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DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2014 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30 CENTS
SlUME 93 - NUMBER 49
Home protest on streets,
others on social media
The King Center, in partnership with The Martin
Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, The Carter
Center, The National Center for Civil and Human
lights, and the Yunus Creative Lab, will present two
lays of events from Dec. 9-10, commemorating the
i0 ,h anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. being
warded the Nobel Peace Prize.
North Carolina
1AACP Calls On
Elected Leaders to
Support Recom-
nended Reforms in
Law Enforcement
Practices
In honor of the last day of
he NAACP’s Journey for Jus-
ice - the seven-day march from
Ferguson to Jefferson City, Mis
souri - the North Carolina State
Conference of the NAACP and
local branches are sending and
delivering letters to local, state,
ind national elected leaders on
Friday, December 5th, asking
them to support a list of recom
mended reforms in law enforce
ment practices. The NC NAACP
and branches across the state are
demanding that these legislators
set aside time on their agendas
specifically to address these re
forms. In light of the recent
REV. BARBER
grand jury decisions not to
indict the police officers who
killed unarmed African Ameri
can men, the NO NAACP is call
ing for 8 changes that will aim
to reverse the trend of mistrust
among people of color of the law
enforcement officials who are
By Jesse j. Holland
WASHINGTON (AP) - While marchers took to the
streets to protest the lack of charges against white police
officers in the deaths of two unarmed black men, many
more turned to social media to voice their objections to
the grand jury decisions from their computers and mobile
devices.
Two of the most-discussed social media conversations
on Dec. 4 questioned the fairness of policing in the Unit
ed States: (hash)Crimingwhilewhite: self-reported tales
of white people committing crimes while police look
the other way and (hash)AliveWhileBlack, correspond
ing stories of harsh treatment of black people by police
and authorities. Topsy, a site that offers Twitter analytics,
logged more than 300,000 uses of (hash)Crimingwhile-
white in the past day, while (hash)Alivewhileblack had
hit almost 65,000.
Other trending terms included (hash)EricGamer and
(hash)ICantBreathe, references to victim Eric Garner and
the last words he uttered as a New York police wrestled
him to the ground. Celebrities, like hip hop mogul Diddy,
took to Instagram to express fear and disgust.
“When I see a cop car, I don’t feel safe as a black man.
When I see a cop car, 1 get scared. My kids get scared,”
Diddy said in a video posted to his account.
A grand jury’s decision Dec. 3 not to bring charges
against Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who held Garner to the
ground, triggered protests around the country that resulted
in dozens of arrests. Twitter and other forms of social me
dia quickly became a complement to the protests, particu
larly among people who shared the protesters’ sentiments
but couldn’t join them for various reasons, said Meredith
Clark, professor at Frank W. & Sue Mayborn School of
Journalism at the University of North Texas in Denton.
“They’re using Twitter as a tool to provide support
and to lend their voice to these protests when being there
physically is not an option,” Clark said. Social media also
provides a forum to express honest thoughts about Ameri
can life, and “advance conversations in ways we haven’t
seen before.”
Garner, 43, died July 17 after scuffling with officers
who tried to arrest him for selling untaxed cigarettes. The
last moments of his life were caught on video that showed
Pantaleo holding the unarmed Garner around the neck as
Garner repeatedly gasped, “I can’t breathe.’
On Dec. 3, Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Don-
involved in movements.
“Yes, there are some people who will stay home because
they have said their part,” Garrett said. “But there are also
some people who,... having said something and been part
of a larger dialogue, they realize, Hey, you know what, I
actually need to do this.”’
Associated Press writer Jacob Pearson contributed to
this report.
SPAULDING
Spaulding backs police
camera requirement in NC
(AP) - A Democratic candidate for North Carolina
governor in 2016 wants current Republican Gov. Pat Mc-
Obama: Racism,
bias in US will take
time to tackle
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is
prescribing time and vigilance to tackle problems as en
trenched in American society as racism and bias.
ovan said the grand jury found “no reasonable cause” to
charge Pantaleo. That followed an announcement in Mis- _
souri last week that a grand jury decided not to indict po- Crory to join him in pushing for state legislation requiring
lice officer Darren Wilson for the fatal Aug. 9 shooting local police to wear video cameras on the job.
of unarmed Michael Brown, 18, in Ferguson. Brown was Durham attorney Ken Spaulding wrote to McCrory this
black; the officer who killed him is white. week in light of the fatal police shooting of an unarmed
Some who engaged in protests over Garner’s and teenager in Ferguson, Missouri. A grand jury declined last
Brown’s deaths worried that venting from the safe con- week to indict the officer involved.
fines of the Internet, or what some are calling “armchair Spaulding called equipping officers with cameras “a
activism,” takes away the incentive for direct action, balanced and objective approach” to determine what re
Amanda Seales, 33, a black marcher who took part in ally happens during similar incidents and would generate
protests in New York City on Wednesday night (Dec. 3), mutual respect between police and the public.
said more activists needed to get off social media and into Spaulding says federal grants and other money could
the streets. “For black people, this isn’t new,” Seales said, help defray costs.
. But Kelly Garrett, professor at the School of Commu- Spaulding announced last year he was seeking the
He also is urging patience, saying progress usually nication at tbe Ohio state University, said social media Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Attorney General
comes in small steps.
In an interview with BET (Black Entertainment Televi
sion), a cable television channel, the president described
his conversation with a group of young civil rights activ
ists, including a leader of protests in Ferguson, Missouri,
he hosted last week in the White House. Racial tensions
have been heightened by the failure of grand juries in
Missouri and New York to indict white police officers in
volved in the killings of unarmed black men.
Obama said he told them that “this is something that
is deeply rooted in our society, it’s deeply rooted in our
history.”
America has made gains, he said, and that “gives us
actually has the potential to get more people physically
Roy Cooper is planning a similar run.
31 arrested in police
protests in Durham
hope” of making more progress. . —
“We can’t eauate what is happening now to what was (— . - ■ „ ,, , ,
happening 50 years ago,” Obama said, “and if you talk orders during mostly peaceful demonstrations over police killings of unarmed black men.
to your parents, grandparents, uncles, they’ll tell you that Police spokeswoman Kamrnie Michael says six protesters were arrested Friday night outside the Dur-
things are better, not good in some places, but better.” |
Obama said he is advising young people to be persis- show by come di an John Oliver. About 25 more protesters were arrested several blocks away.
tent because “typically progress is in steps, it’s in incre- Michael says more than i00 protesters also marched to the Durham Freeway, shutting down traffic for
(AP) - Authorities say 31 protesters in Durham were arrested after they stopped traffic and didn’t follow
Police spokeswoman Kamrnie Michael says six protesters were arrested Friday night outside the Dur
ham Performing Arts Center when they refused an order to keep moving, disrupting people coming out of a
ments.”
In dealing with something “as deeply rooted as racism
or bias in any society, you’ve got to have vigilance but
you have to recognize that it’s going to take some time
and you just have to be steady so that you don’t give up
when you don’t get all the way there,” Obama said.
about 30 minutes.
Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez says no one was injured, but the windows were shattered on a police
car. .. ..
The protesters were angry over grand juries not indicting police officers in deaths in Ferguson, Missouri,
and New York.