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VOLUME 96 - NUMBER 12
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 2017
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
Trump’s budget boosts
military but cuts GOP,
Dem favorites
The young ladies of Girl Scout Troop 711 of St. Joseph A.M.E. Church hosted
local troops for World Thinking Day. See story an dphotos on pages 8 and 9.
Arkansas lawmakers vote to
remove Lee from King holiday
By Tafi Mukunyadzi
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -
Arkansas lawmakers gave final
approval March 17 to legisla
tion removing Confederate
Gen. Robert E. Lee from
the holiday honoring slain
civil rights leader Martin
Luther King Jr.
The state House ap
proved the proposal with
a 66-11 vote and sent it
to Republican Gov. Asa
Hutchinson, who had urged
lawmakers to end the dual
holiday. Five representa
tives voted present, effec
tively voting no on the bill.
The U.S. Conference Of Mayors
Opposes Proposed Elimination Of
Community Development Block Grants,
Other Key Priorities
Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM)
today pushed back on Administration’s initial “skinny” budget pro
posal for Fiscal Year 2018. The document entitled, “America First: A
Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again,” proposes deep cuts
in funding for many local programs, and eliminates the Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, which impacts every
community in the country.
The Community Development Block Grant program is the most
flexible stream of federal dollars allocated to cities. Since the start
of the program in 1974, it has been used for broad purposes ranging
from affordable housing development and lead-paint abatement, to
services for seniors and people with disabilities, as well as dental
care for low-income children. For every $1.00 of CDBG investment,
another $3.65 in private and public dollars is leveraged.
Regarding the proposed elimination of the CDBG program, U.S.
Conference of Mayors President Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cor
nett said, “Community Development Block Grants are the only fed
eral funding source that gives city leaders some discretion in how
the money is spent, and mayors have used them to leverage private
investment, create affordable housing, spur economic development,
rebuild infrastructure and provide services that strengthen metro ar
eas. America’s mayors will continue to work with our many cham
pions in both the House and Senate to ensure that critically-needed
tools like CDBG funds and the HOME Investment Partnership are
fully funded.”
As previously reported, the Administration has also called for a
$54 billion increase in defense spending in FY 2018, and thus mas
sive corresponding cuts to domestic programs, many of which sup
port the country’s most-vulnerable residents.
“The nation’s mayors will be the front line of concern and action
as we go forward working with Congress to dispose of the Admin
istration’s Budget to reflect the truthful needs of our men, women,
and children” said Conference CEO and Executive Director Tom
Cochran.
“Unfortunately, many persons living in our cities, small, medium
and large, in our suburbs, and in our rural areas, will be severely hurt
if Congress allows these proposals to stand. Mayors stand for all.
This is the first day of this battle to truly put our people first. Togeth
er, with our allies representing the public interest and the needs of the
people, we will demand Congressional action against the ill-advised
proposals contained in the Administration’s budget.”
Mayors will use the hashtag #budget across their social media
platforms to amplify their statements on the Administration’s budget.
Once the bill is signed
into law, Mississippi and
Alabama will be the only
states that honor Lee and
King on the same day.
The bill sets aside the
second Saturday in Oc
tober to honor Lee with a
memorial day, not a state
holiday, marked by a gu
bernatorial proclamation. It
also expands what is taught
in schools about the Civil
War and civil rights.
Hutchinson, who prom
ised last year to push for
ending the dual holiday,
made the unusual move of
testifying in front of two
separate legislative com
mittees this month to speak
in support of the proposal.
Hutchinson told the panel
that King deserved his own
day of recognition, and that
ending the dual holiday
would be a healing moment
for the state.
Hutchinson’s office said
he would sign the measure
into law on Monday with a
ceremony that the governor
said would emphasize the
“historic dynamic of this
new day.”
“The support for a separate
holiday to recognize Martin
Luther King far exceeded my
expectations and speaks well
of the General Assembly and
our state,” Hutchinson said in a
statement released by his office.
Republican Rep. Grant Hodg
es presented the bill in the House
and acknowledged that it wasn’t
perfect. The representative said
he has several Confederate me
morials in his district and that the
measure is not meant to disre
spect Confederate history in any
way. He said the proposal was an
effort to give both King and Lee
their due, individually.
“This is not a perfect solu
tion, but it is a good solution,”
Hodges said.
A similar effort to remove Lee
from the King holiday repeated
ly failed before a House commit
tee two years ago. Opponents of
the measure said the legislation
belittled the state’s Confederate
heritage by not giving Lee his
own holiday.
The vote on March 17 fol
lowed an emotional debate about
King, Lee and Arkansas’ Con
federate and civil rights histo
ries.
“We are not separating Robert
E. Lee and Martin Luther King,”
Republican Rep. Jana Della
Rosa told lawmakers before the
vote. “We are taking Robert E.
Lee and we are putting him in
the basement and we’re acting
like we’re embarrassed that he
ever existed.”
Della Rosa told the other leg
islators that this marked the first
time she had been angry about a
bill that she was voting against.
She had filed a competing bill to
move Lee to the state and federal
holiday in February honoring
George Washington, but said she
withdrew the bill.
By Andrew Taylor
WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi
dent Donald Trump’s new $1.15
trillion budget would reshape
America’s government with the
broad, conservative strokes he
promised as a candidate, order
ing generous increases for the
Durham Branch
NAACP to Mark
100th Anniversary
The Durham branch of
the NAACP will have it’s
100th anniversary program
at Markham Chapel Mis
sionary Baptist Church,
3630 Old Chapel Hill Road
on Sunday March 26th at
4pm. Bishop Tony Butler
will be our guest speaker
and his topic will be “One
Language, One Speech”.
There will be no food
served during or after the
meeting as previously men
tioned. Fred Foster, Jr. will
be recognized as our presi
dent from 2006 tO 2016.
Please come to our meet
ing, your support is needed.
Former NC police
chief detained at
JFK for 90 minutes
By Martha Waggoner
RALEIGH (AP) - A former North Carolina police chief
who now works as a law enforcement consultant said
March 19 that he’s disappointed with his country of 42
years after he was detained at John F. Kennedy Interna
tional Airport.
Former Greenville Police Chief Hassan Aden of Alex
andria, Virginia, said he was detained March 13 on his
return trip from Paris. He supports the officers ofthe U.S.
Customs and Border Patrol, but he believes his 90-min-
ute detention was unreasonable, he said in a telephone
interview.
Aden, who is biracial, said a customs officer told him
that his name was used as an alias by someone on a watch
list. He said one officer told him that he wasn’t being de
tained even though he couldn’t use his phone and he had
to remain seated.
“When it goes to 90 minutes with no phone ... and you
can’t move around, it seems more than an investigation to
check your passport,” he said. “It begins to feel like you
are in custody.”
Aden described the scene in a Facebook post March
18, adding that the officer who told him that he wasn’t be
ing detained has an “ignorance of the law and the Fourth
Amendment” of the U.S. Constitution that should dis
qualify him as a customs officer.
“I certainly was not free to leave,” Aden said.
Aden, 52, said he became a naturalized U.S. citizen at
the age of 10 when he was an Italian citizen. He worked
for the police department in Alexandria for about 25
years, then as Greenville police chief for about two years.
Clients of the consulting firm he now owns include the
U.S. Justice Department, he said.
With family in Italy, France and England, Aden travels
often travels overseas. He says that won’t change. But
he is rethinking plans to send his 12- and 15-year-old
children overseas as unaccompanied minors to spend the
summer with relatives because he wouldn’t want them to
go through the same situation on their own.
“This is my country and with things I see happening, I
see certain rights eroding in the name of national security.
It’s worrisome,” he said.
A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson said
the agency doesn’t comment on individual cases.
military, slashing domestic pro
grams and riling both fellow Re
publicans and Democrats by go
ing after favored programs.
The president’s initial budget
proposal, submitted to Congress
on March 16, would boost de
fense spending by $54 billion,
the largest increase since Ron
ald Reagan’s military buildup of
the 1980s. That means deep cuts
elsewhere - the environment,
agriculture, the arts - but Trump
said that’s imperative to take on
the Islamic State group and oth
ers in a dangerous world.
“To keep Americans safe, we
have made the tough choices that
have been put off for too long,”
he declared in a statement titled
“America First” that accompa
nied the budget.
Or, as Budget Director Mick
Mulvaney said, “This is a hard
power budget, not a soft power
budget.”
It’s not entirely in line with
Trump’s campaign pledges.
It would make a big down
payment on the U.S.-Mexico
border wall, which Trump re
peatedly promised the Mexicans
would pay for. American taxpay
ers will, at least for now. The
March 16 proposal calls for an
immediate $1.4 billion infusion
with an additional $2.6 billion
planned for the 2018 budget year
starting Oct. 1.
Parts of Trump’s spending plan
for the next fiscal year angered
both congressional Democrats
and Republicans who will have
the final say on it.
While it targets Democratic
priorities like housing, commu
nity development and the en
vironment, it also would slash
GOP sacred cows like aid to
rural schools and subsidized
airline service to Trump strong
holds, and it would raise fees on
participants in the federal flood
insurance program.
The budget pursues frequent
targets of the GOP’s staunch
est conservatives, eliminating
the National Endowment for the
Arts, legal aid for the poor, low-
income heating assistance and
the AmeriCorps national service
program established by Presi
dent Bill Clinton.
But Midwestern Republicans
including Sen. Rob Portman of
Ohio were upset by cuts to the
Great Lakes Restoration Initia
tive. Southern Republicans like
Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky
lashed out at cuts he called “dra
conian, careless and counterpro
ductive.”
One target of the budget is the
Appalachian Regional Commis
sion, which helps communities
in the region.
Trump’s proposal covers
only roughly one-fourth of the
approximately $4 trillion total
federal budget. This is the dis
cretionary portion that Congress
passes each year, not addressing
taxes, Social Security, Medicare
and Medicaid.
Nor does it make predictions
about deficits and the econo
my. Those big-picture details
are due in May, and are sure to
show large - probably perma
nent - budget deficits. Trump has
vowed not to cut Social Security
and Medicare and is dead set
against raising taxes.
As for Thursday’s (March 16)
proposal, Republicans praised
the president for beefing up the
Pentagon, but they were far
less enthusiastic about accept
ing Trump’s recipe for doing so
without adding to the nation’s
$20 trillion debt.
“While we support more
funding for our military and de
fense, we must maintain support
for our farmers and ranchers,”
said North Dakota Republican
John Hoeven, blasting a 21 per
cent cut to the Agriculture De
partment’s budget.
The proposed budget would
close numerous county offices
that help farmers and rural resi
dents navigate farm subsidy and
rural development programs.
Rural development and water
projects would also bear cuts.
“I just want to make sure that
rural America, who was very
supportive to Trump, doesn’t
have to take a disproportion
ately high cut,” said Rep. Robert
Aderholt, R-Ala.
Budget Director Mulvaney
acknowledged that passing the
cuts could be an uphill strug
gle and said the administration
would negotiate.
“This is not a take-it-or-leave-
it budget,” he acknowledged.
Many of Trump’s GOP al
lies on Capitol Hill gave it only
grudging praise, if any.
“Congress has the power of
the purse,” reminded House Ap
propriations Committee Chair
man Rodney Frelinghuysen of
New Jersey. “I look forward
to reviewing this,” said House
Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
MCC
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