MS. CLEAN
House looking drab?
What you need is a
staging expert/1 B
Cheryl Cox transforms
home interiors from blah
to fabulous.
Bobcats owner
buys bank to
compete for
urban
cu8tomers/7C
MR. NICE GUY
Comedian Steve
Harvey changes pace
in ‘Don’t Trip’/ID
King of Comedy leaves
bawdy past behind in new
concert movie.
Volume31 No. 26
$1.00
C][)arIotte $oKt
The Voice of the Black Community
Also serving Cabarrus, Chester, Mecklenburg, Rowan and York counties
WEEK OF MARCH 16-22, 2006
Study:
Fewer
lending
predators
Led by N.C.,
consumers are
better protected
By Herbert L. White
'herb.■i\’hite@thechaTlotteposl com
Tbuglier anti-predatory
lending laws also increase
availability of credit for people
who need it most, according to
a new study
The Center for Responsible
Lending report “The Best
Value in the Subprime
Market: State Predatory
Lending Reforms” examined
more than 6 million subpiime
mortgages fiom 1998-2004, or
three-quartea^ of all loans in
the subpiime market during
those years.
States with the strongest
laws, sudi as North Carolina,
Massachusetts, New Jersey
New Mexico, New York, and
West 'Wrginia, showed the
largest dedines in loans with
predatory terms. North
Carolina was the first state to
dramatically overhaul preda
tory lending laws in 2000.
Predatory loans in many of
the 28 states with predatory
lending reforms dropped by
almost a third. In
Massachusetts alone, that
meant almost 600 few^ abu
sive loans a month.
“This study demonstrates
that critics who claim anti-
predatory landing laws Will
dry up people’s access to cred
it are just plain wrong. This
research shows that sound
legislation curbs abusive
lending, and it does not
reduce responsible lending,”
said Iowa Attorney General
'Ibm Miller, “And that leads to
one more conclusion: con
sumers would be harmed if
federal law preempted state
regulation.”
Predatory mortgage lending
costs Americans more than $9
billion a year, the Center for
Responsible Lending esti
mates.
‘It robs people who can least
afford it of the hard-won equi
ty in their hom^, and some
times it costs them their home
itself- It ruins people’s credit
and evai throws families into
bankruptcy and out on the
street. It threatens fragile
neighborhoods and puts a
dent in local economies.”
The study found that these
laws didn't decrease the num-
See STATE/2A
Giving is personal
for philanthropists
PHOTOS/CURTIS \WILSON
Dr. Donna Murray-Lacey, executive director of the Charlotte Volunteers in Medicine Clinic, checks Reggie
Singleton’s blood pressure Tuesday. The non-profit agency, which provides health screenings for under-
served - and mostly black - patients, gets better support from foundations than individual African
Americans, Murray-Lacey said.
Black households give 25%
more of discretionai7 income
to philanthropic efforts than
whites.
• Blacks give about 25% of
donations to charities that
serve the
public need.
* Blacks bom after 1964 are
more likely
to support -
charines
tiiat benefit
people of
all races
and
etiinicities.
For most black givers,
charity starts at home
DATA; CENTER ON PHIUNTHROPY
By Eric Bozeman
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Philanthropy in tiie African
American community historical
ly ebbs and flows.
The African American commu
nity has a tradition giving
through churches or service
organizations, but due to the
advent of programs like the
African American Community
Foundation Award Grant, creat
ed by the Foundation of the
Carolinas money is finding its
way to deprived services in the
area.
Donna Murray Lacey, execu
tive director of the Charlotte
Voluntem-s in Medicine clinic,
received $10,000 for its
Cardiovascular Disease Risk
Reduction Program, said foun
dations are usually helpful to
her non profit agency
“My experience with the
African American Community
Foundation has been a wonder
ful experience,” she said.
“However, my experience with
See CHARITY/3A
Was New Orleans victim to a conspiracy?
By Zenitha Prince
NAVONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
Second in a series about the
Gulf Coast and the road to
recovery after Hurricane
Katrina. This project is a coop
erative effort between the
National Newspaper
Publishers Association and the
Baltimore Afro.)
NEW ORLEANS - On
Sept. 12, Nation of Islam
leader Minister Louis
Farrakhan was in
Charlotte as part of a 23-
city tour to promote the
Millions More Movement
march in Washington,
then mere weeks away,
when he made an allega
tion that bas stirred rip
ples of reaction in the pub
lic pdol.
*1 heard Sum a very reli
able source, who saw a 25-
foot-deep crater under the
levee breach,” Farrakhan
said. “It may have been
blown up to destroy the
black part of town and
keep the White part dry”
Farrakhan is not alone
in. believir^ that the poor
and Black of New Orleans
were somehow targeted to
sustain the worse of the
Ka’trin.a.
“’Mother Nature is one
thir^ but this goes beyond
Mother Nature,” said
Raynold Fenelon, a New
Orleans cabdriver. “’They
e MANY/2A
Pope accuses West of systemic Africa abuse
GLOBAL INFORA lA TION NETWORK
VATICAN CITY - In a
wide-ranging meeting with
priests of the Rome diocese,
Pope Benedict expressed
concern for Africa - observ
ing that big • political and
economic interests were
stUl responsible for many of
Africa’s problems and that
their continued abuse was
fomenting conflicts on the
continent.
‘’Africa continues to be
the object of abuse by the
big powers, and many con
flicts would not have
readied their current state
if the interest of the great
powers was not behind
them,” he said.
The Pope did not mention
any specific countries or
conflicts.
The pope appeared to be
reflecting on recent conver
sations with African bish
ops who were making their
‘ad limina’ visits. He said
that the grave economic
and social problems of the
continent are partially off-
School
decdon
proposal
opposod
Limited representation,
cost cited as obstacles
By Herbert L. White
herb.white® thecharloitepost com
A task force recommendation that
would change how Charlotte-
Mecklenbuig public schools are gov-
eoned is drawing fire .
for its potential to I
mute district represen- I
tation, especially in I
majority-black dis- I
tricts. I
The Citizens’ Task I
Force of Charlotte- I
Mecklenburg recom- Gantt
mends a seven-mem
ber school board — down fixim nins —
with six elected at-large to represent
districts. The seventh would be
appointed by MeckLenbm^ County
commissioners.
set by the ‘’great hope” and
‘’great faith” growing there.
Tiiere are 1.1 billion
Catholics worldwide. Africa
has 144 million Catholics
with 30 million in the
Democratic Republic of
Congo,
“If I took my own personal poU,
most people I talk to support it,” said
Harvey Gantt, co-chair of the task
force. “But the number of people
against it are elected officials and you
don’t get too far without them. They
feel it threatens district representa
tion. African Americans feel that they
Please see RESISTANCE/2A
the box
NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
JCSU grad
boosts Legacy
at tournament
Giving back was tlie name of
the game for Charlottean Cary
MitoheU durii^ the CIAA basket
ball tournament,
Usi^ his Legacy Classic
Foundation, Charlotte custom
tailor Mtchell and
several friends
donated $13,000 to
three organiza
tions; the scholar
ship fund of 100
Black Men of
Greater Charlotte,
the Afix)-American
Cultural Center
and Stratford
Richardson YMCA
Boulevard
Joinit^ Mitchell in making the
donation were Damian anH
Jermaine Johnson of No Grease
Inc. and Carolina Panther Mike
IVfinter,
Mitchell, who owns Cary
khtohell Designs of Charlotte,
decided it was appropriate to
make the donation during CIAA
week since he has attended more
than 25 of the tournaments since
1973. His first was as a ball boy
for Virginia Union University
Mitchell
West
Gospel heavyweights Kirk
Franklin and Mary Mary in
Charlotte concert Friday/5B
Life IB
Religion 5B
Sports 1C
Business 7C
A&E1D
Happenings 3C
wsiBr
Rfilininn RR Riieinoec yfT Hannoninnc .'TTT Recycle
To subscribe, call (704) 376-04S6 or FAX (704) 342-2160.© 2005 The Charlotte Post Publishing Co.
o
®®OI