N.C.NAACP begins
campaign: 'It's Our
Time, It's Our Vote'
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE NCBPA
It was announced on
Dec. 1, the 60th anniver
sary of the day civil rights
icon Rosa Parks refused to
sit in the back of a
Montgomery, Ala. bus.
And it is with that spirit,
says N.C. NAACP
President Rev. Dr. William
Barber, that the "It's Our
Time, It's our Vote" cam
paign will move forward in
2016, registering record
numbers of North
Carolinians to vote and
mobilizing them to the
polls.
The campaign, led by
the N.C. NAACP and the
Forward Together
Movement, has been
underway now for just
over a month. A few weeks
ago, black newspapers rep
resented by the N.C. Black
Publishers Association and
the National Newspaper
? Publishers Association
joined forces with the
NAACP in North Carolina
in the major 2016 voter
mobilization effort, and to
promote the upcoming
10th annual Moral March
on Raleigh/HK on J
People's Assembly on
Saturday, Feb. 13 in
Raleigh.
More than 80,000 peo
ple from across the state
and nation participated last
year.
Rev. Barber says there
are over 180 coalition part
ners representing groups
from civil and economic to
environmental and educa
tional rights advocacy
involved in the nonpartisan
campaign. The NC
Council of Churches has
also joined forces in the
GOTV (Get Out The Vote)
'effort. Leaders in North
Carolina's Hispanic com
munity are also members
of the coalition.
Per the N.C. NAACP,
over 120 adult, youth and
college branches statewide
are involved. The overall
training for the campaign
is being conducted by the
state civil rights organiza
tion and Democracy North
Carolina, a nonprofit, non
partisan public policy
advocacy group.
"Our goal is long-term,
issue-based voter registra
tion, voter education, voter
f mobilization, and voter
protection," said Rev.
Barber.
The "It's Our Time"
campaign is just one prong
of the N.C. NAACP's vot
ing rights battle. Ever since
the NC Legislature passed
the 2013 Voter ID law that
effectively rolled back pre
vious voting rights expan
sions, the N.C. NAACP
and its partners have gone
to state and federal courts
to challenge its constitu
tionality.
"We have called for an
injunction against the
implementation of the
voter ID [law], because
even though we have won
a lot of concessions from
the state and forced them
to change the original
[law] that they had through
our protests and legal
action, it is still quite con
fusing ... misinformation
has gone out into the com
munity ..." Rev. Barber
says.
"We're still headed to
court because of the consti
tutionality of the law itself,
because we already know
from the Texas case that
voter ID on its face is
unconstitutional. The
courts have pretty much
said that."
Rev. Barber also indict
ed that the N.C. NAACP
will be appealing the 2011
redistricting case after the
N.C. Supreme Court in
December upheld the
skewed voting districts the
Republicans in the N.C.
General Assembly created
that "stacked and packed"
black voters into limited
districts so that they could
dominate close races with
white Democrats.
The N.C. NAACP is
also waiting on the ruling
from the federal judge in
Winston-Salem involving
same-day
registration/early voting
heard last July. Same day
registration and early vot
ing are still in effect until
that ruling because the
U.S. Fourth Circuit Court
of Appeals issued an
injunction maintaining it.
Meanwhile, Jan. 25 is
when the N.C. NAACP
will be back in court to
argue the unconstitutional
ity of voter photo identifi
cation. Last June state law
makers softened the
requirement of using only
a government-issued photo
ID while voting, realizing
that they could lose in
court.
Per grassroots organi
zation, Rev. Barber says
there will be a mass "Souls
to the Polls" campaign,
though not necessarily on
Sundays since not all coun
ties wUl have Sunday early
voting this year. There will
be a mass media campaign,
intensive training for
NAACP branch members,
faith leaders and other
members of the coalition.
"Our goal, in coalition,
is to raise at a minimum of
ten percent of the 281,000
unregistered black popula
tion of North Carolina,"
Rev. Barber said, adding
that that's in addition to a
broader target of voter reg
istration beyond the
African-American com
munity. The effort has also
set a goal with the denomi
national leadership - inclu
sive of-Christian, Muslim,
and Jewish faiths - of hav
ing 3,000 faith communi
ties to work with the
"Souls to the Polls" pro
gram, which would include
registering particular
denominations, doing reli
gious studies and preach
ing around the theme of
civic engagement that is
nonpartisan and issue
based.
In anticipation of a lot
of Election Day confusion
at the polls, there will also
be GOTV and voter pro
tection training in all parts
of the state for 1500 grass
roots leaders in 90 coun
ties, Rev. Barber says,
beginning this month.
There will be monitors at
the polls to ensure legal
procedures are adhered to.
There will be more
Moral Monday demonstra
tions on the road, going
into counties where many
of the extreme legislators
come from. Rev. Barber
says many of the citizens
in these districts reject the
repressive policies of the
Legislature, and the N.C.
NAACP has been able to
start new, predominately
white chapters in these
areas.
A large number of
young people will be hired
this summer for the
"Freedom Summer
Fellowship Program,"
where the work of
Freedom Summer 1964
will not only be remem
bered, but reenacted.
Several hundred thou
sand robo-calls to voters
will be made before the
general election of 2016,
and 50 Moral Marches to
the polls will be held
before both the March 15
primaries and the Nov. 4
general election.
Rev. Barber said the
upcoming 10th annual
Moral March on
Raleigh/HK on J People's
Assembly on Saturday,
Feb. 13 in Raleigh will
also promote the theme,
"It's Our Time, It's Our
Vote."
_l'It's going to be
livestreamed across the
state and nation. We will
have people who have
been impacted by repres
sive policies [to stop the
vote]," Rev. Barber said,
adding that the uncle of
Andrew Goodman, one of
the three 1960's civil rights
workers killed by the Ku
Klux Klan in Mississippi,
will be a special marshal at
the march.
After the march, Rev.
Barber says they will take
the campaign on the road
across the state and a 2016 J
voter guide will also be
released, focusing on
where the candidates have
taken stands on the issues.
Local branches and coali
tion partners will hold
town halls to help better
educate their communities
on what the key issues are.
"Healthcare is on the
ballot; public education is
on the ballot; environmen
tal justice, living wages
and collective bargaining
are all also on the ballot,"
Rev. Barber said.
"Black lives are on the
ballot. We see this election
not just in terms of the per
sonalities, but the critical
public policy issues that
we'll all be affected by on
N.C. NAACP comes to W-S for training
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
Over 100 members of
the N.C. NAACP and its
Forward Together Moral
Movement gathered at
Goler Memorial A.M.E.
Zion Church on Saturday,
Jan. 9, to receive training
on how to register voters
and learn more about the
upcoming election.
The training sessions
were part of the N.C.
NAACP's fight for voting
rights, better known as
"OUT Time, Our Vote."
The campaign is a col
laboration with
Democracy N.C. and is
designed to promote voter
^education,engagement and
?Sgjapowerment,
**^eBmng a press confer
m^^fincKibefore the train
inljwssiOn, file N.C.
NAACP president, the
V^*fev. D|. Willrasu. Baiber
? Jfnd it is immrtadt that the
community understands
how important voting is.
"Others have had the
time to vote on policy. It's
our time now to judge
them at the ballot box,"
said Barber. "We aren't
just building for 2016; we
are building an infrastruc
ture that will last a long
time, beyond this elec
tion."
The N.C. NAACP on
Tuesday, Jan. 12, held a
press conference in
Durham to provide an
update on the organiza
tion's lawsuit that chal
lenges the state's restric
tive voter ID requirement.
"North Carolina's voter
ID requirement is one of
the many provisions of the
state's massive voter sup
pression law, H.B. 589,"
the organization said in a
statement. "Knowing the
ID requirement would not
pass constitutional review,
the legislature modified the
law just weeks before the
July 2015 trial challenging
H.B. 589. The trial pro
ceeded regarding the law's
other provisions, though
the photo ID requirement
will not be addressed in
court until Jan. 25 [in fed
eral court in Winston
Salem]. Under the modi
fied ID requirement, voters
who do not have one of the
limited forms of accepted
ID due to a 'reasonable
impediment' can sign a
declaration confirming
their identity."
At Tuesday's press
conference, the NC
NAACP reported on the
continued legal challenge
to this requirement and
urged voters to make their
voices heard at the polls in
March "despite the obsta
cles.^ ^
Photo by Tevia Sunsoe
N.C. NAACP
President Rev.
Dr. William J.
Barber II speaks
during a press
conference on
Saturday, Jan. 9,
in Winston-Salem
at Goler
Memorial AM?.
Zion Church.
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