NNPA STORIES -
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NC DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR
STATE NEWS BRIEFS 3-28-13
NCNAACP PUSHES SEN.
BURR FOR BLACK FEDERAL JUDGE
[ROCKY
MOUNT] No
African-American has ever been appointed a federal District Court judge in the
Eastern District of North Carolina, and the NCNAACP wants that changed. The
civil rights group is lobbying Republican US Sen. Richard Burr [R- NC] to join
with Democratic US Sen. Kay Hagan, also of North Carolina, in submitting a list
of African-American candidates to Pres. Obama for his consideration. NCNAACP
Pres. Rev. William Barber says he has tried to meet with Sen. Burr about this
matter for the past five years, and even sent three certified letters to him
that went unanswered. Barber says that while Hagan has met with the NCNAACP,
Burr has refused. Barber vows that if Sen. Burr continues to refuse, the
NCNAACP will deliver list directly to the president. No word from Sen. Burr’s office on whether he will meet with
the NCNAACP.
BILL RESTARTING DEATH
PENALTY AND REPEALING RACIAL JUSTICE ACT PASSED
[RALEIGH]
State Senate Bill 306, which seeks to restart capital punishment in North
Carolina and repeal what is left of the gutted Racial Justice Act, is moving
forward in the state Legislature after the Senate passed it on Wednesday, and
sent the bill, sponsored by Sen. Thom Goolsby [R-New Hanover] to the House. If
it becomes law, the measure would speed up the legal cases that have stopped
the death penalty in North Carolina since 2006, and completely take the Racial
Justice Act, which stopped racially-biased death penalty cases, off the books.
The NCNAACP blasted the bill, saying that, “To know the system
is racially biased and yet proceed without addressing these issues is to engage
in the sinful act of state sponsored murder…”
SEN. KAY HAGAN ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY
[WASH.,
DC] US Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) announced her support for same-sex marriage
equality this week, a day after the US Supreme Court heard arguments on whether
California’s Proposition Eight ban against gay marriage was constitutional.
Hagan said, “We should not tell people who they can love, or who they can
marry.” A decision by the High Court is expected in June.
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TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS 3-28-13
CANDLELIGHT VIGIL
AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE TONIGHT
As
the US Senate takes up gun control legislation today, cities across the nation,
and in North Carolina, join in a “National Day to Demand Action,” sponsored by Mayors
Against Illegal Guns. Tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Moore Square Park, 200 South
Blount Street in Raleigh, gun violence survivor Kim Erickson Yaman and Jen Geurin
Ferrell, founder of Forward Americans, lead a candlelight vigil against gun
violence. The public is invited to attend.
COLLEGE STUDENTS
PROTEST PROPOSED UNC CAMPUS SHUTDOWNS
Students
from across the 16-campus UNC System demonstrated at the state Legislature in
Raleigh Wednesday against a Republican proposal to cut “one or two” of the
campuses in a budget-saving move. The NC Student Power Union, the group
organizing the demonstration, said it opposes the proposal, in addition to the
over $130 million that Gov. Pat McCrory cut from the UNC System in is budget
proposal last week. McCrory also wants to raise tuition for out-of-state
students by over 12 percent.
WAKE TEACHER’S
ASSISTANT CHARGED WITH SEX WITH A STUDENT
A
teacher’s assistant at Leesville Road high School has been arrested and charged
with four counts of having sex with a female student there. Javon Lerail
Walker, 25, was arrested after school official caught wind of the alleged
relationship, and called Raleigh police to investigate. He is under $200,000
secured bond in the Wake County jail. Walker was hired last September.
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NC DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR
SAYS DEMS MUST FIGHT
BACK
By Cash Michaels
Editor
The
chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party says if state Democrats stand
any chance of taking back the NC General Assembly in 2014, they have to start
organizing, fundraising and strategizing now, even though the recently drawn
redistricting maps, favoring Republicans, makes it difficult.
“To
be a Democrat and to believe in our values, you have to be involved every day,
and in every election,” Chairman Randy Voller told the Power 750 WAUG-AM
program, “Make It Happen” during an interview that airs today.
“We need to actually get involved this
fall in local and municipal elections, elect people who believe in our values,
believe in community-building, believe in holding people accountable …on the
issues that matter to us”
Voller,
who said the GOP redrew the voting districts so that the Republicans could pick
their voters, not for the voters to pick their politicians, continued,” And
we’re going to have to get involved next year, starting in the primaries, all the
way through the general [elections], and continue to do that.”
Voller,
who also serves as mayor of Pittsboro, says Democrats may not be able to take
back both the state House and Senate in one election cycle, so Democrats must
devote themselves to slow, incremental change over the next 2 to four years in
order to gain back control.
“We’re
going to have to win this back over a couple of cycles,” he says.
That
means holding the Republicans accountable for all that they’re doing now that
Voller and others believe is turning the clock back on the tremendous progress
that was made by the Democrats when they were in control.
“You
can be a surgeon and use a scalpel, or claim to be a surgeon and use a meat
cleaver,” he maintained.
Chairman Voller says he’s leading a
state party that is working for more jobs, expanded business opportunities and
prosperity for all through thoughtful investments and good policies, while the
Republicans are the party of austerity, cutting government to the bone so that
the wealthy can benefit more.
“These
are tricky times with what’s going on at the General Assembly,” Voller said. “I think they refer to it as, “The
nightmare on Jones Street.”
Since the Republican-led NC General
Assembly went into session two months ago, North Carolinians have seen the
expansion of Medicaid denied to 500,000 poor citizens, the Earned Income Tax
Credit for working families repealed, the estate tax on the wealthiest North
Carolinians repealed, and unemployment benefits severely slashed.
Policies
now being discussed include lowering the corporate and personal income taxes on
the wealthy while extending state sales taxes to 130 more services, including
legal services. Experts say that shifts the tax burden from the wealthy to the working class.
Repealing what's left of the NC Racial Justice Act, the 2009 law signed by Gov. Beverly Perdue to stop racially-biased death penalty prosecutions, and also re-instituting capital punishment (which is currently under legal challenge), is also on the GOP legislative menu.
Repealing what's left of the NC Racial Justice Act, the 2009 law signed by Gov. Beverly Perdue to stop racially-biased death penalty prosecutions, and also re-instituting capital punishment (which is currently under legal challenge), is also on the GOP legislative menu.
Republicans
are also seriously discussing closing “one or two” campuses in the 16-campus
UNC System as a cost-saving measure. Most likely on the chopping block is
either one of the smaller historically-black universities in the system, or
UNC-Pembroke.
Chairman
Voller says it is a contradiction for the Republicans to be giving tax breaks
to the wealthy in the state, but continue to cut education for the neediest
students.
The
prospect of closing a UNC HBCU has been broached before, but now that the
Republicans have majorities in both legislative houses, there’s little doubt
they can do it if they want.
Plus
GOP state lawmakers are suddenly attempting to micro-manage certain cities and
counties that have apparent Democratic leadership.
Republicans
are taking the Charlotte – Douglas Airport from the city of Charlotte, and
putting it under a regional authority, even though no one requested the change.
GOP
legislators are also changing ownership of Asheville’s water system, again,
without request.
“It’s
a perpetuation of a rural-urban divide…,” Voller says, noting that many GOP
rural lawmakers are the ones targeting these Democrat-controlled urban areas,
believing that there won’t be a lot of political damage to them to do so.
“They’re
bigfooting our cities,” Voller says. “This is about power and control. I don’t
think it has anything to do with what’s best for our citizens.”
And
a bill that would remove ownership of school properties from the school board,
and transfer it to the county commission board, is speeding through the
Legislature for passage. The measure will affect every county in the state,
even though it began as a retaliatory effort by Republicans against the
Democrat-led Wake School Board after Supt. Tony Tata was fired.
The
tension between the Wake Board of Education and the Wake Board of Commissioners
has also spawned another Senate bill that would change Wake’s nine-district
school board elections and shorten the terms of all five Democratic members in
order to allow Republicans to retake the board. That measure is on a slower
track in the state Senate.
“It’s
purely political,” Chairman Voller says.
“I don’t know why a legislator
feels that the minute they are elected, that they have to go up there and
release a smorgasbord of ideologically-run legislation,” said Voller. He adds
that while Republicans claim Democrats did the same things when they held
power, it’s not true that they managed power in the same, heavy-handed way.
State
Sen. Dan Blue (D-Wake), when he served as House Speaker in the 1990s, always
made sure he gave the Republican minority a meaningful place at the table to
give their ideas a fair hearing.
That
runs counter to the legislative process today, where the Republican majority
rushes key pieces of legislation through committees without allowing for much
input from opposing views.
GOP
lawmakers’ recent appointments to the UNC Board of Governors, for example, were
virtually all Republicans, sparking cries from Democrats for “more balance.”
“It
was incredibly partisan, and if there was a Democrat in the group, I’m not
aware of it,” Chairman Voller said.
The practice is so bad that when
the Republicans do allow a deliberative process, as with the recent voter photo
ID hearings, Democratic critics charge that’s it’s only for show and to cover
their bases in case they’re taken to court.
There are reports that several
moderate Republicans in the Legislature are concerned with the rapid pace and
scatter-shot nature of lawmaking by their party.
On
Tuesday, for example, when the state Senate passed a bill that would
essentially renege on the $68 million lease deal the NC Council of State made
with the city of Raleigh last December to turn the Dorothea Dix campus into a park, Wake
County’s two Republican senators, Neal Hunt and Chad Barefoot, voted against
it, saying that though they disagreed with the deal because they felt the state
was being cheated, they still supported the park concept and believed a
contract is a contract.
A
large turnout of Dix Park supporters during a public hearing Monday helped both
Hunt and Barefoot, made up their minds to side with the supporters, and Chairman
Voller says citizens and Democrats need to do more of the same heading into
2014.
“I
think the [Republicans] are essentially playing with people’s lives, and lot of people are going to be hurt.
This is mean-spirited and ill-advised,” Chairman Voller says. “People are
getting tired of this, and you’re going to see a shift back.”
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STUDENTS AGAINST VOTER PHOTO ID - A delegation of Shaw University students with state Rep. Yvonne Lewis-Holley (D-Wake) at the recent House Elections Committee hearings on voter photo ID [photo courtesy of Common Cause NC]
Students from local HBCUs oppose Voter Photo ID
by
Masac Dorlouis
Special to The Carolinian
Students from Saint Augustine’s and Shaw University usually
view each other as rivals, but both put their quarrels aside on Tuesday, Mar.
12, to come together and voice their concerns on the impact of a voter ID bill.
Many were in attendance for the first public hearing regarding
the idea of passing a photo voter ID law, hosted by the Republican House
Leadership. All members of the public and organizations who have long opposed
this bill were given the opportunity to share their concerns.
Johna Mitchell and Malcolm Richbourg—students at Saint
Augustine’s University—as well as Nathan Weeks—Shaw University, sacrificed time
during their spring break to illustrate how such a law would make it harder for
students, in particular, to vote.
“Out of the 12 months in a year, I spend only one back in
Maryland,” Nathan Weeks said. “Is not my Maryland photo identification
suffice?”
A voter
ID bill adopted by the General Assembly but vetoed by Governor Beverly Perdue
in 2011 allowed for public university ID's to be used but not ID's from private
colleges and universities.
These students were accompanied by several others who came
to participate in the voter ID civic activities.
There was an educational meeting on voter ID that began at
1:30 PM at First Baptist Church. Once the meeting hosted by a collaboration of
community organizations such as the NC NAACP, Blueprint NC, and Democracy
Matters ended, everyone in attendance marched in procession to the front lawn
of the NC General Assembly where a public display of opposition took place.
When asked why he felt it was important to attend the
hearing, Arthur McKoy, a student at Shaw University responded, “In the end it
does not matter who we vote for, it matters that we have the right to do so. We
should not have to fight scratch and claw for what is promised to us by the
fifteenth amendment, but we are here ready to fight.”
Editor's Note - Masac Dorlouis is the college campus coordinator for Common Cause NC, a non-profit, nonpartisan issue advocacy group.
CASH IN THE APPLE
By Cash Michaels
HAPPY
EASTER – We hope everyone and their families enjoy the Easter holiday this weekend. Easter, of course, has a special
meaning in the Christian church, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead after his
crucifixion. It is a story of hope and redemption for us all.
So
no eating too much, and no calling into work Monday morning complaining of a
tummy ache. And ladies, Lord have mercy, be careful with those wide, wide, wide
brim hats. I can’t see the preacher when you wear those things.
GUN
CONTROL – I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, a community which cannot
protect its children, especially the youngest of the young, isn’t worth
fighting for.
Recently
we’ve been hearing sad and tragic stories of literally babies being fatally shot
by young punks who have no value for life. A six-month old child in Chicago,
fatally shot repeatedly as she innocently sat in her father’s lap in a
mini-van, just because of some gang squabble.
At
her funeral, the minister said, “She deserved better.”
Every
child in our community who has lost their lives to gun violence deserves
better, a BETTER, safer community, but we as a community have done precious
little to stop the scourge of gun violence.
What
are we doing? Who do our streets belong to? Where are the men in our
communities to ensure that people can walk the streets safely?
The
police, you say, where are the police? Well first of all, are you working with
the police to make your streets better, and if not, why not?
Secondly,
unless the police actually live on your block, they can’t be there 24/7, but
the neighbors on you block are. They see things. They know things. But if they
are coming together to do anything, then guess who owns your community?
Certainly
isn’t you!
It’s
one thing when teenagers get into a raging gun battle in our neighborhoods.
It’s totally unacceptable and must be stopped.
Granted.
But
when innocent, defenseless babies are being blasted to death by cold-blooded
murderers – I don’t care what their age or color may be – then we’ve gone far,
far beyond anything even close to tolerable.
And
yet we seem to surrender ourselves to tacit tolerance when we hear about the
next gun tragedy, and the next, and the next. It seems as if nothing shocks us
anymore. Nothing moves us to want to do anything to stop the madness, cease the
slaughter of our youngest, on which we’ve placed most of our hopes and dreams.
We’ve
accepted it. It’s no wonder we even show up at the funerals of these dead
babies who have been taken from this earth by other “children’ who look just
like them.
March
in the streets all you want protesting the police “Stop and Frisk” program,
where blacks and Hispanics are exclusively targeted by the cops to be stopped
on the street and searched for weapons just because they’re there.
I
agree that it’s unconstitutional and wrong. I agree with all of that. But when
we as a community don’t bother to even lift a finger to do something to stop
the wanton slaughter of our own, then we’ve opened the door, like it or not, to
the police and anybody else, to come into our neighborhoods and do what they
want.
We
complain about it, but what are WE doing to combat the problem?
This
is serious. How can we demand that others respect our community, respect our
rights, when we don’t have the courage to respect ourselves enough to protect
our own streets, our own children?
Having a gun in your own home is
not enough.
Working together to make sure that
there is a blanket of security and safety in your neighborhood and community,
THAT’S what we need more than ever.
And it’s what our children so
desperately deserve.
Just don’t think about it, DO IT!
WILL, WILL, WILL – I like actor Will Smith. Most of us do, since many
of his movies always seem to be box office smashes. He’s likable, has loads of
charm, and at times, like in “Ali,” has put forth extraordinary performances.
But this latest nonsense of his,
about he not wanting to do the movie “Django Unchained” because he “needed” to
be the lead, is embarrassing to say the least.
As you know, “Django” starred Jamie Foxx, who continues to amaze me
with his versatility in dramatic roles ever since he won a Best Actor Oscar a
few years back for “Ray” (the story of singer Ray Charles). It is the fictional
story of a slave who is looking for his wife.
Director Quentin Tarantino says when he wrote the story, he had Will Smith
in mind originally for the role, and approached him with it. Smith originally
said he turned it down because of a schedule conflict, but all of us knew there
had to be more to it than that, especially given Will’s repertoire of science
fiction and fantasy flicks like “Men in Black” and “I Am Legend.”
Rarely does Will do anything that
requires real acting, and “Django would have required exactly that.
So now that the film has been
successful, and been honored with Oscars, what does Will say? He didn’t do it
because he wouldn’t have been the star?
Bull! Will didn’t do it because he
was afraid. Smith has enough big box office hits under his belt where he can
afford to do one flick where he’s not making funny faces or stupid jokes.
It’s called ACTING, Will, not
signifying! So what if Leonardo DiCaprio
(who by the way, DID NOT MIND ONE BIT that he wasn’t the “lead”) is playing the
villain? If you can act, and have strong crew with you (like Samuel L. Jackson, who ALSO was not the
lead), then you make YOUR part shine.
To put yourself above the story,
above the material, is beyond silly, and selfish!
This was not a good call, Will. You
certainly have the right to pick your projects, and give your reasons for doing
some and not others.
But to come out and say you didn’t
take a role because you were not the lead, tells me you need to be brought down
to Earth by something or someone fast! Some of the most memorable roles in
movie or television history have been done by fine actors and actresses not in
the lead.
Apparently being a fine actor is
not what you seek, Will.
By the way, I understand your next
flick is one where you and your son are stranded on a deserted planet?
Good going, Will, good going!
HATING DIONNE – Recently it was
reported that legendary singer Dionne
Warwick has filed for bankruptcy in New Jersey, owing over $10.7 million in
penalties and interest on back taxes, but having only $25,500 in assets.
Warwick, 72, says the back taxes were due to financial mismanagement by a
former manager.
Some folks have been hating on
Dionne, saying that she once made great money, lived the good life, and now is
paying the price for it. They don’t believe that her finances were mismanaged.
My question is, “Who did this woman
hurt or kill?” Why are folks gleeful that this once superstar is down on her
luck?
No, Ms. Warwick is not a member of
my family, nor a personal friend. Yes, I adore her music, and always have. But
that has nothing to do my feeling that she doesn’t deserve to be ragged just
because she’s now down on her luck. Does that mean we should always treat
people who properly earned their own money this way when they get old and have
lost it all? Are we so smug just because we’re still getting Social Security or
a pension?
I pray that Dionne is able to
settle all of this, and live out the rest of her days peacefully.
Actually, I wish that for anyone in
the same boat, which could be any of us.
MACHO ANDERSON – I must admit,
while I watch Anderson Cooper from
time to time on CNN, he’s not one of my favorite journalists. In fact, I could
go through life without ever seeing another Anderson Cooper report, and be fine
and dandy.
But I have to hand it to him, last
Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Cooper did something I could never, EVER see
myself doing in a million years – go scuba diving looking for crocodiles in an
African river.
Heck, I use to fear walking to a
South Carolina restaurant at night while vacationing for fear that alligators
from a nearby river would be out at night along the path (several of the locals
told me that was the case).
Cooper went diving in the caves at
the bottom of a river in Botswana, looking for crocs, and finding several, even
coming face-to-face with a few with nothing more than a steel rod in his hand.
Based on what we saw onscreen, the encounters were close, yet all the crocs did
was look long and hard at Anderson, decide he might not taste that good, and
then skirt off.
Still, the fact the Cooper went
down in those dark caverns, not being able to really see clearly (as clearly as
when he went diving a year ago with great white sharks), is worthy of note.
What got me was when he had to turn his head away from the crocodile to talk to
the camera over his shoulder as the massive creature watched him from about
eight feet away.
I could never turn my head in that
situation, let alone be down there in the first place.
So Anderson Cooper, you, sir, have
my admiration. No question, you have more brass than I ever imagined.
Now let’s see how good you are with
the Republicans in Congress. That will take real courage!
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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