Turner hopes latest play causes people self-examination/IB
I Che Charlotte Bosit I
VOLUME 21 N0.18
JANUARY 18,1996
75 CENTS
Blue works to shift
burden on working class
and national levels as the
Republicans carry out their
“Contract with America.”
Republicans want to punish
the poor and
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
When the legislature con
venes in May, N.C. Rep. Dan
Blue will be working on repeal
ing the state’s tax on food,
since the state expects to have
a healthy surplus.
“Since we have an excess,
thanks to the policies we put in
place in the
late '80s, we have money to
repeal the Food tax,” said
Blue, who was Speaker of the
House until Republicans took
control after the 1994 election.
“The question is whether we
want to give relief to business,
as Republicans want to do, or
spread relief down to the peo
ple.”
In an interview on the eve of
his visit to Charlotte to
keynote the Martin Luther
King prayer breakfast
Monday, Blue discussed
what’s happening at the state
the elderly
with cuts dis
guised as
returning
control for
social pro
grams to the
states. Blue
said.
If North
Carolina gets
$500 million
less from the
federal government, the state
will have to drastically cut
services, Blue said.
The Republican plan to
replace federally-run pro
grams with block grants to the
states
“will not
work,” he
said.
“It is
not possi
ble to do
more
with less
money,”
said
Blue.
“There is
no way
the state could deliver the
same level of services such as
"1 think again it is to going to the
question of Republican Congress
wanting to generally cut services..
They want to cut services to elderly,
Medicare and Medicaid. They want
to cut services to the poor popula
tion, programs that give opportunity
to young children.
-Dan Blue
Medicare, Medicaid, child
care. Head Start.
“The question would be
where would you decide to
eliminate something. What
would you eliminate to make
Head Start dollars go just as
far? And unless you going to
control or cut the amount doc
tors charge, you are not going
to cut Medicare.
“It’s a question of cutting
services and deciding where
you are going to cut,” Blue
said.
“I think again it is to going
to the question of the
Republican Congress wanting
to generally cut services. They
See BLUE page 2A
Dan Blue
Remembering King and The Dream
PHOTO/ WADE NASH
Bernice King, daughter of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King (center) leads prayer at her father’s crypt Monday during
memorial services in Atlanta. Flanking her are Bernice King’s mother Coretta; brothers Martin Luther King III and Dexter King
and President Clinton.
PHOTO/ PAUL WILLIAMS. Ill
Amber Cox of Harding High School holds her saxophone aloft
during the annual Martin Luther King parade uptown. The
Charlotte procession is the largest of its kind In North
Carolina. The parade started at West Charlotte High School
and finished at the Charlotte Convention Center.
Clover, S.C. conference focuses on black males
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
A South Carolina group will
introduce boys to manhood
next week.
Clover-baaed Brothers
United For Change will host
its second Black Male
Conference Jan. 26-28 at
Clover Middle School.
Organizers hope to' attract 500
African American youngsters
between ages 7-18 and their
families to the event. The con
ference is a grassroots cam
paign to address issues that
affect young black men and
their families.
Several events are planned
for the conference, starting
with a kick-off community
worship service Sunday at 3
p.m. at Weeping Mary Baptist
Church in Bowling Green,
Second conference hopes to
attract 500 youngsters, 7-18
S.C. A revival service will be
held Monday with the Rev.
Claude William, pastor of Mt.
Clement AME Zion Church, as
guest speaker.
Among the participants
invited to the three-day con
ference are Charlotte-based
Save The Seed, Delta Sigma
Theta sorority and Dee
Sumpter, founder of Mothers
of Murdered Offspring.
Workshops will be held on a
variety of subjects, including
"Navigating the school sys
tem;" "For sisters only;" "A
talk about HIV/AIDS” and
"Winning against the odds."
Special conference sessions
will include dialogue with The
Insiders of the S.C. Juvenile
Detention Center and
Operation Get Smart of the
S.C. Dept, of Corrections. A
Greek step show featuring fra
ternities and sororities from
Winthrop University, Johnson
C. Smith University and other
area schools. The Soweto
Street Beat Dance Company
from South Africa will per
form at the community fellow
ship Jan. 26 at 7 p.m.
Pre-registration for the con
ference is $2 before Tuesday;
$3 on-site. For more informa
tion, call Brothers United For
Change at (803) 222-5100.
Inside
Editorials 4A-5A
Community News 3A
Lifestyles 9A
Religion 12A
Arts/Entertainment 1B
What's Up 5B
Sports 8B
Classified 12B
Queens College Is off to a
12-1 record In basketball and
a No. 12 ranking In the NCAA
Division II poll. Story on
Page 8B.
To subscribe, call (704) 376-
0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160.
© 1995 The Charlotte Post
Publishing Company.
Slave ship exhibit has no takers in Charlotte
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Another local museum has
passed on an exhibit of the
Henrietta Marie slave ship.
Discovery Place officials,
who opted not to display the
ship’s artifacts, contend the
exhibit does not fit its science
mission and does not have
enough “hands on” activities.
One Discovery Place official,
African American Rudy
Cooper, vice president of
exhibits, also objected to what
he called the “negative image”
portrayed by the slave ship.
“We need to forget about
slavery and move on,” Cooper
said two weeks ago.
Cooper and other Discovery
Place officials have suggested
that The Museum of the New
South might be the appropri
ate place for the exhibit. The
museum opens this weekend
in its permanent home at 324
N. College St. But executive
director Emily Zimmern said
the slave ship is not appropri-
' ate for her facility.
“As you know, we are a
young institution,” she said.
“Our mission is to chronicle
the history of Charlotte and
Carolina Piedmont since 1877.
We need to establish our iden
tity. Regrettably, the slave
ship Henrietta Marie does not
fit in our purview. It doesn’t
fit in our mission.”
“That’s where it stands at
this point,” Zimmern said.
“We want to be a servant to
the commuity. But that’s not
the purpose of our museum.
The purpose of our museum is
See SLAVE SHIP page 3A
PHOTO/ MARCUS PATTION
About 5,000 people visited Detroit’s Museum of African American
History Monday to see the exhibit “A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck
of The Henrietta Marie.” Charlotte’s Discovery Place refuses to bring
the exhibit here, citing Its negative spin on African American history.