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Panthers plan to continue success/Page IB Life, times and legacy of Martin Luther King JrJSection C Cjjarlotte VOLUME 22 NO. 18 THE VOICE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY THE WEEK OF JANUARY 16,1997 75 CENTS ALSO SERVING CABARRUS, CHESTER, ROWAN AND YORK COUNTIES Grassroots activism Grassroots groups respond to Cooper shooting By Jeri Young THE CHAKLOTTE POST Afiican Americans won’t get respect without struggle, Essence Glover believes. That’s why he’s part of a growing movement of young blacks who are becoming active in demanding justice and equedity for Afiican Americans in Charlotte. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” Glover, 25, says. “It is simply time to roll up our sleeves and go to work.” Glover is one the foxmders of Jihad, which along with Citizens for Justice and Central Piedmont Community College’s Black Student Organization are grassroots groups protesting the fatal shooting of James Willie Cooper by Charlotte police ofB- cer Michael Marlow. Though their origins differ, they have a common goal - youth involvement and a desire to see justice for African Americans. Born shortly after the 1993 shooting death of Windy Gail 'Thompson, Citizens for Justice has lobbied for an non-partisan citizen review board to review cases where the police use excessive force. CFJ sponsors annual tributes for slain African Americans and led the call for Black Monday, a citywide boycott planned for Jan. 27. Organizers are encouraging African Americans to stay home from work and attend several com munity-oriented functions. PHOTO/SUE ANN JOHNSON Members of Citizens For Justice marched to the Law Enforcement Center to protest the fatal shooting of James Willie Cooper by Charlotte police officer Michael Marlow. Several grassroots organizations, made up of young African Americans, have been vocal in demanding investigations of Marlow’s actions and calling for his prosecution or resignation. Police clear Marlow; actmsts not surprised By John Minter THE CHAKLOTTE POST See YOUNG on page 2A Afiican Americans reacted warily to news that the Charlotte Pohce Department found the shooting death of unarmed black motorist James Willie Cooper “com pletely justified.” Police revealed that Officer Michael Marlow, who shot Cooper on Nov. 18, did not take a polygraph examination nor a drug test as part of the pohce investigation. Police spokesman Keith Bridges said investigators felt a he-detector test would likely register an inaccurate reading on Marlow because the shoot ing was a “traumatic and stressful situation.” Marlow was not an “appropriate candi date for the test,” Bridges said. “There were no inconsisten cies with his statements and the evidence that prompted suspicion of a lack of honesty,” Bridges said. He said no drug test was given because Marlow’s “behavior and statements at the time exhibited nothing to make anybody beheve a drug test was necessary.” Groups organizing Black Monday on Jan. 27 said they were “not surprised that tlie City of Charlotte has chosen to disregard what is just and hold the ‘keepers of the law’ above the law.” “Justice Nowlckl would dictate not only Officer Michael Marlow’s dismissal, but some sort of judicial action should be taken,” the state ment said. A U.S. Justice Department investigation into the shooting continues. District Attorney Peter Gilchrist declined to take criminal action against Marlow last month, ruling the officer acted in self defense. Pohce Chief Dennis Nowidd annotmced that Marlow had been cleared by the depart ment’s internal investigation early Tuesday after a 2 1/2- hour briefing of Charlotte City Council members. See OFFICER on page 2A Ebonics worth is defended, debated By John Minter THE CHARLOTTE POST PHOTO/SUE ANN JOHNSONN West Charlotte High School students debated the appropriateness of Ebonics In classrooms. The Oakland, Calif., school district has adopted Ebonics as a teaching tool for standard English. “Ridiculous” “Just another way to keep black people down.” “You are not going to get a job at IBM speaking Ebonics.” That how a group of West Charlotte High School students reacted to a question about a subject that’s filled newspapers and the airways for the past month. The Oakland, Calif., school system announced in December it would consider Ebonics - also called Black English - a sepa rate language and train its teachers to treat students speak- See EBONICS on page 2A Teacher’s death underscores fire awareness By John Minter THE CHARLOTTE POST The death of a popular math teacher David Butler in a Jan. 7 house fire is being used to alert other families to fire safety tips. Butler, 44, died in a fire about 4 a.m. caused by a couch pushed against an elec tric baseboard heating unit, according to David Lowery, chief investigator for the Charlotte Fire Department. Butler’s wife and two chil dren escaped the fire. Butler, who went into the hving room where the couch was burning, yelled for them to leave through a back window. He Butler could not get out through the front door and tried to go out of the kitchen, Lowery said. He said the blaze spread quickly after heat broke the front window, venting the fire and giving it a fresh sup ply of oxygen. Butler, who taught at West Charlotte High School, was then not able to get back down the hall way to escape from a back window. The family had a deadbolt lock on the back door which required a key to open from the inside and outside. The key was not in the lock, Lowery said. “If you have a double key deadbolt lock, you need to put the key in the lock at night,” Lowery said. “We want to make people aware of things See FIRE on page 3A Honor long overdue 7 black vets get WWII valor medals By Sonya Ross THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ing it accordingly. “What is talking black,” asked 17-year-old Meredith Glover, after a classmate used that term to define Black English. “When a child hears Black English or Ebonics constantly in their neighborhoods, when they hear that aU around them, it’s hard for them to imderstand the relationship to standard English,” Meredith said. But, she added, “The solution is not to teach Ebonics.” Those comments, and those of most adults who have ventured to address the subject, reveal many of the misconceptions about the subject and about WASHINGTON - Vernon Baker was standing in the White House with glistening eyes and a brand new medal aroimd his neck, but his mind was on the Italian mountainside where he earned his place in histeiy 52 years ago. Baker, '77, was reliving the April 1945 firefight in which he took out German gun posts and killed nine enemy soldiers with a gun and hand grenades. He thought of the other black men who fought beside him and died around him as they awaited reinforcements that never came. “We’ve aU been vindicated," Baker said. “Those that are not here with me, thank you, feUas, well done and I’ll always remember you.” Baker, of St. Maries, Idaho, was one of seven black soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor on Monday for World Weit H valor that was overlooked by the Army of a tense, segregated era. Medals were awarded posthu mously to Staff Sgt. Edward A. Carter Jr. of Los Angeles; 1st Lt. John T. Fox of Cincinnati; Pfc. Willy F. James Jr. of Kansas City, Mo.; 1st Lt. Charles L. Thomas of Detroit; Pvt. George Watson of Birmingham, Ala.; and Staff Sgt. Ruben Rivers of Hotulka, Okla. Fox, James, Rivers and Watson were killed in action. Carter died in 1963 and 'Thomas died in 1980. “We’re just happy the countiy we believe in has done this,” said Thomas’ niece, Sandra Thomas. “My uncle was an humble man. He believed in this coimtry and he fought for it. I beheve young people need to take a lesson from this.” In presenting the medals. President Clinton praised the seven men for fighting selflessly “to lead the forces of finedom to victory” in spite of the freedom they didn’t have in their native America. “They were prepared to sacri fice everything for freedom even though freedom’s fullness was denied to them,” Clinton said. “Now and forever, the truth will be known about these AfHcan Americans who gave so much that the rest of us might be See MEDAL on page 2A Inside Editorials 4A-5A Strictly Business 8A Lifestyles 10A Religion 12A Sports 1B A&E 5B Regional News 10B Classified 12B Auto Showcase 13B To subscribe, call (704) 376- 0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160. © 1996 The Charlotte Post Publishing Company. Comments? Our e-mail address is: charpost@cit.mindspring.com World Wide Web page address: http//www.thepost.mindspring.com am
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