Concern Lingers On Equal Court Treatment
BY ELAINE R. JONES
NNPA Commentary
There is little wonder why a re
cent survey showed that 89 per
cent of African-Americans believe
they cannot get fair and equal
treatment in the criminal justice
system.
This statistic, revealed in a
Washington Post-ABC poll con
ducted after the Rodney King ver
Chambers
New NCCU
Chancellor
CHAPEL HILL (AP)—Former
Charlotte lawyer Julius Cham
bers, a national civil rights attor
ney, last week was named chancel
lor of North Carolina Central Uni
versity in Durham.
C.D. Spangler Jr., president of
the University of North Carolina
system, recommended Chambers
for the post. The UNC Board of
Governors approved it by a unani
mous voice vote.
Chambers, 55, now directs the
New York-based NAACP Legal
Defense and Education Fund.
“Julius Chambers’ life has been
one of commitment to equality for
all Americans,” Spangler said.
“Nothing pleases me more than
bringing home our most talented
North Carolinians... I feel North
Carolina Central University needs
Julius Chambers. He is a quiet
and effective leader.”
Chambers replaces Tyronza
Richmond, who left in December.
He will start Jan. 1. Donna Ben
son has been serving interim chan
cellor.
Born in Mount Gilead in
Montgomery County, Chambers
received his undergraduate degree
from North Carolina Central and
graduated at the top of his class in
1962 from the UNC-Chapel Hill
School of Law.
Before leaving in 1984 to head
the legal defense fund, Chambers
practiced law in Charlotte as sen
ior partner of North Carolina’s
(See NCCU, P. 2)
CRIME
BEAT
Editor's Notes This column, a
fixture of The CAROLINIAN in
years past, has returned to our
pages in hopes of deterring
crime in our community. The
information contained herein
is taken from public arrest rec
ords and does not necessarily
mean those mentioned are
guilty of crimes.
ALLEGED CATFISH THIEF
Thirty-four-year-old Reginald
Bullock of 2116 Avent Ferry Road
was charged with unlawful con
cealment. Police say that Bullock
allegedly concealed 4.49 pounds of
catfish in a supermarket at 5522
Western Blvd.
ASSAULT WITH A KNIFE
Maggie W. McDade, 65, of 205-A
Seawell Avenue, was charged with
assault with a deadly weapon with
intent to do serious injury. Police
say Ms. McDade allegedly stabbed
35-year-old David Melvin McDade
of the same address. The victim
was treated at Wake Medical Cen
ter for the stab wound.
DAMAGE TO PROPERTY
Thirty-one-year-old Raymond
Leo Barfield of Rt. 1, Box 283, Lin
den, was charged with damage to
property. Police say Barfield alleg
edly damaged the wood door and
■frame to the home of Gail Talmage
Lindsey of Wake Forest Road. The
damage was estimated at $100.
STOLEN VEHICLE
Gordon Earl McDiarmid, 33, of
“Anywhere” in Greensboro, was
charged with embezzlement and
larceny of a vehicle. Police say the
suspect was found with a 1985
Buick 2-door valued at $5,000 and
items from the car valued at
$2,000. Police say the vehicle be
longs to Sylvia Morgan of Wake
field Drive in Greensboro. The car
was found in an apartment com
plex on Hargrove Road.
ASSAULT ON FEMALE
Thirty-eight-year-old Floyd
Norfleet of 309 E. Lenoir St. was
charged with assaulting a woman
of the same address. Police say the
alleged assault occurred at the cor
ner of Bloodworth and South
streets. The woman had ir\juries
on her face and lips.
e
diet, is borne out by a decade char
acterized by the dismantling of
laws which have protected the civil
rights of African-Americans and
other people of color.
Nowhere is this trend more evi
dent than in the federal judici
ary—an institution that since the
19408 had begun to challenge dis
crimination, playing a major role
in upholding and interpreting civil
Dept of Cultural
Resources, N.C. State Library
109 East Jones Street
Raleigh NC 27601
vuu oi, iNU. 74
Black Voters Hold Key To Success
12-African
Americans
Could Claim
Congress Seats
BY LARRY STILL
Capitol News Service
At least 12 new African-Atneri
can members of the U.S. House of
Representatives in Washington,
D.C. could be elected in the 1992
national balloting in November as
a result of congressional redistrict
ing procedures, according to a re
cently released report of the Joint
Center for Political and Economic
Studies.
All of the new districts are in
eight Southern states and Mary
land, in addition to about 100 new
majority-black state legislative
districts created in these areas.
“This year is expected to be a wa
tershed for black legislators at
both state and federal levels,” says
David Bositis, senior research as
sociate for JCPES.
Candidates Carol Mosely
Braun’s U.S. Senate race in Illi
nois and Ralph Campbell’s cam
paign for state auditor in North
Carolina will generate much en
thusiasm in all African-American
communities since their victories
would represent political firsts,
says Bositis.
Also, a large number of black
and white women candidates are
making major appeals to black
voters, in addition to Southern
white Democratic Senate incum
bents in Louisiana, Alabama,
Georgia, Florida and North Caro
lina, Bositis adds.
The report, “Blacks and the
Democratic National Convention,”
was prepared to assist current
delegates and participants in car
rying out their responsibilities and
in analyzing black political behav
ior. The center has prepared simi
lar volumes for Democratic and
Republican convention partici
pants since 1972, said Eddie Wil
liams, JCPES president.
The new “Southern Strategy” of
(See HOLD KEY, P.2)
Need To Raise Expectations For
N.C. Education Theme For ’90s
Every decade seems to have a
theme in public education,
whether it’s the back-to-basics
movements of the 1980s or the ex
perimental environment of the
1970s. For the 1990s, the theme is
expectations.
Expectations, and the need to
raise them in North Carolina and
the United States, is a theme that
ties together everything from cur
riculum revisions to testing to lim
its on what can be considered as
part of the instructional day.
“Unless North Carolinians ex
pect more from their schools, their
young people and their teaches,
other attempts to reform schools
will not succeed,” said State
Superintendent Bob Etheridge.
“The top priority in a young
person’s life should be education,
and I believe we should have high
expectations that all students will
apply themselves and perform at
their highest potential. Often, you
get what you expect, and North
Carolinians should expect more
from students and schools.”
Raising expectations is not an
easy task. It requires educating
parents, teaches and others and,
sometimes, overcoming assump
rights statutes.
Today the federal courts are
being stacked with an unprece
dented number of appointees of
Presidents Reagan and Bush who
have demonstrated little sensitiv
ity to the legal wrongs inflicted on
the African-American community.
The nominees overwhelmingly are
white, male, usually not more than
45 years of age, conservative and
C. 's Semi-Weekly
—jICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
DAY TO REMEMBER—Mrs. Jessie Copeland, shown
(right) receiving embrace from Joann Taylor after an
Appreciation Oinner in her honor given by the Inter-Project
Council of the Raleigh Housing Authority. "We love her,
said Taylor, a tenant at (RHA) Mayview Apartments. Mrs.
Copeland has encouraged me so many ways...shring
recipes, singing hymns...just like another mother,” Ms.
Taylor concluded. Mrs. Copeland was showered with
flowers, a money tree and other gifts.
Community Reinvestment Group
To Monitor NationsBank Program
BY CASH MICHAELS
Staff Writer
On the same day that the
nation’s fourth largest bank out
lined a new program to help un
derserved, poor and minority com
munities in the Triangle area, a
coalition group says it will con
tinue to monitor if those areas are
truly being served.
During a breakfast meeting with
area community leaders at the
Sheraton Imperial in Research
Triangle Park Tuesday, officials
with NationsBank outlined the
goals of their “community invest
tions that are incorrect. One prob
lem is that most people give high
marks to their own schools, while
giving low grades to public schools
in general. The Gallup Poll has
asked citizens and parents to
grade the public schools locally
and nationally for several years,
and people’s perception is nearly
always that their schools are fine;
it’s the other schools that need im
provement.
“It is good to see that so many
people have confidence in their lo
cal schools, but we also need to en
courage citizens to take a realistic
look at the weaknesses of schools
in their own communities,” Eth
eridge said.
Etheridge, other educators and
state leaders are demonstrating
their own increased expectations
in several ways. Beginning with
ninth grades who enter high
school in 1992-93, all students
must successfully complete Alge
bra I. North Carolina is the first
state in the United States to make
Algebra I a requirement for high
school graduation, although it has
been a de facto requirement for
college admission for some time.
Qualifications for jobs, even low
possess little prior judicial experi
ence. Since 1981, nearly 500 nomi
nees have been confirmed to a ju
diciary that is comprised of ap
proximately 800 judgeships.
This changing face is being
etched not solely by Republican
lawmakers playing politics. The
nominees are being considered,
and in most cases, confirmed, by a
Senate which has been Democrat
merit program,” where $10 billion
dollars over a 10-year period will
be committed to provide low and
moderate income households and
businesses special credit, lending
and depository services.
The targets of the NationsBank
program are consumers with in
comes less than 80 percent of the
' market median income, who live
in low to moderate income areas;
small businesses located in low to
moderate income areas with an
'nual sales of $10 million annually
or less; loans to non-profit organi
wage and service sector jobs, are
rising each year. The Workforce
2000 study by the Hudson Insti
tute showed that jobs created in
the 1990s will require nearly a
year’s more education than those
generated in the 1980s.
There are other ways that North
Carolina schools are increasing
expectations for students:
•The Standard Course of Study,
which outlines the curriculum pro
vided to all students in kindergar
ten through grade 12, is under re
vision to stress more higher-order
thinking skills and more problem
solving skills.
•The state’s testing program is
moving away from tests that
measure lower-level skills, such as
memorization, and toward tests
that ask students to think more.
The new End-of-Grade tests begin
ning this school year in elemen
tary grades include items that re
quire students to write out their
answer, to describe how they ar
rived at a particular answer and to
bring together information from
various sources to solve specific
problems. These items are in addi
(See90s THEME, P. 2)
ically controlled since 1986.
The new face of the federal
courts and the threat to equal jus
tice are graphically illustrated by
two nominees who were recently
given hearings before the Senate
Judiciary Committee: Edward
Earl Carnes and Francis A.
Keating II. It is expected that Car
nes’ nomination will be voted on by
the full Senate imminently.
SINGLE COPY OJC
IN RALEIGH
ELSEWHERE 300
I
Earlier Saturday, the Friends Committee Against Drugs
and AIDS, Inc. during the their Annual Family Reunion Day
in Chavis Heights awarded Mrs. Copeland with a plaque for
her leadership in trying to rid the community of drugs. “I'm
a little tired, but I seem to gain strength when helping
others," said Mrs. Copeland, head of the Tenants
Association in Chavis Heights and recent retiree from
Raleigh Housing Authority Board. (Photo by James Giles)
zations, etc.
Officials say that in North Caro
lina, NationsBank has already
made substantial gains in assist
ing previously underserved cus
tomers with special residential
mortgage products, small business
lending, public/private partner
ships and $870,000 in purchases
from minority businesses.
“At NationsBank, we have a
deeply held dedication to both the
concept and the reality of invest
ing in all communities we serve.
Simply put, our prosperity is tied
directly to everyone’s prosperity,”
said Catherine Bessant, commu
nity investment executive.
The announcement of Nations
Bank’s commitment to was ap
plauded with guarded enthusiasm
by a watchdog organization.
“Today we herald a new era in
community reinvestment,” said
Irvin Henderson, president of the
Community Reinvestment Asso
ciation of North Carolina.
“CRANC” as it’s more commonly
known, is a coalition of more than
thirty member organizations that
work to ensure fair access to credit
and financial services for low and
moderate income individuals and
communities.
Though he acknowledged
NationsBank’s announcement,
Henderson cautioned that their,
and the efforts of other banks
across North Carolina must be
constantly monitored to insure
that they are doing what they say
they are.
“We were recently told that the
community reinvestment is the
greatest growth area for consult
ants in the financial services in
dustry,” said Henderson. “Banks
in North Carolina are annually
spending hundreds of thousands of
dollars for advice on how to comply
with the federal Community Rein
vestment Act
“Megabanks like NationsBank
(See MONITORS, P.2)
In both instances major civil
rights organizations have
staunchly opposed the nomina
tions, providing a wealth of evi
dence showing gross and flagrant
disregard for civil rights laws.
Keating, the general counsel of
the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, was nomi
(See COURT, P.2)
Racism Said
Costly To
U.S. Industry
NEW YORK, N.Y. (AP)—Racism
is costing America money.
Bigotry subtracts from economic
growth in the often-recited toll of
welfare and unemployment, in the
high cost of crime that demands
more police and prisons, in the tar
iff exacted by what often seems to
be self-destructive ghetto violence.
Worse, racism deprives the na
tion of energy, know-how, drive
and dollars.
“There are a lot of things that
suggest that racism is the most in
sidious phenomenon causing a
drag on the American economy,”
said Edward D. Irons, dean of
business at Clark Atlanta Univer
sity in Atlanta and a consultant to
federal and international agencies
on banking and economic develop
ment.
“Unless we get a handle on ra
cism, foreign competitors are going
to eat our lunch,” Irons said.
Imagine the Los Angeles riots
laying waste to America day after
day. Or wipe out the communica
tions industry. That’s roughly how
much the U.S. economy misses out
by not providing more opportuni
ties for the nation’s 30 million
blacks, according to Billy J. Tid
well, a social scientist at the Na
tional Urban League in Washing
ton.
It’s a steep price, by Tidwell’s
reckoning: $93 billion—close to 2
percent of the Gross National
Product—could be pumped into
the U.S. economy every year if the
per capita income of blacks was on
a par with whites.
Calculated per household, that
comes to $1,000 each year. Con
sider it a hidden fee.
Tidwell did the arithmetic for a
1990 report on racism’s bottom
line, but his figures hold steady,
he said.
“Not enough people... put it into
(See COSTLY, P.2)
NEWS BRIEFS
YEAR-ROUND
EDUCATION
The Board of Education I
and Wake County Public
School System administra
tion in a letter to parents
this week said that no deci
sion has been made about
expanding year-round edu
cation in Wake County. The
letter also stated that no
decisions have been made
or will be made without dis
cussions with the commu
nity.
MLK BOULEVARD
The City of Raleigh cut
the ribbon on the newest
section of Martin Luther
King, Jr. Boulevard during
a special ceremony on Aug.
5 adjacent to the memorial
gardens, located at the in
tersection of Rock Quarry
Road and Martin Luther
King Jr. Boulevard. The
new five-lane road runs
from Blount Street to Rock
Quarry Road.
FAMILY FUN FESTIVAL
The W.B. Lewis Gospel
Choir is planning for a
flurry of activities this
weekend at First Cosmo
politan Baptist Church, 1515
Crosslink Road. The festival
and flea market will be de
signed for the whole family
and includes food, games,
prizes and singing from 11
a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Aug. 8.
ENVIRONMENTAL
RESEARCH
The U.S. House has ap
proved funding recom
mended by Rep. David
Price for environmental
protection research at the
(See NEWS BRIEFS, P. 2)