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Semi-Weekl
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RALEIGH &D0
SEWHERE 300
f
Actor Eddie Murphy as con man
who gets religion in new film
"Distinguished Gentleman”
Page 6
Top Black Assistant superinten
dent, Dr. Sammie Parrish leaves
post to head Cleveland System
Page 13
in The Wake Of Rodney King Tragedy
NAACP Defense Fund Proposes Legal Reform
NEW YORK, N.Y.—In an effort to
prevent the recurrence of tragedies
like the Rodney King verdict, the
NAACP Legal Defence and Educa
tional Fund last week propoaed a
eeriea of six major legal reform*
deaigned to reetore America’s faith
in its criminal justice system.
Responding not only to the King
verdict, but to numerous other egre
gious cases, Legal Defense Fund
Director-Counsel Julius L. Cham
bers pointed to a recent poll showing
that 81 percent of African-Ameri- <
cane believe the judicial system is
racially biased, and said, “Armed 1
with an understanding of this aston- 1
ishing verdict and the judicial sys- <
tem that made it possible, America i
must take concrete steps to remove
race discrimination from our legal
lystem<
UJK’s proposals are as follows: j
1. Take steps to end exclusion 1
>fAfrican-Americans from state i
tnd federal judicial posts. Be- 1
»use the judiciary is nearly lily
white, African-Americans hold little
:onfidence in .the capacity of courts
o dispense color-blind justice, ac
ording to the statement. Of the
tearly 12,000 fall-time state court
udges across the country, only 465
vere African-American in 1991. In
Georgia, only nine of 175 trial court
udges are African-American; in
'lew York, only 71 of 1,129 judges
ire African-American. Only four
>ercent of the federal judiciary is
African-American, only three per
cent ie Hispanic and less than on
percent is Asian-American.
States that elect judges mus
abolish electoral schemes that den;
African-Americans a fair chance t
select their judicial officers. Thi
federal government and states tha
appoint judges must take affirms
tive steps to put more people of cola
on the bench.
2. African-Americans must 1m
given an equal opportunity t<
. Km as jurors. In many cases,
» throughout the country, people of
color continue to be struck because
t of their race by prosecutors from
r juries. For example, in Alabama, it
> is not unusual to see prosecutors use
• mors than 20 strikes to remove all
t African-Americans from juries in
. death penalty cases. Lawmakers
• must pass statutes allowing the re
moval of jurors only for case-related
, reasons.
3.1a racially eharmd cases.
changes of vena* must not hove
the effect of excluding people of
color from the judicial process.
Cases should be moved only when it
is clearly shown that the move is
necessary to ensure a fair trial, and
only to communities with compa
rable ethnic or racial characteris
tics. This problem can be addressed
through legislation.
4. The elimination of police
(See NAACP PLAN. P. 2)
CITATION—OariHi thair 125th CmmucmunI ImM
Bank (Ourham-RaMgh) offlcai
i, Or. Jahn H. Brawn, Jr. gava
ytar anniversary dauaa
vfm
African Americans Face Threat
Of Planned Scholarship Restrictions
BY LEILA MCDOWELL
NNFANeweSarvte*
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Ann* is
the tingle mother of three email
children. Last year she and her
family were living on the streets of
San Francisco. Getting enough food
NEWS BRIER
EEOC OKAYS ST.
AUGUSTINE’S SUIT
The Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
has given St. Augustine's
* College professor Dr. Alan
! Cooper the green light to file
I a job disorimination suit
against the historically black
oollege. Dr. Cooper, in a oom
plaint filed last October, al
t leged that he was deni, ’ten*
ure, promotions and pay
raises at the school because
he is white. When he com
plained about it, Cooper says
( he was then demoted. Dr.
Cooper has tau^at at St. Aug.
for more than 10 years. Dr.
Presell R. Robinson, presi*
|' dent of the college, denies the
, charge. Dr. Cooper is ex*
i pected to file suit in U.8. Dis*
| trict Court next month.
MCNEAL GETS WAKE
SCHOOLS POST
William McNeal, currently
the assistant Wake School*
superintendent for school
services, has been chosen to
become the new associate
superintendent for curricu
lum development and class
room instruction, succeeding
Dr. Jane Hammond, who is
leaving the system. McNeal,
who was at one time princi*
(See NEWS BRIEFS, P.2)
to eat vu her major taek, finding
temporary shelter for the night her
daily challenge. This year Anne,
whoee name haa been changed to
protect her identity, is in college.
She has a email apartment with her
three children and she is working
part-time.
The dramatic change in her
circumstance came as a result of
San Francisco State advisor/transi
tion program specialist Samuel
Jones who had to first move Anne
intoagarage to qualify her for finan
cial aid. The financial aid allows
Anne to go to college, eventually get
a good job and become a tax-paying
citizen instead of the homeless
mother of one year ago.
The type of financial aid that gave
Anne her chance will be made illegal
if the Bush administration’s ruling
restricting minority scholarships
becomes law. Proposed last Decern
ber, the policy will soon become the
rule unless Congress intervenes or
the administration changes its pro
posal.
It is a tragedy for the nation, says
Jones, who notes that close to 80
percent ofhis students will be forced
to drop out of school or disrupt their
education.
“The Rodney King incident
showed us the only way we can save
these generation s of African-Ameri
cans and Hispanics is to give them a
better future, a better opportunity,
a better education so that they can
contribute to society,” says Jones.
“These monies are the easiest, and
the most direct form of giving indi
viduals the ability to be self-sup
porting and functional in our soci
ety.”
According to census figures, by
(See SCHOLARSHIPS, P. 2)
Crabtree Management Tells Of
New Community Relations Group
The management of Crabtree
Valley Mall haa announced the crea
tion of a community relatione com
mittee to "meet with special interest
groups,* in order to deal with some
of the recent racial and youth prob
lems it’s had, and while the city's
Human Relations Commission has
hailed the announcement, there is
little or no perceptible celebration in
Raleigh’s African-American com
munity.
Crabtree has been the focus of
racial tension since 1989, when it
was revealed that mall manage
ment attempted to have public bus
service cut off from Raleigh’s Afri
can-American community to the
mall on Saturday afternoons, alleg
edly to stop black teenagers from co
ming to the mall. Mall management
denied the report, and black-teens
charged that they were the targets
of racial harassment by mall secu
rity guards.
After a picket and boycott of the
mall, a youth task force, along with
the Raleigh Human Resources/
Human Relations Advisory Com
mission, finally signed an agree
ment in August 1991, in which the
mall promised to hire more African
American security guards, train
their officers in human relations,
and develop a cooperative relation
ship with the AJrican-American
community.
But on Jan. 25 of this year, 16
year-old Lorenzo McKoy was beaten
and arrested by Crabtree security
after being asked to leave the mall.
The ensuing controversy and trial
revealed that even after the 1991
agreement, the mall maintained
what was termed a discriminatory
policy of targeting black teenagers
at the mall. McKoy was acquitted of
all charges, and has said he may sue
Crabtree for civil damages.
After an investigation and two
controveraial reports from
HRHRAC alleging racial discrimi
nation at the mall, the commission
in March asked Crabtree to report
back on what steps it will now take
to deal with what is clearly a rup
tured relationship with the African
American community.
At HRHRAC’s May meeting,
chairman Jim Fuller released a let
ter from Crabtree Executive Direc
tor John 3. Grimaldi, announcing
the creation of the midi's Commu
nity Relations Committee. The let
ter, copies of which were sent to
Mayor Avery C. Upchurch, City
Manager Dempsey E. Benton, and
all members of the city council, said
that the committee consisted of Ms.
Sandra Grant, marketing manager,
(See CRABTREE, P.S)
Black CAT Drivers Protest
BY CASH MICHAELS
Staff Writer
African-American bus drivers at
the Capital Area .Transit system
protested what they called discrimi
nation at the workplace on the part
of company management this week,
and said they want the public and
the Raleigh City Council to know
about it.
At least 36 black drivers of Local
Amalgamated Transit Union 1328
metin front of the CAT terminal last
Sunday morning to finalise a plan of
action to combat what they termed
unfair labor practices.
Joseph Alston, a CAT driver and
local union president, told The
CAROLINIAN that there are many
problems that black drivers have
been aware of, and it’s time that
people knew about them and man
agement did something about them.
“We have brothers and sisters
that get fired from the job, and we
feel that it’s time we let the boss
know that we need to sit down and
talk,” he said. At least two of the
members present at the meeting
were identified to The CAROLIN
IAN sis having been recently termi
nated, with one female worker’s
case still pending.
Alston said that General Man
ager Frederick “Rick* Murray, the
“boss” in question, was invited to
attend their Sunday morning meet
ing,but he declined. “He wanted us
nowhere near the property or on the
property, but we’re here to show him
that we're concerned, and that we
have problems out here.”
Alston said that the picket was
part of the grievance procedure as
outlined in their labor contract with
the company. By state law, the un
ion is not allowed to strike or create
a work stoppage, so any protests
have to be conducted by union
members on time off, and on lunch
breaks.
Some of the problems alleged in
clude difficult working conditions,
swift policy changes with little or no
warning, and firing of black drivers
for infractions that white drivers
are kept on the job for. Alston spe
cifically talked about “miss-outs,”
where drivers are late reporting to
work. "Black employees seem to be
getting fired, white employees are
coming back to work. We think this
is unfair,” said Alston. He also
(See BLACK DRIVERS, P. 2)
National Black Caucus To Convene On Issue
AIDS...NO One Is Safe!
The National Black Caucus of
State Legislators, a broad-based
non-partisan coalition of more than
460 elected officials, will conduct a
three -day fact -findi ng conference on
“The Changing Face of AIDS,"
through Friday in Washington, D.C.
Colorado Sen. Regis F. Groff,
NBCSL president, said recently
that AIDS now presents the Afri
can-American community with a
crisis that deserves the immediate
attention of all those in a position to
effect public policies that could stem
the alarming spread of this disease.
“The Changing Face of AIDS* is
being conducted by the NBC8L
health committee under the leader
ship of Tennessee state Rep. Roecoe
Dixon. Some 119 NBCSL members
who are either members of legisla
tive health committees in their
home states or who are formulating
legislation pertaining to health is
sues will participate in the confer
ence. The urgency of the fact-finding
forum was underscored by Sen.
Groff.
“When women, infants and teen
agers account for startling leaps in
the statistics of newly reported
AIDS cases in the African-American
community, we are all at risk and no
one is safe,” he said.
Sen. Groff pointed out that, as of
the and of 1990, 28 percent of all
AIDS victims in the United States
were African-American men, ,
women and children. In every cate- ,
gory, including gay and bisexual t
men and IV drug users, African- i
Americans ars not only more likely ]
to be infected than their white ,
counterparts, but are sicker at the {
time of diagnosis. ,
For this reason, the conference
has been designed to address HTV
■
ind AIDS infection from an African
American perspective with several
>bjectives in mind: heightening
i wareness of the extent of HIV and
AIDS infection in the African
American community; opening dia
ogue in the African-American com
lunity that will foster coordinated,
ommunity-based efforts to deal
nth HIV and AIDS: increasing the
fSee FACE OF AIDS, P.2)
1
CRIME BEAT
Editor's Note: 1U« oolumn, a fixture of The CAROLINIAN in
years past.Jhas returned to our pages in hopae of deterring crime
in our community. Hie information contained herein is taken from
public arrest reoords and does not necessarily mean those men
tioned are guilty of crimes.
POSSESSING ILLEGAL SHOTGUN
Hurty-one-year-old Fort Brooks of 305 Dad an Road and 18-year-old
Jeremy Andrew Lana of202 Lincoln Court were both arrested and charged
each with possessing a weapon of mass destruction. Police say they
confiscated a .410-gauge shotgun with a sawed-off barrel. The pair was
arrested on the 800 block of East Hargett Street
ASSAULT WITH FIREARM
JamM Lacy Davis, 49, of 5807 Old Farm Road, was arrested and
charged with possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and assault
with a deadly weapon by pointing a gun. Michael Benny Mason, 30, of an
address in Wendsll, was charged with simple assault. Police say the two
assaulted Roy Lee Williams of 1410 Beichlor Road in Garner. The assault
allegedly occurred at 3905 Wilmington St. A 9mm semi-automatic hand
gun, one magazine and one plastic bag with 12 grams of marijuana were
recovered.
8HOPUFTING
Clarence Wayne Bass, 37, of “Anywhere, USA,* was arrested and
charged with larceny, resisting arrest and delaying arrest. Police say he
was shoplifting from a supermarket on Crosslink Road. He allegedly stole
seven potted hanging plants, 240 miniature potted plants, and two shop
ping carts.
CHURCH BREAK-IN
Twenty-nine-year-bid Timothy Lawrence Grant of 5508 Woodpond
Court was arrested and charged with breaking and entering into Morning
Missionary Baptist Church at 628 Quarry St Police say Grant damaged a
front door lock valued at $20.
BURGLARY
Clyde Wayne Butts, 37, of"Anywhere, USA," was arrested and charged
with breaking and entry and larceny. Police claim Butts stole 52 pieces of
assorted ladies’ clothing from a department store on the Fayetteville Street
Mali.
FIRING WEAPON
Eugene Lee, 46, of406 Lee St was arrested and charged with illegally
discharging a weapon within the Raleigh city limits. Police say Lee fired a
20-gauge shotgun at the address, damaging a window. Damage was put at
$100. r