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RUTH UNB
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 2012
VOLUME 91 -NUMBER 12
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30
Family of Slain Black Florida Teen, Trayvon Martin, Calling For Justice
JAZZ PIANIST AND A CAPPELLA GROUP HEADLINE NCCU JAZZ FESTIVAL - The
22nd Annual NCCU Jazz Festival will take place April 16 — 21 and will include performances by
Take 6, a Grammy-winning Christian vocal jazz group, above; pianist Cyrus Chestnut; the U.S.
Air Force big band Airmen of Note; the UNC-Chapel Hill Faculty Jazz Group and Gary Smulyan;
and the NCCU Jazz Combos, Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Faculty Jazz Group. See story on page 13.
By Cyril Josh Barker
Special to the NNPA
from the New York Am
sterdam News
The deadly shooting of
an unarmed 17-year-old
Black male at the hands
of a white neighborhood
watch member who has not
been arrested in Florida is
stirring tensions.
The situation, which is
now gaining national at
tention and has the Rev. Al
Sharpton getting involved,
has the family of the slain
victim,
Trayvon Martin, calling
for justice as his admitted
killer has yet to be arrested
and charged by police.
As the local police con
tinue to be criticized for
their slow process and fail
ure to arrest the alleged
suspect, the case has gone
to the Florida’s State Attor
ney General’s office with
the hope that justice will be
served.
Indianapolis police: Parents
need to watch teens
Donald Payne Jr. to seek
father’s congressional seat
By Angela Delli Santi
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Donald Payne Jr. has decided to seek his late father’s congressional seat
; representing the 10th District.
I Payne tells The Associated Press he would be “proud to continue in his father’s legacy.”
Donald Payne Sr., New Jersey’s first African-American congressman, died of cancer on March 6
I and was buried March 14.
I Payne Jr. is Newark’s City Council president and the father of teenage triplets.
I Pressure had been building for Payne Jr. to get into the race.
Newark Councilman Ron C. Rice and state Sen. Nia Gill announced earlier that they intended to
run.
The district includes parts of Essex, Union and Hudson counties in northern New Jersey.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier
story is below.
Two days after New Jersey’s first African-American congressman was eulogized in a funeral that
brought former President Bill Clinton and members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet to Newark,
the race to succeed Rep. Donald Payne Sr. was on.
Newark City Councilman Ron C. Rice and state Sen. Nia Gill both announced plans to run for the
seat Friday. Meanwhile, a decision was being awaited by Donald Payne Jr., Newark’s council presi
dent, on whether he would pursue the opportunity to succeed his father in Washington.
Two Democratic insiders said if Payne’s son is interested in the seat, the party establishment would
coalesce around him. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
speak about private political discussions.
Payne Sr. represented the 10th District, which includes parts of Essex, Union and Hudson counties,
since 1989. He died of cancer March 6 and was buried Wednesday.
Essex County Democratic chairman Phil Thigpen hasn’t said publicly whom he will support. Es
sex wields the most influencem with about 60 percent the district. The 10th District hasn’t elected a
Republican to Congress since 1940s.
“I expect my party - which I’ve given much to and asked nothing from - to support me,” Rice told
The Associated Press on Friday. “I expect and will pursue the party line in all three counties.”
Rice said he would make his candidacy official early next week. Gill’s camp indicated an official
announcement would be made within 10 days. Rice and Gill are both African American.
Rice, 41, filed paperwork with federal election officials this month switching his federal explorato-
7 committee to a campaign account, signaling his intent to run. He planned to announce his candidacy
sooner but delayed the announcement out of respect for the Payne family.
He raised $12,000-$14,000 as an exploratory candidate.
Gill let word of her intentions leak out Friday, but she has not commented directly. Her campaign
spokesman, Pat Politano, and Sen. Ray Lesniak both confirmed her plans.
“She told me she’s running,” said Lesniak of Union County.
The vacancy touched off a flurry of political speculation about possible Democratic successors this
week. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver of East Orange also has been mentioned, sparking additional
speculation about who might succeed her at the Statehouse if she runs for Congress.
Because congressional districts were redrawn this year to reflect population shifts recorded in the
census, there will be simultaneous elections in two districts for the seat: one to fill the remainder of
Rayne Sr.’s term in the existing 10th District, and another for the two-year term that begins in January
111 the new 10th District.
The filing deadline for the June primary is April 2.
Rice, a lawyer, is the son of veteran state Sen. Ron L. Rice. The elder Rice chairs the Legislative
Rlack Caucus.
The younger Rice represents Newark’s West Ward. He was elected in 2006 and is in his second
term.
. He first ran for office in 2002 with mayoral candidate Cory Booker in a losing effort documented
® the Academy Award-winning documentary “Street Fight.” As a member of the “Booker Team” four
years later, Rice was sworn in with the newly elected Booker.
Gill, a lawyer, has been in the state Legislature since 1994, first as an assemblywoman then as a
senator since 2002.
By Charles Wilson
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)
- Unsupervised teenagers
with nothing to do and easy
access to guns are a recipe
for trouble, experts said
March 18 after a late-night
shooting that wounded five
youths in downtown India
napolis.
Indianapolis Police
Chief Paul Ciesielski said
he has had more officers
downtown since three
shootings injured 10 young
people during the Indiana
Black Expo in the summer
of 2010. A community task
force found that teenagers
were being dropped off in
the area and left unattend
ed.
But Ciesielski said
there’s only so much offi
cers can do.
“Parents just need to be
more responsible and not
use the downtown as a
baby sitter,” he said after
the latest shootings, which
happened as crowds rev
eled along a downtown
canal that had been dyed
green for St. Patrick’s Day.
“Two of the victims
were 14 years old,” Cie
sielski said in an email.
“Why were they there at
10 p.m. without parental
supervision? Who are they
hanging with while down-
town?”
None of the victims,
who ranged in age from 14
to 17, had life-threatening
injuries, police said. Po
lice searched a residence
on the city’s northside and
questioned several people
March 18, but there were
no arrests, Sgt. Linda Jack-
son said.
Jackson said detectives
believe the shooting
Reports indicate Martin
was visiting his father in
Sanford, Fla., just outside
Orlando, on Feb. 26 in a
gated community when he
was on his way back from
a convenience store, where
he had purchased Skittles
and iced tea. White neigh
borhood watchman George
Zimmerman, 28, spotted
him.
Zimmerman alleged
ly called 911 to report a
“suspicious person” in the
neighborhood. Some ac
counts indicate that Zim
merman in fact told author
ities there was a suspicious
black man walking in the
neighborhood.
Dispatchers told Zim
merman not to interfere
and that officers were on
the way to check out the
situation. Ignoring instruc
tions, Zimmerman fol
lowed the teen in his SUV,
approached Martin and the
two got into a scuffle on
stemmed from a “lingering
argument” between two
groups of people.
The chief said police had
extra officers downtown
Saturday night (March 17)
both in and out of uniform,
though he declined to say
how many. He said the
department routinely as
signs plainclothes officers
trained to deal with youth
to the Circle Centre Mall, a
popular downtown gather
ing place for teens.
Bill Glick, director of
the Indiana Juvenile Justice
Task Force, said another
piece of the problem was
the availability of guns.
Teens can get hold of guns
at home or buy them on the
street, he said.
“Our kids tell us it’s no
problem getting a gun,” he
said. “I ask kids if I drop
you off in downtown India
napolis, how long would
it take to find someone to
help you get a gun? They
say probably a couple of
NC man drops out of senate
race after video flap
CHARLOTTE (AP) - A North Carolina state Senat
candidate who drew denunciations from his own part
over an online video in which he advocated the mass mui
der of black South Africans is dropping out of the race.
The Charlotte Observer reports that Bivins Holk
posted a new YouTube video in which he says he’s wit!
drawing from the race to be Democratic nominee in th
Catawba County race.
Hollar’s announcement came a day after an Observe
story about a video in which he advocated shooting an
starving South Africans. The video was removed fror
YouTube after the newspaper contacted him.
In his latest video, Hollar claims to have always been
liberal Democrat. But voting records show he was regis
tered as a Republican for roughly 10 years before chans
ing his affiliation in October.
the ground.
Zimmerman then pulled
out a semiautomatic hand
gun and allegedly shot
Martin in the chest, killing
him 70 feet from Martin’s
apartment. Police arrived
on the scene and found
Martin’s dead body.
(Continued On Page 15)
Trayvon Martin
hours.”
Glick added that many
teens seem to be desensi
tized to violence.
“They somehow seem to
be inured to the fact that if
you shoot a gun it’s not like
a video game, someone re
ally gets hurt,” he said.
Police said three teens
shot Saturday were taken
to nearby Riley Hospital
for Children. They were a
14-year-old boy shot in the
chest, a 14-year-old boy
with a gunshot wound to
the face and a 16-year-old
girl shot in the leg.
Jackson said the boy who
was shot in the chest and the girl
had been upgraded from critical
to serious condition. The other
boy was released earlier Sunday,
Jackson said.
The two other shooting vic
tims, both 17-year-old boys,
were taken to another hospital,
one with a gunshot wound to
the back and the other shot in
the leg. according to the police
statement. They had both been
released by early Sunday, police
said.