^^ Nc ^^ .
Che CawiJa Ones
||^?[gy™jS®
(OLUME 94 - NUMBER 42
I
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2015
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
^ (BEST SHOW STOPPING
HE HIT THIMPHU @ ALL ^^jl^ HAXDCLWWSfC
AMPLIFIED EEM> ^ PLANET
[£Tr?j47. ARE TALK UTA BOUT ~ ~ ^ 1)111^1/^t^
NCCU’HOMECOMING
EXPERIENCE OCT 2S ^ «1
State elections board removes Republican
official who made racist posts
ICCU Homecoming Events on Page 6
Ruling awaited over pair
ofNorth Carolina
congressional maps
By Gary D. Robertson
.ALEIGH (AP) - Another panel of judges is considering
ther some electoral districts drawn by North Carolina Repub
is four years ago and used in the past two elections are illegal
use too many black residents were placed inside of them.
hree federal judges held a three-day trial in Greensboro this
week that examined the legality of a pair of congressional
lets that have consistently elected black Democrats for more
20 years. They didn’t immediately rule. An ultimate favor-
decision - likely after more appeals - for voters who sued
Gld require the General Assembly redraw the 1st and 12th Con-
Isional Districts that are being challenged, and likely force ad-
■nents to adjoining districts.
[At least four lawsuits have been filed challenging congressio-
lor General Assembly boundaries, or both, drawn by GOP law
yers in 2011 as discriminatory against minority voters, but the
Kricts haven’t been struck down. The boundaries have helped
publicans expand their state House and Senate majorities and
ve them 10 of the 13 seats in the state’s congressional delega-
n. GOP lawmakers said the maps were fair and followed state
federal laws.
OP lawmakers drew the 1st and 12th Districts with majority-
t voting age populations - 53 percent in the 1st and 51 percent
e 12th. In the previous round of redistricting in the 2000s, the
c voting-age population ranged from 44 to 48 percent.
ttorneys for the voters argue the district boundaries should be
tick down because there was no legitimate reason to increase the
tentages when the districts had allowed black residents to elect
Bidates of their choice.
■he 1st District, which covers all or portions of 24 eastern
tallies stretching from Elizabeth City to Durham, is represented
Rep. G.K. Butterfield. The 12th District, which stretches like
larch along the Interstate 85 corridor between Charlotte and
eensboro, is represented by Rep. Alma Adams.
“For decades, African-Americans enjoyed tremendous success
electing their preferred candidates in former versions” of the
tots, said a trial brief written for the voters that sued. Instead,
■ state responded by purposefully packing even more African-
Bricans into those districts.”
The plaintiffs wrote lawmakers failed to show there was a com-
Ding interest to increase black percentages.
But attorneys for the state wrote race wasn’t the predominant
live for forming either district. Rather, they said the mapmak-
toioved voters who supported President Barack Obama in the
08 presidential election into the 12th District and moved out
>se who supported John McCain to make surrounding districts
h Republican. The 1st District raised the black voting popula-
Babove to protect legislators from a legal challenge under the
feral Voting Rights Act, according to the state’s brief.
■This evidence demonstrates that several legitimate redistrict-
■ criteria reasons other than race were used to assign voters to
s district,” the brief said.
A panel of state judges and the state Supreme Court upheld
K than- two dozen districts challenged in two consolidated
Baits filed in state court. But the U.S. Supreme Court told the
te's justices last spring to review the case in light of an Alabama
feting case. The state Supreme Court took a second look in
igrist but hasn’t yet ruled.
Another federal lawsuit challenging General Assembly districts
■filed in May. A trial is scheduled for next April.
Cemetery for slaves,
Native Americans
to get marker
CHARLOTTE (AP) - A proper memorial will finally
the burial site of up to 80 slaves and Native Ameri-
I in a wooded area near Sardis Presbyterian Church in
■lotte.
he Charlotte Observer reports about 20 people
ined to gather Oct. 17 at the cemetery where people
e buried more than 150 years ago.
small stone monument was set to be placed at the
that will alert people that the cemetery “is the final
ng place of Afro-American slaves and Native Ameri-
s who were baptized communing members of Sardis
byterian Church.”
Ie burial ground was used from 1790 to the 1860s.
By Emery P. Dalesio
RALEIGH (AP) - North Car
olina’s elections board dumped a
local official who made racially
tinged Facebook posts praising
the. Confederacy and suggesting
that blacks who protested against
Republican policies weren’t
“productive good citizens” with
jobs.
The State Board of Elections
voted 3-2 to dismiss Rowan
County Elections Chairman
Malcolm “Mac” Butner, whose
social media accounts also ex
pressed support for individual
candidates in . violation of state
law. Butner’s case marks the first
time the state board has removed
an elections official over social
media postings.
Butner told the board in a
letter he did nothing wrong but
couldn’t respond fully due to
medical problems. He didn’t at
tend the hearing or respond to
messages seeking comment.
Butner had a long record
of “intemperate” remarks that
made him unsuited for a role that
doesn’t allow political expres
sions such as campaign bumper
stickers on cars, said board chair
man Josh Howard, a Republican
who sided with the board’s two
Democrats to oust Butner.
“If you’re in charge of count
ing the votes everybody should
be confident that you’re going
to count everyone’s vote equal,”
Howard said.
The two state board members
opposed to removing Butner said
they didn’t think his comments
affected his ability torun fair and
honest elections.
For more than a year, the
state board has alerted county
elections officials to a federal
appeals court ruling that social
media commentary can compro
mise efforts to project fairness in
election decisions.
Butner made national news
last year for Facebook post
ings extolling the Confederacy,
denouncing gays and blasting
demonstrators protesting the pri
orities of Republican legislative
leaders and Gov. Pat McCrory.
On Facebook, Butner dis
played a photo taken at one dem
onstration in Raleigh and noted
the black participants. “I GUESS
THE WHITE FOLK COULD
NOT GET OFF BECAUSE
THEY WERE TOO BUSY BE
ING PRODUCTIVE GOOD
CITIZENS,” Butner wrote in
2013.
Butner was chairman of a lo
cal housing agency at the time
and a public housing resident
complained anonymously to a
U.S. Housing and Urban Devel
opment official in Greensboro.
Butner did not seek reappoint
ment when his term ended in
August 2014,
Butner resigned his seat on
the state Republican Party’s ex
ecutive committee in June to
join the three-member county
elections board and told The As
sociated Press a month later he
wouldn’t resign under any cir
cumstances.
“I’m the victim,” he said then.
“The problem is, in this society,
you can’t express your First
Amendment rights. You have to
be politically correct.”
Under state law, the Repub
lican and Democratic leaders of
the state parties each nominate
a list of names for appointment
to the three-member elections
boards in each of North Caro
lina’s 100 counties. The state
board then votes to appoint the
parties’ nominees to the local
boards, with the majority in ev
ery county going to whichever
party controls the governor's
mansion - currently the Repub
licans.
Butner was nominated by the
state’s Republican Party
three-member elections boards
in each of North Carolina’s 100
counties. The state board then
votes to appoint the parties’
nominees to the local boards,
with the majority in every coun
ty going to whichever party con
trols the governor’s mansion -
currently the Republicans.
Butner was nominated by the
state’s Republican Party
“I GUESS THE WHITE FOLK COULD
NOT GET OFF BECA USE THEY WERE
TOO BUSY BEING PRODUCTIVE
GOOD CITIZENS, ” Butner wrote in
2013.
First Lady Michelle Obama breaks a bottle of champagne on the sail of the PCU-Illinois subma
rine during a christening ceremony at General Dynamics Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, Conn.,
Oct. 10.. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
Democrats acknowledge Black
Lives Matter during debate
By Jesse J. Holland
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidates gave a meaningful public nod to the Black
Lives Matter movement in their first televised debate, fully adopting its slogan and raising the core con
cerns stemming from police killings of African-Americans that protesters have articulated while disrupt
ing some of their campaign events.
The candidates were careful to avoid uttering the phrase “all lives matter,” showing they clearly
learned from confrontations earlier this year with Black Lives Matter protesters. Some in the movement
say the phrase “all lives matter” minimizes the deaths of African-American men and women at the hands
of law enforcement.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the first to be confronted by Black Lives Matter protesters while
campaigning, called during the debate for “major, major reforms” to the criminal justice system and
invoked the name of Sandra Bland, the black woman found hanged in a Texas jail after being arrested on
a traffic charge.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley apologized last summer after using the alternative “all lives
matter” slogan. On the stage Oct. 13 in Las Vegas, he said, “Black lives matter, and we have a lot ofwork
to do to reform our criminal justice system, and to address race relations in our country.”
Observers noted that the candidates discussed some issues that people have complained about for
years, even though there was no minority candidate in their midst - a rarity for Democrats. A black
candidate has sought the Democratic presidential nomination in almost every election cycle since Jesse
Jackson’s second White House bid in 1988. Former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who is Hispanic,
ran in 2008. No minority candidates ran against President Bill Clinton in his 1996 re-election campaign.
By contrast, the Republican field for 2016 has four candidates of color: Ben Carson, Marco Rubio,
Bobby Jindal and Ted Cruz.
Fredrick Harris, a Columbia University political science professor and director of its Center on Af
rican-American Politics and Society, said it would have been unlikely without the Black Lives Matter
movement that any of the Democratic candidates would have been talking Oct. 13 about the relationship
between police and minority communities.
“None of these things are issues unless black voters pressure the Democratic Party to do something or
there’s a black candidate running who is very conscious ofthese issues,” Harris said.
Police relations with minority communities and the deaths of unarmed black men have been topics
of great interest since the shootings of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012 in Florida and 18-year-old
Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri.
Those deaths, and others of some black women, have inspired protests under the “Black Lives Matter”
moniker around the country. Martin, Brown and Bland’s families were featured speakers at the “Justice
or Else” march marking the 20-year anniversary of the Million Man March in Washington last weekend.
Despite their influence, one of the co-leaders of the official Black Lives Matter organization, Alicia
Garza, has said they will not be endorsing any presidential candidates this election cycle. She also told
The Associated Press in an earlier interview that they may continue to make appearances at Democratic
campaign events.
African-American voters are a key part of the Democratic bloc. In 2012, the percentage of black voters
eclipsed the percentage of whites for the first time, when 66.2 percent of blacks voted, compared to 64.1
percent of non-Hispanics whites and about 48 percent of Hispanics and Asians. That number is expected
to drop after the end of the Obama presidency, but black, Hispanic and Asian voters are key portions of
any Democratic presidential success.
Two of the 2016 Democratic debates are set for Charleston, South Carolina, and Miami and are spon
sored in part by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and Univision, respectively. It is likely that
issues directly affecting black and Latino voters will be dealt with in more depth during those January
and March debates.
“They’re always interested in the black vote, because those are the ones who are turning out and mak
ing the critical difference in important electoral states like Ohio,” Harris said.
Emory University political scientist Andra Gillespie noted that both O’Malley and former Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton seemed to realize the need to acknowledge the grassroots protests was
greater than any risk associated with not invoking Black Lives Matter. Like O’Malley, Clinton came
under criticism earlier this year for her “all lives matter” comment at an African-American church, and
met later with activists.
“Their statements really reflected that they had already been challenged,” she said.