TTE POST
I __ „ ^ . ..y; y/ '< , "The Voice Of The Black Community"
Volume 18‘ N“ber 8 V THE CHARLOTTE POST - Thursday. Julv 23. 19ft7 -----
M 'f1. *' *•' ■ ■" -- - - ■ - * ■ Price: 50 Cents
Charlotte Woman
Journeys Into Africa
Ufeatylc/Page 8 A
I The Post Picks The Best Dressed \
V^JVluiTayOKers Sweet Things,.t J
a ne omciai opening of Freeman's Business Cen
ter brought Charlotte's blaek professionals and
business owners out in record attendance. Randy
Freeman (center, holding ribbon), the building's
owner, was assisted in the Ribbon Cutting Cermo
ny by City Councilman Ron Leeper ( far left) and
Attorney Mel Watt (second from right).
mack Entrepreneurs Tribute
Freeman Business Center Officially Opens
s&j&r*-****
Randy Freeman, a buainese con
sultant and developer of the office
'Complex, said he saw a need for a
small office fetilify of *Kie type In
Uptown Charlotte and began to
^plan for its development almost
^three yearn ago.
1 envisioned a kind of 'one-stop
shopping center' for small busi
..nesses, especially black-owned
'
• • * ■ j .,. jL " . , \ .
businesses. Our tenant mix of
black professionals is designed so
that their services complement
each other and we (Freeman's
Business Center) aid them by pro
Associates, CPA), a law firm
(Donnie Hoover), a real estate ■
sales and management company
(Professional Real Estate Manage
ment), a public relations/
marketing agency (Ken Koontz St
Associates), and Freeman's Busi
ness Consultants.
In addition to the professional
services companies, the tenants
also include Premiere Productions,
an entertainment promotions com
pany. A special separate office
where utility bills can be paid
(electric, gas, water and tele
phone), checks cashed and a West
ern Union office is housed at Free
man's Business Center and owned
and operated by Freeman Enter
Canter
and an example of black economic
development. Freeman says he
hopes his project serves as a cata
lyst to spur other black entrepre
neurial projects in Uptown Char
lotte.
For more details about the Free
man Business Center, call 334
5076, or write: Freeman Business
Center, 715 East Fifth Street, Char
lotte, NC 28202.
5 SCLC’s Banquet To Kickoff
t
»’*•* ' * CiTti .•»*. .« > . 1 ' -jtT ' . ‘ ■ t’ ’
Voter Registration Drive
iv **' ■. 'Tv ' >) •'»» ■ « ’ - * * * *- 41' *« ' « '
By Loretta Richardson
r PMt SUIT Writer
; The banquet that the Charlotte/
■ Mecklenburg chapter of SCLC is
planning for Friday, July 31 at
McDonald's Cafeteria is being
(looked at as a kickoff for one of
.the organization's most ambi
tious projects.
At the banquet's conclusion,
,C SCLC will fully engage in its
"Project Self-Esteem/ Voter Reg
istration Drive".
In announcing "Project Self
Esteem SCLC president, Rev. Ru
. dolph Seth related that the pro
gram was conceived from the ob
servation of many factors. "In
attending various d'vic and com
munity meeting,, by looking at
• things happening in the school
system, through examining
crime prevention strategies,
male-female relationships, and
from casually talking to persons
who are separated or divorced,
underemployed or unemployed, I
came to the conclusion that some
folks have low self-esteem. We,
hers at SCLC have decided to do
something about it"
The first thing SCLC has done
is to identity people in the com
munity-black leaders, mini
' stars, politicians and graaeroot
»workers that are successful.
» , "We wont to make contact with
the Harvey Qantte, the Omar
Leathemans, the Mildred Bax
Ur-Davises and the Sarah Ste
vensens. These individuals
have high self esteems. In my es
timation, these people have been
successful, but not without paying
♦ a price. SCLC looks to harness
those people-in an informal set
- ting with youth and togs* them to
tell their stories. We need to have
our youth hear what it takas to bo
successful. They (youth) need to
know how to set goals, how to say
"no" to negative peer pressure."
I believe that God wants us all
to succeed, achieve, and feel good
about ourselves. We must help
build self-esteem by providing
needed encouragement, good role
models and effectively support
many to handle the travesties of
life," stressed Rev. Seth.
Once the contact has been
made, Rev. 8eth informed that a.
series of sleep- ins, forums, rap
sessions nnd outings will be im
plemented. "We plan to use the
facilities of the churches and the
community centers. At the sleep
ins the way the project will be
structured by sex. The chosen fe
male leaders will address the
girls and the selected male lead
ers will talk to the male youth.
Our immediate goal is to encour
age the youth involved in "Project
Self Esteem" to feel good about go
ing back to school. We (8CLC)
feel thstV we start them off well
Walter Fauntroy
—Banquet speaker
tidpate in "Project Self-Esteem"
will come from those in atten
dance at SCLC's banquet. While
the scheduled banquet is open to
everyone, we hope to see a large
number of youth in attendance.
We want parents who want their
children to be inore motivated to
be there. This is the group that the
youth partidpants for "Project
See IVqjaot on page SA
Battle And Stevenson Claim
Derek Was Treated Unfairly
School Board Overrules Black Members' Concern For Black Student
ny Jiuyne strong
Posi. Managing Editor
Visibly upset by the Charlotte
Mecklenburg School Board five to
two decision in favor of uphold
ing the rejection of their son from
the National Junior Honor Socie
ty (NJHS), Richard and Mamie
Barnes left the board meeting
Tuesday night saying they will
now consider other avenues of ac
tion.
The Barneses went before the
school board stating that their
son, Derek, a black,14-year-old
rising ninth grader at McClin
tock Junior High School, had been
discriminated against by teach
ers involved in the honor society
selection committee at McClin
tock. The result being, last May,
Derek was excluded from the pro
gram.
In a two and one half hour, fac
tual and detailed appeal to the
board, the Barneses cited inci
dences of NJHS policy violations,
unprofessional conduct on the
part of the teachers involved in
the McClintock NJHS selection
committee and the "subtle ra
cism" perpetuated by the school's
principal, a guidance counselor,
and a teacher.
Upon hearing thm Barneses' ev
idence. board member Sarah Ste
venson vehemently eneUtmed,
^ ari) Oppttlled over what has
been presented. The child
(Derek) did not have a chance
from the beginning.**
Board member Rev. George
Battle agreed with Stevenson and
he stated to the other members, "It
has in no way been demonstrated
why Derek was not included in
the NJHS. I can't sit here in good
conscience and say I don't think
Derek was discriminated
against. From what I've heard
here today, I wouldn't want my
son to be judged on these biases.
"The things I've heard tonight
bother me," Battle emphasized. "I
see discrimination."
Yet, Stevenson and Battle, the
only blacks on the board were the
only persons who voted against
upholding McClintock's decision
to exclude Derek from the NJHS.
The other five board members,
all of whom are white, and the
new school superintendent, Dr.
Peter Relic, expressed through
their comments, little or no re
gard for the prejudicial mistreat
ment of Derek. Rather they con
tinually denied racial discrimi
nation in the face of both Steven
son 8 and Battle's assessments
and the Barneses fully document
ed evidence.
The white board members did
concur that the teachers involved
in the McClintock's selection
committee had exhibited
"unprofessionalism." They ap
peared to be very upset with the
fact that some teachers had
warned the Barneses of what was
happening with their son.
Carrie Winter, chairman of
school board, stated, "The breach
of confidence of the selection pro
cess was inappropriate."
Myers Speaks To CAB WE Meeting
The Carolina Association of
Black Women Entrepreneur*
(CABWE) announced its guest
speaker for the organisation's
Monday, July 27, meeting will be
Mr. Lewis H. Myers, Assistant
Secretary in the North Carolina
Department of Commerce.
Myers, who has been with foe
Department of Commerce since
1982, is responsible for operations
of ths^nell Business Division
which formulates policise on state
programs that support email busi
ness development.
For th* meeting, beginning 6
p.m. at McDonald's Cafeteria,
the topic of Myers' talk will be
"Small Business Devslopment in
North Carolina."
The CAB WE organization con
sists of women entrepreneurs and
woman who aspire to run their
own businesses. The group meeta
ovary fourth Monday, at McDo
nald* Cafeteria, at 6 p.m.
The public ia urged to come at
and hear Myera speak for thia
month's CABWE masting.
Interested persona are asked to
call Regina Jones at 366-1522 or
Gloria Campbell at 647-8568 for
more information.
Richard and Mamie Barnes confer with Kelly Alexander Jr. of the
Charlotte Branch NAACP, following the School Boards 5-2 decision
to uphold their son's exclusion from the National Junior Honor So
ciety. The Bameses say they will now consider other avenues of ac
tion.
While a student at McClintock
last year, Derek maintained a 3.1
grade point average, played three
sports, served on the school's Ex
ecutive Council and maintained
a good record of conduct. The
Bameses reiterated that they had
never been called to school on any
negative reports about their son
and for this reason they could not
understand why he was excluded
from the NJHS.
McClintock accepted ill stu
dents out of 130 eligible students to
the school's charter of the NJHS.
The three students excluded in
cluded Derek, and two white male
students. The two white students,
it was learned, had both recieved
in-school suspensions during the
year which warrants automatic
exclusion.
Of the 127 students inducted 118
were white, five were black and
four were other minorities. With
Derek's exclusion, no black
males made it into the McClin
tock NJHS.
Though the board maintained
that the reason for the meeting
was to assess the "fairness" of
McClintock's decision, the five
white board members did not dis
cuss Derek's exemplary scholas
tic record nor did they delve into
the fact that no adequate reasons
have been presented to substan
tiate Derek's exclusion from the
NJHS.
The Barneses also brought up
their concern as to why Area Su
perintendent Robert Hanes re
fused to have the School System's
EEO office conduct a thorough in
vestigation into Derek's case.
Hanes, who was present for the
meeting, maintained he had not
seen sufficient reason for an in
vestigation, even though Thelma
Johnson of the EEO office had re
ported to Hanes that from an in
formal investigation she felt the
case warranted further investi
gation.
Overall, the board's concensus
- for upholding Derak'a exclusion
was their feeling that jf *Vve board
intervened, the NJHS trrsy decide
to close the charter at McClintock.
Legal counsel for the school
board, in response to Stevenson's
question as to whether it was legal
for the board to overturn McClin
tock's decision, replied, "I think
it is legal. But the NJHS might
withdraw the charter (if the board
were to do so.)"
To this, Mrs. Barnes coun
tered, "Anything we have func
tioning in the school system that
harms children needs to be lost "
Kelly Alexander Jr. of the
Charlotte Branch NAACP and
Robert Davis, principal of Spaugh
Elementary School, were both
present for the board meeting at
the request of the Barneses. Alex
ander said he attended to hear
what the board had to say and to
advise the Barneses.
After giving the board's major
ity ruling on the Derek Barnes
case, Winter stated, "We want to
clarify that we do not expect the
school system to have biases. We
want to insure youngsters that
they wii] be treated fairly."
But at the same time, Winter
along with the other white board
members, decided to uphold the
unfair treatment of Derek
Barnes.
Senior Citizens Request
Affordable Health Care
4% a - _
kJUHHurt lair ana anordable
health care for all Americans" was
the message brought to Rep. J
Alex McMillan today by NC
iair Share and the Mecklenburg
Citizens. Several Charlotte citizens
delivered petitions with over 2,700
signatures to McMillan's Washing
ton office. Members of the Meck
lenburg Council had collected sev
eral hundred signatures while NC
Fair Share went door-to-door in
Charlotte neighborhoods to collect
thereat
"Everyone is concerned about
the high costs of medical care and
the best way to cut down on these
costs is to keep people healthy,"
commented Mildred Taylor, a Pair
Share Board member and partici
pant In the Mecklenburg Council
who traveled to Washington with
the petitions. "But too many peo
ple have no insurance and fail to
jet the health care they need be
tau>* ®f the coat, until its am expen
sive emergency," she continued.
Health care costa will continue to
be a problem as long as so many
people hafe no health insurance."
According to NC Fair Share,
over one million North Carolinians
and about 55,000 in Mecklenburg
alone are totally uninsured. About
one in four county residents are
underinsured or uninsured.
"It is a long road to solve this
problem but Congress has a
chance right away to help in the
area of prescription drug coats.
These costs have risen at a rata
four times that of inflation, and tha r*
average senior citizen has over 10
prescriptions a year. No wonder
medicines are tha largest medical
expense most senior citizens pay
out of their own pockets. There
has been no Medicare coverage
for this basic cost, but Congress
has a chance to change that this
week."
Congress will vote this week on
HR 2470, a package of improve
ments in the area of catastrophic
health care coveragkJhe package
includes a program to pay SO* of
the costs of out-patient medicine
after a Medicare recipient has