NC NAACP and UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity Respond to Governor Mitt Romney’s Remarks

North Carolina NAACP and UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity Respond to Governor Mitt Romney’s Remarks and Challenge Political Leaders to Follow the Truth and Hope Tour and See the Faces of the "Very Poor"       FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 2, 2012   For More Information:           Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137                                                 Mrs. Amina J. Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700     Governor Mitt Romney’s Remarks Reveal the Continuing Attention Violence Committed Against the Poor      By, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II President, North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP  Professor Gene Nichol, Director, UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity    There is a certain political and social brutality to the declaration by presidential candidate Governor Mitt Romney, reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars, that he is "not concerned about the very poor." What we in the civil rights community know is that this sort of language reveals an attention-violence against the people who were already in crisis before the crisis became public in 2008.   We must remember that such political language, whether overt or subtle in nature, has always been used by politicians to divide the poor from the rest of society in the public arena.  We must closely examine language that race baits the poor, language that suggests the leader of our nation is a welfare president, that poor people are the real problem in America as opposed to the structures that create poverty. Language that would have us believe the poor, through welfare and safety net programs, are actually taking money from the wealthy.  Racialized language that suggests poor people should stop having babies while we say little about greedy corporations giving birth to the corruption, bankruptcy, and income disparities that caused the Great Recession in the first place.   How can any person, or persons, desiring to obtain the highest office in the land, or for that matter, the office of governor or legislator, not be concerned with the 40 plus percent of African-American, Latino, and Native American children in North Carolina living in stark poverty? Not concerned with the Eastern North Carolina communities we just visited where over 50% of Tar Heels live below the harsh federal poverty standard — $22,000 a year for a family of four. Not concerned with one in five black North Carolinians presently unemployed. Not concerned with over a thousand homeless women and men in Elizabeth City trying to scramble for one of 26 beds available in area shelters; or the scores of parents waiting in line all night long, mid-winter, in Ahoskie, to secure scarce canned goods from the food bank. Not concerned about the millions and millions of Americans of all races and creeds who languish in the immoral clutches of structural poverty and long-term unemployment.   Not concerned with the families in Gates and Hertford counties living without toilets. Not concerned with a 70 year-old woman, in Winton, who drives a school bus twice a day so that she can care and provide medication for her stroke-disabled husband. Not concerned with the invisible poor who struggle, against great odds, for a measure of dignity and opportunity, but who don’t register, don’t appear, on Gov. Romney’s list of real Americans. It is rare that an American politician is as candid as Gov. Romney in his declaration of who counts and who does not. It is flatly routine, however, for politicians of both parties to simply turn their gaze away from those locked at the bottom of American life.              Individual charity alone will not address this problem.  The pain that has been perpetrated in the name of greed and racist public policy requires much more than this. They cannot keep conversations about income inequality in the "quiet rooms" as Gov. Romney suggested earlier this year. The moral requirements of our Constitution, the moral underpinnings of the Biblical truths require more than a call to private charity.  They require a call to structural change and systemic economic reorientation.   We invite Gov. Romney and any other candidates who aren’t concerned about poor people to leave the banquet halls and staged campaign stops and join us on the Truth and Hope Tour where we are putting a face on poverty across North Carolina. We extend an open invitation for all candidates to follow our bus in March as we travel to Southeastern North Carolina on the real back roads and back streets of rural America. We believe if Gov. Romney and other candidates see the faces of poverty we saw in Northeastern North Carolina last month and the ones we will see in March, they will never again allow themselves to commit this attention-violence against the poor.   ###   Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

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News Coverage of NC NAACP and UNC System Students Standing Together to Challenge Tuition Hikes

ABC11 – "NAACP questions tuition hikes" News14 – "UNC students join NAACP in tuition hike protest" WRAL – "Students wants UNC campuses to find other revenue sources" Carolina Week/reesenews – "NC NAACP president speaks at UNC against tuition increases" Raleigh News & Observer – "Students, NAACP oppose tuition hikes Students, NAACP oppose tuition hikes Travis Long – tlong@newsobserver.com In front of the South Building, Amanda Ellis, a senior at UNC- Chapel Hill, holds an NAACP sign at a rally organized by student groups and the state NAACP. BY JANE STANCILL The News and Observer – jstancill@newsobserver.com   CHAPEL HILL — Students at UNC-Chapel Hill joined with the NAACP on Wednesday to demand a halt to proposed tuition increases in the UNC system.   About 50 people gathered around the steps of the South Building that houses administrative offices at the center of campus. Students also were scheduled to meet with UNC system President Tom Ross later Wednesday.   Protests are picking up steam before next week’s decision on 2012-13 tuition by the UNC Board of Governors. Tonight, UNC-CH students plan a "teach-in," one of several scheduled at campuses across the state. And on Feb. 10, students will march to the UNC board meeting, where the vote is to take place. Some students from the system’s 16 college campuses are traveling by bus to Chapel Hill for the event.   "We cannot be ignored," Zaina Alsous, a UNC-CH junior from Raleigh, said to cheers from the crowd, "because we must always remind them that this is our university!"   The Rev. Curtis Gatewood, a vice president of North Carolina’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said a net reduction of $482 million in state funding to UNC campuses in the past four years is "a recipe to an inferior education." But the answer is not charging students more, Gatewood said. "This is like allowing bullies to come in and beat up a child’s teacher, take the child’s books and take the child’s lunch money."   UNC leaders say they must increase tuition to help protect the classroom, because state cuts have led to crowding, layoffs and reduced course offerings.   Ross has recommended average in-state undergraduate tuition and fee increases of 8.8 percent systemwide for 2012-13 and 4.2 percent for tuition in 2013-14.   Ross’ proposals are for tuition and fee increases of 9.8 percent at N.C. State University and 9.9 percent at UNC-CH – smaller than what those campus leaders requested.   Laura McCready, a UNC-CH sophomore from Charlotte, said university leaders are forcing students to choose between affordability and quality. "Come on," she told the crowd. "We know that there are better solutions."   McCready described an atmosphere of fear on campus.   "Students are scared that their brothers and sisters will not be able to come here because their families can’t afford it," she said. "Students are scared that they’re graduating into a job market without jobs and they don’t know how they’re going to pay off their debt. Students are scared … that our children won’t receive the public benefits that we are receiving."   Stephanie Gaskill, a graduate student at UNC-CH, said anger is rising.   "Students are fed up," she said. "They’re sick of degrees that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on, because they no longer guarantee them jobs. They don’t believe that the value of their education goes up just because the price tag gets bigger."   She called on the UNC board to reject the increases.   "Students are in enough debt already," she said. "Any increase is too much."   ###

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News Release: NC NAACP and Partners to Kick-Off the "Truth and Hope Tour" to Put a Face on Poverty in NC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 18, 2012

For More Information: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137

Mrs. Amina Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700

For Media Assistance:       Rob Stephens, Office Manager, 336-577-9335

The Truth & Hope Tour of Poverty in North Carolina Kicks Off 

on Thursday, January 19

WHAT: The Truth & Hope Tour of Poverty in North Carolina
WHEN: Thursday, January 19 – Friday, January 20
WHO: The North Carolina NAACP, NC Justice Center, and UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity and the Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Change at North Carolina Central University
WHERE: Washington, Roper, Elizabeth City, Winton, Scotland Neck, Rocky Mount

RALEIGH (January 18, 2012) – On Thursday, January 19, the North Carolina NAACP, NC Justice Center, UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity and the Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Change at North Carolina Central University will kick off the first leg of the "Truth and Hope Tour of Poverty in North Carolina," a state-wide tour of rural counties and inner city neighborhoods where North Carolinians struggle to find work, decent housing, transportation, and sufficient food for their families.

Departing from Raleigh on Jan. 19, a bus full of activists, reporters, foundation leaders, and scholars will travel through the northeast quadrant of the state, engaging in town hall meetings, sessions with local leaders, and tours of neighborhoods directly affected by poverty.

"If we see the faces of poverty, maybe then we will have as a state the moral motivation to do the long, hard, necessary and righteous work of turning this reality around for the good of the whole of our state and nation." said Rev. Dr. William Barber II, chair of the NC State NAACP.

A video trailer of the tour, which contains footage from listening sessions, is available online. Click here to view the video.

"We mean, through this modest effort, to illuminate and highlight barriers to opportunity in North Carolina, these moral and social transgressions that hold us all back," said Gene Nichol, director of the UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. "We want to do so not simply through data, and statistics, and documents and reports – but through the words and voices and protestations and hopes of those most directly affected."

Communities of color have been hit particular hard by the economic crisis. Organizers say the tour is a way to listen as well as a means to highlight the concerns of North Carolinians most affected by poverty and economic injustice.

"We want a North Carolina with real opportunity and prosperity for all," said Melinda Lawrence, executive director of the NC Justice Center. "To get there, we have to remember those places hit hardest by the recession – and do the hard work necessary to bring opportunity to the places it is most needed."

The tour schedule:

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19

9:30 a.m. – BEAUFORT COUNTY. Metropolitan AME Zion Church, 102 W. Martin Luther King Jr., Drive, Washington, NC 27889 

12:00 p.m. – WASHINGTON COUNTY. Eastern NC & VA Headquarters Building, 111 June Street Roper, NC 27970 

6:30 p.m. – PASQUOTANK COUNTY. Elizabeth City State University, K.E. White Graduate Center (Room 130), 1704 Weeksville Road, Elizabeth City, NC 27909   

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20

8:30 a.m. – HERTFORD COUNTY. "Old" C.S. Brown High School, Cafeteria, 101 C.S. Brown Drive, Winton, NC 27986

1:00 p.m. – HALIFAX COUNTY. Brawley High School, E. 16th Street, Scotland Neck, NC 27874   

4:30 p.m. – EDGECOMBE COUNTY. Rocky Mount OIC, Auditorium, 402 E. Virginia Street, Rocky Mount, NC 27801

###

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

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NC NAACP Calls for Restitution for Victims of Sterilization in North Carolina

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NC NAACP Statement on Restitution for the Victims of the North Carolina Eugenics Board FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 10, 2012 For More Information:        Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137                                            Mrs. Amina Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700                                            Atty. Jennifer Marsh, Legal Redress Coordinator, 919-682-4700 (DURHAM) – Today the Governor’s Eugenics Compensation Task Force will have its final meeting before submitting their official recommendations to the Governor. The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP through the Women in the NAACP (WIN) would like to express our support for the NC Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation, Eugenics Task Force and victims of the North Carolina Eugenics Board. We continue to see promise in the recent activities by the Task Force addressing this ugly chapter in North Carolina’s history which resulted in the forcible sterilization of many of our citizens, many of whom were poor and minority. The NC NAACP with our 120+ HKonJ partners addressed the issue of wrongful sterilization with the adoption of the coalition’s 14-point agenda in 2007. Since that time, obtaining compensation for the victims of the forcible sterilization program has been a mainstay of our agenda. Ten years have passed since the state offered a formal apology to victims of the involuntary sterilizations in 2001. Time is precious for the surviving victims and we need to move forward to assist these individuals. We ask that the task force and our state leaders quickly move forward in authorizing compensation to individual victims as soon as possible. While we understand a figure for compensation has been proposed, we ask that the victims be compensated at the highest amount that our moral conscience and justice demands. These victims have suffered for years, in some cases enduring immense physical and psychological distress. You heard many of the heart-breaking stories during the testimony last summer by several of the victims who were brave and strong enough to share their hurt in a public forum. The time has come for the state to right this horrible wrong and fulfill its promise to these citizens who have suffered long enough. We call on the leadership of this North Carolina to support the payment of restitution for the sterilization victims and move the compensation process forward so that restitution is made to victims this year. ### Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

NC NAACP Endorses Delaying Changes to Wake County Student Assignment Policy

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NAACP Endorses Delaying Change to Student Assignment Plan While Numerous Unanswered Questions Linger  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 10, 2012 For More Information:       Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137                                            Mrs. Amina Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700                                           Atty. Jennifer Marsh, Legal Redress Coordinator, 919-682-4700 Open Letter to Wake County Board of Education  and Superintendent Anthony Tata The North Carolina NAACP supports Great Schools in Wake Coalition (GSIW) in calling for a delay in the implementation of the new Wake County student assignment plan. The January 3, 2012 work session of the school board made it clear that there remains a long list of unanswered questions regarding the new assignment plan. We believe it is in the best interest of all children of Wake County to delay implementation of the plan until the questions are answered in order to ensure that Wake County adopts the best student assignment plan possible. NAACP leaders met with Superintendent Tata and his staff last July. During that meeting we posed many questions to the Superintendent and to date have not had a response from him or his team regarding their answers. GSIW posed additional questions that are also still unanswered. Questions and concerns we posed last summer include: 1. The percentage goals of low-performing, poor and minority students in each school have not been clarified. Any effort to avoid high-poverty, racially-identifiable or low-performing schools requires this data. 2. The numbers of seats available for families who choose to send their students to magnet and so-called "achievement choice" schools is not clear. 3. No plans have been announced to address the issue of access to "achievement choice" schools for families without the necessary resources to wade through the online process to make informed choices for their children’s school assignment. Without the necessary assistance, these families will not have equal opportunities to benefit from any student assignment plan. 4. There is still no urban school district operating a so-called "choice" plan that has maintained greater success than the pioneering socioeconomic diversity plan that made Wake County a national model for student achievement. While there was room to improve the socioeconomic diversity plan, especially in adhering to its goals of no high-poverty schools, the strengths of that plan should not simply be pushed aside. 5. There is still no data to show how the current recommended plan would decrease or increase the number of high-poverty, racially-identifiable or low performance schools in Wake County. 6. There is still no analysis that shows that the partial plans presented thus far are empirically better than the socio-economic diversity assignment plan. 7. The high-poverty schools that came to be under the old plan were not a result of the plan itself but rather a result of unprecedented growth in numbers of students in Wake County and flagging determination to meet the standards of the plan. No plan is stronger than our will to measure up to its goals. 8. Considering that the leadership of the previous board, which adopted this plan, was committed to a pure so-called "neighborhood schools" approach, we need to make sure that any plan Wake County adopts will balance the factors of diversity, stability and student performance. Even Michael Alves, who advised the Superintendent and his team, indicated that these factors need to be embraced to ensure the success of the plan. We continue to support a research-based approach to student assignment.  Research continues to show that socio-economic diversity and adequate resources foster student achievement and that high-poverty, racially-identifiable schools present strong obstacles to student achievement. There is hardly any argument among scholars as to whether or not diversity and resources are two critical elements for student achievement in public schools.  Across the country, re-segregated schools undermine all efforts to lift student achievement for all children. Any plan we adopt must be clear in avoiding re-segregation, whether accidental, incidental or intentional.  We are not questioning anyone’s intent but insisting that we pursue a research-based commitment the best schools for all children. We encourage the school board to proceed in implementing a new student assignment plan only once they have the data and a clear program to ensure they are making the very best decision. We believe thoughtful people who put all our children first and who want high-quality, constitutional, well-funded, diverse education for every child — as opposed to those driven by ideological agendas and partisan politics — can always find common ground. Our commitments are grounded in the best interests of all our children, the strongest scholarly research, the lessons of history, and a clear understanding of the state and federal constitutions.   From the outset, the NAACP has noted eight fundamental principles that should guide a sincere commitment to strong public schools:     1. Stop the trend toward re-segregation and promote school and classroom diversity. 2. Provide equity in funding for all schools. 3. Provide high-quality teachers and smaller classes. 4. Provide strong leadership and high-quality teams. 5. Provide first-rate facilities. 6. Focus on math, science, reading and history. 7. Support parental and community involvement. 8. Address unjust and disproportionate suspensions, reduce dropout rate and increase graduation rates among African-American, Latino/Hispanic and low-income students. All educational decisions must be guided by sound educational research, which continually proves that diversity and resources are key components to student achievement; by the standards of constitutional law, which guarantee every child equal access to a sound, basic education; and by our history, which reminds us we must go forward and not backwards. In the spirit of truth and justice, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, NC NAACP President Dr. Timothy Tyson, NC NAACP Education Chair ### Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.         See related: Wake County Public Schools

Action Alert: Repeal Bill of Racial Justice Act in Committee on Wednesday, May 18

HOUSE BILL 615: REPEAL OF THE RACIAL JUSTICE ACT

Ultra-conservative legislators continue their frontal attack on civil rights this Wednesday, May 18 as they try to push HB 615 through the Judiciary Subcommittee B. HB 615 is a bill to REPEAL the Racial Justice Act, despite their misleading title "No Discriminatory Purpose in Death Penalty." 

Click Here for NC NAACP Statement on Racial Justice Act Repeal Bill HB 615 OR scroll down.

One of the Republican co-sponsors of the bill, Rep. Stephen LaRoque, recently showed the true intention of the bill in an email to his constituent:

"From: Rep. Stephen LaRoque [mailto:Stephen.LaRoque@ncleg.net]

Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 7:02 PM

To:

Subject: RE: Please Stand with Me

Mr. (deleted),

I am proud that I had the opportunity to co-sponsor HB-615 which I hope will effectively and literally repeal the so-called "Racial Justice Act"…One problem we have is that we don’t execute the convicted murderers quick enough…

Rep. Stephen LaRoque"

While most North Carolinians are committed to ending Racial Injustice in our state, the Tea Party-backed leadership in the NC Legislature wants to dismantle a law that only begins to address racism in our court system. 

If you are in Raleigh, please join us at the Judiciary B Subcommittee hearing tomorrow, Wednesday May 18 at 10:00 AM.

DATE:  Wednesday, May 18, 2011

TIME:  10:00AM

PLACE:  Room 421 Legislative Office Building

###

Whether you can make it or not, please get in touch with your representatives, the Governor and House members of the Judiciary B Subcommittee

Tell Governor Perdue to VETO HB 615 if it passes

Let her know it REPEALS the Racial Justice Act and thank Gov. Perdue for supporting RJA in 2009

Contact Governor Beverly Perdue at:

Constituent Services Office

116 West Jones Street

Raleigh, North Carolina 27603

Phone: (800) 662-7952 or (919) 733-2391

Fax: (919) 733-2120

Members of Subcommittee Judiciary B: Representatives Bordsen, Bryant, Glazier, Haire, Martin, Michaux,  Stam, Stevens, Burr, Faircloth, Guice, Hilton, Ingle, Pridgen

Click Here for Names and Contact

###

NC NAACP STATEMENT ON HB615:

REPEAL OF THE RACIAL JUSTICE ACT

Immediate Release

5 April 2011

More Information: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, 919-394-8137

Atty. Al McSurely, Communications Chair, lawyers@mcsurely.com

Darryl Hunt, Director, Anti-Death Penalty Project, 336-831-1912

Rob Stephens, Assc. Dir., Anti-Death Penalty Project, 336-577-9335

"The extreme right wing that has apparently seized control of the North Carolina Republican Party chose April 4th, a day that lives in infamy in the hearts and minds of all justice-minded Americans, to introduce a law against Racial Justice," said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, President of the N.C. NAACP.  "On the 43rd anniversary of Dr. King’s murder, which many historians believe not only killed a prophet but set back the cause of racial and economic justice in America, Tea Party forces attacked the nationally-recognized North Carolina Racial Justice Act. Dr. King, his widow, the late Coretta Scott King, and the millions of participants in the movement he led, would have all supported the Racial Justice Act.  This extreme right wing race-baiting attack is misguided, mean, and malicious especially when we know the death penalty is too often applied in a way that is a modern day form of racism and classism."

Two months ago, the Forsyth County Superior Court ruled that the RJA was constitutional, dismissing the Forsyth County DA’s challenge, holding that both statistics and individual facts of the case are admissible in a RJA hearing.

            In 2009, The N.C. Racial Justice Act (RJA) became law.  It was hailed nationwide as a major breakthrough in exposing the racism that pervades southern courthouses and has become a model for other southern states. The RJA provides death row defendants a chance to expose racial bias in their convictions.  In most cases this racial bias does not make it into the paper record of the proceedings. Instead, it happens during investigations, evidence handling, mandatory evidence- sharing with defense, negotiations with the D.A., jury selection, jury discussions, prosecutor’s body language before the jury, and other tactics that have been the themes of many films and books about "Southern Justice."  These classic discriminatory tactics are not mentioned in official court records that are reviewed by appellate courts.  Under the RJA, if a defendant can show racism in the processes leading to his conviction, his or her death sentence can be commuted to life in prison without parole.  The RJA does not allow for any defendant to be released from prison.

             Last fall, after many death row defendants filed RJA claims, the extreme right-wing political groups who controlled the Republican Party’s 2010 campaign tactics, resorted to dishonest racist ads and mailers to inflame voters’ racial fears and prejudices.  The NAACP quickly protested, exposing their lies. Every North Carolina major newspaper condemned the right-wing, racist tactics. One editor called it: "The Big Lie."  Despite this outcry, the right wing forces, funded by the Americans for Prosperity and and other right-wing groups, refused to retract their lies.

"Now," Rev. Barber said, "The same groups are forcing moderates in the Republican Party to show their true colors by voting to repeal the Racial Justice Act.  When all North Carolinians of good will should be collaborating on creating good jobs and a fair budget, protecting education, and fixing our broken criminal justice system, these right wingers, without any attempt to disguise their openly racist appeals, have come out squarely against racial justice.   They lied when they sent out the mailers."

"The days of Jesse Helms’ politics of pandering to racial fears and prejudice are the Politics of Yesterday.  We believe the great majority of North Carolinians — Democrats, Republicans, and Independents — support Racial Justice. We expect the sponsors of the repeal bill were not aware that they filed their bill on the anniversary of Dr. King’s death. However, as we saw yesterday during the We Are One: National Day of Action, where the people took to the streets in 1,000 locations across the Nation, sometimes it takes a Tea Party for the people to pull together. Dr. King said, "But I know somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars." This is a call to action for the human rights community in North Carolina. We cannot go back."   

BACKGROUND ON RACIAL JUSTICE ACT

The Racial Justice Act has revealed what the Racial Justice movement has argued for centuries: Racism hurts white people too.  A recent study by Michigan State University found that potential African-American jurors who believe in the death penalty (the majority of African-Americans do not) are more than twice as likely to be dismissed from the jury than their white counterparts.   A defendant’s right, whether Black, Latino, or White, to an impartial jury of her peers requires a cross-section of our communities.  By denying African-Americans and other minorities the right to sit on juries, the prosecution and judges deny Black, White, and Latino defendants their right to a fair trial.  Nearly half of the men and women on Death Row now were convicted by juries with one person of color or less.  All-white juries convicted 33 of the people on death row.

The Michigan State Study found that defendants accused of capital crimes against white people were 2.6 times as likely to receive the death penalty than those defendants who were accused of a capital crime against a black victim. Racial bias in the criminal justice system has perpetuated sexism in the larger society.  White supremacy in the court system protects white men more than any other group from the consequences of criminal acts, including rape, as compared to black men. White and Black women are victims of a racist criminal justice system that punishes crimes of rape and violence committed against them by White men less severely than the same crimes committed against them by Black men. Between 1910 and 1961, 67 out of the 68 men put to death for rape were African-American.  Again, not a single white man convicted for the rape of a black woman ever received the Death Penalty. Perhaps most telling, from 1726-2010, the Colony and State of North Carolina has executed 827 people; only three were white people who had killed a black person.

Findings of systemic perjury within the State Bureau of Investigation crime labs in the Swecker Report, released last fall, and the recent report of SBI interim director by Judge Joe John emphasize why the RJA is so important.   It found the State Bureau of Investigation, the main investigating agency for prosecutors and courts across the state, had a policy of perjury and that SBI agents routinely misrepresented SBI lab results to prosecutors, judges and juries.  This culture of perjury and "conviction at any cost" mentality at the SBI has existed for years.  Out of the 269 people who were victims of the SBI’s culture of perjury, the State has executed three; four are on Death Row; and several died while in prison.  All were denied their constitutional right to a fair trial.  

In the last few years, the State was forced to release seven men from Death Row –five African Americans; one Latino; and one European-American. In a recent six-month period, our courts released three Black men off N.C.’s Death Row, with no apologies.  Jonathon Hoffman served 12 years on death row before all charges against him were dismissed in December 2007; Glen Edward Chapman served 14 years on death row before being released in April 2008; and Levon "Bo" Jones, who served 15 years on death row, was released a month later in May 2008.        

###

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RE-SEGREGATE THE BLACK VOTE Racist Tricks of Extreme Ultra-Conservative Republican Tea Party Politicians Exposed

Immediate Release

5 May 2011

Contact: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137

Mrs. Amina J. Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700

Atty. Al McSurely, Communications Chair, lawyers@mcsurely.com

RE-SEGREGATE THE BLACK VOTE

Racist Tricks of Extreme Ultra-Conservative Republican Tea Party

Politicians Exposed

"The extreme right-wing, ultra-conservative tea party that has apparently captured the North Carolina Republican Party has gotten so cocky, it now brags in public about its plans to use tactics rooted in racism and political segregation in order to gain and control political power," said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President of the NC NAACP. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), recently bragged to the Washington media:

"It’s politically probable that there will be a new minority influence district. Republicans should pick up three seats under any fair and legal [redistricting] map. That is huge. No other state in the nation would gain as many Republican seats. This would be in a state that Barack Obama won in 2008 and where we have had a Democratic governor since 1992 – the longest such period in the nation. A 9-4 [Republican majority] delegation is pretty good and would attempt to avoid the risk of a bad year for Republicans. Clearly, Reps. Kissell and Miller are serving their final term."

"Let us look at the racist implications of McHenry’s statement," Rev. Barber said. "When he says ‘minority influence district’ he means the tea party wants to draw new lines around Black areas, and lump us all into a third segregated voting District. Their aim is to remove progressive black voters out of surrounding areas, where we can create a strong voting majority with the growing number of white and brown progressives to get our anti-racism, anti-poverty agenda passed. McHenry and the extreme ultra-conservative Tea Party Republicans want to defeat our progressive agenda, and take us back to their good old days. John Tedesco wants to keep us in our ‘neighborhoods.’ Ron Margiotta wants to keep ‘the animals’ in our ‘cages.’ McHenry wants to resegregate our voting districts so the tea party can win 9 out of 13 of North Carolina’s congressional seats and pass their regressive agenda.

"In 1898, the racist red shirts murdered scores of Black people who had created a fusion alliance with progressive white people in Wilmington and were building a world-class port city.

For the next 67 years, the red shirts, with their white friends in high places, disenfranchised one-third of Southern voters–all of us with black skins. In 1965, after many courageous anti-racism fighters–Black and White and Jewish–were murdered, beaten and jailed, the Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. This set the stage for the long struggle to insure the safety and protection of our voting rights. Five years ago, Congress found that white supremacists still use voter suppression and dilution tricks, and re-authorized the VRA for another 25 years. Now, the virtually all-white tea party ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Party is trying an end run of the VRA. The NAACP will continue to fight to guarantee the right of every voter of color to cast her ballot against the tricks of the tea party and, at the same time, build a new progressive fusion alliance that can usher in a society of human beings of all colors, a beautiful diverse society–One North Carolina."

"We’re sick and tired of the tea party’s politics of yesterday. Black people can count too, Mr. McHenry. We understand your racist game. This is 2011. It’s our agenda of tomorrow vs. your agenda of yesterday. The new fusion of Black, Brown and White voters who want to move North Carolina forward is forming. The Tea Party wants to segregate our Congressional Districts–three Black and 10 White. We say No to Re-Segregating our Schools and our Voting Districts. Yes to One North Carolina."

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors. For more information, call the State Office at 866-626-2227 or e-mail us at execdirnaacpnc@gmail.com. ###

See related:

Tea Party

NC NAACP NEWS RELEASE: WE ARE ONE: NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

Immediate Release 1 April 2011   Contact:  Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, 919-394-8137                  Mrs. Amina J. Turner, Exec Dir, 919-682-4700                  Atty. Al McSurely, Communications Chair, lawyers@mcsurely.com        WE ARE ONE:  NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION NAACP, HKonJ People’s Coalition, AFL-CIO, UE150, Black Workers for Justice and others Standing in Solidarity   DURHAM – The NC State Conferenceof the NAACP will mark the 43rd anniversary of the death of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by joining WE ARE ONE: National Day of Action with protests, rallies, picket lines, teach-ins across the country, and here in North Carolina:  Asheville, Charlotte, Chapel Hill, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh and Wilson.  <SEE FLIER ATTACHED>   Since 1959, North Carolina’s Jim Crow General Statute 95-98 has continued to deny workers the right to associate and collectively bargain for fair, safe, and just workplaces.   NC NAACP urges all to join the faith community, labor, social justice and civil rights advocates, in solidarity to honor Dr. King’s legacy and ultimate sacrifice and declare WE ARE ONE on Sunday April 3 and Monday, April 4.    "Dr. King’s challenge to never stop fighting for what’s right, in light of the ultra conservative, tea party, right wing attack on labor rights, educational equality and economic justice should be heard afresh," remarked State NAACP President, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II.  "If we are going to be a great Nation, a great State, we must close the gap between rituals of worship and works of righteousness.  We are required to be just towards workers, uplift the poor and to empower and educate our children.  These matters determine the very soul and character of the Nation.  Where there are regressive attacks on labor rights, civil rights, human rights and voting rights, we must resist injustice, raise our voices, and register our votes."   Executive Director, Amina J. Turner said, "In this global economy, and recession, we must do all we can to support working families.  Denial of workers’ rights is a form of tyranny that affects generations."   ###   TEXT NAACP TO 46988 TO RECEIVE MOVEMENT ALERTS   Click Here to Download Flyer