Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / April 10, 1986, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page A2-The Chronicle, Thursda Organization By The Aesoclated Press FAYETTEVILLE - Gov. Jim Martin should appoint a statewide task force to deal with a growing Ku Klux Klan because local officials often aren't equipped to handle it, a spokesman for an anti-racist group says. Mab Segrest of North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence was one of several people who addressed the N.C. Human Relations Council recently during a public hearing to- receive public romm?if on? tunities for minorities. Ms. Segrest said that the Klan is armed and that she has "talked to people who say when (Klan HMMIMIttMMNmMlimMMIMMMMaNaaaNaiMMNBMHi Incident invc imttmimtitmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmrnk those who attended the party, said Friday. "The fraternity problem has been ongoing for some time," she said. "This is not the first party or the first time there has been a protest. There's no reason to fight these same battles year after year." As a result of the incident, the school's Case Referral Panel will hear cases Thursday charging exposure against Sheldon Eckland and destruction of property against Charles E. Leftwich Jr. Eckland is charged with exposing himself ai)d urinating out of a second story window toward a group of black females. Leftwich ^ is charged with hurling a chair through the window where Eckland stood. "If a black man stood in a window and urinated on white females, he would face criminal charges,'* Leftwich said. "Immediately," chimed Rodney E. Trapp, who was also at the party. "The administration perpetuates these kind of things because, every time it happens, \ they just do something to appease the black students, and the problems continue,'* Trapp added. "We don't like the in-house way the administration is trying to handle this. When Dean (of Students Mark) Reece subpoenaed the students, he left out all the (black) females who were . present and saw what happened. We had to go back and ask him to include them." Close to 25 people have been called to testify in the case, university officials said. "Their investigation appears to be stacked," Trapp said. "We're concerned about justice being j it aone. The incident occurred at an annual party sponsored by the Kap pa Sigma fraternity. The party. dubbed "The Mothership," is a 25- to 30-year tradition in the fraternity, said Kappa' Sigma President Doug Haupt Jr. The party formerly was called "Five Screaming Niggers,*' and later was changed to "Five Screaming" before the current name was adopted four years ago, The party, which was open to the public, was held at the Kappa Sigma lounge in the Davis Hall dormitory on campus. Between 75 and 100 people attended. Haupt said the party features a lip-sync comedy routine performed by some of the fraternity's "wildest guys," in which they mimic black artists. The routine was done in blackface in past years, but Haupt said the practice stopped around 10 years ago. "We knew some people thought the show would be racist," Haupt said, "so we invited them to see it. I talked to some of the black students and they said they didn't see anything that was offensive." A group of 12 black students, concerned with the racial overtones of the party, did attend. Miss Stewart said she was one of the first to arrive. She said she was offended. v r^ "To me it was offcttllYg,*' Miss Stewart said. "The only reason they didn't do it in 1 y, April 10, 1966 r urges Gov. ] < leader Glenn) Miller marches through a town, they outgun the police." "They've got automatic weapons or ... weapons that are easily converted to automatic," Fayetteville Police Capt. Robert Shambley told the council. Automatic weapons are illegal, he said, but the guns can be converted from automatic to semiautomatic and back in a matter of minutes, making it difficult for authorities to make an arrest. Ms. Segrest also told the council that the Klan's Hmabcishifytr young people. Klan activity has increased in Harnett County, with two cross burnings reported u* uiv poai uiuiiui, sue soiu. I living fraterni blackface is because we were i there. They lip-sync only black a artists' music. It's done to mimic t black people." , \ Several black female students Y left the party and were standing i outside on the patio of the dorm i when four fraternity members started shouting racial slurs from I a second-floor window, said the f black students. The black t students said they responded, t Eckland, one of the four, then 1 exposed himself and started r urinating in the direction of the females. Leftwich, who was just coming out of the building, removed a chair from Davis iounge, and threw it through the window, shattering the glass. Campus police responded to the incident and interviewed all of the witnesses present. Police reports indicated that Eckland was intoxicated. No fights were reported. Leftwich said the party and subsequent incident follow a pattern at the school. "We've been going through a series of unconscionable insensitivities^ Minority population at Ydhobt," he said. He cited ai demonstration two weeks ago by the Kappa Alpha fraternity in which 50 fraternity members and their parents marched around campus in Confederate uniforms, and prominently displayed three Confederate flags. "We don't share their ideologies and we believe it's insensitive on their part to continue such practices and for the university to allow them," he said. "And we don't like the way the university is handling this incident," he added. *'1 did what 1 did so that he (Eckland) would not get away with what he did," Leftwich said of throwing the chair. "He had humiliated the ladies, assaulted and insulted us verbally, and then to do that - 1 was enraged. . "I know I was wrong, but at f the time I was agitated and provoked." Leftwich's wife, Ramona J. 1 Leftwich, who is director of 9 The. Winston-Salem Chronicle is published every Thursday by the Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co. Inc., 617 N. Liberty St. Mailing address: Post Office Box 3154, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102. Phone: 722-8624. Secondclass postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102. f The Winston-Salem Chronicle is a charter member of the Newsfinder service of the Associated | rress ana a memDer or trie Audit Bureau of Circulations, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the North | Carolina Press Association and the North Carolina Black Publishers Association. Subscription: $18.72 per I .year, payable in advance (North Carolina sales tax included). Please add $5.00 40f out-of-town delivery. PUBLICATION USPS NO. 067910. Martin to af Miller, head of the * White 'atriot Party, said last Thursday hat the accusations by Shambley md Ms. Segrest were "vague, unbiguous, gobbledygook." He said charges that his organization, formerly the Conederate Knights of the Ku Klux Clan, has illegal weapons are idkulous. "All our weapons are absolutey and totally legal," Miller said, idding that party members have v capons only for defensive pur>oses. >arty has more than doubled in he last 10 months. Miller said the (roup now has about 4,400 nembers in North Carolina. ty isn't isola ninority affairs at the university, ittended the party in support of he black students. She said last veek that the two sides are lolding meetings to discuss the ncident and find ways to prevent t from happening again. "We had a meeting with the Cappa Sigmas and two other raternities to explain why the >lack students attended the pary, and why it offended us/* Mrs. -eftwich said. "We will be neeting again this month." "I think the Kappa Sigmas _ m 1 2 1 u ' ;v ' ,;-k ' ' ' <s\a *< 4 >point a state The council, formed to deal with problems of discrimination, will use testimony from the Fayetteville hearing and hearings at four other North Carolina locations before compiling a report to Martin. Ms. Segrest played a videotape of television news stories that showed people affiliated with Glenn Miller's White Patriot Party dressed in military fatigues training with what one council member described as 4 4 militarytype11 iwpn?' ' Also last Thursday, Bobby Person, a guard at the Moore County Prison Unit, told the council that the prison is a base ted From rrge / knew the party was offensive," she added. 14We asked them to look at it as we would see it. We want them td work to make the show less offensive. We.think they could change it altogether." As a result of the meeting, Haupt said, the fraternity is discussing whether to continue the party. "We found out that the party means a lot of different things to people," Haupt said. 44It is offensive to some. The talks were needed and they shed a lot of You've go n#? ****** ? KSi-j* ... *? Hkj&t?r1 * I &?& a.' ? kk&& ?*>*..... . Lrf ~^\- ?. ' ^ mL^f ||\yr-n - - -^j^fc <* L'S WARNING: Cigarette s Carbon Monoxide. I wide anti-Kla for Klan activity. d s Person, a 15-year employee, * said he has been passed over for 1 promotion to sergeant because he E is black. He said that when he complained about it in 1983, a cross was burned in the yard of * his home near Carthage. * c He said a white prison worker c came to his home in a robe and f threatened to kill him. c ti Since then, Person said he has been' *cuuiiuualt^iiar?ned**'muir' ^ iuiu uic wuuiiwu uicic was a uuiuu l threat telephoned to his home last s week. - I S Person said he has filed a v IIMIIttltMMIIIItMllttMMtMMMMHMMIItltMIHItttMlllltlltfllMtl M light on other people's feelings - F feelings that some have not been F exposed to. A lot has been gain- g ed. S "We didn't go into the party trying to hurt anyone's feelings," t he added. "It was the stupidity n and misconduct of a few individuals and not the whole frat C that caused the problems." I Director of communications at n the university, Russell H. p Brantley, said the Case Referral a Panel will listen to the witnesses s in the cases and decide the twhatKi r ^ jfl F^ ^ I111 j/1 B&? fl jl I 4 I n network ? liscrimination suit against the tate and another suit against the Llan because of the harassment, 'he suits are pending in U.S. Hstrict Court. It Jimmy Pratt, a former guard it the prison unit, also said he vas discriminated against and laimed his 1983 firing was liscriminatory. He said he was ired when he questioned an trder to relieve a trainee assigned o a guard post. Rwee WCCtjy; r Dsiiuuiieui ? If cm icctiun spukeswummu, said he could not comment ,on the 'erson case because it is in court. >he said Pratt was fired for a iolation of departmental policy. .:> mnishment if the participants )lead guilty. If they do not plead guilty, the cases will go to the itudent Judicial Board. The judicial board is an elected >ody of 12 students. It includes to blacks. Brantley also said the Judicial Committee of the Wake Forest nter-Fraternity Council will, tieet to determine the appropriateness of the party itself, s opposed to the incident. He aid school officials will not com-. Please see page A15 takes. I TTi -??.? now t?\ i fi rinoi^ bus t^n< 1 *>> I'VrU CI!.? i ' 5cr-"*r ^ ' u I bit reshment. ) : ii . ft i B fe i h ^k'? B ^ ^B ^b ' ^1 v V j$m? 1 A '-^ *4&>- ^>i r- <$ ?Jb i #* h ,tfA> *- - ^fF 1 :' V 1^^ .Af y?Q K fte=??wB-H^.^^BiT 1 Bc2L.. mc 1 MH| IRT^ l&r, 4%'?
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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