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OLUME 94 - NUMBER 33
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2015
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
Desegregation Linked to
Closing Achievement Gap
Julian Bond speaks during the “Vietnam: The Power of Protest” rally at the
lartin Luther King Memorial on May 2, 2015 in Southwest Washington, D.C.
Roy Lewis/Washington Informer)
Iulian Bond Praised for Unselfish
Devotion to Human Rights
By Jazelle Hunt
NNPA Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Year after year in
measure after measure, Black, Latino, and Native
American students trail their White peers in educa
tional outcomes. These gaps were at their lowest in
1988, the same year public schools hit peak inte
gration levels - and long-term data shows that this
was no coincidence.
“As long as we have schools and classrooms that
have concentrated the most disadvantaged children
together, there’s no way that schools can overcome
the disadvantage, because every student can’t get
special attention. So the level of instruction has to
decline,” said Richard Rothstein, a research associ
ate at the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute.
“The only way that we’re ever going to raise
the achievement of African American children liv
ing in ghettos, substantially, is to desegregate those
ghettos. Make sure that more children are attending
schools that are predominantly middle-class.”
Schools with student bodies of color aren’t in
herently inadequate - there are plenty around the
country that graduate bright, motivated Black and
brown scholars. Still, it is the better distribution of
resources, not merely the presence of White stu
dents, that make integration necessary.
“We know that there’s inequitable access to ad
vanced coursework, for example, so we know that
many African American and Latino students attend
schools where they can’t take algebra II or chemis
try, or they don’t have advanced placement cours
es,” said John King, delegated deputy secretary of
the Department of Education. “To the extent that
we can integrate schools by race and class, we’re
likelier to reduce those inequities.”
The way schools are funded can also worsen
the effect. Most districts are funded through prop
erty taxes, other state taxes, and federal money
(through grants or as part of a larger budget given
to each state). Often, needy schools are left at
the bottom of the list when it’s time to distribute
these funds, forcing them to rely more heavily on
already-meager property taxes. And as individual
schools make cuts to stretch the money, they are
unable to attract and keep highly effective teach
ers, and provide students enriching extracurricu
lar activities, challenging classes, and first-class
facilities.
“It’s not because they’re sitting next to a White
child, it’s because they’re not in an environment
where children with serious disadvantages are so
concentrated that the school can’t focus on grade
level instruction,” said Rothstein!
“[Funding] varies enormously by state. Most
of the special money that is needed to address the
problems of low-income schools is because of
the concentrations there. You need so much more
money in such a school.”
White flight, class politics, and gentrification
also play a major role - if neighborhoods are ra
cially and economically segregated, the local
public school system is likely to reflect that.
“It wouldn’t be fair to say that schools can’t
produce great outcomes for kids if they don’t
have White students or if they don’t have middle-
income students,” said King. “But I think it is fair
to say that, for a variety of complex political and
historical reasons, resources often have been in
equitably distributed based on race and class.”
(Continued On Page 2)
By Freddie Allen
NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent
I WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Julian Bond, a founding member and communications director of Student
lonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and immediate past board chairman of the NAACP, is be-
ig praised for his lifelong human rights contributions by people ranging from President Obama and his
inner civil rights colleagues to ordinary people who have benefited from his courage and advocacy.
Bond, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), died Saturday night, August 15, at the
■ of 75. He served as the president of the SPLC, a legal advocacy organization that promotes equality
id tracks hate groups, from 1971 to 1979 and later on the board of directors, according to a statement
sued by the group.
“With Julian’s passing, the country has lost one of its most passionate and eloquent voices for the
use of justice,” SPLC said in a statement announcing Bond’s death. “He advocated not just for African
jnericans, but for every group, indeed every person subject to oppression and discrimination, because
: recognized the common humanity in us all.”
[The statement continued: “Not only has the country lost a hero today, we’ve lost a great friend.”
I President Obama said in a statement, “Julian Bond was a hero and, I’m privileged to say, a friend,
istice and equality was the mission that spanned his life “ from his leadership of the Student Nonviolent
Oordinating Committee, to his founding role with the Southern Poverty Law Center, to his pioneering
■ice in the Georgia legislature and his steady hand at the helm of the NAACP. Michelle and 1 have
jpefited from his example, his counsel, and his friendship - and we offer our prayers and sympathies to
s wife, Pamela, and his children.”
Obama added, “Julian Bond helped change this country for the better. And what better way to be re-
embered than that.”
Denise Rolark Barnes, Chairperson of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and
tblisher of The Washington Informer, said: “On behalf of the members of the National Newspaper
iblishers Association - the Black Press of America - we are extremely saddened to learn of the recent
lath of Julian Bond, a stalwart of the Civil and Human Rights Movement. His lifelong dedication and
immitment to political and economic empowerment, journalistic diversity and integrity, and educational
fuality served as a beacon for others to follow. His presence and voice will be sorely missed, but his
ords remain true for the NNPA: “Good things don’t come to those who wait. They come to those who
;itate!’ Julian Bond, thank you. Now may you rest in peace!”
s NNPA President and CEO Benjamin F. Chavis said, “On behalf of the National Newspapers Publish-
s Association (NNPA), we mourn the passing of civil rights leader Julian Bond. The enduring impact
Bond’s legacy was his long-term dedication to fight for freedom, justice and equality. As an effective
lairman of the NAACP, co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Geor-
a State Senator, college professor and columnist for the NNPA, Julian Bond was a gallant warrior who
iampioned the interests of Black America.”
Horace Julian Bond was born Jan. 14, 1940, in Nashville, Tenn. His father, Horace Mann Bond, was
prominent educator, serving as president of Fort Valley State University in Georgia and the first Black
esident of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, his alma mater.
During his time with SNCC, Julian Bond protested against segregation of public facilities in Georgia
id was arrested during a sit-in at Atlanta’s City Hall.
I (Continued On Page 2)
NCNAACP PREPARES FOR
AUG. 29 TH JOURNEY’ LEG
By Cash Michaels
The NC NAACP is urging all to take part in the North Carolina leg of “America’s Journey for
Justice,” scheduled to come through the state starting August 29 th .
A national coalition led by the national NAACP and its President/CEO Cornell William Brooks,
“America’s Journey for Justice” is a 40-day, 860-mile protest march which began in Selma, Ala.
on August 1 st - the fiftieth anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act - from the historic Edmund
Pettus Bridge, where civil rights marches were beaten and attacked by Alabama state troopers as they
marched for voting rights in March 1965.
The modern-day Journey for Justice is routed from Alabama, through Georgia, South Carolina,
North Carolina and Virginia, finally arriving in Washington, D.C. on Sept. IS*. The North Carolina
leg of the march is scheduled to reach the state August 29* through Sept. 7*, before it moves on to
Virginia.
Marchers from nationwide will say to the nation and world family, “Our lives, our votes, our jobs,
and our schools matter,” the NAACP, a major coalition in the march, says. With each state stopped
in, a designated issue of concern to African-Americans - like fairness in the criminal justice system,
jobs with sustainable wages, improved public education, and protection of voting rights - is addressed.
In North Carolina, according to NCNAACP Pres. Rev. William Barber, the issue is voting rights
because the state has become “the national battleground for voting rights.”
In an effort to challenge a regressive southern legislature and Congress’ failure to act on strengthening
the Voting Rights Act, the NC NAACP, the Forward Together Moral Movement, and other justice-
loving North Carolinians from across the state will join the march and continue on across the Virginia
state line, “Rev. Barber said in a statement.
Thus, a major “Rally for Voting Rights” featuring Rev. Barber and President Brooks, among others,
will be held at the State Capitol in Raleigh on Thursday, Sept. 3 rd , with activities beginning at 5 p.m.
Leading up to that, Pres. Brooks will take part in a Monday, August 24* Moral Monday Livestream
online to promote the Sept. 3 rd rally. On August 29*, marchers are expected to enter North Carolina
from South Carolina at U.S. Highway 1 near Rockingham County at the state line.
Later that evening there will be a Journey for Justice Youth and Cultural Artist Teach-in, 7:30 p.m.
at Southern Middle School, 717 Johnson Street in Aberdeen. On Monday, August 31” at 7 p.m., the
Journey for Justice Voting Rights Teach-in at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, 1801 Hillsborough
Street in Raleigh, and on Sept. 1” at 10 a.m. at various congressional offices across the state,
simultaneous press conferences on voting rights action.
Supporters from across the state seeking to join the Journey for Justice March while its in North
Carolina may sign up by logging onto www.naacpnc.org, and click onto the American Journey for
Justice tab, or call 919-682-4700
Recording of MLK’s 1st ‘I Have a Dream’ speech discovered
By Martha Waggoner
RALEIGH (AP) - Before the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream”
eech to hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington in 1963, he fine-tuned his civil rights
■sage before a much smaller audience in North Carolina.
I Reporters had covered King’s 55-minute speech at a high school gymnasium in Rocky Mount on
tv. 27, 1962, but a recording wasn’t known to exist until English professor Jason Miller found an ag-
■reel-to-reel tape in a town library. Miller played it in public for the first time at North Carolina State
Diversity.
‘It is part civil rights address. It is part mass meeting. And it has the spirit of a sermon,” Miller said,
ind 1 never before heard Dr. King combine all those genres into one particular moment.”
King used the phrase “I have a dream” eight times in his address to about 2,000 people at Booker T.
ashington High School in Rocky Mount, eight months before electrifying the nation with the same
rods at the March on Washington.
He also referred to “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners,” saying he dreamed
-y would “meet at the table of brotherhood.” On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King changed that
sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” In both speeches, “Let Freedom Ring” served as his
Ilying cry.
‘It’s not so much the message of a man,” the Rev. William Barber, president of the state chapter of the
\ACP, said. “It’s the message of a movement, which is why he kept delivering it. It proves once again
the T have a dream’ portion was not a good climax to a speech for mere applause, but an enduring
11 to hopeful resistance and a nonviolent challenge to injustice.”
Miller discovered the recording while researching “Origins of the Dream,” his book exploring simi
larities between King’s speeches and the poetry of Langston Hughes. His ah-ha moment came when he
learned through a newspaper story about a transcript of the speech in state archives. If there’s a transcript,
then there must be a recording, he thought.
He sent emails and made calls until he eventually heard back in the fall of 2013 from the Braswell
Public Library in Rocky Mount, where staff said a box with the recording had mysteriously appeared on
a desk one day. Handwriting on the box described it as a recording of King’s speech, and said “please do
not erase.”
Before listening to the recording, Miller confirmed that the 1.5-millimeter acetate reel-to-reel tape
could be played safely. He brought it to an audio expert in Philadelphia, George Blood, who set it as close
to its original levels as he could. Then Blood, whose clients include the Library of Congress, digitized
the tape.
It proved fortunate for King that he had practiced the dream part of his speech in Rocky Mount and
later in Detroit, because it wasn’t part of his typewritten speech in Washington. Historians say the singer
Mahalia Jackson shouted “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” as he reached a slow point in his prepared
text. King then improvised, and lit up the audience with phrases very similar to those he had delivered in
that gymnasium.
Three people who were in the audience that day in 1962 listened again Tuesday as the recording was
played at the university’s James B. Hunt Library. Herbert Tillman, who was about 17 years old at the time,
recalled how happy they were to see and hear such an inspiring leader.
(Continued On Page 2)