| Farmers, USDA reach landmark deal in discrimination suit]
By DAMON FORD
TMFTlfTLE
After years of legal wrangling,
a settlement between the U.S.
. Department of Agriculture and
Mack fanners has been reached.
"I am pleased to announce
today that all parties have agreed
to a settlement of the civil rights
class action brought against this
department by African American
farmers from across the country
for discrimination complaints
between 1981 and 1996," said agri
culture secretary Dan Gbckman in
a statement released last week.
"This settlement is fair to the farm
ers and to U.S. taxpayers. The
guideposts I established for the
negotiations retains flexibility in
terms of how individual fanners'
cases are resolved 10 we can do our
best to meet their needs"
The consent decree settlement
that was Tiled last week outlines a
$50,000 payout with stipulations
and an opportunity for debt for
giveness for black farmers.
But according to L.C. Cooper,
president of the N.C. Black Farm
ers and Agriculturalist Associa
tion, there's no reason for any
black farmer to celebrate. The
Warren County resident says there
are too many loopholes for the
majority of black fanners to ever
receive a dime
? I don't think it's a fair settle
ment," Cooper said. "I think it's
far from justice."
Under the agreement, farmers
have two options.
The first track allows those
who meet the class definition and
who can provide substantial evi
dence of discrimination to receive
a monetary settlement of $50,000
as well as additional relief in the
form of debt write-downs and
some offset of tax liability.
The second track' offers a
farmer the chance to receive more
money, but is tougher to qualify
for. Farmers who believe they have
evidence of extreme wrongdoing
must prove it with well document
ed information. If the proof is
there, a third party arbitrator will
review the case to determine a tai
lored settlement.
Cooper says most farmers,
many of whom have been locked in
battle with the government for
years, won't be able to provide the
evidence needed. He ako believe*
the process is a waste of time since
the USDA already admitted tp
throwing away or burning com
plaints filed by the farmers from
the early 1980s.
"So why do you have to come
back and try to find all this infor
mation," Cooper asked. "Now you
"have to go to court and prove with
out a shadow of a doubt that
See Mads Farmer* AH
73 cents *c?Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point xxv No. 20
e?7 /^SlTT^/^TVTT/ T Reforence,
- x rib CHRONIC i :r::;,
The Choice for African American News and Information
,2 t . ?* v ~ ? ? ,
Atkins to
stay as is
r
Without a vote, Board
'decides to keep historic
high school a middle school
BJ-T. KEVIN WALKER
4hic Pudavivi r
#nc wremnMX
I#*
>? Atkins High School will only exist in the vivid mem
ejies of the many alumni who walked its hallowed halls.
J- The city-county school board halted a growing
paovement to convert Atkins Mid
dle School back into a high school
Tuesday night.
By "general consensus," the
-(bard gave the superintendent the
go-ahead to inform Atkins person
nel that converting the school is no
longer an option it will consider Jo
ease high school overcrowding.
"Atkins was a fine high
school...In its day," board member
Geneva Brown said, expressing the
opinion of most of her colleagues.
Other board members said they were just not willing to
displace hundreds of students and employees and that
the proposal lacked universal support in the African
rimci iwaii tuiiiiuuiiiiy.
The board had attended a three
and-a-half hour community
forum at Atkins the day before
(see page A9) to hear East Win
ston residents speak Out on both
sides of the issue.
School system staffers will now
go back to the drawing board In
order to come up with other solu
tions to deal with an onslaught of
high school students expected
around 2002. One solution may
include plans to build a brand new Atkins High School
jp East Winston, a proposal that many supporters of
'die original plan have now adopted.
"Convert Atkins back to a high school or build us a
new school," State Rep. Larry Womble said at Mon
day's community forum.
r A serious push to convert the middle school began
{his past summer after well-known Atkins High alum
ni, including Womble, started a petition campaign.
More than 1,000 people added their names to the peti
tion, organizers claimed.
The movement also found a vocal ally in Atkins
tflumni and school board member Victor Johnson. At
Tuesday's board meeting. Johnson defended the pro
posal against criticism .from wary board members and
County Commissioner Walter Marshall, Marshall - a .
former school board member - once supported the idea
of converting Atkins. But now, he says the plan would
cripple Carver High Sdiool's ability to lure students.
Carver, the only high school in the East Winston area,
is already greatly underpopulated.
Marshall added that a new Atkins High School
would always be a cut below other high schools because
Set- Atkins im At
Johnton
Marthall
Pile photo
Mor* than 30 yman ago, $krin CMf Right* Imadmr Morfin U*hmr King J* mod* a historic tpmmth at Oobr Mmh
ivpirftan AMi Zbn atunh. lhm immon wm part of a mauiv "guhouMo-votm" drt*.
Civil Rights leader's speech still -
topic of conversation at local church
By JERI YOUNG
THE CHRONICLE
For Flora Alexander, Martin Luther King's
birthday holds special meaning.
It's her birthday as well, she says proudly.
But it's more than their common birthday that
draws Alexander to the slain civil rights leader.
Alexander was one of the thousands of local
residents who crowded the sanctuary of Goler
Metropolitan AME Zion Church on a stormy
day in 1964 for a voter registration^ rally.
As an electrical storm raged overhead, a storm
of a different sort raged in the hearts and minds
of the throng who packed into the unaircondi
tioned church to hear King speak.
Chairs were set up in the aisle. Hundreds
stood out on the church's neatly manicured lawns
as King extolled the power of the vote.
The church was packed with dignitaries.
According to members, among those in atten
dance were the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and the
late Rev. Ralph Abernathy, both of whom arrived
with King.
During an impassioned speech sponsored by
the NAACP and Southern Christian Leadership
Conference as part of a massive voter registration
drive arranged by local leaders including Dr. F.W.
Jackson, a member of the church. King told his
audience they would see a "new day in our
Southland and a new day.in our nation.
St r Civil rights on A9
Murder in
the Cathedral
Eliot play given new meaning
in multicultural production
By JERI YOUNG
THE CHRONICLE ' 2
Set in 12th century England, T.S. Eliot's play
"Murder in the Cathedral" doesn't automatically
evoke images of the Civil Rights Movement.
Written in Eliot's trademark high prose, the
play with its complex religious themes and intri
cate rhymes tells the sad, but true tale of a "man of
the people" killed at the whim of a power-hungry
king.
The setting is dark and the action is darker.
But to one local director, Eliot's play does more
than just poetically relate the events surrounding
the long-ago murder of English cleric Thomas a
Becket. Though written more than 30 years before
the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King,
the play with its emphasis on a "man of the peo
ple," has a direct link to the civil rights leader, says
Eric Kerchner, founder and director of The Col
. lective Theatre Company.
Both preached non-violence as a wayof ending
years of economic and social degradation - in
King's case against blacks.
Becket fought for the rights of England's down
trodden and abused poor.
And on the eve of their deaths, both men gave
their most moving speeches, both of which fore
shadowed what would happen next and implored
their followers not to resort to violence after their
deaths. -
Their pleas fell on deaf ears. Looting and riot
ing rocked England after Becket's death in 1170 as
it did America's largest city's after King's 1968
assassinations
"1 started ro read about, the 60s and Martin
Luther King," Kerchner said. "I started to see a lot
of parallels. When he went to Memphis, he knew
thai he was in serious danger just like Becket knew
he was in danger when he returned to England."
King was assassinated at a Memphis hotel, and
Becket was killed shortly after returning to Eng
land.
"Both were under great duress," Kerchner said.
"Everyone was telling them there would be danger
and there wouldn't be any control over what was
happening around them. I thought that was inter- _
esting." \
Kerchner, 28, has dedicated the last four years
of his life studying both King and Becket. The .
result is a unique casting and staging of the play
that haunts audiences and actors alike. ?
Kerchner's version of "Murder in the Cathed
eral" features a multiracial-cast and a black lead
character with unmistakable King-like characterfs
Ser Murder w A10
????_
luMBMHIHIHld
Stay of execution granted for Brown
By ARCHIE T.CLARK II
CONSOLIDATED MEDIA GROUP
Last week when the impending execution of
David Junior Brown was stayed, little outcry was
heard from the sparse crowd that came to view the
proceedings. *
The capital punishment reprieve was granted
in Moore County by Superior Court Judge Melz
er Morgan Jr., a move that 20 years ago would not
have gone over so well in Moore county. In 1980
when word got out that a black Pinehurst man
may have brutally killed a white woman and her
young daughter, local people were up in arms. For
the sake of justice and to avoid mob rule the trial
changed venue to Union County.
Even with a change of venue. Brown was sub
jected to hostile crowds and more devastatingly for
him an all white jury. It was little surprise when the
jury came back after a short deliberation and sen
tenced Brown to die. To this day Brown maintains
his innocence. His lawyers also say he is innocent
but even more vigorously say the manner in which
his case was handled warrants another look.
Judge Morgan found a 1996 law which requires
prosecutors in death penalty cases to disclose their
case files to the defense applies retroactively to the
Brown case. Brown's defense team, including Hen
derson Hill and Bruce Cunningham argued that
key information was withheld during the initial
trial which stemmed from a personal vendetta by
the prosecution against the original defense
lawyers who had beaten them before. Cunningham
and Hill claim key witnesses were never known by
the original defense lawyers. The witnesses could
have implicated others who may have had a
motive. Brown's defense team claims these wit
nesses could have also accounted for Brown's
whereabouts on the night of the murder of Shelly
Diane Chalfinch and her daughter.
In 1980 Chalfinch and her young daughter
were brutally killed in their Pinehurst home.
Brown, a neighbor who once helped move furni
\?v DnMi penalty m All
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Fitnoss Instructor Marty Dsloatch toads a group in o workout of
? OfMintero church. For full story, soo pago AX
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Sweatin' to the gospel