A BLACK WOMEN SPEAKS... OF WHITE WOMANHOOD OF WHITE SUPREMACY OF PEACE A poem by BEULAH RICHARDSON

A BLACK WOMEN SPEAKS... OF WHITE WOMANHOOD OF WHITE SUPREMACY OF PEACE A poem by BEULAH RICHARDSON 

Read by Beulah Richardson at the Women's Workshop at the American People's Peace Congress held in Chicago on June 29, 30 and July 1, 1951 bringing a standing ovation from all 500 women attending.

It is right that I a woman black, should speak of white womanhood. my fathers my brothers my husbands my sons die for it: because of it. and their blood chilled in electric chairs, stopped by hangman’s noose, cooked by lynch mobs’ fire, spilled by white supremacist mad desire to kill give me that right

I would that I could speak of white womanhood

as it will and should be

when it stands tall in full equality.

but then, womanhood will be womanhood.

Void of color and of class, And all necessity for my speaking thus will be past. Gladly past. But now, since ‘tis deemed a thing apart Supreme, I must in searching honesty report How it seems to me. White womanhood stands in bloodied skirt and willing slavery reaching out adulterous hand killing mine and crushing me. What then is the superior thing That in order to be sustained must needs feed upon my flesh?

 Let’s look to history. They said, the white supremacist said that you were better than me, that your fair brow would never know the sweat of slavery. They lied White womanhood to is enslaved, The difference is degree. They brought me here in chains. They brought you here willing slaves to man. You, shiploads of women each filled with hope That she might win with ruby lip and saucy curl And bright and flashing eyes Him to wife who had the largest tender. Remember? And they sold you here even as they sold me.

My sisters, there is no room for mockery. If they counted my teeth They did appraise your thigh And sold you to the highest bidder The same as I. And you did not fight for your right to choose Whom you would wed But for whatever bartered price That was the legal tender You were sold to a stranger’s bed In a stranger land Remember? And you did not fight. Mind you, I speak not mockingly But I fought for freedom, I’m fighting now for our unity. We are women all. And what wrongs you murders me And eventually marks your grave So we share a mutual death at the hand of tyranny. They trapped me with the chain and gun. They trapped you with lying tongue.

For, ‘less you see that fault— That male villainy That robbed you of name, voice and authority, That murderous greed that wasted you and me, He, the white supremacist, fixed your minds with poisonous thought: “white skin is supreme.” And there with bought that monstrous change exiling you to things. Changed all that nature had in you wrought of gentle usefulness, abolishing your spring.

Tore out your heart, set your good apart from all that you could say, think, feel, know to be right. And you did not fight, but set your minds fast on my slavery the better to endure your own. 'Tis true my pearls were beads of sweat wrung from weary bodies' pain, instead of rings upon my hands I wore swollen, bursting veins. My ornaments were the wipe-lash's scar my diamond, perhaps, a tear. Instead of paint and powder on my face I wore a solid mask of fear to see my blood so spilled. And you, women seeing spoke no protest but cuddled down in your pink slavery and thought somehow my wasted blood confirmed your superiority.

Because your necklace was of gold you did not notice that it throttled speech. Because diamond rings bedecked your hands you did not regret their dictated idleness. Nor could you see that the platinum bracelets which graced your wrists were chains binding you fast to economic slavery And though you claimed your husband's name still could not command his fidelity. You bore him sons. I bore him sons. No, not willingly. He purchase you. He raped me, I fought! But you fought neither for yourselves nor me. Sat trapped in your superiority and spoke no reproach. Consoled your outrage with an added diamond brooch. Oh, God, how great is a woman's fear who for a stone, a cold, cold stone would not defend honor, love or dignity!

Your bore the damning mockery of your marriage and heaped your hate on me, a woman too, a slave more so. And when your husband disowned his seed that was my son and sold him apart from me you felt avenged. Understand: I was not your enemy in this, I was not the source of your distress. I was your friend, I fought. But you would not help me fight thinking you helped only me. Your deceived eyes seeing only my slavery aided your own decay. Yes, they condemned me to death and they condemned you to decay. Your heart whisked away, consumed in hate, used up in idleness playing yet the lady's part estranged to vanity. It is justice to you to say your fear equaled your tyranny. You were afraid to nurse your young lest fallen breast offend your master's sight and he should flee to firmer loveliness. And so you passed them, your children, on to me. Flesh that was your flesh and blood that was your blood drank the sustenance of life from me. And as I gave suckle I knew I nursed my own child's enemy.

 I could have lied, told you your child was fed till it was dead of hunger. But I could not find the heart to kill orphaned innocence. For as it fed, it smiled and burped and gurgled with content and as for color knew no difference. Yes, in that first while I kept your sons and daughters alive. But when they grew strong in blood and bone that was of my milk you taught them to hate me. PUt your decay in their hearts and upon their lips so that strength that was of myself turned and spat upon me, despoiled my daughters, and killed my sons. You know I speak true.

Though this is not true for all of you When I bestirred myself for freedom and brave Harriet led the way some of you found heart and played a part in aiding my escape. And when I made my big push for freedom your sons fought at my sons' side. Your husbands and brothers too fell in that battle when Crispus Attucks died. It's unfortunate that you acted not in the way of justice but to preserve the Union and for dear sweet pity's sake; Else how came it to be with me as it is today? You abhorred slavery yet loathed equality.

I would that the poor among you could have seen through the scheme and joined hands with me. Then, we being the majority, could long ago have recued our wasted lives. But no. The rich, becoming richer, could be content while yet the poor had only the pretense of superiority and sought through murderous brutality to convince themselves that what was false was true.

 So with KKK and fiery cross and bloodied appetites set about to prove that "white is right" forgetting their poverty. Thus the white supremacist used your skins to perpetuate slavery. And woe to me. Woe to Willie McGee. Woe to the seven men of Martinsville. And woe to you. It was no mistake that your naked body on an Esquire calendar announced the date, May Eighth. This is your fate if you do not wake to fight. They will use your naked bodies to sell their wares though it be hate, Coca Cola or rape. When a white mother disdained to teach her children this doctrine of hate, but taught them instead of peace and respect for all men's dignity the courts of law did legislate that they be taken from her and sent to another state. To make a

Troy Hawkins of the little girl and a killer of the little boy! No, it was not for the womanhood of this mother that Willie McBee died but for the depraved, enslaved, adulterous woman whose lustful demands denied, lied and killed what she could not possess. Only three months before another such woman lied and seven black men shuddered and gave up their lives. These women were upheld in these bloody deeds by the president of this nation, thus putting the official seal on the fate of white womanhood with in these United States. This is what they plan for you. This is the depravity they would reduce you to.

 Death for me and worse than death for you. What will you do? Will you fight with me? White supremacy is your enemy and mine. So be careful when you talk with me. Remind me not of my slavery, I know it will but rather tell me of your own. Remember, you have never known me. You've been busy seeing me as white supremacist would have me be, and I will be myself. Free! My aim is full equality. I would usurp their plan! Justice peace and plenty for every man, woman and child who walks the earth. This is my fight! If you will fight with me then take my hand and the hand of Rosa Ingram, and Rosalee McGee, and as we set about our plan let our Wholehearted fight be: PEACE IN A WORLD WHERE THERE IS EQUALITY.

Hank Aaron....

One poster sums it up quite perfectly:  

"When one really looks at the whole landscape of America...things really haven't changed."-  Brownhornet71 

Saint Louis et la justice sociale

NC Forward Together / Saving OurSelves Voting Rights Rally

March 11th, 2014 - Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II and the Forward Together Movement welcomes the S.O.S. Coalition in Raleigh as its Caravan for Democracy makes its way from Selma, Ala. to Washington DC, leaving 49 years almost to the day after civil rights leaders were beaten for daring to organize for voting rights in the Jim Crow South. Many of the assembled carry signs that memorialize the efforts and sacrifices made at Bloody Sunday in March 1965, sacrifices that spurred Congress to act on the mass disenfranchisement of African Americans by passing the Voting Rights Act later that summer.

Henry Louis Wallace Serial Murder Case- 20 Years Later

Henry Louis Wallace Murder Case- 20 Years Later

Some of the victims of Henry Louis Wallace, Shawna Denise Hawk and Betty Jean(Susie) Baucum

It has been 20 years ago today that I first heard about a serial killer killing beautiful young Black and Biracial women in Charlotte.  I was only 22 years old in 1994.  I was horrified that someone went around the neighborhood slaughtering women at their prime.  Those women didn't get a chance to see their future. No college graduations(although Valencia M. Jumper was given a posthumous degree from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte), mo weddings(several of the victims were engaged). No chance to see their children grow up, graduate, have careers, get married and have children of their own. That wicked, evil man senselessly took their lives between 1990 and 1994.  His name is Henry Louis Wallace.

Henry L. Wallace was born in Barnwell, S.C. in November 1965.  He was raised by his mother and never met his father who was a schoolteacher who died a long time ago.  His childhood was marked with great unhappiness and abuse, with much of the abuse came from his mother.  Despite his woeful circumstances, he became a popular student at Barnwell High School.  He participated in extracurricular activities, even tried out as a male cheerleader and ran for the school student council.  He graduated there in 1983 and moved to Washington State to join the U.S. Navy.  He was honorably discharged in 1987.  In that year, he married a local girl.  That marriage fell apart later. 

 In the late 80s and early 90s,  Mr. Wallace has committed various crimes, including robbery.  It wasn't until 1990 that he killed Tashonda Bethea.  She was killed in February 1990.  Her badly decomposed body was found in a pond by two fishermen a month later.  Mr. Wallace was the suspect, yet the police let him off because of technical difficulties and that they didn't find evidence on him.  To me, Barnwell Police Department did a poor job in investigating Ms. Bethea's murder. From then on, he got into trouble at work, stealing items from Barnwell's radio station where he once worked as a DJ.

Sometime in 1992, he relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina. He found jobs at several fast-food restaurants in East Charlotte.  Most employers hired him on the spot because he was articulate and intelligent.

In May 1992, he picked up Sharon Nance, a convicted drug dealer and prostitute. When she demanded payment for her services, Wallace beat her to death, then dropped her body by the railroad tracks. She was found a few days later.

In June 1992, he raped and strangled Caroline Love at her apartment, then dumped her body in a wooded area. Love was a friend of Wallace's girl-friend.^[1] After he killed her, he and her sister filed a missing person's report at the police station. It would be almost two years (March 1994) before her body was discovered in a wooded area in Charlotte.

On February 19, 1993, Wallace strangled Shawna Hawk at her home after first having sex with her, and later went to her funeral. Hawk worked at Taco Bell where Wallace was her supervisor. In March 1993, Hawk's mother, Dee Sumpter, and her godmother Judy Williams founded Mothers of Murder Offspring, a Charlotte-based support group for parents of murdered children.

On June 22, he raped and strangled coworker Audrey Spain, whom he once dated and even officiated as the DJ at her birthday party.  Her body was found two days later.

On August 10, 1993, Wallace raped and strangled Valencia M. Jumper -- a friend of his sister's -- then set her on fire to cover up his crime.^] A few days after her murder, he and his sister went to Valencia's funeral.

A month later, in September 1993, he went to the apartment of Michelle Stinson, a struggling college student and single mother of two sons. Stinson was a friend of his from Taco Bell. He raped her and then some time later strangled and stabbed her in front of her oldest son.^[1]

That October, his only child was born.

On February 4, 1994 Wallace was arrested for shoplifting, but police had not made a connection between him and the murders.

On February 20, 1994, Wallace strangled Vanessa Little Mack, one of his employees from Taco Bell, in her apartment. Mack had two daughters, aged seven and four months, at the time of her death.

On March 8, 1994, Wallace robbed and strangled Betty Jean Baucom. Baucom and Wallace's girlfriend were co-workers. Afterwards, he took valuables from the house, then he left the apartment with her car.^[1] He pawned everything except the car, which he left at a shopping center.

Wallace went back to the same apartment complex on the night of March 8, 1994, knowing that Berness Woods would be at work so he could murder his girlfriend, Brandi June Henderson. Wallace raped Henderson while she held her baby, and then strangled her. He also strangled her son, but he survived. Afterwards, he took some valuables from the apartment and left.

The police beefed up patrols in east Charlotte after two bodies of young black women were found at The Lake apartment complex. Even so, Wallace sneaked through to rob and strangle Deborah Ann Slaughter, who had been a co-worker of his girl-friend, and stabbed her some 38 times in the stomach and chest.^[1] Her body was found on March 12, 1994.

Wallace was arrested on March 13, 1994. For 12 hours, he confessed to the murders of 10 women in Charlotte. He described in detail, the women's appearances, how he raped, robbed and killed the women, and his crack habit.

The Video:  Charlotte Tragedy: The Nine Victims of Henry Louis Wallace

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_______________________________________________________________
From Charlotte Magazine:  1993:  Charlotte's Deadliest Year

"Two miles away, Dee Sumpter was happy to move to Elon Street that year. A single mother of four, she was thrilled to be buying a house. And although parts of the west side were sketchy, her block was close-knit, she says.

Aside from one burglary, the neighborhood was pretty quiet.

She and her 20-year-old daughter Shawna Hawk settled into life there. Dee worked as a receptionist and Shawna took classes at Central Piedmont Community College while also working at an east side Taco Bell. They watched TV and read the papers, even stumbled on a crime scene once driving to the grocery store. But the crime didn’t really touch their lives. 

“That was something that happened to other people,” Sumpter says. “On February 19, 1993, I became ‘other people.’ ”

That’s the day she found Shawna strangled in the bathtub. It took more than a year for police to connect her murder to others, to figure out that someone was killing young black women who had worked in east side fast food restaurants. The homicide unit was stretched thin. And this serial killer had an unusual M.O. Shawna Hawk was Henry Louis Wallace’s third victim. He would kill seven more before confessing in March 1994.  Wallace had been Hawk’s boss at Taco Bell. He even showed up at her funeral.

Sumpter now describes the weeks and months after Shawna’s murder as the “pinnacle of pain. I remember lying in bed and thinking ‘I don’t want to be here anymore.’ ” Her lifelong friend Judy Williams thought Sumpter needed a new purpose. The pair, along with Williams’s son and present-day City Councilman David Howard, thought a support group for mothers of other murder victims could help channel some of their pain. So in March 1993, Mothers of Murdered Offspring (MOMO) started meeting.

Beyond supporting other victims’ families, Sumpter began to advocate for changes to police department procedures, saying detectives were not doing enough to solve Shawna’s murder and others. It was a tense relationship. She made some enemies on the force. But today, she says, her organization and the department’s homicide support group work together to help victims’ family members cope."
_________________________________________________________________________________

Here’s the article from Wikipedia below: 

Henry Louis Wallace (November 4, 1965 - ) is an American serial killer who killed 10 young attractive Black women in Charlotte, N.C. from May 1992 until March 12, 1994.
Mr. Wallace behaviour toward women was chivalrous in public. However, he had another side to him when he killed his victims, usually at night and alone. The murdered young women knew and trusted him well enough to let him into their homes. He filed a missing person report on Caroline Love the day after she was missing, accompanying Love’s sister and Sadie McKnight to the police station in June 1992. Other victims were strangled or stabbed during his two-year reign of terror that wrecked East Charlotte.

He was arrested on March 13, 1994 after the bodies of three young women were found in East Charlotte. A crack addict, Wallace confessed to murdering 10 young Black women in Charlotte, N.C. between 1992 and 1994. He was arraigned on March 16, 1994. Some community leaders and activists as well as victims’ rights groups such as Mothers of Murdered Offspring complained to the press that Charlotte Police Department didn’t do much to solve the murders because the women were African American.
He was tried for the murders of nine women in 1996. Mr. Wallace was convicted and sentenced to death on January 29, 1997. He’s currently on death row at Central Prison.

Biography

Henry Louis Wallace was born in Barnwell, S.C., on November 4, 1965, son of Lottie Mae Wallace and a married school teacher who walked out on Lottie while pregnant with Henry and who never acknowledged his son. Mr. Wallace grew up in extreme poverty, with Lottie Mae working long hours as a textile worker. His mother was a harsh displinarian, constantly criticizing Henry for even the smallest mistakes. In spite of all this, he was a very popular high school student, having been elected to student council and an extremely popular male cheerleader at Barnwell High School in Barnwell, S.C. Mr. Wallace graduated from that school in 1983. He became a deejay for a local radio station in Barnwell. His smooth, sexy voice swayed women so much that earned him the nickname “The Night Rider.” He went to several colleges before joining the U.S. Navy in 1985. Wallace married his high school sweetheart, the former Maretta Brabham in 1987. In 1988, Wallace was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy.

His Crimes

His criminal activities began while being stationed in the U.S. Navy . This is the time when he started experimenting with various drugs. In Washington State, he was served warrants for several burglaries in and around Seattle metro area. In January 1988, Mr. Wallace got into his first real trouble with police. He broke into a Bremerton garden and hardware store, and as he carted away a TV, videocassette recorder and microwave, police arrested him.
In June 1988, Wallace pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary. A judge sentenced him to two years of supervised probation. According to Probation officer Patrick Seaburg, Wallace didn’t show up for most mandatory meetings.

In early 1990, he met an 18-year old high school student Tashanda Bethea. He dated her for a while. In March 1990, Henry murdered Tashonda Bethea, then dumped her in a lake in Barnwell, S.C., his hometown. It wasn’t until weeks later that her body was discovered. He was questioned by the police regarding her disappearance and death. He was never formally charged in her murder. He was also questioned in connection with the attempted rape of a 16-year old Barnwell girl. She accuse Wallace of attempting to rape her at a local motel. However, his mother told the girl’s family to dropped the charges. He was never charged. By that time, his marriage to Maretta fell apart due to emotional and psychological toll. It was aroung that period that he was fired from his job as Chemical Operator for for Sandoz Chemical Co.
Things have gone from bad to worse for Mr. Wallace. In February 1991, he broke into his old high school and the radio station where he once worked. He stole video and recording equipment and was caught trying to pawn them.

In November 1991, he relocated to Charlotte, N. C. He found jobs at several fast-food restaurants in East Charlotte. Around the same time, he met various attractive young Black women whom he dated, one of them is Sadie McKnight. In May 1992, he picked up Sharon Nance, a convicted drug dealer and prostitute. When she demanded payment for her services, Henry mercilessly beat her to death, then dropped her body by the railroad tracks. She was found few days later. Then he sets his evil designs upon the lovely Caroline Love. He brutally strangled her at her apartment, then dumped her body in a wooded area. After he killed her, he and Caroline’s sisters filed a missing person’s report at the police station. It would be almost two years later (March 1994) before the police find her body. It would be nine months later before he killed again, this time setting his deadly designs at this beautiful princess.

Mr. Wallace went looking for Shawna Denise Hawk in February 1993. He murdered her after visiting her at her home on February 19, 1993. Ms. Hawk was a college student studying to become a paralegal at the time of her death. He was once her boss at Taco Bell in East Charlotte. In January 1993, a month before Shawna was murdered, Mr. Wallace went to the wrong house looking for Ms. Hawk, but found a then 10-year old girl home alone. He ran around the back of her house and jumped over the fence. The girl feared for her safety. Shawna came to the girl’s rescue and offer to babysit for her until her parents came home. Ms. Hawk did this until two weeks before her untimely death. Mr. Wallace may have been stalking Shawna since January 1993. He came to Shawna’s funeral in late February. He offered his sympathy to her mother. A month later, March 1993, Shawna’s mother, Dee Sumpter and her godmother Judy Williams founded Mothers of Murder Offspring, a Charlotte-based support group for parents who lost their children to murder.

Three months has passed and this time he claimed another victim he knew. This time he targeted his friend and co-worker Audrey Spain. He killed her on June 22. Her friends were looking for her when she didn’t show up for work at Taco Bell. Her body was found two days later.

A little over a month later, on August 10, 1993, Mr. Wallace strikes again, this time taking young, ambitious, and very popular college student Valencia M. Jumper. She was the sister of Vanessa Jumper and was a good friend of Henry’s sister, Yvonne. He came over to her house that night because of difficulties with his girlfriend. He wanted to be consoled that night. Instead, he strangled Valencia, then set her on fire to cover up his crime. A few days after the murder, he and his sister went to Valencia’s funeral.

A month later, in September 1993, he went to the apartment of Michelle Stinson, a struggling college student and single mother of two sons. He strangled and stabbed her in front of her oldest son. She was his last victim of 1993.

As community pressure mounted in the wake of Charlotte’s high crime rate, Mr. Wallace took a break from criminal activity. One reason is the birth of his only child in October. Another is that community activists were protesting the lack of concern regarding Black crime victims in Northern and Eastern Charlotte neighborhoods. They contended that the police didn’t solve the murders of Blacks aggressively as they have done with White victims in South Charlotte and that the police and the general community didn’t care for the safety of residents who had to live in such crime-ridden areas.

On February 20, the day after the anniversary of Shawna Hawk’s death and Dee Sumpter’s pleas to the media to help solve her daughter’s murder, Mr. Wallace killed Vanessa Little Mack in her apartment. His crack habit was very strong at the time and he was on the lookout for money to support the habit. He targeted Ms. Mack because she had a good job and income. Her mother-in-law, Barbara Rippy found her dead. Her four-month old daughter was alright. Ms. Mack had two daughters, aged seven and fourn months at the time of her death.
On March 8, 1994, Mr. Wallace went to the apartment of his longtime friend Vernon Lamar Woods, with the intention of robbing, raping and murdering Woods’s girlfriend, Brandi Henderson. Brandi was the mother of 10-month old Tareese Woods. Brandi, Vernon, and Mr. Wallace once worked at the Golden Corral and have been good friends since. Brandi’s boyfriend was home, foiling his motive in coming over there in the first place. He realized he knew someone else that lived in the apartment complex: His girlfriend’s best friend.

Betty Jean Baucom, who worked with his girlfriend Sadie McKnight at Bojangles. Betty was the assistant manager. When Betty Jean Baucom answered the door on that same day, Wallace told her he needed to use her phone. She was more than glad to help her friend, Sadie McKnight who was Henry’s boyfriend. He demanded keys, the safe, and the alarm code for Bojangles in order to rob the place to support his drug addiction. Baucom resisted, refusing to give them to him. Finally, she surrendered. According to Wallace’s confession, Baucom stood up and told him that she forgave him. Wallace strangled her to death. Afterwards, he took valuables from the house. Then he left the apartment with her car. He pawned everything except the car, which he left at a shopping center.

Mr. Wallace went back to the same apartment complex on the night of March 8,1994, knowing that Vernon Woods would be at work so he could murder his girlfriend Brandi June Henderson. Earlier in the day he came to the couple’s house admiring the new entertainment center the couple bought with their income tax refund money. Wallace strangled Henderson that night. Tarresse cried loudly. That startled Mr. Wallace. He then went to the couple’s bathroom to get a towel. He tied it tightly around the Tarreese’s neck. Then he took the valuables inside the apartment and left afterwards.

The police beefed up patrols in east Charlotte after two bodies of young Black women were found in the same apartment complex. While the police patrolling the neighborhood, Mr. Wallace stopped by at an apartment of a woman he knew before.

It was Deborah Ann Slaughter. Ms. Slaughter, who relocated from Atlanta the year before and a mother of an 18-year-old son. She used to worked at Bojangles, where his girlfriend worked. He came to her house asking for money for drugs. He stabbed and strangled her. Then he stole a few things upon leaving the apartment. Her body was found March 12, 1994.
Wallace was arrested on March 13, 1994. For 12 hours, he confessed to the murders of 10 Black women in Charlotte. He described the womens’ appearances, how he raped, robbed and killed the women in detailed descriptions, and of his crack habit.

The Aftermath and Criticism

On March 13,1994, Henry Louis Wallace was arrested for killing 10 young women. Charlotte’s police chief congratulated his arrest, reassuring the community that the women of East Charlotte are safe, now that the killer is behind bars. Many people, especially in the Black community wondered why the murders weren’t solved soon enough and that Charlotte Police didn’t consider the murders of 10 young Black women between 1992 and 1994 high on the priority list. As Shawna Denise Hawk’s mother, Dee Sumpter said concerning police neglect:
the victims “weren’t prominent people with social-economic status. They weren’t special. And they were black. "

Charlotte’s police chief, Rod Steiger was stumped by a serial killer in their midst. He said he wasn’t aware of a killer until early March 1994 when three young Black women were murdered within four days of each other. Charlotte Police Department apologized to its residents for not spotting a link among the murders sooner. However, they said the murder cases varied enough to throw them off Wallace’s trail. Until the Mr. Wallace’s murder pace picked up in the early weeks of March 1994, the deaths were sporadic and not entirely similar. It was only in the week of March 9, 1994 that Charlotte Police warned the people in East Charlotte that there was a serial killer on the loose.

One young lady said that the police didn’t care because the police viewed the young female murder victims as “fast girls who hang out a lot.” The victims were not the type. They were described by both the press and family members as pretty, hardworking, and serious young women. Others said the reason why the police didn’t take the murder cases serious because the women were both working class and Black.

Inside The Trial
After two years of hearing confessions, debates on whether to hold the trial in Charlotte, the DNA evidence from murdered victims, and the jury selection, his trial began in September 1996. In the opening arguments, the prosecutor argues for the death penaly while the defense attorney pleaded for life sentence for Mr. Wallace. The prosecutor told the jurors to sympathize with the victims and that Mr. Wallace’s crimes were heinous and cruel, while the defense urge them to consider Mr. Wallace dire circumstances and his mental illness as mitigating factors in giving him life in prison instead of the death penalty.

In the opening argument, the Assistant District Attorney Marsha Goodenow urge the jury to think about the victims and how they died heinously by Mr. Wallace. She told the jurors that the victims have several things in common:

“They were African American women, all young, all very attractive, she said. “They all knew the defendant and they all died at his hands. "

Public Defender Isabel Day told the victims’ families and jurors that Mr. Wallace was a man driven by hideous fantasies and disabled by mental illness rooted in childhood. Furthermore, Ms. Day said defense evidence will show that the killings were not first-degree murder because they didn’t result from “premeditation and deliberation.

According to FBI serial murder expert Robert Ressler:

“If he elected to become a serial killer, he was going about it in the wrong way,’ said Robert Ressler, one of the “Mr. Wallace always seemed to take one step forward and two steps back,” Ressler testified. ‘He would take items and put them in the stove to destroy them by burning them and then forget to turn the stove on.”

Psychologist Faye Sultan testified during the trial that Mr. Wallace was constant victim of physical and mental abuse from his mother since birth and that he suffered from mental illness at the time of the killings. Ms. Sultan argues for life sentence without parole instead of the death penalty.

Ms. Goodenow argued that Mr. Wallace deserved death because he is a calculating, cold-blooded killer who preyed on friends and co-workers and hid his crimes by cleaning up murder scenes.
Defense attorneys, Day and Cooney, on the other hand, did not dispute the fact that Mr. Wallace killed the nine young Black women. They argued he was mentally ill and drug addicted at the time of the killings, driven by obsessional sexual fantasies that rendered him incapable of forming the intent to kill. Ms. Day and Mr. Cooney wanted a second-degree murder conviction in hopes of avoiding a death sentence.

On January 7, 1997, he was found guilty of nine murders and on January 29, 1997, he was sentenced to nine consecutive death sentences. Mr. Wallace said nothing during his trial for murdering and raping nine women. After being sentenced to death, he broke his silence to apologize to the victims’ families.

“None of these women, none of your daughters, mothers, sisters or family mem
bers in any way deserved what they got. They did nothing to me that warranted their death,”

Wiping tears, Wallace sat down as George Burrell, Brandi June Henderson’s cousin shouted:
“Why did you kill them?”

After The Trial
On June 5, 1998, Henry Louis Wallace, was married to a former prison nurse, Rebecca Torrijas, in a ceremony next to the execution chamber where he has been sentenced to die. Mecklenburg County public defender Isabel Day, served as an official witness and photographer. Also attending was the manager of the death-row unit at the prison.

Since being sentenced to death in 1997, Mr. Wallace has been appealing to the courts to overturn the death sentences, stating that his confessions were coerced and his constitutional rights were violated in the process.

In 2005, Superior Court Judge Charles Lamm rejected Wallace’s latest appeal to overturn his convictions and nine death sentences, moving him another step closer to execution.
The legal battle to save Wallace, now 41, has already been through the state and federal courts. The N.C. Supreme Court upheld the death sentences in 2000. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2001 denied his appeal. Lamm’s rejection is the first in a second round of appeals that will likely wind through state and federal courts again in the next few years.

No execution date is being set for Mr. Wallace to this day.

The Victims
The victims described in news reports and the victims’ families accounts were young, beautiful Black women between the ages of 18 and 35. Majority of Mr. Wallace’s victims were petite as well. Some were mothers of young children, others were pretty young college students.

The victims:Tashanda Bethea
Sharon Lavette Nance
Caroline Love
Shawna D. Hawk
Audrey Ann Spain
Valencia M. Jumper
Michelle Stinson
Vanessa Little Mack
Betty Jean Baucom
Brandi June Henderson
Deborah Slaughter

Where is the C in CPAC? | American Renaissance

Where is the C in CPAC? | American Renaissance



Ha! Ha! Ha!



Paleoconservative White Nationalists Jared Taylor criticized CPAC for not being conservative and racist enough. Isn't it ironic that conservatives are fighting one another when they say that liberals are disunited.  It's the conservative movement that is in array.  They're fighting about who's the most conservative, more White, and Christian.  Obviously, Mr. Taylor doesn't think that CPAC is racist enough and yet the latter agrees with Mr. Taylor about the inferiority of People of Color.


Well, Mr. Taylor, America is a changed country.  Get used to it!

White Sexual Violence against Enslaved Black Women via Racism Review

From Racism Review, the premiere anti racist website:

White Sexual Violence against Enslaved Black Women

Harriet Jacobs, Author of  Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

A scene from 12 Years a Slave Movie (2013)

Shawn James, Black Freelance Writer: Critical Thinking About Tamera Mowry-Housely’s EXTRA EXTRA SALTY TEARS

Mr. Housely should have protect his wife and child from racist insults. 

Shawn James, Black Freelance Writer: Critical Thinking About Tamera Mowry-Housely’s EXTRA EXTRA SALTY TEARS

A very insightful commentary on the cyber harassment of Tamera Mowry-Housely's interracial relationship.  Mr. James criticized the scapegoating of Black men by the mainstream media when it comes to racism in interracial relationships.  It's mainstream America that still have a problem with those relationships and they project their hatred of such relationships onto Black men and women.

And another thing, where's her husband when those incidents happened? He didn't defend her against those trolls who didn't like their being together. Those trolls weren't Black. They are more than likely nonblack people disguising themselves as Blacks to vent out their racist bs on message boards and social networks.

Here's another perspective on the Tamera Mowry-Housely's situation by Ed of Dream and Hustle:
http://dreamandhustle.com/2014/01/ok-lets-call-out-whats-really-going-with-tamera-mowery-tearful-interview-on-own-about-her-interracial-marriage/

Carmela Bertagna- John Singer Sargent's Model and Muse

John Singer Sargent's muse, Carmela Bertagna. She's very beautiful and an extraordinary model in her own right.

Here's an essay on the girl dancer and model Carmela Bertagna



Carmela Bertagna, a Spanish-Parisian model who modelled for painter John Singer Sargent. Very little is known about her life, except that she lived with her mother and brother. Her father is unknown. She and her family had to work in order to make ends meet for themselves. She is of Spanish descent and modelled with various artists, including John Singer Sargent. Her Mediterranean Latin looks fascinated Sargent, who was captivated by magnificent Rosina Ferrara of Capri a year earlier.

Carmela Bertagna posed as a young girl begging for alms for John Singer Sargent's painting, "A Parisian Beggar Girl", where she sported unkempt hair semi covered with a veil and wore a stark white gown trimmed in black. She leaned against a very stark white wall, a prop which Sargent used in his later pictures, most notably, "Fumee d"Amberigis," a famous picture in which Sargent placed a magnificently dressed Arab woman against a stark white wall. Carmela also posed for the self-titled picture in which she was dressed in her native peasant costume accentuated with a long, pink, furry-like shawl. Her stare according to some people is like that of a predator, namely a wolf. Bizet contemptuously described Carmen as having eyes like that of a wolf. I'm disturbed about the description. The description implicates that certain groups of women have "animal-like" personalities. It goes back to the ancient stereotyping of women as wicked temptresses who led men astray. The stereotype of a Spanish temptress was the theme of George Bizet's Carmen, a play that shocked conservative middle class audiences when it first performed in 1875. Carmela sports a red ribbon in her hair, which was typical of most Mediterranean women of the late 19th century.

Famous R&B singer Faith Evans have a vague resemblance to Carmela. She is also of Mediterranean ancestry in her multi ethnic makeup and is very ethnic in appearance. Faith's father, Richard Swain, is of Italian Ancestry. Her mother is African American. So is the opera singer Julia Migenes. As a matter of fact, she resembles her in some of her pictures on the internet. Ms. Migenes is of Greek, Irish-Puerto Rican descent and was known for her starring role in the 1984 opera movie, Carmen. She played the title character. Carmela Bertagna wouldn't look out of place in Bizet's Carmen: She's similar the Carmen character: Sultry, seductive, and independent.

In the 19th century ultra-conservative Catholic Spanish society, Gypsies, Middle Easterners, Jews, and poor people are regarded as menaces to the respectable, law- abiding people. It is the same in the 21st Century with us Americans, particularly conservatives and most liberals(a.k.a. SWPL) stereotype and demean certain groups of people to be outsiders: unpopular racial minorities such as blacks, immigrant groups such as Latinos, the underclass and poor of all races and ethnicity, prisoners(The U.S. has the largest prison industrial complex of all the industrial nations), gays, feminists(think Rush Limbaugh's contempt for them), and so on. With welfare reform initiated by Clinton back in 1997, we are seeing plenty poor/working class women, especially Women of Color, struggling to put food and other necessities for their families as well as working at low quality jobs in the future decades. Also, Proposition 187 initiated by Pete Wilson as well as the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996 tend to punish immigrants of color as well as poor and working class Americans by telling them that they cannot use taxpayers' funds to help ease their way into the mainstream, that means not using public assistance nor attending public schools like other people. We Americans stereotype Black, Latina, and Native American women as "baby mamas", "welfare queens", and "loose women."  It was the same in France back in the late 19th Century when the French agonized over the Arrivals of Italian and Spanish migrants as well as Roma(formerly known as "Gypsies").

The Carmela picture tells us about the demographics of French society in the late 19th Century. When you look at the picture, remember her as an innocent young girl caught up in circumstances beyond her control, not to condemn her as an outcast or a "tramp."

Black Patron Files Lawsuit On Racist Bar! Bar Owner Denies Accusations!

Jonathon Wall, 21 has filed lawsuit against a nightclub after staff threw him out. Wall claims that he was harassed by staff members because he was Black. Wall took his fight to the internet and many across the country are outraged at the establishment and came out in support of Wall and many others patrons who were discriminated by the staff. The owner of the bar denies he was harassing the young man.

Earlier this month, I posted the story of a young Harvard bound man named Jonathon Wall and his horrific experience at a Raleigh nightclub. The club adhere to some strict conduct that appears to be discriminatory towards Black patrons and the young man decides to fight back against the establishment.

Besides a boycott, there's a lawsuit against the bar manager/owner Todd Chriscoe. The owner denies he's been discriminatory towards his customers but yet manages to dig the hole deeper the more he speaks publicly about the ordeal.

Many others have came out in support of Wall. Here's a few videos in relation to this controversy. Courtesy of WRAL, a CBS affiliate of Raleigh, North Carolina. The controversy may be disturbing for some who are reading this here at Journal de la Reyna.

 

A few weeks ago, Wall with some of his friends went to the nightclub. They were stopped by a bouncer and was told that they had to have a membership in order to enter the establishment.
 

Todd Chriscoe is the owner of Downtown Sport Bar & Grill. According to WRAL, Chriscoe has a criminal history. The owner of the bar is accused of harassing and assaulting Jonathan Wall. The young man has filed a lawsuit against the business. The young man spawned a citywide boycott of the establishment and took his fight to the internet to publicly shame this individual. Chriscoe denies he's a racist and his bar treats people discriminatory.

 According to Wall, when a police officer was approaching, the bouncer let them into the establishment without incident. But while entering the bar, the manager Chriscoe was constantly harassing him to buy an alcoholic beverage or leave his establishment. Wall stated that his friend was in the restroom and he will buy something as soon as he and his group were ready. Chriscoe infuriated grabbed Wall and shoved him towards the exit. Wall was thrown out of the establishment. After pleading to the bouncer of the situation, another police officer approached Wall. Wall explained his situation to the officer. The officer stated that she didn't want no part of the conflict and told the young man to ignore the problems.

When Wall told his professor about the encounter, the professor wrote on his personal blog about Wall and the Downtown Sports Bar & Grill and people across the Raleigh-Durham region chimed in on the situation.

Other patrons White and Black spoke out against the bar and thus lead it to the news agitators and it went viral.

One woman says that since her boyfriend and his friend were Black, she could enter but her boyfriend could not enter the establishment. She claimed that because of a collared shirt they were denied entry. She saw a group of White men go into the club with collared shirts.

A Black woman was told that she couldn't enter but some of her friends who were White were allowed entry without incident.

According to WRAL, a CBS affiliate out of Raleigh, North Carolina, the criminal summons, issued on June 22, was served Tuesday against Todd Chriscoe, who manages The Downtown Sports Bar and Grill on Glenwood Avenue.

In the paperwork, Jonathan Wall, 21, accuses Chriscoe, 47, of simple assault and ethnic intimidation. Wall says Chriscoe grabbed his wrists, put them behind his neck, forced him out of the bar and pushed him to the ground.

The criminal summons is based on Wall's accusations before a magistrate and not a police investigation. Raleigh police say they are not investigating the matter because Wall declined to file a police report after speaking with a police sergeant who was on foot in the area.

A hearing in Wake County District Court has been set for July 23.

Wall's attorney, Alesia Vick, said at a news conference last week that Chriscoe confronted Wall in the early hours of June 17 and told him he would have to buy a drink or leave.

When Wall explained that he was waiting on a friend, Vick said, Chriscoe put him in a headlock and forced him out of the bar.

She said there were no other black customers in that part of the bar.

William Potter, an attorney for The Downtown Sports Bar and Grill, has said that Wall was not improperly treated and that he was thrown out of the bar because he was not a member.

Potter has insisted that race had nothing to do with the matter.

Still, Wall's story has prompted numerous other people who are black to come forward, saying they were also treated differently at The Downtown Sports Bar and Grill.

A rally being called "Above It All: A Raleigh Stand Against Social Injustice" is being planned for Saturday, although a location and time have not been finalized.

Other patrons have come to the bar's defense, denying that it discriminates. Nightlife photos taken at the bar, including those by LazyDay.com, show diverse crowds inside.

Accusations of discrimination aren't new for Chriscoe.

In 2001, he co-owned a private club called The Office in downtown Raleigh. The club's strict dress code that prohibited styles of clothing popular among black people.

A WRAL News investigation at the time found that a doorman treated a white couple and a black couple wearing the same brand of clothing differently.

Chriscoe said back then that the matter had nothing to do with race but had more to do with creating an upscale environment and ensuring that patrons of the club felt comfortable.
  

Back To Jail!

              

George Zimmerman has to go back to the jail. The Seminole County judge in the case has ordered his bond to be revoked. In what appeared to be a deception of information, it was determined that George Zimmerman's legal defense raised more funds to help his case. The fact that he disclosed this information from the judge and his attorneys.

According to Black Voices/Huffington Post, Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Lester, Jr. revoked Zimmerman's bond because [prosecutors] contend that he was disingenuous at an earlier bond hearing when Zimmerman's family and attorney claimed that he was cash broke. The motion filed by prosecutors claims that Zimmerman "misrepresented, mislead [sic] and deceived the court."

During a bond hearing on April 20, Lester set Zimmerman's bond at $150,000, and days later Zimmerman walked free. It was later revealed that Zimmerman had received upward of $200,000 from supporters, a sum that he did not reveal to the judge or to his own attorneys.

At that April hearing, defense attorney Mark O'Mara questioned Shelly Zimmerman, George Zimmerman's wife, who said she had no idea how much was in the account.

Prosecutors claimed that Zimmerman and his wife knowingly colluded to hide those funds, collected through a Paypal account attached to a website that Zimmerman launched to raise funds for his defense and thank his supporters.
 
"This court was led to believe they didn't have a single penny," Prosecutor Bernie De la Rionda said at Friday's hearing. "It was misleading, and I don't know what words to use other than it was a blatant lie."

This is the latest bombshell of things that plagues George Zimmerman. What also comes forth a former co-worker who spoke out against Zimmerman.

According to the Black Voices/Huffington Post, the Florida State Attorney had released a material witness to the case, they obtained a vocal account into how George Zimmerman thinks about others.

Courtesy of Think Progress



George Zimmerman's former co-worker. During the interview, the man, whose name was not given, says that Zimmerman racially targeted him and bullied him at work, ThinkProgress.com reports.

According to the witness, Zimmerman singled him out because he was Middle Eastern, calling him a "fucking moron" and mocking him with the voice of "Achmed the terrorist." He said Zimmerman would also tell stories and make jokes about "bombing" and other "Middle Eastern stuff."


If convicted of second-degree murder, Zimmerman could serve a maximum sentence of life in prison. However, if he is found guilty of a federal hate crime charge, he could face the death penalty.

The witness said that he never felt physically threatened by Zimmerman or had any violent interaction with him. He said that he complained to management about Zimmerman's behavior, and Zimmerman was eventually "fired for calling the HR hotline so many times."

Complaints about Zimmerman's behavior aren't new. In the past, his neighbors complained about his aggressive tactics as a neighborhood watchmen and public records show he was arrested in Orange County in 2005 on charges of resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer.

Lawrence O'Donnell Gave Herman Cain And The Right Something To Rant About!

Way to go, Lawrence! You just gave the right wing something to whine about on radio, television and the blogs.

If one is to believe that interview was out of line, then you're not the only one!

For one thing, Republican candidate Herman Cain was a stand up guy for appearing on a clearly partisan show! It shows that the candidate is at least willing to take on a political enemy as the right put it in the network MSNBC.

Second, if Lawrence O'Donnell would have stayed focus on interviewi­ng Cain on his policies and then focus on his controvers­ial statements­, this wouldn't be the talk in the right wing media.

Third, Cain now is a establishe­d front runner. After this Florida Straw Poll, and a CBS poll putting him in a statistic tie with former governor of Massachuse­tts, Mitt Romney, Cain is riding in the limelight.

After scandals affected Rick Perry's campaign, Herman Cain quietly came into the focus.

O'Donnell should have not went into the "culture war". That's like picking with a hornets nest!

The right will drive this issue for weeks to come!

Anti-Black Websites Continue To Thrive Online And Social Networks.

Digital Hate: Report shows bigots' influence on Internet

Exposing bigotry on Facebook, YouTube and other social media

Bigots have ramped up sharply on Facebook, YouTube and other social media, with very anti-social aims -- including racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and Islamophobia -- according to a new report on the topic.

"They come for all the reasons everyone else does," Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said during a recent visit to South Florida. "For bigots, it's a way to reach the mainstream with its message."

Cooper was sharing the results of "Digital Hate," an annual report issued by the Los Angeles-based center.

The 13th annual report analyzes the spread of prejudice over blogs, message boards and other new media.

The rabbi was in South Florida to share the material with religious leaders, alerting them on what to watch for.

He plans to return in mid-April to brief law enforcement officers and political leaders, he said. And he has plenty to share.

The current report counts 14,000 sites, up from 11,500 just last year. They're run by everything from Klansmen to neo-Nazis to radical Muslims to Bulgarian, Japanese and other nationalist extremists.

And they're increasingly using otherwise legitimate sites like Twitter, MediaFire, even eBay. The report says "Arrahmah.com" uses the Flickr.com photo-sharing site to post free wallpapers, or desktop computer pictures, glorifying the three terrorists who bombed a nightclub in Bali in 2002.

They even spoof or imitate other sites, the Wiesenthal researchers have found.

"Real Zionist News" looks like a Jewish newsfeed, but the articles instead say Jews control the White House and are attacking Christianity worldwide.

That's a standard theme of anti-Semites: that Jews control nations from behind the scenes. "800 Pound Gorilla," which uses the Wordpress blogging site, blames Jews for the terrorist attacks of 9-11. The site also denies the Holocaust and connects Kaballah with Freemasonry.

Bigots also have their own music stars. Alcoholocaust is best known for its black-hating and Jew-hating song "Joo Slaughter," posted on YouTube. People Haters produced "Day of the Rope," which adds gays to the death-wish list -- to a background of giggling children.

The "subculture of hate," as the Wiesenthal Center calls it, includes hate games. "Ethnic Cleansing" lets a player hunt blacks, Jews and Hispanics. And in an Iranian version of the old game "Snakes and Ladders," the snakes bear British and Israeli flags and Obama's face, the Wiesenthal report says.

Distortions even creep onto otherwise legitimate sites. Answering-christianity.com, which tries to persuade Christians to become Muslims, says the whole United States is the Antichrist. The site also argues that the 9-11 terrorist attack was an "inside terrorist job" of the U.S. and the Mossad, the Israeli spy agency.

The Wiesenthal report also notes a rise in online attacks against religious and ethnic communities.

"Bulgarian National Union" is an anti-immigrant, anti-gypsy and homophobic group, the Wiesenthal Center says. "Zaitokukai" focuses Japanese resentment against Koreans, Chinese and Christians in Japan. The group has grown almost purely through the web, Cooper says.

And the hate often goes beyond words. Several sites offer instructions for making poisons, explosives and cell phone detonators. "Black Tearful Days," a posting in December on several jihadist sites, has diagrams showing how to place bombs in a vest and an SUV.

"If you believe in religious freedom, you're committed to a world in which families should be able to go to prayers and return to their homes without fear of intimidation or violence," Cooper said.

Computers themselves become weapons. Members of a group based in Algeria, Turkey and Morocco say they hacked several Israeli websites, including jerusalemonline.com, the Wiesenthal report says. Reposting on the Al Qassam forum, they showed pictures and propaganda that they'd planted.

Cooper shares the "Digital Hate" report not only with local groups, but also the FBI and Homeland Security.

The group's website, wiesenthal.com, also sells the CD to the public for $20.

Finally, the Internet can police itself, the rabbi says. Social site managers can ban users who violate terms-of-service-agreements, which usually cover bigotry.

Once alerted, Facebook took down "Burn a Jew Day," "Kill a Jew Day" and "Kill a Jew Year." The site has also removed pages by Canadian neo-Nazi Kevin Goudreau. Each time, however, Goudreau simply starts another page -- more than 20 times thus far.

Cooper smiles. "Facebook is our biggest problem and our biggest ally."

Matt Drudge has cool new white supremacist fans!

The neo-confederate Council of Conservatives Citizens notes that the Drudge Report looks like their site these days 

By Alex Pareene 

 

AP Matt Drudge

Remember how news aggregator Matt Drudge has basically turned his site into a one-stop shop for news about black people being scary? ThinkProgress has found some people who are really excited about this development. They are, of course, the white supremacists of the Council of Conservative Citizens.

ThinkProgress and the Southern Poverty Law Center report that the neo-confederate CCC recently crowed on their website that Mr. Drudge's famous report looked remarkably like their own work.

"Drudge Report currently resembles CofCC.org," goes the headline.. (Heads up: link goes to neo-confederate white supremacist site!) "The extremely popular news aggregate Drudge Report appears to be the only major news outlet bringing up the astronomical amount of black crime taking place." And then there is the link to Drudge's list of all the "melees" and "chaos" that happened during a holiday weekend when lots of drunk revelers across the nation sometimes get rowdy (and are sometimes shot dead, by police officers).

So: Nice new friends you have made, Matt.

You know how every so often the lamestream media publishes or airs a bunch of stories about how influential and important Matt Drudge is? And it's proper "news" when he hires right-wing journalists to help him "cover" the elections or even when he simply promotes a friend's book? How come no one besides a couple commie liberal bloggers has actually said anything about Matt Drudge's impossible-to-ignore habit of blatant, shameless race-baiting, exactly?

Minnesota School Faces Lawsuit Over Racist 'Wigger Day'

A Minnesota school district allowed a homecoming event called "Wigger Day," during which students wore clothes and behaved in a manner that "from their perspective, mimicked black culture," according to a federal a class action lawsuit filed against the district on Friday.

The suit alleges that despite student council voting on a "tropical theme" for homecoming in 2009, a group of approximately 60 students from the predominantly white school instead attended the event dressed for "Wigger Wednesday" in "oversized sports jerseys, low-slung pants, baseball hats cocked to the side and 'doo rags.'"

"Wigger is a pejorative slang term for a white person who emulates the mannerisms, language and fashions associated with African-American culture," the complaint explains.

Students also referred to the activity as "Wangsta Day" -- meaning "white gangsta" or "Red Winger gangsta" -- and created a Facebook group advocating for the event. (Warning: This Facebook link contains offensive language.)

The plaintiff, former Red Wing High School student Quera Pruitt, an African American, claims that the school's lack of intervention caused her "severe emotional distress including depression, loss of sleep, stress, crying, humiliation, anxiety, and shame." Pruitt filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Minnesota on behalf of an unnamed class of "all students who experienced discrimination as a result of Wigger Day." The complaint states the class could include more than 40 people.

Pruitt's attorney, Joshua Williams, says her family hoped the incident would be addressed following "Wigger Day" 2008. While it was never an officially-sanctioned school event, the family discovered "Wigger Wednesday" was something of a tradition.

After the 2009 incident, "[Pruitt's] mom came up to the school, attempted to reach out to the school board, the superintendent, and the principal, but Red Wing's response was essentially to sweep this under the rug and act like it didn't happen," Williams told The Huffington Post.

According to Williams, Pruitt became depressed, quit the cheerleading squad, left student council, skipped her senior prom and even considered dropping out of school.

Pruitt also declined to participate in the school's Martin Luther King Day ceremonies, considering the memorial a "farce." She graduated in 2010 and moved back to Little Rock, Ark.

Williams added that the school district has acknowledged that "Wigger Day" took place in 2007 and 2008, but neglected to prevent the event from happening in 2009.

Red Wing principal Beth Borgen and school district superintendent Karsten Anderson, both defendants in the suit, say the school is committed to creating a learning an environment free from discrimination.

According to a 2009 article on KARE-11, students participating in "Wigger Day" that year were immediately sent to change their clothes, but no additional punishment followed.

Williams, who is seeking $75,000 in damages for his client, did not know whether "Wigger Day" took place again in 2010.

A statement from Anderson obtained by HuffPost says the district "denies the allegations that it has created a racially hostile environment and looks forward to meeting these allegations in court."

Williams says that position is "symptomatic of Red Wing's response to 'Wigger Day' form the onset."

"The students shouldn't have felt empowered to hold 'Wigger Day' in 2009," Williams said. "These students were not disciplined, they were not counseled and they were not punished. This could have been a teachable moment."