STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 01-09-20
2,500 NC MARINE TROOPS DEPLOYED TO MIDDLE EAST
[CAMP LEJEUNE] In the aftermath of the U.S. drone killing of Iranian General Qasem Solemani, 2,500 U.S. troops from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are being sent to the Middle East to help quell tensions there. They will be joining 3,500 troops from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne that were deployed after President Trump warned Iran against any retaliation for the killing. On Tuesday night, 12 Iranian ballistic missiles rained down on Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops stationed there to fight ISIS. At press time, no word of any casualties.
FAMILIES EVACUATED FROM PUBLIC HOUSING BECAUSE OF CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING
[DURHAM] Over 170 families have been evacuated from McDougald Terrace Public Housing Complex after inspectors determined dangerous levels of carbon monoxide poisoning that may have been responsible for the deaths of two infants and a third young child who lived nearby. Over a dozen residents have had to be taken to the hospital since November. Officials are checking gas-powered furnaces, ovens and water heaters.
HUNDREDS PAY LAST RESPECT TO SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE OLA LEWIS
[BRUNSWICK COUNTY] She was the longest serving female judge in North Carolina, in addition to being the first woman and African-American judge to serve in the 14th Judicial District. She was also the youngest judge ever elected in the state. That’s why hundreds of friends and colleagues joined the family of the late Superior Court Judge Ola Lewis to honor her memory January 3rd as her body laid in repose in the rotunda of the Brunswick County Courthouse. Judge Lewis died December 30th after she lost her battle with liver cancer. Funeral services were held for her Saturday, Jan. 4th at the Odell Williamson Auditorium in Bolivia.
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DEMOCRATS WARNED ABOUT
TRUMP STRATEGY TO
WOO BLACK VOTERS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Jonathan Capehart is a respected African-American opinion writer at The Washington Post who is known for keep a sharp eye on President Donald Trump, and what his policies are doing to the black community.
This week, Capehart attracted a lot of attention with a piece titled, “Three things Trump is doing that should scare the hell out of Democrats.”
Three things…the last of which is extremely important to African-Americas Democrats, especially here in North Carolina.
The first, according to Capehart, is that despite impeachment, the Republican National Committee (which will be bringing it’s national convention to Charlotte this August 24 through the 27th) and the Trump reelection campaign, have raised a staggering $493 million just in 2019 alone.
Experts agree that that is a formidable haul that would make any incumbent president hard to beat.
The second reason Capehart says Democrats should be nervous about the 2020 elections is that beyond white evangelicals, whose support the Republican president cultivates religiously, there is evidence that Trump is also cultivating white Latinos, who reportedly see no connection between themselves and the struggling latinos and Mexicans who Trump is building a wall to keep out of the United States.
But the third, and most important reason, for the purposes of this story, that Capehart warns Democrats must be leery of Trump’s 2020 campaign moves are his overtures for black support.
“Just as with the Latino vote, Trump’s outreach to African Americans isn’t about winning a majority of their votes,” Capehart writes. “It’s about shaving off enough votes from the expected Democratic hold on the black vote to eke out a win. If the drop-off in black votes that happened between 2012 (President Barack Obama’s reelection) and 2016 happens again in 2020, Trump will win.”
Yes, even with repeated accusations of racism against Trump because of his statements, or policies against African-Americans, if he can pull at least 8% nationally of the black vote, that can hurt any Democratic opponent in key Electoral college states.
It is no secret that the African-American vote is the most loyal to the Democratic Party of all of its traditional constituencies. But with young African-Americans leaning away from the party in favor of more progressive political figures who are Democrats in name only, not to mention blacks who feel that the party has always taken their votes for granted, and all of a sudden, African-American Democratic loyalty becomes a real factor.
“African American voters have signaled they will not lie low, be quiet and take one for the team because of the greater goal of taking Trump out of office,” wrote columnist Mary C. Curtis for Roll Call Magazine last June.
But there is another reason Capehart is keeping a keen eye on the “Blacks for Trump” factor - black men.
Even though black women are the strongest Democratic Party voters, outpacing even white men an women, black men are the prime Trump target, Capehart says.
“According to the 2016 exit polls, [Hillary] Clinton won black women by 90 percentage points, but her advantage over Trump with black men was just 69 percentage points,” Capehart reports. “Thirteen percent od African-American men voted for Trump and five percent voted for third-party candidates. That’s 18 percent of black male vote that went to someone other than the Democrat.”
This …explains why the Democratic candidates have been turning their attention to African-American men on the campaign trail,” Capehart adds.
Another factor working for Trump is voter ID. While it’s status is still unknown here in North Carolina for the 2020 general election in November, there are 34 other states where voter photo identification is alive and well, and a useful tool to suppress the black vote.
And finally here in North Carolina, white turnout in 2020 may exceed the 71 percent white registered turnout that beat out the 64% registered black voter turnout in 2016, which was nine points behind 2008’s 73% black registered turnout the first time that Barack Obama ran for president, according to Political Science Prof. Michael Bitzer of Catawba College in Salisbury.
Of course, a lot depends on which presidential candidate Democrats ultimately decide on this summer.
But Trump has made it clear, especially after he launch his “Blacks for Trump” group in November, in addition to advertising in black media, that he will compete for the African-America vote.
The question is, what will the Democratic Party do, and will it be enough?
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NC NAACP PRES. REV. T. ANTHONY SPEARMAN
DISAPPOINTMENT OVER
STEIN VOTER ID DECISION
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Beyond Republican pressure to do so, it’s still not clear why state Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, indicated last week that he will appeal a federal judge’s preliminary injunction declaring the 2018 voter ID law unconstitutional.
That ruling, issued on the last day of 2019 by Judge Loretta Biggs, eliminated the voter photo ID requirement for the upcoming March 3rd, 2020 primaries, as the NCNAACP petitioned for as part of it’s lawsuit to stop the law.
Parts of the 2018 voter ID law, better known as SB 824, “…were impermissibly motivated, at least in part, by discriminatory intent,” wrote Judge Biggs in her 60-page ruling, noting the the Republican-led General Assembly’s previous 2013 voter photo ID law was also racially tinged for the purpose of voter suppression.
““The preliminary evidence demonstrates a clear likelihood that Plaintiffs will establish that discrimination was behind the law: S.B. 824 was enacted against a backdrop of recurring state-sanctioned racial discrimination and voter suppression efforts — both in the far and more recent past — and the state’s polarized electorate presents the opportunity to exploit race for partisan gain.”
But the civil rights organization’s hopes that the law might also be stalled for the November 2020 general election were dashed when Stein made it clear in a Jan. 2nd press release that his office will appeal the injunction “pending a trial.”
“However….the [NC Dept, of Justice] will not seek a stay of this injunction before the primary,” the AG’s office continued. ”The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will review the district court’s decision, but we anticipate that photo identification will not be required to vote in the primary per the district court’s decision.”
Republican legislative leaders demanded that AG Stein petition fo n immediate stay of Judge Biggs’ preliminary injunction, thus allowing voter ID for the March primaries.
“This last-ditch effort from an unelected judge to stymie the implementation of voter ID and prohibit the legislature from defending the law it wrote is inappropriate. Legislative leaders have worked in good faith to accept numerous forms of IDs and allow for certain exclusions. The result is one of the most lenient voter ID laws in the nation,” the GOP statement said.
Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, a Republican candidate for governor, also weighed in, with both barrels.
“The only reason to oppose photo voter ID is if you intend to commit fraud at the ballot box.”
But Stein didn’t listen. Still, even with the delay until after the March primaries, his decision was not welcomed by the plaintiffs either.
“This decision should not be appealed, “ Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, president of the NC NAACP, said in a Jan. 3rd. statement.
“Racism is our voting system cannot be accepted and should not be defended. In this climate, at this time in our history, we cannot afford equivocation on the question of justice and any stench of racism in our laws.”
Atty. Irving Joyner, chair of the NCNAACP’s Legal Redress Committee, said.” We deeply regret the decision by the attorney general to appeal Judge Biggs’ thoughtful and well-reasoned opinion, Later adding, “We would urge the Attorney General to reconsider its decision to appeal and allow all of us to complete preparation for the trial in this matter.”
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