Race, Crime and Justice: It Was Never Just About Henry Louis Gates
The summer of 2009. It was that long ago when the arrest of an African American scholar at his home by a white police officer in Cambridge, Mass., had the country choosing sides and a president convening a beer summit at the White House to cool things down. What most remember as a political spat that ensnared Harvard University's Henry Louis Gates, Sgt. James Crowley and President Barack Obama didn't start or end that summer. When Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree -- Gates' lawyer and friend -- visited Charlotte, N.C., recently, it wasn't just to sign copies of "The Presumption of Guilt: ...
N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue Vetoes Challenge to Health Care Reform Bill
North Carolina won't be joining the list of states challenging federal health care reform legislation -- not yet, anyway. Over the weekend, Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat, vetoed legislation passed by the GOP-controlled state legislature that challenges a provision that would require the purchase of health insurance. In a statement, Perdue called the house bill "an ill-conceived piece of legislation that's not good for the people of North Carolina." She said the state law contradicts federal law, and that since 27 states are already challenging it, "this issue will reach the Supreme Court in a ...
Nikki Haley Is Grading S.C. Lawmakers as She Advances Conservative Agenda
Nikki Haley is sending out report cards. She will be grading the votes of state legislators. The governor's announcement last week came with a letter "To the People of South Carolina" that said: "The purpose of the report card is to track the results of legislation that are important to what you elected me to accomplish. And believe me, your voice is loud and clear: you want more transparency, more accountability, more efficiency, and you want it done with less of your money. "This is not personal. This is not partisan. This is good government." The 13 categories for judging state House and ...
Most Americans Are Moderates -- and Thus Invisible
Most Americans want a compromise on the budget standoff, the polls say. They want strict controls to halt illegal immigration, but they want lawmakers to keep their hands off the 14th Amendment, which grants automatic citizenship to anyone born on American soil, including those whose parents are on that soil illegally. Americans hurting the most are the ones who see hope ahead, not surprising since they have the most to lose when hope is gone. According to polls that measure such things, Americans want their politicians to work together and to listen to the voices and opinions of the people, ...
Michele Bachmann, After House Budget Vote, Takes a Victory Lap in a 'GOP Paradise'
COLUMBIA, South Carolina – Michele Bachmann said she didn't get much sleep after a House vote slashed programs and cut spending. But the GOP House member and tea party heroine was energized as she was greeted by standing ovations at a gathering of the South Carolina Federation of Republican Women on Saturday. "I come from the land of Al Franken, a tough neighborhood," the Minnesota congresswoman told the crowd of close to 200. "I'm in heaven." Though the cuts to current federal spending have been totaled as $61 billion, Bachmann put the figure at $100 billion. She ticked off defunding ...
Museum Will Bring African American -- Make That 'American' -- History to National Mall
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Black history has stood separate and unequal, relegated to one month of recognition -- and there's a reason for that. For too long, the contributions of minorities didn't make it into the history books. So February was the mid-winter corrective. Come Nov. 18, 2015, if all goes well, the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture will take an accounting of that history to the National Mall, alongside the Washington Monument and across from the National Museum of American History. It is a fitting place. The unfinished journey -- which at every step ...
'The Help' Speak Up. What Will Kathryn Stockett Say?
When I met Kathryn Stockett at a luncheon discussion of her wildly popular book, "The Help," she was quite nice, though a bit defensive about all the fuss surrounding her tale of white women in Mississippi and the black women who served them. It may have escaped the notice of many of her hundreds of fans that most of the non-white faces at that luncheon were indeed, the help, waiters and others who silently set and cleared the tables. When I opened my mouth to ask if an equal relationship can ever exist between maid and employer when the power differential is so great, Stockett expressed her ...
Sharron Angle, Not Running From Press or for President, Promotes Christian Film
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- It's the old story. Boy meet girl. Boy argues with girl over the literal truth of the book of Genesis. Boy and girl and her father -- and his mother ... no, I won't spoil the movie for you (brush up on your Einstein if you go, though). Sharron Angle, a mother and recent Senate hopeful, told the handful of viewers that came to the South Carolina premiere of the Christian film "The Genesis Code" that it's "our alternative to Hollywood." The unsuccessful Nevada candidate acknowledged "the support that South Carolina gave me" in the race and thanked "the people of values and ...
Harvey Gantt to Shape Charlotte's Plan for Democratic National Convention in 2012
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx has named former Mayor Harvey Gantt to develop Charlotte's action plan for the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Gantt will work with leaders of past conventions and officials of the Democratic National Committee, which chose Charlotte as the convention host city. "Mayor Gantt is the perfect person to help Charlotte transition from recruiting the 2012 convention to now making it a great event for all concerned, and I thank him for his willingness to help on such a short timeline," said Foxx on Wednesday. "He will do a great job of surveying ...
Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx Juggles 2012 DNC -- and Everything Else
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It's an exciting and heady time for Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, a leader in the city's successful campaign to win the 2012 Democratic National Convention. But he hardly has time to savor the moment. "What's next?" is a question he'll be answering from now until then, while he reassures a city anxious about financial and other costs, and plans his own 2011 re-election bid. And, of course, Foxx has to continue to serve as mayor of the nation's 18th largest city, one with charms but also challenges that an international spotlight will only magnify. In Foxx's regular press ...
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