fflf Report: Douglass' home in bad shape WASHINGTON - The home of famous 19th-century African American abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass is threatened by nearly $2 million of unmet preservation needs, according to a new report by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). According to NPCAs new State of the Parks report, the historic 1850s home in Washington. D.C., is in need of immediate repair. The National Park Service lacks critical funding and staff to meet day-to day needs and to protect Douglass person al belongings and the integrity of the prop erty. For example, light has damaged sever al 19th-century photographs and Douglass treasured library collection has been removed from the home to prevent addi tional threats from ongoing moisture prob lems. Now the shelves in the study sit empty and brown water stains color the ceilings and walls because funding is not immedi ately available for restoration. Funding for the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site has essentially remained flat for several years - $429,000 in fiscal year 2002. In 2001. NPCA named the park site to its annual list of America's 10 Most Endangered National Parks because of dire funding needs. Douglass lived in his Washington. D.C.. home from 1877 until his death in 1895. Born into slavery in Maryland. Douglass became a leading voice in the anti-slavery movement as well as a famous writer, publisher, orator, statesman, and an advocate for women's rights. The National Park Service has cared for the Dou glass home since 1962. Douglass Teacher fired for sending e-mail with comments about black achievement EVARTS, Ky. (AP) - A Harlan County teacher has been fired after he sent an e-mail containing remarks about the black popula tion. Ralph Crow. 48. a Spanish teacher at Evarts High School, received a dismissal letter on Friday from school district Superin tendent Timothy Saylor. Saylor said Crow's e-mail was insensitive and demonstrated conduct of an "immoral character." Crow sent the two-page e-mail on Feb. 21 to about 40 staff members at the school. It said that achievements of whites are ignored so "non-achieving minorities can have the spotlight." It also said that African-Americans are responsible for "about 90%" of violent crimes and the main achievement of Martin Luther King Jr. was the "introduction and promotion of communism." Crow said his e-mail was meant as sarcasm and that he is a vic tim of political correctness and an overzealous superintendent. "He's using his personal political views to silence me," Crow said. "He's basically set out to destroy my teaching career." Crow said his right to free speech was violated and that he 'plans to appeal his firing. Crow has 10 days to inform Saylor and the Kentucky Department of Education of his intent to challenge his dismissal, said Lisa Gross, a spokeswoman for the department. A three-member tribunal from outside Harlan County would then conduct a hearing on the matter. Saylor told the teacher that he had violated state board of edu cation and county school district policies with his use of the school district's e-mail system. Crow also violated county school regula tions on harassment and discrimination. Saylor wrote. As grounds for the dismissal, Saylor wrote in the letter that Crow's conduct could cause "great disruption" to the school sys tem. Raoul Cunningham, former director of the NAACP voter empowerment program, said he was disgusted by the e-mail. "There is no question that it's racist." Cunningham said. "It's just so unfortunate that he chose the profession of teaching." Crow said he wrote the e-mail in opposition to a recent nation al study concluding that Kentucky schools suspend a dispropor tionately high number of black students. a Study: Rap may be bad for black girls (Special to the NNPA) - Rap music has long been the subject of controversy but a recent study suggests that rap videos may make teenage girls behave badly. I African-American teenage girls are more likely to get in trou ble with the law, take drugs and contract sexually transmitted dis eases. according to a study conducted by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta and the University of Alabama at Birming ham. "We can see there is some link, some association." said researcher Gina Win good. an associate professor of behavioral sciences and health education at Emory. "Maybe they see what's on the rap music videos and think that's how teenagers act, and that's how I should act." Wingood and her colleagues went to health clinics in Birmingham. Ala., and studied 522 black girls from 1996 to 1999. All were sexually active and between the ages of 14 and 18, Girls who watched the most rap videos (more than the average of Wingood 14 hours a week), were three times as likely as the other girk*to have hit a teacher (7.1 percent versus 2.4 percent). They were also 2.5 times more likely to have been arrested (17.3 percent versus 7.2 percent), and nearly two times more likely to have had sex with multiple partners (19.3 percent versus 11 percent). The researchers then followed the girls for a year. Forty-one percent of those who watched the most rap music videos devel oped a sexually transmitted disease, compared with 33 percent who didn't watch as many videos "Young people are listening and observing." said Michael D. Resnick. director of the National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Research Center at the University of Minnesota. "When that envi ronment is one that desensitizes us to violence and to treating each other with caring and respect, we see predictable results in young people and in ourselves." The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co. Inc., 617 N. Liberty Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101. Peri odicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C. Annual sub scription price is $30.72. POSTMASTER: Send address Changes to: The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636 Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636 'Barbershop' shut out at awards Civil rights legend Rosa Parks boycotts weekend NAACP Image Awards ceremony in Los Angeles BY ANTHONY BREZN1CAN THE ASSOCIATE D PRESS \ LOS ANGELES - A televi sion movie about civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks won two awards from the National Asso ciation for the Advancement of Colored People Image Awards, although Parks shunned the event over its nominations for the film "Barbershop." "The Rosa Parks Story" won both its nominations Saturday: best TV movie and best TV movie actress for Angela Bas sett, who starred as Parks. "Barbershop." about friend ships forged at a hair salon in a black neighborhood of Chicago, features a character making ' unflattering jokes about Parks and other black leaders. Parks, now 90. made history in December 1955 when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Ala. Her arrest triggered a 381 -day boy cott of the bus system by blacks and led to court rulings that desegregated public transporta tion throughout the United States. "(Parks) wants to thank the NAACP for lifting her up. She wants to thank all of you for lov ing her," executive producer Willis Edwards, a friend of Parks, said onstage on her behalf. t "She was not happy with what was said about her. and she ?has a right to do that. She has the right not to come," he said back stage. Meanwhile, "Barbershop" lost all five nominations, includ ing a supporting actor bid for Cedric the Entertainer, who hosted the Image Awards and played the character whose remarks started the uproar. Its other nominations included best picture and best lead actor for star Ice Cube. Cedric's character in "Bar bershop" is a cranky old-timer trying to prove that no conversa tion is off-limits in the barber shop. He sayjjolher blacks also had refused to give up their seats, but Parks got the credit because she was connected to the NAACP. He also directs an expletive at civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson and jokes about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s alleged promiscuity. The scene sparked com plaints from Jackson and civil rights activist the Rev. A1 Sharp ton but became a $75 million hit. The film's producers, direc tor and screenwriter apologized, saying they didn't intend to offend anyone but defended their right to poke fun. With the awards, the NAACP honors people and companies that support positive change for blacks in arts and entertainment. Show business professionals and NAACP offi cials from across the country choose the winners. Halle Berry won the film supporting actress award for the James Bond film "Die Another Day," defeating a group that included rapper-turned-actress Eve for "Barbershop. Other win ners included "Antwone Fisher" for best picture, while Denzel Washington won supporting actor for that film and lead actor for "John Q." Bassett afso won best movie actress for the drama "Sunshine State." KRT Image Halle Berry holds her Image Award for Best Supporting Actress for the movie "Die Another Day." L.A., nation mourn the Rev. E.V. Hill BY GENE C. JOHNSON JR WAVE NEWSPAPERS LOS ANGELES (NNPA) - A funeral was held Saturday for the Rev. E.V. Hill, a one time confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. and pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Bap tist Church. Hill died Feb. 24 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with what an aide said was an aggressive form of pneumo nia complicated by other medical conditions. He was 69. Bishop Charles E. Blake officiated. Rev. Jesse Jackson was among the high-profile African-American religious leaders from around the coun try expected to attend the services. Hill Was pastor at Mount Zion for 35 years and had been a preacher for 46 years. Time magazine once hailed him as "one of the most out standing preachers in the United States." Blake called Hill "one of the most significant personal ities in the clergy over the past 30 to 40 years. He was a great preacher, a tremendous preacher and a common's man theologian." On one occasion, evangel ist Billy Graham showed up unannounced so he could hear Hill preach. It was Hill's church that President George Bush visited in the days immediately after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In the last eight months. Hill was forced to preach sit ting down because of a condi tion that weakened his legs. He also suffered from dia betes. said his son. the Rev. E.V. Hill II, pastor of Calvary Temple Pentecostal Holiness Church in North Hollywood. Under Hill's leadership, his congregation became a center of political and social activism in Los Angeles, and he became an influential fig ure ^ i b the fclational Baptist Convention, the nation's largest association of black churches. Edward Victor Hill, who was born in Texas on Nov. 11, 1933, grew up in poverty. He attended Prairie View A&M University on a four-year scholarship. "I think during the four years that he was on campus, I don't think he spent proba bly more than four weekends there," said his wife. La Dean. "He was always preaching. His grades were good, so no one objected." At 21, Hill became pastor of Mt. Corinth Missionary Baptist Church in Houston. While there, he was one of seven bla^k pastors who joined Martin Luther King in forming the Southern Christ ian Leadership Conference, the organization that led the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Hill changed his residence and his political affiliation in 1961, when he came to Los Angeles to become pastor of Mt. Zion and he became a member of the Republican See Hill on A4 Rev. t.V. Hill INDEX OPINION. .A6 SPORTS. B1 RELIGION. BS CLASSIFIEDS. B9 HEALTH. C3 ENTERTAINMENT..,.C9 ' HH ' U?k)>j Hnptri?r I?f. sit W\l?rk.Ji. \ -ig the Church far K'hgdarn M'u/oru arid Eunfr'.'uti * ' March 2t*?29, 200.J Ht\,fi.tlcr loUoy for training in -Minion* and' I t onifcfnm ' L iiiim Baptist Church 1200 North Trade Street \\ inston-Sakm, NC 336/724-9305 |>t ? ?-?! * rii , M At 4 h > 7 fKII M i* It ip N'Ufl /. ;m > I titirvy M jf% It . * pm Krv \l Nli irp m t n . M Mi h fMM ??r K?ln ? mtrirfh r Imorrt _ I hut A l-fi - ^ pni |.M % hirtii hi I tvMT* if.i\ NUjkj? 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