FORUM
State of the State address and Response
In address,
Gov. McCrory
wants 'best
of everything'
BY GARY D. ROBERTSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH - Gov. Pat
McCrory praised fellow
Republican lawmakers
Wednesday night (Feb. 4)
during his second State of
the State address for their
partnership the past two
years, saying that has led to
lower unemployment and
tax rates and accelerated
debt repayment for jobless
benefits.
"I'm proud to report
that the state of North
Carolina has come back
even stronger today,"
McCrory told a joint ses
sion of the House and
Senate within the
Legislative Building. "Its
people are resilient and our
future is bright."
But he said there's more
work to do in the second
half of his gubernatorial
term that began in 2013,
particularly with extending
the recent prosperity many
state residents haven't yet
experienced.
"My vision for North
Carolina is to have the best
of everything," McCrory
said at-the close of a 1 hour,
20 minute address tele
vised statewide.
McCrory laid out a
price tag on transportation
and government building
infrastructure bonds he
wants. McCrory re
affirmed his promise to
work to raise entry-level
teacher pay to $35,000 this
fall. And he said he wants
to create two new Cabinet
level departments.
But he provided little
meat around the bones of
two contentious issues ?
economic incentives and
Medicaid expansion.
Here are some high
lights and what other
politicians are saying about
the address.
DEBT REQUEST:
The governor said he'll ask
the legislature to approve a
$1.2 billion bond for trans
portation projects that have
cleared environmental hur
dles but haven't quite risen
above the threshold to gain
traditional road-building
funds. He also said he'll
propose $ 1.2 billion to $ 1.4
billion in bonds for broader
infrastructure needs.
"We can no longer
afford this culture of neg
lect and apathy," he said,
adding "we have struc
tures all over the state that
are a blight to North
Carolina's main streets."
McCrory's office said
late Wednesday his infra
structure bond proposal
would require statewide
voter approval, but the
transportation debt propos
al doesn't mandate a refer
endum.
MORE ON THE
ECONOMY: McCrory
asked lawmakers in com
ing weeks to approve his
VVNC Competes" job
recruitment proposal to
help his administration
compete effectively with
other states seeking to land
big companies.
His office said it would
encourage manufacturing,
attract investment and help
universities attract new
capital for their next big
ideas. But he didn't spell
out exactly what he would
be asking lawmakers to
approve, save for reviving
a tax credit for entities that
renovate historic buildings.
MEDICAID
CHANGES: The governor
re-asserted his support for
his Healthy North
Carolina" Medicaid over
haul plan in which state
hospital and doctor net
works could benefit finan
cially from healthy
enrollees and contained
costs. The House and
Senate tried last summer to
reach a deal, but remain at
odds over whether out-of
state managed-care compa
nies also could participate.
McCrory was guarded
about whether he would
ask them to expand
Medicaid to cover hun
dreds of thousands of the
working poor through
President Barack Obama's
health care law.
The governor said he's
exploring " North
Carolina-based options" to
cover more of the unin
sured. "If we bring a pro
posal" to legislators, he
added, "it must protect
North Carolina taxpayers"
and require "personal and
financial responsibility" by
those covered.
NEW DEPART
MENTS: McCrory said he
wants a new Department of
Veterans Affairs in addition
to the Department of
Information Technology
his administration already
requested. The veterans
affairs' agency would help
veterans find employment
and health care and fight to
keep bases open during
future rounds of closings
nationwide.
WORKERS'
INJURIES: The governor
said workers' compensa
tion costs within state gov
ernment - $896 million
over six - years _ are too
high. He said they can be
controlled partly by weed
ing out abuse or fraud, con
tending that accounts for
about 40 percent of the
costs.
Response to State
of the State
address
BY REP. LARRY HALL
HOUSE MINORITY LEADER
D-DURHAM
RALEIGH -- Good
evening North Carolina,
I'm Larry Hall and I am
honored to serve as
Democratic Leader for the
N.C. House of
Representatives. I have
always been proud to be a
North Carolinian. We've
always been a state where
anyone willing to work
hard could succeed.
My father was a career
Army officer and our fami
ly lived at Fort Bragg
before moving to Durham.
I am proud to have attend
ed and graduated from
North Carolina public
schools and to have earned
a law degree from the
University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
My teachers here in
North Carolina gave me
the foundation needed to
succeed in a 16-year career
as an Infantry Officer in the
United States Marine
Corps and as an attorney
while my wife worked as
public school teacher.
When I left active duty in
the Marines at Camp
Lejeune in Jacksonville, I
chose to remain here and
make my home in North
Carolina. I began practic
ing law, and eventually ran
for public office.
I want to ensure yiy
children and grandchildren,
and your children and
grandchildren, have the
same opportunities I had
and more - a shot at a good
job, the chance to succeed,
and the ability to provide
an even better life for their
families. As a Marine
Corps Infantry Officer, I've
served with America's best
and brightest, most patriot
ic and dedicated. Our
Motto is Semper Fidelis -
Always Faithfiil. Although
the recession of the past
few years has been tough, I
believed that, digging
deep, we would bounce
back. I never lost faith that
we could come back. I was
always faithful in North
Carolina.
Today, middle-class
families in other states are
finally a little more opti
mistic about their future,
more secure in their mort
gages and more confident
in their ability to provide
for their families. But the
fact is too many families
here in North Carolina are
still living paycheck to
paycheck. Too many moms
and dads are staying up at
night worrying about creat
ing a better future for their
children. For them, the
recovery just isn't complete
yet. Now is the time to
focus on building an econ
omy that works for every
one, not just the very
wealthy and a chosen few.
Here in North Carolina,
quality public schools have
always been the foundation
of our economic prosperity.
In 20 years, our children
and grandchildren will be
competing for jobs that
don't even exist today. We
need to make sure they get
a quality education that
prepares them to compete
for the jobs of the future.
But the fact is Gov.
McCrory is failing our stu
dents. Under his adminis
tration, North Carolina
now ranks 48th in class
room spending. Our teach
ers are among the lowest
paid in the nation and states
like Texas are holding job
fairs here and convincing
some of our best and
brightest to move away. We
owe it to ourselves and our
state to do better.
We have great teachers
and we must give them the
support they deserve.
If you really want to
know how our schools are
doing, just ask a teacher or
parent. I've heard story
after story of teachers buy
ing supplies out of their
own pockets or students
working with outdated
textbooks.
We need to stop cutting
and start investing in our
students. It's time to stop
asking our students and
teachers to do more with
less - year after year.
We need to make sure
our children are given the
tools to compete in the 21 st
century and that is some
thing Gov. McCrory and
the Republican legislature
have simply failed to do.
Gov. McCrory often
brags about an economic
comeback. But when it
comes to the middle-class,
all we've seen is rhetoric.
This year, my col
leagues and I are focused
on meaningful support for
middle-class families. That
means tax relief that every
day people can feel, tax
cuts that help small busi
nesses grow here at home
instead of lining the pock
ets of CEOs in Texas and
China.
And it means a com
mitment that if you work
hard, you'll be able to get
ahead and make a better
future for your family.
This year in Raleigh,
North Carolina House
Democrats pledge to you
that we will work to put the
middle-class first, work to
expand educational oppor
tunity, and work to put
more money in the pockets
of everyday, hardworking
North Carolinians.
We are committed to
working with Governor
McCrory and anyone inter
ested in meeting these
goals.
Thank you.
Jimrtiie Lee Jackson inspired Selma march
George E.
Curry
I Guest
Columnist
Although
Dr. Martin
Luther King,
Jr. and John
Lewis cap
tured the
headlines, it
was the death
of 26-year
" old Jimmie
Lee Jackson that inspired the 1965 Selma
to-Montgomery March.
After fighting in the Vietnam War,
Jackson had returned home to Marion,
Ala., which also happens to be the birth
place of Coretta Scott King, about 30 miles
northwest of Selma in the soil-rich Black
Belt region of Alabama. Although Blacks
made up a majority of Black Belt counties,
they were less than 1 percent of the regis
tered voters.
A pulpwood worker, Jackson had
attempted five times to register, none suc
cessfully. In an effort to expand voter reg
istration in the area, James Orange, a
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC) field organizer, and George Best
of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) had moved to Perry
County in early 1965. Before long, local
residents were trying to register to vote,
most of them for (he first time.
On Feb. 18, Orange, who included stu
dents in the movement, was arrested,
allegedly for contributing to delinquency
of minors. That set off a round of protests.
Shortly after being released from jail in
Selma, C. T. Vivian of SCLC was sent to
Marion to address a mass meeting at Zion
Chapel Methodist Church. The plan was to
hold a riight march
to the jail, which
would cover less
than the length of a
football field, to
demand James
Orange's release. If
confronted by
police, demonstra
tors were instructed
to kneel in prayer
and return to the
church.
But White law
enforcement offi
cials had another
plan.
In his excellent
book, Selma 1965:
The March That
Changed the South, Charles E. Eager
recounted:
"But when the preachers at the head of
the line came out of the door, the sidewalk
was lined with helmeted state troopers,
long, black billy clubs at the ready, and
they were stopped less than a half block'
down. 'This is an unlawful assembly,' the
police chief announced over a public
address system. 'You are hereby ordered to
disperse. Go home or go back to the
church.'
"Just then all of the street lights around
the square went out, and troopers began
clubbing the Rev. James Dobynes, a black
minister at the front of the line."
NBC News correspondent Richard
Valeriani was knocked to the ground,
bleeding from a head wound, and another
journalist. UP1 photographer Pete Fisher,
was also beaten and his cam
era was smashed into tiny
pieces.
"The panicked crowd tried
to get back into the church,
but the doors were jammed
full and the people spilled
around it down a side street,
taking cover wherever they
could," Fager wrote. "The
troopers came after them,
clubs swinging, splitting
scalps and smashing ribs as
they advanced. T\vo or three
dozen people rushed through
the doors of Mack's Caff, a
few doors down, seeking
refuge in its crowded, dark
interior. Among them were
Jimmie Lee Jackson, a young
I ? ? ?
Jackson
man ot twenty-six years oia, nis momer,
Viola and his grandfather Cager Lee,
eighty-two. The old man had already been
caught and beaten behind the church, and
was bleeding.
"His grandson was helping him out of
the door to get medical attention when a
squad of troopers came toward them, chas
ing and beating people before them, and
forced the two men back into the cafe. The
troopers came inside, smashed all the
lights within reach and began clubbing
people indiscriminately. When one hit
Viola and knocked her screaming to the
floor, Jimmie Lee lunged at him. The
trooper struck him across the face, and the
young Jackson went careening into the
floor himself. Then a trooper picked him
up and slammed him against a cigarette
machine while another trooper, a man
fc.
named Fowler, drew his pistol and calmly
shot Jackson point blank in the stomach."
The author noted, "Jackson didn't real
ize he had been shot until a few moments
later, because the troopers continued beat
ing him and the others unmercifully."
Someone took Jackson to the Perry
County Hospital. He was transferred to
Good Samaritan Hospital in Selma, where ,
he died a week later.
The state trooper, James Bonard
Fowler, was not charged until May 10,
2007 as a result of a cold case investiga
tion. He pled guilty to manslaughter and
was sentenced to only six months in jail.
According to Taylor Branch's Pulitzer
Prize-winning "At Canaan's Edge,"
although Dr. King had preached many
funerals by then, a reporter noticed "a tear
glistened from the comer of his eye as he
rose to speak."
King deplored "the cowardice of every
Negro" who "stands on the sidelines in the
struggle for justice." King said, "Jimmie
Lee Jackson is speaking to us from the cas
ket and he is saying to us that we must sub
stitute courage for caution...We must not
be bitter, and we must not harbor ideas of
retaliation with violence. We must not lose
faith in our white brothers."
Whatever its purported shortcomings,
the movie "Selma," allows Jimmie Lee
Jackson to continue speaking to us from
the grave.
George E. Curry, former editor-in
chief of Emerge magazine, is editor-in
chief of the National Newspaper
Publishers Association News Service
(NNPA.).