On April 26, 1865, my great-great-grandfather was camped a mere five miles from where I now live in Durham, NC. He was from the upstate of South Carolina, as am I, yet there he was and here I am. The historians among us know what happened that day in 1865. Confederate General Johnston surrendered to United States General Sherman, ostensibly ending The War. Yet vestiges of that war continued on and on and on. It was played out again in Durham this past Monday night when a crowd toppled a…
Supporting Young Immigrants’ Dreams
Five years ago, President Obama created the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program to enable young people brought to this country as children to come out of the shadows and live their lives fully. This entailed granting them the ability to obtain a driver’s license, get a job, or pursue higher education. This newfound sense of security was transformative for the lives of thousands of young people and for their potential contributions to this country. Now, the DACA program has come under threat of repeal by the Trump Administration. If DACA is…
Rights Advocacy At Risk
The optics, as they say, are terrible. But in a state whose motto is “To Be Rather Than to Seem,” it’s even more important to look at the substance. And the substance is worse. Think about it: In a Southern state where the legacy of race discrimination and its attendant social ills remains starkly visible, our leading public law school is on the verge of being forced to abandon the courtrooms where the struggles for civil rights have so often played out. Conservative ideologues now clustering among the leaders of…
Anti-LGBTQ Policies Impact Us All
Wednesday’s federal-policy-by-tweet announcement that children of God who are transgender could no longer serve in the military may have distracted attention from another action by the federal government. The Department of Justice, also on Wednesday, filed a legal brief in an ongoing court case in which the DOJ argued that Civil Rights protections do not extend to job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Sit with that a moment. There is plenty to be outraged about for all who are LGBTQ. Both actions should also be read as a…
Wood Pellet Plant Would Be Environmental Injustice
More than 10,000 individuals and 50 organizations have signed a petition asking Governor Cooper to revoke the world’s largest wood pellet manufacturer’s flawed air quality permit in Richmond County. At a Raleigh press conference on July 18, speakers represented prominent NC organizations such as Dogwood Alliance, Concerned Citizens of Richmond County, and Clean Air Carolina. Susannah Tuttle of NC Interfaith Power& Light was among the speakers. She said: We are called to be stewards, but are giving away our resources. Our faith calls upon us to stand with the people…
Great to Meet You at Wild Goose!
We were delighted to meet many of you at the Wild Goose Festival last week. Council staff members enjoyed spending time with friends from across the country, hearing your stories, and discussing ways to work together for a more just society. Although Wild Goose 2017 may be over, opportunities for progressive people of faith to gather are not. We hope you will join us for a variety of Council events in the works across the state for fall.
America’s Role in Torture — Beginning the Path to Forgiveness
With so many issues confronting us, our nation’s involvement in acts of torture is fading from the public’s priorities for concern. Five years and $40 million in the making, the Senate Intelligence Committee 6,700-page report is the only official action to address the CIA’s 2001-2006 detention/interrogation program. Released in December 2014, the 500-page executive summary offers the following highlights of what is contained in the fuller version. According to the summary, the CIA: used techniques more brutal than the agency portrayed, was not subject to adequate oversight, misled members of…
Rising Up with Richmond County
“Biomass” may sound like a clean idea, but it actually means cutting down and turning trees into fuel pellets to be burned for energy — creating more carbon pollution than coal, accelerating global warming, and driving climate chaos. North Carolina’s former governor opened the floodgates to the wood pellet export industry. It tears down the very trees that capture carbon pollution and protect people’s health and quality of life, making wood pellets for export where they are burned in power stations to generate electricity. Enviva, the world’s largest wood pellet…
Doomed Veto Spotlights Budget Flaws
Presented with a new state budget that, whatever its occasional virtues, is mainly about easing tax burdens on the well-off while grinding opponents of legislative Republicans into the dirt, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper had little choice but to wield his veto stamp. Those Republicans who crafted the budget tried to taunt Cooper into signing it, noting that it includes raises for teachers and some tax breaks for middle-income earners – priorities he favors. But the governor kept in mind the larger picture and refused to endorse a budget fundamentally shaped…
Health Care CBO Score Proves Potential Harm
Late yesterday afternoon the Congressional Budget Office released their score of the Senate’s proposed health care plan and the numbers are extremely troubling. As our friends at the North Carolina Justice Center report the so-called “Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017” would: Take health coverage away from 22 million Americans, especially low-income older adults. Slash Medicaid funding by 26 percent with back-loaded cuts that deepen over time (leading to even deeper cuts and more Americans uninsured outside of the ten-year period measured by CBO). Increase deductibles so much that “few…
NC Council of Churches Places Welcome Billboard Along I-40
For at least the next month, drivers along I-40 West between Statesville and Hickory will see an important reminder of God’s directive to be a welcoming presence to the most vulnerable among us. The NC Council of Churches has purchased a billboard near Exit 132 that quotes Leviticus 19:34, “Welcome the stranger for you were once a stranger.” “Some travelers on this section of the highway may have already noticed a billboard with an unwelcoming message,” said the Rev. Jennifer Copeland, the Council’s Executive Director. “We want to remind folks…
Senate Health Care Plan Released: Would Make the Most Vulnerable More So
Members of the United States Senate have released their proposed health care plan, all 142 pages of the “Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017” developed in secrecy, with a score from the Congressional Budget Office expected early next week. Meanwhile, we know it will reduce Medicaid significantly more than the House bill while cutting taxes for the nation’s wealthiest. A plan that endangers the vulnerable while benefitting the powerful goes against our most fundamental beliefs as people of faith. As experts analyze the bill’s potential impact, calls to Senators Tillis…
New Budget with Old Agenda Falls Short
By now the strategy is familiar – the strategy used by the N.C. General Assembly’s Republican chiefs to try to make a fundamentally flawed state budget appear, well, not that bad. Or at least tolerable. Or better than it could have been and perhaps even worth supporting. Here’s how it works: The Senate proposes a budget that, it almost should go without saying, carries on the Republican campaign to cut taxes. Economic growth allows for some slight spending increases, but on the whole spending is held tightly in check. Meanwhile,…
Gerrymander Remedy: Redraw, Now
The Republicans who took control of North Carolina’s General Assembly with the elections of 2010 were, it could be said, licking their chops. They knew that when they came to Raleigh in 2011, a big prize awaited. All they had to do was seize it. And seize it they did. Because of the timing of the most recent, once-a-decade U.S. census, conducted the previous year, 2011 would be the year in which congressional and legislative voting districts were adjusted to account for population changes. The districts are supposed to be…
UPDATE — High Court to NC: Draw Those Districts Fairly
UPDATE In separate, party-line votes on June 8, the state House and Senate rejected Gov. Cooper’s attempt to convene a special session for the purpose of redrawing legislative voting districts. Leaders of the Republican majority argued that Cooper’s proclamation failed to meet standards set forth in the state constitution by which special legislative sessions can be called by the governor. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ What a relief and cause for celebration it would be if North Carolina’s legislative chiefs collectively slapped their brows and exclaimed, “Oh, now we get it! We’re not allowed…