NEW POLICE INDOOR RANGE
PET PROJECT OF ASST. CHIEF
DONNY WILLIAMS
After ten years of overseeing the project, Assistant Wilmington Police Chief Donny Williams proudly led the community in the grand opening of the new 30,000-square-foot Haynes/Lacewell Police and Fire Training Facility on Dec. 2nd.
The city-owned building, named in honor of Sgt. Edward Haynes of the Wilmington Police Department and Capt. Eric Lacewell of the Wilmington Fire Department, is located on a portion of a 46-acre tract in the Hurst Street/Princess Place Drive area near Maides Park. It includes a 10-lane firing range, running man targets, and other state-of-the-art training features to keep local law enforcement appropriately ready to protect the citizenry.
A native of Wilmington, Asst. Chief Williams is credited with not just overseeing the development of the facility, but the design as well. With 26 years on the force, the special grand opening was just the latest accomplishment in the career of a successful and dedicated hometown son.
Williams began with the Wilmington Police Department in his teens as a summer youth worker, going on in 1990 to be hired as a police cadet, later becoming a patrol officer. During the next two-and-a-half decades, Williams gained valuable experience in all phases of public safety, including Crime Prevention, DARE, and Housing.
It wasn’t long before he became a police captain managing the Support Services Division for several years- the largest patrol division in the department, and it’s $24 million budget.
With more than 500 youths participating each year, Asst. Chief Williams also expanded the Police Activities League (PAL) to include four sports, basketball, soccer, Olympic Wrestling, cheer and dance.
Asst. Chief Williams is married to his wife, Victoria, and is the proud father of two sons.
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ONLY ONE REPUBLICAN
SUPPORTED REAUTHORIZATION
OF THE 1965 VOTING RIGHT ACT
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
In 1970, 1975, 1982 and 2006, the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) - a federal law mandating that “…the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous servitude” - has been amended and reauthorized by a healthy bipartisan Congressional vote - Democrats and Republicans - to ensure that every eligible American, especially African-Americans, had the right to vote.
At least that’s what it looked like on the surface.
Jesse H. Rhodes, an associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and author of the 2017 book, “Ballot Blocked: The Political Erosion of the Voting Rights Act (Stanford University Press)”, chronicles how behind-the-scenes, Republican presidents from Richard M. Nixon to present day Donald Trump have worked hard to weaken and undermine the VRA.
“Republicans have a long history of trying to limit federal enforcement of minority voting rights. Trump is following in his predecessors’ footsteps,” Rhodes wrote in The Washington Post in 2018.
Indeed, it was a conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 that struck down Section 5 of the VRA - the provisional heart of the law that mandated federal election oversight.
“In 2013, the Supreme Court struck a devastating blow to protections for minority voters across America when it invalidated a key provision of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 in its Shelby County v. Holder decision.,’ said Congressman G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1).
“The Court struck down the “preclearance” formula that gave power to Section 5 of the VRA and prohibited certain jurisdictions with histories of racial discrimination in voting from implementing election or redistricting changes that would negatively impact minority voters. Since that decision, the right to vote has been under coordinated attack in North Carolina and across the country, with at least 23 states enacting voter suppression laws, including voter purges, strict ID requirements, poll closures and curtailing of early voting hours.”
“Over the past year, as a member of the House Committee on Administration’s Subcommittee on Elections, I traveled across the country to participate in Congressional field hearings, including one in Weldon, North Carolina, to hear from witnesses about election administration and fair access to the ballot box,” Congressman Butterfield continued. “In a recently released report on these hearings, the Subcommittee confirmed the persistence of voter suppression and discrimination in voting across the country.”
“Our democracy works best when all people have equal access to the ballot box! Congress has a responsibility to #RestoreTheVOTE! #HR4,” tweeted Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC-12).
Last week, when the Democratic majority in the U.S. House voted to once again reauthorize the VRA , known this time as “The Voting Rights Advancement Act, or HR 4, and reinstate federal oversight, only one Republican, a former FBI agent, voted along with them.
The 187 other House Republicans voted against.
Now the bill stands little to no chance of even being taken up in the GOP-majority U.S. Senate. In fact, the Trump White House has threatened to veto the bill if, by some magic, the Senate did pass it.
Republicans say states, not the federal government, should be in charge of enforcing election laws, and the federal protections would be abused when there is no evidence of “discriminatory behavior.”
Democrats, happy to have passed the measure, still lamented that Republicans would not join them in ensuring that all Americans had the unfettered right to cast their ballots.
“The Republican Party used to support the unfettered right to vote,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries of New York. “The party of Lincoln is gone. The party of Reagan is gone. The party of McCain is gone.”
“In the greatest democracy on earth, the path to the ballot box must be unfettered for all voters,” Rep. Butterfield says. “Congress has an obligation to address discrimination in voting and the need to restore the protections of the Voting Rights Act are clear. I am proud I helped pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act and strongly urge the Senate to take it up immediately and get it to the desk of President.”
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OUTRAGE OVER TRUMP’S
PICK FOR NC FEDERAL BENCH
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Not since 2006 has a permanent judge presided over U.S. District Court in North Carolina’s Eastern District. Three presidents of the United States have tried to fill the vacancy since then, including President Obama, who nominated two African-American female jurists. That effort was stopped by North Carolina U.S. Republican Sen. Richard Burr.
But now, President Trump’s conservative nominee - UNC Law Professor Richard Myers - was confirmed on Dec. 5th to fill the vacancy by the U.S. Senate, and civil rights leaders aren’t pleased.
Especially the NC NAACP, which has lobbied hard to keep jurists with questionable right-wing histories from being conformed for that seat.
“Led by senators Mitch McConnell, Richard Burr and Thomas Tillis, the United States Senate, for race based reasons, refused to confirm the nominations of two highly qualified African Americans to serve as Circuit Court Judges on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina,” says Atty. Irving Joyner, law professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law, and chairman of the NC NAACP Legal Redress Committee. “This District Court has never had an African American confirmed to serve as a judge, even though more than 50% of the residents of this District are racial minorities. This exclusion has been purposeful and is yet another sign that racial bias and discrimination continues to be a present reality among those members of the U.S. Senate who were in a position to correct this long-standing history of racial discrimination.”
Prof. Joyner continued, “Since 2014, the U.S. Senate has had two opportunities to confirm the appointment of an African American jurist and an outstanding federal prosecutor, both who possessed outstanding professional credentials, but refused to do so because of the race of the candidates. These were shameful decisions and the persons responsible should be held accountable. Even though this judicial seat has now been filled, African Americans should never forget those senators who are directly responsible for the continuing racial exclusion which exists on the federal bench in North Carolina.”
Prof. Myers is a native of Kingston, Jamaica who once worked for a Wilmington newspaper, the attended law school at UNC - Chapel Hill in 1995. After graduating, Myers served as a law clerk for the ultra-conservative David Sentelle, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, close friend of North Carolina U.S. Senator Jesse Helms.
Myers later would serve as assistant U.S. Attorney in California and the Eastern District of North Carolina, where he prosecuted white collar crime. He began teaching at the UNC School of Law in 2004. He has maintained his conservative credentials as a faculty adviser to both the Christian Legal Society and the Federalist Society.
Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, president of the NC NAACP, is quite leery of now federal Judge-confirmed Richard Myers, and his right-wing connections.
“At the center of a secret network working assiduously to “Make America Great Again” is a man named Leonard Leo. Leo is identified as the Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society. It appears that he has been on leave from the Federalist Society to assist [President Trump] to push his anti-black and minority, anti-LGBTQ and anti-woman agenda in filling lifetime seats to the federal courts with extreme conservatives.,” Dr. Spearman alleges.
“The NC NAACP fought valiantly and successfully to abort one such confirmation; that of Thomas Farr to the Eastern District. Make no mistake about it, Farr was among those on Leo's list and Myers, who now fills the seat, was as well. The 14-year racially-fueled vacancy [ on that court] now filled certainly demands our attention for in a majority-minority district, one cannot help but wonder what ulterior motives lie beneath the logic of an African-American or other minority jurist never being considered. This has been all about race.”
As of December 5th, the Republican-led U.S. Senate has confirmed 185 of Pres. Trump’s nominations to the federal bench at all levels. Prof. Myers, who is slated to serve for the rest of his life, is one of them.
“North Carolinians are lucky to have someone like Professor Myers with his caliber and his sense of duty to represent us,” Sen. Thom Tillis told colleagues last week while introducing Prof. Myers.
“Professor Myers embodies a work ethic and diligence that we deserve in all our judges,” maintained Sen. Richard Burr.“I have faith in his ability to do the right thing every day.”
No doubt that the civil rights community, led by the NC NAACP, will keep a close eye on federal Judge Ricard Myers from now on.
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SEN. KAMALA HARRIS
WITH KAMALA HARRIS GONE,
DO BLACKS HAVE A VIABLE
DEMOCRATIC CHOICE FOR
PRESIDENT?
An analysis
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
At one time during the 2020 Democratic presidential race, Sen. Kamala Harris ranked as fourth out of seventeen candidates, calculating early on that a direct attack on frontrunner Joe Biden, Pres. Obama’s vice president, would soften his sentimental grip on African-American Obama supporters, and along with progressive to moderate whites, give her a strong base to eventually claim the party’s nomination.
But as campaign dollars grew scarce, and media scrutiny became more than she could handle, Sen. Harris’ dreams of becoming the first black woman to be elected president of the United States, went up in smoke last week just before Thanksgiving.
““My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue,” she told supporters in an open letter announcing her pulling out. “I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign. And as the campaign has gone on, it’s become harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete.”
Black supporters, including here in North Carolina, became concerned with Harris’ departure from the race.
"Sen. Harris ran an outstanding race for president,” said Rev. Jay Augustine, pastor of historic St. Joseph’s A.M.E. Church in Durham.
“Pastor Jay,” as he’s better known, knows Sen. Harris personally, having worked for her campaign for state attorney general in California several years ago. The friendship led to Rev. Augustine hosting Harris at his church last August when she was still the talk of the nation.
“She was never running just to run,” he recalls. “She offered herself for service because she believed she was the best person to beat the incumbent and help put America back on track. She made an honest assessment that resources would not allow her pursuit to continue,” Pastor Jy added.
“She has been honest and forthright and we are all thankful for her integrity."
So now, who is left in the race for the White House who can even come close to representing African-American interests? U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) has never registered beyond single-digits in any of the polling of presidential wannabes, and the fact that he’s still in the hunt (though barely at 1 to 2 percent in the polls) is a novelty to those wondering where is his campaign getting the money to qualify for the debate stage.
Sen. Booker has touted strong financial support for historically black colleges and universities if elected, and recently, sponsored a bill protecting ethnic hairstyles in the workplace. But beyond once being the mayor of majority-black Newark, NJ, Booker has failed to generate any real excitement in either the African-American of white communities.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is generally seen as a party moderate in the mode of his close friend former Pres. Barack Obama. But his late entry into the race, thus far, has not assured him any strong standing once the Iowa caucuses and Democratic primaries begin in January.
And that’s where the Democratic rank-and-file will decide once and for all who their party standard-bearer will be in November 2020 to face incumbent Republican Pres. Donald Trump - the upcoming primaries. The key contest to watch for black voting strength is South Carolina, where fifty percent of registered Democrats are African American.
The current top four Democratic contenders - Joe Biden,;U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA); U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I - NH); and South Bend Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg - all-white - have made repeated appearances in the Palmetto State trying to convince black voters there that they will have their best interests at heart if elected.
With North Carolina’s primaries now moved up to March 3rd, all four frontrunners have also been conspicuous in North Carolina too in recent months. Buttigieg visited Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, where former NC NAACP Pres. Rev. William Barber is the pastor , two weeks ago not only top worship, but discuss what he would do about poverty, affordable health care and protecting voting rights, if elected.
So while African-American voters still have at least two black candidates in the large Democratic presidential field to choose from, Sen. Booker and former Gov. Deval Patrick are not considered true contenders for the nomination.
And the addition of white billionaire Michael Bloomberg to the race just in the past two weeks further complicates the Democratic landscape.
With Joe Biden enjoying strong, steady support among black millennials and older - accounting for a significant portion of his front-running status - coupled with many in the black community believing that Biden is the only candidate who can beat Donald Trump, it is shaping up that the next Democratic presidential nominee is going to be white, and his main mission, in the minds of African-Americans, is the he be able to show Pres. Trump the door.
“[Trump’s] disapproval rating among African Americans was 84 percent in a late-April YouGov poll, compared with only 9 percent approval,” reported The Washington Post last May. In a CNN/SSRS poll taken around the same time that grouped together all voters of color, 96 percent of nonwhite Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters reported that defeating Trump was extremely or very important to them in determining whom to support in the primary race; in a contemporaneous Quinnipiac poll, 61 percent of nonwhite Democrats said they believed that Biden had the best chance of doing so. Next best was Sanders, at 10 percent.”
“Voters of color, including black voters, are squarely focused on getting Trump out of office,” The Post concluded. “Biden, for now, is the beneficiary.”
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 12-12-19
WILMINGTON POLICE CHIEF TO RETIRE FEB. 1, 2020
[WILMINGTON] After more than 15 years of service to the City of Wilmington, Police Chief Ralph Evangelous will officially retire from his post on February 1, 2020. Evangelous’ retirement comes after setting a number of career milestones in his nearly 50 years of service as a law enforcement officer. Evangelous is credited with numerous accomplishments and contributions to this community. Among those include completing the state of the art Police Training Facility to include an indoor shooting range, the downtown Police Headquarters, establishing the southeast Division Headquarters on S. College Road. Chief Evangelous is also responsible for leading the agency’s efforts in reducing Part 1 crime for several consecutive years to include historic lows in 2018 and 2019.
“I have been truly honored to serve this great community and hope that my service has helped to make our community better in some way,” he says.
NEW PHONE APP TO TRACK SCHOOL BUSES
[WILMINGTON] New Hanover County parents will soon be able to track their children’s school bus with a new school bus tracking app. Expect the Parent Portal Bus Tracking Application to officially go online January 2, though a “soft rollout will happen beforehand to give parents a feel of what to expect. Parents will be able to track a bus’s current location so they can gauge distance and time to pickup. The app will be available for free for download from iTunes and Google Play store. Wake, Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Pender county school systems already have similar technology at work.
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