The Night The Lights Came Back On In Georgia – Country star Reba McEntire, shed some light
about “Georgia Justice” in her hit, “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia.” In this and at least one more tale of a story behind the story, the plot reveals an alleged crime by an
innocent defendant and a judge who refused to acknowledge a $400 million clue. Was RICO appropriate for punishing guilty
Atlanta educators? If so, why did RICO only apply
to those who were “Not Guilty?” Photo Education Week
Friends and Family press for exoneration, reparation in Georgia "Race For The Top" cheating scandal
By Eric
Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired
AMWS, June
1, 2015, Atlanta – A spokesman for Sharon Davis-Williams, Ed.D., one of three school
administrators sentenced by Judge Jerry Baxter April 14, said the Fulton County
Superior Court is just beginning to see the light. Should the case reach the Georgia Supreme
Court, that light may spark a whole new system of indoctrination for
descendants of slavery here and across the country.
Perhaps
under pressure from Civil Rights leaders, historically disadvantaged family
members, or some conversations with Jesus, Fulton County Superior Court Judge
Jerry Baxter backed down from the 20 year sentence he imposed on Dr.
Davis-Williams and two other Atlanta Public School administrators, stating, "I
want to modify the sentence so I can live with it. I want it to be considered
something fair,” Baxter said.
The Atlanta
Journal Constitution reported on Baxter’s modified position after Baxter summonsed
Davis-Williams and two others back to the courtroom April 30. Under Baxter’s revised plan, Davis-Williams, would
still pay a $25,000 fine on top of legal fees.
She would serve three of ten years behind bars with seven years
probation and 2,000 hours of community service, which was part of her original
sentence. But Baxter’s recommendation
that Davis-Williams immediately begins community service may turn out to be his
second biggest lapse in administering 21st Century “Georgia Justice.”
Davis-Williams
started her 2000 hours of community service even before a 2011 probe by the
Georgia Governor’s office into an alleged cheating ring. Since then, she’s been teaching advanced civics
in an environment where historically disadvantaged Americans must navigate a School To Prison Pipeline enterprise. The reality of such an economic threat on
American lives evidences the “culture of fear and intimidation” prosecuted in part by the Fulton
County District Attorney.
As District
Attorney Paul Howard, Jr. laid groundwork for prosecuting Davis-Williams along
with scores of Atlanta educators, the state of Georgia was banking on the first
installment in its $400 million cut from a $4 billion
Race To The Top scheme. The plan, perpetrated in cahoots
with the U.S. Government, is earning interest from educators across the country
as a model case for RICO.
By 2013,
former Governor Sonny Purdue had banked a second multimillion-dollar federal
education grant — one aimed at improving learning for the state’s youngest
children. Over four years, Georgia would
receive $51 million to expand access to high-quality child care for low-income
families, to increase training for early childhood teachers and to put extra
resources into areas of the state where test scores and other indicators show
the greatest need.
Fulton
County District Attorney Paul Howard, Jr. followed the money to a few criminal
minds and used Georgia RICO to engage them in a scandal that scared reputations
and violated rights of otherwise law abiding citizens. Now that Judge Baxter has second-guessed his
own judgement, the appellate courts must weigh his wishy-washy antics against some facts that are just
coming to light.
Throughout
the ordeal, one constant for Davis-Williams has been to trust God. She plead not guilty, refused to compromise
on her Christian values, and held fast as Georgia justice sought to bring her
down.
FACT: Sharon
Davis-Williams is one of 2.1 Billion Christians around the world sharing a
belief that all things are possible through Christ.
FACT: Sharon Davis-Williams serves in a state where
the perception of Separation of Church and State outweighs the reality of One
Nation Under God.
FACT: Sharon
Davis-Williams did not intend to, nor did she willingly violate the Georgia
RICO Act.
FACT: Sharon
Davis-Williams’ right to legal due process was denied when Judge Baxter ordered
her to jail.
FACT: The State of Georgia received funds under the
federal government’s Race For The Top program “To equip all Georgia students,
through effective teachers and leaders and through creating the right
conditions in Georgia’s schools and classrooms, with the knowledge and skills
to empower them to 1) graduate from high school, 2) be successful in college
and/or professional careers, and 3) be competitive with their peers throughout
the United States and the world.”
FACT: The State of Georgia was awarded $400 million
to implement its Race to the Top plan and the State Board of Education has
direct accountability for the grant. Georgia’s
Race For The Top application was prepared through a “partnership” (ring, cohort, enterprise, money-making
scheme, ad hoc organization) between the Governor’s Office, the Georgia
Department of Education, the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement and
education stakeholders. Four working groups and a fifth critical feedback team
consisting of teachers, principals, superintendents, higher education faculty,
non–profit and informal education organizations, state policy makers, and
members of the business and philanthropic communities developed the ideas for
inclusion in the state’s winning application – all of whom may have
demonstrated behavior prosecutable under the Federal RICO Act
FACT: Fulton
County District Attorney Paul Howard’s 21-month criminal investigation followed
a 2011 probe initiated by the Governor’s Office into testing irregularities and
cheating allegations on 2008-2009 CRCT exams in dozens of Atlanta Public
Elementary Schools.
FACT: $400
million in federal Race For The Top funding may have contributed to a “culture
of fear and intimidation” which resulted in the unlawful prosecution of Sharon
Davis-Williams under the Georgia RICO Act.
Georgia Race
For The Top
RICO Act
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