I NATION All
Pizza Hut settles
hate crime lawsuit
By MARTHA IRVINE ' ?
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS '
CHICAGO - Pizza Hufof America, Inc. has settled a civil law
suit following a federal judge's precedent-setting ruling earlier this
year that corporations can be held liable if their employees commit
hate crimes.
In the lawsuit, members of a black family claimed they were
harassed, threatened with a mop handle and called racial slurs by
white employees at one of the company's restaurants near St. Louis.
"You can hate someone privately and it,'s your own business,"
Mary Ann Burton, one of the family members, said after a news
conference in Chicago on Tuesday. "When you hate someone pub
licly, it becomes everyone's business."
Pizza Hut paid the family an undisclosed amount of money in
the settlement, but admitted to no wrongdoing.
In a statement, Pizza Hut said it trains employees to treat cus
tomers and'employees fairly and does not tolerate harassment.
"We concluded there was absolutely no racial or discriminatory
behaviot" involved, but our employees should have provided better
customer service," the statement said, calling the matter an "isolat
ed incident."
But Edward Voci, the family s attorney, said q ruling by U.S.
District Judge William Hart last July - a rejection of Pizza Hut's
motion to dismiss the case - could have ramifications for corpora
tions nationwide. .
- At least one legal expert agrees.
"This potentially has a lot of applications because a lot of peo
ple do their hating at work," said Saul Levmbre, a law professor at
the University of Chicago. ?
The lawsuit was filed last year on behalf of Burton and 16 fam
ily members from Illinois, Missouri and South Carolina who had
gathered for a family dinner during the Fourth of July weekend in
1995 in Burton's hometown of Godfrey, a predominately white
southwestern Illinois town about 20 miles north of St. Louis.
In his opinion, Hart noted family members' claims that they
called in an order for six pizzas about an hour before closing time
and were told they-could eat at the restaurant.
After being met with racial slurs, they said they were not pro
vided plates or utensils and were told that no drinks could be
ordered because the beverage machine had been turned off - even
though white customers had received drinks minutes before the
request, according fo the opinion.
Employees also ran the sweeper near their table, blasted the
jukebox and turned the lights on and off, the opinion said.
Family members said they* felt particularly threatened when
employees allegedly fojlowed them into the parking lot with qne of
them slapping the mop handle into his hand. They said more than
one employee called them "niggers," among other things.
?"Those words hurt me because my son had to ask me what they
meant," said Adrian Burton, Mary Ann Burton's son who lives in
Arlington, Texas.
in nis opinion, Mart saia tne aetaits 01 tne case were enougn to
cpffvTrice him that the actions were racially motivated.
Hart also rejected the Pizza Hut lawyers' contention that the
Illinois hate crimes law applies to individuals, not corporations.
"Nothipg in the statute indicates that 'person'... should be lim
ited to natural persons, and (the) defendant does not point to any
legislative history indicating such a construction was intended," the
judge wrote.
Dallas-based Pizza Hut was owned by PepsiCo in 1995. It is now
owned by Tricon Global Restaurants, a Louisville, Ky.-based com
pany that also owns KFC and Taco Bell.
1 ? '
Area artists to perform at 14th
annual MLK birthday celebration
V " . ? ? ? . ? ' ?
Special to THE CHRONICLE -
The North Carolina Black Repertory Company has selected an
array of talented artists to perform during the company's 14th
annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration. The event
will be held Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Arts Coun- ^
cu ineaire, oiu coliseum ur. in winston
Salem.
The event is free. Because of the endrmous
turnout of past celebrations, reservations are
recommended. Call the Black -Reps office at
(336) 723-2266.
Jan. 15 is the actual birthday of Dr. King
although the national holiday, is celebrated on
the third Monday of January. For atjeast 10
? years, the Black Rep has been the only organi- |
zation in Winston-Salem celebrating Dr. King's ? p, King
actual birthday on the 15th. NCBRC founder
1 J: ? i i ii ?:_ i _*i I
anu uirciiui ldii) lcimi namim anu inner
artists decided to show their appreciation for
Dr. King by using their artistic talents in cele
bration of the profound contributions of such a
great member of humanity.
The celebration is especial! 'designed for the
youth of the cotnmunity to He shared with their
family. The event has something for everyone.
Youth performances for this year's celebration
include gospel vocalist Bethany Heath who will
periorm a auo wnn ner iaincr, tne Kev. John ffmiifin
Heath, a national recording artist and actor;
actor Todd Nelson who will present a dramatic presentation by
Langston Hughes; dancers from the Artistic Studio; Boss Drum
mers of the Winston Lake YMCA and Travia, a local rap group.
Featured performers for the evening include jazz trumpeter Joe
Robinson; jazz vocalist Janice Price; vocalists/actors the Rev. John
Heath, Randy Johnson. Sharon Frazier and Elliott Lowery;
poet/rapper Bill Jackson; and Hamlin.
t The Chronic! h i
i
, Our e-mail address is: | gj 1
*' ws(jhron%netunlimited.net
7 ; - ?
' . v f* "?
6 of 7 octuplets breathing on their own
BY TERR] LANGFORD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON - In the dim light
of the neonatal intensive care unit
at Texas Children's Hospital,
Gorom Louis' hushed world is one
of whispering nurses and the beep
of a nearby monitor.
Tiny Gorom, the last of the
Houston octuplets born last
month, lies with her eyes squeezed
tightly shut and takes delicate sips
through a tube taped to her
mouth.
Two Beanie Baby puppies
stand guard in her electronically
warmed Plexiglas bassinet. One of
her paper clip-sized feet stabs
reflexively at the soft fabric pad
that surrounds her.
Still recovering from abdomi
nal surgery, Gorom, who now
weighs just over a pound (450
grams), is the last of the seven sur
viving babies to need the assistance
of a ventilator.
Her two brothers and four sis
ters - all dressed alike in pastel
knitted caps and diapers the size of
thank-you notes - have graduated
to oxygen piped into their tiny
noses.
Photo by The Associated Press
Nkmm Chukwu and bar hutband lykm Louis Udobi arm rttm proud parent* of mw. Six of thm wwb tiny habit* arm
Ixmadrntg on Ihob own. An oighlh baby. Mora, died of hoart and lung faiturm two wmakt ago.
Gorom s brother Jioke ranks as
the biggest -.just under 2 pounds
(900 grams). Monday's weigh-in
showed that all the babies are
either holding their own or are
starting to gain weight, a very pos
itive beginning, doctors say.
If everything continues to go
well, Gorom should soon be taken
off the ventilator and the seven sib
lings could go home as early as
March, Dr. Leonard Weisman told
The Associated Press during a tour
of the unit.
For the next few months, how
ever, all seven will remain within
the 120-bed Neonatal Intensive
Care Unit, the nation's largest.
"We still have a way to go," said
Weisman, checking the monitors
over Gorom's warming bed.
The babies' mother, Nkem
Chukwu, 27, delivered her first
child, Ebuka, on Dec. 8 and her
seven siblings on Dec. 20. The tini
est, Odera, died of heart and lung
failure Dec. 27.
The neonatal unit is more nurs
ery than sterile laboratory, with
nurses buzzing around to make
sure babies are receiving enough
"skin" time - crucial contact with
parents and volunteers who cuddle
them.
A pair of Christmas trees stand
a few feet from the pods that con
tain groups of four to six prema
ture or critically ill babies. New
born warming beds are decorated
with cheery name tags and volun
teers donate handmade blankets
and, for the tiniest charges,
canopies to cover their incubators
so they can sleep better.
Nutrition specialists are also on
hand to map out individual growth
plans and a neonatologist, a doc
tor who specializes in the health of
newborns,' is on call steps away
from the nursery 24 hours a day.
Mothers use electronic key
cards to access soothing private
rooms for breast feeding. The unit
is also one of the first to use nitric
oxide to treat pulmonary high
blood pressure in infants.
"The high tech stuff is to keep
them alive," said Weisman. "But
the thing that makes the difference
is nutrition and development.
That's really what this is all about."
Execution ot black
man spurs controversy
By HERBERT L. WHITE
CONSOLIDATED MEDIA GROUP ?
There was a time in North Car
olina's history when executing
someone like Dawud Abdullah
Muhammad was, routine.
Now it requires appeals and a
public rela-.
tions battle to
combat the .
notion jthat
sentencing
African
Americans to
death isn't
state-spon
sored geno
cide.
M u h a fn - Muhammad
madr who is
also known as David Junior
Brpwn, is scheduled to be executed
Jan. 22 for the 1980 stabbing death
of Shelly Diane Chalfinch, 36, and
her 9-year-old daughter Christine
in Pinehurst. Muhammad, 50,
would be the first African Ameri- ?
can executed in North Carolina
since the Supreme Court reinstat
ed the death penahy in 1976. His
victims were white.
Orginally. Muhammad's execu
tion was slated for Jan. 15 - the
birthday of slain civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr. Public out
rcry forced officials to push the
date back a week.
In 1990, the U.S. General
Accounting Office reviewed 28
existing studies on race and the
death penalty, and concluded that
there was a "pattern of evidence
indicating racial disparities in the
charging, sentencing and imposi
tion of the cieath penalty."
OP the 187 people on North
Carolina's death row, 102, or 54
percent, are black, although blacks
make up only 22 percent of the
state's population.
r- ? a r ? a ?
rive are Airican Americans
from Mecklenburg County.
Since 1910, 76 percent of
inmates executed have been black.
There's a lingering undercur
rent that the state has been reluc
tant to execute black convicts
because of the heightened sense of
persecution among African Amer
icans. The theory is this: If more
blacks are sentenced and put to
death than whites, anti-capital
punishment advocates could point
? to a racial double standard.
Not so, say? John Hood, presi
dent of the John Locke Founda
tion. a conservative public policy
think tank in Raleigh There are
numerous factors that contribute
-4^ carrying out de?th sentences
which preclude race, such as the
nature of the crime. Shelly
Chalfinch was discmbowled with a
knife; Christine was stabbed to
death. A signet ring identified as
Muhammad's was removed from
Shelly Chaffinch's body, and a
knife similar to those*he used as a
preparation chef was found at the
murder scene.
"It's not so much if capital
punishment is racist because a dis
proportionate number of black
people have been executed," Hood
said. "It isn't about the race of the
defendant, it's about,the race of
the victim." -s.
Race plays a role in capital
cases, especially that of the victim.
In a 1987 Supreme Court case,
. McCleskey v: Kemp, a national
study of prisoners on death row in
the U.S. determined that 82 per
cent of them were condemned for
murdering a white person. Civil
rights advocates and death-penalty
opponents have long maintained
that the judicial system is less like
ly to condemn suspects for killing
blacks. In North Carolina, only
one white is on death row for mur
dering an African American.
"Since most homicides ^re
5 intraracial, those statistics would
suggest most killers of whites ire
more likely to get a death sen
tence," said Duke Law School Pro
fessor Robert Mosteller. "I don't
think they expected to find that. If
you put the raw statistics together,
you're going to have more white
defendants get death. It's clear the
race of the victim makes a heck of
a lot of difference."
So does the skill 01 a delen
dant's lawyer,. Most death row
inmates couldn't afford their own
attorney, relying on often inexperi
enced' and under-funded public
defenders who are paid as little as
$2,000 in some states.
One study concluded that a
lawyer needs up to 600 hours in
pre-trial preparations, 600 court
hours and 700 hours on direct
appeal, which is all but impossible
for a public defender.
"Most of those people had a
public defender- or a court
appointed lawyer as their counsel,"
said Deborah Ross, executive
director of the N.C. American
Civil Liberties Union in Raleigh.
"You don't have as much time or
experience at your disposal to do
your cases. There are more African
Americans who can't afford their
own lawyers."
With some states paying just
$20 an hour for public defenders,
indigent'defendants' chances of
avoiding a death sentence - much
less conviction - are slim. Public
defenders are also less likely to be
experienced in handling capital
cases. A survey conducted by the
National Law Jourrwt found that
over half of the death row inmates
in six southern states have been
represented by lawyers who had
never handled a death penalty
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