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S-CH seriaLs department
DAVIS LIBRARY CB# 39^8
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CHAPEL HILL NC
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VOLUME 93 - NUMBER 8
atws
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2014
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30
Civil Rights Leaders Submit
Agenda to President
By Freddie Allen
NNPA Washington Corre
spondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - A
■ group of civil rights leaders met
I with President Obama and sev
eral members of his cabinet last
I week to discuss the “1963-2013:
|21st Century Agenda for Jobs
and Freedom,” a formal docu-
■ ment with more than 90 legisla
tive policy and priority recom-
■ mendations.
I In a statement released after
I the meeting, Al Sharpton, presi-
I dent and founder of the National
Action Network, said that it
I was one of the most substantive
I meetings he has had with any
■ president.
“We covered a broad spec-
trum of concerns from the civil
I rights community including un-
|employment, minimum wage,
I and job training; as well as con-
I cerns about restoring and pro-
I tecting our voter rights, and state
■ laws that we feel threaten our
[civil rights such as Stand Your
■ Ground which is in 23 states,”
[said Sharpton.
Even though some have
I called it the “Black Agenda” civ
il rights leaders want people to
I know that they have been work-
• ing with the president on many
of the policy priorities since he
took office.
Right after the president’s
re-election in 2012, Marc Mo-
rial, president and CEO of the
National Urban League, said that
he and other civil rights leaders
felt the need to develop a set of
formal, written policy priorities
to be presented not only to the
■president but also to his cabinet
and Congress.
The agenda focused on five
primary objectives:
1. Achieve Economic Parity
I for African-Americans
2. Promote Equity in Educa-
I tional Opportunity
3. Protect and Defend Voting
Rights
4. Promote a Healthier Nation
by Eliminating Healthcare Dis
parities
5. Achieve Comprehensive
Criminal Justice System Reform
Melanie Campbell, president
and CEO of the National Coali
tion on Black Civic Participation
said that discussions surrounding
the “1963-2013: 21st Century
Agenda for Jobs and Freedom”
will stretch far past the White
House. The goal is to use the
' agenda to engage other govern-
ment agencies and departments
as well, said Campbell.
“This administration is al
ways looking for new ideas,”
said Campbell “The agenda was
just a comprehensive way of pre
senting those ideas.”
1 Those ideas range from job
creation and training programs
to updating programs that fund
.■Historically Black Colleges
and Universities to financial as
sistance to care for people with
mental health disorders.
Contrary to criticism from
some members ofthe black com
munity that wonder why it took
the civil rights organizations
80 long to craft the document,
Campbell reiterated the fact that
the many of the groups have en
gaged the president, collectively
and individually, on a number of
hey issues.
Morial said that the agenda
reflects the idea that the civil
rights groups have to be much
more collaborative and much
more unified than ever before.
The National Urban League
a lso crafted a document that
showed how many of the priori
ties outlined in the president’s
State of the Union address align
with recommendations spelled
out in the agenda.
The 21st Century Agenda
calls for a higher minimum
wage, funding for urban infra
structure projects, full imple
mentation ofthe Affordable Care
Act, and support for early child
hood education.
“What people do not know is
that those are the things that we
have been encouraging for the
last several years,” said Morial.
Morial continued: “Before
income inequality became a
mainstream, hot button issue,
black civil rights organizations
back in 2010, 2011 and 2013
were encouraging the president
to increase his focus on it. This
State of the Union this second
term agenda reflects an embrace
of some ofthe recommendations
that we have been making over
the years.”
Morial also noted that Attor
ney General Eric Holder has
taken on criminal justice reform
in a way that is unprecedented.
Holder called for states to re
form or repeal laws that banned
ex-felons from voting during an
event at the Georgetown Univer
sity Law Center in Washington,
D.C. The attorney general ex
pressed support for sentencing
reform and new guidelines for
prosecutors at public events last
year.
(Continued On Page 12)
First Lady Michelle Obama takes a selfie with Baltimore student Lawrence
Lawson’s phone following a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
workshop at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., Feb. 5.. (Official White
House Photo by Amanda Lucidon)
No Carolina Comeback’ Just a Carolina
Setback’ for too many jobless workers
By Alexandra Forter Sirota
In recent months, Governor McCrory and his supporters have pointed to a number of controversial
steps lawmakers took in 2013, like cutting unemployment insurance, as being the catalyst for a “Carolina
Comeback.” A look at the evidence, however, reveals no such benefits and, indeed, points to very real
harm being done to jobless workers and their families as a result of unemployment insurance changes.
A more accurate description ofthe current situation is that North Carolina is simply riding on the coat-
tails of the painfully slow national economic recovery, while failing to create enough good-paying jobs
to improve the lives ofworking families and those looking for work. Moreover, unemployment insurance
changes are actually making it more difficult for many jobless workers to meet basic needs as they seek
work in an economy that has too few jobs to go around.
Yes, the state’s official unemployment rate has dropped. However, it is actually the decline in North
Carolina’s labor force that is primarily driving the drop. Only one in 10 North Carolinians who left the
ranks of the unemployed found a job over the past year; the rest simply gave up looking for work and
left the labor force. There simply aren’t enough jobs for jobseekers. North Carolina’s employment level
relative to the state’s population is well-below the national average, and job creation in 2Q13 was below
that of 2012.
Changes to North Carolina’s unemployment insurance were implemented last summer, and with the
passage of time, we now know what they have meant to jobless workers. We know, for instance, that the
combined effect of the 2013 policy changes (to the way payments are calculated, the weeks available,
and the maximum benefit amounts) has produced a dramatic fall in the average weekly benefit. Last June,
the average unemployed worker received a modest benefit of $301 per week. By December of 2013, that
average had plummeted to $248.
Even at the $301 level, North Carolina’s average benefit ranked 25th in the country and was clearly in
sufficient for a family of three to meet their most basic needs. Today, however, such families are bringing
in $224 less each month (enough, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to meet a bare bones,
thrifty food budget) - a reality that makes it even more difficult for them to survive.
We also know that workers are waiting longer for their first-time benefits and thereby, in turn, going
without any income despite the fact that they are qualified for unemployment insurance. In a recent news
article in Raleigh’s News & Observer, state unemployment insurance chief Dale Folwell stated that the
backlog is to blame, in part, on the increased attention his office is devoting to preventing to overpay
ments. It seems certain, however, that the longer waits are also the result of cuts to administrative dollars
and staffing at local unemployment offices. Right now, roughly one-third of unemployed workers living
without a paycheck are also doing without unemployment insurance payments for at least two weeks.
Stories abound of folks waiting much longer to receive notification of their claims being approved.
The unemployment insurance system was designed to work, and works best, when jobless workers
receive a temporary and partial replacement of their prior wages so that they can continue to meet basic
needs, spend money in their local communities and search for work. The reduction in benefit amounts
combined with the delay in processing claims not only creates hardship for families but negatively impact
the economy.
(Continued On Page 12
The Future Rests in How I Teach My Child, 2013
NCCU Art Museum Exhibits
The Work of Printmaker and
Artist Robin Holder
North Carolina Central University Art Museum will
host the work of artist and printmaker Robin Holder in an
exhibit titled, “A Layered Perspective.” The exhibit runs
through April 18.
“Robin Holder uses art to tell her own story,” said Ken
neth Rodgers, director of the NCCU Art Museum. “This
exhibition includes 41 prints representing a wide range of
printmaking techniques and themes.”
In her series titled What’s Black and White and Red
all Over? Holder examines childhood quandaries engen
dered by her biracial background, while Warrior Women
Wizards: Mystical Magical Mysteries extols the dynamic
and resilient nature of women.
Behind Each Window, A Voice draws from the oral his
tories ofher Brooklyn, N.Y., neighbors using handwritten
text. The exhibit also includes work from her latest series,
A Time Yet to Come, which merges dilapidated houses,
African-American vernacular architecture, history and
the all-seeing eye.
Born in 1952, Holder is a nationally known artist who
works from her studio in West Milford, N.J. She is a
graduate of the famed New York City’s High School of
Music and Art and she refined her skills as a printmaker
at the Art Students League of New York. Founded in 1875
by artists for artists, the Art Students League has been
instrumental in shaping America’s legacy in the fine arts.
Holder studied black and white lithography at Werk-
groep Uit Het Amsterdam Grafisch Atelier in Amster
dam. In Mexico she studied the great Mexican muralists
Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro
Siqueiros from the perspective of art as means of aes
thetic and sociopolitical expression. In 1977 she joined
the workshop of African-American printmaking master
Robert Blackburn, later becoming assistant director and
coordinator of the workshop.
Holder has received numerous large-scale commis
sions, including public art projects for New Jersey Tran
sit, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Con
necticut State Arts Commission and the New York City
Department of Cultural Affairs.
Works by Holder are held by numerous museums,
institutions, and private collections, including the per
manent collection at Clark Atlanta University and Yale
University; the Library of Congress in Washington; Con
Edison and the Xerox Corporation; the Queens Borough
Public Library in New Your City and others.
The NCCU Art Museum is open Tuesday through Fri
day from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sundays from 2 to 5
p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call the
museum at 919-530-6211.
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