URBAN ISLAND GETAWAY At Ms. Elsie's Bed & Breakfast, ont/ the sand is missing Life/1 B FREEDOM DRIVE CAPTURED WITH GLASS Pieces of A Dream to play the Jazz Cafe Friday and Saturday/ID 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 Recycle To subscribe, call (704) 376-0496 or FAX (704) 342-2160.© 2006 The Chailott© Post Publishing Co. o®oc