^ Panthers ponder 0-for-Ericsson/lB
Salisbury honors hometown hero/1 OB
House of
Prayer has
strong
local
ties/lOA
TOe Charlotte Bosit
http://www.thepost.mindspring.com
THE VOICE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY
THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 2, 1997
VOLUME 23 NO. 3
75 CENTS
ALSO SERVING CABARRUS, CHESTER, ROWAN AND YORK COUNTIES
There’s no shortage of suggestions for census’ ethnic labeling
By Arlene Edmonds
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Filed in an
office near the White House,
handy for presidential perusal, is
one man’s solution to the nagging
need of the World’s Greatest
Democracy to sort people by race.
John Beresford, a retiree in
Alexandria, Va., proposed a num
bered skin-color chart: Forget
“black” or “white.” You could just
pick the number nearest your
skin tone.
When the Office of Management
and Budget announced a few
years ago it was rethinking its
race and ethnic labels for
Americans under a sweeping rule
called Directive No. 15,
Beresford's “Skin-Color Gradient
Chart” was one of the more daz
zling suggestions from hundreds
of citizens eager to help.
It also was among the easiest
ideas to discard, along with
“Ameurofian,” concocted for peo
ple of American Native, European
plus West African descent, and
“Western European” and
“Eastern European” to differenti-
Home, sweet home
PHOTO/OALVIN FERGUSON
Coldwell Banker real estate agent Roland Hawkins (right) helped Robert and Sherry Thomas move Into their Charlotte home.
According to a Harvard University study, racial minorities account for 30 percent of the country’s new homeowners, anchoring the
first-time home buyer market In some areas.
More blacks investing in ownership
By John Minter
THE CHAKLOTTE POST
When Robert and Sherry
Thomas moved to Charlotte
from Atlanta 18 months ago,
they were already working on
buying their first home.
Robert Thomas’ promotion at
G.E. Capital, which brought
him to Charlotte, helped speed
along a home-buying process
that included budgeting sacri
fices and extra earnings.
Sherry Thomas, 36, worked
17 1/2 hours overtime weekly
for BellSouth Mobility DCS.
Robert Thomas, 33, worked
after hours as a softbaU and
basketball official.
The Thomases’ experience is
part of a growing trend nation
ally - blacks and other minori
ties are becoming a larger
share of the homeowning popu
lation.
According to a Harvard
University study, minorities
account for 30 percent of the
country’s new homeowners. In
many areas, the study found,
people of color anchor the first
time home-buyer market.
Home ownership had always
been a goal for the couple, who
married four years ago after
meeting in Sherry Thomas’
hometown of Birmingham, Ala.
Robert Thomas is from
Chicago. Their parents were
home owners, too.
The Thomases moved into
their new home in the
Highland Creek community
near UNC Charlotte in
February.
“We had been saving and
See HOME on page 2A
PHOTO/PAUL WILLIAMS II
New look: Charlotte Hornets forward Anthony
Mason checks out the National Basketball
Association team’s new uniforms. The Hornets
start preseason practice tomorrow.
Rally leader
presses on
despite threat
By Latasha J. Bradley
THE CHICAGO DEFENDER
CHICAGO - Despite alleged threats
against his Kfe, Nation of Islam leader
Minister Louis Farrakhan has outlined
the details of the observance of the Holy
Day of Atonement/Day of Absences set for
Oct. 16.
The day, the second anniversary of the
Million Man March, is to be observed
with fasting from sunset Oct. 15 to sunset
Oct. 16 and pre-dawn family prayer and
scriptural readings on Oct. 16.
“America is dying as we speak from an
internal rot due to a moral decline into
the abyss of decadence,” Farrakhan said.
‘When a nation’s evil outweighs its good,
God has always sent down a decree of
judgment and that judgment meant the
termination of that society, that people or
that nation. America is now in that imen-
viable position. But before He (God)
brings the full weight .of punishment on
America, He asks that America be called
to repentance, to atone.”
Meanwhile, during Farrakhan’s cur
rent 90-city Million Man March revival
ate the great mass of whites.
Meanwhile, at the suburban
headquarters of the U.S. Census
Bureau in Suitland, Md., social
scientists and volunteer advisers
helping prepare questions for the
next national nose count on April
1, 2000, wrestled with conun
drums like this one: “American
Indian” or “Indian (Amer.)’7
Their aim: to deter those with a
heritage in the India of curry and
Gandhi from checking that box as
if they were Sioux or Cherokee.
For most of this decade - large-
See ETHNIC on page 3A
More parents
opting out of
public
By Rene Sanchez
THE WASHINGTON POST
In a movement flustering pubhc
school officials across the nation,
more parents than ever are choos
ing alternatives for their children,
so much that what once seemed
only a fad to many educators is
instead starting to resemble a
revolution.
Charter schools are expanding
at a breakneck pace. Religious
schools are overflowing with new
students. Home schooling is
attracting unprecedented num
bers of parents who only a few
years ago would never have
dreamed of teaching their own
children.
Even African American acade
mies, such as Laurinburg
Institute, 90 miles east of
Charlotte, have seen an increase
in students. More than 400 inde
pendent schools have a majority-
black enrollment, according to the
Washington-based Institute for
Independent Studies.
“I think the black private
schools are coming back,”
Laurinburg Institute principal
PHOTO/HERBERT L. WHITE
More black parents are opting to
send their children to private
schools like Laurinburg Institute
(above).
Cynthia McDuffie said in a 1995
Charlotte Post interview. “There’s
strength in numbers, so those few
that are remaining are trying to
come together for the benefit of
all.”
See PRIVATE on page 3A
Juvenile crime’s cost
hits perpetrators’ folks
By Marcus Amick
THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE
A 37-year-old
Indianapolis
man, Ronald
A. Dearman,
was arrested
last month In
an alleged plot
to kill Nation of
Islam leader
Louis
Farrakhan.
tour, a death threat was made against the
minister in Indianapohs by a 37-year-old
man. Ronald A. Dearmin was arrested
and charged with possession of cocaine
and police confiscated a cache of weapons,
explosives and ammunition.
‘T am waiting to see what Indianapolis
does,” Farrakhan said. “The man is out
on $1,500 bond. I don’t understand that,
but well watch and see. But I would say
to America, “be very careful how you han
dle me. If I am from God and you plot
against my life, that vrill quicken the
destruction of America.”’
Farrakhan said that no money should
be spent during the Day of Atonement.
No one should work or play and the day
should be a time of reconciliation ampng
family members with visitation 'to
churches, mosques, temples or other
houses of worship.
When Maria Fleming agreed
her son needed to be detained in a
Michigan juvenile facility for
stealing a car, she never thought
she'd be expected to pick up the
tab three years later.
Fleming claims she's being
billed more than $80,000 for the
cost of care for the three years her
15-year-old son has been locked
up the juvenile facility.
And though her claim couldn't
be vahdated with a copy of the
bill, children caught in the juve
nile delinquency system in
Michigan are proving to be quite
costly for parents.
“I agreed to have my son locked
up to teach him a lesson,”
Fleming said. “And now they’re
expecting me to pay close to
$87,000 while I’m trying to raise
two other children with a total
household income of around
$25,000. I just don’t have that
land of money,” she lamented.
Billing parents for cost of care is
part of a 1996 amendment to the
Probate Juvenile Code. The act
reads in part: “An order of dispo
sition placing juvenile into care
outside of the juvenile’s own home
and under state or court supervi
sion shall contain provision for
reimbursement by the juvenile,
parent, guardian, or custodian to
the court for the cost of care or
from parents or guardians.
Twenty-five percent of the money
paid to the county is to cover the
cost for administration and the
collection of fees. The rest is dis
tributed between the county, state
and federal government depend
ing on who covers the cost of care.
“We have to order reimburse
ment by state law or make some
kind of finding that the parents
are unable to pay the bill,”
See JUVENILE on page 6A
Inside
Editorials 4A-5A
Strictly Busine^
Religion 10A
:Zawadi 12A
Health 13A
Style 16A
Sports 1B
A&E 5B
Regional Nev\
j Classified £
Auto!
To subi
Farrakhan also requested that all pas
tors preach a sermon on atonement, rec-
See PLANS on page 6A
service.
According to a state official, the
state law mandates that each
county must seek reimbursement
for the cost of care for juveniles