Clinton
campaign
opens W-S
office
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
A crowd filled the new
Winston-Salem campaign
office of Democratic presi
dential candidate Hillary
Clinton during its
Thursday, Sept. 15 open
ing.
With a little more than
two months untij Election
Day, polls show the race
between Clinton and
Republican nominee
Donald Trump tightening.
The Real Clear Politics
average of polls has tended
to show Clinton leading in
the last few months, but
that lead has shrunk to less
than a percentage point
both nationally and in
North Carolina.
Hillary for North
Carolina has opened 33
coordinated campaign
offices and recruited more
than 40,000 volunteers
statewide. The Winston
Salem office was one of
four field offices the capi
paign opened last
Thursday.
City Council Member
DO. Adams fired up the
crowd, repeating what she
told Hillary Clinton's
daughter, Chelsea, who
participated in a forum
with Adams at Wake Forest
University last week.
"We got this, Forsyth
County will be blue!" she
said.
Afterwards, Adams
said she believed that
Clinton, a former lawyer,
first lady, senator and sec
retary of state, was the
most qualified candidate.
She said it'll take a huge
voter turnout of the
African-Americans,
women and young people
that helped elect President
Barak Obama to win North
Carolina and keep the pres
idency in Democratic
hands;
"If we expect to move
the needle as much as
President Obama has
moved it in his eight years,
we need Hillary Clinton,"
she said.
Regional Organizing
Coordinator Emma
Goodacre told attendees
that the Affordable Care
Act, which ended pre
existing conditions and
made it possible for mil
lions more Americans to
get health insurance, was
foremost on her mind in
this campaign. She said her
brother went six weeks
without medical care for
his cancer because he was
scared of being denied
insurance due to a preexist
ing condition, and finally
sought care when ACA
went into effect.
Republicans have pledged
to end the ACA and have
tried to repeal it in
Congress dozens of times.
"We can't let the
Republicans take these
things away from us," she
said.
Among the many peo
ple listening in the audi
ence was Attorney S.
Wayne Patterson. He said
he wanted to be a part of
history, as the country
elects its first female presi
dent. The former NAACP
Photo* by Tbdd Lucfc
City Council Member
DD. Adams fires up
the crowd at the
Hillary Clinton cam
paign office opening
on Thursday, Sept. IS.
?
president said he felt
Clinton will help the
African-American commu
nity.
"I feel she understands
the plight of the African
American community and
not only that, but I think
she's one to stand up for
low income individuals,"
he said.
Also there was Dan
Moury, a longtime
Democrat who was an avid
Bemie Sanders supporter
in the primary and whose
son, Jim, helped open a
grass roots Sanders office
in Winston-Salem during
that contest.
"Hillary is the best can
didate we got this elec
tion," he said.
The Hillary for North
Carolina office is located at
520 North Spring St.
Mothers of
the Movement
urge blacks to vote
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
They are members of a
dreaded club they say no
one wants to join. Their
black children were all
killed, either by a law
enforcement officer, or
someone with a gun. In
each case, their child was
an innocent victim, not
only of the deed, but of the
lack of justice that fol
lowed.
They are known as
"The Mothers of the
Movement," and they cap
tivated the nation last July
when they walked out on
stage during the
Democratic National
Convention in
Philadelphia.
Three of them - Gwen
Carr, mother of Eric
Garner; Maria Hamilton,
mother of Dontre
Hamilton; and Geneva
Reed-Veal, mother of
Sandra Bland - spent
Monday and Tuesday of
this week speaking at
events in the African
American communities of
Greensboro at N.C. A & T
University, Durham,
Charlotte and Fayetteville,
sharing their pain, and urg
ing their audiences to vote
for Democrat Hillary
Clinton in the November
presidential election.
The Clinton campaign
sponsored the mothers'
tour.
During their hour-long
session at North Carolina
Central University's
School of Law Monday in
Durham, the mothers
talked to stutjents there
about how their children
were killed, how the black
community must mobilize
to stem the escalating tide
of police killings and why
they individually believed
Hillary Clinton when she
met with them, and prom
ised, if elected president,
that she would work to
reform the criminal justice
system so that police offi
cers are held to greater
accountability in incidents
involving the killing of
innocent citizens.
"Well of course if our
children were not dead, we
' wouldn't be [on tour]
speaking," said Reed-Veal,
whose daughter, Sandra
Bland, 28, died in a Texas
jail cell after she was
arrested after a minor traf
fic stop last year. "But
we're grateful to be able to
go around and make young
people understand, 'Your
voice matters too. This is
serious business. We care
enough about you to get
out here and speak to all of
you across the country.'
"So it's a big deal,
"Reed-Veal said, "A big
deal."
The cries of Gwen
Carr's son Eric Garner of "I
can't breathe, I can't
breathe" on the smartphone
video taken while five New
York City police officers
strangled him to death on a
Staten Island street two
years ago still haunts any
one who saw it.
Like Reed-Veal and
Maria Hamilton, Carr
assures that her child was a
good son who did nothing
to deserve to die. A Staten
Island grand jury refused to
indict the officers involved,
even though there was evi
dence they were using an
outlawed chokehold.
"I [posthumously]
made a promise to my son
that I would speak out, and
be the voice of the voice
less, and the nameless,
because some people don't
have a voice," Carr said,
adding that the mission of
the mothers is to bring
about awareness in hopes
that many, especially
young people, are listening.
"We've got to try to
touch the consciousness of
America," Cart added.
Maria Hamilton says
police officers aren't doing
their jobs when they hurt or
kill innocent citizens. Her
youngest son, Dontre, was
shot 14 times after he was.
confronted sleeping on a
park bench in Milwaukee,
just because a beat officer
mistakenly thought he was
a black homeless person j
scaring away customers at
local businesses.
Hamilton says she was
brought up in a family of
police officers who didn't
have to resort to lethal
force to do their jobs. She
added that in many other
countries, the police are
trained to deescalate inci
dents, and don't even carry
weapons.
"You don't know noth
ing about me, and you take
my life? That is not your
iob," Hamilton said.
Critics of the Mothers
the Movement accuse
hem of being used by the
Clinton campaign, but they
insist that they're not, and
he fact that Hillary Clinton
lias taken time to listen to
heir pain, and promise to
Jo something about police
brutality, among other
issues, has convinced them
hat she is worth endorsing,
ind campaigning.
Photo by Caah Michaels
Mothers of the Movement left to
right are Geneva Reed-Veal, Maria
Hamilton (standing) and Gwen
Carr.
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