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DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2014
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913
Group: NC restrictions deny hundreds of votes
By Gary D. Robertson
RALEIGH (AP) - An election reform group says two specific portions of North Carolina’s new voting law pre
vented hundreds of people from having their ballots counted during the May primary.
Democracy North Carolina held a news conference Sept. 10 to remind people about the voting restrictions and to
urge people, to register to vote before the Oct. 10 deadline for the November election.
Group executive director Bob Hall says more than 400 people who would have qualified to vote in 2012 had their
ballots rejected in the primary because they couldn’t register during early voting or they voted in the wrong precinct.
He says a disproportionate number of the voters were black or Democratic.
Three lawsuits want these restrictions blocked for the November election. A court hearing is slated for later this
month.
Justice Cheri Beasley
Durham Committee Annual
Founders Banquet Carrying
The Torch of Our Founders’
The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People
vill hold its 79 th Founders Anniversary Banquet at 7:00pm
in Saturday, September 20 th at Durham Hilton, 3800
Elillsborough Road, Durham, NC. A VIP reception will
e at 6pm. This year’s theme is “Carrying the Torch of
lur Founders” and the keynote speaker is the Honorable
lustice Cheri Beasley North Carolina Supreme Court.
The honorees this year is Attorney James D. “Butch”
Williams and MaryAnn Black, Vice President of
Community Relations at Duke University Health System.
Tisha Powell from WTVD11 will host the event.
Entertainment includes Musician Reggie Jefferys,
Hillside High School Dancers and Spoken Word Artist
Sean E. The event promises to be uplifting and inspiring.
Banquet ads and sponsorships are still available contact
LaManda Chestnut-Pryor by emailing lamandapryor@
gmail.com. Tickets are $65. Contact Mignon Schooler
(919) 616-2896 to purchase. Tickets can also be
purchased at Hayti Heritage Center 804 Old Fayetteville
St, JC Kitchen 706 E. Main St, The Palace International
1104 Broad St and A Cultured Alliance, lie 1910 Sedwick
Rd Suite 300B.
The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People
is under the leadership of former Senator Ralph Hunt Sr.
Police detain ‘Django Unchained’actress in LA
LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Actress Daniele Watts, who appeared in
“Django Unchained,” is complaining that she was handcuffed and
briefly put in the back of a squad car after a public display of affec
tion with her white companion.
Brian Lucas told KCBS-TV in a joint interview with Watts that he
suspects police mistook the black actress for a prostitute “because he
was asking me questions like, 'Who is she? How do you know her?
Are you together?”
The Los Angeles Police Department said Sept. 14 that officers
detained the pair after a complaint that two people were “involved
in indecent exposure” in a silver Mercedes. Watts was detained until
police determined no crime was committed.
Watts told the station that she and Lucas were embracing in the car
Thursday when police showed up. The station said the two have been
dating for the past year.
“I knew that the clearest thing for me to do was to own my right
as a free person and say, I haven’t done anything wrong and I know
I’m not required to give you my ID,’” she said.
Watts said she walked away and another officer put her in hand
cuffs and into the back of a patrol car. She was let go after police
identified her.
“1 don’t have to feel ashamed for being who I am and that’s really
where the tears were coming from,” Watts said, referring to a cell-
phone video of her in the incident.
Police said an internal investigation has been launched.
Representatives for Watts did not return calls and emails seeking
comment.
Bill Cosby to loan art collection to Smithsonian
By Brett Zongker
WASHINGTON (AP) - Bill Cosby and his wife Camille plan to
showcase their extensive collection of African-American art for the
first time in an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art says Sept.
15 that the entire Cosby collection will go on view in November in
an exhibit juxtaposing African-American art with African art.
Biden continues
to take center
stage on violence
against women.
By Jazelle Hunt
NNPA Washington Corre
spondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
- In July, bystander footage of
an unidentified California high
way patrol officer pummeling a
Black woman on the side of the
road hit the media. Last week,
federal judge Mark Fuller was
arrested for beating his wife,
and subsequently accepted a
plea deal for professional leave,
six months of counseling, no
charges, and an expunged re
cord. And controversy contin
ues after video surfaced of NFL
Baltimore Ravens running back,
Ray Rice, knocking his wife
unconscious in an elevator last
Valentine’s Day. The 2014 Miss
America pageant stirred that pot
over the weekend, when ajudge
asked a contestant about Janay
Rice’s decision to remain in her
marriage.
On the 20th anniversary of
the Violence Against Women
Act (VAWA), it seems there is
still work to be done.
For this reason, Vice Presi
dent Joe Biden, who co-spon
sored the law in 1990 as a sena
tor from Delaware, will convene
legal scholars and professionals,
and Department of Justice of
ficials for a Summit on Civil
Rights and Equal Protections for
Women. No date has been set.
President Bill Clinton signed
the bill into law on September
13, 1994.
Summit participants will
brainstorm solutions to end the
gender bias in the justice system
that affects the way cases are
handled. They will also examine
ways to allow survivors to sue
their assailants in federal court -
a VAWA provision the Supreme
Court struck down in 2000.
In addition to the summit, the
Vice President’s Office released
a state-of-affairs report on the is
sue of violence against women.
“When VAWA was first
passed, almost every state crime
involving interstate elements
(from gun crimes to cattle rus
tling) was covered by the federal
criminal code - but not sexual as
sault and domestic violence,” the
report reads. “Although there is
still much to do, this anniversary
gives us a moment to reflect on
the vital, often life-saving work
the Violence Against Women
Act has inspired and supports.
Since its passage 20 years ago,
help has come on all fronts.”
According to the report there
has been significant traction,
both culturally and legally, on
the issue.
The national rate of intimate
partner violence against women
has fallen 64 percent between
1993 and 2012, or 61 percent
for Black Americans alone, ac
cording to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics. VAWA-funded orga
nizations have made gains in
prosecution, and more services
have become available for more
survivors.
Today, VAWA has been ex
panded to serve LGBT sur
vivors, those living in Indian
country, undocumented immi
grants, and college students.
(Continued On Page 2)
Guitarist, singer, harmonica player and songwriter Grady Champion per
formed at the Bull Durham Blues Festival. See page 7 for more pictures from the
event.
Groups aiming to help NC legislative Democrats
By Gary D. Robertson
RALEIGH (AP) - Groups in the shadow of traditional campaigns are poised to once again attempt
to influence North Carolina General Assembly races through ads and mailers bought with millions of
dollars largely from companies and politically-minded organizations.
It’s a strategy that helped Republicans take over the legislature in 2010 and expand their seat advan
tage in 2012. This year, donors and consultants aligned with Democrats are seeking to flex financial
muscle to take back GOP gains.
Independent expenditure groups opposed to the Republican agenda at the legislature are sending sig
nals they plan to spend large amounts this fall to help Democratic legislative candidates. The immediate
goal is to eliminate veto-proof majorities Republicans currently hold. That means picking up four seats
in the Senate and six in the House.
One group already has reserved more than $600,000 of television ad time in Raleigh, Durham and
Fayetteville alone for the campaign’s last month, according to TV station filings with the Federal Com
munications Commission. North Carolina Families First already sent out at least one mailer critical of a
GOP House member.
Another group began running a television ad in the mountains last week blaming GOP Reps. Nathan
Ramsey, Tim Moffitt and Michele Presnell for voting for tax cuts that benefited the wealthy while “our
schools are starved for money and kids and teachers are left behind.”
“Tell (them) to stop putting millionaires before our schools,” says the ad from Aim Higher Now NC,
part of North Carolina Citizens for Protecting Our Schools, which was active in the 2012 election.
Independent expenditure groups can receive unlimited donations from individuals, corporations and
other political entities. In many cases, donor and expense information doesn’t get released until the
final two months of the fall campaign.
Candidates and political parties are barred from coordinating their activity with these groups. Some
times described as super PACs, the groups are one of the many ingredients needed for success today in
state or federal elections.
“The role of the independent expenditure groups is evolving, and every six months it looks slightly
different,” said Rep. Ruth Samuleson, R-Mecklenburg, the North Carolina House Republican Caucus
campaign chairwoman. The groups, she added, “are a lot bigger player than they have been in the past.”
Republicans benefited in 2010 from the conservative-leaning Real Jobs NC, which spent more than
$1.5 million supporting Republican candidates and opposing Democrats with commercials and mailers.
Its top donors included Republican State Leadership Committee and Variety Stores Ine., a company led
by conservative activist Art Pope.
Two years later, Real Jobs spent roughly half of that amount, focusing on legislative candidates and ;
the governor’s race, supporting Pat McCrory. The group intends to get involved in legislative races
again this fall if anticipated donations materialize, group spokesman Roger Knight said.
Liberal-leaning groups aligned with Democrats created similar independent groups in 2010 and 2012,
but it hasn’t equated to ballot box success.
“The Democrats are playing catch-up with the state Republicans when it comes to independent expen
diture” campaigns, said Brad Crone, a longtime Democratic consultant.
N.C. Citizens for Progress, which spent $2.6 million in 2012 on ads criticizing McCrory, was renamed
North Carolina Families First last month, according to state records. Jay Reiff, a longtime Democratic
consultant for Gov. Mike Easley, is listed as the group’s president.
Michael Weisel, general counsel and treasurer for Families First and N.C. Citizens for Protecting Our
Schools, declined to discuss the groups’ plans this fall but said they will comply with federal and state
disclosure requirements.
Environmental groups this past spring already ran TV ads criticizing several GOP lawmakers for votes
on fracking and landfills. With U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan framing her re-election bid as a referendum on the
legislature and Republican challenger House Speaker Thom Tillis, people who support Democrats have
more reasons for optimism. ;
“There are an increasing number of North Carolina citizens that are very concerned about the future
and the direction of this state and the legsialtive priorities and policies that the current North Caroling
General Assembly has,” Weisel said. . J