On July 13, 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London, Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially open Live Aid, a worldwide rock concert organized to raise money for the relief of famine-stricken Africans. Continued at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia and at other arenas around the world, the 16-hour… read more »
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The North Carolina Racial Justice Act of 2009
Prohibited seeking or imposing the death penalty on the basis of race. The act identified types of evidence that might be considered by the court when considering whether race was a basis for seeking or imposing the death penalty and established a process by which relevant evidence might be used to establish that race was a significant factor in seeking or imposing the death penalty. The defendant had the burden of proving that race was a significant factor in seeking or imposing the death penalty, and the state was allowed to offer evidence to rebut the claims or evidence of the defendant. If race was found to be a significant factor in the imposition of the death penalty, the death sentence would automatically be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.[1]
North Carolina General Assembly Repeal Attempts [edit]
Under pressure from a group of 43 district attorneys, who expressed opposition to the act citing the clog of the court system in the state, the North Carolina Senate passed a bill by a 27-14 vote on November 28, 2011, that would have effectively repealed the Racial Justice Act.[2]
However, on December 14, Governor Bev Perdue, a Democrat, vetoed the bill, saying that while she supports the death penalty, she felt it was “simply unacceptable for racial prejudice to play a role in the imposition of the death penalty in North Carolina.”[3] The state legislature did not have enough votes to override Perdue’s veto.
The North Carolina General Assembly passed a major revision of the law in 2012 authored by Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake). The rewrite “severely restricts the use of statistics to only the county or judicial district where the crime occurred, instead of the entire state or region. It also says statistics alone are insufficient to prove bias, and that the race of the victim cannot be taken into account.” The bill was vetoed by Gov. Perdue, but this time, the legislature overrode the governor’s veto.[4]
The North Carolina General Assembly voted to effectively repeal the entire law in 2013 and Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, signed the repeal into law.[5]
On April 20, 2012, in the first case appealed under the Racial Justice Act, the then-Senior Resident Superior Court Judge in Cumberland County (Fayetteville), Judge Greg Weeks, threw out the death sentence of Marcus Raymond Robinson, automatically commuting his sentence to life without parole. Robinson contended that when he was sentenced to death in 1994, prosecutors deliberately kept blacks off the jury. Robinson’s lawyers cited a study from Michigan State University College of Law indicating that prosecutors across North Carolina improperly used their peremptory challenges to systemically exclude qualified black jurors from jury service.[6][7][8]
Resource …wiki
so, I do not know how accurate this is
I’m deeply saddened.
If Congress doesn’t act, this will be the first election in 50 years without critical protections from the Voting Rights Act.
the right to vote is precious… even sacred.
That’s why in 1963, I marched on Washington with Martin Luther King for the right to vote.
That’s why in 1965, I gave a little blood on that bridge in Selma, Alabama for the right to vote.
Folks marched for this. Folks fought for this. And some even died for the right to vote.
But today, the vital protections in the Voting Rights Act have been gutted by the conservative Justices on the Supreme Court.
Voting is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society. And we’ve got to use it!
Will you demand that Republicans fix the Voting Rights Act?
Thanks,
Congressman John Lewis
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The idea of buying Jeans made from garbage is exciting, but it was kind of sad to hear after calling their customer service department that the jeans are not USA made …comment by Point4CounterPoint: Sustainable living … imported!
In memory of all victims and or survivors at the hands of guns… Ask your member of Congress – What will it take?
Another day another School shooting! Our hearts are broken and we all still keep offering prayers for all the students, teachers and thank staff for saving lives …and YES we should but as we all know thoughts and prayers are no longer enough! we need action on laws that are quite simple to implement and while the right keeps saying so … no one’s gun is likely to be taken away unless of course it should be… due to a failed background check,domestic violence, mental illness, documentation stating so
Now, after the umpteenth tragic incident I find out that the rant below and the infographic above done in 2013 is now out dated, which is beyond sad beyond my understanding considering the number of deaths, injuries and life changing experiences from folks who are, were and continue to purchase guns. The new reports taken in June of 2015 were that about 52% of Americans want gun reform. Now, in this year of 2018 at least 83% support criminal background checks. Sadly, we have Republicans who still take in a whole lot of money from the NRA and don’t seem to care or listen to “WeThePeople” and that motto; One person One vote either no longer exists or is considered a joke to those leaning far right and while no one is trying to take guns away from anyone, maybe those who have mental health issues or violent tendencies should be not be allowed to obtain a weapon of any kind that can harm kill them or any one else. The GOP has used fear mongering for what seems like decades which obviously allows the killings and or massacres to continue … Honestly, are these the kind of people we want in Congress – what happened to Public Servants
Reports are that at least 90% of our population agrees that it is about time we have some #gunsafety laws.
Additionally, most of us lefties are sticking together ,even some members of the NRA are for background checks, but we need a few Republican members of Congress to put people ahead of the NRA, the mighty $$ as well as their NRA ratings and until folks do, I am reserving judgment on how republicans keep saying they need to change seriously. We all know the NRA is in it to win it for gun manufacturers while lefties are not just in this for victims and survivors but for common sense laws … the NRA is not too big to fail and the assault weapons ban could have stopped some massacres.
There are approximately 310 Million people in America about 5 Million of those are pro-gun folks… so, why can’t we do the reforms needed?
We all know illegal guns on the streets kill someone everyday though we must thank Wayne lapierre for going on camera and showing Americans just why …
I am against handguns … period. There are enough incidents my family and friends have experienced that have molded my attitude toward guns over the years, lest a narrow escape or two of my own. The thought of a teacher having or being forced to keep a handgun in the classroom just does not make sense. I am without a doubt completely against military style weapons because I do not think we civilians need to have them at all and I definitely understand how folks interpret the 2nd Amendment while disagreeing on attaching it to states’ rights. The fact is that Gabby Gifford’s attack and all attacks since should have made us all sit up, move into genuine outrage and take immediate action. We need to use the sadness with a determination to at least ban assault weapons, retrofit K-12 School buildings and act rationally about creating registries, better permit process, close the gun show loophole and in my opinion every state should be required to impose a state of the art background check. While not an expert on the NRA, ALEC or gun safety, I do have a strong opinion and need to share information, newsletters and interesting articles that are meant to start a dialogue. I will admit cringing anytime members of Congress use states’ rights as their solution to what are clearly American issues and scream for Federal intervention. We need Mayors, Governors and voters to stand up and speak out more in this era of trump
Most of us believe that Gun Safety laws impact all Americans, clearly what we have now not only needs to be reformed, but should reflect our 21st Century living, formed around the notion of common sense solutions like universal background checks.
Be a Seed for Change 
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