REP. ADAMS PUSHES GEORGE FLOYD
ACT, EULOGIZES VERNON JORDAN
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Earlier this week, Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC-12) urged passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (H-R. 1280) this week.
Adams is an original cosponsor of the measure.
“Since January 1, 2015 at least 175 people have been shot and killed by police in my home state of North Carolina, and more than 6 thousand people have been shot and killed by police across the United States. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is a first step to preventing this from happening to another parent, sibling, friend, or neighbor,” said Adams. “This important legislation bans chokeholds, eliminates qualified immunity for police officers, and ends racial and religious profiling. Additionally, it will establish national standards for the operation of police departments and mandate data collection on all police encounters. All of these necessary reforms will bring greater accountability and transparency into interactions between the police and the communities they’re sworn to protect.”
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is a bold, comprehensive bill, which takes important steps towards holding police accountable, ending racial profiling, changing the culture of law enforcement, empowering our communities, and building trust between law enforcement and everyone they’re sworn to protect by addressing systemic racism and bias.
Rep. Adams also took time to eulogize the passing of veteran civil rights leader Vernon Jordan, who died on Tuesday at the age of 85.
Jordan was an alum of the Howard University School of Law, once served as president of the National Urban League, and was a close adviser to President Bill Clinton.
“Vernon Jordan was a civil rights legend,” Rep. Adams said in a statement. “He walked with Medgar Evers and helped Black Americans gain the right to vote in the Jim Crow South. He led the United Negro College Fund and the Urban League. He even survived an assassination attempt only 41 years ago, and continued to advance the cause of civil rights in the Clinton Administration. Vernon’s legacy is one of resilience, and a reminder that the fights for civil rights and equality were not that long ago, but continue to this day. My prayers are with his wife Ann and his family.”
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 03-04-21
NC HIGHWAY PATROL COMMANDER RETIRES
[RALEIGH] The commander of the NC Highway Patrol, Col. Glenn McNeil, has announced that after almost 30 years with the force, he will step down on April 1st. Gov. Cooper appointed McNeil, the second African-American ever to hold the post, in 2017. “I am grateful for Colonel McNeill’s service to our state and his hard work to keep North Carolinians safe,” Cooper said. “He cares deeply for the organization and its members and has been an outstanding leader during difficult times.”
FRONTLINE WORKERS NOW ELIGIBLE FOR COVID SHOT
[RALEIGH] Frontline workers in essential areas like education, grocery stores, public safety and health care are now eligible to receive their vaccine shot to protect coronavirus. Gov. Cooper announced Tuesday that those in Group 3 can now get their shot. The announcement comes as North Carolina stands by to receive the new Johnson & Johnson single shot vaccine, just released earlier this week.
WAKE COUNTY RENAMES MAJOR LIBRARY NAMED AFTER SLAVEOWNER
[RALEIGH] The Wake County Board of Commissioners Monday voted unanimously to change the name of one of the best known libraries in the county because it was originally named after Duncan Cameron, one of the largest slaveowners in the region. That library will now be called the Village Regional Library. Recently, the shopping center the library is located in was also renamed by it’s owners as the Village District.
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NC CROWN ACT ADVANCES
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
A proposed law in the NC House, if passed by the NC General Assembly, would “…create a respectful and open world for natural hair.”
House Bill (HB)170, otherwise known as the North Carolina CROWN Act is sponsored by representatives Kandie D. Smith of Pitt, Carolyn G. Logan of Mecklenburg, Vernetta Alston of Durham, and Amber M. Baker of Forsyth.
All are Black women and all are Democrats.
The acronym “CROWN” stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair
The proposed measure, which passed first reading and was referred to the House Judiciary 2 Committee on March 1, seeks to make “…discrimination against persons based on traits historically associated with race, hair texture, or hairstyle prohibited.”
HB 170 adds, “No person, firm, corporation, unincorporated association, Stare agency, unit of local government, or any public or private entity shall deny or refuse employment to any person or discharge any person from employment because of traits historically associated with race or on account of the person’s hair texture or protective hairstyles.
The proposed law then defines what hairstyles are protected (includes, but not limited to) - bantu, knots, braids, locks and twists.
When referencing race, the bill refers hair texture, hair type and protective hairstyles.
The proposed measure makes clear that it does not prevent a person “…from being discharged for cause, “ and the ct is effective when it becomes law.”
The next stop for the NC CROWN Act is the Rules, Calendar and Operations of the House Committee.
The CROWN Coalition is a nationwide group seeking to have CROWN Acts adopted in all fifty states. Only seven states have passed the legislation thus far.
The U.S. House passed it last year hoping to make it federal law in all fifty states, but the U.S. Senate did not.
That means in a majority of the nation, Black women can still be fired for how they wear their hear to work.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) called the CROWN Act “…an important step forward to combat racial discrimination.”
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BUILDING THE BLACK VOTE
FOR 2022 STARTS NOW
By Cash Michaels
An analysis
The NC Democratic Party has new top leadership in the person of former state Rep. Bobbie Richardson of Franklin County, the first Black woman ever to hold that post. Richardson’s work is certainly cut out for her, given that the 2022 midterm elections are right around the corner, and given the mixed results for Democrats in November 2020 general election statewide, observers says mistakes made then cannot be repeated now.
Even though Black voter turnout actually went up 4% in the November election from the 2016 election, voting by Black youth age 18-25 was nowhere as dramatic. In fact, according to William Munn, a senior policy analyst with the Health Advocacy Project at the North Carolina Justice Center.
“In an election that a lot of people billed as a transformational one — and one where we broke all types of turnout (records) — it is up everywhere," Munn says "But in terms of African American voters who are younger, it's just a significant drop off.”
In fact, a 12-point drop-off since 2012, Munn adds.
Part of the reason is the failure of evidence for black young people the voting actually helps to change their immediate circumstances when it comes to improving opportunities to better themselves.
Another reason is simply not feeling part of the political process.
Couple that with the fact that the Democrats get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts, particularly in rural areas of North Carolina, were woefully weak compared to the Republican Parry, which maintained control of the NC General Assembly, and won several top judicial seats on the state Supreme and Appellate courts.
In fact, there are rural areas of the state, like Lumberton in Robeson County, where Blacks no longer automatically vote Democrat, but now Republican. They have become more conservative in their views and values.
So what can be done to better mobilize the Black vote in North Carolina for 2022 and beyond?
The coronavirus pandemic hindered much of the Democratic GOTV efforts for 2020, resulting in Republicans being able to deliver more of their voters to the polls by Election Day. Voter registration was also hindered.
Observers say while the states are different, lessons can be learned from Georgia, and the massive success community leaders there like Stacey Abrams had in consolidating and mobilizing the Black vote to elect the first African-American and Jewish U.S. senators in the state’s history last January.
First lesson - legally challenge any barriers to voting the state puts up that constitutionally cripples the right to vote. Stacey Abrams was able to file suit and win a federal consent decree that eliminated such barriers the state of Georgia implemented to suppress the Black vote.
Second lesson - make sure that as many people who can register to vote, are.
Thousands of people who had been previously purged from the voting rolled were re-registered, in addition to those who had not been registered before.
Third lesson - Building close relationships with voters in communities, talking wit them about their hopes, dreams and policy concerns. Making sure that they know that they’re being listened to. Hiring people within communities to do the work, and connect with others when needed.
Other factors certainly lend towards what more can be done to improve Black voter turnout numbers for the 2022 midterm elections. But with Democrats holding a majority in the US Senate by a razor’s edge, and by a virtually a few in the U.S. House, Democrats can ill-afford to wait for the pandemic to totally blow over.
They will have to do the things they did not do during the 2020 election, starting now.
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