New North Carolina Project Weekly Bulletin |
Introducing our last regional organizer, Black History Month, redistricting, and more from the desk of our digital director, Kristen Havlik. |
|
|
| Meet Trey Roberts, one of our Regional Organizers |
Trey is the organizer for Wake & Halifax Counties.
Trey Roberts is from Hollister, NC and is part of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe. He graduated with a BA in Communications from William Peace University and currently resides in Raleigh, NC. He’s dedicated most of his work in uplifting his communities through events hosted under Trey Roberts Presents, which highlight Black and Brown artists and DJs. Trey, alongside Roxanne Lundy and Josh Lamm, co-founded Raleigh Pride. In their first year, they raised $35,000 for the LGBT Center of Raleigh. In October 2021, he was the lead organizer for the Dix Park Inter-Tribal Pow Wow, which brought together Indigenous communities from across North Carolina to gather and celebrate their living culture.
|
|
|
Redistricting Updates & Our Statement on the New Maps
On Wednesday, the State Supreme Court three judge panel rejected the Congressional map that passed through the General Assembly last week and instead adopted the map drawn by special masters. The new Congressional map is seen above. The panel of judges adopted the two state legislature maps and denied the requests for an emergency stay. The map as seen above is an interim Congressional map, meaning that it is adopted for the 2022 election cycle. The people that are elected to those 14 Congressional seats, will serve those districts for at least 2 years. The maps could change again if they are challenged and thrown out by higher courts, and that's why they are labeled as interim maps. Candidates started the filing process again yesterday on Thursday, February 24th. The filing deadline is March 4th.
Our friends at All on the Line NC hosted an update meeting last night where they answered many questions about what happens next in the redistricting saga. You can watch the livestream HERE. -----------
The new Congressional map proposes 6 safe Republican seats, 5 safe Democrat seats and 3 toss-up seats. We want to note that this map is much more fairly drawn, less partisan nor gerrymandered. They were drawn by an independent agent- we fully support NC adopting an independent commission to help us try to avoid racial or partisan gerrymandering.
Voting rights is not a partisan issue. It is a right enshrined in the constitution that must be protected and upheld at all costs. To sit idly by, and watch any segment of our citizenry have their rights systematically stripped away is how democracy dies on the vine. We were dangerously close to losing the fairly expressed voice of many North Carolinians, had the Congressional map that were passed through the NC General Assembly been upheld by the State Supreme Court- as to nullify those who traditionally voted in opposition to the party who took the lead on drawing the maps.
A non-partisan independent process is the only way to ensure we have fair maps going forward. -YaKima Rhinehart, Executive Director of the New North Carolina Project Foundation |
Last weekend we served the people of Robeson County in Fairmont, NC through a clothing, food and COVID supply distribution event. We had so much fun and we're so thankful of our partners at New Rural Project and Old North State Medical Society! Check out our day 1 where we made a stop in Fayetteville to sort and organize everything for the drive. |
The New COVID-19 Variant & Masking in Schools
The new subvariant of the Omicron variant, BA.2, is here in NC. BA.2 is 30-50% more infectious that Omicron, but the good news is that if you have been recently boosted within the last month or two, that the vaccine is working well to fight this new subvariant.
Yesterday afternoon, Governor Cooper vetoed a bill that would make masks optional in all NC public schools. Most school districts in NC have made masks optional, but some school administrators are still requiring masks. The bill that legislators passed through the General Assembly would have banned school administrators from requiring masks.
|
|
|
|
Our next Town Hall is about the Economy and it's coming up on Wednesday, March 2. We're excited to have Braxton Brewington, Press Secretary for The Debt Collective, Shaina Blackwell-Outlaw, Roxboro City Councilwoman and Nathan Click, Candidate for NC-13 and Entreprenuer. |
|
|
We opened our merch store last week and y'all have loved our t-shirts and hoodies! Get yourself one to show your support for our work! |
TAKE ACTION NOW
We're canvassing tomorrow, February 26, in Wilmington and Greensboro as well as phone banking. Join Tayler for a volunteer interest meeting if you're outside of NC but still want to help us invest in communities of color on March 1. And if you're in Alamance, Durham or Orange Counties, join Suge for her monthly volunteer meeting on March 3!
We're working hard to take care of our people in NC, but we need YOU to take action. We're playing the long-game here in NC, setting up an infrastructure of support for communities of color that has never been done before. It won't happen overnight, or over a few months or even a year! Join us now! |
Honoring a Hero During Black History Month |
|
|
In 2021, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett was named one of TIME Magazine's 100 Heroes of the Year in 2021.
Dr. Corbett was born and raised in NC and graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a PhD in Microbiology. In her career as a scientist, one of her greatest achievements is creating the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and was the scientific lead of the Vaccine Research Center’s coronavirus team at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Dr. Corbett is now an Assistant Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard University. |
The War in Ukraine
This week has been a dark week as Vladimir Putin wages war on Ukraine. The United States has now deployed our troops to help where they can in Europe and President Biden is going to establish further sanctions on Russia to try to hold them accountable. In 1991 Ukraine voted to become independent of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO brought in most nations that had been in the communist society and in 2004 they offered membership to Ukraine, however Ukraine is still not a part of NATO now. Vladimir Putin has seen NATO as an existential threat and wants to re-claim Ukraine as part of Russian territory. Over a hundred people have already died and been wounded due to the attacks and thousands of people in Russia are protesting the invasion of Ukraine.
You can read more about the war going on in Ukraine HERE. The situation in Ukraine is changing quickly, and we recommend that you continue to read only from verified factual news sources as disinformation and misinformation is running rampant. |
President Biden Nominates Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson to SCOTUS
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer retires at the end of the current SCOTUS term, which usually ends in June and in his place, President Biden is nominating the first Black woman to be on the court- Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson. Judge Jackson currently sits on the US Court of Appeals DC Court. She is a two time graduate of Harvard University and has previously been a public defender before becoming a judge. She has been a federal judge since 2013 and last year Biden nominated her to the court in which she appears on now.
|
|
|
Check Your Voter Registration |
We’re no stranger to voter suppression in our state. So we encourage you to check your voter registration often as board of elections offices purge voters from time to time. |
|
|
Help us reach our goals in 2022 |
With your generosity, we are able to build a permanent infrastructure that will increase voter registration and turnout as well as take care of our communities of color, in and outside of election cycles. |
|
|
Paid for the New North Carolina Project The New North Carolina Project
6012 Bayfield Pkwy
Suite 142
Concord, NC 28027
United States If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe. |
|
|
|
