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NEWS^^e Charlotte $a«2
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Greensboro to host reconciliation summit
By Ed Whitfield
CAROLINA PEACEMAKER
GREENSBORO-
Representatives of truth, com
missions around the world
are here to discuss the
prospects for additional pan
els in the U.S..
Representatives fium
Wi1m.ington, Rosewood, Ma.;
Tlilsa, Okla.; Moore’s Ford,
Ga.; Abbeyville, S.C., and
Jackson, Mississippi have
been invited to attend the
conference, which runs
through Sunday These U.S.
cities and towns are just a
few places where past racial
violence has been document
ed- Participants will discuss
the possible formulation and
WORTH THE CLIMB
PHOTOCUFTTIS WILSON
Destiny Vaughn tries her hand at climbing an artificial rock wall at Survivor Day Camp last
week at Copperhead Island in southwest Charlotte. The camp is aimed at gang prevention
for children age 11-18 and sponsored by a coalition that includes Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Police, Steele Creek Youth Network and Mecklenburg Park and Recreation.
Panel tackles relationships
Continued from page 1A
African American communi
ty,” said Roberts, who attend
ed the forum. “There are
rumblings and hearing those
comments, I think thei-e’s a
need to listen to those con
cerns.”
The committee will bring
together the National
Conference of Commxmity
and Justice and Community
Building Initiative to discuss
recent trends and concerns of
immigrants and natives.
‘Tm glad she’s doing it,” •
said Dianne English, CBI’s
executive director. “There’s
probably on of the realities is
immigration gives us a
chance to look at things relat
ed to race and communities.
There are certainly hard
edges that immigration as a
container is part of the issue.”
The meeting will also
include representatives finm
the Latin American Coalition
respondir^ to a Latino needs
assessment compiled by
UNC Charlotte and panel its
implication for Mecklenburg.
The panel will also discuss
the impact of Confederate
History Week, which has
touched off controversy the
past two years wh^ commis
sioners approved an official
celebration. The Democratic
majority split on support for
the May commemoration,
with African Americans
Norman Mitchell and Valerie
Woodard voting against it. A
third black commissioner,
Wilhelmenia Rembert, sup
ported it, as did Roberts, a
Democrat.
The relationship between
blacks and Hispanics has
been tenuous as immigration
of Latinos has picked up
steam locally Formerly all
black neighborhoods have
become browner as immi
grants have moved in, caus
ing some strains along eco
nomic and ethnic lines.
Everyone - native-born and
immigrant alike — faces
adjustments, Robert said.
“The reality is the Latino
population has grown so fast
we haven’t had a chance to
catch up,” she said. “There
are misunderstandings on all
sides right now.”
English said CBI research
has found growing ccoicem as
immip-ation reform has
become more of a national
issue. Regardless of class or
ethnicity, opinions vary about
what political and communi
ty leaders can do.
‘You kind of wonder,” she
said. “It’s a quarts with a
gazillion sides. Are we
scratching something
because it itches or is it itch-
itjg because we’re scratching?
^ut something’s definitely
there.”
Said Roberts: “It’s not just
African American versus
Latino; it’s Latino versus
white and Latino versus
Asian, too. T think we need to
educate evaybody We don’t
want to look at educating
minorities (exclusively) when
we need to educate whites,
too.”
Were ‘terrorists’ fall guys?
Continued from page 1A
ly a punishable offense.
While the Justice Department and the U.S.
Attorney General’s office touted last week’s
FBI bust of the Miami Seven as a significant
victory in the war on terror, critics of the gov
ernment’s methods have suggested the raid
was part of a “pre-emptive” criminal justice
policy that presumes guilt before the fact.
These same critics have sugg^ted that the
Miami Seven, or the Seas of David, as they
called themselves, were notiiing more than a
bunch of loudmouth bozos who went around
spouting anti-American rhetoric, and whose
plan to blow up the Sears Thwer in Chicago
was hatched and encouraged by an FBI infor
mant posing as an al-Qaida operative.
So now the question becomes, were these
men entrapped?
Is dissent a tangible criminal offense?
And if so, where is the hue and cry from the
various human and civil rights groups, like the
NAACP and the American Civil Liberties
Union?
“There are groups like the Ku Klux Klan and
other white supremacist organizations that
recruit ove* the Internet and talk loudly about
taking certain actions,” said former FBI
counter-terrorist special agent Tyrone Powers.
“Shouldn’t they be charged under the same
statutes as the Miami Seven?”
John White, director of communications for
the national office of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People, said
the organization has contacted its office in
Miami to get a fed for the situation there. But
so far, White said, there has been no hue and
cry from anyone regarding the case.
‘Tt’s premature,” said White, ‘Tor us to have a
take on this.”
The ACLU, saying they weren’t familiar
enou^ yet with the case to comment, sr^est-
ed the National'Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers might be able to hdp.
‘T read the (federal) indictment his morning,”
said Jack King, an attorney with the
Washington, D.C.-based lawyers’ group. ‘Tt
was so thin, it was unbelievable.”
King likens the Miami Seven to the 1968
Panther 21 case in which New York Black
Panther Party members were indicted on
charges of plottii^ to blow up the New York
Botanical Gardens and several department
stores.
King called the Panther case a dassic exam
ple of police infiltration and fi-ame-up linked to
COINTELPRO, the government’s ’60s-era pro
gram designed to disrupt domestic dissent.
utility of truth commissions
in their local commimities.
This gathering is co-spon-
sored by the International
Center for Transitional
Justice which has offices in
the United States, South
Africa, Belgium, and,
Switzerland and the Beloved
Community Center of
Greensboro. The event will
culminate in a public celebra
tion of the work of the
Greensboro Truth and
Reconciliation Commission
sponsor^ by the Greensboro
Truth* '' aha Community
Reconciliation Project. The
GTRC is the first initiative in
the United States to tise the
truth and reconciliation
process as a tool for conflict
resolution. The ICTJ served
as consultants to the work of
the GTCRP and the GTRC.
International partidpants
will be on hand such as
Bongani Fica with the South
African TTuth and
Reconciliation Commission
and Eduardo Gonzales with
the Peruvian Truth
Commission to discuss their
own experiences with the
truth and reconciliation
process. Representatives who
have been involved with
truth and reconciliation com
missions in Northern Ireland
and Sri Lanka will share the
differences as well as the
broad similarities of this
work around the world A
written and video report on
this part of the gathering will
be produced and made avail
able at a later date.
A meeting by invitation
only will be held at Bennett
College and a public gather
ing will be at North Carolina
A&T State University on
Saturday at 9 a.m. with a
panel discussion facilitated
by \Tncent Harding, a former
consultant and speechwrit^
for Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. and the senior consultant
for the PBS TV special “Eyes
on the'Prize” series.
The panel will focus on
what has been learned fixim
the intanational truth and
reconcihation experience,
what has been learned in the
Greensboro application of
that experience and what
that mi^t mean in other
communities aroxmd the
coimtry
Followir^ the panel discus
sion will be public thanks to
the commission and words of
encouragement fix>m arormd
the world. Plans for a com
munity-wide public discus
sion designed to move this
process into the next phase
will take place. The event is
fr«e and starts at 9 a.m at
the new Alumni Foimdation
Event Center on the A&T
campus
For more information email
info(%tcrp.org or call the
Beloved Community Center
at (336) 230-0001.
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