Oak Ridge Today

Protesters want life, liberty, justice

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Civil rights leader Reverend Harold Middlebrook tells Black Lives Matter protesters in Clinton on Thursday, June 11, 2020, that the movement will require more than a march. (Photo by John Huotari/oak Ridge Today)

CLINTON—Civil rights pioneer Anna Theresser Caswell asked people to not hate.

Civil rights leader Reverend Harold Middlebrook told local Black Lives Matters protesters that the movement will require more than a march.

Caswell and Middlebrook were two of about a dozen speakers at a Black Lives Matter march and protest that started at the Clinton football field and ended at Clinton Middle School on Thursday. Several hundred people attended.

Clinton Middle School is where the high school used to be. It was desegregated more than 60 years ago. It’s reported to have been the first high school in the South to desegregate under the U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954.

Caswell, 77, was one of the 12 Black teenagers who walked down from Green McAdoo School on Foley Hill and desegregated the old Clinton High School, which had been all-white, on August 27, 1956.

[Read more…]

More than 1,000 protest for equality, police reforms, end of racism

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Hundreds of people march from Oak Ridge High School to the Civic Center for a Black Lives Matter protest on Tuesday afternoon, June 2, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. June 11.

More than 1,000 people marched and protested in Oak Ridge last week, asking for equal treatment for black people.

They said the nation is obligated to fight systemic racism, racial inequality, and police brutality. They want to live without fear. They advocated for police reforms, accountability, and the use of de-escalation tactics.

Protesters hope to end 400 years of oppression that started with slavery in America in 1619 and continued after the Civil War with attacks on black people, lynchings, the Ku Klux Klan, segregation, discrimination, and racism. That oppression has been felt in Oak Ridge, and some young adults and teenagers said they have experienced or witnessed racism.

Protesters said they were angry, upset, and frustrated. They called the death of George Floyd while he was detained by police in Minneapolis last month a murder. They recalled the deaths of other black men and boys, some killed by police and others by citizens. They acknowledged that there are many good police officers, but they condemned police officers who they said hide behind their badges to do wicked deeds.

“Enough is enough,” protesters said. “We are done dying.”

Hundreds of people meet at Oak Ridge High School before marching to Oak Ridge Civic Center for a Black Lives Matter protest on Tuesday afternoon, June 2, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Protesters met at Oak Ridge High School Tuesday afternoon, June 2, and marched to the Oak Ridge Civic Center. They carried signs and wore T-shirts that said “Black Lives Matter” and “I can’t breathe.” They chanted “No justice, no peace” and, led by organizer Trevor King, “Make racism illegal.” Silence is compliance, the protesters said, and silence in the face of evil is itself evil.

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Learn about civil rights movement in lecture by Booker at Roane State

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Robert Booker

Robert J. Booker, local civil rights historian and Knoxville News Sentinel columnist, will present a talk titled “100 Years of the Civil Rights Movement” on Thursday, May 23, at 3 p.m. in the City Room at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge.

A Knoxville native, Booker is a graduate of Knoxville College, where he initiated and led the Sit-in Movement to desegregate lunch counters and movie theaters in Knoxville, a press release said. He was the first African American representing Knox County to be elected to the state legislature, where he served three terms, the press release said. He was administrative assistant to the Knoxville mayor for seven years and was executive director of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center for 17 years. He has also held positions on the State Civil Service Commission and the Tennessee Committee on Humanities. [Read more…]

Green McAdoo now part of TN State Museum system, U.S. Civil Rights Trail

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Photo via Adventure Anderson County and Explore Oak Ridge

Photo via Adventure Anderson County and Explore Oak Ridge

 

The Green McAdoo Cultural Center in Clinton has become a part of the Tennessee State Museum system in Nashville and the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, according to Adventure Anderson County and Explore Oak Ridge.

It’s a significant announcement, and Green McAdoo invites all those that have aided in their success to celebrate by attending a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, August 25, with a pre-celebration reception at 9 a.m. at the Green McAdoo Museum, an electronic newsletter said. [Read more…]

Despite censure, lawsuit, calls for resignation, Jones still running in May 1 primary

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The Anderson County Commission, which is pictured above on March 20, 2018, unanimously censured Anderson County Circuit Clerk William Jones on Feb. 20, and asked him to resign after sexual harassment allegations were reported. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Anderson County Commission, which is pictured above on March 20, 2018, unanimously censured Anderson County Circuit Court Clerk William Jones on Feb. 20, and asked him to resign after sexual harassment allegations were reported. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 10:40 a.m.

CLINTON—He’s been accused of inappropriate behavior that includes unwelcome sexual advances, unwanted touching, and lewd and vulgar text messages. He’s been unanimously censured and asked to resign by the Anderson County Commission. He’s been sued in federal court. And some residents have joined commissioners in asking him to resign, or at least not seek re-election.

Despite those pleas, though, Anderson County Circuit Court Clerk William Jones, who has denied many allegations and called others false, is seeking re-election in the Anderson County Republican Party primary election on Tuesday, May 1. Jones has filed counterclaims in federal court and filed a defamation lawsuit in state court.

Some of the sexual harassment allegations appear to have been forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies, including the Tennessee Attorney General, Tennessee Department of Labor, and Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, according to records released by Anderson County. It’s not clear which outside agencies, if any, might be investigating the complaints, or whether the local district attorney general might be investigating.

Willliam T. Jones

Willliam T. Jones

Commission censures Jones, asks him to resign

The accusations against Jones, who is seeking his second four-year term, were publicly disclosed during a review of a sexual harassment complaint at an Anderson County Commission meeting on February 20.

During that meeting, Kim Jeffers-Whitaker, Anderson County’s chief deputy director of human resources and risk management, said her department had received five reports of inappropriate workplace behavior by Jones.

“The five reports create a harassing pattern,” Jeffers-Whitaker said.

She said the reports are supported by two affidavits and four sworn statements that the county’s human resources department obtained from the victims, who include four past or present employees and one citizen.

According to Jeffers-Whitaker, the alleged instances of unprofessional conduct include: [Read more…]

‘Jazz & the Civil Rights Movement’ on Thursday

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Master Flautist Galen of Flute Juice Productions will present “Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement” at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge on Thursday.

The lecture, which will include musical interludes, is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 26, in the City Room of the Coffey/McNally building (A-111). It is free and open to the public.

The lecture is co-sponsored by RSCC’s International Education Department and their Arts and Lectures Committee, and Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning. [Read more…]

Knoxville, Oak Ridge groups to march in Selma

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2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March

On March 8, Knoxville and Oak Ridge-based groups will march in Selma, Alabama, much like civil rights demonstrators did a half century ago. Members of various local groups will participate in the march to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March.

Planned by Organizing for Action, Northeast Tennessee (OFA-TN) and the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, the Knoxville area groups will join others from across the country—including President Barack Obama—to participate in the Bridge Crossing and Backward March. Like the historical 1965 march, the path of the commemorative march begins in Selma and crosses the Edmund Pettus Bridge, a total of six blocks. The march begins at 2:30 p.m. [Read more…]

Former Sweet Honey in the Rock member to lead music workshop at ORUUC

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Ysaye M. Barnwell

Ysaye M. Barnwell

Ysaye M. Barnwell, a former longtime member of Sweet Honey in the Rock, an a cappella group, is returning to Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church to lead a three-night workshop series: Evolution of African-American Music from Africa to Civil Rights.

The evenings of singing and learning will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Feb. 20, 21, and 22 at ORUUC, a press release said. ORUUC is located at 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Those who attend will experience singing in the African-American tradition of music from Africa to the civil rights era, the press release said. The workshop begins on Thursday, Feb. 20, with the chants of Africa and the diaspora. Spirituals and slave songs will be the focus on Friday, Feb. 21. The series will conclude on Saturday, Feb. 22, with songs of the civil rights era. [Read more…]

Constitution Day lecture on immigration law at Roane State on Tuesday

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Karla McKanders

Karla McKanders

University of Tennessee College of Law professor Karla McKanders will discuss immigration law on Constitution Day on Tuesday at Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge Campus.

The lecture will be held from 1–2:30 p.m. in the City Room. The event is free, and the public is invited.

McKanders’ research focuses on civil rights, immigration and asylum law, and policy. She has explored the constitutionality of recent state and local laws targeting immigrants and the legal connections between past discriminatory laws and current anti-immigrant legislation. [Read more…]