Newspapers / The Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.) / April 4, 1991, edition 1 / Page 1
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mtm RALEIGH, N.C. THURSDAY, APRIL 4,1991^ VOL. SO, NO. 38 Semi-Weekly •HE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST ? SINGLE COPY IN RALEIGH /LDQ ELSEWHERE 300 7 7 Pan-African Festival focuses on culture and community concerns. Page 13 Skyhawks have local Stars from sidelines to playing field. Page 19 Tony Jarrell Shooting C Grand 4 ' ° -r J —rCYLr~~'J~ wed j Decision Draws Reaction rraa Nm SwvtoM AaS Man Rtparti Complaints of police brutality are all too common in North Carolina, but none have attracted the level of atten tion given to the videotaped Loo Angeles boating of a black man. That la part of the reaaon ao few eaaoa of excessive force by North Carolina law officer! ever make it to criminal court, civil rights activists aav. ‘It may be that people Just aren’t aware, because for years we have given law enforcement the Job of preserving and protecting ua,” Hid Linda Williams, a member of North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence, an advocacy group based in Durham. “We Just naturally assume that they’re work ing within the balance of the law. “It may take a case like Los Angelas or North Carolina to realise we have a problem here in our state ss wall,” she said. A Wake County grand Jury on Mon Aiy declined to pursue criminal charges against a white Raleigh police officer who shot an unarmed black motoriat, adding additional complaint* to charges of police brutality and discrimination in the Judicial system. After hearing from 12 witnesses during more than four hours of closed-door deliberations, the 12-member panel decided there was no reason to ask the district attorney to seek an indictment against plainclothes detective Jimmy Glover. “The criminal case is closed,” Wake District Attorney C. Colon Willoughby, Jr., who had previously concluded that Det. Glover’s shooting of Tony Farrell, an engineer at WRAL-TV 5, did not warrant criminal charges, said. But the district attorney decided to have the grand Jury review the mat ter after getting considerable pressure from the Raleigh City Coun cil and Raleigh’s African-American community. In April 1990, nearly a year before Americans tuned into the filming of the L.A. officers beating Rodney King—footage so shocking the U.S. Justice Department wants a national probe of the problem-NCARRV call ed for a similar investigation focused on this Southern state. Tip request was spurred by what the group said was an "escalating pattern of fear and violence” in the relationship between law enforcers and citizens. NCARRV documented eight kill ings by law enforcers over a span of IS months and said six of them ap peared to be. like the L.A. case, racially motivated. Today the group’* caseload has grown by half a dozen reports since February, including a 24-year-old Beaufort County man shot to death as he waved a gun at police In Washington and a 24-year-old unarm ed Franklin ton man who was acting deranged outside a convenience store in his town when shot to death by police. The State Bureau of Investigation also reports an increase of com (See GKAND JURY, P. 2) - GOV. DOUGLAS WILDER Wilder Tests Presidential Waters For ’92 BROCKPORT, N.Y. (AP)-Specu lation about blacks running for presi dent or vice president indicates Americans’ increased acceptance of the idea of a Mack candidate, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said. 'At an afternoon press conference, the civil rights activist and talk-show boat said he would decide in the fall whether he would run for president for a third time. “Because of the way we ran our campaigns and increased registra tions, raised critical issues, and prevailed in debates, we began to change the general expectations, so by IMS, the support doubled,” Jackson said. Gov. Wilder has allowed supporters to begin raising money for a possible 1992 campaign and authorized a presiden tial exploratory com mittee. Jesse Jackson says acceptance of the idea of a black can didate for president is increasing. "Now, when the commentators ■peculate, 'Should it be Colin Powell, should it be Bill Gray, should it be Doug Wilder,’ those questions being raised as legitimate constitute pro gress and expansion," he said. Gov. Wilder has allowed supporters to begin raising money for a possible IMS campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Wihtor has been the only non tradltlona] candidate in the national spotlight for the past ltt years and according to political scientist Tom Morris of the University of Rich mond, Wilder recognises that he will net be able to maintain that level of attention much longer. There will be other women and minority can didates who will capture some of that attention. Wilder is the nation’s first elected black governor and has never follow ed conventional political wisdom. He is in a unique position and plans to rapftaHsa on it and has authorised a presidential exploratory committee. Speaking at the State University CoDsgs at Brocfcport last Thursday night, Jackaon said the United States should increase spending on domestic programs to help economically depressed trees, and should provide better benefits for military veterans. He warned that ths Persian Gulf (gee CANDIDATES. P.» Shooting Shrouded in Mystery Local Man Killed Suspects In Weekend Murder Ftmb CAROLINIAN SUN Report* The major crime unit of the Raleigh Police Department hai issued a warrant for a suspect on the run in the fatal shooting of a man over Easter weekend. Sgt. John Beasley said a warrant has been issued for William Elmoe, who is a suspect in the shooting of William Ignathus Greene, II of 1400 Rock Drive, Raleigh. Greene, a 47-year-old bakery employee, was shot Saturday night in what police reports describe as a 0*1 AmtAil IIAlwIlllAalkAAjI H ■■ I, arug-piaguea neignoomoou. vireene was shot in the neck about 7:90 p.m. in die 1900 block of South East Street. He died later at Wake Medical Center. Police said the investigation was continuing after questionikng several people and Issuing a warrant for a suspect. Police did not disclose the circumstances of the shooting but characterised the area' where Greene was shot as “drug-riddled.” Greene was employed at Bahlsen Inc., in Cary and in his spare time repaired televisions and had his tools in the van when he was shot. When police first arrived they couldn’t And anyone who had been shot. But a mile away, at the comer of New Bern Avenue and Tarboro Road, a driver of a van flagged down a patrol car. Inside the van was Greene. The driver, identified only as a friend of Greene’s, was en route to the hospital when he decided to seek help. An area resident called police to say she had heard two or three shots. Funeral was held Tuesday at Riley Hill Baptist Church for Greene. Burial followed in the Raleigh Na tional Cemetery. L SUPPORTING TONY FERRELL AND OTHERS-Frank Ratals, local talk show host and civil rights activist is soon Dora at City Council chambers protesting currant and past shootings si African-Americans by White police officers. Heberts displayed a lie of reports esntsining Incidents involving tho Raleigh Police Department. Roberta warned, “leff not do the same relative to the Phil McClain murder...dolng the same win be a serious mistake.” (Photo by James Giles) Black Workers Mobilise BY ANGAZA LAUGHINGHOUSE Aa Aaalyal* As the Black Workers for Justice mobilizes for its eighth annual com meration, Martin Luther King’s Sup port for Labor Banquet, it is impor tant for working people to examine the last struggle in which King was involved and its relationship to the present struggle for freedom, justice and equality. The basis upon which our 1983 ban quet was established is that King’s last and perhaps most important con tribution was'IUs support for workers, CRIES OF GENOCIDE Parti Johnny can’t read. Johnay to poor and Uvea In an mutable family which places little valae aa education and baa too many bablea. That’s why Johnny enn’t road. This simplistic scenario vividly portrays the “blaming the victim” process identified by William Ryan and others In the lMts. Its ase has been popularised by policymakers and social scien tists who seek to maintain the status quo by finding a defect In a per son or group rather than developing strategies to address systemic '""uatoss the problem is manifested outside the environment of the victim, It to largely Ignored by the system. The African-American community’s perennial exbortatiea that only when the malady af fects the white community to something done, reflects this notion. Then the problem becomes systemic. During the 1MSS, lt7Ss and lNSs the blaming the victim model was effectively used and guided the strategies of African-American leaders and ethers. A wealth of money and brainpower have been extended to in vaUdnto defects In the victims rather thaa to propose enduring solu tions to bodotal Uto. In Johnny’s case, raising the expectation of teachers and mat ching bis loaning stylos with teaching styles should greatly improve Johnny's roadtog ability. (See MIND'S EYE, P.2) particularly black workers, and their right to and need for unions. He had concluded that the “key to battling poverty is winning jobs for workers with decent pay through unionism.” In January of 1968, 1,300 black sanitation workers found themselves facing plantation conditions. They had no bathrooms, washrooms or showers to use after work. At the same time, they had no special or protective clothing, therefore they had to go home in the same clothing they had collected garbage in. They had no eating facilities and had to eat while on the job. One worker said they would have “a sandwich in one hand and a garbage can in the other.” The sanitation workers had few op portunities for advancement; they were denied promotions; they had no pension or retirement system; they did not qualify for workmen’s com penstion. The wages were scandalous as well. The average wage was bet ween $1.60 and $1.80 an hour, and when the weather was bad, workers were sent home after reporting for work. With weekly wages averaging $53-$60 a week in take-home pay, 40 percent of the sanitation workers qualified for welfare payments and many received food stamps. There had been two previous at tempts to organize, in 1963 and 1966, but the city got injunctions against the threatened strikes and fired the most militant workers. One of these fired workers would later help organize his former co-workers as a full-time organizer for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The final two indignities that push ed the workers to the brink happened in January and February. Two workers were crushed to death by a defective compactor on their truck. The city offered their families $600 each as a gift for burial expenses and one month’s pay. The workers were outraged. Before it died down, the ci ty was to add “insult to injury.” On Feb. 11, several black workers were lent home while some other black workers and all of the white sanita tion workers were told to stand by un til the rain cleared up. When it did, the remaining workers started work ing and earned a full day’s pay. Those workers who were sent home demanded that die city pay them for the lost time, but were only offered two hours’ compensation. As a result, the black sanitation workers walked out on strike the following day, Feb. 12. Led by black workers, the black community and the labor movement, first locally and then nationally, com bined to bring intensive pressure to bear on the city. Dally marches, rallies and pickets were at the core of the struggle. Support for the strike poured in from all over the country in the form of financial contributions as well as people traveling to Memphis. Through the threat of a boycott, local community leaders forced merchants and landlords to put a moratorium on all debts owed by striking sanitation workers. Workers and their sup porters formed patrols to keep scabs from crossing the picket lines. They took pictures of these traitors and went to visit them to convince than why they should not work. Ministers, middle-class forces and the labor movement all contributed. It was a united front effort led by the workers and their union. This lesson is especially Important for today and people must constantly be reminded of it. The black community came to understand full well the importance of fighting for better working condi tions for workers. One of the slogans was “Justice for the Strikers—Jobs for All People.’’ More than $100,000 was raised by the black community alone for food and clothing. King spoke at a rally of 10,000 on March 18 at which time he called tor all-out support for the strikers. He returned to Memphis on March a to lead a march that had to be called off because of a police riot and attack on the marchers. The courageous youth of the march fought back. He return ed on April 4 in preparation for a march on April ft. On the day of his ar (See BLACK WORKERS, P. 2) Currin announced that Rudolph A. Sharpe, 52, of 917 Seabrook Road, Raleigh, was sentenced in U.S. District Court here Monday to serve 18 months in prison for aiding and abetting in the preparation and filing of false income tax returns. Sharpe, a tax preparer, also was ordered by U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt to pay restitution in the amount of $14,147.87 and not to engage in tax preparation for others. According to U.S. Attorney Currin, Sharpe inflated the tax refunds due his clients by fraudulently claiming-' earned income credits. As a result of the scheme, he fraudulently had ob tained thousands of dollars in tax refunds to which he was not entitled. Sharpe’s scheme Included having his clients sign blank tax documents and paying them a portion of the re fund to which they were entitled. However, the tax returns filed for the clients falsely claimed credits and refunds of which the clients were unaware and for which they did not qualify. Hie refund checks were mailed directly to the post office boxes in the Raleigh area which were controlled by Sharpe. At the time the fraudulent returns were filed, Sharpe owned and operated the offices of Professional Income Tax Service, Suite 7t 817 New Bern Avenue. - . Paul Machalek, chief of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, (See FALSE TAXES, P. 2) NEWS BRIEFS CANNON HONORED North Carolina State Universi ty’s fifth annual Role-Model Leader’s Forum honored Dr. Isabella Cannon at a program which was held on April 3 In the University Student Center Ballroom. Cannon, former mayor of Raleigh, addressed the gather ing of students on “My Personal View of Leadership.’’ Each year the university’s Leadership Development Com mittee of the Union Activities Board Invites a role-model leader to speak at the forum. Students are given an opportunity to In teract personally with the regionally and nationally recognised role-model leaders from education, business and government. COUNCIL APPROVES AMENDED PLANS The Raleigh City Council has approved the expansion of boun daries and is allowing more time for development of the New Bern/Edenton Redevelopment Plan, which the council initially approved Oct. 8, 1990. The amended plan will include two additional blocks, and IS parcels of another block, located within the Oakwood historic area. The plan will exclude a parcel of land at the corner of Swain and Hargett streets, which will be in cluded fas a separate r> velop meat effort. NEW PURCHASE Fred Clayton of Burlington has purchased the Little Acorn Restaurant of Durham at BBAT Shopping Center to be reopened (See NEWS BRIEFS. P. 2)
The Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.)
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April 4, 1991, edition 1
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