By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on December 26, 2023
An Editorial Opinion
Today, I filed a criminal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice naming Alabama A&M University as the "victim" of an honest services fraud scheme and conspiracy arising from the university failure to aggressively, faithfully, and fully pursue collection of a $527,280,064 debt owed to this Second Morrill Act of 1890 land grant institution by the state of Alabama.
This $527,280,064 debt was publicly announced on September 18, 2023, by the Departments of Education and Agriculture. As alleged in the complaint, the honest services fraud scheme is led by Alabama A&M President Daniel K. Wims and it has jeopardized and compromised the university's ability to collect this $527,280,064 debt.
In my opinion, the honest services fraud scheme alleged in the complaint is an unconscionable and despicable "sellout" of a premier HBCU in America. In my view, no other legal action is sufficient to stop this "sellout."
The complaint speaks for itself. Click here to read the complaint.
What Gov. Ivey and President Daniel K. Wims do not understand is this: We have been fighting for what is rightfully ours since we climbed out from under the oppressive and suffocating existence that is depicted in this photo. We are NOT going to let Gov. Ivey and Wims take us back to this awful place.
Attorney J.L. Chestnut in Selma was one of my mentors in law. Chestnut taught me early in my legal career that you cannot adequately represent the legal and political interests of Black folks in Alabama if you are scared. We have always had to fight "tooth and nail" for what is rightfully ours. As long as I have a breath of life left in me, I will be fighting for Alabama A&M's $527,280,064 -- even if I have to fight alone!
It is critically important that somebody with experience in fighting for equal educational rights and institutional funding in Alabama stop the "sellout" of Alabama A&M University's entitlement to the $527,280,064 due from the state of Alabama. We finally reached the point where is was not possible to wait any longer without jeopardizing A&M's right to this money.