Delta Sigma Theta hosts ‘Symphony With The Divas ’/Page IB
I Cljarlotte Bosit ■
VOLUME 21 N0.19
JANUARY 25 1996
75 CENTS
School board could make
Cochrane Middle a magnet
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Cochrane Middle School
would become a magnet in
1997, if the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg school board
moves ahead with ideas dis
cussed during a pupil assign
ment work session Tuesday
night.
Board chair Susan Burgess
said the school system has
asked IBM to donate comput
ers and multimedia worksta
tions to Cochrane, as it plans
to do to schools in the new
Education Village.
Those new workstations
could be the core of a commu
nications magnet for
Cochrane, which will become
80 percent African American
next year.
Students in neighborhoods
around Cochrane could still
attend the school, since the
enrollment will drop since
theschool board is leaning
toward assigning Newell
Elementary students to the
new eastside middle school,
rather than Cochrane. Newell
area parents packed a public
hearing last week to seek that
change.
Burgess said the moves don’t
mean the school board is
buckling to public pressure.
“Parents are listened to and
when they have reasons that
make sense to us, the board is
willing to adapt the plan.
The Newell attendance area
is naturally integrated, 75
percent white and 25 percent
black,” she said. “One of our
guiding principles for pupil
assignment is to identify inte
grated communities and
assign them to neighborhood
school. Newell’s attendance is
across the street from the new
school. It is my projection they
will be included.”
The Education Village was
to be a “workplace” magnet for
parents who work at
University City area business
es. Several of those businesses
promised to provide resources,
such as computers, for the
new school.
Shifting some of those donat
ed resources to other schools
affected by the new magnet,
such as Cochrane and
Statesville Avenue, would
address the concerns of school
board members about whether
resources are being allocated
equitably to schools.
George Dunlap, for example,
suggested two weeks ago that
Education Village schools not
become magnets since the
donated resources would
make them naturally attrac
tive to parents.
Burgess spoke to that con
cern.
“The Education Village is
See SCHOOL page 2A
; t V*. ,.
Grave concerns
PHOTO/ CALVIN FERGUSON
Patricia and Jerry Black,(I.), with Lillian Roberts and Jackie Ferguson in abandoned Cedar Grove cemetery. The members of the
Taylor/LaSalle community group want the gravesite and a nearby wooded lot cleaned up.
Taylor/LaSalle residents want old cemetery cleaned up
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
The overgrown graves, many
sunken and unmarked, lie
amid an overgrowth of trees
and bushes.
It is a place where old tires
and bottles seem as much at
home as the engraved gray
stones marking the final rest
ing place of dearly departed
loved ones.
Located on Hildebrand
Street off Beatties Ford Road,
the old Cedar Grove Cemetery
is adjacent to Northwest
Middle and University Park
schools. The latter will reopen
in the fall as an arts magnet.
Failure to properly maintain
the cemetery may not only be
unsightly, it could be tragic,
says Lillian Roberts, chairper
son of the Taylor/UaSalle com
munity association around the
cemetery.
School children walking or
riding to the renovated
University Park school pass
by the cemetery and a similar
ly overgrown lot at Taylor and
Hildebrand.
They see it as they get off
and onto their buses. They can
see it if they look out of their
classrooms.
“It is really hazardous,”
Roberts said. “There is no
fence around it or anything.
Those children could run up in
the cemetery playing and fall
in one of those holes. Children
like to go into the woods. It is
just dangerous.
“Children may be walking in
the area to school and who
knows, they might say ‘let’s
cut through these woods.’
They are just children and we
have to be responsible for
them.”
The history of the cemetery,
perhaps, mirrors the history of
the small African American
community of which it is part.
As the story goes, the ceme
tery came into being sometime
around the turn of the century
when the Misenheimer family
was developing Oaklawn
cemetery for the city’s whites
and thought to provide space
for African Americans also.
When the city took over
Oaklawn Cemetery back in
See CEMETERY page 2A
Wanted: Candidates
for District 2 county
commissioners race
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Has apathy taken a strong
hold in the Mecklenburg
County Commission District 2
race?
The filing deadline is Feb. 5.
Only one can
didate, for-
m e r
Charlotte-
Mecklenburg
School Board
member
Sarah
Stevenson,
has filed.
The lack of
interest has
political observers and retir
ing commissioner Jim
Richardson baffled.
Richardson holds the seat but
is not running for reelection.
"I'm really surprised," he
said. "Filing isn't over yet, but
I’m surprised."
Richardson has held the seat
since 1994 when he filled the
unexpired term of Bob
Walton. Walton died July 12,
1994 of a heart attack.
Stevenson
Walton won the Democratic
primary and was seeking his
eighth term on the board.
Richardson was nomination to
replace Walton on the fall bal
lot. But it was a fight.
Richardson won easily, but
several others - including
N.C. NAACP
President
Kelly
Alexander,
attorney
James Exum
and
Stevenson -
campaigned
for the spot.
The cam
paign raised
a lively debate over whether a
crop of new politicians should
take the leadership reigns
from the older generation.
"I think it's a shame we're
always hearing this old guard-
young guard (stuff),"
Richardson said. "But when
the day of reckoning comes,
where are the young folks? I'm
all for young people running. I
think they should. This race is
See DISTRICT page 2A
Richardson
Reparations urged
for U.S. blacks
By Sidney A. Moore Jr.
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Leaders of a national effort to get the United States govern
ment to pay black people for slavery and subsequent oppression
met in Charlotte last weekend.
Hannibal Afrik of Chicago and Johnita Scott of Baton Rouge,
La., co-chairs of the National Coalition of Black for Reparations
in America, were hosted by the Charlotte chapter of the
Washington, D.C.-based organization. They were among 10 mem
bers of the group's 15 member national board of directors here to
attend a quarterly meeting.
African Americans deserve compensation from the government
for centuries of oppression based on skin color, reparations sup
porters say. It may not heal the economic and social damage done
to black people, but it’s a start, they argue.
"You really think about the word 'reparations' coming from the
word repair," Scott said.
She and Afrik led discussion of plans the group has for its 1996
program, which includes seeking broader support of reparations
legislation at the federal level.
N'COBRA encourages members to promote the reparation cam
paign by sending letters to congressional representatives sup
porting H.R. 891, a bill sponsored by Rep. John Conyers, D-
Michigan. The group is also planning its seventh convention in
Atlanta in June. Afrik said it is no coincidence that the Olympics
will be held there during that time.
"We want to internationalize our concern for reparation and
this will give us an invaluable opportunity to get exposure," he
said.
Another activity being planned by the group is its annual
"Reparations Awareness Day,” which originated in 1993. Set for
Feb. 25, N'COBRA chapters sponsor efforts to heighten public
awareness of all issues related to reparations.
In addition to legislative and international advocacy, the group
encourages its members to lobby locally.
See REPARATIONS page 8A
Blacks need 21st century computer skills
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Few Americans can get
through the day without
encountering a computer.
But for many African
Americans, that encounter is
outside of the home.
The African American com
munity is in danger of being
left behind as this country and
the world rushes headlong
into the computer-based 21st
century.
It will be a world of “drag-
and-drop,” “open architec
ture,” and “net cruising.” Bits
and bytes. RAM and ROM.
Hard drives and peripherals.
Motherboards and daughter
boards. DIMMs and SIMMs.
Failure of African Americans
to become computer literate
and to train children to do so
could have devastating effects
on the continued economic
and social viability of the race.
Many African American pro
fessionals, educators and
social activists agree blacks
aren’t doing enough to pre
pare their children for the
information age.
In summary, they said:
A growing number of every
day life activities can be done
from home with computers.
including banking, paying
bills, filing taxes, purchasing
products and services.
One day, the home computer
may be the only way to con
duct everyday affairs. And
that doesn’t include the educa
tional and entertainment
value of having them in the
home.
Businesses are replacing
people with technology and
the jobs will be held by those
who understand and master
that technology.
Unless African Americans
move quickly into the comput
er age and bring their chil-
See COMPUTER page 8A
PHOTO/ JAMES BROWN
Christie Ochleng, 8, center, works on computer In the Public
Library Main Branch with her brother, Jeremy, 6, foreground,
and Jalrus Jenkins, 8. In background.
Inside
Editorials 4A-5A
Community News 3A
Lifestyles 9A
Religion 12A
Arts/Entertainment 1B
What's Up 5B
Sports SB
Classified 12B
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