THE STAMPS OF
DISAPPROVAL
Jesse Jackson, Congressional
Black Caucus demand Mexico
pull insensitive stamp series.
Story Below
RACING AHEAD
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Morty Buckles moves
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Volume 30 No. 42
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The Voice of the Black Community
By Sanjoy Suri
IhTERNATIOS'AL PRESS SERVICE
GLENEAGLES, Scotland — Powerful west
ern nations are committed to developing Africa
- as a market for their goods, a leading agricul
tural economist says.
“There is talk of the need for action by way of
aid, debt cancellation and trade,” Devinder
Sharma, long-time campaigner for the ri^ts of
fanners in the developing world told IPS. “An
impression is given by George Bush and others
that of the three, trade is the real answer to
Africa’s problems. But actually trade is the
problem.”
In four African countries — Burkina Faso,
Mali, Chad and Benin -- whose economies are
based on cotton production, U.S. cotton is being
dumped and livelihoods are being lost, aU in the
name of free trade, said Sharma.
U.S. cotton prices are cheap because 25,000
U.S. cotton farmers get four billLon dollars a
year in subsidies, he added. “This is obviously
depressing the market in Africa, and other
countries. Then th^y ask farmers there to diver
sify and go for other crops.’'
One cotton grower in Arkansas received sub
sidies worth $6 million, equal to the combined
annual earnings of 25,000 cotton fanners in
Mali, Sharma said.
U.S. subsidies on cotton are more than the
gross domestic product of several African coun
tries, and three times the amount Washington
spends on aid to half a billion Africans living in
poverty, he added.
Ethiopia and Uganda have reported huge
losses in export revenues, Sharma said.
Earnings through agricultural exports in
Uganda were about 110 million dollars in 2001,
Please see FREE/8A
Jackson, CBC
urge halt to
Mexican stamps
By Tessa Cone Smith
S’ATIO\.\LXEn'SF\FERPCBUSHEKSASSOaAVOS'
WASHINGTON - Jesse L, Jackson says
President Vincente Fox should
apologize for and remove
Mexican stamps that present
stereotypical images of African-
Americans.
“I am calling on President Fox
and Ambassador Carlos de
Icaza to issue a complete and
fuU apology and to take this
stamp off the market immedi
ately,” Jackson said in a statement. He and A1
Sharpton met separately with Fox in Mexico
City last month after Fox said Mexicans were
taking jobs in the U.S. that even blacks did
not want.
Evidently, Sharpton’s and Jackson’s
attempt to sensitive Fox about race relations
in the U.S. were not successful.
Please see MEXICO/2A
Kusun Ensemble fuses
African vibes with
American rhythm 1D
Jackson
Also serving Cabarrus, Chester, Mecklenburg, Rowan and York counties
African
mariieis:
boon or
banoP
G8 nations see free
trade as hindrance to
continent’s development
)i^K OF outer ?.13,9m
THE PRICE OF POVERTY : THE ELDERLY POOR
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Juanita Dixon, 80 (left) and sister Odessa Dixon, 87, share expenses by living together in their
Charlotte home. Entitlement checks for the sisters combined amount to $11,000, which puts them
below the federal poverty line.
Living longer doesn’t mean
living better on fixed income
Part of a series on the emo
tional, physical and economic
toll poverty exacts on individu
als and communities.
By Jaiiell J. Lewis
THE CH.ARWTIE POST
When Albert and Catherine
Royal moved to Charlotte 50
years ago, Albert was working
for 65 cents an hour.
The pay wasn’t great but
Albert, who moved frx)m Anson
Coimtynear Wadesboro, needed
to work wherever possible to
support his wife and six chil
dren
“These children had to be
taken care of,” Albert, 76, said.
Just as the Royals struggled
in order for their children to
mamtain half a century ago, the
couple battles to support them
selves even today After working
in maintenance 23 years for the
City of Charlotte, Albert retired
Catherine retired frnm Merita
Bread after 15 years and now
the two are living solely off of
their frxed income checks which
total just over $1,000 per
month.
Although the Royals are
squeezing the most out of each
doUar, they are technically
above the povcify'^ level, accord
ing to the poverty thresholds of
the 2004 U.S. Census Bureau
which defrnes poverty for two
persons 65 years of age and
older as income of Ifess than
$11,418 a year.
The Department of Health
and Human Services defrnes
poverty of a family unit of two as
less than $12,490 a year. The
Royals would be considered
impoverished if they lived in
Hawaii or Alaska, though,
where the poverty level is
$14,300.
Albert said their expenses are
begiiming to clearly outwei^
their income, thou^.
‘We’ve got rent to pay, water
bills to pay, a gas bili...it’s hard
on me,” Albert said. After being
transferred from their home
where they were paying only
$300 a month for rent, the cou
ple now has to pay $600 on a
newer home in the Cherry com
munity near downtown. Now,
their bills add up to just over
$800 a month, not including
their medications or personal
See ELDERLY/7A
Poverty among the elderly
elderly in the U.S.
live In poverty.
are women
SOURCE; us. CENSUS
BUREAU
DOT
backs
//
%■
Graham
elimina^^^e
in contrc^f'^^
By Cynthia Dean
THE TRIANGLE TRIBUNE
RALEIGH - Officials at
the N.C. Department of
TVansportation support a bill
that would do away with
race-based contracting goals
for the state
agency
DOT officials
are supporting
Senate Bill
1127 that pro
poses to elimi
nate the
department’s
goal in award
ing 10 percent
of its contracts to minority
businesses and 5 percent to
women-owned
businesses.
The bin is ■
sponsored by
Sens. Malcolm
Graham and
Charlie
DanneUy of
Charlotte.
Both are
African
American.
The biU asks the departs
ment to establish “annual
aspirational goals,” instead
of mandatory goals, based on
the need of specific projects
and the availability of
minority- and women-owned
businesses.
Opponents of the bill say
that if the legislation is
passed, many black contrac
tors will lose their biiismess-
es. Proponents claim, howev
er, that it will keep the DOT
fiee of potential lawsuits.
DOT spokesperson Ashley
Memory said the agency
supports the legislation
because it will strengthen its
minority outreach efforts by
allowing it to set more realis
tic goals based on the specif
ic needs of projects and con-
See N.C. DOT/2A
Dannelly
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Charlotte City Council member Warren Turner (center) files for
re-election Friday at the Mecklenburg Board of Elections
office. Turner, who represents District 3, faces a likely chal
lenge in entrepreneur Joel Ford for the Democratic nomina
tion.
LifetB
Religion 8B
New NAACP president
doesn’t plan to ‘hide out’
By Hazel Trice Edney
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PURUSHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON - NAACP
Presidentelect Bruce S. Gordon, a
retired Verizon executive, says that
speculation that he has been hired
as a corporate type who will be a
quiet balance to the outspoken board
chairman Julian Bond will soon be
proven wrong.
“Some of the speculation early on
was that Julian will be outside and
Bruce will be inside. Nothing could
be further from the truth. Don’t even
mmo
Sports 1C
Business 8C
A&E ID
BCSP4C
think it, okay?” said Gordon in an
interview with the
NNPA News Service.
“The organization has
not hired an office
manager, okay? It has
hired a CEO. CEOs
don’t hide out in the
back room. I’m going
to be front and center. Gordon
You’re going to be
hearing from me. I will be an active
spokesperson. That is the role as the
constitution of the NAACP defines
it. So, don’t for one second think that
mine will be a soft-spoken voice.”
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