‘A RAISIN IN
THE SUN’
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Thaatra Chadotla^D
OLD SCHOOL GEAR
Upstart company looks
to cash in on legacy of
black college sports/8C
J.C. Smith legend Curly
^ Neal’s No. 22 jersey
among those offered
by Vintage Sports.
Volume 29 No. 25
www.thecharlottepost.com
$1.00
Ctiarlotte 3Bo^t
The Voice of the Black Community
Also serving Cabarrus
WEEK OF MARCH 4-10, 2004
Candidates
understate
poverty’s
reach
Census figures
skew reality,
advocate says
By Hazel Trice Edney
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON - A U. S.
Census statistic placing the
number of impoverished
Americans at 34.6 million is
causing presidential candi
dates to understate the
depth of the problem, says
the president of one of the
nation’s largest anti-poverty
organizations.
“I think by not suggesting
that we have closer to 100
million Americans who live
on the edges, on the hinges
[of poverty], you don’t create
the kinds of necessary
urgency to spotlight poverty
that is needed,” says Derrick
L. Span, national president
of the Washington, D.C.-
based Community Action
Partnership, a 32-year-old
network of 1,000 community
action agencies.
“So, the great danger is by
saying 30-34 million in a
nation of 300 million, that
seems relatively low. Thirty-
four million people living in
poverty in the ridiest nation
in the world is stiU sharheful,
but 100 million living
around the circle of poverty
is absolutely scandalous and
I think by not recognizing
that and saying that, then
we let an opportunity pass to
focus on poverty, spot-light it
and treat it as the national
urgency like we should.”
The most recent Census
figures on poverty, released
last fall, reported that the
poverty rate had risen from
j32.9 million in 2001 (11.7
percent) to 34.6 million in
2002 (12.1 percent).
Since that report, the can
didates have repeatedly
cited the 34.6 miUion figure,
Span points out.
Nearly all, if not all, of the
presidential candidates have
used the statistic in some
way. For example, Sen. John
Edwards (D-N.C.), who
See ADVOCATES/7A
Balancing
democracy,
U.S. policy
in Haiti
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
REUTERS PHOTO/DANIELAGUILAR
Haiti’s political crisis sparked different reactions. In Charlotte Tuesday, the Action Center For
Justice (top) held a rally uptown to protest U.S. policy that led to the ouster of Haiti President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, rebels were greeted as heroes.
Americans differ over whether
Aristide’s removal was justified
By Herbert L. White
herb, white @ fhecharloitepost. com
The resignation of Haiti
President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide — and America’s role
in how he was toppled fi^om
power — is sparking sharp
reaction in Charlotte and
Washington.
For Harold Eustache of
Charlotte, it’s the possibility
of democracy returning to
the Caribbean nation 500
miles from U.S. shores.
“I think it’s a good thing
Aristide is gone,” he said.
Eustache, who immigrated
to the U.S. from Haiti in
1972, was in Miami last
week to monitor the uprising
against Aristide. The clashes
took a personal toll as well:
Eustache’s police sergeant
cousin was ambushed and
killed in the capital city of
Port-au-Prince during the
rebellion’s early stages.
On Tuesday, the Action
Center For Justice held a
rally at Marshall Park to
protest America’s inability to
keep the democratically-
elected Aristide in power.
“It definitely rubs against
the principles America was
founded on,” said David
Dixon, coordinator of the
center.
Aristide, who left the Haiti
Sunday as rebel forces
advanced on the capital city.
Port au-Prince, told mem
bers of the Congressional
Black Caucus he was forced
out by the
U.S.
“He did not
resign,” Rep.
Maxine
Waters (D-
Calif.) said
Monday
after a phone
conversation
with Aristide
finm Central
African Republic, where he
was granted asylum. “He
was forced out, that the coup
was completed.”
Brian Nick, spokesman for
See AMERICANS/2A
Aristide
Immigration a prickly issue for blacks, Hispanics
By Hazel Trice Edney
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON -Apropos
al by President Bush that
would give illegal immigrants
the right to hold jobs in the
U.S. is prompting labor and
immigration experts to urge
African-Americans to take
action to protect and strength
en their political and economic
gains to prevent being dis
placed.
“This country continues in its
immigration policy to bring in
an unending
influx of immi
grants into
this country
over black
folk. They’re
pushing
blacks further
and further
down making Anderson
them an
underclass,” says Claud
Anderson, president of the
Harvest Institute, a Black
research and education organi
zation in Washington. “They’re
coming here for low-income
jobs, but once they leave this
country they’re rich in their
own coimtry because they’re
sending tb,at money back home
and it multiplies 10 times.
Meanwhile, black people,
they’re being displaced.”
Bush has asked Congress to
establish a new immigrant
worker program that would
give temporary jobs to undocu
mented workers.
Approximately 8 million illegal
immigrants, more than 50 per
cent firom Mexico, live in the
U.S., according to the Center
for Immigration Studies.
A White House summary
says the Bush program would
“match willing foreign workers
with willing U. S. employers
when no Americans can be
found to fill the jobs.”
Under the plan:
•• Employers would demon
strate their need for workers
See IMMIGRATION/2A
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
The percentage of minority businesses earning
work from Meckienburg County and the city of
Chariotte haven’t reached expectations.
MfelOlltV
fimislag
onpuHc
projects
County contract goals
missed - just hke city’s
By Herbert L. White
heri>. white @ thecharloiteposl com
Minority contractors aren’t doing much better
getting business from
Mecklenburg County than they
are from the dty of Charlotte.
A report released this week
showed that minorities earned 6
percent of Mecklenburg construc
tion contracts valued at less than
$30,000 between 1998-2002, 4
percent off the county’s target.
Women, on the other hand,
received 9.6 percent of county
business, 4.6 percent better than
the goal. Complicating matters for Mecklenburg
is state mandates that leave counties few options
for easing disparities. t
“Fm really not sure what we’re going to do,”
Commissioner Ruth Samuelson said. “We’re pro-
See MINORITY/6A
Auto dealers probed for
possible loan cheating
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Three Charlotte-area automobile dealers are
under investigation for lying about falsifying pay-
check stubs to qualify customers for loans they
couldn’t afford.
Federal agents confiscated computers and files
Monday from Five Star Auto Mall and South
Boulevard Auto Mall in Charlotte,
as well as Monroe Auto Mall in
Monroe. On Tuesday, a federal mag
istrate unsealed affidavits agents
used to gain permission to search WSOC-TV
the dealerships on suspicion of mail,
wire and bank fraud.
No one has been charged regard
ing the investigation.
The affidavit, filed by an FBI agent, says lenders
were given false information and approved loans
for customers who didn’t qualify in order to sell
more vehicles. The document didn’t make clear
whether the FBI believe customers knew the deal
ers were doctoring the applications.
When a customer defaults on a loan, the lender
is required to repossess the vehicle and sell it at
auction. If the car is sold for less than it’s worth,
the lender takes a loss.
Samuelson
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