Civic Engagement Headlines
Defeat Voter Suppression: Vote Democratic Vote! Vote! Vote
Necessarily, this is my last column before the November 4th General Election. The outcome of this election and voter suppression is in your hands. Please continue your outreach by emailing your contacts and posting to your Facebook friends asking and
Read MoreDefeat Voter Suppression: D-Day is Here Email your contacts. Facebook your friends.
Educate, organize and mobilize — Again, if you’re not already registered you cannot vote in this year’s General Election. If you follow the news, you already know that the National and North Carolina Republican Parties are engaged in the most
Read MoreDefeat Voter Suppression: D-Day is Here Email your contacts. Facebook your friends.
Again, if you’re not already registered you cannot vote in this year’s General Election. If you follow the news, you already know that the National and North Carolina Republican Parties are engaged in the most massive voter suppression campaign in
Read MoreVoter Suppression: Polls Don’t Vote Vote Early and Volunteer. Volunteer. Volunteer.
Recent news reports addressing the November 4th North Carolina, General Election are important but should not be viewed in any way that would cause Black voters to do anything but promote a massive voter turnout. On October 1, the 4th
Read MoreVoter Suppression: One More Round The Ground Game – Getting Out the Vote
Educate, organize and mobilize — Around 30 days and counting, this election season is in the home stretch. The highest profile race is for US Senate between Kay Hagan and Thom Tillis. Although most polls show Senator Hagan with a
Read MoreVoter Suppression: The Black Church Organize, Register and Vote!
Educate, organize and mobilize — This year, as a part of an effort to mobilize Black Voters to vote in November, the Legislative Black Caucus and other leadership organizations invited predominately Black Churches to make Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014 into Freedom
Read MoreWealth and Income Inequalities Hurt America’s Economic Recovery
Amid stagnant wages, nagging underemployment and unemployment, many families continue to struggle with their finances. Some may even have wondered: ‘Will we ever make financial head way?’ On September 10, a Capitol Hill briefing was held to unveil a new
Read MoreMoral March to the Polls Organize, Register and Vote!
Educate, organize and mobilize — We’re now in the final stage of our campaign to defeat voter suppression. Therefore, as we count-down to November 4, 2014, I am providing actionable information and deadlines for our readers. This week our title and
Read MoreVoter Suppression: Creating Black Wealth – Vote Your Economics! Yes, We can!
Here I go again. Since November 2013, I’ve been writing commentaries designed to spark enough interest in Black Voters to cause them to vote in November 2014. So far I’ve failed. This week I’m going to introduce another rationale for
Read MoreVoter Suppression: 60 Days and Counting Mobilize! Mobilize! Mobilize!
Educate, organize and mobilize: We’re now in the mobilization phase of our campaign to defeat voter suppression. Therefore, as we count down to November 4, 2014, I will provide actionable information and deadlines for our readers. Two important issues that voters
Read MoreVoter Suppression: JUDGES MATTER Mobilize! Mobilize! Mobilize!
Educate, organize and mobilize: As we draw nearer to D-day, November 4, 2014, the political parties, candidates and pressure groups are identifying their issues, slates and strategies to win. My title to this week’s commentary makes a gross understatement, judges matter.
Read MoreWinning a Dead Heat: Black Elected Officials Mobilize, Mobilize and Mobilize
By most polls the North Carolina race for the United States Senate is a dead heat. That being the case, victory in November will go to the political party that executes the best voter mobilization plan. Since August 2013, I’ve
Read MoreSuppress Voting, Impeach Obama and Close HBCUs
Educate, organize and mobilize: Over the last year I’ve been co-leading the Campaign to Defeat Voter Suppression. Our campaign has sought to educate our communities to the point that they would organize and mobilize for a massive voter turnout for the
Read MoreTight North Carolina Race Could Determine Control of U.S. Senate
RALEIGH, N.C. (NNPA) – U.S. Senator Kay Hagan has been reaching out to communities and constituents across North Carolina galvanizing support for her re-election campaign. The Democratic Senator from North Carolina and her campaign are full steam ahead as they
Read MoreVoter Suppression: The Countdown to Showdown
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: It’s a little more than a year since the US Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the countdown to the November General Election is underway. As of August 8, 2014 there were 86
Read MoreVoter Suppression: An Existential Threat to Democracy
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: Since November of 2013 I’ve been writing about voter suppression and addressing the subject from many different angles. We’re now in the mobilization phase of defeating voter suppression and I’ve been encouraged to outline an effective, understandable
Read MoreVoter Suppression: The Lines Are Drawn and The Fight Is On
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: Last week we shifted our focus to voter mobilization for November 2014. This week, as we look back we’ll also take a look at the current state of affairs in the fight to protect the voting rights
Read MoreTwo Generations of Civil Rights Leaders Address National Teachers’ Union Convention
LOS ANGELES—Two civil rights leaders spoke Friday at the American Federation of Teachers’ national convention taking place July 11-14 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The Rev. William Barber, leader of the Moral Mondays movement, and 10-year-old student activist Asean Johnson,
Read MoreVoter Suppression: It’s Mobilization Time
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: Since November of 2013 I’ve been writing about voter suppression and an appropriate response that needs to be made by those threatened by wide-spread, aggressive voter suppression. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to create an
Read MoreVoter Suppression: The Mississippi Lesson
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: It's fifty years since the passage of the Civil Rights of 1964 (The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965) and this is turning out to be quite a political season. There are many unforeseeable and unpredictable
Read MoreVoter Suppression: NC Black Republican Advisory Board
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: I confess that I’m amazed. The Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of North Carolina announced last week that they have launched the North Carolina Black Advisory Board (BRAB) to strengthen the party’s ties with diverse
Read MoreVoter Suppression: Defeating it requires two massive efforts
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: Last week I analyzed an article written by Dan Russo of the Roanoke Times. My point of interest in his article was his conclusion that, in order for democrats to win in November they would have to
Read MoreVoter Suppression: Taxation Without Representation
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: In commentaries that I wrote several months ago I likened efforts to defeat voter suppression to battling a hydra and noted that it was impossible to defeat voter suppression if you don’t know it when you see
Read MoreVoter Suppression: What’s going on!
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: From time to time it helps to survey the landscape and make an assessment of your project in order to help keep it on track or to correct your course. With the Campaign to Defeat Voter Suppression
Read MoreWhy vote? ALEC and the Doctrine of Exclusion
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: Frequently, in going forward it is imperative to examine your history. In 1638 the Maryland Colony issued a public edict encouraging the separation of the races that became the public policy of America. The edict became known
Read MoreGerrymandering: This Civil Rights War is Happening Now
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: Last week Jaymes Powell Jr. wrote for the African American Caucus of the North Carolina Democratic Party (AAC-NCDP) a very uplifting and accurate account of how Black candidates fared in the recent primaries. I spoke with him
Read MoreEducate, Organize and Mobilize: The War On Voters
This week the Campaign to Defeat Voter Suppression will reach an audience critical to its success. The 2014 Black Summit of the Alliance of North Carolina Black Elected Officials will host a panel presentation by leaders representing organizations that are
Read MoreThe War on Voters
Educate, Organize and Mobilize By Peter Grear This week the Campaign to Defeat Voter Suppression will reach an audience critical to its success. The 2014 Black Summit of the Alliance of North Carolina Black Elected Officials will host a
Read MoreNorth Carolina Voters Face Unnecessary Obstacles to the Polls
National Commission on Voting Rights Hears from Voters at North Carolina Public Hearing — WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, March 28, 2014 at a National Commission on Voting Rights (NCVR) public hearing, organized by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’
Read MoreVoter Outreach
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: Each week over the past several months I’ve written about various aspects of voter suppression with the purpose of explaining its concepts, strategies and objectives to move voters to action against voter suppression. I’ve addressed various individuals
Read MoreStill Fighting for Right to Vote
After 246 years of slavery, Americans fought a brutal Civil War — the bloodiest in our history — to end slavery and preserve the union. Three amendments were added to the Constitution: the 13th abolished slavery; the 14th guaranteed equal
Read MoreThe African American Caucus
Educate, Organize and Mobilize: This past Saturday, March 8, 2014, I was invited to present and overview on voter suppression to the Pitt County African American Caucus of the Democratic Party. I was pleased to accept the invitation and make a
Read MoreThe League of Women Voters Responds to Voter Suppression: Educate, Organize and Mobilize
With current references to the modern voter suppression and the disproportionate impact of Voter ID laws on women, the League of Women Voters are continuing their historic fight to ensure the voting rights of all people. Rooted in the movement
Read MoreModern Voter Suppression Is an Attack on Blacks and American Democracy
Since September, Patricia Ferguson and I have participated in town hall meetings across the state, sponsored by the NC Legislative Black Caucus and the NC Democratic Caucus. Our topic is and has been the defeat of voter suppression. In the
Read MoreResolution To Defeat Voter Suppression
WHEREAS, the right to vote is a fundamental right of American citizenship guaranteed by the constitution; WHEREAS, in 1787 black people were slaves and declared and counted as 3/5 of a person for representation in the United States House of
Read MoreThe Plot to Dilute the Black Vote
After decades of trying to ease voting restrictions that suppress voter turnout in the U.S., already among the lowest among industrialized nations, Republican-led state legislators and GOP governors have quickly implemented or proposed a series of changes aimed at reducing
Read MoreACLU Releases Scathing Report on Abuses in City Jails
ST. LOUIS (NNPA) – With her long history of chronic asthma and sickle cell anemia, a short stay at the St. Louis Justice Center for failing to appear in court for two traffic violations cost LaVonda Kimble her life. She
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Voter Suppression Won Again: We Lost a Battle, Not the War
Educate, organize and mobilize: Although the results of Tuesday’s General Election are very disappointing, they have given us a real measurement of our task ahead. I don’t have any empirical data to prove the exact results of our mobilization to get-out-the-vote
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