D.C.'s black population declines
WASHINGTON (AP) - The District of Columbia's black
population continues to decline, a trend that might soon
change the capital's longtime majority
black StatUS.
In 2000, blacks made up 60 percent
of Washington's population. But by
2006 that figure was 55 percent,
according to data released Thursday by
the U.S. Census Bureau,
During that time, the number of
non-Hispanic black residents in the city
declined 6 percent to 322.000. Non
Hispanic white residents increased 14
percent to about 184, (XX). The number ^
of Asians increased to 18,000 - a 20 Lang
percent gain.
The demographics shift means Washington likely will
cease to be majority-black by 2020, said Robert E. Lang,
director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.
Some experts say the changes likely are attributed to gen
trification and diminishing affordable housing.
"What you see are whites moving into the city because
they are able to afford the pricey housing in all these areas that
are gentrifying and becoming much more middle and upper
middle class." said William H. Frey, a demographer at the
Brookings Institution.
Freedom Riders marker, park planned
ANNISTON, Ala. (AP) - A permanent marker on the
Alabama Highway 202 site of the infamous Freedom Riders
bus-burning 46 years ago could be installed soon.
The Greyhound bus burned on Mother's Day in 1961
when a white mob attacked seven Freedom Riders during their
trip across Alabama to test desegregation of buses and termi
nals.
The planned memorial near Anniston is almost in Bernard
Emerson's front yard. He witnessed the bus attack.
Emerson said that as far as he knows, he and his wife are
the only people in the neighborhood with a historical link to
the event.
Members of the Theta Tau Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi
Fraternity unveiled a sign near the bus-burning site.
The sign was removed after the unveiling ceremdi^
Officials explained that it will be permanently installed once*
the site is transferred to Calhoun County by the state
Department of Transportation.
Besides the sign, a park dedicated to the history of the civil
rights movement here and throughout the state is planned,
state Rep. Barbara Boyd said.
Civil rights attorney's home to
be converted into legal center
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) - The boyhood home of civil rights
attorney Oliver Hill is being restored and converted to a center
that will provide free legal services to the community.
The Oliver Hill Foundation pur
chased the two-story, 2,500-square-foot
house last month for about $96,000. The
city of Roanoke covered $48,000 of the
costs. More funding is needed to
improve the property, which was built in
1 890 and has fallen into disrepair.
"It's been a long time coming, and I
think it's going to be something that's
good for Roanoke." said Clarence
Dunnaville. a Richmond lawyer and
Roanoke nativ/: who is director of the
Hill Foundation.
Hill was born in Richmond in 1907
and moved to Roanoke with his mother and stepfather when he
was 6. They lined with another family, the Pentecosts. Later,
Hill's parents moved to Hot Springs to work at The Homestead
resort, while Hill stayed with the Pentecosts on Gilmer Avenue.
Hill has credited the influence of the household matriarch.
Lelia Pentecost, with instilling him with dignity and self-esteem
and the belief that black people deserve the same fair treatment
as whites.
Hill, who lives in Richmond and turned 100 this month,
attacked segregation in Virginia and ultimately became an
architect of the Brown v. Board of Education case in which the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that racially separate schools
could never truly be equal .
Lee wants more black sports writers '
ATLANTA (AP) - Spike Lee always has been an avid
sports fan. Growing up in New York, he eagerly flipped past the
front pages each morning, searching out the elegant musings of
Red Smith or another abrasive rant from Dick Young.
But Lee wondered why a bunch of white guys were charged
with shaping the viewpoints of people such as himself, an
impressionable black kid eager for a balanced debate on such
burning issues as: Who was the better player. Mickey Mantle or
Willie plays'?
Mantle was white. Mays black.
"I would read stuff from people telling me Mickey Mantle
was better than Willie Mays," Lee remembered. "1' was like.
'Whoa, wait a minute. Noooo way.'"
A study released last summer at the request of the
Associated Press Sports Editors found dismal figures for the
industry. Blacks held only 6.2 percent of the sports writing jobs.
Out of more than .100 newspapers surveyed, just five had a
black sports editor. By contrast, nine out of 10 sports editors
were white males, as were 84 percent of sports columnists,
according to Richard Lapchick. who runs the Institute for
Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central
Florida. Lee hopes the new sports journalism program at
Morehouse will make a difference. It won't happen overnight,
of c?ur*c. with the initial goal of getting students into the job
pipeline through internships, then growing the curriculum into
a minor within four years.
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
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Tearful Oprah speaks at Howard j
BY HAZEL TRICE EDNEY
NNPA CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON
Superstar talk show host
Oprah Winfrey, after weeping
before a crowd of more than
30,000 at the 139th Howard
University Commencement,
said the key to success is to
"know who you are" and to
cleave to your integrity.
"Everyone has a calling.
There is a reason why you are
here. I know this for sure. And
that reason is greater than any
degree. It's greater than any
paycheck. And it's greater
than anything that anybody
tells you that you're supposed
to do. Your real job is to find
out what the reason is and get
about the business of doing
it," she told the gradates who
often responded with shouts of
"Amen!" and "Hallelujah!"
She continued, "Your call
ing isn't something somebody
can tell you about. It is what
you feel. It's a part of your life
force. It is the thing that
you're supposed to do."
Though inspired and hope
ful, many of the more than 1 .4
million 2007 graduates across
the U. S. will find themselves
Little Rock
9: family,
love needed
BY PEGGY HARRIS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LITTLE ROCK - Fifty
years after nine black teenagers
advanced the civil rights move
ment with the integration of
Little Rock Central High
School, the same principles
apply in efforts to attain social
justice, members of the Little
Rock Nine said Saturday,
iv A good education, family
support, love, determination,
and a belief in oneself are the
essentials that got them through
those
years of
threats,
jeers ,
and
physi
c a I
harass
m e n t
from
white
segre" LaNitr
gation
i s t s ,
Little Rock Nine members
attending an NAACP education
summit told an audience at the
school.
Elizabeth Eckford, who
alone braved a jeering crowd on
her first attempt to enter the
school, urged young people to
stand up to others who make
cruel and ignorant remarks. And
she reminded her mostly black
audience members to treat
themselves with respect.
"Whether you spell it g-g-a
h or g-g-e-r, when you use that
word, you give other people
permission to use it. Please do
not hate yourself," Eckford
said.
Eckford, Jefferson Thomas.
Carlotta Walls LaNier. Gloria
See Nine on A 14
i
Photo courtesy of NNPA
Oprah Winfrey is presented with an honorary degree.
literally lost, unable to get the
impressive job they'd hoped
for and confused by advice
from people in every corner of
their lives.
Using a string of testi
monies from her personal
career. Winfrey told the audi
ence at the historically black
university, known as "the
Mecca" of Black education, to
never allow the words of oth
ers to stop them from reaching
their goals.
Her father forbade her to
quit tfe* TV anchor job at
WJZ-TVI3 in Baltimore id
the late 1970s. But, she dis
liked the job and her bosses
repeatedly criticized her.
When they finally took her off
the anchor desk and placed her
on a talk show "just to run out
my contract... That was the
beginning..." she said to
cheers and loud applause.
"The Oprah Winfrey Show"
Sec Winfrey on A 13
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