Bush extends Liberians' protected status
WASHINGTON (AP) - President George W. Bush is extending
by IK months the U.S. refuge for thousands of Liberians living in the
United States under temporary protected status.
In a memo Homeland Security Secretary Michael ChertofT, Bush
halted the deportation process for 18 months. That is the normal
length of the temporary protected status program unless renewed, and
it is renewable until the political or natural crisis that caused the
refugees involved to flee has ended.
The Liberians began coming to the United States in 1991 . short
ly after the West African country became involved in civil war that
evolved eventually into chaos.
After elections in 2005 and modest signs of stabilization in
Liberia, the Homeland Security Department lifted their temporary
protected status last year, making their continued presence illegal as
of this Oct, 1 .
"Although the armed conflict in Liberia ended in 2003, and con
ditions have improved, I have found that the political and economic
situation in Liberia continues to be fragile," Bush said in the memo.
About 3,600 Liberians are living in the United States under tem
porary protected status, federal officials have said, although activists
claim there are thousands more. Many thousands of other Liberians
are in the country, either U.S. citizens or under other immigrant sta
tuses.
Social scientists to return to Harvard
CAMBRIDGE. Mass. (AP) - A husband-wife team of promi
nent social scientists who left Harvard University three years ago after
one was denied tenure are returning to the
university's Department of African and
African American Studies, officials said
Thursday.
Marcyliena Morgan and Lawrence Bobo
left for Stanford University in late 2003 after
Morgan was denied tenure under former
President Lawrence Summers.
She will return to Harvard in January as a
tenured professor, said Evelyn
Higginbotham, chairwoman of the depart
'Tenure was the issue for her leaving and
that has been resolved," Higginbotham said.
Morgan is a linguistic anthropologist and expert in global hip-hop
culture who will concentrate on hip-hip s role
in AIDS prevention, Higginbotham said.
Bobo, who will have a joint appointment
in sociology, researches the ways race and
racial attitudes affect public policy.
Morgan and Bobo were among a number
of high-profile defectors from Harvard's
Department of African and African
American Studies. It started in 2002 when
Cornel West and K. Anthony Appiah left for
Princeton University.
West's departure was sparked by
Summers, who reportedly questioned the
academic validity of some of his ventures.
Morgan
including the recording of a rap album. Ine departures were seen as
a serious blow to former department head Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s
efforts to assemble a "dream team" of academics and create the
nation's leading African- American studies department.
Residents: long-standing race problem
may have led to black woman's ordeal
LOGAN, W.Va. (AP) - Some residents say the news of a black
woman's brutal weeklong ordeal at the hands of white captors was
shocking - but came as no surprise . r
About 20 locals, mostly blacks, gathered at the library here last
Thursday to comfort one another while recalling their own experi
ences with discrimination, at times through tears and shaking voices.
They vowed to find a way to help Megan Williams, the 20-year
old Charleston, W. Va.. woman who was held captive for more than a
week at a ramshackle trailer in Logan County, where authorities say
she was tortured, sexually assaulted and forced to eat animal drop
pings.
At a news conference at the hospital where Williams is being
treated, the Rev. Emanuel Heyliger of the Ferguspn Memorial Baptist
Church in Dunbar called Williams' ordeal "barbaric, heinous, despi
cable."
Williams did not attend the news conference. Her parents did, but
declined to comment on the investigation. Authorities said Williams
knew one of her alleged attackers, which played a role in their deci
sion not to pursue civil rights (hate crime) violations at this time. A
criminal complaint filed in July accused one suspect of hitting her.
U.S. Attorney Charles T. Miller said he anticipated criticism over the
decision.
Philadelphia seeks 10,000 black
men to patrol violence-plagued streets
PHILADELPHIA ( AP) - Philadelphia's embattled police chief,
acknowledging that police alone cannot quell a run of deadly vio
lence. has called on IOjOOO black men to patrol the streets to reduce
crime.
Sylvester Johnson, who is black, says black men have a duty to
protect more vulnerable residents. He wants each volunteer to pledge
tg work three hours a day for at least 90 days.
Philadelphia, the sixth-largest US. city, has nearly 15 million
residents. 44 percent of them black. It has notched 294 homicides this
year. More than 80 percent of the slayings involve handguns, and
most involve young black males.
Johnson plans to introduce the "Call to Action: IOjOOO Men. It's
a New Day" program on Oct. 21, three months before his planned
retirement. S
Mayor John F. Street, whose term is up at the beginning of 2008,
'has voiced support for the program. Street and Johnson have both
endured withering criticism from frustrated residents and community
leaders who say they should do more to halt the violence.
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Black majority in D.C. slipping
BY BRIAN WESTLEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Much
has changed since Ben's Chili
Bowl opened nearly 50 years
ago on a bustling strip known
as America's Black Broadway
for its thriving black-owned
shops and theaters.
Back then, the diner was a
popular hangout for black
bankers, doctors and blue-col
lar workers. Jazz greats Duke
Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald
could be found enjoying chili
half-smokes and milkshakes
after performing at nearby
clubs.
Now, the crowd at the
Washington landmark is
sometimes mostly white,
reflecting a neighborhood
metamorphosis characterized
by high-end condominiums
and businesses like Starbucks.
"Sometimes you look
around and wonder, 'Where
are all the black people?'"
said Virginia Ali, who opened
the diner with her husband,
Ben, in 1958.
A similar transformation is
happening across Washington
as the black population
declines and more white resi
dents and other ethnic groups
move in. Demographers say if
the trend continues the
District of Columbia could
lose its longtime majority
black status within 10 years.
The changes are shaking up
city politics, reshaping neigh
borhoods and displacing Long
time residents.
Washington's black popu
lation peaked at 71 percent in
1970 as tens of thousands of
white residents left for the
suburbs, according to the U.S.
Census Bureau. But by 2006.
the estimated number of black
residents had fallen to 57 per
cent.
At the same time, the pop
ulation of white residents,
which plunged from 65 per
cent in 1950 to 27 percent 30
years later, is growing. By
2006, the census estimated
that 38 percent of D.C. resi
dents were white. The city's
Asian and Hispanic popula
tions also are climbing.
Analysts attribute the shift
to lower-income and middle
class black residents leaving
for the suburbs while young
white professionals and others
able to afford expensive hous
ing are moving in. The new
, comers to D.C. are being
lured by a robust/ economy,
new condos and a' chance to
escape worsening highway
congestion.
"The city today is occu
pied by a lot of singles and
Study: Black elected officials hold
more seats but have little power
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
COLUMBIA, Mo. -
Researchers examining trends
in state politics have found
that during the 1990s,
African-American officehold
ers had difficulty translating
lating those gains into posi
tions where they had their
hands on the levers of power."
The researchers examined
data from the Council of State
Governments, the 1993 Black
Elected Officials directory
and 1999-2000 Directory of
African American Legislators.
The study focuses on a pivotal
period of political change -
See Study on A 12
election
to public
office
i. n t o
positions
o f
authority
such as
commit
t e e
chairs in
state leg
islatures.
Obama
The findings, said a
University of Missouri
Columbia faculty member
who participated in the study,
provide somewhat of a
"mixed picture" of political
gains by African Americans.
"I think people tend to
focus on the national level, on
the congressional level, look
ing at Senator Barack Obama
as being a good barometer of
black America and the
American political process,"
said Marvin Overby, professor
of political sci^pce in MU's
College of Arts and Science.
"But, I think we get a much
better picture by looking at
state data - especially by
looking at the extent to which
African Americans have been
able to turn elections into
positions of power within
state political institutions."
Overby, along with Byron
D'Andra Orey, associate pro
fessor of political science at
the University of Nebraska
Lincoln, and Christopher W.
Larimer, assistant professor of
political science at the
University of Northern Iowa,
found that from 1989 through
1999 African American^ jwere
under represented as commit
tee 'chairs in state legislatures
throughout the Urfited States.
The findings are viewed as
"mixed" because despite
overall under representation,
African Americans still occu
pied a significant number of
leadership positions on the
most important committees
and were, in fact, over repre
sented on committees that
focused on social services.
"It's hard to be ecstatic,"
Overby said. "You can look
and see a glass that's half
empty or one that's half full.
There was a large increase in
the number of black legisla
tors serving in state legisla
tures during the 1990s, but
only limited success in trans
childless couples who have
put incomes together," said
Robert Lang, director of the
Metropolitan Institute at
Virginia Tech. "I don't think
it's a straight-on white gentri
fication ? it's more affluent
as a whole."
Washington isn't the only
city where neighborhoods
have gentrified in recent
years. But D.C. is one of the
few places seeing such dra
matic change, said William
Frey, a demographer at the
Brookings Institution. He
expects the city will cease to
be majority black by 2015.
i ne city s uivcrsiiymg
racial makeup is being reflect
ed in local politics. Adrian M
Fenty, who became mayor in
January, is black, but many of
his appointees are not. The
police and fire chiefs are
white, as is the city adminis
trator. The new chancellor of
the city's public schools is
Korean- American. Those
positions were held by black
officials under previous may
ors.
"Probably, at some point
in the near future, we'll see a
white mayor," said Dwight
See D.C. on AI2
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