EXCLUSIVE
NATIONAL NAACP OFFICE
REFUTES NC JUSTICE
COALITION COMPLAINT
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
The national office of the NAACP has responded to the NC Justice Coalition of concerned NC NAACP members who have filed a complaint about the controversial October 23, 2021 executive officers election.
The press statement effectively says the election controversy is over.
Advised of that statement, which he says was never sent to him or any of the Coalition members, Rev. Dr. Cardes H. Brown, Jr., servant leader of the Coalition, dismissed it, and vowed to press the case to have the elections held again.
The December 17, 2021 press statement from the national NAACP Office, states that the NC NAACP State conference was placed under “administership in 2020 [when] the regularly scheduled election was postponed resulting in then [NC NAACP Pres. T. Anthony ] Spearman serving two additional years beyond his term.”
The NAACP statement continued, “In July 2021, the NAACP National Office designated an Administrator to the NAACP North Carolina State Conference to address recurring matters and ensure that the state conference’s Bi-annual election followed rigorous NAACP bylaws.”
The national NAACP statement then states that “all-State Conference elections, including the North Carolina State Conference, were conducted using the Election buddy technology system.”
In effect, the national office is saying Election Buddy was used for the October 23, 2021 election.
After describing how Election Buddy works, the statement says NC NAACP incumbent Rev. Dr. Spearman “…was defeated by a margin of two to one in the most recent election.”
The NAACP statement then adds that “No grievance filed warranted a re-administration of the election, and the Committee voted unanimously to dismiss the complaint. The duly elected officers of the NC State Conference have been installed by the Chairman of the Board…” identifying the new NCNAACP president as Deborah Dicks-Maxwell, among other newly election officers.
Then the national NAACP office makes a direct rhetorical assault on Rev. Dr. Brown’s group.
“There is no Unit of the Association that is identified or authorized to act as “North Carolina Justice Coalition.” That group has no standing or affiliation with the NAACP.”
Rev. Dr. Cardes Brown Jr., Coalition servant-leader and pastor of new Light Missionary Baptist Church, dismissed the Dec. 17, 2021 NAACP press statement as “flawed” and mistake-ridden, and that before it was shared with him Monday night, he had not seen or heard of it before then.
Rev. Brown made the point that all NAACP elections are held in odd-numbered years, so contrary to the statement, the “regularly scheduled” NCNAACP executive office election was postponed in 2019, not 2020.
Brown recalls NAACP Pres./CEO Derrick Johnson going to the NCNAACP Convention that year and calling off the election because of the Rev. Curtis Gatewood alleged sexual harassment allegations.
Gloria Sweet-love, the president of the Tennessee NAACP conference, was also designated administrator of the NCNAACP then.
Rev. Brown insists that the entire NCNAACP election process was mishandled last October, and not held according to established NAACP Constitution and Bylaws. He disagreed that an Election Buddy system was used, saying that qualified voting members were left out because two elections were held on Oct. 23rd, with the results of the first election inexplicably thrown out.
Rev. Brown also noted that the new NCNAACP executive officers were virtually installed just a few weeks ago in January, not in December or before, as suggested in the press statement. And he also had difficulty with the statement line, “no grievance filed warranted a re-administration of the election.”
According to the NAACP Constitution and Bylaws, an Article 10 complaint, beyond consideration by “the Committee,” must also be considered by the NAACP Board of Directors, which hasn’t happened yet.
Rev. Dr. Brown reiterated that the Coalition’s problems are not with the national NAACP, which they all still love and cherish, but with Pres. Derrick Johnson and those with him running the civil rights organization.
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ATTY. IRVING JOYNER
WILL GOP REDRAW FAIRER
REDISTRICTING MAPS AFTER
4-3 NC HIGH COURT RULING?
By Cash Michaels
an analysis
Republican legislative leaders in the NC General Assembly have until Feb. 18 to redraw their “unconstitutional” GOP-leaning redistricting maps the NC Supreme Court knocked down February 4th or a lower court will do it for them.
Two questions - will GOP lawmakers do it, or will they refuse?
At stake - Republican ability to increase their numbers to takeover Congress next session, and build supermajorities in the NC General Assembly in this fall’s elections, and for the next ten years.
It has now been almost a week since the state’s High Court, in a 4-3 party-line decision overturning a previous lower court ruling, decided against the Republican maps for the upcoming 2022 congressional and legislative races, ruling that they were “unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt.”
If the GOP congressional map was allowed to proceed, Republicans would likely win 11 of 14 districts drawn, crippling Black voting strength in the process.
The same with legislative House and Senate districts.
“Many of the changes GOP lawmakers made to give themselves more seats in the future came at the expense of Black Democrats in Eastern North Carolina — particularly centered around Rocky Mount and Wilson — after Republicans decided to draw the maps without using racial data that would protect majority-minority districts,” reported the News and Observer newspaper.
“…[T]he General Assembly must not diminish or dilute any individual’s vote on the basis of partisan affiliation,” the NC High Court order said.
The court’s four Democrat judges agreed that the maps, as drawn, fundamentally denied Black voters in the state their right to fairly elect representatives of their choosing, and “equal protection under the law,” thus making the maps unconstitutional.
“When a districting plan systematically makes it harder for one group of voters to elect a governing majority than another group of voters of equal size, the General Assembly unconstitutionally infringes upon that voter's fundamental right to vote," wrote Democrat Justice Robin Hudson for the majority.
The High Court’s three-justice Republican minority disagreed, saying that North Carolina’s Constitution does not guarantee “fair” elections, only “free” elections, and further, that it is not the court’s prerogative to decide what is fair when it comes to political questions like voting districts.
In effect, the same bi-partisan decision arrived at by a lower court three-judge panel January 11th before the state Supreme Court took the case, even though that same panel also noted that the GOP maps were “…a partisan outlier intentionally and carefully designed to maximize Republican advantage,” thus leading to results that are “incompatible with democratic principles.”
“We have ‘free.’ We don't have ‘fair’,” Chief Justice Paul Newby, a Republican, rhetorically asked during case arguments Feb. 2nd.
Several states, like Pennsylvania, do specifically note “free’ and “fair’ elections in their constitutions.
Thus, Republicans argued, extreme partisanship in redrawing the maps should not be a legal question since the state Constitution does not specifically outlaw it, but a political one that only elected leaders in charge of redistricting should answer.
Supporters of the 4-3 decision vigorously disagreed.
“Today’s ruling is an unequivocal win for North Carolina’s black voters….,” said Attorney Allison Riggs with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, representing one of the plaintiffs, Common Cause, remarked last Friday.
There were also plaudits from Governor Roy Cooper, North Carolina’s Democratic congressional delegation and NC Democratic legislative leaders.
On the other side, anything but applause from GOP critics.
“What a shock,” State Sen Dan Bishop tweeted. “4-3 decision. Only Democrat judges struck down maps drawn by a Republican legislature. For 140 years of unbroken Democrat rule, they failed to see a problem. Elections for the Supreme Court majority are around the corner.”
If Republican legislative leaders do submit new redistricting plans to a lower court three-judge panel by Feb. 18th, that panel will have until Feb. 23rd to either approve the newly submitted maps, or select different ones. Candidate filing will resume on Feb. 24th from last December, and the May 17th primaries will then go on as planned.
“My anticipation is that they will continue to defy and will adopt similar maps while engaging in a campaign to paint the Democratic [justices] as being unethical and overly partisan,” surmised Irving Joyner, law professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham.” I do expect the noise about impeaching the [Democrat justices] to ramp up and that possibly there will be that attempt to do so.”
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JUSTICE COALITION TO NAT’L NAACP:
“RESOLVE” CONFLICT NOW
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
The servant leader of the NC Justice Coalition has formally reminded the national general counsel of the NAACP, in a letter, that according to the civil rights organization’s constitution and bylaws, there must be resolution of the Article 10 complaint filed in the wake of the controversial October 23rd election on NC NAACP executive officers.
However, according to National NAACP Pres. Derrick Johnson in a December 14th missive, that matter has already been decided, and in fact, the NC NAACP executive officers elected on October 23, 2021 were recently formally installed, something detractors call “unconstitutional.”
Meanwhile, there was evidence of longstanding internal bad blood last week as a cherished NC NAACP official was laid to rest.
In a February 4th letter to National NAACP General Counsel McCarthy Wallace, Rev. Dr. Cardes H. Brown, Jr., pastor of New Light Missionary Baptist Church in Greensboro; NAACP Life member; former NAACP branch president; and now, servant leader of the “NC Justice Coalition” - several concerned members of the NC NAACP who came together last year to file the Article 10 complaint with the national NAACP - reminded Gen. Counsel Wallace that according to the NAACP Constitution and Bylaws, “Pending resolution of the [State Conference Election Controversy] dispute, officers whose terms were to have expired with the new election, will continue to function.”
Rev. Brown the cites supportive pages, and provides a link to exactly what chapters and verses in the NAACP Constitution and Bylaws he’s referring to.
Then, after providing his credentials that empower him to represent the NC Justice Coalition, Rev. Dr. Brown then addresses the December 14th, 2021 letter he received from National NAACP Pres./CEO Derrick Johnson that essentially told Brown that the Justice Coalition’s election challenge was quashed “pending approval by the appropriate body.”
However Dr. Brown points out that Johnson used the wrong NAACP Constitution and Bylaws citation to justify his action, saying that its was “for units (branch or chapters), NOT for state conferences.”
Rev. Brown then states that Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman., ousted NC NAACP president after the Oct. 23rd elections, has agreed to continue serving as president “pending resolution” of the Article 10 complaint.
NAACP bylaws maintain that during the course of an election dispute, all current officers remain in their positions.
If true, that would mean that Deborah Dicks Maxwell, formerly the New Hanover County NAACP president and now widely seen as the new NC NAACP president succeeding Rev. Spearman, would have to step aside “pending resolution’ of the election controversy.
Ms. Dicks-Maxwell was asked to comment on the Justice Coalition contention, and was even sent a copy of Rev. Brown’s Feb. 4th letter so she could see for herself.
She decided not to render any direct comment.
“It is imperative that this matter is resolved expeditiously so that our State Conference might continue to fight for voting rights and other pressing issues…,” Rev. Dr. Brown concluded his letter, “… including through litigation, development, and advocacy efforts that require clarity about who the official Officers of the State Conference are, with the authority to speak on behalf of and make decisions on behalf of the State Conference.”
Rev. Dr. Brown’s letter was copied to attorneys Al McSurely, Mark Cummings, and Irving Joyner (NC NAACP Legal Redress chair).
There was no response from NAACP General Counsel Wallace by press time.
The letter comes on the heels of the unveiling of the NC Justice Coalition’s new website (https://ncjusticecoalition.org). Pictures of all NCJC members, plus sections on the Article 10 complaint and the issues surrounding the election controversy, are contained there.
Meanwhile in an unrelated matter, the body of NC NAACP First Vice President and National NAACP Board member Carolyn Q. Coleman was laid to rest February 3rd in Greensboro after funeral services.
However in a telling gesture, sources say two of the NC NAACP’s former presidents - Bishop William Barber and Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, both members of the NC Justice Coalition - along with Justice Coalition’s servant leader Rev. Dr. Cardes Brown Jr., were asked not to attend.
A news photographer confirmed that they were not present.
Dr. Brown confirmed that disturbing allegation the day after in a phone call with this reporter. He maintained that he does not hold Ms. Coleman’s family responsible, but rather the political divisions within the NCNAACP.
It had been reported by sources within the NC NAACP that there had been tension between certain members in NC NAACP leadership during both Bishop Barber’s and Rev. Dr. Spearman’s tenures.
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U.S. REP. ALMA ADAMS (D-NC-12)
FBI STILL PROBING
HBCU BOMB THREATS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Who is behind bomb threats targeting historically Black colleges and universities across the nation and here in North Carolina?
It was Tuesday evening, January 4th of this year, when North Carolina Central University in Durham sent out a temporary campus-wide evacuation notice after a bomb threat.
Faculty were urged to go home, and students who couldn’t go home were told to report to a nearby high school for safety. It was later that an all-clear sign was given for everyone to return to campus. No explosive device(s) were found.
At the time, Howard University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Texas Southern University, Norfolk State University and Prairie View A&M University all had received similar bomb threats, but again, no explosive devices were found.
Then it happened again.
“We are deeply disturbed by a second round of bomb threats at HBCU campuses within a month,” Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC-12), founder and co-chair of the Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus said in a statement January 31st. “Solving these crimes and bringing those responsible to justice should be a top priority for federal law enforcement.”
The next day on February 1st, 14 HBCUs reported bomb threats. Congresswoman Adams, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty, issued a statement:
“The continued bomb threats against HBCUs are hate crimes that must be prosecuted o the fullest extent of the law. This third round of bomb threats on HBCU campuses demands a swift response from federal and state law enforcement agencies.”
The joint statement went on to lament that the threats were continuing into February, Black History Month.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and doing everything we can to bring an wend to threats,” the statement continued. “Terrorism an racism have no place on college campuses or anywhere in our nation.”
As of last Monday, at presstime, there have been at least three rounds of bomb threats called in to additional HBCUs across the country, alarming students, parents and elected leaders at institutions like Bowie State University in Maryland, Albany State University in Georgia, Southern University in Baton Rouge, Bethune-Cookman University in Florida, Delaware State University, Morgan State University in Maryland, and Spelman College in Georgia.
The White House has expressed alarm, promising to engage with federal agencies to root out the source of the threats.
More than 20 FBI field offices around the nation are investigating the series of bomb threats at HBCUs. “These threats are being investigated as racially or ethically motivated violent extremism and hate crimes,” the FBI announced. Published reports indicate that at least six “tech-savvy” minor young people of interest are being looked at, according to NBC News.
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