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Alabama City Moves to Dissolve Police Department Over Racist Text

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A small city in Alabama moved this week to disband its police force after a department member was accused of sending a racist text message and two of its leaders were suspended, its mayor said.

The third and final member of the department in the city, Vincent, Ala., resigned after the text message allegation prompted the City Council to make plans to dissolve the department, the mayor, James Latimer, said on Saturday.

Residents raised concerns at a City Council meeting on Thursday after a screenshot circulated on social media showing the racist text message about slavery.

After the suspensions and resignation, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Friday that it was handling law enforcement emergency calls for the city. The statement added that officials at the Sheriff’s Office “equally condemn” the allegations of misconduct.

The city, which is about 30 miles southeast of Birmingham, has a little under 2,000 residents, 392 of them Black, according to census figures.

“This has torn this community apart,” a member of the City Council, Corey Abrams, said at the meeting, according to AL.com, which reported this week on the text message.

The Rev. Kenneth Dukes, the president of the Shelby County branch of the N.A.A.C.P., said that the text was the “tip of the iceberg” and reflected unaddressed community concerns about racism in the community.

“I think now the Council, along with the mayor, see that this is totally unacceptable and that the people have said, ‘No more,’” he said.

Mr. Latimer said that the police chief, James Srygley, and the assistant police chief, John L. Goss, had been suspended with pay at the council meeting on Thursday. An officer, Lee Carden, resigned. The council approved a resolution to pursue the termination of the chief and assistant chief, the mayor said.

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Chiefs Srygley and Goss and Officer Carden could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

The council also agreed to draft an ordinance to dissolve the police department and to work with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to contract for law enforcement coverage.

The Rev. Dukes said his organization planned to meet with community members in the coming weeks to hear their feedback before the next City Council meeting on Aug. 16. He said he appreciated the city’s quick response to the text message allegation and was waiting to see if the chief and assistant chief would be terminated in keeping with the Council’s recommendation.

“I think at this moment we are pleased with the outcome and hopefully everybody will move forward, once it’s confirmed,” he said.

McKenna Oxenden contributed to this article.

Read the full article here

A journalist since 1994, he also founded DMGlobal Marketing & Public Relations. Glover has an extensive list of clients including corporations, non-profits, government agencies, politics, business owners, PR firms, and attorneys.

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BlackUSA.News Unveils New National Platform Connecting Readers to America’s Leading Black Media

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(NEW YORK – July 2, 2026) – For more than two centuries, the Black Press has documented the triumphs, struggles, businesses, politics, faith, education, and culture of Black America. Today, that tradition enters a new chapter.

BlackUSA.News has launched a newly redesigned national platform that not only delivers original reporting from across the country but also connects readers directly to many of the nation’s most respected Black-owned news organizations.

Visitors can now easily navigate to trusted journalism from publications including:

  • Atlanta Black Star
  • BMORENews.com
  • Washington Informer
  • St. Louis American
  • AFRO-American Newspapers
  • Black Press USA
  • Black Wall Street Times
  • Black Enterprise
  • New York Amsterdam News
  • The Final Call
  • Texas Metro News
  • African Diaspora News Channel

Rather than asking readers to search dozens of websites independently, BlackUSA.News serves as a national gateway—bringing together voices that have informed, educated, and empowered Black communities for generations.

“Our vision has always been bigger than one publication,” said Doni Glover, founder of BlackUSA.News. “The Black Press has never lacked great journalism. What we’ve often lacked is visibility, discoverability, and a common front door. BlackUSA.News helps solve that problem.”

The redesigned platform reflects the publication’s ongoing evolution from a news website into a national knowledge network that documents Black life, leadership, entrepreneurship, education, government, philanthropy, and community institutions across America.

Readers will continue to find original reporting, exclusive interviews, Black Wall Street coverage, business news, political analysis, and community stories while also discovering journalism from historic and emerging Black-owned media organizations nationwide.

As artificial intelligence, search engines, and social media increasingly determine what news people see, BlackUSA.News believes collaboration—not competition—is one of the strongest strategies for ensuring Black stories remain visible and accessible.

“This isn’t about replacing anyone,” Glover said. “It’s about strengthening the entire ecosystem.”

The redesign represents another milestone in BlackUSA.News’ mission to document Black excellence city by city while helping readers connect with trusted Black journalism wherever it is being produced.

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Future versions of BlackUSA.News will continue to expand beyond news, creating one of the nation’s most comprehensive knowledge platforms that document Black-owned businesses, nonprofits, churches, elected officials, educational institutions, media organizations, and community leaders—building a living digital map of Black America.

BlackUSA.News
Connecting Black America, One Story at a Time.

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My ancestors were full-blooded Indians … until the census said otherwise

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(OKLAHOMA – August 17, 2025) – When I first started researching my family’s genealogy, I thought I was just going to fill in a few blanks.
Instead, I uncovered a lie so deep, so systematic, it reshaped everything I thought I knew about who we are as a people.

I want to show you something personal.

Below, you’ll see two official U.S. government records—both documenting one of my direct ancestors. Thomas Jefferson Adams Harjo.

Creek Nation certificate

Creek Nation certificate

📜 The first is from the Dawes Roll, the federal list created in the early 1900s to register members of the Five Civilized Tribes.

As you’ll see, my ancestor is listed as a Full-Blood Indian—a clear acknowledgment of their tribal heritage and cultural identity.

1900 US Census

But then, take a look at the second image:

📄 That’s the federal census record from just a few years later.
Same ancestor.
Same location.
But this time, the government marked them as Negro.

No tribe. No Indian classification.
Just folded into the general Black population—without consent, without explanation.

That wasn’t a mistake.
That was paper genocide.

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This is what happened to millions of Indigenous Black Americans across the South.
Their identities were stripped away on paper—one document at a time—by a system designed to erase, absorb, and exploit.

This wasn’t just about racism. It was about land, power, and control.

By reclassifying tribal people as Negro or Colored, the government could:

  • Deny them land rights

  • Remove them from tribal rolls

  • Steal their inheritance

  • And make sure future generations never knew who they really were

This is why so many of our elders say, “My grandma said we had Indian in us.”
They weren’t lying.
They just didn’t have the tools to prove it.

Now we do.

And I’m not showing you this to just share my story—I’m showing you because this might be your story, too.

If you’re ready to go deeper, tomorrow I’m going to pull back the curtain on how far this went—how the reclassification of Black Indians was not an exception, but the rule across the Southeast.

You’re not crazy.
You’re not reaching.
You’re remembering.

—Mike
Founder, Native Black Ancestry

 

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Voices of West Tampa: District 5 Special Election Forum, Aug. 27th

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(TAMPA, FL – August 12, 2025) – The Black Agenda is coming! Join us this August for a powerful virtual town hall where residents, neighborhood associations, nonprofit leaders, faith communities, and other key stakeholders will come together to share their concerns and discuss solutions.

🎥
 This event will be streamed live and will feature candidates offering their vision for the future of West Tampa.
This will be a street-level, bottom-up dialogue—focused on real voices, real stories, and real strategies to protect and uplift our community.
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/register/n2MwP53TQ-2e9xfih1rrAg

Join us this August for a powerful virtual town hall.

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