Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Oct. 28, 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
VOLUME 96 - NUMBER 43 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2017 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS NAACP names new leader for more active future By Jesse J. Holland WASHINGTON (AP) - The NAACP turned to an insider Saturday to help bring the nation’s oldest civil rights organization back to prominence. Derrick Johnson, 49, of Jackson, Mississippi, was hired as the NAACP’s 19th president and CEO after having served as interim leader since July and previously as vice chairman of the NAACP board of directors. Johnson, in an interview with The Associated Press, said the NAACP will be much more politically active in the coming years and will alter its nonprofit status so it can more effectively lobby for its members’ positions. Johnson’s hiring was finalized Oct. 21 at a meeting of the board of directors in Arlington, Virginia. “In his time serving as our interim president and CEO, Derrick has proven himself as the strong, decisive leader we need to guide us through both our internal transition as well as a crucial moment in our nation’s history,” said Leon Russell, the NAACP board chairman. “With new threats to communities of color emerging daily and attacks on our democracy, the NAACP must be more steadfast and more immovable than ever before, and Derrick has the vision, mobility, and courage to help us meet that demand.” The NAACP parted ways with its previous president and CEO, Cornell William Brooks, in May. Johnson has been the face of the NAACP since then as the organization has refocused its work on supporting its local chapters and tried to retool in the face of rising organizations like Black Lives Matter. Currently as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the NAACP can only engage in insubstantial lobbying efforts. So it will reorganize as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, similar to its local affiliates, which will allow it to conduct unlimited lobbying and promotion of political candidates and issues. The change will happen “so we can have the collective voice and impact that a civil rights organization in 2017 and forward should have,” said Johnson, former president of the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP. Shedding its 501(c)(3) status will allow the NAACP “to be able to clearly state without any equivocation our positions and to encourage our members and the communities we represent to do the same,” he said. The NAACP has been conducting a listening tour around the country, trying to figure out how best to support civil rights workers in communities who are working on issues like police brutality, the upcoming census, redistricting and voter suppression. The listening tour stops in Los Angeles on Oct. 26 and Nashville, Tennessee, in November. Local chapters “want to be able to have a stronger voice,” Johnson said, and the national NAACP wants to be “able to better support our members on the ground.” The NAACP recently sued the Trump administration to stop it from eliminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed immigrants brought into the country illegally as children to be temporarily shielded from deportation. President Donald Trump is phasing out the DACA program, giving Congress six months to act before recipients’ work permits begin to expire. The job of the NAACP is “to really engage in a political landscape to lift up the needs and interest of the community we represent,” Johnson said. “When our members speak in a collective voice our national office should also speak in tandem with the collective public policy voice.” FARADALI STEVE SCHEWEL DERRICK JOHNSON Arkansas town to replace stolen African-American monuments STAMPS, Ark. (AP) - A southwest Arkansas town hopes to replace two tributes to the area’s African-American history that were stolen after the town’s first black mayor was elected. The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Brenda Davis was elected mayor of Stamps on Sept. 19. A few days later, a $2,000 copper bust of black Confederate soldiers and a frame protecting a large photo of Maya Angelou were taken from Maya Angelou Memorial Park. Angelou was a poet, author and civil-rights activist who lived in the town as a child. Ali Vs. Schewel For Mayor- You Decide On Nov. 7 TH By Cash Michaels CashWorks Media Outgoing Durham Mayor Bill Bell has now let his feelings be known about who should be the Bull City’s next leader. The question is, what will the people of Durham decide during the mayoral runoff on Tuesday, Nov. 7 th between former Councilman Farad Ali, and Councilman-at-large Steve Schewel. Early voting has already begun in the city. The winner will be sworn-in in December. Councilman Schewel led the six-candidate October 10 th primary with just under 13,000 votes, with Ali, president and CEO of The Institute, coming in with over 7, 350 votes, sparking the runoff. Musician and entrepreneur Pierce Freelon came in third with just over 4,000 votes, and could play a role, given his support, with who ultimately wins per his endorsement, if any. Ali, 50 (facebook.com/FaradAli4Mayor/ ), has the endorsements of Mayor Bill Bell, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, and the Friends of Durham. Ali told The Carolina Times in September that Durham’s African-American community should join others across the city in supporting his candidacy because , “...I am the most qualified with proven experience in the public sector as a former City Council Member (4 years) and Chair of the Raleigh Durham Airport Authority (6 years), non-profit sector as the President/CEO of the Institute of Minority Economic Development (17 years) and business sector as a Corporate, Commercial and Community Development Banker (10 year). Additionally, I have a collective history of advocating for social and economic justice as the Chair of the Southern Coalition of Social Justice (6 years) and Board Member of The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People Foundation. I have worked my whole life to build bridges of inclusiveness and economic equity and have a successful record of results.” Ali continued, “I understand, that despite the progress we have made, as African Americans, the inequities of the past are still visible in our community today. I see clearly the racial and economic division in our community brought through the disparities of poverty, unemployment, economic opportunities and history. As a people, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, regardless of religious or gender preference, we must stand for a “One Durham”. We must stay vigilant, in order to hold on to the gains that are under assault, to propel a future Durham that has greater prosperity for all residents.” Schewel, 66 (facebook.com/stevefordurham/), is a visiting professor at Duke University. He is endorsed by the People’s Alliance. Also touting his broad appeal, Steve Schewel says he’s “...deeply immersed in the African-American community and its needs, concerns and causes. “I grew up in a small segregated city, Lynchburg, Virginia, in the 1950’s and 1960’s,” Schewel continued. “I went to my first civil rights demonstration in 1964 at the age of 13, and I have never looked back. The struggle for racial and economic justice have been the animating causes of my life since that time. Whether it was founding can Americans, the inequities of the past are still visible in our community today. I see clearly the racial and economic division in our community brought through the disparities of poverty, unemployment, economic opportunities and history. As a people, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, regardless of religious or gender preference, we must stand for a “One Durham”. We must stay vigilant, in order to hold on to the gains that are under assault, to propel a future Durham that has greater prosperity for all residents.” Schewel, 66 (facebook.com/stevefordurham/), is a visiting professor at Duke University. He is endorsed by the People’s Alliance. Also touting his broad appeal, Steve Schewel says he’s “...deeply immersed in the African-American community and its needs, concerns and causes. “I grew up in a small segregated city, Lynchburg, Virginia, in the 1950’s and 1960’s,” Schewel continued. “I went to my first civil rights demonstration in 1964 at the age of 13, and I have never looked back. The struggle for racial and economic justice have been the animating causes of my life since that time. Whether it was founding and publishing the Independent Weekly for 30 years, raising funds for Harvey Gantt’s campaigns against Jesse Helms, or helping lead the black-white electoral coalition that took power in the 1980’s from Durham’s white political establishment, 1 have worked all of my life for racial justice. In fact, I cut my political teeth in the struggle to save the Crest St. Community from destruction by highway 147. We succeeded in that fight alongside the members of that community, and that victory changed politics in Durham forever. “I view every issue through a racial equity lens,” Schewel continued. “In the last two years, I have taken racial equity training from Dismantling Racism, the Racial Equity Institute, and the trainers who are giving racial equity training to Durham’s police force. I have advocated for our police force and our City administrative leadership to take this training, and that advocacy has worked: Our entire police department and top city administrators have all taken the racial equity training. In addition, we have budgeted for 150 more City officials to take the training this coming year.” Both candidates say they are respectively committed to solving the problem of generating more affordable housing in the city for low and moderate income people. “We should make sure the goals of the City’s strategic plan reflect community planning and zoning determination of affordable housing,” Ali says. “There is an opportunity to build a better alignment of Public, Private and Non- Profit Partnership that provides a positive outcome for Durham residents to address affordable housing. Saying that, “Everyone in Durham deserves to have a safe, decent, warm, affordable home, Steve Schewel said his highest goals are to, “(1) end family homelessness within the next few years ; (2) continue the strong City support for the Housing Authority (DHA) so that DHA can redevelop its aging housing communities and ensure the success of its voucher program—which together (Continued On Page 3) NCC Nc!J
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 28, 2017, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75