RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina NAACP and other groups will have a “Health Care Can’t Wait” rally at the Capitol Building Saturday.

The rally will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday. Groups organizing include the NC State Conference of the NAACP, NC Fair Share, NC Health Care for America Now and HK on J Coalition Partners.

The theme of the rally is “Help the President to keep his promise and to remind congress people of their responsibility to assure that all, not some Americans have health care.”

NAACP President Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, says “Health care reform has been a major issue of the NAACP for years.  We have always known the current health care system discriminates its coverage and applicants based on class and race.  It is unconscionable when the wealthiest nation in the world has 40-50 million people without health care insurance and nearly a hundred million are underinsured.  This is a moral issue.  Many times we claim to be a Judean Christian nation.  Jesus believed in nonprofit healing and health care for all.  Health care is the moral and civil rights issue of our times and it is time for people to speak up and stand up against the forces of division, selfishness, and greed.”

The rally will begin with testimonies from everyday people and then a keynote called to action.

One of the organizers, Lynice Williams of NC Fair Share remarks “People who believe in justice and equality and who have concern for all people cannot stand in the wings.  We must take our place center stage and tell the truth over and against the distortions that are being told in attempts to derail health care reform. Public option is a must; insuring all people is a must.  There is no such thing as a death panel in the current legislation.  The only death panel is when we leave people uninsured.”

Amina Turner, executive director for the State NAACP adds, “On the eve of the passing of one of America’s well-known health care proponents, [the late Senator Edward] Ted Kennedy, it is fitting for us to gather to remind our representatives of their obligation to all of us.  To maintain the status quo is to increase the risk for further escalation of health costs, and to continue a dual system of haves and have-nots in health care delivery and access.  It is imperative that we reform health care for all now.”

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 at execdirnaacpnc@gmail.com.

RALEIGH, N.C. — As the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People convenes this week in New York for its 100th Anniversary, President and CEO Benjamin Jealous joins NC NAACP President and National Board Member Rev. Dr. William Barber in calling on the NC General Assembly to pass the NC Racial Justice Act.

“Mr. Jealous just spoke directly today in his keynote speech about the NAACP’s number one issue, racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, and called on North Carolina to pass the Racial Justice Act,” said Rev. Barber, who, along with a large bi-partisan coalition of individuals and organizations has pushed hard for the passage of the bill that would address racial bias in death penalty cases.

“With full support from Mr. Jealous, I am right now raising the issue of the NC Racial Justice Act with over 5000 delegates here in New York,” said Rev. Barber.

“And North Carolinians seem to agree with our endorsement of the Racial Justice Act – a statewide poll conducted last week by Public Policy Polling found that 67% of NC voters believe capital defendants should be able to present evidence of bias, including statistical evidence, in court.”

“The numbers and the stories don’t lie,” said Mr. Jealous.  “We continue to be plagued with racial bias in our criminal justice systems across the country.  This week North Carolina has the opportunity to take an historical, righteous step towards justice by passing the Racial Justice Act.”

“It is time – it is past time — that North Carolina gets this right,” added Rev. Barber. “We’ve seen far too many cases of racial injustice in recent days.  We must enact a clean Racial Justice Act, one with statewide statistics and without inappropriate and irrelevant amendments.”

RALEIGH, NC – Today the Historic Thousands on Jones Street Coalition and the NC Coalition for a Moratorium – with support from recently polled voters – called on North Carolina legislators to pass a clean version of the NC Racial Justice Act, free of amendments that would restart executions before the courts can sort out important legal questions.

“Any attempt by legislators to use the Racial Justice Act – a bill that simply allows defendants facing the death penalty to present evidence of racial bias in their cases – as a pretext to restart executions, is unconscionable,” said NC-NAACP President Rev. William Barber.

A poll conducted last week in Mecklenburg and Pitt Counties by Public Policy Polling shows overwhelming support for the Racial Justice Act, as well as strong support for a bill that exempts people with severe mental illness from the death penalty.  Polling in these counties provides a bellwether as to opinions of voters in other parts of the state; Mecklenburg County is North Carolina’s largest, urban county, located in the western part of the state, and Pitt is a large rural county in the east.

• 76% of Mecklenburg County voters said that capital defendants should be able to present evidence, including statistical evidence, of racial bias to the court
• 69% of Pitt County voters said the same
• 63% of Mecklenburg County voters said they did not support the death penalty for people who were seriously mentally ill at the time of the crime
• 58% of Pitt County voters said the same

“The poll reflects what we already know,” said Charmaine Fuller, Executive Director of the Carolina Justice Policy Center.”  “North Carolinians support efforts to fight racism in our capital punishment system.  They also believe that people who suffer from severe mental illness should not be subjected to the ultimate punishment.”

While executions have been on hold, three African-American death row inmates were exonerated in North Carolina.  In all of the cases, at least one of the victims was white.  One of them had an all-white jury.  A UNC study found that a defendant’s odds of getting the death penalty increase by 3.5 times if the victim was white.

“The legislature need not interfere with the courts,” said NC Coalition for a Moratorium Campaign Coordinator Jeremy Collins. “Before executions are restarted, the legislature must address a broken death penalty system that risks executing innocent and severely mentally ill people, and one that uses race as a deciding factor in whether someone lives or dies,” added Collins.  “All we are asking is that efforts to reduce wrongful executions be considered and passed on their own merits.”

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, NC NAACP President

On March 28, 1947, Bennie Montgomery, a decorated WWII veteran who suffered a debilitating head wound, was sentenced to the death penalty for defending himself against a racist attacker. The system was stacked against him. He never got a review.

He was gassed to death in the Death Chambers of Central Prison.

There have been hundreds of Black people who have been victimized in the all white, racist, North Carolina courtrooms over the years. Many of these stories have never been told, but live in the psychic memory of our community and shame the collective consciousness of North Carolina. Sixty-two years after the Bennie Montgomery case—just last year—three black men were freed and fully exonerated, after a collective 41 years on death row in our state. The fight to have their cases reviewed took too long.

Race was clearly a factor. They would have been dead if the system worked faster. The tragedy is we don’t know over the years how many black men have wrongfully been put to death.

These cases point to a climate of gross prosecutorial misconduct. They were not in the same county or in contiguous districts. But, these cases must be considered as a part of the empirical data when we examine the flawed and fractured state of justice in our courtrooms. We still only have two out of 44 District Attorneys. Juries are picked after many Black people tell the lawyers they are against the Death Penalty, and are therefore disqualified to sit on death penalty juries. D.A.’s routinely argue either directly or indirectly about the race of the victims.

Racism does not stop at a county line, or contiguous counties. Racism is a pandemic, that cuts across our society–particularly the south. If we are even to approach the ideal of “racial justice” we must be able to look at the history and the data of our state squarely. Until we look at our ugly side, we will never be able to move to our righteous side.

The state legislature passed a resolution Thursday honoring the NAACP’s 100th anniversary.The Reverend William Barber, President of North Carolina’s NAACP, listened as house members paid tribute to the civil rights group.

Reverend Barber cautioned lawmakers not to balance the state budget on the backs of poor people.

RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia NAACP sued Gov. Tim Kaine on Monday, arguing that the state failed to prepare for an unprecedented turnout of voters in next week’s presidential election.

The complaint, filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in Richmond, alleges that with record increases in voter registration, the state failed to provide enough polling places.

It asks the court to put the federal government in charge of the election in Virginia, to reallocate voting machines to precincts most likely to have long waiting lines and to keep polls open for an additional two hours.