HE’S THE BOMB
J.C. Smith receiver
JEREMY FRANKLIN
catches on in setting
a school record/1 B
Volume 33 No. 2
motherland's
VERY FINEST
A capeiia group
The Voice of the Black Community
Transit tax
lobbyists:
It’s about
the bus
Coalition of political
and civic leaders push
grassroots effort
By Herbert L. White
herb.wh/te@fhechariotfeposf.conT
African American community and
political leaders have launched a cam
paign to keep Mecklenburg’s half-cent
transit tax on the books.
The African American Coalition
Against Transit Tax Repeal, co-chaired
by former Charlotte mayor Harvey
Gantt and former Charlotte City
Council member Ron keeper,
announced the campaign Monday at
the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Government Center. The pro-tariff
group maintains the sales tax that
funds Charlotte Area Transit System
benefits riders who depend on public
transportation to get to work and
shop.
'This discussion about the transit
tax repeal has been one-sided for a
while now," keeper said. "Most of this
discussion has been on the light rail.
We want to put a different face on this
issue today. That face is a people
face."
In 2006, 71 percent of revenue from
the sales tax - $77 million in 2006
according to CATS - went to buses,
with 65 percent going to operation
costs. Nearly three-quarters of public
transit riders in Charlotte are African
American, but black voters were
instrumental in securing a referen
dum on the tax.
"If we remove this dedicated source
of revenue, we will substantially hurt
those who ride our buses today,”
Gantt said.
Tariff opponents contend there’s no
guarantee CATS will ultimately shift
funds to light rail, which is expected
to debut in November with the South
Corridor line. Another argument is
that Charlotte can build more roads to
relieve traffic congestion. Polls show
that a majority of black residents
favor repeal.
'‘We have to let them know that vot
ing against the repeal is only going to
help us,” said Virginia Keogh, presi
dent of the Southwest Charlotte
Neighborhood Coalition and a com
munity organizer for the pro-tax
group. "If they vote for the repeal,
they’re cutting off their nose, so to
speak, to spite their face. This has to
be explained to the community so
they understand they actually need to
vote against repeal or the bus service
we have now is going to be cut.”
Keogh pointed to curtailment of bus
Please see COALmON/6A
BOOK DRIVE;
Natalie Lowe,
principal at
Highland
Renaissance
Academy and
Crystal Agurs
sort through
donated books at
a book fair orga
nized by Agurs
son, Arthur
Hairston III, at the
University YMCA.
Harding High
School s drum-
line plays in the
background.
JO-fP"- '■ '-'ipo.'.riy
CHARI Q:-i Also serving .Cab''
Lessons
from
Jena
Protests in Louisiana spark a
wave of activism among
Charlotte’s young, churches
JAMES B. DUKE LIBRARY
100 BEATTIES FORD RD
CHARLOTTE NC 28216-5302
'^CAR-RT LOT-^^C-OOl
Clyburn
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Students at Johnson C. Smith University wore black and earned a symbolic hangman’s noose to
protest treatment of the Jena 6. Students and churches - the backbone of cMI rights era activism
in the 1950s and ‘60s-turned out in force to support the Jena 6 in Louisiana and Chariotte.
nized trips to kouisiana. At
Johnson C. Smith University,
students clad in black marched
on campus in a show of soli-
By Cheris F. Hodges
cheris./TOdges@ffiechoriotteposf.com
Amesia Brewton missed the
March on Washington in 1963.
The Charlotte resident never
had to desegregate a school or
lunch counter, but knows injus
tice when she sees it.
That’s why she marched in
Jena, ka., last week.
The small kouisiana town was
the scene of one of the largest
marches for civil rights since
the 1990s when an estimated 1
million black men rallied in
Washington, D.C.
People took to the streets of
Jena to protest the treatment of
six African American high
school students, dubbed the
Jena 6, who face criminal
charges after a fight last year at
Jena High School.
"It was a lifetime experience,"
said Brewton, 27. “I didn’t know
places still looked like that."
The reverberations could be
felt in Charlotte, where activism
brought back memories of the
1960s civil rights era.
Churches held prayer -vigils
for the defendants and orga-
darity.
The Jena 6 case started with a
tree at Jena High School.
According to reports, a black
student asked an administrator
if he could sit under the tree. A
day later, nooses were found
and the boys accused of hang-
See LESSONS/6A
‘ ‘ It was a lifetime experience. I didn’t
know places still looked like that. ’ ’
Amesia Brewton, 27, of Charlotte on being part of a massive rally
to support the Jena 6 in Louisiana.
Caucus
louts new
power in
Congress
Black lawmakers at top of
congressional hierarchy
as conference kicks off
NA7IONA1. NEWSPAPER PUBUSHEPS ASSOQATtON
WASHINGTON - The Congressional Black
Caucus Foundation’s Annual
Legislative Conference this
week, "Unleashing Our
Power,” will unabashedly
challenge legislators and cit
izens to use their collective
power to level the playing
field for African-Americans
and recognizes the historic
number of CBC members
leading congressional com
mittees, organizers say.
House Majority Whip, Rep.
James Clybum (D-S.C.) will i
join the four major commit
tee leaders - Reps. Charles
Rangel of New York, chair of
Ways and Means, John
Conyers (D-Mich), chair of
Judiciary, Bennie Thompson
(D-Miss.), chair of Homelcind
Security, and Stephanie
Tubbs-jones of Ohio, chair
of Standards of Official
Conduct, will kick off the glitzy D. C. con
ference with a Welcome Ceremony.
The stars will also come out this week.
Please see CAUCUS/3A
Sit-in veterans
recall a scoop
of justice
By Sommer Brokaw
THE tP/ANGlE IPtSUNE
DURHAM - In 1957, blacks were not
allowed to eat ice cream at the Royal Ice
Cream Parlor. So Durham residents, led by
the Rev. Douglas Moore, staged a sit-in.
Last weekend, a 50th anniversary com
memoration was held at the Durham
County Library on Roxboro Street, near the
former ice cream parlor.
Other panelists included Virginia
Williams, one of the participants in the
demonstration, and R. Kelly Bryant, an
authority on Durham’s history.
The seven people involved in the sit-in,
dubbed the Royal Seven, were: Mary
Clybum, Moore, Claude Glenn, Jesse Gray,
Vivian Jones, Melvin Willis and Willieuns.
Durham District Court Judge William A.
“Drew” Marsh HI sat in the audience along
See A SCOOP/2A
Rangel
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Education, innovation at gala
By Herbert L. White
hefb.wh('fe@thechorfoffeposf.com
Charlotte’s best and bright
est were honored at The
Charlotte Post Best awards
dinner Saturday,
Former Charlotte mayor
Harvey Gantt earned the
Luminary Award for profes
sional, political and civic
achievement, as well as a life
time of firsts ranging from
breaking the color barrier at
Clemson University to design
ing award-winning buildings
in Charlotte and the region.
With his wife Cindy at his
Fuel Pizza launches
food drive for Second
Harvest Food Bank/1 C
INSIDE
Life 1C
Religion 5C
Sports 1B
Business 5B
Video from the gala is on
www.Uiecharfottepost.com
side at the Hilton Charlotte
Center City, Gantt thanked
friends and family who helped
him rise from humble begin
nings in Charleston, S.C., pub
lic housing to elder statesman
in Charlotte’s political and
civic circles,
"We stand on the shoulders
of people who’ve been there
for us, and I start with my par
ents, who I like to call salt of
the earth, good hard-working
folk who gave us important
values to hold on to that are
A&E ID
Classified 4D
still with us today,” Gantt said.
...’’But I also stand on the
shoulders of good friends all
across this community."
Gantt, who last year co
chaired a committee that
looked at re-making how
Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Schools delivers services, said
society has a responsibility to
help children - especially from
disadvantaged backgrounds -
find academic success.
Charlotte, he said, has the
resources and people to do
better by all students. The
See HONORS/2A
Please
To subscribe: (704) 376-0496 FAX (704) 342-2160.© 2007 The Chariotte Post Publishing Co.
Recycle
o