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ro; - Dul0 'University Utrary Newspaper Departnctt Durham. . C. . 2770S i Bcentenn JaJ Independence Special Issue Tfto Dfacft Pre; Our Freedom Depends On It! 7 VOLUME 54 - NUMBER 26 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA SATURDAY, JULY 3. 1976 TELEPHONE (919) 688-6587: PRICE: 20 CENTS M 1 fn JV M AS Meeting in convention June 25-27, the North Caro lina Association of Black Lawyers adopted a series of resolutions as a "Bicentennial Justice Agenda." The resolu tions had been proposed by the Association's 11 -member Executive Committee. The resolutions call for increased Black political awareness, equal employment in the judicial systems serving North Carolina, abolition of capital punishment, prison reform, scholarship support for needy law students, financial sup port for the Law School at North Carolina Central Uni versity, and support for full judicial powers to end un lawful school segregation. One resolution, calling "Black North Carolinians to an Increased Political Acti vity" charges that there appears to be a "massive retreat into silence" by whjte politicians from addressing many critical issues of con cern to Blacks. It also asserts that full participation in the political process is the only way Blacks and minorities can gain equal opportunity to share in the "blessings of liberty." The resolution pledges that the Association will scrutinize and evaluate can didates for public office. It calls on Blacks and minorities to confront candidates with searching questions about issueitaclud ing fun employ? jv ment: the right to a job pay ing a decent wage; equal employment; compensatory programs to remedy past discrimination: the right to a decent home for all people; ending segregation in the sale, leasing and financing of housing; reform of. the prison system; abolition of capital punishment, ending school segregation, income transfer programs to insure a minimum living standard; fair administration and en forcement of criminal laws; fair employment in the ju dicial system; and equitable allocation of educational resources, with special atten tion to the predominantly Black" institutions discrimi nated against in the past. Another resolution, deal ing with the judicial system asserts that only five of over one-hundred positions as District Court Judge are held by Blacks, only one of over sixty-five Superior Court Judges are Black, and that Em no Black serves in the entire Appellate Division of the North Carolina General Court of Justice. Citing other simi lar figures, the resolution "deplores" the gross under employment of Blacks and system in North Carolina, both state and federal. That resolujion calls for appointment and hiring of addtional Blacks throughout the judicial systems, including Clerk's offices, appointed judgeships and on staffs of. and as. District Attorneys. A third resolution cites the disparity of Blacks in prison and on death row as a percentage of the general population. It cites a prison population of about fifty per cent Blacks of a Black population percentage of about twenty per cent. The resolution states that "in similarly disproportionate numbers Blacks have been victims of the arbitrary and inhumane sentence of capital punishment." This resolution notes that crime continues to be a major social problem and attributes this in part ot "a failure of the criminal law to deter crime, (a failure) of prisons to rehabilitate offenders, and, (a failure) of America to remedy the root causes of crime engendered by economic deprivation and gross social injustice." - - - The resolution condemns of the" unique character' of' human life, the fallibility of the judicial process and the arbitrary and discriminatory imposition of capital punish ment. Capital punishment is seen as "incompatible to a social system striving to be come truly civilized, and as fundamentally wrong and un just as practiced in America." The Association calls on appropriate authorities to abolish capital punishment and to commute all death sentences of persons on death row. It specifically calls on Governor Holshouser to com mute North Carolina death sentences. The Association also calls for "meaningful reform" of the prison system. It seeks reforms which will enhance rehabilitation; end over crowding; provide skills, job training and education to inmates; provide "humane and human" Living conditions; and insure "basic due process of law" within prisons. A separate resolution notes a continuing shortage of lawyers devoted to pro viding services to Black, mi nority and economically deprived persons. It states that "Black lawyers, as a group, have been, and contin ue to be, a major resource in the fight for full justice, in all matters, in our society." This resolution notes further that the Law School at North Carolina Central University has "historically served a special and vital mission in the training of Black lawyers." It then calls on the General Assem bly, the Board of Governors and the General Administra: tion of the Consolidated University of North Carolina System to provide the necessary financial resources to insure that the Central Law School has resources for physical plant, materials, and personnel "to enhance the provisions of a first quality legal education" and "to continue to carry out its historic mission." The reolution also calls for state funded scholarships for law students based on need sufficient to insure that no qualified North Carolina student is "denied education at any law school in the state because of inadequate personal financial resources." , A 'fifth resolution dealing s with - cqu'rt, sjj 'dgsegrega tioh orders places the Associ ation on record "as support ing fully the unrestricted ppwer historically residing in courts of equity to render effective relief commensurate with the wrong being reme died." The remedies suppor ted, where necessary to vindicate the constitutional rights of Black children to quality, non-segregated edu cation, include "consolida tion of school systems, pair ing, clustering, rezoning, and the requirement of transportation." The Association also deplores actions of President Ford to curtail court powers to remedy school segregation. It charges that Ford's actions are "motivated by base election-year political consi derations" and sees them as "rank demagoguery." The Association has over one hundred members, located throughout the state. Charles E. Daye, of Durham is President of the group. Two of Charlotte Three Grant CM Redc3y Are Released on Mm EwS Wf A x-c 7 VHMMMtVtc " f taW WWIWIi III IHIJIIIIMjiII. I' I , I LLIJ-L.lt-nriWllltMM-jliTWMWnM i WAITING FOR A STATE SUPREME COURT DECISION that will determine if they will be jailed are five Newark Councilmen who refuted to vote for a $1.6 million program to reassess property values in Newark, and who were subsequently ordered to jail by a lower court. At the State House are (L to R) Marie Villani, Henry Martinez, Anthony Carrino, Sharpe James and Donald Tucker. (UPI) . ? n" Club Check to Challenge Others ft hrpt y ft Si I r Y C If :-- -. J. j II Ill I r WIHiiiiW'W I America Inl GRAY CLUB CHECK GOES TO JUNIOR STRIDERS TRACK TEAM - Kyser Wilson, Secretary of the Gray Club, Inc., Is shown presenting a check from the Gray Club to Herman Graham, coach of the Durham Junior Stridors Track Team, (n an effort to raise $1200 to defray the expense of taking approximately thirty-five of their members who have qualified to partici pate In an Invitational track meet to be held in Fort Meade, Maryland on July 31. The Gray Club Is challenging all other organliatfoni for their help iri this effort Persons, businesses or organizations Interested In helping may make checks payeWe to "Durham Junior Stridors' and mail them to 2518 Klrby Street, Durham, N. C. 27707. For further information call 5964151. (Lome A ioMg PHILADELPHIA. PA. -The moral imperative of human dignity and human rights has finally come of age in America, the president of the University of Notre Dame will tell an audience here Sunday on the nation's 200th birthday. Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., the keynote speaker at a national meetiing on the administration of justice, will say that despite an uneven historical record in which it was the land of prejudice for some and the land of opportunity for other America has "come a long way since Jefferson" in the quest for freedom and justice which is "our greatest Bicentennial message to mankind everywhere." Father Hesburgh, who served 15 years on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights before being forced by President Nixon to resign in, 1972, will trace the Ameri can black experience from the slavery of Jefferson's time to the sweeping civil rights laws of the Johnson presidency. America's 600,000 blacks in the years immediately following independence were legally chattel property, he notes, and even into the early 1960's they "faced everyday the indignity of not being wel come at hotels, restaurants, water fountains, rest rooms, snack bars, beaches, churches, even, God save us, ceme teries." Yet even while blacks were being victimized, Father Hesburgh points out, America was acculturating 14 million immigrants who found it a country in which "their hopes were mainly realized, even though with great difficulty." Americans should not, Notre Dame's president warns, let the "sad reality of Vietnam and Watergate" turn them into pessimists about the nation's future. "There are still and will be in America," he admits, "sad pockets of prejudice and violence and un-American denials of freedom and justice. But today we are arguing mainly about the means of attaining equality of oppor tunity for all. . . Peaks and valleys there have been, but the historical move was always upward towards greater justice." He challenges citizens to enlarge their concept of equal opportunity in order to recognize global inequities and to foster a responsible sense of interde pendence in meeting the needs of the Third and Fourth Worlds. "America," he declares, "should ask for nothing else in the world of the 21st Century than to do better what it has already done " Father Hesburgh's address, entitled "Justice in America: The Dream and the Reality," will open a three-day meeting on the theme of "Justice '76" spon sored by the American Judicature Society to be held in Independence Hall and the American Philosophical Society headquarters. President Gerald R. Ford is sche duled to introduce the session at which Notre Dame's president will speak. Ga. Firm Must. Rent To Dfacfts WASHINGTON - The Department of Justic e obtained a consent decree Wednesday requiring a Georgia real estate firm to rent apartments to black persons. Attorney Edward H. Levi decree was filed District Court ii Georgia. General said the in U. S. Atlanta, In a morning press conference Friday Dr. James Grant and T. J. Reddy of the Charlotte 3 credited their release from prison on bond to the long-term support of freedom-seeking people and stressed the need for unity in the fight against repression ' in North Carolina. Grant and Reddy were released from state prisons this week on combined bond of $60,000. Federal District Court Judge McMillan or dered bond pending a federal court review of civil rights violations in the 1972 con viction of the 3. Charles Parker, the third defendant in the case, was recently paroled. Both Grant and Reddy emphasized that the frame-up of the Charlotte 3 was part and parcel of a general scheme of repression by both state and federal governments. Dr. Grant expressed belief that frame ups and repression were on the increase. He cited the Gary Tyler case in Louisiana, the trial of the San Quenton Six, and the key priority to ensure the freedom of the the Wilmington 10, the Ayden 11 and all political prisoners in North Carolina. Jim Grant and T. J. Reddy said they wefe not bitter about the injustice dealt them but neither do they view their release on bond nor the recent acquittal of John Thomas Alford of Charlotte, who spent 17 months on death row. as complete victories. Pointing out that long prison terms and legal debts burdenging innocent people do not con stitute justice, T. J. Reddy stated: "There is no time for vengeance. We must use our energy to educate about repression and the need for change. People with ideolo gical differences can unite to accomplish these v tasks."! Dr. Grant outlined the , over-ail character of rcprcv sion in North Carolina., ; stating: "120 victims of K:" Klux Klan sy tie justice in the state of North Carolina are on death row. . . only Ti of the work force is : unionized. . . these figures indicate that there is a good deal wrong with this fascist, racist state-and it will take work to turn fit anjuf I he importance of roe Labor Day March tor Humar and Labor Rights on Sep tember 6 in Raleigh was stressed as an opportunity to demonstrate massive concern on the part of North Carolin ians and progressive people all over the country for the right to organize, to end racist and political repression and to abolish the death penalty. "To get this toge ther." Dr. Grant stated. "We will need to pull together in unity and purpose." Dr. Helen Othow. co chairperson of the North Carolina Alliance and sister of Rev. Ben Chavis of the Wilmington 1 6, stated "The civil rights movement is not dead; it i only in its infancy here." Participants in the press conference , i also included Don Alexander and Paul Parkman of the Charlotte Alliance. Mi chael Myerson of the Nation al Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and Mark Englander and Aaron Mullander of the North Carolina Political Prisoners Committee. All emphasized that racism was the wedge being used to push back the rights and freedom of all citizens and called for unity among all concerned with justice and the potential for mass struggle to bring about change. Qhdi Qimtel ffo IM B.C. Appreoificeship hm Cemers 353 WASHINGTON - John Brown, Jr., a former educator long involved in working with disadvantaged youth, has been named national director of the Apprenticeship Information Centers (AIC) program of the U. S. Labor Department. As director, he will ad minister a network of 34 AIC offices in 22 states and the District of Columbia. He will have headquarters in Washing ton, D. C. The offices, located in the local offices of the state employment services, provide area residents information about availability of apprenticeable occupations and requirements and refer eligible applicants to appren ticeship openings. Brown emphasized that the program "is geared to aggressively seek out mem bers of minority groups and women to enter in appren ticeships." Prior to his new appoint ment, Brown had served as deputy director of the AIC program since 1968. He succeeds H. Robert Borden, who retired recently. A native of Raleigh, Brown came to the Labor Department about 10 years ago as a consultant in a train ing program, TIDE, designed to help disadvantaged youth become employable in a short period of tiem. It operated in 32 cities. JOHN K BROWN. JR, national director of the Apprenticeship Information Centers (AIC) program of the U. S. Labor Department with headquarters in Washington, D. C. A native of Raleigh, he was formerly deputy director of the AIC program. He was previously director. Office of Tutoring Services, with the Health and Welfare Council of the National Capital Area. Wash ington. D. C. coordinating more than 100 tutorial centers in Maryland. Virginia and the District of Columbia. A graduate of St. Augus tine's College, Raleigh, he began his career as an educator with Washington High School. Raleigh. He has served as coordinator of diversified occupations for the Raleigh Public Schools, commandant of boys at Vorhees Junior College, Denmark, S. C, and dean of men at Kittrell (N.C.) Junior College and at Shaw Univer sity in Raleigh. Bxown also holds an M. A. degree in guidance and personnel from Columbia University and has done further study at Yale and New York universities. Brown was awarded an LLD degree from London Institute of Applied search, London, England, 1 1 1973. He is married to th former Genldine E. PoweD of Norfolk, Ya. They n Ulc in Washington, D.C.
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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July 3, 1976, edition 1
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