Port City candidates quizzed at NAACP, Black Caucus forum. Saffo, Sparks, are no shows.

Wilmington mayoral candidate Justin LaNasa speaks during the candidate forum for the Wilmington City Council and the Wilmington mayoral race at St. Phillip AME Church in Wilmington Friday, October 14, 2011. The New Hanover County NAACP and the New Hanover County Black Caucus sponsored the forum.
Photo By Matt Born

 

Shelby.Sebens@StarNewsOnline.com

Modified: Friday, October 14, 2011 at 9:14 p.m.

Six of the 11 candidates in the running for the Wilmington City Council and mayoral elections showed up Friday night to field questions from the NAACP and New Hanover County Black Caucus.

Dozens of people filled long tables in the St. Phillip AME Church on Eighth Street. President of the Black Caucus, Helen Worthy, said she heard from city council candidate Ricky Meeks, who couldn't make it, and incumbent Ron Sparks and Neil Anderson sent proxies to speak for them. Council candidate Josh Fulton also did not attend.

The first half hour was reserved for mayoral candidate questions, and candidate Justin LaNasa fielded them alone. Mayor Bill Saffo did not attend.

"I feel that the majority of our citizens are going unheard," LaNasa said. 

This was the third annual candidate forum for the New Hanover County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the New Hanover County Black Caucus. Candidates fielded questions from a panel of members of the Alpha Psi Omega Chapter of AKA Sorority Inc. The subjects ranged from violent crime to city services and regulations. 

Brenda Fong, treasurer of the local NAACP group and downtown resident, said her biggest concerns were traffic in the Wilmington area and better explanations of the bus routes. Once again, candidates debated the prevalence of crime, but Fong thought transportation should be a more pressing issue for elected officials. 

City regulations have also taken center stage in the race for the Wilmington City Council, and Friday's forum was no exception. The panel asked candidates if they thought a proposed expansion of the city's rules aimed at preserving historic buildings was too invasive.

North Carolina NAACP -- count your blessings! GOP is more generous than Democrats!

By KEN RAYMOND | Guest columnist

Published: June 28, 2011

The Republican-controlled General Assembly's redistricting map produces more majority-black districts, for the House and the Senate, than the Democratic-controlled General Assembly created 10 years ago. And although most blacks are glad to hear about the additional 15 House districts and nine Senate districts, there's one organization that's not happy at all — the NAACP.

North Carolina NAACP President William Barber has expressed opposition to the GOP plan, even though it's clearly in favor of the black community. Apparently, Barber is so used to challenging Republicans that he can't stop criticizing them long enough to see that African-Americans will now have more representation in Raleigh.

"To believe the ultra-conservative, extremist majority in the N.C. legislature is suddenly deeply concerned about upholding the civil rights and political power of African-American and minorities and therefore wants us to accept their plan sight unseen is absurd," Barber said in a press release.

Well you can see it, Mr. Barber. And I don't think the black community is complaining. Are you going to urge the Democrats in the legislature to oppose it? Or are you going to organize a march against it in Raleigh? That would be interesting to see.

Other members of the NAACP are already testing the bounds of their credibility. During a public meeting last Friday, Ben Griffin, a member of the NAACP from New Hanover County, said, "This will make it harder, not easier, for minorities to have their interests represented."

More black districts make it harder for minorities to have their interests represented? Maybe in some alternate universe that Griffin is familiar with, but not here on Earth. When you hear ridiculous arguments like this, it almost makes you wonder if the NAACP cares for fair representation for blacks.

If Barber cares about his credibility at all, he'll support the GOP plan. And if he cares about truly expanding the political influence of the black community, he'd use this situation as a springboard to open a dialogue with the Republican Party.

This is an opportunity for Barber to strengthen the political clout of African-Americans. Will he take it? Or will he keep it cornered in the Democratic camp? We'll see.

And the Democrats' response to the new districts is very interesting, too. Obviously, charges of racism won't carry any weight. So they're accusing the GOP of creating more African-American districts so that they can draw the remaining districts for themselves.

Maybe the Democrats can't bear the thought of being openly out-performed on the race issue. If the number of minority districts remained the same, they'd charge the GOP with unfairness. And if the number were fewer, they'd certainly charge the GOP with racism. I'm beginning to think the Democrats are at a loss with how to respond and this is the best they can do.

Here in Forsyth County, there are some people lamenting the loss of Democratic Sen. Linda Garrou. Garrou, who represents the 32nd District, has been redrawn into the 31st District. The 31st, which is represented by Republican Sen. Pete Brunstetter, includes the county area, and its voters are mainly Republicans.

I think those people have lost sight of the most important thing. The important thing is that the people are fairly represented in Raleigh, not whether incumbents keep their seats. The voters are supposed to chose their representatives, not the other way around. The seat belongs to the people.

After redistricting, incumbents sometimes find themselves drawn out their district. Or they're placed in a situation where they have to run against another incumbent from their own party. That's the way it goes. And this time, the GOP is drawing the lines.

And finally, I'm really looking forward to the day when race is no longer a factor in redrawing lines. The fact that so many people believe that there must be districts with African-American majorities proves that many people believe that all African-Americans think alike.

And that's not true. There are black liberals, conservatives, moderates and everything in between. And yes, most black people vote Democratic. But that's not because black people think alike. A big reason for it is cultural conformity, not ideological agreement.

Drawing boundaries that ensure African-American majorities is one of the residual effects of the Jim Crow era. Many people are still sensitive to a time of institutional disenfranchisement. Therefore, any significant demographic change in the districts would certainly bring accusations of racism.

But when organizations such as the NAACP play racial and partisan games, it's going to take much longer for society to get to a place where race will not be a factor in redistricting.

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/opinion/2011/jun/28/wsopin02-naacps-gamesmanship-rings-hollow-on-new-m-ar-1159511/

Ken Raymond of Forsyth County is active in Republican Party politics.

Barber arrested. For giving somebody a bad haircut? Au contraire -- he "acted up" in NC House gallery. Just a show off?

---

VERNE STRICKLAND  / USA DOT COM / MAY 26, 2P011

REV. WILLIAM 'SUMO" BARBER, HE OF NAACP NOTORIETY, HIJACKED THE N.C. HOUSE GALLERY DURING THE WEEK TO CLAIM HIS TWENTY-THIRD AMENDMENT RIGHTS, WHICH STATE THAT, 'IF YOU CAN'T GET YOUR STUFF ANY OTHER WAY, MAKE A JERK OF YOURSELF'.

BARBER'S 'STUFF' SEEMS TO BE BERATING EVERYONE WHO WON'T AGREE TO HIS LOOPY DEMANDS TO RETURN TO THE PAST, WHEN LITTLE CHILDREN WERE BUSSED ALL OVER HELL AND BACK SO BLACK AND WHITE KIDS COULD SIT CLOSE TOGETHER IN SCHOOL.

A LOT OF GOOD THAT DID, AS BLACK KIDS STILL ARE LAGGING WOEFULLY BEHIND EVERYBODY ELSE -- WHITES, ASIANS, INDIANS, ESKIMOS, ILLEGAL ALIENS AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL VISITORS HUNTING FOR LAS VEGAS.

BARBER MIGHT FIND A MORE NOBLE MISSION IF HE COULD KEEP HIS YOUNG CHARGES FROM EATING THEIR WAY INTO THE FUNERAL PARLOR AT AN EARLY AGE. BUT HIS TRY AS THE POSTER BOY FOR SENSIBLE DINING WAS NOT ACCEPTED BY ANYONE WITH ANY SENSE AT ALL, SO HERE HE IS -- A DETESTED RABBLE ROUSER THROWING HIS WEIGHT AROUND TO ATTRACT ATTENTION AND SATISFY HIS CONSIDERABLE EGO.

THE WHOLE THING IS NUTS, HAS NOT WORKED, AND WON'T IN THE FUTURE. WHAT WILL WORK IS TO PUT SOME EFFORT INTO INSTILLING A BIT OF RESOLVE INTO THE 'PARENTS' OF KIDS WHO CAN'T EVEN LOCATE THE SCHOOLS WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF A BORED BUS DRIVER.

I'VE DRONED ON LONG ENOUGH. IT'S BEEN FUN. BUT GOTTA MOVE ON. HERE'S A STORY ABOUT ALL THIS POINTLESS JUNK..

State NAACP President Rev. William Barber criticizes the budget proposals drawn up by GOP lawmakers during a May 25, 2011, news conference.

The Rev. William Barber

House Speaker Thom Tillis demanded an apology from protesters who disrupted a floor session on May 24, 2011.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The president of North Carolina's NAACP said Wednesday his group will continue vigorous protests against a Republican-backed budget bill, doing whatever it takes to turn the public's attention to polices he said represent a "moral crisis" for the state.

The Rev. William Barber's comments came a day after he and six others were arrested following a vocal protest in the House gallery.

"The House budget was shamefully passed with debilitating cuts to education, health care and other vital resources," Barber said Wednesday morning after being released from jail. "We must challenge what is going on."

Some activists are unhappy with a number of legislative actions passed by the GOP majority this year, but the passage of a House budget bill most provoked their ire.

The NAACP and affiliated groups charge that cuts in the proposed spending plan will disproportionately hurt poor and middle class North Carolinians.

On Wednesday, Barber chastised legislators, especially House Speaker Thom Tillis, for cutting programs for poor residents while failing to close tax loopholes for corporations and the rich, another option for helping to balance the spending plan.

"The constitution of this state says that the only purpose of political power is for the common good and not just to cater to a few, the wealthy. The General Assembly leadership is being disrespectful to our constitution," Barber said.

"Come on, Mr. Tillis. Come on, extreme right. Come on, tea party. Embrace the future," he continued. "Let's lift our state rather than trying to tear it down. We can do better than this."

Meanwhile, Tillis said he wants Barber to apologize for disrupting lawmakers.

"I do think that Rev. Barber owes this House an apology for his disrespectful and disruptive behavior," Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said during a news conference Wednesday.

Tillis said he would be willing to meet with members of the NAACP, but not Barber or the six arrested with him. "It would be inappropriate of me to meet with somebody that's the subject of a police investigation, I would think," he said.


Barber declined to respond directly to Tillis' request for an apology, calling it an attempt to divide the group of activists that has become more and more vocal as the legislative session wears on.

But Michelle Laws, of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP chapter, said Tillis is off base.

"How dare he ask for an apology," Laws said. "Speaking as someone who cares about the children of this state, I think he owes us an apology."

Barber said the NAACP and members of the Historic Thousands on Jones Street coalition are planning to organize across the state to fight what they call "extreme right-wing" politics in city, county and state governments. He said voter registration drives are also planned in hopes of changing the Legislature's makeup during the 2012 elections.

Members of the NAACP and other protesters have complained that legislators brushed off their concerns, ignoring phone calls and letters and refusing meetings with group members.

Tillis said he did agree to meet with Barber and his group in February, but NAACP representatives canceled.

While Tillis acknowledged that the Republican leadership is unlikely to see eye-to-eye with NAACP members, he said he is ready and willing to listen and make policy changes where warranted.

He said House members are open to working with the Legislative Black Caucus and are helping to form a new American Indian Caucus in the General Assembly.

http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/story/9643199/

Blacks' migration to suburbs will have big impact on redistricting process this year.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster 

ANDY YATES RECOMMENDED THIS EXCELLENT STUDY OF REDISTRICTING FROM THE WASHINGTON POST. IT DETAILS EXPECTED -- AND UNEXPECTED -- RESULTS OF POPULATION SHIFTS, AND STRATEGIES FOR MAPPING. NORTH CAROLINA WILL BE IMPACTED. THE GOP'S CHANCES LOOK VERY PROMISING.

By Aaron Blake, Thursday, April 21, 2011

 

Louisiana’s newly designed 2nd Congressional District doesn’t look like it makes much sense — one end of it starts in a tip just north of Baton Rouge, and from there it juts and jags its way more than 70 miles south and east past New Orleans, seemingly picking up random communities along the way.

Most of the people who live in those communities are African Americans, joined together partly by design and partly by law. By looping African Americans into one district, lawmakers increased the number of Republicans in surrounding districts, virtually ensuring that the GOP will hold a major advantage in five of the state’s six congressional districts for the next decade.

As lawmakers across the nation begin the once-a-decade process of redrawing their congressional boundaries, a significant migration of blacks from cities to suburbs is having a widespread political impact.

According to newly released census numbers, eight of the nation’s top majority-black districts lost an average of more than 10 percent of their African American populations. That will provide an opportunity for Republican lawmakers, who control an increasing number of statehouses following last fall’s elections, to reshape districts in suburban swing areas of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia and elsewhere.

Dozens of seats could become easier for Republicans to hold on to, with a half-dozen or so becoming prime pickup opportunities for the party, according to political strategists.

“The practical effect is great for the GOP,” said Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report. “In state after state, it’s allowing Republicans to pack more heavily Democratic close-in suburbs into urban black districts to make surrounding districts more Republican.”

The migration of blacks to the suburbs is also having an impact in the Washington area, where the African American population in the District dropped 11 percent over the last decade, while suburban Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) gained more black voters than anyone outside of the fast-growing Atlanta area.

Fellow Maryland Democrats Donna F. Edwards and Chris Van Hollen also gained large numbers of black voters. Unlike some other places, though, those lawmakers are not likely to be greatly affected, since Democrats control the redistricting process in Maryland.

The 1982 amendment of the Voting Rights Act led to the creation of many legislative districts, particularly in the South, in which minorities became the majority populations. The idea was to give minority voters a chance to elect candidates of their choice. Over time, these districts encountered legal challenges and setbacks, including at the Supreme Court, over questions of racial gerrymandering.

Initially, these districts were a boon to Democrats, creating opportunities in places where the party struggled to win. But over the last few rounds of redistricting, Republicans have made a habit of “packing” as many reliably Democratic black voters into as few districts as possible, virtually guaranteeing black representation for those districts while also making nearby ones more winnable for the GOP.

Even as the African American population has been shrinking in many longtime black districts, the number of majority-black districts has actually increased over the last decade — and could very well continue to do so, with Republicans leading the redistricting process this year.
   
Reshaping the suburbs

• Blacks’ migration to suburbs will have big impact on congressional redistricting 

• Without influxes of Hispanics and Asians, some U.S. cities would be smaller  

• Number of black D.C. residents plummets as majority status slips away

The relocation of large numbers of African American voters will likely lead to substantially different districts outside several major cities.

In the Detroit area, for instance, Democratic Reps. John Conyers Jr. and Hansen Clarke lost nearly one-quarter of the 800,000 black voters in their districts since 2000, with many of them migrating to nearby districts. The expansion of Clarke’s and Conyers’s districts could help Michigan Republicans eliminate a Democratic district in the area.

The same goes in Ohio, where Rep. Marcia L. Fudge’s (D) loss of 29,000 black voters means that her district will have to grow and Republicans can more easily collapse some nearby Democratic districts.

There is also an opportunity for the GOP to create some new black-majority districts. If Republicans make the district of Rep. Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (D-Ga.) majority black, it could help keep freshman Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) safe by taking Democrats out of his neighboring district.

And Republicans could push Rep. Robert A. Brady (D-Pa.), a white Democrat whose district is primarily in Philadelphia, into a majority black seat, a move that might help them shore up all the suburban seats they hold nearby.

In Louisiana, the current New Orleans-based 2nd District lost nearly 120,000 black residents over the past decade, largely due to Hurricane Katrina. In order to keep the black population as high as it was before, the district had to be expanded significantly, reaching to the state capital of Baton Rouge.

As a result, the Baton Rouge-based 6th District, which Democrats held briefly last decade, dropped from 34 percent black to 24 percent black.

“It keeps those districts a lot safer for those guys,” said Louisiana political analyst John Maginnis.
Hilary Shelton, the Washington bureau director for the NAACP, said his organization is prepared to fight the over-packing of majority-black districts and hopes that Republicans won’t overplay their hand.
“On one hand, we like to see cohesiveness of those who share common values,” Shelton said.

“But it is important that we don’t end up with the kind of packing in districts that” diminishes the influence of black voters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/blacks-migration-to-suburbs-will-have-big-impact-on-congressional-redistricting/2011/04/21/AF7gBTLE_story_1.html