North Carolina

Pockets Of Opposition To Barack Obama In Democratic Presidential Primaries: What Does It Mean?

Ronald 2 Comments

Barack Obama may be popular among most Democrats, and is ahead in many polls nationally against Mitt Romney, but there certainly are areas where he is extremely unpopular, a lot of it based on his race, but also on cultural issues affected by religious beliefs, including gay marriage, abortion rights, and the role of women, and also based on backing of gun rights in the hinterland of the nation, with fear that Obama is out to take away one’s guns.

So we saw Oklahoma and West Virginia strongly against him earlier, and last night, we witnessed Arkansas and Kentucky also having strong opposition against him.

However, this must all be seen in perspective, as the lowest percentage Obama has received is the 57 percent in Oklahoma. Obama gained 58 percent in Arkansas and Kentucky and 59 percent in West Virginia.

If anyone running for any office gains between 57% and 59% of the vote, that is considered a landslide by any measure. The fact that the next lowest percentage was 76 percent in Louisiana, 79 percent in North Carolina, and 80 percent in Alabama tells us Obama has nothing to be worried about.

With only seven states yet to vote in Presidential primaries, the likelihood of any of those states voting lower percentages than these seven states mentioned above is extremely low.

So, yes, Barack Obama is opposed in portions of the country, primarily the South and Appalachia, but that is not a measurement of his overall popularity nationwide!

NAACP Endorsement Of Gay Rights And Gay Marriage As Another Civil Rights Struggle: Major Victory!

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The leading, and most reputable, Civil Rights organization in America, the National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People (NAACP), has just endorsed gay rights and gay marriage as equivalent of another civil right, as much as the African American struggle for equality in the 1950s and 1960s.

This is a major victory for gay rights and gay marriage, and will help bring over many African Americans, who because of religious beliefs, have opposed such developments in California, North Carolina, and elsewhere, helping to cause defeats of referendums on the issue of gay marriage.

There were already signs of a beginning of a new attitude among blacks on the topic, and this will only help the progression toward something that will become more and more the norm over time, and in 40 years, we will look back with amazement at the opposition, just as was so with interracial marriage in the 1960s.

The “equal protection” clause of the 14th Amendment was utilized by the NAACP to justify their stand for gay marriage as a civil right.

This is the way that could be utilized in the future by the Supreme Court, and if a case came up in the short term, such as the California case pursued by Ted Olson and David Boies, the Court COULD rule in favor by a vote of 5-4,. assuming that Justice Anthony Kennedy, who made the majority in 2003 for gay privacy rights in Lawrence V. Texas, were to vote the same way.

One could say that Anthony Kennedy’s vote in 2003 had a great effect in spurring the rapid development of the gay rights movement in the intervening nine years from then to now!

So a Supreme Court endorsement of gay marriage could be in the offing sooner, rather than later!

African Americans, Gay Rights, And Barack Obama: Will They Spite Themselves And Promote Denial Of Human Rights?

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The African American community is divided over the declaration of President Barack Obama favoring gay marriage, and his general backing for gay rights.

A large percentage, often thought to be a majority of the African American community, is theologically conservative, and detests the concept of gay marriage.

They helped to contribute to the defeat of Proposition 8 in California a few years ago, and to the success of the amendment to the state constitution of North Carolina banning same sex marriages, civil unions and any other recognition of same sex relationships.

This is the case despite the historical reality that many Christian groups remained silent for decades over the lynchings of African Americans in the South, and the denial of interracial marriages, and the fact that the Mormon Church, so active in California in mobilizing opposition to gay marriage, did not allow African Americans to become Mormons until an epiphany in 1978 led the Mormons to change their theology!

So the question arises whether the black community will, in large numbers, abandon Barack Obama in November.

The idea that large numbers will vote Republican for Mitt Romney is highly unlikely, but if they stay home and do not vote for President, the African American community could affect the result in some states in a close race.

The point is that if they do just that, stay home, and if Obama and the Democrats lose, who will be the ultimate “victims” of a Romney victory? The answer is that the African American community will spite themselves, in the name of a religion which stood by in large numbers for a long time as they were themselves denied equal rights, only seeing change after many decades of discrimination, as many churches and sects started to change their views, and finally back civil rights for blacks.

So it would be counterproductive for blacks to forget their own struggle for civil rights, and let religion betray their better judgment about human rights!

North Carolina’s Public Image Harmed By Vote Banning Gay Marriage In State Constitution

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North Carolina was part of the Confederate South during the Civil War.

North Carolina was part of the segregated South for a century, but the lunch counter sit ins at Greensboro in 1960 were one of the first events to draw attention to the issue of civil rights for African Americans in the South.

North Carolina started to prosper, passing its neighbor, South Carolina, in social and economic progress in recent decades, and in population as well, and gained a good reputation as a progressive state.

North Carolina has a black mayor of Charlotte, which will be the host for the Democratic National Convention this summer, and that city is the center of major banking and finance.

North Carolina is the center of high technology and excellent universities, with Durham and Duke University, Raleigh and University of North Carolina, and Chapel Hill with North Carolina State University.

Areas including Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill were strongly against the Amendment One, but the religious right, led by Billy Graham and Franklin Graham won out over the appeals of the educated ,and even of former President Bill Clinton.

So North Carolina has suffered, and will suffer in public image, and it will take a long time before North Carolina can regain the stature it had worked so hard to achieve in the past 30 years.

And to top it off, unmarried heterosexual couples will no longer be protected in their rights, either, whether civil unions or domestic partnerships. This is a heavy price to pay for ignorance, prejudice, and narrow mindedness, and provoked by organized religion, which should unite citizens, not divide them!

An Historic Moment In Evolution Of Human Rights In America!

Ronald 2 Comments

America’s history has been one of slow evolution toward reform and change, and toward the expansion of human rights!

Today, May 9, 2012, is one of those moments that will reverberate as a memorable day in our history, as President Barack Obama has finally declared his full support for gay marriage, after having promoted action to promote gay rights in other ways earlier, including the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the military.

To gay and lesbian Americans, and those who believe in gay and lesbian human rights, it was a long time coming, but that fact will now be forgotten in the excitement that our President has taken a very moral stand on gay rights, that despite many religious objections, means that over time, the institution of same sex marriage will spread far and wide as a civil right that all other people have, and that gay Americans are entitled to have.

Barack Obama will be long remembered for this great initiative, and Joe Biden will be long praised for having prodded the President to move in the final direction of full acceptance of what he was arriving at in an evolutionary fashion.

The hate mongers, common among Republicans and conservatives, will fight tooth and nail, as they did in the case of Amendment One in North Carolina, to deny equality, even to those military people on bases in the state, a despicable action.

But eventually, there will be a move to have the US Supreme Court decide whether it is not a national right, that cannot be denied by the states, but also mandate that no church, synagogue or other religious institution, would be required to marry people they did not want to be involved in marrying. That would be left up to ministers and rabbis comfortable with the idea, or to the act of civil marriage.

If the Supreme Court could declare in Loving V. Virginia in 1967, that interracial marriages were constitutional, they can certainly do the same for same sex marriage!

To insure such a result, however, it is MORE urgent than ever before that Barack Obama win a second term in the White House, and be able to insure that the Supreme Court does not become more conservative than it already is, and continue to prevent progress and change!

The “New South” Of Bill Clinton And Jimmy Carter Clashes With The “Old South” Of Billy Graham And Franklin Graham

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The American South, referring to the states of the Civil War which broke away from the Union, have been said to have changed in the years since the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.

With African Americans given the right to vote, and civil rights being enforced by the federal government, we saw a switch of many white Democrats, who believed in segregation of the races, to the Republican Party, including a vast majority of state and national officeholders.

Those who remained Democrats were seen as “moderates” who wished to bridge the gap between the races, and keep the heritage of equal rights and social justice connected, and therefore, we saw the triumph of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton winning the Presidency, reflecting a “changed” South.

But while Carter and Clinton were inspirational to many, the truth is that the majority of white southerners remain what they were before—unwilling to accept racial equality, resentful of Northern liberal influence on their section of the country, and using their religious views to oppose gay rights, labor rights, women’s equality, and immigrant rights.

So despite Bill Clinton backing the fight against Amendment One in North Carolina, putting traditional marriage alone in the state constitution, the amendment passed easily, most notably supported by the Reverend Billy Graham, now 93, who along with his preacher son, Franklin Graham, show us just how little progress has been made in North Carolina, the last “Old South” state to ban gay marriage in its constitution.

Even with the popularity of Bill Clinton nationally, and the fact of the victories years ago of both Clinton and Jimmy Carter, the “Old South” is still very much evident in what some attempt to consider the “New South”! The past is not yet past, sad to say!

The Dangers Of Proposed Amendment One In North Carolina Constitution: Denial Of Equal Rights Returning To The South!

Ronald 3 Comments

There is great fear that the majority of voters in North Carolina tomorrow will institutionalize discrimination, prejudice, and hate in the state constitution with the expected passage of Amendment One, endorsed by Franklin Graham, and his distinguished father, the Reverend Billy Graham, who should be totally ashamed of themselves!

North Carolina and other Southern states used to deny racial intermarriage, and institutionalized hate, prejudice and discrimination in the state constitutions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

One would think we are beyond this in the 21st century, and that we should not allow the ignorance of people to become law!

It is shameful to let people VOTE on basic human rights, including gay rights and gay marriage rights.

When it comes to personal human rights, there should NOT be any vote, as those personal human rights should be guaranteed in the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”

If we had a vote on whether women should be denied the right to vote; blacks should be segregated; job discrimination against Jews, Catholics, and others should be reinstituted; workers should be denied collective bargaining; and many other social advancements that people gave their “blood, sweat and tears” for, it is possible that the masses would vote to deny basic rights.

But that is not what a democracy is, to allow prejudice, hate, and discrimination to rule the day!

We have come too far in our national history to allow this to happen, and to sit idly by!

If North Carolina adopts Amendment One, we all should hold our heads in shame and weep!

The Formal Beginning Of Barack Obama’s Presidential Re-election Campaign

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Although the Presidential campaign has been on for months, today, six months and one day before the election date, Barack Obama is formally beginning he re-election campaign with speeches at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

Most of the campaign appearances for both Obama and his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, will be centered in both Ohio and Virginia, as Ohio is a state that every Republican winner of the Presidency has won, and Virginia, typically a Republican state in the past half century, has become a real battleground with the growth of the Northern Virginia population near Washington, DC, making the state more likely to go Democratic, as it did in 2008.

As stated elsewhere in this blog, those two states, along with North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado, and Nevada will be the most crucial states, as the seven “swing” states most likely to go either way at this point, but with all seven having gone to Obama in 2008.

The Cinco De Mayo Holiday, And Recognition Of Role Of Mexican Americans In American Politics

Ronald 1 Comment

Today is the 150th anniversary of a Mexican uprising against a French army taking over Mexico during the rule of Emperor Napoleon III in France. Although the Mexican people did not overthrow French influence and control until five years later, this is seen as a celebratory Mexican national holiday.

This celebration of Mexico’s history should remind us that Mexican Americans are part of the largest minority group in America, with over ten percent of the nation being from Mexican heritage, and almost two thirds of all Hispanics-Latinos being of Mexican heritage, and all Hispanics and Latinos being 16 percent of the nation, more than the 12.5 percent of the country which is African American.

Mexican Americans who vote have always voted overwhelmingly Democratic, although about 40 percent did vote for George W. Bush when he was Governor of Texas in the 1990s, and in his two terms as President.

The growth in the Mexican population, and the fact that they are very young as a group, makes them prime factors in the future of American politics, as with the growth of Mexican American population, states that have been Republicans and anti immigrant in their politics are starting to move toward a situation where the Republicans will lose those states over time.

With over 60 percent of Mexican Americans already residing in California and Texas, California is already lost to Republicans in the Presidential race, and it is believed that Texas will turn Democratic in the next decade.

The same is likely in Arizona, the ground zero of nativism toward Latinos, and it is already so in Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico,

Additionally, the Hispanic and Latino population is affecting the politics of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, as well as Florida, with much of the transition being because of Mexican Americans.

So while there is a lot of anger about an estimated 7 million illegal immigrants from Mexico, the actual Mexican American population which is legal is growing and coming of age, and will have a dramatic effect on the future of Congress and the Presidency over the coming decade, including having a great influence on the upcoming election in November.

Ironic Turn Of Events: British Prime Minister David Cameron Endorses Gay Marriage Rights While Billy Graham Promotes A North Carolina Ban!

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It is extremely ironic that we find out that British Prime Minister David Cameron has endorsed gay marriage, although not requiring churches to administer them, while the revered Reverend Billy Graham, now 93 years old, did not have the courage and guts to defy many Christian haters of gays, including his own son, Franklin Graham, and endorsed a ban on gay marriage in the North Carolina Constitution in a vote coming this November.

Why is it that the British and other Europeans, and Israel as well, have no issue with gays,while America is so uptight and regressive on this human rights issue? And why does a Conservative Prime Minister endorse gay rights, while conservatives in America bitterly oppose them?

And one must keep in mind that Billy Graham, as revered as he is, has now come out as favoring discrimination against gays, but if one looks at his career, we know that he also has been very anti Semitic, including on the Richard Nixon Watergate tapes, and was not a leader in promoting African American civil rights in the 1960s.

So in a way, Billy Graham is just following his forgotten belief in prejudice, hate, and discrimination in his old age, instead of being a statesman, and helping to promote unity and tolerance in the future! What a disgrace!