NEWS/ The Charlotte Post
Thursday, January 2,1997
I
I
Protests urged for Black Monday
Continued from page 1A
Cooper’s death be in vain. I told
(his mother) ‘we are not going to
let the death of your son go
without a response.’”
Chavis said a committee
including all community groups
who want to be involved in the
planning would coordinate the
event, including the NAACP,
which held a' separate vigil
Sunday at University Park
Baptist Church attended by
about 50 people. NAACP
Southeast Region director
Nelson Rivers spoke at that
event.
Chavis said efforts will be
made to involve Rev. James
Samuel, who leads an interra
cial group of ministers and Rev.
James Barnett, leader of the
Stop the Killing movement, who
angered some blacks with his
criticism of protests in the wake
of the Cooper shooting Nov. 19.
Black community leaders have
called for prosecution of Officer
Michael Marlow, who shot
Cooper in November, for video
cameras in pohce cars and a citi
zens review board and an inde
pendent prosecutor to investi
gate police shootings. Citizens
for Justice has announced a
plan to videotape police who
stop motorists and others in the
city.
“Of all the cities in the U.S.,
Charlotte, N.C. has yet to have
a major demonstration,” said
Chavis, former national execu
tive director of the NAACP and
a co-convener of 1995’s Million
Man March.
Citizens For Justice formed to
protest the shooting death on
Dec. 27, 1993 of Windy Gail
Thompson by Officer Mark
Farmer, who said she was try
ing to drive away in a wrecked
vehicle as he hung halfway
inside trying to remove the
keys. The car had four flat tires,
shattered windows and a bro
ken axle. Thompson had a com
pound fracture of her right leg.
A civil lawsuit is still pending
on behalf of her two children.
A lawsuit is anticipated on
behalf of Cooper’s 4-year-old
daughter, who was in the car
Nov. 19 when Marlow shot the
unarmed 19-year-old man who,
according to Marlow’s state
ment, made a sudden move the
officer viewed £is threatening.
District Attorney Peter
Gilchrist refused to prosecute
Farmer and Marlow, who
remain on the police force. The
officer who shot King in 1989 as
he came out of his front door in
the Cherry communify was dis
missed fi'om the pohce force.
Chavis called the killings
“racially motivated pohce mur
der of our people.”
“We are going to issue a
statewide call for black people
all over North Carolina (to joia
the protest),” Chavis ssdd. “I’m
going to issue a national cah.”
He said the planning must
include activities for children
who are out of school. “I want
churches to be open to set up
community schools,” Chavis
said.
The one-day protest would
include some kind of mass gath
ering, but Chavis did not dis
close what site is being consid
ered. He said someone needs to
secure a parade permit as soon
as possible. “We want to be
within the law,” he said.
Charlott e-Mecklenburg
NAACP president Alfred
Alexander said the branch has
not had time to consider
whether it will participate in
Black Monday. “They just cahed
for Black Monday last night,”
Alexander said Monday. “We
have not had a meeting to
decide whether or not to partici
pate.”
He said the NAACP is concen
trating on its task force to look
into the internal operations of
police department, fire depart
ment and sheriffs department
with regard to hiring, promo
tions and working conditions.
That task force was formed in
response to the Cooper shooting.
“We applaud the efforts of
Brother Chavis and Citizens for
Justice and anyone who tries to
solve the problem,” Alexander
said.
Success of the Black Monday
effort “depends on the commit
ment of the people as it relates
to the subject matter,”
Alexander said.
“It is hard to put your finger
on the mindset of the communi
ty,” he said. “I hope it will be
widely participated in because
that is the only way it will be
successful.”
Bob Davis, president of the
Black PoHtical Caucus, attended
the Citizens for Justice program
and said he supported Chavis’
call for Black Monday.
“For the first time in a long
time I was impressed with Ben
Chavis and what he had to say,”
said Davis, who attended the
Million Man March. “He was
not rabble-rousing. I as chair of
the Black Caucus fully support
the Black Monday event.”
Davis said the full caucus has
Karenga marks holiday’s 30th
Continued from page 1A
dren for promises made and
kej^,.
A community celebration is
held each year in Charlotte at
the Afro-American Cultural
Center.
He asked that there be no
apologies for Kwanzaa celebra
tions, noting that no one ques
tions holidays of other ethnic
groups and cultures.
“Kwanzaa is essentially about
family, .ornmunity and cul
ture,” K; nga seiid, listing and
reemph; ,:i: ing the seven prin
ciples the Nguzo Saba
around , ‘ ich Kwanzaa is cele
brated. ’ he principles are:
Umoja pr unity; Kujichagulia
or self-determination; Ujima,
collective work and responsibil
ity; Ujamaa, cooperative eco
nomics; Nia, purpose; Kuumba,
creativity; and Imani, faith.
Karenga said 20 million peo
ple celebrate Kwanzaa around
the world. “They did it them
selves,” he said. “They didn’t
ask for legislation, no govern
ment funds and they didn’t ask
the media to broadcast it.”
ThiswKwanzaa seascti comfeS
at a “critical time in our history
as a people,” Karenga said,
pointing to increasing C3micism
and uncertainty and “decreas
ing concern for the vulnerable.”
“The politicians blame the
poor for the problems they (the
politicians) created,” Karenga
said.
“There is an impoverished
sense of the possible. People
don’t believe an3fthing is possi
ble.”
Following the principles of
Kwanzaa are the keys to posi
tive action and results,
Karenga said. “The best prayer
is righteous practice,” he
admonished the audience.
“What you want to do for God,
do for each other. God doesn’t
need you. Others do.”
He attacked television talk
shows and their African
American guests for “turning
our private pain into public
spectacle for the entertainment
of oin* oppressors.”
He took a stab at Shaquille
O’Neal and Michael Jordan for
recent movies, O’Neal as a
“Genie to a little white boy,”
and Jordan as “second fiddle to
Bugs Bunny.”
“We have been reduced to
nothing but maids, mascots
and minstrels,” Karenga said.
African Americans must ask
themselves three questions, he
said: “Who am I? Am I really
who I am? Am I all I want to
be?”
“Build the world you would
live in,” Karenga said. “We are
not just in history, we are his
tory. Each day is a donation to
the future.”
Group has $25,000 in funds to
install video in police cars
Continued from page 1A
adding that video could help tell
an accurate story when officers
stop suspects. Equipping cars
with video cameras could cost
up to $1,000 per unit.
Citizens groups have already
begun campaigns to videotape
police stops throughout
Charlotte to ensure the safely of
suspects and officers alike.
Police officials haven’t discour
aged the plan, although they
warn amateur photographers
that they’ll be asked to move
back or stop filming if their
presence interferes with officers’
ability to make arrests or
endangers them.
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not met to discuss the event.
The demonstration, if success
ful, would be the largest ever in
Charlotte, Davis said.
“The idea has been advanced
in smaller groups, but nothing
like this has ever come off since
I have been here, and I have
been here 67 years,” he said.
“I would hasten to say we
haven’t had the kind of national
leadership that Ben can bring to
this citywide event,” Davis said.
“He did organize the Million
Man March, which I attended.
And he has that ability to pull
people together.”
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