http://nnpa.org/obama-tries-to-add-substance-to-black-male-initiative-by-freddie-allen/
http://nnpa.org/gun-violence-aimed-at-black-males-triggers-concern-by-freddie-allen/
TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 3-6-14
WAKE SCHOOL BOARD
UNANIMOUSLY VOTES AGAINST END TO TEACHER TENURE
With a
packed room of cheering teachers looking on, the Wake School Board Tuesday
unanimously voted to oppose the elimination of teacher tenure, in favor of
limited teacher contracts. Last year the Republican-led state Legislature voted
to do away with traditional job security in favor of rewarding the best
teachers with four-year contracts. Teachers and school boards across the state oppose
the plan, which is to take effect in four years, saying that it lowers teacher
morale and unfairly breaks educators into groups. The NC Association of
Educators has filed suit to overturn the law.
NEW WAKE SNOW MAKEUP
DAYS ANNOUNCED
Wake County
traditional calendar students will makeup Tuesday’s cancelled classes due inclement
weather on June 12th. Year-round students in tracks 1, 3 and 4 will
make it up this Saturday, March 8th. Modified calendar students will
makeup the day on March 12th,
and the NC State STEM Early College and single-sex academies will have
classes March 17th.
BOND FOR WHITE
SUPREMACIST ALLEGED TO HAVE THREATENED RALEIGH MAYOR REDUCED
The
$265,000 bond set for a white supremacist who allegedly threatened the life of
Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane online, was reduced this week to just $75,000.
Wake District Court Judge Ned Mangum lowered the bond for Alec Dane Redner,27,
saying that the misdemeanor charge of communicating threats, and a low-level
felony charge of threatening an executive, along with an obstruction of justice
charge, don’t deserve a high bond. Redner will be under electronic house arrest
at his mother’s house in Raleigh.
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR
3-6-14
NCNAACP FILES SUIT
AGAINST HEALTH CARDE PROVIDER FOR CLOSING BELHAVEN HOSPITAL
[BELHAVEN] Citing a difficult financial
situation partially due to North Carolina's refusal to expand Medicaid, a
health care provider announced last week that it will close its hospital in the
small town of Belhaven, NC, on April 1st, despite community protests
that the provider will put at risk thousands of lives by removing the only
emergency care facility in this rural area. Joining together with Mayor Adam
O'Neal and local residents, the NC NAACP filed a Title VI Civil Rights
complaint with the US Department of Health and Human Services on Jan. 7 to
bring Vidant Health and the community to the negotiating table. The Office of
Civil Rights with HHS is opening their investigation into the issue and is
aware that the emergency room is slated for demolition in early April. If no
agreement is reached, the NC NAACP asks that the department cut off federal
funding to Vidant until the provider remedies this discriminatory situation.
NC GENERAL ASSEMBLY HAS TWO
BLACKS NOW REPRESENTING THE DEMOCRATIC MINORITY
[RALEIGH] Perhaps for the first time
in North Carolina history, two African-American state lawmakers represent their
parties at the same time in the NC General Assembly. With Senate Democratic
Minority Leader Martin Nesbitt stepping down this week for reported medical
reasons, former NC House Speaker, Sen. Dan Blue, was unanimously elected to
take Nesbitt’s place to lead the opposition to the Senate Republican
supermajority. Sen. Blue now joins NC House Democratic Minority Leader Larry
Hall as being the voice in his respective legislative chamber for the loyal
opposition to the GOP majority there. The NC Legislative short session begins
on Wednesday, May 14.
[CHARLOTTE] Nine years after
moving from Raleigh to Charlotte, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference has decided to not only move its headquarters to the Queen City, but
also keep its popular CIAA men’s and women’s Division II basketball tournaments
there for the next six years. The economic impact of last week’s tournaments –
which saw the Lady Bears of Shaw University (for the fourth consecutive time)
and the men’s team of Livingston College take their respective CIAA
championships – aren’t in yet, but in 2013, the CIAA games generated $29.86
million in tourist spending, and $47.17 million in overall impact on Charlotte.
-30- MEDIA
CASH IN THE APPLE
3-6-14
By Cash Michaels
OSCAR
DIVERSITY – Over 43 million people in the United States watched last Sunday’s
Academy Awards program on television, the most to watch a non-sports
entertainment show on television since 2004.
They also
watched one of the most diverse Oscar shows ever as well in terms of both the
nominees and winners. A Mexican director named Alfonso Cuaron took the top
prize in his category for the space thriller, “Gravity” starring George Clooney
and Sandra Bullock. The film won seven Oscars in total.
And while
the much-hailed “12 Years a Slave” took
Best Picture, its black screenwriter John Ridley won for Best Adapted
Screenplay, and Kenyan performer Lupita Nyong’o gracefully won for Best
Supporting Actress.
All-in-all
it was a proud, fun-filled affair with hostess Ellen DeGeneres keeping things
moving. One of her first jokes out the box was telling, though. Either “12
Years a Slave” wins for Best Picture,” she said, or [the voting Academy members
are all racists.”
I have to
give it to Ellen, it took guts to say that at the Oscar ceremony.
SOME PEOPLE
JUST CAN’T LEARN – Chelsea Handler is a level C TV show hostess ho is supposed
to be somebody apparently. So much so that the Huffington Post online allowed
Handler to use their Twitter account during Sunday nights Oscar telecast to
keep folks amused as things went on.
Apparent
few got the memo. If Handler is supposed to be some kind of witty comedic
talent, then I should be an Olympic gold medalist. All night long, Handler
tweeted out some of the most racist garbage about stars such as legend Sidney
Poitier, Tyler Perry, Whoopi Goldberg and the late South African President
Nelson Mandela. She also went after Best Supporting Actress Lupita Nyong’o, and
the Best Picture winning film, “12 Years a Slave.”
Handler was
later made apologize for her foolishness.
I get it.
Sometimes you’re feeling ugly and get to thinking that the world is with you.
NOT SO! The Oscars was a joyous occasion, and did not need some no-talent-has-been-to-be
to try and muck it up!
Take
right-wing conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. He got on the air
the day after the Academy Awards and trashed the whole thing as some liberal
cabal. Limbaugh said “12 Years a Slave” won Best Picture just because it ha the
word “slave” in the title.
Let’s face
it, folks, there are those who just plainly and lavishly live on hate, and
enjoy it immensely. As the years go by, it’s getting easier and easier for me
to believe it.
“SCANDAL” RETURNS,
AND I DON’T CARE – I know last week black women across America were pleased and
proud that one of their favorite shows, “Scandal” was back on TV after a short
hiatus.
I, for one,
do not join them in that glee. Even though the show about a powerful black
female Washington, DC fixer who is having an affair with a white president of
the United States is produced by black female produce Shonda Rhimes (who also
produces the ABC hit “Grey’s Anatomy”), the show does little to uplift black
women, in my opinion, and it especially does precious little for black men
either, except make us look weak and idiotic.
Black women
on Facebook defend the show, saying it satisfies their fantasy of being able to
lock up with a powerful man, unlike the black men they apparently feel stuck
with.
I counter
that if it is a “fantasy’ (and it is), then why can’t the black men be powerful
too. Oh yeah, briefly the main character’s father was some head of some
underground agency who could tell the president to his face where to go and
what time to get there.
And what
happened to said “powerful” black father? He got kidnapped and tied to a chair
in his underwear long enough for that white president to tell him that his
daughter “tasted good,” and then fire him.
Any black
woman enjoying “Scandal” after that nonsense lost pride in her people a long
time ago. Trust me, if that were a black man’s mother that happened to in a
show, the sistas wouldn’t let us brothas hear the end of our tolerating such
treatment of one of them in a TV show.
So you can
keep “Scandal,” my friends, and the interest that goes with it. I refuse to
lower myself ever again by watching that degrading trash. Instead, I will be
watching “Suits” over on the USA cable network. True, the lead characters are
both white, but their boss at the law firm is one of the sharpest, boldest and
most elegant black women there ever has been on television. And the father of
one of the associates at the firm is one of the most powerful lawyers in the
country on the show.
I’d rather
watch folks I can be proud of, instead of the star of a show who has a weakling
for a father, and couldn’t love a real black man if you blackmailed her.
You like
“Scandal” black women?
You can
keep it!
WHAT DO YOU
THINK? The other day on Facebook, I asked the question, “What positives have
black people given America?” The answers were quite interesting.
Thurgood
Marshall; inspiration; a work ethic; sprit of endurance, perseverance and
brotherly/sisterly love; intellectual honesty; a conscience; soul; a nonviolent
movement; faith and hope; intellect, morals and Obama; forgiveness; fighting
hard for freedom; inventions and fashion; black music; Folgers coffee; Muhammad
Ali; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr; scientific discoveries, among other things.
How would
you answer that question?
Think about
it!
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 in April 5, 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.
-30-
DEMOCRATS DECIDE ON
CHAVIS SUNDAY
By Cash Michaels
Editor
There will
be a showdown of sorts this Sunday when the State Executive Council (SEC) of
the North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) meets in Greensboro to make what
could be a final decision on the next permanent executive director for the
embattled party.
At issue
will be whether controversial NCDP Chairman Randy Voller will have the votes
from the SEC to install his choice for ED, the Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis,
Jr.; or will the moderate-to-conservative wing of the party, commonly known as
the “Hunt faction,” named after former Gov. James B. Hunt, will be able to
impose its will to block the Chavis nomination, stymie Voller’s influence, and
put in place someone who answers primarily to them.
Someone who
Voller could, as he did almost a month ago with the previous ED, fire at will.
Currently,
Casey Mann is serving as the interim ED, but that status could also change
Sunday if the SEC deems it a workable compromise.
Chavis has said if the NCDP wants him, it will have to unify and make that decision.
The
showdown will be a critical test of wills between two factions of the NCDP that
traditionally haven’t got alone, but are now really at each others throat in
the aftermath of Voller’s election to chair in 2013. After a series of initial
missteps, the moderates have demanded that Voller step down, something he has
outright rejected as he hangs on to power.
As a
result, several traditional donors to the NCDP have withheld their
contributions in an effort to starve Voller’s operations, and hopefully drive
him out. State Auditor Beth Wood has even gone as far as publicly demand that
her reported $500.00 contribution be returned, saying that she has concerns
about how it will be spent, especially after an early incident where Voller
spent NCDP funds on an unauthorized trip.
The
chairman replaced the money and apologized.
For the
most part, black Democrats are lining up behind Voller, calling the progressive
chairman “grassroots” and someone who believes in a diverse NCDP leadership. In
an exclusive interview last week, Willie Fleming, president of the NCDP
chartered auxiliary, the African-American Caucus (AAC), expressed full support
for the chairman, saying that though, “Randy has made some mistakes,… [his]
intention is to move [the NCDP] forward.”
Fleming,
who lives in Charlotte, also expressed full support for Voller’s nomination of
Rev. Ben Chavis as the next ED, adding that he was outraged by the way the Hunt
faction coordinated opposition to Chavis last month, using, and even false
allegations against the civil rights leader to turn rank-in-file Democratic
opinion against him.
Some of
that came from Gary Pearce, former press secretary to Gov. Hunt, who helped
rhetorically lead the charge against Chavis be calling him, “The most divisive,
controversial figure” that Voller could find, and later falsely stating that
Chavis, once leader of the now-pardoned Wilmington Ten, was so divisive, that
in 2008, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama “disavowed” Chavis, again a
false charge that a fact check not only proves is erroneous, but that Chavis vehemently
denies.
And yet,
Pearce, in one of his most recent online columns, sends a clear message to the
SEC when he wrote, ”The future of Democratic candidates – not to mention that
of North Carolina, the nation and the free world – might depend on whether the
party’s executive committee remembers [Voller’s errors] when it meets March 9.”
Problem is
many of Voller’s NCDP supporters recall many of the Hunt faction’s alleged
mistakes too, including the attempt to coverup a sexual harassment charge by
the previous NCDP Chairman David Walker; the convictions of two high profile
Democratic state House leaders for corruption; and losing supermajority control
of the NC General Assembly in 2010 to the Republicans essentially until 2020,
thanks to GOP redistricting.
As a
result, when the smoke cleared last week when the 2014 midterm elections
candidates filing concluded, many of the Republican incumbents went
unchallenged in their GOP-leaning districts, making it extremely difficult for
Democrats to win back the state Legislature this year, if at all for the foreseeable
future.
The same
holds for North Carolina’s congressional delegation, which currently leans 9-4
Republican.
Arguably,
the most critical statewide race for Democrats this fall is the re-election of
US Sen. Kay Hagan. Without significant Democratic turnout, the conservative
Hagan, according to recent polls, is vulnerable to any of the announced
Republican candidates to replace her.
NCDP
infighting, officials like AAC Pres. Willie Fleming say, imperils her
re-election. And that’s why how the SEC votes this Sunday is key.
Voller
supporters, like Eighth Congressional District Democratic Chair Dr. Gracie
Galloway, have been busy sending out petition letters and rounding up support
to be in Greensboro on Sunday.
They feel
that the party desperately needs someone with Rev. Chavis’ skills at
organizing, and political experience in voter registration and mobilization, to
come in as ED and not only excite the grassroots Democratic base, but also
attract more black, Latino and youth voters to the party for this fall.
Observers
say it is the only way the Democrats can win.
-30-
INNOCENCE” FILM PREMIERE, GALA
Special to The Carolinian
The postponed world premiere of the National Newspaper Publishers Association – CashWorks HD Productions documentary, “Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten,” has now been officially set for Saturday, April 5th at UNC – Wilmington's Kenan Auditorium , in Wilmington, followed by gala/banquet honoring former Gov. Beverly Perdue and NC NAACP Pres. Rev. William Barber.
The day of special events is titled, “Black Press: Joining Together for a Better World,” and is presented by The Wilmington Journal, which has served Southeastern North Carolina’s African-American community for 87 years, and the NNPA.
The two-hour film screening, scheduled for 9:30 a.m., is free and open to the public.
The documentary recounts the history surrounding the troubled desegregation of New Hanover County Public schools during the late 1960s thorough 1971, which evolved into the false prosecution of eight black male students, a white female community organizer, and a fiery civil rights activist, Rev. Benjamin Chavis, for protesting racial injustice.
The proud history of Williston Senior High School, the all-Black school in Wilmington which was unceremoniously closed in 1968, will also be honored.
Against the backdrop of the Wilmington 1898 race massacre and the forced desegregation of Southern schools in the 1960s, the documentary also traces how the Black Press, led initially by Wilmington Journal publisher Thomas C. Jervay, Sr., and over 40 years later by his daughter, publisher-editor Mary Alice Jervay Thatch through the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), ultimately pushed for, and achieved the official exoneration of the Wilmington Ten.
Special appearances in the film by the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr., leader of the Wilmington Ten; Joseph McNeil - Williston Senior High School alumnus and a member of the Greensboro Four who integrated a downtown Greensboro F. W. Woolworth store in 1960; Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, pastor emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, and one of the ministers who lobbied Gov. James Hunt in 1977 to pardon the Wilmington Ten; and former Gov. Beverly Perdue, who ultimately pardoned the Wilmington Ten in Dec. 2012.
The documentary is set to be released on DVD for public schools - grades 9 through 12 (with academic guide); colleges and universities, and the general public.
The NNPA, also known as “The Black Press of America,” is a 74-year-old federation of more than 200 black community newspapers across the United States. In 2011, led by The Wilmington Journal, the NNPA, and NNPA Foundation led by Dorothy Leavell, publisher of Chicago Crusader, adopted seeking pardons of innocence for the Wilmington Ten as a project.
The film is written, produced and narrated by Cash Michaels, staff writer for The Wilmington Journal; and editor/chief reporter for The Carolinian Newspaper in Raleigh.
Following the documentary will be a brief question and answer session, then a blue ribbon panel discussion, “Civil Rights: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, and the Role of the Black Press, Black Church and the Black Community.”
Among the confirmed panelists is the Rev. Benjamin Chavis, Jr., leader of the Wilmington Ten. George Curry, executive editor of the NNPA, will moderate.
Also to be discussed, “A Black Newspaper on Every Coffee Table.”
There will also be exhibits on display at UNC – Wilmington.
A special Black Tie Gala will be held later that evening in the Cape Fear Ballroom of the Hilton - Riverside Hotel honoring former Gov. Beverly Perdue - who granted pardons of innocence to the ten falsely convicted freedom fighters; NCNAACP Pres. Rev. Dr. William Barber – who helped to lead the public effort to pardon the Wilmington Ten, and others.
Rev. Chavis is the scheduled keynoter.
Among the scheduled performers are spiritual vocalist Lynnette Barber of Lincoln Park Holiness Church in Raleigh, who sings the film's title song, “That Freedom” in “Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten, ” renowned singer and pianist Grenaldo Frazier, spiritual vocalist Jerri Holliday, and Arts Council Director Rhonda Bellamy. WECT TV co-anchor Frances Weller will serve as mistress of ceremony.
Proceeds from ticket purchases will go to the nonprofit RS and TC Jervay Foundation Inc. a 501 c (3). Donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Funds will be used for scholarships and research related to the history of African-Americans in southeastern North Carolina. To date the Foundation has awarded four scholarships to students attending HBCUs.
Corporations and community groups are invited to support this historic fundraising event through the purchase of sponsor packages, Sponsor package benefits include hosted tables for your guests and recognition at the event, and in related advertising promotional materials.
The deadline for ads for the special souvenir program book is March 24th.
For more information contact Shawn Thatch at The Wilmington Journal atwilmjournads@aol.com, or call 910-762-5502.
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