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What to see and do during NAACP national convention/Page 6A
CIiarlottE BoSt
VOLUME 21 NO. 42
JULY 3,1996
75 CENTS
NAACP has full convention agenda
North Carolina is focal point for 87th national gathering
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
The 5,000 NAACP delegates expected in
Charlotte this week for the organization’s 87th
annual national convention have a plate full of
work for the weeklong session.
Much of it comes from North Carolina and the
South. In Fayetteville, just over two hours east of
Charlotte, two soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg
shot and killed two African Americans selected at
random.
A number of black churches in North and South
Carolina have been burned by arsonists and sever
al of those arrested have had ties to the Ku Klux
Klan.
Just two weeks ago, as it has in other states, the
Supreme Court threw out a majority black con-
A. Alexander
gressional district, N.C.’s 12th.
Officials began arriving
Tuesday and delegates will begin
arriving Thursday. Most activi
ties get underway on Saturday,
though registration begins
Friday afternoon. The gathering
is headquartered at the
Charlotte Convention Center.
“Everything is on track,” pro-
noimced Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Chapter president Alfred Alexander Tuesday. “All
the committees have done exactly what we antici
pated. People are arriving as of today. As a local
branch, we have done ever3d,hig we were supposed
to do.
Alexander said the convention’s souvenir journal
includes not only a picture of new CEO Kweisi
Mfume on the cover, but his father, Kelly
Alexander Sr., who was chairman of the national
board when he died in 1985.
See NAACP on page 9A
Making
good on
promise
Despite deficit,
mostly-black D.C.
cleans up image
By Janice Frink Brown
WASHINGTON AFRO-AMERICAN
WASHINGTON - The
nation’s capital may be broke,
but there’s an effort to clean up
its image.
Mayor Marion Barry revealed
last week that
plans are in
the works for
a massive
clean up and
extension of
Georgia
Avenue, NW,
a major thor
oughfare in
Barry
The mayor
also noted
there are a large number of new
buildings going up around the
city despite some media por
trayals of the city as having
numerous problems.
Seventh Street below Florida
Avenue will be renamed
Georgia Avenue, which will
make Georgia Avenue extend
from Pennsylvania Avenue all
the way up to the Silver Spring,
Md. line.
The Mayor's Chief of Staff,
Barry Campbell, outlined the
three phases of the project.
• Phase one; Clean up will be
conducted by the Department of
Public Works, Consumer and
Regulatory Affairs, and the
police department.
• Phase two: Secure an eco
nomic development grant with
HUD to create new businesses
on the avenue. Assistance with
this phase of the project has
already come from the People's
Involvement Corporation.
• Phase three: Expand hous
ing on the strip.
The clean up and extending
are all a part of Barry’s new
transformation plan for the city,
a plan that was imveiled nearly
four months ago, and one that
See D.C. on page 3A
It’s not your father’s library
PHOTO/SUE ANN JOHNSON
Janice Blakeney, branch manager of the West Boulevard library, gets a computer demonstration from (clockwise) Jecorey
Fraylon, 12; Randon Stratford, 6 and Ken’non Stratford, 10. The 12,500-foot facility features has state-of-the-art computers
and community meeting rooms that seat 100 people.
West Boulevard library
boasts latest technology
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
What local library officials are
billing as the “most technologically
advanced branch” in the nation
opened this week on West Boulevard.
The new 12,500 square-foot branch
replaces one that was only 1600
square feet, and has more books,
videos, CDs, tapes and, of course.
computers, more than 30 of them.
Microsoft Corp. donated 25 of the
machines and Microsoft volunteers are
busy teaching courses in how to use
Windows 95 on the pentium-based
units.
Central Piedmont Community College
is also teaching courses in basic com
puter classes. To register for the CPCC
classes on Mondays and Thursdays in
July and August. Call the school at 330-
6670.
A free class in how to use the Internet
- access available at the library - will
be taught July 11, July 18 and July 25.
Branch manager Janice Blakeney
described a full range of services that
will be provided at the new library,
ranging from homework help for young
people, to job hunting and career devel
opment help for adults.
“We formerly did not have meeting
space,” said Blakeney, who managed
the smaller West Boulevard branch
being replaced. “Now we have a large
community room that seats 90 people
and a small conference room that seats
10.
“We have a learning center to use for
small classes. The learning center has
See LIBRARY on page 9A
Volunteers needed for AIDS drug trial
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Some 560 people infected with
the Human Immunodeficiency
Virus are being sought to partic
ipate in trials sponsored by the
National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases of the
African-developed drug
Kemron.
The Kemron Study, otherwise
known as low-dose oral alpha
interferon trials comes following
a drive by the Washington,
D.C.-based Abundant Life
Clinic, headed by Dr. Abdul
Alim Muhammad, health minis
ter for the Nation of Islam and
joined by Dr. Barbara Justice, a
New York-based physician and
the National Medical
Asscociation, which represents
Afiican American doctors.
‘We believe this is the dawn of
a new era in medicine,”
Muhammad said at a recent
news conference to announce
the trials. “This has never been
done before and taken through
the channels over here in
America so that it gets looked at
in a very respectful way. It can
truly be said that it is the first
clinical trial that is our very
own,” Muhammad .said.
Seasoned professional steers Gantt’s Senate campaign
PHOTO/SUE ANN JOHNSON
U.S. Senate candidate Harvey Gantt is banking on a refined
image to unseat Jesse Helms. The new team includes profes
sionals like media coordinator Lisa Mortimer (right).
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Spike Lee may be fun at a
party, but in a fight, Mike Tyson
is by far the better companion.
So it is in the 1996 Gantt-
Helms rematch.
To lead his U.S. Senate cam
paign, Gantt, the gentlemanly
Charlotte architect, has selected
the tough and gruff Jim
Andrews to help him beat the
four-term incumbent.
They don’t declare world
champions among the politically
savvy organizers who run cam
paigns. There are too many elec
tions each year to pick one best
among those behind-the-scenes
movers and shakers who orga
nize workers, polish speeches
and plot strategy to win votes.
But if there’s a campaign
manager with some worthy
notches on his belt, Andrews is
one of them.
Observers say he’s a natural
fit for the Gantt-Helms race,
which is considered “one of th(>
premier races in the countiy" by
many political observers.
“Jim is considered one of the
best in the country,” said
Stephanie Cohen, press secre
tary at the Democratic
Senatorial Campaign
Committee. “It is only natural
that he would come to work in
North Carolina."
Andrews cut his teeth in
Chicago’s political cauldron,
where he helped elect Harold
Washington twice.
And then there’s the time he
took over thJ campaign of New
Jersey Gov. Jim Florio. Many
felt Florio -should have avoided
the embarrassment of losing a
re-election bid. That was back in
the days when a tax increase
was political suicide. Not to
.mention getting tagged with
re.spoiisibilily for a lax on
a.ssault weapon.s when the NRA
was king.
But professionals like
Andrews don’t shrink from a
fight. For them, it is not always
about winning and losing - it’s
who gets in the most body shots.
Andrews accepted the challenge
of running against the
Republican Party’s rising star
Christine Whitman and nearly
pulled off a comeback. Florio,
who began the campaign with
only an 8 percent approval rat
ing, lost by a 51 percent-49 per-
See VETERAN on page 2A
Civil War
memorial
for blacks
Celebration for
‘colored troops’
WASHINGTON AFRO-AMERICAN
WASHINGTON - After gen
erations of neglect, a great
historical wrong is being
righted.
A five-day celebration is
being planned for the dedica
tion of the African-American
Civil War Memorial in
Wa.shington, D.C. Sept. 8-12.
The memorial, which has been
in the planning stage for the
past five years, will honor the
185,000 “colored troops” and
their White officers who
fought in that war to free the
slaves between 1861-1865.
The events will be held in
conjunction with ilie National
Council of Negro Women's
Black Family Reunion which
is scheduled for Sc'pi. 6-8 on
the Washington Monument
Grounds and 'the
Congressional Black Caucu.s
Annual Legislative
Conference set for Sept. 11-15
at the Convention Center.
Also on tap that weekend i-s
the Greater Washington
Urban League Coca-Cola
Football Class to be held Sept.
13 at RFK Stadium between
Howard and Hampton univer
sities.
All descendants who can
prove that their ancestors
served in the Union Army or
Navy during this war between
the North and South, with
copies of official documenta
tion will be invited to attend
the commemorative ceremony
as special guests at the
Arlington Cemetery on Sept.
10.
Councilman Frank Smith,
chairman of the Civil War
Memorial Freedom
Foundation who proposed the
memorial project, states the
foundation and its board of
directors are working in con
junction with the D.C.
Government and the federal
government to complete the
construction of the memorial.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton
(D-D.C.J in 1992 introduced
H.J. Res. 320. President Bush
See CIVIL on page 3A
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