Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Nov. 7, 1996, edition 1 / Page 23
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7B REGIONAL/The Charlotte Post Thursday, November 7,1996 Conference on racism in S. Carolina Continued From 7B flies from the state house. Two South Carolina Klah members have been indicted on federal charges for two of the state’s church burnings. Civil rights lawyers have sued the local Klan for conspiracy in its link to the church burnings. Local Klan leaders, denying any connection, have ironically made public statements against the burnings. The NCC, am interdenominational group head quartered in New York City, took the lead on the Church burning issue earlier this year. Jones and other NCC officials traveled the South this past summer, meeting with the victimized pas tors and hearing their stories. The organization has raised more than $7 million to help rebuild the burned churches, and is distributing grants to them. After testifying in Washington last spring about what they had seen, the NCC, the CDR and other groups proposed the idea for a South Carolina march led by local organizers in October. A conference was called instead. Local organizers told reporters that a march for the spring was still being considered. As a result of its high visibility and leadership on this issue, the NCC and its allies have been attacked by several right-wing organizations, including the Institute on Religion emd Democracy, a right-wing Washington, D.C. think tank that has in the past attacked church leaders who came out against the Persian Gulf War and the Suspects claim innocence Continued From 7B claims the charges against him were trumped up by the ^BI. j Eugene Smith said Thursday that he was under house arrest for drunken driving at the time of the cross-burning in Waynesville and was wear ing an electronic bracelet that would have alerted authorities if he strayed more than 150 feet from his telephone. “Right after it happened, the FBI came over here and talked to me,” Smith said in a tele- .jihone interview. “I was a sus pect in their eyes right from the very start.” - Smith said he was targeted py investigators because of his ^criminal record, which .includes convictions for break ing and entering and larceny, ,^d because he was a friend of white separatist Randy Reaver. j “They found out that I knew Randy Weaver out in Idaho,” ^mith said. “When they found ^ut, they went wild.” ^ Weaver was involved in a ^992 siege with federal agents |it his remote Idaho cabin dur ing which his wife and son yvere killed. He and his three daughters received a $3.1 mil lion to settle their damage claim against the government. Smith claimed he lived next door to Weaver in 1987 and 1988. Attempts to reach Weaver, who was staying with a friend in Iowa on Thursday night and preparing to return to his home in Montana, were not successful. Calls to the FBI’s office in Charlotte seeking comment were not immediately returned. According to the indictment, two crosses covered in rags and soaked in a flammable liq uid were burned nearly four years ago in front of the Poison Cove home of Gordon Cullins, a black man, and Hazel Sutton, a white woman. The couple moved out of their home shortly after the New Year’s Eve incident. Sutton told authorities she had received threatening phone calls for weeks leading up to the incident. One count charged the sus pects with conspiring to vio late civil rights laws; another charged that the defendsmts used the threat of force against individuals exercising their housing rights; the third charged that the four used fire to commit a felony. The suspects face meiximum prison terms of 21 years and fines of up to $600,000 if con victed. U.S. Magistrate Judge Max Cogbum Jr. appointed attor neys for Ha3mes and Eugene Smith, the Asheville Citizen- 'limes reported. Smith said he is being represented by Stephen Lindsay, an Asheville attorney. King plans to hire his own attorney. Since January, the Justice Department has brought more than 20 cross-burning cases against 30 defendants. Two weeks ago, a Maine man pleaded guilty to burning a cross in an Augusta neighbor hood where multi-racial fami lies live. The SEune week, two Ohio men pleaded guilty to felony civil rights violations for burning a cross in front of the home of a black family near Mansfield. “Hateful acts like cross burn ings strike at the heart of the community and must be stopped,” said Assistant Attorney General Deval L. Patrick, head of the civil rights division. .Cjallery welcomes Leon Hicks Continued From 7B ence upon me and my personal development as an artist and .^s a printmaker,” he said. “It ■jyvas in my drawing and print- miaking that I attempted to continue the evolution of the (Visual language by extending its syntax as it relates to illu- ,^ionistic and non-illusionistic .presentations, and as it relates .to its evolution from the past [to the present.” From there, Hicks’ works evolved during the Black Art movement. A culturally-sensi- tive agenda drove his works in the ‘70s, although it was often spumed by mainstream crit ics. Those rejections didn’t stop him, however. “I am proud of these art works because they corrobo rate the practice of my cultur al heritage and they express the collective perceptions that go along with experiencing and being a black American,” he said. “Even more, in the African American community, these artworks also are a direct product of the ‘spiritual catharsis’ which extended the distance between the life one lives and the art that express es it.” ^Highland gets own market oContinued From 7B J. g Holmes hopes to start off gwith two to four workers, who ■j.will take a four-week course gon cash management skills, ffnventory control and cus tomer services. “Basically, we are going to gOmphasize cash management,” gHolmes said. “They can use those skills anywhere, as bank fillers things like that. They , ^employers) look for that.” And of course they will leave ^with groceries-a much needed commodity in Highland where fjthe nearest grocery store is across town or miles down the •road in Dallas. “In two days, they will -^receive the equivalent of $60 in groceries,” Holmes said. “We are going to split the days up to make sure (what we teach them) sinks in.” Holmes will work with local business to provide residents who complete the job place ment assistance. The store is not just open to those on the sweat equity plan. Anyone can shop there. 'The stores will be slightly cheaper than normal market prices. “I think it has gone across real well,” said Gastonia City Council member Walker Reid. “We see it as a stepping stone to the ultimate goal of having a chain grocery store in the area.” Reid, one of the leaders in the fight to bring business to the area, is excited about the cooperative. “It will give residents the option of going to a community . grocery store within walking distance,” Reid said. 'There is a downside to the opening however. The Highland Family Resource Center is in its last year of funding. Sido is working on grant proposals from both the pubhc and private sector to continue the project which res idents feel will give the com munity a boost. While nothing is solid, she feels the funding will come. Reid is also concerned. “Hopefully we will work out something to continue fund ing,” he said. “This is too important to lose.” ’Spearman ministers at college 0 ^Continued From 7B ■'liis premises around the idea ^hat it does not take a whole '^lot of people to make a change. The Hood Theological ■_JSeminarian says that the ‘Vemnant of the eager students ®Who desire to help will be the ^main instruments in his pro- ''■gram. ti “Approachability, adaptabili- "Ty and relevance are the main stays of reaching people. We want the campus ministry at Livingstone to be holistic in its views rather than being untimely and irrelevant,” he said. Spearman has put his plans into action. He has gathered a number of devoted students and faculty to be apart of a group called the Real Life Committee. The group’s sole purpose is to conduct work shops that cater to issues per tinent to the plight of the young people on campus . Spearman claimed that four steps to an effective Livingstone campus ministry are centered around spirituali ty, morality, practicality, and intellectuality. And, he plans to put all of these suppositions into action. SUBSCRIBE TODAY!!! The best kind of news ■ ♦ '!'"»(/ , ■ ' - 1^'-. r From business to sports to kids, The Charlotte Post delivers news about the African American community in Charlotte and the region. To get The Post delivered to you, call 376-0496 or return the form below. Name Address Phone I—I i-year subscription $30 I I 2-year subscription $45 Mail to The Charlotte Post, P.O. Box 30144, Charlotte, N.C. 28230 or fax to 342-2160.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Nov. 7, 1996, edition 1
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