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VOLUME 96 - NUMBER 6
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2017
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
TRAVON MARTIN
Trayvon Martin’s parents
write book on 5-year
anniversary
By Errin Haines Whack
(AP) - The parents of slain unarmed black teenager Trayvon Mar
tin have written a book recounting his 2012 fatal shooting and their
push for justice in his case.
Trayvon was killed five years ago this month by neighborhood
watchman George Zimmerman in the central Florida suburb of San
ford. His case was the predecessor to the Black Lives Matter move
ment that has come in response to similar killings across the country,
mostly by white police officers.
Zimmerman was acquitted of killing Trayvon in 2013.
Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin say such shootings have added
to their grief, but they have comforted other parents and started a
foundation in Trayvon’s name. They are also exploring running for
public office as part of their advocacy.
Trayvon would have been 22 years old on Feb. 5.
Trump praises Douglass, other
famous African Americans
By Jesse J. Holland
WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Donald Trump kicked off Black
History Month on Wednesday by gathering some of his black aides
and supporters at the White House for a "listening” session in which
he praised the contributions of slave-turned-abolitionist Frederick
Douglass and other African-American icons.
"Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who has done
an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice,”
Trump told the group gathered in the Roosevelt Room.
The president’s comments drew immediate backlash on social
media from critics who perceived it as a reference to a still-living
Douglass. Douglass, who died in 1895, was one ofthe country’s most
influential and celebrated African-Americans.
Douglass was born a slave, and became an orator and a leading
figure in the anti-slavery movement. Over the last 20 years of his life,
Douglass served as marshal and recorder of deeds for the District of
Columbia, as well as U.S. minister to Haiti. Black History Month
originally started out as a weeklong celebration that included Doug
lass’ birthday along with that of President Abraham Lincoln.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer later said it would become
clearer what Trump meant by having noticed Douglass being recog
nized "more and more.”
"I think he wants to highlight the contributions he has made,”
Spicer said.
The White House has said Trump plans to issue an official procla
mation recognizing Black History Month, which has been recognized
by every U.S. president since 1976. Other White House events are
planned, including a gala and receptions, officials said.
"During this month, we honor the tremendous history ofthe Afri
can-Americans throughout our country, throughout the world if you
really think about it, right?” Trump said. "And this story’s one of
unimaginable sacrifice, hard work and faith in America.”
"Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and "mil
lions more black Americans who made America what it is today,”
Trump said. "I’m proud to honor this heritage and will be honoring
it more and more.”
Trump mentioned the new Smithsonian National Museum of Af
rican American History and Culture as a place "where people can
learn about Rev. King, so many other things.” He did not mention
the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial, which also sits on the
National Mall.
On hand for the listening session were Housing and Urban De
velopment Secretary nominee Ben Carson; Paris Dennard, an offi
cial with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; longtime Republican
strategist and media owner Armstrong Williams; and White House
adviser Omarosa Manigault.
(Continued On Page 14)
Lawyers’ Committee Goes on Red Alert
As Trump Rolls Back Civil Rights
By Lauren Victoria Burke (NNPA Newswire Contributor)
President Donald Trump began his first term by attempting to
roll back the civil rights gains that occurred under his predecessor,
President Barack Obama.
Hours after Trump was sworn in as president, the Civil Rights
Division of the U.S. Department of Justice undertook actions that
signaled a major shift in civil rights enforcement; particularly work
on voting rights and policing reform.
“The actions taken so quickly are unprecedented,” said Joe Rich,
the co-director of the Fair Housing and Community Development
Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Rich
is also a former attorney working in the Civil Rights Division at the
U.S. Department of Justice.
The Lawyers’ Committee held a conference call on January 24
with the press on the current state of play in civil rights policy as the
Trump Administration begins.
“We are concerned about the statements of President Trump which
are an invitation for voter suppression tactics to be put on the books,”
said Kristen Clarke, the president of the Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights Under Law.
Civil rights groups are reeling from the number of moves the
new administration has made in less than a week in office. Despite
the situation, some hope was renewed by the massive and historic
turnout of the Women’s March on January 21, the day after Trump’s
inauguration.
In addition, the Lawyers’ Committee says, “the names of new
leadership at the Justice Department have been announced and
include individuals with track records of fighting against civil rights
in the areas of voting.”
Preliminary changes in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights
Division are occurring, while the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions
to serve as Attorney General is pending. The Senate is scheduled to
vote on his nomination this week, even as some civil rights groups
call for more hearings in the wake of the Trump Administration’s
travel ban on seven majority Muslim countries.
Recently, the Trump Administration announced that Jones Day
lawyer John Gore would head the Civil Rights Division.
“Gore in recent years has been opposed to civil rights in a number
Baldwin Documentary “I Am Not
Your Negro ” Receives Oscar Nod
By Lauren Victoria
Burke (NNPA Newswire
Contributor)
On February 1, the first day
of Black History Month, the
National Museum of African
American History and Culture
premiered the Oscar-nominated
documentary “I Am Not
Your Negro,” which features
commentary by James Baldwin.
The film is a tribute to the
staggering contribution of one
of America’s greatest men of
letters.
Director Raoul Peck spent ten
years completing the film. The
documentary was inspired by
one of Baldwin’s unfinished
manuscripts regarding his
friendships and views on three of
his friends: Medgar Evers, Martin
Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
None of the three would live to
see their 40th birthday. Medgar
Evers was assassinated in 1963
in Jackson, Miss.; Malcolm X
was assassinated in 1965 in New
York City; King was assassinated
in 1968 in Memphis, Tenn.
At the heart of the film, the
jarring documentary provides
Baldwin’s sociopolitical
observations and showcases the
writer’s eloquence and directness
as a communicator.
Peck credits Baldwin with
changing his life after he read
“The Fire Next Time” when he
was a teenager.
“The starting point of the
movie are the words of a person,
a great author, James Baldwin,”
Peck said at the The Hollywood
Reporter’s Documentary Oscar
Roundtable. “My job was to
put myself in the background. I
knew those words since I was 15
years old.
“If I can summarize the
essential part of Baldwin, it is the
ability and obligation to always
question whatever truth is put
in front of you. Beginning with
images, beginning with stories,
beginning with cinema. This is
something that I learned very
early on,” Peck told a reporter
last week. “And Baldwin
gave me the words and the
instruments to do that, to be able
to deconstruct whatever was put
in front of me—ideology, stories,
narrative—very concretely.”
Baldwin was an American
social critic, novelist, essayist,
playwright and poet. His essays,
(Continued OnPage 14)
Civil rights groups are calling for more hearings for President
Trump’s pick for Attorney General Senator Jeff Sessions
(R-Ala.) in the wake of the Trump Administration’s travel ban on
seven majority Muslim countries. (Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia
Commons)
of matters,” Clarke pointed out on the January 24 conference call. “He
has worked on the opposite side in matters involving redistricting.”
Borrowing a phrase from Martin Luther King, Jr., Clarke added:
“Justice delayed is justice denied for communities who have long
been waiting for relief on these matters.”
Clarke said that Jeff Sessions has used vote fraud as a tool to chill
Black voting.
“We are also deeply concerned about the hostility he has had
against consent decrees,” said Clarke. “Mr. Sessions has expressed
the view that consent decrees are an abuse of federal authority.”
Clarke pointed out that the recent consent decree on the Baltimore
Police Department was delayed by the Trump Justice Department.
PROFESSOR CORNEL WEST
Cornel West To Speak at NCCU
Rock the Mie Lecture Series
Philosopher, social activist and professor Cornel West, Ph.D. will
be the guest speaker at North Carolina Central University’s (NCCU)
“Rock the Mic” Lecture Series on Friday, Feb. 10, at B.N. Duke
Auditorium.
The event starts at 6 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Doors
open at 5 p.m.
West, a professor of philosophy and Christian practice at Union
Theological Seminary and professor emeritus at Princeton Univer
sity, has long held a place in the African-American culture for his
thought-provoking theories on politics, race relations and religion.
Born in Tulsa, Okla., and raised in Sacramento, Ca., his professor
ship includes stints at Yale University, Harvard University and the
University of Paris.
West received his undergraduate degree in eastern languages and
civilization from Harvard University with honors in three years and
earned his masters and doctoral degrees in philosophy from Princ
eton University. West has authored more than 20 books and is widely
known for his bestseller “Race Matters.” A frequent guest on “Real
Time with Bill Maher,” he also has appeared on “The Colbert Re
port,” CNN, C-Span and “Democracy Now!” He made his film debut
in the Matrix and was a commentator on the official trilogy released
in 2004.