STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 08-20-20
COOPER BANS CRIMINAL RECORDS FOR STATE JOB APPLICATIONS
[RALEIGH] Gov. Roy Cooper this week signed an Executive Order
to "implement fair chance policies" by prohibiting any inquiry into an applicants prior criminal history. Called “banning the box,” Cooper’s order allows state job applicants tp skip checking the box on the application asking about criminal records.. "People will get a chance to shine and show themselves on their own merit when they're going through the employment process," the governor said.”There’s a wealth of talent out there, a wealth of people who’ve made a mistake who are now about to come back into society who could be good employees."
TRUMP’S FACE ON ABSENTEE BALLOTS SENT TO NC VOTERS
[GREENSBORO] Amid all of the controversy about the U.S. mail being deliberately being slowed down in order to influence the November 3rd presidential election, some North Carolinians found a surprise in their mailboxes this week - absentee ballot request forms with Republican Pres. Donald Trump’s picture on them. The words under Trump’s picture ask, “ Ae you going to let the Democrats silence you? Act now to stand with President Trump!” Reportedly, the form is not from the State Board of Elections, but is approved by the SBOE. The forms themselves are fine and can be used. The mailers were sent by the NC Republican Party.
DUKE ENERGY URGES PAST DUE CUSTOMERS TO SETTLE UP SOON
[CHARLOTTE] The state’s moratorium on paying your utility bills during the COVID-19 pandemic is about to end. Duke Energy is urging all past due customers to settle their outstanding bills soon in order to stave off disconnections of service. Customers have until Sept. 1st. to hold back payments, and Duke will even grant 30 days after that. But that, unless you make payment arrangements, all payments are due, the utility says. Duke will continue to waive late fees, until further notice.
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SPEARS PLEASED WITH
BLACK LIVES MATTER
COMPROMISE
By Cash Michaels
Staff writer
As of Tuesday night, the city of Wilmington has agreed to go on record that “BLACK LIVES DO MATTER - END RACISM NOW,” thanks to the City Council’s 5-2 vote.
For at least one year anyway.
In what has been called a temporary “pilot project,” the city will accepted the donation of the BLM art installation, which will be large 8x4 letters at Jervay Memorial Park near Third street and the 1898 Memorial.
After an almost two month delay from when the original BLM Third Street mural was introduced, Councilman Kevin Spears was pleased after the vote the the issue had been favorably and finally been decided.
“It’s politics,” he conceded, acknowledging that he wanted “BLACK LIVES MATTER - END RACISM NOW,” but if adding “DO” got the job done, he’s fine with it.
“You have to give a little to get a little, and…overall, I’m satisfied.”
“It’s a small gesture to Black citizens and their allies, and to send a message to other municipalities across the nation, and people all over the world that we want to be a part of the change,” Spears told The Journal.
One person seemingly in desperate need of that message is conservative Councilman Charles Rivenbark, one of two votes against mural after earlier calling it “racist.”
At Tuesday night’s Council meeting, Rivenbark’s opposition was in full flourish.
“To think that Black lives don’t matter is folly,” he said in opposition. “I mean, it’s ludicrous. And it makes me think that they don’t think that much of themselves, if they’ve got to have a sign out there that says Black Lives Matter, I can’t get my head wrapped around it.”
Spears firmly chided his colleague for his remarks, noting that it’s that attitude that necessitates erecting the mural.
“With the [1898 race massacre] history that we have , I think it’s essential,” Spears told the Journal. There will be inspiration for a lot of generations. They’ll come through and say, “You know what? Anything is possible.”
“They’re going to be inspired to try new things…push against resistance. For my generation it’s ,’It’s never too late to get involved.
Deborah Dicks Maxwell, president of the New Hanover County NAACP was leery of the Council vote, but still pleased that it leaned in the right way.
“The City Council of Wilmington forced constant compromise on the placement and wording of a Black Lives Matter Mural,” Dicks-Maxwell told The Journal. “It will now be placed obscurely so as the old adage goes"out of sight, out of mind." It is disappointing that in 2020 this has occurred. Thank you to Councilman Kevin Spears for forging the way to this point.”
Ms. Dicks-Maxwell also had some choice words for Charlie Rivenbark.
“The remark of "those people" by Councilman Rivenbark was insulting and degrading to every person of color and our allies in this city. It shows that he really needs the implicit bias training that was recommended by the Community Relations Advisory Committee. I will not say his name but say to the people of Wilmington he showed you who he was and do not forget. So now more than ever before you need to get out and early vote,” she said.
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REP. ALMA ADAMS AND SUPPORTERS AT DOWNTOWN CHARLOTTE POST OFFICE TUESDAY (Photo by Rep. Adams Congressional Office
POSTMASTER BACKS DOWN
AFTER ADAMS, CONGRESS
THREATEN TO HAVE HIM FIRED
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
After pointed threats to have both his job and his head if he didn’t straighten out the mess with the U.S. mail service, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Tuesday, a Greensboro native, did an abrupt about-face, ordered all “cost-cutting initiatives” postponed until after the Nov. 3rd general elections.
Not only was DeJoy, a top contributor to the Trump campaign, facing two Congressional hearings - the first a senate hearing this Friday - but he was also looking down the barrel of litigation from at least 20 states seeking to stop his disruptions of mail service.
“In the meantime, there are some longstanding operational initiatives — efforts that predate my arrival at the Postal Service — that have been raised as areas of concern as the nation prepares to hold an election in the midst of a devastating pandemic,” DeJoy said in a statement. “To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded.”
DeJoy, who took over as postmaster in June, found himself the target of extraordinary heat from congressional leaders after President Trump openly bragged that he was undermining the U.S. Postal Service because he believed that mail-in balloting was “corrupt” and a ploy by Democrats to seize power from him.
That admission caused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to recall House members from their August recess to deal with the matter, especially after Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC-12) was among the first to call for DeJoy’s resignation.
'The mail is piling up, and the moves that he has made and the changes that he has made have really created problems in terms of our mail not getting out,' Adams told WFAE-FM last week. 'I think it’s a move to really dismantle the post office but also more than to disrupt this election.'"
This week, it’s virtually every Democrat in Congress, even in the U.S. Senate, who is calling for DeJoy to be fired amid the growing catastrophe threatening to delay the U.S. mail to tens of millions of Americans, just because President Donald Trump says he fears losing because of mail-in voting.
DeJoy, one of Trump’s top campaign fundraisers and donors, is also being hauled before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on August 24th to answer tough questions about some of the changes he’s implemented in mail service, changes designed to slow service down.
Rep. Adams will be questioning DeJoy during that session, she announced Tuesday during her “Don’t Mess with the USPS” press conference.
"Let me say this plain and clear," said Rep. Adams at her presser Tuesday. "If we determine during that hearing that the Postmaster General has deliberately harmed USPS; if this wealthy Republican donor Louis DeJoy has intentionally slowed down your mail and broken the trust between the Postal Service and its customers, the American people; then the House of Representatives should file articles of impeachment against him, and I will gladly lead the charge."
The Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service is also investigating reports that DeJoy owns businesses associated with the U.S. Postal Service, which many see as a conflict of interest.
DeJoy is scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee Monday along with Robert Duncan, current chair of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, and past chair of the Republican National Committee.
When DeJoy does testify, he’ll be asked about the reported removal of over 600 mail sorting machines from processing centers across the country; the elimination of overtime for postal employees; mailboxes being removed from street corners in various states, the removal of over 30 postal executives from their positions overseeing day-to-day operations; and a letter last week to 46 states warning that mail-in ballots may not arrive in time be counted by Election Day, Nov. 3rd because of cutbacks in service.
“The American people want their mail, medicines, and mail-in ballots delivered in a timely way, and they certainly do not want drastic changes and delays in the midst of a global pandemic just months before the election,” said Rep. Caroline Maloney, (D-NY) chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee.
Last Sunday, protestors gathered in front of DeJoy’s home in Greensboro, demeaning that he step down as head of the U.S. Postal service.
Ironically, Pres. Trump himself, during a Saturday night press conference in New Jersey, admitted to reporters that DeJoy “doesn’t know what he’s doing.” DeJoy had no previous experience with the U.S. Postal Service before his appointment.
On Monday, Congresswoman Adams, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and 173 other House Democrats sent a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy, saying in part, “The House is seriously concerned that you are implementing policies that accelerate the crisis at the Postal Service, including directing Post Offices to no longer treat all election as First Class. If implemented now, as the election approaches, this policy will cause further delays to election mail that will disenfranchise voters and put significant financial pressure on election jurisdictions.”
The House Democrats’ letter to DeJoy continued, “Because many states have traditionally allowed voters to request absentee ballot applications and absentee ballots within a few days of the election, it is essential that standard delivery times remain short and pricing remain consistent.”
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STATE SUPREME COURT
RULES, 4-3. FOR BLACK
DEATH ROW DEFENDANT
In what has been hailed as an “historic” ruling, the NC Supreme Court on Friday ruled in a 4-3 decision that a Black convicted murderer should not have been returned to death row after he had been re-sentenced to life in prison without parole under the now defunct Racial Justice Act, a Lew that the Republican-led NC General Assembly repealed in 2013.. Doing so amounted to legal “double-jeopardy,” the High Court said, especially after it was proven that Black jurors were “intentionally denied the right to serve on his jury” by white prosecutors.
The 29-page decision came in the case of Marcus Robinson, the first inmate to claim, and prove under the RJA that his 1994 capital conviction for a Fayetteville murder was racially-biased because prosecutors found ways to keep African-Americans off of his jury.
Robinson’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole in 2012 as a result, but the GOP repealed the RJA a year later, voiding all cases already decided in court, and dismissing any pending cases.
By effectively throwing out Robinson’s commutation, the legislature put him back on death row, thus violating his Constitutional protection against double-jeopardy, the state’s Supreme Court said Friday.
"Once the trial court found that Robinson had proven all of the essential elements under the RJA to bar the imposition of the death penalty…,” wrote Chief Justice Cherie Beasley in the majority decision, “… he was acquitted of that capital sentence, jeopardy terminated, and any attempt by the State to reimpose the death penalty would be a violation of our state’s constitution."
“Robinson’s claims under the RJA do not negate or diminish his guilt or the impact of his crimes on the victim’s family, the victim’s friends, and the community,” Chief Justice Cheri Beasley wrote. “Rather, the Act ensured that even those who commit the most serious offenses are entitled to a trial and sentencing free from racial discrimination.”
Justices Mike Morgan, Anita Earls and Robin Hudson all joined Beasley in the majority decision.
The court’s only Republican, Justice Paul Newby, who is running to unseat Chief Justice Cheri Bealey, was one of three dissenters. He wrote, “
"Apparently, in [the majority’s] view, the law is whatever they say it is," The votes of the four justices prevent defendant’s execution for murder. It appears, however, that three justices may have a larger purpose: to establish that our criminal justice system is seriously – and perhaps irredeemably – infected by racial discrimination."
Newby wanted Robinson’s case to be returned to the trial court in order to give the state a chance to appeal.
“Instead of doing the legally correct thing, the majority opinion picks its preferred destination and reshapes the law to get there," Justice Newby wrote.
Still, defendants’ rights advocates hailed the decision.
“This is one of the most important decisions I’ve ever seen from our state Supreme Court,” said Center for Death Penalty Litigation Executive Director Gretchen Engel. “It seems that Justice Beasley and her colleagues intend to make good on the promise that no person should be executed if race was a factor in their death sentence. This is a critical issue of racial justice, both for people on death row and for African Americans seeking to participate in our democracy. It’s heartening to see the court recognizing that fact, in all its difficulty and complexity, and taking bold action.”
This state High Court ruling comes three months after it ruled in State v. Ramseur that over 100 death row cases that applied for consideration under the RJA should hav their day in court.
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KAMALA HARRIS STANDS
STRONG AGAINST TRUMP’S
“BIRTHERISM”
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
No sooner last week had Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden announced his historic choice of Sen. Kamala Harris to be “a heartbeat away” from the presidency should he win in November, than Pres. Trump led a parade of racial detractors to tear the vice presidential candidate down, and apart.
"I heard it today that she doesn't meet the (citizenship) requirements,” Trump told the White House Press Corps last week, “..and by the way, the lawyer who wrote the (controversial Newsweek Magazine) piece (calling Harris’s eligibility into question) is highly qualified, very talented. I assumed the Democrats would've checked that out before she gets chosen for vice president"
Newsweek later had to apologize to it’s readers for publishing the disparaging op-ed, especially after it was discovered that the attorney who wrote it lost out in his bid for California attorney general the same year Harris won.
For the record, Sen. Kamala Harris - the first black woman ever to be vice presidential candidate for a major political party - was born in Oakland, Calif. on October 20, 1964 to a Jamaican father and Indian mother, but activists in the ‘60s civil rights movement, so there is no doubt about her citizenship.
She was born on U.S. soil.
And there is little doubt about her blackness, given that her father was Jamaican. In fact, as is well known by now, Harris chose attending the legendary HBCU, Howard University in Washington, D.C., to further immerse herself in her heritage and culture.
She later graduated law school, and eventually was elected as District Attorney for San Francisco in 2003, and later California State Attorney General in 2010 and 2014.
It was 2018 when Harris won a seat in the U.S. Senate, but had to fold up her underfunded campaign for president earlier this year before the Democratic primaries began, though she did make her presence known during the contentious debates when she confronted former Vice President Joe Biden about his past history as a U.S. senator who opposed racial school busing.
Yet none of Kamala Harris’ personal American history mattered to her critics.
Trump called her “nasty” and “mean” for her tough Senate panel questioning of members of his administration.
And her black critics blasted her on social media for not being “Black” enough, and having a white husband.
Sen. Harris, in an interview with The Grio.com, recently fired back, saying that she expects “dirty tactics” from her detractors, and noting that the election isn’t about her or her background, but the issues everyday Americans are struggling through in the face of racial injustice, economic uncertainty and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have to meet people where they are and address their needs,” Harris, who was officially nominated as the vice presidential candidate during the 2020 virtual Democratic National Convention this week, is quoted as saying.
“You may not fall in love with who you’re voting for, but if you just look down on a piece of paper at the issues that are impacting you every day.”
“Whether you’ve got relatives who have been impacted by the COVID virus, you’re unemployed or trying to get that extra check that unemployment, that six hundred dollars. Or you look at who’s going to pay attention to whether the Black community is going to have equal access to a vaccine when it’s created … There is so much on the line in this election,” Sen. Harris said.
The General Election is Nov. 3rd. Early Voting in North Carolina begins Oct. 15 and ends Oct. 31st. North Carolina will mail out ballots on Sept. 4th.
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