Bom to be Hog wild: Our love affair with the motorcycle/Page 9A
Cfjarlotte jplosft
VOLUME 21 NO. 40
JUNE 20, 1996
75 CENTS
The case for black representation
Shaw vs. Hunt decision is latest setback, Watt says
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
To Mel Watt, recent Supreme Court rulings,
including last week’s rejection of the 12th con
gressional district, and the rash of church burn
ings are deja vu aU over again.
It was about 100 years ago that another con
servative Supreme Court in its Plessy v.
Ferguson ruling, estabhshed the “separate but
equal” doctrine which relegated blacks to subpar
facihties and stifled the race’s development for
generations.
One difference between the high court then
and now is the presence of an African American
among the majority in the recent votes, which
has struck down majority-black congressional
districts and otherwise challenged the notion
that racism is still pervasive enough to require
extraordinary remedies.
Rep. Mel Watt, the 12th District representa
tive, cited the analogy in referring to the court’s
5-4 decision, with African American Justice
Clarence Thomas in the majority.
“Working against us are five people on the
Supreme Court who don’t recognize the practical
aspects of real life,” Watt said.
Church burnings - 38 African American sanc-
See COURT on page 3A
The 12th congressional district as mapped now is
iilegai after last week's Supreme Court ruling.
Charlotte
Festival
moves
uptown
NAACP national
convention attracts
West Charlotte Fest
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
West Charlotte Fest will
return to downtown and coin
cide with the opening of the
NAACP’s 87th national con
vention next month.
The African American-ori
ented festival, begun as
WestFest in 1986, will be July
6-7 on Tryon Street between
Fifth and Second streets in
uptown Charlotte. After a
string of economic setbacks
and organizational uncertain
ty, the festival was revived
and re-organized by the West
Merchants
Association and
renamed West
Charlotte Fest
four years ago.
The NAACP
convention will
be held at the
Charlotte
Convention
Center, one
block off Tryon
between Second and
Stonewall streets July 6-10.
The convention, expected to
attract 5,000 delegates and
more than 15,000 visitors,
could be the largest ever for
the nation’s largest and oldest
civil rights organization.
President Bill Clinton and
Republican presidential candi
date Bob Dole are scheduled
to address the convention. The
NAACP’s ACT-SO young tal
ent competition will also be
held during the event.
Delegates, guests and visi
tors are expected to fill
uptown hotels and others in
the Charlotte area.
West Charlotte Fest, which
was held at Marshall Park in
199, traditionally has been
held at West Charlotte High
School. Festival organizer
Louise Sellers says atten
dance has grown to over
160,000 patrons over a two-
day period.
The festival features food
vendors, live entertainment
from local and national
recording rosters, T-shirt and
other clothing sales, plus
much more ethnic-flavored
sales and activities.
• West
Charlotte
Fest will
be held at
Fifth and
Second
streets.
Keepers of the flame
Church fires
top pastors’
conference
NAACP, law enforcement call
for community involvement
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
As the wave of African
American church burnings con
tinued this week, local and
national efforts to stop them
increased, including such dis
parate groups as the right wing
Christian Coalition and the
Jewish Anti-Defamation
League.
In Charlotte, efforts included a
sparsely attended meeting
called by the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg NAACP chapter
and the police department.
The meeting at the predomi
nantly white First Baptist
Church uptown attracted about
a half dozen local pastors, who
were out-numbered by the
police and fire officials and
NAACP officials.
The purpose of the gathering
was billed as a discussion of
how to prevent church burnings
and vandalism. It featured pre
sentations by crime prevention
PHOTO/PAUL WILLIAMS III
Claud Alexander, pastor of
University Park Baptist Church
and Bob Davis listen during a
meeting of Charlotte clergy
Tuesday.
officers encouraging activism to
watch church buildings more
closely and to install burglary
and lire alarms.
In attendance were an interra-
See CLERGY on page 3A
Robert Little, Kater Cornwell and Allison Preston (left to right) are part of the Olympic
Torch Relay that comes through Charlotte Monday.
Torchbearers symbolize community
First Ward moves
toward mixed-income
housing arrangement
By Tammie Tolbert
THE CHARLOTTE POST
The universal flame of the
1996 Olympic Torch Relay is
coming to Charlotte on Monday.
The citywide celebration
begins at 7:30 p.m, on the
Square at Trade and Tryon
streets. Activities include live
music, demonstrative Olympic
sports and street Olympics as
well as guest appearances by
the Carolina Panthers cheer
leaders and Sir Purr, the team’s
mascot.
The Charlotte event marks
the 59th day of the flame’s 84-
See OLYMPIC on page 3A
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Plans for First Ward’s Earle
Village public housing project
crystalized a bit this week when
the Charlotte Housing
Authority and NationsBank’s
community development arm
agreed on a 400-unit mixed-
income housing development
putting low income residents
next to young professionals.
The plan would still include
the 68 elderly units under con
struction and 132 units for low
income residents, but 200 units
will be added - half rented
below market value and the
other half rented to those earn
ing 60 percent or less of the
median household income in
Charlotte’s. That ranges from
$17,000 to $21,000.
Admission to the complex
would be carefully controlled.
Prospective tenants would face
credit and criminal records
checks, even pre-rental visits to
current residences. Low income
residents would have to qualify
for the housing authority’s self-
sufficiency program.
The plan’s 400 units is twice
original goals for use of a $42
See FIRST on page 3A
College degree awaits paralyzed student
Unseld “Bingo” Smith received his degree from North Carolina*
Central University Sunday as 60 well-wishers looked on.
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Few graduations have had as
much family participation as
Unseld “Bingo” Smith’s.
Bingo, who was paralyzed
from the neck down in an auto
mobile accident Oct. 4, was tear
fully awarded a degree Sunday
in criminal justice from N.C.
Central University by his moth
er Carolyn and father L.C. The
ceremony was in his front yard
before 60 friends, neighbors and
family members. His,grand
mother, Ruth Beatty, gave the
invocation.
“I felt elated, overwhelmed
with joy,” Carolyn, a 1979
Central graduate, said. “It was
one of the most important
things I could have done for my
son."
Carolyn got the news two days
beforehand that Bingo would
get his degree. She wept.
“I had prayed a lot about it,”
she said. “I got with a co-worker
and we went in the closet and
cried. I was thrilled to death.”
It was a surprise to Bingo,
who was eight weeks away from
earning the degree last
December. He wept when he
received the degree, but
thanked all his friends and fam
ily and joked afterwards “now I
need a job.” He was barely audi
ble. His breathing is assisted by
a ventilator.
Bingo actually earned the
degree May 11, but George P.
Wilson, chairman of Central’s
See BINGO on page 2A
Inside
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