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VOLUME 97 - NUMBER 43
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2018
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
A Voteless People is a Hopeless People - L.E. Austins
;
Trump says he and Republicans bear ‘no:
blame’ for bomb suspect’s actions
By Jonathan Lemire and Catherine Lucey
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump said
Oct. 26 that he knows the pipe bomb suspect was one of
his supporters, but said he bears “no blame” for the sus
pect’s actions.
“There is no blame. There’s no anything,” Trump told
reporters at the White House before leaving for a political
rally in North Carolina.
“If you look at what happened to Steve Scalise, that
was a supporter of a different party,” he said, recalling the
2017 shooting at a Republican baseball practice that left
several wounded, including the congressman from Loui
siana.
Asked if he planned to tone down the partisan rhetoric
at rallies, which his critics contend has deepened political
divisions in the country, Trump replied: “I think I’ve been
toned down. You know, I could really tone it up.”
With a suspect in custody, Trump pledged to prosecute
those responsible for the pipe bomb scare “to the fullest
extent of the law.” He called for national unity just hours
after complaining that all the focus on “this 'Bomb’ stuff”
was distracting from the midterm elections.
Trump, in his first remarks since Cesar Sayoc was ap
prehended in Florida, declared that “we must never allow
political violence take root in America.” At least a dozen
explosives have been sent in recent days to political op
ponents of the president, gripping the nation and escalat
ing political tensions just days ahead of the midterms.
His remarks came a short time after he tweeted a com
plaint that the media’s focus on bombs was distracting
from Republican efforts in the upcoming midterm elec
tions.
“Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at
the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the mo
mentum greatly slows - news not talking politics,” Trump
tweeted in the hours before Sayoc was taken into custody.
“Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out
and vote!”
Trump’s tweet was an effort to refocus attention on the
midterms that could alter the path of his presidency. His
quote marks around “Bomb” were striking, suggesting the
president might doubt the authenticity of the scare. That
theory had gained steam in some quarters on the right.
A number of Trump’s allies, including his eldest son,
Donald Jr., and conservative commentator Lou Dobbs,
have used social media to promote the idea that the bombs
may be a Democrat-run hoax. And the president’s favor
ite television show, Fox & Friends, ran a segment Friday
(Oct. 26) morning in the hours before his tweet that raised
the possibility that the bombs were a “false flag” opera
tion meant to gin up Democratic enthusiasm.
The White House did not immediately respond to a re
quest for an explanation as to the president’s meaning.
Trump also issued a 3 a.m. tweet in which he com
plained that CNN and others were blaming him for the
scare, saying they were “ridiculously comparing this to
September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing, yet
when I criticize them they go wild and scream, 'it’s just
not Presidential!’” One of the packages was sent to CNN,
forcing an evacuation of their Manhattan studios.
While he updated the nation Oct. 26 about the suspect
in custody, Trump heaped praise on law enforcement
agencies for doing “an incredible job” and said that, in
America, “every day we are showing how truly great we
are.”
Moments later, in his address to members of the 2018
Young Black Leadership Summit, he returned to deliver
ing broadsides against the media.
“Come to think of it, who gets attacked more than me,”
Trump told the cheering crowd. “I can do the greatest
thing for our country and on the networks ... it will show
bad. No matter what.”
Some in the crowd began to yell “Fake News,” a sta
ple at any Trump rally, while one person shouted “CNN
Sucks!” After Trump mentioned globalism, there was a
jeer about George Soros, the liberal donor who was the
target of one of the pipe bombs.
Trump also complained that coverage of the manhunt distracted
from his announcement Oct. 25 about an effort to lower prescription
drug prices. Trump said the announcement “was competing with this
story” about the pipe bombs. He added that with apprehension of the
suspect, “maybe that can start to disappear rapidly because we don’t
like those stories.”
Among those in attendance was Candace Owens, a prominent
African-American conservative activist who cast doubt earlier in the
'veek on the authenticity of the bombs.
NcU^
Hillside High School held its Homecoming Parade re
cently . See pictures on pages 8 and 9.
Abrams, Kemp spar
over voting access
in Georgia debate
By Ben Nadler
ATLANTA (AP) - Charges of voter suppression and counter-
claims of encouraging illegal voting dominated the first debate be
tween Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp in the
race for Georgia governor.
Disputes over voting access took center stage at Tuesday (Oct.
23) evening’s debate, highlighting Abrams’ historic bid to become
the first black female governor in American history and the long-
simmering politics of race in the Deep South. Kemp, who is white,
continued to fend off charges that he’s using his position as Georgia
secretary of state to make it harder for minority voters to cast ballots.
Libertarian candidate Ted Metz also participated in the debate.
Abrams said Kemp’s record as secretary of state “causes great
concern” and pointed to the release ofvoter data under Kemp’s watch
and the state’s “exact match” voter registration system.
The Democrat said she takes voting rights “very seriously” and
said her own father had once been arrested trying to help people get
registered.
“Voter suppression isn’t only about blocking the vote: It’s also
about creating an atmosphere of fear, making people worry that their
votes won’t count,” Abrams said.
Kemp said accusations that he was suppressing the vote were
“totally untrue.” He fired back, citing a recent video clip in which
Abrams seems to say that “undocumented” immigrants were part of
her coalition.
“Why are you encouraging people to break the law to vote for
you?” Kemp asked.
Abrams denied the allegation, saying Kemp was twisting her
words and her record of making it easier for legal citizens to vote.
The two also traded barbs over education and health care policy.
Abrams repeatedly emphasized her plan to expand Medicaid in
Georgia, calling it a “bipartisan solution” that Vice President Mike
Pence embraced when he was Indiana’s Republican governor.
Kemp said Abrams wants a “government takeover of health care”
and will raise taxes to pay for it.
The race is being watched as a barometer for Democrats’ success
in.the midterm elections, as they try to make gains in Congress and
in important state positions to counter President Donald Trump’s
agenda.
Tensions escalated following a recent Associated Press report that
more than 53,000 voter applications - nearly 70 percent of them from
blacks - were on hold with Kemp’s office ahead of the election in
large part due to the “exact match” verification system.
Abrams has leveraged media coverage of the list and accused
Kemp of actively suppressing minority votes.
Kemp vehemently denies it and says those on the “pending” list
can still vote with an approved ID that substantially matches regis
tration information. Kemp has hit back hard at Abrams, saying she’s
“too extreme for Georgia.”
Two reports surfaced just before the debate that played into their
competing narratives.
(Continued On Page 16)
White woman fired over
filmed racist rant at black
neighbor
CHARLOTTE (AP) - A white North Carolina woman filmed
going on a racist rant at her black neighbor has been fired from
her job.
News outlets report the video shows Susan Westwood ap
proaching sisters Leisa and Mary Garris this month and saying “I
am white and hot. So what are you doing here?”
Charter Communications spokesman Patrick Paterno said Oct.
28 that Westwood has been fired from her $125,000-per-year job
referenced in the video.
An apparently drunk Westwood is heard asking where the sis
ters live, if they’re visiting their “baby daddy” and if she needs to
reveal her concealed weapon. The sisters ask Westwood to leave
them alone as they’re waiting for AAA. They eventually call 911.
Westwood has been issued criminal summons of communicat
ing threats and simple assault. She wasn’t reached for comment.
Rev. William Barber begins three-
state get-out-the-vote effort
FLAT ROCK (AP) - The Rev. William Barber has started a
three-state get-out-the-vote tour that will take him to North Caro
lina, Georgia and Florida.
The tour started Oct. 26 in Flat Rock and will go to five other
North Carolina locations: Henderson, Dunn, Warsaw, Winston-
Salem and two stops in Greensboro.
On Nov. 3, Barber goes to Atlanta and then Cuthbert, Georgia.
The tour ends Nov. 4 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Barber is known as the architect of the “Moral Monday” move
ment in North Carolina, where he also was president of the state
chapter of the NAACP.
He is doing the get-out-the-vote effort through his role as presi
dent of Repairers of the Breach, a not-for-profit social justice or
ganization focused on several groups, including communities of
color, workers and immigrants.
Police: Armed white man
confronts black GOP volunteer
CHARLOTTE (AP) - Police in North Carolina say an
armed white man confronted a black Republican volunteer
at a polling place and has been arrested.
Volunteer Derek Partee tells The News & Observer that
three white people angrily approached him Wednesday at a
poll in Charlotte. He posted pictures of the people on Face-
book, saying they were calling him racial slurs and threaten
ing him. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say in a release that
the armed man was carrying a BB gun. His identity hasn’t
been released yet.
Partee says the people approached him asking about his party,
but “they didn’t care whether I was a Democrat or a Republican,
they just cared that I was black.” Police say the other people won’t
be charged because they were found to have not violated any laws(