Hra
Gore calls for racial justice
By JIM SUHR
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT - Echoing a political rival's recent theme. Vice President
A1 Gore called for enhanced racial justice and the need for expanded fed
eral hate-crime legislation.
During a speech Sunday to the NAACP's Detroit branch. Gore said
the nation s future depends on its ability to improve civil rights, including
fending off challenge^ to affirmative action.
"Martin Luther King died to give us civil rights," Gore told about
9,000 people at the annual Fight for Freedom Fund dinner held by the
nation's largest NAACP clhapter. "The least we can do is enforce those
laws."
On a flight to Detroit from Colorado, where he attended a memorial
service for victims of Tuesday's high school shooting. Gore talked by
phpne to reporters - several from publications targeted to black readers
- criticizing a "right-wing coordinated effort to try to end affirmative
action" and racial profiling by law enforcement.. " r
Gore revisited those themes in Detroit, where he also pushed for bol
stering .education by hiring more teachers and paring class sizes, and
urged federal emphasis on improving economic.climates in inner cities
through loans and other funding.
But Gore keyed on racial themes, telling the 51,000-member Detroit
chapter of the National Organization for the Advancement of Colored
People the nation's future means "recognizing and
accepting our diversity and harmony as the greatest
strength we have."
Gore's comments were akin to those made five
days earlier by former Sen. Bill Bradley, the only
announced challenger to Gore in the race for their
party's nomination.
On Tuesday, Bradley declared racial unity "the
defining moral issue of our time" and put the quest
for societal integration at the center of his cam
paign to win the White House. Like Gore, Bradley
called the problem of race "central to our Ameri- Oor?
can future." ,
The vice president also cast himself as a born-and-bred defender of
minorities, alluding to his father's political pursuit of racial justice as a
U.S. senator.
"He sacrificed his career because he was willing to stand for what he
believed," Gore said. "I'm glad my father taught me to love justice. My
family taught me to hate discrimination. '
"I feel a connection to this struggle and to your history through my
' . ? .... _ ?
Though Gore formally hasn't declared himself a candidate for the
2000 presidential race, he has announced an exploratory committee and
is considered a virtual certainty to run.
Gore urged the NAACP branch to continue to "reach out for justice
and fairness for all Americans." To that end, he urged the group to help
pressure Congress to act on a measure that would make federal prosecu
tion of hate crimes easier. ?
Some congressional Republicans have suggested the legislation is
unnecessary because dozens of states have laws protecting the groups
identified in the bill. As well, backers are concerned that social conserv
atives may construe the legislation as extending special protections to
homosexuals.
Justices consider protection
of black voter rights
By RICHARD CARELLI
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? '
*
WASHINGTON - For most of an hour Monday, it seemed the
Supreme Court was.intent on deciding just how vigorously the fed
eral government can protect minorities from election-system
changes that might hurt theii^voting power.
But the argument session's last few minutes threw into doubt
whether the Bossier Parish, La., case, to be decided by late June, will
yield an important ruling that affects all states and counties covered
by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The legal fight pver how the local scliool board elects its 12 mem
bers has lasted so long, the court was told, that no more elections
are planned until the current system gets revamped after the 2000
census.
"There is no remedy," said school board lawyer Michael Carvin,
suggesting the case iS too old to matter. Only if the justices disagree
are they^ likely to reach the heart of the* dispute: whether the Justice
Department can forestall election changes that may be discriminato
ry but do not leave minority voters any worse off.
The 1965 law "is not limited to changes intended to make matters
worse for minorities," Justice Department lawyer Paul Wolfson
argued. He said the Bossier Parish school board's intent in,?1992
"was to hold the line as much as possible against further blaibk' par
ticipation" in school board matters. . ?
Patricia Brannan said her clients, black voters in the parish,
.^."have been trying for seven years to have ... the school board adopt
a nondiscriminatory system."
Carvin argued, however, that the relevant section of the voting
rights law was not written to eliminate the perpetuation of discrim
ination but only to guard against retrogression.
If the Supreme Court decides that issue, it would go a long way
in determining how easy or difficult it will be for the Justice Depart
ment to reject proposed election law changes that affect minority
voting power.
The Bossier Parish school board for years has had its member?
elected to four-year terms from 12 different districts. About 20 per
cent of the parish's population is black, concentrated into two areas.
None of the 12 districts has a black majority.
As of 1990, no black ever had been elected to the school board.
After the 1990 census required a redrawing of the school board elec
tion map. the local NAACP chapter proposed creating two black
majority districts. The school board opted instead for a new map in
1992 with no such district, the same map that had been adopted by
the parish's chief governing body, called the police jury.
Even though the police jury's plan had received the Justice
Department's approval required by the 1965 law, the school board's
proposed redisricting plan did not. Government lawyers decided
the plan would dilute minority voting strength.
While the case wended its way through federal courts, two black
candidates were elected to the 12-member school board in 1994.
They were re-elected in 1998, along with a third black candidate.
The case is Reno vs. Bossier Parish School Board, 98-405.
?i,
J. ' X
Hitler-praising gunman Jewish
By DAVlD FOSTER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LITTLETON, Colo. - Dylan
KJebold, one of the Columbine
High gunmen said by classmates to
have openly admired Adolf Hitler,
was the great-grandson of a promi
nent Jewish philanthropist in Ohio.
It was one more puzzle regard- '
ing the pair of misfit teens who
worried other students with their
talk of vengeance but impressed
some adults, including a court offi
cer, as bright young men with
promising futures.
Long before last Tuesday's
murderous rampage, Klebold, 17,
was known around his high school
as an admirer of Hitler and the
Nazis. He and fellow gunman Eric
Harris, 18, would talk German in
the hallways and hurl insults at
Jews, blacks and Hispanics.
Yet Klebold's mother, Susan
Klebold, is the granddaughter of
the late Leo Yassenoff, a wealthy
commercial real-estate developer
in Columbus, Ohio, and a promi
nent figure in the Jewish communi
ty there.
Yassenoff was active at the
Temple Israel and donated enough
money to the Jewish Community
Center of Columbus that it tiamed
the center after him.
Susan Klebold was "definitely
brought up Jewish," said Skip
Yassenoff, 49, a distant cousin who
grew up with her in Columbus.
Yassenoff said Susan's husband,
Thomas Klebold, is not Jewish; he
said he didn't know how Dylan
and his older brother, Byron, were
raised.
"I don't see how it can be more
awful," said Yassenoff, who still
lives in Columbus. "I really can't
imagine the pain of my cousin and
her husband and the parents of the
other boy."
In Littleton, court officials
anguished over another contradic
tory side of Harris and Klebold:
Less than three months before
their carefully planned assault,
they convinced a court officer that
they had great prospects for stay
ing out of trouble.
The teen-agers last year entered
a so-called diversion program that
enabled them to dear their records ?
after they were caught breaking
into a car. They performed 45
hours of community service,
received counseling and wrote
apology letters. ^Harris also
received anger-management coun
seling. which he enjoyed, his diver
sion officer wrote.
"Eric is a very bright young
man who is likely to succeed in
life," the unnamed officer wrote in
court documents. "He is intelligent
fcnough to achieve lofty goals as
long as he stays on task and
remains motivated."
"Dylah has earned the right for
an early termination," the officer
wrote. "He is intelligent enough to
make any dream a reality but he
needs to understand hard work is
part of it."
District Attorney Dave
Thomas said the teens made a cal
culated effort to impress their
diversion officer. Thomas said the
officer is so upset that he is worried
about him.
"He's anguishing over what
happened here," Thomas said.
"He's a very dedicated, committed
public servant. He did the best he
could, I believe. Most of us in the
system wish we were human lie
detectors, but we're not."
The officer's name has not been
released; it was blacked out on the
documents provided to reporters.
Other adults said they were
lulled into complacency by the
teens' middle-class upbringing and
caring parents.
Klebold lived in a home worth
nearly $400,000, a modernistic
cedar-and-glass structure tucked
between two huge stone forma
tions on a rural road;
t Thomas Klebold, 52, is a for
mer geophysicist who now runs a
mortgage management business
from his home. His wife, 50, has
worked for the Colorado commu
nity-college system for years, help
ing disabled students gain access to
education. -.1
Michael Briand, who knows
Ms. Klebold frOm his work as a
community-development consul
tant at Arapahoe Community Col
lege, said "ITiomas Klebold is a lib
eral who favors gun control, and
Ms. Klebold is a sensitive listener.
"As far as I can tell, this family
was utterly, utterly normal,"
Briand said. "They did everything
right."
Harris moved tp Littleton in
19% from Plattsburgh, N.Y., where
his father, Wayne Harris, was an
Air Force pilot. In Littleton, the
family bought a two-stofy,
$184,000 home on a quiet cul-de
sac. Wayne Harris got a job at a
flight-safety business, and his wife,
?Catherine, worked for a catering
company, according to court docu
ments.
Neighbors said the couple were
quiet, sometimes waving across the
fence but making little effort to
socialize. Eric's older brother,
Kevin, played basketball with
neighbors on trips home from oob
lege.
"They were pretty nice people,
pretty quiet," said Matt Good, 16,
who lives two doors away. "They
seemed to get along with every
one."
' ? i
rftoMtirtil HwilMlqr H?lhi? piwi> by D?1? Schrocdcr
Michael Shoels, the father of Columbine High School shooting victim Isaiah Shoots, speaks with members
of the media at his Littleton, Colo., home last Thursday. Next to him is a portrait of his son.
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White churches
*% ? ;
refuse new
i
black preachers
By JAY REEVES
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Bap
tist-affiliated Samford University
suspended a 50-year-old program
after white churches barred three
African stodents from preaching
because of their race, a dean said
Monday.
While a handful of white
churches have refused through the
years to accept black student
preachers through the program, the
official said, the university was
unaware of the problem until
recently.
Samford President Thomas E.
Corts suspended the student-run
program and ordered a restructur-*
ing after learning of the discrimina
tion earlier this month, said Timo
thy George, dean of the Beeson
Divinity School.
"We were all very upset about
this," said George. "We have no
sympathy for anyone that would
deny full acceptance to all of God's
children, regardless of their race."
Under the program, undergrad
uates and divinity students sign up
to speak in Baptist churches
statewide that agree to serve as
hosts.
George said he did not know
which churches had refused to
admit speakers because of their
race. He said he also did not know
exactly how many congregations
were involved.
Str Program on A11