SACKING
‘GRIDIRON
GANG’
The Rock sfdB
in a football
flick that's too
sugary A&E/1D
no
'Gridiron' hero
ONE OF A KIND
Legendary vocalist
Nancy Wilson
headlines concert
sponsored by The
Links/1 B
Boxer
Calvin
Brock one
step from
realizing
goal of
world title.
Points more
plentiful for
J.C. Smith
offense/1 C
Ill
The Voice of the Black Community
Also serving Cal
Paying debt to families, society
Charlotte ministry supports ex-offenders as they transition to life after prison
BHMMmuS-MGIT 282lfsi?c;Pl':
James 8. Duke Library ff'.
100 Beatties Ford Rd y.
Charlotte NC 28216-5302
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
John Jennings xmderstands
how hard life is for ininates-
A chaplain and founder and
CEO of FAVAR Ministries,
Jennings spends his days with
prisoners, but that’s not why he
understands them. A decade ago,
Jennings’mistakes left him facing
Whites
understand
advantages
of race
Survey: Color
does have its
privileges
By Lorinda M. Bullock
NAr/ONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON - While
many white Americans recog
nize that they enjoy certain
privileges over other races,
nearly half of than beHeve
governmental institutions
are color-blind and don’t con
tribute to those privileges,
according to a new “white
ness” survey released by
researchers at the University
of Minnesota.
“The assumption has been
that whites didn’t see or
undei-stand the- privileges
they might have that go
along with race,” said Doug
Hartmaim, an associate pro
fessor of sociology at the uni
versity and the study’s co-
author
“And there we have pretty
high numbers- Sixty percoit
or upwards of Whites see the
way that prejudice and dis
crimination and family
upbringing and access to
schools creates advantages
for them. That’s surprising to
a lot of left-leaning type schol
ars who assume that whites
didn’t get that,” he said.
Although more whites are
starting to vmderstand the
advantages of being white in
America as a group, they are
less aware of it than other
racial groups, the study said.
The study reported that 46
percent of whites “agreed
that laws and institutions
play an important role in
Please see WHITES/SA
United Way President
Gloria Pace King (center)
joined senior vice presi
dent of resource devel
opment Diane Wright,
and regional campaign
chair Michael Baker at
the kickoff of The Day of
Caring 2006. They refur
bished the playground at
the Simmons YMGA on
Albemarle Road. The
United Way campaign
aims to raise $44,075
million for its 75th
anniversary.
165 years behind bars.
“In South C^hna, the judge
ga've me 15 years, and I was only
required to do a third of that time,
so I spent five years in jail in
South Carolina,” he said. “But
when I got out, I was still facing
federal charges...and still had
years to do in North Carolina.”
Jennings spent another five
years in a state facility and five
years in a federal lockup.
Jennings said he sat in his cell
knowii^ that he wanted to make
a difference when he got out of
jail.
“God gave me a vision,” said
Jennings. “I started the idea for
FAVAR 15 to 20 years ago, but it
was not incorporated until last
June. When I first got out, I
returned to prisons to minister
with Rev. Tyrone Scott. We wa«
just going into jails, preaching to
men and women; telling them
how good God is, but the day
comes when they get out and they
no longer need spiritual min
istries, they need ph5T3ical min-
Please s
3 MINISTRY/6A
A PLACE IN HISTORY FOR PLATO PRICE HIGH •
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Plato Price High School alumni Norman Mitchell, Sarah Davis, Clayton Reid, Vera Torrence Gladden
and Oscar Bidgood helped unveil a historic marker denoting the former Plato Price High School. The
school, built in 1915 during the height of segregation in the South, educated African American stu
dents before closing in 1966. Plato Price produced well-known alumni like Philip 0. Berry, the first
black member of the Charlotle-Mecklenburg school board, and U.S. Rep. Mel Watt.
Chufchils
pass on
faith
grams
Study: Concerns about
federal interference
dampens interest
By Herbert L. White
Penb.whf/eSfhechartorreposf.com
Black churches in the Northwest are more
hkely to benefit fium the Bush administi-a-
tion’s faith-based initiative than those in the
South, a study foxmd.
The survey released Tuesday by the Joint
Center for PoHtical and Economic Studies
foimd that Afiican American churches fium
the Northeast have benefited more fium the
federally funded Faith-Based and
Community Initiative than more conserva
tive black churches in the South.
Data fium the national survey of760 black
churches found that only 2.4 percent were
recipients of FBCI grants, of which 47 per
cent were finm the Northeast, and only 26
percent were fi'om sou'them states. The find
ings offered no support for concons that the
Bush administration used the FBCI to gain
pohtical favor with black churches.
“Our survey foimd that a majority of the
churches respondir^ favored the FBCI, with
churches in the Northeast more hkely to be
FBCI grant recipients than those in other
areas oftheU.S.,” said David Bositis, aJoint
Center senior research associate, who con
ducted the study
“The surprising finding was that churches
in the blue states where A1 Gore and John
Kerry won in 2000 and 2004, respectively
were more likely to have received FBCI
grants than those in red states that George
W. Bush won in 2000 and 2004, with New
Please see STUDY/2A
Extolling the virtues of marrriage ^^box
o NEWS, NOTES & TRI
Conference dispels myth that blacks not interested in matrimony
By Sommer Brokaw
THE TRIANGLE TRIBUNE
CHAPEL HILT. - A panel discus
sion at the African American
Healthy Marriage Initiatives con
ference dispelled some myths.
The No. 1 myth rebutted was
that black marriages don’t matter.
Dr. Linda Malone-Colon, PhD,
executive director of the Healthy
Marriage Resource Center in
Washington, D.C., and one of the
authors of the study said that some
studies have suggested that mar-
riage - as it relates to families -
doesn’t matter for blacks because
they have other family and com
munity support.
But she said the study titled “The
Consequences of Marriage for
Afiican Americans,” was the first
to show substantial evidence that
black marriage does matter.
The study foimd that black mar
riages provide benefits to men and
women economically socially and
psychologically Married couples
are less likely to suffer from eco
nomic hardship, have higher levels
of occupational prestige and are
more hkely to own their own home.
They report more happiness, life
satisfaction and are less hkely to
commit suicide. Socially they par
ticipate more in dvic duties and are
less likely to be involved in crime.
The same benefits apply to chil
dren. Having a father in the home
appears to benefit black boys with
self-esteem and self-control. Black
, girls who grow up in two-parent
Please see MARRIAGE/6A
PHOTO/PAUL WILLIAMS ill
Poll; Some women would
give up creature comforts to
buy great pair of shoes/1 B
S.C. governor’s black
radio ads spark questions
By Katrina Goggins
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBIA, S.C, - It’s not
everyday that a Repubhcan gov
ernor fi'om the South runs cam
paign ads talking about his dvil
rights record on television and
radio stations that cater to black
audiences, pohtical analysts say
But Gov. Mark Sanford’s cam
paign manager says ads the gov
ernor ran
Entertainment
Tblevision and
urban and gospel
music radio sta
tions in South
Carolina are a
continuation of
the governor’s
dvil ri^ts record,
Sanford
Please see SANFORD/2A
NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
Legal minds
to be honored
at Oct. gala
By Herbert L. White
herb.white®lhechano11epos1.com
Three N.C. legal and community
leaders will be honored for their
achievements next mnntb
The Thuigood Marshall Scholarship
Fund will honor Dovey Rormdtree,
Johnny Taylor and Cressie Thigpen at
the third Awards of Excdlence dinner
Oct. 5 at the Westin
Hotel. Proceeds from
the dinner will provide
scholarships for stu
dents at North
Carolina’s pubhc histor
ically black colleges:
Ehzabeth City State,
Fayettevhle State, N.C. Roundtree
A&T State. N.C.
Central and Winston-Salem State
universities.
“Our past two Charlotte events have
been quite successful,” said Mai'y
3 see LEGAL/2A
INSIIi
Life IB
Religion 4B
Sports 1C
Business 60
A&E1D
Classified 3D
0©O
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