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VOLUME 79 ■
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA — SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 2001
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913
PRICE:30 CENTS
Dr. John Hope Franklin accepts the Racial Reconciliation award from Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies President Eddie Williams, right. The award was given
May 31 at a banquet in Washington, D.C. See story on page 11. (Photo by Roy Lewis)
Cincinnati: Black Caucus
Pushes Political Power
As Key to Change
By Lisa Cornwell
CINCINNATI (AP) - Some blacks say increased political power, rather
ihan protests or economic boycotts, will be key to ending what they see
as a long history of racial and economic segregation in the city.
"Political power is the sleeping giant," said Dwight Tillery, leader of
the African-American Political Caucus. "The African-American vote in
this community is critical to deciding who gets in office and what levies
are passed, but we have not taken advantage of that power. We need to
learn how to make it work for us."
Tillery hopes to channel the emotions spawned by the April shooting of
an unarmed black man by a white police officer into support for the
caucus and its goal of electing officials who are more committed to black
issues. The shooting led to three nights of rioting before a dusk-to-dawn
curfew restored order.
Tillery, who became the city’s first popularly elected black mayor in
1991, said the black vote can no longer be taken for granted.
"Most African-Americans vote the Democratic ticket without knowing
who the politicians are or what issues they support," he said. "This
caucus is not going to support someone because of their race or their
party, They have to show us they will support issues important to
African-Americans."
The caucus, with the help of a 21-member steering committee, also
plans to make sure politicians are held accountable after being elected by
checking to see if they keep their campaign promises on issues important
tothe black community.
Black and white politicians shake our hands, say nice things, ask for
our votes and then go their merry way,” Tillery said.
Melanie Bates, executive director of the Hamilton County Democratic
farty, said Democrats have not taken black, votes for granted, and she
welcomes the caucus’ attempts to establish accountability.
"Increasing accountability is a good thing, as long as everyone has all
ofthe facts," she said.
Michael Barrett, chairman of the county Republican Party, did not
toturn messages seeking comment,
Tillery and others in the caucus know they face a challenge in a city
'vhere blacks make up 38 percent of the voting age population but histor
ically have turned out in lower numbers than whites for city elections.
A recent analysis by The Cincinnati Enquirer showed that the percent
age of registered voters who cast ballots in city elections between 1991
and 1999 declined sharply in each of the city’s eight predominantly black
political wards.
Caucus volunteer April Fambro, 27, said she has voted since age 18
^otshe knows that many in the black community don’t.
'When I ask a lot of black men in their 20s if they are registered to
'^ote, they say, ‘Why? What good does it do?’"
She said the caucus can show them political power will have more of a
long-term effect than protests.
Many young people, however, have voiced their skepticism during
teceni protests whenever black leaders have urged them to register tc
vote.
'^illiaiTi Kirkland, head of the African-American Cultural Commission,
has led
some of the protests since 19-year-old Timothy Thomas was shot
a human rights
y a white police officer. Kirkland describes his group
lank organization.
hough he agrees with the caucus’ aims, he said an economic boycott
greater tool.
^America is a capitalistic nation, so you have to hit them in the pocket,"
said. "It’s time to shut this city down with an economic boycott, and
^ go after the political control that the caucus wants."
have repeatedly urged economic boycotts since the riots and
^ 6d for a specific one a-gainst the Taste of Cincinnati food and enter-
festival held over the Memorial Day weekend. Festival vendors,
^ever, said sales were strong.
i^srtibers believe they are off to a good start toward their goal.
i|i 500 people attended a kickoff rally June 2 where comedian and
vist Dick Gregory and national radio talk show host Bev Smith urged
ll^lJ®8’s^ation. Caucus officials said they do not yet have final figures
^ ®any people registered that day.
Commission on Civil Rights
Says There Were Voting
Violations in Florida
Former New York City Mayor
David Dinkins is scheduled to
speak during the Durham Hu
man Relations Commissior
Forum titled "Building Oui
Community - Supporting All
Citizens". The forum will be held
Wednesday, June 20, at 8 a.m., in
the auditorium of Hillside High
School, 3727 Fayetteville Road.
Man who
escaped murder
conviction faces
federal charges
(AP) - A man whose first-degree
murder conviction was overturned
on a legal technicality could
receive a life sentence on new fed
eral charges, prosecutors say.
Shamar Rasheed Hines was ar
rested on federal gun and drug
charges. District Attorney Jim Har
din Jr. said Hines was accused of
trafficking cocaine.
Hines, 29, could go to prison for
life if convicted of the new charges,
Hardin said.
In 1996, Hines and another mao,
Rodney Eugene Leak, were
sentenced to life in prison for the
fatal shooting of 2-year-old Sha-
quana Atwater. The child was
killed on Oct. 22, 1994, in a gun-
fight at an apartment building be
tween the defendants and another
man.
The stale Court of Appeals ruled
the men should get a new trial be
cause the jury accidentally saw the
prosecutor’s notes. But instead of
lolding a second trial, prosecutors
allowed the men to plead guilty to
reduced charges in May 1999.
Hines pleaded guilty to attempted
second-degree murder and assault
with a deadly weapon. He was
sentenced to 51 months in jail.
Hardin said that Hines served a
portion of his time before being
released.
By Will Lester
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Commission on Civil Rights ap
proved a report June 8 that found
black voters’ ballots were dis
proportionately tossed out in Flor
ida’s presidential elections and sug
gested widespread violations of the
Voting Rights Act.
The commission’s six-mortth in
vestigation of the contested Florida
vote found the election was
plagued by faulty machinery, prob
lems with access to polling places,
faulty purging of voter rolls and a
lack of attention by state and
county officials to evidence that
growing numbers of voters would
overwhelm outdated systems.
The commission adopted the
report by a 6-2 vote,, with both
merhbers appointed by Republicans
voting against it.
"We will send this report to the
. attorney general, president and
Congress," said Chairwoman Mary
Frances Berry. "We will request a
meeting with the attorney general."
She said she hopes the report,
which offered criticism of both Re
publican state officials and Demo
cratic county officials, will spark a
renewed interest in changing elec
tion laws and procedures. The com
mission will make specific recom
mendations to Congress after its
next meeting.
She said that since the disputed
elections "one of the most dis
appointing things to me is that I
thought there would be more inter
est in electoral reform."
The commission is asking the
Justice Department to investigate
the problems in Florida, determine
whether the disparities were inten
tional and suggest what remedies
might be needed.
The department said it hadn’t
received the request for a meeting,
but has been investigating com
plaints about the Florida election
for months. The department is still
investigating about a dozen of these
complaints, but has dealt with the
others, said Dan Nelson, a spokes
man for the civil rights division.
The two members of the commis
sion appointed by Republicans,
Abigail Thernstrom and Russell
Redenbaugh, said they didn’t ac
cept the report’s findings and
planned to offer a dissenting
opinion later.
"The evidence from the hearings
does not support the findings of this
report," Redenbaugh said.
Berry said she was pleased with
the steps Florida has taken in order
ing new, modern equipment and
setting aside money for voter edu
cation and poll worker training. But
she said the state has not addressed
access problems for the disabled, a
lack of bilingual help for voters at
the polls and a need for better
monitoring of purges of voter rolls
to remove felons. The report said
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Secre
tary of State Katherine Harris ig
nored warning signs of problems
and pleas for help from county offi
cials.
Bush and Harris responded June
8 that the commission report was
the poorly handled work of a,
partisan group. The commission
las four Democrats, three indepen
dents and one Republican.
Harris said the commission has
recognized that "Florida has ad
dressed many of the commission’s
concerns through landmark election
reforms." Bush obser\cd, "The
time for meaningless and divisive
finger pointing over last year’s
election is over. It’s time to move
on."
The commission is considering
what other states it should visit to
examine election problems from
last year, and plans to revisit Flor
ida to see how changes are prog
ressing.
"We plan to stick with this
through the 2002 elections," Berry
said, noting that she’s heard from
Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the new ^
chairman of the Senate'Rules Com- On the Net:
mittee, who plans to push for feder- Commission on Civil Rights:
al action on election law changes. http://www.usccr.gov
MRS, CORA COLE-MCFADDEN was feted with retire
ment reception from the City of Durham. See story and
pictures on page 3. (Photo by Lawson)
Justice study finds no racial
bias in federal death penalty
By Karen Gtillo
WASHINGTON (AP) - Wide racial disparities in federal death penalty
:ases are not caused by intentional bias against minorities but stem from
aw enforcement practices that lead to more minority defendants in feder
al capital cases, a Justice Department review concluded.
In a much-anticipated report analyzing more than 900 federal death
penalty cases, the department said there was no evidence of racial or eth
nic bias in the federal death penalty system.
The-reason more blacks and Hispanics get death sentences is that there
are more minorities in the pool of cases that carry the federal death pen
alty, such as murder and drug trafficking, department officials said..
"Our conclusions are that there is no evidence of racial bias in. the ad
ministration of the federal death penalty," Attorney Genera! John Ash
croft told lawmakers at a hearing.
The review showed that the death penalty was sought at lower rate^ for
black and Hispanic defendants than for whites, Ashcroft said. He ordered
further studies, by an independent panel, on federal death cases and the
prosecution of murder cases.
Death penalty opponents reacted angrily to Ashcroft’s assertions.
"This statement by the attorney general flies directly in the face of not
only the government’s own studies ... but those of numerous independent
and impartial organizations that have been studying this issue for years,"
said Curt Goering, senior deputy executiveMdirector of Amnesty Interna
tional USA.
Justice Department officials said practices among state prosecutors that
send defendants into the federal system and geographical trends were the
main factors behind the disparities first revealed in a federal death penal
ty study released in September.
That study showed 80 percent of defendants charged with capital of
fenses over a five-year period ending last summer were minorities and 20
percent were white.
Ultimately during this period, 20 defendants were sentenced to death,
80 percent of them minorities and 20 percent of them white.
The study also said that just nine of the 94 U.S. attorney districts ac
counted for about 43 percent of all cases in which prosecutors called for
the death penalty. They were: Puerto Rico, the eastern district of Vir
ginia, Maryland, the eastern and southern districts of New York, western
.lissouri. New Mexico, western Tennessee and northern Texas.
Justice Department lawyers looked at all 682 cases in the original
study,, gathered information from U.S. attorneys and analyzed an addi
tional 291 federal death penalty cases that wore not part of the 2(X)0
study.
Out of a total of 973 defendants convicted of crimes punishable by
death, 408 were blacks, 350 were Hispanic, 166 were white and 49 were
defined as "other."
In explaining why the bulk of defendants were minorities. Justice De
partment officials pointed to local practices:
- In the eastern district of Virginia, which accounted for 66 death penal
ty cases, most of the cases originated from nonwhite drug-trafficking
gangs that committed multiple murders. State prosecutors referred cases
to U.S. attorneys because federal prosecutors may try defendants in a
single trial for activities committed in more than one slate.
The review showed that whites were much more likely to escape a
death sentence through plea bargaining than were blacks and Hispanics.
Twenty-one out of 44 white defendants, or 48 percent, avoided a death
sentence because federal prosecutors reached a plea agreement for a les
ser charge. Only 28 percent of Hispanic defendants and 25 percent of
black defendants reached plea bargain agreements.