mm
■ 2004
THE QUEEN OF
KWANZAA
For Gerry Chisolm,
its a connection with
community/1 B
Gerry Chisolm
shares Kwanzaa’s
festive fruits
MOVING ALONG
Panthers prep for
New York, then
NFL playoffs/1 C
Running back
DeShaun Foster
will play often
against Giants
Volume 29 No. 15
www.thecharlottepost.com
Cliarlott
$1.00
******,1!***«*5-digxT ?8?16 S13^T?
B- Puke L,ibrary
100 Beatties Ford Rd
Charlotte NC 28216-5302
The Voice of the Black Community
Black
dmUiiig
Rise continues in
Charlotte, smaller gap
to white earnings
By Herbert L. White
herb.white@ihecharloiiepo5t.com
The median
income of
black Charlotteans has
improved dramatically
since 1990,
reflecting
the city
growth.
economic
2002
Ethnic
Median
group
income
Blacks
$35,589
Whites
$54,703
Hispanics
$33,820
2000
Blacks
$33,645
Whites
$56,144
Hispanics
$38,298
1990
Blacks
$21,960
Whites
$36,686
Hispanics
$30,816
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
Charlotte’s one of the
nation’s wealthiest
cities, and African
Americans aren’t going
along with the economic
boom.
Census Bureau figures
released earlier this
month showed
Charlotte is the nation’s
eighth most prosperous
municipality with an
overall median of
$48,975 in 2002. That
means half the city’s
households earned more
and half earned less.
The median for African
Americans was $35,589,
nearly $2,000 more than
in 2000. The gains in
African American
wealth also cut into an
income gap of more than
$22,000 between blacks
and whites just two
years ago. In 2000, black
median household
income was $33,645
compared to $56,144 for
whites. In 1990, African
Americans earned
$21,960 while whites
Please see CENSUS/3A
Saddam capture
no reason for
U.S. to gloat
By J. Zambba Browne
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
NEW YORK - It appears that supporters of
President Bush are gloating over
the capture of Iraq’s dictator
Saddam Hussein and seem to
believe that the recent develop
ment could definitely be a political
plus in next year’s election.
But Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-
N.Y.) feels that the capture is no
more of a plus than the actual
invasion of Iraq itself by the U.S.
While he believes that the inva
sion was morally wrong, Rangel
Rangel
stiU feels Saddam’s capture was also a political
plus for the Bush administration. However, he
said that if one really wants an accurate response,
the following questions should be asked:
“Is the United States and the world more safer
as the result of Hussein’s capture? Will the insur
gents and the terrorists be restrtiined because he
has been captured? And was Saddam responsible
for the 9/11 attacks? Is the United States in any
danger because of the possibility that Saddam
may have had weapons of mass destruction? And
Please see CAPTURE/6A
Also serving Cabarrus, Chester, Mecklenburg, Rowan and York counties
THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 23-30, 2003
SPECIAL SEASON, NEW FAMILY
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Latondra Chappell hangs an ornament on her Christmas tree as her new mom, Nikki looks on.
Nikki Chappell adopted the 5-year-old earlier this year.
First Christmas special for
mother, adopted daughter
By Paula Young
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
This article is part of a year-long
series on adoption and foster care
in Mecklenburg County and its
effect on African Americans.
Nikki and Latondra
Chappell will spend their first
official Christmas together
next week. Latondra wants
Barbie dolls. Although her
room probably couldn’t hold
one more toy, Latondra is
blessed in
OPEN HEARTS,
OPEN HOMES
so many
other
ways.
The 5-year-old kindergartner
is Nikki’s daughter. Latondra
is very cheerful, like her moth
er. She also loves to watch
musicals, like her mother. And
Latondra is bright and intelli
gent, like her mother.
Although mother and daugh
ter are similar, Latondra is not
Chappell’s biological child.
The girl was adopted last year.
“When I was 10, I knew I
wanted to adopt,” Chappell
said.
Nikki Chappell’s got it going
on.
She’s young - 29 to be exact.
Please see CHRISTMAS/2A
Thurmond
saga of
long-held
taboos
By Hazel Trice Edney
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON - A
year-old Strom Thurmom
having sex with his family’s
16-year-old black maid
should not be seen as an
“affair,” as it has been widely
portrayed in the media, but
rape, a well-
respected
black sociol
ogist says.
“You could
call this a
statutory
r a “p e
because this
person was
about 16 or
so when this
happened,”
says Julia
Hare, executive director of
Washington-
Williams
the Black Think Tank in San
Francisco. “These are the
types of things that we need
to look at very seriously
when we look at these dou
ble standards.”
Essie Mae Washington-
Wdliams, 78, a retired school
teacher who now lives in Los
Angeles, decided to tell her
secret in order to bring clo
sure to the subject and final
ly answer persistent ques
tions from reporters.
For years, Thurmond and
his family had remained
silent and, in some cases,
expressed doubt about the
veracity of stories accusing
him of fathering a Black
daughter. Just days before
the daughter had called a
news conference to offer evi
dence that Thurmond was
her biological father and to
say she was willing to sub
mit to a DNA test, the fami
ly finally confirmed the
validity of her claim.
Washington-Williams says
she had not come forward
earlier because she didn’t
want to ruin the political
career of Thurmond, who
died in June at the age of
100.
Thurmond was a virulent
racist who ran for president
in 1948 on a pro-segregation
ist platform. He said at the
time: "And I want to tell you,
ladies and gentlemen, that
Please see AGTIVISTS/6A
Seniors find new Medicare mandates confusing
By Mark Sherman
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAUREL, Md. - Eugene
Obermier takes eight pills a
day and a dim view of the new
Medicare law, with its pre
scription drug benefit.
“I think it stinks,” said the
78-year-old retired automobile
service manager from
Maryland City who has a bad
heart, high blood pressure and
other health issues. He gets
prescription drugs through his
wife’s state health plan.
But after taking part in an
hourlong town meeting hosted
by Rep. Ben Cardin, D-Md., a
vocal opponent of the Medicare
overhaul, Obermier said he
does not really understand the
complicated law and how it
might affect him and his wife.
That reaction has been com
mon in lawmakers’ meetings
with older Americans and in
queries to interest groups such
as AARP. They find the law too
confusing to be able to say
whether they like it, according
to both its supporters and
detractors.
The Republican administra
tion and AARP are undertak
ing intensive campaigns to
explain the law before a nega
tive impression takes root
among the 40 million older and
disabled Americans on
Medicare.
The Health and Human
Services Department is work
ing on a letter from Secretary
Tommy Thompson to older
people next month to explain
the law. In addition, HHS offi
cials are being made available
to Republican lawmakers for
public meetings on the law,
said Greg Crist, a spokesman
Please see SENIORS/6A
Inside
Editorials 4A
Weather 8A
Life IB
Religion 8B
Sports 1C
Real Estate 5C
Business 8C
A&E ID
Classified 4D
To subscribe, call (704) 376-0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160.
© 2003 The Charlotte Post Publishing Co.
Please
Recycle
'OI
mi
mm