http://nnpa.org/sat-officials-hope-to-score-high-in-eliminating-racial-bias-by-jazelle-hunt/
http://nnpa.org/black-male-initiative-must-address-structural-racism-by-freddie-allen/
http://nnpa.org/unemployment-rate-for-black-women-falls-to-single-digits-by-freddie-allen/
CASH IN THE APPLE FOR
3-13-14
By Cash Michaels
APRIL 5TH
– Mark your calendars if you haven’t already. The World Premiere of the NNPA –
CashWorks HD Productions documentary “Pardons
of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten,” is scheduled for the morning of Saturday, April 5th, at UNC –
Wilmington, 9:30 a.m. in Kenan Auditorium.
It will be
free and open to the public, but seating will be limited.
Following
the film, there will be a panel discussion on the current state of civil
rights, and the continuing need for the Black Press.
Later that
evening, there will be a gala banquet the Hilton Riverside honoring former Gov. Beverly Perdue, and NCNAACP Pres. Rev. Dr. William Barber.
Tickets and tables are available.
For more
information about tickets, tables and advertising, call Shawn Thatch at the Wilmington Journal at 910-762-5502.
GOD willing
and the creek don’t rise, you’ll finally get a chance to see what I believe
will be an important historical film. More details to come.
BIG HIT – A
couple of months ago we introduced you to Jason
Mott, a young African-American author from a small town here in North
Carolina who is a poet by trade, and yet, his first novel, “The Returned,” was
so powerful, that it was published by Harlequin Books, and then actor Brad Pitt’s production company (which
just celebrated a Best Picture Oscar win for
“12 Years A Slave”), optioned the book for an ABC midseason hour-long
drama titled “Resurrection,” starring Omar
Epps.
Well that
show premiered last Sunday on ABC, and drew 13.3 million viewers, the largest
audience ABC has had in the 9 p.m. Sunday night hour since “Desperate
Housewives” occupied that hour.
Now there’s
no telling how much audience the show will retain going forward (especially
since it’s up against one of my favorite shows, “The Good Wife” on CBS), but
here’s hoping that continues to be a success.
MISSING
PLANE – It is hard to imagine in this day and age of global satellites and
sophisticated electronic tracking, that a 777 airliner carrying 239 people
could just vanish from the face of the Earth without a trace.
But, as of
this writing at press time, that’s exactly what it looks like per the strange
disappearance of Malaysia Air Flight 370
from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China. Contact was lost an hour into the flight
last Saturday as the plane flew over the South China Sea, and at press time,
there has been no clues, no debris, no bodies.
Add to that
the mystery of several passengers riding on fake passports, and we have a real
unsolved story…for now.
Stay tuned.
BLACK ANNIE
– Looks like diversity in the movie industry still has a long way to go.
There are
just some famous characters that folks refuse to accept as anything different.
Case in point, the new film about the classic Sunday funnies character Little Orphan Annie. The little white
girl with the big orange Afro and round pupil-less eyes is a cultural icon to
generations of folks who adored her exploits with her little dog Sandy.
To say that
Annie is beloved is an understatement.
But as
every generation goes by, there are new versions of any popular character in
order to keep the franchise going. Thus, there have been various film and stage
adaptations of Annie over the years.
And now,
the latest version of the popular story has a modern-day Little Orphan Annie,
and she’s black.
Academy
Award nominated actress Quvenzhane’
Wallis, an African-American, has been cast as Annie, this time living in
New York City. And the part reserved for the white industrialist Daddy
Warbucks, is now a wealthy black industrialist named “Benjamin Stacks,” played
by Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx.
But
apparently. Based on recent new stories, there are some out there who aren’t
ready to accept a black Annie, even though the film isn’t due out for months.
The Twitter
universe has been burning up racist tweets, such as, “I don’t like the remake
of “Annie.” “Annie” can’t be black.”
And, “They're
redoing the Annie movie and making the little girl black. The f--- gonna be
going on next? A black snow white????
And
if you really want to read hate, how about this one – “Annie was a freckled face
redhead, not a nappy head parasite infected #(n-word) s---bag. #(N-words) ruin
everything!!
Mind you, some characters,
over time, have been accepted once their race was changed. When the fabled “The
Wizard of Oz” was turned into the all-black “The Wiz” on Broadway back in the
1970’s, and later on film, there wasn’t a whole lot of consternation.
Recently, Marvel Comics have allowed
both the comic and movie version of Sgt. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. to become
African-American in the person of the dynamic Samuel L. Jackson.
But folks weren’t so generous about
the 1999 film, “Wild, Wild West,” based on the classic 1965 CBS TV series “The
Wild, Wild West. The TV show starred Robert
Conrad as Secret Service agent James West. But when Will Smith gave the role some soul in the film (not to mention a
rap song), even Conrad cried foul, saying that if Smith can play West, then he,
Conrad, should be able to portray Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Yes, I know, I know, ignorant to the
bone.
All I can say is even with a black
president in the White House, some folks just can’t get over their racism. They
forget the days when white people routinely played characters of color like
detective Charlie Chan, and Elizabeth
Taylor screwed up Cleopatra on the big screen.
They just want their “Annie” to stay
white, and that’s that!
We’ll see.
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.
And coming in April 5, 2014, the
NNPA-CashWorks HD Productions documentary presentation of, “Pardons of
Innocence: The Wilmington Ten.”
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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JOSEPH MCNEIL OF THE GREENSBORO FOUR
FOR THE CAROLINIAN
RWCA HONORS LIVING LEGENDS
MARCH 29TH AT MARTIN STREET BAPTIST
Special to The Carolinian
GREENSBORO FOUR
MEMBER
HAILS WILMINGTON TEN
By Cash Michaels
Editor
Editor’s Note – On April 5, the National
Newspaper Publishers Association – CashWorks HD Productions documentary, “Pardons
of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten,” will premiere at UNC – Wilmington’s Kenan
Auditorium, commemorating the April 4th, 1968 46th
anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. The event is
free and open to the public, however seating is limited.
In honor of that event, The
Carolinian and Wilmington Journal newspapers will publish stories leading up to
the premiere dealing with important aspects of the Wilmington Ten story not
dealt with in the film.
“It could have been us years
ago.”
Upon
reflection of what he considers to have been the “tragedy” that beset the
Wilmington Ten over 40 years ago, Joseph McNeil says their false imprisonment
and decades-long wait to be finally declared innocent of any crimes, is
something that should never be forgotten, and could have easily happened to
others standing up for racial equality during that time.
McNeil
should know. He was one of the Greensboro Four
- the four black NC A&T University students who courageously, on
Feb. 1, 1960, walked into a downtown Greensboro F. W. Woolworth store, and ordered
food at the “Whites Only” lunch counter in open defiance to public segregation
laws.
In an
interview for the new documentary, “Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten,”
McNeil says he and the other three students – Ezell Blair, Jr., Franklin McCain
and David Richmond – had no idea what would happen next, or how the police
would react. But they were all, just like the thousands of other college
students across the South who subsequently followed their example, and
jumpstarted a civil rights movement that would change the world, determined to
take a stand against racial injustice.
Just like
the Wilmington Ten, most of whom were black students protesting racial bias in
the New Hanover County Public School System when they were later falsely
arrested, charged and convicted of firebombing a white-owned grocery store amid
racial violence.
“[I have] an appreciation of the
students taking on the educational infrastructure,” McNeil, a Wilmington native
says, remembering what he was told about the 1971 black student boycott of New
Hanover County schools.
McNeil graduated from Williston
Senior High School in 1959, the all-black high school alums dearly cherish even
to this day, before the
predominately-white New Hanover Board of Education unceremoniously closed it in
1968, under federal pressure to desegregate its schools.
Over the next three years, black
students transferred to predominately-white New Hanover High and John T.
Hoggard High Schools were met with violence, threats and overall disrespect. It
came to a head during the first week in February, 1971, when boycotting black
students came under violent attack in Gregory Congregational Church by a white
supremacist group. Two people were killed.
It was a year later when, in an
effort to quell black militancy, authorities targeted eight of the students, a
white female community activist, and the fiery black organizer, Rev. Benjamin
Chavis, who helped guide them.
In Sept. 1972, they were all tried,
falsely convicted and sentenced to a total 282 years in prison, only to be
officially declared innocent 40 years later by Gov. Beverly Perdue in Dec. 2012
after four of the Wilmington Ten had died.
“We now
know that there was a massive culture to subvert the law, and that many
injustices occurred in the aftermath of the student protests,” Joseph McNeil
says.
“It could have been us (the
Greensboro Four) many years ago,” McNeil, who graduated NC A&T University,
and went on to a career in the US Air Force, business , and the Federal Aviation Administration, contemplates.
Even though he and the rest of the
Four carefully planned their strategy to go to the Woolworth store to force a
peaceful confrontation, they still had no idea what to expect ultimately. They
could have been attacked, beaten and then arrested, tried and imprisoned as
well, something that didn’t happen
because the white store management and authorities were so stunned initially,
they didn’t know what to do.
That inaction opened the door for
more and more college students, black and white, to then come to the store demanding
an end to segregated service. It wasn’t long before Woolworth dropped its
segregation policy.
“Back in the early days perhaps the
element of surprise worked in our favor,” McNeil recalls. “We used to get
nightly phone calls from the [Ku Klux] Klan. It became a game. The question was
who was going to blink – the students or the infrastructure?”
Eleven
years later, when the black students, some from McNeil’s Williston Senior High
alma mater, marched and boycotted the New Hanover school system, Wilmington’s
mayor, police chief and the county board of education openly made clear they
would not give in, and in fact, held the students responsible for the violence
that had spread across the city, though those young people had nothing to do
with it.
The rest,
Joseph McNeil says, is tragic history.
“One of the
interesting things that takes place in the aftermath of these events, is the
fact that sometimes from a historical perspective, [they] are embraced, and
become “our’ sit-ins, for example; “our”
Wilmington Ten,” McNeil says.
“We need to never forget the fact that this
was a tragedy…in many senses of the word. It could have happened to anyone who
was involved in the thought of trying to do something that people thought was
subversive. So we need not let that get lost, and take something from this
tragedy in a positive way.”
McNeil continued, “We [should] never forget.
We go back and give the Wilmington Ten the attention that is due by telling the
story. It’s part of our history…[and] maybe we learn something. We need to get
with the business of learning to live together as brothers, or die together as
fools. That’s still our challenge.”
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MARCH 29TH AT MARTIN STREET BAPTIST
Special to The Carolinian
The Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association (RWCA) is a nonpartisan advocacy organization. Our goal is to empower minorities to protect, encourage, educate, and help residents in their civic, economic, social, educational and political advancement. For more than 75 years the RWCA has been an influential factor in making Raleigh and Wake County the outstanding area that it is today.
RWCA is proud to announce that on Saturday, March 29, 2014, members will host the Living Legends Award Ceremony at the Martin Street Family Life Center, 1001 E. Martin Street, Raleigh, NC 27601 at 5:00 p.m. This prestigious event bestows awards upon extraordinary individuals who have made significant contributions and impact in the lives of other persons in Raleigh and Wake County.
Award recipients will be recognized in the areas of Health, Education, Politics, Social Justice, Community Service, Economic Development, Religion and Public Administration. 2014 Living Legend Award recipients include Dr. Leroy Darkes; William (Bill) R. McNeal, The Honorable Daniel T. Blue, Jr., Reverend Marion Robinson; Mary Perry; Wallace Greene; Reverend Dr. J. Vincent Terry; and Dr. Everett B. Ward.
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR
3-13-14
MAJORITY OF ELIGIBLE NORTH
CAROLINIANS PASS ON OBAMACARE
[GREENSBORO] Over one million
people qualify to sign up for health insurance under the federal Affordable
Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare. But according to the latest
government figures, only 200,000 people across the state have applied since
March 1st, leaving it unlikely that many more will signup before the March 31st
deadline. Nationally, 4.2 million have purchased health insurance through the
ACA, still far short of the 7 million government officials had originally hoped
for. North Carolina’s enrollment is the fifth highest in the nation, behind
California, New York, Florida and Texas.
$140,000 IN
“IMPROPER” PHONE CALLS TO AFRICA FROM ECSU, REPORT FINDS
[ELIZABETH CITY] Approximately
5,500 long distance telephone calls to Senegal in West Africa from Elizabeth
City State University over a 43-month period ending in April 2013 added up to
$140,000, and state taxpayers footed the bill, instead of the federal funds
that were supposed to, according to a new report. The calls were part of a
textbook program for Senegalese students, but “ineffective” oversight resulted
in the university footing the bills. Another $6,000 in long distance calls
unrelated to the Senegal calls was also discovery. Those are under criminal
investigation.
COLLEAGUES HONOR THE
LATE SEN. MARTIN NESBITT
[ASHEVILLE]
State lawmakers, led by Gov. Pat McCrory
and former Gov. Beverly Perdue, paid respects Tuesday to the legacy of state
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Martin Nesbitt, one of the Legislature’s most
prominent progressive leaders who died last week of stomach cancer. Nesbitt,
67, was affectionately known as “mountain man,” but was honored during funeral
proceedings for being an outspoken advocate for working people and the poor. Wake
County Sen. Dan Blue is now the new Senate Majority Leader.
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TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS
FOR 3-13-14
CONVICTED WAKE JAILER
FREED FROM PRISON
The Wake County jailer who
killed an inmate by slugging him, and then slamming him to the ground in full
view of a security camera, was released from prison this week after serving his
sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Former jailer Markeith Council, 27, left
incarceration Tuesday, according to published reports, after finishing his
90-day sentence. The family of the slain inmate, Shon Demetrius McClain, is
filing a wrongful death suit against the Wake County Sheriff’s Office.
CITY BOARD STOPS
CONSTRUCTION OF HISTORIC OAKWOOD HOME
A modernist
home in the historic Oakwood section of Raleigh may not finish being
constructed because the Raleigh Board of Adjustment voted last month to
overturn a permit issued by the Raleigh Historic Development Commission.
Neighbors in the community of older homes are divided on the modernist home
under construction, with many complaining that it won’t fit in. The board’s
vote may be appealed to Wake Superior Court.
BUDGET-SAVING
FURLOUGHS DELAYED AT ST. AUG’S
Employees
at St. Augustine’s University who were expecting to be furloughed in a
cost-saving measure at the historically black university this week got a
surprise – their furloughs were delayed until a later date. According to a
press release, the university is still committed to dealing with its $3 million
deficit, brought on because of a smaller enrollment than projected, “…with the
least of disruptive actions.”
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[LOCAL TO THE CAROLINIAN]
-30-
NCNAACP RALLIES FOR
RESTORATION OF VRA
Special to The Carolinian
ODDS OF MIDTERM
VICTORY
SLIM FOR NC DEMOCRATS
By Cash Michaels
Editor
Eight
months out from the crucial 2014 midterm elections, and the odds are stacking
higher and higher against the North Carolina Democratic Party’s chances for electoral
victory.
And ironically,
it’s NC Democrats themselves doing much of the stacking.
Beyond the
Republican-controlled Legislature’s now codified election restrictions of GOP
gerrymandered legislative voting districts; no more straight ticket voting or
“Souls to the Polls” Sunday voting; less funds because of the elimination of
the campaign contribution tax check-off and a shortened early voting period, NC
Democrats are also facing a spectrum of internal crippling challenges, from the
continuing prolific disdain for progressive NCDP Chairman Randy Voller by many
of the party’s moderate/conservative members, to the announcement this week
that the party is deep in the financial hole.
“I don’t
hate Randy Voller. On [a] personal level, I like the guy,” wrote Thomas Mills
on his blog “Politics North Carolina” this week. “…[B]ut I am as angry at him
as I’ve been at anyone over politics. For me, watching the destruction of the
party is painful.”
Voller’s
defenders say he is doing his job.
“…[W]hat is your goal in cutting the leader of
the party down?, “progressive Democrat Stephanie Goslen blogged recently on the
“Blue NC” website. “Do you think it makes you look good? Do you think that by
doing so, in the times of no more tax checkoff money, it will bring in more
money? Do you think that your behavior is becoming of an officer of the party?
And if you think that by tearing the party down you are promoting yourself, you
are more immature than I thought. You do not do yourself any favors by bringing
the chairman down.”
In an earlier blog, Goslen charged,
“…I am angry that good people get pulled down in order for the “corporate
democrats” to hold on to power.”
“For the elected officials, it is
how can I use the party to retain my power?,” Goslin later continued.
“Generally, this group of democrats does not like change and they really don’t
like a lot of change. They will fight at all costs to maintain the status quo.”
Amid all of
the sobering circumstances, the party’s State Executive Council on Sunday voted
to make NCDP interim Executive Director Casey Mann – an experienced party
operative who many say can do the job - permanent, ending a month-long fiery
controversy when Voller first nominated civil rights activist Rev. Dr. Benjamin
Chavis, Jr. to succeed fired Executive Director Robert Dempsey.
Because of
the vociferous backlash from the party’s moderates/conservatives, who tried to
tarnish Rev. Chavis with false and incomplete information gleaned from
20-year-old press reports, Chavis withdrew his name from consideration.
But the
episode left the NCDP more deeply divided than ever, so much so that now
disgruntled Democratic moderates/conservatives have pledged not to donate any
funding to the state party, but rather to individual candidate campaigns.
“…[I]nstead of trying to save the asylum, the
people who fund campaigns and the professionals who run them are going to let
the inmates have it, “PoliticsNC blogger Thomas Mills states.
“Earth to
Voller: People don’t give you money if they don’t trust you,” wrote blogger Gary
Pearce, a moderate Democrat and former press secretary to Gov. Jim Hunt, who
vehemently opposed Rev. Chavis’ nomination.
Pearce then
openly attacked the progressives supporting Chairman Voller, calling them,
“…grassroots activists who abhor the establishment, elected officials,
professional consultants and any hint of money in politics.”
“They pose
as great a danger to Democrats as the Tea Party does to Republicans,” Pearce
added.
The open
acrimony has served to enhance the NCDP’s money woes, problems that have fueled
speculation that even NCDP headquarters, Goodwin House, is on the chopping
block.
"I think that people
didn't realize that, with loss of power, came loss of financial
influence," NC DP Director Mann said at a press conference Monday.
Under previous “corporate” Democratic leadership, the
party lost almost total control of state government to the Republicans in the
past five years due to official corruption from the Governor’s Mansion (Mike
Easley) to the General Assembly (Speaker Jim Black), and including NC
Democratic headquarters itself (alleged sexual harassment hush money by party
Chairman David Parker).
All of this happened before Chairman Voller took office in
2013.
Losing control meant losing big
money, exactly the kind of money needed now to go toe-to-toe with Republicans
this year, and certainly in 2016 when GOP Gov. Pat McCrory is up for
re-election.
Even more
striking was the announcement that moderate Democrat Sen. Kay Hagan’s statewide
campaign would coordinate with the Wake Democratic Party, and not the state
NCDP, thus sending a clear signal, critics charge, that the state party under
Voller is not to be trusted.
Director
Mann countered that the state party is, and will continue to “be in
communication” with Sen. Hagan’s campaign. Other progressive Democrats say they
are “furious” that the Hagan campaign would “turn its back” on the NCDP, and
are lobbying the chairman not to allow it.
Hagen’s
campaign will need all the help it can get against whomever her Republican
challenger will be. Recent polls have Sen. Hagan dead even with almost all eight
of the GOP primary challengers. Given that her re-election bid falls during a
mid-term, and black voters are lukewarm to her, Democratic turnout among the
party’s base of African-Americans, Latinos and young people – the very groups
targeted by the Republicans for voter suppression, critics like the NCNAACP say–
could be even lower than normal.
Without
massive, statewide voter registration, education and mobilization efforts that
should have begun already in preparation for the fall, midterm turnout in
Democratic base support has been, and could continue to be weak.
And it is
also true that, just like in 2008 when the Pres. Obama’s campaign implemented
an exhaustive strategic plan to actually bring numerous nonvoters into the
process in order to have black, Latino and youth voters ballot disproportionate
to their normal percentage, NC Democrats can’t win unless they excite those
base nonvoters to stand and be counted.
NC
Democratic moderates/conservatives have yet to prove that they know how to
reach those base nonvoters, let alone get them to the polls on Election Day.
“They need
to understand, the [Democratic] conservatives and the moderates, that they
cannot win – not a statewide race, not a municipal race, not a race for
dogcatcher…they cannot win without the minority vote,” Dr. Gracie Galloway,
Democratic Party Chair of the Eighth Congressional District, says. “They have
to get that in their heads, and I don’t think they have it yet!”
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[LOCAL TO THE CAROLINIAN]
CHARLES G. IRVING,
JR., 87, DIES
Special to The
Carolinian
On November 7, 1926 in the prosperous era preceding the Great
Depression, Charles G. Irving, Jr., the only son of the late Charles G. Irving
and Callie Brown Irving, was born in Raleigh, NC. He departed this life on
March 6, 2014.
Charles G. Irving, Jr. was formally educated in the Raleigh Public
School System. He graduated from Washington High School in 1944, having been a
member of the school band, president of the senior class and editor-in-chief of
the 1944 yearbook, "The Echo". His college career at Howard
University, in Washington, DC was interrupted by World War II
military service, where he attained the rank of Master Sergeant. Irving
returned to Howard, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in 1949. He joined the
Alpha Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity in 1945 and later became a lifetime
member of the organization. His local membership was with Iota Iota Chapter. In
1950 when Irving's Reserve Unit was activated, he returned to military service
in the Korean Conflict,
attaining the rank of First Lieutenant.
Charles G. Irving, Jr.'s professional career spanned more than 40
years of association with Irving-Swain Press, Inc. where he was Production
Manager and Vice-President of the history- making firm operating in Raleigh for
nearly 60 years.
Irving was a life-long member of Davie Street Presbyterian Church,
having been christened there in 1927. He served as a Sunday School
Superintendent and was a member of the Presbyterian Men's Council.
Additionally, he was very involved in many community activities which included:
the Washington High School Alumni Association and the Charles T. Norwood Post
of American Legion. Charles G. Irving, Jr. had a sustained interest in the
history of his community and in the photographic documentation of events. He
contributed his services and photographs to many organizations and events.
His deep interest in the cultures of diverse people led him to travel
extensively in North America, Central and South America, Europe, Africa and
Asia including a family trip around the world in 1970 and a trip to China in
2008.
What a
great historian! His "archives" probably rival the Smithsonian.He
kept abreast of current events as well. He will truly be missed,” wrote family
friend, Ruby Greene, in an online guest book.
Charles G. Irving, Jr. is survived by his wife, Ophelia (née McAlpin)
to whom he was married in August 1955 in Gadsden, AL.; his daughter Cyretha
Irving and her husband Oliver Knobloch of Crans-près-Céligny, Switzerland; his
sisters Vivian E. Irving and Florence Irving Francis of Raleigh, NC; his
nephews Charles T. Francis (Marvea) of Raleigh; Garrick C. Francis (Sheila) of
Washington, DC; his nieces Patricia M. Kimble (Daniel) of Gadsden, AL and Renée
M. Alford (Rodney) of Huntsville, AL. He is also survived by great-nieces and
great-nephews; one great- great niece, and many cousins.
Charles G. Irving, Jr. was memorialized at a funeral Wednesday, March
12, 2014 at Davie Street Presbyterian Church, Raleigh, NC. He as also honored
during a memorial service earlier by Iota Iota Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi
Fraternity.
The Forward Together Movement welcomed the SOS Coalition Tuesday as its Caravan for Democracy makes its way from Selma, Ala. to Washington DC, leaving 49 years almost to the day after civil rights leaders were beaten for daring to organize for voting rights in the Jim Crow South. Many of the assembled carried signs that memorialized the efforts and sacrifices made at Bloody Sunday in March 1965, sacrifices that spurred Congress to act on the mass disenfranchisement of African Americans by passing the Voting Rights Act later that summer.
"Every voting right has come through the blood," said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president of the NC NAACP. "This is why we joined our friends in Selma last weekend. This is why we join them on this Freedom Ride, and this is why we will join them tomorrow in Washington DC. And this is why we will join together all over the South, united to insure that the Voting Rights Act fix proposed in Congress does not provide less than what was won 49 years ago.""
This past weekend, the Forward Together Movement joined the SOS coalition in Selma where they commemorated and honored the sacrifices that secured the VRA all those years ago. Returning to Selma was particularly meaningful this year - eight months after the Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to gut the Voting Rights Act, six months after the NC General Assembly passed the worst voter suppression law seen since Jim Crow and one month after the Moral Movement brought upwards of 80,000 people to Raleigh to say to the extremists in the state legislature, "We have had enough."
Now the Forward Together Movement is prepared to stand with its brothers and sisters across the South as we fight to restore the unfettered right to vote for all citizens, regardless of color, class, creed or age.
The caravan stopped in Richmond, Va. Wednesday before arriving in Washington DC to hold a final rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Barber and members of the Forward Together Moral Movement will join the SOS activists and other voting rights advocates in the nation's capital to advocate for a full-strength fix for the Voting Rights Act. While the NC NAACP and the Forward Together Movement are glad to see the bipartisan effort from lawmakers who have introduced a bill to restore Section IV of the Act, their measure leaves out the majority of Southern states from the automatic preclearance requirement - including Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
"To say in legislation that there is not enough discrimination in Alabama to make it a preclearance state," Dr. Barber said, "to say that there is not enough discrimination in South Carolina where they fly the confederate flag or in Florida where the governor has been on a voter suppression rampage or in North Carolina where extremists just passed the worst voter suppression law since Jim Crow - it is just wrong, historically and empirically."
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