FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
25 April 2013
For More Information: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, President, 919-394-8137
Mrs. Amina J. Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700
Atty. Jamie Phillips, Public Policy Coordinator, 919-682-4700
The North Carolina NAACP, Clergy, Partners and Friends will hold a "Pray In" at Pilgrim United Church of Christ on April 28th at 5:00 PM where they will pray and announce non-violent civil disobedience, other protests and voter organizing.
NC House of Representatives Passes Voter Suppression Bill
STATEMENT BY NC NAACP
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President
Accompanied by a diverse group of students from various North Carolina Colleges and Universities
Press Conference outside of General Assembly
16 W. Jones St. Raleigh, North Carolina
This legislature has already attacked the poor by denying 500,000 people access to healthcare, by refusing billions of Federal dollars, and then denying benefits to an estimated 165,000 unemployed North Carolinians by refusing even more money. They raised taxes on 900,000 poor and working people and cut taxes on 23 millionaires. They further plan to cut income taxes for the wealthy and corporate taxes at the same time.
They chose to deny the realities of racial disparities in our criminal justice system by attempting to fully repeal the Racial Justice Act, which only attempts to ensure race does not play a role in a defendant's death sentence. They said they were going to create jobs, but instead they have created division, discrimination and more disparity.
Today, there was a strange contrast between the resolutions presented at the beginning of the session and the debate on House Bill 589 afterward. They began with resolutions to honor those who fought for our freedom and constitution and then passed a bill that goes backwards on our commitment to honor freedom for all.
My own father fought for this country when he couldn't vote freely - so to think that now some legislators want to hinder this right, now offered freely, is sad, unconstitutional and a violation of our most sacred democratic commitments. We already have the best law and safeguards in our voting laws in North Carolina. It is not broken. We do not need to fix it.
To be fraudulent in the claim of fraud, to distort the truth in order to pass laws that attempt to rig the vote, to pass a modern day poll tax disguised as voter ID, to engage in modern day interposition and nullification, blocking freedom and constitutional rights, and to progress as though they are the George Wallace's of the 21st century - is a shameful display of political tyranny and the arrogance of power.
This legislature would rather make it easier to purchase guns instead of making it easier to vote. The right to vote must be fair, free and unabridgedThis is not about credit cards and airplane tickets, it is about the sacred tenants of our constitution.
In 1965, Lyndon Baines Johnson at the legal inauguration of the Voting Rights Act said, "The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men."
We should not be suppressing the vote but defending and expanding that right. We have a definition for free elections.Article I, Section 10 of our state constitution says, "All elections shall be free." Article I, Section 11 states, "As political rights and privileges are not dependent upon or modified by property, no property qualification shall affect the right to vote or hold office." Article VI, Section 1 says, "Every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized, 18 years of age, and possessing the qualifications set out in this Article, shall be entitled to vote at any election by the people of the State, except as herein otherwise provided." The Twenty-fourth Amendment of the United States constitution prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax.
This bill has not been tested under the microscope of a court room. This legislature has passed laws in the past few years that were overturned by the court because the impact was discriminatory, which is illegal. This legislature has been found guilty of blatantly ignoring the constitution.
The speaker of the House himself has had to admit on national television that there is no evidence of fraud. He knows and this General Assembly knows that voter fraud rationale is a fiction. This bill amounts to nothing more than voter suppression, no matter how calm and apparently civil this debate appeared today, this bill is un-civil. They have crossed a moral line in the sand.
On the floor they knew it was not true when they said that voter ID caused minority voter participation to go up in Georgia and Indiana - but they said it anyway. They knew facts they used from the Baker-Carter study have been proven flawed with respect to voter fraud but they used the false facts anyway.
In this bill they trust the penalty of perjury to get an ID but not to vote. In this bill they refuse to accept even amendments that would ensure the poor people with impediments are able to get ID's like South Carolina did.
In this bill Private school students are not allowed to use their ID's because Bank of America has IDs and the bill's sponsor says they "had to draw the line somewhere." 89,000 in North Carolina attend private schools. Even Alabama allows private school ID's. They say very few students don't have driver's licenses, but that is not the point.
There are two classes of voters with this bill: in person voters required to show ID and absentee voters who are not required to show ID.
Right in the heart of this city is Shaw University. Today the General Assembly failed them and North Carolina. They failed the elderly, students, people with disabilities, people of color and all North Carolinians who believe in democracy.
And to think they are not through! This same legislature is calling to roll back same day registration and Sunday voting. They want to deny the formerly incarcerated their right to vote, add a tax on parents of students who register to vote where they attend college, and defund in significant ways public education by providing vouchers of public dollars to private schools. They want to cut community economic development programs that help poor communities. The list goes on.
This building was completed in February of 1963. The same year George Wallace said "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." That was also the same year Dr. King declared "I have a dream."
Fifty years later the laws that have been passed today and the growing list of extremist anti-democracy, anti-poor bills proposed in this building this session are placing North Carolina, known to be a more progressive southern state, in a shameful position. The vote today placed shame on this state. We are at a moment of deep moral and constitutional crisis.
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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.
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