^^1 c^l VOLUME 95 - NUMBER 43 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2016 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS EARLY VOTING ENDS NOV. 5 A Voteless People Is A Hopeless People - L.E. Austin BLACK PRESS EXCLUSIVE HILLARY CLINTON’S MESSAGE TO NC’S BLACK COMMUNITY By Cash Michaels Contintributor [RALEIGH] In an exclusive interview with North Carolina’s African-American press, Hillary Clinton said even though she is running to benefit all Americans, the first woman expected to be elected president of the United States on Nov. 8 th does have a special focus on working with the African- American community and its leaders - both local and national - to improve employment, business, education, and other important quality of life issues. “I want to pay particular attention to Americans who feel left out and left behind by the economy, or the situation in their communities,” the former First Lady, senator and US secretary of State said Sunday at St. Augustine’s in Raleigh, during perhaps one of her last sit-down interviews of the campaign. “I’ve laid out a really extensive agenda for African- Americans, starting with improving the economy so that its producing more jobs for more people; raising the national minimum wage - [we’ve] got mostly women earning minimum wage, often times being the sole support of their children, and they deserve a better economic opportunity,” she said. Mrs. Clinton also cited more affordable housing as a need. She maintained that getting equal pay for women as a “particularly big issue for African-American women,” adding that black female small (Continued On Page 2) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is joined by mothers of black men who died from gun violence, Geneva Reed-Veal, left, mother of Sandra Bland, Lucia McBath, second from left, mother of Jordan Davis, Sybrina Fulton, center, mother of Trayvon Martin, Maria Hamilton, second from right, mother of Dontre Hamilton, and Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner as she speaks during Sunday service at Union Baptist church, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016, in Durham, (AP Photo/ Looking past Trump, Clinton aims to help other Democrats By Josh Lederman and Catherine Lucey (AP) - Newly confident and buoyant in the polls, Hillary Clinton is looking past Donald Trump while widening her mis sion to include helping Demo crats seize the Senate and chip away at the Republican-con trolled House. Though Trump’s campaign insisted Sunday it was prema ture to count him out, it’s Clin ton whose path to winning the White House has only grown wider in the race’s final weeks. Even longtime Republican strongholds such as Utah and Arizona suddenly appear within her reach on Nov. 8, enticing Democrats to campaign hard in territory they haven’t won for decades. The shifting political map has freed Clinton and her well-fund ed campaign to spend time and money helping other Democrats in competitive races. Clinton said she didn’t “even think about responding” to Tramp anymore and would instead spend the fi nal weeks on the road “empha sizing the importance of electing Democrats down the ballot.” “We’re running a coordinated campaign, working hard with gubernatorial, Senate and House candidates,” said Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager. And for good reason. After a merciless two-year campaign, the next president will face the daunting task of governing a bitterly divided na tion. If Clinton wins, her pros pects for achieving her goals will be greatly diminished un less her victory is accompanied by major Democratic gains in Congress. “We’ve got to do the hard and maybe most important work of healing, healing our country,” Clinton said Sunday at Union Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina. For Democrats, there’s an other reason to try to run up the score. With Trump warning he may contest the race’s outcome if he loses, Clinton’s campaign is hoping for an overwhelm ing Democratic victory that would undermine any attempt by Tramp to claim the election had been stolen from him. In a rare admission of fal libility by the typically boastful Tramp, his campaign acknowl edged he’s trailing Clinton as Election Day nears. “We are behind,” Tramp campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said. Still, she added, “We’re not giving up. We know we can win this.” Conway laid out in granular detail Trump’s potential path to winning: victories in Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Nevada and Ohio, to start. If Tramp pre vents Arizona and Georgia from falling to Democrats and adds in some combination of Colorado, Virginia, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, he could reach the 270 electoral votes needed, Con way said. President Barack Obama joins Gwen Stefani on stage after her State Dinner performance on the South Lawn of the White House, Oct. 18,2016. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) It won’t be easy. A current Associated Press analysis of polling, demographic trends and other campaign data rates Virginia as solidly Democratic, while Colorado, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania are all leaning Democratic. Arizona, remark ably, is a toss-up. Campaigning Sunday in Florida, Tramp called for vot ers to elect a Republican House and Senate that would “swiftly enact” his priorities, which in clude overhauling taxes, restor ing higher spending on defense and repealing the Affordable Care Act. “We can enact our whole plan in the first 100 days - and we will,” Trump said. If Clinton wins, Democrats would need a net gain of four Senate seats to retake the ma jority. House control would be much harder. Democrats would need a 30-seat gain, a feat they haven’t accomplished in roughly four decades. (Continued On Page 3) Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, left, speaks to Cash Michaels, with an exclusive interview on issues affecting the African American community. Historic African-American town, Princeville, slowly reopens after Matthew By Martha Waggoner RALEIGH (AP) - Two weeks after she fled her home in Princeville with her husband and three chil dren, Susan Morris returned to find the only major dam age left by Hurricane Mat thew was some damage to her roof. “Blessed. Amazing. Thankful,” Morris, 59, said in a phone interview Oct. 22 when asked how it felt to walk back into the home they left on Oct. 8. Morris and her hus band, Dennis, and their three children stayed in a home with another daugh ter, the daughter’s husband and their two children in a three-bedroom, one-bath house after they evacuated. Dennis Morris has multiple sclerosis and typically uses a wheelchair, but got by with a walker during the evacuation, she said. Residents of the South ern Terrace neighborhood, where about 25 percent of the town’s 2,200 residents live, were allowed to return home Oct. 21, Mayor Bob bie Jones said. About half the town may be allowed to return Oct. 24 with the rest of Princeville likely re opening Oct. 25 or 26, he said. Princeville, founded by freed slaves and chartered in 1885, was inundated in 1999 by Hurricane Floyd, which left up to 11 feet of water standing in the town for nine days. Hurricane Matthew’s floodwaters from the Tar River went around the 37-foot-high dike, rebuilt after Floyd, but reached only 36.1 feet and didn’t breach it, Jones said. The National Guard has pumped millions of gallons of water out of the town, which now needs to repair the sewer system before the rest of the residents can re turn, he said. Inspections of homes also continue. The flooding wasn’t as bad as Jones had feared, with water about 7 feet high on Main Street, he said. Even the artifacts in the town museum are safe, he said. And he believes that once officials receive federal money to extend the dike and raise it another 5 feet, this sort of storm won’t damage the town again. Meanwhile, The N.C. African American Heritage Commission is collecting supplies to help Princeville. The most-needed items in clude hand tools, toiletries, non-perishable food, clean ing supplies, new toys and books for children, face masks, rubber gloves and new undergarments of all (Continued On Page 12)