and parenting information they need most. Uptime Dynamics was founded in Birmingham by Thomas Smillie, Tom Woodruff and Maggie Belshe to redefine what a computerized maintenance management system can do for manufacturers. Need2Say was started in Birmingham by Oscar Garcia with the mission of helping you communicate what you Need2Say in your second language so that you will realize your full potential in school, work and daily life. Milk the Moment was founded in Nashville by Courtney “Coko” Eason and uses the MILK App, which rewards you whenever you refrain from using your phone in places or situations where we all could be a little more present, intimate, focused and safe. Fledging was formed in Birmingham by Weida Tan and Steven Robbins and produces premium electronics like storage products, such as its flagship product, Feather SSD (Solid State Drive) for Mac devices. Over the next several days, Alabama NewsCenter will feature each of the companies in this year’s Velocity Accelerator program. Laney said companies from all over the world applied to be part of the new Velocity Accelerator cohort, bolstered by the successes of the previous two classes. The initial Velocity Accelerator in 2017 had nine companies, three of which had raised additional capital by the end of the program and two more have done so since. In 2018, there were seven companies, five of which raised follow-on capital and two of them from out of state relocated and stayed in Birmingham. “We’re looking at this as economic development,” Laney said. “We see this as a pipeline of growth companies that we can help support, attract to Birmingham and retain.” Laney said the first two Velocity Accelerator cohorts took the $1.5 million invested in them and have leveraged that seed investment to raise more than $8 million and create over 70 jobs in the past two years. “The return on the investment from the private sector, I think, is phenomenal,” Laney said. Several of this year’s cohorts were well aware of the past success and cited it as a reason for wanting to participate in the intense Velocity Accelerator program. “I’m proud of the history,” Laney said. “I’m glad that now we have something to build on and that other entrepreneurs and other startups can see the history and say, ‘Yes, I want to be in Birmingham. Yes, I want to go through Velocity because I understand the potential I have there to grow my business.’” The 2019 cohort kicked off Jan. 28 and concludes April 30 with Velocity Demo Day at Iron City, where each company will pitch to potential customers, investors and community supporters. Participants in the program receive $50,000 each from the Velocity Fund, which is supported by Alabama Power, Regions Bank, BBVA Compass, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, Protective Life, UAB, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Encompass Health, EBSCO, Brasfield & Gorrie, McWane, Altec and Hoar Construction. Laney said the support from the private sector is part of the buy-in that has been critical to the program’s success. “The program is great. The curriculum is great. We’ve done a good job with all of those things, I think,” Laney said. “The community support and the buy-in from the community is the reason that Velocity is successful.” Having the corporate community provide dollars and not just lip-service of support is a key to creating a sustainable innovation economy, Laney said. “It speaks volumes. It’s a difference-maker for us.” Republished with permission from Alabama NewsCenter
Deontee Gordon of TechBirmingham sees Birmingham leading in inclusive innovation
As president of TechBirmingham, Deontee Gordon has a front-row seat to the growing innovation economy in the Magic City. He likes the view. “It’s exciting to see us going from a city and a region that did a lot of studies to a city and a region that is acting on them now,” Gordon said. “If you look at the major components of a city, of an area – the government, the public, the people, the private sector, your institutions, your philanthropic community – they are all on the same page. “When I am in these meetings, they are all represented at the table,” he continued. “They have a voice that is being heard and that is being included. I am hard-pressed to think of a time in Birmingham’s history where all of those buckets, those components were at the table and they were playing well in the sandbox together. It’s probably the most exciting time in Birmingham’s history since its inception.” Deontee Gordon likes what he sees in the inclusion and diversity of Birmingham’s tech growth from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo. That may sound like a bold statement for a place that earned the name the Magic City for its explosive growth. But it’s also a city that earned the nickname “Bombingham” for its explosive hate. Overcoming that and being seen by many as ground zero for the civil rights movement actually helps Birmingham in the new economy, Gordon believes. “You look at Birmingham, it makes sense for all of this activity to take place in an area that was known for being the battleground, for leading the entire nation and in so many ways impacting the world,” Gordon said. “I say it time and time again and I hope it’s not hackneyed at this point, but in what better city than Birmingham to do this work? While that particular lens might focus on a certain race, at the end of the day it is still inclusive, and it is inclusive of everybody.” Gordon is among the tech sector leaders in Birmingham who are pushing for the metro area to lead the nation in inclusive innovation – taking the steps to elevate everyone with the knowledge and certifications needed to participate in the tech economy. TechBirmingham has taken on part of this responsibility with its Kids Code Club and other outreach initiatives to help young people gain skills for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and computer coding jobs. TechBirmingham was also instrumental in working with the city of Birmingham, Birmingham City Schools and Lawson State Community College to bring Apple’s Everyone Can Code curriculum to create Birmingham Can Code. The Innovate Birmingham program is reaching out to young adults ready to take jobs at partner companies. They go through a certification program in partnership with UAB and Innovation Depot to try to produce nearly 1,000 job-ready graduates in the next few years. Many of the participants in its I AM BHAM coding bootcamps and Generation IT bootcamps are from underserved neighborhoods and would not have had an opportunity to pursue tech jobs without the programs. “What I love about Innovate Birmingham’s approach is that they are not forgetting that local talent base,” Gordon said. “It might be a long-term play, but it is a needed play. That’s how Birmingham separates itself from other cities because we constantly ask ourselves as part of our guiding principles, ‘How does this positively impact everybody.’” Gordon said he is also in favor of recruiting companies and talent from outside of Birmingham, but to neglect those who are here would ignore a significant asset. “If you want to look at all of the movement and activity from an historical lens and a cultural lens, the black community, in particular, I believe prides itself on doing a lot with nothing,” he said. “Ingenuity, creativity, being expressive, creating art out of movement and music – something that leaves a legacy built from thin air. To take that creativity, that sense of just unbridled passion and now use technology as a conduit to channel that through, I think it just bodes well.” For Gordon, it’s not about no longer seeing color. Instead, it is about valuing those colors and contributions you do see. “I think it is more so about appreciating what every person, what every culture and every group brings to the table,” he said. “There are common threads that bind us all. Obviously, we’re Birmingham goals as a region, we’re Alabama goals as a state. What happens in Mountain Brook will impact somebody in Midfield. What happens in Mobile will impact somebody in Fairhope and Huntsville. To the degree that we can recognize how we are all linked together and bust down those silos, we will be better for it.” When Gordon talks about inclusive innovation, it’s a matter of “you don’t have to shed who you are to be a part of it,” he said. It means not focusing on race, gender, age, sexual orientation or other factors when it comes to people’s contribution to the workforce, he said. “We have a rich tapestry,” Gordon said. “If we recognize that and what those individual groups bring to the table but also weave that in a common thread and narrative, that’s how you change it.” There are efforts underway, Gordon said, to expand education and training outreach throughout the metro area and into rural areas using existing assets like local libraries to elevate under-served populations. “Whereas a rising tide lifts all boats, we have to recognize that some people don’t have boats,” he said. “If we answer that question and make sure that it’s accessible to everybody, that’s how you change the game.” And the game is changing with Amazon setting up shop in Bessemer, Mercedes-Benz building electric vehicle batteries in Bibb County, Shipt growing its presence and jobs downtown, DC BLOX building a data center near Titusville, Joonko moving to Birmingham from Israel or companies like Fleetio and Pack Health continuing to grow. “We have a lot to celebrate, a ton of wins and what’s exciting and encouraging to me is that word is starting to get out,” Gordon said. “When you get here, everybody senses that excitement. It’s palpable. You
Alabama appeals Confederate monument ruling
Alabama asked a judge Friday to halt a decision that struck down a state law protecting Confederate monuments as the state appeals the ruling. In a motion, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said a stay would prevent Birmingham, and perhaps other cities, from removing Confederate monuments while the state appeals the decision. A judge last week ruled a 2017 state law barring the removal or alteration of historical monuments violates the free speech rights of local communities. The ruling came after the state sued Birmingham for erecting a wooden box that obscured the view of a Confederate monument in a city park. Marshall said the state is appealing and he believes the law will be upheld. “We believe the court’s decision against the Memorial Preservation Act will be overturned due to the fact that it incorrectly assigns the right of free speech to a government subdivision,” Marshall said in a statement. The 2017 Alabama Memorial Preservation Act prohibits relocating, removing, altering or renaming public buildings, streets and memorials that have been standing for more than 40 years. The legislation doesn’t specifically mention Confederate monuments, but it was enacted as some Southern states and cities began removing monuments. Birmingham officials had discussed removing a 52-foot-tall (16-meter-tall) obelisk that was erected to honor Confederate veterans in a downtown park in 1905. After the monument protection law was approved, the city instead put wooden panels around it. City workers began installing the panels days after deadly violence over a Confederate monument in Charlottesville, Virginia. The attorney general’s office sued Birmingham in 2017 which led to a judge declaring the law void. Birmingham’s population of 210,000 is more than 70 percent black. In his ruling striking down the law, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Michael Graffeo said it was indisputable that most citizens are “repulsed” by the memorial. He rejected the state’s arguments that lawmakers had the power to protect historical monuments statewide. The attorney general’s request said a stay would allow Birmingham to keep the wooden screen, but not remove the monument, while the state appeals. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
BCRI reverses decision, reaffirms award for controversial activist Angela Y. Davis
In an attempt to right what they are now calling a wrong, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) is reversing a recent decision they made to rescind an award for controversial, political activist Angela Davis. That latest move comes in the wake of public outcry over the BRCI’s decision to rescind the award following complaints from the Jewish community. On Jan. 14, the BCRI issued a public apology to Davis for “its missteps in conferring, then rescinding, its nomination” of her for the BCRI’s 2018 Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award. Immediately after that public apology, the Board voted to reaffirm Dr. Davis as the recipient. “Dr. Angela Davis, a daughter of Birmingham, is highly regarded throughout the world as a human rights activist,” said BCRI President and CEO Andrea L. Taylor. “In fact, the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study acquired her personal archives in 2018, recognizing her significance in the movement for human rights, her involvement in raising issues of feminism, as well as her leadership in the campaign against mass incarceration. Her credentials in championing human rights are noteworthy,” she said. Reverend Thomas L. Wilder, interim BCRI Board Chair, said “at the end of the day, we stand for open and honest dialogue on issues. It is only through our ability to talk openly and honestly with one another that we can achieve true understanding and appreciation for one another’s perspectives. We look forward to continuing the Institute’s legacy as we foster dialogue and open communications, improve our Board governance and policies, and stay focused on our Vision 2020 strategic plan.” BCRI’s Vision 2020 Strategic Plan Wilder said that BCRI’s Vision 2020 strategic plan is based on four guiding goals: To accelerate the reach of the Institute by doubling the number of visitors by 2020, by building greater awareness, and by attracting significantly larger audiences, year over year; To promote the success of the newly designated Civil Rights National Monument; To facilitate superb programming that optimizes the Institute’s own educational, curatorial and archival assets; and, To build a healthy, adaptive and sustainable institution that is both financially self-sufficient and nationally significant. “We ask everyone to partner with us to rebuild trust in the Institute and its important work,” Wilder said.
Funeral set for Larry Langford, ex-Birmingham mayor convicted of bribery
Services are being held for a former Birmingham mayor who died just days after being released from federal prison, where he served time for bribery. A statement from the city says a funeral mass for former Mayor Larry Langford is set for noon Monday. The service is public, and the city plans to livestream the event. Hundreds paid tribute to Langford as his body laid in repose at a city arena on Sunday. The 72-year-old Langford died last week after being released from federal prison because of his failing health. His political career ended in 2009 when he was convicted of taking bribes as a commissioner in Jefferson County, which later filed for bankruptcy. Investigations revealed a string of corrupt deals. A judge sentenced Langford to 15 years in prison. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Shutdown suspends federal cleanups at Birmingham, other Superfund sites
The government shutdown has suspended federal cleanups at Superfund sites around the nation and forced the cancellation of public hearings, deepening the mistrust and resentment of surrounding residents who feel people in power long ago abandoned them to live among the toxic residue of the country’s factories and mines. “We are already hurting, and it’s just adding more fuel to the fire,” says 40-year-old Keisha Brown, whose wood-frame home is in a community nestled among coking plants and other factories on Birmingham’s north side. The mostly African-American community has been forced to cope with high levels of arsenic, lead and other contaminants in the soil that the Environmental Protection Agency has been scraping up and carting away, house by house. As President Donald Trump and Congress battle over Trump’s demand for a wall on the southern U.S. border, the nearly 3-week-old partial government shutdown has stopped federal work on Superfund sites except for cases where the administration deems “there is an imminent threat to the safety of human life or to the protection of property.” EPA’s shutdown plans said the agency would evaluate about 800 Superfund sites to see how many could pose an immediate threat. As an example of that kind of threat, it cited an acid leak from a mine that could threaten the public water supply. That’s the hazard at Northern California’s Iron Mountain mine, where EPA workers help prevent an unending flow of lethally acidic runoff off the Superfund site from spilling into rivers downstream. Practically speaking, said Bonnie Bellow, a former EPA official who worked on Superfund public outreach at the agency, the impact of the stoppage of work at sites across the nation “wholly depends” on the length of the shutdown. “Unless there is immediate risk like a storm, a flood, a week or two of slowdowns is not going to very likely affect the cleanup at the site,” Bellow said. In north Birmingham, Brown said it’s been a couple of weeks since she’s spotted any EPA crews at people’s houses. It wasn’t clear if state workers or contractors were continuing work. But long before the shutdown began, Brown harbored doubts the cleanup was working anyway. “My main concern is the health of the people out here,” said Brown, who has asthma. “All of us are sick, and we’ve got to function on medicine every day.” In terms of time, the federal government shutdown is a chronological blip in the long history of the site — which includes ethics charges in a local bribery scandal to block federal cleanup efforts — but adds to the uncertainty in an area where residents feel forgotten and betrayed. At the EPA, the shutdown has furloughed the bulk of the agency’s roughly 14,000 employees. It also means the EPA isn’t getting most of the daily stream of environmental questions and tips from the public. Routine inspections aren’t happening. State, local and private emails to EPA officials often get automated messages back promising a response when the shutdown ends. In Montana, for instance, state officials this month found themselves fielding calls from a tribal member worried about drinking water with a funny look to it, said Kristi Ponozzo, public-policy director at that state’s Department of Environmental Quality. The EPA normally provides tribes with technical assistance on water supplies. With most EPA colleagues idled, Ponozzo said, her agency also had to call off an environmental review meeting for a mining project, potentially delaying the project. But it’s the agency’s work at Superfund sites — lessening the threat from old nuclear-weapons plants, chemical factories, mines and other entities — that gets much of the attention. Absent imminent peril, it would be up to state governments or contractors to continue any cleanup during the shutdown “up to the point that additional EPA direction or funding is needed,” the EPA said in a statement. “Sites where cleanup activities have been stopped or shut down will be secured until cleanup activities are able to commence when the federal government reopens,” the agency said. For federal Superfund sites in Michigan, the shutdown means there are no EPA colleagues to consult, said Scott Dean, a spokesman for that state’s Department of Environmental Quality. At Michigan Superfund sites, day-to-day field operations were continuing since private contractors do most of the on-the-ground work, Dean said. Bellow, the former EPA official, said the cancellation of hearings about Superfund sites posed immediate concerns. In East Chicago, Indiana, for example, the EPA called off a planned public hearing set for last Wednesday to outline how the agency planned to clean up high levels of lead and arsenic in the soil. The EPA has proposed a seven-month, $26.5 million cleanup that includes treating and removing tainted soil from the area, where a lead smelter previously was located. During a public meeting Nov. 29, some residents complained that the EPA’s approach would leave too much pollution in place. But others didn’t get a chance to speak and were hoping to do so at the meeting this week, said Debbie Chizewer, a Northwestern University environmental attorney who represents community groups in the low-income area. The EPA announced the cancellation in an online notice and gave no indication that it would be rescheduled. Leaders of the East Chicago Calumet Community Advisory Group asked for a new hearing date and an extension of a Jan. 14 public comment deadline in a letter to the EPA’s regional Superfund division. Calls by The Associated Press to the agency’s regional office in Chicago this week were not answered. Local critics fear the EPA will use the delay caused by the shutdown as justification for pushing ahead with a cleanup strategy they consider flawed, Chizewer said, even though the agency has designated the affected area as an “environmental justice community” — a low-income community of color that has been disproportionately harmed by pollution. The EPA has a “special obligation” when dealing with such communities, Chizewer said. “This would be an example of shutting them out for no good reason.”
Former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford dies at 72
Larry Langford, the former Birmingham mayor whose captivating political career was ended by a conviction on public corruption charges, died on Tuesday. He was 72. His death was confirmed by his lawyer, Tiffany Johnson Cole. Langford died a little more than a week after being released from federal prison because of his failing health. The cause of death was not announced but attorneys said earlier that Langford had end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema. Langford was raised in poverty in a Birmingham housing project but rose to become one of the Birmingham area’s most charismatic and influential leaders. He served in the U.S. military and in the early 1970s became one the first black television reporters in the city of Birmingham. Langford served as mayor of Fairfield, the president of the Jefferson County Commission and mayor of Birmingham. With a flair for the theatrical, he never shied away from big ideas for the areas he served. During his political career, he championed the creation of an amusement park called Visionland and other efforts to make Birmingham a tourism destination. His unrealized plans included bringing the Olympics to Birmingham and building a domed stadium. “Mayor Langford had an unmatched love for his community – a love he expressed through his boldness and creativity,” current Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said Tuesday. Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales said Langford, while unconventional in his approach, “was a pioneer and visionary who was well ahead of his time.” His political career ended in 2009 when he was convicted of taking bribes — in the form of cash, clothing and a Rolex— as a member of the county commission in exchange for steering bond business to an investment banker. A federal judge sentenced Langford to 15 years in prison. “He sold Jefferson County out” Assistant U.S. Attorney George Martin said at his 2010 sentencing. Langford maintained his innocence. “This whole thing, my being in prison, found guilty by a jury that said it had made up its mind before hearing any testimony and sitting here watching elected officials take credit for my work just adds insult to injury,” Langford told The Birmingham News in 2013. Langford’s supporters for years had lobbied for his release from prison because of his ill health. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Civil rights group did the right thing with Angela Y. Davis
If you asked me before this week who Angela Y. Davis is I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. In light of the attention she’s received over the last several days, because of the decision by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) to rescind their offer to honor her this year, I decided to become more familiar with her work and their decision. I’ve read numerous speeches, news articles quoting her and have purchased and skimmed through two of her books. It is with that background I’m absolutely confident the Institute did the right thing by reconsidering their initial offer to recognize her work. While some of the work Angela Davis has done is laudable, one shouldn’t cherry-pick just those things and ignore her record on the whole. A record that includes ties, which she herself celebrates, with notable terrorists and those who would seek to see Israel handed over to the Palestinian people. Hate and bigotry are serious issues, but to focus on the plight of African American communities while furthering the plight of another group (in Davis’ case the Jewish community), you are doing no one favors. Someone dropped the ball at the BCRI by not properly vetting Davis’s full history, speeches and current activism prior to choosing her for the award. That said, had they turned a blind eye to the concerns of the Jewish community and others after the announcement their troubles would have been compounded by still choosing to honor her.
