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DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015
CBC Seeks GOP Cooperation
On Economic Challenges
By Freddie Allen
NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Working across the aisle with Republicans on criminal justice reform
,ht be the best shot that the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has to address the economic challeng-
facing the black community before the 2016 presidential election, according to the head of the caucus
“We are having bipartisan conversations on the whole question of criminal justice reform,” said Rep.
K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), the chairman of the CBC. “There is a group of Republican members that are
lughtful and they are beginning to think through the broken criminal justice system that we have and
v are now indicating to us they’re willingness to engage in some type of legislation that will begin to
Iress it.”
As states and jurisdictions weigh the financial burden of mass incarceration against more fiscally
nonsible criminal justice policies, more lawmakers are considering diversionary programs, decrimi-
izing small amounts of marijuana to decrease the load on their jails and court systems, and making it
lier for ex-offenders to find jobs that pay a living wage after they’ve paid their debt to society.
The Vera Institute of Justice, an independent research and policy group, reported that taxpayers in 40
tes shelled out nearly $40 billion in FY2010 to cover the costs of housing inmates and running prisons
I jails. ...... ..
Butterfield speculated that some of his Republican colleagues might just be playing politics with
minal justice reform, but he still welcomed their support.
Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), the chairman of the CBC
id, “We’ve got to get smarter on crime and there are some
epublicans who get that.” (Courtesy Photo)
Obama calls delay
of his attorney
general nominee
‘crazy’
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama on
pril 17 said it was “crazy” and “embarrassing” the way
e Republican-led Senate has held up confirmation of his
ttorney general nominee, Loretta Lynch.
“What are we doing here?” Obama said. “I have to say
[ere are times when the dysfunction in the Senate just
pes too far. This is an example of it. It’s gone too far.
bough. Enough.
“Call Loretta Lynch for a vote,” he said emphatically.
Get her confirmed.”
Lynch is the U.S. attorney for New York’s Eastern Dis-
rict and would succeed Attorney General Eric Holder if
onfirmed. She would become the first black woman to
erve as the nation’s top law officer.
Dozens of Senate Republicans have opposed her for
'arious reasons, chiefly her support of Obama’s immigra-
The president spoke at a news conference alongside
siting Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Asked
•out Lynch’s nomination, Obama praised “some out-
eaks of bipartisanship and common sense” in Congress
cently on issues such as fixing a longstanding problem
ith Medicare payments to doctors.
“Yet what we still have is this crazy situation where a
oman everybody agrees is qualified ... has been now sit-
1g there longer than the previous seven attorney general
iminees combined,” Obama said. He said there was no
ason for the delay other than “political gamesmanship
the Senate” on issues unrelated to Lynch.
“We’ve got to get smarter on
crime and there are some Re
publicans who get that,” said
Butterfield, adding that the U.S.
Congress might see a viable, bi
partisan bill on criminal before
the August break.
The Joint Economic Com
mittee, a bipartisan panel that
studies the U.S. economy, laid
out the economic challenges fac
ing the black community in a
recent report. The committee is
composed of 10 senators and 10
members of the House of Repre
sentatives.
“More than half (51.4 per
cent) of black families with chil
dren under 18 are headed by a
single mother, compared to one-
fifth (19.1 percent) of white fam
ilies with children, and nearly 47
percent of families headed by a
black single mother are in pov
erty,” stated the report.
The report continued: “The
median income of African Amer
ican households is just $34,600
- nearly $24,000 less than the
median income of white house
holds. Black Americans are al
most three times more likely to
live in poverty than white Amer
icans.”
The report said that at the
peak of the Great Recession, one
1 in 6 blacks was unemployed.
“ African-American home-
owners who took out mortgages
between 2004 and 2008 were
almost twice as likely as white
homeowners to have lost their
home to foreclosure by 2011,”
according to the Center for Re
sponsible Lending, the report
stated. “One-in-ten black home-
owners who took out mortgag
es at the height of the housing
boom eventually lost their home
to foreclosure.”
The report also included a
state-by-state analysis of the
poverty and unemployment rates
for blacks and whites.
The poverty rate for blacks
was highest in Maine at 50.7
percent (1.4 percent black popu
lation) compared to the white
poverty rate, which was 13.2
percent. According to the report,
blacks living in Hawaii (2.5 per
cent of the population) had the
lowest poverty rate at 5.8 percent
and the poverty rate for white
was 11 percent.
In Washington, D.C., where
48.8 percent of population is
black, the black unemployment
rate is 15.1 percent, five percent
age points higher than the na
tional average for blacks in the
labor force.
The jobless rate for blacks
was the highest in Wisconsin at
19.7 percent (6.2 percent black
population), more than four
times higher than the 4.3 percent
white jobless rate. Although the
unemployment rate for blacks
was the lowest in Utah at 1.7 per
cent (1.6 percent Black popula
tion), the poverty rate for blacks
was 34.5 percent in the state,
compared to a 9.9 percent white
poverty rate.
(Continued On Page 2)
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Roy Ayers, bottom right, is coming back to Durham for the Art of Cool Festival
April 24-26.. Here, Ayers is shown after performing at the Hayti Heritage Center
Nov. 25, 2013. See story on page 2.
Rev. Barber: Without
change, more NC
legislative protests ahead
By Gary D. Robertson
RALEIGH (AP) - More nonviolent confrontations between people opposed to Republican
policies and state government police are likely ahead at the North Carolina legislature unless
Republican lawmakers reverse their agenda, a civil rights leader warned April 14.
The Rev. William Barber, the state NAACP president who has been leading the protest move
ment that began in 2013, returned to the Legislative Building with several dozen advocates for
a lobbying day promoting their 14 demands. Those include expanding Medicaid to more of the
working poor, overturning 2013 limits on voting and placing a state referendum on the ballot to
raise the minimum wage.
Republican legislative leaders have shown little interest in ascribing to the protesters' agenda.
Without change, Barber said, demonstrators will “be back in full force” at the legislative
complex April 29 to resume their petitions, which regularly brought a few thousand people each
Monday evening. About 1,000 arrests have occurred since the first gatherings of the “Moral
Monday” movement. Charges against most of the arrested were ultimately dismissed.
“If there is not movement on these bills that protect the lives of people, the health of people,
the rights of people, the voting rights of people - yes, there will be a fresh season of civil dis
obedience,” Barber said at a news conference. “It’s not in our DNA to stop just because people
fight against us.”
Barber said he also anticipated events in the districts of key Republican lawmakers and a
week of civil action in June, capped by a massive march in Winston-Salem in early July. That
synchronizes with a civil trial for three lawsuits seeking to overturn elements of the 2013 elec
tions overhaul that eliminated same-day registration during early voting and required photo ID
to vote in person starting in 2016. The state NAACP is among the plaintiffs.
Barber acknowledged change is difficult short of voting out lawmakers and winning in court.
He said he’s encouraged by a U.S. Supreme Court decision last month that ordered a lower
court to review redistricting boundaries drawn by the Alabama legislature more closely in light
of complaints black voters were packed into voting districts. Opponents of North Carolina legis
lative and congressional districts who make similar arguments are awaiting a response from the
justices to hear their complaints. Justices are scheduled to review their request later this week.
“We have a long-view approach to social justice,” Barber said. “We are in this for a long
haul.”
Advocates preparing to visit legislators’ offices April 14 included workers in the fast food
and home health care industry, both of which are aiming for a minimum wage of $15 per hour.
Ebbini Harris, 23, a single mother making just above the current $7.25 minimum wage, said she
needs more money to meet her children’s needs.
Hilda Edmundson, 50, of Raleigh, said she makes $9 per hour helping clients get clothed and
fed, and even make them feel appreciated. She said she’s optimistic that lawmakers will respond
positively because of their visit.
“I never went this far as coming up to the legislature and standing for something,” Edmund
son said.
SC man arrested in 2012 double slaying in Durham
(AP) - A South Carolina man has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with a
double slaying in Durham in 2012.
Durham police say that 38-year-old Tyrone Thompson was arrested Tuesday morning in Goose
Creek, South Carolina, by U.S. Marshals.
Police responded to shootings at a home in Durham shortly after 9 p.m. on January 8, 2012. Twenty-
four-year-old Timothy Deangelo McGhee died at his home. Twenty-two-year-old Paul Anthony Noel Jr.,
of Durham died at Duke University Hospital.
Investigators say a number of shots were fired at the house.
Authorities said Thompson was in the Berkeley County, South Carolina, jail. It wasn’t known if he
had an attorney.
Police identify those charged in JCSU shooting
CHARLOTTE (AP) - Police have released the names of four men charged in a shooting at a histori
cally black university in Charlotte where one student was hurt.
Johnson C. Smith University President Ronald Carter said four men who were not students were
turned away from an end-of-the-year party but returned early April 19 and fired into the air.
A freshman was hit in the shoulder. His injuries were not considered life-threatening. His name has
not been released.