VOLUME 95-NUMBER 4 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2016 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
Understanding The
NC NAACP Lawsuit
Against Voter ID
N.C. A&T student Angelica Willis
By Cash Michaels
Editor for NCBPA
The plaintiffs’ pre-trial
brief in the voter identification
lawsuit being heard in federal
court in Winston-Salem this
week, alleges that Republican
lawmakers amended the strict
2013 voter ID law last summer
just prior to the first federal trial
because “...the State recognized
that ...there was no evidence of
in-person voter fraud in North
Carolina, thus undermining the
purported justification for the
law.”
The lawsuit goes on to
charge that “...the statute
stood to impose enormous and
disproportionate burdens on
minorities once it went into
effect in violation of Section 2
of the Voting Rights Act and the
14th and 15th Amendments of
the Constitution.”
That lawsuit, JVC NAACP v.
Gov. Pat McCrory, challenges
the Republican governor and
the GOP-led state Legislature
over passage of the 2013 voter
photo identification law, which
originally only required a
government-issued photo ID to
vote in the state. It also seeks to
stop implementation'before the
upcoming March 15 th primaries.
Because of last minute
changes to the law last June,
voters will be required to show
a government-issued photo
identification at the polls to
cast a ballot, unless they have
a “reasonable impediment
declaration” for not having one,
which didn’t exist before. In that
case, they would be required to
fill out a form, then show some
form of identification like a
utility bill, verifying their name
and address, in order to then cast
a provisional or substitute ballot.
What has not widely been
reported is that that declaration
can be challenged by. another
voter in that county, and the
county board of elections can
disallow the provisional ballot
cast as a result if it determines
the excuse for not having a photo
ID to be false.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs -
the NC NAACP, the League
of Women Voters of North
Carolina, and the US Justice
Dept. - maintain in their brief
that, “The rationale for North
Carolina originally enacting a
photo ID requirement was to
deter in-person voter fraud. But
allowing those without such
ID to vote simply by signing
a “reasonable impediment”
affidavit would seem to
undermine that justification,
particularly against an
evidentiary background of no
in-person voter fraud in North
Carolina and the increased tax
dollars that North Carolina
taxpayers will need to spend
implementing this law. Against
that background, one must
question what North Carolina’s
real motivation is in continuing
to insist on imposing a photo ID
law at all.”
The brief goes on to allege
that the reasonable impediment
requirement effectively creates
a barrier for African-Americans
and Hispanics to constitutionally
exercise their right to vote,
because they’re more likely than
whites not to have a government-
issued identification, like a
driver’s license. That, plaintiffs’
attorneys say, is a violation of
Section 2 of the 1965 Voting
Rights Act, which prohibits the
state from “imposing or
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NC student’s computer teaching
draws White House praise
GREENSBORO (AP) - The White House is honoring a North
Carolina college student for spearheading a group in Guilford Coun
ty that is developing a computer science-based program for at-risk
youth.
The White House issued a statement Jan. 21 saying North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical State University undergraduate Angelica
Willis is being honored next week. The computer science student is
behind an initiative developing an entrepreneurship and design space
in Greensboro.
Willis is one of nine people from across the country being honored
by the White House for their leadership in expanding access to com
puter science education. Next week’s program will feature remarks
by President Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Acting Educa
tion Secretary John King and others.
Willis is also a student ambassador through the White House His
torically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) All-Stars program.
Excellence is a Mantra for
A&T’s Angelica Willis
N.C. A&T State Public Information
Junior computer science major Angelica Willis made a decision to
leave North Carolina A&T State University and the entire world in a
better condition than she found it.
“That may seem sort of morbid, however, I believe that it is our
duty as human beings to take advantage of the most opportunities, do
the most good, and inspire as many people as possible in the finite
number of years we all have on this planet,” she said.
Willis is maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average and finds
her motivation through being an innovator.
“There is a saying, 'Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.’ I
wholeheartedly agree,” she said. “I am an innovator because I strive
for excellence in all aspects of my life.”
A second generation Aggie, Willis has paved her road to excel
lence with multiple scholarships and honors. In 2014, Willis was one
of 100 winners of the Buick Achievers National Scholarship. The
4-years scholarship pays for tuition, fees, room, board, books and
other expenses. She has also received funding from the Thurgood
Marshall Scholarship Foundation, the Great Lakes National Scholar
ship Award and the Burger King Corporation.
This year, she was named a White House HBCU All-Star, a Uni
versity Innovation Fellow at Stanford and an Apple HBCU Scholar.
A group project she leads placed second in the Ford HBCU Com-
munityChallenge.
“I want to eventually impact the world through innovation and it
is up to me to prepare myself academically, so when the opportunity
presents itself, I will be ready,” Willis said.
Academic excellence is nothing new for Willis. What was new for
her as a freshman was a structured learning environment. From first
grade through high school, Willis was a homeschool student.
“Most students come from a highly structured high school to the
lower structured college environment, but my homeschool program
was nowhere near as structured as traditional high school,” she said.
“I embraced the increase in academic challenge that A&T pro
vided and thrived early on because, as a homeschool student, I had
been taught by my mother to leverage every possible resource, inside
and outside the classroom, in order to learn new material.”
(Continued On Page 3)
President Barack Obama, with First Lady Michelle Obama, reacts to getting beat at Rock, Pa
per, Scissors during a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service event at Leckie Elementary School in
Washington, D.C., Jan. 18. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Mayor Chris Rey On Why
He’s Running For Us Senate
By Cash Michaels
Editor for NCBPA
Editor s note - There is a large number of African-American candidates running for office in North
Carolina during the 2016 election, certainly one of the largest ever. During this campaign season, we will
focus on several of the campaigns so that our readers know more aboid them.
Spring Lake Mayor Chris Rey sees what the impact of Washington, D.C. policies have on families and
citizens in his town every day. That’s why he wants to become North Carolina’s next U.S. senator, so that
he can go to Congress, and be a voice for those families, and advocate for policies that help them move
forward, he says.
There’s a specific perspective that’s missing from Washington, DC,” says Mayor Rey, one of four
Democratic candidates competing in the March 15 th US senatorial primary to face Republican incumbent
Sen. Richard Burr in the Nov. 8 th general election.
Rey says that many of the senators there currently may indeed be committed to fighting for the little
guy, but they don’t know what it means to live paycheck-to-paycheck, or be threatened with the prospect
of having their utilities turned off. He says he can dutifully represent that perspective there, because
average North Carolinians deserve a fighter.
“I get it, because I see it every day as a mayor,” he says.
Rey was first elected mayor in 2011 after defeating a 30-year incumbent that many said was unbeatable.
But “with a new vision,” Rey won the seat with 76 percent of the vote. And he won reelection unopposed.
Mayor Rey takes pride in leading Spring Lake ahead of the national curve, making one of the first
municipalities afterhe was elected to adopt the “Ban the Box” policy, which allows fair consideration of
ex-felons who apply for jobs during the initial application process without revealing their criminal history
until a later interview. Rey is also proud of the fact that Spring Lake was one of the first municipalities to
secure body cameras for its police officers, something very much in the news now amid many controversial
police shootings nationwide. (Continued On P age 3)
No parole for KKK leader who killed black teen with crossbow
CHARLOTTE (AP) - North Carolina officials have denied parole for a former Ku Klux Klan leader
convicted of using a crossbow and a razor-tipped arrow to kill a black teenager three days after Christmas
in 1992.
The Charlotte Observer reports the N.C. Parole Commission denied parole for 56-year-old Russell
Hinson, who was convicted in 1993 of killing 16-year-old Felicia Houston. Department of Public Safety
spokesman Keith Acree said Tuesday that the commission made its decision last week and Hinson had
been notified why parole was denied.
Court records show Houston was walking down the sidewalk at a Monroe apartment complex with
two cousins when she was shot through the chest.
An all-white jury deadlocked over whether Hinson should get the death penalty, and he was sentenced
to life in prison.
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Justices extend bar on automatic
life terms for teenagers
Republican Appointee Clarence Thomas Votes to Keep Life Terms
By Mark Sherman
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Supreme Court ruled Monday that people serving life terms for murders
they committed as teenagers must have a chance to seek their freedom, a decision that could affect more
than 1,000 imnates.
The justices voted 6-3 to extend a ruling from 2012 that struck down automatic life terms with no
chance of parole for teenage killers. Now, even those who were convicted long ago must be considered
for parole or given a new sentence.
The court ruled in the case of Henry Montgomery, who has been in prison more than 50 years, since
he killed a sheriff’s deputy as a 17-year-old in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1963.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing the majority opinion, said that "prisoners like Montgomery must
be given the opportunity to show their crime did not reflect irreparable corruption; and if it did not, their
hope for some years of life outside prison walls must be restored.”
Kennedy said states do not have to go so far as to resentence people serving life terms. Instead, the
states can offer parole hearings with no guarantee of release.
Louisiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania have more than 1,000 people serving life sentences for mur
ders they committed before their 18th birthday, according to Michigan’s Supreme Court filing in Mont
gomery’s case. They are among the few states that have refused to extend the Supreme Court’s ruling
from 2012.
Monday’s decision does not expressly foreclose judges from sentencing teenagers to a lifetime in
prison. But the Supreme Court has previously said such sentences should be rare, and only for the most
heinous crimes.
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