PC. STATE library
tyj I SIT-IONS DEPT
9 JONES S'T.
L:;IGH NC 2 767]
RALETOH. N.C.,
THURSDAY
VOL. 48, NO. 56
JUNE 15,1989
N.C.’s Semi-Weekly
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Choosing A College Often
Difficult For Students
Page 13
Leonard-Heams Battle May
Continue With Heated Rematch
Page 21
MARKA B. FLEMING
Marks Flaming
Makaa History
At Broughton
Marka Binta Fleming was
recently awarded her diploma as
a member of the graduating class
of Broughton High School. That in
Itself was not unusual. More than
. 44# other students received a
similar diploma.
There was, however, an
unusual element. She was the
■rat student in the history of the
school to finish the four-year
prescribed high school course in
three years. She was able to ac
eosaplish that history-making
tout by taking a majority of ad
vanced courses each semester.
Marka’s short educational
history has been spiced with
variety. Her first five years of
schooling were spent at Eno
Valley Elementary School,
Durham. She studied during the
~ sixth, seventh and eighth grades
at Felton Laboratory School on
the campus of South Carolina
State College. Orangeburg, S.C.
Marka’s three years of high
school saw her attending her
freshman year at Orangeburg
Wilkinson High School in
‘Orangeburg, and her next two
years at Broughton in Raleigh.
At Orangeburg Wilkinson, she
eras a member of the Les ,
Charmes Club, the Student Coun
cil (class representative), and
Program for Academically
Talented Students.
At Broughton, she has par
ticipated in the African
American History Club
(secretary), the National Honor
Society, the Minority Leadership
Group, and Project Graduation
(IMS-St).
Her awards have included the
: highest class average (sixth and
eighth grades), and awards in
mathematics and science. She
maintained an honor roll average
through elementary and high
ttkooi"
(See HISTORY MAKING, P. 2)
Successful Accomplishments
Black Legislators Celebrating 20 Years
As General Assembly Members
The N.C. Black Legislative Caucus
will celebrate its 20th anniversary as
members of the N.C. General
Assembly with a legislative con
ference weekend June 16-17 at the
Raleigh Crabtree Valley Marriott
Hotel.
Rep. H.M. Michaux, Jr. of Durham,
chairman of the caucus, said that
N.C. Supreme Court Justice Henry
Frye of Greensboro was the first
black elected to the N.C. General
Assembly since Reconstruction. He
was elected in November 1968, and
began serving in January i960.
Rep. Michaux further stated that
the Black Legislative Caucus’ fifth
annual Legislative Conference
Weekend will honor Justice Frye and
all other former black members of
the N.C. General Assembly. Michaux
went on to say that the theme of this
year’s conference is “Lifting As We
Climb: The Legislative Legacy—20
Years Later.”
In addition to honoring former
members of the General Assembly,
two national leaders will address the
conference. U.S. Rep. Edolphus
Towns of New York and Julius
Chambers, director/counsel of the
NAACP Legal Defense and Educa
tional Fund, will be featured.
Michaux said that both of these na
(See LEGISLATORS P.2)
Court's Precedents
Court Strikes At Civil Rights
“Racial
Imbalance”
Justified
BY CHESTER A. HIGGINS. SR.
NNPA New* Editor
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Early this
spring the NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, Inc.’s director
counsel, Julius L. Chambers, glumly
assessed the Croson vs. City of Rich
mond U.S. Supreme Court decision,
and declared:
“I’m afraid if we have many more
decisions like this, Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act” and ultimately
Brown vs. Topeka, Kan. Board of
Education itself will be reversed
without ever actually being challeng
ed or revisited. Croson struck down
the City of Richmond’s minority con
tract set-aside program because, ac
cording to Justice Sandra Day O’Con
nor, who wrote the majority opi
nion—“It failed essentially two
tests—it was not based on proof of
prior discrimination against minority
contractors, and >4 toiled to prescribe
narrowly tailored remedies to over
come that specific discrimination.”
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court
in a 5-4 decision struck at the very
heart of Title VII by ruling against
Alaska Salmon cannery workers of
Filipino, native Alaskan and Asian
descent who claimed two fish packing
companies restricted minorities to
lower-paying jobs. The Supreme
Court decision in effect told
employers they can justify “racial
imbalance” (whites were concen
trated in skilled jobs in those can
neries) in their workforce by showing
it was for “valid business reasons.”
So statistical numbers are out and it
will now be difficult if not impossible
for many who are discriminated
against to “prove” they are victims
of discrimination.
Justice Byron R. White, who came
to maturity in rigidly segregated
America as a 1937 All-America foot
ball player for the University of Col
orado, wrote the majority opinion. He
said the plaintiffs in the case, which
was brought to court 15 years ago,
had the burden of orovintf that the
(See SUPREME COURT, P. 2)
LIBRARY RENOVATED—Ms. Sandra Chambers, branch
numaftr at Richard B. Harrisan Uhrary stands In the
recently renovated (acuity an New Bern Avenue. The
bench ree»eiie< Jim U.(PfcetehyTettti«rCrtewiy)
Unemployment Rato* Highest For
African-American Teena In N.C.
Although the unemployment rate in
the Triangle is among the best in the
state and nation, the average jobless
rate for African-Americans across
the state remains nearly three times
higher than that for Caucasians.
Ms. Janet Rankin, assistant
regional commissioner of the federal
Bureau of Labor Statistics office in
Atlanta, said latest available data
show the overall unemployment rate
for North Carolina minorities to be 7.2
percent.
That figure is exactly double the 3.6
percent unemployment rate for
Caucasians.
Jobless rates, broken down into
categories, are 6.4 percent for black
males, 8.1 percent for black women;
2.4 percent for white males, and 3.1
percent for white women.
Hardest hit by joblessness,
however, are black teenagers 16 to 19
years. The rate for that category is
23.5 percent, as compared with 9.2
percent unemployment for white
teenagers in the same age group.
“It seems to be a nationwide
phenomenon among young black peo
ple,” Ms. Rankin says of the group’s
high, out-of-proportion jobless rate.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, she
says, has no explanations for its data
and does not attempt to cite reasons
for variance in the jobless rate. But,
she adds, studies by others in the past
have indicated that “young black
people often are localized in areas
where job opportunities are not
available.”
School Chief Finalist Notes Basics
Dr. Robert Wentz, former
superintendent of Clerk County, Nev.
schools, met community leaden
county and dty officials and school
employees this week as the fkst of
four candidates for the job of Wake
school superintendent.
The Wake County Board of
'Education welcomed Wentz and his
wife, Dr. Janice*Went*. Dr. Wentz
has 31 year* of experience as
superintendent, including the last
seven years with the Clark County
School District in Nevada.
Henry C. Knight, school board
member, issued the following
statement about the candidate:
The Clark County School District in
Nevada is the 18th largest school
district in the nation, with 105,000
students. He has also served as
superintendent of schools for the St.
Louis Public Schools, the Pomona
Unified School District in California,
scteal laatd mambar Maury C. Knight (cantm). (Mala hy
TaUb SaMrCaNoway)
% »*
and the Penn-Harria-Madison Schools
in Indiana.
His experiences include successful
accomplishment of many of the
challenges that face Wake County
today or that we have faced in the
past. Those include:
Directing the growth of a school
district from 88,000 students to 106,000
students in six years.
Developing a five-year strategic
plan for the 18th largest school
district in the nation.
Securing a 75 percent increase in
the district’s general operating
budget.
Leading the desegregation of the
St. Louis schools.
Implementing a successful magnet
program.
Building strong alliances with the
business community.
Dr. Janice Wentz also, is an
educator and has a broad base of
professional experience. She la a
Realtor and owns a private computer
consulting firm specializing in
braining in word processing and
desktop publishing.
In addition, Dr. Janice Wentz is a
computer instructor at the University
of Nevada at Las Vegas in its
extension division. Prior to moving to
Clark County she was an elementary
school principal, a Junior high school
teacher, and a school district
administrator.
We have arranged several
opportunities during the next several
(See SUPERINTENDENT, P. 2)
A percentage of unemployed black
teenagers do not work, studies have
shown, because of a lack of transpor
tation to and from jobs; other studies,
she says, have indicated that minori
ty families often have not prepared
their young people to go to work and
teengers find they need better work
skills.
Ms. Rankin says she believes better
employment* programs are needed
nationwide to help prepare and en
courage young blacks for the job
market.
The North Carolina Employment
(See UNEMPLOYMENT, P. 21
; mm aai»*'~:
JUDGE HENRY FRYE
Pilot Project
Helping Small
Business Plan
The backbone of North Carolina’s
economy does not lie in the merging
of gigantic conglomerations, or in the
intense debate over the rise and fall
of the price of pork bellies—its
strength lies in its small businesses
that are expected to generate 900,000
additional jobs by the year 2000.
The N.C. community colleges have
been essential in the testing of a Lotus
1,2,3 software package that will assist
small businesses nationwide in
managing and evaluating their finan
cial resources.
A1 Stoddard, manager of market
development for the Lotus Develop
ment Corp., presented the N.C. Com
munity College System with 50 soft
ware packages at a State Board of
> Community Colleges meeting recent
ly. Stoddard commended the work of
Dr. R. Jean Overton, director for
(See PILOT PROJECT, P. 2)
Gov. Martin
Says Excise Tax
Creates Problems
In an in-depth interview in the May
June issue of Philip Morris Magazine,
Gov. Jim Martin re-emphasizes his
opposition to higher consumer excise
taxes on tobacco products.
Boosting consumer excise taxes on
tobacco and other products, Martin
says, can create more problems for
states than solutions. North Carolina
is the nation’s leading tobacco
growing state.
Martin said he was pleased to have
received a letter from George Bush
during the 1988 presidential cam
paign. Bush stated his unequivocal
opposition to tax increases: “I am
(See EXCISE TAX, P. 2)
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