Boosting Black
Businesses
Business/ Page 4A
The Two Faces Of JCSU
Editorials/ Page 5A
A Finer Friday Night For Kids
lifestyles/ Page IB
Alliance
Shelby’s New
Youth Program
Page llB
Cliarlotte
i Vol. 16, No.lO Thursday, August 3,1989
THE AWARD-WINNING "VOICE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY"
50 Cents
Africa Comes
To Charlotte
Aug. 26 Exhibit To Display The
Continent's Rich Culture, History
By HERB WHITE
Post Staff Writer
Sylglenda Sazlru feels that Af
ricans and African-Americans
living in the south have some
thing in common.
Both, she feels, have been tar
gets of negative perceptions—
Africa's reputation as "the dark
continent" and black southern
ers as unable to understand the
Importance of the continent's
culture and history.
Sazlru, a native of Kenya,
hopes to chip away at the stere
otypes this month with an Afri
can gala in Charlotte.
"An Evening In Nairobi,"
scheduled for Aug. 26 at the
Charlotte Convention Center, is
an authentic exhibition of
dance, music, and culture from
the Kenyan capital.
Hckets are $ 12 a person, $ 10 for
groups of five or more and $30
for groups of families of four or
more. For more information, call
(704) 527-6120 or (803) 463-
4867.
Sazlru, founder of the African
International School of Thought
In Clifton, S.C. along with her
husband Nathan, said southern
ers are Interested in African cul
ture, and to prove it is bringing
the gala to Charlotte for the first
time.
Previous exhibits held in
northern and western cities
were sponsored by local pro
moters, but AIFS is sole produc
er of this show.
"Other people had doubts
about doing it in the South," she
said. "But the opposite has been
true--southerners have been
very positive, especially In
Charlotte."
Sazlru said American media
has traditionally portrayed Afri
ca in an unflattering light, most
ly as a land of famine and the al
leged place of origin of AIDS. "An
Evening In Nairobi" is intended
to change the image.
"We want to give people a true
picture of Africa," she said.
There's more to it than famine
and war. That's a part of it, but
that's not all of IL"
Sazlru founded AIST in 1982
with the purpose of educating
Americans in African culture.
The organization teaches Swa
hili, an African language, in ad
dition to offering seminars on
African life and tours of Kenya.
Most of AISTs students, though.
See CHAHLOTTE’S On Page 2A
U.S. Hasn't Finished
Job Of Providing
Equal Opportunity
Photo/CALVIN FERGUSON
A NATIVE AFRICAN DANCE was performed by Afrikadzata
Deku at the Afro-American Cultural Center. Deku gave a pre
view of what the public will be able to see at the planned
"Evening in Nairobi" event to be hdd in Charlotte.
WASHINGTON - A gap of "the
most serious proportions" con
tinues to exist between blacks
and whites in virtually every as
pect of American society, a blue-
ribbon committee on the status
of black Americans has report
ed. The nation faces an
"unfinished agenda" to correct
these inequities, the National
Research Council committee
said recently.
Moreover, despite significant
gains since the 1940s on many
key indicators of status, blachs
on average lost ground or have
remained at the same level since
the early 1970s, especially in
real Income, the committee con
cluded.
"By almost all aggregate sta
tistical measures -- Incomes
and living standards; health and
life expectancy: educational, oc
cupational, and residential op
portunities; political and social
participation — the well-being
of both blacks and whites has
advanced greatly over the past
five decades. By almost all the
same Indicators, blacks remain
substantially behind whites,"
the committee's report notes.
Gains made since 1940 are at
tributable to a rapidly growing
economy and to public policies,
such as passage and enforce
ment of civil rights laws and
equal opportunity efforts, the
committee said. Black initia
tives and black identity — a high
degree of racial pride and group
cohesion — have also played
prlmaiy roles in bringing about
changes in government and pri
vate institutions and improve
ments in blacks' economic, so
cial, and political status, it
noted.
"Purposeful actions and poli
cies by governments and private
institutions make a large differ'
ence in the opportunities and
conditions of black Ameiicansr”
the committee wrote. These pol
icies have been "essential for
past progress, and further
progress is unlikely without
them."
Continuing racial discrimina
tion is one major barrier to addl-;
tlonal Improvements, the com
mittee said. However, "if all!
racial discrimination were abo
lished today, the life prospects
facing poor blacks would still
constitute major challenges for
public policy," the committee
concluded.
This is partly because black
See REPORT On Page 2A
Charlotte Stores Barred From Stamp Program
By HERB WHITE
Post staff Writer
Four Charlotte stores have
been permanently barred from
peirtlclpating in the food stamp
program because the business
es exchanged coupons for mon
ey.
The stores—Skip's Mini Mart
at 1100 Beatties Ford Road,
Gardner Gulf and Discount Bev
erage at 830 Sugar Creek Rd.,
Cold Beverage Convenience
Store at 1021 Belmont Ave. and
Villa Heights Soda Shop & Gro
cery at 1008 Belmont Ave—were
declared ineligible last month
after an investigation by Char
lotte police and the investigative
divislMi the U.S. Dept, of Agri
culture (USDA).
The coupons can be used le
gally only to buy food or seeds
and plants to be used in gardens
to grow food and are not intend
ed to be used as cash in non
food transactions.
Under USDA rules, violators
are disqualified from the pro
gram for periods ranging from
six months to permanently, said
Gerald Holt, head of the USDA's
Food and Nutrition office in Ra
leigh.
The stores' owners were either
convicted of taking food stamps
for money or were found to have
employees who made exchang
es, said Holt
Two owners, Rodger Lee Ste
wart of Cold Bleverage and Essie
Hair Gllllard of Villa Heights
Soda Shop, were foimd guilty of
trading stemips for money.
Delores Hines MlUer of Skip's
Mini Mart and Michael D. Gard
ner of Gardner Gulf and Dis
count Beverage weren't charged
but were held responsible for
their employees' actions.
After the criminal proceedings
were finished earlier this year,
the USDA took administrative
action against the stores, send
ing the owners letters In June
notifying them of their exclu
sion. The bans took place during
the first week of Juty.
Holt said the owners were en
titled to filing appeals with
USDA to remain eligible within
10 days of receiving the letters,
but none chose to do so.
'They have 10 days after get
ting notice to file for an admin
istrative review," she said. "But
since there were convictions, it
was unlikely they would ask for
an appeal."
All of the stores made ex
changes of stamps at half their
value. Holt said, a violation of
USDA rules and a federal of
fense.
'The rates sometimes vary" on
the amount of money swapped
for stamps, she said, but teiking
coupons for an5rthlng less than
their face value or for non-food
items isn't allowed.
"It doesn't make a difference
whether it's $300 worth of food
stamps for $150 or $75 of
stamps for $65, it's the same to
us."
More than 10,000 stores in
North Carolina accept food
stamps, with the overwhelming
majority of them abiding by the
rulM, Holt said.
"It looks bad if some stores are
disqualified, but most of them
are abiding by the rules," she
said. "The compliance rate with
food stamps is pretty good."
Film To Highlight Segregation In 1960
GREENSBORO (AP) — A son of
a participant in 1960 sit-ins
that helped spark the civil
rights movement says white stu
dents don't understand what
blacks went through under seg
regation and he hopes a film he
is helping make will help in
form them.
"Some white students don't
really understand how blacks
suffered through those years,"
said Jim West, a 12-year-old
from Raleigh who is taking part
in the making of a 15-mlnute
film on the 1960 sit-ins at the
downtown Woolworth counter.
"I think this will really be pro
vocative and Inform whites and
blacks," said Jim, whose father,
James West, attended N.C. A&T
in 1960 and participated in the
demonstrations.
The film about the sit-in on
Feb. 1, 1960, staged by four N.C.
A&T State University students,
will be shown to North Carolina
eighth-graders beginning in Oc
tober.
The sit-in story is the second
segment of a three-part film
titled "We The People of North
Carolina." The first vignette, a
re-creation of the 1917 fight for
women's suffrage, was filmed
Saturday at the Old Capitol in
Raleigh. The third, deeding with
the state's conflict about seced
ing from the Union, is scheduled
for filming at the Duke Home
stead in Durham Tuesday.
The producer of the film said
he hoped black eind white stu
dents alike are Inspired by what
they see.
"I wemt students to reedlze this
was about people like them
selves," said Steven Channing, a
Chapel Hill filmmaker and his
torian. 'Those four freshmen
from A&T who gave each other
the courage to come in here that
day realty started something."
But Don Penven, who portrays
the Woolworth manager, said
students are not well-taught
when it comes to state history.
He said some students, when
they were auditioning, could not
even pronounce "segregation."
"That's a shame," Penven said.
After being told that onty white
people could eat hamburgers and
drink milksheikes at the down
town Woolworth lunch counter
In 1960, Katherine Rogers, a 12-
year-old from Raleigh, was
puzzled.
"You mean black people
couldn't even come in here?" she
asked.
"Sure they could, to wash the
floors," Jim replied.
By 2:30 p.m., Jim had said his
line about black people scrub
bing floors nearty a dozen times.
Yet he and the other students —
all seventh—and eighth-graders
from Greensboro, Winston-
Salem and Raleigh — perked up
each time they heard "ready on
the set"
NAACP Plans Silent March On D.C.
Photo/CALVIN FERQUSON
F^« Jones (1), qwkespeison tot residents of Falrvlew Homes,
greets Mayor Soe Myilck at the start of Mayor Myrlck's antl-
dmgmai^ held last Saturday. The rally drew a radaUy mixed
crowd of approximately 120 people In a show against drug
abuse In the city
A "Silent March" protesting
four recent adverse decisions by
the U.S. Supreme Court on civil
rights and affirmative action
and calling on Congress to un
dertake legislative remedies,
has been scheduled by the
NAACP for Saturday, August 26,
at noon in Washington, DC, ac
cording to Dr. Benjamin L.
Hooks, executive director,
NAACP, and Dr. Wlftlam F. Gib
son, chairman, NAACP National
Board of Directors.
The route and other details of
the march remain to be worked
out, but Dr. Hooks said it would
closely resemble the famous
Silent March" of 1917 when over
5,000 men, women and children
headed 1^ Dr. W.E.B. DuBols and
James Weldon Johnson of the
NAACP, marched in silence
down New York City's Fifth Ave
nue, protesting "Jim Crowism",
lynching, segregation, disen
franchisement and race riots in
Waco, Memphis, and East St.
Louis.
"Our silent march will be con
cerned with one issue alone —
the Supreme Court and its re
cent hostile decisions. We will
be sending a message primarlty
to the administration. Congress
and the American people that
the decisions of this Court are
harmful to the body politic of
this nation and prompt action
must be taken to reverse them
through legislative means," Dr.
Hooks said at a press confer
ence in Washington recently.
Charlotte
Turns Light
On Crime
On Tuesday, August 8, Char
lotte residents are being invited
to join thousands of other com
munities across America in sup
porting a unique, coast-to-coast
crime prevention project calM
NA'nONAL NIGHT OUT. The
event, sponsored ly the Nation
al Town Watch Association and
co-sponsored locally by the
Charlotte Police Department,
involved over 16 million people
from 4,700 communities last
summer.
This August 8th, residents
across the nation will be asked
to turn on all outside lights from
8:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. and spend
at least an hour on porches,
lawns, stoops, etc. Many neigh
borhoods throughout Charlotte
will be hosting special Night Out
activities such as block parties,
cookouts, flashlight walks,
homemade ice cream parties,
dessert parties, neighborhood
walks, pool parties, and many
others.
Overall, National Night Out is
designed to: (1) heighten crime
prevention awareness; (2) gen
erate support for, and participa
tion in, local anti-crime pro
grams; (3) strengthen
neighborhood spirit in the
Crime Prevention campaign
and; (4) send a message to crim
inals letting them know that
neighborhoods across the U.SJL
are organized and fighting back.
National Project Coordinator
Matt Peskin said, "This is an op-
See NIGHT On Page 2A
Inside This Week
Editorials Pg. 6A
Obituaries Pg. SB
Entertainment.. Pg. 8A
Sports Pg. 7B
Lifestyles Pg. IB
Classifieds.... Pg. 10B i
Church News... Pg. 4B
Alliance Pg. 11B ;
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