Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Sept. 12, 1996, edition 1 / Page 19
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3B ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/The Charlotte Post Thursday, September 12, 1996 LISA COLLINS Be iind The Scenes Johnny Cochran’s True Claim To Fame: His dream team defense of O . J . Simpson made him one of the most renowned lawyers in the world. Getting Simpson freed set loose a chain of events that sparked a national debate on race relations. A book is due out this fall. These days, Johnny Cochran’s newfound celebrity status makes it diffi cult for him to go out in public without an escort. “And,” he adds, “my friends don’t want to walk with me any more because they can’t get through a crowd anywhere.” Ironically, one of the biggest criticisms of Cochran came with his use of scripture in closing state ments. However, Cochran counters “what better resource if you want to make a point? As to the cnticism, there’s nothing that anybody can say to me to make me lose sight of what I have to do. and that was to be an advocate for this one partic ular client. It wasn’t so much thi.s client, it was any client,” states the fiS-year-old attorney who won’t take cases involving the sale of drugs. “If you’re an advocate,” he continues, “you df the best that you can. I’m not ever going to put a witness on the stand that I think or know is lying. But I wasn’t going to back down because God gave me the talent to carry through.” And he has more than car ried through, winning more than $40 million for his clients, while representing the likes of Michael Jackson, Reginald Denny, former child star Todd Bridges and OJ. Simpson. His trial expertise has earned him the distinction of being the only lawyer in California who’s ever won both the Criminal Trial Lawyer of The Year Award and the Civil Trial Lawyer of the Year Award. Fact is, Cochran has no desire to have the infamous “trial of the century” serve as his claim to fame. Instead, what he’d like to be most remembered for are cases where he feels he’s changed the system and made a lasting impact. Those like the wrong ful death* suits of James Thomas Mincey and Ron Settles that earned him a rep utation in defending African Americans against the system and led to the 1982 outlawing of the choke-hold once used by the LAPD. He goes on to recount with pride his repre sentation of 16 little girls molested by their teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. “They said I was going to break the district (financial ly),” he recalls, “and I told them ‘1 don’t care. You should- n t have pul this U-aduu’. with this kind of proclivity in schools with black girls. You took him out of a white school and put him in a black school.’ We made them pay a record amount and I doubt they’ll do that again.” One of them Cochran - who doesn’t give up - is still fighting. Fact is, the defense of former Black Panther member, Geronimo ■ Pratt which he took in 1970, is the most challenging of his career. Pratt was convicted to a life sentence in 1972'; “A man who was wrongfully convict ed,” Cochran contends, “who is still in prison that I’m still try ing to get out of prison until this day. We go to court the fourth of September and I’m going to fight. I will never quit until he gets out.” By the way: Gayle King, who is probably best known to national TV audiences as Oprah Winfrey’s best friend, now has a lot more in common with her famed pal. King, who works as a news anchor at WFSB in Hartford, Conn, will host a new half-hour, maga zine format talker being slated to make its debut next fall as a companion piece to a new “Martha Stewart Living” series. While Stewart’s series keys in on the home. King’s focus will be on the family..Samuel L. Jackson has been tagged to star in and pro duce the coming-of-age drama “Eve’s Bayou,” about a young Creole girl growing up in a small Louisiana town. Jackson will play the girl’s father with Lynn Whitfield as her mother. The title role has not yet been cast. Production is set to get underway in late January or early February... Finally, Rick James gave his first public performance since his release from prison on the stage at Billboard Live during a perfor mance by the group Common Sense. James, who had been in the audi ence, got up on stage to join the group for their rendition of “Super Freak” before rendering his own. At present, James is reportedly negotiating a record deal with several labels. JAMES Gel Aw'ard-Winning Coverage .)f Your Community By Subscribing Todav! Call (704)376-0496 Voice Mail 845-658' Fax (704)3-12-2160 THE EXCELSIOR 921 Beatties Ford Rd. • .334-5709 WEEKLY EEATURES: • luc. "FISH NIGHT" All you can eat $5, DISCO following • Wed. U&U • Erl. & Sat. DISCO with C.C. Sunday - LIVE MUSIC or DISCO It’s the best news you’ll get all week Subscribe to The Charlotte Post for $30, and you’ll get 52 weeks of award winning news, sports, arts & entertainment and lifestyles. And you’ll also read about regional news of interest to African Americans. Call 376-0496 to start your subscription today! NOW PLAYING far;. COCA-COLA ''STUDENT” OF THE MONTH Whitley Saxton 2nd GRADER Amy James Montessorl Elem. School Whitley received Excellent grades in her 2nd grade report ing period, and has started off the third grade with the same ac ademic results. She won the Charlotte-Mecklenburg's Martin Luther King Essay contest for her age category in January of 1996. Whitley's summer was extremely busy participating in the Afro-American Children's Theatre's programs, and attending Charlotte Children's Choir's Music Camp. She auditioned, and has obtained a position in the Treble Choir for the 96-97 year. Her hobbies are reading and playing the piano. She enjoys taking lessons from Diane Alexanders's Music School. She is also involved in the commuity as a girl scout with the C.N. Jenkins Presbyterian Troop. Little Miss Saxton and her mother attend Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. WTiitley is the daughter of Edith Diane Saxton and Raymond C. Saxton. Congratulations Whitley, From Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated of Charlotte
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Sept. 12, 1996, edition 1
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