The Chronicle
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Volume43,Number24 -WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, February 18, 2016
Will high court stay new mapsP
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
Assuming that there is no stay from
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John
Roberts, will North Carolina's newly con
figured congressional maps, scheduled to
be submitted to the U.S. Fourth Circuit
Court of Appeals for review Friday, pass
muster in time for the upcoming March 15
primaries?
It's anyone's guess, apparently. Indeed,
if there is one thing that's clear, it's that
everything about North Carolina's sched- j
uled March 15 primaries is unclear, espe- ,
cially since absentee voting has already |
begun.
Ever since the
appellate court's
Feb. 5 ruling that the
First and Twelfth
Congressional
Districts were
unconstitutional
because race, not
political affiliation,
RWNHM was the primary fac
tor in their configu
ration, and had to be
immediately redrawn, Republican law
makers have been trying to figure out how
best to either stay that court order, or at
CAMPAIGN fiT-JJS
complying
^ T 4 _ unt'l they
jKr jk ?' ^ | - have no
choice.
Very
clearly the
Republicans, who redrew the congression
al and legislative voting district lines in
2011 after they took over the majority in
the N.C. General Assembly/do not want to
give up the electoral advantage they gained
by "stacking and packing" black voters in
two wildly configured congressional dis
tricts, the First and the Twelfth, critics say.
Doing so allowed the GOP to remove
black voters from otherwise competitive
predominately-white congressional dis
tricts, thus allowing Republican candidates
to dominate white Democrats during elec
tions.
Critics of the current district maps - in
force for the past two election cycles -
point to North Carolina's current congres
sional delegation of ten Republicans and
three Democrats in a state where Barack
Obama won the presidency in 2008 and
Republican Mitt Romney won in 2012.
Add to all of the unforeseen confusion
the untimely death of U.S. Supreme Court
See Maps on A8
Voter ID takes
center stage at
10th annual
Moral March
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
Assuming the North Carolina March 15 primaries go
forward without delay, the N.C. NAACP wants at least
5/XX) poll monitors spread across the state to ensure that
the new voter photo identification rules are carried out
fairly, according to Dr. Rev. William J. Barber, president
on the N.C. NAACP at last Saturday's tenth annual Moral
March on Raleigh/People's Assembly. *?
Led by the N.C. NAACP and the Forward Together
Movement, well over 5,000 demonstrators braved the
freezing temperatures to march down the Fayetteville
Street Mall in downtown Raleigh to the steps of the state
Photo by Tevin Stimoo
Democracy North Carolina field organizer Linda
Sutton boards the chartered bus headed to Raleigh
for the 10th annual Moral March on Saturday.
Capital, where speaker after speaker addressed issues like
immigration, improving education and the state providing
more affordable healthcare for poor families.
The March 15 primaries, moved up from the tradition
al May because Republican lawmakers wanted North
Carolina to play more of an early role in helping to select
the party's nominee for president, will be the first time
since the 2013 state law requiring voter photo ID that it
will actually be in force.
The N.C. NAACP/Forward Together Movement have
always called voter ID a violation of constitutional rights,
given that all that is legally required is for a voter to be 18
years of age and an American citizen. A federal court just
heard testimony in a federal suit against Gov. Pat McCrory
and the state Legislature, regarding voter ID, and the new
See March on A8
Photo by Tevin Stinsoo
Jasmine Morgan gives blood Tuesday, Feb. 16. With the help of the Winston-Salem American Red
Cross, Winston-Salem State University sponsored a blood drive to support senior Sierra Payne. The
therapeutic recreation major is in the final stages of kidney and pancreas failure.
Community rallies around
WSSU student in final stages
of kidney and pancreas failure
BYTEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
For her entire life Sierra Payne has battled Type I
diabetes, a chronic condition in which the pancreas pro
duces little to no insulin, but at fust glance you would
never know that the senior Therapeutic Recreation
major at Winston-Salem State University is in the final
stages of kidney and pancreas failure as a result of the
condition.
During a sit-down with The Chronicle, Payne said
although she is able to remain resilient some days she
wishes she were healthy enough to participate in cam
pus activities such as basketball games or just going out
with friends on the weekend.
"There are days I wish I could be more social but I
don't let that get me down," she said. "I just take it one
day at a time and thank God for another day."
Being the private person that she is, when Sierra got
the word from doctors that she needed the double trans
plant procedure, at fust she wasn't
going to ten anyone, out soon alter
word got to her older brother
Jonathan Payne, he started a
GoFundMe campaign and hun
dreds began to offer their support.
"I'm a very private person," she
continued. "I really was going to
keep it to myself, but when I saw
how many people were supporting
the cause, I saw it as a way to not
Payne
only get help lor my procedure, but
a way to educate the community on
chronic diseases like diabetes that
plague the African-American community."
See Student on A2
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