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5A OPINIONS/ The Charlotte Post Thursday, May 29, 1997 Womack deserves recognition for work By Sylvia Grier ‘special to the post After reading in the paper about a county commissioner that wants to designate who our African American civil rights leaders are, I am again appalled as many of us are. \^e in the African American community have allowed oth ers to choose and select our leaders on other occasions, so a^ain a white person thinks we will continue to allow that to happen. 1 and the Carolinas Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs, Inc. say “no” to that. Dawn Womack should receive the recognition that county commissioner (Darrel) Williams wanted to give her at the County Commission’s meeting and/or CABWE would be honored for Dawn Womack to receive her award at our Juneteenth Event. And to commissioner (Bill) James, he was voted on fgr his principals, morals and faith as those in District 6 that voted for him agree with his position, do they too fear African Americans in Charlotte knowing the truth or should we continue to live in the land of not knowing and not re-acting. Dawn did a great job with the slave ship Henrietta Marie tour here in Charlotte. Many of us took time away from our jobs and businesses to be a part of the success of the exhibit that represented our heritage. Dawn did eveiything she could to show her appreciation to the vol unteers. The success of the tour made Charlotte look good. The slave ship Henrietta Marie offered a great deal of diversity, first being sponsored by General Motors and picking up the corporate sponsorship that Dawn was able to obtain locally. In a 1993 article in The Charlotte Post, Hugh McCoU said that diversity and economic opportunity are two timely interwoven issues that will determine whether our nation continues its global leadership. And if one would look at global issues should we not start right here at home. Charlotte promotes itself as a world class city, but it is to say that the only time it appears to be world class is when something totally white is going on. When there is anything African American to be praised in Charlotte there is always someone that brings an unnecessary issue, as commissioner James. The white community should not select our leaders for us. Our grassroots leaders are the people we see keeping grass from growing under our feet and helping us fulfill the American Dream. Our leaders are not the gate keep ers that keep us on crumb road. Our business leaders are the ones that are out there “always tiying to make money”. Yes, when our real business leaders make money they contract and use the services and products of those of us that are in busi ness to make money and provide jobs and opportunities for others in oiu com munities and those coming behind us. Black businesses are not hobbies. And the success of the Henrietta Marie tour here in Charlotte adds to the successful career of Dawn Womack. We appreciate the success of the exhibit and we appreciated an opportu nity to hear all of the speakers. Many we had not heard from in a long time. And it was great to have them in Charlotte. Yes, we applaud Dawn Womack and will give her and anyone else in the struggle any opportunity for recognition of awards and praises as they enhance the awareness of the struggle that we as African Americans still go through in Charlotte and these United States. SYLVIA GRIER of Charlotte is a businesswoman and community activist. Grier Some civilians dare not cross thin blue line By Ron Daniels SPECIAL TO THE POST Nearly five years to the day of the verdict in the infamous Rodney King beating trial, more than 700 people gathered at Hunter College in New York City for a National Emergency Conference on Police Brutality and Misconduct. The conference participants came from 50 cities md 16 states. Convened by the Center for Constitutional Rights, jhe goals of the emergency con ference were to discuss the scope pf the crisis of police brutality ^ong people of color and poor ^d working people, to analyze fhe social, economic and poUtical forces driving the crisis and to adopt an action agenda to com bat the crisis. ! Parents and family members of persons who have been killed by the pohce presented powerful testimonies about the disrespect for the people of color and the wanton disregard for human fife by the police in the ghettos, bar rios and reservations of this nation. These personal testi monies were reinforced by a stream of reports from local coah- tions and movements against police brutality from cities like St. Petersburg, Fla., Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, San Francisco and New York. The pic ture is veiy clear. More and more people are being harassed, bru talized and killed by the police across this country and the out rage against police abuse has reached the boiling point. The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, president of the Rainbow-Push CoaUtion, Richie Perez, coordina tor of the National Congress of Puerto Rican Rights and Bernice Powell Jackson, executive direc tor of the Commission for Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ aU spoke to the resur gence of racism as a factor in the rise of police brutality in recent years. However, each of these leaders also pointed to a com bustible climate of economic injustice in communities of color and economic anxieties among poor and working class whites as a major factor fueling the epi demic of police violence. Ron Hampton, executive director of the National Black Police Association, suggested that police brutality is bred and pro tected by a “police culture” and mentality which predisposes police officers to see their work as “us against them.” Other speak ers cited the demonization and criminalization of black and peo ple of color youth in the media as another factor driving police bru tality in communities of color. What was distinctive about the National Emergency Conference, however, was that the partici pants not only identified the problem but adopted an Action Agenda with strategies to com bat the problem. As an outgrowth of the conference there will be a concerted effort to identify par ents and family members of per sons killed by the pohce to form a national network of parents/fam- ihes against police brutahty. Congressman John Conyers, who has been in the forefront of dealing with the issue of police brutality for years, has been asked to take the lead in request ing congressional hearings on pohce brutahty. If the Congress fails to act, we have asked Rep. Conyers to discuss the possibhity of the Congressional Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus and Progressive Caucus holding their own hearings in selected loca tions this summer. The Center for Constitutional Rights will also establish a National Clearinghouse on Pohce Brutahty to compile and dissem inate information on pohce bru tahty and misconduct, network/connect groups and organizations working on this issue from across the countiy and puhhsh and distribute edu cational materials to create greater public efforts to combat the crisis. RON DANIELS is a syndicated columnist Police brutality a growing concern in U.S. Bernice P. ^ Jackson People of color are most likely targets I In New York City two Hispanic )nen are killed when they are ^ot from behind 28 times and another Hispanic man was choked to death after his footbah hits a pohce car. In Pittsburgh an African American businessman is choked to death alter being stopped for a traffic stop. A St. Petersburg, Fla. African American motorist is shot to death also after a traffic stop. Uew Haven Conn. African American man suffers the same fyte. In each case the killing qccurred while the men were in pohce custody or in the course of pohce action. These are just a few of the sto ries which were heard at the National Emergency Conference on Pohce Brutahty held in New York City recently. Sponsored by the Center for Constitutional Rights, this conference brought together people who had experi enced pohce brutahty from across the nation, including Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, Florida, New York, and New Jersey. Indeed, criminal justice is the issue which seems to show the greatest racial divide in this nation. Most people of color would characterize the system as the criminal injustice system and most European Americans would not. A New York Times columnist recently wrote how, in the comse of writing a book, he asked African American men across the nation whether they have ever been hassled by pohce. Most of them can teU a story of being stopped in a store or in their car while driving in a white neigh borhood. Some may have been questioned simply because they were at a phone booth or in a mah. It doesn’t matter whether they £u-e weU-dressed or what their occupation. Even off-duty or plain clothes pohce officers have been stopped, or occasionally even shot while on duly. Few European American men have had this experience. Not only are hundreds, perhaps thousands of people of color vic tims of pohce brutahty every year, but seldom find justice in the courts. Take the case of Johnny Gammage, an African American businessman and the cousin of Carolina Panthers play er Ray Seals. Mr. Gammage was choked to death after a routine traffic stop outside Pittsburgh in 1995. Last month the judge in the case dismissed charges against the pohce officers accused in the killing, saying that prosecutors unfairly singled them out. Or teke the case of Anthony Baez, the young New Yorker who was choked after his footbah hit a patrol car. The officer accused in his murder was acquitted of ah charges in a non-jury trial. It is important to note that while pohce brutahty dispropor tionately impacts communities of color that the number of European American victims is growing. A recent Montel Williams show focused on white victims, for instemce. And it is also important to note that while most of the pohce officers are European American, there are officers of color who occasionally have been found to be violent. Finahy it should be noted that hrutahty is not just found in pohce officers. It is also present in corrections officers, immigra tion officers and others in the criminal justice system. And its victims are also women, often those who are incarcerated. What are the reasons for the increase in pohce brutahty cases and what can we do about it? BERNICE P. JACKSON is executive director of the Commission for Racial Justice in Cleveland, Ohio. The Legislative session - beginning to see end ’’This column is a report from the legislative front. I am going tb pretend to discuss the most popular question these days among political junkies who fol low the work of the General Assembly. That question is, of course, “IWhen are they going home?” The standard answer goes some thing like this. “In odd years, hke 1997, the General Assembly has its long session.’ It begins in late Jgnuaiy and usuaUy concludes in late July or August after the adoption of a budget for the next two years of state government.” What about this year? My best guess: July 3. Why? The Senate passed its Version of the budget in late April. The House may complete its version in the next few days. Then, with about a month to resolve the budget differences and the July 4 holiday weekend as an incentive to wrap things up, I think they might just do it. There are a lot of people who say I am naive, and that the leg islature will still be arguing about the budget well into August. We will see. Now that should be the end of this column. But there is more. I can’t deal with the question of the time of their going home without beginning to feel some thing more about this institution of democratic government - our General Assembly. It is more than an “it.” It has a life and culture of its own - like other groups of people who come together, get to know each other on close terms, and then break up. Like grade school classes, col lege students, summer campers, bus tour groups, or travelers on ocean voyages. There is a feel to these groups as they come together. It changes as they develop the way they aU relate to each other and find out how they can get things done. It changes again as their time together moves towards an end. As the end of an ocean liner voyage approaches, people move out on deck just looking over the horizon trying to see the landfall - long before the coast is really near enough to see. Passengers begin to treat each other differently. The anticipa tion of the winding up is shared by a growing number of people. A sense of urgency grows. Projects must be completed - or aban doned. Warm personal relation ships have developed. Now they must be quickly sealed. Or, with resignation and sadness, there must be an acceptance that, with the end of the trip, some things must end before they are fin ished. The Legislative Building is not unlike a great ocean liner, after a long hard voyage, approaching its destination. Here I sense the same kind of “end-of-the-trip” feelings as the legislature moves towards completion of its work. There is an overtaking realiza tion among a growing number of legislators that most of their great dreams for new laws and new policies will not happen this session. Nor will they succeed in all of their efforts to help people back home by getting “a little money to help a very worthy pro ject.” It is a time of some disappoint ments and misunderstandings. “But you promised me that my project would be in the budget bill,” one legislator will say to another. “No, you misimderstocxl me. I said I would give your project my support. I did support it. There just weren’t enough other people who wanted it.” Those who got their bills passed in one house, but not the other, are starting to get nervous. Time is slipping away and there are so many things that could keep them fixim succeeding. This sense of unease will con tinue until the budget is done - and then, for those who still have hope to complete their pet pro jects, it will turn to panic. And why is that? Because when the budget is agreed upon, every thing else will end quickly. When the budget is done, all the leaders want to go home right away. Why? Some people will be dis appointed with the budget provi sions. And if the session doesn’t end immediately, the budget leaders will be overwhelmed with requests and demands that the disappointments get fixed and that the broken promises get restored. It is easier for the leaders if most of the legislators are sent home before they know for sure what didn’t get fimded—or didn’t get done. So, when the budget is done, there will he a headlong, con fused rush to the end. Like the whirlpcxil following a big ship coming into port, the end of the legislative session will pull every thing that gets close downward. Only those with the most power or the most craft can get hig things done at the end. (And those with power and talent do very well by picking up the pieces that have been spilled or left out and lost by all others.) Then the end will come. Suddenly and strangely, the leg islative building will empty and stand deserted as an ocean liner in its destination port, cleared of its departing passengers, empty of everything but memories, waiting for a new group to come and begin it all again. D.G. MARTIN is vice president public affairs for the University of North Carolina and a former Charlotte attorney. He can be reached via e-mail at dgmartin@ga.unc.edu Letters to The Post A proposed proclamation for Dawn Womack was withdrawn because of speakers at the Henrietta Marie exhibit. Commissioner out of line Excuse me Bill James, but is it not about people having choices in today’s world. How on earth can you...solely decide what peo ple want to see and hear today and especially about plights, struggles of the black/Afro American community. The Henrietta Marie slave exhibit was for anyone who wanted to experience going to see it, learn from it, and whomever the Spirit Square chose to speak for this particular exhibit was your choice to make to go and hear them. Its unfortunate that your nar row mind set is reflected by a lot of other Charlotte people and its not allowing Charlotte to grow. If there is anything going on within Charlotte, I as an individual have a choice in whether “want to go or not. I certainly would not object to what someone elsei would like to choose or do. It’s an open society to all and why should I try to stop Charlotte from being a city that can offer so much to all citizens. , Wake up Bill James, Don Reid, Hoyle Martin and all those oth ers...and smell the coffee and join the real world. I applaud you Dawn Womack. Barbara Morris Charlotte What’s on your mind? Let us know. Write Letters to ' The Post, P.O. Box 30144, Charlotte, N.C., 28230, You can also fax us at (704) 342- ' 2160 or e-mail charpost@clt.mindspring.com Undermining the family Economist and columnist Walter Williams: Ideas of the liberal media and academic ehte, supported by lib eral politicians, have delivered one disaster after another. Their agenda has featured attacks on shame, traditional values and civilized standards of conduct. Take the afternoon television sleaze shows, where hosts have guests ranging from those who have slept with their daughters’ boyfriends and teenage male rmd female prostitutes to gang bangers and other lowlifes. Wewers are supposed to beUeve that these lifestyles are morally equivalent to any other lifestyle. The so-called spouse abuse “cri sis” is a modem liberal cause and part of a devious agenda. According to the U.S. Department of Justice statistics, the 1992 rates of those who engaged in assaults, per 1,000 of the population, by marital sta tus, were: never married (males, 23; females, 12); divorced or sep arated (males, 14; females, 9); married (medes, 6; females, 3). Clearly both men and women are safer when married. The least likely assault victim is a wife. What the liberals call wife beat ing is more accurately labeled girlfriend or “partner” beating. Male-female relationships within marriage are far more stable than in “partnerships” - in my day called shacking up. Reduced assault rates are just one benefit. Children raised in a traditional family have higher cognitive skills and lower delin quency rates. The poverty rate for traditional families is lower; in the case of blacks, it’s around 7 percent, compared to 34 percent for blacks in general. Married men not only earn higher income; but they’re healthier and live longer as well.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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May 29, 1997, edition 1
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