STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 05-14-20
STATE DEMOCRATS HOLD VIRTUAL CONVENTION JUNE 6
[RALEIGH] The NC Democratic Party will hold a virtual state convention on June 6th, featuring all of the statewide candidates for office. However, because it will be a virtual convention, it will abide by all of the current social distancing restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the tasks of the virtual convention will be to choose the delegates to the Democratic National Convention, who would be expected to nominate Joe Biden for president. NC Republicans wee originally scheduled to hold their state convention in Greenville this weekend, but have now pushed their’s back to July. Their Republican National convention is still scheduled for Charlotte in August for now.
ADAMS WANTS STUDENT LOAN DEBT CANCELLED
[WASH., D.C.] Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. (NC-12), Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MN-05) and 28 additional members of Congress sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy today calling for the universal, one-time, student loan debt cancellation of at least $30,000 per borrower in the next round of COVID-19 relief legislation. “With today’s jobs report showing the greatest unemployment rate since the Great Depression, it has never been a more important time to eliminate student loan debt,” said Congresswoman Adams. The letter also calls for long-term payment relief for all federal student loan borrowers, as well as expanded protections for millions of private student loan borrowers as well as long-term relief through cancellation and refinancing.
“RE-OPEN NC” PROTEST IN RALEIGH FOR FIFTH WEEK
[RALEIGH] For the fifth week, hundreds of demonstrators from across the state went to downtownRaleigh Tuesday to protest Gov. Roy Cooper’s COVID-19 pandemic restrictions which closed restaurants and bars, and many small businesses across the state. These demonstrators want those restrictions dropped, saying they don’t believe that the coronavirus is dangerous. A counterprotestor flew a plane with a banner over the demonstration Tuesday saying, “Fewer graves if we reopen in waves.”
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OUTRAGE OVER ILLEGAL “TERROR”
RAID OF PENDER BLACK FAMILY
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Almost two weeks after the fact, local and state black leaders are still livid about the shocking, all-white, 1898-like vigilante raid on a Pender County African-American mother and her teenage son May 3rd by a then off-duty armed New Hanover County Sheriff’s deputy, and a large angry “mob,” two of whom who were also armed with an assault rifle and a shotgun.
The inexplicable event has made headlines around the world, including CNN Tuesday night, and caused many to shudder as to the tragedy that could have happened, and the danger that black family faced.
As president of the Pender County NAACP, Rev. Dante A. Murphy told The Journal that the chapter was “deeply disturbed by the incident,” and would “…continue to work with our NAACP district and state representatives to assure that this matter is resolved to fullest extent of the law.”
However, as president of SCEF - the Southern Coalition for Equal Protections Under the Law, Rev. Murphy employed much stronger language, calling the May 3rd incident a “…near lynching of an African-American family being terrorized by an all-white vigilante militia group who is now being protected by an all-white District Attorney's office. These statistics alone present a difficulty in avoiding the issue of race.”
At press time, New Hanover/Pender County District Attorney Ben David still had the matter under criminal investigation, but thus far, this much has been alleged from official and published reports:
At around 10 p.m. on Sunday, May 3rd, off-duty New Hanover County Detention Officer Jordan Kita, while in uniform, helped lead an angry group of whites, some armed, to the home of Monica Shepard, and her son, Dameon, in the predominately-white Avendale community of Rocky Point, southern Pender County, reportedly under the auspices of searching for a missing 15-year-old girl Kita reportedly knew through his family.
She was later found safe.
“The fact that an officer appeared off-duty at an individual's residence in uniform was wrong…,”opined Deborah Dicks Maxwell, District 16 director of the NC NAACP,and president of the NHC NAACP.
Dameon, 18, a graduating senior at Laney High School in Wilmington in New Hanover County, answered the door, estimating that about “15 people” were outside.
Kita mistakenly thought that the black teen was someone else named “Josiah” who used to live next door who knew the girl. Kita reportedly refused to believe Dameon’s repeated denials, in addition to his assertions that the mob had the wrong house.
Kita reportedly put his foot in the door preventing closure. A frightened Dameon angrily repeated his denials and the fact that he was not the other black teen Kita was looking for. He even noted a high school graduation sign with his name on it on his front lawn.
That’s when Dameon’s mother, Monica, awoke, came to the door, and confronted Kita, insisting that he had the wrong house, and needed to leave. Kita still refused to believe her.
By this time, neighbors apparently called Pender Sheriff’s Dept., which sent two deputies to the address. Reportedly, they made no arrests, took no names, and did no investigation at the time.
Monica Shepard feels blessed that the worst didn’t happen.
“Coming to the door like that with a mob of people with guns what do we expect? What were their intentions? What if he was the person they were looking for or what if I was not home? What would’ve happened? I don’t want to have that conversation,” she told a local TV station. "I don’t want [Dameon] to be a statistic. It’s scary.”
Pender County Sheriff Alan Cutler later applauded his officers for not making any arrests, saying it was more important to diffuse the mob situation. D.A. David said because a law enforcement officer (Kita) was involved, it was protocol to do a criminal investigation first.
It has been confirmed that Jordan Kita was fired from his job with the New Hanover Sheriff’s Dept. Friday May 8th after an internal investigation ordered by NHC Sheriff Jim McMahon.
Kita was also charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering, forcible trespassing and willful failure to discharge duties. Kita is accused of going to the Shepard’s “…while armed and in uniform in a county where he was not dully sworn in and in furtherance of personal - not law enforcement - purposes.” D.A. David said during a May 8 press conference.
Another allegedly armed man with Kita, Robert Austin Wood, was charged with “going armed to the terror of the public.”
More may be charged, D.A. David told reporters last Friday.
Wilmington Attorney James W. Lea of the Lea Schultz Law Firm in Wilmington, who is representing the family, said a civil suit is coming after he completes his probe.
“The deplorable and unnecessary act of terrorism on the Shepard family cannot go ignored and our indignation will not be concealed,” says Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, president of the NCNAACP. “Until protection of the law reaches to all, none of us will ever be safe.”
“We are certain by Sheriff Alan Cutler's statements during the press conference that more could have been done on the night of May 3, 2020, said SCEF Pres. Rev. Murphy. “Under the consultation of District Attorney Ben David the cover up is now becoming as worst as the crime. We are pleading with the Pender County Sheriff's Department to do its best identify every person involved in the vigilante group and, apart from District Attorney Ben David, apply the proper charges and insist that those charges be [pursued] by the District Attorney's Office.”
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$13 MILLION IN FEDERAL GRANTS
TO 39 NC HEALTH CENTERS TO FIGHT
COVID-19
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Almost $13 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will be awarded to 39 HRSA-funded health centers in North Carolina, including centers in Wilmington, Charlotte, Greensboro, Asheville and Gastonia.
“As North Carolinians and communities nationwide face this unprecedented health and economic crisis, it is imperative that we prioritize people’s health and safety,” said Congressman Butterfield. “A prosperous economy starts with a healthy community. For our communities to be healthy, COVID-19 testing must be available to anyone who needs it and right now far too many Americans are in desperate need of increased access to COVID-19 testing. Community health centers are our frontline defense amid this pandemic and are positioned to reach people where they are within the community.”
The following is a list of some of the centers funded:
New Hanover Community Health Center, Inc in Wilmington - $211,999
Triad Adult and Pediatric Medicine, Inc. in Greensboro - $332,089
Charlotte Community Health Clinic, Inc. in Charlotte - $187,9999
C.W. Community Health Center, Inc. in Charlotte - $287,854
Western NC Community Health Services, Inc. in Asheville - $321,424
Appalachian District Health Dept. in Asheville - $271,219
Here in North Carolina, over 15,000 cases have been confirmed, with over 600 dead. Of that number, according to the NC Department of Health and Human Services, 35%, or approximately 4,000 are African-American, and 34% of those have died.
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