http://nnpa.org/white-candidate-accused-of-fooling-black-voters-by-cierra-duncan/
http://nnpa.org/blacks-continue-fight-to-secure-voting-rights-by-freddie-allen/
http://nnpa.org/affordable-care-act-will-create-more-jobs-by-jazelle-hunt/
EXCLUSIVE
DESPITE SUCCESS,
SUTTON MAYBE
CHALLENGED FOR SCHOOL
BOARD CHAIR
By Cash Michaels
Editor
One
year ago, despite the earnest leadership of Wake School Board Chairman Kevin
Hill, there was little question that the beleaguered and embattled Wake Board
of Education was in trouble.
Democrats,
in a brilliant 2011 election move, swept the five seats they needed to take
back the school board from its controversial Tea Party majority, ousting Republican
Board Chair Ron Margiotta in the process.
During
2012, the four remaining Republican board members, in collusion with Tony Tata,
the Republican schools superintendent the former Tea Party majority had hired
eighteen months earlier, literally plotted to disrupt and obstruct Hill and the
Democrats at every turn.
When
Tata’s ill-fated school choice student assignment plan began to cause immense
problems, and his cuts to school bus service caused a catastrophe – in addition
to his all-too-public personal attacks on two Democratic board members – Hill
and the majority had had enough, and terminated the retired US Army general.
But
the bad taste left behind, in addition to the bad blood that was made even
worse, further divided the Wake School Board, and raised questions about its
ability to even function, let alone lead when it came to improving education
for all of Wake County’s students.
In
the midst of all of the confusion, Board Vice Chair Keith Sutton stepped
forward after Chairman Hill decided he didn’t need another year of grief.
Wake School Board chairs serve
a maximum of two consecutive years.
Sutton, the Southeast Raleigh representative and only
African-American of the board, told his colleagues to give him the ball, and
for the next year, he’ll take it from there.
“I
think I have the ability, I think I have the experience, I think I have the
temperament to not only help lead this board and try to bring us together, but
to also move us past some of the challenging issues we have in front of us,”
Sutton told The Carolinian shortly after being chosen by his fellow
Democratic board members in December 2012.
Fast
forward to today. Chairman Sutton’s report card for the past year comes due in
two weekds, along with the swearing –in of three new board members – two of
whom are Democrats.
Observers
say there’s little debate that the Wake County School Board is a dramatically
different place than it was a year ago. Though there have been noteworthy
challenges - including the police arrests of students at Enloe High School; filling
two empty school board seats; passage of a new student assignment plan;
adoption of a leaner annual budget; a Wake Commission Board attempting a legislative “powergrab” for school
property ownership that failed; the transparent process and hiring of new Wake
Supt. Dr. Jim Merrill; voter passage of the $810 school construction bond; and
of course, the fall elections that saw Democrats add to their already firm grip
on board leadership for the foreseeable future – the Wake School Board has come
through it all looking and sounding better than it has since 2009.
“We
have to get back to basics,” Sutton told The Carolinian a year ago. “Basic courtesy, basic
respect for each other as board members. We’ve not seen that here lately, and I
think we’ve got to get back to that.”
“I
set the tone at every meeting, and at every work session,” he added.
And
with three new board members preparing to be sworn-in on Tuesday, Dec. 3rd,
one would expect that Sutton’s colleagues would gladly re-elect him to his
second term as chair, to continue to lead them to the ultimate goal of Wake
Public Schools being the best.
But
sources tell The Carolinian Newspaper
that, in fact, there could be at least one challenge to Sutton’s board
leadership, and it could come from none other than the board’s vice chairwoman,
Christine Kushner.
The Carolinian emailed Ms. Kushner, who
represents District 6, to confirm whether she will be running against Sutton
for the top spot.
There
was no response from her by press time Wednesday.
Nor
was there any on-the-record response from any of the other school board members
currently serving about Sutton’s leadership, the board’s progress, or if they
would be supporting his bid for a second, final term.
Sources
say the lobbying has already begun to oust Sutton, the feeling being that now
that the waters are calm, new leadership is needed with an emphasis on a new
direction.
Chairman
Sutton dismisses that belief, noting that, in conjunction with the board, it
took strong vision, measured patience and temperment, good judgment and honed
political skills to accomplished all that has been accomplished in the past
year.
Sutton
believes that he has earned strong consideration for a second -term.
Community
members The Carolinian has spoken
with say they intend to be at the December 3rd Wake School Board
meeting in a show of support for Chairman Sutton.
They
say given what has been accomplished over the past year under his leadership,
denying him one more year would be unfair.
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TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS 11-21-13
GOV. MCCRORY HONORS LEGACY
OF ATTY JULIUS CHAMBERS
He
didn’t attend the funeral in Charlotte last August when North Carolina said
goodbye to one of its most historic figures, but Gov. Pat McCrory attempted to
make up for that this week by posthumously awarding former NCCU Chancellor
Julius L. Chambers the Spirit of North Carolina Award, a special honor given to
state employees for exemplary service. “Julius Chambers was a pioneer in education and
civil rights and he advanced both fields while in direct service to the people
of North Carolina," said Gov. McCrory. "His public service and life’s
work enriched North Carolina and our nation.” Atty. Chambers, who
is also known for his extraordinary career in civil rights, was the first NCCU
alumnus to serve as its chancellor from 1993 to 2001.
RALEIGH CITY COUNCIL
BURIES LIGHTNER PUBLIC SAFTY CENTER FOR GOOD
It
would have been a towering 17-story police, fire and emergency communications
center in the heart of downtown Raleigh. But because of its hefty $175 million
price tag, security concerns, and the fact, according to some critics, that it
was being named after Clarence Lightner, the city’s first and only
African-American mayor in history, the Lightner Public Safety Center was doomed.
This week, the Raleigh City Council officially pulled the plug on any prospect
of the Lightner Center being built, and instead approved the $71 million
construction of the scaled-down, 100,000-square-foot Critical Public Safety
Facility on Raleigh Blvd. and Brentwood Road. Construction could begin next
summer.
WAKE COMMISSIONERS
NAME CTE SCHOOL AFTER SEN. VERNON MALONE
The
Wake County Commission Board voted Monday to name the new Career and Technical
Education High opening next fall after former Wake commissioner and school
board chairman, the late state Senator Vernon Malone, who died in April 2009.
The Wake Board of Education recently approved a resolution honoring Sen. Malone
with the designation, but the commission board had to ratify it because it
owned the building.
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS 11-21-13
WSSU CHANCELLOR
BLASTS VSU FOOTBALL COACH AFTER ASSAULT
[WINSTON-SALEM]
As the CIAA continues its investigation into the beating of a Winston-Salem
State University quarterback allegedly by members of the Virginia State University
football team in a bathroom on WSSU’s campus last Friday, WSSU Chancellor
Donald J. Reaves blasted VSA head football coach Latrell Scott, accusing him of
allegedly trying to obstruct the police investigation, and charging that the
coach, “…was more out of control than his players were.” The CIAA has suspended
VSA from championship play with a 9-1 record, while the 9-1 WSSU, now
considered the CIAA conference champion, goes on to play Slippery Rock in the
first-round Division II playoff game on Saturday. Meanwhile angry parents of
VSU football players not involved in the alleged assault confronted school
officials this week, blasting them for not fighting to allow their children to
continue playing. WSSU QB Rudy Johnson alleges that as many as six VSU players
beat and kicked him in a WSSU bathroom last week the day before a scheduled game
between the two schools. However, only VSA running back Lamont Darnell Britt
has been charged with the assault.
FEDERAL LAWSUIT SEEKS
TO INVALIDATE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS 1 AND 12
[CHARLOTTE]
Three registered North Carolina voters have file a federal lawsuit seeking to
invalidate Congressional districts 1 and 12, claiming that they are racially
gerrymandered to be majority black. The suit was filed in October by David
Harris of Durham; and Christine Bowser and Samuel Love of Mecklenburg County.
The plaintiffs argue that since the US Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of
the 1965 Voting Rights Act last June, that the legal basis the Republican-led
NC General Assembly used in 2011 to draw the two majority-minority districts
was now null and void. Congressman G. K. Butterfield [D-NC] represents the 1st
District, while Cong. Mel Watt is a Democrat from Charlotte representing the 12th
District. Both are African-American.
BLUE CROSS – BLUE
SHIELD TO RAISE RATES ON HEALTH PLANS
[DURHAM]
Blue Cross – Blue Shield, the major health insurer in North Carolina has
announced that, in response to Pres. Obama’s request to keep current individual
health plans in force for another with problems with the Affordable Care Act
get ironed out, it will raise the premium rates on those policies by 24 percent
for the next year. The plans originally were to be phased out because they did
not meet the new standards required by the ACA. Customers with those plans do
have the option of dropping them, and purchasing a new plan from federal www.healthcare.gov website.
CASH IN THE APPLE 11-21-13
By Cash Michaels
50
YEARS AGO – On November 22nd, 1963, I was a third-grader at an
elementary school in Brooklyn, NY.
It
was a Friday afternoon, and the one thing that my classmates and I loved about
Friday afternoons was that we’d soon be boarding the school buses on our home
for the weekend.
But
on this particular Friday afternoon, a strange thing happened. Our teacher, and
I do not recall her name, informed the class that a school assembly had been
called, and we were all to report to the auditorium immediately.
Now
normally when there is to be a school assembly, we pretty much knew about it
literally days in advance, and at the latest, the day before. But this sudden
announcement came out of the blue, meaning something was very wrong.
Even
at that young age, we all knew that unless someone had just given our school a
million bucks, good things just didn’t happen that quickly to stop everything
and call an assembly.
So,
one-by-one, we lined up in front of the classroom, whispering to one another
while teacher would insist that we be quiet, and we walked down the hallway to
the auditorium, along with the other classes.
Along
the way we heard that a student in the school had been killed or something, and
that the principal was going to announce it.
We
were all wondering who could this kid be.
When
our class got to the auditorium, three-quarters of the school was already
there, so we were forced to sit in the back away from the stage.
As
we sat there, we still kept trying to figure out what kid got killed, and who
knew what was going on.
Finally
our principal, Father Henry Jacobs (yeah, I remember his name – he was strict
and would give us whuppins in his office…WITH OUR PARENTS PERMISSION) an older,
distinguished man of the cloth, took the podium, and told us all the shocking
news.
President
John F. Kennedy had been assassinated earlier in Dallas, Texas.
It
just so happens that the word “assassinated” wasn’t used that much at our grade
level, so it took a moment, given how sad Father Jacobs and his staff onstage
seemed to be.
It
also was quite noticeable when our teacher, and other teachers grabbed their
mouths in sheer disbelief.
It
guess to clarify, Father Jacobs went on to say that the president had been
shot, though he didn’t say it was a fatal shot to the head.
Jacobs
(he can’t whup me now, so I can leave the “Father” off this one time)
said that in light of the great national tragedy, that
classes were being dismissed, and the buses will be loading shortly to take us
all home.
As
a kid, it was incredibly hard to believe that anyone could kill the president
of the United States. This was the most powerful man on Earth. He had the
military, and secret agents like James Bond (since my mother never allowed me
to watch a James Bond movie when I was a kid, I didn’t realize until years
later that Bond was, in fact, a Brit, and an agent on her majesty’s Secret
Service).
How
could anyone kill the president?
It
was scary.
I
think that the Kennedy assassination is what sparked my interest in news,
because the TV networks, for the first time in history, went wall-to-wall with
coverage, and I just couldn’t get enough.
All
of the great newsmen – Walter Cronkite on CBS, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley
on NBC, and Howard K. Smith on ABC – the only three TV networks and TV national
news media in those days, were front-in-center with their extraordinary
coverage of perhaps the crime of the century (prior to the 9-11 attacks, of
course).
It
was all shocking, all riveting, all too interesting to let go. Even my mother,
who really didn’t allow me to watch much television in those days, sat in front
of the set with me, not knowing how could something like this happen to such a
good and decent man, a young leader who inspired.
Most
importantly, he was for equal rights for negroes, and promised he would work
with Congress to make that happen.
Was
that why Pres. Kennedy was killed? After all, being New Yorkers in the north,
we were under the impression that folks speaking out for negroes in the South
eventually had their heads handed to them.
I
know my Mama, whose family was from the Caribbean, felt that way.
So
who did, and why did it happen?
And
that Texas guy with the big nose and long drawl…the vice president…Johnson? Is
he the president now? How’d that happen?
And
what about the guy the cops caught…Oswald, is that his name? They say he’s the
one who killed the president, and shot a police officer. What’s his story?
It
was a stunning, strange weekend, that got even stranger that Sunday morning
when the alleged assassin was gunned down by Jack Ruby, a local night club
owner who got through all of that police security in the Dallas PD garage…with
a gun.
It
was during that weekend that we got word that there would be no school on Monday.
President Johnson had declared it a national day of mourning.
The
country, indeed the whole world was in grief. I had experienced nothing like
it, and it was all happening on television.
The
funeral, the riderless horse, Mrs. Kennedy with little Caroline and John-John…John-John,
with that salute as his father’s horse drawn carriage passed by.
And
the tears from everyone…it was like we had all lost a member of our family.
The
images from that entire weekend, ending with the eternal flame at Arlington
National Cemetery, were indelible.
And
they still are.
It’s
hard to believe that it was 50 years ago when we so violently lost one of the
most inspirational presidents. John Kennedy had his dark side, we have since
determined, but his youth, his energy and his vision for America and the world,
has been everlasting.
I’m
so glad that we haven’t forgotten him.
And
never will.
ZAPRUDER
FILM – We neither have the time nor where-for-all to write about it here, but
the history of the 26-second 8mm film of President Kennedy’s assassination
taken by Abraham Zapruder on that faithful day in Dallas is fascinating.
Research it online. The history of this extraordinary piece of film over the
past fifty years is worthy of a movie of its own. Indeed, one has already been
made.
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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