Ml '' 17 12/01''i4' lll,l!l """ lll "'il
UNC-CH SERTQI r- **CHII 1
i^is ubr^Vb^
^08 Rai r nu *
CHflPEL H1 T br ^ r
NC
7599-000}
VOLUME 93 - NUMBER 24
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30
After violence, SC gov. wants
to end biker weekend
M&F Bank names 2014 Mechanics and Farmers Bank Founders Award recipi
ents: community activist & civil rights legend R. Kelly Bryant, Jr; Charlotte busi
ness leader Lem Long, Sr.; Baltimore Ravens defensive end Chris Canty; corpo
rate turnaround leader and private school founder Claude Demby. : ( Left to right)
Brad Johnson (accepting for Lem Long, Jr.), Chris Canty, R. Kelly Bryant, Jr., Claude
DembySee story on page 2.
Trayvon Martin’s
Friend Rachel Jeantel
I’m Still Standing
By Jazelle Hunt
NNPA Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - As Rachel Jeantel
inched toward a high school diploma, she tried to
keep in mind that she had a promise to keep. Her
slain friend, Trayvon Martin, would have wanted
her to finish school, and she had promised his par
ents and other supporters that she would.
Now, she has kept that promise.
The world met Jeantel last year, when it was
disclosed that she was the last person to speak to
Trayvon Martin before he was killed by George
Zimmerman. Over two days of testifying as a key
witness in the Zimmerman trial - in which she was
questioned for six hours - a storm of opinions,
analyses, and judgments were made about her -
some on target, some not.
At the time, she was just a teenager thrown into
the spotlight in the midst of a personal and na
tional tragedy.
It’s a chapter of her life she doesn’t like to talk
about, mostly referring to it in solemn tones as
“the situation.” Bringing it up immediately de
flates her cheery, laugh-filled conversation.
“I’m grateful for Trayvon and everyday when I
work hard or have the smack-down on me, I just
say if he was here he would say “keep going,” Je
antel said in an interview.
“The situation was a learning experience for me,
and for everyone. As everyone was watching the
trial, we were all learning things about the United
States. But I’m still standing. You don’t need to be
Rachel Jeantel and mentor
Roderick Vereen.
She was traveling constantly, for
questioning as part of FBI, law en
forcement, and legal investigations.
She was missing a lot of school.
Only her closest friends knew that
she had been on the phone with
Martin when Zimmerman first spot
ted him.
“Nobody knew where 1 was. I’d
lie about where I’d been every time
somebody brought up Trayvon,
and they would always bring it up
in school [that he had been on the
phone]. I'd deny saying it was me,”
Jeantel says. “All the traveling and
talking to the FBI was too much on
afraid of me, and you don’t need to feel bad about me, and I was doing it by myself. I
the situation. Justice will still be served.” still wanted my normal life.”
Last year, Jeantel wanted nothing more than to That normalcy never quite re-
be left alone. She was grieving and feeling guilty, turned. She still gets recognized
choosing not to attend Martin’s funeral.
at Wal-Mart, where people ask
“I was running from Sybrina [Fulton],” she her why she shops there “now that
says referring to Martin’s mother. “I wasn’t ready [she’s] a celebrity.” They want to
to face her. I didn’t want to talk about it.'
(Continued On Page 2)
By Bruce Smith
ATLANTIC BEACH,
S.C. (AP) - After a bloody
Memorial Day weekend
left three dead and seven
wounded, Gov. Nikki Hal
ey wants to end the annual
Atlantic Beach Bikefest
which has drawn black bik
ers for decades to the tiny
beachside community near
Myrtle Beach.
But Mayor Jake Evans
has no plans to end the
event in a community that,
during the days of segrega
tion, was one of the only
places on the South Caroli
na coast where blacks were
welcome.
The Bikefest attracts
thousands to Atlantic
Beach - a town of less than
a square mile, three ocean-
front blocks and about 350
residents - as well as to sur
rounding areas along the
strip of coast known as the
Grand Strand. Evans says
there haven’t been prob
lems in his town but he is
willing to discuss the need
for more law enforcement
in other areas during the
weekend.
Police say the Memo
rial Day weekend slaying
of three people in Myrtle
Beach motel 14 miles away
seems to be gang-related.
A look at the controversy:
As the governor sees it
-’’Eight shootings hap
pened during this weekend.
Three people died. That is
not OK for South Caro
lina,” Haley told reporters.
“This Bikefest does not
represent the people of this state. It does not represent
what we are trying to do when we promote tourism and
jobs.” Haley plans to talk to Evans about ending Bikefest.
The mayor’s view
- “I'm not above talking to Grand Strand city leaders
and coming together with them and making sure they
handle the problem which is to make sure everybody
abides by the law,” said Evans who as of June 5 had not
heard from the governor. “But I’m not willing to sit down
at the table with anyone and discuss canceling Bikefest.”
Unfair to Atlantic Beach?
(Continued On Page 2)
Durham Committee
On the Affairs
OF BLACK PEOPLE
Resolution In Support of Elizabeth City State
University
and Other Historically Black Colleges and
Universities
in the UNC System
Whereas, Elizabeth City State University has contributed
greatly to the education and well being of citizens of the State of
North Carolina, along with other Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs) in the UNC System, and
Whereas, a budget proposal in the North Carolina senate
recently would have had the effect of closing Elizabeth City
State University or severely limiting the university’s future
development, and
Whereas, Elizabeth City State University and other HBCUs
in the UNC system have been hampered for many years by not
being provided with the same level of support and resources as
other universities in the UNC system,
The political committee of the Durham Committee on the
Affairs of Black People does hereby declare its unwavering support
for the continued existence, development and advancement of
Elizabeth City State University as well as the four other HBCU’s
in the UNC System and,
The political committee of the Durham Committee on the
Affairs of Black People urges the governor, our elected officials
and the Board of Governors of the UNC system to refrain from
efforts to harm or abolish Elizabeth City State University and
other HBCUs and to focus efforts on contributing to the growth
and development of these vital institutions that have given so
much to the state of North Carolina.
We’ll Be Back!’
After 3-Hour Teach-In, Teachers, Students and the Forward Together Moral Move ¬
ment Promise to Return to the NC General Assembly for Further Action
RALEIGH - Teachers, parents, alumni, students and other concerned North Carolinians
arrived June 9, intent on petitioning Senate Leader Berger over the devastating cuts to public
schools that he included in his 2014 and previous budgets. They came armed with fact sheets;
the teachers brought lesson plans. They demanded repeals to the many extreme laws attacking
teachers and schools this year.
The Senator cleared his office and locked the doors before the teachers and students arrived.
Undeterred, they held a three-hour Teach-In for members of the legislature and public. Senator
Berger only arrived hours after the Teach-In began, and only after he ordered the NC General
Assembly police to clear all the supporters out of the building.
“The Forward Together Moral Movement is proud of the courageous teachers, students and
parents who decided to stand up for students and schools today by demanding the extremist
legislative leadership take decisive action to repeal destructive policies designed to undermine
public education in our state,” said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president of the North Caro
lina NAACP. "These fifteen moral witnesses had doubts as to whether Senate Leader Berger’s
offers to consider restoring education funding were genuine, but they decided to give him a
few days to prove that he will act as a statesman and do the right thing. Ifhe does not, then we
will be back for a full and direct action. The teachers and students will not stay home. They and
the Forward Together Moral Movement will be back in their offices and the People’s House to
make sure they do not put public education and opportunities for our children at risk.”
Rev. Barber continued, “We have spent the past few years attempting to get a good-faith
meeting between the legislative leadership and the Forward Together Moral Movement. For
Senator Berger to clear the building before meeting with the moral witnesses, to avoid the
people for the past few weeks on Mondays, is shameful. Teachers are smarter than that. The
Moral Mondays Movement will not fall for it.”
Background:
Last summer, thousands gathered at Moral Monday to protest this extremist General As
sembly’s decision to slash money from the education budget - hobbling public schools, leaving
teacher pay at 47th in the nation, burdening students with skyrocketing tuition rates at public
colleges and universities and funneling millions of taxpayer dollars to private schools through
a voucher program.
This summer, Senate Leader Phil Berger put together a budget that attempts to raise teach
ers' wages, but does so at the expense of eliminating vital classroom support, teacher worker
protections and other public school funding that enables our children to learn in safe, diverse
and supportive environments.