E93-NUMBER38
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913]
NC Republicans see positives with
voter restrictions; NAACP cricical
By Gary D. Robertson
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ With all the legal wrangling and vocal protests about North Carolina’s new
ection changes, you’d think legislators who helped pass the wide-reaching 2013 law might keep quiet
lout that support as General Assembly elections approach.
Actually, they’re actively taking credit for the law _ or at least it’s most publicized provision.
In mailers and on a television ad early in the fall campaign, a handful of North Carolina Senate Re-
jblicans seeking re-election are highlighting their votes for a bill that will soon require people to show
valid photo identification to vote in person. That’s because the idea of voter ID remains popular and
enforces a promise many lawmakers made to pass it when they first got elected.
"To stop fraud and guarantee fair and honest elections, Chad Barefoot passed voter ID,” says a
Siler authorized by Barefoot, a first-term Wake County Republican senator.
Mrs. Peggy Delores Johnson Tapp, seated, was honored by the community
ept. 21. She is show with her son, Claiborn Tapp, III. See story and photos on
age 2.
Holder Interview: Feds launch policing bias study
By Eric Tucker
WASHINGTON (AP) - Broadening its push to improve police relations with minorities, the Justice
epartment has enlisted a team of criminal justice researchers to study racial bias in law enforcement in
re American cities and recommend strategies to address the problem nationally, Attorney General Eric
older said Tuesday.
The police shooting last month of an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri underscored
e need for the long-planned initiative, Holder said in an interview with The Associated Press.
He said the three-year project could be a “silver lining” if it helps ease racial tensions and “pockets of
strust that show up between law enforcement and the communities that they serve.”
“What 1 saw in Ferguson confirmed for me that the need for such an effort was pretty clear,” Holder
id.
The five cities have not yet been selected, but the researchers involved in the project say they’re bring-
g a holistic approach that involves training police officers on issues of racial bias, data analysis and
itcrviews with community members. They expect to review police behavior in the cities with the hope
[building community trust and creating an evidence-based model that could be applied more broadly.
Though the project was in the works before Ferguson, the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown
I white police officer Darren Wilson spotlighted longstanding concerns about diversity in policing. The
erguson police force is overwhelmingly white even though the suburban St. Louis city is roughly 70
:rcent black. A 2013 report by the Missouri attorney general’s office found that Ferguson police stopped
id arrested black drivers nearly twice as often as white motorists, but were less likely to find contraband
nong the black drivers.
Holder, who visited Ferguson last month to meet with Brown’s parents, community members and
ith investigators, said he was struck by the number of complaints he heard about traffic stops and the
incerns from minorities about being treated unfairly during encounters with the police.
“The reality is that it certainly had a negative impact on people’s view ofthe effectiveness and fairness
fthe police department,” Holder said.
The Justice Department this month announced a civil rights investigation into the Ferguson police
irce. In the past five years, the department has launched about 20 similarly broad probes of police de-
irtments that have examined problems including use-of-force and racial bias. Holder has spoken repeat-
ily ofhis concerns ofthe disparate treatment of minorities by some in law enforcement, recently sharing
irsonal anecdotes of a “humiliating” encounter with police.
In April, months after the acquittal of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the shoot-
ig death of Trayvon Martin, the Justice Department announced that it was soliciting bids for a S4.75
lillion racial bias project that would collect data on stops, searches, arrests and case outcomes.
On Thursday, in the next phase of the project, the department will announce that it is providing grants
i a team of researchers from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, Yale University, UCLA
id the Urban Institute.
“It represents, I think, an attempt for this administration to partner with researchers who are tired of
agedy being followed by embarrassment,” said Phillip Atiba Goff, a UCLA professor who specializes
i racial discrimination and bias and a researcher involved in the project.
David Kennedy, another team member and director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at
An Jay, called the project a “historic and tremendously exciting enterprise.”.
In their writings, the researchers have stressed the importance of giving minority communities a forum
) air grievances about law enforcement. Their work seeks to identify and curb hidden racial biases in law
iforcement that can inform a police officer’s decision about whom to consider a likely suspect and when
>fire a weapon. They also argue that communities are far more likely to respect their police departments
they view their authority as legitimate and fair.
In the past, the researchers have been invited to apply those principles to cities including Chicago,
'here they developed a program on race and reconciliation that has trained thousands of officers.
“Studies show that if people think that they are treated fairly by the police, that matters almost more
»n what the result is.” Holder said. “If you get stopped for a traffic stop and feel that you are treated
•utteously and fairly, you are much more likely to accept the fact that you got a speeding ticket.”
Separate from the investigation into the Ferguson police force, both the FBI and local authorities are
tvestigating the circumstances of the shooting for potential criminal charges. Holder said the FBI-led
ivestigation into the shooting was moving along with good cooperation from the community. He said he
oped the investigations would be concluded sooner rather than later.
“We would not be well served as a nation to have this drag out,” Holder said of the investigation. “I
wild hope that the local investigation would be done thoroughly, would be done expeditiously in the
line way that I’m insisting that this federal probe be done thoroughly and expeditiously.”
"Phil Berger didn’t back
down. He fought for our voter
ID law,” the narrator in the TV
commercial for the Senate leader
says. Their House GOP counter
parts intend to trumpet voter ID
leading to November, too.
The elections law approved
by the GOP-led legislature and
signed by Gov. Pat McCrory
requires citizens to show one of
several types of photo identifica
tion cards to vote by 2016. This
year, voters only are being asked
if they have an ID and told how
to get one if they don’t.
Critics say the GOP campaign
materials, however, don’t de
scribe. other changes contained
in the law that took effect this
year. The law reduced early vot
ing from 17 days to ten, ended
same-day registration during the
early-voting period and prohib
ited counting votes cast in the
wrong precinct. Straight-party
voting also ended.
"They don’t talk about all of
the provisions that make it hard
er for North Carolina to partici
pate in the election,” said Sen.
Josh Stein, D-Wake, the Senate’s
deputy minority leader.
These changes and the pend
ing photo ID mandate have cre
ated a rallying cry for opponents
of the Republican agenda at the
General Assembly, anchoring
the "Moral Monday” move
ment. It’s also spawned four sep
arate lawsuits _ including three
federal cases _ that call the mea
sure discriminatory to minority
voters.
A panel of the 4th U.S. Cir
cuit Court of Appeals will meet
in Charlotte this week to hear ar
guments on an injunction to pre
vent elements in the law already
implemented in the May primary
from being used in the fall elec
tion.
’Our lawyers are battling in
the courts, and we believe ulti
mately we will be victorious,”
the Rev. William Barber, presi
dent of the state NAACP, one
lawsuit plaintiff. "We’re deeply
concerned about the (voter) sup
pression that all these laws could
cause.”
Republicans disagree the
broader voting law is discrimi
natory. They point to numbers
from the May primary showing
overall black turnout was higher
compared to 2010.
Campaign materials on the
election law are focusing on
voter ID because it’s "some
thing that most of the electorate
is familiar with” compared to the
other rule changes, North Caro
lina Senate Republican Caucus
director Ray Martin said.
"This is common sense,
popular legislation and it is part
of our record, and we intend on
running for re-election on it in
the fall,” said Josh Thomas, di
rector of the Republican House
Caucus.
An Elon University Poll re
leased last week found 68 per
cent of registered voters and 72
percent of all residents surveyed
supporting the new law, as de
scribed using the voter ID re
quirement only.
Those levels of support have
remained roughly at the same
level in the Elon poll for the past
two years. While incredibly fa
vored by Republicans _ none
of the Elon polls reviewed had
GOP support below 94 percent,
unaffiliated voters also favored
it 3-to-l. Even Democrats were
split on it in last week’s poll _ 49
percent to 48 percent.
Elon poll director Kenneth
Fernandez said it may be a smart
strategy for Republicans to high
light voter ID to galvanize the
GOP base and attract other vot
ers.
Mses Alexine Miller and Victoria Phillips were
enjoying CenterFest on Saturday, Sept. 20. See more
pictures on page 13.
Black women’s
group criticizes NFL
By Jesse J. Holland
WASHINGTON (AP) - A leading black women’s group is calling
the NFL’s decision not to include any African-American women as
consultants on domestic violence “unacceptable.”
The Black Women’s Roundtable, made up of female leaders who
represent black women and girls, said it appreciated the league’s
Monday decision to bring in three domestic violence experts as con
sultants.
“However, your lack of inclusion of women of color, especially
black women who are disproportionately impacted by domestic vio
lence and sexual assault; and the fact that over 66% of the NFL play
ers are made up of African-Americans, is unacceptable,” the group
said in a Tuesday letter. Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson has
also criticized the NFL’s decision to hire three white female domestic
violence experts.
The NFL on Wednesday said its attempt to curb domestic violence
goes beyond those consultants.
“These issues are too important to be the responsibility of only a
small team of individuals and require a collaborative effort involving
a very diverse group of people,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy
said. “To be successful and make a real difference, the entire NFL
will be responsible for the development and implementation of edu
cation, training and support programs.”
McCarthy also pointed out that part of the NFL’s leadership team
addressing domestic violence includes the NFL’s director of player
engagement and education, Deana Gamer, and the vice president of
strategic development and operations in player engagement, Kim
Fields. Both are black.
The Black Women’s Roundtable said black women are the most
likely group of women to experience domestic violence, and are
nearly three times as likely to die as a result of domestic violence
than white women.
The group has requested a meeting with NFL Commissioner Rog
er Goodell, who has been criticized for his handling of Ray Rice’s
domestic violence case.
Rice was originally handed a two-game suspension in July under
the NFL’s personal conduct policy after he was charged with assault
for the Feb. 15 attack on his then-fiancee. He was indefinitely sus
pended after a video surfaced showing Rice punching Janay Palmer,
now his wife.
The NFL players’ union is now appealing Rice’s indefinite sus-
’ pension.
NC conservative
group wants death
penalty reviewed
RALEIGH (AP) - Some North Carolina politi
cal conservatives want state lawmakers to consider
whether to replace the death penalty with life in prison
without parole due to recently vacated murder cases.
The group North Carolina Conservatives Concerned
about the Death Penalty said this week the General
Assembly should re-evaluate capital punishment.
A judge two weeks ago ordered the release of half
brothers - one the longest-serving death-row inmate
and the other serving life in prison - after overturning
their convictions related to an ll-year-old girl’s slay
ing. The judge cited new DNA evidence.
Republicans at the legislature passed a law last year
designed to resume capital punishment after years of
legal delays.
The group’s coordinator is Republican consultant
Ballard Everett. Group members include current or
former GOP chairmen in Nash, Wake and Durham
counties.