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DAVI7 12/01/17 SCHILL
UNC-CH SERIALS DEPARTMENT
DAVIS LIBRARY CB# 3930
P O BOX 8890
CHAPEL HILL NC 27599-0001
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 2017
VOLUME 96 - NUMBER 10
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
SEC. BEN CARSON
Ben Carson compares slavery
to immigration to America
By Jesse J. Holland
WASHINGTON (AP) — Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Monday, March 6, compared slavery to immigration
in the United States, a view that experts on slavery called a misleading read on American history.
Carson, who was confirmed as HUD secretary last week and is the only black member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, was talking
about the work ethic and dreams of immigrants who came to the United States through Ellis Island in his first speech at the department.
“There were other immigrants who came here on the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less,” Carson said as he
walked across a stage holding a microphone.
Carson later that night called slaves “involuntary immigrants” on a radio show. “Slaves came here as involuntary immigrants but they still
had the strength to hold on,” he said on Sirius XM’s “The Armstrong Williams Show.”
“That requires a tremendous amount of toughness and will power and hope and faith and they had that,” he said. “Don’t let anyone turn
that into something bad.”
A HUD spokesman declined to comment on Carson’s statement in Monday, March 6. The department later tweeted: “This is the most
cynical interpretation of the Secretary’s remarks to an army of welcoming HUD employees. No one honestly believes he equates voluntary
immigration with involuntary servitude!”
Carson has been considered a hero and motivational speaker in African-American communities for his accomplishments in medicine, and
became a prominent speaker in conservative circles after entering politics.
The retired neurosurgeon has drawn criticism before when making comparisons to slavery. In 2013 he branded “Obamacare,” the Afford
able Care Act championed by President Barack Obama, “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.”
Rana Hogarth, a history professor and expert on American slavery at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said comparing
slaves with immigrants was “inappropriate and wildly inaccurate.” She said immigration “suggests a desire of a person to make the journey.”
“I think that he’s either misinformed or made a mistake,” Hogarth said. “His beginning on Ellis Island tells me there’s a major gap in his
knowledge of how we talk about different ways people settled the United States and what circumstances they settled in United States.”
Rebecca Scott, a University of Michigan law and history professor, said slavery in the United States was a “dramatically distinct form of
migration,” and that slavery made realizing the American dream much more difficult for captured Africans.
“That people had aspirations for their children regardless of how they were brought to the United States was certainly true,” Scott said.
“Their capacity to see their aspirations realized was starkly limited by slavery.”
Carson spoke to HUD employees as he began his first full week leading the department. The Senate confirmed him last week.
The agency, with a budget of about $47 billion, provides housing assistance to low-income people through vouchers and public housing,
enforces fair housing laws and provides development block grants to communities.
In his speech to a standing-room-only audience, Carson pledged to lead HUD with a “very big emphasis on fairness for everybody. Every
thing that we do, every policy. No favorites for anybody. No extras for anybody, but complete fairness for everybody.”
He praised HUD employees for their dedication to HUD’s “mission of really helping the downtrodden, helping the people in our society
to be able to climb the ladder. Because to me, that really is what it’s all about.”
Democrats and housing advocates have expressed concern about his lack of government and housing policy experience. Carson said he
plans to embark on a listening tour of communities and HUD field offices around the country to “see what works and what doesn’t work.”
UNC civil rights law
center told to stop taking
new cases by Republicans
CHAPEL HILL (AP) - Attorneys at North Carolina’s
top law school who pursue lawsuits on behalf of poor
and minority residents are being told to stop taking new
cases while state officials decide whether the group’s
work should be stopped altogether.
Multiple media organizations report the Center for
Civil Rights at the University ofNorth Carolina at Cha
pel Hill’s law school will not take on any new cases.
That’s while the statewide public university system’s
governing board studies whether the law center should
stop its free legal work.
The Center for Civil Rights has gone to court for
residents of a predominantly black Brunswick County
neighborhood who objected to a nearby county landfill;
taken on school desegregation cases; and argued in the
state Supreme Court on behalf of people involuntarily
sterilized by the state.
Alabama city re-enacts march
that sparked “Bloody Sunday”
SELMA, Ala. (AP) - Throngs of people converged in the city of
Selma, Alabama, for the annual re-enactment of a key event in the
civil rights movement.
Sunday, March 5, marked the 52nd anniversary of the march across
the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River in Selma. On
March 7, 1965, African-Americans seeking voting rights launched a
march across the bridge en route to Montgomery but were attacked
by police. That violent episode became known as “Bloody Sunday.”
The march is credited with helping build momentum for passage of
the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. Attendees included the Rev.
Jesse Jackson, Congresswoman Terri Sewell, Alabama Secretary of
State John Merrill and North Carolina NAACP President Dr. William
Barber.
WFSA-TV reports that a number of Selma church services kicked
off Bridge Crossing Jubilee events including at the historic Brown
Chapel where speakers remembered the battle for African American
voting rights and the role the Chapel played in that fight.
Merrill’s speech however upset some audience members. He told
onlookers that the state has been working to create more opportunities
for people to obtain photo identification and get registered to vote by
going to various sites throughout the state.
“We want to make sure that every eligible U.S. citizen that is a
resident of Alabama is registered to vote and has a photo ID so they
can participate in the electoral process at they level that they want to
participate,” Merrill said.
Multiple spectators called out in opposition several times of hav
ing a photo ID including in the voting process. Many walked out of
the church service while Merrill was still talking including NAACP
president Barber, according to WFSA.
“Standing on this historic ground, where people died for voting
rights, we cannot accept this hypocrisy of voter suppression,” Barber
said.
The service continued, despite the moments of tension, with Con
gresswoman Sewell calling for unity and activism and other leaders
asking for respect and peace.
Associated Press writer Jennifer C. Kerr contributed to this report.
What to do when pulled over: A
new chapter for driver s ed?
By Gary D. Robertson
RALEIGH (AP) - Deadly encounters between police officers and motorists have lawmakers across the country thinking
driver’s education should require students to be taught what to do in a traffic stop.
A North Carolina bill would require instructors to describe “appropriate interactions with law enforcement officers.” Illinois
passed a similar law recently, and another awaits the Virginia governor’s signature. Mississippi, New Jersey and Rhode Island
also are considering them.
Many lawmakers want to make police interactions more transparent and improve community relations, in particular with
people who feel unjustly targeted or mistreated because of their skin color.
Most don’t pretend to legislate exactly how drivers should react, leaving the details to be worked out by state law enforcement
or education and driver’s license agencies. The 2017 “Rules of the Road” for Illinois , published in February, could provide a
model, making detailed “suggestions” about proper driver behavior. _
“The goal here is to reduce what could be a tense situation that can be very stressful on both sides,” said Dave Druker, with
the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees licensing 2.2 million new and veteran drivers annually.
The overall message? Use “a common-sense approach” and don’t be confrontational, Druker said.
Robert Dawkins, state organizer of the police accountability group SAFE Coalition NC, said it could help young drivers con
trol their emotions at traffic stops. But he said North Carolina needs companion legislation “so that police officers can understand
to control their emotions” as well, and be trained that racial profiling is unlawful.
Dawkins said that even drivers who have been taught to show “all kinds of respect” could be vulnerable if an officer sees their
hands move from the steering wheel: “I make a quick movement, that that quick movement can result in me losing my life,” he
said.
Law enforcement officers worry about exactly the same situation: When motorists reach under their seats to get a driver’s li
cense, officers have to consider whether they’re reaching for a gun, said Eddie Caldwell, executive director of the North Carolina
Sheriffs Association, whose organization has strongly endorsed the North Carolina legislation.
The Illinois guidelines, now included in expanded form in driver licensing materials, encourage drivers to avoid this situation
by keeping both hands clearly in sight on the steering wheel “until the officer instructs them otherwise.”
Virginia Democratic Del. Jeion Ward said her measure, which the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed and is now on
Gov. Terry McAulliffe’s desk, aims to make sure all young drivers are properly informed.
“Heaven help us if they are getting information off of YouTube or the internet,” Ward said. “We just have to make sure that
our young drivers have the correct information so simple infractions will not become something more serious.”
The Illinois guide focuses on driver responsibilities, while addressing officer behavior in several sentences at the end.
It says “a driver is to be treated with dignity and respect by law enforcement officers,” and that drivers should report what
they consider to be inappropriate conduct to the officer’s superiors as soon as possible. It also notes that “officers are required to
provide their names and badge numbers upon request.”
The American Civil Liberties Union’s online “know your rights if you’re stopped in your car” guidelines include some identi
cal suggestions, and adds several more: It says drivers should turn off the engine, turn on the internal lights and open the window
partway before placing their hands on the wheel, presumably to reduce the need for any risky movements.
The ACLU also says drivers can refuse a search request, but that officers don’t need consent if they believe the car contains
evidence of a crime. And it notes that both drivers and passengers have the right to remain silent. Passengers can ask if they’re
free to go; “If yes, silently leave,” it says.
The proposed North Carolina curriculum would be developed in consultation with the sheriff’s association, the state Highway
Patrol and a group representing police chiefs. Civil liberties groups aren’t listed in the bill.
Allen Robinson, chief executive officer of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, which creates cur
ricula in 35 states, said these mandates won’t prevent all problems, but they should help teenagers avoid bad decisions.
“Anything that keeps the rancor and stupidness from going on inside of a car when there is a minor traffic violation, we’re all
for,” Robinson said.
North Carolina’s legislation is getting bipartisan support, with more than 35 House sponsors, black and white, from both par
ties.
“It’s just a public safety issue,” said Republican state Rep. John Faircloth, the former High Point police chief. “I think all of us want to
do anything we can to make the public safer out there, and to not put our officers in a situation where they might make the wrong decision.”
Andre Peterson, 35, a black father of two daughters, said he thinks it can help young people know what’s expected of them.
“Compliance is a big issue between police and the people-of-color community,” Peterson said while attending a civil rights rally in Raleigh.
“If you show respect, you’ll get it back in return.”
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