WHO'LL RULE MEAC?
Previews from early favorite
S.C. State to newcomer
N.C. Central/lC
N.C. A&T quarterback
HERBERT MILLER
Volume 32 No. 50
SURVIVING
DIVORCE:
Breaking up is
hard to do, but
moving on
hurts less with a
life coach/1 B
Step ahead
Charlotte Realtor
launches program to
help newcomers
learn about life
here/6C
$1.00
iliatlottfe
The Voice of the Black Community
:,W6EK OF AUGUST 3LFSEFTE
Pushing
us to
think
green
Minister’s goal:
Blacks need to be
more conscious of
environment issues
By Sommer Brokaw
THE TOANGLE TRWNE
RALEIGH - Though blacks
have not traditionally been
environmental activists, a
local global warming activist
says they should be.
“We're on the planet
Titanic right now," said the
Rev. William Burton. “We
(racial groups) don’t get to
be separate anymore. We
have to work together. I
can’t say ha-ha there’s a hole
on your end of the Titanic."
Scientists say global
warming is gradually
increasing the earth’s sur
face temperature. It can also
melt ice glaciers and raise
sea level.
Burton explains it this
way. “It's like somebody has
placed the earth in a motor
ized vehicle and pulled it
into a garage, and closed the
door with the engine run
ning. That’s what the green
house effect is," he said.
At age 63, Burton is a min
ister, a motivational speak
er, a musician and a former
network marketer. He said
global warming damages
the earth, which affects the
food supply and causes
food prices to rise. The
black community, which
has a disproportionately
high number of low-income
residents, single parents
and seniors who live on low
or fixed incomes, should be
especially concerned
because the increased cost
will affect them first.
“When food starts to dou
ble in price, the wealthy
people might have to stop
playing golf as much, but
it’s not going to be a matter
of whether they eat or not,”
Burton said. “The planet has
fed us through the grace of
the Creator, and do we care?
We just continue to trash it
like we can replace it.”
Thomas Hill, a radio per
sonality at WCLY 1550 AM,
said Burton is committed to
environmental causes
because he truly cares.
"This isn’t something he
just decided to jump on the
bandwagon with. It’s sorae-
Please see FOCUS/3A
Former Harding
High School stu
dents Woody
Cooper and
Dorothy Counts-
Scoggins, remi
nisce about the
tumultuous days
of September
1957 in tiie docu-
m e n t a r y
“9/4/57/' which
debuts Tuesday
at a screening at
Irwin Avenue
Elementary
School - the for
mer Harding
campus.
New school
year, learning
environment
JAMES B. DUKE LIBBAB
100 BEATTIES FORD RD. , D
Also serving Cal charlotte Nc 2B216-^/oL-
PHOTO/ERICA SINGLETON
Midwood High School math teacher Carolyn Greene (top) prepares for the start of class last
week. On Monday, technology facilitator Aubrey Harrison (above, right) helps parents with bus
assignments as Principal Sheila Ijames (bluejacket) looks on. Midwood’s charge is to help mid
dle school students make the academic transition to high school.
New school provides transition from middle to high school
White
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
When the doors open today
at Midwood High school, so
does oppoitunity for strug
gling students.
Originally presented as the
Eight PLUS program, the
Midwood High School ninth
grade transitional program is
specifically designed for stu
dents who failed End of Grade
exams or have been retained
in middle school.
"Midwood High School is
helping to make the transi
tion,” said Renata Clybum,
Midwood High’s academic
facilitator. “We’re trying a dif
ferent approach - smaller
class sizes, different expecta
tions and a focus on life skills,
11 We're trying a different approach - smaller
class sizes, different expectations and a focus
on life skills, as well as academics.))
Renata Clyburn, Midwood High School academic facilitator
as well as academics."
Not to be mistaken with the
old Midwood/TAPS High
School on Hawthorne Lane,
which has been renamed
Hawthorne High; Midwood
High's home is 1817 Central
Avenue. The smell of new
wood and paint is still strong
in the new facility on the cor
ner of Central Avenue and The
Plaza. Administrators and
teachers worked through the
weekend to get their offices
and classrooms ready in time
for opening day, since
Thursday was the first time
Please see MIDWOOD/2A
Bloggers put Jena Six case on blast
AFRO-AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS
BALTIMORE - The case of six
black youth, who face lifetime jail
sentences for an alleged assault
on a white peer in Jena, La., is
slowly drawing the public’s atten
tion.
The alleged incident was the
culmination of racial tensions
triggered by a group of white Jena
High School students who hung
three nooses from a tree when a
black student asked for permis
sion to sit under the traditionally
exclusively-white hangout. Black
students gathered under the tree
in nonviolent protest. The white
teens were given a slap on the
wrist over what school officials
called a "harmless prank” and the
situation spiraled from there.
The first youth to be on trial,
Mychal Bell, is slated for sentenc
ing on Sept. 20. The biogosphere
has been teeming with opinions,
petitions and updates on this
case. Here is some of what is
being said:
Traycee’s World;
http://traycee-
jackson.blogspot.com said:
"OK, where is the media atten
tion on this? You know, thank
GOD for black websites, because
if we leave ALL of the news up to
the "regular” media, we would
never know about anything in
OUR communities. On one side,
we keep hearing that racism no
longer exists. BUT, on the other
side, WE ALL KNOW that racism is
alive and well. Case in point: Jena,
Louisiana...Racism and segrega
tion did not end with the Civil
Rights Movement. We know that
it’s alive and well, some more evi
dent than others. We experience
See BLOGGERS/6A
NAACP
funds
sidijeci
to mile
Charlotte banquet proceeds
subject to investigations
By Herbert L. White
hertD.wH;fe@fPec/TorioffeposT.com
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg branch of the
NAACP is under a pair of investigations into
allegations of financial mis
management.
At issue is the whereabouts
of proceeds generated by the
2006 Ashanti Awards banquet,
one of the civil rights organi
zation’s largest fundraising
events. Local chapter officials
referred the matter to the
national office in Baltimore for
investigation, but the N.C. sec
retary of state office is also conducting a
probe.
. "We’ve asked these questions. We're not
getting any answers,” said NAACP executive
committee member Vincent Frisina. “I think
we should put our financials on the record. A
lot of people want to see what we’re doing
financially as well as what we’re doing in the
community.”
Frisina says he has tried - and failed - to get
the NAACP to produce an accounting of pro
ceeds from the Ashanti banquet, which has
been re-christened the Freedom Fund dinner
this year.
The fallout could affect more than the
Please see NAACP/3A
Heritage stamp
to be unveiled at
Oct. convention
By Herbert L. White
herb.whHe®fhechof1otteposl.com
The U.S. Postal Service will unveil the latest
Black Heritage stamp at an
African American history con
ference in Charlotte.
The 31st Black Heritage
stamp will debut at the 92nd
Association for the Study of
African American Life and
History convention on Oct. 4,
at UNC Charlotte.
The stamp will be unveiled
at the Journal of African
American History reception, part of the five-
day conference Oct. 3-7. Academics, histori
ans and ASALH members will convene at the
Hilton Charlotte University Place.
The theme is “From Slavery to Freedom:
Africans in the Americas” and will honor his
torian John Hope Franklin, professor emeri-
Please see HERITAGE/BA
Franklin
Documentary details desegregation
FILE PHOTO/ERICA SINGLETON
By Herbert L. White
herb.while@thecharlottepost.com
Charlotte’s most prolific documentary pro
ducer has turned his lens to a
pivotal day in the desegrega
tion of Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Schools.
Steve Crump, a WBTV
reporter who has produced
nearly 20 documentaries for
WTVI (channel 42) will debut
“9/4/57,” a retrospective of the
day Dorothy Counts desegre
gated formerly all-white Harding High School.
The film will debut on Sept. 4, the 50th
Crump
anniversary of Counts’ enrollment. The public
showing is at 6 p.m. and open to everyone.
The documentary debuts on WTVI at 9 p.m.
"This story amplifies what happened on that
day," Crump said. “These people are in the
sunset moments of their lives, and in many
respects they’ve come full circle with what
they belFeve and what they’ve been taught
during the Jim Crow era.”
Counts endured racist taunts and violence
over four days at Harding before her parents
withdrew her from classes. She later enrolled
at a Pennsylvania school.
Counts’ recollection of events on the
See DOCUMENTARY/2A
Debut novel gives voice
to the historically black
college experience/ID
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