NNPA -
http://nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/first-100-juror-candidates-interviewed-for-cosby-case/
http://nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/naacp-president-cornell-brooks-voted-out/
http://nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/bill-to-celebrate-400-years-of-black-history-passes-u-s-house/
REV. SPEARMAN ANNOUNCES
http://nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/first-100-juror-candidates-interviewed-for-cosby-case/
http://nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/naacp-president-cornell-brooks-voted-out/
http://nnpa.org/nnpa_newswire/bill-to-celebrate-400-years-of-black-history-passes-u-s-house/
CASH IN THE APPLE FOR
5-25-17
By Cash Michaels
NO TIME TO
PLAY – A few years ago, my wife took our youngest daughter, KaLa, to see teen
singer Ariana Grande perform in Raleigh. Based on a video my daughter made of
the experience, it was a great show. In fact, there has been an Ariana Grande
poster outside of KaLa’s door ever since.
Thousands
of miles away, clear “across the pond” as they say, 21,000 people in
Manchester, England, most of them young teen and pre-teen girls, did what KaLa
did several years ago, and attended an Ariana Grande concert. I suspect that
they, too, had a good time watching their singing idol.
But unlike
Raleigh, the concert in Manchester ended with tragedy. A terrorist, reportedly
wearing a suicide bomb, blew themselves up at the concert, killing 22 people,
and injuring at least 59.
As a
parent, you could only watch the video in horror as you see other parents,
waiting outside the concert hall for their child to exit safely, only to
discover that an explosion had taken place, people are running for their lives,
and their child is nowhere to be see or found.
What agony
that must have been to not know whether your child is dead or alive mere yards
from where you are standing.
We
certainly pray for the families there in Manchester, England who have been
negatively impacted by this cowardly terrorist attack, and we’re 100% behind
the British government as it pursues those who were part of the deadly plot to
needlessly take lives.
It just
makes you wonder how close are we, here in the United States, to another
terrorist attack ANYWHERE at ANYTIME!
To add
insult to injury, if something were to happen, how much faith do we have in our
new commander-in-chief that he can handle it. You do know that part of the
reason why he was elected (though I proudly did not vote for him) was to
“defeat ISIS once an for all.”
I don’t
know about you, but shooting a few missiles to an empty air field in Syria
after you’ve warned them to get out of the way does not impress me, and
certainly doesn’t assure me that you know what you’re doing.
Indeed, our
new president may have good military people around him, but don’t tell me they
can’t see that he has a screw or two loose and don’t trust his judgment.
So right
now, the future is looking darker and darker. We’ve got four years to survive
this basket case. Heck, he might not even make it through his term, given how
much dirt the press is digging up on his 2016 campaign, and the even more dirt
the new special counsel is bound to discover about his business dealings.
This is
scary time indeed for all of us, and our children.
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REV. SPEARMAN ANNOUNCES
BID FOR NC NAACP
PRESIDENT
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
The Rev.
Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, third vice president of the North Carolina Conference
of NAACP Branches, has formally announced that he is a candidate to become the
civil rights organization’s next permanent state president now that Rev. Dr.
William J. Barber II is stepping away from the post he’s held for 12 years.
Meanwhile
Melvin “Skip” Alston, who previously served as NC NAACP president from 1996 – 2005,
has dismissed rumors that he is interested in running for his old job again,
but did say that he will support NC NAACP First Vice President Carolyn Coleman
if she decides to run for president. Ms. Coleman says she has not decided yet.
The news
comes as Rev. Barber prepares to join the national “Poor People’s Campaign” to
draw attention to issues of poverty as the country prepares to commemorate the
50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s original Poor
People’s Campaign next year.
In a May 20th
letter emailed to “members of the NC NAACP,” Rev. Spearman, who also serves as
president of the NC Council of Churches, announced that he has “…filed as a
candidate for [NCNAACP president] in our next election.”
“Every vote
is important, and I am asking for your support to become the next NCNAACP
president,” Rev. Spearman continued. “Continue the fight with me. Nothing is
too hard for God. I invite you to contact me with you questions, concerns, and
ideas. Hear the cry on the battle filed – “Forward together and not one step
back.”
Earlier in
his missive, Rev. Spearman recounted how, under Rev. Barber’s leadership, the
NC NAACP “founded a movement,” shifting from “Banquets to Battle.” He denoted
“…the explosive growth of the Historic Thousands on Jones Street People’s
Assembly Coalition (HK on J)… over the years,” further growing from sixteen
coalition partners to “…over 200 diverse social justice organizations” today.
Spearman
also recounted the NCNAACP’s 2012 “Truth and Poverty Tour” through some of the
state’s most impoverished communities.
“God’s Word
compels us to fight this battle defending the poor, disenfranchised and needy
people. We are obligated to create effective strategies to ensure the
political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all people.
We must defeat the forces of race-based discrimination and religion-based
bigotry.
Pursuing on these battlefields should be the order of each
day,” Spearman concluded.
He has been
third vice president of the NC NAACP for six years, in addition to being chair
of the Religious Affairs Committee, and president of the Hickory NAACP Branch
for two years.
Rev. Dr. Spearman is presently the
senior pastor of St. Phillip AME Zion Church in Greensboro.
Though no one else at press time
has made it known that they’ve also officially file for the NCNAACP presidency,
Rev. Spearman has already attracted the support of attorney Alan McSurely, one
of Rev. Barber’s closest lieutenants.
In an open letter to the NCNAACP
membership issued May 21st, McSurely writes that Rev Spearman “…is prepared to carry on Dr. Barber's vision and spirit and
intellectual brilliance as Barber moves to another lane to pick up Dr. King's
torch of justice…”
“The call
came only after the Lord situated and educated Dr. Spearman for this
challenge,” McSurely continued. “See if you agree with me that Rev. Dr.
Spearman is the man to run the second lap of the long relay race toward the
NAACP's Finish line: the elimination of racism and race hatred in the U.S.”
Though
former NCNAACP Pres. Melvin “Skip” Alston denied that he has any intention of
entering his name into the race this October, he made clear during a telephone
interview Sunday that he is willing to support First Vice President Carolyn
Coleman of Greensboro if she runs.
“I told
her I’m not interested, I’m not going to run, and that if she ran I would
support her,” Alston said by phone. “But I’m not interested in running for
state conference president anymore.”
“Whoever
the next president is going to be I wish them the best. But “Skip” Alston will not be running for state
conference president. You can put that out there and let everybody know that
you did get it from the horse’s mouth.”
Ms
Coleman is a highly respected civil rights veteran and first vice president of
the State Conference. She is also a member of the national NAACP Board.
Recently
Ms. Coleman, who also serves on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners,
supported Alston to be appointed to fill the unexpired term of another
commission member who had recently left the board. Alston is a former chair of
the Guilford County Commission.
In a
telephone call to Ms. Coleman Monday morning, she said that according to the
NAACP Constitution, she, as first vice president, would automatically fill out
the rest of Rev. Barber’s term in office once he leaves in June. However, she
has not decided whether she will do that.
Coleman
also said that neither has she decided to run for the state presidency in October.
She indicated that upon returning from a meeting out of town over the weekend,
she had just been informed of Rev. Spearman’s candidacy.
Ms.
Coleman did say that more candidates are expected to enter between now and June
15th.
-30-
w-j REACTION TO HIGH
COURT’S
CONG. DISTRICT RULING
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Now that
the US Supreme Court has ruled that North Carolina’s 2011 congressional
redistricting maps for the First and Twelfth districts were unconstitutional because
more black voters from surrounding districts were added unnecessarily, does
this hint that an upcoming High Court ruling on the state’s 2011 legislative
maps is most likely to be seen the same way?
“Since 2010, North Carolina has been governed by an
illegally constituted General Assembly,” says Irving Joyner, chair of the NC
NAACP Legal Redress Committee, and law professor at North Carolina Central
University’s School of Law.
“In its
decision, the Supreme Court recognized that this "right-wing" and
power-driven legislature had manipulated political districts in order to erode
the impact that African American voters could have on the use of political
power in this state,” Joyner continued. “In these redistricting plans, race was
used to "stack and pack" African Americans into a few political
districts and to reduce the ability of racial minorities to impact elections in
majority white populated districts.”
In short, the race-based formula used to illegally
configure the First and Twelfth congressional districts, was used to draw the
2011 legislative districts as well, Joyner says.
And when will the 2011
congressional maps be redrawn by the Republican-led NC General Assembly? Democrats
and civil rights activists are certainly hopeful in time for the 2018 elections.
The Supreme Court’s May 15th
decision not to overturn a lower court’s July 2016 decision striking down North
Carolina’s controversial 2013 voter ID law, certainly put smiles on the faces
of the NCNAACP and others who challenged the measure because it targeted the
African-American vote “with surgical precision.”
With last Monday’s congressional
redistricting victory still echoing in their circles, supporters are eagerly
anticipating a favorable legislative redistricting decision next week. But for
now, this week’s High Court congressional redistricting triumph was both
satisfying, and inspiring.
“This should serve as a wakeup call to the Republican-led
General Assembly, whose voter suppression tactics have been struck down twice
in federal court, in as many weeks,” said black Democrat Rep. Alma Adams, whose
12th Congressional District was ruled unconstitutional because GOP
state lawmakers made it a minority-majority for electoral advantage.
“As elected officials, we should be working together to make
access to the ballot box easier and more fair. In Congress we must take swift
action to restore the Voting Rights Act. In North Carolina, it is time to
appoint an independent redistricting commission to return our democracy to the
will of the people, “Rep. Adams concluded.
Congressman G. K. Butterfield, the other North Carolina black
Democrat whose First Congressional District the US Supreme Court also ruled was
racially gerrymandered, applauded the decision as well, saying that the GOP
redistricting “…was an extreme case of racial gerrymandering.”
“Once again with this victory the courts have said the NC
General Assembly through apartheid type redistricting engaged in systemic racism
and cheated to win elections,” said Rev. William Barber, outgoing president of
the NC NAACP. “Over and over again our
unconstitutionally constituted general assembly is being proven to be the
antithesis of justice true democracy and the fundamental principles of
equality.”
Robin Hayes, chairman of the NC Republican Party, disagreed
with the Supreme Court decision, saying in part, “Our position continues to be
the same as the Obama Justice Dept. on this issue, which pre-cleared these
districts as fair and legal. I don’t know how any legislature can perform this
task when the rules change constantly from case to case, often after the fact.”
But there are those who are clear that the Republicans will
keep trying to suppress voting rights.
“Despite this decision, we can
expect the legislative leaders to concoct some other race-based districting
design instead of sitting down to draw political districts which are fair and
non-political,” Prof. Joyner added.
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 05-25-17
STATE JOBLESS RATE
DROPS TEN-YEAR LOW
[RALEIGH] Observers are hailing April’s unemployment
rate of 4.7, the lowest it’s been in the state since 2007. However, North
Carolina still lost 7,000 jobs last month. According to the NC Dept. of
Commerce, the jobless rate across the
state was has high as 5.3 percent last January, before falling .6 percent.
Economists warn that while 4.7 percent is good, they’d be more pleased to see a
pattern before expressing confidence in the state’s economy.
STUDENTS, PARENTS
MARCH AGAINST THE CONFEDERATE FLAG
[EFLAND]
Students and their parents took to the streets Monday in front of Gravely Hill Middle School to demand that the
confederate flag, which they consider a symbol of hate, be banned on all school
campuses in Orange County. Demonstrators told school board members that
students don’t feel safe when they see the flag on tee-shirts, book bags, olr
other items other students may bring to school. Orange County school officials
say they’re still trying to determine a policy that also respects free speech
rights.
WAKE FOREST TEACHER
PUNISHED FOR ALLOWING RACIAL HARASSMENT
[WAKE
FOREST] A Wake Forest High School teacher was docked a week’s pay for allowing
the racial harassment of a black student in his class. That student later
assaulted the white classmate in the hallway, throwing his harasser down to the
ground before another teacher interceded. The teacher, William Sullivan, was
suspended for five days without pay in March, a Wake Public School System
spokesperson said. Sullivan was hired in 2008.
-30-
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