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VOLUME 99 - NUMBER 14
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, APRIL11, 2020
TELEPHONE:919-682-2913 PRICE 50
Data: Virus impact disproportionate for blacks in Charlotte
CHARLOTTE (AP) -
African Americans in the
area of North Carolina’s
largest city are being dis
proportionately affected
by COVID-19, according
to data released by local
health officials.
Figures from Mecklen
burg County health offi
cials show black residents
accounted for 43.9% of
303 confirmed COVID-19
cases locally through April
4, The Charlotte Observer
reported. By comparison,
the U.S. Census estimates
from last July show African
American residents make
up only 32.9% ofMecklen-
burg County’s population.
George Dunlap, the
chairman of the Mecklen
burg County commission
ers, said if black residents
are disproportionately rep
resented in the case count,
it may be because they’re
more often seeking testing.
So far, Mecklenburg Coun
ty Public Health Director
Gibbie Harris has not dis
closed how many people
have been tested for CO-
VID-19 or released demo
graphics for those who had
negative test results.
Charlotte City Council
member Braxton Winston,
who is black, said lead
ers will need to “wrap our
proverbial arms around our
most high-risk communi
ties.”
“That is going to be so
important in flattening the
overall curve ... Equity
should really inform us of
segments of our population
that could be most dispro 2
portionately affected by
convention until August, an un
precedented move that shows
how the coronavirus is reshaping
the battle for the White House.
The party had hoped that a
mid-July convention would give
them more time to rally behind
a nominee and unify against
President Donald Trump. But
concerns that large crowds will
spread the virus prompted Dem
ocrats, including presumptive
nominee Joe Biden, to press for
alternatives.
“In our current climate of un
certainty, we believe the smart
est approach is to take additional
time to monitor how this situa
tion unfolds so we can best po
sition our party for a safe and
successful convention,” said
Democratic convention CEO Joe
Solmonese.
Milwaukee will still host the
convention, which is now sched
uled for the week of Aug. 17. Re
publicans are sticking with their
plan to meet in Charlotte, North
Carolina, a week later to renomi
nate Trump.
The social distancing re
quired to combat the coronavirus
has already prompted multiple
states to delay their presidential
primaries from April and May
into June. But the postponement
of the convention is the most sig
nificant change to the presiden
tial section process to date.
FILE - In this July 30, 1983, file photo, former Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins halfback and
wide receiver Bobby Mitchell poses with his bronze bust after being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
in ceremonies in Canton, Ohio. Mitchell, the speedy late 1950s and a€™60s NFL offensive star the Browns
and the Redskins, has died. He was 84. The Pro Football Hall of Fame said Sunday night, April 5, 2020, that
Mitchella€™s family said he died in the afternoon. (AP Photo/Gus Chan, File)
Pro Football Hall offamer
Bobby Mitchell dies at 84
By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Sports Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Bobby Mitchell, the speedy Hall of Earner who became the Washington Redskins’ first
black player, has died. He was 84.
Mitchell split his career with the Cleveland Browns and Redskins and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of
Fame in 1983. The Hall of Fame said April 5 that Mitchell’s family said he died in the afternoon but didn’t provide
any other details.
“The game lost a true legend today,” Hall of Fame President & CEO David Baker said in a statement. “Bobby
was an incredible player, a talented executive and a real gentleman to everyone with whom he worked or competed
against.”
When Mitchell joined the Redskins in 1962, they became the last NFL team to integrate. After playing his first four
seasons in Cleveland, he spent seven more with Washington and retired with the second-most combined offensive
yards.
Mitchell became a Redskins scout and later served as assistant general manager.
“His passion for the game of football was unmatched by anyone I have ever met,” Redskins owner Daniel Snyder
said. “Not only was he one of the most influential individuals in franchise history, but he was also one of the greatest
men I have ever known. He was a true class act and will be sorely missed.”
Retired NFL running back Brian Mitchell, who has no relation to Bobby but became friends with him, said he
learned from the Hall of Famer, “Tough times don’t remain, tough people do, and you don’t let what you go through
change who you are unless it’s for the better.”
“I’m sure there was people saying stuff to him and doing things that (ticked) him off, but he wasn’t bitter,” Brian
Mitchell said. “When you look at him when he was working for the Redskins early on, many people felt Bobby
should’ve been the general manager of the Washington Redskins. He didn’t get bitter. He kept doing the things he
can do.”
Bobby Mitchell said during a 2015 episode of Showtime’s “60 Minutes Sports” that he understood pretty quickly
upon signing in Washington “there was no one in this town used to having a black star.” Friend and fellow Hall of
Famer Jim Brown took it one step further.
“Bobby was an individual that was thrown into the arena of being a victim for no reason,” Brown said. “He had to
suffer for being black more than any person I know that played football at the time I played. With that kind of ability,
if he were white, everybody on this earth would know who he was.”
Mitchell played halfback for the Browns from 1958-61 and moved to flanker with the Redskins, leading the NFL
in yards receiving in 1962 and 1963. He was a three-time All-NFL selection, played in four Pro Bowls, and his 7,954
all-purpose yards were the second-most in league history when he retired in 1968.
After retiring, Mitchell became active in the community and held an annual golf tournament raising funds for the
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society since 1980.
“You look at Bobby, his career was a Hall of Fame career, but I know for African-American people, he was a social
activist, as well,” Brian Mitchell said. “Not only was he a great football player and a guy who would go out there and
fight for the rights of his people but he was also a guy who was a philanthropist, a guy doing everything that you’re
supposed to do.”
Mitchell grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas, played baseball in high school and starred in track and football at the
University of Illinois. The Hall of Fame flag on the museum’s campus in Canton, Ohio, will be flown at half-staff.
4
Register to Vote
Primary winner
Murdock ap
pointed to North
Carolina Senate
(AP) - The winner of a
North Carolina state Sen
ate primary last month was
appointed on Wednesday to
fill for the rest of the year
the seat she’s aiming to win
this fall.
Gov. Roy Cooper for
mally appointed Natalie
Murdock the day after Dur
ham County Democratic
activists meeting online
chose her to succeed Sen.
Mickey Michaux, who re
signed from the seat ear
lier in the day. State law
required Cooper to follow
the Democrats’ wishes and
appoint Murdock, who
leads a marketing and com
munications firm, to the va
cancy.
Michaux, who served
in the state House over 45
years through 2018, had
filled the 20th Senate Dis
trict seat since January.
It was previously held by
Sen. Floyd McKissick until
resigning to join the North
Carolina Utilities Commis
sion.
When appointed, Mi
chaux said he anticipated
stepping down so Cooper
could appoint the March 3
Democratic primary win
ner to succeed him. Mur
dock won that primary.
Murdock faces Repub
lican nominee John Taran
tino in the November gen
eral election in the heavily
Democratic district for a
two-year term starting in
early 2021.
The General Assembly
is supposed to convene on
April 28. Some want leg
islators to return earlier to
pass bills related to COV
ID-19.
There will be another
new legislator on the legis
lature’s return. Cooper ap
pointed physician Kristin
Baker on March 19 to fill
the unexpired term of Re
publican Rep. Linda John
son, who died in February.
Baker won the GOP prima
ry last month.
High Court declines case
of 60s black militant H.
Rap Brown
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Supreme Court is declining to
take the case of a 1960s black
militant formerly known as H.
Rap Brown who is in prison for
killing a Georgia sheriff’s deputy
in 2000.
As is usual, the justices didn’t
comment April 6 inturning away
Brown’s case. Brown had argued
his constitutional rights were
violated at trial.
Brown converted to Islam
and now goes by the name Jamil
Abdullah Al-Amin. He gained
prominence more than 50 years
ago as a Black Panthers leader
and was at one point the chair
man of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee.