WWW.TRIANGLE TRIBUNE.COM 1998 15 YEARS Black high school graduation The Triangle 2013 rates lowest in country Washington, D.C., ranks By Zenitha Princeamong worstWisconsin and Vermont had gradua- RIBUNE THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS tion rates of 91.1 percent and 91.4 TTHE TRIANGLE’S CHOICE FOR THE BLACK VOICE percent, respectively. High school graduation rates in the United States are at their highest since “The new NCES report is good news 1974, according to a recent U.S. after three decades of stagnation,” VOLUME 15 NO. 29 WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 8, 2013 $1.00 Department of Education report. But Secretary of Education Arne Duncan black students graduated at a rate be- said in a statement. “It’s encouraging low other ethnic groups. that the on-time graduation rate is up Of the 4 million public school stu- substantially from four years earlier. dents who entered ninth grade in the And it’s promising that high school 2006-07 school year, 78.2 percent re- graduation rates are up for all ethnic Hillside High ceived high school diplomas in the groups in 2010 – especially for 2009-10 school year, an increase of Hispanics, whose graduation rate has junior varsity more than 2 percentage points. jumped almost 10 points since 2006.” football wins The report also detailed the achieve- Among racial/ethnic groups, ment rates by states. Among U.S. ju- Asian/Pacific Islander students had opener risdictions, Nevada and the District the highest graduation rate at 93.5 of Columbia were the lowest, with percent. The rates for other groups rates of 57.8 percent and 59.9 per- were 83 percent for white students, cent, respectively. At the high end, See BLACK/2A NAACP rolls out voter info line Civil rights group to field calls on new law By Herbert L. White [email protected] The North Carolina NAACP has opened a toll-free telephone hotline to answer questions about voter ID law and ballot access. The civil rights group has launched a phone number, 1 (855) 664-3487, to take calls related to the Voter Information Verification Act signed into law last month by Gov. Pat McCrory. The law re- quires presentation of photo identification at polling places beginning in 2016 as well as ends same-day registration, straight-ticket ballots Barber and restricts early voting to 10 days. Eligible vot- ers who lack a state-issued photo iden- tity card can get one free at any N.C. Department of Motor Vehicles location. Fast-food workers prepare to march in protest at Martin Street Baptist Church in Raleigh. A North Carolina driver’s license, military ID or U.S. passport will also suffice. Requiring a photo ID, N.C. NAACP President Rev. William Barber con- Fast-foodBy Latisha Catchatoorian workers“I’ve been workingstrike there for two-and-a-half for betterBrown said he wages loves to cook and that’s why tended earlier this month at a Charlotte [email protected] years now,” she said. “I work hard. I’m still he stays at his job. He would love to do some- making minimum wage, and I agree with this thing else other than fast-food cooking, but press conference, is “a RALEIGH – An organized fast-food worker McCrory trampling on the blood, strike because they should raise our wages.” it’s challenging. strike last week spanned 50 cities. Workers in Jones works 25 hours a week and said most “It’s terrible working conditions,” he said. sweat and tears of the martyrs – black North Carolina are fighting for a $15 wage and and white – who fought for voting rights of her co-workers don’t make 40 hours a week. “Nothing there works right in the first place. the right to form a union without intimida- She said management doesn’t want anyone We have to tweak everything to make sure it’s in this country. It puts McCrory on the tion. wrong side of history.” to work over 35 hours a week. proper, and it’s just stressful.” There are just under 125,000 fast-food work- “I’m a single parent, it’s hard,” she said. MaryBe McMillan, secretary/treasurer of the The NAACP and American Civil ers in the state. Their median wage is $8.56 Liberties Union have filed lawsuits to “Barely a $300 check every two weeks, that’s N.C. AFL-CIO, said the union support raising an hour. In Raleigh, an adult with one child not anything.” wages for workers so those with full time jobs stop the law and U.S. Attorney General needs to make $20.07 an hour full-time in or- Eric Holder has threatened to take the Jaron Brown, 26, who works at a KFC in have a decent wage and are able to provide der to afford the basics, according to a mod- Greensboro, said he is still being paid mini- for their families. state to court for potential violations of el developed by an MIT professor. the Voting Rights Act. N.C. Attorney mum wage after working there for over a year. “These corporations like McDonalds, they Workers and activists, led by N.C. NAACP Brown said he was promised a raise after his take in billions of dollars a year. There is no General Roy Cooper lobbied McCrory President William Barber, gathered at Martin to veto the bill, arguing it would cost first 60 days and a subsequent raise every reason that they can’t afford to pay $15 an Street Baptist Church in Raleigh and marched three months. hour or a living wage. They do that in coun- the state millions of dollars to defend a few blocks to a nearby KFC restaurant in in court. “I actually have to live with a roommate be- tries like Australia, and they still survive and protest. cause we don’t make enough money to pay they can profit,” she said. “We think it’s long The NAACP has railed against “Civil rights and labor rights are two threads Republican-led efforts to overhaul the rent for ourselves,” he said. “We’re still strug- overdue that workers in this country get a of the same string,” Barber said. gling. It’s really tough right now. We paid rent raise.” Alexandria Jones, 22, works at a Burger King See VOTER/3A for this month already, but for next month I on New Bern Avenue. don’t know what we are going to do.” See FAST/3A ECSU student wins the right STAFFto REPORTS run for citygal precedent council to say that a dormitory can’t RALEIGH – Elizabeth City State student be a permanent address. The N.C. Supreme In an weakened economy, workers do more for fewer benefits Montravias King, represented by the Southern Court ruled decades ago that a college dor- Coalition for Social Justice, won the right to mitory is a valid address for voting.” Labor’sBy Herbert L. White pain run for city council in Elizabeth City. Until events in Pasquotank County, it was [email protected] The Pasquotank County Board of Elections settled law in North Carolina that students American workers are toiling initially barred King due to his could vote where they go to school as long longer hours for less money on-campus residence. Local as they do not intend to return to their par- and benefits. Republican Party Chairman ents’ home to live after graduation. This has But it beats unemployment. Richard Gilbert brought the been affirmed in two N.C. Supreme Court cas- At Charlotte’s annual Labor original challenge to King’s el- es – the 1979 Lloyd v. Babb case and the 1972 Day Parade, working people igibility. King has lived on cam- case of Hall v. Wake County – both of which showed up to cheer on the pus since he started at ECSU in found that a college dormitory meets the re- working class and their place 2009 and has spent most sum- quirements for residency for voting purpos- in American society. But four es. King mers there. He has voted in years after the Great Recession, Pasquotank County for the past In the 1980s, the N.C. General Assembly in- there’s a sense that nothing is four years using his campus address. corporated these rulings into statutory law. normal about work. “Students have a fundamental right to vote Allowing students living in campus dormito- “It’s hard to find a job, but in their college community using their dor- ries to run for elected office also appeared to once you get one, you need to mitory addresses. Because the residency re- be settled after Winston-Salem State student keep it,” said Peter Williams of CURTIS WILSON FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST quirements are the same for voters as for can- Derwin Montgomery, residing in a dormito- Shelby, a retired member of didates, the challenge to Montravias’ candi- ry, was elected to the Winston-Salem City United Auto Workers 5285, Members of United Auto Workers Local 5285 joined other Council in 2009. dacy based on the fact that he lives in a dor- where he assembled Daimler organized labor unions in the annual Labor Day Parade mitory affects all college students across the Now that the appeal has concluded, King is trucks in Mount Holly. ready to focus on his studies and the city in Center City. North Carolina has the third-highest unem- state,” said King’s attorney, SCSJ staff attor- “(Organized) labor, we’re work- ployment rate in the nation and fourth-highest rate among ney Clare Barnett.