Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / May 20, 2017, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
C'Nii C^IC^ DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2017 VOLUME 96 - NUMBER 20 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS NC NAACP President Barber Leaves In June To Join National Poor People’s Campaign By Cash Michaels Of The Wilmington Journal Though he insists that he’s “really not leaving,” Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, president of the State Conference of the North Carolina NAACP, says he will be “transitioning” from the state presidency next month to join a national “poor people’s” campaign to address issues of poverty and social inequality. “I’m not going to run for an other term [as president] of the North Carolina NAACP, and I will step down in June,” the civil rights leader said Wednesday during a teleconference. Maintaining that the NC NAACP is “...strong in our legal victories; strong in our organi zational structure; strong finan cially and strong in the clarity of agenda...,” the civil rights leader expressed confidence that the next state president, coming from among the organization’s four vice presidents, will be up to the task. Barber has been president of the North Carolina chapter, the largest in the South, since 2005. He led the once troubled conference into national promi nence with weekly Moral Mon day demonstrations at the North Carolina state legislature since 2013, and challenging the state on controversial cases of alleged racial injustice. The key to Barber’s success was his ability to lead diverse racial and religious coalitions to demand change on issues ranging from equal education to affordable health care. Subse quently the Christian leader was invited to twenty-three states last year to do “moral revival” train ing, sparking Moral Monday demonstrations as far away as Chicago. In recent years, Rev. Barber has been recognized as a key voice in the progressive move ment nationally, garnering him numerous appearances on MS NBC and CNN, and stories in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal; an address during the 2016 Democratic Na tional Convention in Philadel phia; and the keynote sermon at Riverside Church in Harlem last month commemorating the fif tieth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s April 4, 1967 “Beyond Vietnam” address. His numerous appearances across the country gradually fu eled speculation that Rev. Barber was steadily ascending to nation al leadership. Last Wednesday, he confirmed that he will be “fol lowing a deep calling” and “tran sitioning to an expansion of the work around the country.” “We found that there is a deep hunger for a shift in our moral (Continued On Page 2) .Atoaiwaeii REV. WILLIAM BARBER “I’m not going to run for another term [as president] of the North Carolina NAACP, and I will step down in June, ” BARBER SUPPOR TERS CELEB RA TE HIGH COURT VOTER ID DECISION Dancer, Humanitarian Chuck By Cash Michaels Contributing writer, CashWoirks RALEIGH - There were cheers and shouts of “Forward together, not one step back,” at Davie Street Presbyterian Church in Raleigh Mon day morning for those there to see NC NAACP Pres. William Barber announce his stepping down. But in this instance, the approximately 100 people were reacting to news that the US Supreme Court declined to overrule the 2016 decision by the US Fourth Circuit of Appeals to strike down North Carolina’s 2013 voter ID law. The NC NAACP sued then Gov. Pat Mc Crory, who signed the voter ID law, and the NC Republican-led Legislature, which passed HB 589, accusing them of suppressing the black vote with unconstitutional voting restrictions. “We were plaintiff's in the lawsuit,” Rev. John Mendez, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, explained, recalling the weeklong hearings in federal court there in 2014. Mendez was among those quoted in court papers filed in the lawsuit. “So it’s a very big day for us. We’re excited.” . ■ In its July 2016 decision, the US Fourth Circuit agreed that voter suppression was exactly what the Republican lawmakers were up to, stating that the GOP targeted the black vote “with surgical precision.” Dies; Baba Chuck January 1, 1937 - May 14 African Aemrican Dance Ensemble Website Chuck Davis, known in the dance world with great love as “Baba Chuck”, Founder and Artistic Director of the African American Dance Ensemble, based in Durham, North Carolina, and the Chuck Davis Dancer Company of New York, was an extraordinary dancer, choreographer, community-builder, and artistic visionary who has demonstrated a lifelong passion and commitment to excellence in dance, teaching and sharing of African heritage, and the nurturing of the best of the human spirit in all of us. He was the Founder and Ar tistic Director of Dance Africa, which is presented today in Brooklyn, NY; Washington, DC; Chicago, Illinois; and Dallas, Texas; Denver Co.; Columbus, Oh; Pittsburgh, PA. He was adjunct professor for NCCU with the Theatre Dept, and Duke University, guest teacher, choreographer and performed for other dance festivals and events throughout the U.S. and internation ally. Davis is known as one of the world’s foremost and accomplished choreographer and teacher in the traditional techniques of African dance styles. He has traveled, taught and choreographed on 5 con tinents. He has lead the dance community across the country and in ternationally. He is beloved and mourned by his family, and equally by prestigious dancers and dance organizations, to school children learning their first dance steps - with equal energy and enthusiasm he works at all levels of the dance world and community, sharing his love of dance and people with an open heart. His slogan is “Peace, Love and Respect...For Everybody.” Republican leaders in the legislature didn’t like that ruling, and appealed it to the US Supreme Court. However, Gov. Cooper and new state Attorney General Josh Stein, both Democrats, asked the High Court to withdraw the appeal from the GOP. Republicans objected, and asked Chief Justice John Roberts to stay lower court ruling in January. Since then there wasn’t even word whether Roberts and the rest of the court would even hear the GOP appeal, until Monday when the US Supreme Court ruled that it would not. A packed sanctuary at Davie Street Presbyterian joined Rev. Mendez cheering at the news. The outgoing NC NAACP president, Rev. Barber was thankful, but resolute in his statement that justice had been done again by the courts. “Today we experienced a victory for justice that is unimaginably important for African Americans, Latinos, all North Carolinians, and the nation” said Rev. Barber. “The highest court in the land has rejected the N.C. General Assembly’s improper efforts to inject cyni cal politics into the Supreme Court’s docket, and instead embraced the sound judgment of the Fourth Circuit, which found that this General Assembly enacted voting laws with discriminatory intent. The Court’s critical rejection today of the N.C. General Assembly’s leadership’s position tells the people of North Carolina and across the country that the right to vote unencumbered by expansive restrictions or by racist politicians or racist policies is fundamental, and that under the laws of the land, it will be upheld.” Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper told reporters, “When are [Republican lawmakers] going to learn that you just can’t run roughshod over the Constitution?” The High Court ruling was a top national headline in the New York Times, Washington Post and CBS News as well. NC Congressman G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1) joined in on wagging a knowing finger at the Republicans who insisted that despite evidence to the contrary, voter photo ID and the long list of restrictions that went with it, kept the electoral system honest. “Today, the Supreme Court rightly refused to hear the appeal of a law that I have long said discriminates against African American voters,” Rep. Butterfield said in a statement. “I hope this is finally the end to one of the most undemocratic and disgraceful voter ID laws in the country.” But Republicans saw it differently. “Republicans will continue to fight for common sense and constitutional voter ID measures, similar to what many other states al ready have,” State Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes said in a statement, noting that the High Court didn’t rule, but just decided not to hear the GOP appeal. “While Gov. Cooper and Attorney General Stein have stymied voter ID for now, they will ultimately lose in their efforts to block North Carolina citizens from having these protections.” But attorney Irv Joyner, chairman of the NC NAACP Legal Redress Committee, countered, “ ...[I]t is clear that the factual merits of this case were already decided by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the N.C. General Assembly did not present any evidence in court or anywhere else which contradicts the decision that HB 589 was designed to negatively impact African Americans and other racial minorities,” atty Joyner stated. Civil rights should be part of UNC’s mission, speakers say By Martha Waggoner CHAPEL HILL (AP) - A campus that protects a statue honoring white supremacy in the Civil War should balance that support by continuing to train law students who will fight social injustice, the head of the school’s Center for Civil Rights told a panel May 11. Ted Shaw, director of the UNC Center for Civil Rights, was one of several people repre senting the center and law clinics at N.C. Central University who defended the institutions against a proposal to strip them of their ability to file lawsuits. UNC-Chapel Hill still main tains the statute known as "Si lent Sam,” which honors stu dents who fought for the NCC . Ncu J Confederacy in the Civil War. "Maybe in the scheme of things I could find some balance in the Carolina universe in which the university has not been able to find a way to remove Silent Sam ... if at the same time it has found a way to harbor as part of its educational mission, the train ing of new generations of civil rights lawyers to right the legacy of white supremacy,” Shaw told several members of the Board of Governors. Conservative members of the board, which oversees the 16-campus system, have pro posed that centers be banned from representing clients in court. Supporters of the ban say such lawsuits aren’t in line with the school’s educational mission and that a public univer sity shouldn’t sue governmental entities. The Center for Civil Rights was founded in 2001 by not ed civil rights attorney Julius Chambers, an African-American whose home, office and car were bombed as he pursued school desegregation cases in the 1960s and 1970s. It has taken on cases involving school segregation, equal education rights and a landfill in a poor community. The board members and uni versity officials listened to the comments and didn’t respond to any. Anna Nelson, chair of the panel that will consider the ban, said the committee will discuss a timeline for any action when it meets next week. Representatives of the law school at N.C. Central Univer sity in Durham, a historically black school, said the proposal would prevent them from oper ating several of their clinics, in cluding one that helps veterans. That work requires the clinic to sometimes take the Veterans Ad ministration to court, school of ficials said. In addition to representatives of the two schools, more than 20 other people who had registered in advance spoke at the meeting, all against the ban. None spoke in favor of it. The center was an ally for a group called the Coalition for Education and Economic Secu rity in Halifax, said group repre sentative Rebecca Copeland. "The message that you are sending is that without wealth that you don’t deserve to be represented,” Copeland said. "We will not ac cept that in Halifax County. This is a political agenda. It’s a political agenda that serves nobody but the wealthy.” Board member Joe Knott, who supports the ban, declined after the meeting to discuss any specific comments. The university "is of infinite value to every citizen in the state,” he said. "And we must zealously guard its academic mission. It’s a great school, a great system, but it can’t do everything. We need to be sure that the first priority, the academic mission, is protected.” Register Now to Vote in 2018
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 20, 2017, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75