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Volume 32 No. 7
$1.00
Today’s
ethnics
will be a
memory
Categories
will be fluid at
400 million
Americans
By Erin Texeira
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Now that
the United States officially
numbers more than 300 mil
lion, some are already imag
ining what will 400 million
look hke.
If demographers are right,
the United States will hit
that mark by 2043. They and
other futurists envision a typ
ical American nei^iborhood
that year will be something
like this:
More than Hkely it wiD be
located in the South or West,
despite scarce water
resources. Bai-ely half of the
ccmmunity’s residaits wiU be
white, and one in four whites
will be senior citizens. Nearly
one in four people wiU be
Latino and multiracial
Americans will be common-
place.
‘We’re going to be growing
for the next 50 or 100 years,
but it’s not because of the
birthrate,” said John
Bopgaaits, vice president of
the Population Council, a
nonprofit organization in
New York. “If the birthrate
• wae to drop we’d have a very
different future ahead. If we
were not hvir^ longer and
had no migrants we wouldn’t
be growing at all.”
The U.S. will keep getting
more racially ^d ethnically
diverse ■ by 2043, it wiU be
about 15 percent non-
Hispanic black, 8 percent
Asian and 24 percent
Hispanic.
Ideas about race that hold
sway now, simply won’t then,
just as the attitudes of 30
years ago have changed.
For example, in the 1970s
one in three whites favored
laws that barred marriage
between blacks and whites;
in recCTit years it is barely one
in. 10.
More than . 7 million
Americans reported in
Census 2000 that they were
multiracial - 42 percent of
them were imder age 18.
- ipol Beatties Ford fid
CWrlotte NC 28216-5302
Caucus poised
to gain ground
Democratic control of the
U.S. House would place
black lawmakers in historic
positions of power:
Met Watt {D-N.C.) Chair of
Congressional Black Caucus
would have choice of chairinr
u rdpPP subcommittees on Financial
Services or Commercial and
v* Administrative Law. Both ars
important to financial
services industry.
Rangd
Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.)
Would chair Ways and
Means, vvhich writes t
laws and federal
enddement programs
like Social Security.
John Conyers
D-Mich.) Would
chair Judiciary,
which deals with
bills relating to
i law, courts and
judges. Also has
n^ttfsayin
immigratioit^and
constitudonal
ametKbnents;
Blacks would chair top committees with Democrat majority
By Herbert L. White
riert>.wtiife@)hechartoffeposf.com
The Congressional Black
Caucus stands to ride a wave of
newfoimd clout with a
Democratic takeover of the U.S.
House of Representatives.
The 42-member Caucus
chaired by Charlotte Democrat
Mel Watt, has been on the out
side looking in since
Republicans seized the majority
in 1994. But with polls showing
D^nocrats likely to gain the 15
seats needed to tip the balance of
power, black lawmakers will be
amor^ the most powerful politi
cal players in Washington.
“Wfilhin the House, there’s not
group that would gain as much
as the Caucus,” said David
Bositds, a senior research associ
ate at the Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies,
a think tank that focuses on
related to African
Americans.
At least one national poll con
tends neither party has a lock on
control, the Reuters/Zogby Poll
found Democrats lead
Republicans in 12 of the 15 key
races for vulnerable seats held
by the GOP. Seven Democrats
have increased their leads, the
poll revealed, three lost ground
but still lead. One, Virginia
Democrat Phil Kellam, now
Please see BLACK7A
Please see RACIAL/6A
N.C. A&T janitor rewarded for making a difference
By Jeri Rowe
fGREENSBOROj NEWS & RECORD
GREENSBORO - Sylvester
Davis ke^s the medallion pinned
to his bedroom wall, near a televi
sion where he always watches one
of his favorites: professional
wrestling
After a tumbuckle-rattiing body
slam, he knows he can look over
and see his gold medal. It makes
him smile every time, jttst seeing
it on the wall held up by two
green thumbtacks, a silver dollar-
size medal right below'' Guardian
Angel,” a print of a praying httle
girl-
‘ Yes, Lord, that is my pride and
joy” Davis said, flashir^ a wide
grin. “I can get up every momir^
and thank God I have something
like this here.”
Davis works as a janitor inside
McNair Hall, home for the
College of Engineeiing at North
Carolina A&T University In the
past eight months, he’s prevented
a crime and saved a Mfe.
He recently received the State
Employees’ Award for Excdlence.
Next month, he’ll be honored as
A&Ts Employee of the Year. It’s
aU for what the 51-year-old did -
Please see >1.0. A&T/3A
FILE PHOTOlCURTIS WILSOI.
In North Carolina, 66 percent of students
graduate high school; among black
males, the rate drops to 49 percent
Fonimon
stale’s
dropout
rate
N.C. House panel at West
Charlotte High School
By Herbert L. White
rieft).vvti/fe@#TecfiQrtofleposf.com
Metnbers of an N.C. House committee wiU
meet in Charlotte today to talk about keep
ing more students in school.
The Select Committee on
High School Graduation and
Dropout Rates vriH hold a pub
lic session at West Charlotte
High School, 2219 Senior
Drive. The forum begins at 6
p.m.
A student who graduates Parmon
firom hi^ school is less hkely to grow up and
live in poverty and has a much greater
chance at a prosperous and rewai'ding
future,” said Rep. Earline Parmon (D-
Forsyth). “I’m hopefid this committee will
discover how to increase graduation rates
and by association, how to improve the hves
about keep-
jL
Please see HOUSE/2A
thebox
NEWS, NOTES & TRENDS
Mecklenburg
NAACP hosts
elections
and does - in a job that earns him
$10 an hour.
“There’s something so special
about him,” said Sanjiv Sarin,
associate dean for A&Ts College
of Engineering. “Most other cul
tures, if it’s not my job, it’s hke,
“Let me look the other way’ He’s
not hke that. He wants to maks a
difference. It’s that serious
FROM STAFF REPORTS
The Charlotte-Mecklenbuig branch
of the NAACP is holdii^ elections this
month.
Members of the civil rights organiza
tion win elect officers and at-large
members Nov 16 at Weeping Whlow
AME Zion Church, 2220 Milton Road.
Polls wiU be open from 6-8 p.m.
Tb vote, individuals mest be a mem
ber in good standir^ with the branch
30 days prior to the election and a
form of identification is required. For
information, caU the branch office at
(704) 594-9555 and leave a message.
Johnson C. Smith, in contention for
itrw f ^ f , 1
Pioneer Bowl, faces CIAA West ctiamp
N.C. Central in regular season finale/IC
Life IB
Religion 5B
Spoils 1C
A&E ID
Classified 3D
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