http://www.nnpa.org/news/lead/former-gambian-prisoner’s-fast-track-to-success-imprisonment-and-freedom-by-george-e-curry/
http://www.nnpa.org/news/lead/waters-cleared-of-house-ethics-charges-by-freddie-allen/
NNPA STORIES -
http://www.nnpa.org/news/lead/photo-id-laws-could-disenfranchise-black-youth-by-freddie-allen/
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PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION FOR HBCU'S
Presidential Proclamation -- National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week, 2012:
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GOP LOSES CONTROL
WITH TATA’S FIRING
By Cash Michaels
An analysis
When
Wake Schools Supt. Anthony Tata was fired Tuesday after 20 months by the
Democrat-led Wake School Board, howling Republicans both on the board, and off,
lost control in more ways than one.
“This
is a big mistake,” declared a visibly angry Republican board member Chris
Malone, who is running for the state House. “It’s a political mistake, and the
result - both out there and in here - it’s going to be felt for a very long
time.”
“It
is an epic failure of this board,” said Republican board member John Tedesco,
who is running for state superintendent.
Tata, a retired US Army Brigadier
general and well-known right-wing anti-Obama pundit who was hired by the
Margiotta GOP-led school board in December 2010, was the last vestige of any
real control over the affairs of the school system that county Republicans had,
which is why the Wake Republican Party, and right-wing leaning Wake County
Taxpayers Association, in addition to the four GOP school board members, railed
to high heaven once the exit deal was done.
“I grieve for our children,” cried
an emotional Debra Goldman, who served as board vice chair in 2009 when the
Republican-majority, led by former board member Ron Margiotta, took power and
proceeded to ramrod their neighborhood schools agenda through, causing a
national scandal.
The
setup was simple. The Democratic majority, led by veteran school board members
Kevin Hill as chairman and Keith Sutton as vice chairman, could basically vote
in any policy that they pleased, but they needed Tata as superintendent to
shape that policy, and then carry it out.
To
ensure that Tata, whose right-wing politics and Tea Party sympathies were well
known when he was hired by the Republican board in 2010, was left alone, the
Republicans in unison loudly warned the community that the Democrats would
immediately fire the retired general once they took over.
That
bought Tata time. All he needed to do was show that his school choice plan
worked, and that Wake parents and business community were happy. The Democrats,
he and the Republicans assumed, were now too afraid to touch him.
What the board Republicans like
Deborah Pritchett, Debra Goldman, Chris Malone and John Tedesco never realized
was that when Tata did veer off course numerous times with unforeseen
operational failures to his school choice, school registration and school bus
planning, Democratic patience, especially of the new board members like Jim
Martin, Susan Evans and Christine Kushner, began to really run thin.
That
was especially after Tata, in an extraordinary move last February, publicly
attacked Evans and Kushner because of their past association with the liberal
group Great Schools in Wake Coalition. He was later forced to apologize for an
act that many said he should have been fired for then.
Board
Republicans never dreamed that Chairman Hill had the brass to pull the trigger
on Tata’s job. They saw him as weak, and an education wonk who embodied
everything they wanted to replace in public education.
Still
stunned by their board minority status after last fall’s decisive Democratic
five-seat sweep, the board Republicans decided early on to make life hell for
Hill and his new majority, fighting and threatening him at every turn, and
counting on Supt. Tata to make their cherished school choice plan - which was
hurriedly passed last fall before the elections by Margiotta’s GOP majority -
work.
In
turn, Tata, sources confirmed, became dictatorial behind the scene, firing those
in Central Office who differed with him based on their professional experience,
and bringing in new people at high salaries to maintain the firm grip he felt
he needed to stay in control.
What
the GOP members didn’t realize was that Tata’s profound inexperience in education
would soon not only be very evident when the poorly devised school choice
process began to implode, creating more high poverty schools and eliminating
promised choice for many parents, but his temperament from years of military
training, served to scare career senior staffers, and school principals, into
submission.
What
The Carolinian had been hearing for
months from Wake School System personnel, and those close to them, was finally
confirmed publicly by both Chairman Hill and Vice Chairman Sutton Wednesday in
a press conference to allay community fears.
"It
was becoming increasingly clear that, while [Supt. Tata] did well at calming
the waters when he arrived … he might not be the right person to lead our
school system going forward," Chairman Hill said, adding that the
relationship between Tata and the board was becoming “increasingly strained”
and progress towards moving the school system forward were “severely hampered”
as a result.
In
short, Central Office had become a basket case under Supt. Tata.
Hill
denied accusations that the firing was political, saying that if that were
true, it would have happened last January immediately after the Democratic
majority took over. Despite reservations, Tata was given a chance to work out
the kinks of a school choice plan that many feared would result in more high
poverty schools.
When
problems evolved with student registration, and projections showed that
expensive racially isolated schools would result, the Democratic majority
pulled the plug on school choice, directing Tata to have his staff devise a
base assignment plan instead for implementation in 2014.
The
school bus debacle that saw thousands of students stranded at bus stops for
weeks at the beginning of the traditional school year, along with hundreds more
parents from Southeast Raleigh crowded into the central office in Cary, forced
to register their children there instead of their neighborhood school, made it
clear that Tata’s inexperience in leading the 16th largest school
system in the nation was a major concern.
When
Tata then forced senior staff veteran Don Haydon, who was in charge of school
transportation, to resign after, by Tata’s order, over 50 school buses were
taken out of the fleet, causing massive problems, the board Democrats had seen
enough.
Despite
the constant excuses made for Tata’s mounting problems, the Democratic majority
fired Anthony Tata, freeing him up now to go back to his right-wing punditry,
bashing Pres. Obama and authoring military novels with erotic passages.
Calla Wright, president of the
Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African-American Children issued a
statement in reaction to Tata’s firing saying, “Do
you feel it is necessary for a school system to have a leader who does not have
any educational experience? Under his leadership we have acquired Walnut Creek
[Elementary School as] a high poverty school in Southeast Raleigh. Based
on recent test scores and the mission of this school, these students are
suppose to be equipped to exceed in middle school. How can this happen
when we look at the [low] test scores of last year's fifth graders?”
Also
in a statement Wednesday, the NC NAACP commended the Democrat-led Wake School
Board, “…for the poise and grace with which they handled the difficult issues
raised by…,” Supt. Tata’s job performance.
“As is the case with the rest of the
public, because this is a confidential personnel matter, we do not know all the
factors that went into this decision and cannot speak for the board,” NC NACP
Pres. Rev. William Barber said in a statement. “We do know leadership is
important. If any school system, business or organization is not functioning at
its fullest potential and carrying out the best practices towards the
fulfillment of its primary mission and vision--leadership must be held
accountable by the governing board.”
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TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS
CITIZEN INPUT IN NEXT HIRING OF NEXT RALEIGH POLICE CHIEF
With Raleigh Police Chief Harry Dolan set to retire
Oct. 1, city leaders are giving citizens a chance to have some input into who
the next police chief should be through a survey on the city’s website. Some of
the questions ask what skills the next police chief should have, and what kind
of leadership style they’d like to see. The deadline for survey responses is
Oct. 11th. Chief Dolan has been on the job since Sept. 2007. Raleigh
Deputy Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown will serve as interim chief until a permanent
one is hired.
STATE AND LOCAL SAT SCORES DROP
Because
more students are taking it, Scholastic Aptitude Test college entrance exam
scores have dropped nationally, throughout North Carolina and in the Triangle.
Statewide, the combined average for math, reading and writing scores fell six
points from 2011, from 1475 to 1,469. In the Triangle, Wake schools dropped
three points to 1,063. The highest scoring school system was Chapel
Hill-Carrboro at 1194. The lowest, Durham Public Schools at 951. North Carolina
has a higher percentage of students taking the SAT, at 68 percent, than many
other states. Nationally, scores have dropped by two points.
RALEIGH POLICE SEEK MECHANIC AND FARMERS BANK ROBBER
Raleigh
police are still investigating a robbery Monday at Mechanic and Farmers bank at
13 East Hargett Street. A black man, described as about 6 foot 1 inch, wearing
dark coveralls, a cap, sunglasses and work gloves, reportedly passed a note to
a teller, then left the bank, with stolen money, by a waiting taxi cab. The
robber was dropped off near the State Capitol. If you have information about
this robbery, call Raleigh Crime Stoppers at 919-834-HELP.
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS
TWO SHERIFFS CAUSING MCCRORY CAMPAIGN PROBLEMS
[CHARLOTTE]
Despite leading by double-digits over his Democratic challenger in the race for
governor, former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory is having difficulty with the
endorsements of two lawmen. Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson, a
Republican, has been alleged to condone the racial profiling of Latinos by his
department, according a recent report by the US Justice Dept. Sheriff Johnson
coordinated security for the McCrory campaign when it came to Alamance County.
Meanwhile,
the McCrory campaign has refused a request from State Sen. Floyd McKissick
[D-Durham] to remove a campaign ad featuring former Wilson County Sheriff Wayne
Gay from the airwaves. In the ad, Gay says though he’s a Democrat, he’ll
support Pat McCrory over Democrat Walter Dalton for governor.
Sen.
McKissick’s complaint was that Gay, after losing re-election in 2010 by 24
points, blamed his defeat on blacks who voted for his “unqualified”
African-American opponent, who was an SBI agent.
In
his letter to the McCrory campaign, McKissick said the Wayne Gay ad, “…triggers
a racial cue that has no place in this campaign.”
A
McCrory spokesman called Sen. McKissick’s complaint, ‘ just another desperate
attack from the Perdue-Dalton smear machine.”
FLAGS FLOWN AT HALF-STAFF HONORING STATE CAPITOL POLICE
CHIEF
[RALEIGH]
Gov. Beverly Perdue ordered flags on state building throughout North Carolina
flown at half-staff Wednesday in honor of State Capitol Police Chief W. Scott
Hunter. Chief Hunter died last week reportedly of a long illness. He was 49.
Hunter was funeralized Wednesday at Upper Room Church of God in Christ in
Raleigh, and buried in his home state of Columbia, S.C. He is survived by his
wife and three children. Chief Hunter had served since 2003.
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CASH IN THE APPLE
By Cash Michaels
YE
OF LITTLE FAITH - Was reading an interview with master filmmaker Michael Bay, who has given us the mega-successful Transformer
movies, and is preparing “Transformer 4” now, even though after “Transformer
3,” he had promised not to do anymore.
What
folks may not remember is that back in 1995, Bay got his start doing “Bad Boys”
with comedians Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as two tough Miami police detectives tracking down a murderer.
The
film was a surprise smash, not only because of the over-the-top performances by
Smith and Lawrence - who were still doing their respective TV shows at the time
- but also the extraordinarily stylish way Bay shot and cut the film.
So during this interview, Bay was asked if, given the economy,
and where major motion pictures are today, if he, as a first-time director,
could get “Bad boys” even made today.
“God, I don't know. I mean, [the studio] didn't believe in
"Bad Boys." One of the reasons, because black movies didn't travel
overseas. And "Bad Boys" was the first movie that made a lot of money
with two black stars.”
And
Michael Bay reminds us that “Bad Boys” was made before Will Smith exploded into
one of Hollywood’s top movie stars.
“Yeah,
well, he had just done "Fresh Prince" and [the episodes] weren't
playing that overseas, I think,” Bay recalls. “It might have been in
syndication. But I know the studio didn't believe in the movie. The way they
treated it, they certainly didn't believe in the movie. I mean, I was ready to
quit the business -- but I loved working with the guys. But then, bam, I was
everyone's friend when the movie became a hit.”
The
rest is history. “Bad Boys II,” the sequel, was successfully made a few years
later, and now a “Bad Boys III” is being talked about.
I
hope Michael Bay is onboard for that. His style of filmmaking is one of the
best.
TED
AND BILL - last week on the NBC News program “Rock Center” (horrible name for a
news show, by the way), Ted Koppel,
who we all remember from the old ABC News program “Nightline,” did a piece on
cable news television, and how it has dominated, if not changed and fueled the
fiery, and some would say even broken political discourse in this nation.
Koppel,
a journalist that many of us have a profound regard and great respect for,
believes that cable shows like O’Reilly, Hannity, Rachel Maddow and Keith
Olbermann (when he was on), do more to
hurt politics with their extremely opinionated shows that castigate the other
side of the argument.
I
guess Ted would prefer that these shows, let alone the cable channels that
they’re on, didn’t exist.
Sorry
Ted. As much as I can’t stand Fox News and their constant conservative lies,
they have a right to be on, as does MSNBC, their liberal counter balance.
Koppel
would prefer that the three major news networks, in addition to CNN, would
handle all of the important political discussions, and that’s that.
But
that kind of monopoly is why we got Fox News in 1996 in the first place. There
was a significant amount of conservative audience who felt that their side of
the issues were not being expressed enough in the mainstream media. They found
a willing home in Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News.
Years
later, when Fox began becoming a real power in shaping political opinion, Keith
Olbermann at MSNBC decided that he would lead the liberal charge with
“Countdown.”
And
thus, the cable wars began.
Yes,
they got vicious at times, and one can argue that it created a toxic political
atmosphere which makes it hard for Democrats and Republicans to reason with one
another, but let’s not fool ourselves, it was always going to happen.
Look
at talk radio figures like divisive conservatives figures like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. The pump had been primed for political
talk TV for over a decade or more before it happened.
Also,
let’s not forget that on the most popular news television show in history -
CBS’ “60 Minutes” - it used to feature “Point-Counterpoint” with conservative
columnist James Kilpatrick and
liberal writer Shana Alexander. It
was a very popular feature, which was followed by the equally entertaining
“Crossfire” on CNN.
Now,
Mr. Koppel, if you’re reading this, this is the bone I have to pick with you,
respectfully, sir.
When
it is clear that someone is lying through their bloody teeth, and when I say
“clear” I mean factually proven, instead of saying so, folks in non-opinionated
major media would prefer act as if it isn’t happening.
Take
veteran NBC newsman Tom Brokaw. A
couple of weeks ago, after MSNBC’s Chris Matthews blasted Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus to his face about GOP efforts to suppress the black vote
for Pres. Obama by implementing voter
ID laws in key states, in addition to various racial “dog whistle” remarks
about Pres. Obama’s birth certificate and his base of voters being essentially
welfare recipients, Brokaw, not wanting to seem as if he were attacking Priebus
as well, disagreed with Matthews, saying that he wasn’t sure if what Chris was
saying was the case.
Brokaw
was protecting his credibility, for what it was worth, at the cost of the
truth, which Chris Matthews boldly championed.
When
we, as journalists, with all of the facts, can’t call a spade a spade, Mr.
Koppel, then what good are we? Who are we protecting, and why?
One
more point - during his appearance on Bill O’Reilly’s program, Koppel had to
put up with Billo declaring that Fox News is a superior news operation during
the day, and only does original opinionated programming for three hours at
night.
If
this wasn’t a family newspaper.
If
you’ve watched Fox News during the day, then you’ll agree with me that the
“news” people are anything, and I mean ANYTHING, but “fair and balanced.” They
are so anti-Obama they can’t contain themselves.
So
Bill O’Reilly is either fooling himself, or lying through his teeth.
The
genie is out the bottle, Mr. Koppel. Yes, we agree that the primary reason why
conservative and liberal TV even exists is because they both make a lot of
money. No question.
But
at the end of the day, partisan TV, just like partisan radio and newspapers,
let’s the air out of the balloon so that we can continue to yell, scream and
holler about our differences.
Unfortunately
it’s who we are.
It’s
not who we wish to be, but it’s who we are.
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 new 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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HIGH POVERTY RATE REMAINS IN NC
by Tazra Mitchell
Special to The Carolinian
Millions of North Carolinians continue to struggle with the lasting effects of the Great Recession, said a new report released this morning. The latest U.S. Census data show that North Carolina’s poverty remained high at 17.9 percent in 2011, statistically unchanged from 2010.
The poverty rate jumped more than 25 percent since the start of the Great Recession in 2007, according to a report from the Budget and Tax Center, a project of the North Carolina Justice Center. Nearly 1.7 million North Carolinians were officially in poverty in 2011, and more than 737,000 lived in deep poverty, meaning they earned half or less of the annual poverty-level income for their family size. North Carolina’s poverty and deep-poverty rates are the 13th highest in the nation.
The data indicate that the modest but significant improvement in the economy hasn’t been enough to reverse the state’s job deficit, high unemployment rate, and rapid growth of low-wage work, resulting in unshared economic growth and prolonged economic security, the report said.
“Unemployment is predicted to remain high over the next several years, suggesting North Carolinians may be facing another lost decade of shrinking income growth and high poverty,” said Tazra Mitchell, public policy fellow with the BTC and author of the report. “It is important for policymakers to continue to invest in policies that bolster economic security and spur broadly shared economic growth for all North Carolinians.”
Certain geographic communities continue to be hit harder by the enduring effects of the Great Recession, the report said. Rural counties continue to have some of the highest rates of poverty compared to their urban counterparts. Nine of the 10 highest county-level poverty rates were in rural areas, with the highest county-level rate in Robeson County, where 1 in 3 residents live in poverty.
In addition, the report finds that the poverty rate for children in North Carolina was above the state rate at 25.6 percent. Communities of color also experienced higher rates of poverty, with 28 percent of African Americans, 34.9 percent of Latinos, and 27 percent of American Indians living in poverty. The racial disparity is even more pronounced among children, with the poverty rates for African American, Latino, and American Indian children soaring 2.5 to 3 times higher than the rate for white children. Women and people with lower levels of educational attainment also experience higher poverty compared to other groups.
Reversing the trends of poverty and decline in shared economic growth requires long-term investments in economic policies that can generate jobs that offer a living wage and benefits, the report said. North Carolina policymakers must be careful to not dismantle any work supports that help alleviate poverty, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, or reduce support for critical safety net programs that help provide food, housing and energy assistance for struggling families.
“Cutting important government services that people rely on in order to close budget shortfalls is not the way to turn our economy around and lift our working families and their children out of poverty,” Mitchell said. “We need to take a balanced approach that includes new revenues so we can invest in our state’s economy and provide help for those who need it most.”
Tazra Mitchell is a Public Policy Fellow with the NC Budget and Tax Center in Raleigh
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