tUME 68 - NUMBER 38 Cl-(OJ
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CB 3930 p 27599-3930
chapel HILL
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(USPS 091-380)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA — SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6 1990
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913
PRICE;30 CF NTS
Gantt Looks For ‘People Power’ To Unseat Helms
AMDEN, N.C. (AP) - When Harvey Gantt exhorts people to gel
jion and "show some signs," he doesn’t mean they should start
aking in tongues. He’s talking about a U.S. Senate race that only
ople power" can win.
:^ople power brought down communism in Eastern Europe, and
lull’s task seems hardly less formidable. He’s trying to dislodge
tublican Jesse Helms, North Carolina’s controversial and well-
jnced three-term senator.
missionaries for me, Gantt tells black county employees, white
[iniainfolk and wine-andheese liberals across die state.
t truth squads for me. Gel out the vole for me, he says, and "we can
(iionstraie that people power is stronger than all the money in the
irid.” Helms, an outspoken conservative with a national fund-raising
work, has been pulling in campaign cwitributions at a record-breaking
({. And while his views and style alienate many voters, he has a
following and a hard-hitting campaign style that has crushed all
tiis previous opponents, including a sitting governor.
Sot challenges are a way of life for Gantt, a soft-spoken architect. He
js the first black student at Clemson University, the first black mayor
'Charlotte, the national Democratic Party’s first black Senate nominee
ihis century. A victory in November would make him the first black
icihem senator since Reconstruction.
Polls show a dead-even race with few voters undecided. But Gantt
ijiated calm and confidence on a recent campaign journey that look him
jm depressed rural pockets in North Carolina’s northeast comer to
salthy coastal villages on the Outer Banks.
"We really are going to bring Jesse Helms home," he told a racially
ilanced crowd at a "pig-picking" barbecue on the sweeping l^wn of a
yerfroni home.
fieilher Helms’ multimillion-dollar campaign warchest nor his aura of
incibility fazes Gantt "I’ve never seen him as being a great power,
'ijalways seen him as a beneficiary of good luck," he says.
Gantt, 47, carries a traditional Democratic message of populism and
}\'emment compassion, enlivened with tales of his humble origins and
Mtle digs at Helms.
'^Ihough some fans wear Gantt-for-Senate buttons that say "Making
Ssiory," Gantt does not present himself as a pioneering standard-bearer
blacks. He’d rather be viewed as the unifying, forward-looking
temative to a man he says has few allies and pushes divisive priorities
mare irrelevant to most North Carolinians.
It’s all right to get somebody who’ll stand up for what he or she
:licves in," Gantt tells supporters, repeating the rationale many voters
for choosing Helms. "But you also ought to get somebody who’ll
ind up for you." Helms’ prickly personality is at least part of the reason
onh Carolina gets a poor return on the tax dollars it sends to
I'ashington, Gantt told a group of courthouse employees.
[’ve got to think it has to do with the fact that he’s kind of ornery. He
jesn’l get along with anybody," Gantt said mildly as the air filled with
sowing chuckles.
'mx also accuses Helms of "thumbing his nose" at the state’s voters
g to debate, publicize his schedule or answer questions,
ihe two candidates stood side by side and talked about their visions,
Ktold an affluent Nags Head gathering, "I could win every time. I’m
linced of that" He added, to laughter, "I think he’s kind of ccHivinced
iiai, loo." Gantt makes no bones about his vision - a government that
s ensure jobs, health care, education and a clean environment for its
Bens.
Kliberal means caring about peqole, then I’m a liberal," he told those
iered on the banks of the Pasquotank River for the pig-picking. "I just
us to return to our party and its heritage and its great leaders." It
an apt message for that area, which went for Helms in 1984 despite
jverwhelming Democratic edge in voter registration,
anit’s unabashed liberalism ultimately may not prove any more
ular among moderates than Helms’ extreme, often combative
servatism.
iilhe has been attracting overflow crowds and devoted converts, from
mountains to the shore. Gwen Cniickshanks, the Currituck County
oiocratic chairwoman, said out-of-staters at a national
inesswomen’s conference in Charlotte bombarded her with
elicited checks after Gantt spoke. "That’s the galvanizing effect this
ihas," she said.
intt alro is galvanizing blacks. "G-A-N-T-T, it really sounds good to
Harvey, Harvey,"’ hundreds of black students chanted at a rally at
abeih City State College.
who designed three buildings at the college, was mobbed,
[raced, begged for autographs. "I’m going to be there for you,"
niised the would-be senator. "My door is going to be open for you."
blacks account for only 20 percent of North Carolina’s voting-age
(ilation. And while he won two mayoral terms in 75-percent-white
flotte, Gantt’s race could handicap him in a ccxitest where every last
will count.
nieet lots of people who say ‘I’ve never voted for a black man and
not going to now,"’ said Gail Singh, a white Gantt supporter who
video business on the Outer Banks. "You can’t say there’s no race
in northeastern North Carolina." Gantt does not concede a "race
just as he will not concede that Helms’ financial advantage
elates into a competitive edge. Helms had raised $6 million as of June
compared to Gantt’s $853,000.
J lie Democrat said his campaign is "on track" toward a goal of raising
j million to $7 million. He called that "more than sufficient to maintain
5 asonable amount of television. We don’t run as many commercials as
J le Helms. We just buy smarter." Helms is making few appearances
5 relying almost entirely on TV ads, including scathing attacks on
j Ill’s support for abortion rights and reductions in defense spending.
'll says he watches them and is amused.
Mid up laughing," he said. "Then I realize I’ve got to be serious -
people believe this." Gantt is running spots that attack Helms’
cation record, his anti-abortion positiem and what he considers the
to’s misplaced priorities, such as his crusade against fedwal funding
obscene art.
^1 Gantt also has warm and fuzzy ads in which he talks about his
Icground and beliefs, supplementing his personal efforts to introduce
self to voters around the state.
rells his life story often, and nowhere was the tale more poignant
et the Perquimans County Courthouse, built in the slave days of
a descendant of slaves, stood at the front of a small, colonial-
Ic courtroom that looks like a setting for the Continental Congress. "I
le from a working-class family. My fathw^ had an eighth-grade
cation," he began.
^traced his father’s life: two and three jobs at a time, the government
that allowed him to move the family from public housing to their
home, the govemm^it festoring his dignity with civil rights laws,
Sovwnment helping him put five childrOT through college.
^ his own fortunes, and the threshold on which he now stands, Gantt
I nothing then. But later, at a Nags Head fern bar crowded^ with the
W heeled, he wore an exuberant grin as he declared: "Only in
erica."
Some of the young ladies vying for the title of Miss Homecoming for Durham High School. The float was
one of many in the Durham High School Homecoming Parade. (Photo By Mayfield)
Third Bensonhurst Racial Murder
Trial Opens In New York
NEW YORK (AP) - Although he
didn’t have a gun or fire any shots,
prosecutors say Bensonhurst
murder defendant Charles Slressler
agitated a white mob by arming
them with baseball bats prior to the
racial murder of Yusuf Hawkins.
"He turned that band into an
armed mob," Assistant Brooklyn
District Attorney Douglas Nadjari
told the jury Monday in his opening
statement. "It was Stressler who
whipped up the crowd by providing
weapons to them." However,
defense lawyer Jacob B. Evseroff
told the state Supreme Court jury
his 22-year-old client was innocent
of the Aug. 23,1989, slaying.
"When this happened, Charlie
Stressler was not part of the gang.
He was away from there," Evseroff
argued.
Stressler is one of eight young
white men from Brooklyn’s
Bensonhurst neighborhood charged
in the racially motivated slaying of
Hawkins. The 16-year-old was
surrounded by a gang of bat-
wielding whites and fatally shot
through the chest when he and
three friends, all black, went to the
mostly white neighborhood to look
at a used car for sale.
Stressler is charged with second-
degree murder, first- and second-
degree manslaughter, riot, assault,
unlawful imprisonment and
menacing. He faces 25 years to life
in jail, if convicted of murder.
Three other whites have been
tried and convicted for their roles in
the attack.
Triggerman Joseph Fama is
serving 32 and two-iirds years to
life in prison after being convicted
of second-degree murder and
numerous lesser charges.
Ringleader Keith Mondello was
sentenced to five and one-third
years to 16 years; he was acquitted
of murder and manslaughter
charges but convicted on lesser
charges of riot, unlawful
imprisonment, discrimination,
menacing and criminal possession
of a weapon.
John Vento received two and
two-thirds to eight years in prison.
Jurors COTvicted him of unlawful
imprisonment and menacing, but
were unable to reach a verdict on a
murder count He will be re-tried
later on murder and manslaughter
charges.
The other four defendants are to
be tried in the coming months.
The trials are being held before
Justice Thaddeus Owens.
Prosecutors maintain that
Stressler is guilty of murder for
acting in concert with the other
members of the mob and showing a
callous and depraved indifference
toward human life.
Stressler not only distributed a
box of bats but knew Fama was
carrying a handgun and planned to
use it, Nadjari told the panel that
will decide-the—fate of the iron
worker and college dropout
Evseroff portrayed the incident as
a "territorial dispute" and said the
whites assembled and armed
themselves because they believed a
gang of outsiders was about to
invade their south Brooklyn
enclave.
When Stressler saw that Hawkins
and his friends were not the
anticipated interlopers, he tumeu -o
walk away moments before Fama
pulled a .32-caliber automatic
pistol and fired four shots, two of
which struck Hawkins in the chest,
Evseroff said.
"He did not act in concert or aid
and abet anybody else. He was a
witness - he saw it," the lawyw told
the jury.
While Stressler says he saw Fama
shoot Hawkins, he refused to
appear before a grand jury or take
the wimess stand at any of the
previous trials.
Luther Sylvester, an 18-year-old
high school student who was with
Hawkins when he was slain, told
the jury about the shooting, but was
unable to identify Stressler.
WASHINGTOJ riai ed by members of Congress and the Vice President, President Bush talks
about the budg' reached in the early mwning hours of Sept. 30. Back row, 1-r are: Sen.
Wyche Fowler, D-Ga , n. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., Sen. James Sasser, D-Tenn. Front row: Speaker of the
House Tom Fcrfey, h .Jget Dir^tor Richard Darman, Pres. Bush, White House Chief of Staff John
Sununu and Vic( ''Ves dfxt Dan Quayle. (UPI Photo)
Supreme
Court
Hears
‘Resegregation’
Case
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Supreme Court was urged Tues lay
to let Oklahoma City chiulren
attend neighborhood schools even
though that has brought back racial
imbalance. Continued
desegregation of public schools in
hundreds of other American cities
could be at stake as well.
Lawyers for the Bush
administration and the Oklaliuma
City school board said formerly
segregated school districts should
be allowed to escape cr irt-ordeied
integration plans once they achieve
racial balance.
But a lawyer for some black
parents in Oklahoma City said
returning to neighborhood schools
in a city where whites and blacks
live in different areas had turned
back the clock to a time when
blacks and whites were required to
itlend separate schools.
In an animated, hour-long
session, all eight justice.s asked
questions.
Solicitor General Kenneth Starr,
the administration’s top courtroom
lawyer, acknowledged that many of
Oklahoma City’s neighbcjrhoods
are predominantly black or 'vhite,
but said, "The school board has no
realistic control over where people
choose to live." School board
lawyer Ronald Day argued that a
federal judge’s finding in 1977 that
the city’s schools were fully
integrated - or "unitaiy" - freed the
board from continuing forced
busing and other court-ordered
remedies, until all city
neighborhoods are integrated.
Such residential segregation. Day
said, "is a phenomenon over which
this school board, indeed no school
board, has control." Julius
Chambers, the New York City
lawyer challenging fhe
neighborhood school plan, told the
court, "You should not let the
school district in Oklahoma City, or
in any other city, reinstate the same
assignment practices that caused
segregation in the past." At issue is
whether once-segregated school
districts are under any continuing
obligation to maintain racial
balance in their schools once a
federal court says the^ have
achieved total integration.
But the high court also mi'y 'ave
to say for the first time. = a
decision expected by July, just
what constitutes total integrauon.
Justices Harry A. Blackmun and
Anthony M. Kennedy posed
questions about the definition of
"unitary," and showed no
indication that they agreed with the
definitions offered.
Chief Justice William H.
Rehnquist and Justices Antonin
Scalia and Sandra Day O’Connor
grilled Chambers on his assertion
’hat school desegregation should
last as long as residential
segregation exists.
At one point, O’Connor asked
whether Oklahoma City school
officials would be required to
comply with some kind of
desegregation plan "100 years from
now" if blacks and whites still lived
in predominantly one-race
neighborhoods.
Chambers said they would be.
Justice Thurgood Marshall, the
court’s only black member and the
winning lawyer in the 1954 case
that outlawed racial segregation in
public schools, engaged both Starr
and Day in spirited exchanges.
Referring to that landmark case,
Marshall asked Day, "What
assurance do I have that the school
board will ccMitinue to honor the
Constitution?" And the justice
challenged an assertion by Starr by
stating, "The poor Afro-American
kid is still in the same sch;r i \t
remains a segregated schcr
Before the court’s 1954 rulu'g,
Oklahoma City’s public schools
(Continued On Page 6)