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RATW HLACK- MARKET^ ,,U 37MU9*
• Thursday, February 26,1987 C Price: 50c
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Lisa Torrence
...Enters Health profession
. .<• ; j
By Russell Clark
Port Staff Writer
Whan Lisa Diana Torrance
waa a senior at South Mecklen
burg High School in 1984, she had
no idea that her professional ca
reer would launch in less than
nins months.
Now, she is a medical office as
I sistant for Dr. Harold 8. Pride in
the Independence Place and Is
, finding her job to be satisfying.
; Tvs always bssn inspired by
- health occupations," says this
weeks beauty with a happy smile.
"In my senior year, I wee unde
cided about my career until repre
sentatives from Kings Collegs
came to recruit students during
Career Day. They talked to us
about the chffcrent courses that
they offered. I asked them about
their health occupation programs
*nd they informed that they had a
fight- and- a half- month modi
cad office assistant program.
TWa waa a good choice for me be
cause I didn't went to go to a two
or fcur year college for something I
could earn in almost sight
months," she mentions.
If you walk into the office, ehe's
• usually the first pretty free you
see. Whether she is doing book
keeping, typing, patient prepare
! tory, filing insurance lnforma
; tlon or scheduling appointments,
she's working diligently In her
snow-white uniform with mateh
lng shoes. /
Sharing duties with her are
Margie Doster and Ootavia
Hemphill who graduated from
Kings with Torrence. "We work
well together end we get along
fine In and out of the office.
"Occasionally, we apend our
lunch hour together and we also
go out together after work hours,"
points out Torrence who usually
watches soap operas during
lunch.
Born to John and Mamie Tor
rence of Charlotte, she has three
brothers-Johnny, 26, Jefferey,22,
William, 16, and two sisters
Shelia,23, and Tamela, 15. “We
have a close family, but I wish we
could spend more time together
doing things as a family. My
mother is very Inspirational to
me and she gives us our freedom
to make our own decisions and I
can always eount on her to lift me
up when I’m down,” relates the
Oastonia native.
When not tied up at work she
enjoys spending time reading
novels and watching music vide
os. "I don't have a favorite enter
tainer right now because titers are
so many that I like. Muslo videos
arc very entertaining and they
can persuade me to like particu
lar songs,” adds Torrence who
listens to rhythm and blues the
majority of the time.
By Jalyne Strong
Poet Staff Writer
Kelly Alexander Jr., Executive
NAACP and former Branch
Preaident (1982-86), confesses
he's "mystified" over the surfac
ing complaints about the local or
ganisation. In connection with
this, he says the complainants at
tempts to go outside the organisa
tion, airing their grievances to
the press, is "an attempt to bring
pressure on the Branch to do what
they think ought to happen."
Ironically, the complainants,
who are members in good stand
. ing with the Branch, are the first
to admit Alexander is correct in
this assumption. They are in ac
cord stating their desire is to
bring changes in the Branch. Be
cause they feel their concerns are
not being acted upon nor heard
within the organisation, they
dqim going public is their only
'•£d
certain .questionable strategies
have been employed to silence
ineir voices oi opposition.
Specifically, in a letter to Alex
ander, dated January 16, 1987,
four-year Branch member Ge
neal Frazier alluded to practices
"cronyism and nepotism" within
the branch. Her contention is
based, in part, on the outcome of
the 1986 Branch election which
resulted in three members of the
Alexander family and one em
ployee cf the Alexander family
business rscuring four of the
eight Branch offices. Moreover,
although Kelly Alexander in 1986
resigned his seat as President of
the organisation, Frasier says,
"He stepped into a more powerful
position as the Executive Secre
tary." It is a position that is de
scribed as chief advisor to the
president.
The current Alexander family
members who are office holders
are Kelly Alexander, executive
secretary; his brother Alfred Al
exander, first vice president;
•their mother Margaret Alexan
der, membership secretary, and a
cousin-in-law, Allen Rousseau,
Ties That Bind?
Charlotte Branch NAACP members have complaints that Alexan
der family members are tying up the Branch's official positions,
not allowing for participation from other members. Pictured clock
wise] Margaret Alexander, Membership Secretary; Kelly Alexan
der, Executive Secretary; Alfred Alexander, Second Vice Presi
dent; and Allen Rousseau, Third Vice President.
third vice president.
Linda Crite, sin employee of tho
Alexander Funeral Home,
serves as the Branch's treasurer.
Frasier also points out in her let
ter that the Branch's Nominating
Committee that recommended
this slate of officers was struc
tured in direct violation of
NAACP Constitutional rules.
Stated in the Constitution (Article
III, Section 2), "The president
■hall be ex-officio a member of
all committees except the Nomi
nation Committee." Alexander
it seems circumvented this rule
when he as president did hold a
■eat on the Nominating Commit
tee.
However, Alexander, who has
yet to respond to Fraziers com
plaint in writing, now says Frazi
er's allegations of cronyism and
nepotism are ''absurd."
"Each one of my family mem
bers who are involved in these Of-—
fices have a history of involve
ment in the organization," he
maintains, citing his family's
long history in the Charlotte
Branch NAACP which goes back
to his grandfather and includes
his father's integral activity. Al
exander did not comment on the
fact that the Branch's treasurer is
employed by the Alexander Fu
neral Home. He did say, the vio
lations that occurred on the Nom
inating Committee were
"inadvertencies.” "They were
not a conscience attempt to sub
vert the Constitution," he de
fends. "And the violations were
not brought to anyone's attention
prior to January," he says.
But differing on this particular
statement, Branch member Anna
Hood -relates, "When Alexan
der's name was advanced from
th* floor (for his inclusion on the
Nominating Committee), I ques
tioned it and was told it was legal
for the President to sit on the
uommiuee.
"If I was in the chair I would not
have been a member of the com
mittee," reasons Hood.
"Sometimes committees are not
free to think and act if the group's
leader is sitting there." Asked
why she felt Alexander main
tained a seat on the Nominating
Committee in conflict to the Con
stitution, Hood answers,"I guess
he had a purpose. The people on
the Committee had the chance to
block certain people." Hood does
not specifically cite nepoti^n in
the Branch but she does say,
"There are family ties there."
The obvious "family ties" in
the controlling offices of the
Branch is pointed out as the ma
jor obstruction to other Branch
members: a block to their voices
being heard or their concerns act
ed upon. This fact also gives
weight to allegations that all
members are not getting fair op
portunities within the Branch.
Says Branch member Dana
Bost, "I'd like to see more people
getting involved and given re
Soe KELLY On Page 12A
U.S. Death Penalty Appears Arbitrary, Racially Biased
The use of the death penalty In
the U.8. appeared to be arbitrary
and racially biased, and dearly
violated international treaties
signed fay tile U.8. Government,
Amnesty International said re- .
cently. V
The worldwide human righto
organisation said the evidence
luyytittd that tha penalty had ha*
come "a horrifying lottery" In
which politics, money, rase and
where^siycrime was^ committed
th^a afijvia itaalf
Launching a^ worldwide cam
io tha past thvaa y#§ri
I
■V-- —w -r-v • '*
Those executed and the inmate*
•till on death row included man
tally ill or retarded people and
prlaenara who wara atill under 18
or who had bean juvenile* whan
their crime* were committed, it
■aid. ~
Import ng death aentencea on
juvenile offender* wae barred by
th* International Covenant on :
Civil and Political Right* and th*
American Convention on Human
Rifhta, both aigned by the U.8. in
1877, Amneaty International
•aid. '
Two prleonere who ware juve
nile offender* were executed in
1888 and another 87 were on death
row - Including four who were
aged 18 when their Crimea were
committed.
Th* execution of mentally ill
prlaenara contravened guideline*
am by the United Nation* In 1884,
th* organiiatlon aaid - but in
1888, for instance, a black flam
_
eight.
Blacks convicted of murdering
whites had been found more like
ly to be sentenced to death than
any other category of offender -
but whites had only rarely been
sentenced to death for killing
blacks. Over 40% of death row
prisoners were black.
Between 1977 and 1966 nearly
90% of prisoners executed had
been convicted of killing whites «
although there were nearly as
many black victims as white
ones.
The death penalty was only im
posed for certain types of murder
and prisoners on death row had
been convicted of brutal crimes,
Amnesty International said. But
the penalty itself cruelly violated
the right to lift and the organisa
tion reflected the view that such
treatment of prisoners oould ever
be juedted.
As evidence of cruelty, it cited
cases Hke these:
*It took 17 minutes to execute
William Vandiver in the electric
chair in Indiana in 1966, and re
quired five chargee of electricity
before he wae pronounced dead.
•In Mieeieeippi, Jimmy Lee
Gray wae executed by lethal gae
that induced violent convuleione
for eight minutee, during which
Gray gasped for at leoet 11 time»
aa ha rapeatedly etruck hie head
againat a pole behind him.
Blacks Convicted|
of murdering Whites had!
found more likely
JtfMM^entence<Mol)«ath|
•In Texaa, Jamee Autry'e exe
cuting by lethal injection in 1984
took at least 10 minutee and
throughout much of that time he
was conscious, moving about and
complaining of pain.
Spearheading Amnesty Inter
national's campaign la a new
80,000-word report on the uee of the
death penalty in the UJ8. since its
reinstatement in 1978 after a
nine-year moratorium. Of 80
UA. states, 37 have death penalty
laws -12 have executed prisoners
since 1076 and another 21 have
prisoners on death row.
The report says that chance can
play a big part in death sentenc
ing, and points to the wide discre
tion given to U.8. prosecutors, ju
ries and judges.
A sentence might hinge on
where the crime was committed
and there are wide disparaties in
death sentencing across the na
tion - more than two-thirds of all
executions since 1977 have been
in the southern states of Florida,
Georgia, and Texas.
Calling for abolition of the pen
alty in the U.S., it points out that,
even with the moat stringent safe
guards, it may be inflicted on the
Innocent - at leaat 29 wrongly
convicted people are reported to
have been executed in the U.8.
this century.
The organisation's campaign
is part of its work against the
death penalty worldwide - target
countries for abolition cam
paigns during the 1980s have in
cluded China, Cuba, Iran, Iraq,
Nigeria, South Africa, and the So
viet Union.