STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR JANUARY 14, 2021
FORMER NC CHIEF JUSTICE BEASLEY HAS NEW JOB
[RALEIGH] The former chief justice of the NC Supreme Court now has a new job. It was announced this week that Cheri Beasley, the first Black woman ever to serve as NC chief justice, is now a partner in the law firm of McGuireWoods. Beasley is working out of the firm’s Raleigh office in it’s litigation and appellate groups. Beasley lost a razor-thin race to keep her seat on the state’s High Court.
FAYETTEVILLE REMOVES BLACK LIVES MATTER MURAL
[FAYETTEVILLE] Citizens were shocked to see city crews Monday removing the “Black Lives Matter - End Racism Now” mural from in front of the historic Market House. There was no warning from Fayetteville city leaders, and given how the country is still reeling from the attack on the U.S. Capitol just last week, people felt the timing was way off. Mayor Mitch Colvin says the mural was never to be permanent, and the decision to remove it was made in November. It was installed after the May 2020 shooting death of George Floyd.
COOPER, COUNCIL OF STATE SWORN-IN TO START NEW TERMS
[RALEIGH] Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, was sworn-in for his second-term last Saturday in front of the Executive Mansion in downtown Raleigh with a limited crowd due to COVID-19 restrictions. Also sworn-in, Mark Robinson, Republican, and the first African - American to be elected as NC lieutenant governor. The rest of the Council of State, including NC Attorney General Josh Stein, took their oaths of office as well. Stein is now serving his second term.
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Wilmington Journal editorial
ed- PLAYTIME IS OVER
We sincerely hope that anyone who hasn’t taken the perilous times that we’re in seriously before, has now had a change of heart.
White supremacists are, once again, seeking to violently take over the reins of power in this country by force, and they’ve made it clear that they will spare no one in the process. That’s what the Trump-inspired terrorist riots at the U.S. Capitol last week were all about.
Black people, least of all, can ill-afford to ignore this clear and ever-present danger. Our very lives, in addition to what little civil liberties we have, are at stake. And when we say “we,” we’re talking about ourselves, our families and our communities.
All that we, as Black people, care about.
Based on our history here, we are experts when it comes to surviving the wrath of white supremacy.
From slavery, to the 1898 insurrection, to the Wilmington Ten, to the firebombing of this very African-American newspaper, Black people here have had to fight to survive the historic onslaught of hate-filled White supremacy.
The Wilmington Journal is still fighting that onslaught, doing our best to survive in a world where the Black Press is no longer respected for reporting truth to power, and is denied the same opportunities for advertising and wealth building as our White counterparts.
Keep in mind that the primary objective of hate-filled White supremacist terrorism - which Black people here in Wilmington can speak to with authority - is to make it clear that we don’t have the “power”.
They do…and it should stay that way.
And that’s why when we strategically build multi-racial coalitions, and, led by Black people, leverage our collective power of the vote like they masterfully did in Georgia recently, we are despised.
That’s not supposed to happen, Grandmaster Trump and his supremacist rioters say. Indeed, the fact that the Black vote came together to elect Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House, in addition to delivering the U.S. Senate and House, thus now giving us more “power,” is such treachery and blasphemy in their eyes, it was worth violently threatening the very existence of the United States government to regain control.
Now the rest of America can join the African-American community of Wilmington in knowing what the tragic results feel like.
What it feels like to have your community targeted for death.
What it feels like to have the wealth of your community stolen.
What it feels like to have your community’s leadership either killed or chased away.
What it feels like to have your community’s political power denied for virtually a century.
What it feels like have the families and businesses of your community historically struggle.
What it feels like having to survive pure evil!
For those of us (which means all of us) who weren’t here during the 1898 Wilmington White supremacist massacre, one look at video from last week’s U.S. Capitol siege, and seeing the sheer madness and hate in the eyes and on the faces of the White pro-Trump mob rioters, and hearing them call for the blood of Democratic leaders and Republican “traitors”, is probably close enough.
This insidious hate has now gripped the nation, and it’s not leaving when Donald Trump leaves office on January 20th. Just like 1898, it is buried deeply in the hearts of his followers and the Republican Party, which still sees fit to defend and protect him.
Because Trump represents the kind of racist hatred they crave.
So playtime is over, community. We can ill-afford to take anything for granted anymore.
It’s time for ALL of us to understand that in order to survive what is now a very dangerous America for us, we’re going to have to work together better, support each other and our institutions (like the Black Press) better, and strengthen our community better, to survive.
It ain’t going to be no picnic, now. But Black people built this country with our backs, and with our blood.
Wilmington is still our city, and this is still our country.
Playtime is over, community. Time to stand even stronger!
And we know how to do it.
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THE CAPITAL SIEGE:
HISTORIC RACISM
WAS AT IT’S ROOTS
An analysis
by Cash Michaels
Since last week’s horrifying and violent breach of the U.S. Capitol by thousands of White, fever-pitched pro-Trump supporters, much of what we’ve heard - though compelling - has missed the point: the bottomline to the attack on our nation’s Capitol building by White supremacists, is race.
This guttural social temper-tantrum has happened in our nation’s history before, and from what we’re hearing, is very likely to happen again in the very near future.
Why? History tells us it’s all about White belief in coveting control for the sake of maintaining racial power, and the fear of losing it.
That is the common theme that runs through every historical instance of White American violent and political insurrection.
Naturally, thanks to a jaundiced misinterpretation of the Bible, Whites of earlier centuries thought of themselves as God-made superior beings, placed here to rule the Earth, and consequently, non-whites who lacked the power to successfully resist domination.
That credo led to American slavery, and the resulting nation-building off the backs of cheap African labor. But it wouldn’t be long before the growing tension between White America’s “declaration of independence” from European rule, and Black former slaves’ increasing demand for freedom and opportunity, would repeatedly clash, with Whites ultimately using violence and corruption to draw a line of control, to maintain power.
To be clear, violence was just one of the many tools at the disposal of White civic and political leaders to minimize Black citizenship and equity.
Convincing lower-class Whites that Blacks were taking rights from them, thus resulting in their dire circumstances, was also effective at harnessing anti-Black political power.
But violence, when deemed necessary, was most effective.
November 10, 1898 - Black people had built a strong political and economy base in Wilmington, NC, so much so that Whites became disturbed, burned down the Black newspaper, killed Black citizens at random, confiscated Black businesses and property, and took over Wilmington city government at gunpoint.
“The 1898 Wilmington insurrection was designed for the purposes of eliminating the African American vote and to re-arrange the political power in North Carolina,” says Irv. Joyner, vice-chairman of the 1898 Wilmington Race Massacre Commission. ‘Those purposes were successful and, as a result, Democrats held the reins of political power in North Carolina for more than a century and the ability of African Americans to vote was effectively suppressed until the 1980s.
Joyner then compared the nation’s only successful coup de’ tat in history, with last week’s nearly successful attempt to decapitate the U.S. government.
“The underlying focus of the January 6, 2021 attempted insurrection was a national effort, which was orchestrated by Donald Trump and his right-wing supporters, to undermine the exercise of the right to vote by African Americans and other people of color. This coordinated national effort to attack the African American votes which were cast in Atlanta and its surrounding area; Detroit and its surrounding area; Philadelphia and its surrounding area and Milwaukee mirrored, in real time, that 1898 voter suppression campaign and was designed to convince the public that African Americans and people of color were unqualified and had illegally voted against Donald Trump.”
Ironically, just four years ago, then Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, having lost a close re-election, also falsely claimed Black voter fraud.
And before either McCrory or Trump, the Republican majority in the NC General Assembly has been cited for using voter ID legislation, and racial gerrymandering in redistricting to, again, cripple the Black vote in order to maintain power and control.
That common goal of White Republicans and Trump to neuter the political power of African-Americans was at the true roots of the January 6, 2021 siege on the U.S. Capitol. And the fear of not stopping the constitutional takeover of a White who is sympathetic to Blacks, and his Black female vice president, sparked a violent desperation.
By all accounts, Donald Trump’s deadly attempt to “make America great again,” failed, or a very important reason.
“America is clearly brown now, and that’s the fear of these white supremacists, and all of the people who felt like they are superior,” says Congresswoman Alma Adams, who survived the siege. “I think that’s where the president was coming from from the beginning. His whole attack is on Black and Brown people.”
“Our country has been shamed by this president,” Rep. Adams adds.
And so has the White supremacist movement.
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NC REP. ALMA ADAMS -
“IT WAS FRIGHTENING”
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
“We could have all been blown up. This could have been much, much worse!”
To Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC-12), what could have been on the afternoon of January 6th, 2021 is chilling enough.
But what did happen when a predominately White pro-Trump mob of thousands attacked the U.S. Capitol, seeking to either delay or stop the congressional joint session certification of 2020 presidential electoral votes, still has the third-term NC Democrat emotionally shaken to the point where she has serious concerns about the safety of the January 20th inauguration of Pres.-elect Joe Biden and Vice Pres.- elect Kamala Harris.
“Yes, I do,” Rep. Adams said, admitting during a Zoom interview Sunday that she doesn’t want to put anymore stress on her family. “I have trepidations about going back this week.”
But trepidations or not, Adams maintains that because she believes that President
Donald Trump is an ever-present menace and danger to the nation until he officially leaves office on Jan. 20th, she had to join her Democratic colleagues in impeaching him this week for “ inciting violence against the government of the United States,” the second impeachment of his only term in office.
“He is not above the law, and and should not be.”
However make no mistake, with the FBI now warning of the prospect of armed protests in capitol cities across all 50 states, in addition to another violent event between now and the inauguration, Adams says there is now a “special urgency” to make the next few days safer.
Certainly safer than the riotous events of January 6th at the Capitol.
Rep. Adams says she was scheduled to be on the House floor at 1:15 p.m. during the joint session certification of Joe Biden’s electoral college votes, but upon going to the Capitol, was essentially turned away because the crowds from Trump’s “Saving America “ rally had already begun forcefully entering the building.
She and her staff returned to her office in the Rayburn Building a short distance away, where they were startled by computer alerts and sirens to “Stay in place” as the siege at the U.S. Capitol escalated.
The pro-Trump mob had penetrated the Capitol, and all Congress members not there yet were advised to stay in their offices, and lock their doors, until further instructions.
Adams recalls getting emotional and upset, yet doing her best to remain stoic as not to upset her young staff. “I was frightened, I was scared,” she recalls as she watched the live television coverage, coupled with the growing commotion just a few blocks away.
“It was just chaos everywhere, I couldn’t believe it. It looked like a war zone….it was a war zone. They had declared war on the U.S. Congress,” she said, recalling how the Capitol Police had earlier assured the Democratic Caucus during several meetings that security would be adequate.
“There is no reason why this shouldn’t have been caught,” Rep. Adams says. “There was a failure in terms of our security…”
It wasn’t long before officers came to get Adams, and take her to a secure location in the Capitol via the secure connecting tunnel system, along with other Democrat and Republican House members. However, once there, some Republican members, ignoring the mandatory COVID-19 precautionary measures, refused to wear masks, forcing leadership to order that they do.
Adams, already rattled by events around her, now had to try to isolate herself from her “colleagues from across the aisle.” She was scheduled to receive her COVID-19 vaccine shot the next day, and wondered if she could avoid infection until then.
On Monday, the day after this interview, Adams’ fear was realized when a 75-year-old House colleague announced that she had coronavirus, most likely contracting it from an infected Republican House member during the siege. By Tuesday, two more House members also indicated they were infected.
During their sequestration together, House members agreed they must complete confirming the electoral votes that night, “…otherwise [the pro-Trump mob] would have been the winners,” Adams said, noting that her family was not pleased when she informed them.
And that’s what both chambers of Congress did. Despite the now well-documented attempts by Trump, his attorney Rudy Giuliani and the pro-Trump mob of thousands - who had been cleared out 8 p.m. when Congress reconvened, the certification process continued through the night, and Joe Biden was officially declared the winner of the November 2020 presidential election by 4 a.m. the next morning.
American democracy was delayed, but not denied.
Looking back, Rep. Adams is indeed chilled now by what she didn’t know at the time. Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer. A truck with guns and bombs was found nearby.
And a fast-thinking Black Capitol Police officer lured an angry group of White Trump rioters away from the Senate chamber, thus saving lives there.
“It was an incredibly frightening situation,” Adams now says.
She agrees with Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina that planning by the pro-Trump mob resulted in sensitive areas of House Democratic leadership being invaded that are not generally known to the public, proving that it was, according to Clyburn, “An inside job.”
Indeed two Capitol police officers were suspended Monday for allegedly aiding and abetting the mob, while Democrat members expressed concern about a Republican freshman who reportedly was texting the whereabouts of Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the siege.
Pelosi was reportedly a target of the mob, along with Vice Pres. Pence, who had refused to do Trump’s bidding of stopping the certification process he constitutionally presided over. As video shows, the fever-pitched mob wanted his blood too.
Rep. Adams dismisses the statement by Wake County Republican Chairwoman Donna Williams, who, after coming back from Washington, D.C., wrote in a letter she doesn’t believe “patriotic Republicans started the riots.”
“I personally observed who appeared to be professional agitators inciting violence from the crowd,” Williams said.
Even if the GOP chair was talking about the violent Proud Boys group, who have been confirmed as being part of the mob who “started the riots,” there is little question, Rep. Adams said, that Donald Trump “gave permission” at his rally for his followers to use any means necessary to stop Congress from validating Biden’s victory, likening it to a battle.
“ I do not believe these were professional agitators.” “…this was a riot,” she says, adding that Republicans have to take responsibility for the fact that they tolerated Trump and his antics for four years.
“Republicans] should be ashamed of themselves. I don’t know how you live with yourself knowing you were part of this conspiracy.”
Adams also had choice words for the kid gloves with which Capitol Police treated the pro-Trump mob, versus the reinforced, fortified paramilitary presence that greeted peaceful Black Lives Matter protestors last summer after the killing of George Floyd.
It is not lost on Rep. Adams that the country is at such bitter loggerheads as it is about to commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend. If the civil rights leader were still here, and witnessed all that has gone on, what would he say?
“Knowing Dr. King’s work and works as I do, clearly he would not be happy at all,” Rep. Adams said upon reflection. “This is a dark day…a dark time in our country. He would encourage us, plead with us, to take the road of community…a peaceful community.”
Editor’s note - Afrique Kilamanjaro of the Carolina Peacemaker newspaper in Greensboro contributed to this report.-30-
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