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newspaper Department:
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TlioDIack Press
Our Freedom Depends
Words of VJlcJca
mim
Our business in life it not to get ahead of
others, but to get ahead of ourselves.
. Anoaymeas
On If!
r: I
VOLUME 55 - NUMBER 49
'READ BY OVER 30,000 DURHAMITES"
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA -i SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1977
TELEPHONE (919) CC3-CS37 PRICE: 29 CENTS
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support of vili:i::gto:i io
Dcrbsa nit:ricl Alibnto To
Pcriiclpato In Protest March
The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Dur-,
ham and Vicinity will participate in the Protest Walk in ,
support of the Wilmington 10. The marchers, led by the ,
Rev. James Barnette of Charlotte, will leave Charlotte on
December 10. They will be joined by other ministers en
I route to Durham. Upon their arrival in Durham on Friday
December 16, they will be greeted by ministers of various
denominations at the Russell Memorial Christian Metho
dist Churhc, 703 South Alston Avenue, Rev. L. H. Whel
chel is the pastor, located near the Interstate 40. The
ministers have planned a mass meeting to be held at the
church on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. At this time a
statement will be released to the press and to Governor
James B. Hunt.
At this meeting there will be speakers who will pro
vide updated information pertaining to the case. The
public is urged to attend this mass meeting which demon
strates the ministers' and communitys' faith and commit
ment to God's call for justice and liberation for ALL OF
HIS PEOPLE.
The ministers will join the marchers as they leave
Durham en route to Raleigh. They expect to meet with
Governor Hunt on Monday.
All area ministers are asked to take part in this march
for justice.
Durban) City Council
UQcioers me
t
"I da", i these council
members chorused as they
were sworn in by council
member Ms. Margaret Rawt
ings, filling in for Mayor
Wade Cavjn, who was away
on business. Pictured right
and second from right are in
cumbent councilman Ralph,
Hunt, and Clarence Brown,
freshman councilman.
Hiring an interim re-
Jlacement for City Manager
. Hardin Hughes,, and Assis
tant City Manager Torn
McPhearson stacks high on
council business at the
December 12th meeting.
Hughes, long the subject
of numerous complaints, re
stated following the Novem
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iivorn in
ber election effective Decem
ber 16. When Hughes' re
signation was received by the
council. Councilman Ralph
Hunt immediately made it
known that the , time was
right to implement one of
his campaign promises
a black city assistant
manager.
But at that time Thomas
McPhearson was holding the
job, which he has since re
signed. McPhearson told THE
CAROLINA TIMES that his
resignation was not due to
Hunt's desire to have a black
named as assistant city
manager, but he's going back
to school to finish the re-
Continued On Page 14
awaits Muhammad All's arrival at the Durham Civic Center on Tuesday night.
fhiiiiMiiimirn-1-fivrnTi tt ktrtrr'' nmiim0"'
REVw ROBERT DRIAN, (second from right) DrMais.5TED rtft t rJhtl
Committee of the House Judiciary Committee, Jack member of the Southern Christian Leadership
Cozort legal advisor to, Gov. Hunt and Cong. Stark,, 7 Conference. -f
D.Oakland, Calif. v 'irf
Kid Snifllk CtoirgiGs Pero Mmft
Kid Smith, a black paint
ing contractor, says he has
been waging a battle not
to be excluded from reha
bilitating houses for the
Durham Redevleopment
Commission. Smith told THE
CAROLINA TIMES this
week that until last April he
was allowed to bid on
several rehabilitation ' jobs,
but because he is black, he
is now being excluded.
Several attempts to reach Ben
Perry, Executive Director of
the Durham Redevelopment
Commission, proved fruitless.
According to Smith, last
April, he was remodeling a
house when its white occu
pant "came out and started
TfT?
piMt
SMITH
IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE
THE CHAM SPEAKS
PAGE 10
COMMUNITY LBIDS HELPING HAN)
PAGE 9
TWELVE YEAR OLD VIOLINIST CHOSEN
FOR HALL OF FAME
PAGE 12
W.V-W.V.W
cursing and calling my crew
'niggers' ". The police were
summoned to the house,
Smith said, went into the
house and came out saying
the occupants were justified
because they had complaints
about the workmanship.
Smith said he withdrew
his crew, hoping that , Ben
First Annual
v ' ..r . " . ! . i;V: "Pi
Convenes In State
4
; RALEIGH Three hun-
dred J" lawyers, cojlege. stu -
dents", educators: communitv '
. activists and state bureaucrats
' put their heads together in
the first annual Criminal Jus
tice Conference, resulting iri a '
number of criticism's and
recommendations for change.
: : A primary focus of the .
conference, was affirmative
hiring of blacks and mino
rities. Several of the parti
' cipating state bureaucrats
admitted their agencies were
severely understaffed with
blacks. Among them was
Corrections Secretary Amos
Reed who brought along his
'top black staff from through
out the prison system.
"I'll say this to you, and
you're essentially a black
O
Perry and his. staff would
resolve the situation the
next day, which Smith
charges was never resolved,
until Perry sent him a letter
last week saying that Smith
was terminated from the
program.
' 0ther, black contractors
have been terminated from
Criminal Justice Confab
group that is here. 1 am not
i impressed with you coming
v to we and. telling rne that we.
doSpt havelhoughbliack
people in the system. I say
, to you that you have the re
" sponsibility with me to get
people, referred in to me so,
that we can put them to
work," Reed said, as he
shifted his responsibility to
recruit blacks to the con
ference participants:
The treatment of blacks
in the courts, prisons, and
police agencies was of con
cern with Dr. John Fleming,
interim President of Shaw
University, proclaiming in a
welcoming address "justice is
not incidental to law and
order. Where justice reigns
there will be a natural move
ment toward obedience to
the law". Fleming went
further to criticize President
Carter's "human rights
policy" as falling on "deaf
ears" in other parts of the,
world because "there are too -many
examples of the denial
of justice on the home
front."
Michigan Congressman
John Conyers, the conference
keynoter, said the Wilming
ton 10 case "has attracted
more attention than any
other- instance of the in
' justice of our legal system
than any other case current
ly on the docket."
The state's massive net-,'.
THE CHAMP AND BROTHER YUSEF (Photo by
Kelvin A. Bell).
w
ranks TALL EY. ecutiv
Parren
and Jack
in Prinlr
rehabilitation contracts
according to Smith, and have
either gone out of business,
looked for other business or
moved out of town.
Funds spent by the Dur
ham Redevelopment Commi
ssion are provided through
contract with the U. S. De
partment of Hourine and
Continued On Page 14
work" of 79 prisons Conyers
characterized as "almost like
' the beginning of a police
- tatepTisor;'caraps built
'contemporaneously to the ur
ban centers so that you are
either in jail or out of jail,
you are a citizen and you
may be conveniently tossed
into the local state facility."
Calling North Carolina's pri
sons archaic, Conyers said
that modem prison facilities
are centralized so that expen
sive rehabilitative services can
be better provided.
The lack of blacks em
ployed in the state's courts,
prisons, and police agencies
was cited by many partici
pants as the reason for in
humane treatment of blacks
in the criminal justice system.
But Reginald Eaves,
Police Commissioner for At
lanta, Georgia, warned at the
conference "the name of the
game, once you get into the
system, is not to become
apathetic about those who
are left behind." He continu
ed saying, "too many of us,
once we cross into the sys
tem, want to prove that we
are so much like the other
folk, until we are worse than
those who have been perpe
trating harm for! those many
years," as he admitted that
he had fired more black
policemen for police
brutality.
Continued On Page 2
Capital
SIX CONGRESSMEN, Wilmington 10 supporters, and
press arrive at Pullen Memorial Church for matting
with Gov. Hunt's aides.
Congressmen Plead For
IVifmingf on 10 Pardon
RALEIGH - Six Con
gressmen pleaded, with staff
members of Governor James
Hunt Sunday in Raleigh to
urge the state's chief execu
tive to use his power to par
don the Wilmington 10. None
of the congressmen was from
North Carolina. Their pleas
were part of last ditch efforts
of Wilmington 10 supporters
to get the group pardoned
by Christmas, a feat which
political observers say is
unlikely. '
Representing Hunt were
Banks Talley, Hunt's execu
tive assistant, John R. Lar
kins, Assistant for Minority
Affairs, and Jack Cozort,
Hunt's legal advisor. Hunt
had refused to meet with the
Congressmen saying he al
ways reserves Sunday to be
with his family.
The lawmakers seemed
failure to -meer with? weni4h " the
but nevertheless thev went
about the city, each speaking
at a different church con
gregation obviously building
support for Hunt to pardon
the Wilmington 10.
The Wilmington 10 were
convicted in 1972 of buring
. a white-owned grocery during
white vigilantes attacks upon
Wilmington's black ghetto.
Unless Governor Hunt or
President Carter chose to
pardon them, many of the
group will serve a good por
tion of the 282 years of the
combined sentences. Mrs.
Anne Sheppard Turner, the
only white defendant, is also
the only defendant paroled at
this time. She had the lightest
sentence - ten years.
Parren Mitchell, D.-Md.
and Chairman of the Con
gressional Black Caucus, ex
pressed little optimism as he
pleaded "please don't destroy
my faith. Don't you destroy
that! Because if you do, you
destroy that in 50,000 to
500,000 people at the same
time."
There is not a shred of
evidence for holding them"
said Rev. Robert F. Drian ,
a Massachusetts Congressman.:
THE PEOPLE SPEAK
rpcNsi
KlBUChNIONlcbLUMN
The Peoples Collective
News Service (PCNS) wishes
to thank those participating
individuals for their time and
ideas while allowing us to
make their opinions and
views available to comment
and criticism by the public
through "The People Speak"
column.
It is an encouraging ex
perience to see citizens,
young and old, using their
right of free speech and
thought in the confines of
our column. Not only are
these individuals generating
different views on a wide
range of topics, they, in
essence, are guaranteeing the
rights and liberties of us all
by placing themselves and
ideas on the line.
As a whole, we Ameri
cans, regardless of race, sex
or age, tend to take our
constitutional and, thank
you Jimmy, our human rights
Congressman Don Ed
wards, chairman of the Sub
committee on Civil Rights of
the House Judiciary
Committee said the state has
no witnesses against the
Wilmington 10, at one point
recalling how st a post con
viction hearing, Allen HaH,
the state's main witness, re
canted his testimony, as did
the other witness, all claiming
favors from state prosecutor
Jay Stroud, and light sen
tences in return for their
testimonies.
Jack Cozort, legal advisor
to Hunt, admitted to
Edwards a recent conversa
tion with Justice Department
officials who have concluded
n investigation of the Wil
mington 10 that the federal
courts are not properly
equipped to handle the case.
Cozort said that the justice
. department had,, also taken
overall effects of the WH
mington 10 case were enough
to justify a pardon or
commutation of sentence for
the group.
The Justice Department's
involvement in the case has
been, seemingly, a source of
irritation to Hunt. Last
August, sixty congressmen,
including the six who met
with Hunt aides, asked U. S.
Attorney General Griffin Bell
to intercede in the case on
behalf of the Wilmington 10.
The Justice Department has
since filed a friend of the
court brief in behalf of the
ten defendants in federal
court. But while urging
Hunt's aides to relay their
concern for pardon, the con-'
gressmen kept reminding
that the case would take
possibly several years to re
solve in the courts.
Cozort said that Hunt's
position had not changed -on
requests to pardon the .
Wilmington 10 - that is, no
action until all appeals in
the case are exhausted.
One Congressman,
Augustus Hawkins, D. Calif,
not present at the meeting,
said in a weekly column last
Continued On Page 21
::SS:SSiSSSW:sssssv.vvssvwki....
for granted. Many fail to rea-1
lize a true, just democracy de- i
pends on an informed and 1
active public.
Ideally, as the new year '
uuiuawrca wtu . we u grow
older, it is assumed we also
grow wiser and more aware
of the world around us. i
America is growing older. ;
Maybe this will be our great ;
national renaissance. People, '
their hopes, fears, dreams
and actions will shape the .
future, not politicans and
their beaurocracies. We, you
and I, will make the thin
difference between a new
dawn of human consciousness
or another sge of tyranny and
As the new year j
approaches, lets promise our
selves not to take anything
for granted, our families, our
ft... .11 AkM JnLt
food and energy. Lets grow
old end wise together.