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UP WITH, .
At 14, DARRIUS
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Volume 32 No. 41
Cliarlo
The Voice of the Black Community
Nifong’s
fate fuels
justice
debate
Was disgraced
Durham DA
sacrificed or
rightly canned?
By Sommer Brokaw
THE TRIANGLE TRIBUNE
DURHAM - District
Attorney Mike Nifong’s sus
pension and subsequent
disbarment has split the
black community in the
same manner of his prose
cution of three Duke
lacrosse players.
’’These were a bunch of
rich boys from the north
who many people still
believe did something to
that young lady in that
house, but because of their
wealth, money and prestige
they were allowed to walk
away,” said Victoria
Peterson, a Durham activist
and Nifong supporter.
“I think it was nothing but
a lynching of a white man
who stuck his neck out to try
to make sure an African-
American female got justice.
I call it a white man’s lynch
ing because years ago in the
South, whites who stuck
their necks out for blacks
were killed.”
But Terry McMillan, who
works in downtown
Durham, said Nifong
deserved to be disbarred
because he withheld evi
dence to gain favor with the
black community and win
re-election.
“He was wrong from the
jump,” McMillan said. “And,
what I’m mainly concerned
about is the next woman
who comes forward with an
accusation of rape; how is
she going to be perceived?”
Still, others agree at least
partially with Peterson that,
if not race, at least econom
ics plays a role in justice.
“He has to be held respon
sible for what he’s done, but,
at the same time, we have to
look and say, if we’re going
to do it to Nifong, then we
also have to do it that way
for those who do the same
thing to many poor whites
and blacks and Hispanics,”
said Jonathan Alston, a for
mer Durham mayoral candi
date.
“I think it all has to do with
economics, whether you are
black or white, you can buy
Justice.”
Irving Joyner, a law profes
sor at North Carolina Central
University, agrees that
money and power can affect
justice.
“There is a disparity in the
treatment directed to other
prosecutors. Look at Darryl
Hunt, Alan Cell, Ronald
Cotton and other cases that
involved minorities and
poor people,” he said.
"I don’t think (Nifong’s)
transgressions were any
worse than the Hunt case,
the Cell case and the Cotton
case.”
But Joyner also said the
Please see IS NIFONG/3A
Also serving Caba
WEEK OF JUNE RS-JULY 4, 2007
28216 S8 PI
JAMES 8, DUKE LIBRARY
100 BEATTIES FORD RD
CHARLOTTE NC 28216-5302
CHARLOTTE SCHOOL OF LAW
The Charlotte School of Law will move into a four-story, 102,000-square foot facility af the current
Radiator Specialty Company site on Wilkinson Boulevard. The development Is the latest high-
profile facility to move to Wilkinson, once associated with blight and heavy Industry.
Westside’s story
takes another turn
Law school’s addition continues redevelopment drive
By Herbert L. White
hertj. white® fhechartotfeposf-com
Northwest Charlotte is
adding academia to its
makeover.
The Charlotte School of Law
will move next to Bryant Park
at the intersection of Suttle
Avenue and Wilkinson
Boulevard, continuing a surge
in development in the area.
Once associated with blight
and heavy industry, Wilkinson
has added several high-profile
retail locales in the last five
years, including a Wal-Mart
Supercenter and Starbucks.
"This is great,” said
Mecklenburg County
Commissioner
I N o r m a n
Mitchell, whose
district
includes
Wilkinson
Boulevard.
“When you get
on this side of
town, it's very
beneficial. This
is the new frontier.”
The school will remain in its
present location at 1211 East
Morehead until the new build-
Mitchell
ing is completed next year.
The development, named
after the city park on West
Morehead, is the site of
Radiator Specialty Company. A
four-story, 102,000-square
foot building will be built with
classrooms, law library,
offices, clinics, moot court,
meeting space and student
organization areas.
"We’ve worked very hard to
secure a location that will best
serve our current and future
students,” said Eugene Clark,
dean of Charlotte School of
See LAW SCHOOL/2A
MECKLENBURG COUNTY PARK AND RECREATION
Representatives from public agencies and non-profit community groups gathered last week for the
opening of the new recreation center at Fairview Homes.
Rec center boosts Oaklawn communities
By Herbert L. White
herb.whiteWhechorlottepod.com
A recreation center is another
step toward stronger communities
at Double Oaks and Fairview
Homes.
Mecklenburg County Park and
Recreation Department and the
Charlotte Housing Authority cele
brate the opening of Oaklawn
Recreation Center at Stroud Park
Court last week, a milestone for
both communities.
Returns likely to be
higher for home
when you invest in
cuitside appeal/6D
Once known as a breeding
ground for poverty and crime, the
new recreation center sits on a 2.2-
acre site where once one of the
largest public housing complexes
in the city once stood.
The recreation center is the
result of partnerships that
changed the surrounding neigh
borhood. The neighborhood is
now made up of new apartments,
senior housing and single-family
homes.
The 22,400 square foot recre
ation center cost $3.3 million and
includes a gymnasium, five class
rooms, computer center, confer
ence rooms, offices for communi
ty and government agencies, and
day care center and Head Start
program run by Bethlehem Center.
Most of the money for construc
tion came from $1.8 million in
county bonds and certificates of
participation and $1.2 million
HOPE VI grant.
nisnio
Insko
poorest
children
N.C. House, Senate at odds
over when - or if- to fund
health care coverage
By Herbert L. White
herb.whiie@thechatlotiepost.com
N.C. lawmakers and children’s rights
advocates are pushing the General
Assembly to make health insurance for
uninsured kids a budget priority.
North Carolina has the sec-
ond largest slide in employer-
based health insurance cov
erage in the U.S., leaving
more than 264,000 without
coverage and 87,000 without
access to an affordable plan.
“Our health insurance sys
tem continues to falter, and
close to 90,000 uninsured
children are paying the
price,” said N.C. Rep. Verla Insko (D-Chapel
Hill). "As a result, we are raising an
unhealthy generation of children. We have
at our fingertips a golden opportunity to
rear the healthiest generation of children
and give them the chance for success in
school and in their life work."
Insko is a proponent of NC Kid’s Care, a
proposal to expand public health insurance
coverage to children in families with
incomes between 200 percent and -300
percent of the federal poverty guidelines
Please see PUSH/3A
N.C. NAACP
wants Raleigh
to act on state’s
inequalities
THE ASSOC/A TED PRESS
RALEIGH - The state chapter of the NAACP
is calling on top state lawmakers to get mov
ing on the group’s legislative agenda, saying
failure to address inequality creates an
atmosphere where bias can flourish.
Officers of the civil rights group delivered
a letter to Gov. Mike Easley, state Supreme
Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker and leaders
of the General Assembly in which they listed
acts of racism across the state in recent
months.
The lack of action on legislation related to
bias creates an impression that the state is
happy with the status quo, said the Rev.
William Barber, president of the state chapter
of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.
“When we fail to address these issues
directly, we help create an atmosphere of
acceptability, intended or unintended, to the
radicals of racial supremacy," Barber said.
The state chapter unveiled its 14-point
agenda at an event in February at the begin
ning of the legislative session. It was
endorsed by more than 60 organizations,
including black Masons, the Latino group El
Pueblo, union organizers, and Green and
Socialist party members.
The agenda endorsed issues ranging from
expanding health care coverage to abolishing
the death penalty.
The groups also asked lawmakers to pro
vide more education money to comply with
the Leandro school-funding lawsuit, create a
“living wage" that would be several dollars
more than the current minimum of $6.15 per
hour, and give collective bargaining rights to
government employees.
Bills have been introduced to encompass
most of those items, but only a few have
received votes in committees or chambers.
INSIDE
Life 16
Religion 56
Sports 1C
Business 6C
A&E1D
Classified 3D
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