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‘For Colored Girls ’ opens this weekend at Afro Center/Page 1B Cljarlotte BoSt VOLUME 21 NO. 41 JUNE 27,1996 75 CENTS Charlotte bids for Baptist convention Ministers, city after 2000 Congress of Christian Education By Jeri Young THE CHARLOTTE POST A group of Charlotte ministers and city leaders hopes to bring one of the nation’s lai^est Christian conventions here. The group, headed by the Rev. Anthony Jinwright of Salem Baptist Church, is working with the Charlotte Convention and Visitors Bureau to bring the National Baptist Convention's Congress of Christian Education here. According to CCVB National Sales Manager Christa George, an official bid is being made to bring the Congress to Charlotte in 2000. George, who handles minority and religious mar kets, said local Baptist and civic leaders are coordi nating facilities and meeting with leaders of the National Congress of Christian Education, which Jinwright is an auxiUary of the NBC. The CCVB is gathering infor mation from past sites, which include St. Louis, Cincinnati, Houston and Detroit. “Charlotte bid on the conven tion back in 1993 or 1994 for 1995 and did not get it,” said George. “Reverend Jinwright and his group have been very persistent.” Sources close to local convention planners say that the bid was rejected because at the time Charlotte could not guarantee the 10,000 rooms necessary to attract convention leaders. The addition of downtown hotels and the new Convention Center, coupled with Charlotte’s suc cess as host of last year’s Lott Carey Convention and this year’s NAACP convention has proven that Charlotte is receptive to large African American conventions. See BAPTIST on page 3A Olympic flame PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON Samuel Myers carries the Olympic torch onto the Johnson C. Smith University campus Monday as part of the 1996'Olympic Torch Relay. Myers, a Charlotte teacher, coach and school administrator, was selected to carry the flame along Beatties Ford Road. The torch relay continues toward Atlanta, where the flame officially opens the Olympic Games on July 19. Torch passes through Charlotte; on to Atlanta FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS The Carolinas got caught up in the Olympic spirit this week. After 58 days and more than 11,500 miles, the propylene-powered symbol of the 01}rmpic Games arrived on the outskirts of Charlotte Monday evening from Greensboro, a 95-mile trip that usually takes less than two hours by car. But during its 15,000-mile trek from Los Angeles to Atlanta, the torch cara van is taking the long way, slowing and stopping in small towns and cities so that as many people as possible get a chance to see it. “I may come out to watch it, just to see what I missed today,'” said Jettie Pharr, a Statesville volunteer who car ried the torch Sunday on the campus of N.C. State University. “It felt tremen dous - unbelievable - to carry it. Seeing it pass is a different experience." 'The former chancellor of N.C. Central University and current president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, Leroy Walker, was at a Sunday celebration in Durham. The first black president of the USOC expressed his gratitude to the people of North Carolina. “This is sort of a culmination of all the things in the past and all the shoulders I've stood on for all these years to get where I am today with iriy roots here in North Carolina,”Walker said. A crowd of about 800 gathered along Beatties Ford Road to watch the torch carried to Johnson C. Smith University by Samuel Myers Monday. In Salisbury, former teacher Johnnie Mae Jackson Leach did the honors. NAACP to address some tough issues Church burnings, Alexander’s fate among convention business By John Minter THE CHARLOTTE POST The CharloLte-Mcckleiiburg NAACP chapter has gone into cyber space with a World Wide Web page including up to date inf()rmation about the July 6-11 NAACP national convention and the rash of church burning. The page, designed with the assistance of Charlotte’s Web, can be reached via the internet at «http://www.charlweb.org:80/organiza- tions/nonprofits/naacp/index.htm». The web site includes convention details and listings of information about the Charlotte areas of interest to African Americans. It will be updated regularly as tiic convention approaches said local NAACP t poi .esman Da\'id How ui‘d During the convention, the NAACP national board of directors will consider whether to re-instate Kelly Alexander Jr. as president of the N.C. NAACP chapter. Alexander was suspended last month, pending an audit of the chapter’s books. That audit is under way and should be completed in time for the board to consider it during the conven tion. Howard said the NAACPs national convention in Charlotte is shap ing up to be the biggest African American event to hit this town ever. Over 3,000 rooms have been booked for the convention’s six nights, according to the Charlotte Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is expecting 8,000 delegates and 10,000 visitors. See NAACP on page 3A The Post takes two honors in national newspaper contest Million Man March audit shows deficit By Gwen Gilmore WASHINGTON AFRO-AMERICAN WASHINGTON - “What hap- pened to the all that money seen being collected on live television at the Million Man March, and how much was there?” is the question that has been biting at the Nation of Islam heels since the overwhelming success of the Million Man March, held on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on October 16,1995. An audit, conducted by the BolHng and Hill, LLP based in Chicago, reported march orga nizers raised some $2,002,472 before, during and after the march, said Darius Bolling, a partner in the audit firm. However, expenses accounted for $2,068,755, leaving a deficit of $66,283. (From the financial statement the cost of goods sold plus total expenses are added to determine total expenses. That figure is subtracted from total revenue to get the deficit. “It’s a miracle that the deficit is not larger,” said Benjamin Chavis, executive director of the march and former executive director of the NAACP. Although many argue that a view of all who were present far exceeded 1 million, the march didn’t generate a dollar a head. Only $245,687 was collected on the Mall, according to Kamal Muhammad, national secretaiy of the Nation of Islam and chief executive financial officer of the march. The do-uations were not mandatory and all did not give. Muhammad said in a letter to supporters that, “Much more in donations could have been col- See MMM on page 3A By Jeri Young THE CHARLOTTE POST The Charlotte Post received two awards at the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s annual conven tion last week. The NNPA, which repre sents 200 black publications across the U.S., named the 1995 award winners at its convention in Houston. The awards, which recognize out standing editions of member papers, are decided by a com mittee of journalists and jour nalism faculty from across the nation. The Post took third place honors for best use of photog raphy for the Dec. 7 and Dec. 14 editions. The issues, which featured photographs depict ing North Carol ina’s concealed carry law and West Charlotte High School winning the N.C. 4A foot ball title, were taken by Calvin Ferguson and Curt Peters. The Post also garnered third See THE POST on page 3A Ferguson Profile of church arsonists: White, middle-class men Fire investigators look through the rubble at Pine Lake Church in Atlanta. The church was one of nearly 40 Southern sanctuar ies to burn in the last 18 months. > By Janice Frink Brown WASHINGTON AFRO-AMERICAN WASHINGTON - Arsonists burning black churches in the South are middle to upper mid dle class white males, not poor white males, said Rose Johnson, national director for the Center for Democratic Renewal in Atlanta. Johnson said that, historically, arsonists that commit these types of crime come from poor families. “Of the ones that have been arrested, their families are not poor. We have found that over the last year, those that have been arrested and convict ed, have committed multiple offenses. In committing these crimes, they travel from one town to another in groups of three to five people,” she said. “In the Clarksville, Tenn. case, the men that were arrested are part of a group known as the Aryan Faction, which is a mid dle- to upper middle-class group of 10 college-bound young men. “In South Carolina, the men captured ranged in ages 14-42 and were members of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), another group of middle class whites,” she said. So many black churches have burned in the last six months, that the latest one, close to Washington, D.C., in Berlin, Md., on the state's eastern shore, being ruled an electrical fire raises guesiions. The TCDR said those are the ones to beware of' “We have found ifoat in the last six months, when fires have been categorized by firefighters and Alcohol, Tobacc'o and Firearms (ATF) officials £js elec trical, further investigr'^tion proved otherwise. Too ofU"n, ministers are being told that tUe fires are electrical,” Johns^^ said. de “In Mississippi, wh(fcn Primitive Baptist Chur/ch burned, the state's arson chlief See FIRES on page 2A 1 Inside Editorials 4A-5A Strictly Business 7A Lifestyles 9A Religion 11A A&E IB Regional News 6B Sports 8B Classified 13B Auto Showcase 14B To subscribe, call (704) 376- 0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160. © 1996. The Charlotte Post Publishing Company. Comments? Our e-mail address is: charpost@clt.mindspring.com World Wide Web page address: http://ww^fhepost,mindspring.com
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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June 27, 1996, edition 1
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