BEYONCE gets much
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Page ID
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Bt7ant Watson
Different
shades of
behavior
emerge
Executive finds
race can change
interaction
By Erica Bryant
FOf? THE CHARLOTTE POST
The Charlotte Post is host
ing a candid discussion
about social and interracial
trust on May 31 at Center
Stage in NoDa. Channel 9
news anchor Erica Bryant
wilt facilitate the conversa
tion. This is part of a series
of articles featuring the par
ticipants.
Eric Watson is president of
diversity and inclusion at
Salisbury-based Food Lion.
EB - Describe an event in
your formative years when
you first became truly aware
that because of your skin
color people might treat you
differently.
EW - There are times when
1 am astutely aware that
being different makes a dif
ference in people’s behavior
and response. In
Minnesota, where the popu
lation had a very small per
centage of African
Americans, I had a height
ened awareness of being
different. I was driving on
a Saturday, going home
from the office. 1 was in a
sweat suit and baseball
cap. 1 noticed that one of
my co-workers was in the
car in front of me. I waved
and blew my horn, but no
response. When I tried to
catch up so that she could
see who I was, she sped
away.
EB - Please share examples
of incidents that have
occurred in your current
position among : rofession-
al peers that the public
might find surprising.
EW - I’ve got several exam
ples that at times indicate to
See ASSUMPTIONS/6A
Injured student
moves classmates
By Harold M. Tyson
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
ROCK HILL - Thirty-four Clinton Junior College
graduates were conferred associate degrees May 19,
including a posthumous award to Unique Bullock,
who was killed in an automobile accident on October
28.
Even with all the pomp and circumstance that sur
rounds such an event, the most touching moments
came as President Elaine Copeland was about to ask
for benediction, the new graduates made her aware
of the presence of Tameka Hall, a Charlotte resident
and Class of 2007 member who sustained severe
head injuries in the accident that killed Bullock. Hall
spent several weeks in a coma, and has since been in
rehabilitation.
Please see INJURED/2A
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Marc Davis of Mooresville races in NASCAR’s Grand National Division for Joe Gibbs Racing. His
gool is to graduate to tine Busch Series, one of the league’s fop three divisions.
Accelerating diversity
Major racing
series opening
doors for new
participants
PHOTO/INDY RACING LEAGUE
The Indy Racing League, an open-wheel series with cars
that top 225 miles per hour, has had an African American
driver since 2002, but recruited former world heavyweight
boxing champion George Foreman as a team owner.
Road to inclusion
Major racing series competing at U.S. venues, number
of events and black participants as drivers or owners.
Indy Racing League IndyCar Series
Races: 17 (16 in U.S.)
Drivers: 0
Owners: 1 (George Foreman)
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
Races; 36 (2 at Lowe s Motor Speedway in Concord)
Drivers: 0
Ovners; 0
mm':i
Formula 1
Races: 19 (1 in U.S.; Indianapolis, Ind.)
Drivers: (1, Lewis Hamilton of England)
Owners: 0
SOURCE: INDY RACING LEAGUE, NASCAR, FORMULA 1
By Herbert L. White
herb.wh(Te@thechortottepost.com
Marc Davis is a new breed of
racer.
The 17-year-old started in karts
as a 6-year-old and has worked
his way up the development
series ladder. The next step is the
most daunting: landing a ride in a
major stock car series.
"I’ve been racing for 11 'years
and I plan to keep on doing it,”
Davis said. “I relax and have fun.
I don’t think about the pressure.”
Sunday is the biggest in
American motorsport. More than
150,000 fans are expected to jam
into Lowe’s Motor Speedway in
Concord for the Coca-Cola 600,
NASCAR’s longest race. In
Indianapolis, Ind., the world’s
largest single-day sporting event,
the Indianapolis 500, drops the
green flag at 1 p.m.
Neither race will have an
African American behind the
wheel, but industry leaders say
change is coming.
From driver development and
internship programs to owner
ship recruitment, U.S. racing is
enlarging its garage. Change is
slow, but steady, especially in
NASCAR, where Davis partici
pates in the Drive for Diversity
program for Joe Gibbs Racing, a
Please see RACING/7A
wolidng
class
agenda
pursued
NAACP wants lawmakers
to respond to N.C. initiative
By Sommer Brokaw
THE TRIANGLE TRIBUNE
RALEIGH - The state NAACP has written an
open letter to legislators complaining about
the lack of bill approval on issues that affect
black people.
“We have seen same-day voter registration
pass the House, the N.C. Justice Act pass the
House Judiciary II Committee, $20 million
appropriated to low wealth school funding
and $500,000 appropriated to AIDS funding.
Aside from these, however, little has been
done on the HK on J agenda in the 62 leg
islative days since the session convened,” the
May 10 letter said.
A press conference was held at the legisla
tive building earlier this month to evaluate
and critique the movement of the HK on J
agenda. The agenda is a 14-point plan by the
NAACP that attracted an estimated 4,000
people last February in a march for working
class people and civil rights.
The Rev. William Barber, president of the
state NAACP, said the crossover deadline has
already been extended by a week, but they
are asking for a deadline of June 14 to allow
more time for "overworked” legislators to
respond to their agenda.
The NAACP is asking the legislators to bring
Please see WORKING/3A
Workforce effort
left behind by
federal agencies
By Alvin A. Reid
ST. LOUIS AMERICAN
ST. LOUIS - During the next year, more than
700,000 people will be released from incar
ceration in the United States.
Many of these persons are African-
American, and the overwhelming majority of
them - regardless of color - will leave jail or
prison without a job.
With the knowledge that finding employ
ment is a major factor in former inmates not
finding themselves back behind bars, Terrell
L. Whitener, president and CEO of Productive
Workforce Development, took action.
He and other community organization rep
resentatives created the first National
Offender Workforce Development
Conference, and it was held in St. Louis.
One of the parmers was the United States
Probation Office, and the conference was
hailed as a success. In fact, Whitener said the
Probation Office was a key player in helping
plan the second conference, which was held
See FEDS/3A
PHOTO/HAROLD M. TYSON
Chailotte resident Tameka Hall (left) and Clinton Junior College
graduate Tyanna Walker weep as Hall waves to classmates at
Clinton’s commencement on May 19. On October 28, 2006,
Hall received severe head injuries in an automobile accident
in which classmate Unique Bullock was killed.
JACK AND JILL CHARLOTTE CHAPTER
Anniversary calls for
community service
By Michaela Duckett
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
The Charlotte chapter of
Jack and Jill of America is
celebrating their golden
anniversary.
The year round celebra
tion will culminate with a
Hat Luncheon June 2 at
12:30 p.m. at Myers Park
Baptist Church to honor the
legacy of the organization’s
founders, members and
their contributions.
Jack and Jill is one of the
largest minority non-profit
foundations in the U.S.
"The organization began
as somewhat of a play date,”
says member Anjali Maria
Arnold.
She said the original
founding mothers came
from well to do families in
Philadelphia during the
early 1900s. At that time,
affluent black families were
not necessarily the norm, so
the mothers got together to
3JACK/2A
Jamestown, Va., roils
out red carpet for 400th
annlversary/1 B
tNSlOE
LifelB
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