The hunt for Ernest Withers’ informant files

The body of work that the late Ernest C. Withers had amassed during his ennobled career as a civil rights photographer brought him a measure of fame, and suspicion, too, after the news broke in 2010 that he secretly supplied the FBI with information and photographs of stakeholders in the movement.

On Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, in a response to a lawsuit filed by The Commercial Appeal, which broke the story, “officially confirmed” that Withers had been informant ME 338-R.

The judge’s ruling came 14 months after the newspaper filed a suit against the FBI in November 2010 in hopes of forcing the FBI to release Withers’ informant files. The government still hasn’t confirmed whether Withers was a paid informant or not.

The initial report and repeated coverage of Withers’ suspected clandestine involvement with the FBI, from at least 1968 to 1970, produced a shockwave that reverberated around the world. In this latest episode of the newspaper’s hunt for Withers’ FBI files, the judge’s ruling barely registers on the Richter scale. Does anybody care?

Withers is still viewed by many as the kingpin of civil rights photography. The recent revelation, however, has done little to diminish his legacy. The overwhelming consensus is that the tens of thousands of powerful images that he snapped with his film camera did more to shed light on the tumultuous era rather than the information he is suspected of supplying the FBI.

Did Withers rendezvous with the FBI or not? Jackson’s ruling did not convince Rosalind Withers-Guzman one iota that her father supplied information to the FBI. In fact, she’s resolved to build upon the legacy that he’d bequeathed his family and over one million of enduring images that he left to posterity.

“The allegations have been around for a long time. That’s no different than what was stated before,” Withers-Guzman, president and board chairman of the museum and trustee of the Ernest C. Withers Trust, said about Jackson’s ruling. Last year in February, months after the news broke, the Withers family opened the Withers Collection Museum & Gallery, 333 Beale St., to preserve the history of their father’s work.

“Whether my father was an FBI informant or not, I really don’t know,” said Withers-Guzman. “I can only look at what they investigate. The thing that is not properly represented is a major concern for me: Communicating with the FBI was a standard back then, a protocol. He was following the leadership at that time. He wasn’t trying to do something to harm the movement, which they’re alluding to.”

Withers-Guzman said she has a problem with the whole shebang. “I personally think they really want to cause disdain so that the record of work my father left behind will be tarnished,” she said. “No one has the evidence of our past more than Ernest Withers. He has 60 years of history covering five categories in an indebt way.”

Withers died in 2007 at age 85.

Withers-Guzman said she wouldn’t have known what to do “if I didn’t have the quarterback,” a reference to a Jan. 26, 2012, premiere showing of “Quarterback: A Documentary on Dr. Ernest Withers” at the museum and gallery. The short film depicts Withers’ life of work through the eye of his camera.

 Whatever is gleaned from the judge’s ruling and the newspaper’s insistence on tracking Withers’ files doesn’t negate the fact that Withers was the quintessential civil rights photographer, Withers-Guzman said, whose photos remain an integral part of history.

“They use my father’s work as a benchmark,” she said. “Our history is in black and white. And no one else has that.”

Ecumenical leaders rally for black farmers

Bishop David Allen Hall Sr., pastor of Temple Church of God in Christ and chairman of the Memphis Ecumenical Action Committee, gives a rousing keynote on the black farmers’ plight and serves notice to President Obama that “we’re going to take back our rights.” Standing with him in the pulpit are Dr. LaSimba Gray Jr., pastor of New Sardis Baptist Church; Bishop Edward H. Stephens Jr., pastor of Golden Gate Cathedral; Dr. Dwight Montgomery, president of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference and pastor of Annesdale Cherokee Baptist Church; and Bishop E. Lynn Brown, retired prelate of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and vice chairman of the ecumenical group. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

The sentiments were pretty much the same: Each speaker at a Jan. 2 rally at Temple Church of God in Christ in Memphis did not shrink from explaining what they believe to be an injustice heaped upon black farmers who were discriminated against by the United States government.

After years of litigation, a judge issued a Consent Decree in 1999 that settled a class action lawsuit that held the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsible for its role in discriminating against black farmers, and provided for them a $1.25 billion compensation package. However, not all black farmers have benefited, some speakers pointed out.

Dr. Reginald L. Porter Sr., pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church, described the black farmers’ plight as a fight for freedom. “This is not a farmer’s fight. This is a fight for freedom,” said Porter, referring to a Bible story about Joshua’s call to the tribes to take land that was promised to them. “If we are going to have freedom, we must take the Promised Land.”

Porter is part of the group of clergymen that banded together to support the Memphis-based Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA), an advocacy organization, in its efforts to apprise black farmers of their rights after the landmark case, Timothy Pigford vs. Dan Glickman, United States Department of Agriculture, was settled and then reapportioned by the Obama administration in 2011. 

No less than 400 people attended the rally and listened intently to a few of the members comprising the recently formed Memphis Ecumenical Action Committee decry the government’s decision to move black farmers out of Pigford I into Pigford II and included women and other minorities claiming discrimination as part of the judgment.

Dr. LaSimba Gray Jr., pastor of New Sardis Baptist Church, offered the audience a brief history lesson about his family. He traced his lineage back four generations, noting that his forebears were farmers and that he’s a descendent of slaves.

“You’re never broke if you got some land,” he said. “We should have gotten our ’40 acres and a mule.’ Though you deny me, yet I will get my justice.”

Although Dr. Dwight Montgomery, president of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference and pastor of Annesdale Cherokee Baptist Church, admitted not being up to snuff on the details of Pigford I and Pigford II, he said otherwise, “The black farmers deserve what God set forth for them to have.”

He opined that the government was “robbing the ‘hood” – much like the fictitious character Robin Hood who stole from the rich to give to the poor -- and forbade black farmers not to sign any documents that would deny them of their rights.

The group is urging farmers not to sign the Pigford II compensation package -- which was created for new or late claimants who failed to apply for relief under Pigford I – because, they argue, black farmers “may be forever barred from any compensatory cash compensation and forever barred against up to $2.5 million of injunctive relief.”

Bishop David Allen Hall Sr., pastor of Temple COGIC and chairman of the ecumenical group, made his point clear as the keynote speaker when he said, “We will stay the course. We will not be denied. There will be a reckoning for America and a reckoning for us.”

He said the one billion dollar payoff has only been partially honored and likewise urged black farmers not to sign away their rights. “Your forebears didn’t sharecrop the land to see you sign it away,” he said forthrightly.

He also put the President on notice, saying, “Barack, you messed up on this, but we’re going to take back our rights.”

To the black farmers, he added, "We're going to guarantee that you get due process. The powers-that-be need to know that we're very much on the case."

For more information on the black farmers, visit www.mybfaa.org.

Ecumenical leaders fight for black farmers

A group of clergymen comprising The Memphis Ecumenical Action Committee announced their support for the black farmers and their plight for a reasonable settlement from the U.S. government during a press conference on Dec. 30, 2011. Some of the members are, from left, Eric Lincoln, a supporter; Thomas Burrell, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, Reverend Herbert Lester, pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church; Bishop David Allen Hall Sr., pastor of Temple Church of God in Christ and chairman of the ecumenical group; Bishop E. Lynn Brown, retired prelate of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and vice chairman of the ecumenical group; Joseph Trotter, a supporter; and Jesse Barksdale, a farmer and newspaper publisher. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

It was 12 years ago when the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a Consent Decree to settle a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for willfully discriminating against black farmers.

After Timothy Pigford vs. Dan Glickman, United States Department of Agriculture, was settled for $1.25 billion during the Clinton administration, black farmers were certain that long, overdue compensation had finally arrived as redress for some of the innumerable past inequities and injustices that some government agencies and institutions had allegedly conceded to.

However, a group of clergymen, comprising “The Memphis Ecumenical Action Committee,” are appalled that all the hard work that went into securing compensation and justice for black farmers is now being threatened by an executive order that President Obama issued in 2011.

That order, known as Pigford II, “truly nullifies and contravenes the original settlement that was Pigford I,” said Bishop David Allen Hall Sr., who expressed displeasure over the government’s “discrimination” of black farmers at a press conference on December 30, 2011. Bishop Hall is the pastor of Temple Church of God in Christ and the committee’s chairperson.

The President, Bishop Hall pointed out, moved black farmers out of Pigford I into Pigford II and included women and other minorities claiming discrimination as part of the judgment. The latter settlement was capped, he said, “which prevents black farmers from receiving their fair share of the judgment.”

In past decades, African-American clergymen were counted on to support campaigns that were waged against wanton injustices in the African American community. The ecumenical leaders, in this case, have banded together to support Thomas Burrell, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA), in his 30-year effort to undergird black farmers.

“We are gathered here today to bring attention to what we consider to be a continued act of racism against an aggrieved group of citizens,” said Burrell, who founded the BFAA in 2000 as an advocacy organization representing 10,000 of 65,000 black farmers, or claimants, across the country. The organization has offices in Memphis.

Dr. Herbert Lester, pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church, said, “When any segment of our community is denied its capacity to function as it should, then all of us are victimized by that.”

Bishop E. Lynn Brown, retired prelate of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and vice chairman of the ecumenical group, urged the African-American church and its members to support Burrell and the BFAA.

“We can stop this gross injustice that’s been the case,” said Bishop Brown, his voice resonating around the room.

Although he’d indicated his appreciation for President Obama, he bellowed, “We hope this will happen… and if it won’t, we will work diligently… and we will bury the opposition so deep it will take a billion pounds of baking powder to raise it from the dead.” 

Bishop Hall concluded, “We are going to push this effort forward until we do get satisfaction. It’s essential and it’s only fair.”

The group is urging the Obama administration to return black farmers to Pigford I, which is closed to new or late Black farmers claimants, and vowed to take the fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if their request is denied.

“Pigford I is sufficient to enforce our rights as Congress intended under Section 741,” the group argues.

Blackfoot's death ends record deal with Hughes

J. Blackfoot signed a two-year recording contract with Roy Hughes' Uptown Records on May 6, 2009, but Blackfoot never got a chance to deliver that soulful sound that Hughes was looking for. (Courtesy photo)

           The soulful sound that J. Blackfoot could easily summon from within set him apart from his contemporaries. He’d distinguished himself with The Bar-Kays, The Soul Children and as a solo artist on such chart-toppers as “Taxi,” a 1984 smash hit.

            Roy Hughes, who owns Uptown Records at 1217 Thomas St., was expecting Blackfoot to create that same sound when he signed the singer to a two-year, two-album contract on May 6, 2009. But Blackfoot, whose real name was John Colbert, died Nov. 30 before Hughes could get him into the recording studio.

            “I never got a chance to record him,” said Hughes, who paid Blackfoot a five-figure retainer. “He started getting sick and didn’t get a chance to add his part to three songs.”

Blackfoot performed in November for the last time in West Memphis, but he’d been busy prior to that retooling and recording the music that had catapulted him to the top in the genre of soul music.

Hughes, meanwhile, is left with an unfulfilled contract that was explicit, but now null and void. The contract called for Blackfoot to produce two albums – one album and the master for the first year, and another album and the master for the second year.

The contract was renewable if Blackfoot had met his obligations and the master recordings delivered, Hughes said.

Blackfoot signed with Hughes in May 2009, but Hughes collaborated with The Bar-Kays to produce an 11-track Blackfoot album for the group’s JEA/Right Now Records/IODA label more than three months later. “Woof Woof Meow” was released Aug. 18, 2009.

After wrapping up their joint session, Blackfoot would have been bound exclusively to the contractual agreement that he signed with Hughes’ Uptown Records.

“This was his home record company,” said Hughes, who was prepared to executive produce Blackfoot’s next two albums. The three tracks now in the hopper at Uptown Records are missing that one ingredient: Blackfoot’s soulful voice.

Though Hughes won’t be able to record Blackfoot, he has nothing but admiration for the soul crooner. “He was one of the music industry’s original legends and known around the world from his days at Stax Records. He tried to continue his recording career at Uptown,” said Hughes.

Hughes said some of Blackfoot’s label mates at Stax have also conducted business with him and Uptown Records. Blackfoot, he added, was one of the last legends in Memphis and a vocalist who was unmatched until the time of his death.

“My condolence goes out to Blackfoot and his family,” said Hughes. “He means more to me and his legions of fans around the world than my interest in recording him. There will never be another J. Blackfoot.” 

Smiley: Poverty tour not an anti-Obama rally

Tavis Smiley delivers startling statistics about the nation's poorest Americans. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

    Seeing poverty upclose and personal was the impetus that talk show host Tavis Smiley and Princeton University professor Cornel West needed to sound an alert that the nation's middle-class is finding it difficult to hold on to the American Dream: a job, home, automobile, and savings.
    On the last leg of "The Poverty Tour: A Call to Conscience," a nine-state, 18-city bus tour that began on the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian reservation in Wisconsin and ended at St. Andrews AME Church in Memphis (Aug. 12), Smiley and West painted what they believe to be realistic and futuristic pictures of the dire circumstances gripping the nation's "newest poor": the middle class, the majority of them African Americans.
    "This is a life-altering experience to see poverty upclose and personal," said Smiley, who, along with West, spent the night before with a poor white family in Mississippi on public assistance with "nine kids, a dog, and two kittens." The two had embedded themselves in the muck of poverty in homes or on the streets before each town hall.
    The poor comes in all colors, said Smiley, who echoed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s sentiments about the nation's poor and downtrodden and the Memphis sanitation workers, for which King had championed before an assassin's bullet fell the revered civil rights icon.
    "We closed in Memphis because Dr. King gave his life fighting for the rights of poor and working people," said Smiley before asking the audience of more than one thousand packed in the church's sanctuary, "Are we gonna side with the weak or the strong?" The strong, he referred to, would be the policy wonks in Washington -- whether they're Republican or Democrat -- who make career and life-altering decisions that impact the majority of Americans.
    Smiley began in earnest the conversation with an explanation for the tour and cited some grim statistics that caused many in the audience to cringe and shake their heads in utter disbelief, or nod their approval, as Smiley delivered a message laden with inescapable consequences if America doesn't redress its problems.

Princeton professor Cornel West points to the problem with America.

    "We're here to put a spotlight on poverty in America," he explained to the predominantly African American audience. The few whites sprinkled throughout grabbed hold of the message as well and internalized its impact on America's future.
    Afterward, the talk show host cited some statistics to buttress his compelling argument: "Forty-two percent of young black men are unemployed in New York; one percent of people in America control more wealth than 90 percent of other Americans; the top 400 riches Americans own and control more wealth than 150 million Americans."
    As Smiley expounded on poverty levels and disseminated information like a college professor, West, the controversial go-to college professor himself, waited quietly for the second half of the two-hour town hall to wow the audience with more straight-laced, in-your-face, no-holds-barred commentary and criticism that elevated the statue of both men over the years.
    West is an author, critic, philosopher, actor and civil rights activist who teaches African American Studies and religion at Princeton. He also is a prominent member of the Democratic Socialist of America, an organization seeking "a more free, democratic and humane society."
    Aside from his talk show duties, Smiley is an author, liberal political commentator, philanthropist, entrepreneur and advocate. He said the poverty tour, his brainchild, was mapped out at West's mother's house in California where he and West brainstormed to bring poverty to the forefront of America's conscience.
    "During three presidential debates, poverty and poor didn't come up at any time during the 90-minute debates," said Smiley, aiming his criticism at President Barack Obama. "This is not an anti-Obama rally. If he's going to be a great president, not a garden variety, you got to push him."
    The duo's push apparently prompted comedian Steve Harvey on his syndicated morning show in weeks past to cast Smiley and West as "Uncle Toms" for vehemently criticizing President Obama's handling of the sputtering economy and his alleged inattentiveness to African Americans.
    The feud between Smiley, West and Harvey, host of the television game show "The Family Feud," has reverberated across the Internet, pitting the popular comedian against two reputed activists with a penchant for critical thinking and asking tough questions.
    Besides Harvey, radio personality Tom Joyner and the Rev. Al Sharpton have taken potshots at Smiley and West.
    "Barack Obama ain't Jesus. He doesn't walk on water. He is a public servant," said Smiley, looking straight-face and unflinchingly into the audience and making it a point to quell the rumor mill that he has an ax to grind with President Obama.
    "I've never called the President a name or demonized him," he said. In fact, "I have nothing but 'Respect' for the President. I will 'Protect' him, but then I will 'Correct' him if he's wrong. Right now he's off course. We got to get him back on course."
    West recently called the President a "black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs" and again on Friday evening as he paced in front of the pulpit pointing and gesturing to make his point, this time with Smiley sitting quietly and approvingly in the background.
    West admitted unabashedly that he's an angry black man. "When they put me in the grave," he began, "I'm gonna have the same righteous indignation that brothers Martin and Malcolm and Medgar Evers had, because too many folks are suffering, not just black people, but white people and red people and yellow people and brown people."
    However, West said too many black people love everybody but other black people. He encouraged white people in the audience and any other ethnic group to love themselves as well. "I love my black momma, because that's where I came from. You better love your momma," he said.
    He talked about the outsourcing of jobs overseas and Washington spending an exorbitant amount of money on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq rather than on education. "You find money for jails," he said. "You find money for prisons... where are the jobs?"
    Poverty, he said matter-of-factly, has been downplayed in the last 30 years.
    Consider more startling statistics for the poor posted on The Poverty Tour web site: www.povertytour.smileyandwest.com:
    • There were 43.6 million poor people in 2009 compared to 39.8 million in 2008.
    • The nation's official poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3 percent, up from 13.2 percent in 2008.
    • The poverty rate in 2009 was the highest since 1994, but 8.1 percentage points lower than the poverty rate in 1959, the first year for which poverty rates were available.
    • 19 million Americans (6.3 percent) live in extreme poverty, meaning their family's cash income is less than half of the poverty line, or less than about $11,000 a year for a family of four.
    • The poverty rate for blacks increased from 24.7 percent to 25.8 percent between 2008 and 2009.
    "You talk about the power of poor people, you are confronting the most powerful force ... but they'll crush you like insects if they can get away with it," said West, railing against the powerful in Washington and elsewhere.
    "We're at a critical junction at our nation's history," said Smiley. "Either we eradicate poverty or poverty will eradicate us. This is our last best chance to get it right."
    Although Smiley and West drew inspiration from Dr. King for the poverty tour, "a lot of folks don't want to see poverty," said Smiley, telling the story that a white woman in one city where the tour bus made a stop refused to acknowledge that poverty is just as rampant in that city.