- Just ahead on "Black Issues Forum," decisions are being made in North Carolina that may impact voters' decisions in upcoming local elections from Senate bills and environmental justice concerns to the US' position on the war on Palestine.

There's a lot happening, not just locally, but across the nation.

And it looks like we finally found our next Speaker of the House.

We'll talk about it.

Stay with us.

- [Narrator] "Black Issues Forum" is a production of PBS North Carolina with support from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

Quality Public television is made possible through the financial contributions of viewers like you who invite you to join them in supporting PBS NC.

[upbeat music] - Welcome to "Black Issues Forum."

I'm Kenia Thompson.

Governor Cooper's been busy this week coming off the heels of Medicaid expansion.

North Carolina is adding voter regulations and environmental justice to the conversation.

There's a lot to break down, so let's get right to it by welcoming our guests to the show.

Today we have with us President and CEO of Substantial Media, LLC, Greg Hedgepath, and former Vice Chairman of Forsyth County GOP, Harold Eustache Jr.

Welcome to the show.

So, as I said, gentlemen, there's a lot to talk about.

So much going on.

Greg, let's start with you.

Senate Bill 747, folks will be lining up to vote again soon.

What is this all about?

Because from what I'm reading and understanding that it will impact voters this November.

- Yes, thank you so much for having me.

It is always a pleasure.

And Senate Bill 747 is being labeled as in all out attack on the people's right to vote.

Quite honestly, the bill introduces a number of restrictions that limit one's right to vote, if you will.

And also it's enablement, if you will, for others, anti voter groups to really attack voters' eligibility and voters' rights to vote.

At the end of the day, I think the bill consists of a number of additional restrictions such as absentee ballots, which can affect college students that are here.

It could affect young people and communities of color substantially.

As I mentioned, having those absentee ballots in this window, if you will, for the number of absentee ballots to be counted.

And I think is going to play a huge, or have a huge impact on the window for those ballots to be accepted.

I think right now it's what, three days that they have to collect those absentee ballots.

But this bill will introduce those and shorten that window substantially to the day of, I think at like 7:00 PM those ballots would need to be counted.

The bill also introduces a number of other restrictions and things like, forgive me, the ability for folks to challenge, if you will, or extend the deadline for folks to challenge the absentee ballots, call into question, if you will, eligibility of voters.

And if lastly, I think the bill also restricts certain private grants for administrators and election boards.

- Wow.

Harold, you know, Greg's talked about these absentee ballots and some of the changes that could happen are throwing out those ballots for minor issues.

Now, some of those issues that Greg brought up are delays in mailing those in.

Are there any other issues or classifications that we can share with our viewers that they may not be aware of?

- Yeah, I think first thing from my perspective is that the minor issues, you know, language is really language that I think the governor has used more than the statute itself.

But ultimately the statute does allow for these curable deficiencies, right?

So if there's an issue with an absentee ballot, the statute's not getting rid of absentee voting or anything like that, but it's just making sure that the public can have confidence in the result of an election.

And that that is extremely important to our system of government and our democracy.

But ultimately these curable deficiencies allow for things like if you signed in the wrong spot or if you didn't sign at all or things like that, that can be curable.

Those things can be fixed.

There are some uncurable deficiencies that have to do with witnesses because it's important that when we have other people, you know, signing on these ballots, we know exactly who they are.

In addition to that, the IDs that are on the ballots, there is this requirement that with the absentee ballots that IDs have to be accompanied with them either via a number or license number or ID number or something like that to show that you do have an ID, but that can be cured if that's not put on there.

So that's important for voters to know.

You know, when Georgia went to putting IDs on its absentee ballots, they didn't see any drop off in voter participation at all.

They didn't see really any drop off in minority voters participation.

I think to say that this automatically sort of will, you know, have some massive effect on voter participation, I don't think it will.

I think it will hopefully give voters, you know, the ability to have this confidence in the result.

Because ultimately, we don't want, we don't want, you know, at 7:30 on election day, we're all looking, we're all looking at what the results are, and then we don't want to have, you know, ballots coming in 6, 7, 8 days later and then the result of shifting.

I think we need to be able to count the votes that day.

- So with that being said, is they're cutoff for being able to sign up to send in an absentee ballot?

What the deadline for that?

Do you know?

- I believe the ballots have to be there on election day and be counted that day is my understanding.

- Okay, thank you.

Connected to this bill is Senate Bill 749, which would give legislative Republicans more power to influence how elections are run.

Greg, is there any explanation that you can provide for us and what long-term impact could this have?

- Yes, and I think you said it best, right?

You know, this bill introduces an opportunity for Republicans to really influence elections.

The bill itself looks to change the structure of both county and state boards of elections.

Currently, state boards of elections, county boards of elections are set up in a three-two format with the majority going to the sitting governor, right?

As per the state constitution.

This bill would look to create kind of a four-four, if you will, or equal representation of Democrats and Republicans.

One would say, "Oh yeah, that's great."

But to me, what I believe that is, is again, just a backdoor undermined way of influencing and having a heavy hand in our local elections.

I say that because if it's a four-four and let's say we're not able to agree, then what will happen, right?

Is that it will kick from the county board of elections to the state board of elections.

And what's important to note is that they are the ones that set up the number of early voting sites.

And to my understanding in this bill, if they're not able to come to that agreement and then it's kicked to the state board and still they're not able to come to an agreement, then what happens is that there will be only one early voting site in that particular county.

And that could wreak havoc, right?

On long lines and folks being discouraged from even coming out to vote.

That's my opinion.

- Yeah, no, I agree.

That's the first thought that came to my head, was the discouragement, right?

You drive up to your voting location and the line is down the block.

So another thing that's making headlines is that Governor Cooper held up a signed copy of the executive order for 292, shifting the state's Environmental Justice Advisory Board.

Harold, there's a lot of talk around environmental justice lately, it feels like.

So how big is this?

I know that many of our local environmental justice advocates were happy with this news, but what does it mean exactly?

- I think it means that a lot of the federal money that has been earmarked by the Biden administration for all sorts of things in North Carolina can come to North Carolina.

Essentially, the federal government will require states in North Carolina too to be in compliance with many of its environmental justice provisions at the federal level.

And if the state is not in compliance with those things, then we won't get the money that we need.

So I think this will allow the state to be in compliance and that will allow for millions of dollars to come into the state of North Carolina for all sorts of uses.

And I think there's no doubt that, over the last decade and more, we've seen particular attention to some of the environmental issues that we've had in this state.

I mean, we're a state that does have quite a bit of industries, especially in the eastern part of our state and really all over, but particularly when we talk about the hog farms and other parts of the eastern part of the state that have gotten a lot of attention.

It's important that our citizens are protected, our residents in North Carolina are protected.

So I think this is a good thing for our state ultimately and will bring quite a bit of money to the state.

- Yeah, I know one of our guest regulars, La'Meshia Whittington, she is a huge water safety proponent.

So, Greg, in addition to water safety, what are some of the top environmental justice issues or concerns in this state that viewers should be aware of?

- Yeah, first and foremost, I wanna ditto what my colleague, Harold, said and this is an exciting opportunity for communities across our state, especially those of color in low wealth communities.

I think we should all honestly be fully aware of or made aware of the implications of environmental justice issues, poor air quality, what it looks like when development comes in and they affect water flow or they're affecting stormwater runoff and pollution that leads to poor water quality.

Overall, environmental justice issues like the unwanted use of land.

At the end of the day, I think environmental justice issues in our state have affected not only our physical health, our wellbeing, but also just overall quality of life.

I'll end with basically saying that you don't see folks putting landfills in the middle of downtown Raleigh nor are they developing tire factories near million dollar communities.

- Yeah and I think that's the biggest thing, right?

We're not seeing it as much because it's not in the more populated, more popular areas, but it's happening in more of our rural areas, is what you're saying.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

Well, before we move on to other news that's impacting the country, I wanna shift a little bit to Supreme Justice Anita Earls, who filed a lawsuit over the state's investigation into her comments about diversity.

Harold, to you, what were Justice Earl's comments and is the state doing the right thing by conducting this investigation?

- Well, I think there are a couple important things.

Her comments were that essentially people that argue before the State Supreme Court and law clerks really don't look like the rest of North Carolina.

Well, I think that's half of the comment and that part is just true.

I mean, it is true that the majority of law clerks are White and male.

But I think the second part of the comment which was that because of that, that there is a bias, there's this implicit bias that they have which has affected all these different decisions.

I think that's where there's some gray area there and folks had an issue with it.

But I think it's important to note the Judicial Standards Commission, from what I understand, is a bipartisan commission.

It has more Democrats than Republicans on it.

So I think this seems like just a GOP attack on Justice Earls, but it's a little more nuanced than that.

And I also would add that in her comments, she did say that this wasn't racial animus, that she didn't believe that this was necessarily racial animus.

So I think it's complex.

I do think that overall, Supreme Court justices are elected.

They are elected by the people of the state.

And ultimately, I guess, I think that even though of course justices and judges are held to standards, of course, and lawyers.

When you're talking about elected positions, I think the people should really decide what happens here.

Y'know, if the people have an issue with Justice Earls, that'll be decided in the election.

But I don't, you know, think these comments to me warrant, y'know, anything beyond the people dealing with it the way they see fit.

- And that's fair, that's fair.

Greg, if she's found guilty by chance or held responsible for these comments, what could happen to her and her position?

And what would the process be if they decided to oust her and find a replacement?

- Yeah, no, I think it's worth noting that Justice Earls is one of two Democrats, and the only Black female on a seven-member high court.

And while, yes, these may not be racially motivated, I think it is certainly stifling her ability to speak on issues of diversity within our judicial system and our court system.

If, y'know, found guilty, I want us to ensure that the viewers understand that this isn't something to be taken lightly.

The commission has the ability to recommend removal.

They have the ability to reprimand.

They have the ability to ensure that she can't be a judge in the future.

And I think their recommendations, not being totally familiar with the process, is that they made that recommendation to the Supreme Court if removed, I believe, y'know, that one could be appointed and/or there is an opportunity for a special election, but don't quote me on that.

And in my sense, very similar to how this entire program has gone to this point, right, there's an underlying narrative here, and I don't think that that replacement would be one that is of favor to Democrats.

- A lot happening on the local side, so let's now shift to national headlines.

The war in Palestine has many feeling powerless and narratives from both sides are stirring controversial discussions.

Biden has voiced support and some locals are banding together, urging it all to end.

So, Harold, let's get an update on what's happening in Palestine.

And there's a lot coming down the pipelines, people on both sides of the fight.

Y'know, social media is a-buzz with videos and, to me, some videos that I can't even watch.

So I'd love to hear some of the latest from you, Harold, of what you've seen developing over there.

- So essentially, this happened a few weeks ago when a terrorist organization, Hamas, that's not all of Palestine, but is a terrorist organization within Gaza, essentially attacked parts of Southern Israel.

When I say attacked, it was brutal.

I mean, we're talking about taking hostages.

We're talking about killing small children up to babies, beheadings, rapes.

I mean, it was just an absolutely brutal attack on Israel.

And now, of course, Israel, as it should, has responded to this attack.

And I think that the back and forth is, y'know, is this heavy handed on Palestine itself, or is Israel going surgically after Hamas?

There have been a number of airstrikes back and forth.

Israel said in the last few days that they are on the precipice of doing a ground, essentially a ground strike, against Hamas to be more surgical and eliminate Hamas, which I think is a good thing.

Hamas is not just an enemy of Israel, but an enemy of the United States by proxy because they are funded and supported by Iran, which is, as we know, a sworn enemy of the United States.

So it's in our interest to have Hamas rooted out, and certainly in the interest of Israel to stand up for itself and get rid of Hamas.

- Greg, it was just this week about 50 people gathered near North Carolina A&T's Student Center for student-led demonstration in support of the Palestinians.

This was part of a number of walkouts that were held on university campuses across the state, across the United States, so we're seeing this now come stateside.

As the latest stage of the Middle East conflicts is entering into its third week, we're seeing that people are asking for relief, right, even us so far and disconnected, but we're so impacted.

So how are we seeing this impact deepen within the US?

- Yes, no, I think first and foremost, again, it's important to understand that the conflict between Israel and the people of Palestine, it has been one that has gone on for decades.

Y'know, it has been an intense debate within the US for some time.

And, y'know, college campuses have long been the place for debate and discourse, but what we are seeing is a narrative that has played out in America for some time now, this idea that folks have the ability to consume news in real time, right, news, data, et cetera, and react to it.

And, y'know, whether it's, y'know, pro-Palestinian, pro-Israel, Jewish, liberal, conservative, what we are seeing is this polarization that has been playing for some time now in America around "my truth is the truth and the only truth".

And the impacts here are continuously going to be very similar to how other, y'know, wars in foreign theaters have played out, is, y'know, what is America's foreign policy, what is America's foreign diplomacy, and what will be these, y'know, warring ideals that can continuously change and are in competition in America?

And so it's impacting us a lot closer than you think.

I was just watching the news myself and saw where local a Raleigh man had got word that, y'know, his family, Palestinian family, had been killed in strikes.

And so, as Harold said, y'know, while Israel has every right to protect itself, y'know, on both sides, y'know, humanity should win and we should be aware of how our actions are killing innocent people.

- And that division that we're creating, even within ourselves, like you said, on social media, y'know, finding space on both sides.

- Can trickle down deeper than we think it might.

- Absolutely.

- Now, in the midst of all of that happening in the middle east, we continue to receive updates this week from the Capitol with nominee after nominee for speaker of the House.

Harold, it looks like there's finally a decision.

What can you share with us on this?

- Yeah, it was getting to a point where, you know, I think something had to happen, and frankly, I'm glad it did.

Congressman Mike Johnson out of Louisiana is now our speaker.

He was elected unanimously by consensus, by the GOP, which is good news that at least, you know, there won't be necessarily a quick challenge to him being speaker, because I think as we know, the new rules allow for just one member of Congress to challenge a speaker, so because it was unanimous, I think that can give the country some confidence that this will be a decision that lasts at least for some time.

So he is a 2016 elected congressman.

He is a conservative of course, and I think he has those bonafides, which help him at least on the GOP side.

But I also think it's important to note that he is not one of these sort of attention seeking congressmen and that we've seen on both sides.

He is sort of, he's a, you know, former lawyer.

He's just a kind of show up, you know, by the book guy that's gonna, I think, do a pretty good job to get things moving again for our country because we've got lots and lots of issues that we've got to deal with as a country and need, that we need Congress to legislate on.

First and foremost it's our budget, and, you know, among other things.

So, you know, I expect that he will get right to work and hopefully be a good pick that people can have confidence in.

- Yeah, same.

You know, you mentioned budget and there was a question that I forgot to ask when it came to Israel, the war in Israel and Palestine.

When we talk about Biden reaffirming US support, and of course suggesting for separate Israeli and Palestinian states with borders, I start to think about financial support potentially, right?

We saw this happening with Ukraine.

Greg, do you foresee us providing financial support, and then what impact could that have on our national debt that we already have concerns with?

- Absolutely, that is a great question, and I'll just say this.

As I had mentioned a moment ago in my comments, this war has been going on for decades.

Administration after administration has kind of carried on the baton to, you know, broker peace.

I applaud the Biden administration for, you know, again, carrying the baton.

And this idea of, you know, that Biden spoke about in his remarks.

As hard as it is, you know, we have to find a way for peace.

While I almost dare comment on this idea of the US providing additional financial support, what I will say is that this idea that both parties, both Israel and the Palestinian people have, you know, interests, they have rights.

You know, we've gotta be mindful that the US debt ceiling as it is, is, I mean, our debt is at remarkable, almost unimaginable levels and numbers, and I can only imagine what it would be if we pledge additional support in spaces and places, and not take care of, you know, things like Harold said, that we've got to fix right here at home.

- Yeah, no, I agree.

Go ahead, real quick, 30 seconds, Harold.

- That's so important.

I mean, we've got millions of people in this country living cheque to cheque, figuring out how they're gonna pay the bills, how they're gonna pay rent, how they're gonna buy groceries, how they're gonna pay their car insurance, and it's our money that is somehow going across the world, and our country is in a massive amount of debt.

I just don't see how this is sustainable, and I don't see how we as a people can just, you know, keep up with this.

I mean, you know, it's us the people that work for this money to go everywhere else while we are, so many of us are struggling.

It's just, I don't see it as a sustainable thing.

- Yeah.

As a journalist, I'm supposed to remain impartial, but I agree with you personally.

Harold Eustache, Greg Hedgepath, thank you so much for being here with us and enlightening us on all the things that are happening within our state and our nation.

- Thanks for having us.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- We hope you enjoyed that show, and we invite you to engage with us on Instagram using the hashtag #BlackIssuesForum.

You can also find our full episodes on pbsnc.org/blackissuesforum and on the PBS video app.

Thanks for watching, I'm Kenia Thompson, I'll see you next time.

[upbeat music] ♪ [music continues] ♪ [music continues] ♪ - [Narrator] Black Issues Forum is a production of PBS North Carolina, with support from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

Quality public Television is made possible through the financial contributions of viewers like you who invite you to join them in supporting PBS NC.