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OPINION/ FORUM Thf Chronicle \ Ernest H. Pitt Elaine Pitt T. Kevin Walker Publisher/Co-Founder Business Manager Managing Editor IUSTIC"? JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON MARTIN A0MXAC* c i?nu??i rmjt*-m tiwin fata.? moiw. cycasry -r^eeryi r wt arr veserooR vasuswcM&w* & \0CSRU. Reject Duke Energy hike To the Editor: If the proposed Duke Energy rate hike is approved, residential consumers will be paying an average of $14 more a month for the electricity they use. Many residents are retired and on a fixed income and the Social Security cost-of-living adjustments are not keep ing pace with these increases. With North Carolina's high poverty rate, I know there are many families that are struggling. Last year, nearly a quarter of a million peo ple had their power "cut off' in North Carolina, largely due to non-pay ment. Another increase will make this problem even worse. Older adults rely on affordable energy to stay healthy, while attempting to age-in place, in their homes. Duke's regular rate increases pose a real as well as a serious threat to health and economic security. Many residents are faced with the deci sion to purchase food, medication and other medical services, pay rent and/or mortgages or attempt to live in the comfort of cool or warm living quarters. This deci sion making process results in physical, men tal and emotional diffi culties, subsequently negatively impacting quality of life and in many instances, the out come is pre-mature death. Unfortunately, North Carolina is one of the worst states when it comes to hunger with one-out-of ten adults over age 50 being "food inse cure." Duke is already highly profitable, while many residents are suffer ing. Now is not the time for rate increases. 1 urge others who share my con cern to let the Utilities Commissioners know how rate hikes are hurt ing residents! Althea Taylor-Jones, PhD Winston-Salem Petitioning for Justice Ben Jealous Guest IColumnist One million people. As of Tuesday morn ing, one million people have signed an NAACP petition asking the Department of Justice to pursue federal and civil rights charges against George Zimmerman after he was founded not guilty in the murder of Trayvon Martin. I knew I was not alone in my outrage, anger and heartbreak over this deci sion. When a teenager's life is taken, and there is no accountability for the man who killed him, nothing seems right in the world. But we cannot let these emotions rule us. Instead, in these most challenging of times, we are called to act. That begins with the pursuit of justice for Trayvon Martin, and it continues with a comprehensive campaign to fight the underlying problems and factors that led to his death. The first step is clear: we must make sure that George Zimmerman is held accountable for his actions. The jury's deci sion must be respected and the rule of law upheld, but that does not mean the investigation should be considered complete. The trial judge's decision to dis count debate about race or racial profiling in the courtroom leaves open questions about Zimmerman's motivation and intent. The Department of Justice has the power to investigate whether Zimmerman's actions constitute a hate crime under federal law. The Department has closely monitored the case since March, and only put their investigation on hold to respect the state's trial. Since the verdict and the overwhelming response, Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to re open his investigation. As he told the Delta Sigma Theta convention this week, "We are deter mined to meet division and confusion with understanding and com passion - and also with truth." This is the power of one million voices. One voice in angry protest can be ignored, but when one million people speak as one - and thousands more take to the street in peaceful protest, rallies and vigils - we can change the world. So what comes next? As we closely follow the Department of Justice's investigation, we must continue to draw on our collective outrage and refuse to let the memory of Trayvon Martin fade from the hearts and minds of the nation. Trayvon Martin's death did not occur in a vacuum. Ours was sup posed to be the first gen eration of black Americans to be judged not by our race or the color of our skin. Instead, we find ourselves to be the most murdered gener ation in the country and the most incarcerated on the planet. Meanwhile, racial profiling continues to rear its ugly head in law enforcement and civilian life alike. At this moment we have a chance to address some of these societal ills. We have a chance to challenge racial profiling in all its forms, and to fight the underlying cause of violence in our communities - by the good guys and bad guys alike. This last year, we have already changed the world. Not a-single state in the continental United States has passed a "stand your ground" law in 2013 - the first time in eight years. And last month the New York City Council passed a strong bill ban ning the racially abusive practice of "stop and frisk" policing, after hun dreds of thousands of people protested in the name of Trayvon. We have a choice. We can be felled by our sor rows over the jury's deci sion. Or we can turn our frustration into action. We will demand the Department of Justice address the travesties of this tragedy. We will advance our movement to end racial profiling in America. And with one million people at our back, we will make sure that the memory of Trayvon Martin never fades from the hearts and minds of this nation. Sign the NAACP's petition at www.naacp.org. Ben Jealous is presi dent/CEO of the NAACP. Language of the Zimmerman trial I Bill | TUrner Guest Icolumnist With the oft-repeated definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expect ing different results - etched on my brain, I tuned in, occasionally, to the trial and news analyses centered around George Zimmerman for killing Trayvon Martin When the verdict was rendered. I was frustrated and a bit trou bled, but I was not in the least bit surprised. I have not let America's lunacy where race is concerned drive me crazy. Racism - and its linked effects and results - satu rates the whole social fab ric with the consequence of what author Wendell Berry titled one of his best books - The Hidden Wound. Our collective neurosis, this invisible injury - a disorder which many refuse to acknowledge - has a clear resulting condition that affects all of us. Nowhere recently has the insanity caused by racism been dis played more prominently than in Sanford, Florida. 1 knew the Zimmerman trial was headed into the land of the loopy and the loony when the lady judge prohibited the use of racial profiling and Zimmerman's zany attorney, Don West, led off with a tasteless "knock-knock" joke. From the moment the delibera tions began with the asser tion that "this trial is not about race," I knew straightaway that the side best able to disguise, dis tort, and reverse the mean ing of racially-charged words and images would prevail. Trayvon's star witness, Rachel Jeantel - of Haitian descent - was best at what ? the cable news commenta tors called "unintelligible mishmash." Apparently, the predominantly white female jury took better notes when the language was what George Orwell called Doublespeak in his work of fiction titled 1984, published more than*six decades ago. The jurors were allowed to jot down the phrase "creepy crazy cracker" as quoted from Trayvon's mouth. The right of Mr. Zimmerman to "stand his ground" when he shot through Travon 's heart was graphically argued, but the panel of his peers were not allowed to reflect on the role of racial profiling as a part of the case. Race was the least important yet the most significant factor in the court room. "Stand your ground" is an inten t i o n a 1 1 y ambiguous and confusing legal termi nology. Now that George Zimmerman has been found not guilty, others of his breed can provoke a fight and if they get bested, they can kill whomever they attack, and walk; pro viding. of course, that the fatality is a black kid "armed with a sidewalk." Now that the racially polarizing trial is over, the Tea Party crowd that has stood their ground so con frontationally with Zimmerman can go back to pulling the earth from beneath another black per son - the President - although their irrational pigheadedness is not at all about his race, background, education, and uppity man nerisms. Many Americans - lots more whites than blacks - do not believe the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial was just the latest example of the biases against young Black males of a racist, oppressive crim inal justice system that continues to grow. HoweveT, 1 am still crazy enough to believe that we ?hall overcome. Bill Turner is a Texas based educator and writer. Looking Beyond Zimmerman Julianne Malveaux Guest Columnist Trayvon Martin might not be dead except for the fact that George Zimmerman carried a gun and acted as a wanna-be policeman. Rev. A1 Sharpton and others deserve props for rallying people and insisting that Zimmerman be brought to trial. Anytime a gun goes off. I think some body has to go to trial, simply to ensure that their actions be accounted for Zimmerman was found not guilty, but at least he has been made somewhat account able for his actions. ' Zimmerman isn't the only one slaughtering young Black men, though. Too many of our young brothers are slaughtering each other. In Washington. D.C., rising senior Omar Adam Sykes was killed on Independence Day. He was a victim of an attempt ed robbery, when two men approached he and a friend with guns. The Howard University police say that robberies on campus are on the decline, but I don't think that Omar Sykes' parents find that any con solation. Indeed, one young Black man lost to gun violence is too many, whether the perpetrator was a vigilante like George Zimmerman, or another young Black man who is so desperate for dollars that he will kill another brother. Seventy-four people were shot, and a dozen killed in gun violence in Chicago during the July 4 weekend. Two of them were young boys, aged 5 and 7. Much of this is gang violence, and too many of the victims were in the wrong place at the wrong time. No matter. This scourge of gun vio lence is a plague on our nation, but especially on the African-American community. There are many heart breaking stories of those who are massacred. Young men and women at the cusp of adulthood who happened to be "hanging out" with friends on the wrong comer. Fathers who agitated an enraged driver. Children who "got in the way" of a random bullet. The NRA says that guns don't kill, people do. But people without guns can perhaps wreak havoc with out creating a fatality. Every year. 4.5 million firearms, including about two million guns, have been sold. What if George Zimmerman had not had a gun? If he did what he was told to do, police officers may have come and ques tioned Tray von as he pro ceeded to the house of his daddy's friend. Or perhaps there may have been a fist fight. There surely would not have been a deadly bul let, and while Zimmerman was the slayer, our gun laws are complicit in Trayvon Martin s execu tion. How many young peo ple have been victims of unintended violence, vic tims of drive by violence, people just minding their business and losing their lives for minding their business? How many peo ple with axes to grind would whoop and holler instead of carrying guns to workplaces, schools and other places? As we mourn for Trayvon Martin, let us also recognize the scourge of gun violence. If we restricted gun ownership, this tragedy, and thousands of others, may not have happened. Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and writer. She is President Emerita oj Bennett College for Women.
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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