Big media put lid on simmering feud between NC’s African-American Caucus and state Democrats

by WorldTribune Staff, August 26, 2016

As the November elections approach in the key swing state of North Carolina, major media have overlooked attempts by the African-American Caucus (AAC) of the North Carolina Democratic Party to remove Patsy Keever as party chair.

Patsy Keever
Patsy Keever

Only the conservative Asheville Tribune covered the story, and one of its articles included a claim that the petition was a “hoax,” according to A.P. Dillon of  ladyliberty1885.com. The hoax claim prompted a swift response from three of the petitioners, Perry Graves, Vaeria Conyers and Chenita Johnson.

“The African American Caucus (AAC) of the North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) Auxiliary (AAC-NCDP) are the Petitioners of the legitimate Verified Petition requesting removal of NCDP chairperson Patsy Keever (Aycock) for proper cause.

Our Petition was properly filed with the North Carolina Democratic Party(NCDP)on June 8, 2016 in accordance with the NCDP By-Laws.”

In the petition, the African American Caucus accuses Keever of “disenfranchising” black voters in more than 50 counties in central and eastern North Carolina. The petition claims that Keever, as state chair, was responsible for “wrongfully and deliberately, if not illegally” conducting conventions in “unconstitutional congressional Districts.”

This petitioners were referencing a ruling in February by a panel of three federal judges that the existing boundaries of the state’s 1st and 12th congressional districts, which were redrawn five years ago, had been “deliberately gerrymandered so as to isolate African-American voters and thereby contain their statewide influence.”

The petitioners say Keever ordered district elections to be held based on the old boundaries, which constitutes what they say is a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act. The petition continues that the party’s district elections, held on May 21, are null and void.

The petition says that Keever’s “daily plan of action targeted various AAC Auxiliary county caucuses to discourage and ignore” 53 downstate counties with large black populations (members of whose AAC chapters are listed as additional petitioners) from participating “in the NC Political and delegate process …”