http://nnpa.org/black-farmers-finally-collect-in-1-2-billion-in-discrimination-case-by-freddie-allen/
http://nnpa.org/supreme-court-hears-michigan-challenge-to-affirmative-action-by-george-e-curry/
MONDAY, OCT. 28TH
IS DEADLINE FOR PUBLIC COMMENT ON EUGENICS CASES
The
public has until Monday, Oct. 28th, to weigh-in on how the state of
North Carolina should handle claims by those who were victims of the state’s
infamous forced sterilization program , otherwise known as eugenics.
The
NC General Assembly set aside $10 million to compensate an estimated 1,800
eugenics victims – mostly poor white and black women from 1929 through 1974. Many
have already died. Thus far only 146 have been located. Family members of those
who have deceased are not eligible for payments.
Claims
for payments will be administered by the NC Industrial Commission, and payments
will be made starting in June 2015.
Public
comments may be sent to Abigail M. Hammond by email at abigail.hammond@ic.nc.gov, by fax to
919-715-0282, or by mail to 4336 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4336.
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MEDIA
CASH IN THE APPLE
10-24-13
By Cash Michaels
DON’T
FORGET LYNNETTE’S MAHALIA JACKSON SHOW – Don’t forget, mark it down, this
Sunday, Oct. 27th, 4 p.m. at Lincoln Park Holiness Church at 13
Heath Street in Raleigh, Lynnette Barber sings gospel legend Mahalia Jackson In
Concert.
I
told you last week that this is an event not to be missed. If you enjoy great
gospel music like they used to do in the old days (when folks really knew how
to sing), then you simply can’t afford to miss this one.
Lynnette’s
rendition of Mahalia Jackson songs is spot on. It’s the second time that she’s
done this show at Lincoln Park Holiness Church, where she’s been a member of
the past 27 years. It was a big hit then, so Lynnette is bringing it back
again.
You
may recall last week that I wrote that Lynnette is singing the theme to the
NNPA/CashWorks HD Production documentary presentation of “Pardons of Innocence:
The Wilmington Ten.” So you know she has to be the best if we have her opening
our film.
So
don’t hear about it the day after. Make sure you’re there to see it for
yourself. Lynnette Barber sings Mahalia Jackson In Concert, this Sunday, Oct.
27th, 4 p.m. at Lincoln Park Holiness Church, 13 Heath Street in
Raleigh.
There
is no admission charge, but feel free to bring a little somethin’ to put in the
plate. You won’t be sorry!
And,
in case, you’re wondering, why am I pushing this program so much? Because when
I know that a talent from our community is THAT good, I want you to know it
too, and SUPPORT that talent!
Cool?
GOODBYE,
IRONSIDE – The show never really had a chance. Last week, NBC announced that it
was canceling the new show, “Ironside” starring Blair Underwood. It was a
remake of the old 1970’s Raymond Burr series about a police detective paralyzed
and confined to a wheelchair while he and his team solve crimes.
The
original “Ironside” lasted on NBC for at least five years.
Underwood’s
new “Ironside” only made it on the air for three weeks before the plug was
pulled, and mercifully so. Coming after the still powerhouse, “Law and Order:
SVU,” “Ironside” was pulling the kind of ratings you only see on the Paint
Drying Channel. To say the
audience didn’t buy is an understatement.
Raymond
Burr was an old, stodgy white guy whose wise demeanor and considerable girth
made him perfect to play someone who was wheelchair-bound.
Blair
Underwood is still a sexy black actor who has a lot of action left in him. It
was very hard for audiences to accept him solving crimes from a wheelchair, let
alone knocking out bad guys and going cuddles (or more) with the ladies.
Besides,
there wasn’t anything special about the crimes he was solving, plus, “Ironside”
was competing with the everlasting CBS procedural “CSI,” which surprisingly
still has some life in it.
The
other show NBC quickly cancelled was “Welcome to the Family.” Don’t ask me what
it was about or who was in it. I don’t know, and now, never will.
BIG
FLOP – Wow! Every time I turned on my TV to watch something, I couldn’t get
away from seeing that commercial from the film, “The Fifth Estate” over and
over and over again. The film is about Julian Assange, the international
activist and head of WikiLeaks who disclosed a good deal of US intelligence
before hiding in a foreign government’s embassy to escape sexual misconduct
allegations that he denies.
Well,
there have been a lot of flops this year, but apparently none bigger than “The
Fifth Estate,” which on its opening weekend brought in only $1.7 million after
debuting in over 1,500 theaters. That’s less than $1,000 per theater, and the
flick between $26 million and $30 million to make, not counting production
costs. That’s a poor return on the investment, folks. Looks like we won’t be
seeing anymore more political thrillers based on real life events anytime soon!
OH
SAM – Have you seen that new Samuel L. Jackson credit card commercial where he
actually says, “Damn”? It is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone use the
word, “Damn” in a commercial. Check it out. It is funny!
REPUBLICANS,
FIGHT FOR YOUR PARTY – Monday I was in Fayetteville doing an on-camera
interview with former Secretary of Correction Rev. Aaron Johnson for the upcoming
film, “Pardons of innocence: The Wilmington Ten.” Rev. Johnson served on North
Carolina’s Good Neighbor Council during the early 1970’s, and went to
Wilmington in early 1971 hoping to end tensions between boycotting black high
school students and white authorities. Johnson tells that story and more in his
book, “Man from Macedonia.”
After
we finished what I think was an excellent interview, Rev. Johnson and I spent a
few minutes talking politics, since he is a black Republican. I wanted to get
his take on the recent federal government shutdown spurred by the Tea Party
movement in Congress.
As
you know, the House finally agreed to a last-minute 90-day deal to reopen the
government and stave off a default on the national debt last week right before
the deadline. The 16-day stunt by the Tea Party ended up costing the United
States economy $24 billion.
Rev.
Johnson is an old-school “Christian” Republican, and rightly so. He made it
clear that he doesn’t not agree with the tactics of the Tea Party wing of his
party, who have an admitted hatred of Pres. Obama and his policies. But even in
the midst of all of that, Johnson still believes that African-Americans have a
place in the Republican Party, and should join in order to help fight against
the Tea Party.
Johnson
is earnest in his belief that if more blacks joined the GOP, the party of old
white men would have to change its ways and start speaking to the community’s
needs in earnest.
He
also talked about how, through the years, he has been maligned in the community
for being a black Republican, particularly when he would run for local office.
Rev. Johnson said it was unfair, but he also agreed that when party leaders
screw up, that puts a burden on him and other black Republicans to have to
address it in some fashion.
Rev.
Johnson admits that there are problems between the Republican Party and the
African-American community, but he also makes clear that there have
historically been problems between blacks and the Democratic Party as well. He
holds firm that because the Democrats hold the lion’s share of black voters,
the party still takes the African-American support for granted, and does little
to speaks to our needs.
And
Rev. Johnson reminds all as to Republican Party support in Congress for the
1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act. At a time when so-called
“Dixiecrats” from the South stood against civil and voting rights for blacks,
the Republicans stood firm for it, Johnson maintains. Indeed, things did not
change politically until President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed both laws, thus
losing Southern white males, who then went to the GOP, and have basically been
there ever since.
Rev.
Johnson agreed that one of the vital things that is missing today is civil
political discourse. One could argue that that’s because of the brutal echo
chamber that is cable television, with its loud, combative TV talk shows on
both the right and the left.
Plus,
the country is very angry, right now, fed up with everyone in Washington. Folks
have taken sides, and instead of seeking compromise in order to make sure that
the country is best served, they are digging in their heels, not giving an
inch, and demanding to rule over the whole pot.
This
is not the way it should be, Rev. Johnson says. He maintains that he is not for
Republican or Democrat, but for what is ultimately right, regardless of party.
If
only people could talk with each other, and to each other, again, and not at
each other.
Rev.
Johnson and I may differ politically, but we do certainly agree on the
desperate need for things to improve in our nation, and among ourselves as a
citizenry. When we hate each other to the point of being willing to shutdown
the government and hurt others, that shows that we all have a lot of growing up
to do.
Thank
you, Rev. Johnson. It was great talking with you, sir.
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BUTTERFIELD, PRICE
BLAST
GOP FOR SHUTDOWN
By Cash Michaels
Editor
The
long national nightmare that was the 16-day federal government shutdown is
over, but according to North Carolina Democratic congressmen G.K. Butterfield
and David Price, the reasons for it have not been solved, and the people behind
it aren’t finished.
Indeed,
after costing the American economy over $24 billion and bringing the nation to
the very edge of default on the national debt, Republican Tea Party members of
Congress like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows
say they’re only just beginning to fight what they say is the ‘evil’ of
President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (aka ‘Obamacare’), and runaway federal
spending.
The
US Senate bill that the House begrudgingly passed last week to end the shutdown
and stave off default on the federal debt ceiling is only a 90-day reprieve to
buy time for Republicans and Democrats in Congress to come to a mutual budget
agreement that cuts spending, but raises revenue.
If
they can get there.
Rep.
Butterfield [D-NC-1], who calls the shutdown a “unfortunate tragedy,” is not
sure that they can.
The
federal government is running a $17 trillion debt, with a deficit between $500
billion and $1 trillion per year. Butterfield says there’s no question that
something needs to be done to cut the deficit, and Democrats in the House,
where the budget is devised, have been trying to work with the Republican
majority on ways to cut the deficit without further hurting social programs that
aid the nation’s poor.
After
the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, where House Republicans first refused to raise
the federal government’s ability to pay its bills, Pres. Obama agreed $2
trillion from the budget over the next ten years in what has become known as
sequestration.
But
weeks ago, when it was known that the debt ceiling was due to be raised again,
House Republicans, spurred as always by their 40-member conservative Tea Party
contingent who were elected to Congress to curb federal spending, demanded not
only more cuts, Rep. Butterfield said, but also serious changes in the
Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as “ACA” or “Obamacare”) that would
effective cripple the health care program.
“They
are so loud, so mean and so vicious…they hate Pres. Barack Obama, they hate
Obamacare and would do anything in their power to discredit the law and the
man,” the First District congressman said.
Indeed,
published reports allege that one Republican House leader, during a meeting at
the White House during the crisis, told the president that he couldn’t stand
the sight of him.
Butterfield
said Democrats said no to the GOP demand, and the president stood firm that
discussions about changing ACA was off the table until a continuing resolution
(CR) to continue to fund the government had been passed without strings
attached, and the debt ceiling raised.
“We
were very proud that he took this stand, and drew that red line in the sand,”
Congressman Butterfield said.
The
16-day near national catastrophe which followed, where House Republicans caved
at the last minute to a Senate measure which reopened the government and
temporarily raised the debt ceiling, was the result of national poll numbers
showing the American public holding the House Republicans primarily responsible
for the pain and grief being felt as a result.
Rep.
Butterfield says even though both the House and Senate are in conference now to
try and reach some “grand bargain” agreement before the Jan. 15th
deadline arrives, another confrontation could occur if both sides can’t see
eye-to-eye by then.
“Sequestration
is still the law of the land, and every year (for the next ten years) a
discretionary pot of money will be cut by some eight or nine percent. Why is
that important? Because discretionary programs are what we depend on in the
African-American community. Support for public education in low-income
communities. It’s Headstart and daycare vouchers; its public housing and
nutrition programs…everything we depend on in our communities,” Butterfield
said. “And discretionary programs are under attack. The grand bargain is going
to be very painful, and everybody is going to have to give up something,”
meaning that the Republicans will have to bend on raising revenues, and rich
people will have to pay more in taxes.
‘The
path forward is that the Tea Party must go away, and the mainstream Republicans
must defy the Tea Party element of their party,” Rep. Butterfield says, adding
that jobs must be created. Private industry is sitting on $2 trillion that must
be invested to expand the economy, and create those jobs.
Butterfield
says Republican House Speaker John Boehner “caved” to the Tea Party, thus
allowing the shutdown crisis to occur, and he will never forget it.
Butterfield
says North Carolina voters need to pay closer attention to what is going on in
Washington, discuss it, and then act when the 2014 elections come next year.
For his part, Fourth District
Congressman David Price [D-NC-4] is focused on why, during the 16-day federal
shutdown when federal workers were furloughed and funding for various federal
programs stopped, that North Carolina was the only state out of 50 that would
not step in to temporarily prop up vital social service programs like WIC
(Women, Infants and Children), which provides food vouchers for poor families,
and TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), a Work First welfare
assistance program.
Only
after a torrent of criticism did the NC Dept. of Health and Human Services find
the funding to keep the WIC program going through the shutdown, but DHHS
suspended TANF, maintaining that it could not do anything about it.
Congressman
Price was not pleased.
“My
concern was that North Carolina, alone among the fifty states, was putting its
most vulnerable citizens at risk,” Price told The Carolinian during a phone interview last week. State officials
had received assurances that no matter how long the federal shutdown took, that
the federal funding per those programs would reimburse any dollars the state
put out.
But
the McCrory Administration, as it did when it refused to extend Medicaid
benefits to 500,000 poor North Carolinians, said that it didn’t trust that the
Obama Administration would keep its word to pick up the costs.
“It
seems to me there was no reason for the state to cut these people off,” Rep.
Price said, adding that thus far, the McCrory Administration has not responded
to a letter he sent them asking for justification.
“This
is a script that we’re getting pretty familiar with, and it’s unfortunate,”
Price said. “I defy anyone to show me an example where the federal government
has reneged on its share of Medicaid.”
“I
just think the McCrory Administration, I have to conclude, they’re just making
excuses. They don’t like health care reform, they certainly don’t like the
president, …but to say that the reason is we don’t trust the federal
government, hoping to play into that cynicism on the public’s part, I think is
reprehensible.”
Rep.
Price acknowledged that the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), thus far,
has been a rough one, with the www.health.gov
website not properly functioning, frustrating millions of people hoping to take
advantage of the health insurance exchanges in their states to get coverage at
the cheapest rate possible.
On
Monday Pres. Obama acknowledged the problems, offered no excuses, and vowed to
have the glitches fixed in a timely manner. House Republicans, who are
vehemently opposed to the ACA, have called for hearings into the problems.
Price
indicated that with such an immense program, problems could be automatically expected
in the very beginning. He said the healthcare program could have been much
simpler if it were just Medicaid for everyone, or a single-payer system.
But
because the Republicans insisted in 2009 that the private insurance industry
remain the primary provider of health care coverage, the ACA was designed
accordingly, thus making it more complicated.
Congressman
Price says now thanks to the GOP opposition, in addition to the ACA website
problems, it is now twice as hard to make it work than before.
The
Fourth District Democrat called the McCrory Administration’s refusal to allow
Medicaid coverage to be extended to a half million North Carolinians, “…is
really a disgrace to this state. I can’t put it too strongly.”
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS 10-24-13
MCCRORY
ADMINISTRATION DENIES VOTER LAW BIAS
[RALEIGH]
Despite charges and lawsuits from the NCNAACP and other progressive groups,
Gov. Pat McCrory and his attorneys deny that new restrictive election reform
laws passed by the Republican-controlled NC General Assembly violate the
constitutional rights of African-Americans. Attorneys for the state Monday responded
to two of the three federal lawsuits filed against the state alleging that GOP
lawmakers knew that voter ID and other laws they ratified would negatively
impact black voters. McCrory says the “common sense” laws are designed to
combat fraud. The NCNAACP counters that there is little evidence of voter fraud
that requires voter ID.
MCCRORY’S SPENDING
QUESTIONED
[RALEIGH]
First it was bloated state salaries for two former campaign workers. Now it’s
tens of thousands of dollars spent on bathrooms for his office and living
quarters that Gov. Pat McCrory is having a hard time answering for. Published
reports indicate that the Republican governor spent $19,000 in taxpayer money
to remodel a small bathroom in his state office bathroom because of a “bad
smell.” That news came on the heels of reports of McCrory canceling plans to
renovate six bathrooms in the Executive Mansion at the cost of $230,000, after
word got out that he accepted that bid because it was the lowest. At least
$100,000 of the work would have included fancy décor. McCrory spokesperson Kim
Genardo said the work was needed because of none of it was fixed by the previous
governor, meaning Democrat Beverly Perdue. Because of the uproar, Genardo said
the work and cost had been scaled back.
EMBATTLED REP. ELMERS
GETS TWO DEMOCRATIC CHALLENGERS
[DUNN]
Tea Party Congresswoman Renee Elmers [R-NC-2], who got in trouble with her
conservative base for not initially supporting the federal government shutdown,
and then got in trouble again for saying, “I need my money” when asked if she
would do without her paycheck while federal workers were furloughed, is now
seen as being vulnerable for re-election in 2014. Two Democrats have already
announced that they will vie for her seat. Houston Barners, the owner of a business
law firm in the RTP, announced this week that he seeks Elmers job. Barnes joins
former state Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco in vying for the Elmers seat.
Meanwhile, more trouble for the congresswoman. Dunn police are probing an
apparent break-in at Elmers home, from where an AR-15 assault weapon was taken.
-30-
POISONOUS SNAKES ARE
OUT BEFORE HIBERNATION
If you’ve lived in North Carolina
for a while, you know to expect to see snakes crawling around starting during
the spring when they come out of hibernation in time for mating season. But
what many people don’t reason is that snakes of all stripes stick around even
as late as October, looking for one last meal before going back into
hibernation. A Raleigh boy was bitten by a copperhead snake this week near
Glenwood Avenue, and had to be hospitalized. Experts say watch out for snakes
in your surroundings in the coming weeks, and if you see any, leave them alone,
and they won’t bother you.
DURHAM SCHOOL BOARD
CANCEL’S SUPT.’S CREDIT CARD
Durham
Supt. Eric Becoats is in hot water with his superiors on the Durham Board of
Education. First he was found to have used a Durham school bus and driver to
chauffeur his family around in August. He reimbursed the school system and
promised not to do that again. But now Becoats is found to have put thousands
of dollars on his school system credit card. The Durham School Board met behind
closed doors Monday and voted to terminate Becoats card. Becoats again
reimbursed the system, and promised to do better in the future.
GET YOUR UNCLAIMED
CASH AT THE STATE FAIR
Does
the state of North Carolina owe you money? The best way to find out is to go to
the NC Cash Booth at the NC State Fair and find out. The Unclaimed Property
Division of the NC Dept. of the State Treasurer says there over $340 million in
unclaimed money and property. During the fair’s opening weekend, over $100,000
was claimed. If you need more information, go to www.nccash.com.
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