iMIlliliiilliliiilli
PERMANENT
DISPLAY
Mint Museum
features range
of artistic
expression 1D
LIFT EVERY
VOICE
Jan. 16 ‘Daybreak
of Freedom’ brings
entire community
together/8B
Volume 31 No. 16
$1.00
Cfie Cfiarlotte
i.j.i
111111 It ii I {
lUlM.I.I.nll.ll l.lll.nllnMnlll
The Voice of the Black Community
WEEK OF JANUARY 5-11, 2006
. „ , n»n»»»»»«n5-0IGIT 28216 Sll PI
Also serving Cal j3,es e, Duke Library
100 Beatties Ford Rd
Charlotte NC 28216-5302
Council considers resolution
to honor MLK with street
Proposed renaming of Stonewall Street
to Martin Luther King Boulev»d
By Herbert L. While
herh.wkUe& thecharlottepostjcotn
Charlotte may yet honor Martin Luther
King Jr. with a sti'eet named
after the slain civil rights
leader.
Two streets are candidates
for the change, initiated by City
Council member James
Mitchell: Independence
Boulevard from the Interstate
277 ramp at 7th Street south
past Kings Boulevard to the I-
277 ramp and Stonewall Street from
Kenilworth Avenue from the 1-277 ramp at
Independence and Kenilworth west to Mint
Mitchell
Street.
The change is on Monday’s council agenda.
‘T think it’s a unique honor and I think it’s
an opportunity for the entire city of Charlotte
to honor Dr. King,” Mitchell said.
"The city has authority to rename streets,
although 7 5 percent of property owners on the
thoroughfare can petition for a change.
Charlotte’s Department of TVansportation
has already alerted residents along both
streets about the proposal and is soliciting
feedback. Calls to transportation spokes
woman Doreen Szymanski were not
retmued.
City Manager Pam Syfert is evaluating the
Please see COUNCIL/7A
ILLUSTRATION/CHARLES RAMSEUR
Egypt
apologizes
for Sudan
violence
Clearing of
cainp results in
25 deaths
By Omar Sinan
VIEASSOCI.XIT.D PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt — The death
toll fiom Egypt’s violent clear
ing of a Sudanese migrant
camp rose to at least 25
Saturday as the presidential
spokesman expi'essed sorrow
and garbage collectors moved
in to clear away the trash of a
failed three-month protest.
The Sudanese refugees
were gone, but a picture of
two of them, a couple holding
hands on their wedding day
remained — imtil it was
scooped into rubbish bins
with the rest of the rubble.
The photo, inscribed on the
back with the words:
“Congratulations Yassmin
and Ridha for your marriage,”
lay among the abandoned and
meager belongii^ of the
Sudanese — dirty blankets,
clothes, photo albums, slip-
p^^ and children’s shoes.
• As many as 20,000
Egyptian riot police swinging
clubs swept into the tiny
Cairo paric to evict 2,000 or so
Sudanese squatters early
Friday Police had spent much
of the ni^t dousing migrants
with water cannons stationed
on all four comers of camp. A
protest leader said seven chil
dren were among those killed
With scales from the violent
CULTURAL INSTITUTION UNDERGOES CHANGE
PHOTO/PAUL WILLIAMS III
Afro-American Cultural Center Chairman David Taylor (right) has added acting director to his duties as the
board searches for a permanent director to replace Beverly Cureton (left), who was fired in July. This photo
was taken last June at the unveiling of the Marian Anderson stamp as part of the Afro Center’s 30th anniver
sary celebration.
See EGYPT/2A
The center of revitalization
Afro Center takes more businesslike approach to the fiiture
By C. Jemal Horton
FOR WE a!.^RU)^TE fOST
David Taylor has a flight to
catch.
As interim executive director of
the uptown Afrxi-American
Cultural Center and co-partner in
a successful management firm in
SouthPark, Taylor’s days usually
are busy and eventful. But this day
is a whirlwind, evenby his typical
ly hectic standards.
It’s Monday, a holiday, and
Tajior has arrived at his placid
office eariy to squeeze in some
work before he boards his airplane.
There's business to tie up as he
makes certain to facilitate his
dients at Dillingham & Tajior
Wealth Management, LLC.
And, then, there’s the increasing
ly important work Tajior must do
with the Afix>-American Cultural
Center, which is enduring one of
the most critical stretches of its 31-
year history
With so much of his time allocat
ed to his own business, can Taylor,
who also is chairman of the cen-
Please see AFRO/2A
AUto
advised
against
activists
High court nominee
recommended against
Black Panthers suit
By Jesse J. Holland
VIE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON ^ Supreme Court
hopeful Samuel Alito recommended
against appealing a ruling that
revived a Black Panther Party lawsuit
against the government nearly a
quarter-century ago, according to doc-
mnents released last
week.
Alito, working in the
Justice Department at
tile time, ai^ed that
the department could
win the case in a lower
court.
“None of the legal Alito
issues presented by this
case seems to warrant Supreme Court
review,” AHto wrote on Nov. 19, 1981,
while he was working for the solicitor
general’s office. The memo was among
another batch of Alito papers released
by tiie National Archives.
Unlike other Alito documents, the
291-document release sparked little to
no interest fi^m the groups promoting
Please see ALITO/SA
Family tree of
former slaves
gets together
in Durham
THE ASSOCIATED PRFJSS
DURHAM - The family ties of near
ly 1,000 slaves from a once-sprawling
North Carolina plantation are being
pieced together witii the help of their
owners’ records and their descen
dants.
Jennifer Farley, director of the
Stagville state historic site, a planta
tion that caice spanned about 47.5
square miles across parts of Durham,
Orange, Wake and Granville counties,
restarted the project two years ago.
“We’ve just scratched the surface, I
feel,” Farley said. “But if we don’t have
this, then these people will be foi^ot-
ten. That is the worst thing you could
do.”
So far, Farley has uncovered tiie
Please see PROGENY/BA
READY TO
PLAY BALL:
Center City
Partners and
the Charlotte
Knights back
a new plan
that would
bring the AAA
baseball team
uptown. It’s a
sound idea - if
taxpayers are
out of the
equation. See
Editorial on
Page 4A.
ILUSTRATONODEa
Retired judge earns courthouse honor
By Herbert L. White
kerh.white^ Ihecharloftepostrom
Former Superior Court Judge
Shiriey Fulton retired from the
bench two years ago, but she’s
got a permanent place of honor
in the building where she
worJsed.
Fulton will be the first Afiican
American to have her portrait
displayed at the Mecklenburg
County Courthouse.
“I feel honored and humbled
also,” said Fulton, who was a
judge for 16 years and was the
first black woman to serve as a
Superior Court judge in Nortii
Carolina. “A lot of hard wort
went into getting to this point.
It’s humbling to know that peo
ple think enougji of you to do it.”
An unveiling and viewing of
the portrait will be held Friday
at 5:30 p.m. at the Wadsworth
House, 400 S. Summit Ave. 'Hie
portrait will be moved to the
new county courthouse iqxm
completion
'Ihe Mecklenbui^ County Bar
Association commissioned the
painting by
Michael Shane
Neal of
Nashville, 'Ibnn.
Shortly before
Fulton’s retire
ment, Neal set
about tiie task of
getting to know
his subject. He
interviewed
Fulton, family and fiiends
before sitting her down for the
See EX-JUDGE/3A
Fulton
ABAs financial trouble forces
Charlotte Kamk to suspend
operations 8C
LifelB
Religion 8B
Sports 1C
Business 8C
A&E ID
Happenings 6C
INSIBE
To subsenbe, call (704) 3760496 or FAX (704) 342-2160.® 2005 The Charlotte Post Publishing Co,
Recycle
o
19887''00001''''2
• •Ol
■-fT il feiTiiad* ■
Til
1 'I- • . l.‘-