Showing posts tagged “NAACP”
Joe Schwartz ·
25 Feb 2010, 4:25 PM ·
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Members of the NAACP stood on the front lawn of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools administration building Thursday morning, calling a plan to add new honors courses a harbinger of resegregation.
“We will not stand for the resegregation of our schools,” Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP Chapter President Michelle Cotton Laws said, standing behind a banner reading “the struggle continues” and flanked by parents and activists both black and white. “Separate is not equal.”
Earlier this month the school board voted to add six honors courses in science and social studies, following four meetings and a public hearing.
The vote split 4-3, with the three black members opposed. The NAACP says adding honors courses without first addressing the achievement gap that cuts along race and class lines only heightens the disparity in local classrooms.
Continue reading »
Carrboro, Chapel Hill, education achievement gap, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, honors classes, Michelle Cotton Laws, Mike Kelley, NAACP
Joe Schwartz ·
29 Sep 2009, 9:12 PM ·
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The local NAACP chapter has issued a response to an internal investigation by the Chapel Hill Police Department, which found officers had acting appropriately in detaining a black Chapel Hill barber because he looked similar to a suspect.
A statement from the chapter called the investigation “ a strong argument for the immediate establishment of a Citizen Review Board.” It also disputes key findings. You can read the full statement below:
Continue reading »
Uncategorized Chapel Hill Police, Charles Brown, NAACP
Matt Saldaña ·
11 Aug 2009, 5:19 PM ·
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Today, Gov. Beverly Perdue signed into law the Racial Justice Act, saying the bill’s passage “ensures that when North Carolina hands down our state’s harshest punishment to our most heinous criminals – the decision is based on the facts and the law, not racial prejudice.”
Perdue’s signature, which follows a dramatic 25-18 N.C. Senate vote, makes North Carolina only the second U.S. state to pass legislation that allows capital defendants to present evidence–including statistical data–arguing that race was an underlying factor in the decision to seek, or impose, the death penalty at the time of their trial. Previously, defendants could only make a claim of racial discrimination based on explicit evidence of racism in the courtroom.
The law gives current death-row inmates one year to file a claim, and allows all other capital defendants to present such a claim during pre-trial hearings, or following the sentencing phase. If a judge is satisfied that the defendant has proven race was an underlying factor, despite counter-evidence presented by the prosecution, he or she can reduce the sentence or the charge to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Press releases from the Governor’s office, Amnesty International, and the N.C. NAACP, after the jump: Continue reading »
North Carolina Bev Perdue, Earline Parmon, Floyd McKissick, Larry Womble, NAACP, NC General Assembly, Paul Luebke, Pricey Harrison, racial justice act
Matt Saldaña ·
30 Jun 2009, 8:01 PM ·
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By a 7-6 vote, the House Judiciary I Committee approved a “clean” version of the Racial Justice Act (SB 461), which would prevent the execution of defendants who can prove race was an underlying factor in the decision to seek, or impose, the death penalty at the time of their trial. The committee had previously passed a similar House version of the bill.
The bill the House J1 Committee approved today does not include controversial clauses that would ensure the resumption of the death penalty in North Carolina, which were added on the Senate floor but later removed in the House Ways and Means Committee. It also contained several technical amendments to the version Ways and Means had passed. The bill now heads to the House Appropriations Committee, before coming up for a vote on the House floor. If House members succeed in keeping the bill free of the execution amendments, a compromise will likely need to be struck in conference committee.
After a discussion by committee members, Committee Chair Deborah Ross asked if anyone in the audience wished to speak against the bill. Nobody raised his hand.
Rep. John Blust (R-Guilford) offered an explanation: “People might not like the idea of coming forward and being against something that’s titled ‘the Racial Justice Act.” He added:
If we really want to talk about racial justice we need to think about the people out there right now, in the various communities in this state, some of whom live in very rough communities and face a survival question day-to-day, at the hands of people who often prey on them. And it’s those African-American citizens, out in the community, that I have more concern about their racial justice, to be able to live their lives. That’s going to be impacted with the DA’s having to look over their shoulders in prosecuting capital cases from now on.
The Rev. William Barber II, president of the NAACP state chapter, walked to the podium to debunk the concern: “African-Americans want to see this passed.”
In an interview after the vote, he cited better schools, jobs and economic development–not the death penalty–as “the deterrents that we need in regards to the issues [Blust] was talking about.”
“The African-American community is somewhat conservative, when it comes to crime,” he said. “We believe, if you do the crime, you ought to do the time. What we fight for is there not being one system of sentencing for black folk, and then another system for others.”
He added: “No prosecutor that’s really interested in justice is worried about anyone reviewing what they have done.”
Meanwhile, a fiscal note (PDF, 96 KB) has been added to the Racial Justice Act’s ncleg.net page, including broad estimates on the cost of implementing the bill. N.C. Indigent Defense Services estimated “there will likely be a net savings associated with implementing the bill,” due to the removal of trial and post-conviction appeal costs when defendants successfully make a Racial Justice Act claim, meaning they would instead be sentenced to life without parole, or, if their trial has not yet begun, tried for life without parole. Continue reading »
North Carolina John Blust, NAACP, NC General Assembly, racial justice act, Tracey Cline, william barber
Matthew McGibney ·
21 May 2009, 12:08 PM ·
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This morning, Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ), N.C. Coalition for a Moratorium, the N.C. NAACP and others gathered to call for the removal of an amendment to the state’s Racial Justice Act that would effectively restart executions in the state. The groups highlighted the popular support across the state for a racial justice bill, and advocated a “clean” bill without the death penalty amendment.
Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) introduced the offending amendment, which would resolve several legal hurdles to the resumption of executions. The demonstrators’ press release hkonj-press-release ,which was delivered in front of the General Assembly building, called the addition “unconscionable,” as the Racial Justice Act was meant to correct flaws in the execution process.
The Racial Justice Act would allow the challenge of death penalty cases in which race was thought to have been a factor. A UNC study found that defendants were 3.5 times as likely to get the death penalty if the victim was white. Since the beginning of the death penalty moratorium in North Carolina, three African-American men have been exonerated. In all those cases, at least one of the victims was white.
Rev. Dr. William Barber, president of the N.C. NAACP, spoke about the contrasting experiences of the Duke lacrosse players falsely accused of rape, who were later exonerated before trial, and the death row inmates, who were eventually found not guilty. While the Duke players spent a short time in jail, the African-American men served combined 41 years on death row.
“It’s not a crying shame,” said Rev. Dr. Barber. “It’s a damn shame.”
Sarah Preston, lobbyist for the N.C. ACLU, noted that her group and the NAACP oppose the death penalty on principle. But if there were going to be executions, she said she wanted the system to be color-blind and as fair as possible
“We don’t want to restart executions until the effects of the bill are in place,” Preston said.
North Carolina, politics death penalty, NAACP, NC Coalition for a Moratorium, NC Racial Justice Act, Phil Berger
Fiona Morgan ·
1 Nov 2008, 8:45 PM ·
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Someone put a casket outside a polling place in Craven County, NC, and on that casket, someone put bumper stickers with Barack Obama’s face and the word “O’NO!”
State NAACP chairman Rev. Dr. William J. Barber said in a statement, “The casket had apparently been placed there for at least several hours, if not days. There is no telling how many voters it had frightened away. It appeared to be an obvious threat to Sen. Obama—a warning to him to stay away from North Carolina.” County sheriffs removed the casket on Friday, reports said.
WRAL reports that the county’s Director of Elections Tonya Pitts said the casket was originally for “Joe the Plumber” with a sign that read “taxed to death” — somebody put the Obama stickers on later.
Oh, well, that explains everything.
Barber called on both parties to denounce the casket prank, and to his credit, the state Republican Party spokesman Brent Woodcox did, telling The N&O, “All decent, law-abiding citizens of North Carolina are outraged by this incident.”
North Carolina, politics 2008 election, Barack Obama, NAACP
Bob Geary ·
18 Sep 2008, 3:52 PM ·
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A coalition that includes the state NAACP, N.C. Council of Churches, N.C. Conservation Network, SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment), NC WARN and N.C. Fair Share are behind the conference Saturday on the N.C. Central University campus. The subject: How to get from here (our gluttonous and wastefully oil-dependent culture) to there — a healthy, “green” economy fueled by sustainable energy sources that don’t pollute the environment and do create jobs here at home.
“Growing a Just, Green Economy” will feature keynoter Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx and past winner of a MacArthur Foundation genius award. The day’s speaker list is a who’s who of community and environmental justice leaders. It’s online at the conference website.
Registration starts at 8 am, Carter’s at 9 am, the day ends at 4 pm. Registration is $30 ($10 with a student ID) and includes box lunches. However, if you’re a walk-in registrant on Saturday, bring your own lunch ’cause they weren’t counting you when they ordered.
Durham, environment Majora Carter, NAACP, NC Central University, NC Conservation Network, NC Council of Churches, NC Fair Share, NC WARN, SURGE
