m
DANCE
KING
Dancer O’Mitri
Hart is first male
to land role with
Charlotte Youth
Ballet/1D
Volume 31
The Voice of the Black Community
Relief
sought for
genocide
victims
Rights groups ask US.
appeals court to help
Sudanese recovery
By Larry Neumcister
VIE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - For the people of Sudan, a
case slowly moving through the courts in the
U.S. holds great potential _ a lawsuit that
claims a Canadian company aided in geno
cide in its pursuit of oil.
But winning relief in a court half a world
away wiU depend on how many people will
be able to join in the lawsuit.
A federal judge recently limited the scope
of the 2001 lawsuit brought by the
Presbyterian Church of Sudan against
Calgary, Alberta-based Ihlisman Energy
Inc. in U.S. District Court in Manhattan by
refusing to grant class-action status.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will
decide by the end of this year whetho' to
consider the class-action issue before the
case goes to trial in January 2007. ^
Ihe plaintiffs say class-action status is cru
cial to set the stage for a potentially large
payout to Sudanese victims and to set a
precedent for U.S. courts to aid suffering
people woridwide who cannot find relief in
their own courts. The church brought the
case in the U. S. because the American courts
are often the traditional route for such geno
cide cases.
^thout it, "thousands of victims will be
effectively denied any opportunity to pursue
legal redress for acts of genodde, crimes
against humanity and war crimes,” said
Beth Van Schaack, assistant professor at the
Santa Clara University School of Law. She
submitted court papers on behalf of human
rights groups and activists asking the
appeals court to hear the issue.
The lawsuit alleges that Talisman,
Canada’s bluest independent oil and gas
exploration and production company joined
the Sudanese government in ethnic cleans
ing, killings, war crimes, property confisca
tion, enslavement, kidnapping and rape.
The plaintiffs allege Thlisman supplied the
Sudanese military with money, logistics,
fuel, v^cles and accommodations as Sudan
sought to depopulate 142 villages near oil
fields by attacking them with bombers and
helicopter gunships fiom 1999 through
2002. The plaintiffs — victims of aerial
Please see SUDANESE/2A
XBOX COMES
■ 1
FULL CIRCLE
New 360 video game
is expected to be one
i 1 «
of the hottest holiday
sellers/SC
TOUGH ON
AhWEENER
Bobcats forward
Sean May makes
adjustment to NBA
expecations/IC
I.III.mIImumIII
♦ 28216 Sll PI
’ " " ‘ ' iBr
WEEK OE NOVEMBER 22-30, 2005
Alsoser Janes B. Duke Library
100 Beatties Ford Rd
Charlotte NC 28216-5302
lunties
SOUTHERN COMFORT
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Ashleigh Ferguson, 4, picks tomatoes at her Charlotte home last summer. Despite the region's histo
ry of racial strife, black southerners are generally proud of the region.
Many blacks proud of the
region despite difficult past
By Jay Reeves
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Blacks
have a complicated love affair
with the South
Their ancestors were
enslaved in the region for gen
erations, then Jim Crow laws
pushed them to the back of the
bus. Prom inner-city slums to
old plantation counties, being
black too often still means a sec
ond-class existence.
Yet surveys show blacks who
live in the South are more like
ly than any other racial or eth
nic group _ even whites - to
identify themselves . eis
Southerners. It’s a label mil
lions claim with pride and affec
tion, yet uneasiness.
For many black people, feel
ings for the South come back to
family, summer cookouts, sto
ries told on the porch, gradous-
ness, gospel and Atlanta hip-
hop. Their emotional ties are no
less strong, even as they see a
place that has yet to completely
live down its past.
“As an African-American
Southerner, I enjoy our culture
that includes our famous
Southern charm and hospitali
ty,” said Stephen TOcks of
Please see BLACK/3A
Fund to
wipe out
health
disparity
Grants for
$8.9 million
in North
Carolina
By Herbert L. White
herb.whtie^'lhecharlotteposi^om
A statewide fund is
bankroUing efforts to reduce
health disparities in North
Carolina.
The NC Health and
Wellness TVust Fimd
announced Monday an $8.9
million pool for grants over
three years. The fimd will
accept applications finm eli
gible organizations who seek
to reduce disparities, for
both children and adults
related to obesity and chron
ic diseases, such as cardio
vascular disease, diabetes
and cancer.
According to the 2003
Racial and Ethnic
Disparities Report Card
published by the N.C. Office
of Minority Health and
Health Disparities, African
Americans, Native
Americans and Latinos have
significant disparities in
most areas of health status.
“Funding innovative and
proven approaches to elimi
nating health disparities
among racial and ethnic
groups is paramount to
ensuring that aU North
Carolina residents are able
to live healthy and produc
tive lives, “ said Lt. Gov.
Beverly Perdue, the fimd’s
chair. “Working together is
the only way we can under
stand and tackle this grow
ing national and statewide
problem.”
Created by the General
Assembly in 2000 to allocate
some of North Carolina’s
share of the national tobacco
settlement, the trust fimd
has pumped $127 million
Please see STATE/7A
HIV cases down
among blacks
An HIV study based on data
trom 33 states, with name-based
reporting systems, shows fating
rates among blacks. The dedne
may be tied to overlapping drops
in diagnoses among injection
drug users and heterosexuals
Diagnosis Rate
Per 100.000 population, by
race/elhntdiy it 33 stales. 2001-
2004
New HIV diagnoses,
2001-2004*
29%
51% —. •A^VUtste
Black
18%
other ^—Hispanic
* Numbers are roended
Estimated HfV/AIDS
diagnoses, by transmission
method. 33 states. 2001-2004
80
70
00
60
40
30
20
|-8a7
juLi
m V^te
[Z3 Black
O Hispanic
O Asian
■I Indan
10.000
16
14
12
10
e
6
4
2
0 -
18,196
■ Male-to-
maie sex
^3 Hetero*
SEOcual contact
□ iV-drugs
O Male-to-
male sex and
. IV-druQS
SOURCE Cantars for Dtsaasa Control and Pravaniion
Black HTV rates
decreasing
By Mike Stobbe
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA - The rate of newly reported
HIV cases among blacks has been drop
ping by about 5 percent a year since 2001,
the government said TTiursday But Madts
are still eight times more likely than
whites to be diagnosed with the AIDS
virus.
“The racial disparities remain severe,’
said Lisa Lee, an epidemiologist at the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
The falling rate among blacks seems to
be tied to overlapping drops in diagnoses
among irgectiem drug users and heterosex
uals, CDC researchers said
The study was based on 2001-04 data
See HIV/6A
the box NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
Women key to historic election
GLOBAL INFORMATION NETWORK
A victory party was celebrated
recently by supporters of Ellen
Johnson-Sirieaf, a Harvard-edu
cated economist who edged out
her rival with 59.4 percent of the
vote cast in national elections on
Nov. 8.
Activists hailed the presidential
vote in favor of Jolmson-Sirieaf,
who held an unbeatable lead in
the West Afiican state of Liberia,
tom by years of civil war.
Liberian-bom international soc
cer star, GeOTge Weah, received
40.6 percent of the vote that was
heavily young and male.
But women are the larger voting
bloc and brou^t
J ohnson- Sirle af
the climactic win,
"Ihis shows that
if we put our minda
to things, we can
get to the high^
positions,” said
Tfeitsi Matekaire, Sirleaf
director of the Women in Politics
Support Unit, a Zimbabwean
groiq) lobbying for increased par
ticipation of women in dedsion-
making in politics.
After 26 years, the Bible has
been translated into Gullah
dialect 8B
LifelB
Religion 8B
Sports 1C
Business 8C
A&E ID
Happenings 6C
INSIDE
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