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CASH IN THE APPLE FOR
1-28-16
By Cash Michaels
SNOWSTORM
- It seems like a long ago memory by
now, but last week’s monster snowstorm
that paralyzed the east coast, and certainly North Carolina, was one for the
history books. Certainly the loss of life during these storms is always
regrettable, and businesses not being able to open for days is also something we
wish didn’t happen.
But
snowstorms teach us important lessons, like how to survive if our car gets
stuck or our electricity goes out. It also teaches us to depend on each other,
and to look out for the elderly our communities as well to make sure that they
have all they need to weather the storm.
Valuable
lessons are learned when you and your family are stuck together in a snowstorm.
Hopefully those lessons slow us all down, and bring us all closer together.
NEW BERN – Many, many special
thanks to Ms. Sharon Bryant and her
fine staff at the Tryon Palace/NC
History Center in New Bern down east. On Thursday, Jan. 21st,
the center hosted a screening of our award-winning documentary, “Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten”
at 7 p.m. that evening.
Given the numerous weather warnings
of a coming storm on top of the bone-chilling temperatures since we were right
at the riverfront, I was convinced that if we had two people attend, we’d be
lucky. Instead, over 200 showed up, all ready for a great documentary about an
important piece of North Carolina history.
I was simply amazed.
Ms. Bryant told me afterwards that
the African-American community in New Bern literally hungers for as much black
history as they can get. I will certainly be a witness to that. In fact, there
was a healthy mix of blacks and whites
in the audience, in addition with many young people.
This is who the film was made for
two years ago, and I’m so happy and grateful to be screening it in various
places this year so that as many different audiences as possible can learn this
history of the Wilmington Ten, and realize that many of the issues concerning
race that we’re dealing with today are not new, and that we’re all still
striving for answers.
Thank you New Bern for your great
attendance, even in threatening weather, and your great questions afterwards.
I’ll never forget you, and hope to
come back one day.
Besides, y’all serve one of the
best fried trout, shrimp and scallops combo plates I’ve ever had!
NC MUSEUM OF HISTORY – Super
Bowl Sunday, Feb. 7th, right after church from 2 to 5 p.m, the
next screening of “Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten” will be at the NC Museum of History, and admission
is free.
I am both excited and honored to
finally have the film screen there, for that codifies it as solid piece of North
Carolina history, the seal of approval as it were. As I said, it’s happening
Feb. 7th, Super Bowl Sunday, but don’t worry, the film starts at
2 p.m., and that plus the panel
discussion featuring Dr. Benjamin Chavis,
defense attorney Irv Joyner and
myself after the film will end at 5, which means there will still be plenty of
time to get home for the big game which starts at 6:30 p.m.. So unless there’s
another massive snowstorm (Oh GOD, please no), you have no excuse for missing
this free screening Sunday, Feb. 7th at the NC Museum of History.
By the way the next screening after
that will be at North Carolina State
University on Wednesday, Feb. 10th. More about that later.
NC DEMOCRATS DEBATE – This Friday
night, Jan. 29th, I’ll be co-moderating the African-American and
Hispanic Caucuses of the NC Democratic Party debate at the Goodwin House at 220
Hillsborough Street in downtown Raleigh starting at 7 p.m.. The candidates
running for governor and the US Senate are expected to participate.
AND NEXT SATURDAY – Yeah, yeah, I
know, for a guy who is still recovering from a serious stroke a year ago, I’m a
bit busy of late, aren’t I? Nonetheless, the 15th Annual African-American Cultural Festival is on
this Saturday, Jan. 30th at the NC Museum of History from 10:30 a.m.
to 4:30 p.m. There will be art, drama, dance, displays and special
presentations…definitely something for the entire family, and it’s free for
all.
I get busy at 12:30p.m. in the
Dogwood Room moderating a panel titled, The
Impact of Black Newspapers, featuring to outstanding black publishers – my
boss at The Carolinian, Mr. Paul Jervay Jr., and Kenneth Edmonds of
Durham’s Carolina Times.
Then, from 1:30 -2:15, I’ll be
moderating a second panel in the Dogwood Room titled Advocates for Change: NC Student Interns and Community Organizers of
the 1960s. Finally at 2:30, I’ll be introducing the staff from the State
Library who will be conducting a session entitled Researching African American Ancestors. That session, also in the
Dogwood Room, ends at 3:15 p.m.
So for the next two weekends, I’ll
be spending a lot of time at the NC Museum of History. As always, please feel
free to drop by any of these sessions to say hello, and get some of the great knowledge we’ll be dropping for you. And by all means please tell a friend.
THE NEW "JACK BAUER" - When the Fox TV show, "24" returns, star Kiefer Sutherland will not return with it. Instead, there will be a new "Jack Bauer", in the person of black actor Corey Hawkins, who currently stars in AMC's hit, "The Walking Dead," and also in the hit film, "Straight Outta Compton." Hawkins will portray ex-military man Eric Carter, who has to deal with people trying to kill him and an emerging terrorist plot. A pilot episode is being shot for a possible 12-episode series, which should start airing sometime next year.
Let's see if y'all can deal with a black superhero now.
THE NEW "JACK BAUER" - When the Fox TV show, "24" returns, star Kiefer Sutherland will not return with it. Instead, there will be a new "Jack Bauer", in the person of black actor Corey Hawkins, who currently stars in AMC's hit, "The Walking Dead," and also in the hit film, "Straight Outta Compton." Hawkins will portray ex-military man Eric Carter, who has to deal with people trying to kill him and an emerging terrorist plot. A pilot episode is being shot for a possible 12-episode series, which should start airing sometime next year.
Let's see if y'all can deal with a black superhero now.
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.waug-network.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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UNDERSTANDING THE NCNAACP
LAWSUIT AGAINST VOTER
ID
By Cash Michaels
Editor
The plaintiffs’ pre-trial brief in
the voter identification lawsuit being heard in federal court in Winston–Salem
this week, alleges that Republican lawmakers amended the strict 2013 voter ID law
last summer just prior to the first federal trial because “…the State recognized that …there was no
evidence of in-person voter fraud in North Carolina, thus undermining the purported
justification for the law.”
The lawsuit goes on to charge that “…the statute stood to impose
enormous and disproportionate burdens on minorities once it went into effect in
violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the 14th and 15th
Amendments of the Constitution.”
That lawsuit, NCNAACP
v. Gov. Pat McCrory, challenges the Republican governor and the GOP-led
state Legislature over passage of the 2013 voter photo identification law,
which originally only required a government-issued photo ID to vote in the
state. It also seeks to stop implementation
before the upcoming March 15th primaries.
Because of
last minute changes to the law last June, voters will be required to show a
government-issued photo identification at the polls to cast a ballot, unless
they have a “reasonable impediment declaration” for not having one, which
didn’t exist before. In that case, they would be required to fill out a form,
then show some form of identification like a utility bill, verifying their name
and address, in order to then cast a provisional or substitute ballot.
What has
not widely been reported is that that declaration can be challenged by another
voter in that county, and the county board of elections can disallow the
provisional ballot cast as a result if it determines the excuse for not having
a photo ID to be false.
Attorneys
for the plaintiffs - the NCNAACP, the
League of Women Voters of North Carolina, and the US Justice Dept. - maintain in
their brief that, “The rationale for
North Carolina originally enacting a
photo ID requirement was to deter in-person voter fraud. But allowing those
without such ID to vote simply by signing a “reasonable impediment” affidavit
would seem to undermine that justification, particularly against an evidentiary
background of no in-person voter fraud in North Carolina and the increased tax
dollars that North Carolina taxpayers will need to spend implementing this law.
Against that background, one must question what North Carolina’s real
motivation is in continuing to insist on imposing a photo ID law at all.”
The brief
goes on to allege that the reasonable impediment requirement effectively
creates a barrier for African-Americans and Hispanics to constitutionally
exercise their right to vote, because they’re more likely than whites not to
have a government-issued identification, like a driver’s license. That,
plaintiffs’ attorneys say, is a violation of Section 2 of the 1965 Voting
Rights Act, which prohibits the state from “imposing or applying any electoral
practice which results in a denial or abridgement…” of the right of any citizen
to vote based on race or color.
“Moreover, the North Carolina legislature’s
knowledge of the photo ID requirement’s disproportionate burdens on African
Americans, its elimination of forms of ID originally included in the bill, and
the absence of any credible (much less substantial) legislative rationale, all
show that the legislature enacted the statute—at least in part—to make it
harder to vote and to deter minority voters in violation of the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments,” the brief maintains. “The law’s subsequent amendment
does not ameliorate its prohibited intent. And even if this Court concludes
that the legislature lacked discriminatory intent in enacting [the statute] the
requirement remains unlawful because it produces discriminatory results and
burdens the right to vote in ways that, as has been established in the record,
are not outweighed by any substantial State purpose.”
As evidence of the law’s
discriminatory effect, the brief
presents statistics showing that blacks are more likely not to have
photo ID than whites, and they also have more trouble obtaining that
identification as well.
In their defense, attorneys for Gov.
McCrory and the state Legislature maintain that the reasonable impediment declaration
requirement they adopted for North Carolina is very similar to the one which
they say passed muster in South Carolina. Plaintiffs attorneys disagree, saying
that North Carolina’s provision is based on Section 2 of the VRA, and not
Section 5, as is South Carolina’s.
Plaintiffs also alleged that state
lawmakers knew that the voter ID law would have a disproportionately
discriminatory affect on African-American voters, but went ahead and enacted it
anyway. That is a violation of the 14th and 15th amendments
to the US Constitution.
“The evidence in this case supports
a finding of discriminatory purpose,” the brief says. “The record demonstrates
that in enacting [the statute], the North Carolina General Assembly was
responding to increased political power among African American and Latino
voters by making changes in the State’s election law to limit that power and
prevent minority voters from threatening the prospects of the political party
then in control of the General Assembly.”
This week’s trial is expected to
last 5-7 days, depending on the amount of testimony from both sides. Thus far, witnesses for the plaintiffs have testified as to how they've had trouble securing documented evidence to qualify for photo ID, and how blacks are least likely to have the required ID.
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MAYOR CHRIS REY ON WHY
HE’S RUNNING FOR US
SENATE
By Cash Michaels
Editor
Editor’s note – There are a large number of
African-American candidates running for office in North Carolina during the
2016 election, certainly one of the largest ever. During this campaign season,
we will focus on several of the campaigns so that our readers know more about
them.
Spring Lake
Mayor Chris Rey sees what the impact of Washington, D.C. policies have on
families and citizens in his town everyday. That’s why he wants to become North
Carolina’s next U.S. senator, so that he can go to Congress, and be a voice for
those families, and advocate for policies that help them move forward, he says.
“There’s a
specific perspective that’s missing from Washington, DC,” says Mayor Rey, one
of four Democratic candidates competing in the March 15th US senatorial
primary to face Republican incumbent Sen. Richard Burr in the Nov. 8th
general election.
Rey says
that many of the senators there currently may indeed be committed to fighting
for the little guy, but they don’t know what it means to live paycheck-to-paycheck,
or be threatened with the prospect of having their utilities turned off. He
says he can dutifully represent that perspective there, because average North
Carolinians deserve a fighter.
“I get it,
because I see it everyday as a mayor,” he says.
Rey was
first elected mayor in 2011 after defeating a 30-year incumbent that many said
was unbeatable. But “with a new vision,” Rey won the seat with 76 percent of
the vote. And he won reelection unopposed.
Mayor Rey
takes pride in leading Spring Lake ahead of the national curve, making one of
the first municipalities after he was elected to adopt the “Ban the Box”
policy, which allows fair consideration of ex-felons who apply for jobs during
the initial application process without revealing their criminal history until
a later interview. Rey is also proud of the fact that Spring Lake was one of
the first municipalities to secure body cameras for its police officers, some
thing very much in the news now amid many controversial police shootings
nationwide.
These are
just some of the examples of how, as a public servant, Chris Rey says he’s
stayed in touch with the needs of the people who have elected him, and “what’s
happening on the ground.” He vows to take that same dedication, and “everyday
perspective” with him when he’s elected to the US Senate.
Rey says he
sees the two top issues that must be dealt with effectively in Congress as
being national security and generating more jobs. Rey touts his fifteen years
in the military, primarily working in the area of cyber-security, as an
advantage that no other senator will have. He spent over four years after
graduating law school writing cyber-security policy for the US Defense Dept, he
says, so keeping America safe against cyber-terrorism would be a priority.
But then
working diligently to help create more jobs for average Americans who deserve
the opportunity to earn a decent wage and feed their families is also a key
focus, the mayor says. It’s seeing the struggles every day of Spring Lake
citizens, and what they must do to make ends meet, that inspires Rey, he says,
to fight for them. That’s why, if elected senator, Rey says he would be perhaps
the only voice bringing that “every day perspective” and “innovative spirit” to
the office, and the Senate floor.
Mayor Rey
also wants to address veterans’ issues, especially with many military personnel
coming back from war. He says he wants to make sure that the proper services and
resources are there for them and their families.
The
environment and women’s health are also key issues Rey says he sees are
priorities.
All of
those things are important to me as I move forward with this Democratic
nomination,” he says.
Rey was born in the US Virgin
Islands, raised by his grandmother, a special education teacher who took him in
when he was one year-old. At the urging of Rey’s uncle, a military man who was
also a father-figure for young Chris, the family moved to Spring Lake when he
was nine, where he attended school.
“My
grandmother was the person who poured into me the values of hard work. She told
me, “No one is going to give you anything…it’s going to be up to you to bear
down and make it happen.”
Rey became
a track and field All-American, attended East Carolina University, and later
joined the military.
Rey is happily married with three
children.
“I believe that I am better
prepared than my current three Democratic opponents, “Mayor Rey said, “and
would serve the people of North Carolina a lot better than [Sen. Burr] is
because when I become senator, I want to be able to serve all of the people of
North Carolina, not just the privileged few.”
“I want to be able to represent all of the
people, and make sure that the laws that are coming down out of Washington, DC
impact us all positively.”
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 1-28-16
AAC AND HISPANIC –
NCDP CAUCUS FORUM FRIDAY
[RALEIGH] The
African-American and Hispanic Caucuses of the North Carolina Democratic Party
will be sponsoring a candidates forum Friday, Jan. 29th, 78 p.m. at
the Goodwin House, 220 Hillsborough Street in downtown Raleigh. Democratic
candidates for governor and US Senate have been invited to participate. Cash Michaels
of The Carolinian will serve a co-moderator along with a member of the Latino
press.
2016 ASK-A-LAWYER DAY IS SATURDAY,
FEB. 6TH
[GREENSBORO]The
Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association is pleased to
provide free legal advice to citizens through the annual Ask-A-Lawyer Day,
which will take place Saturday, Feb. 6, at 10 locations across the state. This
is a public service event at which volunteer attorneys provide free legal
advice to North Carolina citizens. No business relationship may be established
between the volunteer attorneys and the citizens. It’s all completely free.
Attorneys will be
on hand to answer questions in Asheville, Burlington, Burnsville, Chapel Hill,
Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.
Raleigh
Location: Cameron Village Regional Library, 1930 Clark Avenue, Raleigh,
NC 27605 Time: 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Durham
Location: The
Cookery—1101 West Chapel Hill Street, Durham, NC 27701
Time: 10 a.m. to 1
p.m.
Wilmington
Location:
Independence Mall, 3500 Oleander Drive, Wilmington, NC 28403
Time: 11 a.m. to
2 p.m.
-30-
-30-
TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS
FOR 1-28-16
WAKE ANNOUNCES SNOW
MAKEUP DAYS
Thanks to
last week’s snowstorm, which canceled classes Friday, and residual ice that
cancelled Wake County schools Monday, makeup days have now bee announced for
traditional calendar students for Monday, Feb. 15th, and March 24th.
For Wake year-round students in tracks 1 and 3, they can plan to go to school
this Saturday, Jan. 30th, and April 2nd. Track 3 students
will also have class on April 2nd, and Track 4 pupils will also be
attending this Saturday, Jan. 30th.
INMATE FOUND DEAD IN
DURHAM COUNTY JAIL CELL
The Durham
County Sheriff’s Dept. is investigating the death of an inmate found in his
cell at the county jail last week. The body of Matthew Lamont McCain, 29, was
found unresponsive. Efforts to revive him failed and he was pronounced dead at
the scene. He had been held in jail since August for allegedly assaulting a
female with a deadly weapon, among other charges. Cause of death at press time
was unknown.
MEETING FEB. 5 TO
DISCUSS REOPENING HARGETT STREET YWCA
A former
employee of the old Hargett Street YWCA is calling for a community meeting to
discuss reestablishing the Y at a new location in Southeast Raleigh on Friday,
Feb. 5 at 6;30 p.m. at the former location at 554 East Hargett Street, which is
currently Treasuring Christ Church. Olivia Mudd, the former economic
empowerment program manager at the Y hopes to be licensed by the YWCA USA to
get the process started. The Hargett Street Y closed in 2012 amid controversy
about financial difficulty.
-30-
