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Black (community”
Media in the iajeratiee iu.ack marketi.ai.i. :i:,,.»vh,
^ 12-1987 I*rice: r»Oc
By Russell Clark |
Post SUIT Writer Sj£ $ i
About two years ago, a teenager •;
from Orssnsbofo was draw^ to*'
Charlotte by a girlfriend whowtsf
• student at UNC-Chariotte. Af
t«r her weekend visit on campus,
the conscientious high school
senior decided to launch her col
lege education et UNCC. ¥
"I was impressed with the mod
ern facilities and the dfrity
among the black student# on
campus," recalls Audra Wfitch
•11. • 20-year-old sophomore ma
joring in business management.
"My goal ie to be some a fashion
buyer for a department fitare,
hopeflilly in Charlotte, Atlanta or
another dty in the 8outh. Eventu
ally, l would like to own my own
boadque," projects Mitchell who
models for MnJsstic Modeling
Agency. . f
Audra haa beam modeling with
Majestic for about a yearand a
half. She pioneered in dbvelop
ing the ageney by modeKng for
Tony Howard who la a fashion
designer and director ft the
young company located on Sham
"8he has am excellent personal
ly and a Hare for high fashion
modeling," remarks Hafrnrd, a
UNCC alumnus. Bight now, she
ie doing run way modeling and
primp photos to build a fartfoHo.
Why Mtmikt fHrnrfa b*
for* you nMd them?
___
She has good height for modeling
and she has a style of her own."
"I love clothes and I love model
ing, but I'm going to earn my de
gree in management to aid my
career in fashion. If I work as a
retail buyer, I will be dealing
with customers and personnel
and I like that because I’m peo
ple-oriented," relates the 5'7
Aquarius in her Phase IV apart
ment.
She is a 1985 graduate of Ben L.
Smith High School in Greensboro
where she was active in student
goverment, youth advisory coun
cil and selected into Who's Who
Among American High School
8tudents. "Monica Garrett is
from Greensboro and she invited
me to come down for a visit.
Since coming here, I've been to
Carrowinds, Heritage U.8.A.
and Discovery Place and I like
the city."
Currently taking 12 hours, her
classes include, Afro-American
African 8tudiee, Accounting, Ec
onomics, and Statistics. Al
though her major is business, rite
is very interested in black heri
tage. "Afro-American African
Studies is my fkvorite course,"
says Audra who maintains a B
average. We discuss social prob
lems in the black community
like civil rights, music and we
also talk about slavery times,"
interjects Mitchell, secretary for
the Black Student Union and a
slater of Alpha Kappa Alpha So
rority.
Bern to Debra Mitchell and the
late James Mitchell of Greensbo
ro, she is the only child in the
family. "| get along very well
with my mother and I admire her
because she does a lot to support
busy, she likes read
JSiSssj
toward Barnhill
Are Sworn In
By Jalyne Strong
Pbst Staff Writer
On Monday, February 9, in Ra
leigh, Charlotte-Mecklenburg's
three black, state legislators,
Senator James Richardson,
Representatives Howard
Barnhill and William "Pete"
Cunningham, were^among the
170 legislators who took their
oaths of office in ceremonies
which preceded the North Caroli
na General Assembly's 137th
session getting underway. Be
fore the oath-taking ceremonies
began these representatives re
vealed their concerns and strate
gies for the upcoming year in
state-government.
In his new office in the Legisla
tive Building, Senator Jim Rich
ardson spoke on the importance
of public support, particularly
from blacks; the issuee on his
personal agenda; and the issues
As he prepares for the series of
sessions that will com* in state
legislature this year, Richardson
stated emphatically a hope of see
ing more black citizens involve
ment in the process. “The only
black group that has called us in
is the Black United Porum," he
stated. On the other hand, he
pointed out, "White citizens call
constantly to talk about their leg
islative concerns. We have to
have more black input and pres
ence at meetings in order to enact
legislature that will help black
communities," Richardson
stressed, adding that blacks must
also begin to monitor and hold
their elected officials accounta
ble. "Writ* your legislators, call
them and call them in for expla
nations," he admonished. "It ab
solutely works."
Richardson also pointed out the
need for more black lobbyists, cit
ing there is now on* black lobby
ist, Jim Polk of Charlotte, among
the 1,000 registered lobbyists in
volved in state government.
Increased black participation
this year may possibly help Rich
ardson get the Minority Women
Business Enterprise (M-WBE)
bill through to the House and Sen
ate this year. A bill that he pushed
last year as a House Representa
tive, M-WBE remadns at the head
of his list of issues to address in
1087.
« TO fought by the majority of
th* legislators but I still have M
WBE at th* top of my agenda. Td
Hk* to aas it as a atatawids bill but
1 certainly wont to as* It for Char
lotts-Mecklonburg," sUtod Rich
ardson.
"When 1 l«ok in th* black com
munity and *** that historically
wa have voted for bond lasuoo
ft* swampU last year ws voted for
$18 million for th* water lina— I
saa that it ta only feir our local
government ought to have tho
power to eat goals to assist minor
ity and women entrepreneurs»
and make those goals realistic.
"Right now wo'r# working un
der a good fkdth effort. But it is not
working Anytime blacks have
8m kind of buying power wo have
In Mecklenburg County, and all
over the ctate, and Mack people
have ice* than on# percent of th*
thing's wrong
Richardson also deemed fend
ing for Basic Education and th*
Senator dint Richardson aland* behind hiadeak
in the Senate ahafiben prior to the fire* aomionof
the General tar MBT
(/’hOTo BVJSiKn* Strong)
career Ladder program; afforda
bility and availability of insu
rance; the land transfer tax; and
state ftinded abortions as issues
which will take top shelf impor
tance in state legislature this
year.
Representative Barnhill basi
cally agreed with Richardson on
the issues that will be important
in state legislature in 1987. Barn
hill was a key supporter of M
WBE last year and assures he
will again back the bill this year..
Both Richardson and Barnhill
are one-year veterans in state
government. Cunningham, how
ever, is beginning his first term
in the House of Representatives.
Since Cunningham's election in
November, Richardson says he
and Barnhill have been showing
Cunningham the ropes. "We
started working with Pete very
early," revealed Richardson.
"We've tried to give him some of
the experience we had on hov
things work on the floor anti in
committee."
Cunningham concurred that lo
has been helped along in the
"learning process" and he un
derstands "a person can't come
right in arid try to affect chnng
e»." But he admits he doea have
certain concerns. "I intend to
support M-WBE. I particularly
have interest in programs that ef
fect the aged and indigent and
will work hard to get these pro
grams through the House."
Over the lost months, thinning
ham says he has been making
trips to Raleigh periodically to
meet legislators in order to devel
op a typo of working relationship
Before the swearing in, Cun
ningham, who brought his son to
the ceremonies, stressed Ins dedi
cation to his new (visition in state
See HI At K < >n Page 1,'tA
U.S. Public Knows Little
•' ' N
About Hidden War In Namibia
•A one-year-old ohild is shot
and killed by the South African
military during a peaoeful rally
in Windhoek, the capital city of
Namibia.
-November 30,1986
•A northern Namibia teenager
dies charges against South Afri
can soldiers who he accuses of
roasting hie back over a fire dur
ing interrogation.
-July 7,1986
*A 16-year-old boy suspected of
heing a member of the South West
Africa Peoples Organisation suf
fers severe facial burns after
South African troops pushed his
free against the enhauet pipe of an
idling truck.
-June 24,1986
Thee* atrocities went unreport
ed in the U.8. press. The hidden
war in Namibia is virtually un
known to tha U.8. public. South
Africa has imposed a blanket
censorship on the country. The
press clamp down is part of the
apartheid system that stretches be
yond South Africa's borders into
that neighboring south west Afri
can country of 1.8 million people
The Namibia Information Ser
vice (NIS), a project recently
launched in Washington, DC,
aims to pierce the curtain of cen
sorship by providing regular in
flSMs in NamiUa, /
The escalating violence and
repression in Namibia are ex
pected to become more widely
known this year as anti
apartheid groups, human rights
advocates and the United Notions
focus greater attention on the iile
gaily held South African colony.
The Congressional Black Caucus
will call for the independence of
Namibia ns part of its 1987 south
ern Africa legislative strategy.
And lenders of southern Africa
will become more vocal about
South Africu's Continued occupa
tion of Namibia. NIS pi nns to
keep readers informed of those
and other events.
Reports from the U.N. Council
for Namibia document a brutnl
•iege. An estimated 100,000 South
African troops occupy Namibia.
The country also serves as a
"buffer" agninst neighboring
frontline states and the staging
area for many of South Africa's
military raids of Angola.
Namibia is also rich in natural
resources: diamonds, uranium,
copper, lead and other minerals.
Ike apartheid regime and West
em corporations reap large prof
its from the open access and plun
der of Namibia's resources, its
land and its cheap black labor.
Namibia produces one- quarter
of the world's diamonds and
claims the world's largest open
pit uranium mine. The workers
in these facilities endure deplora
ble working conditions and pov
erty level wages. Meanwhile Na
mibia's white population, num
bering lees than 7«,000, are con
centrrited in the highly paid,
skilled mid managerial posi
tions.
Apartheids inhumanity has
produced staunch labor and politi
cal organizations 'Die National
Union of Namibia Workers
(NUNW) and the South West Af
rica Peoples Organization
(SWAPO), Imth forced to operate
secretly and underground, have
led the resistance at home through
strikes, protests and guerilla war
and abroad through diplomatic
contracts and support f?om the
international community.
"One of the most important of
fensives," said SWAPO Foreign
Secretary TheoBen Ourirab,
must be waged on the informs
tion front. We don t have a power
ful propaganda machine like the
South African regime. Our only
wpRponR nm our dMerrninotion to
bo fro# find th* truth."
Board To
Consider fkmtracta
Raleigh - Contracts for widen
ing and resurfacing more than
788 miles of state primary and
secondary highways in 28 conn-*
ties will be considered by the N.C.
Transportation Board at its Feb
ruary 13 meeting in Raleigh.
The meeting starts at 9 a m. in
Room 150 of the Highway Build
ing, located at the comer of
Wilmington and Morgan
etreata.