http://www.nnpa.org/news/lead/forced-budget-cuts-will-be-extra-harmful-to-blacks-by-freddie-allen/
http://www.nnpa.org/news/lead/unemployment-may-worsen-for-black-workers-by-freddie-allen/
CASH IN THE APPLE FOR
3-14-13
By Cash Michaels
Editor
HAPPY
11th ANNIVERSARY – A couple of years ago, my wife and I had to go to
court because someone was trying to lie and cheat us, and we decided not to
take it lying down.
When
it was my turn to take the stand (indeed the only time I’ve ever had to testify
in a court proceeding), the lawyer for the other side called himself testing my
memory about what I heard these folks tell my wife.
Then,
in the midst of questioning me, said lawyer, thinking he was Perry Mason or
something, all of a sudden asked me, under oath, what date my wedding
anniversary was.
Right
there, in open court, in front of the judge and jury.
Now
most married men, unless they’re concentrating on it at the time, don’t
remember their wedding anniversaries right off.
I
do, however, because Markita and I
have two.
But
to make sure I heard “Perry Mason” over there clearly, I asked him to repeat
the question.
“What
is the date of your wedding anniversary?” he asked, smiling like a Cheshire
cat, thinking that the next words out of his mouth would be, “ So you expect us
to believe that you remember word-for-word what was said at that door between
your wife and the plaintiffs, and you can’t even remember your own wedding
anniversary?”
Sorry
Perry, but NOT today foolboy!
“Actually,
our wedding day is June 15, 2002, but the day we got legally married was right
here in the Wake County Courthouse on March 22, 2002,” was my unexpected
answer, followed by a lion in the jungle grin.
“No
more questions …for this witness, Your Honor,” the exasperated “Perry Mason”
wannabe declared.
By
the way, one of the reasons why I remembered that conversation in the doorway
between the plaintiffs and my wife at our house is because I had secretly
recorded it.
After
they took the stand, and lied both their crooked behinds off, our attorney
introduced the cassette tape into evidence, played it in the courtroom, we won
the case, and the rest is history.
So
imagine what would have happened if I didn’t love my wife enough to remember
our anniversary, coming up on number 11 next week? It certainly impressed the
jury, I’m sure!
Anyway,
Happy 11th Anniversary and much love, Markita. Thank you for so many
years of happiness. And here’s hoping we don’t have to run into that foolboy
Perry Mason-wannabe ever again!
HONORED
– Even though I had a horrible cold, it was a pleasure to drive down to
Charlotte last Saturday morning to speak before the National Association of Black Journalists Region III Conference at
Johnson C. Smith University.
I
was asked to talk about “A Journalist’s Role in History: The Wilmington Ten,”
and I was very proud to do so, plus show a brief video of the pardons ceremony.
So
I want to thank WRAL-TV anchor/reporter Ken
Smith for inviting me, my colleagues in the Triangle Association of Black Journalists for having my back, and
all of the great television, radio and newspaper journalists from across the
South to attended and enjoyed the session. Thanks for the great hospitality.
THE
TROUBLE WITH TRUTH – Recently there was a big controversy over the Lifetime
cable TV movie, “Betty and Coretta,” the fictionalized story about Betty Shabazz and Coretta Scott King,
the widows of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. respectively, and how they formed a common bond, and grew
as leaders in their own right after the assassinations of their husbands.
The
controversy surround the fact that the producers did not consult with either
the Shabazz or King families to at least get their facts straight, and they did
this deliberately because, quite frankly, they didn’t want to get their facts
straight. The producers wanted the most dramatic story possible, so they used
certain facts in the public record as a guideline, and then just made up the
rest.
The
same was said about “Argo,” this year’s Academy Award winner for Best Picture.
Though based on an extraordinary story about how the CIA sneaked Americans out
of Iran in 1979, again, there were scenes in the movie that did not happen,
like the famous police chase at the airport, for example.
Indeed,
many of the movies that have come out in recent years about famous people and
events are so riddled with inaccuracies deliberately – films like “Ray” about
singer Ray Charles; “Malcolm X”
starring Denzel Washington; heck even
the recent “Lincoln” by director Steven
Spielberg, fudged the facts for dramatic effect.
And
that’s what makes the recent headlines about the family of late singer Marvin Gaye asking actor Jesse L. Martin (of “Law and Order”)
not to portray Marvin in an upcoming film.
The
family says because they don’t like the direction the film will take, and how
it will portray the life of one of the greatest legends in music history, they
don’t want it made. Singer/actor Lenny
Kravitz bowed out, and they’re encouraging Jesse L. to do the same.
Here’s
my problem with all of this. As a journalist, and a producer of films, I would
want the family to be involved in the project, for the simple reason that I
wouldn’t want them publicly against it. Plus, I feel they have some right to
help shape what ultimately comes out.
But
at the same time, as the producer and filmmaker, I want the artistic freedom to
express what I feel is important about the subject, my vision. If someone else
wants to explore another area of the same subject, they can be my guest. But if
there is something that I know, and want to chronicle, either dramatically or
otherwise, then I should have the right to do so.
By
the way, I’m talking movies, not documentaries, which, in my opinion, must give
us a complete fact-based accounting of a subject or event without excuses.
I
understand the fictional filmmaker wanting to dramatically craft something his
or her way. That is freedom of expression, and that’s important.
But
then I also understand the family’s zeal to protect the legacy of a loved one.
So
I don’t know what’s going to happen with the Marvin Gaye movie. If you read
David Ritz’s book, “Divided Soul,” the autobiography of Marvin Gaye, then you
know that the singer’s volatile life of drugs and sex and dysfunction really
doesn‘t need a dramatization because the bare facts are explosive enough.
But
let’s see what happens. Whatever happens, I just hope it does justice to the
legend.
And
I hope Jesse L. does it.
Make sure you tune in every Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m.
for my talk radio show, ''Make It Happen'' on Power 750 WAUG-AM, or online
at www.myWAUG.com.
And read more about my thoughts and opinions exclusively at my blog, ‘The Cash
Roc” (http://thecashroc.blogspot.com/2011/01/cash-roc-begins.html).
I promise it will be interesting.
Cash in the Apple - honored as the Best Column Writing
of 2006 by the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Columnist Cash
Michaels was also honored by the NNPA for Best Feature Story Journalist of
2009, and was the recipient of the Raleigh-Apex NAACP’s President’s Award for
Media Excellence in Sept. 2011.
Until next week, keep a smile on your face, GOD in your
heart, and The Carolinian in your life. Bye, bye.
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CRITICS SAY VOTER
PHOTO ID
PROBLEM FOR MAIL-IN
BALLOTS
by Cash Michaels
editor
No State shall make or enforce any law which
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;
nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor deny to any
person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th
Amendment
Progressive
and Democratic opponents call it the “sales pitch,” the so-called “deliberative,
responsible and interactive” process House Republicans say they have put in place
regarding a new state voter photo ID law that they could pass anytime they
want, thanks to their supermajorities in the NC General Assembly.
Once
the law is in place, argue groups like the NC NAACP, the Republicans can
legally suppress the votes of blacks, Latinos, and other groups in future electionswho lean
Democrat, but don't necessarily have photo IDs.
The state Board of Elections estimates there are at least 600,000 registered North Carolina voters without official government photo identification.
The
GOP counters that the number is much, much less, and that voter fraud at the polls, regardless of how negligible it is,
must be fought vigorously in order to protect the “integrity” of the system. Thus, the month-long process examining the proposed legislation.
Indeed,
hearings began Tuesday on the measure, featuring arguments both pro and con. While proponents argued that "common sense" demanded voter ID as an important safeguard, opponents noted previous GOP attempts also cut One Stop/Early Voting periods, eliminate Sunday "Souls to the Polls" voting, and fail to us federal dollars to expand the number of voting sites at election time.
The GOP assures that its voter ID efforts will make for better elections.
The GOP assures that its voter ID efforts will make for better elections.
But
there is one issue the Republicans admittedly haven’t yet figured out how to
get around -
what
to do about the ones who vote by mail? Their mail-in ballot is just as legal as
the one cast in person, and yet, such a law would have no way of requiring the
same photo ID standard, say critics.
In
many of the over 30 states with voter photo ID laws, like Arizona and Georgia,
voters are not required to show anything when submitting their ballots via the
post office. And yet, Republicans in those states have said little, and done nothing,
to address the inequity, leaving themselves open to constitutional challenge.
Constitutional
because, legal experts say, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment to the US Constitution specifically requires the no state, “… shall make or
enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of
the United States…nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.”
Some
constitutional scholars, like UNC-Chapel Hill law Professor Gene Nichol, say
that unless NC Republican lawmakers come up with a way to put the same burden
of identity proof on mail-in voters that they insist in-person voters carry,
then any NC voter photo ID law is heading to federal court.
"Equal application is a demand in
constitutional cases, and absentee-by-mail balloting is a strong potential challenge
to the new photo voter ID laws,” Prof. Nichol says. “The state would have a
significant burden of justification."
Conservative supporters of North
Carolina’s proposed voter photo ID law don’t see the looming constitutional
question.
“North Carolinians are already required
to show ID (though not necessarily a photo ID) when voting for the first time
under certain conditions,” says John Hood, president of the John Locke
Foundation, a Raleigh-based conservative think tank. “There is precedent, in
other words, for treating some voters differently than others with regard to
voter ID requirements.”
Hood continued, “I also believe that other states with ID
requirements have had them upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years,
suggesting that an equal-protection argument against such requirements might
face an uphill climb.
Hood added that he personally
believed that there should be ID requirements placed on absentee mail-in
ballots, like sending a copy of one’s driver’s license back with the ballot.
“I believe several states
already require proof of identification before issuing or counting absentee
ballots,” Hood said.
That maybe because many states
are increasingly discovering that if there is any voter fraud that has proven
to be worthy of concern, it is not happening at the polls, but through the
mail.
According to a New York Times story last October
titled, “Error and Fraud at Issue as Absentee Voting Rises,” noted, with absentee balloting
dramatically on the upswing - accounting for upwards of 20 percent of the total
vote all across the nation - so is the opportunity to commit voter fraud.
“…[V]otes cast by mail are less likely to
be counted, more likely to be compromised and more likely to be contested than
those cast in a voting booth, statistics show,” The Times report noted after an investigation. “Election officials
reject almost 2 percent of ballots cast by mail, double the rate for in-person
voting.”
The Times story added,
“While fraud in voting by mail is far less common than innocent errors, it is
vastly more prevalent than the in-person voting fraud that has attracted far
more attention, election administrators say.”
Rep. David Lewis [R-Harnett], co-chair of
the House Elections Committee, says that absentee balloting is actually safer
because the “professionals” in the local county boards of election offices give
close scrutiny to each and every mailed-in ballot that comes in, paying
particular attention to the signature.
But critics ask how is that different from
when voters have to sign in when they vote in person, acknowledging that if
they’re committing a fraud, they are committing a felony.
In both instances, the voter’s signature,
certifying that they are who they say they are, is the only verification of
identity. To require addition photographic evidence for one, and not the other,
runs contrary, they say, to equal protection.
During a press conference last week,
NCNAACP Pres. Rev. William Barber blasted what he saw was an overall attack on
voting rights, calling the proposed voter photo ID bill “the new NC poll tax”
on voters of color, women and the elderly.
“This is what hypocrisy looks like,”
Barber said. “The multi-racial, re-emerging Southern Freedom Movement in North
Carolina is what democracy looks like.”
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR
3-14-13
STATE DEMOCRATIC
PARTY CHAIR BLASTS GOP FOR “WAR ON POOR”
[RALEIGH]
Blasting Gov. Pat McCrory for signing
the bill top stop Medicaid expansion, and the GOP-led state Legislature
for failing to extend the Earned Income Tax Credit, and slashing unemployment
benefits, state Democratic Party Chairman Randy Voller this week accused the
Republicans of carrying out a “systematic war on the poor.” “From raising taxes on our working families, to rejecting quality
healthcare for North Carolinians, what we’re seeing play out here is a
philosophy of taxing the poor to feed the rich—it’s an unfair and unbalanced
approach to so-called ‘fiscal responsibility,’” Voller said.
BILL WOULD MAKE GUN
OWNER PERMIT INFO PRIVATE
[RALEIGH]
If some GOP lawmakers have their way, no longer will personal information about
a gun owner’s permit be made available publicly by local sheriff’s departments.
North Carolina is one of ten states where gun permits are currently public
looking to change course. Currently, 28 states keep gun permit info private.
BILL WOULD ESTABLISH CHEAPER SAME-DAY SURGERY CENTERS
[RALEIGH]
Hospitals across the state are up in arms over a Republican-sponsored bill
that, if made law, would allow for same-day surgery center that did routine
operations to be established. Sponsors say the centers would ultimately be
cheaper, but the NC Hospital Association says there would be no savings. The bill pushes for more competition to
drive down surgery costs. The state restricts the number of surgical rooms.
-30-
TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS
FOR 3-14-13
FOURTH DISTRICT
CONGRESSMAN PRICE AT CHAVIS CENTER SATURDAY
Congressman
David Price will be at Chavis Community Center in Southeast Raleigh on
Saturday, March 16, 2013 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. Individuals experiencing problems
with Social Security disability, veteran, Medicare, IRS issues, etc., can come
and speak directly with the congressman. Congressional staff will be on hand to
set up casework for constituents that have concerns. For more information,
contact Sonia Barnes at 919-859-5999.
SEN. HUNT FILES
COUNTY “POWER GRAB” BILL OF SCHOOL PROPERTIES
As
expected, state Sen. Neal Hunt [R-Wake] filed a bill last week that not only
gives county commission boards across the state ownership and control of local
school system buildings and properties, but would also, if passed, deny any
real say in school construction, unless asked. The bill grew out of growing
tensions between the Democrat-led Wake County School Board and GOP-led Wake
County Commission Board. The bill is expected to sail through the state Senate
and House. Wake School Board Chairman Keith Sutton called the bill a "power grab."
VETERAN BILL FLETCHER
APPOINTED TO WAKE SCHOOL BOARD
By
a 6-2 decision, the Wake School Board appointed board veteran Bill Fletcher to
fill out the remaining term of Debra Goldman, who left the county several weeks
ago. Fletcher, a Republican who lives in Cary, served on the board back in
the1993 to 2005, and also ran unsuccessfully for state superintendent. He says
he still backs diversity in student assignment.
SUPPORTERS VOW TO GET SHIRLEY VENABLE'S JOB BACK
Supporters of Shirley Venerable, a 10-year veteran of the City Of Raleigh's Sanitation Dept who was fired 18-months ago, rallied in front of City Hall Monday, and vowed to come back every week until City Manager J. Russell Allen gives her her job back. Venerable was accused of threatening a supervisor, a charge that she denies. The NC Public Service Workers Union says the Raleigh Civil Service Commission is stacked against workers when grievances come before them. The Raleigh City Council said it will look into that charge. Meanwhile Venerable's home is in foreclosure, and her daughter has had to leave college.
SUPPORTERS VOW TO GET SHIRLEY VENABLE'S JOB BACK
Supporters of Shirley Venerable, a 10-year veteran of the City Of Raleigh's Sanitation Dept who was fired 18-months ago, rallied in front of City Hall Monday, and vowed to come back every week until City Manager J. Russell Allen gives her her job back. Venerable was accused of threatening a supervisor, a charge that she denies. The NC Public Service Workers Union says the Raleigh Civil Service Commission is stacked against workers when grievances come before them. The Raleigh City Council said it will look into that charge. Meanwhile Venerable's home is in foreclosure, and her daughter has had to leave college.
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