BISHOP BARBER CONTRACTS COVID;
URGES COMMUNITY TO STAY SAFE
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
When it was reported last week that Bishop William J. Barber, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the National Poor People’s Campaign, tested positive for COVID-19 recently, many people, particularly in the African-American community, stopped and took notice.
It was just last year, March 5th, when Rev. Dr. Barber, along with then North Carolina Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen, publicly were vaccinated against the coronavirus in the parking lot of the PNC Arena in Raleigh.
“It is important, incredibly important, that people know that vaccines work. Now, we have to do our part," said Barber. "I wanted to take it today, not just for William Barber, but I wanted to do it publicly with the Secretary to encourage and inspire others."
Fast forward to last week, when Dr. Barber posted on his Twitter page January 6th, “My symptoms so far are very mild, and I am following CDC guidelines to notify close contacts and isolate for five days. I want to express my gratitude for the vaccines and booster shots that prepared my body to fight the virus , and I encourage anyone who has not received a vaccine or booster, if they are eligible, to do so as soon as possible.’
Barber continued, “Even as we take every possible precaution to prevent the spread of this virus, new and extremely contagious variants emerge.”
He added, “ …we must do all we can to care for one another by preventing the spread of COVID-19.”
This week, the CEO of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Albert Bourla, said that his company will have a vaccine specifically manufactured to combat the new Omicron variant, in addition to other variants, coming out this March.
Health care specialists, like Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, however, have said that as long as you have had your initial two shots of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or a single dose of Johnson and Johnson, followed by a booster, you should have enough protection against Omicron.
That is news hopefully the African-American community - hit hard by the initial Alpha and Delta variants - can embrace. Thus far, Omicron, first discovered in South Africa last month and already reportedly waning there, is accounting for a majority of cases here in North Carolina and 73% of cases nationwide, due to it’s high transmissibility.
As in Rev. Barber’s case, Omicron can affect you if you’re ready vaccinated, what’s known as a “breakthrough” infection, but not necessarily put you in the hospital.
If you are unvaccinated, however, the likelihood of Omicron sending you to the ICU is high, doctors say, and reports from around the country confirm.
Because of the explosively contagious nature of Omicron, all areas of society have been affected, with a new emphasis on wearing masks indoors in public places and events.
Some historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the country are responding to the Omicron wave by delaying the start of their spring semesters. They have also now required that all students have proof of negative testing, or three-prong vaccination, before returning to campus.
Other HBCUs are shifting to online instruction for two weeks.
According to reports, deaths, however, have not gone up substantially, suggesting that Omicron is a milder variant.
Ultimately, despite what confusion may exist in the media about the COVID-19 variants, doctors maintain the following for ultimately protecting yourself (especially if you already suffer from a pre-existing disease:
- Receive both shots (part one and part two) of either Pfizer vaccine or Moderna vaccine, or a single hot of Johnson and Johnson.
- Receive the booster shot required for any of the three vaccines you have taken.
- Continue to wear masks to public indoor spaces and avoid crowds
- Monitor your health
- Get tested if necessary
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REV. DR. CARDES H. BROWN JR.
JUSTICE COALITION CALLS
FOR “FAIR RE-ELECTION”
OF OCT. 23RD NC NAACP RACES
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
As first and exclusively reported by the Black Press two weeks ago, the Justice Coalition - a concerned group of approximately 37 NC NAACP members from across the state - is formally asking for a “constitutional fair re-election in [the] NC NAACP State Conference of Branches, and for the National NAACP to follow the Constitutional and By-laws of the National Organization with adding the proper governance of electronic voting.”
This, after the Justice Coalition challenged the Oct. 23rd election of officers to the executive leadership in an Article 10 complaint, charging that Gloria Sweet-Love, the national NAACP installed administrator, mishandled the election procedures by not following established NAACP constitutional guidelines.
The coalition will not be going to court over the matter because the NAACP Constitution does not allow the organization’ members to sue the NAACP.
In a written response to the complaint, the national NAACP has effectively said that Ms. Sweet-Love was essentially allowed to run the election as she saw fit.
Rev. Dr. Cardes H. Brown Jr., pastor of New Light Missionary Baptist Church in Greensboro and Life member of the NAACP, confirmed during a telephone interview last Monday that even after a response from the national NAACP office last month, effectively denying their Article 10 complaint, that the Justice Coalition would not relent in seeing that justice be done as prescribed by the civil rights organization’s constitution and bylaws.
With the upcoming holiday activities honoring the life and legacy of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; with eulogies coming in honoring the life of civil rights litigator Lani Guinier, who once worked with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and died over the weekend; and with the U.S Senate preparing to vote on all-important voting rights legislation very shortly, Rev. Brown said the national NAACP must be held up to the same standards of voting fairness it insists on of government.
“We …never expected to see voter suppression tactics in the North Carolina NAACP,” Dr. Brown said during a Zoom press conference last week.
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GOP MAPS PASS JUDICIAL
TEST; HIGH COURT APPEAL
EXPECTED
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
A three-judge panel consisting of two Republican Superior Court judges and one Democrat Superior Court judge ruled unanimously January 11th that the latest legislative and congressional North Carolina redistricting voting maps drawn by Republican legislative leaders are constitutional and can be used in the upcoming 2022 primaries and midterm elections in the fall, even though they give the GOP a definite edge.
“I am disappointed by the three-judge panel’s decision to uphold the partisanly gerrymandered maps,” said NC Democratic Party Chairwoman Bobbie Richardson.”The evidence presented demonstrates that Republicans lied to their colleagues when they promised a fair and transparent redistricting process. They cheated by using secret maps and closed door strategy sessions, then destroyed the maps they used. They are trying to steal seats through illegal partisan gerrymandering and are choosing to proceed with costly litigation that hardworking taxpayers will pay for.
At press time Tuesday, an appeal straight to the NC Supreme Court was expected by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and North Carolina League of Conservation, two od the plaintiffs in the case.
Democrats outnumber Republicans on the state Supreme Court, 4-3.
The maps have been criticized as being too partisan and drawn to dilute Black voting strength. It had also been determined that the Republican lawmaker who redrew the House districts did so with the aid of maps that had been drawn by someone else in a back room, which was contrary to the GOP claim that the map drawing process was completely transparent. When asked to produce the additional maps, the lawmaker said they had either been thrown away or taken off his phone.
Republicans countered that they did nothing wrong, followed guidance not to use racial data, and were as open as possible in what they produced.
Candidate filing for the March 2022 primaries had been delayed by the NC High Court to May, in order to expedite judicial review of the new maps and allow for time to redraw them if necessary.
Various Democratic leaders, including Gov. Roy Cooper, complained that if approved, the new GOP maps would produce eleven Republican congresspeople out of fourteen congressional districts., as well as very few competitive legislative voting districts in the state House and Senate.
First District Congressman G. K. Butterfield, a Democrat, has already announced that he will not run for re-election because his district was changed to the extent where he could not win.
During the course of the trial, experts were brought in to testify that the maps drawn by Republicans were not fair, and could not produce fair results.
“We remain confident that our conclusive evidence of partisan bias, obfuscation, and attacks on Black representation, from expert testimony to the mapmakers’ own admissions, will convince the state’s highest court to protect voters from nefarious efforts to entrench partisan power at the expense of free elections and fair representation,” said Hilary Harris Klein, the Southern Coalition’s senior counsel for voting rights.
Voting districts are redrawn every ten years in order to account for how much a state’s population expands or shrinks in order to produce proportional representation in the NC General Assembly and Congress.
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