BRUNSWICK NAACP LETTER
ON WEBSTER KILLING – “TROOPER
INTENDED TO KILL”
By Cash Michaels
In a four-page April 28thletter to state Attorney General Josh Stein, Carl L. Parker Sr., president of the Brunswick County NAACP, charges that when Trooper Scott Collins shot Brandon Webster on January 1st, Collins “…intended to kill the moment he got out of his patrol car.”
Meanwhile Ira Braswell, the attorney for the victim’s family, confirms that while AG Stein’s April 12th decision not to file charges against Trooper Collins for the fatal shooting of the 28 year-old black man may have ended the criminal prosecution, there are other legal avenues to pursue, including civil liability.
Webster died after he was severely wounded by Trooper Collins in the parking lot of a Shalotte mini-mart New Year’s Day. Webster, accompanied by a female passenger in his white truck, was shot after he drove around a traffic stop Collins had setup. After ordering Webster to stop, Collins discharge his weapon.
The female passenger was unharmed.
After a three-month investigation, state Attorney General Josh Stein issued an April 12thdecision, indicating that Collins was justified in firing his weapon when Webster’s truck wouldn’t stop. Stein added that based on his review of video of the incident, Trooper Collins did not employ excessive force.
Brunswick NAACP Pres. Carl Parker sees it differently.
Further expounding on comments he gave to the Wilmington Journallast week, Parker, in his April 28thletter to AG Stein, says, “ The video is clear and compelling. Trooper Collins, while successfully “stepping” aside from the fleeing truck, acted as judge, jury and executioner to terminate Mr. Webster’s beautiful, young life, and for what purpose? What guise of reasoning?”
Parker charges that Brandon Webster was a victim of racial profiling.
“Racial profiling isn’t a recent phenomenon in our county,” Parker wrote. “It has been [a] constant and tragic pattern deeply etched into how black people have been treated and abused through no fault of their own except the color of their skin. With the sad death of young Mr. Brandon Webster, we see once again the tragic results of racial profiling.”
Mr. Parker later continues, “And what is so ironic with this is Mr. Webster’s hands were in the air visible to the trooper, (as reported by an eyewitness). The trooper never had to say “Keep your hands where I can see them.” Instead he said turn off the engine of the truck. If Brandon would have turned off the engine his hands would have been out of the trooper’s sight so the trooper would say, “I though he was going for a gun.”
“History has been a witness [to] this type of tragedy over and over,” Parker continued. “Clearly, Mr. Webster was in fear of his life and his companion’s life.”
The Brunswick NAACP president then chides SBI agents for allegedly intimidating the mini-mart owner for the store’s video of the shooting, as well as a woman for her cellphone video, calling them “storm trooper tactics.
Mr. Parker concluded his letter to AG Stein, saying that as a result of the Brandon Webster killing, “…there is great fear amongst our families….and a loss of trust in our legal system…”
He “implored” AG Stein to “reexamine this case…” and “remove Trooper Collins from law enforcement service.”
“Please don’t let your April 12, 2019 decision fuel future discontent towards those charged with law enforcement in Brunswick County,” Parker concluded. “We pray for you to “rebuke the winds and the sea.”
Attorney Ira Braswell, who represents the family of Brandon Webster, was not able to attend a peaceful demonstration on behalf of Webster last Friday at Mulberry Park, but in an interview with The Wilmington Journallast week confirmed, “Oh there IS a next step. We now have to use the mechanism of the civil system in order to get justice, or at least as much justice as you can get.”
“Of course we would prefer to have [Trooper] Collins criminally charged, but…”
Attorney Braswell alleged that “…this is the second time he’s been under investigation, and he got cleared by umpires that are not calling balls and strikes…”
Braswell called AG Stein “…a partisan actor, that’s all he is…” adding that Stein is a Democrat, and that because blacks keep voting for Democrats, “…things will never change.”
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FIVE NC BLACK SHERIFFS SAY
LEADERSHIP “ISN’T EASY”
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Five of North Carolina’s seven newly-elected black sheriffs say despite their collective commitment to serve all citizens in their respective counties with respect and fairness, being African-Americans, elected to be the top law enforcement authority in their areas presents a special set of challenges other sheriffs don’t have to deal with.
That is especially true of Pitt County Sheriff Paula Dance, North Carolina’s first African-American female sheriff in history, and only one of three throughout the entire country.
“Being a female sheriff has it’s issues in and of itself,” Sheriff Dance, who shared the NCBA Town Hall last Friday with Sheriff Cleveland Atkinson (Edgecombe County), Sheriff Danny Rogers (Guilford County); Sheriff Gerald Baker (Wake County), and Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, told the audience.
“I have to sometimes go above and beyond to prove myself…I always have, and will continue to do so.”
Because law enforcement is a male-dominated field, Sheriff Dance said she has to “lead with a leadership of confidence that I know what I’m doing. I have to have the buy-in from the men in my department, and I’ll tell you from Day One, I haven’t had an issue with that.”
Dance said her staff understands that she earned her way up through the ranks over the years, and that “…nothing was given to me. I earned it.”
Edgecombe County Sheriff Clev Atkinson, a veteran of the NC Highway Patrol, sees his main challenge as getting his department on the same page as the community they serve. That means “getting rid of bad apples” on his force. Thus, according to Atkinson, “training is big, big, big. Teaching our officers on how to talk to the community. It’s a skill like no other.”
“Sometimes you have to make a tough call,” Sheriff Atkinson added, “…and pull a 15-year person, a 20-year person who has skated by for long time. So a lot of times as sheriff, you’ve got to pull the trigger, because we’re charged with improving the lives of the citizens [we serve].”
Sheriff Danny Rogers of Guilford County said the challenging aspect of taking over has been making sure that he pays his law enforcement personnel well in terms of the salary and benefits “that they need.” Rogers says he’s dependent on local and state governments for that.
Like his colleagues at the table, Sheriff Rogers firmly believes “that we have to instill hope” in those who are sentenced to his detention center. I meet and greet every person that comes in there. It is not my place to judge anyone, but it is my place, as the sheriff, to make sure that they are served and protected.”
As sheriff of the host county, Wake, Gerald Baker made clear that one of his major challenges has been changing the culture from the previous administration (Baker had served under former Wake Sheriff Donnie Harrison for several years before retiring, and then running against the longtime Republican incumbent last year, shocking political pundits by unseating his former boss).
“We all know that we had been under a certain type of leadership or 16 years/4 terms, and that style of management ran deep in that office. Each and everyday we’re moving about trying to change that culture, and establish one standard of integrity and accountability in that office – serving all residents of Wake County fairly, no matter who you are,” Sheriff Baker added.
Perhaps the most controversial of the five black sheriffs present was Garry McFadden of Mecklenburg County – the state’s latgest. Sheriff McFadden has been a veteran Charlotte homicide detective, and even a reality TV star. Since taking office, Sheriff McFadden has made clear, like Sheriff Baker, that his officers will not detain illegal immigrants for I.C. E. agents (even though the Republican-led NC General Assembly is passing a law mandating that sheriffs in all 100 counties work with I.C. E.).
“My challenge is racism; my challenge is hate; my challenge is having a community that looks like me, to support me, ? the Mecklenburg sheriff said.
McFadden has also made it clear in Charlotte that there will be no double-standard in enforcing traffic violations – deputies will be ever present in well-to-do areas of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, as they are in the central city.
And don’t call those detained in his detention center “inmates.” They are “residents,” McFadden says, who are innocent until proven guilty. He has also eliminated solitary confinement, based on studies that have shown such treatment is mentally harmful.
Sheriff McFadden – who proudly says that he and North Carolina’s other black sheriffs “love each other, “ talk with each other every day “because the challenges we face you couldn’t imagine, and refers to Pitt County Sheriff Paula Dance as “our queen” – is proud to be unconventional, because he sees his role in law enforcement as truly being of service to all citizens, and wants the citizens he serves to understand more about what good law enforcement is all about.
“When we leave here,” Sheriff McFadden assures, reiterating that every black sheriff in North Carolina needs community support, “All of us have go fight.”
The black sheriffs of Durham, Forsyth, Buncombe and Cumberland counties were not present at the town hall.
Seven of North Carolina’s largest counties have black sheriffs.
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NCNAACP TO PETITION
NC SUPREME COURT
TO TAKE UP VOTER ID CASE
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
The state NAACP is petitioning the NC Supreme Court to “…take up direct review…” of Republican legislative leadership’s appeal of a Wake Superior Court February ruling that invalidated the 2018 voter ID constitutional amendment.
“This case is one of grave importance to the people of North Carolina,” Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, president of the NC NAACP, said during a Monday morning press conference at Martin Street Baptist Church in Raleigh.
In a stunning legal precedent, Wake Superior Court Judge G. Bryan Collins Jr. ruled last Feb. 22ndthat, per NCNAACP v. Moorefiled by the NCNAACP and Southern Environmental Law Center, he was voiding two amendments to the North Carolina Constitution – one establishing voter photo identification, the other capping the state income tax at seven percent – that were passed by North Carolina voters in Nov. 2018, because, “…the constitutional amendments placed on the ballot on November 6, 2018 were approved by a General Assembly that did not represent the people of North Carolina…An illegally constituted General Assembly does not represent the people of North Carolina and is therefore not empowered to pass legislation that would amend the state’s constitution.”
In other words, Judge Collins said the 2018 NC legislature was illegal because the federal courts had determined that its members were elected from voting districts that were constitutionally racially gerrymandered, and therefore illegal North Carolina voting districts.
Republican legislative leaders, like state Senate Pro tem President Phil Berger, were outraged. Castigating Collins as “a liberal judge,” Sen. Berger went on to vow, “We are duty-bound to appeal this absurd decision.”
The GOP initially petitioned Judge Collins to stay his own order, but he refused, but the state Appellate Court did stay his order it until an appeal could be filed.
The NCNAACP now wants the argument over Judge Collins’ extraordinary ruling to be immediately kicked upstairs to the state Supreme Court, which has the final word.
“There’s a provision in our state law that when a case is so important, you can ask our state’s highest court, our state Supreme Court, to take up direct review of this question,” said Attorney Kim Hunter of the nonprofit Southern Environmental Law Center. Hunter, along with attorney Irving Joyner (who was not present at Monday’s pres conference) and attorney Caitlin Swain of Forward Justice.
“We really think that there’s been no more important case than this one before our courts,” Atty. Hunter added. “This case speaks to our democracy, the legitimacy of our Constitution – the very foundational document that makes up our state law.”
“So we are going to be asking the state Supreme Court to rule on this question, and uphold the [Wake] Superior Court’s very clear , very well thought out legal ruling that makes common sense”
“Our state constitution is clear,” said NCNAACP Pres. Spearman. “The Constitution may only be amended by the will of the people. Only a legislature that is properly bestowed with popular sovereignty can propose constitutional amendments to the people.”
Reminding all that there is no voter ID requirement per voting this year 2019, and especially in the 3rdand 9thcongressional district special elections now underway, Rev. Spearman added, “This case – and so many others that the NC NAACP and our partners in the Forward Together Moral Movement have fought over the years during the long season of voter suppression – makes one thing very clear:
“The people of North Carolina hold sacred our democracy and our fundamental right to vote. The people of North Carolina will tirelessly defend against intrusions and injuries upon our popular sovereignty – our right to govern ourselves.”
“The people of North Carolina will not allow an illegal legislative supermajority that came to power by way of racially discriminatory maps tamper with our foundational document – the Constitution.”
“The people of North Carolina will defend our movement victories,” Dr. Spearman concluded.
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NCNAACP TO PETITION
NC SUPREME COURT
TO TAKE UP VOTER ID CASE
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
The state NAACP is petitioning the NC Supreme Court to “…take up direct review…” of Republican legislative leadership’s appeal of a Wake Superior Court February ruling that invalidated the 2018 voter ID constitutional amendment.
“This case is one of grave importance to the people of North Carolina,” Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, president of the NC NAACP, said during a Monday morning press conference at Martin Street Baptist Church in Raleigh.
In a stunning legal precedent, Wake Superior Court Judge G. Bryan Collins Jr. ruled last Feb. 22ndthat, per NCNAACP v. Moorefiled by the NCNAACP and Southern Environmental Law Center, he was voiding two amendments to the North Carolina Constitution – one establishing voter photo identification, the other capping the state income tax at seven percent – that were passed by North Carolina voters in Nov. 2018, because, “…the constitutional amendments placed on the ballot on November 6, 2018 were approved by a General Assembly that did not represent the people of North Carolina…An illegally constituted General Assembly does not represent the people of North Carolina and is therefore not empowered to pass legislation that would amend the state’s constitution.”
In other words, Judge Collins said the 2018 NC legislature was illegal because the federal courts had determined that its members were elected from voting districts that were constitutionally racially gerrymandered, and therefore illegal North Carolina voting districts.
Republican legislative leaders, like state Senate Pro tem President Phil Berger, were outraged. Castigating Collins as “a liberal judge,” Sen. Berger went on to vow, “We are duty-bound to appeal this absurd decision.”
The GOP initially petitioned Judge Collins to stay his own order, but he refused, but the state Appellate Court did stay his order it until an appeal could be filed.
The NCNAACP now wants the argument over Judge Collins’ extraordinary ruling to be immediately kicked upstairs to the state Supreme Court, which has the final word.
“There’s a provision in our state law that when a case is so important, you can ask our state’s highest court, our state Supreme Court, to take up direct review of this question,” said Attorney Kim Hunter of the nonprofit Southern Environmental Law Center. Hunter, along with attorney Irving Joyner (who was not present at Monday’s pres conference) and attorney Caitlin Swain of Forward Justice.
“We really think that there’s been no more important case than this one before our courts,” Atty. Hunter added. “This case speaks to our democracy, the legitimacy of our Constitution – the very foundational document that makes up our state law.”
“So we are going to be asking the state Supreme Court to rule on this question, and uphold the [Wake] Superior Court’s very clear , very well thought out legal ruling that makes common sense”
“Our state constitution is clear,” said NCNAACP Pres. Spearman. “The Constitution may only be amended by the will of the people. Only a legislature that is properly bestowed with popular sovereignty can propose constitutional amendments to the people.”
Reminding all that there is no voter ID requirement per voting this year 2019, and especially in the 3rdand 9thcongressional district special elections now underway, Rev. Spearman added, “This case – and so many others that the NC NAACP and our partners in the Forward Together Moral Movement have fought over the years during the long season of voter suppression – makes one thing very clear:
“The people of North Carolina hold sacred our democracy and our fundamental right to vote. The people of North Carolina will tirelessly defend against intrusions and injuries upon our popular sovereignty – our right to govern ourselves.”
“The people of North Carolina will not allow an illegal legislative supermajority that came to power by way of racially discriminatory maps tamper with our foundational document – the Constitution.”
“The people of North Carolina will defend our movement victories,” Dr. Spearman concluded.
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 05-02-19
U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORTS RANKS TOP HIGH SCHOOLS IN NC
[RALEIGH] Ever wonder what the top public high schools in North Carolina are? Thanks to the magazine U.S. News and World Reports, now we know. The Early College in Guilford County is ranked #1 one by U.S. News (#37 nationally), followed by Raleigh Charter High School. Raleigh Charter High has a 99% graduation rate and a 90.3 score for college readiness, while The Early College has 100% graduation rate and 93.6 score in college readiness.
WPD INCREASING PATROLS IN BLACK COMMUNITY
[WILMINGTON] After several recent shooting incidents, the Wilmington Police Dept. has announced that it is increasing patrols in and around the inner-city. Since March 27th, published reports say, one person has been killed, and ten shot in Wilmington. Police say the violence comes with increased gang activity, and other smaller incidents. Fifteen firearms have been captured, a WPD spokesperson says.
NEW BILL WOULD PREVENT FUTURE TEACHERS RALLIES ON SCHOOL DAYS
[RALEIGH] According to a proposed measure in the NC House, it would be illegal for a NC school board to alter its school calendar for anything other weather emergencies, an energy shortage, utility failure, public health or safety crisis. That would restrict school districts from canceling classes if teachers decide they want to take a school day off, unless they’re able to confirm that a substitute teacher is available to take their place. Over 30 school districts cancelled classes statewide Wednesday because of the teachers rally in Raleigh. Lawmakers now want to put a stop to the practice, arguing that educators can rally on the weekend when children won’t miss instruction.
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