civil rights
Environmental groups file civil rights complaint against DEQ over scant poultry farm regulations
Jefferson Currie, the Lumber River Riverkeeper, drove his truck down St. Paul’s Road, a narrow, sandy stretch near the Robeson-Hoke County line and began counting the chicken barns: “Four, eight, twelve … this is a 48-barn operation,” Currie said, “at 35,000 per barn” – doing the math, that’s roughly 1.7 million birds being raised for […]
Federal agencies lag in registering voters despite Biden executive order, advocates say
Within weeks of taking office in 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order — hailed by voter advocates as potentially transformative — that for the first time committed the U.S. government to registering new voters at federal agencies. But just over two years later, most of the 10 agencies examined in a recent report […]
NC House committee approves absentee ballot restrictions
A bill that would make it harder for voters to return absentee ballots in time to have them counted passed a state House committee along party lines Tuesday. The bill would eliminate the three-day grace period for absentee ballots mailed to local boards of elections. Under the current law, those ballots count as long as […]
In Selma, President Joe Biden vows to continue work on voting rights
Rev. Barber joins the president at site of historic civil rights event President Joe Biden Sunday praised the courage of civil rights activists and condemned efforts to restrict voting and attack the election process in a speech commemorating the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma. In his 20-minute address delivered at the foot of […]
On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, no one should settle for ‘a piece of freedom’
Some historians mark the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder as the end of the civil rights movement. Over an arc of 14 years — from the 1954 Brown Decision to King’s death in 1968 — the nation attempted to address its racial caste system. The same nation that launched a war on hunger and […]
Same-sex marriage protected under bill passed by U.S. Senate with GOP support
Tillis and Burr 'aye' votes help assure measure could not be filibustered WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate approved legislation Tuesday that would enshrine protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, codifying many of the rights that would disappear if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn those landmark decisions the way it overturned the nationwide right to an abortion this summer.
Supreme Court case could curtail rights of Medicaid patients
Gorgi Talevski did not live long enough to see his case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court this month. A Macedonian-born resident of Indiana, Talevski operated a crane for three decades, raised a family and loved to dance before his dementia deepened, and he died last year. But the court’s decision, expected in spring, could have profound effects for tens of millions of beneficiaries of federal safety net programs, including those that provide health care, housing, education services and heating aid.
U.S. House Democrats file brief in college affirmative action case
Admission policies at UNC and Harvard to go before the Supreme Court this fall WASHINGTON — U.S. House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott of Virginia has filed a brief along with 64 other House Democrats urging the Supreme Court to uphold the role that race plays in college admission policies at Harvard University […]
A heartbreaking loss for North Carolina
As many North Carolinians are now sadly aware, our state lost a fine man and leader this week when the Rev. T. Anthony Spearman passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. As his hometown newspaper, the Greensboro News & Record reported, the former state NAACP leader’s death leaves a hole in the state’s movement for justice and […]
Weekend humor (sort of) from Celia Rivenbark: Let the teachers teach!
The Scene: Interior of a sixth-grade public school classroom in Floriginia, USA. Teacher: OK, class, today we are going to talk about the Civil Rights Movement. Student: My mama says you can’t indoctorate me so I’m going to have to report you. Teacher: “I think you meant to say “indoctrinate,” Billy, and I’m doing no […]
Black women in the U.S. House push for Supreme Court pick with a civil rights track record
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri Thursday led a coalition of Black women members of the U.S. House in a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to pick a Black woman for the Supreme Court — which he has promised — who has a track record of protecting civil rights. “The appointment […]