TUESDAY
Banking Officer
Farad Ali has been elected banking officer at
Wachovia Bank of North Carolina, Raleigh,
after being recently transferred into the
corporate banking department.
Page 8__
Revisiting Doo-Wop
Stevie Wonder will be featured on “Street
Gold: The Original Leads of the
Tmeptations,” music series revisiting the
street groove of doo-wop.
Psm 5 _
This Week
The "Mississippi Rag,” released
early in 1897 by a white
bandleader, was the first authen
tic rag ever published. But late in
that year a second rag—the “Har
lem Rag”—was published by
black pianist Tom Turpin.
e Carolinian
RALEIGH, N.C.,
VOL. 51, NO. 69
TUESDAY, JULY 28,1992
N.C. fs Semi-Weekly
DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
SINGLE COPY #)C
IN RALEIGH ^90
ELSEWHERE 300
IVAN INGRAM
FBI To Investigate Shooting Death
BY CASH MICHAELS
Stiff Writer
After eight months, two local in
vestigations and a grand jury deci
sion, the U.S. Justice Department
will finally mount a six-month
probe into events surrounding the
police shooting death of Ivan
Lorenzo Ingram. Last week, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
was officially assigned to gather
evidence as to whether Ingram’s
civil rights were violated when he
happened upon a police redd last
Nov. 8, and was shot point-blank
by a Raleigh police officer.
It was a resistant Raleigh City
Council that instructed the city
administration to formally request
the FBI probe. As first reported by
the CAROLINIAN in June, not
until the Rev. David Foy, commu
nity activist, confronted members
of the City Council during the May
27 Police Affairs Committee meet
ing about not requesting a federal
investigation, was it even seri
ously considered by city leaders.
Before the committee voted to
approve the request, District D
City Councilman J'. Barlow Herget
said the reason why no FBI inves
tigation was requested at the time
of the shooting was because it in
volved a “black officer and a black
victim.* Vincent Kerr, the Raleigh
police officer who shot Ivan In
gram, was black. Herget said that
because no one raised any racial
issues over the shooting, the coun
cil didn’t see the need to request a
civil rights probe.
But according to Special Agent
Chuck Richards of the North Caro
lina branch office of the FBI, in the
case of a police officer allegedly
abusing or killing a citizen or a
suspect, the race, color or ethnicity
of either is not as important as
whether or not a sworn officer car
ried out his duty appropriately.
He cited the case of several offi
cers on the Gastonia police force
who’ve been federally indicted for
abusing homeless men by pouring
hot coffee and oil on them. In
many cases, both the officers and
the victims were white.
To the family and friends of Ivan
Ingram, the news of a federal
probe is just the beginning of their
unending efforts to have the case
reopened bearing fruit. There have
been lingering questions, not only
about the shooting, but the subse
quent investigations by the state
and the city.
After the shooting, a prelimi
nary, and then subsequent report
to the city’s police affairs commit
tee by Chief Frederick K. Heine
man confirmed Officer Vincent
Kerr’s version of events: that once
he and three other officers with
the Selective Enforcement Unit
raided 314 N. Carver Street on a
drug raid, he saw Ivan Ingram
walk away from a group of four
man in front of the address, or
dered him to stop several times,
and stepped in his path. Kerr
claims that Ingram said nothing.
When he saw Ingram reach into
his coat pocket with his left hand,
then seem to pull it out quickly,
Kerr fired his 12-gauge shotgun
from approximately six feet away,
hitting Ingram once in the abdo
(See FBI TO PROBE, P. 2)
Jones Proud To Be Maverick
BY CASH MICHAELS
Staff Writer
His fellow Wake County com
missioners better get used to it,
because Abraham Penn Jones has
no plans to stop speaking out on
the issues he deems important.
And he has no problem being the
only one to do it.
Commissioner Jones was the
only one to speak out against pay
ing for a planned Triangle baseball
stadium with a hotel and meals
tax. The project collapsed.
He was the only one to address
the lackluster numbers of African
American department heads and
supervisors in county government,
raising the question “Is the
county’s affirmative action policy
really working*? County officials
still haven’t adequately answered
the question.
And now Jones is the sole
elected voice questioning why the
board of commissioners has a
"hands off" policy concerning funds
allotted to the Wake County
School System. This battle may be
the most controversial of all, but
Jones says those who don’t like his
ABEJONES
position on the issue, can “unelect’
him.
“If being an independent thinker
is a maverick, then Fm a maver
ick,* said Jones, now in his second
year on the commission. “I finally
realized somewhere in the first six
or seven months of my four-year
term that the only way to really do
this job the way I think I have to
do it is, notwithstanding where the
others are, go ahead and voice my
opinion and vote the way I feel is
absolutely best!*
Many in Wake County’s African
American community like Jones’
maverick style, finding it refresh
ing and honest. But many political
stalwarts say Jones is a loose can
non who talks too much publicly,
and sooner or later, may self-de
struct politically, if someone
doesn’t do it to him first. Jones
shows no signs of being afraid of
either.
Fresh from attending the Demo
cratic National Convention in New
York as a North Carolina delegate,
Jones did the one thing last week
that his fellow Wake county com
missioners wish he would stop
doing: He appeared on WLLE
AM’s “Let’s Talk with Frank
Roberts.”
It was widely reported recently
how a “social” meeting of all of the
(See ABE JONES, P.2)
The People Speak
m
BILLY WRIGHT
I’ve been sitting in the shade
listening to the speakers and
enjoying my people.
D . This has been
briefing: one of Raleigh’s
hottest summers in the past few years
and some Chavis Heights residents
shared their secrets on staying cool.
AL ALSTON
I’m staying out of the su
and staying cool.
UVONNE BLAYLOCK
i Just staying cool and in the
air conditioning as much as
possible.
EBONY DUNCAN
I’m staying in the house
under the air conditioner.
HISTORY REPEATMG SELF - St. Agnes Hospital
closad after 65 years of service to the Raleigh and
surrounding communities in April 1961. Now, however,
through its Department of Physical Therapy, Health and
Physical Education and Aided Health, plans to estabdsh a
new wellness complex as a benefit to the public In the
Southeast Raleigh, Oakwood and adjacent public housing
facilities. The City of Raleigh recently awarded the
program a $100,000 grant. (Photo by James Odes)
Wake Commissioner Vernon Malone
May Oppose Sen. Johnson In Fall
BY CASH MICHAELS
Staff Writer
No doubt about it, state Sen. Jo
seph Johnson (D-Wake) is a politi
cally marked man, and as The
CAROLINIAN reported last week,
there are candidates being lined
up on both sides of the partisan
aisle to either replace him on the
ballot come November, or oppose
him outright.
The name of most interest to the
African-American community is
that of Wake County Commission
Chairman Vernon Malone.
Malone, who has a long history in
elected office, reportedly told a lo
cal newspaper that any talk of his
wanting to either run against Sen.
Johnson or replace him on the bed
lot “would be presumptuous on my
part to get that far ahead of
circumstances that are develop
ing*.
Observers say Malone may be
waiting to see who the Republi
cans put up to run for the 14th
District Senate seat, and certainly
what Sen. Johnson himself decides
to do.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
LIGON ALUMNI MEETING
All members of the J.W. Ligon Alumni Association need to meet on
Saturday, Aug. 8, at 5 p.m. at the Ralph Campbell Community Center,
756 Lunar Drive.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL MEETS
Amnesty International of Raleigh meets Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 7
p.m. at Fairmont Methodist Church, 2601 Clark Avenue at Horne
Street. All are welcome.
“TRUTH" AUDITIONS
Theatre In the Park announces auditions for the comedy, “The Un
varnished Truth,” by British playwright Royce Ryton, Aug. 3 and 4 at
78:30 p.m. Male and female actors, aged 25 and up, are invited to audi
tion. Please prepare a one-minute monologue. TIP is located off Pullen
Road near N.C. State’s belltower. Call 831-6068 for more information.
FIRST NIGHT RALEIGH SEEKS PERFORMERS
First Night Raleigh, the largest New Year’s Eve celebration in east
ern North Carolina, is seeking performers for all indoor and outdoor
venues. The unusual but clean is especially encouraged. First Night
Raleigh is an alcohol-free, family-oriented celebration which strives to
unite the entire community on this special evening through the arts.
Performances begin with a children’s program from 2-5 p.m. The
“People’s Procession,” which begins at 5:30 p.m., marks the start of all
evening programming. Performances are held in bank lobbies, churches,
(See CALENDAR, P. 2)
Johnson wounded both himself
and his party politically recently
when he tried to dodge paying a
traffic ticket for not wearing a
seatbelt. Not only did Johnson use
an obscure 1787 law to shield him
self from being cited, but he de
manded that the two Raleigh po
(See MALONE TOUTED, P. 2)
Senate Gives
Up On School
Bond Package
(AP)—The state Senate decided
last Thursday at the prompting of
the University of North Carolina
system to drop
its holdout on
the $398 million
education bond
package.
C.D. Span
gler, Jr., presi
dent of the UNC
system, told a
caucus of Sen
ate Democrats
that the battle with the House
over bonds was hurting the 16
school system.
“C.D. Spangler came in and said
we had been stalwart warriors,
fighting for the university system,”
said Senate President Pro Tern
Henson Barnes, D-Wayne. “He
said he did not want there to be a
long and continuing fight among
the universities’ friends in the
General Assembly.”
Barnes said he would end the
three-week standoff with the
House, which has repeatedly re
fused efforts to force a vote on the
(See SENATE GIVES UP, P. 2)