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UNO-CH SERIALS DEPARTMENT
DAVIS LIBRARY CB# 3938
P O BOX 8890
CHAPEL HILL NC £7599-0001
VOLUME 95 - NUMBER 37
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2016 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
Charlotte mayor
to NC lawmakers:
You move first on
LGBT laws
By Tom Foreman, Jr. and Gary D. Robertson
CHARLOTTE (AP) - The mayor of North Carolina’s larg
est city applauded the governor Sept. 19 for recognizing the
need to repeal the LGBT law prompting boycotts of the state.
But she said lawmakers can act anytime they want to, whether
or not Charlotte backs down first on protecting people from
discrimination.
Feeling pressure from the loss of major events, North Caro
lina’s Republican leaders offered over the weekend to consider
rescinding their law limiting LGBT anti-discrimination pro
tections, but only if Charlotte moves first to repeal its never-
enforced city ordinance.
“We are not prepared to add this item to our agenda this
evening, however, we urge the state to take action as soon as
possible and encourage continued dialogue with the broader
community,” Mayor Jennifer Roberts said in response before
Monday’s city council meeting.
The mayor’s response follows a weekend in which GOP
lawmakers and Gov. Pat McCrory floated the idea of a special
General Assembly session to take the state law off the books.
But they said House Bill 2 wouldn’t have been needed if Char
lotte hadn’t first overreached.
“We believe that if the Charlotte City Council rescinds its
ordinance there would be support in our caucuses to return
state law to where it was pre-H.B. 2,” House Speaker Tim
Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger said in a statement Sun
day night.
Sentiment may be leaning against the Republicans on this
issue.
A new poll released Monday found nearly 50 percent of the
state’s likely voters this fall oppose HB2, while almost 40 per
cent support it. Meanwhile, 60 percent say it has hurt the state,
compared to only 11 percent who say it has improved North
Carolina.
The poll also found that women and blacks oppose the law
by even higher margins - 61 percent and 54 percent. The sur
vey of 644 likely voters had a margin of sampling error of 3.9
percentage points.
The law - passed during a single-day special session in
March - initially blocked workers from invoking state law to
sue over employment discrimination, such as on the basis of
race or sex, but the legislature restored that right in July.
Republicans crafted the law in response to Charlotte’s ordi
nance the month before expanding anti-discrimination protec
tions such as sexual orientation and sexual identity to cover
public accommodations including city hotels, restaurants and
retailers.
The state law blocked Charlotte and all local governments
from passing similar rules and directed transgender people to
use bathrooms and showers in schools and government build
ings corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates.
National criticism from gay-rights groups, corporate CEOs
and politicians led to the cancellations of events and lawsuits
to overturn the law. The NBA pulled its 2017 All-Star Game
out of Charlotte.
Last spring, legislative leaders said the Charlotte ordinance
needed to be gone before any significant modifications would
be considered to the state law. The city council declined to do
so at the time. But efforts at a resolution intensified last week
after the NCAA and Atlantic Coast Conference took champi
onships away from North Carolina because of the law, includ
ing the ACC football title game in Charlotte.
Charlotte’s business leaders and the state’s restaurant and
lodging association have been urging a “reset” by repealing
both the ordinance and the law.
But equal rights advocates have urged city leaders to stand
firm behind the ordinance, saying the loss of economic activity
and any damage to the state’s reputation is the fault of Mc
Crory and lawmakers who passed the law, not Charlotte.
“One would think that, finally, 180 days later, the architects
of this disaster, McCrory, Moore and Berger, would step up,
admit their mistake and provide the leadership necessary to
repeal H.B. 2,” state Rep. Chris Sgro, the state’s only openly
gay lawmaker, said Monday in Charlotte. “Instead, McCrory,
Berger and Moore aren’t seeing 180 days of loss. They are see
ing 50 days until an election.”
McCrory has been the law’s most high-profile defender,
citing bathroom privacy concerns. He’s blamed the fallout on
politics - he’s in a tough re-election bid against Democratic
Attorney General Roy Cooper, who opposes the law.
Cooper said Monday that McCrory should call a special
session Monday to repeal the law, and blasted the governor for
not showing leadership. “The damage to our economy must be
stopped and it is clear that full repeal of H.B. 2 will accomplish
this,” Cooper’s statement said.
The city council holds its next regular public meeting Sept.
26.
Robertson reported from Raleigh, NC.
The 2016 Bull City Stand Down was held Sept. 16 at Durham County Memorial Stadium. The
program honors veterans and promotes services to veterans.
This year the late Willie Bradshaw, a veteran, was honored with the field and scoreboard at the
stadium named in his honor. Bradshaw was a long time member of the Durham and Walltown
communities. He was a player, coath and athletic director for Durham Public Schools. From left to
right ae: Pastor Fredrick A. Davis, First Calvary Baptist Church; Mrs. Shsirley Bradshaw, wife;
and Fana Haile-Salessie, granddaughter.
For apathetic Dems, Obama
offers himself as motivation
By Julie Pace
AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) - For Democrats lulled into apathy by the uninspiring presidential election,
President Barack Obama is offering himself as motivation.
He’s not just validating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton or holding up his record as a reason for
voters to keep the White House in his party’s hands. Obama wants his supporters to see anything less than
a vote for Clinton as a sign of disrespect to the nation’s first black president.
“I will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy, if this community lets down its guard and
fails to activate itself in this election,” Obama said Sept. 17 during an impassioned address to the Con
gressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual dinner. “You want to give me a good send-off? Go vote.”
The president was speaking specifically to an audience of African-American leaders, but his broader
message is aimed at all corners of the young, diverse coalition that twice propelled him to the White
House. While Clinton leads Republican Donald Trump by wide margins with young voters, blacks and
Hispanics, party leaders are deeply concerned that turnout among those groups will fall short of what she
needs to win.
“The president knows firsthand how important it is to not take a single vote for granted,” said Jen
nifer Psaki, Obama’s communications director. She said Obama would spend the coming weeks taking
his message to “African-Americans, young people, old people and anyone who needs an extra boost to
remember what is at stake.”
Obama aides say the president has grown increasingly frustrated this year by the indifference to Clin
ton among some Democrats, especially given what he sees as an unacceptable alternative in Trump. That
frustration has been particularly acute with black voters who tell Obama they’re saddened by the end of
his presidency but aren’t enthusiastically rallying behind the candidate who would safeguard most of his
work.
“He knows when he ran, it was a great source of inspiration,” civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson
said. “People cannot just limit the inspiration to his presidency.”
When Obama met with advisers in August to start planning his remarks for the Congressional Black
Caucus event, he made clear he wanted to light a fire under that group of voters.
“My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot,” Obama said in Saturday’s (Sept.
17)address.
President Barack Obama and Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor and Minister of Foreign Af
fairs of Myanmar, visit with Obama family pets Bo and Sunny in the Cabinet Room of the White
House following their bilateral meeting, Sept. 14. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
*CG .
Not/ J
Durtham
Branch
NAACP To
Meet
The Durham Branch
of the NAACP will meet
asy Kyles Temple AMEZ
Church, 409 Dunstan St.
There will be an election
of th enominating Coim-
mittee.
Memberships are cur
rent as of 30 days prior to
the meeting date may be
elected to the Nominating
Committee.
Ms. Carla Hayden
Carla
Hayden
sworn in as
librarian of
Congress
By Ben Nuckols
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
nation is about to get a new chief
librarian.
Carla Hayden was sworn in
Sept. 14 as the 14th librarian of
Congress. Chief Justice John
Roberts will administer the oath
of office during the ceremony at
the library’s Great Hall.
Hayden will be the first wom
an and the first African-Amer
ican to lead the national library
since its inception in 1800. She’s
the longtime CEO of the library
system in Baltimore. She’s also
just the third professional librar
ian to get the job.
President Barack Obama
signed a law last year establish
ing a 10-year term for the librari
an of Congress. It was previously
considered a lifetime appoint
ment. Hayden’s predecessor,
James Billington, held the job
for 28 years and was criticized
for not keeping up with changes
in technology.
Obamas get early
peak at African-
American museum
WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi
dent Barack Obama and the first
family got an early look Wednes
day inside the National Museum
of African American History and
Culture before its opening.
The newest Smithsonian mu
seum will open Sept. 24. Estab
lished more than a decade ago, it
has been accumulating items to
tell the story of America through
the African-American lens.
The president will deliver re
marks at the dedication ceremo
ny. Officials are bracing for huge
crowds in the opening days.