NATIONAL
$50 million to be used to reduce class size
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Education has
been given $50.1 million to hire about 1,289 teachers this fall to
reduce class size in early grades across the nation.
"These funds will enable schools to lower class sizes immediate
ly," said U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley.
President Clinton has requested an increase in funds to continue
this program for the next six years. Over that time he wants to hire
a total of 100.000 teachers to reduce class size nationwide to 18 stu
dents in first through third grades.
A 1998 Department of Education report. "Reducing Class Size:
What Do We Do?" stated that research proved that reduced class
size is related to increased student learning. - The Chicago Defender
Black buying power up 72.9 percent
ATHENS, Ga. - African-American consumers have had a 72.9
percent increase in buying power since 1990, according to the Selig
Center for Economic Growth, a public service unit of the Universi
ty of Georgia's Terry College of Business.
In a detailed report released last month, the center estimates that
the buying power of African Americans will reach $533 billion this
year, up from $308 billion in 1990. This number can be compared
with the 56.7 percent increase projected for overall national buying
power for the same period. - Tri-Siate Defender
BK honored by 100 Black Men
NNPA - 100 Black Men ol" America, a national alliance of
African American male mentors who help "black youths, recently
named Burger King the "Corporation of the Year" during its
national convention in Detroit. .
"Burger King has set a standard for community involvement,
diversity and inclusion for other corporations to emulate," said
Thomas Dortch Jr., the association's president.
"We are honored to have been selected as 'Corporation of the
Year' by the 100 Black Men of America," said Burger King CEO
Dennis Malamatinas. "Burger King Corporation is an employer of
choice for people from all backgrounds. We will continue to make
diversity a part of our core business values:" - Carih News
INTERNATIONAL
Thousands mourn Nkomo
HARARE, Zimbabwe (IPS) - Zimbabwe's vice president,
Joshua Nkomo, was buried July 5 in the capital of Harare at a cere
" mony attended by thousands of mourners.
Nkomo, who died on July 1 at age 82. was laid to rest at the
Heroes Acre cemetery on the outskirts of Harare.
Nkomo, the founder of modern-day Zimbabwe, entered politics
^ in 1947 when he was elected president,of the African National Con
gress. ' ,
During his political career, spanning more than 50 years, Nkomo
fought for equality in this southern African country of 12.5 million
people. ?
"Nkomo fought for the oneness of our people," President Robert
Mugabe told mourners. Lewis Machipisa
- - v . ' >
WHO: Water, population density root of disease
WASHINGTON, D.C. (IPS) - Health and environmental
experts are urging policy makers to heed the impact of population
density and fresh-water scarcity on the spread of disease.
"Where water is scarce, institutions weak and population growth,
rapid, the risks for disease are especially acute," said Robert Engel
man, director of the Population and Environment Program at Pop
ulation Action International, a Washington-based research and
advocacy group. ' \
The warning comes on the heels of a World Health Organization
report stating that infectious diseases such as malaria. HIV/AIDS,
diarrhea and tuberculosis are the world's major killers of children
~ and'young adults.
Water serves as a "vehicle for the spread of cholera, giardia and
Cryptosporidium, according to Mary Wilson, assistant professor at
the Harvard Medical School of Public Health.
"Shortages of fresh water, crowding and'poor sanitation can lead
to an increase in water-borne infections," said Wilson, who recently
briefed U.S. lawmakers on the issue. - Danielle Knight
Africa Lagging Behind In Telecommunications
* HARARE, Zimbabwe (IPS) - Making a phone call or surfing the
Internet has become a central feature of everyday life the world over
except in Africa.
However a recent $600 million project to install a submarine
cable connecting the continent with the rest of the world is one of
many projects that are set to revolutionize African communications
into the new millennium, industry experts hope.
South Africa has seen the largest explosion in connectivity and
boasts about 800.000 of the continent's 1.2 million Internet users.
And unlike on the rest of the continent. South African users are
both rural and urban. Virtually all of Africa has access to the Inter
net, but only in the urban centers and then only accessible to a small
elite.
Work On the project is expected to start shortly, and the system
should be operational by 2001 in line with the Independent Com
mission for World Wide Telecommunications Development's call for
every human being to be in reach of a telephone by the early part of
the next century. Gumisai Mutume
INDEX
OPINION A6
SPORTS *1
RELIGION 1 17
CLASSIFIEDS 111
HEALTH C3
ENTERTAINMENT C7
CALENDAR CIO
Tki? Week In Black History...
July 15,1968 - Actress Ellen Holly integrates daytime televi
sion when she appears on ABC soap opera "One Life to live *
Holly plays a young woman "passing" for white. ,
July 18,1963 - The legendary 54th Massachusetts Volunteers
charge Fort Wagner in South Carolina. The all-black company
was immortalized on the silver screen in the Oscar-winning film
"Glory"
July SO, 1967 - The first National Conference of Black Power
opens in Newark, N J. More than 1,000 African Americans
attend the four-day event. - From I, 7bo, Sing America."
NAACP, AT&T to create tech centers |
By PAUL SHEPARD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - To hdp bridge
the "digital divide" - the gap
between white people and blacks
and Hispanics in access to the Inter
net the NAACP and AT&T will
partner to create technology centers
in 20 cities that will provide comput
er training and Internet seminars.
"The technological segregation
known as the digital divide must be
narrowed," NAACP President
Kweisi Mfume said Monday.
Toward that end, Mfume
announced that through the pro
gram AT&T will provide hardware,
software and on-site support for
technology in the centers
"The centers will be open after
the school doors close so parents
and children can learn computer
usage together." Mfume said. "The
old and the young learning together
will help reduce that divide."
AT&T spokesman Burke Stin
son said that sites for the centers will
inciude Baltimore, Dallas, Miami.
Neu^ York. Philadelphia and Seattle.
Ameritech Corp. and the
National Urban League announced
last week they will spend $350,000 to
build five new Internet community
centers in Aurora, 111., Cleveland.
Detroit, Indianapolis and Milwau
kee. And 3Com Corp. said it will
spend $1 million in donated equip
ment and training in 10 cities to help
teach students to be computer net
work engineers
Last week, a Commerce Depart
ment report, "Falling Throu#i the
Net," said the disparity on the Inter
net between whites and black and
Hispanic Americans isdjftjsving'
The report found about 47 per
cent of all whites own computers
but fewer than half as many blacks
do. About 25.5 percent of Hispanics
own cofnputers but *55 percent of
Asian Americans do. Asian families
also are most likely to have Internet
access with 36 percent online.
The report also found a child in a
low-income white family is three
times as likely to have Internet access
as a child in a comparable black
family, and four times as likely as a
Hispanic child
, ? "? ?. '
Most troubling for government
experts were indications these dis
parities can't be blamed solely on
differences in income. Among fami
lies earning $15,000 to $35,000, for
example, more than 33 percent of
whites owned computers, but only
19 percent of blacks did. That gap
has widened nearly 62 percent since
1994 despite plunging computer
prices,
Mfume also announced a new
national campaign that could
involve lawsuits against entertain
ment industry giants to end the
scarcity of black characters on tele
vision shows
The newly formed NAACP Tele
vision & Film Industry Diversity Ini
tiative will monitor how well the
entertainment industry reflects
America's multicultural base.
Aside from calling for congres
sional and Federal Communications
Commission hearings on licensing
and ownership of networks, the
campaign could initiate lawsuits and
boycotts of advertisers, Mfume said.
"Apparently color does not sell
in the minds of some executives,"
Mfume said Monday on ABC's
"Good Morning America." "We
have consumer dollars and we really
want to flex consumer power."
Using the dearth of minorities in
upcoming fall shows as a touch
stone, Mfume said the NAACP is
studying whether or not to file suit
against the four major networks for
violating the Communications Act
of 1934.
The act says the airwaves belong
to the public, and Mfume argued
there is a "virtual whitewash" in new
programming because none of the
26 new shows slated for the upcom
ing fall season have minorities in fea
tured roles,
"This glaring omission is an out
rage and a shameful display by net
work .executives who are either clue
less, careless of both," Mfume said.
CBS President Leslie' Moonves
called the NAACFs concerns "rele
vant and extremely important."
Moonves said in a statement that 11
of the networks 19 entertainment;
series broadcast this fall would have;
minority characters "in a primary
role." Network spokesman Chris
Ender said one new show this fall,
"Now and Again," a drama, would
feature a "Waiting to Exhale" star.
Dennis Haysbert.
h
Photo by Richard Drew/The taaanatad Praaa
Kwaifi Mfumm, bff, piwMiwt and GtO of At HAACP, pautat during hk Icoynotm tpmodh to arimowfodgo apptaurm
from At audkntm, which indudod Julian Bond, dtuktnan of At MAACP board of dkotton, at At 90dt annual con
? yr.fir ii i i J 11 4
in lOrv* ^
Farmer
from page Al
North Carolina.
Mr. Farmer used to say that "the
NAACP is the Justice Department,
the Urban League is the State
Department and we are the nonvio
lent Marines." This was the organi
zation he mobilized for the Freedom
Ride in 1961. The idea, Mr. Farmer
explained, was to have an interracial
group ride through the South, whites
in the back of the bus, blacks in
front, all refusing to move when
ordered.
Mr. Farmer was confident the
response would force a showdown.
A mob attacked the riders and
burned a bus soon after they entered
Alabama. In Montgomery, Ala., a
mob threatened to break into a
church where the Freedom Riders
were meeting.
King, who had come to ofTer
support, described the situation to
Attorney General Robert F.
Kennedy. Kennedy suggested a
"cooling-off" period. Mr. Farmer
was outraged. He remarked: "We
have been cooling off for 350 years.
If we cool off any more, we will be in
a deep freeze. The Freedom Ride
will go on."
King relayed this to Kennedy,
who then persuaded Alabama and
Mississippi authorities to provide
protection, and the ride went on.
In Jackson. Miss., the protesters
were arrested as they entered a segre
gated restaurant in the terminal.
Refusing to make bond, they spent
the next 40 days at the Parchman
Prison Farm. Over the summer, hun
dreds of volunteers tried to integrate
the same restaurant and were also
arrested.
By the time the federal govern
ment banned raciiilly designated
, travel facilities, the civil rights move
ment had gained momentum that
carried over to areas such as voter
registration.
Although based in New York,
Mr. Farmer frequently returned to
the front lines in the South. In the
summer of 1963, he was jailed in
Plaquemine, La., after leading a
demonstration against police brutal
ity. Released, he was surrounded by
a mob Warned that he would be
killed if he showed himself, he took
refuge in a mortuary and escaped by
hiding in the back of a hearse. The
episode kept him from the famous
1963 March on Washington.
In 1964. three volunteers in a
CORE-sponsored voter registration
drive in Mississippi. Michael Schw
erner and Andrew Goodman, both
white New Yorkers, and James
Chaney. a black from Mississippi,
were murdered by Ku Klux Klans
men.
"If any man says that he had no
fear in the action of the sixties/he is
a liar. Or without imagination." Mr.
Farmer wrote in his autobiography.
By the end of 1965. Mr. Farmer
had decided to step down as nation
al director of CORE. He believed
that passage of the Voting Rights
Act of 1965 largely completed the
guaranteeing of the legal rights of
citizenship to blacks.
Another reason was that CORE,
like other civil rights groups, was
increasingly under the sway of
younger black separatists, and
whites were being purged from
CORE chapters despite its tradition
of inclusion.
Mr. Farmer sensed the waning of
his influence. While believing that
many activities of CORE chapters in
the Northern ghettos would alienate
rather than attract, he could do little
to stop them. Some CORE members
called him insufficiently "blacky
noting that his wife, the former Lula
A. Peterson, was white ?
Mr. Farmer believed his views *
cost him a place as a leading
spokesman for African Americans.
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