6A
NEWSAEUe C^aclottf
Thursday, August 3, 2006
Black organ donors
desperately needed
Continued from page 1A
donors.
‘While research among Ajfiican-American
households in Charlotte-Mecklenburg shows
that many wish to donate organs when they
no longer need them, most people are imaware
of the health crisis that exists within our com
munity,” said Debbie Gibbs, LifeShare’s
In North Carolina, 1,421 Afiican-Ameiicans
are awaiting an organ transplant, including,
1,271 in need of a kidney, compared to 842
whites and other ethnic groups.
lifeShare gave promotional hand fans with a
donation message to predominately black
churches in the Charlotte area. In addition,
people are encouraged to visit LifeShare’s web
site at www.sharelifecharlotte.com to learn
how to become a donor and for answers to fre
quently answered questions.
Over 90,000 people nationwide, including
nearly 3,000 in North Carolina are currently
awaiting organ transplants. In North Carolina
residents can donate by
• Confrrmii^ your choice when renewing
your driver’s license
• Sign and carry a donor card
• Ifell family your wishes, since organs can’t
be harvested without consent.
LifeShare is the regional organ procurement
organization that serves the Charlotte area. It
works with the United Network for Organ
Sharir^ to facilitate transplants and Donate
Life America in promoting organ and tissue
donation.
For information on organ donation, call
Gibbs at (704) 512-3303.
On the Net"
LifeShare of The Carolinas
w\vwshareIifecharlottejrom
Voting extension a first step
Continued from page 1A
“Remember, friends, that
where we are today is not
complete,” Johnnie Rebecca
Carr, the 95-year-old best
friend and former dassmate
of the late Rosa Parks, told
the gathering. “The thing
that we have just gone
through today - the signing -
that’s not the end. That’s just
a part of it,” explained Carr,
president of the Montgomery
Improvement Association
that sponsored the
Montgomery Bus Boycott, for
the past 39 years.
She concluded, “So we’re
going to continue to stanrggle.
We still have work to do.
Because we want to see our
community and our world
[become] America, the real
America that we get up and
sing about. We want it to be
the America that it should
be.”
That America should have
a Voting Rights Act that is not
only signed, but enforced,
says civil rights leaders, who
partied, but vowed to hold
Bush to the promise that he
made in his signing speech:
“Tbday we renew a bid tiiat
helped to biir^ a community
on the margins into the dfe of
American democracy My
administration wOl vigorous
ly enforce the provisions of
this law, and we wiU defend it
in court,” the president said
to loud applause.
People For The American
Way President Ralph Neas
has his doubts. In a state
ment released only minutes
after the White. House sign
ing ceremony on the South
Lawn, Neas said; “[Bush]
owes it to all Americans to
ensure that the Voting Rights
Act is enforced.
Unfortunatdy, that is not the
record of this administration
- by a long shot.”
In a recent report, the
PFAW noted that the Bush
Justice Department entered
the Ohio presidential voting
controversy in 2004 on the
wrong side, its backing of a
redistricting plans in Tfexas
that reduced the pohtical
power of people of color and
the administration’s approval
of a voter identification law in
Georgia that a federal court
has how ruled imconstitu-
tional.
Such perceived lack of com
mitment has led to a “mass
exodus of experienced career
attorneys” from the Civil
Rights Division, the report
states.
“In the Voting Section
alone, more than 20 attor
neys, representing about two-
thirds of the lawyers in the
section, have left the section
in the last few years - over a
dozen in the last 15 months
alone. Included in this talent
drain were the chief of the
section, three deputy chiefe,
and many ejqjeiienced trial
lawyers, representing almost
150 years of cmnulative
Justice Department civil
rights enforcement experi
ence. In the place of these
experienced litigators and
investigators, this adminis
tration has all too often hired
inexperienced ideologues, vir
tually none of which have any
civil rights or voting *rights
experience,” the report
observed-
It continued, “His adminis
tration’s weU-docmnented
and imprwedented polLtidza-
tion of the Justice
Department’s Civil Rights
Division has dramatically
undermined voting rights
enforcement. The adminis
tration has turned a blind eye
to voter suppression tactics
movir^ in states across the
coimtry - photo identification
provisions, citizenship
requirements, and provision
al ballots. Voter suppressicn
and intimidation continue to •
be a problem and continue to
disenfranchise voters. But
the Bush administration still
pretends that discrimination
is not a major issue for mil
lions of Americans,” Neas
stated after the signing.
“You have to notice that
there’s been a slight change
in their attitude,” says
NAACP Chairman Jialian
Bond, who has been among
the sharpest critics of Bush’s
record. “The president came
to the NAACP convention.
He early on loudly endorsed
the renewal of the Voting
Ri^ts Act. He gave a speech
at the signing ceremony •
where he promised to enforce
it, which is a matter of real
concern to the civil rights
community If they’re not
enforcing the costing law, so
why should we think they
win enforce the renewal of
the law? I think we’re getting
some mixed signals, but if
indeed there’s a change, how
ever slight, we need to take
advantage of it.”
Others say leaders must do
much more than hope.
“One thing we’re trying to
do is make the Senate have
an oversight hearii^ so we
can blow it out of the water to
really find out why the
Justice Department has not
been enforcing the Voting
Ri^ts Act. We think that is
absolutely critical,” says
Barbara Amwine, executive
director of the Lawyers
Committee for Civil Rights
Under the Law.
Dorothy Height, president
emeritus of the Council of
Negro Women, said: “The
president has said that he
will enforce it. So we’ll have
to hold him to that.”
In fact, many say the civil
rights community believe
tiiat’s their next challenge.
“It’s significant that the
president said they would
defend it in court because it’s
going to be chaUaiged, I’m
afraid,” said Rev. Joseph
Loweiy former president of
the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference. “But
enforcement, that’s our next
plateau.”
Hilary Shelton, the NAACP
Washington bureau chief,
says the enforcemait prob
lem has already been docu
mented.
‘We have created a record
that very dearly shows that
enforcement falls well short
of where it needs to be,”
Shelton says. “Of course, now
we need to see that all that
information is introduced
into the record for the House
and Senate, making sure that
the overset goes on with the
Judidary Committees and
indeed pressure is put on the
Justice Department to fifily
enforce the law for all
American people.”
Congressional Black
Caucus Chair Mel Watt (D-
N.C.), worries blacks mi^t
have been exploited as a
backdrop to a weH-orches-
trated photo opportunity
“I think we’re dealing with
the same George Bush that’s
been in the White House
throughout the time he’s been
president,” Watt said shortly
after the sprung ceremony
“On some issues, we work
together. But on most issues
we’re not able to work togeth
er because of philosophical
difieraices. Our challenge is
to not let those things that we
differ with the president on
impede our ability to work
with the thir^ that we do
agree with him on and hope
that the president feels the
same way”
Katrina benefits often hinge
on ‘linguistic profiling’
By Lorinda M. Bullock
NADONAt NEWSPAPER PUBUSHERS ASSOCIAVON
WASHINGTON - As the one-year anniver
sary of Hmricane Katrina approaches August
29, displaced Americans finm Louisiana and
the Gulf Coast have been slowly rebuilding
their lives and lookir^ for a place to call home.
While Katrina’s black victims shop the hous
ing market, calling realtors and potential land
lords, one thing may be standing between
them and their new homes even before an
appointment is made or paperwork filled out—
their voice.
It’s called linguistic profiling.
A study of five states done by the National
Fair' Housing Alliance and linguistics expert
John Baugh revealed in 66 percent of phone
tests administered by White and Black testers
inquiring about housing as Katrina survivors,
‘White callei3 were favored over Afidcan-
American caller's,” the report said.
‘Yes, people do use the telephone as a screen
ing device in many, many businesses,” said
Shanna Smith, president and CEO of the
Washington-based NFHA, said the organiza
tion’s report on “Housing Discrimination
Against Hurricane Katrina Survivors” showed
Please see LINGUIPTICS/8A
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