TE PI 1ST
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I tLACK MARKET CALL :i76-0496
Volume 12, Number 44 ^ THE CHARLOTTE POST Thursday, April 2,1987
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LIONS CLUB BANQUET
SEE STORY ON PAGE 1*A -4
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lls Officers;
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A new president far the local
chapter of Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, along
with other officers will be in
stall'd on Sunday, April 6 es the
40 year old organisation sponsors
a memorial service to the Dr.
Martin L. King Jr.
The installation and memori
al service will take place at little
Rock AME Zion Church at 4 pin.
Rev. Rudolph Seth, an asso
ciate pastor of Greater Mt. Sinai
Baptist Church will replace out
going preeident, Dr. James
Palmer, who after carving three
termeeethe local 8CLC president
will be running far the preeident
I FAOE #
| EDITORIALS-2A
|j CHURCH NEWS-CA
I SPORTS-IB
■ ENTERTAINMENT—.4B
I CLASSIFIEDS-14B
I II NEXT WEEK 11
H Look For Th* Charlotte
Wedding A Vacation
r
Action have boon diluted. Those
of us who have gotten good posi
tions have forgotten where we've
come from and have forgotten
that the Civil Rights movement
and the Voting Rights Act were
the reasons why we have the posi
tions we have. We have been
lulled to sleep and have become
complacent. If we (human race)
•re all to participate in the Amer
ican dream, we must not forgst
thoss less fortunate."
Other areas Rev. Seth wants to
tap into include working more
closely with the NAACP and
finding Christian-based solu
tion^ to ths problems that eodst.
Rev. Seth, an active member at
Ores ter Mt. Sinai is a bible study
teacher, a member of the board of
directors of ths Noah's Ark Mini
stry and the TLC Counseling Ser
vice, a member of the Black Po
litical Caucus is active in Store
house, a group similar to the 700
Club. He la married to Ellon and
they art the paranta of thro chil
dren.
Speaking at th* memorial and
installation service on Sunday
will b* Dr. Q*orgo Cook Jr., pas
tor of Oroter Mt. Sinai Baptist
Church. Ha has also been nam*d
SCLCa "Man of th* Yaar." Hi*
maeaag* will b* based on SCLCa
national theme, 'Putting the
Elimination of Poverty on the
National Agenda. He will alee
install th* following offlam
V*lma Leak*, first visa presi
dent; Andro Watkins, second
vi** president; Era. William
Whit*, third via* prold*nt; Ev*.
ljm Arant, fourth visa proidrat;
Claira Williams, s*erstary;
Pearl Robinson, aacietemt a*cr*
taryj Mari* Otter, treasurer; U
wia Catalan, parliamentarian,
and Carrie Oravaa, hiatorian.
Ohurehae and choirs from
aeros the dtp, aa wall aa slatted
oAdala have bean invited to at
tend tha program. Tha dty‘«
taniution worker* will be apo
dal guoota, symbolic of the group
Or. Xing gavo hit Ufo for and in
eenddoratien of the sanitation
i. workers' promt negotiation,
with the dty. Era. I. Randle Os
borns, attentive dirotor of Chap
tort A Affiliate will also ba in at*
,?tondanee. “ ' '
de Citizens,
With City's
By Jalyne Strong
Poet Staff Writer
Several black citizens^of Char
lotte’s Westside were shocked
and angered by a particular news
item reported in the Charlotte Ob
server last May. The report was
a conspicuous reminder of the ra
cially discriminatory practices
which still exist in Southern cit
ies.
Ihe article stated the County
Commissioners of Charlotte
Mecklenburg had voted on and
approved, in closed session, that
the city’s new Waste Transfer
Station would be situated in the
middle of a densely populated,
predominantly black residential
area in West Charlotte.
Upon reeding this news, the
black Westside citizens, many of
whom are long-time homeowners
in the area, had the common
thought: "No, not again. Not an
^^hsy are all fed-up'with living
with the city’s garbage.
Leroy "Pop" Miller still re
calls how the foul odor of the city's
garbage permeated the black
neighborhood where he bought his
first home.
nm purcnasea ms nome on Mo
reti A vs. off Statesville Avs. in
1951. "At that time blacks were
allowed to purchase homes only
In certain areas," Miller tells.
Charlotte, similar to most
Southern cities, had residential
racial segregation for decades.
In Charlotte, black citizens were
restricted in their living patterns
to areas west and north of the city
and were prevented from resid
ing outside their designated com
munities; white citizens pre
ferred to live in the east and
south.
As part of their racially discri
minatory policy, the city-county
government established a policy
and practice of allocating tracts
of land in the black community
tor the location of offensive and
noxloua land uses, freeing the
white community from anv such
land burdens.
For example, over the years,
city-county government has
plsieed many of ita city-wide mu
nicipal ssrvices in Mack commu
nities, including two landfills, a
wests water treatment plant, a bus
shelter, a municipal storage area,
and a major waterworks.
In 1M1, Miller's home on Mo
rots Ave. was lees than a mile
from two waste disposal sites.
Ons, located in the area where
Double Oaks Public Housing is
now built, was closed and used as
a landfill. The other, located off
Statesville Ave. on Northerly
Rd., was being utilised.
"Yeti could email it for miles
xroand," Miller relates.
The Statesville Ave. garbage
dump sloeed during the ltSO's
xnd Double Oaks dump dosed in
(he 40‘s aeeerding to Miller. But
vestiges of the land violation re
main today and effbet the Mack
residents of this area.
At Double Oaks, where the sity
has built low-income housing on
a landfill, the ground beneath
these family dwellings 1e sink
ing, Miner revealed at the loca
tion ef Double Oaks housing pro
The land is sinking IS to If
inches In some places, " Miller
Mo Oaks sits on a garbage
lump.''
Ffc<*o by Calvta firgliH
J.C. Scoggins (1) and Leroy ’Pop" Miller (r),
members of the Westside Coalition Against the
Garbage Dump, stand on the proposed site for the
city's new Waste Transfer Station, located on
Hwy. 16 and TaSalle St~ Miller points to the Uni
versity Park neighborhood, describing the close
proximity of the Waste Station to this black resi
dential area.
ine city has had all types of
problems with the ground sink
ing in Double Oaks. They've had
to tear down some of the apart
ments because of it," he ex
plained, showing where concrete
steps remain, marking the place
where housing units once stood.
The land has since sunk into cre
vices.
The garbage dump that was lo
cated off Statesville Ave. has also
been filled. But Miller, who illus
trates how the former garbage
dump "comes almost up the the
back door" of black citixens'
homes on McArthur St., is wor
ried about toxic fames and infec
tious waste seepage. He tells of
how fires ignite frequently on the
site.
More Waste In Black
Community
These types of things came to
Miller's mind when he read of
the Commissioners' decision to
place yet another city waste treat
ment site in the black Westside of
Charlotte.
Miller had thought the days of
racial discriminatory land use
were over. But since reading the
Commissioner's decision, Miller
has come to the conclusion:
"They wait a few year and then
they stick another one in your
face." .
With the chosen site of the
city’s Waste Transfer 8tation lo
cated off Hwy. 18 on LaSalle St.,
black residents of University
Park, Washington Heights,
Smallwood, and the Biddleville
Five Points neighborhoods will
all be (Weed with the city's gar
X Commissioners' proposed
garbage treatment aite is in plain
view of University Park neigh
borhood. It ia located On the
boundary of Smallwood, and Just ■■
Mocks from Belvedere Homes, a
public housing project with ovst
800 roMdcnte. It la lacs than a
mile from Charlotte's only black
soilage, Johnson C. Smith Uni
versity, and West Charlotte High
School, the city's only original
black high school that ia still
Within a 8500 feet of the pro
posed site, there are over 1800 res
idences; the majority are occu
pied by black .fkmiliaa. —
Into this area the Commission
ers have planned to direct 250
garbage trucks per day, trans
porting the city's 1750 tons of dai
ly wastes.
Coalition Fights Decision
Miller and other black West
side residents have joined forces
to fight the Commissioners' deci
sion. They have formed the West
side Coalition Against the Gar
bage Dump and have sought legal
action against the Mecklenburg
County Commission, naming
Commissioners Rod Autry, Jerry
Blackmon, Carla Dupuy, Foun
tain Odom and Robert Walton.
The Westside Coalition has two
major greivances against the
Commissioners. First, they say
there was never any dialogue be
tween residents of the community
and Commissioners before the
decision to place the Waste
Transfer Station in the neighbor
hood.
Belvedere Home* resident
Johnsie Sigler just last weak said
she wasn't cure that the County
had decided to place the Waste
Transfer Station two blocks from
her apartment. Told the Commis
sioners decision, 8igl*r said, "I
believe it will be e hasard to the
people's health over here. I think
garbage disposal should be on the
outskirts of town not in the city."
The Coalition also ease racial
ly discriminatory land usa being
perpetuated by an insensitive,
and possibly racist, County Com
mission. Coalition mem bar, El
eanor Washington remarks,”
The only reason they are build
ing the station in ths Weeteid* ia
because they don't want it in
Southeast Charlotte.
"They're working on building
school* in South and Southeast
Charlotte," continues Washing
ton. "But they have a history of
putting anything that is negative
in the black communities."
Whan meetings with the Coun
ty Commissioner proved fruit
less—the Commissioners to
mained adamant abaut putting
the Waste Button la the Mask
community—the WaatgMe Coali
tion secured the services of Attor
ney Yvonne Evens, who has Sled
a legal complaint against the
County Commission to have the
County adjoined from building
on the site.
Evans explained briefly, "It is
a racial discrimination claim.
ciung umi um
Westside of
predominant!
y black resi
dent* has
borne the bur
den of these
typos of facil
ities more
than any oth
•r section ot
„ Evans
town.
Evans has cited in the com
plaint, "Specifically, (the Com
miseionere or Charlotte's city
county government) have a pat
tern and practice of allocating of
feneive land ueee on the basis of
race."
The complaint also points out,
'(Black Weeteide residents)
havs bean and continua to be dis
criminated against because of
their race in ways which deprive
them of the right to be free from
govarnm an tally imposed nega
tive land uses, which farther de
prive them of land use opportuni
ties equal to that enjoyed by whits
residents of this City."
This disparate treatment on the
basis of race it in violation of
black Waetsida residents' rights
under the Fifth Amendment,
Thirteenth Amendment and the
Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States,
concluded Evans.
In tha fight with the Count/
Commissioners the Weeteide Co
alition Against the Oarbage .%
Dump has to pay mounting legal i
fbe. They been holding commu
nity events to raise Binds.
But the Coalition will not glva£*|
up. They fast it is a Just flgb&N
They're fighting far their neigh
borhoods and against continued '1
racial discrimination. Aa Oodli
tion member J.C. hoggins points ,,
out, " This is how they do Mack
people. You pay yeur taxes end ft
they dump garbage in your bask
yard."