THE CASH STUFF FOR JUNE 30, 2022

                                                               REP. ALMA ADAMS

WHAT CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

WILL THE HIGH COURT UNDO

NEXT?

By Cash Michaels

An analysis

The day after the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Roe v. Wade would no longer give women the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, a Facebook post put it best:

“Nothing like drinking your first cup of coffee in America where our so-called freedoms are being eroded by the court. Police no longer have to [Mirandize] you. Women have no control over their bodies and you can carry a gun damn near anywhere. Amerikka!”

What the writer was referring to was the High Court’s whirlwind blizzard of jaw-dropping decisions last week that fundamentally changed the America from what most citizens had taken for granted.

On Thursday, June 23rd, by a 6-3 vote, the high justices ruled that in fact police don’t have to advise suspects of their right to remain silent, their right to speak to an attorney, and their right to have an attorney present during interrogations by police, primarily because technically there is no constitutional right to any of that. And thus, suspects who are not Mirandized have no legal basis to later to file suit against authorities. All protections are not removed upon arrest, the court said, but essentially, the police are now more protected than ever before.

Before most people could catch their breaths about that ruling, on the same day, again by a 6-3 margin, the conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court shot down New York state’s restriction on who can carry a concealed weapon in public. The ruling reportedly affects six states plus Washington, D.C., and may spur future litigation as to who can and cannot carry a concealed firearm.

And then of course, Friday, June 24th brought  the decision to end all decisions. By 6-3, the High Court, decided that after nearly fifty years, women did not have a constitutional entitlement to a medically safe abortion.

         So now, states that want to maintain that right for women can. And states that  want to outlaw abortion within their borders, can do so as well. immediately. Many advocates say the ruling will hurt poor women of color the most.

“This decision will affect everyone, but the impact will fall hardest on who already face barriers to care: Black and Brown women, those who live in rural areas or have lower incomes and can’t afford to cross state lines for care, young people and LGBTQ people, and women in abusive relationships,” said NC Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC-12).

So legal experts are now asking, “What basic constitutional rights are next on the target list?” Black conservative jurist Justice Clarence Thomas, the longest serving member of the High Court, wrote in his concurring opinion that the court “should consider”looking at it’s past rulings granting the right to contraception access, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriages.

Pres. Biden warned that now “a whole range of rights’ are on the chopping block. The court’s liberal minority wrote that the conservative majority is not done with its work. The LGBTQ community warns that the conservative majority is signaling an era of expanded restrictions on personal privacy.

In short, there is no such thing as “settled law” if the conservative majority follows Justice Thomas’s lead to roll back the rights of the past fifty years on the High Court.

Like a wise man once said, “Elections have consequences”

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                                                              DR. JAVAID SIDDIQI

HBCUs ON THE 

COMEBACK, THANKS

TO BLACK LIVES MATTER

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

If your high schooler is considering a historically black college or university (HBCU) to attend in the near future, this is the right time to do it.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, HBCUs  - of which there are 100 nationwide that enroll an estimated 300,000 students (80 percent of whom  are Black) - are experiencing an unprecedented level of support and growth from all areas, and the Black Lives Movement is being credited for it.

Thus far, the Biden Administration has announced a record $2.7 billion in funding for HBCUs. 

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $560 million to 23 public and private HBCUs ($45 million to NC A&T University in Greensboro - the nation’s largest HBCU), and Congress eliminated $16 billion in debt for HBCUs that had taken federal loans for capital projects.

And in December 2020, Congress also passed the HBCU Propelling Agency Relationships towards a New Era of Results for Students (HBCU PARTNERS), a law, according to The Hill newspaper,  “that requires certain federal agencies to annually explain how HBCUs can compete more effectively for contracts and grants.”

In a state like North Carolina, that has more HBCUs the any other in the nation (ten), the renaissance is  inescapable.

Recently, Fayetteville State University made headlines when it received a $5.8 million gift from a private, anonymous  foundation in Raleigh.

Philanthropist Scott also shared her bounty with Winston-Salem State University to the  the tune of $30 million, and $15 million to Elizabeth City State University.

And there have been numerous corporate gifts to HBCUs in North Carolina, and elsewhere, and the mindset turnaround has been impressive, especially since just a decade ago, several HBCUs were facing perilous times.

Some, like Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, were facing closing their  doors over accreditation problems. In 2016, the NC General Assembly was seriously discussing shuttering Elizabeth City State University because of low enrollment. Fayetteville State University and Winston-Salem State University were also on  the chopping block as well, if not having their names changed.

But it was in the aftermath of the tragic 2020 police murder of George Floyd that the Black Lives Matter Movement pushed for more support of,  and investments in African-American institutions that American corporations and philanthropies  saw the wisdom of opening their checkbooks. The result for HBCUs, in addition to help from the federal government,  has been amazing. 

“…[I]nvesting in HBCUs will bring a significant return on investment,” assures HBCU alum Dr. Javaid Siddiqi, CEO of The Hunt Institute in a 2021 op-ed. “But, before we see that ROI, it will require equitable investments now. They will need help with increasing financial stability through alternative funding revenue streams, substantially increasing endowments with more aggressive fundraising among philanthropists and other individual donors (including alumni) and foundations.”

Dr. Siddiqi continued, “ HBCUs are more than a band, more than a football team, more than Greek life, more than education. Historically Black Colleges and Universities are a place for students to “become.” They carry a legacy with the heritage of more than 180 years of producing some of the nation's top scholars, politicians, athletes, entertainers and individuals. These institutions and their students deserve the support of policymakers and education leaders to ensure their longevity.”

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THE CASH STUFF FOR 06-23-22

 IS NORTH CAROLINA READY FOR

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN 2022

MIDTERM ELECTIONS?

By Cash Michaels

Contributing Writer

In the 2016 elections, hackers with Russian military intelligence, according to the now infamous Robert Mueller Report to Congress, focused on North Carolina, among other states, to cause havoc and mayhem by fomenting racial and political divisions worse than they already were.

Russians used bogus social media to stir up distrust towards candidates and the political system in general. There were false allegations of voter fraud, and a Russian-backed “black” group that attempted to exploit a fatal police shooting in Charlotte to suppress the black youth vote for Hillary Clinton.

And it was discovered that a Russian citizen purchased the domain name for the Linda Coleman for Lt. Governor campaign website.

In addition, there was an Election Day breach of Durham County’s electronic voters poll books, which provides information on eligible voters.Those polling books were improperly rejecting eligible voters at their polling places, forcing election officials to use printed poll books, forcing massive delays.

State and local North Carolina elections officials learned valuable lessons from those episodes, the most valuable being…they can happen again.

Indeed, several Democratic senators say that Russian leader Vladmir Putin will probably try again to reek mass election confusion and strife in the U.S. , as payback for American involvement in the Russian-Ukraine war.

“Experts have warned that the increase in Russian disinformation and cyber threats creates a security concern for U.S. elections and that Russia will likely view the 2022 elections as a “ripe target” for influence operations,” U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Jack Reed recently wrote to U.S. intelligence agencies.

“With primaries underway for the 2022 midterm election cycle and ongoing preparations for the November general election, it is vital that the federal government does everything in its power to ensure our elections are free and fair.”

The November 2022 midterm elections are just a few short months away, and federal and state officials are already focused on fortifying all federal, state and local elections against Russian, as well as Chinese and Iranian cyber intrusion. 

But they admit that there is only so much that they can do.

“We have a lot of security mechanisms in place,” Patrick Gannon, public information officer of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said Monday.

“Some of what we already have in place will protect any attempts to hack into a [voting] system, however, the misinformation campaigns that come with that are probably what we’re more worried about at this point,” Gannon added. “That being their attempt to use social media and other outlets to misinform the public and ascorbate tensions between different political interests.”

As reported earlier this week by CNN, Homeland and other U.S. national security officials are concerned with Russian hacks of local elections being done “with the deliberate purpose of being noticed,” in order to fuel conspiracy theories that local elections are not secure.

By hacking a large number of local elections across the nation, including a politically dynamic state like North Carolina, the Russians would be able to foment further distrust and divisiveness. Already, the U.s. senate race between Democrat Cheri Beasley and Republican Ted Budd is seen as one of the premier neck-and-neck contests in the nation that could turn into a dirty free-for-all even without Russian influence.

We asked both the Beasley and Budd campaigns for their reactions to the prospect of Russian interference in their campaigns, but no response.

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20% TURNOUT FOR 

MAY PRIMARIES

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

In the recent May 17th North Carolina primaries, 20% of the state’s voters turned out to cast a ballot for their favorite candidate to go on to the November 2022 midterm elections.

That’s 1.4 million out of over 7.3 million registered North Carolina voters - a near historic high, seconded only by a 21% turnout in 2002. And as of June 17th, all primary race results have now been certified, so the Democrat versus Republican contests for the November 2022 midterm elections are now set, except for where a runoff in July is required.

As reported before, the key to victory for either party during the midterms is not so much whether Democrats or Republicans across the state turnout, but rather how many unaffiliated voters turnout for either sides, thus bolstering their numbers.

At last count, there are more unaffiliated voters than either Democrats or Republicans in the state, meaning most elections are about winning as many of them over tap much as possible to either side.

Primaries are generally for the party faithful, so getting the lion’s share of left or right-leaning undecideds to turnout is key. In the May 17th primaries, a over 60% of unaffiliated voters across the state leaned Republican to choose candidates for the fall.

Now the question is, will those same unaffiliated come back for the November 8, 2022 midterms, and if so for who? That is what the expected torrent of political advertising over the next five months is going to be all about - swaying enough of them to join either voting Democrats or Republicans in November.

Per the NC General Assembly, Republicans in the state House and Senate are already in the majority in both houses, but how to elect a few more on each side to have veto-proof supermajorities.

Democrats, on the other hand, are hoping to gain more seats to keep the Republicans at bay so they can’t have the numbers to beat Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes as he completes his last two years in office.

THE CASH STUFF FOR 06-13-22

                            DERRICK JOHNSON WITH REV. DR. T. ANTHONY SPEARMAN

                                                

                                                    REV. DR. T. ANTHONY SPEARMAN

                                                                  JAZMYNE CHILDS

                                                               REV. CURTIS GATEWOOD

                                                     DEBORAH DICKS MAXWELL

EXCLUSIVE

REV. SPEARMAN FILES DEFAMATION 

LAWSUIT AGAINST NAACP HEAD,

 NC NAACP  PREZ, AND SIX OTHERS

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

The former president of the NC NAACP has filed a blistering 28-page lawsuit against national NAACP Pres./CEO Derrick Johnson and Board of Directors Chairman Leon W. Russell, along with six other NC NAACP officers including current NC NAACP President Deborah Dicks Maxwell and  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Chapter Pres. Corrine Mack“…in their individual capacities for Defamation and for a Civil Conspiracy to have Plaintiff (Spearman) removed from the Office of the president of the North Carolina NAACP,” according to the lawsuit.

Rev. Spearman’s lawsuit, filed by Greensboro attorney Mark T. Cummings  of the Cummings Legal Group in Guilford County Superior Court, contends that “the Defendants conspired to  have Plaintiff  (Spearman) removed because of his support of  victim of sexual harassment (Ms. Jazmyne Childs) who brought litigation against the National NAACP and an employee/member of the North Carolina State Conference NAACP (Rev. Curtis Gatewood) and because of Plaintiff’s growing national profile stemming from his many successful and high-profile activities on behalf of the People of North Carolina and the NC NAACP.”

Gatewood has denied the sexual harassment charge, and is not a defendant in Rev. Spearman’s lawsuit, though he is alluded to.

Rev. Spearman contends that because he stood with Ms. Childs publicly when she tearfully accused Pres./CEO Johnson in 2019 of ignoring her repeated cries to suspend Rev. Gatewood after her 2017 sexual harassment allegations were confirmed by an external investigation, Spearman became a target for retribution.

In Rev. Spearman’s suit, he alleges that Johnson supported Gatewood to oppose him for reelection as NC NAACP president in 2019, only to back off once Ms. Childs and her supporters went public. That’s when Johnson finally suspended Gatewood’s membership.

But then, Spearman alleges that Johnson and NAACP Board Chairman Russell “…devised a plan to remove… [Pres. Spearman] and other member-leaders of the [NC NAACP]” for supporting her.

With the help of at least six other Defendants, a plan was devised to  falsely accuse Spearman of fiscal malfeasance, seemingly “forcing” Johnson to put the NC NAACP under the control of a national administrator.

For his part, in a “plan of action” email dated Sept. 27, 2019,  Rev. Gatewood advised his campaign supporters, in an open letter, to distract the press “from the serious allegations of sexual harassment made against him with allegations of “rumored …theft and/or misappropriation of NC NAACP finances…” over the previous five years.

Gatewood accused Rev. William Barber, Pres. Spearman’s NC NAACP predecessor, of trying to help Spearman by causing the Childs controversy.

Rev. Barber denied Gatewood’s charges when queried by this reporter then, saying that charges of misappropriation weren’t possible because he implemented a two-signature verification system once he took over the state conference from  2005-2017. That system remained in place during Rev. Spearman’s tenure for all disbursements.

Evidence shows the attempts to smear NC NAACP leadership didn’t stop there.

An October 19, 2019 story by this reporter about a volatile confrontation at the 2019 NC NAACP Convention in Winston-Salem between some NC NAACP members from Alamance County, who supported Gatewood, and Spearman, at a church, reported:

Members of that branch alleged that Dr. Spearman “…faces allegations of financial misconduct, and that Gatewood had promised to audit the state organization if he were elected,” according to the Winston-Salem Journal.

  Sources close to Dr. Spearman, however, dispute those allegations, saying that the structure of the NC NAACP hierarchy and procedures after Rev. [William] Barber took over in 2005 from the previous president wouldn’t allow for that to happen without more than one [NC NAACP}officer involved.

What most people also did not know is that Rev. Barber routinely had the NC NAACP fiscal books audited, and Rev. Spearman continued that practice when he took over. That was not a requirement or normal practice of NAACP branches nationwide.

  “The purpose of Defendants’ plan to damage [Spearman’s] reputation was to ensure that when the elections resumed, [Spearman] would have a difficult time being re-elected,” the lawsuit maintained.

Constitutional violations were being alleged against Spearman, but none were ever brought forward to a hearing or forum of due process.

The suit further alleges that by removing Spearman and his leadership team, any and all cooperation with Jazmyne Childs in her sexual harassment case against Gatewood and the national NAACP would cease because needed documents would be unavailable to her.

It was at that same October 2019 convention when Johnson flew to Winston-Salem, and publicly lambasted Ms. Childs for going public with her charges, that the national administratorship was also announced for the state conference, with national Board member Gloria J. Sweet-Love put in charge.

February 2020, Ms. Childs filed suit in Durham Superior Court against the NAACP and Rev. Gatewood, and September 2020 when she added Derrick Johnson to her lawsuit for publicly making false statements about her at the NCNAACP Convention.

False allegations and personal attacks continued to circulate against Rev. Spearman from those who opposed him, making it difficult for him to lead the state conference.

By October 2021, Deborah Dicks Maxwell was allegedly supported by Johnson, Russell and Sweet-Love to oppose his presidency. Sweet-Love allegedly, without notice, changed the election process normally conducted per NAACP Constitution and Bylaws, and when it was all over, Ms. Maxwell was the victor, ousting Rev. Spearman.

At least 20 outraged NC NAACP members from across the state filed an Article 10 complaint with the national NAACP about the corrupted election process, only to have Pres./CEO Johnson dismiss it.

On February 7, 2022, Johnson apparently sent a letter out to NC NAACP membership statewide suspending Rev. Spearman, though Spearman says never received the letter. 

Rev. Spearman is accusing NAACP Pres./CEO Derrick Johnson of  slander for falsely accusing him of misappropriating funds  publicly during the 2019 convention in Winston-Salem. He is including Board Chair Russell, and  Administrator Sweet-Love in the slander charge for repeating same for the purpose of injuring Rev. Spearman’s reputation to ultimately remove him from office.

Rev. Spearman is seeking compensatory damages against those and six other defendants for four claims of defamation and civil conspiracy in an amount excess of $25,000.00 each and entitled to presumed damages for mental pain and suffering, inconvenience, and loss of enjoyment.

He adds a fifth claim for punitive damages against all defendants , also for over $25,000 each.

Rev. Dr. Spearman has requested a jury trial.

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                                                                 CHERI  BEASLEY

REPUBLICANS MISLEAD ON 

BEASLEY JUDICIAL RECORD

By Cash Michaels

An analysis

It was the playbook employed in their attempt to defeat the presidential nomination of U.S. Circuit Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Accuse the Black woman Democrat of being soft on crime.

In Judge Brown Jackson’s case, Republican U.S, senators were accusing her of not severely sentencing certain child pornographers to federal terms in prison. A little research showed that in fact, she was astutely following inadequate federal sentencing guidelines in her rulings, not making crass political decisions.

The attempted smear didn’t work then. Judge Brown Jackson will soon become Associate Justice Brown Jackson of the U.S. Supreme Court, the first African-American woman ever to rise to that position in our nation’s history.

But that doesn’t mean that Republican smear playbook has been put away.

Already we’re seeing it again in pointed, though misleading campaign television commercials targeting former NC Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, now the Democratic candidate for US Senate this fall. Beasley faces North Carolina Congressman Ted Budd in the race to succeed the outgoing Republican incumbent Sen. Richard Burr, and the false mud has been flying towards Beasley in a :30 second ad funded by the National Republican Senatorial Committee accusing her of voting on the NC Supreme Court to free a man convicted with 12 counts of child pornography.

According to CBS News, “ Beasley voted with the Democratic majority (of the NC Supreme Court) on a case in 2019 that said police did not have the right to search a USB drive without a warrant (a violation of Fourth Amendment rights), and sent [the case] back to the lower courts. The man, James Howard Terrell Jr., was freed in December 2021.”

The :30 second ad falsely said that Beasley “set free” Terrell, Jr., which wasn’t true. At least eight TV stations in the state rejected the ad as a result, forcing the NRSC to change the line to “Beasley sided with [Terrell]…not the police,” which was arguable worse, but fell in a grey area acceptable to get the deceptive ad back on the air.

A NRSC spokesman promised that there were more negative ads focusing on Cheri Beasley’s judicial record coming, so might as well get ready. 

Beyond accusing the NRSC of “lying,” the Beasley campaign has yet to lob a counter-campaign ad offensive against Ted Budd.

“Voters know Cheri worked with law enforcement to hold violent offenders accountable, and she will continue to keep our communities safe as North Carolina’s next U.S. Senator,”  a Beasley campaign spokesperson said.

Now there’s focus on Beasley’s judicial record as it relates to the Racial Justice Act. Passed in 2009, the law, signed by “law-and-order” Gov. Bev Perdue, allowed capital convicted murder defendants to have their death sentences commuted to life sentences if they could prove that prosecutors inappropriately used race to convict them.

The law mattered because various studies showed that in North Carolina, white prosecutors were exploiting race when Blacks were put on trial for killing whites. Black jurors were being kicked off juries, race was used in jury selection, white prosecutors were hiding exculpatory evidence just to win convictions, and other schemes were employed to deny black capital crimes defendants fair trials.

The RJA was repealed by the Republican-led NC General Assembly in 2013, primarily because it was a barrier to the return to the death penalty. Therefore, any case Beasley voted for that in any way did not uphold the death penalty in the opinion of Republicans, is considered fair game to use against her to claim that she is “soft on crime” and “can’t be trusted to protect North Carolina families.”

For her part, the Beasley campaign has countered with their Democratic candidate spending her career “upholding the law,”  and gaining the respect and support of several sheriffs across the state.

The beauty of this entire episode for the Republican Budd campaign is that it’s the NRSC spending money on attacking Beasley, forcing her campaign to spend funds in defense.

Yes, there is a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, run by the national Democratic Party, and it’s chair, Sen. Gary Peters (D - Mich.) says as to committing funds to the Beasley-Budd race, “We’ll see how it plays out.”

The DSCC’s priority is to make sure incumbent U.S. senators are reelected. But if Beasley seems like she’s in trouble, there should be no question that it should come off the sidelines.

In an effort to blunt the appeal of the Republican crime scare tactic, Beasley has broadened her campaign issues to be more bread and butter, dealing with improving access to  affordable health care for the entire family, improving the economy and helping to produce more good paying jobs, and try to reassure North Carolinians that she shares their values.

As the campaigns get closer to November, advertising will become more vigorous. The summertime will be spent trying to raise more money, and attract more unaffiliated supporters, for they will ultimately decide the race if Democrats and Republicans show up at the polls.

The attacks on Beasley will only get worse.

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REV.  BARBER’S NAT’L 

POOR PEOPLE’S MORAL 

MARCH ON WASHINGTON

THIS SATURDAY

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

In the midst of an ever-changing pandemic, and never ceasing inflation, Rev. Dr. William Barber is leading the Poor People’s and Low-Wage Worker’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls,” this Saturday, June 18th, starting at 9:30 a.m., from 3rd Street and Pennsylvania Ave. NW in Washington, D.C..

According to the website, “We assemble and march on June 18, 2022 because any nation that ignores nearly half of its citizens is in a moral, economic and political crisis. There were 140 million people who were poor or one emergency away from economic ruin before the pandemic. Since March 2020, while hundreds of thousands of people have died, millions are on the edge of hunger and eviction, and still without health care or living wages, billionaire wealth has grown by over $2 trillion.”

For more information about the event or attending, just go to https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/june18/mmfaq/.

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THE CASH STUFF FOR JUNE 9, 2022

ANDREW BROWN, JR.

PASQUOTANK SHERIFF AGREES TO 

PAY BLACK MAN’S ESTATE 

$3 MILLION FOR 2021 FATAL SHOOTING

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

The sheriff of Pasquotank County has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a $30 million lawsuit in the April 2021 fatal shooting of Andrew Brown, Jr.. As part of the settlement, announced Monday, all remaining claims are dropped by Brown’s family.

Brown was killed when three deputies fired upon his car in his driveway as he attempted to drive away when confronted with an arrest warrant.. Brown was unarmed. 

Andrew Womble, the Pasquotank Ditrict Attorney, latter tried to justify the fatal shooting by the three deputies, saying that it was in self-defense, and that no criminal charges would be filed. However, a police body cam of the incident convinced the public that the shooting was anything but justified.

Sheriff Tommy Wooten’s department is covered by liability and property insurance which will pay $2 million of the settlement. Pasquotank County commissioners voted 6-1 Monday night to pay the $1million balance to Brown’s estate.

In a statement, Sheriff Wooten expressed his regret as to the loss of life.

The settlement will go to Brown’s children, who are heirs to Andrew Brown’s estate.

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REV. DR. T. ANTHONY SPEARMAN

                                                              DERRICK JOHNSON

NATIONAL NAACP UNDER

FIRE NOT JUST IN N.C.

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

With the NAACP National Convention scheduled for next month in Atlantic City, NJ (July 14-20), delegates from the North Carolina State Conference won’t be the only ones attending wondering out loud about the direction their civil rights organization is going under Pres/CEO Derrick Johnson.

For North Carolina, delegates are wondering about the $20 million sexual harassment lawsuit  pending in Durham Superior Court regarding former NC NAACP Youth Director Jazmyne Childs and her allegations against her former supervisor Rev. Curtis Gatewood, in addition to suing Pres/CEO Johnson for allegedly publicly humiliating her at the 2019 NC NAACP State Convention in Winston-Salem.

Add to that the recent October 2021 election controversy which saw the ouster of then state conference Pres. T. Anthony Spearman under questionable means allegedly orchestrated by Administrator Gloria Sweetlove. 

An Article 10 complaint per the NAACP Constitution and Bylaws was filed by a group of NC NAACP members who called themselves the Justice Coalition, and dismissed. Rev. Spearman was suspended, and is also expected to file suit in the matter.

That will be two multi-million dollar lawsuits against the national NAACP from North Carolina alone.

Then there’s the San Diego branch of the NAACP, where Johnson and the national office removed Branch Pres. Francine Maxwell for allegedly refusing “…to adhere to the communicated process or to cooperate with the appointed Administrator, Alphonso Braggs.

Ms. Maxwell is the second of two San Diego chapter presidents in recent years removed by Pres./CEO Johnson. Maxwell’s defenders say she is a fine leader, and has helped to make that chapter one of the best in the nation.

The editorial in The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint, the local Black newspaper, said, “The National NAACP President Should Be Suspended, not the SanDiego Branch President.

An editorial in the local major market newspaper touted, “In San Diego, national NAACP now represents everything  it’s supposed to fight against.”

And in Atlanta, the chapter president there was forced to publicly apologize to former Mayor Kasim Reed for urging Atlanteans not to vote for Reed’s re-election because he felt Reed’s previous policies for and stewardship of the Peachtree City were bad for Black people. 

Atlanta NAACP Pres. Richard Rose was warned by Johnson that he could be either suspended or expelled if he continued to criticize Reed, but many of Rose’s supporters countered how Rose’s criticisms weren’t any different from when Johnson criticized former Pres. Donald Trump. The NAACP’s 501(c)4  status does allow it to criticize elected officials.

To put a cap on recent controversies, Dr. John E. Warren, publisher of the Voice & Viewpoint wrote in an opinion piece published just last Thursday titled “National NAACP Lynches its Own,” It appears that the National NAACP (National Association For the Advancement of Colored People), has moved from fighting such illegal actions to committing them against their own members. According to the Justice Coalition, a coalition of NAACP members seeking redress of the issues of the National Organization illegally taking over branches and state organizations, the National Organization has taken action against no less than 52 branches, chapters, and individuals throughout the country.”

Dr. Warren referenced the controversy here in North Carolina concerning the October 2021 election, and then notes a controversy Pres./CEO Derrick Johnson was involved in in 2013 “…that he was brought under scrutiny …by the Mississippi Secretary of State for the co-mingling of funds from his One Voice non-profit organization with that of the Mississippi State NAACP while he was State President.

It appears that now might be a good time for the national NAACP to take a close look at its leadership as well as its Board of Directors, Dr. Warren continued. Today’s need for the NAACP at all levels of the organization is too great during these difficult times. 

According to TV station WLBT3, a Jackson, Miss. NAACP member called for Derrick Jackson to step down in 2013 amid a probe by the Mississippi Secretary of State that showed Johnson’s One Voice non-profit group was audited and taken to task “…for spending money on the NAACP Image Awards [show] in Los Angeles, for Broadway tickets, spa treatments and other other expenses not related to it’s charitable work.”

Johnson’s group agreed to “correct the spending problems.”

The current incidents are not to suggest that there aren’t legitimate problems between the national NAACP office in Baltimore, Md. and branches or state conferences across the country, including here in North Carolina. And those previous problems have been well documented in the Black and general press for years.

But the leadership of Pres./CEO Derrick Johnson has led to several questions about the “oldest and baddest”civil rights organization following it’s own bylaws and Constitution in certain cases, especially when the national office under Johnson, appoints an administrator to a state conference.

As has been documented , Johnson’s administrators have been shown not just to oversee the operation of state conferences and branches, but, many longtime members say, substitute their judgement  in place of the NAACP Constitution and Bylaws, with the approval of Johnson. When members complain, the national office uses the Constitution and bylaws as it’s administrative shield.

Members with the Justice Coalition say Johnson wanted NC NAACP Pres. Spearman out of the way when he had his Administrator Gloria Sweetlove change the rules of the state conference election last October without proper notice.

        When press inquiries are made to the NAACP national office about these issues, it maintains that the NAACP and NAACP Empowerment Programs, Inc are private organizations that are not obligated to answer press inquiries.

What that reason was isn’t entirely clear yet, they say, but they hope  that the pending lawsuits will shed some light.

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REP. ALMA ADAMS

                                                 REP. G.K. BUTTERFIELD

NORTH CAROLINA WILL BE 

WATCHING JAN. 6TH COMMITTEE

HEARINGS WITH INTEREST

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

When the Bipartisan January 6th Select Committee holds its first nationally televised hearings tonite at 8 p.m. on its ten-month probe into the U.S. Capitol riots, one set of eyes watching the proceedings with great interest will belong to North Carolina Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC-12).

That’s because the four-term congresswoman representing Charlotte/Mecklenburg was there at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, virtually trapped with other members of Congress as reckless marauders trashed the political sanctuary of the American people, demanding that President Donald Trump be named winner of the November 2020 elections, and threatening to kill anyone who stood in their way.

Five people died as a result.

“It was frightening,” Rep. Adams recalled to this reporter, noting how her family from across the country were constantly ringing her cellphone to check on her safety while she took refuge with her colleagues.

Months later, Rep. Adams lauded the formation of the Bipartisan January 6th Select Committee, chaired by veteran Black Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss), to look into the matter, and uncover why it happened.

Rep. Adams already knows.

“…the attack was a white nationalist insurrection against our government,” she later said.

Adams’ North Carolina colleague, Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1), told this reporter a week afterwards it appeared the Capitol siege was “well-planned,” and that it’s obvious that the rioters had assistance, possibly from the inside. He recalls seeing people he found “interesting” touring the Capitol the day before the siege. That was strange because the Capitol had been closed to public tours since March 2020 because of COVID-19.

According to press reports, several North Carolinians connected with white supremacist groups have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the January 6th siege. At least one, identified as Matthew Mark Wood of Rockingham County, was convicted in federal court on May 27th. Wood admitted to entering Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, and stayed in the Capitol building for more than an hour unauthorized.

Wood faces several years in federal prison.

The popular reason given for the Capitol riots is anti-government forces trying to stop the certification of the state’s Electoral College votes to confirm that Democrat Joe Biden had indeed been elected president over Republican Trump.

But as pointed out in North Carolina Black Press analysis in January 2021, Trump blamed certain states with large black voting populations for allowing “illegal” voting.

“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,” said Irving Joyner, NCCU law professor. “This coordinated national effort to attack 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 (here in North Carolina) and was designed to convince the public that African Americans and people of color were unqualified and had illegally voted against Donald Trump.”

Ironically, in 2016, 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, black analysts and historians say. And the fear of not stopping the constitutional takeover of a White (politician) 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 for 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,” said Congresswoman Alma Adams,. “I think that’s where [Trump] was coming from from the beginning. His whole attack is on Black and Brown people.” 

In press reports about tonite’s January 6th Select Committee hearings, we are told to expect shocking details about the planning of the Capitol riots, who was involved, how badly our U.S. intelligence agencies failed and how close the Trump loyalists and white supremacists were to almost overthrowing the U.S. government.

Editor’s note - the hearings will be seen on most major networks at 8 p.m.

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