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VOLUME 21 NO. 39
JUNE 13,1996
75 CENTS
• One-on-
one with
Myrlie
Evers-
Williams.
Page 9A
PHOTO/PAUL WILLIAMS III
NAACP national board chair
man Myrlie Evers-Williams was
In Charlotte to shore up sup
port for next month’s conven
tion.
NAACP
convention
gets boost
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Though deterred somewhat
by the burning of a southeast
Charlotte church, Myrlie
Evers-Williams managed to
complete her mission in
Charlotte this week - meeting
with local business and com
munity leaders who are help
ing raise $500,000 for the
NAACP’s national convention
here next month.
The NAACP’s 87th conven
tion, expected to
attract 5,000
delegates and as
many as 15,000
visitors could be
the largest ever
for the nation’s
oldest civil
rights organiza
tion.
Evers-Williams, chair of the
NAACP’s national board of
directors, flew into Charlotte
Sunday and visited Matthews-
Murkland Presbyterian
Church, where an unused for
mer sanctuary burned on
June 6.
Police have arrested and
charged a 13-year-old white
girl with arson.
Evers-Williams met with
members of the blue-ribbon
fund raising committee head
ed by Charlotte City Council
members Ella Scarborough
Monday afternoon and attend
ed a reception afterwards at
the Charlotte Chamber.
Scarborough said the meet
ing and reception were the
first opportunity for many of
the local leaders to meet
Evers-Williams, who took over
the top NAACP in 1995.
“She wanted to thank us for
what we were doing,”
Scarborough said. “Her visit
went very well. It made the
committee know the commit
ment from the national body
and the national staff to us
and that raising the money
was appreciated.
“She was delighted that
Charlotte was willing to make
this convention the best ever
and we were doing that.”
First Union National Bank
vice president Lenny Springs,
a national NAACP board
member, agreed. Springs flew
in with Evers-Williams from a
meeting in Florida.
“It was the first time she
had been here,” Springs said.
“Members of the blue ribbon
committee were excited and
elated. They received her very
well. Members of the corpo
rate community received her
very enthusiastically, as did
the community at large. She
was glad she was able to get
Amid ashes, hopes rise
PHOTO/HERBERT L. WHITE
Sisters Gwen Pearson (left) and Betty Cureton examine damage to the former Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian Church
sanctuary Tuesday. A 13-year-old girl was arrested and charged with setting the historic sanctuary ablaze last week.
Matthews-Murkland recovers ;
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Betty Cureton and other members of
Matthews-Murkland Presbyterian
Church aren’t sure what they will do to
replace a 92-year-old sanctuary burned
last week, but whatever it is, it will be a
memorial not only to what was lost, but
to what was gained.
Lost was the white wood-framed build
ing, with the rounded pulpit area so
sacred only the holiest members could
moimt it.
Lost was the tower which held the bell
that rang to announce Sunday services or
to summon the little ones to summer
Bible school.
Lost was the beautiful stained glass
which formed windows opened to allow
summer breezes in and shut tightly to
keep the cold out of evening prayer meet
ings.
And, gained...a nation moved when
word of the fire swept over the country.
Even President Clinton mentioned the
church in his weekly radio address.
NAACP national board chair Myrlie
Evers-Williams visited the charred
remains Simday afternoon.
Dozens of congregations ~ black and
white. Catholic, Episcopalian, Baptist,
Methodist - sent representatives or
expressions of support.
An entire city, known for sometimes
bitter ideological debate, rose to stand
with Matthews-Murkland against the
hatred that would bum a house of God.
And, though a 13-year-old white child
was charged with the arson, the inferno
she lit burned a stark reality into people’s
conscience.
For Cureton, born into the church
where her mother and grandmother were
members, the building where she was
christened and learned the catechism
will never he replaced.
See FIRE on page 3A
Deaundra Oates, who (olned Matthews
Murkland two weeks ago, said of the
fire: “It hurts.’’
See NAACP on page 6A
Census
snapshot
of blacks
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -There are
more black residents of the
United States and they are
better educated than five
years ago, according to new
Census Bureau figures.
The bureau is compiling
mid-decade updates on its
data, using information col
lected in the Current
Population Survey. The data
is designed for use by govern
ment agencies, marketers and
organizations studying vari
ous groups.
The reports include only
numerical tables, not analysis.
The new set of information
covering blacks is being pub
lished today. Data on
Hispanics and Asian and
Pacific Islanders is expected
later.
The report shows 33.5 mil
lion blacks in the United
States as of 1995, up from
30.3 million in 1990.
Nearly three quarters of
blacks aged 25 and over have
completed high school, 73.8
percent. The 1990 Census had
African Americans by the numbers
33.5 million blacks In the United
States as of 1995, up from 30.3 mil
lion In 1990.
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Number with bachelor’s degrees
climbed from 11.3 percent In 1990 to
13 percent In 1995.
Nearly three quarters of blacks
aged 25 and over have completed
high school, 73.8 percent. The
1990 Census had found 63.1 per
cent of blacks in that age group
with high school diplomas.
SOURCE/U S, CENSUS BUREAU
found 63.1 percent of blacks in
that age group with high
school diplomas.
And the share with bache
lor's degrees climbed from
11.3 percent in 1990 to 13 per
cent in 1995.
The survey calculated that
the median income of black
men working year-around,
full-time, was $25,350 in
1994, 72 percent of the equiv
alent figure for non-Hispanic
white men.
Comparable figures for 1990,
in constant dollars, showed
black men earning a median
income of $25,360.
For black women, the 1994
median full-time income was
$20,610, 85 percent of what
non-Hispanic white women
earned. In 1990, it had been
$21,570.
While the median income
figures indicate a decline in
earnings over the period, offi
cials said the difference may
be too small to be statistically
significant.
Thomas defies
protests to keep
appointment
By Janelle Carter
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEAT PLEASANT, Md. -
Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas taught stu
dents a valu
able lesson
when he
showed up at
a school
awards cere
mony despite
angry protest
ers, some par
ents and offi
cials said.
“I give a lot Thomas
of credit to
Thomas for showing up,” said
parent Mark Grisar of Mount
Ranier, who is white. “By show
ing up he showed that one per
son or one group of people
shouldn’t and couldn’t stand in
the way.”
Thomas entered the awards
ceremony for eighth-graders at
the Thomas G. Pullen Creative
and Performing Arts School to
loud applause.
Thomas’s appearance in this
majority black suburb of
Washin^n, D.C., was in doubt
until the last minute because of
See THOMAS on page 2A
MOVE
verdict up
to jury
Deliberations
start in civil suit
against Phila.
By Dinah Wisenberg
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA - Did MOVE
bring about its own demise,
threatening and sniping at police
until the only way to capture
them was to drop a bomb on
their headquarters?
Or did city officials act unrea
sonably and illegally that fatal
May 13, 1985, when they
dropped the bomb and used the
fire it touched off as a tactical
weapon?
Jurors face that decision and
seven weeks’ worth of testimony
as they began deliberations this
week in a federal civil trial
against the city and two former
top officials for the decade-old
confrontation that took 11 lives
and incinerated a neighborhood.
On Tuesday, a lawyer for the
city told jurors that members of
the radical group had barricaded
themselves into a row house
they had built into an armed
fortress and opened fire v/hen
officers came to serve arrest war
rants that day.
MOVE members refused to
come out and backed up their
shouted threats to kill police
with gunfire, said attorney
Judith Harris, who urged jurors
to deny MOVE members dam
age awards for a bomb police
dropped on the house that day
and the deadly fire that resulted.
“Having lost the battle, they
want you now to give them trib
ute in the form of a verdict of
money. That’s the irony. That’s
the arrogance,” Harris said in
closing arguments.
“Do not give them anything.
They do not deserve anything.
They lost the war. They lost the
war they declared,” she said.
The fire was predicted in a
threatening letter that MOVE
sent to police shortly before the
confrontation, said Harris.
She quoted: “If you come in
the (expletive) house you’re
gonna bum. You're gonna go up
in (expletive) smoke."
MOVE spokeswoman Ramona
Africa - one of two people to sur
vive the blaze - and relatives of
two members who perished are
seeking damages from the city,
former Police Commissioner
Gregore Sambor and former Fire
Commissioner William
Richmond.
They claim the city used exces
sive force in dropping the bomb
from a helicopter and letting the
fire bum, killing 11 people in the
MOVE house and destroying 61
West Philadelphia homes. No
city officials ever were criminally
See MOVE on page 3A
Inside
Editorials 4A-5A
Strictly Business 7A
Lifestyles 9A
Religion 11A
A&E IB
Regional News 7B
Sports 9B
Classified 13B
Auto Showcase 14B
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