http://nnpa.org/election-commission-urges-voting-reforms-by-freddie-allen/
http://nnpa.org/black-children-live-in-poverty-at-higher-rates-than-whites-by-freddie-allen/
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CASH IN THE APPLE –
1-30-2014
By Cash Michaels
PREMIERE FOR “PARDONS OF INNOCENCE” - Saturday
morning, Feb. 15, 2014, at the Burney
Center on the campus of UNC –
Wilmington, tentatively scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Admission free to the
public. That’s what you need to know to attend the world premiere of the NNPA – CashWorks HD Productions
documentary presentation of “Pardons of
Innocence: The Wilmington Ten.”
More information as it comes.
SAN JUAN – I must say that if the people I met last
week during my trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico are any indication, that is a
lovely place to live and work. I flew there, at the invitation of the National Newspaper Publishers Association
to screen a preview first draft of “Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten.”
The screening was scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on the
evening of January 23rd, which concerned me because it was the last
event at the end of long day. And yet, despite the fact that the draft ran two
hours, not a person left during the screening.
In fact, when it was over, the dinner audience of
black publishers from around the country stood and gave the film a hearty,
prolonged round of applause.
George Curry,
the executive editor-in-chief of the NNPA, was the first to come over and
congratulate me. That meant a lot coming from a veteran journalist like him.
So see for yourself on Feb. 15th in
Wilmington.
SHARK TANK – It’s weird what they show you for an
in-cabin movie or show on a flight. But one of the shows they displayed on way
back from San Juan is the ABC-TV reality program, “Shark Tank,” where entrepreneurs go before a power panel of
successful businesspeople, and pitch their ideas for a great business, in
return for anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 in investment money, which buys
the investor a certain percentage of the business, and profits.
The show is produced by Mark Burnett of “Survivor” fame, and from what I saw of it, it’s
pretty good. Indeed, the show is shown all over the world, and reruns on CNBC
cable to high ratings.
Gee, for once, television does something right.
Imagine that.
GOVERNOR PULLS FOR BRONCOS – I understand that Gov. Pat McCrory is pulling for the Denver Broncos, primarily because their
coach John Fox spent nine years as
coach of the Carolina Panthers when
McCrory was mayor of Charlotte.
So I got that.
But the quarterback of the opposing Seattle Seahawks is Russell Wilson, a former NC State
quarterback who was forced to leave for Wisconsin because the Wolfpack football
coach then (he’s a former now) decided Wilson was either going to play for him,
or play college baseball, but not both.
Wilson decided he was the master of his own universe,
not Coach what’s-his-name.
And that’s why, despite the fact the Bronco QB Peyton Manning is perhaps one
of the greatest quarterbacks ever to lace up for a game, I’m pulling for
Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks. If a young, talented QB like Wilson
were to beat Manning and the Broncos, THAT would be news, indeed.
So I’m pulling for the underdog…Russ and the
Seahawks, against Gov. McCrory and the Broncos.
Let’s see who’s lucky Sunday night.
GRAMMY MESS – Looks like when it comes to the last
frontier of traditional respect, black music artists have lost significant
ground.
The Grammy Awards last Sunday weren’t very inspiring
as to where tomorrow’s next generation of black music phenoms are coming from.
No less than one of our finest singers, India
Arie, had something to say about this on her blog:
Though it’s called “Music
industries biggest night” the #Grammys are NOT about the music, it’s
a popularity contest. The voting process allows people, to vote on name
recognition alone - the music industry politics is a whole NUTHER conversation.
Too much to go into here.
If the hip hop community
voted on hip hop - r&b COMMUNITY the same - same for each category - we’d
see winners that reflect the MUSIC ITSELF. We all
know that’s just not the way it goes.
NOW the BIGGER losers, are
ALL of black music. Where was the black music community represented in last
nights #Grammy show? Performers and Winners (or not) … Where were the
black artists?
And this isn’t the first
time the #Grammy’s has had a show all but excluding young black America and
black artists in general, although we set the worlds musical trends. Why NOT
televise the lifetime achievement awards of the Isley Brothers?
SURELY they deserved to be on televised stage LAST NIGHT! While other
artists were on stage TWICE?
The truth is in a perfect
world diversity would matter, and respect would be rampant, but the TRUTH is,
The #Grammys is a television show, and in THAT world ratings reign
supreme. So, in general, bigger names take the stage, and
sadly the biggest names often times ARE BIGGER drawn along racial
lines from the release of an album. i.e. marketing dollars, and just
general support. It’s unfortunate.
Yes it is.
Given the mess with Robin Thicke allegedly stealing parts of legend Marvin Gaye’s music
to make super hits for himself, black music today is in bad shape, and in deep
trouble.
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 on February 15, 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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WAKE SCHOOLS
INCLEMENT WEATHER MAKEUP DAYS
Makeup days
for the inclement weather day Tuesday,
January 28 are:
- Traditional
and Modified – calendar schools – Monday, February 17
- Leadership
Academies/Early Colleges – Thursday, May 29
- Multi-Track
Year-Round (Tracks 1, 2 & 4) – Saturday, February 1
- Single –
Track Year-Round Schools – Saturday, February 1
Please note: The make-up day for year-round schools is this
Saturday. For make-up days scheduled on Saturdays, bus pick-up times will
follow the regular weekday schedule. The instructional day will be 3.5 hours.
Breakfast and lunch will NOT be served, but students may bring snacks to
school. There will be no recess or clubs—all time will be used on core
instruction. For more information, please go to http://www.wcpss.net.
DURHAM D.A. LOOKING INTO TIP IN JESUS HUERTA
SUICIDE
Apparently the alleged suicide of
Jesus Huerta is not closed. After saying that there will be no criminal charges
in the shooting death of the 17-year-old teenager, who allegedly shot himself
in the head while handcuffed in the backseat of a Durham police vehicle Nov. 19th,
the Durham District Attorney’s Office has now decided to follow-up on a tip
about the case, and has reopened the investigation. Huerta’s family, who has
also called for a civil rights investigation into the matter, provided the tip.
"We have
agreed to look into the material to the extent that it is reasonable and
productive and has a probability of relating to a crime," the Durham
D.A.’s office said in a statement. Officials say the arresting officer
apparently missed the gun on Huerta during a routine frisk before he was
handcuffed.
RHA BOARD ELIMINATES PERK FOR
DIRECTOR BEAM
The board of the Raleigh Housing
Authority has ratified a new contract for director Steve Beam which does away
with compensatory time for prolonged work days. Published reports revealed that
Beam was taking eleven weeks paid leave annually, much of which he used to
pursue his love of magic. Instead, Beam will get days off for “administrative
time” taken traveling on business trips, approved by the board, during the
weekend. Board members are appointed by Raleigh’s mayor. The RHA is a
federally-funded agency.
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 1-30-2014
STATE UNEMPLOYMENT
RATE CONTINUES TO DROP
[RALEIGH] With employers adding 10,600 new jobs in
December, North Carolina’s jobless rate continued to drop in December to 6.9
percent, according to the NC Dept. of Commerce, from 7.4 in November. Though
Gov. McCrory issued a statement called the dip “great news,” analysts at the NC
Justice Center say, “this is due
almost entirely to a historic collapse in the state’s labor force, not to
genuine gains in employment.” With the labor force shrinking by 110,930 workers
over the past year – 2.5 percent – the Justice Center says, whenever the labor
force goes down, so will the unemployment rate, meaning that thousands have
just dropped out of looking for jobs.
SECOND GRAND JURY INDICTS CHARLOTTE POLICE
OFFICER WHO KILLED UNARMED MAN
[CHARLOTTE] Over the protests of
attorneys for Charlotte Police Officer Randall Kerrick, a second grand jury has
indicted Kerrick on a charge of voluntary manslaughter in the September 2013
slaying of 24-year-old Jonathan Ferrell, an unarmed former Florida A&M
University football player who had wrecked his car in the early morning hours,
and was seeking help. The first grand jury, with just 12 of 18 members, refused
to indict the officer. A judge had to rule to allow the second grand jury to
again hear the case, saying there was nothing in state law that prevented it.
The charge carries a prison sentence up to 11 years. Ferrell’s family has also
filed a lawsuit against the Charlotte Police Dept. and Officer Kerrick.
FEDERAL FOOD STAMP FUNDING WILL CEASE IN
MARCH IF NC DOESN’T CLEAR WAITING LIST, WARNS USDA
[RALEIGH] If North Carolina doesn’t
clear its food stamp waiting list in the next two weeks, the US Dept. of
Agriculture will cut off $88 million federal funding by March 12th, warned the
federal agency in a Jan. 23rd letter to the NC Dept. of Health and
Human Services. Feb. 10th is the deadline date for NCDHHS to show
improvement. In its letter, USDA stated that it is, “…alarmed by the persistent
problems despite our extensive technical assistance and repeated communications
concerning the severity of the situation. Citizens of North Carolina that need
help putting food on the table are not receiving the basic level of
responsiveness and quality of service that they deserve from their government.”
DHHS says it is working to clear up the matter.
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NC NAACP LIST DEMANDS
TOWARDS FEB. 8 MORAL
MARCH
Special to The
Carolinian Newspaper
Editor’s Note – The NCNAACP and the Forward
Together Movement present the “Moral March on Raleigh – Historic Thousands on
Jones Street Rally and People’s Assembly” Saturday, Feb. 8th.
Participants are to meet that morning at 9:30 a.m. on South Street in front of
Shaw University, to march through downtown Raleigh to the Legislative Building
on Jones Street at 10:30 a.m. for the rally.
RALEIGH - Rev. Dr.
William J. Barber, II opened the NC NAACP's annual winter conference on Jan. 25
by declaring that its members were prepared to oppose any attempt by government officials to deny an equal voice and
fair representation to the people of North Carolina - whether that
involves tens of thousands of feet marching in protest through Raleigh
on Feb. 8 or legal challenges in the courts.
"We are continuously
witnessing last-ditch efforts by those who are in power to block the will of
the people," Dr. Barber said. "The North Carolina NAACP, the people
of North Carolina, say today that we will never stand by as justice is delayed.
Because justice delayed is justice denied."
In the weeks ahead, the
NC NAACP will push for expedient and meaningful action to fill the open U.S. district court
judgeship in Eastern North Carolina, to move forward the special election to select a
new representative for the 12th Congressional district, and
to stop the state from delaying
the NC NAACP's legal challenge to the voter suppression law passed
last summer. On Jan. 24, the state conference's Executive Committee
overwhelmingly voted to prioritize these issues.
On Jan. 25, at a press
conference held at the Abundant Life Church of God in Christ & Life Center
in Raleigh, NC, Dr. Barber publicly announced five critical initiatives aimed at combating the denial of justice in
North Carolina:
1.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) has continuously denied attempts to hold a vote on the
candidacy of judicial nominee Ms. Jennifer May-Parker for the open U.S.
District Court seat in Eastern North Carolina.
President Barack Obama
nominated Ms. May-Parker, a well-respected U.S. attorney and an African
American, in June for the longest-running judicial opening; the seat has now
been vacant for seven years. If approved by Congress, Ms. May-Parker would be
the first African American to hold the position in state history.
"The
federal court in the eastern district looks like the Civil Rights Movement
never happened," Dr. Barber said.
"The courts are needed more and more as legislators push continually to
violate our constitutional rights. Sen.
Burr...stop denying the people of eastern North Carolina their right to have
[Ms. May-Parker's candidacy] voted on and their right to integrate the courts,
something that should have been done 200 years ago."
The NC NAACP is not
demanding that Sen. Burr vote for Ms. May-Parker, merely that he stop his
silent veto and allow her candidacy to move forward for a full Congressional
vote.
2.
The 12th congressional district seat is also vacant and will have remained
vacant for over 300 days if Gov. Pat McCrory is able to delay the special
election until Nov. 4, 2014.
The average length of
time that congressional seats go unfilled nationwide is 127 days. If Gov.
McCrory gets his way, residents of the 12th congressional district will
not have a voice in the U.S. Congress for more than 300 days. That is nearly a
year without democratic representation for 700,000 North Carolinians, for
Democrats and Republicans and independents alike.
"We
are in the middle of some of the most critical [pieces of legislation like] the
farm bill and the Voting Rights Act, and the 12th district will
not have a representative at the debate," Dr. Barber said. "This is a travesty of
justice."
Last night, the Executive
Committee voted to instruct the NC NAACP attorneys to begin drawing together a
legal challenge if Gov. McCrory does not change his position.
3.
And statewide, the NC NAACP is pushing forward with its challenge to the voter
suppression bill passed by the Far-Right extremists in the General Assembly in
2013-a law that has been
described as the worst in the nation and stands as the most significant
rollback of voter protections since Jim Crow.
The state continues to
delay the court proceedings by denying the release of crucial evidence to NC
NAACP lawyers during the discovery proceedings, but Dr. Barber stressed that
the organization's resolve would not be shaken. Yesterday, the NC NAACP's lawyers filed a motion to compel the state to
provide documents, many of which are readily available, from the
General Assembly's consideration of the voter suppression law.
According to the state's
lawyers, they can't produce anything before the law was passed, anything from
the debates on the passage of the law, or anything after the bill was signed.
"We say to the
Governor, the people deserve to
see why the legislature made this decision to roll back voting rights in our
state-many rights that our citizens have already used," Dr. Barber
said. "What was done in the darkness will be brought to light."
4.
As a lead up to the Moral Mass March in Raleigh on Feb. 8, the Forward Together
Movement will host the Moral Mondays' Costs and Loss Policy Briefing where scholars, economists, business
people and policy experts will explain how the laws and regulations pushed by
Gov. McCrory and the General Assembly leadership have cost the average North Carolinian morally,
economically, socially, politically, physically.
This briefing will
challenge the governor's and his allies' framing of the past year as a
"Carolina comeback" by pointing out empirically the costs and losses
of these extremist policies that have
instead fostered a "Carolina set-back and catastrophe." It
will be held at 3 pm at the Martin St. Baptist Church, located at
1001 E Martin St. in Raleigh, NC.
5.
In preparation for Historic Thousands on J Street march, churches,
synagogues, and mosques around the state will be hosting their own Moral March
services on Sunday, Feb. 2 to rally their congregations and their
communities.
"We know justice must be fought for on many fronts, in
the court room, at the ballot box, and also in the streets," Dr.
Barber said. "The Moral March on Raleigh is only two weeks away and we
will mobilize like never before!"
Fifty of these services
will be open to members of the
media. More information about the location and timing of these Moral
March services will be forthcoming.
The Moral March on
Raleigh will bring thousands of people of conscience together to stand
against the constitutionally
unsound, morally reprehensible, and economically insane policies of
the Gov. McCrory, Speaker Tillis, Senate Leader Berger, Budget Director Art
Pope and other extremists in the NC General Assembly.
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