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DAUI7 12/01/17 **CHILL
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VOLUME 96 - NUMBER 27
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GOP Won’t Answer Why Black State Monument Cut From Budget
By Cash Michaels
Cash Works Media
Before the NC General Assembly adjourned its long session last
Friday, Republican legislative leaders House Speaker Tim Moore
and Senate Pro-tem Phil Berger were asked in writing why they cut a
proposed $200,000 from the compromise $23 billion budget for the
African-American “Freedom Monument” project slated for the state
Capitol grounds, and instead earmarked $5 million - 25 times as
much - to a new $65 million NC Civil War Museum in Fayetteville,
scheduled to open in 2020.
Neither Moore or Berger responded to the written requests
for comment sent to their offices one day before both houses of the
legislature adjourned.
The only Republican lawmaker who did respond to the
press inquiry was one of the budget-writers, state Rep. Donny Lam
beth [R-Forsyth], but that was to say that only Moore or Berger could
answer.
“This was negotiated after the full [committee] chairs fin
ished all the budget work that was asked of us. I can see if I can get
you a statement from the Speaker,” Lambeth emailed back, but no
statement from Speaker Moore was forthcoming.
The museum, or “center” as it is normally referred by its Winston-
Salem-based fundraiser, has already raised approximately $27 mil
lion - all but $7 million from government funding from Fayetteville,
Cumberland County, and now the state legislature.
When completed, it will replace the current Museum of the Cape
Fear, a state -owned, state supported facility.
The Freedom Monument, planning for which began in Re
publican Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration, would also be a state-
owned, state-funded memorial. After various hearings were held
about the project across the state, a summary report was written for
the advisory committee of the NC Historical Commission and the
NC African American Heritage Commission.
The draft summary of that report said that, “Schoolchildren,
it should be remembered, are a prime audience, as they constitute a
major segment of the visitors to the Capitol. “
“The monument should make an impact on all visitors, young
people included,” the draft report continued. “The monument is in
tended for all citizens, not solely for African Americans. The monu
ment should present a public face to newcomers and should encap
sulate the African American experience in North Carolina. It is the
intent of the sponsoring bodies that the monument should be his
torical and commemorative in nature. While it must be aesthetically
pleasing, it should complement other monuments on the grounds and
be grounded in North Carolina history”
The Freedom Monument project is now without public funding
as originally proposed last March by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper
in his budget.
A spokesperson for the NC Dept, of Natural and Cultural Re
sources, which oversees the project along with both commissions,
said Gov. Cooper’s proposed appropriation was to complete the
planning and design on the monument Gov. McCrory once said was
an “...appropriate way to recognize the contributions of African-
Americans to North Carolina’s history... “
The project now has no timeline or appropriation, “but we are
moving forward,” the NCDNCR spokesperson assured.
Ironically, the primary fundraiser for the NC Civil War Center,
David Winslow of The Winslow Group, said, “Some of the same
volunteers who are working on the monument project are also work
ing with [us], and I know they were disappointed.”
Winslow continued that he heard that Gov. Cooper “...is commit
ted to finding the $200,000 from the budget. So I hope they will be
able to proceed ahead sooner rather than later.”
According to a 2015 WUNC.org report, there are 230 Civil War
monuments in North Carolina “outnumbering state monuments com
memorating any other event.”
Perhaps the tallest Confederate Monument in North Carolina is
directly in front of the State Capitol Building in Raleigh, dedicated in
May, 1895 and towering 75 feet facing Hillsborough Street. Costing
$22,000, the legislature appropriated $20,000 towards the project.
One of the prominent figures to help dedicate that monument was
Alfred M. Waddell - a former Confederate colonel, and one of the
white supremacist leaders ofthe 1898 Wilmington race massacre.
In contrast, the number of African-American monuments North
Carolina has statewide, according to docsouth.unc.edu - just 33.
The elimination of funding for the Freedom Monument only rein
forced the bad taste Democrats and others already had for a bruising
legislative session where the Republican majority, without apology,
imposed their will on a Democratic governor they vowed to show
little regard for.
“I’m troubled that Republican legislative leaders neglected to fund
an African American heritage monument on State Capitol grounds,”
Gov. Cooper said in a statement. “This monument is long overdue,
which is why I prioritized it in my budget proposal. This is just an
other example of legislative Republicans with the wrong priorities.”
Noting that the GOP decision to scrub the funding for the Free
dom Monument was “disappointing,” Sen. Paul Lowe (D-Forsyth)
opined,” The General Assembly should be leading the way in show
ing that North Carolina is committed to progress and celebrates the
rich history of African-Americans.”
“Instead, my Republican colleagues have once again decided to
ignore the history of the people they serve. I hope that we are able
to find common ground to fund a project that is long overdue,” Sen.
Lowe concluded.
Non-elected officials, however, did not spare the rod.
Duke University Prof, of Public Policy Dr. William Darity, Jr.
bluntly said, “ We are living in a moment where we are getting a
glimpse of what life would have been like under a Confederate States
of America.”
Picking up from Prof. Darity’s clue of an Old South mentality
at work in the legislature, civil rights attorney All McSurely, who
is white, said, “The Berger-Moore secret white caucus recognizes
its days are numbered. Their politics, based on abject denial of the
effects of southern systems of racism and poverty... have cruelly
punished black and white poor and working people across North
Carolina and the South. They apparently have convinced themselves
that the 30-35% base of “white” voters, if they can just curry their
votes with racial code-words and policies, will keep them in power
forever.”
Finally, NCNAACP Pres. Rev. William Barber, outraged by the Repub
lican-led legislature’s overall policies towards the poor and communities of
color, called GOP rule “...illegal and out of control.”
“Whether it’s the regressive budget or denying health care or voter sup
pression, this legislature is out of touch with democratic principles and our
deepest moral values. With every action, they expose their love for failed
policies ofthe past and their desire to take North Carolina backwards,” Rev.
Barber said.
India.Arie seen at the 2017 Essence Festival at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome
on Friday, June 30, in New Orleans. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)
Over half of hate crimes in US
go unreported, report says
By Sadie Gurman and Russell Contreras
WASHINGTON (AP) - Most victims of hate crimes don’t report them to police, according
to a new study that advocates say reinforces their fears that the Trump administration’s tough
rhetoric and policies will make more people afraid to come forward.
More than half the 250,000 hate crimes that took place each year between 2004 and 2015
went unreported to law enforcement for a variety of reasons, according to a special report on the
issue from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Hate crimes were most often not reported because
they were handled some other way, the report said. But people also did not come forward be
cause they didn’t feel it was important or that police would help, according to the report.
“I think this report shows the kind of fear that is going on in our communities,” said Patricia
Montes, executive director of the Boston-based immigrant advocacy group Centro Presente.
She and other advocates are concerned that Latino immigrants, in particular, may be reluctant
to call police to report a hate crime for fear of being deported, particularly since the Trump ad
ministration is ramping up immigration enforcement across the country.
“Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric also will prevent more immigrants from reporting
crimes to police,” Montes said.
The report comes as the Justice Department officials gathered with advocacy groups and ex
perts on June 29 to discuss hate crimes, including ways to better document them. Officials have
long lamented a lack of solid data on the problem.
But Attorney General Jeff Sessions told the group his department remains committed to in
vestigating and prosecuting such offenses as part of his larger priority of helping cities fight
violence.
“Hate crimes are violent crimes,” Sessions told the group. “No person should have to fear
being violently attacked because of who they are, what they believe or how they worship.”
The report released June 29 is based on a survey of households and is one of several studies
that aim to quantify hate crimes.
It cites racial bias as the top motivation, representing more than 48 percent of the cases be
tween 2011 and 2015. Hate crimes motivated by ethnicity accounted for about 35 percent of
those cases, and sexual orientation represented about 22 percent. Almost all of those surveyed
said they felt they were experiencing a hate crime because of something the perpetrator said.
Hispanics were victimized at the highest rate, followed by blacks.
The new survey shows the limits of hate crime reporting, said Brian Levin, director of the
Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, California State University.
“Many victims don’t report hate crimes because of personal and institutional reasons,” Levin
said. While some victims’ distrust of police keeps them from coming forward, Levin said, some
LGBT victims may opt not to report a hate crime for fear of losing a job or being outed to fam
ily.
Members of the Muslim community are reluctant to come forward for fear of retaliation and
because police don’t always classify their experiences as hate crimes, said Ibrahim Hooper, of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
That’s because law enforcement officials still grappled with what constitutes a hate crime.
Levin said many large cities are claiming they had no hate crimes - calling into question
the reliability of federal hate crimes data that are based on voluntary submissions from police
departments. “We have Columbus, Ohio, reporting more hate crimes than the state of Florida,”
he said.
Eric Treene, the Justice Department’s special counsel for religious discrimination, told a
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in May that incomplete numbers stymie officials’ ability to
fully understand the problem.
But he said the department is committed to prosecuting hate crimes, even as critics have
blamed the Trump administration’s tough rhetoric and policies for a spike in such offenses. Civil
rights groups said investigating and prosecuting hate crimes alone would be insufficient.
The Trump administration must show “through action and its megaphone, its full and unflagging com
mitment to preventing hate-based violence and harassment that hurts our communities and destroys the
fabric of our nation,” said Vanita Gupta, former head of the Civil Rights Division and president of The
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Contreras reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Noir )
North Carolina
NAA CP leader says
he ’ll stay for rest of
term
RALEIGH (AP) - The leader
ofthe NAACP in North Carolina
says he will remain in the role
until his term ends in October,
rather than step down this month
as planned.
The Rev. William Barber said
June 24 he will remain president
until his replacement is elected
at the NAACP’s convention. He
announced plans last month to
leave the post in June after 12
years at the helm to concentrate
on a poor people’s campaign or
ganizing in states nationwide.
State NAACP leaders last
week called on Barber to recon
sider, saying he’s needed as a
“unifying voice” following U.S.
Supreme Court’s decisions that
upheld lower-court rulings that
Republicans illegally drew doz
ens of districts based on race af
ter the 2010 Census.
Barber reiterates he will not
seek another term as president,
but he will stay his entire term
“for the stability of the move
ment in these transitional mo
ments.”
Barber said the Supreme
Court’s decisions and the possi
bility of drawing new lines and
a potential special election this
year “were not in the landscape”
when he made his initial an
nouncement.
“We are living in serious
times, and because 1 have heard
a call from people who are com
mitted to these serious times, I’m
willing to do my part,” he said.
Leaders of the new Poor Peo
ple’s Campaign said in a joint
statement they support Barber’s
decision, saying what happens
in North Carolina “will be vital
to a moral revolution” across the
country.
Barber had already planned to
remain on the NAACP’s national
board of directors and remain as
pastor of Greenleaf Christian
Church in Goldsboro.
Park bench
remembers
civil rights icon
Julian Bond
WASHINGTON (AP) -
A bench memorializing the
life of civil rights icon Ju
lian Bond has been placed
outside a community cen
ter.
The Washington Post re
ports D.C. officials, former
members of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee, and friends and
family gathered outside the
Chevy Chase Community
Center for a dedication cer
emony June 26.
A plaque on the bench
reads “In Memory of Julian
Bond, 1940-2015, 'Race
Man,’ a Life Dedicated to
Civil Rights.”
Bond’s widow, Pamela
Horowitz, says Bond al
ways talked about wanting
a bench. She hopes people
go there to reflect on how
to make the world a better
place.
The dedication comes
after D.C. Transportation
Director Leif A. Dormsjo
said in an email in May that
he had second thoughts on
the bench.