Local NAACP News – May 2016

by Carmen Ramos-Kennedy –

On April 28, 2016, President Obama nominated former NC Supreme Court Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson, currently Vice-Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, to fill the vacant seat on the U.S. Federal Court in Eastern North Carolina.

It is the longest-running vacant seat in the federal court system, vacant since Judge Malcolm Jones Howard retired in January 2006.

Senior NC Sen. Richard Burr is blocking the nomination, the third time he has used his power as a senator to keep highly qualified African Americans out of power. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Women of the NAACP (WIN) have described how Sen. Burr previously blocked another highly qualified black judge for the same seat and attempted to block the nomination of Loretta Lynch to be Attorney General of the United States.

With eight months left in his final term, the president has both the authority and the responsibility to act. Since at least 1900, there have been no instances of a president failing to nominate and/or the Senate failing to confirm a nominee during a presidential election year.

The Asheville-Buncombe Branch NAACP encourages citizens to contact Sen. Burr to urge him to support the president’s nomination, either by phone in Washington at (202) 224-3154 or in Asheville at (828) 350-2437. Email may be sent from his website at www.burr.senate.gov/contact/email

The June 2016 primary election is quickly approaching. The central downtown location for Early Voting is the Buncombe County Administration Building at 200 College Street. Early Voting is between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 26 and Friday, May 27, and from Tuesday, May 31 through Friday, June 3; the final day is Saturday, June 4 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.

The Asheville-Buncombe Branch NAACP meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Hill Street Baptist Church, 135 Hill Street, off Montford Avenue in Asheville. For information, contact President Carmen Ramos-Kennedy, [email protected].

Carmen Ramos-Kennedy is the President of the Asheville-Buncombe County NAACP Branch #5363. For questions and membership information, call (828) 255-4453, or send an email to [email protected]. Asheville Buncombe NAACP, PO Box 2881, Asheville, NC 28802.