Video Address to City Council

In a retaliatory measure, the five members of the SSMI who were arrested were banned from City Council meetings for two years by the City Manager.

In an attempt not to be silenced and to exercise their democratic rights, Cherrell Brown and other members of the Spirit of the Sit-in Movement Initiative recorded this video to play at Council. When the City Manager found out about the video minutes before it was played during the public comment section of the following City Council meeting, he refused to let it be played. Eric Ginsburg, a member of the organization, read the text of her speech.

Curfew Lifted on Sit-in Participants

Yesterday, the absurd 6pm -6am curfew on the five Spirit of the Sit-ins members who were arrested for an act of civil disobedience at a recent City Council meeting was lifted after a legal challenge by their lawyer.

The curfew surprised many, as the five were simply charged with second degree trespassing for an act of nonviolent civil disobedience.  One of the students arrested was unable to take a summer class at A&T because of the curfew. He wanted to take the night class because he works during the day.

The five are also no longer banned from all city property.  Instead they cannot enter the Melvin Municipal Office Building where City Council meets (and also happens to be the place to pay water bills in person, file a complaint with the Human Relations Commission, and more).

The City Manager’s office imposed a two year ban from City Council meetings on the five arrested. This ban still stands. In fact, last week when someone from the Spirit of the Sit-in Movement Initiative attempted to show a video including one of the five in a presentation to City Council during speakers from the floor, he was denied.  The City Manager and Asst. City Manager for Public Safety admitted that while this limit on free speech was not articulated in the letter banning the five from meetings, they were using their authority to prevent the video from being shown.

We will post the video to our website as soon as possible.

Speaking at the NAACP meeting

On Sunday, May 16, members of the Spirit of the Sit-in Movement Initiative spoke at the

Two members of the Spirit of the Sit-ins speaking at the NAACP meeting

NAACP meeting at New Light Missionary Baptist Church about the work we are involved in and asked for community support. Along with the Greensboro Pulpit Forum, Beloved Community Center, and the NAACP, the Spirit of the Sit-in Movement Initiative is launching Greensboro Justice Summer. More details coming soon.

We also had internal meetings Friday, Saturday, and Monday to continue to move our work forward.

Press Conference with NC NAACP President

Wednesday morning, the Spirit of the Sit-in Movement Initiative held a joint press conference with the Greensboro Pulpit Forum and the NAACP to address the pervasive and dangerous issue of a subculture of corruption in the Greensboro Police Department. We were joined by the state president of the NAACP, Rev. William Barber, who spoke about the need to involve state and national leadership of the NAACP as well as the state and federal government in the ongoing lack of police accountability in the city. The press conference was well attended by local press. The News-Record covered it beforehand in their police blog as well as a front page web article afterwards. The Carolina Peacemaker was there as well as YES! Weekly who already posted a well-researched article on their website. In addition, Channel 14 did a piece as did Fox 8, and WFMY Channel 2 ran a short article.

SSMI holding a banner in front of the meeting

On Tuesday, six members of the Spirit of the Sit-in Movement Initiative attended the meeting for community input on the selection process for a new police chief. We held a banner outside and passed out flyers highlighting the characteristics that are important for a chief and those aspects that we do not wish to continue.  Some members spoke inside the meeting, and many of the people in attendance were community members who were at our meeting Monday.  The two other community input meetings had pathetically low turnout, with one of them netting just one attendee.

Community Meeting Held, Struggle Expands

Monday night (5/10) over 125 concerned residents of Greensboro gathered to become more informed about the issues in the Greensboro Police Department and to learn ways in which they can join the struggle for justice and the elimination of corruption in our city.

Unfortunately, due to the outrageous curfew imposed by the local magistrate, the members of the Spirit of the Sit-In Movement Initiative who were arrested at the city council meeting were not available to attend the community meeting. Members of the community agreed to:

a.) Attend a press conference that is being held tomorrow morning at New Light Baptist Church

b.) Be present at New Light on this Sunday for the NAACPs regularly scheduled meeting which will address the issues we are facing and

c.) Join in some way to help in the ongoing fight against racism, corruption, and double standards in our police department. The press conference will be led by the Reverend William Barber, head of the North Carolina NAACP, and members of other organizations coming together to create a sustained effort to get down to the root of these issues.

Our Young People are Speaking, Who is Listening?

The following was submitted as a Letter to the Editor of the News-Record but was never printed.

We write to express our strong support of the area college students of the Spirit of the Sit-In Movement group who are working to address the critical issue of police accountability in Greensboro. We have taught several of the students involved, and we know them to be exceptionally thoughtful, caring and responsible student-citizens, deeply involved in the various Greensboro communities. They stand out for being and doing what we hope for all young people in our democracy. As such, we urge Mayor Knight, the City Council, and fellow community members to give attention to the very serious, indeed urgent matter of police accountability that the students and their allies are placing before us. As did local young people 50 years ago, these students are calling us to wake up to injustices that threaten the fabric of our community. Will we listen?

Spoma Jovanovic, Sherry Giles, Dan Malotky, Stephen Schulman, and Ed Whitfield Instructors for “Reclaiming Democracy: Dialogue, Decision-Making, and Community Action”

Six Reverends Arrested for Civil Disobedience

During our rally against police corruption today, six reverends from the Greensboro Pulpit Forum blocked the entrance to the Greensboro Police Department in an act of civil disobedience. They were quickly arrested by waiting police, but all have since been released. The rally was well attended and we had numerous speakers as well as music by Cakalak Thunder. After the reverends were arrested we marched around the block behind a banner reading “We Demand Police Accountability” to the jail where they were being held. The rally and acts of civil disobedience marks the extension an

Six Reverends getting arrested today (News-Record)

d continuation of our struggle for police accountability and justice. We are planning a community-wide meeting for next week, so stay tuned.

VIDEO: Five Arrested for Sit-in Action

Five Arrested in Sit-in at City Council Meeting

Five African-American members of the Spirit of the Sit-In Movement Initiative, a group made of current students and graduates of local colleges and universities, were arrested around 7:40 this evening just after the City Council took its 7:30 break.

The students took the seats of the council members during the recess and brought the meeting back to order with the banging of the mayor’s gavel. They began to describe how the current elected officials had failed at their jobs and were not representing the people. Shortly afterwards, a plain clothes officer and members of a private security group approached the seats and asked them to leave. One member of the group, Cherell Brown was arrested at the seats. Also arrested were Wesley Morris, Clarence Bradley Hunt, Carlyle Phillips, and Jonathan Johnson.

About ten minutes after the members of the group were escorted from the Council Chambers the students were asked to leave. Four of them began holding hands and refusing, several armed officers from the Greensboro Police Department arrived to arrest them. The students were arrested without incident and taken across the street to the police department.

The students have attended the last four city council meetings and have addressed issues ranging from a settlement offer to former police chief David Wray, the plight of 39 minority officers suing the city, the injustice related to officer A.J. Blake, the relentless and unwarranted harassment of the Almighty Latin King & Queen Nation, and what they have described as a subculture of corruption in the Greensboro Police Department.

The students plan to continue actions in the coming days. Tomorrow there will be a rally at 3:00pm at the Melvin Municipal Building in downtown Greensboro against police corruption and demanding accountability and justice.

Statement to City Council

On Tuesday, April 20, four members of the Spirit of the Sit-in Movement Initiative spoke at the Greensboro City Council meeting. They were backed by over twenty other members and supporters, some of whom had to wait outside because the room was packed. The meetings are broadcast live on local television. Here is one of the statements that was made to the Council.

Last Tuesday, over a dozen students from our organization including myself met with Mayor Knight and the Assistant City Manager for Public Safety. In that meeting we brought up our central concern about a subculture of corruption within the Greensboro Police Department, citing a number of examples including former Chief David Wray and continued harassment of the Latin Kings and Queens.

The Mayor and Assistant City Manager were dismissive of our request for them to address this threat to public safety, instead hiding behind their positions and assuring us that things would be resolved in time. They also stated that they would not discuss pre-existing conditions and issues but would look forward as if the past isn’t what brought us here.

As the City Council, you are public servants. It is not only your job to be responsive to the people and represent your constituents but to be strong leaders who stand for justice. We have noticed a general trend of City Council moving forward without citizen input or against overwhelming community opposition on a wide range of issues such as the White St Landfill or rezoning in College Hill.  So far this Council has attempted to wash its hands of the corruption in the police department, and one councilmember even tried to deceive the public this summer by claiming that the council has no control over the police.

These issues will not resolve themselves, and the lack of action by this council is actually a step away from government accountability. Our concerns for transparency, accountability, and justice cannot be dismissed or marginalized. These issues are pressing and urgent such that business cannot continue as usual.  Once you serve a narrow self interest and not the people you lose the right to say you represent us.

We request a statement of priority from this council that outlines a commitment to take action to address corruption within the police department.  This is not the first time we have made this request, but so far we have been met with a deafening silence. The level of police corruption in this city has reached a level that extends beyond a small public safety concern and instead represents a dangerous threat.  How bad does the situation have to get before this Council takes action or individual council members speak out? Will you lead this City on these important issues, or will you continue to deny any responsibility and pretend that someone else is going to clean up this mess for us?