EMERY FEARS: REMEMBERED FOR DEDICATION TO BAND EXCELLENCE

By Leonard E. Colvin Chief Reporter New Journal and Guide

Emery Lewis Fear, Jr., 97, who was an inspirational marching band director at I.C. Norcom, Manor High School, and Norfolk State University passed January 12, 2023.

His death created a huge outpouring of sadness and reflections on his career and legacy for the man known affectionately as “Chief” by family, friends, and former students.

Fears was born in 1925 on the campus of Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. He was the son of Evadne Inez Angers Fears and Emery Lewis Fears Sr.

He graduated from Tuskegee High School and then joined the United States Navy as a musician during World War II (1944-1946).

After he left the Navy, he enrolled at Howard University and earned a degree in music. He later earned a Master’s Degree in Music at Michigan University.

According to his obituary, he is “noted for his phenomenal ability to implement musical excellence, selfdiscipline, and ‘Esprit de Corps’ into the hearts of many students fortunate enough to be under his tutelage.”

“He consistently developed leaders who have proven themselves in many professions,” his obituary continued.

Lavoris Pace, Norfolk’s Deputy City Manager, oversees a portfolio that includes youth initiatives, arts, culture, and community partnerships.

He is a 1987 graduate of NSU with a degree in Graphic Design.

For two years, he was a member of the Spartan Legion percussion section known as the “Million Dollar Funk Squad.”

“Even though he (Mr. Fears) was about music and musicality, he was a change agent,” said Pace.

“He recruited and worked with those marginalized students in high school who did not know if they would graduate. At NSU, he recruited students who had few options for enrolling in college. Once on campus, he taught students, in the thousands, not only about music but life.” Fears’ concert bands at I.C. Norcom and Manor High schools in Portsmouth earned 18 consecutive Division (Superior) ratings in Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association Festivals. His high school bands were recognized as being “of a particularly high

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But alarm bells are also ringing on the Left, because today there are fractures in that old alliance. A mix of cultural and political influences has left some in the Black community feeling like we’re not all on the same team. And what happens when good people are not aligned is that evil gets the upper hand.

There are plenty of examples of this throughout history. And I don’t use the word “evil” lightly. Think of Nick Fuentes, the farright activist who grabbed headlines for his dinner

Memphis

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Further, along with the five officers charged with the brutal beating of Nichols, Memphis Police Department (MPD) announced on Monday that Officer Preston Hemphill, who is white, had been relieved of his duties shortly after Nichols’ January 7 arrest. A seventh officer has also been relieved – but that officer was not named and the role played in the incident was not specified.

Peaceful protests around the country have taken place, including Hampton Roads in response to the video of Nichols’ encounter with the police.

Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, told CNN on Friday before the videos were released: “I’m still trying to understand all of this and trying to wrap my head around all of this,” Wells said. “I don’t have my baby. I’ll never have my baby again.”

Former Norfolk Police Chief Larry Boone, the Law Enforcement Analyst for News Channel 3, said along with those currently identified, up to 12 “officers may be terminated.”

Behold, the Green and Gold” originated with the Spartan Legion under Professor Fears’ directing and is heralded to this day at the university’s athletic events and other gatherings.” standard of excellence at the national level from 1960 to 1972 by the John Phillip Sousa Foundation.

Sousa Foundation elected the I.C. Norcom School band to the Historic Roll of Honor of High School Concert Bands.” uuu

He was also a member of the Prestigious American Bandmasters Association and was actively committed to the improvement of bands throughout the United States and Canada and served as an adjudicator, clinician consultant, and conductor.

After many successful years as a music educator at the high school level.

Fears accepted the position as Director of Bands at Norfolk State University in 1974. He earned the respect and admiration of his peers in the world of collegiate and military bands as they created the “Spartan Legion” Band which was instrumental in catapulting NSU to national recognition.

“Behold, the Green and Gold” originated with the Spartan Legion under Professor Fears’ directing and is heralded to this day at the university’s athletic events and other gatherings.

Fears married Jannette Johnson (deceased) in 1951 with whom he had a daughter Cheryl Denise Fears Hutchinson with Donald Trump and Ye. Fuentes has openly praised Adolf Hitler. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

This is the kind of viciousness that we are facing today, with a Far Right that became louder, bolder and more aggressive under Donald Trump – and hasn’t gone away. This is a time when the Black community and Jewish community need to come together, and not be driven apart by forces with a divide-and-conquer agenda.

We can acknowledge that there are differences between us, things we can talk about, while still having each other’s backs. In other words, we can symbolically enlarge our home.

Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday just passed, uuu

(Harvey). Later in 1981 he married Cheryl Lorraine Perry and had two children, Jason Michael Fears, and Ashlyn Elizabeth Fears. He is a grandfather to Damien Jerrod Huff, Athea Jeanette Hutchison, Olivia Marie William, Rhea Lee Fears, and one great-greatgranddaughter. Katrina Huff and the Fears tribe are carrying on his legacy.

Phillip Hawkins is now the assistant Principal at Young Terrace Elementary School in downtown Norfolk.

He recalls, “During my childhood, I always knew about the greatness of Norfolk State University.”

“As a child, I lived in Liberty Park on Pioneer Avenue and Majestic Avenue across the street from the Norfolk Community Hospital,” he said. “I would always hear the musical sounds of the Spartan Legion while outside playing, or when I and my friends would venture over to the campus to ride our bikes and skateboards and listen to the band.”

“I first became aware of Chief Fears through my older siblings who also marched in the Spartan Legion while attending NSU,” he continued.

“Upon being accepted to attend NSU in 1987, I first met ‘Chief’ at a Band Camp in August 1987. I was amazed that on the famously reminded us that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Those of us who want equity and justice need to want it for all people. Our real and symbolic home should be with each other, where we are united by our shared humanity and where hate by any name is excluded. Let’s make that space, and welcome each other in. first day when he entered the band room, he knew every student by name and school and something special about everyone without using a written roster!

Svante Myrick is President of People For the American Way. Previously, he served as executive director of People For and led campaigns focused on transforming public safety, racial equity, voting rights, and empowering young elected officials. Myrick garnered national attention as the youngest-ever mayor in New York State history.

“As I began my journey with the Spartan Legion, I knew I was embarking on something great, but I didn’t know how great the impression would be for my future.

“As a bandleader, Mr. Fears demanded excellence without excuse as he encouraged his students to work hard and do their best!” Hawkins said.

“We would practice every day and our theme my first year was ‘Quality in Performance and Take No Prisoners!!!’”

Hawkins said that during the 1980s and 90s, as Director of the Marching Spartan Legion, the band “was the most popular and visible organization on campus that represented the excellence of NSU.”

Hawkins called “The Legion” the greatest recruitment resource that NSU had as the university experienced exponential growth in student enrollment in the late 1980s as the fifth largest HBCU in the country.

He said he earned the title of “Captain Soul” along with Mr. Kevin Deas as “Mr. Spartan,” as they were Mr. Fears’ final Spartan Legion Drum Majors in 1990-1991 before he retired.

“Mr. Fears was like a father to all his students as he would always impart life lessons that still apply today. I am still active as a life member of the Norfolk State University Alumni Association and Drum Major of the Alumni Band Chapter. His legacy in music education will always live on as the founder of the Spartan Legion and his lessons will be researched and taught for generations to come!”

Lincoln

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What is worse, he poses a threat to the good order of the House of Representatives and, through exposure to classified materials, our national security. In their attempt to retain power and maintain their slim margin of control, Speaker McCarthy and his conference have chosen to overlook this potential threat. What is more, they have chosen to overlook the standards of integrity presumed for all House members. As an entity, Republican members have shown total disregard for the expectation of honorable the officers were an example of a long-standing problem of officers physically punishing civilians for perceived disrespect or disobedience called “contempt of cop.”

The available footage does not show any sign that any of the officers at the final scene – which numbered 10 or more – intervened to stop the aggressive use of force.

If anything, it shows the contrary.

At one point, footage captured an officer saying “I hope they stomp his ass.,”

The images, captured on the evening of January 7, just blocks from his mother’s home, include the initial traffic stop.

Police officers come up to Nichols’s car yelling with their guns raised, open his car door, and pull him out.

Nichols says that he “didn’t do anything.”

“De-escalation was not part of the narrative” from what he saw in the video released to the public, he said.

Boone said “to his credit Nichols tried to de-escalate the situation ... asking them what did he do. At one point you can see fear in his face and then he takes off.”

The inability of any of the officers to stop or lend assistance to Nichols was “highly unprofessional ... they come off as thugs,” Boone said.

Created in 2021, some of the officers were part of the SCORPION unit – “Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods.”

It was formed to respond to the rising property and violent crime in the city and now has been disbanded.

The New York Times and other news agencies analyzed the video based on footage from police body cams and street cameras mounted on a pole where the beating took place.

The video reveals the officers directed a barrage of commands at Nichols that were confusing, conflicting, sometimes simultaneous, and impossible to obey. When Nichols could not comply – and even when he managed to – the officers responded with escalating force.

The Times’ analysis of the available footage found that officers shouted at least 71 commands during the approximately 13-minute period before they reported over the radio that Nichols was officially in custody.

The commands were issued at two locations, one near Nichols’s vehicle and the other in the area he had fled to and was severely beaten.

Officers commanded Nichols to show his hands even as they were holding them.

They told him to get on the ground even when he was.

They ordered him to reposition himself even when they had control of his body.

Experts say the actions of service among their ranks.

However one wishes to analyze him, overwhelming evidence confirms that the preservation of the Union, and its traditions and democratic principles were primary concerns of Lincoln. Fueled by a malignant fear of ‘Replacement,’ Lincoln’s modern counterparts have shown themselves willing to accept any equally malignant distortion of government that allows them to subvert the will of the majority and impose their will upon the same. Gerrymandering and voter suppression, including draconian laws, which frighten and discourage lawful voters from exercising their rights have become the tools of choice for the ‘new’ Republicans. Like the petulant kid who

Nichols drops to the ground, and officers surround him. Initially, he offers no resistance, is pepper sprayed, and an officer fires a Taser at him as he gets up and runs.

Eight minutes later, he has been pursued into a neighborhood, close to his home where officers begin to beat him in the head when he is on the ground, and pull him back up as another officer uses an extendable baton to hit him.

Nichols does not appear to fight back which ends with him falling to the ground. More officers arrive but he is not seen receiving medical attention for several minutes.

Not only were the police officers fired, a sixth suspended, EMT personnel who treated him were suspended as the investigation into their actions is undertaken.

Ten minutes into the polecamera video – a few minutes after officers disengaged – a person who appears to be a paramedic engages Nichols for the first time, around 8:41 p.m. But responders would repeatedly walk away from Nichols before an ambulance arrives.

Two minutes after paramedics started attending to Nichols, he is seen falling over to the side and seeming to hit his head hard. No one appears to help Nichols as he tries to sit up, only to fall over again.

Officers are seen crowding around Nichols, only to step away as he again falls onto his side.

First responders then spend nearly five minutes standing over Nichols, and occasionally shining a light toward his face, before walking away. Nichols twists on the ground, “unassisted.” Medical equipment is finally brought back to Nichols’ side about three minutes later, the polecamera video shows.

Footage shows that 21 minutes pass from when paramedics first appeared to arrive to when an ambulance finally pulls into view of the camera at 9:02 p.m. see Memphis, page 10A owns the football, these ‘new’ Republicans are threatening to blow up our national and international economies if the game is not played by their rules. Their enmity against all except the wealthy and wellconnected illuminates their goal of institutionalizing their permanent power and creating a permanent underclass that they can manipulate and control.

Whatever faults Lincoln may have had, this is not the party of Lincoln. We will treat them with logic and measured reason at our future peril!

Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of The Dick Gregory Society (thedickgregorysociety. org; drefayewilliams@gmail. com) and President Emerita of the National Congress of Black Women

NRHA Annual Plan Public Hearing

The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA) Board of Commissioners will hold an in-person and virtual public hearing on Thursday, March 16, in conjunction with the NRHA Board of Commissioners meeting. The purpose of this hearing is to hear comments on NRHA’s fi scal year (FY) 2024 Annual and 5-Year Plan for its assisted-rental properties and Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.

The meeting will be held at 555 E. Main Street in the 16th fl oor board room. Members of the public can attend the hearing in person or participate virtually by registering at https://bit.ly/ NRHAAnnualPlanPublicHearing

The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 requires housing authorities to complete a fi ve-year plan and an annual plan for assisted-rental properties and HCV programs. NRHA’s FY 2024 Annual Plan will cover the period from July 1, 2023-June 30, 2024.

The plan includes information on NRHA’s major goals, strategies and objectives for its assisted-rental properties and HCV program, requirements/mandates from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and NRHA’s strategies and objectives for achieving its mission of “providing quality housing opportunities that foster sustainable mixed-income communities.” NRHA’s Resident Advisory Board will provide input during meetings that will be held during April and May.

The draft plan is available for a 45-day public review and comment period from February 1-March 30. It can be viewed at www.nrha. us Copies of the Annual Plan are also available in NRHA’s main of fi ce lobby at 555 E. Main Street in Norfolk. Comments can be submitted by calling NRHA’s Public Hearing Comment Hotline at (757) 314-1320.

Public Hearing Schedule for March 16, 2023

Board of Commissioners Meeting Annual Plan Public Hearing

Upon request, this notice and other materials may be made available in alternative formats (i.e., large print, braille, assisted listening devices or audio tape) from the ADA/504 Program Coordinator Kimberly Thomas at kthomas@nrha.us or by calling (757) 623-1111.

NRHA provides equal housing and employment opportunities for all persons. NRHA does not discriminate against any applicant, resident, or employee on the basis race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status, disability, source of funds, sexual orientation, gender identity, or veteran status in the admission, access or operations of programs, services or activities. If you feel you have been discriminated against, you have the right to fi le a complaint of discrimination with the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity by calling toll free (800) 669-9777.

History

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“You’re not crippled, only crippled in your mind,” Griffin often told amputees, who could not walk to the bathroom, pull a tee-shirt over their head, or raise a fork to their lips.

The way Griffin’s 1951-patented device compensated for an amputee’s lack of limbs and allowed him to use his last remaining bodily functions (his lips and teeth) to secure food, in other words – Blacks began to deliberately respond to harsh Jim Crow laws.

For example, four years after Griffin’s prosthetic device was patented –Rosa Parks deliberately bit down. This means Parks’ intentionally responded to the sense of helplessness that the Jim Crow system bred. Parks deliberately remained in her seat on a Jim Crow bus in Montgomery in 1955. Rosa Parks’ resistance launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott and fueled the Civil Rights Movement, which led to Barack Obama becoming president.

Years later, Park’s explained why she bit down. Elaborating on her refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger, Parks commented years later in a trademark quote. “I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move,” Parks explained. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

Recently, Black Resistance resurfaced and is now moving at slow-motion speed in Springfield, Ga.

Specifically, a group of Black high school students recently dropped an armload of books, made some protest signs, and even filed a 14-page lawsuit after a string of racist incidents occurred at Effingham County High School and Effingham College and Career Academy which are located in Springfield, Ga., about 45 minutes from Savannah.

“It’s just incident, after incident, after incident, after incident,” said Lakeisha Hamilton, one of the parents who recently filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Effingham County School District for prohibiting Black students from wearing clothes with Black Lives Matter logos.

“In one instance, a Black student was refused entry to a football game because she was wearing a ‘Black Lives Matter’ shirt; and was advised that she could not enter with it on,” the lawsuit states. “However, a white student was allowed entry at the very same event with a shirt that read, ‘Stomp on My Flag; I’ll Stomp Your A**’. There were no repercussions for that white student.”

“There’s still confederate flags in the school from my understanding in the trophy case,” Hamilton said, in recent news reports. “There’s a confederate flag etched in a stone on the marble that bears the name of the school. Kids still wear confederate attire.”

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History shows conditions changed after an AfricanAmerican refused to grin and bear a racist handicap.

For example, in 1756, slaves not only launched First Baptist Church, the nation’s oldest Black church which is located up the road in Petersburg. The church launched Peabody High School in the church in 1870, (about five years after Black anti-literacy laws officially ended after the Civil War).

The point is this historic Petersburg church provides a rare glimpse into this year’s Black History Month theme: “Black Resistance.” This church began as First African Baptist Church, when it was founded in 1774 near Lunenburg, Va., on the William Byrd III plantation. Free members of the congregation later moved to Petersburg and changed the name to First Baptist Church when the Black church on the Byrd plantation burned to the ground.

But the historic Petersburg church burned to the ground in 1866 “during a wave of arson targeting Petersburg’s Black churches,” according to the Historical Marker Database website, “ After the building burned the present sanctuary was built in the Romanesque style and dedicated in 1872.”

Petersburg’s historic Black church illustrates the twists and turns that Black Resistance has taken.

“Before there was a George Washington president, there was a First Baptist,” Julian Greene, the church’s historian, told WRIC-TV in a 2018 interview. “We’ve had over 14 pastors in our 244-year history and that is remarkable in its own right and its own accord,” Greene said.

Peabody High School, which was launched inside of the church and became a public high school in 1920, speaks volumes about Black Resistance. This means First Baptist founded one of the first public schools for AfricanAmericans in Virginia. During its more than 150year lifespan, Peabody High moved around Petersburg several times, eventually becoming a middle school in the 1970s. Peabody’s last commencement ceremony was held for its June 1970 graduates. It operated more than 40 years as a middle school, but operations ended abruptly in 2017, according to news reports.

Today, First Baptist is still one of the state’s largest churches and offers an array of services including a prayer ministry, quarterly family night fellowship, marriage enrichment retreats, leadership prayer breakfasts, and multiple youth programs including a scouting program, an afterschool tutorial program, a computer lab, and a spring break camp.

“We generally have afternoon and after-school programs for the children,” Greene, the church’s historian said. “We are obligated and required to maintain and ensure that we carry that lifeline out for the future.”