COFFIN WITH OBAMA'S PHOTO ON IT:
INVESTIGATION NEEDED OF POTENTIAL VOTING RIGHTS VIOLATION IN CRAVEN COUNTY, NC
TO: Attorney General Michael Mukasey
U.S. Department of Justice. VIA E-Mail
Dear General Mukasey:
On behalf of all people of color in Craven County, N.C; of our Craven County Branch of the NAACP, Alfred Barfield, Sr., President; and of our State Rep. William Wainwright; the State Conference of NAACP Branches respectfully requests an immediate and thorough investigation of a violation of the voting rights of voters of color on one or more election days (early voting) at a polling place in Craven County, North Carolina. We believe that:
1. On or about October 31, 2008, and for some time before that, Mr. William Harper, white, from New Bern, N.C., placed an authentic casket on two sawhorses near an active polling place at a Fire Station in Township 7 in James City, in Craven County with the intent of intimidating Black voters with the image of death. Mr. Harper placed on the casket at least two pictures of Senator Obama with what some said made them think of a red noose-like circle around his head with the intent of intimidating and suppressing African American voters who wanted to vote at this polling site.
http://pictures.sprintpcs.com/?mivt=...&shareName=MMS
2. The casket was positioned within a few feet of the sidewalk where lines of early voters walked slowly toward the door of the polling place at the fire station. This meant that voters passed right by the casket, much like viewing a casket in the front of a church at a funeral service. On information and belief, Mr. Harper has been to funerals and knew that forcing Black voters to stand in line and walk within a few feet of the casket with Sen. Obama's image on it would trigger deep fears. A local news station has outtakes of the casket, and showed a short clip on the news on 1 November 2008.
http://www.wnct.com/nct/news/local/a...idation/22603/
Note how near the casket is to the sidewalk and to the polling place. Note the last frame showing only one African American voter, waiting separately, near the "Polling Place" sign while a Blue Jacketed Poll Watcher talks with several white voters who appear not to be at all concerned about the nearby casket.)
3. At all times, Mr. Harper, a former Craven County Commissioner, knew the African American population of the County was protected by the Voting Rights Act, and that the history of the disenfranchisement of African Americans in the Eastern (slave plantation) area of North Carolina in general, and the Craven County area in particular, was a history of brutal, violent suppression of any efforts by African Americans to exercise their constitutional right to vote, particularly after white supremacists from Craven County and other parts of Eastern North Carolina had successfully conspired to carry out the violent overthrow of the bi-racial City government of the largest city in North Carolina at the time, Wilmington, in l898. (See the State's Official 2006 Report on the "Wilmington Race Riot of 1898.")
4. At all times, Mr. Harper, as a former county official sworn to uphold the U.S. and North Carolina Constitutions, had actual and constructive knowledge that New Bern was one of the first Southern cities where slavery was ended during the Civil War, and that strong African American leadership from New Bern helped draft and pass North Carolina's strong Constitutional guarantees of equal rights in l868 that incorporated the grand language of the U.S. Declaration of Independence directly into the first sentence of North Carolina's Declaration of Rights: "We hold it to be self-evident that all persons are created equal."
5. At all times, Mr. Harper knew the North Carolina movement to make real rights guaranteed by the U.S. and North Carolina Constitution, led by the NAACP and other anti-racism organizations and individuals, was beginning to take hold in Craven County, and that by displaying a casket with Sen. Obama's image on it, he would be sending a warning to the rising tide of African Americans and other people of color who are demanding our self-evident rights as human beings.
6. After he was notified that the Craven County NAACP had asked the State NAACP to investigate his race-based display, on information and belief, Mr. Harper and others entered into a common plan to create a pretext for the display in an effort to cover-up the real reasons for it-to intimidate and suppress Black voting in Craven County.
7. On information and belief, as a part of this plan to cover-up the race-based intent of Mr. Harper's display, a judge at the voting site said Mr. Craven had a First Amendment Right to set up this image of death within a few feet of a slowly moving line of Black voters.
8. On information and belief, as a part of this common cover-up plan, a Craven County (Republican) Party official came to the site after the sheriff removed the casket and strongly denied the casket had Mr. Obama's image on it. On November 1, 2008, the NAACP requested both major parties to repudiate this race-based display. The only response from the Republican party was to deny the casket had Obama's image on it.
9. As part of the common cover-up plan, Mr. Harper told the media he had displayed a casket in a previous election when a white candidate was running for President, and therefore it could not be race-based. On information and belief, Mr. Harper did not paste pictures of any white candidate with red noose-like circles around his head on any casket in the past and there had never been the volatile racial context which this election period has created, with thousands of death threats against Sen. Obama, and major media attention given to a credible assassination threat against Sen. Obama in Tennessee just the day before the casket with Obama's picture on it was placed next to the voting line.
10. Because of a recent rash of noose hangings and cross burnings which the NAACP has reported to the FBI and the North Carolina Attorney General's office, the N.C. legislature, in the summer of 2008, raised the penalty to a felony for someone convicted of displaying a noose, burning cross or similar symbol with the intent to intimidate on the basis of race.
11. The display of the casket in this particular context and this near to the line of people waiting to cast their precious votes was intended to, and did create fear in African American voters who came to the polling place. It is not known how many left and how many drove up, looked at the ugly display and decided to leave without voting rather than being forced to get in line and slowly walk by the casket with pictures of a prominent Black leader pasted on it.
12. The casket with Obama stickers on it also was a direct threat to Senator Obama and we therefore request the U.S. Department of Justice notify the Secret Service of this threat on a Presidential Candidate.
With a copy of this complaint, we also formally request the North Carolina State Board of Elections and the N.C. Department of Justice to open investigations to determine if North Carolina constitutional and statutory rights were violated by Mr. William Harper and any confederates who tried to help him cover up his intent to intimidate voters because of their race.
If any agency -- federal or state - needs our help in collecting evidence in this matter, please contact us at the above-listed contact numbers. Thank you for your immediate attention to these serious allegations of constitutional and statutory violations.
Sincerely,
Rev. William J. Barber II,
President
Cc: North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper
North Carolina State Board of Elections
Ben Jealous, CEO, NAACP
Dennis Hayes, General Counsel, NAACP
Hillary Shelton, Chief, Washington Bureau, NAACP
Alan McSurely, Legal Redress Chair, NC NAACP
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