COMMENTARY
LET’S NOT HAVE TO ASK WHY ANYMORE
disturbing future? Why is the
GOP sadly trying to take back
rights 50 years after the Civil
Rights
Act of 1964?
We may think we know or may
never truly know why North
Carolina’s GOP has decided
to pull our state toward
a cultural, economic and
environmental abyss.
By Jaymes Powell Jr.
North Carolina’s GOP is committing
moral crimes. GOP bills and laws
during the 2013-2014 General
Assembly Session could be
considered morality crimes against
minorities, women, seniors and
students. We know the who, the
when and the awfulness of what
has happened. What needs to be
examined is “the why”.
From the denial of medical care
to the constriction of education,
what is happening in North
Carolina is destroying the lives
of many for the benefit the few.
Today, Republicans and Democrats
suffer under a vengeful GOP-led
government, bent on destroying
years of gains by all North
Carolinians.
Citizens aware of those with few
educational, vocational, legal or
medical options must ask “why?”
Those who see the GOP treating
women as if it were the 1920’s
or with some warped version of
Sharia Law, where men decide
what’s good for women’s bodies
while laws limiting male sexuality
are non-existent, should ask “why?”
North Carolinians noticing the
state’s harsh African-American
unemployment rate, which is more
than double the white population’s
must ask “why?”
The GOP is pushing measures
to hurt voting rights, erode
enfranchisement, stop excellent
education for all, deny sexual
equality and attacks the
environment.
Why?
Why does the GOP feed off of
Republicans and Democrats in this
state, driving most into a more
unsettled present and possibly
Is it fear? Is it greed? Is it the
willful ignorance of intelligent
people?
Yes.
What we do know is how this
happened. Voter turnout,
especially amongst AfricanAmericans and minorities, helped
sellout our state to GOP interests
during election cycles from 20102012. But we also know how to fix
the GOP problem – get out and
vote, like African-Americans did
during the 2008 General Election
and the 2014 Primaries, where we
accounted for 25 percent of the
vote.
The African-American Caucus (AAC)
of the North Carolina Democratic
Party, with members like Harnett
County Commissioner-Elect
Barbara McKoy, honorary member
Dr. Benjamin Chavis and State
Senator Don Davis, are all asking
“why?”
The AAC-NCDP is also asking North
Carolinians to join in resolving the
GOP’s moral crimes against the
state’s citizens. Please join the
African-American Caucus in this
crucial 2014-16 voting period, when
the future of our state’s people
may be largely decided.
Let’s not have to ask why anymore.
Let’s vote.
Jaymes Powell Jr.
Jaymes Powell Jr. is Vice President for
Communications of the North Carolina
Democratic Party African-American
Caucus. The African American Caucus
(AAC) seeks full representation of
African Americans at all levels and in
all activities of the government and
the Democratic Party. Powell may be
contacted at [email protected]
THE BLACK PRESS, THE VOICE OF
BLACK AMERICA
By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis
Amidst
last week’s
annual
convention
of the
National
Newspaper
Publishers
Association
(NNPA)
Annual
Convention
in Portland,
Oregon, I
was reminded repeatedly that Black
Americans have had a long, storied
tradition of newspaper publishing. Since
the first publication of Freedom’s Journal
in 1827, Black American publishers
have worked heroically to earn the title
“Voice of Black America.” From the east
coast to the west coast, in big cities
and in small towns, NNPA publishers
continue have a sustainable economic
development impact within the heart of
the Black American community.
For more than 187 years, the Black Press
in Ameri