MORE THAN
N.C.’S BBQ
CAPFTAL
Order a juicy
helping of
culture in
Lexington/1 B
MISSION TO
HELP AFRICA’S
CHILDREN
Charlotte Eagles
benefit kids in
Uganda/1 C
Patrick Daka and
mates play Saturday
Romance
novelists
spark in
growing
industry
Charlotte author a o c ^ rt
AITonya Washington A&E 1D
Volume 31 No. 43
^ ^ Mr l.il.ll..l,„l,l,„ll,ll,nl,l,„ll,ii |,|||,„|| Ill
$1.00
The Voice of the Black Community
Also serving Ca
28216 S8 PI
James B. Duke Library
100 Beatties Ford fid
Charlotte NC 28216-5302
Will Merchandise
Mart deal close?
Spies working overtime
on rumored deals that
haven’t gone down - yet.
Page 3A
No easy
answers
for unruly
behavior
Parents, young adults
agree knowledge key
to curbing violeme
By Cheris F. Hodges
chens.hodgej®fhecrior;oheposf.com
For the second year in a row,
there were more ejqjlosions after
Charlotte’s July 4 - uptown fire
works display than dialing it.
Accordin.g to pohce, 24 people
were arrested following the mdee
after the Red, White and Boom! cel
ebration at Central Piedmont
Community College. The violence
along TVyon Street left one person
shot in the face. But vAiat’s at the
root of the melee and how can a
community reach kids?
Nineteen-year-old Randall Henry
said that once people reach a cer
tain age, they’re lost. “They’re
going to do what they do. Charlotte
is crazy right now,” he said.
Although Hemy didn’t go uptown
for the fireworks, he looks like the
images plastered on the news: a
yoimg black man, twisted hair,
dressed in a white tee shirt and
oversized pants.
That look, Henry said, causes
him to get pulled over lay police and
stared at as he walks through
shoppir^ malls. But he insists he--
isn’t part of the problem.
“They need to reach them at a
younger age and the police are not
going to help by throwing them in
jail,” he said.
Reachir^ kids before they’re on
Tryon Street dashing with police or
each other is what people who
work with disadvantaged youth
say is the only way to curb the tide
of violaice.
Lamont Goings, who works at
the One Love Development group
home in Gastonia said problems
often start at home.
‘Lack of home training,” he said.
“If ^u look back at some of these
Idds’ homes, they probably don’t
have their daddy involved and
they’re just bdng raised by mom^v
Parents, like Stephai Roj^t^,
See PARENTS/2A
PHOTOS/CUFUIS WILSON
Operation Understanding participants Sam Aleinikoff, Marcus McNair, Melissa Fuller and
Deborah Krat had a hands-on experience with exhibits at Levine Museum of the New South
Tuesday. Black and Jewish students from Washington, D.C., are touring the Soutii to gain an
understanding of relationships the civil rights era forged between the two groups.
Let
freedom
ride
Students find road to justice
winds through the Carolinas
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Valuable history lessons were taught in.
Charlotte Tuesday
A delegation of 32 black and Jewish high
school students fibm Washington, D.C., on a
month-long journey called Operation .
Understandir^ D.C. The students, 16 Afiican-
American and 16 Jews, and-four group leaders
arrived in Charlotte after visiting New York City
and Greensboro.
They are on a civil rights sojourn that includes
site visits to places of important to blacks and
Jews and continuing the legacy of the Freedom
Riders, young people who risked thdr lives to
B.B. DeLaine, whose parents sued to deseg
regate Clarendon County, S.C., schools in the
1950s, encouraged parficpants to challenge
the status quo.
desegregate interstate transportation in tlje
1960s. ' ■ *
“I had heard of the Freedom Rides in school,,
when we watched (the documentary) Lyes on
the Prize,”’ said Sam Aleirukoff “I |on’t think
the compar^n to them has i^te hit me yet. I
know we jire creating change. We are trying
make history”
An understanding of Carolinas history -was
' Please see ROAD/7 A*.
Economic gap widens by ethnicity
By Lorinda M. Bullock
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON -AweakU.S.
economy and a low unemploy
ment rate over the last couple of
years 'has started to erode the
progress Black Americans have
gained in income, and has further
widened the income gap betwfeen
Blacks and Whites, says a new
report fium a Washington, D.C.
think tank.
The Economic Policy Institute’s
“The State of Working America
2006/2007” says that in 2000, a
Black family’s median income
was ^3.5 percent of the earnings
of their White counterparts.
Panel focuses oh Flosenwald schools
By Herbert L. White
riert).vvH/te®(hecHar1offeposf.com
The impact of Rosenwald
sdiools on Carolinas educa
tion will be the focus of a
pand discussion Sunday
The Levine Museeum of
the New South will host
author Peter Ascoli, author
of “Julius Rosenwald”
Sunday at 4 p.m. Ascoli,
Rosenwald’s grandson, is a
faculty member af Spertus
Institute of Jewish Studies
in Chicago.
Panelsists indude Clover,
S.C.., novelist dori Sanders,
who was educated at a
Rosenwald School near
Rock Hill where her father
was prindpal and George
Wallace and Herm Zeigler,
who partnered to.renovate a
Rosenwald campus in
Charlotte’s Billingsville
nei^iborhood-;
The collaboration between
BiUmgsviUe’s all-bljick
neighborhood organization
and Zeigler’s synagogue is
considered a national moM
for preservation of
Rosenwald schools.
In the early 20th century
more than 5,000 Rosenwald
schools were built thiuugh-
out the segregated South to
educate black children who
were barred by law fixim
attending school with
whites while some states
didn’t provide public educa
tion for blacksr Rosenwald, a
Jewish philan
thropist ’ and
founder of the
Sears Roebuck
retail. empire,
ofier^ grants to
black neighbor
hoods th^ could
match his funds
for construction.
Admission is $4’
for museum mej^
bers, $6 for noh-
members. For
information and
reservations, call (704) 333-
1887, extension 501.
county
reach
accoid
Gorman, Jones agree^on
formula for school building
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE PbST . -
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Superintendent Peter (^rman ’ and
Mecklenburg Coionty ,
Manager Harry Jones met I
members of the media I
Wednesday to answer any I
questions regarding the I
Building Solutions I
Committee’s final report and I
announced an operational '
covenant.
On Thesday the school
board voted to approve the
BSC plan, which calls for
using up to $172 million ia
certificates of participation to
address the district’s most
critical needs. I
“It wasn’t my plan, it wasn’t I
my program that the board Gorpian
approved last niglit,” Gorman
said. “Thatnvas a program for the childr^.
Figures show that the number
dropped to 62 percent in 2004.
Jared Bernstein, an economist,
and author of the report, said,
“That’s basically $37,000 versus
$58,000, so it’s a significant gap.”
Bemstoin said the late 1990s,
with its robust job market, was
an economically promising time
Please see U.S./2A
families and c6mmunity of .Charlotte-.
Mecklenbyrg County’
Gorman, Jones, and Assistant’
Superint^dent Guy Chamberlain'said the
plan will help the county keep up with grow
ing enrollment.
‘You have to make sure you don’t let any
one school decay or fall behind while you’re
keeping up with growth,” Gorman said. ‘You
have to h^ve a two-pronged attack.”
The plan cSHs for a one-third/two-thirds
mix: one-third renovations and two-thirds
Please see COVENANT/3A
•. '
! h eb O X
.NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
Heart-healthy
solutions sought
in Charlotte
By Herbert L. White ,
herb.wH/feS’friechadQffeposf.com
Is your heart in good hands?
Physicians, cleigy and community
leaders will meet Friday in Charlotte
at a forum on cardiovascular disease
among Afiican Americans. The meet
ing will be held at the Marriott
SoutiiPark at 6:30 p.m. as a joint
effort .with the Association of Black
Cardiologists. The focus will be on
eliminating the risks of heart disease
and stroke in Charlotte.
‘We are aU of one accord and in com
plete support of each othea* in helping
Please see HEARTI/6A
Charlotte Black Gay Pride
celebration reaches out, to -
entire community in second
year/ID
Life IB
Religion 4B
Sports 1C
Business 6C
A&E ID .
Classified 4D
MSiDi
To subscribe, call (704) 376-0496 or FAX (704) 342-2,160.® 2006 The Charlotte Post Publishing Co.
Please
Recycle
o
©•Oi