Daily Archives: July 29, 2012

Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson, a Jackson couple says the church where they planned to get married turned them away because they are black.

JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi couple says the church where they planned to get married turned them away because they are black.

Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson say they had set the date and mailed invitations, but the day before their wedding they say they got bad news from the pastor of predominantly white First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs: Some members of the church complained about the black couple having a wedding there.

The Wilsons, who live in nearby Jackson, said they attend the church regularly although they are not members.

Pastor Stan Weatherford told WLBT TV (http://bit.ly/QSNlf8 ) he was surprised when a small number of church members opposed holding the wedding at the church.

"This had never been done before here, so it was setting a new precedent, and there are those who reacted to that because of that," said Weatherford.

Weatherford performed the July 21 ceremony at another church.

"I didn’t want to have a controversy within the church, and I didn’t want a controversy to affect the wedding of Charles and Te’Andrea. I wanted to make sure their wedding day was a special day," said Weatherford.

WLBT reported that church officials now say they welcome any race. They plan to hold internal meetings on how to move forward.

Church member Casey Kitchens said she and other members of the congregation are outraged by the church’s refusal to marry a black couple, a decision she says most of the congregation knew nothing about.

"This is a small, small group of people who made a terrible decision," Kitchens told The Clarion-Ledger (http://on.thec-l.com/QSRyQa). "I’m just ashamed right now that my church would do that. I can’t fathom why. How unfair. How unjust. It’s just wrong."

"I blame the First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, I blame those members who knew and call themselves Christians and didn’t stand up," said Charles Wilson.

Wilson told the newspaper that he understands Weatherford was caught in a difficult position and he still likes the pastor, but he also thinks the pastor should have stood up to the members who didn’t want the couple to marry in the church.

"It’s not reflective of the spirit of the Lord and Mississippi Baptists," the Mississippi Baptist Convention executive director, the Rev. Jim Futral, said. "It’s just a step backward. … It’s a sad thing."

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/black-couple-says-racism-1486570.html

A Kenosha County prosecutor has issued tickets, rather than more severe criminal charges, against two University of Wisconsin-Parkside students implicated in an alleged hoax involving a racist message and a purported “death list” of students.

The tickets were included with letters sent last week to the two students, Khalilah N. Ford and Janet Upmann, who left the message on a dry erase board and wrote the fake death list.

In the letters, prosecutor Richard Ginkowski also acknowledged the rationale that Ford and Upmann had reportedly offered for the hoax in the course of the investigation of the episode: to call attention to security concerns after classmates found a rubber band noose on the campus.

Although he indicated the foundation existed for criminal charges, Ginkowski wrote Ford and Upmann that he believed the tickets would carry an adequate penalty.

“I believe the diversion of these charges to non-criminal alternatives serves the public’s interest in providing some measure of punishment and recompense without burdening either of you with a criminal record,” Ginkowski wrote.

Ginkowski outlined the cases in letters to Ford and Upmann, who reportedly admitted involvement in two incidents that followed the initial noose finding.

The tickets, which carry fines of $400 total, were included with the letters. No request for restitution was made, although Ginkowski estimated Parkside spent $8,000 because of the situation. The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department also investigated, but those costs were not available.

The decision came nearly six months after the rubber band noose was found Feb. 1, which Ginkowski noted “fueled fear and racial tension on the campus.” Subsequently, the words “Die Nigga” were found on a dry erase board outside the room of an African-American dormitory resident assistant, and the fake hit list was found posted near dorm elevators.

On Feb. 3, Upmann, who is white, reportedly told a deputy that she had written the phrase on the dry board, according to Ginkowski’s letter. She explained that she wrote the message because she “was concerned about security on the campus and felt this would be a way to attract more security.”

Ford, who is African-American, reportedly wrote and posted the fake hit list, which named 13 fellow black students, including herself, and told investigators she did it to call attention to problems on campus and out of frustration at what she believed was an inadequate campus response to the noose incident.

“Unfortunately whatever good intentions may have existed, these acts served to essentially pour gasoline on the fire,” Ginkowski wrote. “Further, they actually diverted resources from investigation of the original incident and arguably may have impaired the potential success of that investigation.”

Ginkowski concluded that the students’ actions could be prosecuted as misdemeanor offenses, with total punishments of one year in jail and fines of $11,000. But the prosecutor said he felt those punishments would perhaps be “disproportionate to both the offenses and the offenders.”

“You are (or were) both college students. Neither of you has a known criminal record. While you could be fined, put in jail or placed on probation — or all three — I believe diversion should be considered,” Ginkowski wrote. “…I also note that you did ultimately cooperate with law enforcement and have expressed some remorse. You also suffered a significant punishment by being removed from the university.”

Neither student was available for comment. They each have hearings Aug. 16, but are not required to attend if they do not wish to challenge the tickets.

The university had no comment about the tickets, but a spokesman said the school appreciated efforts from the sheriff’s department and district attorney’s office in investigating the incidents.

As for the delay in issuing tickets, Ginkowski said he made his decision in April, but delayed the announcement to give more time for investigation. The original noose incident remains unsolved, and that investigation continues.

http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/tickets_for_incidents_related_to_apparent_noose_hoax_at_parkside_411007809.html

A police officer in Massachusetts was fired Thursday for using a racial slur against Carl Crawford of the Boston Red Sox.

Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella terminated officer John Perrault after Police Chief Robert Healey recommended the action during a disciplinary hearing Wednesday.

Perrault is accused of uttering a racial slur against Crawford on July 5 during one of the player’s games while on a rehab assignment with a Red Sox minor-league affiliate in Manchester, N.H., according to the Associated Press.

Perrault had been on paid leave since the incident. The police officer has been accused of using racial slurs on at least two previous occasions, AP reported.

The fired police officer’s attorney, Joseph Sandulli, indicated he would appeal the termination through either the civil service commission or the police union, AP said.

It has been alleged Perrault called Crawford a "Monday."

According to the Urban Dictionary, the term "Monday" has been adopted by some racists "because everybody hates Mondays." One contributor to the site defined it as "A word that can be used to insult a black person without them knowing.."

Perrault and his attorney both claimed they were unaware the term had a racial connotation.

At the time of the incident, Crawford told reporters he was accustomed to fans taunting him — primarily because of his high pay and low production as a member of the Red Sox — but that day one taunter went over the line.

"Talking about that guy, he actually called me a racial slur in the beginning of the game, so he was the only one I had a problem with. … People in Boston don’t even do that, so I don’t know what that was about," Crawford said this month. "It’s not that bad in Boston, but I can understand why people are gonna be upset about me signing a contract and then having the year I had."

Perrault was discovered because Crawford was able to identify the source of the taunts and notify stadium officials.

Crawford famously — or infamously — signed a seven-year, $142 million contract with the Red Sox in 2010 and has since struggled mightily. Fans have made him one of the biggest scapegoats for the team’s poor play.

After the incident, some fans called into "The Dennis & Callahan Morning Show" in Boston to voice their displeasure — with Crawford. According to a video on the show’s site, the first caller on the issue said: "I think you’re being unfairly critical of [the heckler], he did nothing different than what spectators have done since probably the Roman gladiator days. … As long as we keep talking about racism, it’ll never go away."

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/367893/20120728/carl-crawford-taunts-slur-cop-fired-racist.htm