NATIONAL
Mother of Civil Rights Movement Assaulted in Her Home
; /DETROIT (AP) ? - Revered
- civil rights figure Rosa Parks spent
ther night under protection by Detroit
police after she was robbed of $53
and assaulted in her home. Her
assailant remained at large.
; Parks, 81, was attacked about
8 p.m. Tuesday. She was treated for
bruises to her face and chest at
Detroit Receiving Hospital and was
released about 11:40 p.m., hospital
" spokesman Dennis Archambault
said.;
Parks was not available for.
comment
Police Chief Isaiah McKin
non said police would provide secu
rity for Parks for an indefinite
period.
Parks is known as the
"mother of the civil rights move?
' mem" for her defiance on a Mont
gomery, Ala., bus in 1955 when she
. refused toigive up her seat to a white
man. Her arrest triggered a 381 -day
boycott of city buses ? led by a
local -minister, the Rev. Martin
. Luther King Jr. ? and sparked the
modem civil rights movement.
The assailant probably did not
know who Parks was, McKinnon
?' said.
Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer
telephoned Parks from Martha's
Vineyard, Mass., where he played
golf earlier Tuesday with President
Clinton; . v-,
?."1 personally and deeply
resent any of our citizens being
assaulted and becoming victims of
. crime," Archer said in a statement
released by his press secretary, Cliff
Russell.
"It is more insulting when
Rosa Parks > ?
Rosa Parks, who sat down to give us
an equal opportunity to compete,
becomes a victim of crime in her
i own home," Archer said.
?? "In 1994, she should feel safe
in, of all places, the African- Ameri
can community,." Adisa Faluke, a
neighbor, told WDIV-TV. "It's very
unfortunate."
McKinnon said Parks main
tained her dignity during the ordeal
and gave p<?lice a good description
of her attacker. She described him
as a black male, about 30 years old.
5-foot-7 and weighing about 140
pounds. He Wore dark clothing anc}
a dark baseball cap. ^
Parks was upstairs in her
home on Detroit's west side when
she heard a noise ancj went down
stairs to investigate, McKinnon said.
She found the man standing there
and her back door knocked out of its
frame.
Parks said thefe was a strong
odor of alcohol. The man initially
said he hadn't broken down the door
and he was there to protect her,
McKinnon said.
Parks told police the man
demanded money, and she gave him
$3. He demanded more, then struck
her in the face when she said that
was all she had. Parks said she gave
the man another $50, and he fled
after ransacking a few drawers. .
Parks called her neighjx>r and
personal secretary, who then called
police. '? '???.. /. . ? ; : ? ' . ? .
Neighbors complained that it
took police about 45 minutes to
respond to the emergency call.
McKinnon said his initial .
investigation indicated police .
received four or five calls involving
life-and-death situations about the
same time, which caused a backlog.
Parks was 42 when she com- ?
J . ' \ i m ? * " . ? :
mitted an act of defiance that was to ?
change the course of American his
tory. At that time, Jim Crow laws
enacted after the post-Civil War
Reconstruction required separation
of the races in buses, restaurants and
public ^accommodations throughout
the South. v * ;
The Montgomery, Ala., seam
stress. an active member of the local
chapter of the National Associati^ti
for the Advancement of Colored
People, was riding-on a city bus
Dec. 1, 1955, when a white man
demanded her sea}.
Parks refused, despite rules
requiring blacks to yield their seats
to whites, and was jailed.
Blacks responded with a 381
day boycott of the bus system,
which resulted in the desegregation
of the buses. Historians have cited
the boycott as the birth of the mod- .
ern civil rights movement.
After taking her public stand
for civil rights. Parks found ft diffi
cult to find work in Alabama, and
she moved to Detroit in 1957. She
worked as an aide in the Detroit ,
office of Rep. Jojin Conyers, D
Mich., from 1965 until retiring in
1988. Her husband Raymond died
in 1977/
? Conyers was among those
who visited Parks in the hospital
Tuesday.
Parks became a revered figure
in Detroit, where a street and middle
school were named for her and a
papier-mache likeness of her made
its debut in the city's 1988 Thanks
giving Day Parade.
Parks said upon retiring from
her job with Conyers that she would
devote more time to the Rosa and
Raymond Parks Institute for Self
Development. The institute, fncor- .
porated in 1987, is devoted to devel
oping leadership among Detroit
yyouth and initiating them into the 'j
struggle for civil rights. /
Elders Son Sentenced to 1 0 Years
u. + ' k . ' > . ? v. . ? . * ?
: : UTTLE ROCK Ark. (AP) _
A jirtfge sentenced a son of U.S.
Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders
on Monday to 10 years in prison for
selling one-eighth of ,an ounce of
cocaine to an undercover police
man.
As Kevin Elders was led off
to jail, the surgeon general fought
back tears, while his father, Oliver,
slammed his hands into a steel door
in frustration.
Kevin Elders, 28, had
claimed entrapment, saying the
informant who set up the July 29,
his drug habit and embarrass his
mother at her confirmation hearing.
The sale of the $275 worth of
cocaine was Elders' first offense,
but Circuit Judge John Plegge said
the law required him to impose the
minimum 10-yekr sentence. He
Could have been sentenced to life.
Elders' attorney, P.A. "Les*1
Hollingsworth, said- he would
appeal.
The judge set bond at
$10,000. The prosecutor said it
would be at least Tuesday before
Elders was released.
Kevin Elders has acknowl
edged having a Secade-long drug
problem, including a three-ylear
cocaine addiction.
? At his trial, Elders said his
parents were aware of his drug
problems, but that they neVer dis
cussed it. "They really didn't know
how bad it really is," he said.
In a recent letter to Plegge, ?
Mrs. Elders asked for leniencv for
her son and to give our son and
our family a second chance." the
Arkansas, Democrat-Gazette
reported Monday
Mrs. Elders said when her
son needed her most she was too
busy ' with politics. "As I sat there
watching my son, I thought of how
much and how long he had suffered
because at the time of his greatest
need, we had not been able to com
municate as a family," she wrote.
"I was totally immersed in trying to
get through a very difficult Senate
confirmation hearing in Washing
ton, D.C."
Mrs. Elders was nominated
for surgeon general on July 1, 1993,
six months after President Clinton
first announced his intention to pick
her. She won Senate confirmation
Sept, 7. 1993. fo,,, 1
Elders was arrested Dec. 19,
1^,993, five months after the drug
^sale, on a warrant issued a week
after his mother suggested at a
National Press Club luncheon that ?
the government study legalization
of drugs as a possible means of
reducing the nation's crime rate. ?
Mrs. Elders said her son has
undergone drug rehabilitation and
has successfully managed rental
__jvropgilvlhat belongs tojjirjRmjly
> After the sentencing. Elder*,
his lawyer and his parents were
t^ken to the lockup, where they
talked for a few minutes. Elders
- hugged his mother and was taken
away
As the door closed, leaving
the parents in the hallway, Mrs.
? Elders choked back tear^ and her
husband lufiged at the steel door.
s*They never even gave him a
shot!/* Oliver Elders said repeat
edly.
Hearing Held in Murder
> : : : -LUMBERTON, N.C. ( AP ) _
A judge refused to bar the public
and news organizations from
attending hearings ltading up to a
trial. for two Robeson County teen
agers' charged with killing Michael
Jpixhmfs father. , 1
; ? ; " ?Superipf-C^fct Judge Gre
gOfJ Weeks^iled^Way that attor
neys fyr Larry ylrtin Demery, 19,
of Rowlandy*nd Daniel Andre
Gtepn, 19, o^Lumberton, had not
offered specmc arguments for why
preitial hearings should be closed
Defense attorney Hugh
Rogers argued that information that
iftight be disclosed at the pretrial
hearings could prejudice potential
jury xfcembers against his client,
Larry Demery. But Rogers said he
couldn't be specific. He also said
pe&ery wanted a public trial.
'?.Attorneys for the state news
paper and broadcasters associations
argueS that the state and federal
constitutions required open hearings
fis w$D as trills.
. Weeks was expected to hear
statements today on a host of peti
tions- to be determined before
Penfry and Green can be tried.
Demery and Green were
charged Aug. 15, 1993, with first
degree murder, armed robbery and
conspiracy to commit armed rob
bery.
The charges were brought
after investigators linked the two to
the July 23, 1993 death of James
Jordan. The father, of the former
NBA superstar was found in a
South Carolina swamp, but not
identified until 10 days later.
Demery and Green have been
held in the Robeson County Jail
since their arrest. Today's hearing
was the first time they've been in
public since a hearing last Oct. 5.
They haven't entered pleas, but
have denied guilt during various
interviews.
Among the scores of unheard
motions filed by defense attorneys
is one to close pretrial hearings to
the public and news media.
-..Robeson County prosecutors
also ate expected to disclose evi
-dencf to show why the suspects
should face the death penalty. And
Judg$ Gregory Weeks is expected
to consider whether to join the
cases for trial.
? * James Jordan
" ^ . -it
Defense attorneys also have
filed motions seeking independent
firearms analysis, the elder Jordan's
financial records and an expert to
examine dental X-rays used to iden
tify Jordan.
A motion filed in Jui> by one
team of defense lawyers said JrjTies
Jordan, 57, may have faked his
death to avoid financial obligations.
Law enforcement officials
and attorneys were ordered in Octo
ber to stop discussrftg evidence and
statements of witnesses that have
been collected in the &ase.
No trial date has been set in
the case. Weeks has set aside three
days for the hearings.
It's brewed with care.
Please handle it that way.
3,*
J-/!
Don't let a gcxxl thing get out of hand
' . " [
cfltgtfr
ii
ii).
Winston-Salem Chronicle
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