Homicides drop in D.C. area,
rise slightly in Baltimore
WASHINGTON (AP) - Homicides were clown in the
Washington area in 2006. while Baltimore showed a slight increase.
according to preliminary figures released by
police.
There were 167 killings in the District of
Columbia, down 15 percent from the 2005
total of 1%.
Baltimore city recorded 274 homicides in
2(X)6, according to preliminary figures. That
was an increase from the 2005 count of 269,
but significantly lower that the record 353
homicides in 1993.
Baltimore City Council President and
Mayor-to-be Sheila Dixon told The
(Baltimore) Sun that in recent years the feder
Dixon
al government has focused on overseas wars instead or helping cities
deal with crime. But she also said the city's agencies have to work
together.
"Our police department, our Mate's attorney, our court system ...
have to be on the same page." Dixon said.
James Baker, the mayor of"Wilmington, Del., where homicides
reached an all-time high of 23 in 2006. echoed Dixon's comments.
"Look, absent a federal policy with resources, the amount of
killings in cities, particularly in the African-American community, is"
only going to get won?e." Baker said.
Overall, police in the Washington metropolitan area recorded 4 1 7
homicides last year, a drop of about 10 percent from 2005. when there
were 462 killings. About half of the cases have been solved.
The count by The Washington Post combined preliminary figures
from D.C. and municipal, state and county police departments within
the boundaries of eight Maryland counties and five jurisdictions in
Virginia. #
Oprah Winfrey opens school in S. Africa
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Oprah Winfrey
opened a school Tuesday for disadvantaged girls, fulfilling a promise
she made to former President Nelson Mandela six years ago and giv
ing more than 150 students a chance for Irbetter future
"I wanted to give this opportunity to girls who had a light so bright
that not even poverty could dim that light." Winfrey said at a news
conference.
Mandela. 88, attended the opening ceremony of the Oprah'
Winfrey Leadership Academy for-Gitls in the small town of Heriley
on-Klip, south of Johannesburg. He looked frail as he was helped on
to the stage by his wife, Graca Machel. and Winfrey. But he beamed
with joy and his speech resonated with pride."
"It is my hope that thisf^&hool will become the dream of every
South African girl and they wilPs(u<Jy hard and qualify for the school
one day," he said in a firm voice. f
Mandela thanked Winfrey for the "personal time and effort" she
devoted to the school.
Singers Tina Turner. Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey, actors
Sidney Poitier and
Chris Tucker, and director Spike Lee also were in attendance!
Each guest was asked to bring a personally inscribed book for the
library.
The $40 million academy aims to give 152 girls from deprived
backgrounds a quality education in a country where schools are strug
gling tt^oyercome the legacy of apartheid.
Jesse Jackson says Saddam
hanging will make violence worse
NEW YORK (AP)- As American deaths in the Iraq war reached
the sobering milestone of 3JXX). a prominent civil rights leader
warned that the execution of Saddam Hussein would only worsen vio
lence there.
The Rev. Jesse JdcksGn also said the deposed Iraqi dictator's death
would not make the United States safer.
"Killing him intensifies the violence, reduces our moral authority
in the world." Jackson, who has traveled to the Middle East on peace
missions, said Sunday. "Today we dre not more secure.. We 're less
secure. We've missed a moment to appeal to those in Iraq to break the
cycle of violence." ? ?
Saddam was hanged Saturday, three yeai> after being captured.
He was buried Sunday. There was no immediate sign of a feared
Sunni Muslim uprising in retaliation for the execution, although loy
alists marched with Saddam pictures and waved Iraqi flags outside the
Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi.
Jackson said Saddam was not to ?blame for the terror attacks of
Sept. 11,2001.
\ 1 P
60 Minutes' has no immediate plans to
replace Ed Bradley as others step up
NEW YORK ( AP) - Faced with the need to replace Ed Bradley
in the middle of the TV season. "60
His workload will he spread around. ^ipd.
in a unique altangemenl for the CBS news
magazine. his top producer will run a report
ing unit for stories available to all on-air cor
respondents.
'? "It's a long-term project to tlnd the ntytl
full-time person who can show the abilities
that are expected of a 60 Minutes' corre
spondent." said Jeff Fager. the show's execu
tive producer.
Even before Bradley's death on Nov. 9, it
was a transition year for TV's longest-run
Bradley
ning newsmagazine. Mike Wallace has retired. Morley Safer has cet
back his hours and Dan Rather is gone. Katie Couric ilnd Anderson
Cooper are new contributors.
Bradley, who died at 65 of leukemia, had only a year to enjoy a
status of first among equals at the ensemble. His was the first face
shown during the weekly introductions, a subtle indication of status
that only Wallace had previously achieved, and he was gone before
many even realized it.
The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest H.
Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published every
Thursday by Wjnston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co. Inc.,
617 N. Liberty Street. Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101.
Periodicals- postage paid at Winston-Salem. N.C. Annual
subscription price is $30.72,
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
The Chronicle., P.O. Box 1636
Winston-Salem. NC 27102-1636
Leaders brace for adverse school ruling
BY HAZEL TRICE EDNEY
NNPA CORRESPONDENT
. WASHINGTON
Although the U. S. Supreme
Court ruled in favor of affirma
tive action in the University of
Michigan Law School case three .
years ago and Brown v. Board of
Education in 1954. Black lead
ers say affirmative action and
school desegregation are among
the most important issues facing
Black
America
in 2007 -
both
being at
risk.
"The
Supreme
Court is
likely to
issue a
devastat
ing opin
Ogletree
ion in the Seattle cases [this]
year and it will possibly set back
the premise of Brown v. Board
of Education to provide qualify
education for all children." says
Harvard University law profes
sor Charles Ogletree. "And I
think that it will unsettle plans
by conscientious school dis
tricts, surveyors and educators."
The two cases heard by the
Supreme Court recently. Parents
Involved in Community Schools
v. Seattle School District and
Meredith v. Jefferson County
Board of Education (Kentucky),
could end voluntary programs
that use race in order to maintain
racial integration in public
schools.
"I was at the argument and I
heard the questions," Ogletree
says. "And there was little
enthusiasm among the majority
of the justices to support a vol
untary integration plan that both
Louisville. Kentucky and
Seattle, Wash, had devised to
protect the interest of children."
Successful campaigns to end
affirmative action in Michigan,
California and Washington state
will likely spread, civil rights
advocates^say. Conservative
activist Waal Connerly is
researching possible ballot ini
tiatives against affirmative
action in at least nine more
states.
From academia to activism.
Black leaders fear 2007 could
bring an end to affirmative
action, causing a reversal in
decades-old policies established
for racial and economic justice.
If it happens, activist Al
Sharpton says the same way that
Blacks got equal justice pro
grams, they will have to fight for
it again.
"We got it through mass
mobilization and putting pres
sure' on the Senate and the
Congress to enact lejjWIlation
that would offset it. And that's
the only way we're going to do it
(his lime," Sharpton says. "The
minute we start deluding our
selves that we don't need a
movement. Whites will use that
as u license to stop dealing with
us in ways that are. adverse to
our progress because they feel
that they can."
What the new Democratic
majority Congress will do on
behalf of Black people is yet
another major issue facing Black
America, political observers say.
' The 2006 mid-term elec
tion was the most important
story of last year and the high
Sec Ruling on A9
Blacks, whites promoting Miss. Civil Rights museum
BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
For all the talk about
America, being a multiethnic
melting pot of cultures, the com
plex history of race relations in
Mississippi is written primarily
colors. "
Black
a n d
white.
Now
with the
advent o)
success
ful civil
rights
museums
Frazier
Memphis, Tenn.. and
Birmingham. Ala., some folks in
Mississippi are starting to see a
new color.
Green. As in the color of
tourist dollars, j
Several pujlic. officials -
from Republican Gov. Haley
Barbour, who is white, to
Democratic state Sen. Hillman
Frazier of Jackson, who is black
- are promoting the idea of
building a museum dedicated to
telling the history of the civil
rights movement in Mississippi.
"The irony is that ^e have
the executive branch and the leg
islative branch in Mississippi
talking about a civil rights muse
um. I never thought that I would
live to live to see the day when
this would happen." says politi
cal scientist Leslie B.
McLemore. who serves on the
Jackson City Council and is
director of the Fannie Lou
.Hamer National Institute on
Citizenship- and Democracy at
Jackson State University.
Mississippi's civil-rights his
tory includes slavery. Iynchings
and systematic suppression of
vVoting rights. The prospect of
putting that brutal narrative on
dSPfcy comes during an election
year, no* less. Barbour and most
lawmakers are expected to seek
new terms in 2(X)7.
For decades. many
Mississippians have cringed at
the mere mention of the state's
civil rights record.
Then-Covv Kirk Ford ice,
running for re-election in, 1995,
roared at the Neshoba County
Fair that the state should not
look back.
"J don't believe we need to
keep running this state by
'Mississippi Burning' and apolo
gizing for 30 years ago,"
Republican Fordice said, elicit
ing a rowdy cheer from his
*
See- Museum on
Why go to the video store?
| START it whenever you're ready. PAUSE it when you're not. REWIND and FAST FORWARD too.
> Movies On Demand - Channel 601
Starts ? 1/4
Starts - 1/4
Starts ? 1/4
Starts ? 1/5
>bu. Me^no
Dupree
*
? TIME WARNER
CABLE
I
1 866 TRIAD TWCable
MnhmmmHI
HIGH SPEED ONLINE
DIGITAL PHONE
Programing provided by iN DEMAND 2006 N DEMAND L. L. C. Al Riahts Reserved. .Control 4 anc the button logo are service marks of
Time Warner Cable. Inc. All Rights Reserved Movie availability and start dates are subject to change Applicable fees may apply
First Time Homebuyers
You May be Eligible if:
? You buy a home in North Carolina.
? You do not own a home currently or have
not owned a home as your principal residence
during the past 3 years.
/
?
? Your annual income doesn't exceed the
county's allowable maximum income limits.
? You are a reasonable credit risk.
Realizing the dream of
homeownership could be
just a phone call away.
Call 760.491 I
You may also be eligible for:
Granite Mortgage. Inc
Itiunhim; Ihr Aiia nnm Itai I
791 jonestown Road, Suite 1 10
Winston-Salem. NC 27103
www.granitemortg3gcinc.com
f K, | |()IUl lluwi filu. it SJJWWTirom ll>A PmMb ? IS^rfrottTWimtoti-SAm I ImiMtm Vulu>rtt\*
S\VXi In uu ilk < :,n oi Wimuxi-S.ilcni ? SI0.IKIO from Kirnvtii G-uiivn llmrvmj ? S?U*K> limit Ni I lv.tMt>n Fin.m<v Vm*' ^ gs
'SMt: Lm fcw.< ?/? m , ir.lu tattiy mti CftoH wsniftmj ^1(^*1 1/^llentiHiAaiiioriir Ktu*rt(> 'July. 5*