^ RIDDLES
DON T DOUBT
AND
THOMAS
ENIGMA
Vocalist Rhonda
Thomas plays
^ only as qood
by her own rules
as its core
at the Jazz
Cafe/1D
Volume 31 No. 39.
Minister’s
HIV crusade:
Change
behavior,
infection rate
RELIGION/5B
$1.00
in
The Voice of the Black Community
Also «?#»ivinn r- ?***t********5*0IGIT 2S216 S9 PI
Also serving t,. jj.jj g
100 Beatties Ford Rd
Charlotte NC 28216-5302
Watching
these
characters''
can save
lives
The Danger
Rangers
campaign tor
child safety/
PagelB (
Upimiim’s Changing face
As property rates boom, longtime neighbors weigh their options
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Superior Bai'bershop has been a
paiT of Greg Kennedy’s life for over
50 years-
His father, Fred Kennedy opened
the shop in 1947, and in 1980 was
moved to 7th and McDowell, where
it was a commtmity standard, until
it was forced to dose last montii to
make way for condominiums.
“I don’t like to hear the word
forced,” said Kennedy, who now
works at Fourth Ward Barbershop.
“I don’t tiiink of it as being forced
out. Charlotte’s got to grow.
Charlotte is changing and you have
to be ready to change with it.”
Kennedy’s positive outlook is not
shared by others.
Sylvia Grier, first vice president
for the Millinna More Movement,
believes the situation in Charlotte
today is akin to 1960s urban renew
al, which doubled the cost of living
in Charlotte finm the prior decade.
Please see HOT REAL/6A
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Greg Kennedy packs supplies at
Superior Barbershop last month.
Condos will be built in its place.
Skilled
immigrants
wony some
advocates
By Lorinda M. Bullock
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON - As the black
commimity debates whether
Hispanic immigrant workers
create competition for jobs with
low-income Afitican-Americans,
the president of the Coalition of
Black IVade Unionists says too
little attention is being paid to
educated imlnigrants taking
away high-tech jobs away fixun
middle- and upper-class Afidcan-
Americans.
“That is mudi more of a thi-eat
to us than picking lettuce,” said
William Lucy president and
founder of the labor group.
There is one facet of the recent
immigration biU passed by the
U.S. Senate that Lucy said
blacks in technology should be
especially concerned about—the
200,000 guest visas the coimtry
would allow annually
Nearly 12 million illegal immi
grants live and work in the U.S.,
according to the Pew Hispanic
C^ter.
Over the last 10 years, the
annual quota for the H-IB
visas —specifically for highly-
educated and skilled immi
grants— has fluctuated between
65,000 and 195,000, depending
on how well the high-tech and
scientific markets were doing
Under the H-IB visa, immi
grant workers can stay in Ihe
U.S. for up to six .years or even
10 years in some cases. After the
first year of the visa, they aren’t
coimted into Ihe annual quota,
allowing a new wave of immi
grants to enter the country
Lucy said the increasing num
ber of blacks earning degrees in
technology and engineering
See SKILLED/2A
Today’s kitchens are better
► designed and worth the
extra cxDst./3D
©•o
PHOTOAOURTIS WILSON
For thousands of teens across the Charlotte area, like these South Mecklenburg High School
graduates, finishing high school is a a rite of passage to adulthood and independence.
Real world beckons
Graduates face freedoms and pressures of adulthood
By Aisha Lide
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
The hi^ school Class of 2006 is graduating
to adulthood.
For these teens, commencement is the first
taste of fi^edom. Many wiU go on to college;
others to trade schools or the military On@
thing is for certain: TheyTl live by their own
sets of rules without ever-present parents hov
ering about.
Ma Lassiter, valedictorian at Hickory Grove
Baptist Christian School, will be enroDing at
Winston-Salem State University in the fall,
where she plans tq major in biology Tb prepare
for the rigors of college Hfe, Lassiter, who grad
uated with a 4-5 grade point average that was
tops in ha* class of 44, participated in Love of
Learning, a five-week college-experience pro
gram at Davidson CoUege.
‘ When I go to college I am ready to meet new
fiiends, not start a new hfe style, but start a
new chapter,” she said ‘1 want to work hard,
but also have fun, and of course learn new
techniques in biology as well as music.”
Newly-independent young adults face transi
tions on social, academic and financial levels,
see FOR CLASS/2A
((
When I go to college I
am ready to meet new
friends, not start a new
life style. JJ
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON '
Mia Lassiter of Charlotte, who’ll
attend Winston-Salem State
University in the fall.
Soccer camp teaches skills, character
No Child
flunks at
closing
gaps
Study: Federal law hasn’t
made significant progress
By Heiberi L. White
herb.vt^if/e@(hechar)otteposf.com
The federal No Child Left Behind law isn’t
making the grade, according to a Harvard
University study
The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University
released today a new study that reports the high-
ly-touted federal initiative hasn’t improved read
ing and mathematical achievement or reduced
achievement gaps. The study also revealed that
the NCLB won’t meet its goals of 100 percent
student proficiency by 2014 if the trends of the
first several years continue.
The report, ‘TV-ackir^ Achievement Gaps and
Assessing the Impact of NCLB on the Gaps: An
In-depth Look into National and State Reading
and Math Outcome,” compares findings fixim the
National Assessment of Education Progress to
state assessment results and concludes that high
stakes testing and sanctions required by NCLB
are not working as planned.
The findii^ contradict claims of the Bush
administration and some previous studies that
Flease see NO CHILD/3A
By Herbert L White
hert).v.Fi/fe@fhechoffoffeposJ.com
Friday is Julian Brown’s birth
day but he’s providing the gift to
children in west Charlotte-
Boys and girls fi'om inner dty
neighborhoods are learning soc
cer basics this week at the first
Julian Brown Memorial Soccer
Camp at Revolution Park. The
camp is named in honor of the
Charlotte teen who was killed
during a 2004 soccer trip to
France. The fi-ee camp is teaching
kids fi'om Boulevard Homes,
Wingate, Clanton Park,
Wilkinson Boulevard and
Freedom Drive neighborhoods
how to play soccer and develop
character traits that will help
them socially athletically and
academically
“I hope this will be a wa.y of
helping to honor Julian’s memory
and to promote focios and dedica
tion to soccer that our son demon-
Flease see CAMP/2A
the box
NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
Some in CBC
want Jefferson off
committee post
By Hazel Trice Edney
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON - Although the
Congressional Black
Caucus has pubMdy pre
sented a united fiont in
its support of embattled
U. S, Rep. Bill Jefferson’s
ri^t to maintain his com
mittee memberships,
some CBC members -
including civil ri^ts icon
John Lewis (D-Ga.) -
have assumed behind-
the-scene roles in getting Jefferson oust
ed finm his coveted position on the pow
erful House Ways and Means
Flease see CAUCUS/2A
Jefferson
Life IB
Religion 5B
Sports 1C
Business 6C
A&E1D
Classified 4D
WSIBI
To subscribe, call (704) 376-0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160.® 2006 The Charlotte Post Publishing Co.
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