6B
REGIONAUThe Charlotte Post
Thursday, November 21,1996
Beating incident wasn’t dreamed up
Boy says he was
tied to a tree
Continued From SB
Finney s^d a lot of people
have been feeling sorry for
Dwight and his family £ind
that he does, too.
“They got something started
and they didn’t know what
they were getting into,” he
said. “They kept pushing it
and pushing it and now the
day of judgment is here.”
The incident attracted
national attention. About
three dozen members of the
approximately 50 people in the
jury pool told Circuit Judge
Thomas Cooper they had
heard or read about the inci
dent, but all send they could
put the publicity aside and
decide the case on the facts
presented in court.
Avis treated blacks differently
Continued From SB
John Reiman, the plaintiffs’
lead attorney, told The News &
Observer of Raleigh that the
company’s latest statement
was “too little, too late.”
“Why h^ it taken them so
long?” Reiman asked. “The evi
dence is mounting that Avis
knew or should have known
about what was going on long
ago. It’s only now, when this
has become a national news
story, that they have suddenly
decided that they needed to
look into this.”
Hate crimes increase in S.C.
Continued From SB
ing Tennessee had 25, Georgia
49 and Florida 164, according
to the FBI.
In South Carolina, 15 of the
293 law enforcement agencies
that participate in tracking
hate crimes reported inci
dents, the FBI sedd.
Shaw said Klanwatch keeps
its own statistics on hate
crimes and hasn’t seen much
of a statistical change in the
past few years.
“Usually they’re pretty
steady,” she said. “For exam
ple, there were 11 hate crime
murders (nationwide) in 1994,
13 in 1995 and we are running
13 so far in 1996. We haven’t
seen a dramatic increase or
decrease either way.”
Voter education is key in N.C.
Continued From 8B
nationally, or even state or
local news, people are con
sumed with concern to keep
food on the table, not effective
people in office.”
Moss, a member of the
Executive Committee of the
General Baptist Convention,
says local and state powers
that be rely heavily on their
programs to maintain the
order of having someone or
some group of people to look
down on or oppress.
Regardless of the negative
publicity Gantt received dur
ing his campaign. Moss thinks
that this was still an excellent
chance and time to get some
one new in the state’s top
office.
“Four out of 10 whites votes
isn’t bad and 9 out of 10 blacks
wasn’t either,” he said. “But he
needed total support from
African Americans. And, now,
he (Gantt) will go down in his
tory as one more black politi
cian who fell victim to black
voter apathy.”
In a final note. Moss said
that we must develop a tech
nique in our conununities that
he coins as “political evange
lism.”
“This simply means that we
must go out and find the folk,
and identify what the voting
process is, and how politics
play a part with everything we
do in life,” he said. “We must
articulate the social agenda of
Jesus Christ and apply that to
our political decisions. To put
it plainly, we need voter educa
tion.”
Church play was a real ‘mess’
By Brian Powe
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
SALISBURY - A play called
“Church Mess” really was to
an audience that saw it last
week.
The play centered around
church conflicts within the
congregations was not- gladly
accepted by the crowd of a lit
tle more them 100 people who
paid good money for classical
theatre last Saturday night.
The two-hour play, held
Auditorium, was performed by
a cast of four actors from New
Orleans.
The plot, centered around a
church setting of a homosexual
pianist, two promiscuous choir
members, and a widower
preacher who could not seem
to keep his pants zipped. The
play's plan of action was
telegraphed which led to many
people getting up and walking
out within the first fifteen
minutes of its outset.
Ethel Bamberg-Revis of
Salisbury said she was dis
gruntled by the play.
“I was highly disappointed in
it. Its plot was not well devel
oped and the transitions from
one scene to the next was
hideous. And, moreover, some
additional cast members could
have made the performance
more realistic.”
The resolution of the play
was the plot of a preacher who
was commanded by God to
marry the woman that he was
having an affair with.
Reluctant to follow God’s
instructions, he bears the
brunt of some harsh punish
ments until he gives in to
God’s will.
Denise Redmond believed
that the play “beat the dead
horse” of overused and trite
misconceptions about the busi
ness of the black church.
“Every church in America
does not run by the same rules
and conduct. This play sug
gests that the business of the
church is foolish and full of
folly.” Redmond said, “If more
time had been put into conti
nuity and structure rather
than illusions and falsities,
then the stage show could
have been worthwhile.”
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