THE CASH STUFF FOR THURSDAY, JULY 9TH, 2026

                                                      

Bishop Barber and his wife, Pastor Della Owens-Barber

visit the Berlin Cathedral in Germany

                                      Bishop Barber visits Track 17, the train tracks the Nazis
                                      used to transport helpless Jewish families to death camps.

EXCLUSIVE

BISHOP BARBER RETURNS

FROM GERMANY, INSPIRED

TO START WORLDWIDE

MORAL MONDAY MOVEMENT,

WORK HARDER IN U.S. SOUTH

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

When Bishop William J. Barber II, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach and professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale University Divinity School returned from an eight-day trip to Germany with his wife, Pastor Della Owens-Barber, he was tired, but he also felt renewed.

“In some strange way, being in a place with so much history and death… really has renewed me,” said the former president of the NC NAACP, and father of the Moral Monday Movement phenomenon that was born here in North Carolina in 2013, and has spread across the nation ever since.

After this trip, Moral Monday now has a chance to spread across the world.

Among the leading clerics who invited Bishop Barber to Germany was Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Moderator of the World Council of Churches, who shared with Barber initial “serious conversations” for a world conference possibly happening in Geneva, Switzerland next year to discuss current world issues and how the church must come together and speak with one voice against tyranny wherever it exists. 

Bishop Barber also met with other religious leaders who told him how much they respected his history of social activism against repressive authority in the United States, and shared with him stories of Germany’s dark Nazi past, told about what happened when Christianity there was used to prop up an authoritarian regime, how the mainstream German Christian Church surrendered its moral authority, and how Germans today wish there were more Christians then who stood up to authoritarian Nazi leader Adolf Hitler before he ushered in his shameful extermination of the Jews in his quest for world power.

Based on those stories, Bishop Barber took the time to visit the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin to learn more, and pray, and Track 17, the actual train tracks on which the Nazis loaded up freight cars to send helpless Jewish families to death camps.

German Christian leaders told Barber they deeply believe Hitler could have been stopped, and fear that history is repeating itself now, especially in America with ICE agents detaining at least 2,000 undocumented immigrants a day.

“We met with people in Germany about why can’t we have a worldwide Moral Monday for a month where churches come together and challenge authoritarianism and neofascism across the world,” Bishop Barber said, noting that much of the same type of “strong man/strong woman power to dismiss, push away and push down” mentality many observers say is happening here in the United States under President Donald Trump, is also happening across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, among other regions.

Trump is on record as saying he admires the “strong man” dictator model of leadership.

The church has a significant role in standing up, and standing strong for the rights of the poor, for immigrants fleeing persecution, and for those who seek freedom, Bishop Barber said. In fact, that was his message during his “Sermon from Berlin,” delivered from the Holy Cross Church there.

During his sermon, Bishop Barber quoted famous German theologian Jurgen Moltmann who said, “Resistance is the protest of those who hope, and hope is the feast of people who resist.”

But Bishop Barber’s renewed commitment to justice for the poor and the afflicted isn’t just global in nature. Since he left North Carolina years ago to co-chair the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, he’s traveled across the country to help build up the Poor People’s Campaign.

“But in the years I have left, I hope many of them, I’m going to really focus my attention on the South, and why the South is going to have to rise to lead the reconstruction of America must have if it is to have a chance holding on to the democracy that we claim we want,” Barber said.

And that starts by doing everything possible to lead groups of voters to the polls when early voting starts in North Carolina and throughout the South to make sure their voices are heard during the November midterm elections.

“I’m a son of the South,” Bishop Barber added,  “…and the German people I’ve met taught me that you have to battle at home if you intend to make a difference anywhere [else].”

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                                                             DR. PREZELL R. ROBINSON

DR. P.R. ROBINSON, ST. AUG

PRES. EMERITUS, DIES AT 105

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

Dr. Prezell Russell Robinson, the eighth president of St. Augustine’s University (SAU) in Raleigh, whose leadership is credited with transforming the small, private, Episcopalian HBCU during his long tenure, died on June 29th at 105 years old.

“Dr. Prezell Robinson’s legacy is woven into the very foundation of Saint Augustine’s University,” SAU Board of Trustees Chair Sophie Gibson said during Raleigh’s 36th Annual Black History Celebration last March. “For nearly three decades, his visionary leadership strengthened this institution and expanded opportunity for generations of students.”

“His life is a powerful reminder of the transformative impact of education and the enduring role historically Black colleges and universities play in advancing opportunity, leadership, and service,” added interim President Dr. Jennie Ward-Robinson.

Dr. Robinson was a proud alumna of SAU, having graduated in 1946 (when it was St. Augustine’s College). The Batesburg, SC. native initially graduated from Voorhees School and Junior College in Denmark, S.C.  before going on to St. Aug, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and social science. He later became a dean and sociology professor at St. Aug between 1956 and 1964, later appointed executive dean, and then acting president in June 1966.

Eight months later, Dr, Robinson became president, seeing from 1967 to 1995.

According to the African-American Registry, Dr. Robinson “…was voted one of three outstanding teachers at Saint Augustine’s in 1961-62, was awarded a U.S. Fulbright Fellowship to India in 1965, and was selected as one of 20 college presidents in the “100 Most Effective Presidents of America” in 1986. Robinson has received 11 honorary degrees. When Robinson retired after 28 years as president in 1995, he had achieved his goal of taking a small and largely unknown historically black college and transforming it into a nationally known institution and one of the best colleges of its size in North Carolina.”

The Registry continued, “He was an energetic fundraiser responsible for the endowment at St. Augustine, increasing from less than one million to nineteen million dollars. In 1988, he was voted by his peers as one of the most effective college presidents in the United States. In 1992, President George Bush appointed him as an alternate delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. He was nominated for the same post by President Bill Clinton in 1996. For many years, he has been selected by the U.S. State Department and the Department of Education to lecture and assist in educational endeavors in Africa, the Caribbean, and the People's Republic of China. Regarded as an eminent scholar...he received 11 honorary degrees from leading colleges and universities, including his alma mater, Voorhees College and Saint Augustine.”

The National Alumni Association of SAU, Inc. said, “During his remarkable 28-year presidency, he strengthened academic programs, reinforced the University’s accreditation, modernized campus facilitates, expanded educational opportunities, and helped prepare generations of students for lives of leadership, service, and excellence.”

“When people ask me about my father, they often talk about his accomplishments, nearly three decades he served as President of Saint Augustine’s, the academic programs he expanded, the buildings he modernized, and the accreditation he strengthened,” Ms JeSanne Robinson Johnson, Class of ’88 and Dr. Robinson’s daughter, said. 

Public visitation will be held from 6 to 8 pm Friday, July 10th at SAU Chapel, 1315 Oakwood Ave in Raleigh.

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, July 11th at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, 813 Darby St. in Raleigh. Interment follows at Montlawn Memorial Park.

As the Falcon community mourns the passing of its legendary leader emeritus, SAU today remains in federal bankruptcy court, trying to workout an arrangement to pay back at least $74 million in outstanding debts to more than 300 unsecured creditors. The school currently has no students on campus, and at its last bankruptcy hearing June 30th, the bankruptcy administrator said in court that that he does not see a way for SAU to pay off its debts unless it sells off some of its 105 acre property. Attorneys for SAU will be back in bankruptcy court July 28th.

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THE CASH COMMENTARY FOR THURSDAY, JULY 2ND, 2026

             

                                                                CASH MICHAELS

                                NOW WE, THE DISABLED, ARE AT RISK

                                                     by Cash Michaels  

  How would you like it if every time you opened your eyes, the Trump Administration is doing something new, something sinister to destroy a part of your world as you know it?

On June 18th, Trump’s Justice Dept’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a slip (or preliminary and binding) opinion that, in the words of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), urged the White House “…to turn back the clock by 30 years on disability integration and civil rights. The DOJ just gave the White House and other federal entities a green light to take disabled people back to a time when the state could, at any time, strip us of our homes, families, autonomy, and our lives.”

To be clear, there is a landmark 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision titled Olmstead v. L.C. that the advocacy group Disability Rights NC, among others, said, “…affirmed that the unjustified segregation of people with disabilities constitutes discrimination under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Olmstead decision reinforced the right of people with disabilities to live, work, and fully participate in their communities rather than be unnecessarily confined to institutions. More than two decades later, it remains one of the most significant disability rights rulings in our nation’s history." 

Of course when I read all of this, I immediately asked myself, “What are we doing here in North Carolina to protect and empower our disabled citizens?" A good friend told me about the critical and comprehensive programs we have here through our NC Dept. of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) that help the disabled lead decent, meaningful and productive lives in their communities. Just go to the NCDHHS website to learn more.

Given all of the serious damage the Trump Administration has already done to our country, there can be no ignoring this issue, especially if you’re legally a disabled American.

Well guess what? I’m a legally disabled American, and have been for many years.

I’m not proud of it, because whatever my condition, I freely admit that I did it to myself, and have to live with it for the rest of my life. It’s so true what they say about everything you did when you were young will certainly come back to haunt you as you get older.

I, in fact, do live with the result of my past actions, because I, quite frankly, have no other choice.

Despite the fact that I, at the age of 70, am a diabetic (which has affected my eyesight and overall health), has given me neuropathy in both feet and hands, and resulted in a double amputation of my large toe on my right foot, and my two smaller toes on my left foot, leaving me unable to walk properly without a cane or a rolator; arthritis in both hands, resulting in my being unable to close my hands properly; congestive heart failure; high blood pressure; a stroke in my left leg that has made it hard to move at times; a clinical case of obesity (I’ve always been a fat kid); and Stage Four prostate cancer since March 2021, I, like millions of other disabled American citizens, have found a way to survive and make a way for myself in this society.

I do for myself, and count only on the endearing love and support of Almighty GOD (who has forever been by my side), my loving wife, and two faithful, loving daughters (who don’t even live with me) to navigate the hard challenges once in a while, but essentially I drive myself to some doctors’ appointments or to shop for food when needed. I stay away from situations that are likely to result in my being hurt or worse, but essentially insist on my independence, staying intellectually engaged with the world around me. Plus I live in my own house with my wife. So I am not homeless like so many other disabled citizens.

All of the above has given me an indescribable sense of freedom that has helped me redefine being disabled, and carve out a productive life and retirement for myself. I can’t help but to think that any older disabled American, particularly one who is physically disabled, wants and needs the same thing.

We are absolutely not interested in being institutionalized or being part of some Trump privatization scheme!

But according to Trump’s DOJ, disabled Americans are not deserving of being free in their own communities, not deserving of Christian compassion, and apparently the DOJ is making the first moves to change all of that.

"Although this [slip] opinion does not overturn Olmstead v. L.C., repeal the Americans with Disabilities Act, or invalidate decades of federal court precedent, it sends a deeply troubling message about the Administration’s intentions,” writes Disability Rights NC. “The opinion is inconsistent with longstanding interpretations of federal disability rights law embraced by courts and administrations of both parties. By questioning the legal foundations of the Integration Mandate, it threatens the protections that help people avoid unnecessary institutionalization, remain connected to their families, secure stable housing, access education and employment, and participate fully in civic life. At a time when community-based supports are already under strain, this effort risks reversing decades of bipartisan progress and weakening one of the most successful civil rights movements in our nation’s history.”

You shouldn’t have to strain your memory too much to remember the extraordinary attitude of the Trump Administration and like-minded conservatives during the COVID-19 pandemic towards the afflicted and disabled throughout his pathetic first term.

- Trump was willing to allow millions of Americans to catch the COVID-19 virus and struggle to survive it via so-called “herd immunity,” meaning that some would survive if they were strong enough to build a natural immunity to the disease while others (mostly the elderly or already afflicted) would succumb to it and die.

-Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick actually wanted “high-risk” elderly patients to "sacrifice" their lives during the pandemic to "save younger people and the economy."

- Republican officials told Americans that they had the right to go to crowded bars, not wear protective masks, or do whatever they wanted to do to go against medically sound public health directives to stop the spread of COVID-19, because they believed doing so took away "control" by the government over people’s lives.

In each case, Trump and his minions were willing to put the rest of the nation at total risk to prove something that was never true - that the COVID-19 virus was no more dangerous than the common cold - and the ultimate result of that coldblooded attitude was 1.1 million American deaths, many of which did not have to happen.

Appointing a certified clown like Robert Kennedy Jr. now to lead the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services confirms that Trump still cares little about the nation’s health policy today, let alone its disabled and afflicted, so while the Justice Dept.’s legal opinion is shocking in its scope, it’s not surprising.

        On Wednesday, the Associated Press published a report on how this craziness from Trump’s DOJ will impact disabled children, and has  “…created a deep sense of uncertainty for students with disabilities.”

        “Lindsey Althaus says home and community-based services in northwest Ohio have been instrumental to her family. Her 12-year-old son, Whitman, has autism and a neurological disorder called apraxia, in which the brain struggles to tell muscles how to move to form words or perform other motor skills. For some of his school career, with proper support services, Whitman was able to spend much of his school day in a classroom that included kids without disabilities.”

“Through a Medicaid waiver program, Althaus pays her mother to care for Whitman in her absence. That allows him to spend time out in the community with his grandmother while Althaus and her husband are working or away with their daughter.”

         “Under the Justice Department’s new interpretation of Olmsted, states would have fewer obligations to fund and support those programs. Kennedy, in testimony to lawmakers on Capitol Hill earlier this year, criticized similar programs as subject to fraud.”

          The only protections we can truly stand on now are the laws protecting disabled rights in individual states like North Carolina across the country, and we need to hear from leaders in our states about standing firm on those laws to protect us from the whims of the Trump juggernaut.

For instance, disability activists in NewYork, have stepped up and demanded to hear from their Gov. Kathy Hochul about protecting the disabled from being institutionalized by Trump’s federal government. That’s how serious this is.

What? Do I trust our Republican-led NC legislature not to find a way to help the Trump Administration pull off this unthinkable crime against its own disabled citizens? You see how willing they are to cooperate with ICE, and killing DEI, so corralling the sick, the invalid and the homeless and throwing them into giant warehouses where they could just rot and die would be a piece of cake for them, in my opinion. That's what ICE has been doing with undocumented immigrants.

Yes, I believe it could go that far, especially when you read various reports, like this frightening piece from Bloomberg Law which reported last week, “White House adviser Stephen Miller was the driving force behind the Justice Department’s recent memo authorizing states to institutionalize people with disabilities rather than fund community-based care, said people briefed on the situation.

Miller, the president’s powerful deputy chief of staff, was frustrated that the department’s Civil Rights Division was still reaching settlements compelling states to transfer those experiencing mental illness out of institutions, added the individuals, who spoke anonymously out of fear of retaliation.

The June 18 DOJ Office of Legal Counsel opinion concluded states may disregard decades of Supreme Court precedent and ensuing regulations mandating integration of individuals with disabilities into home or community settings.

Let’s be straight here. Stephen Miller is well-known for his cold-blooded racism and hatred of all things called “liberal.” The man is a stone Nazi who helped to nurture the devastating Project 2025 playbook into existence, shaped Trump Administration policy on undocumented immigrants, and is as unabashedly white supremacist as the day is long.

With senile Trump at the helm, a Republican-led Congress that has no backbone, and a Justice Dept. willing to do whatever the White House tells it to (and indeed has done such in this case by establishing a legal predicate for undermining the disabled), Miller has all of his ducks in a row, not to mention a US military force eager and hungry for bear to go into US cities and start rounding people up on American soil (whew, thank GOD Trump's Supreme Court barely ruled in favor of birthright citizenship Tuesday just in time for our nation's 250th, or we would really see Miller's fiendishness at work - though Congress could still cause problems).

        Someone who knew what I was going to write here asked me whether I really believed that the Trump Administration was planning to do something this wrong and this bad. I had to ask them to try hard to think of anything Trump has ever done for people who were not millionaires and billionaires that was right and good!

It’s a damnable thing to realize.

I know all of this comes off like a second-rate Netflix movie, but unfortunately, it’s all too real to ignore. That’s why, once again, I urge you to prepare yourself to vote this November to help save this country, and yourselves. We have people at the wheel now who believe they can do anything they want to whomever they please, and can get away with it because they believe that they are the law.

NO! The true rule of law here isn’t one man or group of men. The true rule of law here are the millions of citizens who believe in freedom and equality, and being one nation, under GOD, with liberty and justice, for all!

Especially the disabled!

        WE MUST VOTE IN NOVEMBER!!! If we fail to stop this evil, we will ALL truly suffer!

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THE CASH STUFF FOR JULY 1st, 2026

REP. SHELLY WILLINGHAM

                                                               REP. CARLA CUNNINGHAM

TWO OUSTED BLACK

 LAWMAKERS HELP GOP

OVERRIDE GOVERNOR’S

VETO AGAINST ANTI-DEI

LAW

It was one thing for House Republicans to override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of their bills outlawing DEI (diversity, inclusion and equity) policies in schools and government, and also immigration enforcement in state government.

But to many, it was shocking who seemingly helped to override Stein’s vetoes. In fact, if it wasn’t for Democrat Rep. Shelly Willingham from Edgecombe County and former Democrat Rep. Carla Cunningham from Charlotte, being absent from the override vote on June 24th, it is very likely those votes wouldn’t have even been taken. 

Reportedly both Cunningham and Willingham were present in a committee hearing earlier in the day, but were not present when the state House convened in the afternoon as the votes were called.

Also notable is that both Black House representatives were ousted in their respective Democratic primaries last March. They lost then because they had previously helped the Republican House majority override Gov. Stein’s veto, drawing the ire of Stein, NC Democratic Party leaders, snd other top legislative Democrats.

Neither Rep. Cunningham nor Rep. Willingham offered an explanation or excuse for their critical absences, but in the minds of many Democrats, it didn’t matter.

When their party needed them, especially on a critical issue like saving DEI by protecting Gov. Stein’s veto of the Republican measures outlawing it in state government, the two veteran Black Democratic lame duck leaders who remain in office until next December, were nowhere to be found.

House Republicans needed three-fifths of House members in attendance to override a governor’s veto. In each case, Republicans were able to get their three-fifths threshold - 71 to 47 - because Cunningham and Willingham were absent from the vote on the Democratic side.

  Wilmington Democratic Rep. Deb Butler challenged the House vote.

"It appears that these override votes here that we are seeing today are very well choreographed, and so I would ask you to reconsider the question of privilege concerning the integrity of the House's proceedings because the ability of members to deliberate and represent their constituents is central to the institutional rights of this body," Butler told House Speaker Destin Hall, who then dismissed her concern.

Gov. Stein vetoed three of the four bills overridden last week, a year ago - HB 171 (banning DEI in local and state government hiring; Senate Bill 227 and 558 ban DEI in K-12 public schools and public universities; Senate Bill 153 required local and state law enforcement to further cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as they carry out their duties.

Stein blasted House Republicans for taking the time to override his vetoes from a year ago, but still not be able to pass a state budget that is over a year late. Other critics went after Cunningham and Willingham.

“Today’s a difficult day in Raleigh,” Democratic House leader Robert Reives II wrote on social media last Wednesday. “House Republicans overrode Governor Stein’s vetoes of harmful legislation regarding DEI. We could be focusing on policies that actually help improve the lives of North Carolinians, like passing a budget or making life more affordable. Instead, we focus on divisive culture war issues.”

Other Democratic House members weren’t so restrained.

“Today was a day of cowardice at the General Assembly, “ wrote Rep. Brian Turner from NC House 116. "Two Democrats who lost their primaries “took a walk” and left the chamber and handed the Republicans the numbers they needed to overturn Gov. Stein’s vetoes.”

“The vote count from today will be remembered and those voting against a better future for all who call NC home will be remembered for their failure of character,” Rep. Turner vowed.

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                       CHARLOTTE INTERIM MAYOR ROBERT HARRINGTON

CHARLOTTE CITY COUNCIL 

SELECTS NEW INTERIM 

MAYOR TO LEAD CITY

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

As of July 1st, and for the next 18 months, Charlotte has a new interim mayor, and his name is Robert Harrington. When the Charlotte City Council selected Harrington on June 22nd to succeed the outgoing Vi Lyles, he became the 60th mayor in the Queen City’s history.

“I just think we’re gonna work together, I’m excited to work with this group of people. You can feel their passion about the city, and I can feel their passion about the city and we’re just looking forward to the future,” Harrington said.

Harrington will serve out the remainder of Mayor Lyles’ term. Lyle’s announced on May 7th that she would be stepping down early to spend more time with her family. She had only spent five terms in office, having won her last election in November 2025. She was the Queen City’s second longest serving mayor.

Mecklenburg County Commission Board Chairman Mark Jerrell issued a statement saying, “Mr. Harrington’s appointment stands as a meaningful testament to the respect he has earned over the years through professionalism, integrity, and dedication to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community.”

Harrington is the immediate past president of the North Carolina Bar Association, but has never held public office before. After he won a runoff to be selected, Mayor Lyles went to social media and wrote, “Charlotte City Council selected Robert Harrington as interim mayor to help guide Charlotte through its next chapter. I’m grateful for Harrington’s leadership and for the care he will bring to this role." 

      “Charlotte’s future is bright, and I know this city will continue moving forward with strength and purpose.”

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