ROCK TOO AGED?
Drive on to preserve
traditional gospel
music's place in the
Atrican American
church/Religion 4B
A look
back at
Charlotte
Literary
Festival
A&E1D
Volume 31 No. 48
Also serving Cab
Mortgage trap for minority borrowers
Study shows lenders most likely to approve high-rate deals for people of color
By Herbert L. White
herb. wn(fe®)rtechartorfeposf com
Subprime loans can be haz
ardous to your mortgage.
A study commissioned by the
Association of Community
Oi^anizations for Reform Now
found that borrowers of color are
at greater risk of losing their
homes to a disproportionately
high share of subprime loans.
The higher interest rates, cou
pled with limited income, is
more likely to lead to foreclosure.
“Rate shock could mean a
sharp increase in foreclosures in
some of the urban and minority
communities that most need to
build wealth throu^ homeown-
ership,” said Maude Hurd,
acorn’s national president.
“Tbo many of our neighbors are
being steered into ARMs with
out beit^ given an option for a
fixed rate and without being
given an explanation of the
risks.”
ACORN officials want federal
banking regulators to require
lenders to underwrite risky
loans, such as interest-only and
3 see BLACKS/3A
LIGHT RAIL TAKES TOLL ON COMMUNITY
PHOTO/CUFITIS WILSON
Barricades and construction equipment used to build Charlotte’s light rail now dominate Dewitt Road where Anita Zarey lives.
Construction derails neighborhood
Eminent
domain
means loss of
yard, quiet
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Anita Zarey is losir^ 25 percent
of her yard, to make way for
Charlotte’s light rail systom
Under eminent domain, gov
ernment can force the sale of or
s^e private property for public
use. The dty of Charlotte hasn’t
forced the sale of her property or
seized it. Instead they’ve daimed
a section of her yard, her peace,
and her privacy She’s suing to
stop construction.
“I don’t want everyone looking
at me, like I’m on parade,” said
Zarey, whose street is being
widened and extended to accom-
^ modate a light rail station and a
parking facility Aftd* hving 32
years on Dewitt Road off South
Boulevard, Zarey said, “They’re
opening a road that has been
dosed for 50 years or so.” The
road is being opened enough for a
turn lane, and bike lanes. A
median will be put in across fiom
Zarey’s driveway, making it
impossible to turn finm her regu-
Please see LIGHT/3A
Tapping into
internet booze
Little regulation gives
teens easy access
to alcohol/Page 1B
Updated ‘doll test’ produces similar result
Study: Black children still identify white as superior
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tnTMttmnS-DIGIT 28216 S9 PI
James B. Duke Library
100 Beatties Ford Pd
Charlotte NC 28216-5302
A united
stetein
American
AIDS fight
Black organizations
pledge cooperation at
international conference
By Loiinda M. Bullock
NAF/ONAL NEWSPAPER PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
TORONTO - Americans gathered here on
Monday to redaim blade America’s fii’eedom
fixim the grips of AIDS.
Repres^tatives finm business, politics,
dvd ri^ts, the black church and other
groups came together the 16th International
AIDS Conference and signed the “National
Call to Action and Dedaration of
Commitment to End the AIDS Epidemic in
Black America. ”
Leaders fix)m organizations such as the
NAACP, National Urban League, National
Council of Negro Women pieced their ^p- '
port and resources to reverse the devastation
in black America by promoting more testing
and education about prevention as well as
protectii^ the ri^ts of the infected.
“AIDS in America today is a black disease
no matter how you look at it. By gender, by
sexual orientation, by age, by sodo-economic
class or education or region in Ihe coimtry in
which you live, black people bear the brunt of
this epidemic,” said PhiU Wlson, founder
and executive director of the Los Angeles-
based Black AIDS Institute.
The Black AIDS Institute is a non-profit
policy group leading ih.e way in HIV educa
tion and advocacy of black people fighting
the disease in the U.S. The group was also
responsible for Monday’s gathering of dele
gates tiiat also induded NAACP Board
Chairman Julian Bond, actress/AIDS
acti.'vist Sherji Lee Ralph, filmmaker Bill
Duke, Pemessa Seele, president of the Babn
in Gilead and U.S. Reps, Maxine Waters (D-
Calif), Barbara Lee (D-Calif) and Donna M.
Christensen (D-VI).
Please see GRASSROOTS/2A
By Hazel Trice Edney
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
The reassuring female voice
asks the child a question: “Can
you show me the doll that looks
bad?’
The child, a preschool-aged
black girl, quiddy picks up and
shows the black doU over a white
one that is identical in every
respect except complexion.
“And why does that look bad?’
“Because she’s black,” the httle
girl answers emphatically
“And why is this the nice doh?’
the voice continues.
“Because she’s white.”
“And can you give me the doll
that looks fike you?”
The httle girl hesitate for a spht
second .before handing over the
black doU that she has just desig
nated as the uglier one.
This was not the 1954 doU test
used by pioneerir^ psychologist
Kenneth B. Clark to help make
the case for desegregation in the
Charlotte developer
Anthony Williams creates
jobs and work space for hair
care professionals/6C
landmark Brown v. Board of
Education Supreme Court ded-
sion outlawing segregated public
schools. Rather, it was a doll test
duplicated in Harlem, N, Y,, last
year, more than a half-century
after Brown. Tb the chagrin of par
ents and psychologists across the
nation, the results were
unchanged.
The test is again in the news
because of an 8-minute documen
tary piuduced by 17-year-old film
student Kiri Davis of Manhattan’s
Urban Academy who partidpates
in the Reel Works 'Iteen
Filmmaking program, a fi:^ after
Please see 2006/2A
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION PHOTO
the box
NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
Embattled La.
congressman’s
time near end?
By Christopher Tidmore
THE LOUISIANA WEEKLY
NEW ORLEANS - When weU-
financed opposition comes from both
the left and the right, usually an
incumbent
Congressman should
begin sending out
resumes to DC-based
lobbying firms. Of
course, Bill Jefferson’s
job prospects might be
somewhat limited.
Few advocacy retain
ers come in the form of
fix)zen cash.
Jefferson
Please see IS SUN/3A
INSiBE
Life IB
Religion 4B
Sports 1C
Business 6C
A&E1D
Clarified 3D
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