By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 28, 2023 An Editorial Opinion On December 20, 2023, Thomas W. Thagard, III, sent a “Cease and Desist” letter to independent journalists Roger Alan Shuler and me. The letter threatened us with a bogus defamation lawsuit over recent articles we published on the growing scandal surrounding Alabama A&M University’s refusal to publicly acknowledge and demand payment of a $527,280,064 debt owed to the university by the state of Alabama. Thomas W. Thagard, III, is the son of Thomas W. Thagard, Jr. (deceased), a former Balch & Bingham attorney who represented Auburn University in the long-running Knight v. Alabama higher education desegregation case that I filed for the original plaintiffs in 1981. Thomas W. Thagard, Jr.’s name appears in the "Attorneys and Parties" section at the beginning of the landmark 1991 and 1995 published opinions in the Knight v. Alabama case. Read it for yourself. Auburn University, which benefited financially from over a hundred years of funding discrimination against Alabama A&M, fought “tooth and nail” against court-ordered equitable funding for Alabama A&M. Thomas W. Thagard, Jr., who was a brilliant lawyer and the son of Judge Thomas Werth Thagard, also succeeded in getting former U.S. District Court Judge U.W. Clemon, who is black, booted from presiding over the case after Clemon issued his 1991 court opinion in favor of the plaintiffs in the case. Today, Alabama A&M President Daniel Wims has aligned himself with Thomas W. Thagard, III, and weaponized Thagard to threaten journalists who criticized Wims' failure to claim and collect the $527,280,064 debt that rightfully belongs to Alabama A&M. The optics of this new cozy Wims-Thagard bedfellows arrangement are horrible for Alabama A&M, given Thomas W. Thagard, Jr.'s long, ugly, and adversarial history with Alabama A&M. This is the kind of misguided move we would expect from a certified and compromised "Uncle Tom" like Clarence Thomas. Daniel K. Wims is a proven "sellout" to Bulldog Nation who has masqueraded as Alabama A&M president since January 2022. University's trustees, who should be closely supervising Wims, are merely ceremonial pawns in his harmful game of "buck-dancing." As for me, I am okay with fighting two generations of Thomas W. Thagards to secure the equitable funding that is due and owing to Alabama A&M, including the $527,280,064 that President Wims is afraid to collect.  I am accustomed to waging long, hard, aggressive, fights to enforce our civil and constitutional rights. I have been fighting for equitable funding for Alabama A&M University since 1973.  I don’t care if the threat to Alabama A&M's equitable funding is perpetrated by a white or black adversary, or it comes from inside or outside of the university, or it involves a first or second generation legal gunslinger. Now you understand why our adversaries in Alabama do not want us to know our history. They want us clueless, compromised, and weak like Daniel K. Wims and his current board of university trustees.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 27, 2023 An Editorial Opinion There was a time when Alabama A&M University presidents had real courage.  I personally witnessed tremendous acts of courage and love for the university by two of them – Presidents Richard D. Morrison (1962 to 1984) and John T. Gibson (1996 to 2005). When I was 14 years old, I accompanied Dr. Richard D. Morrison and my father Dr. Levi Watkins (president of Alabama State University from 1962 to 1981) to Gov. George C. Wallace’s office at the State Capitol for a budget appropriation presentation during Wallace’s first year as governor. I was working as a part-time, unpaid, intern in my father's office. The meeting occurred several months after Wallace’s infamous inaugural speech that January in which he proclaimed, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” Dr. Morrison and my father were not allowed to wait in the governor’s office for their turn to present their budget requests for the upcoming school year.  We had to wait in the hallway outside the governor’s office. At the time, there were no black state senators, representatives, or cabinet members in the first Wallace administration.  The only blacks in the Capitol building were janitors and maids, butlers, and delivery “boys.” The three of us waited for seemed like hours to see Gov. Wallace.  I was bored, but Dr. Morrison and my father busied themselves by studying their budget presentations. Wallace’s finance director came to get us after the governor had finished meeting with the head of the state's prison system about his agency's separate budgets for white and black prisons. Alabama A&M and Alabama State were the last state agencies that made budget presentations to Wallace, his state finance director, and the superintendent of education (who oversaw Alabama A&M and Alabama State for the State Board of Education). After we entered Gov. Wallace's executive office, the finance director told Dr. Morrison and my father that Wallace and the official gathered in the office did not have time to listen to any detailed budget presentations from the "Niggra" schools.  He told them what money was left after all of the other state agencies had been funded, including the state prisons.  The leftover money in the appropriations bill was the funding that Alabama A&M and Alabama State would receive for the next fiscal year. Dr. Morrison and my father were not allowed to sit down at the conference table in the governor’s office.  I watched both men ignore the finance director’s dismissive attitude toward their universities and forcefully plead their case for more money -- all to no avail.  Yet, nothing that was said or done by Gov. Wallace and his henchmen broke the fighting spirit of these two HBCU presidents. Dr. Morrison and my father gave it everything they had on that day, but it didn’t matter.  In the end, Alabama A&M and Alabama State were valued less than the state prisons. I never forgot that meeting and the way those two brave men fought with dignity for equitable funding for their universities. After I became a lawyer in 1973, Dr. Morrison, my father, and I began to strategize on how we could get equitable funding for Alabama A&M and Alabama State.  For the next seven years, we secretly explored and kicked around a lot of legal strategies for reaching this goal.  I spent a lot of time with Dr. Morrison developing our game-plan while I was in Huntsville litigating employment discrimination cases for brave local civil rights leaders like Mingo Clark and McKinley Bailey. After President Jimmy Carter lost his re-election bid to Ronald Reagan in 1980, we knew it was time to implement the legal game-plan the three of us had agreed upon. We would begin the fight by suing Gov. Fob James, Troy State University, Auburn University, the Alabama Public School and College Authority, and the Alabama Commission for Higher Education in the first phase of the litigation.  We had to show state officials that we were dead serious about equitable funding for Alabama State and Alabama A&M. John T. Gibson and His Leading Role as an Original Plaintiff in the Knight Litigation In 1981, we filed suit in Knight v. James seeking a court order to merge Auburn University at Montgomery and Troy State at Montgomery into Alabama State under the name of "Alabama State University" and under the control of Alabama State's Board of Trustees.  We knew this lawsuit would get everybody's attention at the State Capitol, and it did. Over the next few years, the case grew in scope and size and eventually became known as Knight v. Alabama.  This expanded litigation added legal claims for Alabama A&M and sought equitable funding and new academic program offerings for both of the state-sponsored flagship HBCUs. A critical part of the litigation plan was the selection of plaintiffs who could withstand death threats and would not buckle under gubernatorial pressure.   One of those original plaintiffs in the 1981 Knight v. James case was Dr. John Thomas Gibson, my high school classmate.  John’s wife Voncile was also my high school classmate. John T. Gibson has always been super-smart and was born with a backbone of steel.  Voncile was a staunch supporter of John’s fight for equitable funding and program offering when John worked as an administrator at Alabama State in the 1980s and early 1990s and when he served as Alabama A&M’s president from 1996 to 2005. John’s demonstrated courage as an original plaintiff in Knight v. James and later in the expanded Knight v. Alabama litigation is one of the primary reasons why Alabama A&M reaped massive court-ordered benefits from this 25-year court fight. Our adversaries in the Knight litigation tested John’s courage on many occasions, but they could never break him.  They never took John's manhood from him. This is particularly true after John became president of Alabama A&M. John literally made the forces in Alabama that opposed Alabama A&M’s growth respect his university by actively working and developing the Knight case with the plaintiffs' attorneys.  John demanded that all state officials respect Alabama A&M, and he would settle for nothing less from them. When I watch a compromised chameleon like Dr. Daniel K. Wims masquerading as an Alabama A&M University president today, I sense his betrayal of the courage, sacrifices, strength, and love for Alabama A&M that Presidents Richard Morrison and John T. Gibson showed the world from 1962 to 2005. Today, President Wims will not go to the State Capitol and collect the $527,280,064 debt that the U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture declared on September 18, 2023, is owed to Alabama A&M by the state of Alabama.  Wims fears upsetting Gov. Kay Ivey and does not want to risk losing his job by asking for the university’s money.  This is a level of cowardice and betrayal I cannot understand or condone. In my view, Dr. Daniel K. Wims is a weak-kneed president (in name only) who will never fight for what rightfully belongs to Alabama A&M University. Sadly, Wims is Alabama A&M's nightmarish version of Clarence Thomas.

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.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 24, 2023 As we bring 2023 to a close, I want to thank my 500,000 (and growing) avid readers in America and around the world for supporting me. Thanks to you, we have been able to publish over 1,000 original copyrighted articles during the past ten years on a wide range of topics of significant public interest. You have been an amazing, appreciative, very diverse, and extremely attentive audience of free-thinkers. My ability to interact with you directly, via our posted commentaries and private messages, has made me a better person and sharper journalist.  You have also been a constant source of knowledge, comfort, and strength for me. Above all, you have shown a world full of wannabe oligarchs, "bullshit" artists, perennial naysayers, corporate thugs, and mindless political hustlers that no amount of money or pressure can suppress the cold, hard, truth. People around the world are thirsty for the truth.  We strive to deliver it -- free -- with every article we publish. Every time my freedom of speech as a journalist has been threatened by sinister forces, you have rallied to support me. You have made it clear to the world that I am your voice on the things that matter in life. You have been the powerful guardians of my freedom. For this, I am deeply grateful. You have given me the greatest Christmas gift of all this year – your loyalty, love, and support on an unconditional basis.  You have traveled with me along the road to "Truth in Journalism" for the past 10 years.  You never abandoned me.  The cocoon of love you spun around me is priceless. May God continue to bless you and your families as we close out 2023, and may you have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I love you, always and forever!

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 23, 2023 An Editorial Opinion Financial mysteries are usually solved by following the money.  The money that is flowing into the private world of four Alabama A&M University trustees sheds much needed light on why an underfunded public HBCU has been silent about its efforts to collect the $527,280,064 debt owed to the university by the state of Alabama. For more than three months, an inquiring Alabama A&M Bulldog Nation has been wondering about the status of $527,280,064 the U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture say is owed to Alabama A&M by the state of Alabama.  These federal Departments notified Gov. Kay Ivey about this debt in a September 18, 2023, letter. In a letter, dated September 28, 2023, Gov. Ivey essentially disputed this debt.  She claims that Alabama A&M is not owed any money because the state has been more than fair in its funding of the school. Our confidential sources inside the State Capitol in Montgomery tell us the state has no intention of paying this $527,280,064 debt. The same defiant attitude that led to the state to resist the creation of a court-ordered second black Congressional district in June of 2023 is now causing the state to challenge the federal government's declaration that Alabama A&M is owed $527,280,064. Neither President Daniel K. Wims, nor Alabama A&M's board of trustees, has made any public statement about this $527,280,064 debt. Behind the scenes, however, a five-member executive committee of Alabama A&M's board of trustees has been interacting with President Wims about this matter and rubber-stamping Wims' failure and refusal to make a public demand for the full and immediate payment of this $527,280,064 debt. The executive committee also approved the hiring of a national law firm (MaynardNexsen) to send independent journalists like me a “Cease and Desist” letter demanding that we stop reporting on, and editorializing about, Alabama A&M’s failure to acknowledge and/or collect the $527,280,064 debt owed by the state. This executive committee is chaired by Board Chairman Roderick DeWayne Watts, a staunch Wims supporter.   The other four members of the executive committee are Kevin Ball, Scherrie Banks Pickett, Tiffany Johnson Cole, and Richard Crunkleton. Four of these five committee members have an apparent conflict of interest in this $527,280,064 debt collection matter.  These four trustees are helping President Wims and the school's other governing officials direct Alabama A&M's actions and inaction in this debt collection matter at a time when either they, or their family members, are getting money from the state for professional services rendered by them or their family's businesses and, in one case, a salary as a state employee. Despite their apparent conflicts of interest, these four executive committee members have been making moves in this debt dispute that have the operative effect of advantaging the state of Alabama at the expense of Alabama A&M. The Roderick Watts Factor: Trying to Faithfully Serve Two "Masters" at the Same Time Public records on Open Alabama Checkbook show that Board Chairman Roderick DeWayne Watts’ family has pocketed over $21 million from the state of Alabama since he joined the board in 2017.  Yet, Watts is chairing the executive committee that is determining whether Alabama A&M will launch a court fight over this $527,280,064 against the same state government that is making his family rich. As Chairman of the board, Watts appointed the other four members of the executive committee, which is the governing arm of the full board of trustees for those periods of time between the regularly scheduled 3-4 board meetings per year. Thus far, Watts' actions as executive committee chairman have benefitted the state of Alabama and Gov. Ivey, the person who controls the flow of annual multimillion payments to Enrestoration Inc. -- his family’s healthcare business. In 2020 and 2021, Enrestoration also pocketed $1,079,600 from the federal government’s COVID-related Payroll Protection Program (PPP).  This money was paid to Enrestoration in two annual installments.   The first payment of $539,800 occurred on May 7, 2020, to protect 87 jobs.  A second payment of $539,800 occurred on January 26, 2021, to protect 78 jobs. Oddly, the same $539,800 that needed to protect 87 jobs at Enrestoration in May of 2020 was needed again seven months later to protect the reduced number of 78 jobs.  We have not been able to reconcile why the same amount of payroll money was needed in 2021 for 9 fewer jobs. What is more, the federal government forgave $542,511 for Enrestoration’s first PPP loan (which includes accrued interest) on November 9, 2020 and forgave $543,504 for the company's second PPP loan (which includes accrued interest) on October 8, 2021.  As a result of this loan forgiveness, Enrestoration effectively pocketed $1,079,600 in free money, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. Interestingly, Enrestoration’s PPP loans and loan forgiveness occurred at a time when the company was pocketing $3,477,880.63 in 2020 and $2,600,353.52 in 2021 from the state of Alabama. Over a seven-year period, the Kay Ivey administration approved $21 million in payments of state funds to healthcare agency that does not appear to be accredited by any mental health accrediting agency and that had poor business review ratings. Three Other Executive Committee Members Have Ongoing Financial Ties to the State Executive committee member Tiffany Johnson Cole, who joined the board of trustees in 2018, has received legal fee payments from the state of Alabama for each year she has been on the board of trustees.   Between October and December 12, 2023, alone, Johnson received four payments from the state totaling $3,465. Committee member Kevin Ball is a member of a prominent South Alabama family that owns and operates a chain of healthcare facilities in Alabama.  Ball works for his family's business. I featured Ball in an October 25, 2023, article titled, “Federal Judge: Alabama A&M Trustee Kevin Ball’s Comments to Female Employee Were Not Appropriate.”  The Ball family business has pocketed money from the state of Alabama in four of the last five years.  The last reported payment to “Ball Healthcare-Jefferson Inc.” was made on May 11, 2023. Committee member Scherrie Banks Pickett is an Alabama State Department of Education employee who receives a regular annual salary from the state. Trustee Richard Crunkleton is the only executive committee member who does not appear to receive any money from the state as a vendor or employee. The Duty of Trustees to Recuse Themselves Whenever Apparent Conflicts of Interest Arise Once Gov. Ivey disputed Alabama A&M’s entitlement to the $527,280,064, trustees Watts, Cole, Ball, and Pickett had an affirmative duty to: (a) refrain from participating in any discussions with board members about this disputed debt, and (b) recuse themselves from taking part in any actions/inaction recommended by President Wims, by non-conflicted trustees, and/or by university attorneys regarding this matter.  This, they failed to do. Instead, these conflicted trustees authorized Alabama A&M's new group of lawyers to threaten inquiring journalists for the purpose of silencing our reporting and editorial voices in this matter. Meanwhile, the actions of Chairman Watts’ executive committee regarding this $527,280,064 debt remain shrouded in secrecy. The university's silence and the executive committee’s secrecy have caused a floodgate of suspicions and raised a host of red-flags about Alabama A&M efforts, if any, to collect its $527,280,064 debt from the state. Epilogue Whenever we follow the money in a situation where a traditionally underfunded HBCU is not aggressively seeking to collect a $527,2280,064 debt owed to it by a solvent debtor like the state of Alabama, either money has usually changed hands or a paralyzing fear has gripped the university's decision-makers. Nothing else makes sense. What makes Alabama A&M's subservient attitude and deferential conduct so concerning in this case is this simple fact: The university's badge of inferiority manifested itself within three months after the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged on June 8, 2023, in Mulligan v. Allen that, “Alabama’s extensive history of repugnant racial and voting-related discrimination is undeniable and well documented.” Against this backdrop, the executive committee’s shroud of secrecy on Alabama A&M's efforts to collect this $527,280,064 debt smells worse than a freshly opened barrel of one week-old dead alley rats. The U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. needs to conduct a full and thorough investigation into this entire matter. There are too many red-flags in this case for an inquiring public that has been intentionally kept in the dark by Alabama A&M. There is much more coming your way on this sad story after the Christmas holidays. Stay tuned!

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 22, 2023 An Editorial Opinion Social media Influencer Kenny Akers has one of the best explanations for the old Sambo caricature.  It explains why Alabama A&M University President Daniel K. Wims' apparent waiver of the school's $527,280,064 debt from the state of Alabama perpetuates the Sambo stereotype in the modern era. Here is what Kenny Akers said about the Sambo stereotype: “The Sambo stereotype -- rooted in racism and ignorance -- has had a profound impact on the perception and treatment of African-Americans throughout American history.  This enduring caricature, perpetuated by white slave owners, portrayed black men as simple-minded, docile, and content in their servitude. The origins of the Sambo stereotype can be traced back to the colonization of America, where African slaves were brought to work on plantations.  Slave owners, seeking to justify and maintain the institution of slavery, created and propagated this image of the “happy slave.”  By portraying black men as childlike and content with their enslavement, slave owners aimed to undermine any resistance or rebellion and maintain control over their human property. The Sambo stereotype was deeply ingrained in the fabric of American society during the era of slavery.  It was used to justify the brutal treatment and dehumanization of African-Americans, as it depicted them as inherently inferior and suited for servitude.  This degrading portrayal not only stripped black men of their agency and intelligence but also perpetuated harmful stereotypes that continue to affect perceptions of African-Americans today. The legacy of the Sambo stereotype extends beyond the era of slavery.  It has persisted throughout American history, influencing popular culture, media, and societal attitudes towards African-Americans.  The portrayal of black men as buffoonish, submissive characters in minstrel shows and other forms of entertainment further reinforced this damaging stereotype. The consequences of the Sambo stereotype are far-reaching.  It has contributed to the systemic racism and discrimination faced by African-Americans, limiting their opportunities for social and economic advancement.  The perception of black men as unintelligent and docile has perpetuated stereotypes that have led to racial profiling, unequal treatment in the criminal justice system, and limited access to educational and employment opportunities. Efforts to challenge and dismantle the Sambo stereotype have been ongoing. African-American activists, scholars, and artists have worked tirelessly to counter these harmful narratives and promote a more accurate and nuanced understanding of black identity and history.  By highlighting the achievements, intellect, and resilience of African-Americans, they have sought to challenge the dehumanizing portrayal perpetuated by the Sambo stereotype.” President Daniel Wims works tirelessly every day to reinforce the old Sambo stereotype in Alabama, rather than “challenge and dismantle it.” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is the national role model for Wims and others of his ilk who bring the Sambo caricature to life in the MAGA world. From a philosophical standpoint, Daniel Wims and Clarence Thomas are Siamese twins in the modern era. Both men got their current jobs even though they faced allegations of sexual harassment against women in the workplace. Both men are mired in controversy. Both men project a "happy slave" mentality. Both men are loved by their masters. Finally, Daniel Wims has successfully transformed Alabama A&M University from a premier institution of higher education into an attractive landing pad for aspiring next-generation Sambos and alleged sexual predators. As we close out the 2023 year, some people view this paradigm shift at Alabama A&M University as progress in Alabama and America. I view it as "buck dancing" buffoonery.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 21, 2023 An Editorial Opinion After three months of deafening silence on its plans to collect $527,280,064 that U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture declared on September 18, 2023, was due and owing to Alabama A&M University by the state of Alabama, the university is finally ready to fight in court. Alabama A&M has hired a national law firm – MaynardNexsen – and a team of lawyers to wage this court fight. According to a December 20, 2023, “Cease and Desist” letter from MaynardNexsen, the state of Alabama is NOT the opponent in this court fight.   This is NOT a court fight to collect Alabama A&M’s $527,280,064 debt from the state. No, that kind of court fight takes real courage, which Alabama A&M is sorely lacking. This is a legal fight to shut me up as an independent online journalist who cannot be bought.  Alabama A&M wants me to stop editorializing about this $527,280,064 debt and the school’s failure to collect it. Alabama A&M also wants me to remove my published editorial opinions relating to the $527,280,064 debt from the Internet. Additionally, Alabama A&M wants me to forego my First Amendment right to publish future articles and editorial opinions about Alabama A&M University. The threatening letter was sent to me after I published an article yesterday about Dr. Roderick Watts, Chairman of the Alabama A&M board of trustees, and his apparent conflict of interest arising from a legal dispute with the state over this $527,280,064 debt. Alabama A&M University is Threatening My Freedom of Speech as a Journalist Here are the pertinent excerpts from Alabama A&M’s threatening letter: “This law firm has been retained by Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University (Alabama A&M or the University) in connection with your defamatory and improper publications regarding Alabama A&M and members of its staff and leadership, including Dr. Daniel K. Wims (the Alabama A&M Parties). The Alabama A&M Parties have authorized us to send this pre-suit communication to you. You are publishing false, defamatory, and disparaging comments regarding the Alabama A&M Parties to the public, and this defamatory and disparaging conduct is not isolated, but is systematic, continuous and ongoing. There is no legitimate interest served in you continuing to smear the names of the Alabama A&M Parties on your internet postings, including the website DonaldWatkins.com and Facebook. We are ready to show-in court if necessary-that your postings are false and defamatory, including some that are defamatory per se, falsely accusing the Alabama A&M Parties of vile, improper conduct in statements that are intentionally harmful to their reputations..... In addition to false, defamatory and very disturbing statements about members of the faculty and staff and others associated with Alabama A&M, your internet postings specifically include false claims about the following: Dr. Wims having been terminated from prior employment positions; Dr. Wims having allegedly made improper sexual advances; Dr. Wims stating that Alabama A&M would not be seeking money from the State of Alabama; Dr. Wims having misled students, faculty, staff members, alumni and community supporters of Alabama A&M; Dr. Wims being a sexual predator; Dr. Wims having an addiction for sexual encounters with men and women; Dr. Wims exploring counseling options for a sexual addiction; as well as purposeful and malicious mischaracterizations of prior legal proceedings involving Alabama A&M. Because your statements have no basis in fact, your conduct violates well-established Alabama law. Alabama A&M's faculty members, staff and leadership are educated and respected professionals in the community and have spent many years building positive reputations. Your defamatory and disparaging conduct has already caused and is continuing to cause irreparable damage to the Alabama A&M Parties' reputations and character. In addition to the personal attacks, your postings are also intentionally targeting Alabama A&M' s business interests in attempts to interfere with its business relationships and harm its reputation. Therefore, the Alabama A&M Parties demand that you immediately cease and desist from engaging in any further activities that defame them, disparage their professional interests, or any further attempts to tortiously interfere with and harm the University's business, including the contractual relations of Alabama A&M.....” My Duty to Fight Alabama A&M's Unlawful Restrictions on Freedom of Speech As a professional journalist, I take every threat to freedom of speech very seriously.  This is particularly true when the suppressor of freedom of speech is a public institution in Alabama -- a state that arrests and jails journalists just like they do in Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China. The 1964 landmark case protecting freedom of speech for journalists – New York Times v. Sullivan – actually arose from a Montgomery, Alabama public official’s defamation claims against Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and four other black pastors who were leading the civil rights movement in the early 1960s. White public officials across the South used state court defamation claims as a tool of intimidation against Black activists.  Their goal was to stop Blacks from questioning and challenging the conditions of their second-class citizenship in the racially segregated South. Alabama A&M is doing the same thing here.  Alabama A&M is acting as a surrogate for the political forces in Alabama who seek to keep Black Alabamians downtrodden “from the cradle to the grave.”  This is why the target of Alabama A&M pre-litigation exercise is me, rather than the state of Alabama. The “Cease and Desist” letter is used as a tool for intimidation. You can read my response to Alabama A&M’s threat to curtail the exercise of my freedom of speech rights by clicking here. I am a freelance professional journalist with more than 900 copyrighted and published news articles and editorial opinions.  My published articles and editorials regarding the conduct of public entities and public officials conform to the legal principles enunciated in New York Times v. Sullivan and its progeny. I stand by the truth of the statements contained in the cache of editorial opinions referenced in Alabama A&M’s threatening letter, as well as my First Amendment right to express such opinions. I do not start fights, but I never run from them. This is especially true when it comes to protecting our First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 20, 2023 An Editorial Opinion Enrestoration, Inc., is a residential healthcare company that is dedicated to helping individuals with mental health and related challenges move toward recovery, health and greater independence through community living, meaningful work, and clinical care. Enrestoration offers a full range of care, with programs in Etowah County, Alabama and the surrounding counties for those ready for new challenges and structured transition. Enrestoration is a family-owned business that was originally incorporated on June 19, 1989 by distinguished nursing educator and businesswoman Roberto O. Watts. Roger William Watts, Sr. (her husband), and Roderick DeWayne Watts (her son).  It was dissolved on June 5, 1990. The Watts family incorporated Enrestoration, Inc., again on November 17, 1994. On July 7, 2022, Roberta and Roger Watts removed themselves as an "Incorporator/Member/Partner" in their individual names and substituted Target Management Trust as the “Director/Manager/Organizer Activity” and “Registered Agent.” The company also named Target Management Trust as a “Director” and Bethlehem Management as an “Incorporator.” Target Management Trust is an Alabama real estate investment trust that is housed in a commercial building owned by Roger Watts at 201 Wall Street in Gadsden. The beneficiaries of Target Management Trust are not disclosed in public records. Roberta Watts is still listed as Enrestoration’s corporate “Secretary," according to records maintained by the Alabama Secretary of State. Enrestoration is a "for profit" company. It is a completely separate and distinct entity from the Roberta O. Watts Medical Center owned and operated by Quality of Life Health Services, Inc. The Quality of Life entity is a private, "non-profit" 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Interestingly, the owners of Enrestoration are NOT listed anywhere on the company’s website. Likewise, neither the beneficiaries of Target Management Trust, nor the owners of Bethlehem Management, are listed on the company's website. However, the "Agency Experience" section of Enrestoration's website states that the company "is owned and operated by a highly qualified community/mental health nurse educator, University of Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame recipient, with a specialty in community mental health." These credentials fit Roberta O. Watts. Enrestoration Operates in a Stealth Mode Until it is Time to Collect a Vendor Payment from the State of Alabama. Enrestoration is a major healthcare provider to the Alabama Department of Mental Health. According to Open Alabama Checkbook. Enrestoration has received a whopping $21,227,483 from the state of Alabama in the last seven years fiscal years (running from Oct.1st through September 30th). The payments were doled out to Enrestoration during this period are as follows: 1.     $4,087,768.12 in 2017 2.     $3,695,568.25 in 2018 3.     $3,613,551.19 in 2019 4.     $3,477,880.63 in 2020 5.     $2,600,353.52 in 2021 6.     $1,972,204.36 in 2022 7.     $1,780,157.26 in 2023 Even when reporting Enrestoration's publicly available compliance information to the Alabama Department of Mental Health, the company only listed barebones information. Furthermore, the company’s reporting official only uses her first name, “Peggy.” Enrestoration is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau. In fact, it does not appear from the company's website that Enrestoration is accredited by any recognized accrediting agency in the mental health profession. Because Enrestoration, Inc., is an unaccredited, black-owned business that pockets annual multimillion dollar payments from Alabama taxpayers, the company's true owners and management team apparently felt a need to "fly under the radar" in order to avoid any public scrutiny of its company profile, services offerings, and substantial revenue streams. Roderick DeWayne Watts is an Heir Apparent to Enrestoration's Fortune Roberta and Roger Watts have two children, one of whom is Dr. Roderick DeWayne Watts. Dr. Watts is Chairman of the Alabama A&M University board of trustees.  I profiled Dr. Watts in an October 23, 2023, article titled, “Alabama A&M Board Agenda Omits Authorization to Collect $527 Million owed to University by State.” Even though Dr. Watts is an alumnus of Tuskegee University, Gov. Kay Ivey appointed him to the Alabama A&M board of trustees on May 16, 2017.  She likes him. Dr. Watts was reappointed by Ivey for a second term and was confirmed by the Alabama Senate on March 31, 2022. Dr. Watts is a staunch supporter of President Daniel K. Wims, despite Wims’ checkered employment record in higher education and a documented history of formal sexual harassment complaints filed against Wims by men and women employees in his workplace. In October 2021, Watts voted in favor of selecting Wims as Alabama A&M’s president over two more objectively qualified candidates for the job. Today, Dr. Watts leads a notoriously weak and ethically challenged board of trustees that is backing President Wims' refusal to collect the $527,280,064 debt owed to Alabama A&M by the state of Alabama. Dr. Watts and his board members have also acquiesced in Wims' rapid conversion of Alabama A&M from a respected institution of higher education into a hotbed of activities for MAGA operatives, a home for sexual predators in top management positions, and a platform for MAGA vendors to gouge the university for doing little to no work. We have confirmed that any hesitation by Dr. Watts in backing President Wims' refusal to collect the university’s $527,280,064 from the state of Alabama will result in the Department of Mental Health’s immediate cancellation of Enrestoration's multimillion dollar annual contracts for healthcare services to the state. This places Dr. Watts in an apparent conflict of interest situation. Instead of resigning to avoid his apparent conflict of interest, Dr. Watts decided to betray Alabama A&M University and Bulldog Nation in October by refusing to direct Wims, other university executive officers, and school attorneys to use all lawful means necessary to collect this $527,280,064 debt. Dr. Watts is not alone in his apparent conflict of interest. State money has also flowed to other trustees who support Wims' de facto waiver of this $527,280,064 debt. In a series of upcoming articles, we will expose the other pro-Wims trustees who have received vendor payments from the state of Alabama and who are backing Wims' refusal to collect this $527,280,064 debt. Like Dr. Watts, these conflicted trustees have knowingly and willingly placed their personal financial interests ahead of their sworn duty to secure, protect, and grow Alabama A&M’s portfolio of financial assets. Stay tuned as we expose the staggering conflicts of interest at Alabama A&M University that are preventing the institution from collecting its $527,280,064 debt.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 19, 2023 An Editorial Opinion In the wake of my December 18, 2023, article titled, “Alabama A&M’s Rod Steakley’s Political Group Seeks Ban on Equitable Funding for HBCUs,” top university officials are angry with me.    This article exposed how, when, and why Alabama A&M President Daniel K. Wims, university trustees (except for Trustee Nichelle Gainey), and the school's outside counsel (Rod Steakley) betrayed Bulldog Nation. On the advice of Attorney Rod Steakley and President Daniel K. Wims, Alabama A&M University has elected to waive collection of a $527,280,064 debt owed to the university by the state of Alabama.  This $527,280,064 represents the amount of money the university was underfunded by the state during the past 30 years, as determined by the U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture in September. On September 18, 2023, both federal agencies signed and delivered a letter to Governor Kay Ivey declaring that this $527,280,064 debt is due and owing to Alabama A&M. Since September 19, 2023, I have published 23 articles about this $527,280,064 debt. I have also been the featured guest on two Alabama-based talk radio shows to discuss this matter of significant interest to Black Alabamians. Legacy media organizations in the state, which have never valued the positive contributions made to the state by Alabama A&M and historically black Alabama State University, have published only one or two articles about this debt since September 18, 2023. Alabama A&M has paid MAGA Republican-affiliated public relations firms big bucks to suppress stories about this $527,280,064 debt in legacy media publications and their smaller, captive, black-owned media networking partners. "Setting Negroes Wild" Alabama A&M officials have privately accused me of “setting Negroes wild” over this $527,280,064 debt. As long as Alabama A&M officials waive the university’s collection of this debt, they will be liked by the MAGA officials who run Alabama.  Alabama A&M officials would rather betray Bulldog Nation than upset the MAGA power-players in Montgomery. For the proverbial "thirty pieces of silver," Alabama A&M's governing officials have dutifully assumed the role of Judas Iscariot in this unprecedented act of betraying an HBCU institution in Alabama. In their private discussions, MAGA officials in Montgomery have accused me of meddling in “white folks business.”  According to my confidential news sources inside state government, they already have the "niggers at A&M" under control. President Daniel Wims will be allowed to keep his job and certain trustees will be reappointed to another term on the board, if they ban together and waive the university's entitlement to this $527,280,064 -- which they have agreed to do. In "street" language, this is an epic "sellout" of Alabama A&M University. Black federal, state, and local elected officials in Alabama have been totally useless in this matter. More often than not, these officials are programmed to “whore” for white special interest groups, instead of fighting for the constitutional and civil rights of their political constituents. Unfortunately, Alabama A&M will never see a dime of this $527,280,064.  Only one trustee (Nichelle Gainey) has shown the backbone needed to fight for this money, and she has no support in this matter from her colleagues on the board of trustees. If you like and admire the Clarence Thomas style "leadership" for Black America, you will be pleased to know that a dozen or so mini versions of Clarence Thomas are running Alabama A&M University today. Meanwhile, I am “unbossed” and “unbought.”  I will continue to report the cold, hard truth about the cowardice of Alabama A&M University's governing officials, as well as their monumental acts of betrayal. In my book, any university president or trustee who will not secure and protect the financial assets of his/her school is not fit to serve in a leadership role.  If this viewpoint is “setting Negroes wild,” then so be it.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 18, 2023 An Editorial Opinion As we reported in November, longtime Alabama A&M University attorney Roderic G. “Rod” Steakley is a board member of the controversial Alabama Policy Institute.  In 2021, API funneled $1,077,500 to 1819 Media, LLC, to launch a multimedia organization called "1819 News." The co-founder, president, CEO, and publisher of 1819 News is convicted cocaine trafficker, serial motor vehicle thief, and attempted murderer, Kenneth Bryan Dawson. On the advice of Rod Steakley and President Daniel K. Wims, Alabama A&M University has elected to forego the collection of a $527,280,064 debt owed to the university by the state of Alabama. This debt is the amount the state underfunded Alabama A&M during the past 30 years, as calculated by the U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture in September. On September 18, 2023, both federal agencies signed a letter to Governor Kay Ivey declaring that this $527 million debt is due and owing to Alabama A&M. President Wims and his Board of Trustees members have never: (a) acknowledged this $527 million debt, (b) discussed it publicly, or (c) taken any steps to collect it.  One reason for their failure of leadership on this matter centers on Rod Steakley and his involvement with the Alabama Policy Institute. As a member of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project’s Advisory Board, the Alabama Policy Institute has endorsed and helps to implement a 920-page Presidential Transition Plan for Republican presidents called “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.” The Alabama Policy Institute is the first board member listed on page xi of the Mandate.  [Click here to read the full Mandate for Leadership]. The current version of the Presidential Transition Plan was initially prepared for Donald Trump’s Transition Committee in 2020 and was updated in 2023 by the right-wing, Washington-based Heritage Foundation. Should Donald Trump win the presidency in 2024 (which seems highly likely based upon recent national polling), the Presidential Transition Plan lays out the executive actions Trump should take on Day-One in five broad policy areas affecting all federal government operations.  One of these policy areas involves revamping the operation of the Departments of Agriculture (in Chapter 10) and Education (in Chapter 11). The Presidential Transition Plan calls for Trump to: (a) ban all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives mandated by these Departments, and (b) rescind all federal directives requiring states to provide the funding needed to remedy past discrimination against blacks and women in educational institutions that receive federal funds. The Departments of Education and Agriculture presently recognize the $527,280,064 debt owed to Alabama A&M by the state of Alabama.  They have also asked the state to pay Alabama A&M this money. These federal government actions are in direct conflict with the bans and rollback provisions being pushed by Attorney Rod Steakley, via his board membership in the Alabama Policy Institute and the Institute's membership on the 2025 Presidential Transition Project’s Advisory Board. Since the first edition of “Mandate for Leadership” more than 40 years ago, this “policy bible” for MAGA Republicans aims to provide their presidential administrations with a blueprint of policy solutions.  The Ronald Reagan administration implemented nearly half of the ideas included in the first edition by the end of his first year in office, while the Trump administration embraced nearly 64% of the 2016 edition’s policy solutions after one year. During his 2024 bid for election, Donald Trump has committed to implementing all of the policies in the Presidential Transition Plan for 2025. Alabama A&M Will Never Attempt to Collect Its $527,280,064 Debt from the State President Daniel Wims is a closet MAGA Republican and political flunky of Gov. Kay Ivey.  Wims has surrounded himself at Alabama A&M with flaming MAGA Republican operatives and lobbyists. Wims is marching in lockstep with Gov. Ivey, the Alabama Policy Institute, and the 2025 Presidential Transition Project’s Mandate for Leadership Conservative Promises. Rod Steakley is Daniel Wims’ wingman in this $527 million sellout of Alabama’s only historically black 1890 Morrill Act land grant university.   Steakley provides the legal cover Wims uses to: (a) snucker Bulldog Nation and (b) forego collection of Alabama A&M’s $527 million debt from the state. The only Alabama A&M trustee who has tried to get her university to (a) acknowledge the debt and (b) take all steps necessary to collect its $527 million is A&M alumnus and international businesswoman Nichelle Gainey, whose family has a proud tradition of serving America's national interests. Rod Steakley, who controls the university’s notoriously weak board of trustees, blocked a move by Trustee Gainey to place a resolution on the board’s October meeting agenda that would have authorized Alabama A&M to take all steps necessary to collect its money. Neither President Wims, nor any other member of Alabama A&M’s board of trustees, has supported Trustee Gainey’s efforts to pursue collection of Alabama A&M’s $527 million debt from the state. Alabama A&M Alumni and Supporters Have Been Hoodwinked After three months of inaction and evasive actions by Alabama A&M’s governing officials, Bulldog Nation finally realizes that it has been hoodwinked and sold out in this debt collection matter. No university official is going after Alabama A&M’s $527 million. In fact, President Wims sent word to Gov. Ivey on September 18, 2023, that Alabama A&M would not be seeking this money. For the past 90 days, President Wims has gaslighted and deliberately misled Alabama A&M students, faculty, staff members, alumni, and community supporters who questioned him about this $527 million debt by simply saying he is “working on something” when, in fact, Wims has already betrayed them on this matter. Now, Daniel Wims is stalling for time in the hope that Donald Trump will win the presidency in 2024 and officially nullify Alabama A&M’s entitlement to this $527 million after he takes office as president. In addition to being a Clarence Thomas-style MAGA operative, Daniel Wims is also an alleged sexual predator who reportedly has an addiction for sexual encounters with men and women. The university’s board of trustees enables Wims’ reported sexual promiscuousness by failing to properly supervise his conduct and protect Wims' sexual harrassment victims. Today, Daniel Wims is a deeply flawed and paranoid $400,000 per year Alabama A&M University president.  Wims, who is married, realizes that he has a sexual addiction to other people and has privately explored counseling options for this addiction. Epilogue President Daniel K. Wims and his board of trustees are not alone in their unwillingness to collect Alabama A&M’s $527 million debt from the state of Alabama.  Not one state legislator or black elected official in Alabama has opened his/her mouth to advocate for the collection of this debt. Yet, these same public officials fought “tooth and nail” to deliver up to $35 million in state and local taxpayer funding to financially destitute, private, and historically white Birmingham Southern College. What is worse, none of the 21 candidates running for Congress in the newly created 2nd District has offered any assistance to help Alabama A&M collect its $527 million debt from the state. As we can see in the 2025 Presidential Transition Project’s Mandate for Leadership, white conservative Americans tend to fight for what they believe in, which is a core value in our democratic society. In contrast, African-Americans tend to pray for what we believe in, which merely passes the burden of fighting for equal opportunity, equitable educational funding, and the fair administration of justice to God. As a people, we no longer fight for what rightfully belongs to us. Therein lies the real problem in this tragic situation.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 17, 2023 Bridget Zeigler is the wife of Christian Zeigler, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party.  Bridget and Christian Zeigler are Florida swingers who enjoy threesomes with their menage a trois lovers. The Zeiglers are proud parents of three children and power-players within the national Republican Party. In Florida, the Zeiglers hang out in Governor Ron DeSantis’ orbit. It is not known whether DeSantis and his wife "swing" with the Zeiglers, or not. It is well-known in Florida that Ron DeSantis loves being in Bridget Zeigler's company. Bridget Zeigler co-founded Moms for Liberty in 2021.  She also serves as a member of the Sarasota County School Board. Moms for Liberty is a conservative political organization that rails against public school curricula that mention LGBTQIA rights, race and ethnicity, critical race theory, and discrimination.  Multiple chapters of the organization are leading the charge to ban books from school libraries that address gender, racial matters, and sexuality. The Zeiglers are Embroiled in a Hot and Steamy Sex Scandal In addition to leading Florida's Republican Party, Christian Zeigler is also the designated suspect in a rape investigation by the Sarasota Police Department.  The alleged victim is a menage a trois lover that the Zeiglers had sex with a year ago. According to police documents, the Zeiglers videotaped their sexual encounter with this female lover. The swinging Zeiglers scheduled another threesome with the woman, but Bridget was not able to attend the planned tryst.  Bridget allowed Christian go alone to the woman’s home, as they obviously have an open marriage.  The woman claims Christian forced himself upon her after she declined to have sex with him without Bridget. The woman filed a police report on October 4, 2023, two days after the incident. A criminal investigation into this alleged rape is ongoing. Christian Zeigler denies that he raped the woman. Both Bridget Zeigler and the alleged rape victim have confirmed to police that they had a hot and steamy threesome with Christian Zeigler that was videotaped. It is unclear how long Moms for Liberty and the Florida Republican Party will publicly align themselves with Bridget and Christian Zeigler -- notorious swingers who obviously enjoy threesomes with menage a trois lovers, as well as one-on-one sexual encounters with others. As shown in the editorial cartoon below, the Zeiglers' sex scandal has inflicted massive reputational and public relations damage upon Moms for Liberty, the Sarasota County School Board, Ron DeSantis' GOP presidential campaign, and the Florida Republican Party. Meanwhile, Moms for Liberty continues its campaign to ban books from public schools that discuss any form of sexual behavior, sexual orientation, or the history of discrimination against Blacks, women, and other historically disadvantaged groups in America.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 16, 2023 An Editorial Opinion American women, you have been here before.  Once again, your body belongs to angry white men who exercise dominion and control over it. In many instances, you voluntarily submitted to this male dominion and control over your body. You are back in the Land of Dred Scott -- a special place where women have no rights which white men are bound to respect.  It took you a hundred years to arrive back at this awful place in America history, but you made it. For women who pay no attention to American history, Dred Scott is an 1857 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Blacks in America, whether freed or slaves, “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” Here is the exact context of this quotation from the Supreme Court's written opinion: "[African-Americans] had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. He was bought and sold, and treated as an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever a profit could be made by it." Like Blacks during the Dred Scott era, women in America had no rights that white men were bound to respect from the time the first colony was founded in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 until the late 1870s, when a husband’s legal right to (a) beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb, (b) pull her hair, (c) choke her, (d) spit in her face, (d) kick her about the floor, and (e) inflict upon her like indignities came to a fitting end through a series of landmark court cases around the nation. Women did not get the right to vote until 1920.  Furthermore, a husband’s legal right to rape his wife did not end until 1979. A proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution died in 1982 when only 35 states ratified it (out of the 38 states needed to become law). Today, women in America have legal rights on paper that are rarely enforced in the judicial system.   What is worse, women’s constitutional rights are being systematically stripped away from them, with impunity. Now, angry white men dictate what medical procedures women can have and what FDA-approved pills they can take.  These men, together with their subservient female accomplices, routinely threaten women and their doctors with criminal prosecutions over the medical procedures and pills they object to, even when women need the medical procedures to save their liives. Of course, women have no say-so whatsoever in any matter involving the reproductive rights of men. Whether a man gets a vasectomy, or not, is nobody's business and no government entity will ever regulate his personal medical choice in this regard. Likewise, whether a man takes Viagra, Cialis, Stendra, or whatever erectile dysfunction pills he needs to get it up is generally regarded as none of the government’s business. Furthermore, women have no say-so whatsoever in the decision of married male politicians in states where abortions have been banned to get their impregnated mistresses secret, on-demand, illegal abortions. Nobody discusses this unpleasant subject, even though many political friends and colleagues of the male paramour know about it. This sad paradigm will not change until and unless women change it.  Instead of asking for gifts of jewelry, clothes, or a trip to some exotic port of call this Christmas, women should demand that their men give them the gift of "love and respect" as a Christmas gift.  Often in life, the intangible gifts of "love and respect" are the hardest ones for men to give to the women they profess to love.