GOV. COOPER VETOS ANTI- RIOT
BILL AND ANTI-CRITICAL RACE
THEORY BILLS
By Cash Michaels
contributing writer
It should not have come as a surprise to any Republican state lawmaker that Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, was going to veto their most controversial legislation this term.
Last week, Cooper vetoed House Bill 805 and House Bill 324. Both measures were seen by Democrats as Republican over-reaches of First Amendment and educational freedoms, so much so that there is little chance of any Democrat joining GOP lawmakers in attempting to override Gov. Cooper’s veto.
As reported recently, HB 805, ratified by the Republican-majority NC House after winning approval in the GOP-led Senate, was purported to be a direct response to last summer’s protests and calls for racial justice and police accountability.proponents said.
But opponents, primarily Democrats, countered that it was an attempt to stifle peaceful protests.
“The bill is a clear attempt to suppress free speech and the right to assemble,” the progressive-leaning NC Justice Center said. “It also leaves the definition of a “riot” intentionally vague, thus granting police and prosecutors immense power to target Black, brown, and indigenous communities. By standing up for racial justice, those communities will be most hurt by the subjective legislation.”
Interestingly, a federal judge in Florida last Thursday ruled that state’s anti-riot law as unconstitutional as well, arguing that law’s language too vague,”…[permitting] those in power to weaponize its enforcement against any group who wishes to express any message that the government disapproves of."
Gov. Roy Cooper agreed.
“People who commit crimes during riots and at other times should be prosecuted and our laws provide for that, but this legislation is unnecessary and is intended to intimidated and deter people from exercising their constitutional rights to peacefully protest,” said Cooper in a statement, explaining why he was vetoing the measure.
The Democratic governor also had sour grapes for the controversial HB324, which Republicans assured was an effort to prevent “indoctrination” by liberal teachers of students about racism, sexism, and America’s racist ad sexist history.
Led by black Republican NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, HB 324 mirrored similar so-called anti-Critical Race Theory laws in numerous other states.
“Republicans haven’t uncovered indoctrination in our schools,” said Democratic Senate leader Dan Blue (D-Wake). “What they have done with this bill is distract the public, and ourselves, from the real work that we should be doing to improve our public schools.”
Again, Gov. Cooper and his veto were on the same page.
“The legislature should be focused on supporting teachers, helping students recover lost learning, and investing in our public schools,” said the governor in a statement. “Instead, this bill pushes calculated, conspiracy-laden politics in public education.”
Again, because Republicans do not have enough members in either the House or the Senate to constitute the required supermajority, the governor’s veto of HB 324 is expected to stand.
Thus far this term, Gov. Cooper has vetoed ten bills.
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ACTOR’S DEATH REMINDS
OF NC’s OPIOID CRISIS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
The untimely death of gifted actor Michael K. Williams - star of HBO’s Lovecraft Country and The Wire, among other noteworthy productions - last week, according to authorities, apparently attributed to a drug overdose in his Brooklyn home, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, reminded all that the Black community has to struggle with two growing health challenges that threaten our everyday living.
It has been well documented that even though, at press time, there was no official determination of what exactly caused the Emmy-nominated Williams’ death, the actor’s well-documented drug use history, and the paraphernalia and heroin allegedly found on his kitchen table, pointed toward an apparent overdose of the deadly, and illegal opioid as the culprit.
Williams, 54, was always open about his drug abuse problems, something he suffered from since the age of 19.
In 2012, he told NJ.com that he spent his earnings from The Wire on drugs.
“I was playing with fire, he said. “It was just a matter of time before I got caught and my business ended up on the cover of a tabloid or I went to jail or, worse, I ended up dead. When I look back on it now, I don’t know how I didn’t end up in a body bag.”
It was February 2020 when Williams told an event for former prisoners that his work in movies was a way to beat his habit. “This Hollywood thing that you see me in, I’m passing through. Because I believe this is where my passion, my purpose are supposed to be.”
Sadly, Williams’ addiction may have eventually destroyed them both.
Here in North Carolina , there are thousands who are in the same boat, officials tell us. And while opioid addition is primarily white, it is becoming increasingly Black.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 79% of drug overdose deaths involved opioids in 2018 in North Carolina. In 2019, “nearly five North Carolinians died each day from unintentional opioid overdose. From 2000-2019, more than 16,500 North Carolinians lost their lives to unintentional opioid overdose, reports the NC Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Opioid Action Plan Data Dashboard.
Think the opioid and COVID-19 crisies have nothing to do with each other? Think again.
According to North Carolina Public Radio in a report out just last month, opioid overdose deaths in the state actually increased during the coronavirus lockdown, contributing to the fact that North Carolina had more opioid overdose deaths in 2020 than any other year on record.
The most commonly, and overly prescribed opioid is Oxycontin.
"Opiate addiction is a group of diseases that people call the diseases of despair,” said Dr. Graham Snyder, medical director of WakeMed in Raleigh to WUNC-FM. “Meaning when things are bad — when unemployment, education, job uncertainty, food uncertainty are bad — then those diseases get worse.”
"You take people who are already struggling and say, 'Oh, by the way, now you're unemployed. You can't do the fun things you used to and everywhere you look, there's uncertainty.' That's a setup for an opioid crisis. And the numbers have gone up, but they're not skyrocketing yet," Dr. Snyder continued.
So how does that translate racially?
In a new report issued just last week, “an increasing number of Black people in America are dying from opioid overdose deaths, compared with their white peers….,” states The Independent. “The rate of opioid overdose deaths has been climbing for African-Americans faster than other groups, a study from the National Institute of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found,” The Independent added.
“The reasons for the disparity, according to the study’s authors, are diverse. Because of stigmas and a lack of access to healthcare, Black people are both less likely to be prescribed opioids in the first place for their pain, and less likely to get life-saving addiction treatment once they develop difficulties with the drugs.”
"If you are Black American and you have an opioid use disorder, you are much less likely to be prescribed medications for opioid use disorder," Dr Nora Volko, head of NIDA, told NPR. “That’s discrimination.”
North Carolina wasn’t part of NIDA’s four-state study, but that doesn’t mean the results don’t apply to areas like Wilmington, Greensboro, Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Asheville.
In 2016, according to the study, The Opioid Crisis in America’s Workforce from Castlight Health, Wilmington lead the nation in opioid abuse at 11.6%
In 2014, opioid addiction was reported as “spiking’ in Guilford County, the third most populated in North Carolina. Heroin addiction was found to be particularly bad in Greensboro.
In 2017, Axios Charlotte reported that ‘…in the last decade, opioid-related deaths in the county have increased by 134 percent.”
And, according to the Buncombe County Dept. of Health, Buncombe County experienced “…147% increase in overdose deaths from 2015-2017.”
Editor’s Note - What is being done in North Carolina to combat the scourge of opioid drug addiction, especially in the Black community?
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 09-16-21
STATE SUPREME COURT ALLOWS EX-FELONS WHO HAVE REGISTERED TO VOTE BY SEPT. 3RD TO REMAIN SO
[RALEIGH] Ex-felons who immediately registered to vote between
August 23 to September 3rd, shall remain registered until further court order, states the NC State Supreme Court.
On August 23, 2021, a North Carolina superior court expanded this earlier decision and ordered that all felons on community supervision be permitted to register and vote. This would include people on felony probation, parole, or post-release supervision. However, on September 3, 2021, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ordered a halt to that decision while it is on appeal. Last Friday’s decision from the N.C. Supreme Court affirms the halt put in place by the Court of Appeals, with one exception. The Supreme Court’s order allows any felon on community supervision who registered between August 23 and September 3, 2021, to remain registered and vote until further order of the court.
WILMINGTON RESIDENTS AVERAGE 14.1 YEARS OF EDUCATION
[WILMINGTON] The average Wilmingtonian has one more year of education than does the average. So says a study by HireAHelper, a group which studies educational attainment throughout the United States. The study shows Wilmington residents average 14.1 years of education, compared to 13.4 years for Americans on average. Overall, 26.2% of Wilmington residents’ highest level of attainment is a bachelor’s degree, and 15.7% attain a graduate or professional degree. To find out more, go to https://www.hireahelper.com/lifestyle/us-cities-with-the-highest-education-rates/.
WILMINGTON HAS BELOW COST OF LIVING; ABOVE AVERAGE POPULATION GROWTH
[WILMINGTON] Compare the Port City to elsewhere in the state, if not much of the nation, and you’ll find that it’s cheaper to live here than most anywhere else. But you may also find that the roads are now more crowded as a result. That finding and more is in a new study by Roofstock looking at the affordable U.S. locations experiencing the most population growth. The cost of living in the Wilmington metro area is 5.6% below the national average. Between 2017 and 2020, the population in Wilmington increased by 4.0%. For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, you can find the original report on Roofstock’s website: https://learn.roofstock.com/blog/affordable-cities-most-population-growth.
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