OPINION
The chronicle
Ernest H. Pitt aebra^
Publisher Emeritus g -
1974-2015 ? /E ^ *e
617 N. Liberty Street q |
336-722-8624
www.wschronicle.com
Elaine Pitt Business Manager
Donna Rogers Manning Editor
wali D. PlTT Digital Manager
Our Mission
The Chronicle is dedicated to serving the
residents of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County
by giving voice to the voiceless, speaking truth
to power, standing for integrity and
encouraging open communication and
lively debate throughout the community.
There are
bright spots in
dismal election
Many African-Americans in Winston-Salem and
across the nation, who mostly vote Democratic, are
feeling angst after waking Nov. 9 to realize Donald
Trump won the presidency.
Trump spewed all kinds of negative talk against
minorities. It's hard for many to think of him as lead
ing the greatest nation in the world.
But what has been lost in all the Trump news for
North Carolina African-Americans is the fact that a
black judge was voted on to the N.C. Supreme
Court, replacing a judge who supported the largest
voter suppression measure in N.C. history. A federal
panel of judges just before the 2016 elections over
turned most of the 2013 voting law.
African-American Judge Mike Morgan, a Wake
Superior Court Democrat, beat out Associate
Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmunds, a Republican,
by about 10 points, according to preliminary figures.
This means that the Supreme Court now has a
Democratic majority and another African-American
on the Court. Chen L.
Beasley is an African
American currently on the
court.
Morgan won the
statewide race decisively.
The General Assembly
had passed a law allowing
retention elections for Supreme Court justices, when
North Carolinians would vote whether to retain cur
rent justices or not. This was done in an effort to
keep Edmunds in power.
The effort backfired when Sabra Faires, a Wake
County attorney, sued and won her case against the
retention election.
Faires had filed a lawsuit asking a N.C. state
Superior Court three-judge panel to toss out the law,
arguing that moving from contested elections to up
or-down retention votes was a change that required
an amendment to the state constitution approved by
voters, and that did not happen. The panel ruled for
Faires, and it was appealed to the state Supreme
Court.
Edmunds recused himself from the court, which
left the court with a 3-3 vote on the matter, thus giv
ing the victory to Faires, who wanted to run for a
seat on the court. She lost to Morgan and Edmunds
in the primary for the seat. The top two vote getters
moved on to the General Election.
Now, Republicans in the General Assembly don't
want a Democratic majority on the court, so they are
trying to concoct a scheme to add two more justices
to the court to water down the Democratic majority,
media reports say. Are we surprised? This is the
Republican-majority General Assembly that passed
the 2013 repressive voting law and the retention law.
Let's hope this doesn't come to pass.
Another bright spot for African-Americans in
Forsyth County is the victory of Lynne Johnson for
register of deeds. This African-American woman,
with 27 years experience working in the register of
deeds office, showed what can happen when people
consider experience over race. Johnson also won her
Democratic primary and went on to defeat the
Republican last week.
The Register of Deeds records, manages, and
pre-serves public real property records, vital infor
mation on births, deaths and marriages, and military
service records, while also administering the Notary
Oath.
Other African-Americans ran for office, from
statewide to Forsyth County offices, but lost.
We can only hope that those thinking of running
for office will pick the brains of these two bright
stars about how to win and will work to win offices
when they become open.
Speaking of that, when Republican Mark
Johnson leaves the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County
Schools Board to become North Carolina secretary
of education, there will be a vacancy to fill. This
would be a great opportunity for an African
American to work to fill the void.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
President thanks
voters for
Forsyth Tech
bond passage
To the Editor:
I want to thank the voters of
Forsyth County, County Commission
members, and supporters and friends
of Forsyth Tech. The success of this
bond referendum will allow us to
provide new and much-needed ways
to upgrade our facilities over the next
six to eight years. In turn, this will
give us the opportunity to train our
students with the skills for local, bet
ter-paying, in-demand jobs, which
will help our community grow eco
nomically.
Forsyth Tech is a good steward of
the funds provided by the people, and
we can assure our community that
every dollar will be well spent," he
said.
Dr. Gary Green, President
Forsyth Technical Community
College
Winston-Salem
Note: The Forsyth County
Community College Bonds were on
the Nov. 8 ballot. The $65 million*
bond package passed by a 74 percent
to 26 percent margin, receiving about
117,880 yes votes compared with
42,400 no votes.
?
We must work
together to bridge
the divide
in our nation
To the Editor:
We stand at a critical moment in
American democracy. Events over
the past year make clear that our
nation is deeply divided. We must
work together to bridge this divide to
create the conditions necessary to
achieve unity, promote cross-racial
understanding and eliminate racial
tensions.
The origins of the Lawyers'
Committee for Civil Rights Under
Law (Lawyers' Committee) lie inside
the White House. In
1963, President John F. Kennedy
issued a call for lawyers across the
country to mobilize to help combat
discrimination and protect the rights
of minorities.
While some progress has been
made, we know that this progress is
fragile and can be easily unraveled.
As we prepare for President-Elect
Donald Trump's tenure and a change
in administration, the Lawyers'
Committee will continue to advocate
for policies that ensure that every
man, woman and child living in this
nation is treated with dignity, fair
ness, respect and equality.
In 2017, we will
aggressively push the new adminis
tration, as we have consistently
pushed every administration for
decades, to take action to promote
and ensure equality and justice under
law for all.
As we move toward 2017, there is
unfinished business on core civil
rights issues that must remain at the
forefront of our national agenda.
Key issues include:
?Restoration of the Voting Rights
Act and strong enforcement of feder
al civil rights laws to address evi
dence of ongoing voting discrimina
tion and voter suppression in many
communities across the country, and
made evident throughout the 2016
election cycle;
?Policing reform to help strength
en police-community relations and
end the scourge of unconstitutional
policing practices in cities across the
U.S.; and
?Sentencing reform to address
stark racial disparities in federal sen
tencing, an issue that enjoys strong
bipartisan support.
Last evening, citizens across the
country exercised their
First Amendment rights in response
to the Nov. 8 election. These demon
strations make evident the deep level
of polarization and divisiveness that
exists in our country and underscores
'the need for leadership that promotes
unity. The fate of American democ
racy is at stake.
Kristen Clarke, President and
Executive Director
Lawyers' Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law
Washington, D.C.
. 1, A .
v- jV'
V
Roy Cooper win
as governor
shows teachers
made a difference
To the Editor:
This election showed that North
Carolinians believe that investing in
our public schools is a priority in
this state.
Teachers stood
strong for educa
tion and made a
real difference
during this elec
tion.
We look for
ward to working
with Govemor
i
Cooper
elect Cooper to move North
Carolina forward.
Mark Jewell, President
North Carolina Association of
Educators
Raleigh
HBCU colleges
fund leader
congratulates
Donald Thimp
To the Editor:
Thurgood Marshall College
Fund (TMCF) congratulates
President-elect Donald J. Trump on
his historic election as the 45th
President of the United States of
America. As a non-partisan higher
education nonprofit organization
advocating for the nation's publicly
supported Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs),
we work to ensure that HBCUs
remain part of the political conversa
tion.
We are hopeful that the incoming .
Trump Administration will continue
to engage with TMCF and the
HBCU community to find positive
President-Elect Trump
A
solutions and solve important issues
such as student loan debt and tuition
costs.
TMCF stands ready to serve as a
resource to the Administration and
- work as a partner to strengthen the
nation's higher education sector and
HBCUs.
We look forward to having a
productive and substantive working
relationship on behalf of our mem
ber schools with President-elect
Trump, Vice President-elect [Mike]
Pence as well as the entire
Administration.
Johnny C. Taylor Jr.
President & CEO
Thurgood Marshall College
Fund
Note: The Thurgood Marshall
College Fund (TMCF), established
in 1987, is named for the U.S.
Supreme Court's first African
American justice. TMCF represents
all Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs), and its mem
ber-schools include the 47 publicly
supported HBCUs.
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