Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Dec. 17, 2016, edition 1 / Page 1
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DAVI7 1E/01/17 UNC-CH SERIALS DEPARTMENT **CHI Li- DOMIS LIBRARY P O BOX 8890 CHAPEL HILL CB# NC 27599-00©1 She Carolhiii Crimes gjWgUTH £ VOLUME 95 - NUMBER 50 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2016 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS KKK, other racist groups disavow the white supremacist label By Jay Reeves PELHAM (AP) - In today’s racially charged environment, there’s a label that even the KKK disavows: white supremacy. Standing on a muddy dirt road in the dead of night near the North Carolina-Virginia border, masked Ku Klux Klan mem bers claimed Donald Trump’s election as president proves whites are taking back America from blacks, immigrants, Jews and other groups they describe as criminals and freeloaders. America was founded by and for whites, they say, and only whites can run a peaceful, productive society. But still, the KKK members insisted in an interview with The Associated Press, they’re not white supremacists, a label that is gaining traction in the country since Trump won with the public backing of the Klan, neo-Nazis and other white racists. “We’re not white suprema cists. We believe in our race,” said a man with a Midwestern accent and glasses just hours before a pro-Trump Klan parade in a nearby town. He, like three Klan compatriots, wore a robe and pointed hood and wouldn’t give his full name, in accordance with Klan rules. Claiming the Klan isn’t white supremacist flies in the face of its very nature. The Klan’s offi cial rulebook, the Kloran - pub lished in 1915 and still followed by many groups - says the orga nization “shall ever be true in the faithful maintenance of White Supremacy,” even capitalizing the term for emphasis. Watchdog groups also consider the Klan a white supremacist organization, and experts say the groups’ deni als are probably linked to efforts to make their racism more palat able. Still, KKK groups today typically renounce the term. The same goes for extremists includ ing members of the self-pro claimed “alt-right,” an extreme branch of conservatism mixing racism, white nationalism and populism. “We are white separatists, just as Yahweh in the Bible told us to be. Separate yourself from other nations. Do not intermix and mongrelize your seed,” said one of the Klansmen who spoke along the muddy lane. The Associated Press inter viewed the men, who claimed membership in the Loyal White Knights of the KKK, in a night- time session set up with help of Chris Barker, a KKK leader who confirmed details of the group’s “Trump victory celebration” in advance of the event. As many as 30 cars paraded through the town of Roxboro, North Caro lina, some bearing Confederate and KKK flags. Barker didn’t participate, though: He and a Klan leader from California were arrested hours earlier on charges linked to the stabbing of a third KKK member during a fight, sheriff’s officials said. Both men were jailed; the injured man was re covering. Like the KKK members, Don Black said he doesn’t care to be called a white supremacist, either. Black - who operates stormfront.org, a white extrem ist favorite website, from his Florida home - he prefers “white nationalist.” “White supremacy is a legiti mate term, though not usually applicable as used by the media. I think it’s popular as a term of derision because of the implied unfairness, and, like 'racism,’ it’s got that 'hiss’ (and, like 'hate’ and 'racism,’ frequently 'spewed’ in headlines),” Black said in an email interview. The Klan formed 150 years ago, just months after the end of the Civil War, and quickly began terrorizing freed blacks. Hun dreds of people were assaulted or killed as whites tried to regain control of the defeated Confed eracy. During the civil rights movement, Klan members were convicted of using murder as a weapon against equality. Lead ers from several different Klan groups have told AP they have rules against violence aside from self-defense, and opponents agree the KKK has toned itself down after a string of members went to prison years after the fact for deadly arson attacks, beat ings, bombings and shootings. The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, which monitor white extremist organizations and are tracking an increase in reports of racist incidents since the elec tion, often use the “white su premacist” label when describ ing groups like the Klan; white nationalism and white separat ism are parts of the ideology. But what exactly is involved? The ADL issued a report last year describing white suprema cists as “ideologically motivated by a series of racist beliefs, in cluding the notion that whites should be dominant over people of other backgrounds, that (Continued On Page 2) Newly minted NCCU graduates celebrate Dec. 10. See photos on page 7. (NCCU Photo) Google Exec Urges NCCU Graduates to Move Foward with Resilience Belhaven hospital supporters march at Executive Mansion More than 580 undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees awarded RALEIGH (AP) - Advocates of reopening a hospital in Bel haven have scheduled a march at the Executive Mansion. Organizers marched Dec. 8 at the mansion in Raleigh in support of reopening the former Pungo District Hospital in Beau fort County. Belhaven mayor Adam O’Neal said last week that a judge issued a 10-day restrain ing order to prevent the current owner of the hospital, Pantego Creek LLC, from demolishing the building. Vidant Health took over the hospital in 2011. It announced in 2013 that it would close the hos pital, saying it could not be made financially viable. Town and community groups have worked since the hospital closed in 2014 to buy the build ing and reopen it as a health fa cility. North Carolina Central University (NCCU) awarded approximately 583 diplomas on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, during the university’s 128th Baccalaureate Commencement. Marketing and entertainment expert Valeisha Butterfield Jones delivered the Commencement address, urging graduates to arm themselves with “resilience and grit” to overcome obstacles, especially those tied to gender or race. “I, too, face many of these same struggles everyday,” said Butterfield Jones, named earlier this year to head the division of black customer engagement for Google. “As an African-American woman in corpo rate America, I find it takes a level of resilience and grit you didn’t know you had.” Butterfield Jones, daughter of NCCU alumni, U.S. Congressman G.K. Butterfield and N.C. Rep. Jean Farmer Butterfield, said when she left her home in Wilson, N.C., for college, she had “big dreams and no idea of how to make them reality.” Butterfield Jones said she believes hard work is one of the keys to her success. “I may not always be the most intelligent person in the room... but I will outwork, outsmart and out- grind every single person in the room,” she said, adding: “Never be too big for the little jobs.” She also advised graduates to maintain a student-like outlook on life, even after leaving formal educa tion. “The moment you stop growing, you stop learning, and when you stop learning, you will be replaced,” Butterfield Jones said. During the ceremony, NCCU Acting Chancellor Johnson 0. Akinleye recognized Amber Richardson- Booker, who was graduating from the School of Business. Richardson-Booker’s education was disrupted in 2013 by a car accident that affected her cognitive abilities. She returned to classes after two years of therapy, as well as getting married and starting a family. “Today, Amber stands among you, a proud Eagle who is graduating with a 4.0 GPA, two Business Ad ministration degrees, in management and accounting, which she completed in a year and half by taking a full course load each semester - and is expecting a second bundle of joy with her husband,” Akinleye said. Also recognized were five other students graduating with a 4.0 GPA: Cody M. Burkhardt, Xaysana Douangdara, Morgan Jones, Kathryn M. Manginelli and Jennifer M. Morehead. First Lady Michelle Obama, with family pets Bo and Sunny, and radio host Ryan Seacrest, greet patients at the conclusion of the Christmas holiday program at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Dec. 12, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy) Racial slur found on Idaho Black History Museum building BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Officials with the Idaho Black History Mu seum say someone wrote a racial slur on the roof of the museum’s storage shed. Museum director Phillip Thompson said Dec. 7 that he found the slur sketched in the snow while heading to a board meeting. Thomp son has since shared photos of the slur on the Boise museum’s Face- book page. Thompson says he doesn’t plan on reporting the incident to the Boise police because there is nothing they can do. He added that the act is not a representation of Boise, but instead described the incident as a “microcosm” of the racial climate throughout the country. The last instance of vandalism at the museum was in 2002, when a swastika was carved into the door. Priest who served Chicago, Quincy moves closer to sainthood QUINCY, Ill. (AP) - A priest who served in Chicago and western Illinois in the late 1800s is a step closer to becoming a saint. Father Augustus Tolton was the first African-American priest in the U.S. WGEM-TV reports his remains were exhumed from St. Peter’s Cemetery in Quincy on Dec. 10. They will be examined for historical verification purposes. Bishop John Paprocki of the Springfield Diocese was at the cem etery Dec. 10. He says having someone from the local area become a saint and show others how to be Christian is “a great thing.” Tolton was born a slave in 1854. His family escaped to Illinois, where he was a priest in Quincy and Chicago. He died in 1897. The late Cardinal Francis George of Chicago submitted Tolton as a candidate for sainthood in 2010. icU
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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