http://nnpa.org/2-groups-announce-plan-to-boost-spending-among-blacks-by-jazelle-hunt/
http://nnpa.org/labor-group-withdraws-uncf-support-over-koch-gift-by-freddie-allen/
http://nnpa.org/war-on-summer-violence-begins/
CASH IN THE APPLE
7-17-14
By Cash Michaels
LEBRON
– What can you say about a superstar athlete who decides to give up the bling
in favor of moving back to the community where he grew up, so that he can give
back for the rest of his career?
I
say great!
What
NBA champion LeBron James did last
week in leaving the Miami Heat to go
back to his beloved Cleveland Cavaliers
was nothing short of heartwarming. Indisputably the best professional
basketball player on the planet, LeBron proved during his four extraordinary
championship years with the Heat (four years Eastern Conference champs, two
years NBA champs) that he could grow and mature as a man, and as a competitor.
He
took seriously his role as a leader and role model on the Heat. He married his
high school sweetheart, and they have their third child on the way. LeBron
worked on his game until he was able to develop an unstoppable repertoire of offensive
weaponry that made him THE one in the game.
So
it would have been easy for LeBron James to go for the money, beat his chest,
and proclaim that the Miami Heat would be back in the championship circle after
the drubbing they got from the San
Antonio Spurs. But he didn’t do that. LeBron took the opportunity to opt
out of his contract, discuss things with his family, agent and advisors, and
really think about his place in history really should be, where he could really
make a difference.
The
champion who grew up on the streets of Akron, Ohio, the son of a single mother,
decided that he would spend the remainder of his career in the NBA giving back
to his community, winning championships, working with kids, and improving the
quality of life for all. There is no question he can. The economic impact
LeBron James has had on the economy of Miami is said to have been in the tens
of millions.
That
same impact is expected for the city of Cleveland, where James will be holding
court from now on.
While
we’re at it, let’s take our hats off to Miami. No question everybody in the
Heat organization was stunned Friday when LeBron delivered the news through
Sports Illustrated, but the reaction thereafter was nothing but class. From
Heat owner Mickey Arison to General Manager Pat Riley, and even now
former teammate Dwyane Wade, there
was only praise, and thanks to James for giving Miami four great championship
years.
There
are few figures in professional sports today like LeBron James. There is no
question that he has paid his dues, and continues to do so. One day he will
again stand proud in the championship circle.
And
LeBron will have done it his way…like a man.
OBAMA’S
TOUGH TIMES – I keep asking myself…what was Barack Obama thinking when he ran for a second term as president?
If he had any idea as to the type of hell he’d be catching during his second, I
seriously think he would have changed his mind.
By
now you know the latest…the Republicans want to both sue the president AND
impeach him because…because…well, they accuse him of acting like a king, and
not carrying out the duties of his office, let alone obeying the law.
Indeed,
the GOP alleges that the president is making up his own laws.
For
his part, Pres. Obama has called their bluff and said point blank, “C’mon and
sue me then.”
“And
while you’re at it, how about start doing your jobs, like passing some laws
that will make life better for all Americans.”
What
we are seeing from the Republicans in Congress is nothing short of disgraceful.
They would rather this entire country go down the toilet than to work with the
president to find compromise to help improve the economy faster, and keep our
children safe from gun violence.
Can
you imagine what this country could have achieved over the past six years if
the Republicans had put all of the energy they’ve used to demonize the
president, into working with him, still disagreeing when necessary?
From
the day Obama was first inaugurated, these people have worked overtime to
literally destroy him, not caring what they had to do to do it. They have made
it clear that in their eyes, Obama had no business serving as president, let
alone being elected. And in order to ensure that no one like him (read that as
no other African-Americans) are ever elected again to the White House, the GOP
has sabotaged the electoral system to make it harder for people of color to
rightfully cast a ballot.
This
is the type of racism most of us had hoped we would never see again. But in
their quest for raw power, the Republican Party could care less what we see, or
how many times we see it.
Oh
how I wish we could have a truly honorable two-party system, with, yes, blacks
in both parties competing for our votes with the best ideas. But given the
state of politics today – a Democratic Party too weak in the knees to stand up
and fight when need be, and a Republican Party so full of hatred for blacks,
Hispanics, women and young people – it is exactly what the late legendary
singer/songwriter Curtis Mayfield
once said, “if there’s a hell below, we’re all going to go!”
HAVE
LOST OUR SOULS - In the New York harbor sits the Statue of Lady Liberty. According to its description, it is supposed
to be “…an icon of freedom and of the United States…a welcoming signal to
immigrants arriving from abroad.”
At
the base of Lady Liberty is a plaque which reads, in part, “Give me your tired,
your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”
Well,
given the events of recent weeks concerning refugee children from Central
America being prevented from settling in this nation, someone needs to remove
that plaque now, and shut the Statue of Liberty down, because we, as Americans,
are not living out the true meaning our of creed.
Those
children, ranging in age from barely able to walk to teenagers, are escaping
violent Central American countries like Honduras that are experiencing bloody
drug wars. The parents there are sending their children to the United States
for safety, because they know they will be murdered if they try to grow up in
their native lands.
Our
laws, rightly or wrongly, allow these children to not only stay, but have legal
hearings to determine their status case by case. With tens of thousands of
children arriving at our borders, we have a serious crisis for sure.
But
the more serious crisis is the national Republican-led move to turn our backs
on these children, and send them back to die in their country. We’ve had
refugees from war-torn countries flee to our country before, and we’ve welcomed
them because that was the surest assurance to the world that we meant what we
said about cherishing freedom for all.
These
refugees are different, however, because apparently, they will not grow up to
become traditional Republican voters. That’s the whole reason why the GOP wants
nothing done about immigration reform. Why make it easier for Hispanic voters
to join up with the Democratic Party?
Like
I wrote earlier, our entire country is being turned upside down because of the
foolishness of our political system.
And
now innocent children, fleeing for their lives, are paying the price.
This
is despicable!
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).
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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105th
NAACP CONVENTION TACKLES
VOTER SUPPRESSION
ISSUE
By Cash Michaels
One of the
highlights of next week’s 105th NAACP Convention in Las Vegas,
Nevada will be a panel titled, “Black Turnout for the 2014 Midterm Elections
and the Fight Against Voter Suppression.”
Moderated
by TV One personality Roland Martin, the panel will feature a number of key
national activists in the area of voting rights, except one - NCNAACP President
Rev. Dr. William Barber – who arguably is leading the most high profile, aggressive,
coalition effort against the rollback of voting rights anywhere in the nation
with the year-old North Carolina-based Moral Monday movement.
Why Rev.
Barber wasn’t selected for the panel isn’t clear, particularly given the
tremendous national attention his movement has garnered across the country,
especially last week as lawsuits against North Carolina’s voter restriction law
were heard in US District Court in Winston-Salem.
What’s most
important to the NC NCNAACP president, however, is that the issues of voter
suppression be discussed, and that a plan of action be developed to overcome
voting restrictions targeting African-Americans, Hispanics, young people and
the elderly.
“We’ll be
at the national NAACP Convention to indeed push the issue of addressing voter
suppression, and doing all we can across this nation to protect the precious
right to vote,” Rev. Barber told The
Carolinian this week before leaving for Las Vegas.
This
year’s annual NAACP convention starts
Saturday, July 19th through Wednesday, July 23rd in Las Vegas at the
Mandalay Bay Hotel. The theme is, “All in For Justice and Equality.”
On Sunday,
July 20th, NAACP Chairperson Roslyn Brock will deliver a keynote
address about the civil rights organization’s current priorities, and the
importance of voting and political representation, to the hundreds of delegates
in attendance from across the country. Joining Chairperson Brock in opening the
convention will be US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada.
Rev. Barber
said there will be over one hundred delegates there from North Carolina, and
all of them look forward to welcoming the NAACP’s new president/CEO, attorney
Cornell William Brooks, who was chosen earlier this year by the national NAACP
Board of Directors to succeed Benjamin Jealous, who announced last year that he
was stepping down.
Pres.
Brooks, a longtime attorney and human rights activist who formerly served as
president/CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, is scheduled to
make his first official address to the convention on Monday, July 21st
during the First Plenary Session.
Other
features of the five-day NAACP Convention include sessions on the current state
of affairs across the nation in the areas of health care, criminal justice, the
economy and more; women’s empowerment; the faith community fighting HIV/AIDS in
the black community; and a career fair for job-seekers.
Legendary
music composer Quincy Jones will be honored with the prestigious Spingarn Medal
by the NAACP during the convention. Past recipients include Justice Thurgood
Marshall , baseball legend Jackie Robinson, comedian Bill Cosby, and singer
Lena Horne.
NCNAACP
Pres. Rev. Barber said he will be running to retain his seat on the national
board, on which he currently serves as chairman of the Political Action
Committee.
Meanwhile
Rev. Barber announced the Moral Monday movement will have a live online “Moral
March to the Polls” broadcast on Monday, July 21st at 7 p.m. at http://bit.do/july21mm, and a demonstration in
Durham on Monday, July 28th, 5:30 p.m. at a location to be
determined. Go to www.naacpnc.org for the
latest information.
-30-
DURHAM JUDGE ORDERS DUKE LACROSSE
RAPE CASE MATERIAL DESTROYED
DNA samples from 21 members of
the 2006 Duke lacrosse team, along with police photographs of those players
connected with the infamous alleged rape case, have been ordered destroyed by a
Durham judge. Acting on a motion from defense attorney Bill Thomas, Superior
Court Judge Orlando Hudson ordered the destruction after it was clear that all
civil litigation had been exhausted associated with the case. Three lacrosse
team members were indicted in 2006 for the alleged rape of Crystal Mangum, but
it was later revealed that then District Attorney Mike Nifong had little
evidence that a crime had been committed. The state Attorney General’s Office
dropped the case in 2007.
NEW DURHAM SCHOOLS SUPT. SEEKS TO BREAK
“SCHOOL-TO-PRISON” PIPELINE
No sooner
did Bert L’Homme take the oath of office as Durham Public Schools
superintendent Monday, than he immediately let it be known that one of his
priorities will be lowering suspensions, slashing the dropout rate, and improve
student achievement to the highest level possible. Saying that breaking the
school-to-prison pipeline was the goal “closest to his heart,” Supt. L’Homme
said DPS has to engage its 33,400 students “…to have hope of doing something
better than they are doing today.” L’Homme $225,000 contract runs until 2018.
DURHAM POLICE CHIEF PROBES OFFICERS
ALLEGEDLY MAKING UP 911 CALLS
Once again
the Durham Police Dept. is at the center of controversy amid allegations that
several officers are telling people that they are responding to nonexistent 911
calls just to obtain illegal entry into their homes. At least one officer has
admitted in court to lying about a 911 call coming from an address that he
wanted to enter without a warrant to conduct a search, a search that resulted
in the arrest of a woman for marijuana charges. Chief Jose Lopez says this is
the first he’s hearing of such a tactic at DPD, and that there is no department
policy allowing for such an intrusion. Lopez says he’s ordered an Internal
Affairs probe to determine if other officers routinely use the same illegal tactic.
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS
7-17-14
REP. ELLMERS DEFENDS
“WOMEN’S LEVEL” REMARK
[WASH. D.C.] Congresswoman Renee Ellmers is in hot water
again for something she said, but with it being an election year, she’s
fighting back to stem the damage. The Washington Examiner newspaper quoted the
Republican Second District congresswoman telling a recent women’s conservative
caucus meeting, “We need
our male colleagues to understand that if you bring it down to a woman’s level
and what everything that she is balancing in her life – that’s the way to go.”
The “down to a woman’s level’ remark caused an instant firestorm, forcing
Ellmers to say that there was nothing wrong with it, and that the reporter was
a “liberal woman reporter” looking to cause trouble. The Examiner reporter,
Ashe Schow, immediately released a transcript and audio recording of Ellmers’
remarks. The Republican congresswoman insists that her words were taken out of
context.
BELLHAVEN MAYOR WALKS TO WASH.
D.C TO SAVE HOSPITAL
[BELLHAVEN]
The mayor of Bellhaven, NC, Adam O’Neal, has taken to the road, literally, to
protest the July 1st closing of Pungo District Hospital, the only
emergency medical facility in the Beaufort – Hyde counties area that serves
23,000 people. Mayor O’Neal has begun walking the 273 miles from Bellhaven to
Washington, D.C. to petition lawmakers to save the hospital. Pungo was closed
by its owner, Vidant Health, because of a “lack of paying customers.” The
closest medical facility is 84 miles away. The NCNAACP says it stands with
Mayor O’Neal in his efforts.
STATE, WAKE ELECTION BOARDS
PROHIBIT “MASKED” PHOTO SHOOT BY RIGHT-WING GROUP
[RALEIGH]
A conservative group was given an emphatic no by both the state Board of
Elections, and the Wake County Board of Elections after it requested permission
to stage a photo shoot of masked people voting at Millbrook Exchange Park. The
group known as the Voter Integrity Project wanted to dramatize that without the
state’s new voter photo ID law, there’s no way to know who is showing up at the
polls to vote. VIP alleges that there is “double and triple voting” at some
precincts, there is no evidence of such at any precinct in North Carolina. Both
the state and Wake election boards firmly rejected VIP’s photo shoot request,
stating that it is against state law for anyone to wear masks at a polling
place.
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