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? News Briefs Mfume says NY police used excessive force Kweisi Mfume, president and CEO of the NAACP, has called for federal and New York law enforce ment to move swiftly through the investigation of . an unarmed African immi grant shot by police in the hallway of his apartment building. Ahmed Diallo, a 22-year-old Guinean. was shot 19 times by four plainclothes policemen. The lawyer for the offi cers, who are all members of the NYPD undercover street crime unit, said his clients thought the victim had a gun. "This shooting is a representa tive case of excessive force at its worst. I am asking both the U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and New York city Mayor Rudy Giu liani to reassure the nation that these types of incidents will not be tolerated and to state publicly that they will use every possible vehicle to get to the facts involved in the case and make sure that justice is fair and swift," Mfume said. He said police behavior in this incident deserves the same response as the Abner Louima case involving an Haitian immigrant, who was tortured in a Brooklyn police station bathroom. "The NAACP will not sit by idly watching the incidents of police brutality go up as part of an Mfuma effort to make crime figures go down while the rights of innocent, unarmed, hard-working people are aggressively attacked," Mfume said. "The association will be join ing with other concerned citizens in an attempt to underscore the absolute foolishness of police bru tality that has reared its ugly head again in New York, and again involving another person of color." Largest Lending Discrimination Case Settled President Clinton and Vice President Gore recently announced the largest lending discrimination settlement in American history - $6.5 billion in mortgages and spe cial programs designed to help 78,000 minority and low- to mod erate-income families become homeowners. The Department of Housing and Urban Development negotiated the record settlement with Columbia National Inc.," which was accused of violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminat ing against minorities seeking home mortgages. The settlement closes HUD's investigation of lending discrimination charges, which grew out of a November 1997 complaint against the Colum bia, Md. based firm by the Forth Worth Human Relations Commis sion. - Carolina Peacemaker Black newspaper bibliography unveiled The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress recently her alded the publication of "African American Newspapers and Period icals: A National Bibliography" with a reception in the Jarfies Madison Memorial Building. "This is the first comprehensive guide to the vast body newspapers and periodicals by and about African-Americans," said the cen ter's director John Y. Cole. "It draws on the resources of the Library of Congress and other research libraries, large and small, but particularly on the collection at the Wisconsin Historical Society, where the editor, James P. Danky, is newspapers and periodicals librari an." Congo President bans politi cal parties KINSHASA (IPS) - Enraged Congolese politicians say the deci sion by President Laurent-Desire Kabila to dissolve the existing 400 political parties, when he lifted a ban on multi-party democracy recently, infringes on the freedom of association in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The law, gov erning the activities of political parties and organizations, which was decreed on Jan. 31, dissolved all the 400 parties and called upon those wishing to continue to oper ate to register at the ministry of interior, within 30 days. The appli cation takes three months to process. Alphonse Lupumba Kamanda, chairman of the oppo sition Republican Front, described the decree as "wicked, in its con tent, and against the elementary principles of democracy. "Kabila nurtures the illusion of dictating to political parties the way they should be run. That is simply an aberration." Kamanda vows that his party "will fight for the repeal of the law." Jamaican budget cuts hit hard KINGSTON (IPS) - Reactions have been mixed to the Jamaican' government's recent admission that it cannot afford its $3.6 billion bud get and is therefore forced to cut public expenditures. The budget has been cut from $3.6 billion to $3.5 billion. Finance Minister Omar Davies said the government had expected to borrow some $440 million from external sources to help finance the budget but to date has only managed to obtain $272 million, leaving a gap of $168 mil lion. In order to bridge that gap, the government had to increase its domestic borrowing. "The crisis in Asia and other parts of Europe has dampened the prospect (of borrowing from over seas), making money hard to come by," Davies said. Some argue that while the budget cut was necessary, rather than slashing capital expen ditures for social programs - like health and infrastructure projects - the government should have cut recurrent expenditures dealing pri marily with salaries, including the salaries of government officials. "Any economic decision taken in any part of the world in which the government of the day has to cut its budget or increase taxation or put mechanisms in place to mop up liquidity will have some negative impact on the lives of the poor," he said. "It is not that you willfully put systems in place to affect the poor, but it is unavoidable." - Neville Johnson One year later, still no arrests in bombing of black paper I By BARBARA HARRIS THE TR1-STATE DEFENDER ! Just over a year ago, the Jackson Advocate in Mississippi w?s destroyed by an early morn ing firebombing. [ However, the controversial investigation has produced no arrests despite the local South ern Christian Leadership Con ference's probe naming a 29 year-old male from MeridiaTr^ Miss, as a possible suspect. Tony Lewis Hodges was indicted early last month on five counts of manufacturing home made bombs in March 1997 and placing them in the Jackson nail salon of Theta Hudson, a for mer girlfriend. It is unclear what motive, if any, Hodges may have had for being involved in the paper firebombing, but dur ing the investigation, SCLC Executive Secretary Stephanie Parker-Weaver said she was told by one source that "some black person threw the firebombs intOc the Advocate, but did not have a real reason. The person had done another crime and did not want to go to jail and was being forced to firebomb the Advocate because the Feds were holding that crime over their head as blackmail." Hodges was indicted 19 months before the incident at the Advocate for bombing Hud son's nail salon. His participa tion in that crime led to specula tion that he may have been coerced to participate in?the fire bombing with a promise of leniency. If Hodges was' involved, Parker-Weaver con tends, he did not act alone. The SCLC's investigation points to a well-oiled conspiracy involving law enforcement offi cials and downtown business persons, she said. The three bombs ATF confis cated at the nail salon were described in the indictment by U.S. Attorney Brad Pigott as "gasoline-fueled incendiary devices with fuse and detona tor." Pigott has come under con siderable criticism recently for his failure to aggressively pursue the Hodges case and lack of action in the Advocate fire bombing case. "Now that Pigott has offi cially charged Hodges with attempting to bomb Hudson's nail salon, maybe he will indict whoever is involved with or guilty of the unsolved Jan. 26, 1998. Jackson Advocate bomb ing," declared Parker-Weaver. "It is just as important to bring closure to this "other ungodly domestic terrorist assault - an unAmerican First Amendment constitutional attack, so that our community can begin heal ing old racial, political and eco nomic wounds recently laid bare before the nation by the bomb ing of a black-owned newspaper in Mississippi in 1998, not 1968." Meanwhile, Vernon Hughes was removed in November from the nail salon bombing case by deputy fire chief Raymond McNulty. Hughes was also removed in December 1998 as chief investigator for the Advo cate firebombing and the July 22, 1998 firebombing of the house at 333 Eastview St. adja cent to Advocate Publisher Charles Tisdale's home. Hughes told Jackson's daily newspaper. The Clarion-Ledger, last summer' that the Eastview Tire was., "typical house fire," totally unrelated to the unsolved Advocate firebombing. "Hughes' deliberately indif ferent statements of disinforma tion to The Clarion-Ledger fur ther endangered the liveS of Tis dale. his fanjily and staff," said state Rep. Jim Evans, who also serves as Advocate board Chair man and SCLC national board member: Outraged at Hughes appar ent attempt "to obstruct justice and conspire with the perpetra tors," SCLC officials demanded an immediate apology from him. "After more than 19 years on the fire department, Vernon Hughes still couldn't tell the dif ference between a typical house fire and a bombing," Evans said. On Aug. 21, Hughes publicly apologized and admitted he was incompetent. The cases have been reassigned to newly appointed acting chief arson investigator Van Presson. "Both (fires] are a top priori ty with the Jackson Fire Depart ment, and will remain that way," McNulty says, vowing that Pres son and his men would work diligently to try and solve both firebombing. Meanwhile, civil rights leaders and Advocate staff, managment and support ers continue to inquire about the whereabouts of a videotape from a surveillance camera mounted atop the A.H. McCoy Federal Building, one block from the newspaper. The Advocate is currently in negotiations with the city of Jackson to lease a building on Farish Street, associate publish er Alice Thomas-Tisdale said. The Hill-Holly Building, the Advocate's former home and site of last year's firebombing, is in the final stages of renovation. The building is listed on the National Register of Historical Places. The Chronicles e-mail address? I wschron@netun I limited.net beware!!! Termite Season is Coming... Call Triad Pest Control 1535 S. Martin Luther King Drive Winston-Salem, NC The Chronicle's e-mail address is: I wschron@netunlimited.net J S55555EE5255E55555SS55S5EE5EEEES55555S52E5SES ? ? Bun i v e r s i t v Get a yj u m p O N ' T H E Competition v : . ? ?" ? v . . .?1' . l ./* X Evening and Executive MBA Programs ~ Winston-Salem Information Session Saturday, February 20 ^ 10 a.m. - 12 Noon (Formal remarks begin at 10:30 a.m.) ' Wake Forest University Worrell Professional Center Call today! 800.428.6012 or 336.758.4584 www.mba.wfu.edu Enrollment Notice. Winston-Salem Charter Academy plans to open for the 1999 school year, offering Kindergarten through fifth grades. a Winston-Salem Charter Academy makes good sense for anyone interested in quality education. ? Children learn the fundamentals in a stimulating atmosphere. ? Parents know their youngsters are in a safe environment where academic ^ excellence and the development of moral values are emphasized. ? Teachers are dedicated and respected for their skills and have the support of parents and administration. ? On standardized tests measuring academic growth, students of a National Heritage Academy scored 40% above the national average. Please plan to attend a parent information meeting on Wednesday, March 3 at the Lawrence Joel Veteran Memorial Coliseum, Administrative Building in the Assembly Room at 7p.m. We will explain our unique educa tional program with its emphasis on both academic excellence and moral character development. Call (800) 699-9235 to register for the meeting. Nfl?tiOH8?l Winston-Salem Charter Academy... your tuition-free choice. A fiftflwrn jflp 4601 Six Forks Road, Suite 600 Raleigh, NC 27609 (800) 609-9235 www.heritafleacademie8.rom
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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