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VOLUME 95 - NUMBER 35
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Poll: Support for Black Lives
Matter grows among white youth
By Jesse J. Holland and Emily
Swanson
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sup
port for the Black Lives Matter
movement has increased among
young white adults, according to
a poll that suggests a majority of
white, black, Asian and Hispanic
young adults now support the
movement calling for account
ability for police in the deaths of
African-Americans.
Fifty-one percent of white
adults between the ages of 18
and 30 say in a GenForward poll
they now strongly or somewhat
support Black Lives Matter, a
10-point increase since June,
while 42 percent said they do not
support the movement.
But most young whites also
think the movement’s rhetoric
encourages violence against the
police, while the vast majority
of young blacks say it does not.
And young whites are more like
ly to consider violence against
police a serious problem than
say the same about the killings
of African-Americans by police.
Black, Hispanic and Asian
youth already had expressed
strong majority support for the
Black Lives Matter movement
in the June poll. Eighty-five per-
The Black Lives Matter
movement emerged in 2012 af
ter Florida neighborhood watch
volunteer George Zimmerman
was acquitted in the fatal shoot
ing of an unarmed black teenag
er, Trayvon Martin. It gathered
strength in ensuing years follow
ing the deaths of other black men
at the hands of police in New
York, South Carolina, Baltimore
and elsewhere.
The August GenForward
poll came after police in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana, fatally shot
Alton Sterling after pinning him
to the ground, and after Philando
Castile was shot and killed by
a white police officer during a
traffic stop in a suburb of Min
neapolis.
Asked specifically about re
cent killings of black people by
(Continued On Page 12)
What If: Could Clinton win
it before Election Day?
By Hope Yen
WASHINGTON (AP) - Election Day isn’t what it used to be. The
presidential winner may be all but known by then, thanks to early
voting.
Beginning Sept. 9, residents in North Carolina can submit absen
tee mail-in ballots - the first of 37 states and the District Columbia
to vote by mail or at polling sites before Nov. 8. Four years ago,
about 45.6 million people or 35 percent of the electorate attracted by
its convenience voted early, and that number is expected to spike in
2016.
That’s where Hillary Clinton’s ground game - at least double the
size of Donald Trump’s - could make a difference.
In seven states being targeted by both campaigns - Colorado, Flor
ida, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia - early votes
are expected to make up 45 to 75 percent or more, based on 2012
numbers. All but Colorado are must-win for Trump.
(Continued On Page 12)
The Durham Academy of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy 2016 Auxiliary
Honorees - From left to right standing are: Mayor William V. “Bill Bell and key
note speaker, Dr. Michael H. Richards. Seated honorees from left to right are: Dr.
Lizzie Harrell, Dr. Haywood L. Brown and Dr. James R. Lewis. See story and
photos on page 8)
cent of African-American young
adults now say they support the
protesters. Sixty-seven percent
of Asian and 62 percent of His
panic young adults agreed with
that sentiment.
The GenForward survey of
adults age 18 to 30 is conducted
by the Black Youth Project at the
University of Chicago with the
Associated Press-NORC Center
for Public Affairs Research. The
first-of-its-kind poll pays special
attention to the voices of young
adults of color, highlighting
how race and ethnicity shape the
opinions of a new generation.
Sean Bradley, 26, ofClearwa-
ter, Florida, said watching sev
eral encounters between police
and black suspects online helped
cement his support for Black
Lives Matter. As a white male,
he said, he also has had run-ins
with the police and witnessed
officers trying to cover for what
he considered illegal conduct by
other officers.
“The fact is that the police
target blacks and they discrimi
nate against blacks,” Bradley
said. “Because of how they’ve
treated blacks over the years, of
course they (blacks) don’t trust
them (police) and I know for a
fact that some of the things the
police do are illegal. I would be
upset as well.”
President Barack Obama gives a toast with President Bounnhang Vorachith of
Laos in the Dok Boua Ban Room at the Presidential Palace in Vientiane, Laos,
Sept. 6. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
NABJ Congratulates Lester Holt as
Moderator of First 2016 Presidential Debate
WASHINGTON, D.C. - NABJ congratulates Lester Holt, NABJ Journalist ofthe
Year and anchor of “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” on being selected as the
moderator for the first 2016 presidential debate.
Holt will moderate the first debate on Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in Hemp
stead, N.Y. The commission also announced today that Martha Raddatz of ABC and
Anderson Cooper of CNN will moderate the town hall debate on Oct. 9; and Chris
Wallace of Fox News will moderate the final debate on Oct. 19.
All of the 2016 moderators are first-time presidential debate moderators. CBS
News correspondent Elaine Quijano will moderate the vice-presidential debate on
Oct. 4.
“NABJ is pleased that the Commission on President Debates selected Lester for
this important role and for ensuring that diverse voices are at the table to lead the
discussion. We know that Lester will do an exemplary job as moderator, and that the
public will learn more about the two nominees,” said NABJ President Sarah Glover.
“As an advocacy organization, we have continued to champion diversity inclu
sion. Just four years ago, black journalists and journalists of color were not selected
for the moderator roles. While we celebrate Lester and Elaine Quijano’s participa
tion, it is unfortunate that a Latino journalist won’t be represented in a moderator
position this year.”
Holt follows in the great footsteps of NABJ members Bernard Shaw, co-mod-
erator of the 1988 presidential debate and vice presidential debate in 2000; Carole
Simpson, the only black woman to moderate a presidential debate in 1992; and Gwen
Ifill, moderator of the vice presidential debate in 2004 and 2008.
LINK: NABJ Expresses Disappointment Over Lack of Diversity in Presidential
Debate Moderators (August 17, 2012)
Lester Holt
About the National Association of Black Journal
ists:
An advocacy group established in 1975 in Wash
ington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization for
journalists of color in the nation, and provides career
development as well as educational and other sup
port to its members worldwide.
Double Murder-Investigative
Misconduct - Exclusive: Review of
convictions underway in N. Carolina
By Martha Waggoner and Emery P. Dalesio
(AP) - Advocates are undertaking a massive review of convictions
in a North Carolina county where one prosecutor was disbarred for
misconduct in the Duke University lacrosse case and another was
suspended for ethics violations.
Inspired by the innocence claims of Darryl Howard, who was
freed after spending 21 years in prison for two slayings he says he
didn’t commit, the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence has
spent about two years quietly combing through hundreds of cases
from Durham County of people who remain behind bars.
The group has focused that investigation on about 20 cases, the
center’s executive director, Chris Mumma, told The Associated Press
on Thursday. She said four directly involved work by Mike Nifong,
the prosecutor in the Duke case; more than half were handled by
other staffers during his nearly three decades prosecuting crimes in
Durham.
Mumma would not say specifically why the center zeroed in on
those 20 cases. However, cases in North Carolina and elsewhere have
been re-examined when there are problems with evidence or witness
testimony, or suggestions of misconduct by police or prosecutors.
Re-examining the cases became necessary after the Duke case
and after Howard’s conviction was thrown out, said defense attorney
Kerry Sutton, who defended some of the three lacrosse players ac
cused of rape by a stripper a decade ago.
“I don’t know that it was really optional. There was not any way
around it. It was going to be done,” said Sutton, a friend of current
District Attorney Roger Echols. “I’d be surprised if other damaging
pieces of evidence of flaws or things not done correctly - intention
ally or unintentionally - weren’t found.”
Nifong became district attorney in 2005, just before the Duke
players were charged in 2006. He was disbarred the following year
because state investigators determined he lied and buried evidence
proving the players’ innocence.
A judge ruled that DNA evidence showed Howard didn’t partici
pate in the rape and murder of a woman and her 13-year-old daughter
in 1991. Judge Orlando Hudson freed him from prison. Hudson two
years ago also threw out Howard’s sentence, saying Nifong failed to
share with defense attorneys a police memo and other evidence that
pointed to suspects other than Howard.
Howard remained jailed despite the 2014 ruling, and an appeals
court decided Hudson had not heard enough evidence.
Nifong did not return calls to his home seeking comment. His
successor, Tracey Cline, was dismissed from office and suspended
from practicing law for accusing Hudson of bias and violating rules
by seeking prison records for two inmates. The Associated Press
couldn’t find a working number for her, and an attorney didn’t return
a message.
Echols and Mumma agreed two years ago, about the time the
judge first ordered Howard’s release, that they ought to investigate
whether more cases of questionable prosecutorial conduct remained
unearthed.
Mumma and her staff began by searching for claims of innocence
or constitutional violations in 1,120 cases in which the defendants
remained imprisoned. They sent letters to 620 inmates asking for de
tails about their cases, and based on the responses have begun a deep
look into 20.
Echols has promised to cooperate with investigating any question
able cases, saying Aug. 1 that the perception of the justice system,
and specifically of his office, “is almost as important as the reality
of whether or not we are being fair or doing our jobs with integrity.”
The review work is similar to that of the conviction integrity units
now active inside about two dozen of the more than 2,300 local pros
ecutorial offices around the country. But any reviews of past prosecu
tions will come out of Echols’ existing budget, and he will likely do
(Continued On Page 12)