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Justice mourns reputation By RICHARD CARELU , THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - Clarence Thomas once scorned blacks he considered co-opted by "the man," or white America. The irony is not lost on him. "What youthful wrath I visited upon mem is now visited upon me," he acknowledged last week in his most impor tant speech since joining the Supreme Court and becoming the nation's high est-ranking black judicial official seven years ago. The estrangement hurts. "It pains me deeply, more deeply than any of you could imagine, to be perceived by so many members of my race as doing them harm," Thomas told about 1,000 black lawyers and judges at a National Bar Associa tion convention in Memphis, Tenn. In the same speech, however, Thomas, 50, asserted his freedom to think for himself and to eschew race-based orthodoxy. His political conservatism - particularly his opposition to affirmative action has enraged civil rights groups and led Some prominent blacks to label Thomas a traitor. The late William O. Douglas, the Supreme Court's liberal lion, opposed affirmative action just as vigorously three decades ago and suffered no such personal attacks for his views But Douglas was an important ally for other issues on the civil rights agenda. And he was white. Despite some strong language aimed at his critics Thomas' trip to Memphis was not about defi ance. Instead, it was a call for coexistence. The message: I'm on the court. I'll be there a long time. Get used to it. Some cannot. Keith Watters, a Washington lawyer and former National Bar Association presi dent, picketed outside the hotel while Thomas spoke. "I just couldn't turn my back on all those who have marched the marches, t made the sacrifices," he said. Watters believes Thomas "is a very lonely, isolated individual who is desperately trying to find his way back home, back into the African American community." Warren Hope Dawson, a Tampa, Fla? lawyer and another past NBA president, says Thomas' jurisprudence goes against the "group love" that envelops the black community. "He says, 'This is not about groups; this is about individuals'" Dawson said. "He has distanced himself." Perhaps the trip to Memphis was a first step closer. Speaking of affirmative action, Thomas said, "Any effort, policy or program that has as a prerequi site acceptance of the notion that blacks are inferior is a non-starter with me." Some who heard his speech were impressed with his courage - it was a polite but unfriendly crowd - and sincerity, while others criticized him for not taking ques tions or participating in any panel discussion. Some saw hypocrisy in Thomas' failure to mention that his admission to Yale's law school resulted from the very kind of affirmative action he now votes to abolish. "bamon Keith, a federal appeals court judge, hopes Thomas has taken "a first step in opening a line of communication with those who have a differing point of view." While in Memphis, Thomas met privately with the six black judges who are their respective states' top-ranking jurists. And he , i told NBA President Randy Jones, a federal prosecutor in San Diego, he is willing to discuss blacks' lack of success in obtaining jobs as Supreme Court law clerks, tradi tional stepping stones to high powered legal careers. Thomas spoke just a mile from the old Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was assassi nated 30 years ago. A very person al part of his speech was reminis cent of t^ie strife that had drawn King to Memphis. ? -TT a Thomai The Mmdy of tlain cMI right* leoder Martin Luther King, Jr., h cadktg for an apology front Km ML "The heatng MMMd MM auuagi JftA OOnodU MM MOUM ||tjM UM auuia ^ ?(. pvwvu cciri iw v vi oe oonv utww we Mir fHJOmcry tthJi muyuv wr rnuOc MmV mPBRH^ MM MlpV JOff /VW INI. HC" . hood above from ioh, Otriodno King tank, Martin Luther King, M, Cm MM Sea# Mhp, and doubter TMnnriln King says FBI owes apology BV DAVID PACE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - The son of the late Martin Luther. King Jr. says an iywlogy from the FBI is in order for harassment and spying the civil rights leader endured dur ing the 1960s. Martin Luther King III said the FBI should eventually apolo gize because the agency, under for mer director J. Edgar Hoover, "spent years and years trying to discredit my father and my family and spent millions of dollars of taxpayers'money." '">? "The healing process can never begin until we say publicly that maybe we made some mistakes," said King, who recently assumed the presidency of1 the Southern Christian Leadership Conference founded by his father. The King family has been lob bying the Clinton administration ?? . . I ' 1 to create a national commission U open a new investigation into th< assassination of King, who wai gunned down on a motel balcoir in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4 1968. Attorney General Jane Reno is reviewing the family^ request. FBI spokesman Frank Scafld said it would be inappropriate foi the agency to comment on King'i request for an apology while Rene is considering whether to reoper the assassination investigation. James Earl Ray, who wat imprisoned for the murder until hit death of liver disease this year, dis avowed his initial confession and spent years futilely seeking a new trial. The King family joined the effort in recent years, arguing thai Ray was innocent. King, speaking to reporter! after the conclusion of the SCLC'i annual conference, said a new tria "would have raised a lot of issue) ... C; . > thai needed to be raised" concern ing the involvement of the FBI and other government agencies in the harassment of his father. Those same issues, he said, can be aired if Reno decides to reopen the investigation into King's assas sination, focusing on new evidence that has surfaced over the years. In March, for example, former FBI agent Donald Wilson broke 30 years of silence and said that papers he took from Ray's car after the assassination support claims of a conspiracy. Wilson, who worked in the . FBI's Atlanta office in 1968, claimed to have found in Ray's car an envelope Containing two pieces of paper with the name "Raul" written on them. Ray contended he was set up by a shadowy gun runner named Raoul, a man whose existence has never been verified. I The FBI discounted Wilson's i story. I Urban League releases study By RONALD POWERS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - Black Americans face being left out of the nation's economic prosperity unless community leaders set a new civil rights agenda focusing on ways black families can accumu late wealth and assets, the Nation al Urban League said last week. Many people believe the grow ing black middle class and the emergence of many black million aires have moved black Americans closer to economic equality with white Americans, Urban League President Hugh Price said in releasing his organization's annual report. "The reality is, no matter how great incomes become for individ ual blacks, our wealth is not sus tained because we have very few assets that can be passed on from generation to generation," he said. The authors of the study, "The State of Black America 1998," say the nation cannot afford to have so many black families trapped in inner-city poverty, where they are isolated from mainstream society and their children are poorly edu cated. The Urban League urges America's universities, businesses, labor unions and governments to make a renewed commitment to affirmative action "Individual self-sufficiency, as important as that is, cannot be the ultimate goal," Price writes in the report's introduction. "Black folks must push past that and go for economic power." Among the study's findings: ? Black families lag far behind their white counterparts in the accumulation of wealth and per sonal assets Even among house holds earning 550,000 or more, where the wealth gap is narrowest, blacks possess barely one-half the median net worth of their white counterparts \ the report said. While young white families often get a head start in accumulating wealth, usually in the form of help with a down payment on their first homes, blacks usually don't have that advantage, the study's researchers said. ? Black families have been hardest hit as manufacturing and other well paying jobs have moved out of the nation's cities. "The dis appearance of work has had dev astating effects not only on indi viduals and families, but on the social life of neighborhoods as 1 well," the study said. The level of "of inner-city joblessness ... reached during the first half of the 1990s was unprecedented." ? Because of old and outdated infrastructure, many minority schools and neighborhoods are in danger of being left behind as advances are made in the field of computers and high-speed telecommunications. % . While America is rapidly changing, the head of the Urban League concludes that the answer to many of his community's prob lems is rooted in traditional wis dom. "Unless more African Ameri can youth get the message that learning is important, their chances of earning the income that will enable them to construct pro ductive lives for themselves will range from slim to none," Price said. i ?ssea=^^==== The Chronicle's e-mail address is: wschron@net unlimited.net EVER AFTER (PG-1J).. J* 445 7:15 *45 THE MASK0FZ0RR0(PG.I3) ..1*4:15 7**45 MADELINE (EG) ,...1:15Mi5:157:15*15 MILAN |G) 1*3*5*7*5* SMALL SOLDIERS (FG-13L J* 4:15 7:15 *J DOCTORD01JTTLE(PG-13) ....1:154*7**15 hEUM 1040 MYNOLOA RO - THE MASK OF ZOUWG-Ul. 1*4:157*3* TRIM'SSOMETHINGABOATMARY(II ..1*4:137:153* DOCTOIDOLmiX ffG-13) 1*4*7*3* lASHEIlALLII] 1*4*7:153* THE NEGOTIATOR it) .1*4*7*3* SMALL SOLMEBlKrU) 1*4:13 MSTUIIINGIEHAVIOR ID .7*3* THE FAINT TIAflfG) 1*4* 7*3* ARMAGEDDON (TG-L3) 11-433*4*3* E2BBSBMWSS SAVING PIIVA11 IVAN (I) .11*4:131* SAVING nUVATEIYAN (1)... Ml, 11*3*7*11* SIXTH.U*3*7* SAVING PIIV^BANTC-Ul Officer loses suit t * 1 THE ASSOCIATED WTOf CHAPEL HILL - An adminis tnaive law judge has rejected an embattled University of North Carolina police officer's claim that he was the victim of racial discrim ination. Friday's ruling by Administra tive Law Judge Fred Morrison Jr. also upheld UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Michael Hooker'* deci sion to suspend Lt. Edwin Swain Jr. for one week without pay for falsifying his time records. Swain was fired last year, two months after accusing the UNC police department of squelching an underage drinking citation he gave to a university trustee's step daughter at a September football game. Hooker later rehired Swain, raying the punishment was too harsh, but suspended him for > week without pay. Swain claimed the school had retaliated against htm for hiscoit ments about the drinking cithtiqn and had discriminated yma him in his annual job teview because le is black. UNC officials said Swain was disciplined for spending two hours at a local newspaper office whifo on duty and in uniform to discuss a grievance he filed against the um versity. Swain was offered several opportunities to amend his time sheet, but he refused to do so. "Lieutenant Edwin Swain wds not the victim of illegal discrimi nation or retaliation," Morrison wrote in his decision. ; S L wjmmnjtKnW MBm ??v Ii * ? < I ? i < I 4 I 4 I 4 I 4 V 4 Programs of Study ? Accounting ? Bufinni A dantMi CSPMSIAM AOfninifii MiiOfi ? Computer Information Systems w biviii9iiiui y boucwiiwii o SdaoaaoA li iMaicniMjac ? nome rurniiiiiiigf Marketing (High Point Cmipm Onfy) 0 I 00000 9 inferior vwign (High Mitf Ciwfm Only) ? Industrial/ Organizational Psychology ? Psychology (Gonoral OhjIUa A Mssitnl oiuaivs at monrai neaim PjkMOASBtemltsSMt voncvmiwiioni ? Classos offorsd yoor round J A ? Six sossions par yoor ; 1 ? S wools sossions ? lorn 6 som. hours int wks ? Classos 3 nights wookly (Man./ Tuos., Thurs.) ? Two class poriodst 6-7:40 A 7:30-9:30 pm ? Financial Aid II^LI. avanaoie V v IF YOU CAN AFFORD THIS, YOU CAN PROBABLY AFFORD THE HOME THAT GOES WITH IT. We wanted to make it easier for people to own a home. Especially people who didn't have a lot of money. Or perfect credit. So we developed a range of affordable home loans. Which are all flexible and affordable in slightly different ways. In fact, even the phone call is free. 1-800-240-3862. Or visit a branch, mortgage office or www.firstunionmortgage.com. 19 t0tf C19M ftrtt Union Corp
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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