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BeBe & CeCe Return To Charlotte Entertainment/ Page 7A Jennings To Try First Triathlon Sports/Page 7B Alliance NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet Page llB Cfje Charlotte Vol. 15, No. 3 Thursday, June 15,1989 THE AWARD-WINNING "VOICE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY' 50 Cents Taking Control: Fighting Drugs In Public Housing By HERB WHITE Post Staff Writer Public housing's stigma of drugs and its related violence had gotten to the point that resi dents had little hope of living in a safe, healthy environment. But in Charlotte, there is a push to give the neighborhoods back to the residents. The Charlotte Housing Au thority and public housing resi dents are working to rid low- income neighborhoods of Illegal drug activity, even If It means klcldng suspected pushers and users out of their homes. Selling or using drugs won't be tolerated In the neighborhoods, regard less of financial circumstances, said John Hayes, the authority's resident safety director. "We recognize this Is the hous ing of last resort for a lot of fam ilies," he said. "Unfortunately, the other families In the devel opment don't have a lot of alter natives, either." Hayes sfUd the city's position of evicting families suspected of Illegal drug activity hasn't changed much over the past 14 years. But the emphasis on con trolling drugs In public housing complexes has put those rules In a new light. "There's no real change In what we're doing," he said. "Nationally, there was a great variation In what other authorities were do ing." Last year, the authority evicted 30 tenants, two-thirds of them for drug-related offenses, Hayes said. This year, most of the 37 evictions have been drug- related. The authority's rules. In effect since 1975, are simple: If a ten ant or family member is consid ered to be Involved In drug- related activity, the residents are removed from the unit. In a recent case, Maxine Gordon and her five children were evicted from Falrvlew Homes because her son Darius was convicted of possession with Intent to sell crack, a cocaine derivative. The eviction will have to wait until Gordon makes an appeal, which Hayes said she told him Is coming. In the past, the housing au thority was more lenient toward families of susjsected drug deal ers and users, but those days have ended. "1 think with the new emphasis on drugs and the devastation It's having oh low-income neighbor hoods and families, people are taking a stand," Hayes said. "The tendency of the courts and ap peal committees was to .'■a'- 'Go and sin no more ' liu' \ow they are saying do it somewuere other than public housing." Pearl Robinson, one of the au thority's crime prevention coor dinators and a resident of Belve dere Homes, works to keep public housing safe. Johnson's Job Is to stay In touch with resi dents and help keep an eye on suspicious activity. She said public housing residents aren't the problem—3ie trouble Is Im ported. "Most of the troublemakers don't live here," she said. 'The people who live here are hard working, law-abiding folk. You have a few bad ones here, but that's In every neighborhood." Hayes put It more bluntly: 'They're parasites who are com ing Into the iMng environment. The vast majority of residents are fighting it and are fed up with It." Hayes toured the city's hous ing projects between 2:30 and 4 p.m. Monday, checking In on residents and looking for poten tial trouble. There Is a lot of ter- See DRUG On Pa£e 2A. AflBrmative Action Takes Another Hit WASHINGTON (AP)-The Su preme Court, In a major setback for affirmative action, Monday expanded the ability of white men to challenge court- approved plans giving preferen tial treatment to minorities and women In government jobs. By a 5-4 vote, the justices handed civil rights advocates their latest defeat in the case of white Birmingham, Ala., fire fighters who say they are vic tims of reverse discrimination. The justices said an afflmiative action plan agreed to by public officials and approved In court may be attacked even years later In a new suit by workers who took no part In the case leading to the original agreement. Today's ruling marks the third time this year a newly so lidified high court conservative majority has dealt a significant blow to efforts aimed at helping minorities and women over come bias. The court In January ruled that state and local govern ments generally may not Impose racial quotas for public works prbjects. On June 5, the justices erected new barriers for minori ties seeking to prove with statis tics that they are relegated to lower paying, less desirable jobs. Chief Justice William H. Rehnqulst, writing for the court, dismissed arguments that the ruling threatens voluntary settlement of minority employ ment discrimination claims. "A voluntary settlement In the form of a (court) consent de cree between one group of em ployees and their employer can not possibly settle, voluntarily or otherwise, the conflicting claims of another group of em ployees who do not join In the agreement," he said. "A judgment or decree among parties to a lawsuit resolves Is sues as among them, but It does not conclude the rights of strangers to those proceedings," he said. In a dissenting opinion. Jus tice John Paul Stevens said the ruling could have serious conse quences for affirmative action plans agreed to by employers. The decision "would subject large employers who seek to comply with the law by remedy ing past discrimination to a never-ending stream of litiga tion and potential liability," Stevens said. He said the ruling threatens to undo efforts by Birmingham which "has made a substantial step toward the eradication of the long history of pervasive ra cial discrimination that has plagued Its fire department." Stevens was joined by Justic es William J. Brennan, Harry A. Blackmun and Thurgood Mar shall. Joining Rehnqulst were Justic es Bjrron R. White, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Anthony M. Kennedy. The Birmingham case began In 1974 when city offlcleds and the Jefferson County Personnel Board were sued by the National Association for the Advance ment of Colored People and blacks charging racial bias In the city fire department. Eventually both sides reached agreement on an exten sive plan that includes long term and Interim goals for hir ing blacks as firefighters and promoting blacks to higher ranks. The plan also Included provisions to help women ad vance. The Birmingham Firefighters Association opposed the plan. But Its objections were rejected by a federal judge who Issued See COURT On Page 2A. Legislative Caucus Celebrates 20 Years The N.C. Black Legislative Caucus will celebrate Its 20th anniversary as members of the N.C. General Assembly with a Legislative Conference Weekend June 16 and 17 at the Raleigh Crabtree Valley Marriott Hotel. Representative H. M. Mlchaux, Jr. of Durham, Chairman of the N. C, Black Legislative Caucus said that N. C. Supreme Court Justice Henry Frye of Greensbo ro was the first Black elected to the N. C. General Assembly since reconstruction. He was elected In November 1968, and began serving In January 1969. Mlchaux further stated that the Black Legislative Caucus's Fifth Annual Legislative Confer ence Weekend will honor Jus tice Frye and all former black members of the N. C. General Assembly. Mlchaux went on to say that the theme of this year's conference Is "Lifting As We Climb The Legislative Legacy - 20 Years Later". In addition to honoring former members of the General Assem bly, two national leaders will ad dress the conference. U. S. Con gressman Edolphus Towns of New York and Julius Chambers, . Director Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund will be featured. Mlchaux further stated that both of the national leaders are N. C. na tives. Towns, bom In Chadbum, a graduate of A & T State Univer sity, will address the conference on Friday night at Its annual banquet. Towns Is a member of the Public Works and Transpor tation Committee, the Govern ment Operations Committee, and the select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control In the U. S. House of Representa tives. In addition to Town's con gressional responsibilities, he serves on a number of boards Including the American Red Cross, the Black Tennis Foun dation, and the Board of Trus tees of Shaw University. Chambers, a native of Mt. Gi lead, N. C., and a graduate of North Carolina Central Univer sity In Durham, and the Univer sity of N. C. at Chapel Hill's Law School, will be the keynote speaker at the luncheon on Sat urday. He lived In Charlotte un til July 1984 when he moved to N. Y. to become Director/ Counsel of the NAACP Legal De fense and Educational Fund. Chambers has received numer ous awards and honors Includ ing honorary degrees of law from North Western University, N- C. Central University, St. Au- gustlnes College, and Johnson fL Smith University. He Is also the Recipient of the Distin guished Alumni Award from the University of N. C. at Chapel Hill, Honorary Fellow at the Univer sity of Pennsylvania Law School and Columbia University's Med al of Excellence. The conference will open on Friday at 3:00 p.m. with a forum for black elected officials on the state and local level. Speak er of the House of Representa tives, Joe Mavretlc, and Presi dent Pro Tempore of the Senate, Henson Barnes, have been Invit ed to addres.s the conference at Its breakfast meeting on Satur day. During lire conference, a number of workshops will be held. Topics Include education, health and environment, politi cal action, and soda! services. Consultants for the work shops are Charles Cooke of Ra leigh, Mr. Willie Lee, Southeast ern Commission for Low Level Radioactive Waste Management, Dr. Bertha Miller, Desin of Edu cation; Fayetteville State Uni versity; Mrs. Francis Cummings, Associate Director N. C. Associ ation of Educators; Ms. Mary Kay Deyampert, Director, N. C. Division of Social Services Dr. Audrey Johnson, associate pro fessor, School of Social Work University of N. C. at Chapel Hiu! and Carolyn Coleman. NAACP Southeastern region political education director. Photo/CALVIM FERGUSON Jeny Pewell, 9, and Armon KowaUky.lO enjoy some sun hanging by Revolution Park Pool. The best friends took advantage of warm tempera tures to try their swim strokes. Westsiders Push School Changes By HERB WHITE Post Staff Writer A committee of Charlotte par ents Is recommending that the Mecklenburg school board com bine the best of middle schools and junior high schools on the westslde. The Westslde Educational Ad vocacy Committee presented 11 recommendations to the school board Tuesday, which Includes the Implementation of the mid dle school concept In grades 7-9 at four westslde schools In the 1990-91 academic year. Optional school components were also suggested at four loca tions as well, with the Intention of attracting more students to the westslde. Don Brown, a 1 Harding High parent and a mem ber of the 17-member committee, said that although the board didn't act Brown on the rec ommendations, there Is hope that they will be adopted. "I think we got a favorable res olution," he said. 'We've got to wait and see, because they've got to deal with those Issues Indi vidually." Giving a middle school con cept to grades 7-9 would strengthen the schools' ability to prepare students for high school. Brown said. In the past, westslde parents wanted middle schools, which are made up of grades 6-8, replaced by junior highs. The westslde Is home to four of the county's five middle schools; Wilson, Coulwood, Spaugh and Northwest. 'The concept Is good," Brown said. "They (school board) m-.ght to put It In a different sequence." Having optional education at Spaugh and Wilson and at Hard ing and West Mecklenburg high schools would attract more stu dents to the westslde. Brown said. That would help keep en rollments at Harding and West Mecklenburg, the system's smallest high schools, stable as well. "Somebody's under the as sumption that a small high school Is bad," he said, "If we had an optional component, we would bring In other students from other parts of the county." Other recommendations by the committee Include: • Testing classrooms near Charlotte/Douglas Airport for unacceptable noise levels and recommend ways to alleviate problems. • Eliminating all mobile units near the airport by the 1991-92 school year. • Providing westslde elemen tary principals an opportunity to help draw attendance lines. • Giving the advocacy commit tee a chance to review proposed educational components and policies affecting westslde schools. • Allocating dlscretlonaiy teachers to westslde schools ef fect curriculum parity and give elementary principals the flexi bility to offer transitional class es where needed. • Surveying parents and teach ers to assess the p>erformance of principals on an annual basis. • Directing the superintendent to replace principals who are determined to have unsatisfac tory performance. • Solving safety-related con cerns at Paw Creek, Tuckasee- gee and Wilson by Jan, 1, 1990. • Establishing high-quality reading programs for grades 1- 9 Black Writers Have More Difficulty Getting Messages Published Associated Press Black writers, because they represent a distinct part of American culture, face distinct problems In getting their work published, said C. Eric Lincoln, a Duke University professor of re ligion at the 19th International Black Writers Conference In Charlotte on Saturday. 'There's not a single black commercial publisher. What this means Is that 35 million to 37 million black jieople In this country are severely limited in accessibility," Lincoln said. Lincoln, the author of 18 non-fiction works, was honored at the conference for his first fiction book, "The Avenue- Clayton City." "Who knows, but If there were more of an access, we might see a real flowering of black litera ture," he said. Three thousand writers at tended the three-day conference, which was scheduled to end Sun day. "Tribute to Literacy" was the theme of the conference, the Greensboro News & Record re ported. Frankie Johnson, the Char lotte chapter president, says the conference Is held to help aspir ing writers come to light and share their heritage so It can't be lost. It also promotes self- publication for Its members by helping them find typesetters and editors to speed up the pub lishing process. Two writers recently self- published are Ruben Hines, who wrote a collection of poetry titled "Reaching Out" and Connie Williams who wrote a fictional autobiography, "Emily's Blues." The conference was founded in 1970 by the late Alice Brown ing, a writer and at that time a teacher In the Chicago public schools. For the past 18 years, the con ference has been In Chicago. It was moved to Charlotte for the 1989 session because North Car olina has a large number of as piring minority writers, semi nar officials said. March For Human Rights Amnesty International Chap ter 229, Invites all those Inter ested In furthering the cause of human rights to join, its "March For Human Rights Now!" on Sat urday, June 17th. The march will begin at 9 a.m. at Johnson C. Smith Universi ty- The march will end at Green ville Center where Amnesty In ternational joins the Juneteeth Celebration sponosored by the Charlotte Equal Rights Con gress. There Amnesty International, Chapter 229, wlU present Tandl Gcabashe, a South African acti vist whose father received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the African National Con gress. Gcabashe will speak on the South African stru^le. Inside This Week Editorials Pg. 4A Obituaries Pg. 3B Entertainment.. Pg. 7A Sports Pg. 7B Lifestyles Pg. 1B Classifieds Pg. 10B Church News... Pg. 3B Alliance Pg. 11B Subscribe To The Charlotte Post, Call 376-0496
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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June 15, 1989, edition 1
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