KKK leaflets found in Powhatan

[Silverfern]

Published: April 1, 2009

Four-page Ku Klux Klan information leaflets were left in driveways in some areas of Powhatan County on Monday night.

Powhatan Sheriff Greg Neal confirmed yesterday that "some literature that appears to be from the Ku Klux Klan was distributed in certain parts of the county."

But Neal declined to comment further about the leaflets or about his department's handling of the matter.

Detective Kevin Wolfe said the sheriff's office received a small number of reports from residents about the leaflets.

The leaflets touch on immigration issues, contain contact numbers, and offer statistics in support of the KKK's white-supremacist platform.

A recent verdict in the death of Tahliek Taliaferro, a popular black Powhatan High School student, has sparked debate about racial issues in the county. Jurors rejected first-degree murder charges agai
nst white defendants Ethan Parrish and Joseph Parrish and instead found them guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

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[Silverfern]

Powhatan minister decries effort of KKK in county

JAMIE C. RUFF TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: April 2, 2009

A prominent black minister in Powhatan County has issued a statement bemoaning the distribution of Ku Klux Klan literature in his community.

The Rev. Gregory L. Beechaum Sr., pastor of Little Zion Baptist Church, said county residents are "once again disappointed with this latest effort of Ku Klux Klan" in the county. "We can't believe that we are still dealing with this in 2009," he said.

"These recent actions only strengthen and reaffirm what many citizens of Powhatan County have always felt, that there is prejudice within this county and no justice for African-Americans here," Beechaum said in his statement.

Sheriff Greg Neal confirmed Tuesday that KKK literature has been distributed in parts of the cou
nty but declined to comment further about the leaflets or about his department's handling of the matter.

In his statement, Beechaum called for the Board of Supervisors to "stand up and speak out" on last week's verdict in the June 24 slaying of Tahliek Taliaferro.

Robert Cosby, chairman of the supervisors, said the board historically has not commented on court cases. But Cosby noted that in July, the board adopted a resolution condemning racially tinted rhetoric arising from Taliaferro's slaying and commending those "who are working to knit up this wound and hold us together as a community."

"I feel like we are all equal, brothers and sisters in this thing," Cosby said yesterday. "It's terrible this thing has arisen."

Last week, a Powhatan jury convicted cousins Ethan Parrish and Joseph "Joey" Parrish of involuntary manslaughter in Taliaferro's death and assault and battery in the nonfatal shooting of Courtney Jones. Joey Parrish also was found guilty of an additional charge o
f use of a firearm by a convicted felon.

The verdict outraged the families of Taliaferro, who was black, of Jones and prompted complaints that race played a part in the decision of the jury, which, except for one black member, was all white. Jones is black, while the Parrishes are white.

A weekend march protesting the verdict drew about 300 people.

Source

Some how I don't think the whites are listening to the Black's in this town.

All white jury bar one

Ironic.