http://nnpa.org/sidebar-to-clippers-react/
http://nnpa.org/racist-la-clippers-owner-banned-from-nba-and-fined-2-5-million-by-george-e-curry/
http://nnpa.org/activists-say-blacks-cant-afford-to-become-complacent-by-freddie-allen/
EXCLUSIVE
CHAVIS PUSHING FOR
ELECTION
YEAR YOUTH
INVOLVEMENT
By Cash Michaels
Editor
The Rev.
Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. says he’s coming back “home” to North Carolina to
help jumpstart a voter empowerment movement for young people during this
election year. And according to Chavis, the activist community of Durham is
best suited to lead the charge.
Dr. Chavis
made his remarks Sunday during a “Get Out To Vote Rally, sponsored by the
Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People at Covenant Presbyterian Church,
where activist Rev. Jimmy Hawkins is the pastor.
Chavis said
it was crucial that the power of young voters be harnessed in order to combat
the Republican drive to build on their iron grip on state government, and the
“negative” policies, like voter ID that have ultimately resulted.
“These are
some rough times,” Chavis told those gathered Sunday. “[But] I’m here today to remind us that we’ve
had rough times before.”
“What’s
going in the state Legislature, what’s going on in the Governor’s Mansion represents
not just those Republicans? It represents a larger reality…somebody voted to
put them in power. All of these bad things they have done to hurt people [in
North Carolina]…just didn’t happen by themselves,” Dr. Chavis continued.
In the face
of Republican domination, the “challenge” is to reach out to the hundreds of
thousands of blacks, Latinos and youth people who currently are not registered
to vote, or are orientated to understand what freedoms they have lost since the
GOP takeover in North Carolina, and what more could they lose.
After
saying that he would “love to see” the Democrats take back the NC General
Assembly in the 2014 midterms, or the Governor’s Mansion in 2016, Chavis added,
“…and I don’t think that’s an impossible dream.”
“We not only
have to pray for what is right, but allow ourselves to be GOD’s instruments for
further change,” Chavis said, adding that all right-thing people of good will,
no matter what their color, must come together to work for change.
“If you
work to make life better for black people in America, you work to make life
better for all people in America,” the former leader of the Wilmington Ten
said. “But we have to keep pushin’.”
Chavis
pointed to how One Stop – Early Voting numbers for the May 6th
primary are slack, and how something must be done to improve those numbers by
Election Day.
“Driving up
here I saw a lot of students…a lot of young people on the street. And I’m not
so sure how conscious they are that not only can they early vote, but what’s at
stake in this election.”
Dr. Chavis,
who was recently nominated to be interim executive director of the NC
Democratic Party before moderate Democrats led a smear campaign to kill the
effort, called Election Day “payback day,” saying that it is the day that voters
kick elected officials out of office who have not served in the public
interest.
“I think
the people in the Legislature and the Governor’s Mansion need to be paid back
for what they’ve done,” Chavis said to applause. “So who is going to pay them
back? I’m not so sure if the people of North Carolina are fighting ready.”
Chavis said
he is willing to come back, at his own expense, to help take part in “turning
North Carolina around,” but it has to happen county-by-county. He suggested
that Durham County lead the way in that effort because historically it produced
“intellectual giants and forward thinking.”
Young people, Dr. Chavis said, are
essential to that turnaround.
“Young
people voted in record numbers in 2008 because they got inspired. So what is it
on the short term, between now and May 6th, that we can do in North
Carolina to inspire and make our young people vote again?’
Chavis said
there must be outreach to the youth, using social media and the modern
communications vehicles.
“There are
one million more Democrats than there are Republicans in North Carolina,” Dr.
Chavis said. “What kind of calculus is that? How is that mathematically
possible? You have one million more Democrats than Republicans, but the
Republicans win the elections. That’s a mathematical impossibility, unless we
and our allies have let go of not only our enthusiasm, but our sense of calling
every day.”
“There’s no
better feeling when you go to sleep at night than knowing that when you wake
up, you’re going to help somebody, because when you do, you also help
yourself,” Chavis said.
“Sometimes
you have to hit rock bottom before you can get right back up, he continued.
“We’ve hit rock bottom. I don’t think it’s possible to go lower.”
The former
executive director of the NAACP called for a “democracy revival” in North
Carolina, saying that the people’s spirituality, politics and economic outlook
must all come together to move forward.
“We have to
reassert ourselves. We’ve made so much progress politically, but I think we
have to make more progress economically, because one of the reasons why we’re
politically weak today is because we’re also weak economically.”
Dr. Chavis
says the African-American community needs to start an economic “war chest” so that it no longer has to take money
from figures like disgraced
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was banned
from the NBA this week after a recording of his racist rantings was made public
last weekend. Sterling had received a “life achievement award” from the Los
Angeles NAACP chapter in 2009 despite reports of his being a racist slumlord,
and was set to receive another on May 15th at the L.A. NAACP’s
Freedom Fund banquet.
That award,
which published reports say was the result of Sterling contributing thousands
of dollars to that branch, has since been withdrawn.
Chavis said
with the US Supreme Court rollback on voting rights and affirmative action, in
addition to the North Carolina Republican rollback on voting rights, social
programming and their assault on the poor and unemployed, are more than enough
reasons for people across the state to band together, and vote not just in the
May 6th primaries next Tuesday, but November midterm elections in
the fall.
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TRESPASSING CHARGE
DROPPED AGAINST SHAW STUDENT
A Shaw
University who was arrested and charged with trespassing because he allegedly
refused to leave the campus library when asked, has had the misdemeanor charge
dropped by the Wake County District Attorney’s Office. Authorities say the
student, Na'Eem Shaemey Wilkins, 21, was arrested and charged
Sunday evening after being asked twice to leave the library at closing. Wilkins
alleged countered that he still needed to student for exams. The Shaw
University library has since announced that it is extending its library hours.
DURHAM
OFFICERS PUNISHED FOR KEEPING GUN PARTS
Several
Durham police officers and department employees are being punished by Chief
Jose Lopez for allegedly keeping confiscated gun parts for use with their
official or personal weapons. A court order requires that all confiscated
weapons be destroyed. Lopez says violators were apparently unaware of the court
order. Seven in all now face disciplinary actions.
NCCU FACING
$6 MILLION IN BUDGET CUTS
Expect the
elimination of 55 jobs as North Carolina Central University faces upwards of $6
million in budget cuts. The Board of Trustees last week also voted not to fill
38 open positions, and to lay off 17 employees during the first week in May.
School officials say the cuts are necessary to keep NCCU moving forward.
DISTRICT C TOWN HALL MEETING MAY 8
Raleigh residents in City Council District C are invited to a town hall meeting on Thursday, May 8, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at John Chavis Community Center, 505 Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard. District C City Council Member Eugene Weeks will host the town hall meeting to discuss issues of importance to both the district and the city overall. District C covers the south and east quadrants of Raleigh. City Manager Ruffin Hall and some City department heads will be attending to respond to any questions submitted by citizens.
DISTRICT C TOWN HALL MEETING MAY 8
Raleigh residents in City Council District C are invited to a town hall meeting on Thursday, May 8, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at John Chavis Community Center, 505 Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard. District C City Council Member Eugene Weeks will host the town hall meeting to discuss issues of importance to both the district and the city overall. District C covers the south and east quadrants of Raleigh. City Manager Ruffin Hall and some City department heads will be attending to respond to any questions submitted by citizens.
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS 5-1-14
ONE STOP EARLY VOTING
PERIOD ENDS MAY 3RD
[GREENSBORO]
With the May 6th primaries scheduled statewide for next Tuesday, the
One Stop – Early Voting period ends on Saturday, May 3rd.
Republicans and Democrats have primaries
for the US Senate, most of the Congressional, state House and state Senate Districts,
among other positions. Polls open at 6;30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.
MORAL MONDAY MOVEMENT
RESUMES MAY 19TH
[RALEIGH] On
April 29th, the NCNAACP commemorated the first anniversary of its
Forward Together coalition effort, the Moral Monday Movement, which brought
tens of thousands of protesters to demonstrate the policies of the
Republican-led NC General Assembly last
Spring. With the legislative Short Session scheduled to begin on May 19th,
those demonstrations are scheduled to return as well, says Rev. William Barber,
NCNAACP president.
NORTH CAROLINA VOTER
I.D. OPPONENTS HAIL WISCONSIN RULING
[MILWAUKEE,
WIS.] Those who have filed suit against North Carolina’s photo voter I.D. law
are gaining hope from this week’s ruling by a federal judge in Wisconsin
finding that that state’s voter I.D. law was unconstitutional. The court found
that the law imposed a “unfair burden” on the state’s poor citizens of color,
and violated the Constitution’s equal protection law. The ruling hasn’t been
appealed yet.
-30-
CASH IN THE APPLE –
05-01-14
By Cash Michaels
BEING REAL
– Earlier this week, Adam Silver, rookie commissioner of the National
Basketball Association, made history when he announced the banning for life of
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling from his team and the league, along
with a $2.5 million fine.
In
addition, Commissioner Silver announced that it will take three-fourth’s of the
current 30-member governing board of NBA directors, otherwise known as the
other 29 members, to vote to force Sterling to sell his team.
So yes, I
certainly join with players and coaches – past and present – in applauding the
commissioner’s actions.
But I also
agree that this whole controversy, which started last Saturday morning when the
celebrity website TMZ released secret tapes of who has now been confirmed as
Sterling going on a racial rant with his alleged mistress about her putting
pictures of she and black people, like basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson,
online, is not over.
As of this
writing, it’s not clear exactly what the timetable for the NBA owners to vote
to sell Sterling’s stake in the L.A. Clippers will be. And what role will
Sterling’s wife and family play in this. Could they end up with the club, thus
keeping it in the family?
Those are
just some of the issues that lie ahead, and their good questions.
But there
are other questions, not just about Donald Sterling’s past, but the NBA’s past,
that are also still outstanding. For instance, if everyone in the NBA’s
hierarchy knew about Sterling’s racist past (it is well documented that he is a
slumlord, that he’s expressed views about black people “smelling” and
attracting “vermin”, and that legendary basketball great Elgin Baylor sued
Sterling for racial and age discrimination when he as fired as Clippers general
manager years ago, saying that the Sterling wanted “a plantation” of “poor
black kids”, run by a “white coach”), then why is it only now, when the guy is
set up by his alleged mistress and the world hears his racist views, that the
NBA decides it needs to get rid of him pronto?
That’s
simple. Because Sterling’s previous racist actions apparently weren’t
embarrassing enough. Let me explain.
Even though
Sterling’s previous racial controversies involved lawsuits and extraordinary
accusations, apparently they weren’t “sexy” or clear cut enough for the Los
Angeles media to make big noise about, so folks in LA weren’t that exercised
(though they should have been), and the rest of the county knew little about
Sterling and how he conducted business.
Fast
forward to now. Sterling’s racist views, as mean as ever, were served up on a
silver platter by a sexy woman who was alleged to be the rich man’s ex-mistress
on tape. And as a bonus, the rich white guy is not only railing to her not to
take pictures with blacks, but not to bring any to his games.
Then, to
add the cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake, the rich racist white
guy then attacks one of the most beloved figures in the history of professional
sports – Magic Johnson.
That
combination bust through all of the clutter, especially when the rich racist
white guy’s voice can be heard clear as a bell. The presentation left few
questions. We all knew what we heard, and were pretty darn sure who we heard,
even if we had never heard him before. All that was needed was public reaction from some of our cultural
icons like Magic, like Lebron James, and like…gasp…MICHAEL JORDAN commenting on
racism (didn’t know homeboy knew how to spell the word)…and it was a led pipe
cinch that the fuse had been lit, and one way or another, something big was
going to explode.
National
reaction to the fast moving story, especially from the NBA, President Obama and
major advertisers, guaranteed that the only thing that would move it from the
top headline would be the discovery of missing plane Flight 370.
Finally, on
Tuesday, the NBA announced its punishment against Sterling.
As of press
time, at least 25 of the 30 NBA owners had
issued statements applauding Commissioner Silver, and calling for Donald
Sterling’s head.
For his
part, Sterling has made it clear that he won’t be selling the Clippers to
anyone.
Either way,
the players of the NBA are hailing Com. Silver for his bold and decisive
action. It was bold and decisive, but it’s not over.
THE NBA AND
RACISM – I have a friend in Arizona who used to be one of the best players in
both the NBA and ABA back in the 1960’s and early 70s. Indeed, he used to play
for the Atlanta Hawks and the Carolina Cougars.
His name is
“Pogo” Joe Caldwell.
Joe led the
1964 US Olympic Men’s Basketball team along with Bill Bradley, Larry Brown and
Walt Hazzard. When he got to professional basketball, Joe, called “Pogo Joe” or
“Jumpin’ Joe” because of his leaping ability and speed, was an all-star in both
the NBA and ABA.
I bring Joe
up because when I interviewed him two years ago for a short film I did on him,
he talked about all of the racism he faced in both leagues at the time.
The most
striking story was when he, Lou Hudson and Walt Bellamy played for the Atlanta
Hawks. It was the last 1960’s, and the Hawks was the team to contend with in
the NBA. But the owner decided he wanted to shake things up, so he signed a
young white player from Raleigh, NC named “Pistol” Pete Maravich.
Maravich
was a brilliant player from Louisiana State University known for his
extraordinary ball handling and passing, not to mention his prolific scoring.
The Hawks owner wanted Pete bad, and signed the young man for $1.9 million, a
huge amount of money no pro athlete earned back in the late 1960s.
When Joe
and the black players on the Hawks heard about this, they balked. The average
NBA ball player back in the 1960s earned around $45,000, if that much, and
their contracts were not long-term, but year-to-year that automatically renewed
at the same rate. Raises were given only if the owners were willing, which
wasn’t very often.
Joe demanded to meet with the Hawks
owner. He was invited to meet at an expensive steakhouse, where they could dine
and chat. Finally, Joe decided to chuck the small talk and get right down to
the butter – why is this new kid with no professional experience getting paid
much. Much more than your veteran black players who have worked hard to win for
the team, and put people in the seats?
The owner was shockingly
matter-of-fact.
“Because Joe,” the owner told
Caldwell, “one white boy is worth more
than six niggers.”
A shocked Pogo Joe Caldwell decided
right then and there that he would never again play for that racist Hawks
owner, and he didn’t. The Hawks had to
take Joe to court, but he refused, instead jumping to the ABA and the Carolina
Cougars, where he played for several years before the Cougars were sold when
the ABA and NBA merged..
Soon after that sale, Joe was
indefinitely suspended from the NBA.
Caldwell has told me other stories
of how racism permeated the early days of professional basketball. So when he
saw NBA Commissioner Adam Silver lower the boom on Clipper owner Donald
Sterling, he was surprised.
Very surprised.
TONIGHT
– We’re bringing a free screening of the NNPA – CashWorks HD Production of
“Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten” to the Hayti Heritage Center, 804
Old Fayetteville Street, tonight. Thursday, May 1st, at 6:30 p.m.
Again, this event is free and open to the public.
As
we said last week, Raleigh and Durham are two very different markets, and we’re
extremely interested in hearing the varying views and perspectives of each one,
especially young people. We’re still tweaking this film, which did very well
with a 500+ audience in Wilmington on April 5th, and before we go
further with it, we want to be sure that we’ve produced something which will
positively add to our understanding of history as a people and society.
So
Durham, we’ll see you TONIGHT, Thursday, May 1st, 6:30 p.m. at Hayti
Heritage Center.
Raleigh,
we’ll see you next week on Friday, May 9th, 6:30 p.m. at Martin
Street Baptist Church (Family Life Center).
Both
events are, again, free and open to the public, because we want to hear from
you. On behalf of CashWorks HD Productions and the National Newspaper
Publishers Association, thank you for supporting our film.
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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