http://nnpa.org/many-poor-blacks-in-the-south-will-remain-uninsured-by-freddie-allen/
http://nnpa.org/health-insurance-website-stumbles-on-launch-by-freddie-allen/
W-ed-ELECTION DAY TUESDAY
With
all that’s been going on in the state and nation, it’s hard to believe that
it’s been a year since the presidential and gubernatorial elections, and that
we’re a year away from the crucial Congressional midterm and state legislative
contests.
Crucial
if we want to take our government back from the Tea Party.
What
all of the above means is that we’re in an off-year election next Tuesday, and
while it may not be as loud or as high-profile as the other contests, in many way
off-year local elections are more important because we are choosing people who
will serve in our city and county governments, and whose decisions will have a
direct impact on of our lives.
The Wilmington Journal has reviewed most
of the candidates running for local office in our area, and we’ve chosen three
who we feel deserve not only your attention, but your vote come Tuesday, Nov. 5th.
Polls
open at 6:30 a.m., and close at 7:30 p.m. in both New Hanover and Brunswick
counties.
Here
are our recommendations:
Earl Sheridan for Wilmington City
Council
Now
serving his second term in office, Councilman Earl Sheridan has been a strong
advocate for economic growth in the impoverished areas of the Port City, not to
mention affordable housing and fighting gang violence. Sheridan, currently a
professor of political science at UNC-Wilmington, former served as the
president of the New Hanover County NAACP. He is the council representative on
the Cape Fear regional Community Development Corp. Board.
The
Journal thoroughly recommends that Councilman Earl Sheridan be elected to serve
a third term on the Wilmington City Council.
Eulis A. Willis for Mayor of Navassa
He
has been the mayor of the Brunswick County town of Navassa for the past eleven
years, and each and every year he’s been in office, he’s fought hard to deliver
reliable city services to the population there. Improving the quality of life
from the citizens of Navassa has been the singular goal of Mayor Willis since
he took office, and he continues to fight for much needed economic empowerment.
That’s why Mayor Willis has joined forces with the mayors of neighboring Sandy
Creek, Northwest, Leland and Belville to collaborate on joint projects to
attract more business, and ultimately, more families to North Brunswick County.
The
Journal says Navassa Mayor Eulis Willis has the drive, commitment and
experience to continue to lead his community toward better days. We recommend
his re-election to office.
Charles Warren for Mayor of Oak Island
Former
Brunswick County Commissioner Charles Warren is vying to unseat incumbent Betty
Wallace as mayor of Oak Island. He says his one-term on the commission board
has given him a unique perspective on the issues currently affecting the small
community, and ways to protect the taxpayers’ dollars. Warren is a former
Republican now turned Democrat, and is known for being a straight talker,
speaking his mind and being a strong advocate for his constituents.
The
good citizens of Oak Island need a strong fighter who knows the issues, and
will make sure that they get the best services possible, as well as a wise
steward of their tax dollars.
Vote
for Charles Warren for Oak Island mayor on Tuesday, Nov. 5th.
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NEW REPORT BLASTS NC’S
SCHOOL-TO-PRISON
PIPELINE
By Cash Michaels
Editor
A
new report cites poor education policies for contributing to North Carolina’s
growing school-to-prison pipeline problem, a problem which disproportionately
impacts poor students of color, and threatens the state’s economic future.
Black students are at the top of
this troubling list.
Because of “poorly funded schools, punitive disciplinary practices and inadequate education placements for suspended North Carolina students that push some out of classrooms and into courtrooms for minor misconduct…,” the study, titled, ‘From Push Out to Lock Up: North Carolina’s Accelerated School-to-Prison Pipeline,” by Action for Children North Carolina, a statewide research and advocacy group, says that those at-risk students are “…four times as likely to drop out of high school as their peers, and eight times as likely to end up in jail or prison.”
Because of “poorly funded schools, punitive disciplinary practices and inadequate education placements for suspended North Carolina students that push some out of classrooms and into courtrooms for minor misconduct…,” the study, titled, ‘From Push Out to Lock Up: North Carolina’s Accelerated School-to-Prison Pipeline,” by Action for Children North Carolina, a statewide research and advocacy group, says that those at-risk students are “…four times as likely to drop out of high school as their peers, and eight times as likely to end up in jail or prison.”
The
more this cycle persists, the ACNC report continues, the more likely the expansion
of an underclass of people who will lack the required skill-set to compete for
jobs in the national and global economies.
"Skilled
workers are the basis of economic growth and North Carolina's prosperity is
inextricably linked to our education system," said Deborah Bryan,
president and CEO of Action for Children North Carolina. "When students
slip out of the educational mainstream and into juvenile or adult courts we all
pay the consequences through lost opportunity, productivity and wages--costs
that are entirely avoidable."
The
good news is that the rate of high school dropouts and overall suspensions in
North Carolina has gone down in recent years. But for black students, the
numbers are still troubling.
According
to the ACNC report, “During the 2011-2012 school year, North Carolina public
schools handed out more than 258,000 short-term suspensions, approximately
three-fifths of which (146,639) were applied to black students who comprise
just one-quarter (26 percent) of the student population. Previous analysis
of statewide school discipline data shows black students are more likely to
receive short- or long-term suspensions for first-time infractions than their
peers often for minor, discretionary offenses like disruptive behavior or dress
code violations.”
The
report continued, “Disparities in school discipline are linked to gaps between
and within groups throughout the education system. Black boys who receive 5.22
short-term suspensions for every 10 students enrolled graduate at a rate 9
percent lower than other boys and 15 percent lower than black girls.”
And
unlike the rest of the nation, North Carolina treats juveniles 15-years-of-age and
up as adults in the criminal justice system.
“As
a result…,” the ACNC report says, “… students in North Carolina encounter a
shorter, more accelerated pipeline than their peers across the country.”
So how can North Carolina’s unique school-to-prison pipeline be
dismantled?
The report recommends:
- Raise the age of
juvenile court jurisdiction from 16 to
18 for youth who
commit misdemeanor offenses;
- Implement evidence-based
reforms to ensure
equitable
treatment for all North Carolina students;
- Improve data collection and
reporting requirements to
better inform and empower school
administrators,
parents and
policymakers; and
- Establish a legislative task
force on school discipline
practices.
Bryan
says North Carolina has the “infrastructure and know-how” to effectively solve
the school-to-prison pipeline problem, and can also draw on the experiences and
programs of other states with similar problems.
"Across
the country, school districts and law enforcement are taking leadership on the
school-to-prison pipeline by establishing diversion programs that empower
schools to better manage minor student misbehavior without referrals to
juvenile courts," said Bryan. "We have sound evidence that a
systemic approach to student discipline which establishes clear behavioral
expectations and reinforces appropriate social behavior pays dividends through
reduced disciplinary issues, improved student achievement and higher school
completion rates."
From
Push Out to Lock Up: North Carolina's Accelerated School-to-Prison Pipeline is
available online at www.ncchild.org.
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PROTESTS ACROSS THE
SOUTH
TO DROP MORAL MONDAY CHARGES
Special to The
Carolinian
On Friday,
November 1, 2013, the Southern Workers Assembly will picket in several Southern
cities including Raleigh, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., Goldsboro, N.C., San Antonio,
T.X. and Columbia, S.C. to demand that the conviction and all charges be
dropped against Saladin Muhammad and all other Moral Monday arrestees.
Saladin Muhammad is a North Carolina labor leader who was arrested on May
13, 2013 with 48 others in Raleigh while participating in the North
Carolina Moral Monday’s, Forward Together Movement.
Muhammad was one of more than 940 protestors arrested during the weekly
civil disobedience actions at the North Carolina General Assembly, organized
since the spring this year.
Friday's Raleigh protest will be in front of the Old Wake County Courthouse, 316 Fayetteville Street at 12 noon.
Friday's Raleigh protest will be in front of the Old Wake County Courthouse, 316 Fayetteville Street at 12 noon.
On October 4, 2013, Mr. Muhammad was the first case tried in the Wake District
Court, where he was found guilty of “trespassing,
disorderly conduct, and violating the rules of the General Assembly” for
peacefully protesting with hundreds of others inside the state legislative
building.
Labor activists, such as Mr. Muhammad, were among the first Moral Monday protestors
and arrestees at the North Carolina General Assembly. Since Muhammad’s
conviction, two white Moral Monday protesters have been found “not guilty” by the
same judge that convicted him of the same offenses.
Many labor and community leaders believe that the disparity of the
court rulings points to racially motivated inconsistencies in the
treatment of protestors by the chief of the General Assembly police in
using his discretion to decide that a Black labor activist was disorderly
and prone to violence as compared to others also arrested.
Muhammad and the labor delegation placed emphasis on the attacks against
labor and worker’s rights as part of the broad issues raised by the Moral Monday
protests that have been mobilizing thousands to speak out in protest. These
anti-worker legislative attacks have created a repressive climate at the workplace
where workers are experiencing an increase in management’s abuse of power
on the job.
Last week an online petition was launched that has collected thousands
of signatures.
Demonstrations are organized by the Southern
Workers Assembly. For more information contact us at 919-637-6949 or
visit http://southernworker.org
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS 10-31-13
SEN. GRAHAM HOLDS UP
WATT NOMINATION
[WASH.
DC] A conservative senator from South Carolina is refusing to allow Pres.
Obama’s nomination Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte to head the Federal Housing
Finance Agency to go forward to confirmation until the survivors of the 2012
terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya testify before Congress. Sen. Lindsay
Graham has accused the Obama Administration and former US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton of a cover-up of the attack that claimed four American lives,
including that of US Ambassador Chris Stevens. The president nominated Rep.
Watt for the post last May, but it has been held up since then.
STATE FAIR RIDE
OPERATOR CHARGED IN VORTEX INCIDENT
[RALEIGH]
The operator of the Vortex ride at the NC State Fair is facing three felony
counts of assault with a deadly weapon after investigators say he allegedly
tampered with the safety mechanisms after it was repaired, thus causing the
ride to malfunction last Thursday, injuring five people. Three of injured,
including a 14-year-old child, were listed in critical to serious condition.
The operator, Timothy Dwayne Tutterrow of Quitman, Ga., is being held in the
Wake County jail under a $225,000 bond. Wake Sheriff Donnie Harrison says more
arrests are forthcoming.
JESSE JACKSON JR. IN
BUTNER FEDERAL PRISON
[BUTNER]
Jesse Jackson Jr., son of the famous civil rights leader and former Illinois
congressman, reported to the minimum-security Butner Correctional Center this
week to begin serving his two-an-a-half-year federal prison sentence for misuse
of $750,000 in campaign funds for personal use. Jackson, 48, was accompanied to
the facility by Congressman G. K. Butterfield [D-1-NC], who said that Jackson
was in good spirits, “all things considered.” Jackson’s wife, Sandi, was
sentenced to one year for filing false income tax returns. Her sentence was
staggered in order for her to care for the couple’s two young children.
MCCRORY REFUSES TO
CALL SPECIAL SESSION FOR MEDICAID EXPANSION
[RALEIGH]
Despite calls from the NCNAACP and state Democratic lawmakers, Republican Gov.
Pat McCrory says calling the NC General Assembly back for a special session to
reconsider Medicaid expansion was “out of the question.” McCrory and GOP
lawmakers blocked extension of Medicaid federal health insurance to over
500,000 North Carolinians last spring, saying that the program was in fiscal
disorder, and needed to be fixed first. Democrats called McCrory’s decision
“short-sighted.”
-30-
TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS 10-31-13
SEANNE WINTERS
BARNETTE LAID TO REST; BROTHER IN CUSTODY HERE
Seanne
Winters Barnette, daughter of late Sen. John Winters Sr., was remembered last
Friday during funeral services at Upper Room Church of God in Christ as a
loving and thoughtful human being who was always willing to help others. Her
brother, John Winters Jr., is currently being held in the Wake County jail
after being brought back from Virginia, where he was found with his sister’s
vehicle. Authorities say Winters told hospital personnel that he had killed his
sister. Barnette’s body was found in her Knightdale apartment two weeks ago,
stabbed multiple times and with an American flag draped over it. Wake
authorities have not charged Winters, who had lived with his sister because he
was homeless, with Barnette’s death. It was revealed during her funeral that
Barnette had asked for prayers for her brother.
CARY CLAIMS LOWEST
2012 CRIME RATE IN THE NATION
The
bedroom community of the Triangle now claims that last year, it had the lowest
crime rate in the nation. The town of Cary, home to over 146,000 residents,
says that according to FBI crime statistics, it has 14.4 crimes per 1,000
people in 2012 for areas with populations between 100,000 and 500,000. That was
a tick better than Naperville, Ill., which logged a 15.1 per 1,000-person crime
rate for the same period. The claim is important, Cary officials maintain,
because being known as the safest town in America is a major draw for families
elsewhere who are interested in moving to the area.
RALEIGH TAKES DOWN
OUTDATED GUN RESTRICTION SIGNS
At
the insistence of local gun rights advocates, Raleigh city officials are taking
down city signs that ban concealed weapons in parks and city property. A state
law allowing firearms in parks and school campuses went into effect in October.
However, city officials say signs that generally say that visitors cannot
“possess firearms or other weapons” on city property will stay in place. Gun rights
activists say all the city has to do is put duct tape over the that line.
-30-
CASH IN THE APPLE
By Cash Michaels
YELTON
AND THE GOP – Well of course the NC Republican Party got rid of Buncombe County
Republican precinct Chair Don Yelton
after his extraordinary, and yes racist performance on Comedy Central’s “The Daily
Show with Jon Stewart” last week. His blunt, but honest remarks about “lazy
blacks” complaining about voter ID, and that the true purpose of North
Carolina’s voter ID law was to hurt Democrats, were further proof of the
corrupt thinking behind that law.
Yelton,
who we have been aware of some time, was just saying out loud what most
Republicans already knew and supported, but were afraid to say out loud.
Don
Yelton actually did us all a favor. By being a state GOP official at the time
of his racist remarks, his words could be referenced in the pending lawsuits
against the state’s voter ID law.
Gee,
thanks, Don. It will be very hard for the NC GOP to now say that you just
turned crazy when you turned up on national television. They thought you were
perfectly fine before you opened your mouth on “The Daily Show.”
Seriously
though, watching Don Yelton and wondering what the reporter had asked, namely,
“Are you aware that we can hear you?,” made it clear that we are going to have
to do more than watch Tea Party folks get on TV, speak their warped minds, and
we just sit there and say, “I knew it.”
There
are many who are likeminded with Yelton, and if they had their way, and the
power, they would turn the social clock back before the civil rights movement.
Way
back! Don’t believe me?
According
to the website, therawstory.com, a Republican Tea Party state assemblyman, in
an Oct. 28th story in the Ls Vegas Sun, said that if his
constituents wanted him too, yes, he would vote to bring back slavery.
You
read it right.
“If that’s what
they wanted, I’d have to hold my nose, I’d have to bite my tongue and they’d
probably have to hold a gun to my head, but yeah, if that’s what the citizens
of the, if that’s what the constituency wants that elected me, that’s what they
elected me for,” Assemblyman Jim Wheeler,
a Republican from Gardnerville, NV, is seen telling a group of Republicans
during a meeting in August. “That’s what a republic is about. You elected a
person for your district to do your wants and wishes, not the wants and wishes
of a special interest, not his own wants and wishes, yours.”
Now
unlike Don Yelton, who has stuck by his “lazy blacks” guns, Wheeler, apparently
taken by surprise that the video got out, is now tat he wouldn’t vote to
actually “legalize” slavery, and that he was only exaggerating to make a point
about constituent service.
Wheeler
is also accusing liberals for trying to smear him as a ‘bigot’ by spreading the
video online.
So
let’s get this straight – this clown gets before his brethren, tells them that
he would vote to bring back slavery, and then gets upset when folks playback a
video of him saying such an idiotic thing.
But
at least we have confirmation as to the kind of archaic thinking that comes
from these Tea Party clowns when they think no one beyond their brood is
listening.
So
the question is, what are we going to do about this? It was the ballot box that
got them in, and it’s going to take the ballot to get them out. Are we ready,
committed and organized? Have we seen enough, or do we need more convincing
that the same people who were willing to shutdown our government and take our
nation to the very brink of economic disaster, are indeed more than willing to
hurt our community because they have a profound hatred for us, and a president
for the United States who happens to look like us?
This
is why, more than ever, we need the Black Press.
The
perspective and understanding that meets the needs of our community is what
this black newspaper is all about. And that’s why we try to take the time at
last once a month to remind you that supporting your African-American newspaper
is the best way to continue to get the kind of news and views you can trust.
We
can’t do it without you!
Please,
continue to support the Black Press.
IMPORTANT
COMMEMORATION – One of the people who worked extremely hard with us during our
Wilmington Ten Pardons of Innocence Project was Sonya Bennetone of Wilmington. Recently she wrote us a note I want
to pass on to you.
Dear
Cash:
On
November 9, 2013 at 2pm at Central Missionary Baptist Church; 702 Red Cross
Street; Wilmington, NC. The New Hanover County Chapter of the NC Black
Leadership Caucus and local ministries of all religious backgrounds and race
will have a statewide program "Observance of 1898, Reverse The Curse"
honoring the victims and the memory of Rev.
Dr. J. Allen Kirk who was the Pastor of Central Missionary Church during
the 1898 Massacre. He is the author of "A Statement of Facts of the Bloody
Riot In Wilmington, NC Of Interest to Every Citizen of the United States.”
Rev
Dr. Kirk was the only pastor in Wilmington, NC during the 1898 Massacre with a
written account of his experience. The original copy is at UNC Chapel Hill
University. Rev. Dr. Kirk was the head of the Ministerial Alliance and gave
Alex Manley, publisher of the Daily Record, money to start the black press.
Rev. Kirk was a strong leader in the community and believed in the power of
God. In 1898 white ministers waited outside Central Baptist Church with guns,
while they thought he was conducting a funeral service. In 2013 ministers
of all races/beliefs are coming together in prayer and unity breaking the walls
of racism. We honor his memory by bringing healing to this city. Special
recognition will be given to the NNPA publishers.
So
if you’re in the Port City on November 9th at 2 p.m. Central
Missionary Missionary Church is the place to be.
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.
-30-
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