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VOLUME 98 - NUMBER 47
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2019
TELEPHONE 919-682-2913 PRICE 50 CENTS
Legal settlement will keep Confederate
statue off UNC campus
By Jonathan Drew
RALEIGH (AP) - The University of North Carolina announced Nov. 27 that a torn-down Confederate monument won’t return to
campus under a legal agreement that hands over the “Silent Sam” statue to a group of Confederate descendants.
The University of North Carolina System said in a news release that a judge approved a settlement giving possession of the monu
ment to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who will keep the statue outside the 14 counties where there are university system campuses.
Silent Sam stood in a main quad of the flagship Chapel Hill campus for more than a century before it was toppled in 2018 by protesters.
The announcement comes after the university and statewide Board of Governors spent more than a year grappling with what to do
with the prominent but divisive monument, a challenging period during which the Chapel Hill chancellor resigned and the campus police
chief who oversaw the response to statue’s toppling retired.
Under the agreement, university officials also will create a $2.5 million private fund that can be used.for expenses related to preserv
ing the monument or potentially building a facility to house it. No state money will be used to build the fund, the news release said.
The university system said the settlement complies with a 2015 North Carolina state law restricting the removal of Confederate
monuments.
“The safety and security concerns expressed by students, faculty and staff are genuine, and we believe this consent judgment not only
Two young ladies at West End Celebration on Car-
roll St. See photos on page 13.
Reps. MaryAnn
Black, Conrad
won’t seek North
Carolina House
seats
RALEIGH (AP) - A pair of
North Carolina House members
- one Republican and one Demo
crat - have announced they will
not seek re-election next year.
Democratic Rep. Mary Ann
Black of Durham County made
her decision public on Nov. 26, a
day after GOP Rep. Debra Con
rad of Forsyth County made a
similar announcement.
Conrad is in her fourth term
following 18 years as a Forsyth
commissioner. A news release
says Conrad will “seek new
opportunities in business and
politics.” Conrad endorsed a
Lewisville town councilman to
succeed her.
Black joined the legislature
in early 2017, filling the seat
vacated by Larry Hall when
he became Gov. Roy Cooper’s
veterans’ affairs secretary. She
says she’s proud of working to
improve school safety and will
keep pushing for Medicaid
Rep. MaryAnn Black
expansion.
Candidate filing started Mon
day.
Town parade canceled over possible
Confederate float issues
GARNER (AP) - A North Carolina town has canceled its
annual Christmas parade over possible issues with a float spon
sored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Garner spokesman Rick Mercier tells The News & Observer
that online chatter about the float led officials to conclude the
event could be targeted for disruption.
He says online posts didn’t threaten to disrupt the parade,
but officials wanted to err on the side of public safety given
protests about Confederate monuments and symbols in recent
years. Video of last year’s parade was shared and criticized
recently by the Move Silent Sam” Twitter account.
Members of Col. Leonidas L. Polk Camp No. 1486 of the
Sons of Confederate Veterans have been involved in the parade
for years. Group commander Don Scott says he understands
the town’s concerns.
addresses those concerns but does what is best for the university, and the University community in full compliance with North Carolina
law,” Jim Holmes, a member of the UNC Board of Governors, said in a statement,
CIVIL RIGHTS ICON Andrew Young was honored at St. Joseph AME Church during its #SocialJustice-
Sunday Sunday program recently. He also received an Alpha phi Alpha Fraternity. He is shown with Rev. Jay
Augustine, pastor. See stories and photos on page 8. Photo by Elbert Avery
Analysis: Democrats evaluating Mississippi
election losses - An AP news analysis
By Emily Wagster Pettus
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Some Mississippi Democrats are second-guessing the party’s strategies after Republicans
swept all eight statewide offices in this year’s general election.
The two Democrats at the top of the ticket were Attorney General Jim Hood, who lost the governor’s race to Repub
lican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, and state Rep. Jay Hughes, who lost the lieutenant governor’s race to Secretary of State
Delbert Hosemann.
Republican Lynn Fitch, the current state treasurer, captured the final statewide office for the GOP by winning the
attorney general’s race. She defeated Democrat Jennifer Riley Collins, a military veteran and former director of the
American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi.
Hood and Hughes both embraced some progressive positions, advocating Medicaid expansion and higher spending
on public education. But they also both expressed conservative positions, saying they oppose abortion.
Hood and Hughes both fit the description of what some Democrats have touted for years as a winning protype for a
statewide candidate: They’re white men with previous experience in public office, and they are not easily pinned down
on the left of the political spectrum.
Some Democrats, though, say the party needs to rethink its strategy and actively recruit and promote a slate oftop-
of-ticket candidates who are more racially diverse and more likely to campaign as unabashed progressives or liberals.
D’Andra Grey, a political science professor at Jackson State University, said he wonders if Democratic candidates
should “redirect their focus” to pay more attention to the party’s most loyal voters - African Americans, especially
African American women.
Hood’s TV ads showed him with his pickup truck, hunting dog and rifle.
“When you do that, you alienate your base,” Orey said.
Both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence trekked to Mississippi in the closing days of the cam
paign to promote Reeves and other Republicans. During a Trump rally in Tupelo, Reeves drew cheers from spectators
when he said of Hood: “He and the national liberals are not only disrespecting our president; they are disrespecting
us.”
For some voters, Reeves’ tactic of framing the state election in a national context was effective.
Brandon resident Tonya Thompson, 58, said she voted for Reeves, even though she said of Hood: “He’s done a lot
of good for the state.” Ultimately, Thompson said she went with Reeves because “I just think keeping Republicans
strong is going to help us.”
Patricia Murrain of Jackson, a retired Jackson State University professor, said she voted for Hood. She described
him as “a pretty honest politician” and said he has worked hard for the state.
“We definitely need health care in the state of Mississippi, in that we’re turning away money from the federal gov
ernment,” Murrain said. “Jim Hood is trying to get the health care we need for Mississippi.”
Mississippi Democratic Party chairman Bobby Moak said that in the next few weeks, Democrats “will have an introspective look at our
selves and let’s see what we did wrong here and what we can do better.”
Asked about critics saying the party needs a more diversity at the top of the ticket, Moak pointed out that Democrats’ statewide nominees
this year were two African American women, two African American men and two white men. He said the party has voters who are liberal,
moderate and conservative.
Moak is a former state lawmaker who was elected to a four-year term as party chairman in 2016. He told The Associated Press on that the
state party has improved its financial condition in the past couple of years, but raising money can be difficult without a Democrat as governor.
Moak said Democrats are strengthening their local organizations around the state, but he acknowledged that they’re trying to play catch-up
with Republicans.
“Success has many fathers,” Moak said. “But when you lose, nobody likes to take the blame.”
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