2017: A YEAR OF
TURMOIL (PART TWO OF THREE)
by Cash Michaels
contributing writer
It
was the year of recovering from the 2016 election of Donald Trump; when a
Democratic governor came into office in North Carolina, bitterly opposed by GOP
lawmakers; and a prominent black leader gained national prominence as he
stepped away from the NCNAACP.
Those
were just some of the top stories impacting North Carolina’s African-American
community we covered in 2017. In Part Two of this three part series, we look back
at April to July.
April - Concerns grow
among HBCU leaders when Pres. Trumo’s proposed budget doesn’t reflect promises
he made to appropriate more funding to them. In fact, some funding is cut.
Conservative federal Judge Neil Gorsuch, a Trump nominee, is sworn-in as an
associate justice to the US Supreme Court, retuning the high court to a 5-4
conservative majority. The International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro
files a complaint against Duke Energy after the utility cuts off its power.
May – Winston-Salem Chronicle
founder and publisher Ernie Pitt official steps down. Donny Williams becomes
Wilmington’s first African-American deputy police chief. Rev. William Barber
announces that he is “transitioning” from the presidency of the NCNAACP in June
to co-lead the national Poor People’s Campaign. In the meantime, Barber blast
the UNC Board of Governors for threatening to close the UNC Center for Civil
Rights, saying that it has no business litigating cases. The US Supreme Court
upholds a 2016 ruling by an appellate court striking North Carolina’s 2013
voter ID law down because it suppressed the black vote. Rev. Dr. T. Anthony
Spearman announces candidacy for the NCNAACP presidency. Gov. Cooper calls for
a special session of the NC legislature to redraw its 2011 redistricting maps
after the US Supreme Court agrees that they are unconstitutional.
June - There is
concern that Trump Administration budget cuts to federal anti-poverty programs could profoundly hurt North
Carolina for the next decade. GOP legislative leaders reject Gov. Copper’s call
to go into special session to redraw the 2011 redistricting maps declared
unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. Two black US Capitol Police officers
thwart a mass assassination attempt by a lone gunman during a softball practice
in Alexandria, Va.. One of the officers was an alumnus of North Carolina
Central University. NCNAACP Pres. Rev. William Barber is asked to stay on until
the October elections, and he agrees. Gov. Cooper veto’s the Republican-led
legislature’s compromise $23 billion budget, and blasts them not funding the
African-American Heritage Monument Project for the Capitol grounds.
July - US Rep. Alma
Adams says Republican NC legislative leaders “don’t give a damn about
citizens.” Raleigh-Apex NAACP Pres. Rev. Portia Rochelle announces that she is
also running for state NAACP president. Freedom Monument project is in limbo
after lawmakers fail to fund it in their budget. The NCNAACP blasts Pres.
Trump’s nomination of Raleigh GOP Attorney Thomas Farr, who has defended the NC
Republican Party in the voter ID case, and also worked for the late Sen. Jesse
Helms. Hearings begin before a federal three-judge panel about whether the 2011
redistricting lines for North Carolina should be redrawn, and special elections scheduled. The
judicial panel rules that the maps must be redrawn by Sept. 1st.
[In Part Three, August to December 2017]
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NORTH CAROLINIANS
URGED TO GET
REAL ID SONNER THAN
LATER
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Even
though 2018 is literally just a few days away, Oct. 1, 2020 still seems to
be long way down the road. And
yet, if you to board a commercial airliner, or enter a secure federal facility
like s courthouse or military base, officials say now is the time to know all
about getting what’s known as a REAL ID.
Issued
by the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles, the REAL ID is a state
government identification card mandated by Congress in the aftermath of the
9/11 terrorist attacks, where airplanes were used hijacked and used to attack
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, DC.
If
you do not have a REAL ID by Oct. 1st, 2020, you will be required to
show a passport in order to board a plane, or a US Dept. of Defense
identification, or one of at least a dozen ID’s listed at the federal website
of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s website at www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification.
Military
bases, like Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg, will require REAL IDs as of Jan. 22, 1918. Currently, two
forms of valid identification are already required to enter a military
facility.
Thus,
the need for a REAL ID, which looks very much like your driver’s license,
except for a gold star in the right-hand corner. An estimated four million
North Carolinians are expected to get their REAL IDs by Oct. 1, 2020, so DMV
officials are getting the word out now to prevent a crush of long lines at the
113 DMV offices statewide, getting closer to the deadline.
To
obtain a REAL ID, three types of documentation are needed.
One
should either be your birth certificate indicating US citizenship, or your US
passport. If your name is currently different from that which is listed because
of marriage or divorce, then a marriage certificate or divorce decree is then
needed.
Then,
you need a document which displays your Social Security number, like pay stub or W-2 form.
Finally,
you’ll need a document that proves your North Carolina residency, like current
unexpired driver’s license. The full list of documents needed to apply for a
REAL ID are found at www.ncdot.gov/dmv/driver/realid/requireddocuments.html.
Please
note that a REAL ID is separate from your driver’s license, which you are still
required to renew. The REAL ID costs $40.00, and can be gotten at the same time
you are renewing your driver’s license, as long as you do so before Oct. 1,
2020. Or you can get it before Oct. 1, 2020. You can get your REAL ID by
appointment.
And
no, children below the age of 18 are not required to have REAL IDs, but the adults they’re traveling with do.
Please
go to www.ncdot.gov/dmv/driver/realid/requireddocuments.html
for more.
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[PLEASE NOTE - NO STATE BRIEFS OR CASH IN THE APPLE FOR CHRISTMAS WEEK]
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