REV. PORTIA ROCHELLE:
WHY I SHOULD
BE THE NEXT NCNAACP
PRESIDENT
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Editor’s note: During the upcoming 74th
Annual NC NAACP Convention in Raleigh, current president, Bishop Dr. William
Barber will be stepping down after 12 years, and a new president will be
elected between Rev. Dr. Portia Rochelle, president of the Raleigh-Apex NAACP
Chapter, and Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, Third Vice President of the NCNAACP.
During
separate interviews, both candidates were asked the same six questions about
their respective visions for the state conference if either is elected to lead.
For a final question, they were asked to determine what they want rank-and-file
NCNAACP members to further know about them that they feel is relevant.
When
necessary, both candidates’ answers have been truncated for conciseness.
Today
we begin with Rev. Dr. Portia Rochelle. Next week, Rev. Dr. T. Anthony
Spearman.
She celebrated her 65th
birthday on Sept. 5th, but as far as Rev. Dr. Portia Rochelle,
president of the Raleigh-Apex NAACP is concerned, she has plenty of fire and commitment
in her to lead the over one hundred branches of the NC NAACP as it’s next
president, if elected. And she’s working hard to make that happen. Having
served as branch president for the past nine years, and having worked for North
Carolina state government for the previous 30, Rev. Rochelle says she’s fully
prepared to lead North Carolina’s most prominent civil rights organization.
A widow since 1993, Rev. Rochelle
has two children.
Why should you be elected as the next president to lead the North
Carolina State Conference of the NAACP?
“Because of the firsthand
experience that I have had in working with the [Raleigh-Apex] branch here in
Wake County. We’ve had to tackle numerous issues, and we are at the forefront
of most issues that occur here in North Carolina, whether we desire to be or
not. The general public calls on us, and that has given me a vast amount of
experience as far as working through civil rights issues with the community,
and the people injustices are being done to. I’ve had nine years of experience,
and I feel that I can do it on the state level.”
What do you think of Bishop Dr. William Barber’s leadership of the
NCNAACP over the past 12 years, and, if elected, how do you intend to build on
it?
“He’s set a great example. Bishop
Barber is a teacher. He is one that has a vision, makes sure that you
understand that vision, makes sure that you understand that vision and your
place, your role and your value in making the vision come forth. So I believe
that whoever succeeds …follows that role model, will do great.”
“Some people are kind of shy as far
a doing what they should be doing at the branch level, and I think that if we
keep that model that he has set, to teach others, to let them know that they’re
valuable in the movement, that they’re necessary in the movement…we need key
players in the movement. Everyone needs to be able to a justice movement.
Bishop Barber has set a good example of that, and I plan to build on that,
build on the infrastructure. There are some branches that need more training,
they don’t always have the opportunity to come to the state convention or
attend the national. But I’ve been fortunate enough to be exposed to all of the
training at all of the levels.
Plus, quality time with Dr. Barber,
with him teaching me, and him answering all sorts of questions that I had when
I first started. So the next successor has to be patient, and be willing to
teach those that are prepared to lead this organization.
As NCNAACP president, how will you continue the fight for voting
rights?
“We should never stop. It’s been a
continuous fight and does get frustrating for the citizens we are working with,
but in the movement we cannot get tire, we cannot get frustrated. We must
continue to encourage our people to not keep silent and to not stay home and
get mad because they don’t like the way elections are finished.”
“If you’re mad, fight back. How do
you fight back? Become informed voters. Teach your family, your neighbors, how
to become informed voters. Know what you’re voting on, know the issues, know
the people that we’re voting for, know what they stand for. Don’t just wait and
show up on voting days for someone to give you a list, and you go in and mark
those names. Know who’s running. Know what they have to say about issues that
are affecting your life.”
“So voter education is what I’ll be
concentrating on. Teaching our people to learn …you know, it’s more than just
marking a ballot.”
How will you work to get more young people involved in the NC NAACP?
“That’s a good question, because
I’m dealing with that now. Many of the young people are raising families, many
of them are feeling that the NAACP is irrelevant. So we have to constantly
teach them the history, and how the NAACP is relevant to them.”
“Some say we’re outdated, we’re not
functioning, but they don’t know what we’re doing. They need to take time to
get to know us. Let us introduce ourselves to you, so you’ll know what we’re
about, how we got started, and what we’re doing. We’re doing more than marching
and protesting because we don’t like a particular law. That’s very important to
do, but you have to fight back by showing up at meetings, and know what’s going
in your community.”
“I plan to do a social justice
school to teach people how to be involved in the social justices issues in your
community. I plan to do the same thing with churches. We need to have people in
place where community meetings are going on – the school board, Board of
Elections, county commissioners. All of these things affect our lives, and if
we’re not there to give our input, then we’re going to be left out. And it’s
going to be too late, so we have to get involved. That’s what I want to teach
the millennials – you have to get involved! You can’t just sit back and pass
judgment, and say that our rules are too stringent, or we take too long to do
something. You’ve got to understand whey we don’t just run and jump and do
something. You’ve got to learn not to just jump out there and be ignorant. You
have to investigate, then see if you need to make a stand, see if you need to
make a statement. And you’ve got to learn how to be patient. Learn the
importance of strategy, and why that strategy is there to protect you and the
community.”
Next
week – interview with NCNAACP presidential candidate Rev. Dr. T. Anthony
Spearman.
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DEMOCRATS CONCERNED
AS GOP BEGIN
THEIR JUDICIAL
REDISRICTING PROCESS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
When
the Republican-led NC General Assembly reconvenes for it’s second Special
Session of the year on Wednesday, October 4th at 12 noon, expect
judicial redistricting to be front in center. That point was made clear this
week when the House Select Committee of Judicial Redistricting gaveled in
Tuesday to begin the process of determining how North Carolina’s District and
Superior Court maps will be changed.
Because
Republicans are pushing for this, Democrats are naturally concerned as to why,
and why now.
“I
am extremely concerned about the HB 717 judicial maps that force District Court
judges of the same political [party] to compete in a primary,” state Rep.
Evelyn Terry (D-Forsyth) recently said. “That equates to worse. It’s called
double bunking.”
Also
on the redistricting chopping block, prosecutorial districts, from where local
district attorneys are elected, and serve.
All
of this is the result of a surprise bill, HB 717, introduced in June right
before the end of the regular long session by Rep. Justin Barr (R-Stanly).
Because there wasn’t much time to properly hold hearings or debate the measure,
it was put on hold until either the planned August or October Special Sessions.
Given that the August session was mostly taken up with redrawing the
legislative districts maps because of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering,
the upcoming October Special Session is the chosen time for judicial
redistricting to come front and center.
According
to the proposed judicial/prosecutorial redistricting maps released Tuesday,
among the Superior Court district splits are Forsyth, Guilford, Wake, Durham,
New Hanover, Mecklenburg, and Pender, among others. Some observers say they
look very similar to the racially gerrymandered legislative maps that were
ultimately thrown out but the federal courts.
Burr
readily admits that the maps were done in secret, as to protect them,
ironically enough, from judicial scrutiny.
“They
would have fought me,” Burr told WRAL-TV in July. He added that the reason for
redistricting the judicial districts is because of a “longstanding imbalance”
of Democrat judges to Republicans historically. “This is about making good
policy, he said.
Democrats
in the legislature counter that this is about redrawing the district lines in
order to elect more Republican judges to the bench, increasing the likelihood
of winning more court decisions for GOP policies, especially with Democrats now
holding the majority on the state Supreme Court.
Rep.
Burr has called it “correcting gerrymandered districts.”
No one from the judiciary or state
conference of District attorneys in North Carolina was consulted in the drawing
of the maps, Burr confirms. However, under constant pressure, Rep. Burr did
travel throughout the state, speaking with judges and district attorneys about
the need for the redistricting.
Burr
has said that race was not considered among the criteria used to redraw the judicial
maps. Only geography, caseload, population, and resources.
The last time judicial districts
were changed was 62 years ago, and most experts agree that the time to refresh
them is long overdue. But they caution that the process should be handled by an
established nonpartisan body to ensure that all North Carolinians have equal
access to the state’s court system, regardless of where they live in the state,
not for partisan advantage.
Unlike congressional and
legislative redistricting maps, there is no ten-year mandate to redraw judicial
districts. congressional and legislative redistricting is predicated on the
change in US Census population figures, which are taken every ten years.
Constitutionally,
those districts are also governed by the “one-man-one vote” principal which
seeks to make every congressional and legislative district equal in population,
+ or minus five percent.
But
with judicial districts, there is a question as to whether any constitutional
mandate exists. And there is also question as to whether the 1965 Voting Rights
Act applies to judicial redistricting as well.
According
to Judge Marion Warren, director of the NC Administrative Office of the Courts
(AOC), said during Tuesday’s select committee hearing that he’s had some
Superior Court judges who were “incredibly upset” complaining to him about the
proposed judicial “gerrymandering.” Judge Warren did maintain that the AOC did
not draw the proposed maps.
Rep.
Marcia Morey (D-Durham), a former Durham District Court judge for 18 years,
said during the hearing that she talked to 20 District Court judges, and “…not
one agreed with the maps.”
And
some Superior Court judges have generally said they are willing to allow the
redistricting process to “play out,” but others are “very upset” with what they
see the maps do, like double-bunking sitting judges.
The House Select Committee on
Judicial Redistricting is expected
to meet again on Thursday, Sept. 21st. There is no word as to
when the state Senate will address this matter.
-30-
CASH IN THE APPLE FOR
09-14-17
By Cash Michaels
GOOD
HEALTH! – Let’s cut right to the chase. Am I in good health?
Well,
the question is relative. I’m certainly in better health. A little about my
health history, and no, I’m not ashamed that I probably should have died before
now because of the careless and reckless way I’ve been treating my body all of
these years.
First
the good part – I’ve never smoked ANYTHING (I have absolutely no idea what it
feels like to deliberately inhale smoke through my nose or mouth). I still
remember being a child in the crib, and seeing my mother’s fancy 1950s
cigarette box with built-in lighter on her dresser (never saw her smoke in
person, however), and how, once she realized that the cigarette box caught my
attention, she put it out of sight, and made sure that she never smoked in
front of me in life.
And
I also remember years later hanging in Ditmas Park in Brooklyn, NY with my
friends, and all they did was smoke and drink, and I never did. In fact, when
we would all be sitting on the park bench watching the girls in hot pants walk
by, and my boys would pass the reefer joint down the bench so that everybody on
the crew could get a “blow” (it was more like a suck though), I would always
say “no thanks,” and let the “brotha” on my left pass it straight to the
“brotha” on my right.
And
when I would get a dirty look about it, I learned to immediately say, “Nah,
man, …more for you, more for you!”
Both
“brothas” always like hearing that.
Hard
liquor? Never! Now when we went out to the clubs on Friday and Saturday nights,
we always stopped by liquor store and got some sweet MD20/20 or Fuki Japanese
plum wine! I never drank “Mad Dog” (is what we called it), but I’ll never
forget being at a club in Queens, having met this nice girl named Martha (I
called her “Marti”), an making the mistake that night of drinking too much
Fuki, and saying some dangerous things to her that would have gotten any other
guy shot!
But
Marti could tell that I wasn’t a drinker, and that I was kinda cute, and
decided she wanted to meet the “real” Cash, and so we dated for a couple of
years after that. And no, I NEVER drank Fuki or anything else around Marti, or
anybody, ever again. That whole bit ended my drinking career. But at least it
got me Marti…for a while.
So
to this day, never drank hard liquor, never smoked a cigarette or weed, and
have never, EVER taken illegal drugs! I’ll never forget when I moved from
Brooklyn to Durham, NC in August 1981, folks were so amazed that I was from New
York and didn’t have any of those vices, they weren’t sure what to make of me.
But
I did have other health vices for sure. I loved sugar, loved cakes with all the
icing I could muster, loved fried foods… jut loved food PERIOD, and didn’t care
how much of it I ate. I was an emotional eater. That caused my weight to yo-yo
like crazy. One day I was Denzel Washington; the next I was worse than Mo’nique
(before she lost all of that weight, but kept all of her mouth).
I’ll never forget after Hurricane Fran in 1996 after the power went out, I was drinking so many sweet fruit drinks, my girlfriend at the time forced me to go to Duke Health Clinic in Durham to get tested because I was sick to my stomach, but didn’t want to see a doctor. That’s when I found out that my blood sugar was 830! Doctor told me to my face I should be dead, and told me straight that I will be by the weekend because my high sugar was breaking down the organs in my body. She sent me immediately to Duke Hospital to have them bring my sugar down through IV. I cried and cried, and cried, but I thanked my girlfriend for loving me enough to fuss me to the doctor’s office.
I’ll never forget after Hurricane Fran in 1996 after the power went out, I was drinking so many sweet fruit drinks, my girlfriend at the time forced me to go to Duke Health Clinic in Durham to get tested because I was sick to my stomach, but didn’t want to see a doctor. That’s when I found out that my blood sugar was 830! Doctor told me to my face I should be dead, and told me straight that I will be by the weekend because my high sugar was breaking down the organs in my body. She sent me immediately to Duke Hospital to have them bring my sugar down through IV. I cried and cried, and cried, but I thanked my girlfriend for loving me enough to fuss me to the doctor’s office.
Since
then my health has been up and down, highlighted recently by the stroke in my
left leg in November 2014 (still rehabbing from that), and of course the acute
leukemia diagnosis in March 2016 (I’m in remission now, and hope to stay that
way).
In
the past few months, I prayed and prayed, realized that I was killing myself,
and decided, with GOD’s blessing and grace, to change my attitude about life,
my future, and me. Thus far, I’ve lost over thirty pounds; I no longer eat
breads, sweets (except fruits): eat a romaine salad a day with a protein (fish
or chicken), and plenty of water.
I
exercise at the gym Monday through Saturday to build muscle in my legs, and
improve my walking. I attend church every Sunday and Wednesday now without
fail. And I work hard to be happy, ridding myself of all of the dark things
that made me succumb to the negative.
So
yes, I’m healthier now in more ways than one, but6 am I in good health. No. I’m
still morbidly obese, but I working on it. I am under 290 pounds for the first
time in years, and I’m headed towards 270. Once I get there, I’ll see how I
feel, and then go to 250. Ideally, I’ll stop at 220 pounds.
The
bottom line is at age 61, I owe this physical, spiritual and emotional
transformation to myself, and two my children. I want to see my youngest
daughter graduate from the high school she just started. I want to see my
oldest daughter make it big in television production as she’s striving to do.
I
need to be alive and well and SEE IT ALL, and with GOD’s blessing, I will!
COUNT
ON IT!
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR
09-14-17
STATE AND CHEMOURS
ENTER CONSENT ORDER OVER GENX DISCHARGE
[WILMINGTON]
The State Attorney General’s Office and Chemours, the plant that has been
discharging the chemical GenX into the Cape Fear River for years, apparently polluting
the drinking supply for the New Hanover county region, entered into a consent
order agreement in Bladen county Superior Court last week. The deal compels
Chemours to officially cease the discharge of GenX and byproducts of another
chemical, Nafion, into the Cape Fear. Chemours also agreed to provide the state
with confidential documents about its chemicals. The company moved quickly to
comply because there was evidence that it misled the NC Dept. of Environmental
Quality per its discharge permits as to what it was releasing into the Cape
Fear. Local officials consider the consent order a “positive development.”
CHARLOTTE MAYOR PRO
TEM VI LYLES DEFEATS INCUMBENT MAYOR
[CHARLOTTE]
In a primary election surprise Mayor pro tem Vi Lyles defeated incumbent Mayor
Jennifer Roberts in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. With only an eight-percent
citywide turnout, Lyles, a former city budget director and assistant city
manager, won in every section of the Queen City. She will now face Republican
Kenny Smith in November.
RATE OF UNINSURED IN
STATE DROPPED IN 2016
[RALEIGH]
Based on information released this week by the US Census Bureau, the rate of
North Carolinians without health insurance dropped to an historic low of just
10.4 percent in 2016. Ironically, that rate would have been even lower had the
Republican-led NC General Assembly had extended Medicaid coverage to over
500,000 of the more than one million North Carolinians who don’t have health
coverage. The Affordable Care Act, which went into effect in 2014, has dropped
the number of uninsured in North Carolina from a high of 15.6 percent.
-30-
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