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VOLUME 88 - NUMBER 48
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2009
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30
Sit-in at Royal ice cream
parlor honored with marker
The Durham Branch of the NAACP honored three Durham citizens for work in the
communiU. From left to right are: John Schelp; Mrs. Chester Jenkins who accepted for
her late husband; and W.A. Marsh. Jr. See story and pictures on page 3.
Psychologists Debunk Judge’s
Theory About Bi-Racial Children
By Crystal Cranmore
NNPA Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - After he was blistered with criticism for not marrying an inter
racial couple, justice Keith Bardwell ot Tangipahoa Parish. La. made a statement that he is not
a racist, but that he knows biracial children suffer through hardships in life.
BardwelPs theory that being mixed w ith black and white races can cause a child to suffer
emotionally and mentally has brought national speculation over whether such a statement is
true.
"They end up being president of the United States." said Dr. James Salvage, a psychologist
in Northwest Washington. D.C. "Or the mayor of Washington. D.C." he said, referring to Presi
dent Obama and Mayor Adrian Fenty.
According to Dr. Salvage, biracial children do not go through any more hardships than
people who are white or black.
"If mixed race is going to account for hardships, how do you explain why you have extreme
poverty among White people? He can see that there are Whites that are in Louisiana that are
dirt poor and that are unedueated.” said Salv age.
According to the National Center for Health and Statistics, biracial children represent a
growing number of America's diverse population. Between 1978 and 1992. the number of
biracial children born in the United States increased more than 50 percent and has continued
to increase since then. However, based on a 2000 census, the number of biracial children was
estimated between two and four million. The current statistics remain underestimated because
many biracial children identify with the parent of color w hich skews the actual results.
Dr. Daniel Williams, a psychologist from East Orange. N..I.. said Bardwell had no right to
assume hardships for the couple's future children - in part because. "Race is defined sociologi
cally and not biologically."
.Also. Williams explained. "It has always been said that if you have one parent that is black,
then you are black."
Because of this assumption, some bi-racial children have difficulty with self-identification,
says Dt. Clifford Greene. They may have problems being accepted while figuring out which
race they want to identify with the most, he said. These problems start in the mid teens when
they are trying harder to fit in with peers. If caught in this identity crisis, some biracial children
may get criticized from Blacks about not being "Black enough." while Whites may still con
sider them to not be "pure." Greene says.
A psychologist from the University of Los Angeles. Gail Wyatt said that there is no empiri
cal evidence that biracial children have a problem adjusting to society.
"They have to identify who they are the same way that blacks and whites go through a pro
cess of self-identification. It is about how the parents raise the child that eliminates any confu
sion." she said. Dr. Wyatt said that Justice Bardwell's comments are absurd because it "flies
against the history of this country where over 400 years ago. our women were raped.
Co-founder of The Black Think Tank, an organization aimed at promoting better Black fe-
male/male relationships and several other black-related issues. Dr. Nathan Hare believes that
biracial children do not suffer thaf much, rather, they have the best of both worlds.
"Mixed kids don't suffer as much, but they have more of a dilemma." he said. Dr. Hare did
his own college dissertation on Black male and female relationships.
"When Barack Obama lived in Hawaii, he realized for the first time that he was alone when
he heard his grandmother complain about a black man." said Dr. Hare. "He s not black, he s
not White, but he still loved his grandmother. His mother would have him listen to speeches by
Martin Luther King. Jr. so that he could learn about how beautiful black was." Erica Robinson,
a senior at Howard University who is racially mixed says that people who are mixed or biracial
do sometimes have identification problems. However, she urges that people who are feeling
left out or confused to do research on their family history.
"It is okay to accept both cultures." she said. "Society makes us choose, but you have to be
happy with who you are and there is nothing wrong with sitting with your parents and asking
them to teach you more about who you are."
Dr. Julia Hare, a San Franciseo-based psychologist, who co-founded the Black Think Tank
with her husband. Nathan, also gives strong advice: "Please do not let terms and names and
labels define you. The only person that can define you is you. It isn't what people call you. it's
what you answer to. You're going to have haters out there [who] will prevent you from getting
fill bi-t -. ou're the captain of your ow n ship."
(AP) - More than 100 people
turned out Sunday to help dedi
cate a state highway marker
comineiTiorating a sit-in held
against a segregated ice cream
parlor three years before the
famous lunch counter sit-in at
Woolworth's in Greensboro.
The June 23. 1957. event at
Royal Ice Cream preceded the
1960 protest in Greensboro,
which receives credit for spark
ing similar actions across the
South.
Duke University historian
William Chafe, author of "Civil
ities and Civil Rights; Greens
boro. North Carolina and the
Black Struggle for Freedom."
argues that by 1960. "the ground
was more ready for this kind of
event to trigger a far-reaching
movement."
Longtime Durham resident R.
Kelly Biy ant started the effort to
wiii recognition from the North
Carolina Highway Historical
Marker Program w ith a January
2000 letter to the state Depart-
msnt of Cultural Resources.
Bryant followed up with un
successful requests in 2001 and
2003 before mounting a success
ful campaign with widespread
community support two years
ago. The marker was scheduled
to be dedicated Sunday after
noon.
"We are v eiy proud of what
happened here and very proud
of having been designated as
one of the historical events in the
city of Durham." Bry ant said.
The Durham sit-in occurred
when the Rev. Douglas Moore
led seven men and women into
Royal Ice Cream through the
back door, the one regularly used
by black people. They walked to
the front and sat down in booths
reserved exclusively for white
people.
The group declined requests
to leave and was arrested. The
seven were conv icted of tres
passing the next day. and each
was fined $10 plus court costs.
The convictions were ap
pealed. ill vain, up the chain all
the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which declined to hear
the case.
Maiy Elizabeth Cly burn, one
of the three living participants in
the Royal Ice Cream sit-in. said
she remains proud of her role in
the Durham sit-in.
"It's extremely important for
me that they finally recognized
or gave us some credit for get
ting involved when we did in
trying to do something about the
terrible conditions that (were)
going on then in 1957." said
Cly burn, a Newark. N.J.. substi
tute elementary-school teacher
who now goes by her married
surname of Hooks.
She called the indimiities
forced upon blacks in Durham
in the 1950s "e.xtremely hurt
ful." citing the segregated seat
ing at the Carolina Theatre and
the lack of seating at local eater
ies for black people,
Eddie Davis, organizer of the
ceremony and a former presi
dent of the North Carolina As
sociation of Educators, said the
significance of the 1957 event
goes beyond its being the state's
first. He said that's because the
legal appeals showed the
potential for using courts to
promote social change,
"Some people think that even
though they were unsuccessful
and ... were found guilty along
the way and did not have the
guilty verdict overturned at any
stage, it still raised the national
consciousness within civil rights
organizations." Davis said. "So I
think people recognize that even
though they were unsuccessftd.
it still indeed helped to disman
tle segregation."
N.C. NAACP Files
Suit in Wayne
County
The N.C. NAACP has filed
suit in NAACP Ys Board of Ed-
ucation, Wayne Coimly. N.C.
in opposition of its poticy of
of school asignnient. It was-
filed Dec. 1, on the 54th an
niversary of the Montgomery.
Alabama Bus boycott.
Rev. Douglas Moore hugs Ms. Virginia Williams at the
installation of the marker for the Royal lee Cream Sit-In.
See more pictures next week. (Photo by Lawson)
AIDS Project LA. to
Sue California
Governor
Special to the NNPA from the Los Angeles Sentinel
LOS ANGELES (NNPA) - AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA). one
of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the United Stales,
says it intends to file a law suit against California Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger, on the ground that his line-item vetoes of the state Legis
lature's July budget revision bill are unconstitutional. The governor "blue
penciled" slate funding for a range of safety -net programs, including more
than $80 million from California's HIV'AIDS portfolio. Leading inter
national law firm Paul. Hastings. Janofsky &Walker LLP will represent
APLA on a pro bono basis.
"The governor has placed at risk the lives of many thousands of Cali
fornians who depend on these vital HIV.'AIDS prevention and care pro
grams." said APLA executive director Craig E. Thompson. "In doing so.
he has overstepped his constitutional authority and left no other option."
APLA's programs-including those that provide in-home care to seri
ously ill. HIV-positive L.A. County residents and those that offer HIV pre
vention education to Angelenos at highest risk of HIV infection-stand to
lose a total of more than $1.8 million as a result of Schwarzenegger's cuts.
The agency is the hardest hit statewide.
In late July. Schwarzenegger "blue lined" state general fund support
for all HIV,'AIDS programs except HIV epidemiology and the AIDS Drug
Assistance Program (ADAP). leaving the state's Office of AIDS with only
20 percent of its funding for programs like HIV education and prevention.
HIV counseling and testing, home health and early intervention. These
were among more than $485 million in cuts made to the state's health and
human services portfolio.
"In exceeding his power, the governor has single-handedly dismantled a
critical array of programs that protect the health of all Californians — pro
grams that ultimately save the state from far more catastrophic spending,"
Thompson said. "The effects will be nothing short of devastating."
In a written opinion commissioned by state legislative leaders, the Cali
fornia Legislative Counsel Bureau agreed with advocates, finding that the
cuts "did not constitute a valid exercise of [Schwarzenegger's] line-item
veto authority granted by... the California Constitution." Advocates and
the Counsel argue that the governor only has "blue pencil" authority over
original budget appropriations. Schwarzenegger, however, made the latest
cuts to Assembly Bill I. which only "reduced the amount of an existing
appropriation previously authorized" by the Legislature in Februaiy. the
Counsel contends.
The governor is "not granted new expenditure authority, nor is a state
officer's expenditure authority exteitded in any way by an item or section
of a bill that solely makes a reduction of an existing appropriation." the
Counsel's memo notes. Assembly Bill 1 was passed by a simple majority
in the Legislature-not a two-thirds vote mandated for original appropria
tions that are subject to the blue pencil.
"The California Constitution provides important safeguards to prevent
a single elected official from circumventing the entire legislative process."
Thompson added. "We're confident that the courts will agree."
Community leaders will gather at an evening rally and march tonight
in downtown Los Angeles to protest the illegal cuts and to discuss the
suit. AIDS Project Los Angeles provides bilingual direct services, preven
tion education and leadership on HIV/AlDS-related policy and legislation.
Marking 25 years of service in 2008. APLA is a community-based, volun
teer-supported organization with local, national and global reach.
For more information, vi I www.apla.on’