MCCRORY WOULD SIGN VOTER ID LAW AS GOVERNOR
By Cash Michaels
Editor
Republican
former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory confirms that if he’s elected North
Carolina’s next governor, and the GOP-led NC General Assembly finally passes a
voter photo identification law, it will get his signature.
“Absolutely,”
McCrory, who is leading Democratic challenger Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton by double
digits in the most recent polling, told The Carolinian Newspaper Wednesday during a phone interview.
“To
get into the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte [last week] you needed
an ID. To buy Sudafed in North Carolina you need an ID. To get into the
Governor’s Mansion you need an ID,” McCrory said, seemingly dismissing concerns
made across the country in other voter ID states about voter suppression.
Two
weeks ago during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., NC House
Speaker Thom Tillis was quoted as telling the NC delegation that if the
Republicans hold on to their majorities in both state houses, and McCrory is
elected governor, that lawmakers would pass voter ID law, and that he would
sign it.
Noting
how Gov. Beverly Perdue has successfully vetoed GOP efforts, thus far, to make voter ID law, McCrory left no
doubt that he would do what Tillis said, and more.
“I’d
also draft a bill where …you could show your utility bill to prove that you
live in the residence [from] which you’re voting,” he continued. “There are
gaps in the voting records right now that are just wide open for abuse and
corruption, just like there are gaps in campaign finance laws which our current
governor [Perdue] broke when she ran against me in ’08.”
McCrory
went on to justify voter ID because Gov. Perdue, he said, was “hiding illegal
flights.”
In
fact, members of Perdue’s 2008 campaign were indicted for not disclosing a
number of campaign flights, but the governor herself was never accused, charged
or proven to be aware of what was going on.
If
a “Governor” McCrory were to sign a voter ID measure, it would not be until
2013 at the earliest. North Carolina would then join over 30 other states that
have passed laws requiring photo identification at the polls, and lessened the
opportunity for early voting.
Critics,
including US Attorney General Eric Holder, have charged that because voter ID
laws have been passed primarily in states with Republican governors or
Republican-led legislatures, that they really are just mechanisms for voter
suppression among majority Democrat populations like African-Americans, Latinos
and young people.
Last
month, a federal district court in Washington D.C struck down the voter ID law
in the state of Texas, while a state judge in Pennsylvania upheld what is said
to be the toughest voter ID law in the nation. Both cases are being appealed.
McCrory
says voter ID needs to be the law of the land.
“There
is so much money in politics right now [that] if you close your eyes to the
potential of corruption, you’re being naïve, and voter ID is one way to do
that. It’s got to be a fair and reasonable voter ID bill, and I would
definitely approve it, and I think it’s needed. I think over 85 percent of the
people in North Carolina agree with that.”
When
told that, thus far, the evidence of widespread voter fraud in North Carolina
and across the nation is virtually nonexistent, McCrory replied, “ If you don’t
look for it, you won’t find it. But there is so much money on the ground right
now being paid by both political parties, on the ground, if you don’t think
there’s corruption in voting, you’re naïve.”
McCrory
then brought up Chicago as being “well known for corruption in voting,” as well
as “other cities and areas in the United States that are well known for
corruption because of the big money.”
“We
better protect ourselves here in North Carolina.”
Schorr
Johnson, communications director for the Walter Dalton campaign, reacted to
McCrory’s remarks.
"Pat McCrory and his allies in the legislature want to disenfranchise
people and take away our most sacred right, the right to vote. Walter Dalton will
stand up for this right and veto any attempt at requiring a photo ID to vote,”
Johnson wrote in a statement.
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS -
9-13
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF ELDERS RELEASE “GREENSBORO
DECLARATION”
[NEW
YORK, NY] On Wednesday in New York, Detroit and the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Memorial in Washington, D.C., the newly formed National Council of Elders - a
group of civil rights veterans of the 1960’s and 70’s founded in Greensboro in
August - released its “Greensboro Declaration.” The statement calls on
Americans to get involved in the type of citizenship that, beyond voting,
transforms their community involvement. Signers of the Declaration include
entertainers Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover; reverends Phillip and James
Lawson; and NC activists Rev. Nelson Johnson and his wife, Joyce.
UNC VICE CHANCELLOR STEPS DOWN AMID TRAVEL EXPENSE PROBE
[CHAPEL
HILL] A UNC vice chancellor has
been forced to step down after an internal audit raised questions about his
travel expenses, and the fact that the mother of former Tar Heel basketball
player Tyler Hansbrough accompanied him. Former UNC Vice Chancellor Matt Kupec
resigned Monday, saying only in a statement that he will “always be part of the
Carolina family.” Published reports allege that Kupec and Hansbrough took
“personal trips” together at the university’s expense.
MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDER ARRESTED FOR FRAUD
[HENDERSON]
A mental health provider has been arrested and charged with fraud after state
authorities determined he was allegedly trying to cheat the Medicaid system.
Bobby Faison, 41, and a counselor at Prodigious Health Services, was charged
with 16 counts of fraud. Authorities say Faison was able to bribe Medicaid
recipients with cash, payment of utility bills and toys for their children, in
return for information he would use to bill taxpayers for services never
rendered. Faison is the twentieth person arrested in a statewide crackdown on
Medicaid fraud. At least 20 have been convicted.
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TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS - 9-13
WOMAN KILLED BY ESTRANGED HUSBAND, WHO THEN KILLS SELF
Raleigh
Police say a woman who was running away from her allegedly abusive ex-husband
was fatally shot Monday in Raleigh’s Cameron Village Shopping Center. The
killer, later identified as Christopher John Bertrand of Alabama, 42, was found
hours after dead behind a Wade Avenue business from a self-inflicted gunshot
wound. The woman, Kathleen Bertrand, 41, had divorced her husband last
December. She had a domestic violence protective order against him. The couple
had three children.
SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION NAMED AFTER SLAIN NC A&T
STUDENT
In
April 2008, Derek E. Hodge, a junior at NC A&T University in Greensboro,
was fatally shot during a robbery in his off-campus apartment. Four years, his
parents, Derek and Eva Hodge, have created the Derek E. Hodge II Memorial
Scholarship Foundation to assist aspiring students to attend college. On
Saturday, Sept. 29th, the Inaugural Black Tie Sponsorship Banquet
will be held at the Crabtree Valley Marriott in Raleigh. NFL great Lin Dawson
will be the keynote speaker. Starting in 2013, the foundation will also award a
scholarship to a Southeast Raleigh High School graduate accepted to North
Carolina A&T State University. For more information go to
www.derekhodgefoundation.org.
FIVE MEMBERS OF VISITING HIGH SCHOOL TEAM DISMISSED FOR
HIRING HOOKERS
When
Maryland’s powerhouse DeMatha High School football played Hillside High in
Durham last weekend, they demolished them 52-14. But five members of the
DeMatha team have now been dismissed for what they allegedly did afterwards -
hire prostitutes. Reportedly, the five called a local service from the hotel
where they were staying, and engaged with the women early Saturday. There were
65 players and 18 adult chaperones on the trip. The players waited until the
chaperones were asleep.
-30-
NNPA ANALYSIS -
http://www.nnpa.org/news/lead/gop-house-of-lies-–-they-built-it-by-george-e-curry/
EXCLUSIVE
FILES OF WILMINGTON TEN PROSECUTOR
SHOW HE SOUGHT “KKK” JURY
By Cash Michaels
editor
[WILMINGTON,
NC] In an extraordinary historical discovery, the forty-year-old case files of
the prosecuting attorney in the two 1972 Wilmington Ten criminal trials not
only document how he sought to impanel, according to his own written jury
selection notes, mostly white “KKK” juries to guarantee convictions, but also
to keep black men from serving on both juries, the lead defense attorney during
the trials reveals.
Instead
the prosecutor chose, in his own words, “Uncle Tom” types.
The
files of Assistant New Hanover County District Attorney James “Jay” Stroud Jr.
also document how he incredibly plotted to cause a mistrial in the first June
1972 Wilmington Ten trial because there were ten blacks and two whites on the
jury, his star false witness against the Ten was not cooperating, and it looked
very unlikely that he could win the case given the lack of evidence.
History
shows that prosecutor Stroud told the presiding judge that he had become “ill,”
as that first trial began, and a mistrial was indeed declared.
It
was during the second trial, forty years ago this week, that Stroud got a jury
more to his liking - this time ten whites and two black domestic workers - and
a different judge who was arguably biased against the defense.
The
result? In October 1972, the ten young civil rights activists, led by the Rev.
Benjamin Chavis, were falsely convicted of conspiracy charges in connection
with racial violence in the small North Carolina port city a year earlier.
The
nine black males and one white female were collectively sentenced to 282 years
in prison, some of which they all served before the three state’s witnesses
recanted their false testimonies in 1977, admitting to being paid by
prosecutors.
A federal appeals court, citing prosecutorial misconduct
among other findings of fact, overturned all ten convictions in December 1980.
However,
in the thirty-two years since, the state of North Carolina has refused to
follow suit, not allowing the Wilmington Ten - four of whom have since deceased
- to clear their names.
The
explosive “Stroud files,” as they’re being referred to, were discovered several
months ago by a Duke University professor who was researching the Wilmington
Ten case for a book he was writing.
When
the Wilmington Ten Pardons of Innocence Project, a special outreach effort of the
National Newspaper Publishers Association
(NNPA) to seek pardons of innocence for the Ten from North Carolina Gov. Beverly
Perdue, announced its formation earlier this year, the professor allowed the
Wilmington Journal and Carolinian newspapers, both NNPA members, access to the
materials.
Some
of the contents of the Stroud files are being revealed only now because attorney
Irving Joyner, law professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law
in Durham, NC; and attorney James Ferguson of Charlotte, the original lead
defense lawyer for the Wilmington Ten, spent the summer researching the
materials against the official case record to confirm their authenticity.
On
Sept. 5 during a forum at the law school on the Wilmington Ten case hosted by
Prof. Joyner; Dr. Chavis; Rev. Kojo Nantambu, a colleague who worked with Rev.
Chavis in Wilmington in 1971 as they led a black student boycott of the local
racially divisive public school system; and Ms. Judy Mack, the daughter of
now-deceased Wilmington ten member Anne Shepard, attorney Ferguson confirmed
what he discovered in the Stroud files.
“There
was a fair amount of confirmation of things we suspected at the time that race
was the central strategy of the prosecution,” attorney Ferguson maintained,
singling out a legal pad that prosecutor Stroud used during jury selection of
the first trial to track Ferguson’s questioning of potential jurors in Pender
County, a neighboring county the case had been moved to in June 1972.
Pender
had a larger African-American population than New Hanover, where the Wilmington
Ten had been charged, thus, more black candidates for jury service.
Ferguson
details how Stroud wrote on the top of one page of his jury selection legal
pad,” Stay away from black men.” Next to that on the top of that same sheet,
Stroud wrote, “Leave off Rocky [Point], Maple Hill. Put on Burgaw, Long Creek
Atkinson Blacks.”
In
Stroud’s mind, blacks from the more rural towns of Burgaw, Long Creek and
Atkinson, would probably be less likely to identify with “radical” civil rights
leaders like Ben Chavis than African-Americans from the more urbane towns of
Rocky Point and Maple Hill.
Indeed,
the 29th prospective juror on that same page named “Randolph” has a
capital “B” in front of his name in the margin, and in parentheses the word
“no,” and written afterwards, “on basis Maple Hill.”
In
contrast, another possible juror, number 9 with a “B” named “Murphy,” Stroud
has written in parentheses, “Worth chance because from Atkinson.”
There
are several prospective jurors listed by name, and if not, certainly by number,
who have the capital letter “B” written in the margin. If there was any doubt
about the “B” indicating “black” - which was attached to many names the words
“leave off” were written next too, that is dispelled by what Stroud writes in
addition to some of them.
On
prospective “B” juror number eleven named “Graham,” Stroud writes, “knows;
sensible; Uncle Tom type.”
On
Number 27 named “Stringfield,” Stroud writes, “no named black on jury.”
On
Number 19 named “James” Stroud writes, “stay away from,” apparently indicating
that the potential juror is a black male he doesn’t want.
And
prosecutor Stroud had unmistakable codes for white jurors he felt he had to
have.
On
that same legal pad sheet tracking juror interviews, when Stroud was impressed
with a white interviewee’s answers, he’d write down the three letters of the
alphabet most commonly associated with the most fear white supremacist group in
the South at the time - the Ku Klux Klan.
“KKK?...good”
is what Stroud wrote for juror Number 1 known as “Pridgen.” For Number 6 named
“Heath,” the reverse, “O.K.” then “KKK?”. Number 75 on a subsequent page was
“Fine - probably KKK!!” and on Number 99 Stroud writes, “does not have a record
- KKK!!”
There
are other potential white jurors Stroud has also written “KKK” next to, but he
then crosses them out, possibly indicating that they were no longer eligible.
In
some cases, Stroud apparently had trouble telling the difference between whites
and fair-skinned blacks. For Number 38, the prosecutor writes, “good name and
location - KKK if white.” On Number 59, Stroud writes, “take off on basis of
name if black.”
“Race
infused the jury selection strategy in that June trial,” attorney Ferguson said
of Stroud’s jury selection notes.
As
indicated earlier, the sheer number of prospective black jurors for the first
Wilmington Ten trial resulted in a panel of ten African-Americans, and two
whites.
“We
were able to position ourselves in a way that we were headed towards getting
what appeared to be a jury that might be fair,” defense attorney Ferguson said.
“But
at that time, as they say, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum.”
Ferguson
and Prof. Irving Joyner note that on the cardboard back of that jury selection
legal pad Stroud used, the prosecutor literally drew a line down the middle.
On
the left he titled it, “Disadvantages of Mistrial.”
On
the right, “Advantages of Mistrial.”
“Most
people don’t list the pros and cons of getting sick,” quipped Ferguson.
Stroud
then proceeded to list reasons for both, seemingly to devise some sort of
strategy as to what his next move should be.
For
disadvantages, the prosecutor wrote, “1 - waste of a week; 2- could affect
Hall’s attitude and other witnesses (referring to star state’s witness Allen
Hall, who was being paid by the prosecution to deliver false testimony) 3 -
possibly waste of 2 weeks unless Allen can set up quick docket; 4 -
inconvenience to all concerned; 5 - possibly get Judges Chess, Godwin or
Copeland on new trial; and 6 - delaying getting cases over with.”
On
the other side of Stroud’s list for “Advantages of Mistrial’ in the first
Wilmington Ten trial, the prosecutor listed, “1 - different judge; 2 - better
prepared to select jury and to handle motions/more organized; 3 - avoid longer
jury selection and hung jury in Pender because of their concern about
retaliation; 4- fresh start [with] new jury from another county; 5- avoid
reversible error [and] new trial on lack of [defense] witness interviews; 6 -
can enlist Dan Johnson’s help; 7 - opportunity to separate [white Wilmington
Ten member Ann] Shephard (sic) from others to keep out [Allen] Hall’s letter;
and 8 - time to have case well prepared and organized.”
Stroud
apparently decided to cause the mistrial as a result of his deliberations.
“The
main prosecutor in the case (Stroud) suddenly became ill,” Ferguson recalls.
“For what reason I do not know. [Perhaps] sitting there looking at that many
black folks serving on the jury. But he became ill, sort of speak, and decided
that he could not proceed with the trial. So that trial was aborted.”
Ferguson
recalls how during the second trial in September 1972, not only did the new
judge allow white jurors with apparent biases against the Wilmington Ten to be
seated, but allowed state’s witness Allen Hall to jump off the stand to attack
him without punishment, and disallowed any defense challenges to the
prosecution’s case before the convictions.
The
two blacks who were seated on the second trial’s jury was a maid who worked in
a white home, and a janitor, two “easy targets of economic reprisal,” said
Ferguson.
“We
complained throughout about the prosecution’s use of challenges to remove
blacks from that second jury,” Ferguson said.
To
no avail. In the end, the Wilmington Ten were convicted, and remains felons in
the state of North Carolina until this day.
When
told of the Stroud file documents earlier this spring, Dr. Ben Chavis and other
members of the Wilmington Ten said it didn’t surprise them. They knew the state
was doing everything it could to find them guilty of charges they were innocent
of.
Former
prosecutor James Stroud Jr. could not be reached for comment on this story.
Published reports say Stroud, 69, lives in Gastonia, NC, and is homeless. The
Gaston Gazette, a local newspaper, reported
in December 2011 that Stroud, who went on to have a successful private law
practice after prosecuting the Wilmington Ten, fell on hard times.
His
adult son, Kirk, is quoted as telling the paper that Stroud suffers from manic
polar disorder, a diagnosis that reportedly goes back to when Stroud as
starting law school over 50 years ago. As a result, the once powerful attorney
has lost everything.
The
Gazette reports that criminal records show
former prosecutor Stroud has been arrested at least 14 times in the past five
years, with some of the charges ranging from assault with a deadly weapon, to
several domestic violence protection orders, to a charge of hit and run, among
others.
Stroud’s son told The Gazette last December that his father, “…has yet to be involuntarily committed
for mental health treatment.” He lost his license to practice law in North
Carolina in 2008, according to the NC State Bar.
Editor’s
note - the Stroud file documents noted in this story, along with attorney James
Ferguson’s presentation can be see in the video, “The Wilmington Ten - the
Stroud Files” on YouTube now.
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CASH IN THE APPLE
-30-
CASH IN THE APPLE
By Cash Michaels
PRAYERS
TO ROBIN - “Good Morning America” hostess Robin Roberts entered the hospital this week for her bone marrow
transplant operation. She published a picture on her Facebook page of her
sitting in a chair, holding a picture of her “two guardian angels,” her late
mother, Lucimarian, who recently
passed, and her late father. Roberts, who clearly shares the credit for the
ABC-TV morning program being Number One in the ratings beating NBC’s “Today
Show,” has been diagnosed with MDS, a rare blood and bone marrow disorder. She
will be receiving the bone marrow transplant from her sister, Sally, who also works in television.
The
native Mississippian will be in treatment for several months.
We
wish Robin Roberts all the best, and a speedy recovery.
SAY
WHAT? - Without mentioning names, we understand that there is a local black
pastor in Raleigh who has been purchasing airtime on black radio stations,
advising black voters not to support President Barack Obama in the upcoming election because of his stance in
favor of same-sex marriage.
Apparently
“God” told him to say this.
Makes
you wonder why “God” hasn’t inspired said preacher to buy radio time before to
encourage the community to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, regardless of
race, color, gender or sexual orientation.
Oh,
and one more thing…while I certainly have my religious concerns about
homosexuality, the president made it clear that “legally” same-sex couples
should have the same rights as everybody else.
So
folks either agree or disagree. But clearly there is more to Obama that same
sex marriage, especially, with the national economy against the ropes, and
terrorists still looking to kill as many of us as they can.
Still,
that doesn’t stop Pastor “Don’t Vote” from telling us that “God” told him to
stop the black vote this November.
Needless
to say, there are folks outraged by this, and have let it be known, in no
uncertain terms, that in such an important election, that is not the message
that anyone in the community should be sending. Especially given how precious
the vote is to our people.
And
yet, there is a fact that we also must consider.
The
pastor, like every other citizen, has freedom of speech.
He
has the right to spend his money (if it is “his” money), and say whatever he
wants to say, to anybody he wants to say it too.
But
here’s the best part - the rest of us have the right to tell him, or anybody
else whose judgment we don’t trust, to take a walk. And we can say it as loudly
and clearly as we’d like.
I
suspect that many of you are, and will.
Folks,
it’s time we grew up politically. No elected official operates purely on the
kindness of his or her heart. And no politician does everything we like. It’s
time we learned this. Our job, as citizens, is to evaluate candidates based on
the sum total of where they stand on the issues.
So
if a candidate is for same-sex marriage, but also for feeding the hungry and
clothing the naked, as opposed to the other candidate who is against all three,
then does it make sense to say, “I’m not voting at all?”
We’re
smarter than that.
Remember
that the next time you hear someone tell you not to vote.
You
ARE smarter that that.
THE
DNC - The Democratic National Convention
in Charlotte last week was one for the history books. I’m glad it came to North
Carolina, and I’m thrilled it as such a success.
I
went down, by Amtrak, for the opening day, and then came right back the
following day. The purpose was to get as much of the story was possible from
the NC delegation for both The Carolinian and Wilmington Journal, and plus my daily special “Make
It Happen” reports for Power 750 WAUG-AM in Raleigh, where I do my weekly radio show every Thursday at 4 p.m.
(folks outside of Raleigh can listen at www.myWAUG.com).
Since
I was traveling light (one bag filled with my computer, video and audio
equipment) and had no car, I was at the mercy of whatever transportation I
could drum up. My first ride was a Charlotte city bus, and what struck me
immediately was that while some of the most powerful people in the nation were
convening in the heart of the Queen City’s uptown, nothing had changed for the
poor people living in the predominately black areas surrounding it.
The
faces of those riding the bus going into the central city were sad, depressed
and uninspired. That’s not a criticism. It looked very much like an everyday
reality, and the DNC being in town wasn’t about to change it.
When
I got off the bus, I began walking towards where all of the action was - the Time
Warner Cable Arena. Key streets had been
shut down in and around the area, so unless you were a cop or Secret Service,
you were walking through security checkpoints almost every other block.
Before
I found the Crowne Plaza Hotel, where the NC delegation was headquartered, I
walked over to where all of the major cable news outlets had setup.
I
stood on the corner of the “CNN Grill” watching notables like activist Vann
Jones and Gov. Deval Patrick enter the invitation-only spot. After standing
there taking it all in, I walked further down the block to where C-SPAN and
MSNBC were situated.
I
was impressed with MSNBC, which had carved out a large staging area to
broadcast live from, inviting large crowds to come and cheer.
Finally
I decided to find the Crowne Plaza, which was several long, congested blocks
away. I definitely got my exercise for the week walking there.
And
that’s where I stayed for several hours, as many of North Carolina’s top
Democrats gathered in the hotel lobby, or would come down from their
rooms. The lobby was the perfect
office, complete with soft furniture, lively conversations, and free
refreshments.
Getting
interviews was like shooting fish in a barrel. I had already gotten former NC
Congresswoman Eva Clayton when we got off
the Amtrak Train together. So getting more notables, like state Sen. Dan Blue,
former Congressman Bobby Etheridge and NC Democratic Party Chairman
David Parker, among others, only sweetened
the pot.
But
beyond the top dogs, talking to the delegates - regular folks from all across
North Carolina, there to proudly talk part in the historic re-nomination of the
first black president - was inspirational.
All
of them were happy, and wanted to send a message to the nation, and especially
to the Republicans, that they will not be stop, and that everything that can be
done, will be done, to re-elect Barack Obama president of the United States.
By
4:30 p.m. I was on the NC delegate bus headed to the convention proceedings at
Time Warner Cable Arena. A ride that should have taken ten minutes, took over
45, primarily because of the security maze that entrapped the central city, and
the heavy downpour of rain that slowed everything to a halt.
But
the spirit on the bus was still high.
After
walking from the bus, through the Secret Service security checkpoint, and
finally inside the arena, I was floored by the size and scope of it all. In the
lobby was “Radio Row” where nationally syndicated radio hosts did their shows.
I
took a moment to go over and say “Hi” to Michael Baisden, telling him about the
Wilmington Ten Pardons of Innocence Project.
I
saw other celebrities and members of Congress walking around as well. Someone
said there was a feeling of “family” to the place.
I
agree.
After
getting settled in the press room (which actually was a practice gym for Michael
Jordan’s Charlotte Bobcats, who play at
Time Warner Cable Arena), it was a matter of starting to edit and produce the
many interviews I did for radio.
On
occasion, I went to the arena to shoot some video, hoping to capture how huge
all of it was in-person.
After
First Lady Michelle Obama delivered her
extraordinary speech, and I got reaction from folks in the hall, I left,
feeling that I had put in a good days work, indeed.
While
walking outside, I ran into State Sen. Dan Blue of Wake County, and his son, Dan III. All of us were looking to catch taxies (me to the
Amtrak Station for the ride back home).
As
the three of us approached a busy Charlotte street corner, a slender man standing
outside of an SUV pointed at me and said, “I saw you on TV today.”
Not
only did the guy look familiar, but I didn’t know what in the world he was
talking about. Then it hit me.
This
was comedian D. L. Hughley.
“I’ve
seen you on TV too,” I said.
“I
know. But really, I saw you on TV today, Hughley shot back with a smile on his
face. He wasn’t kidding.
“Where?”
I challenged.
“On
CNN,” Hughley said, as Sen. Blue and Dan III looked on in amazement.
I
wear I had no idea what homeboy was talking about, until it dawned on me that I
stood on that corner outside of the CNN Grill earlier in the day, and one of
their cameras must have captured me.
“You
see, I told you you were on CNN today,” Hughley said in that comedic wry tone.
“So
you did, “ I said, laughing. “Want my autograph?”
For
the next few minutes, the four of us just stood there, on a dark Charlotte
street corner, talking. It was weird, but it was also the perfect way to end my
trip to Charlotte, for a day in the life of an historic political convention
I’ll never forget.
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 new 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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