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by Ralph W. Cooper
GREENVILLE,NC - Greenville is

on cdge, due to a recent surge in
youth/gang violence. Meanwhile, a
frightened, disillusioned community
awaits solutions to combat youth vio-
lence.

Oftentimes, during local election
seasons, officials sprinkle a tossed salad
of public discontent and fear of esca-
lating violence with condiments of
public relations campaigns (i.e. press
conferences) and grandstanding. They
organize ofeel-good ? committees to
appease a community thirsty for an-
swers. Yet, the violence festers.

When Nancy Jenkins was mayor,
I gave her a comprehensive crime con-
trol and prevention proposal that has
yet to be enacted. One ingredient
called for a strategic community-po-
licing strategy where police officers
walk and ride bikes in high-crime ar-
eas, check on elderly residents, and
maintain a presence of deterrence.

Historically, blacks have had tu-
multuous relationships with the po-
lice. Targeted community policing
will help restore confidence in the
police, win advocates, and simulta-
neously curtail violent crime.

Among other strategies, I support
a dusk-to-dawn ee indefinnely.
Within the past few years, researchers
with the National League of Cities

J Rap and Hip Hop Diva |

Convicted of Perjury

Charges stem from gunfight ata
New York radio eat

NEW YORK CITY - Female rap and

hip-hop-ertise.Lil T Kim was-conyicted
on Thursday Mar."17th. of lying to a
federal grand juryn that was investi-
gating a shooting outside a radio sta-
tion. She was convicted of perjury and
conspiracy but acquitted of obstruc-
tion of justice.

Prosecutors accused the 4-foot-11
Grammy winner of telling opreposter-
ous T lies to a grand jury relying on her
eyewitness testimony about the 2001
gunfight outside WQHT, the rap sta-
tion known as Hot 97.

The shootout occurred on Feb. -

25, 2001, when Lil T Kim's entourage
crossed paths with a rival rap group,

1)

on of justice

Kim
Cleared of
charges.

Capone-N-Noreaga. One man was
injured as more than two dozen shots
were fired.

Lil T Kim's assistant, Monique
Dopwell, was also found guilty of per-
jury and both defendants shook their
heads as the verdicts were delivered.
The rappers supporters broke out in
sobs,

Sentencing was set for June 24.
The defendants had faced up to 30
years in prison if convicted of all the
charges.

i T Kim, 29, known for her re-
vealing outfits and raunchy hip-hop
raps, had testified that the gun battle
reminded her of the saying of her leg-
endary mentor, Notorious B.1.G., and
even the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

It was oa heartfelt day " like the
day Biggie was killed and 9/11, ? she
said.

oThis was a very serious situa-
tion, ? she testified, oI could not come

_ into a grand jury and purposely tell

false statements and lie.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cathy

SEE LI T KIM PAGE 11

found that 97 percent of over 534 sur-
cities with curfews indicated the
following: Curfews help combat ju-
venile crime; 96 percent said curfews
help fight truancy; and 88 percent said
curfews help reduce gang violence.
Youth who violate a curfew ordi-

nance should be taken to a nearby _

curfew holding center to await a par-
ent or guardian. A warning may or
may not be given for the first offense,
depending on the nature of the viola-
tion. However, a second violation
should carry a stiff fine that might lead
to legal action if the fine is not paid
on time. Community service might

Tiabs ome illalelan:

EERE ES AS AE SRR SITS ARE SR TONERS SOS POS RAN CR RS. SEER SERGI TE: " Sate 8 2

cement mee lion tsar a. _

YEE OTelaslaalt ia

also be an option or an ancillary pro-
vision.
Parents may be held accountable

for some violations, depending on the |

circumstances and whether

¢ par-
sbi may be complicit in any illegal

or offensive behavior of their children
violatin
required to take parenting classes in
some Cases. -

A reasonable percentage of the
curfew fines should be placed in a
scholarship fund to help send needy
residents to college. This is surely a
positive way of giving back ?to the
community.

ities Since 1988]

the curfew. Parents might be

Complimentary Issue §

Please Take One|
(Retail Value: §0 Cents)
VOL. XVIII NO. 2 March 2005

F OE. * thom

Community leaders meet during a press conference at the Phil
one young man seriously wounded and another young boy one
press, educators, local politicians and the heads of several law enforcement agencies. According to one community

activist, there has been as many as 12 gunshot fatalities envoling black youth living in black communities in the greater

lippi Church of Christ following a shooting which left
dead at the scene. The meeting was in attendence by the

Greenville area during the past four or five years. Photo - Guy Sims

4%

i #. 4 Js
Os a aay Nee ee a

akos place in
the Black communi
And too often itis

the innocent bystander 13 Years Old - Jr. High

May 19, 1991 - Mar. 6,2005

On Saturday March 12, young Jahmel Rashaad Little
was laid to rest six days after being shot in the chest after
being called outside his home, where he and his cousin
were both assaulted. His life only took minutes to fade
away. According to authorities and other published te-
ports, Jahmel was a good boy. He was described to be
quiet and respectful by his neighbors. He was preceeded
in death by his John Henry Little, Jr. and his grandpar-
ents John Henry, Sr. and Lizzie Mae Little.

who becomes

Of this Foolish
and Violent Behavior



Jahmel Rashaad Little

5

17 Years Old -
Sept. 16, 1986 - Aug. 14, 2003

College

intended victim, an

day. She attende

Someone said that Stacy Marie Cart had only been home
for about thirty minutes when she was fatally wounded.
Innocently she was Preparing to braid the hair of the
as the story
the head with a bullet from a hig
bullet went through both victims. She died the next
d D.H. Conley High School and at
the time of her death was attending Pitt Community
College. Her presence is continually missed. "

Goes she was struck in
powered rifle. The

Jackie Robinson posthumou

By Erica Werner
WASHINGTON, DC - More
than a half-century after break-
ing sport Ts color barrier, Jackie
Robinson was posthumously
awarded Congress T highest
honor, a Congressional Gold
Medal. .
President Bush gave the
medal to Robinson Ts widow
Wednesday, Rachel Robinson, in
a stately ceremony in the Capi-
tol Rotunda. The Democratic

ames A. Ball, Boeing Co.'s
Fire black chicf fnantial ot
ficer, was named interim
president and CEO this week

By: Keith Reed,
BlackAmerica Web.com
Boeing, the world Ts top air-
lane manufacturer, tapped its first
Black chief executive this week, fol-

and Republican leaders of the

House and Senate and baseball

commissioner Bud Selig looked
on.

oHis story is one that shows
what one person can do to hold
America to account to its found-
ing promise of freedom and
equality, ? Bush said. oIt Ts a les-
son for people coming up to see.
One person can make a big dif-
ference in setting the tone of this
country.

lowing a scandal that saw the
company Ts former top dog forced
out for having an affair with an
employee.

Now, James Bell, a 56 year-old
veteran of corporate America, finds
himself thrust in the position of
leading Boeing through what could
be a tough transition, while Boeing
itself has the distinction of being
the biggest corporation in the
country headed by an African-
American.

While significant, though,
Bell Ts reign at the top is destined
to be short because he was only
named to the CEO's chair for an
interim period. In the meantime,
Bell is not a candidate for the job
permanently and the board is
searching for a new chief executive.

Officials said Bell was not
commenting on his ascendancy.

Bell joins a handful of black
executives leading huge American
companies. Kenneth Chenault, 53,
became chief executive at Ameri-
can Express in 2001. Alwyn Lewis,
50, became the CEO of Kmart last

Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, he
was the first black player on a
major league team. He died in
1972 and his No. 42 was retired
throughout baseball in 1997.

oThis medal confirms what
we know, ? Rachel Robinson said.
oJackie Robinson stands as a he-
roic role model for all Americans
who believe in justice and equal-
ity.

Speakers extolled Robinson

Bocing T Chief Financial Officer replaces ousted CEO

October, a month before the retail
giant merged with Sears. He is now
the number three executive at that
company.

Stanley O TNeal has led Merrill
Lynch & Co. since 2001, and Ri-
chard oDick ? Parsons became
chairman and CEO of media titan
Time Warner the same year.

At least one black corporate
heavy hitter, though, has been un-
done by scandal in recent months.
Franklin Raines, former chairman
and CEO at mortgage giant Fannie
Mae, was ousted after an account-
ing scandal in December. Ironically,
Fannie Mae had been the largest
company headed by an African-
American before Raines T departure.

Alfred Edmond, editor-in-
chief of Black Enterprise magazine,
told BlackAmericaWeb.com in
January that ethical scandals like
the one that befell Raines would
likely continue to affect African-
Americans, who are now deeply en-
trenched in the corporate world.

oAfrican-Americans are no less
vulnerable to temptations and poor

ly awarded Congressional Gold

as a courageous athlete who suf-
fered taunts and slurs from fans
and fellow players, ignoring
them as he proved both a bril-
liant ballplayer and a civil rights
hero. The latter role wasn Tt one
he sought but it became inevi-
table after Dodgers owner
Branch Rickey bucked much of
popular opinion and signed him.

oHe knew he was a symbol
and a barrier-breaker, and that
staying the course would have

ethics than anybody else, ? he said.
oAs we climb higher, some of us
will fall but at least we're getting
the chance to climb. I think in
2005, we're going to see a lot of
progress that will far outstrip the
negative news. ?

This time around, it was a
scandal involving a white execu-
tive that put Bell on the top rung.

He replaced former CEO
Harry Stonecipher on March 6, af-
ter Stonecipher resigned when it
was revealed that he was having a
consensual affair with a female em-
ployee. The woman did not report
directly to Stonecipher and the af-
fair was not against company

olicy, but Boeing's board decided

tonecipher should step down
anyway because othe facts reflected
poorly on Harry's judgment and
would impair his ability to lead the
company, ? according to a com-
pany statement.

Stonecipher was considered a
stickler for ethical conduct and was
hired out of retirement to help Boeing
clean up its image following another
corporate scandal in 2002.

Keith Reed writes for the
BlackAmericaWeb,com

Medal

Jackie Robinson, : shown here in
1971, spent a lifetime opposing
race discrimination.

consequences for millions of
cople to come, ? Rep. Mel Watt,
-N.C., chairman: of the Con-

gressional Black Caucus, said.

Robinson stayed the course,
and excelled. He was rookie of
the year in 1947, and was voted
the league's Most Valuable Player
in 1949 when he batted .342 and
drove in 124 runs, He played 10
seasons with the Brooklyn Dodg-
ers, often at second base.

He was elected to baseball's
Hall of Fame in 1962.

Speakers at Wednesday Ts cer-
emony recalled hearing of
Robinson's exploits or watching
him play in their youth, proving
once again that whatever ideo-
logical differences divide them,
America Ts pastime rarely fails to

SEE JACKIE ROBINSON PAGE 9

; and including having

Race, Gender a

There is undeniable evidence

that African-Americans have made

_ impressive progress in Corporate
aes On America.
Chenault is
chairman
and CEO of
American
Express. Ri-
chard Par-
sons is chair-
man and
CEO of
AOL Time
= mee Warner. E.
eee Stanley
aie holds a similar title at
Merrill Lynch & Co. Aylwin Lewis
is president and CEO of Kmart.
Ann M. Fudge holds the same titles
at Young & Rubicam Brands.

-_° A report just released by the
Executive Leadership Council in
Washington, D.C. offers more en-
couraging news. According to its
findings, African-Americans now
hold 8.1 percent of the board seats
on Fortune 500 companies.

What that means on an indi-
vidual level is that some African-

Americans are Finally being allowed
to advance to a level commensurate
with their talent. Collectively, it means
that young Black kids can now model
their lives and careers after Black cor-
porate superstars rather than profes-
sional, athletes and entertainers.

As much progress as we've made
in this area, there is still plenty of
room for growth.

While it is impressive that Blacks
hold 8.1 percent of the board seats on
Fortune 500 companies, that Ts about
double the African-American repre-
sentation in the executive suite. In
other words, it Ts twice as easy to be an
outsider elected to set policy for a For-
tune 500 firm than it is for a Black to
rise to the top from within the com-

Pany.

A 1995 report by the federal
Glass Ceiling Commission ob-
served, oAt the highest levels of busi-
ness, there is indeed a barrier only
rarely penetrated by women or per-

By Susie Clemons
oFree by 63 ?, and the signifi-
cance of 07 and 40. To the naked
cye the numbers 63, 07, and 40 are
just that, numbers. Upon further in-
spection, however, and depending
upon one's conversational pursuits,
07 - no matter its low numerical
value - looms large when the num-
ber 20 becomes its front end com-
panion. It's been 40 years almost to

Military

by Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Amsterdam News
NEW YORK (NNPA) - The mili-
tary spends about $3 billion each
" Year to convince young people that
enlistment will give them college
money, job training and an alterna-
tive to working at McDonald's. In
the wake of the growing conflict in
Iraq, which has resulted in more
than a fifteen hundred U.S. casual-
ties, the military has become more
aggressive in scouting out high
school students willing and able to
serve.
In many New York City public
schools that are predominantly
Black and Latino, military recruit-
ers are a heavy presence, promisin
e financial security an
@ fulfilling career. Recruiters roam
the halls, set up tables and even pull
students out of class.
But in recent months, a group
of teenagers and anti-war veterans
been canvassing the neighbor-

have
hoods where the recruiters frequent,

to convince students to con-
options,

oWe've heard everything up to

a desk in the

counselors office, ? said

y¥ Wagner of Youth Activists-

Youth (YaYas), a group that

-. focuses on counter-recruitment.
oWhen the kid comes in to talk to
. the counselor

about college, before

oft

Your R

sons of color. Consider: 97% of the
senior n F of Fortune 1000 in-
dustrial and Fortune 500 companies
are white; 95 to 97% are male. In
Fortune 2000 industrial and service
companies, 5 % of senior managers
are women " and of that 5 percent,
virtually all are white. ? _

The Glass-Ceiling report ob-
serves, *... The world at the top of the

working population, is
norities, ra pee The oro porte
ro year, people r
and women will make up 62 percent
of the workforce. _
U.S. Census Bureau projections
show that over the next 50 years, the
U.S. population will grow by 50

percent, with 90 percent of that |.
ing among People of |
ite population in- |

growth occurri
color while the y
creases by only 7.4 percent. Given
these dramatic changes in the pu-
lation and the workforce, White.
males can't continue to enjoy the vir-

tual monopoly they've held on the

top jobs in Corporate America.
The Executive Leadership
Council represents African-Ameri-
cans at the senior level in corpora-
tions, two or three rungs below the
CEO. What is striking about its in-
augural report on Black board direc-
torships is that while 67 percent of
the Fortune 500 companies have at
least one Black on their board, a third
~ 33 percent " have no African-
There are 5,572 total board seats
for Fortune 500 companies. Of those,
449 or 8.1 per cent are held by Afri-
can-Americans. Black men hold more
than three times as Many seats than
African-American women. Black men
hold 344 of the total board seats, or
6.2 percent, and Black women hold
only 105, of 1.9 percent.
Interestingly, there was a major
difference between the top 100
members of the Fortune 500 and the
bortom 100. Of the top 100 com-
ies on the Fortune 500 list,
Blacks held 10.9 percent of the seats.

the day when, The Civil Rights Act
1965

» the most significant com-

of
_ prehensive human rights bill, was

by congress.

years prior to the ruling

and in anticipation of which, the Na-

tional Association for the Advance-

ment of Colored Peoples coined the

sum of the Black experience in

America with the slogan: oFree by
63 ?.

Two thousand - seven, August

| 2007 in particular, is when congress

will vote to reauthorize the three

. Parts, or sections, of the 1965 Vor-

ing Rights Act (VRA) set to then ex-
ire.
° But then you knew that right?
If not, the following freedoms now
taken for granted could very much
be on the front burner should the
Congressional vote have a hiccup in
memory:
Section 5- any change to the
cannot have the effect of de-
nying voting access based on race or
anguage in a minority group.
Section 203- Bilingual assis-
tance must remain in place in poll-
ing areas where concentrations of

Recruiters Face Resistance

want (0 go to college? How are you
going to pay for college? ?

ew York City organizers are
educating people about alternatives
to enlisting and the realities of mili-
tary life. Vietnam veterans and anti-
war activists Jim Murphy and Dayl
Wise visit high schools, where th
recount for the students stories about

eit time in the service.

In one class of juniors at West
Side High School, Murphy told
them that before the service, he spent
time making money playing seven-
card stud. Once he left community
college, he was drafted.

I wasnt smart enough to have
fear about it, ? Murphy told the class.
"I didn Tt have a clue.

Wise, who was in the infantry,
didn't want to go to war when he was
drafted. His father offered to help
send him to Canada.

oI took the easy way out by re-
porting for duty, ? he said. oIt takes
a braver person. | let it happen to
me? | didn Tt have a plan. | gave up
control, ?

He warned the students: o TPlease
have a plan. Don't let others make

r you.

The YaYas, staffed almost en-
tirely by high school students of
color, work to make sure young
id falling into military ser-
vice because it seems like the only

emt,

oIt's either jail or thigumilitary, ?

said Jeannel Bishop, a senior at

sd Congest

For the 100 at the bottom of the list,
Blacks were only 0.6 percent of theit
directors. a ;
What was surprising was the
number of firms that have no Black
directors yet expect African-Ameri-
cans to continue supporting their
products, They include: Safeway,
nc., Intel Corp., Kmart Holdin

Corp:, Massachusetts Mutual Life

~ Insurance Co., Lehman Brothers

Despite Bush's Social Security Pitch to Blacks, Let the Buyer Beware

By: Wayne Dawkins
Republican and Democrat vot-
ets in red
- and blue
. States can't
on the
true color
of the sky
when they
wake up

; Security
reform, most of them see purple.
Numerous polls are reporting
that Americans are not jumping en-
thusiastically at the Bush plan to
privatize Social Security, then dump
the 70-year-old system. Since senior
citizens were not scared effectively
by exaggerated claims that Social
Security was about to go bankrupt,
and young adults a indifferent
about the future of program, the
Bush administration late last week
announced it was going to step up
their sales pitch and launch a rapid
response campaign that posts op-ed
essays and letters to the editor in
response to critical press coverage.
Bush's Social Security plan is
in trouble because of Bush him-
self. He tried a Chicken Little
strategy, and most Americans un-
derstand that the sky is not fall-
ing, and Social Security will not
collapse anytime soon. Plus, he

at To Vote Be Challe

7 Learners exist.
Sections 6 and 9- Federal exam-
inees must continue to have moni-
toring access to polling sites to avert
acts of intimidation (which the men-
tally challenged have been known to

engage.)

*E it the case that oFree by 63 ?
should now become ocan't we all get
along in 07". No less in anticipa-
tion of the best and the worst Con-
gress have to offer. It is indeed in-
comprehensible to think that basic
voting freedoms are at stake within
a land where democracy clothes her-
self as the Statue of liberty, Capitol
Hill, Hollywood and Religion.

All this and more while Ameri-
can troops are continually inter-
spersed through out foreign lands

towing tidings of Democracy on
the one hand and spent bullet shells,
Coca Cola and McDonalds on the
other- knowing in the end they'll re-
turn home not as hero's bat as has
been's also caught in the struggle.

But then why bother with
thoughts that the Voting Rights Act
could be repealed? Furthermore,
why think less than perfect thoughts

Brooklyn's South Shore High School

and a YaYas staffer. Many students

at her school think enlistment is the
t they can accomplish.

en Navy recruiters visited

her school recently, students were

allowed to leave class to visit with

them.
Bishop brought pamphlets and
confronted the recruiters about their

assurances of tuition and training.
She pointed out to them and other
students nearby that getting college
money was a much more compl
cated and uncertain process.

oI was taking over their whole
show, ? Bishop said. "|The recruit-
ers} were amazed. ?

Three students who had been
opumped up about the military ? had
second thoughts after Bishop spoke.
It took just a little information for
them to have doubts, she said.

Besides speaking out in their
own schools, the YaYas hold work-
shops for teenagers and make pre-
sentations to PTAs They encourage
students to post literature in the
guidance office and set up counter-
recruitment tables next to military
recruiters. Most importantly, they
want young people to make an in-
formed choice, Wagner said.

For instance, most students

t know that:
- Two-thirds of recruits don't get
any college money, according to the
Central Committee for Conscien-
tious Objectors.

don

Holdings, Inc., Rite Aid Corp.,
Qwest mmunications Interna-
tional, Humana, Inc., Whirlpool,
Capitol One Financial Corp.,
Centex Corp., Pulte Homes, Guard-
ian Life Insurance Co. of America,
American Standard Cos., Boise Cas-
cade Corp., Newell Rubbermaid,

Inc., the First. American Corp.,

Apple Computer, Land O'Lakes,
Southwest Airline Co., N.G.R.

didn Tt offer up enough specifics
about shifting a reliable retirement
program from the federal govern-
ment to Wall Street.

Conservatives and liberals, Re-
publicans and Democrats saw a big
problem in accepting such a dra-
matic change with such flimsy de-
tail. |

Blacks, regardless of their po-
litical leanings, must eye this
policy debate with the skepticism
of hawks, then not hesitate to leap
into the debate. Jump in, please,
because the Bush administration is
trying to play us for fools. Bush
has sold the private investment
accounts proposal as a no-brainer
to black self-interest.

Blacks on average live shorter
lives than whites " goes the admin-
istration pitch " so that means
most blacks pay more into the gov-
ernment-tun Social Security sys-
tem and get less from program.

Right? Not quite. The Bush
administration scheme is mislead-
ing.

° Right now, Social Security lev-
els the playing field for many black
retirees who dont have as much in-
vestment income as whites, a dis-
advantage that reveals the legacy
of legal segregation and job dis-
crimination. About 63 percent of
whites have asset income for retire-
ment; for blacks, asset income is
29 percent, reports the National
Committee to Preserve Social Se-
curity and Medicare. Thirty seven
percent of black beneficiaries rely

ge in 2007?

about the dethocratie duty of Ameti-
can troops in far aWaytlands*: And
why shouldn't.thege bgsome degree
of comfort in knowing that Jesse
Jackson and his Rainbow Push Coa-
lition will always ride in on white
horses and snatch up the poor, de-
fenseless and marginalized from the
claws of oppression.

Jesse is, in fact, gearing up fora
mass mobilization march set to take
place in Atlanta, GA this summer.
But march for what? The march is
to ensure that your voice will con-
tinue to be heard at the polls, no
matter if some voices have become
hypocritically tongue tied to issues
attached to the Civil Rights (moral)
agenda- and without merit.

But apart from that side bar is
the very real notion that Adanta, GA
will become a hot bed for political

oings on this summer. After all
facktons march is set to occur the
same time that T.D. Jakes will be
hosting the Megafest family confer-
ence, which is rumored to be larg-
est and best yet, August 3-6.

The powerhouse mix of Jack-
son and Jakes in Atlanta- at the

- Most people in the military do
not have time te attend college while
in the service.

+ To qualify for college mon
recruits have to pay $100 per mont
for a year,

- The unemployment rate for
veterans is three times higher than
the national average.

- People who sign up with the
Delayed uy Program are told they
cant change their minds, but getting
out is as simple as writing a letter.

- The enlistment contract is for

eig ( years.

- There are other ways to finance
college, like federal financial aid, pri-
vate scholarships, going to commu-
nity college or joining AmeriCorps.

ut educating youth is not just
about these facts and figures, r
said. The war in Iraq makes their
work much more urgent, she said.

oThey're still telling peo you
can go to any, Japan, but the
reality is che T vast majority are going
to Iraq, ? Wagner said oYou risk los-
ing life and limb; you risk being a
murderer. ?

Giving young people a complete

picture of enlisting rests on the cour-
age and initiative of activists, guid-
ance counselors and principals. Of-
fe the Pesos sales pitches, bro-
ures and posters go unchallenged.
Many educators fear principals
will retaliate if they speak out,
Wagner said. Some cian are reti-
cent to limit the military's presence

a

- 99. Caesars Entertain-
ment, Dole Food Co., Goodrich
Corp., Jones Apparel Group, Levi
Strauss & Co., Starwood Hotels &
Resorts Worldwide, Ross Stores,
Host Marriott Corp., and Gateway.

If those companies don Tt think

\ : J erica... Barnes & Noble, Mattel,

enough of us to have an African-

American on their board of directors,
we should think enough of ourselves
not to spend our money with them.
And we should let them know why

on Social Security for all of their
income because of a lack of other
income at retirement.

_ The government system is also

ood to Blacks who have suffered
disabilities On average, blacks get
more out of the system than they
put in.

Maya Rockeymoore, the Con-

ressional Black Caucus
oundation Ts vice president of re-

search and programs, wrote last
year that 17 percent of blacks re-
ceived Social Security disability
benefits, despite representing 12
percent of the population. Fur-
thermore, 68 percent of blacks are
Kept out of poverty because of dis-
ability benefits.

oAftican-Americans must take
care to understand the importance
of Social Security and the impli-
cations of privatizing the system, ?
wrote Rockeymoore, words worth
repeating in this wrongheaded
push by the Bush administration
to force privatized retirement ac-
counts down Americans T throats.

Black conservatives like Alvin
Williams and Star Parker pub-
lished op-ed essays in the last week
suggesting that blacks and advo-
cates like the NAACP either go
against their self-interests or are
simply knee-jerk opponents in re-
sisting the Bush plan.

Actually, the skeptics sense a
shady scheme.

An article in the Wilmington,
N.C. Journal this week explained:
In targeting blacks " then telling

_ George E. Curty is editor-in.
chief of the NNPA News Service
and BlackPressUSA.com. He ap-
ars on National Public Radio
{NPR) three times a week as part of
Gem sad Notes ith Ed Gordon, ?
Curry Ts weekly radio commen is
syndicated by Capitol Radio Nowe .
Service (301/588-1993). He can be
reached through his Web Site,

georgecurry.com.

them that Social Security cheats
them out of money because of a
significant disparity in life expect.
ancy " what's not noted is that
when you take the high black in-
fant mortality rate out of the equa-
tion and compare the life expect-
ancy of black and white young
adults advancing to old age, a
nine-year gap shrinks to a compa-
rable two years.

According to a Reuters dis-
patch at the end of February, av-
erage life expectancy is now 77.6

ears, but black men live 6.2 years
ess than whites, and black women
live 4.4 years less, according to the
Centers for Disease Control,

Right now, Social Securit
serves most blacks well. The Bush
administration has acknowledged
that private retirement accounts are
not substitutes for what is fiscally
troubling with Social Security,

Most Americans right now are
not feeling Bush Ts private accounts
plan. So why are blacks being tar-
geted to rally around a proposal
that appears suspect?

Buyer, beware.

Wayne Dawkins is the former
managing editor of
BlackAmericaWeb.com. Previ-
ously he was an associate editor
and columnist with the Daily Press
in Newport News, Va. and before
that newspapers in Indiana, New
Jersey and New York. Dawkins is
author of oRugged Waters: Black
Journalists Swim the Mainstream, ?
published by August Press

same time drawing hoards of
people, and not just Black people-
carries whispers of King Ts I have a
Dream speech at the Washin ton

i Monument. Thoughts of which

ring on oback Tin the days when

things were good and we were
close ? memories. Recall that King
foretold much in his speech includ-
ing oLet freedom ring from Stone
Mountain of Georgia!

Clarity of mind is necessary
when wrapping your thoughts
around that, while also making some
sense of the bizarre shootin incident
inf Atlanta most recent y. The
wher, Brian Nichols, appeared to
havétost his last good sense. What
withgeveral families still in mourn-
ing, however, untold scores of
friends, acquaintances, business as-
sociates and concerned area citizens
still in shock, was his act of rage co-
incidental or just a blurb on the
screen in view of the hit Adanta will
take this summer? No need to di-
Fess to conspiracy theories, but
some things just- well...

On the matter of oFree by 63 ?
and the significance of 07' and 40
just how 4 have we traveled, and

who's been left behind in the dust of

Black Flight into the mindset of
ohaving arrived? ? Greater, how
many more miles to Freedom and
how much more will it cost a3? ~~

I caution that while your Con-
stitutional Right to vore i$ not in
jeopardy, should any portions of sec-
tions 5, section 205 or sections 6 and

removed or rewritten to lesser
extents, is when Jim Crow awakes
from his semi-meditative state rais-
ing cain ,

I'd like to take this time to
thank Bev Smith and Tavis Smiley

for keeping us all in the loop on

very real yet oft hidden issues af-
fecting our people and as well sti-
fling our collective movement. |
am as well deeply indebted to the
enius of historian Mr. John Hope
ranklin. For without his well
written Black history guide- From
Slavery To Freedom, 7th edition,
McGraw Hill, New York 1994- the
succinct comprehension of our
beginning, -our collective struggle
and our accomplishments would
have remained well beneath my fa-
dar detector.
For comments and additional
dialog email Susie Clemons at
Opinionsandtalk@yahoo.com

because they think they will lose fed-
eral funding, she said.

No Child Left Behind, the edu-
cational policy touted by the Bush

inistration, requires that recruit-
ers and college representatives have
equal access to students. This is of.
ten misinterpreted as unlimited ac-
cess. Policy on recruiter access in
New York City public schools is de-
termined school by school and var-
ies widely.

But some school districts have
jaxen a more active role and regu-
late recruiters T visits, In Madison,
Wisconsin, recruiters are only per-
mitted to be in each high school
three days during the school year.

Their policy states that guidance
counselors can distribute both mili-
tary and counter-recruitment infor-
mation.
rahi is alse hance en-

policy in New York City goy-
erning opt-out forms, which lest
dents choose whether to release their
oe information to recruiters,
any principals, Wagner said, are
hot even aware of the opt-out form.
Some schools give out the form,
without any explanation and make
no effort to collect it from students,
she said.

Wagner said some students
think that signing the forms will
mean. their information is not re-

to any institutions, including
colleges,
ther students, often immi-
francs, fear they will get in trouble
r

ll
signing, she said.
ntly, New York City stu-

dents are often only given the opt-
out form in the ninth grade, Wagner
said. Because recruiters ask for 11th
and 12th grade lists, schools should
send out the forms each year, she
Said. .

In Montclair, N.J., the high
school sends a fact sheet with the opt-
out form. Tenth-graders who have
not returned the forms are called. If

¢ form is still not turned in, it will
be passed out the followin year.
ivists have disc working
on a New York City Council resolu.
tion to require schools to collect the
orms from every student. Members
of the YaYas and the New York Civil
Liberties Union have met with the
partment of Education (DOE) to
USCUSs putting together an informa-
tion packet for principals about opt-
out, agner said the DOE was re-
ceptive. Calls to the DOE were not
returned.

Local counter-recruiters also
plan to make use of the recent Third
Citcuit Court's ruling that Yale Law
School, which has a non-discrimina-
tion policy, can ban recruiters from
'ts Campus without risk of losing fed-
eral funding, because the miliary

iscriminates against pays,

However, without zhe help of

_ the Department of Education or the

ty Council, counter-recruiters T ef.
orts can only go so far. This frustra-
tion is evident in veteran Dayl Wise
said that givi
Nhrowing gue, fecal
throwing grains of sand on the
beach. ?

|

Hazel Trice Edney - NNPA,
ashington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) -
John Lewis will never forget
March 7, 1965, which would
oom . later be-
co me
known as
oBloody
Sunday. It
was the first
leg of the
54-mile
Selma-to-
ontgom-
, ery, Ala.
~ march orga-
nized to
help win passage of a national
voting rights law. As chairman of
the Student Nonviolent Coordi-
nating Committee (SNCC),
Lewis was in front of the line as
it formed at Brown Chapel
A.M.E. Church, snaked through
downtown Selma, and pro-
ceeded along U.S. 80 en route
to the Alabama state capital.
oWe were walking in an or-
derly, peaceful fashion with no
one saying a word, ? says Lewis.
oTt was like military discipline,
more than 600 of us walking in
twos. We came to the highest
point on the [Edmund Pettus]
ridge, crossing the Alabama
River. Down below, we saw a sea
of blue - Alabama state troop-
ers. And we continued to walk.
And we came within hand dis--
tance of the state troopers. And
a man identified himself and
said, I am Major John Cloud of
the Alabama State Troopers.

_ This is an unlawful march. It

will not be allowed to continue.
- I give you three minutes to dis-
perse to your church. T ?

In an interview with the
NNPA News Service, Lewis,
now a U.S. Congressman from
Georgia, recalls what happened
next.

* oHe left. And in a minute
and a half, Major John Cloud
said, Troopers advance. T And we
saw these men putting on their
gas masks and the came toward
us, beating us wich night sticks,
bull whips, trampling us with
horses, releasing the tear gas, ?
Lewis recounts. I thought I was
By: Michelle Singleta
WASHINGTON " The relentless
battle by Republicans in Congress,
egged on by the credit card indus-
try, to push through a bankruptcy
bill reminds
me of George
Foreman and
the rope-a-
dope boxing
technique
~ Muhammad
Ali used on
him in their
historic fight
wae in 1974.

For several years now, the
Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and
Consumer Protection Act (and
trust me there's little meaningful

rotection for consumers in this
Flawed piece of legislation) has
stayed in the legislative ring.

The fight to get the bank-
ruptcy bill passed is the classic
rope-a-dope. Despite repeated
punches, proponents of the bank-
ruptcy bill just keep standing up
against the ropes waiting for the
time they can claim a victory

Purchased Pulpits And

by Jasmyne Cannick
oL freed a thousand slaves I could have
freed a thousand more if only they
knew they were slaves... ? - Harriet
Tubman
Recently,
a group of
| | Black pastors
sjunder the
|name of the
Hi Impact
Coalition,
held a press
¢onference
and summit
in Los Ange-
les to an-
nounce the
kick off for their oBlack Contract with
America op. Moral Values. ? Led by
Bishop Harry Jackson of Washington
and white Christian ical Rev-
erend Lou Sheldon and his Traditional
Values Coalition, the press conference
and summit gave new meaning to the
phrase oSleeping with the enemy.
According to the newly formed
coalition, topping the list of issues that
Black Ameri
the protection of marriage. Never
mind the war, access to healthcare,
HIV/AIDS, education, housing and
social security, the number one prob-
lem facing Black America is same-sex

need to focus on is "

oing to die. I thought I saw
death And I sort of said to my-
self, I Tm going to die here. This
is my. last protest. T I just heard
people hollering and crying.
And. 40 years later, I don Tt recall
how I made it back across that
bridge, back to that little
church. ?
The graphic violence shown
on national television news pro-
grams that night helped to win

empathy and compassion for the.

protesters who retreated to the
Brown Chapel, where they had
begun the march. |

Next Tuesday will mark the
40th anniversary of Bloody Sun-
day. While no one questions the
effectiveness of the Selma-to-
Montgomery March, some ask
whether marching is a tactic that
has outlived its usefulness.

oDr. King said - and I think
after all these years later, it Ts still
very relevant " he said, There
is nothing more powerful than
the marching feet of a deter-
mined people, ? Lewis recalls.

Jesse Jackson Sr., who
dropped out of the Chicago
Theological Seminary to partici-
pate in the Selma-to-Montgom-
ery March, agrees.

oMarching inspires people.
It educates people, ? ? says Jack-
son, president and CEO of the
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
oWhen the mass march comes,
the camera comes. The to and
fro takes place. The anxiety rises.
Involvement happens. Mass ac-
tion gets mass results. Usually,
class action gets class results.
Inaction gets no results. ?

_ Jackson points to his home-
town, Greenville, S.C., as an ex-
ample of how protest still works.
Greenville went for 19 years
without recognizing the Martin
Luther King holiday

Jackson returned to his
hometown to lead marches

_ around the issue and help oust

three council members opposed
to honoring Dr. King. On Feb-
ruary 1, the Greenville County
Council voted 7-5 to begin ob-
serving the holiday next year.
oIt Ts litigation, demonstra-
tion, legislation and registration.
It has always taken that combi-

against already financially spent
consumers.

Proponents of the bill argue that
the current bankruptcy system needs
a major overhaul because too many
people who have the means to repa
their creditors walk away from their
financial obligations. To hear them
tell it, people are jumping for joy
when the come out of bankruptcy
because they have cleverly avoided
having to pay their debts.

at's just not so, argue con-
sumer groups and others fighting
to defeat the bill. In a letter to Sen-
ate leaders, a group of bankruptcy
and commercial law experts argue
that even if the system needs fix-
ing, what's in the ring now is
flawed. The current bankruptcy
system works as it should, the
groups contend. Bankruptcy
judges and trustees overseeing con-
sumer bankruptcy cases do exactly
what they are supposed to do. They
ferret out the system-cheaters.
They make consumers with finan-
cial resources pay back their credi-
tors. For example, when consum-
ers file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy

marriage. .

- Standing before the press in their
Sunday best and eager to get their fif-
teen minutes of fame and achievable
share of President Bush's Faith Based
Initiative, these Black pastors seem-
ingly allowed their pulpits to be pur-
chased by the GOP and Lou Sheldon,
who is to gay people what Strom
Thurmond was to Blacks. Sheldon at
one ume even went so fr as ° sup.

rt the quarantining o e wi
Al DS and accused the federal govern-
ment of orunning a network of
whorehouses, ? when the U.S. re-
sponded to the AIDS crisis with re-
sources,

Later that afternoon over one
hundred Black pastors gathered at
Reverend Fred Price's Crenshaw
Christian Center, another prominent
mega-church, where Sheldon showed
his infamous ony fights special
rights ? video and urged the pastors to
have theif congregations lobby Afri-
can American legislators who hadn't
taken a position on the issue of same-
sex marriage.

Listenin ae ihe ene one
might have t they were listen-
ni on a Klan meeting, but after
eter ar

r thi of Dave e's por-
trayal of a blind Black white ieee

- highest bi

Nat Irvin, founder of Future
Focus 220, a futuristic think
tank at Wake Forest University
in neighboring North Carolina,
thinks marching is quickly be-
coming a thing of the past.
oIt will be difficult to find
one issue that will cause masses
of Black people to take to the
streets, ? Irvin predicts. oIt would
have to be really an egregious
kind of thing directed at Black
eople intentionally to cause
Black people to respond. ?
Jackson is not convinced.
oIt Ts always been those who
didn Tt want to march and com-

plained about. marching, who

didn Tt understand marching, ? he
counters. oWe're debating a
time-tested winner. ?

John Lewis andgprotesters in-
Selma certainly emerged as win-

ners.
Eventually, more than 3,000
peciettet austcecd across the

ridge en route to Montgomery. _

After the rally in Montgomery,
violence struck again.

Viola Gregg Liuzzo, 39, the
wife of a Detroit Teamster offi-
cial and mother of four who had
gone South to support civil
rights, had been shot to death by
a carload of Klansmen as she and
a young Black SCLC worker
were on their way to Montgom-
ery to return some demonstrators
to Selma.

Three of the four Klansmen
were charged with murder; the
fourth was an undercover FBI in-
formant. The first trial ended in
a hung jury and the second in an
acquittal. The three were finall
convicted of violating Liuzzo Ts
civil rights and each was sen-
tenced to 10 years in prison.

Moved by the continued vio-
lence against African-Americans
and their supporters,Congress
passed the Voting Rights Act that
summer, and President Lyndon
B. Johnson signed it into faw on
Aug. 6, 1965, removing many of
the barriers to Black political
empowerment. Black elected of-
ficials increased from 300 in
1965 to 9,040 in 2000, accord-
ing to the Joint Center for Po-
litical and Economic Studies.

Civil rights issues of the 21st
century, including the need for

Bankruptcy Rope-A-Dope

and can clearly pay something, the
courts have the authority to switch
those people to Chapter 13.

Still, supporters of the bank-
ruptcy bill say the system is being
abused. They want debtors to sub-
mit to needs-based testing to de-
termine whether they should be al-
lowed to file under Chapter 7 or
be forced into Chapter 13.

Under Chapter 7, almost all
debts are erased. Filers are usually
allowed to keep certain property,
such as some equity in a primary
residence and household goods.
The majority of individuals filing
for bankruptcy protection use
Chapter 7. Under Chapter 13,
creditors are repaid, in full or in
part, in installments over a three-
to-five-year period.

For many opponents of the
bankruptcy bill, the means testing
is the most worrisome. It doesn Tt al-
low the courts to consider whether a
debtor is seeking bankruptcy relief
because of some terrible circum-
stance, complains Edmund
Mierzwinski, consumer program di-
rector for the nonprofit U. . Public

o had never been told he was

health care, quality education,
anti-war policies, and continued
protections for voting rights are
more than enough reason to
continue marching, says Lewis.
Lucy G. Barber, author of
oMarching on Washington: The
Forging of an American Politi-
cal Tradition, ? agrees that
marching in America will in-
crease - but for different reasons.
oIt used to be somethin
that Ts done by more libera
groups. Now, groups of all dif-
erent stripes use protest at the
local level and at the national
level to publicize their causes
and draw attention to it, ? says
Barber, an archivist and histo-
rian for the California State Ar-
chives in Sacramento.
Recently, conservative
groups have taken to the streets
to highlight the issues of same-
sex marriages and abortion.
Carl Mack, a former
NAACP chapter president in
Washington state and now ex-
ecutive director of the National
Society of Black Engineers, says
marching will remain an effec-
tive tool. 7

oYou have to sustain it. And,
of course, when you do some-
thing as dramatic as march on
the Freeway in rush hour traffic,
it is impactful, ? Mack says.

He was referring to his
NAACP chapter Ts response to
the 2002 shooting death of a
Black motorist by an off-duty
White sheriff in Seattle. They
marched on the freeway to call
attention to the issue, then con-
tinued marches and protests over
the next two years.

On the opposite coast,
Damu Smith, chairman and
founder of Black Voices for
Peace, says his group will join
anti-war marches at Fort Brag
in Fayetteville, N.C. on March
19 and on Sept.10 in New York
during a special session of the
United Nations.

oWe have not been able to
compel a fundamental change in
the policy, but we have put the
Bush administration on the de-
fensive about this war. ? Smith
says.

Shanta Driver, a convener of
BAMN (By Any Means Neces-
sary), the group that organized

am | ¢ %

00 mm

at least 10,000 student march-
ers outside the U. S. Supreme
Court two years ago as justices
heard arguments in two Univer:
sity of Michigan affirmative ac-
tion cases. :

She is organizing a march
for April 1 in Ann Atbor to op-
pose Black conservative Ward
Connerly Ts ballot initiative to
limit affirmative action in
Michigan. |
oWe' calling it Operation
King Ts Dream T ?, Driver says.
oWe believe his methods of.
fighting and his vision are one. ?

Meanwhile, Lewis is prepar-
ing to commemorate Bloody
Sunday by marching with a
group back across the Edmund
Pettus Bridge on Sunday.

oMore than anything you
have to have a group of people,
dedicated, committed with a
made up mind that are prepared,
literally, to do the extraordi-
nary, ? Lewis says. oThey may not
be beaten.

They may not get arrested.
But, simple, organized marching
will appeal to the conscious of
the people. ?

Interest Research Group.

Other opponents of the bill
have a problem with a requirement
that would force individual debt-
ors to get credit counseling. On the
surface that sounds reasonable.
However, recent Senate hearings
found some disturbing problems
in the credit counseling industry,

. as a group of bankruptcy and com-

mercial law professions pointed
out in a lettey to Sens. Arlen Spec-
ter, chairman of the Judiciary
Commitee, and Patrick Leahy, the
ranking Democrat.

oThe industry is plagued with
consumer complaints about exces-
sive fees, pressure tactics, nonexist-
ent counseling and education,
promised results that never come
about, ruined credit ratings, poor
service, and in many cases being
left in worse debt than before they
initiated their debt management
plan, ? wrote the group of profes-
sors, who erie leading authori-
ties on bankruptcy such as Eliza-
beth Warren of Harvard Law
School.

I know some of you are already
scrunching your face up, ready to
pen me a Vetter or shoot off an e-

\

Spiritual Exploitations

Black pulpits are for sale to the
delet and Black Christians

are quite possibly being sold to the
GOP under the guise of protecting
Americas moral values. With claims
that gays are ohi-jacking ? the civil
ights movement and Martin Luther

Jr.'s message, Sheldon is bribing T
Black pastor after pastor and ch
after church with check after check to

take another look at the GOP and
partnering with their white Christian
counterparts all while using the Bible
as a justification for their commonal-
ity. Yes, the same book that was used
to justify racism, sexism and anti-
Semitism has both Black and white
Christian evangelicals reading from
the same page,

Few remember, that there
were significant members of the
Black church including the Na-
tional Baptist Convention led by
Dr. J.H. Jackson in the 50 Ts that
vehemently opposed the civil
rights movement and didn Tt want
Progressive ministers like Dr. King
to have any confrontations wit
the government. So much so, that
was one of the major factors in Dr.
King Ts decision to create the
Southern Christian Leadership

onference along with Los Ange-
les ministers Reverend James
Lawson and the late Dr. Thomas
Kilgore. .

These Black pastors who have
aligned themselves with white Chris-
tian evangelicals and Conservatives,
are the ideological oesoendlens ofthe
same people who o r.
in 508 and what heels but Ag
day want to claim his message as their
own in the name of protecting the in-
stitution of marriage therefore giving
new meaning to the name oUncle
Tom. ?

However, don't think that these
new partnerships come without
strings attached. The Black vote is
expected to be hand delivered on
legislative that supports discrimina-
tion against gays and lesbians and
their right to protect their families,
denying a woman's right to choose
and pushing the President's absti-
nence only campaign. In addition,
our religious leaders are also ex-
pected to remain silent and not be
the prophetic voices they should be
on issues of critical importance to.
Blacks. In exchange for money,
they've essen their congre-
gations to people who continue to
oppose universal access to
haathcadel education and housing,

mail with outrage. People need to
be more responsible and shouldn't
be so easily entitled to a get-out-
of-debt-free card, you grumble.
I'm not suggestin that some folks
who file for bankruptcy haven't
been financially irresponsible. But
it is mote likely the case that a di-
vorce, major illness or job loss re-
sults in a consumer bankruptcy.

The truth is many people are
just a paycheck, job loss or uncov-
ered medical catastrophe away from
bankruptcy. And the fastest growing
group of bankruptcy filers is older
Americans, according to bankruptcy
and commercial law professors.
More than 50 percent of those 65
and older are driven to bankruptcy
by medical debts they cannot Pay.

oHere again, abuse is not the
issue, ? the professors said in an
open letter to senators. oThe bank-
ruptcy filing rate reveals holes in
the Medicare and Social Security
systems, as seniors and aging mem-
bers of the baby-boom generation
declare bankruptcy to deal with
Prescription drug bills, co-pays,
medical supplies, long-term care,
and job loss. ?

I have spent hours talking to

consumers who have filed for bank-
tuptcy. The folks I interviewed
didn't see a victory in their financial
failure. Many people who file for
bankruptcy feel ashamed. Most
people fle for bankruptcy as a last
resort. They don Tt go skipping in
and out of court gleeful that
didn Tt have to pay their debts. Many
of the provisions in the bankruptcy
bill are too harsh. This round, the
bankruptcy bill needs to be knocked
out for the count.

Listen to Michelle Singletary
discuss personal finance every
Tuesday on NPR Ts oDay to Day.
To hear her reports online go to
www.npr.org. Readers can write to
her c/o The Washington Post,
1150 15th St., N.W,, Washington,
D.C. 20071. Her e-mail address
is singletarym@washpost.com.
Comments and questions are wel-
come, but due to the volume of
mail, personal responses may not
be possible. Please also note com-
ments or questions may be used
in a future column, with the
writer's name, unless a specific re-
quest to do otherwise is indicated.

Ms. Singletery writes for the
Washington Post Writers Group

the very issues at the core of the
Black struggle. There's a coordi-
nated religious campaign to get
ministers across the state to speak
out against gays and the debate is
not about religion but more about
polities, power and keeping that po-
itical power in the hands of people
ee stood in the schoolhouse door,

ting for segregation and against
oe fa oa of Blacks in soci-
ety.

Zora Neal Hurston once said,
oNot all Black skin is kin. ?
Can I get a witness?
h ; Cannick

At 27, Jasmyne Cannick is fre-
quent presence on television and ra-
io and has appeared on numerous
media programs, including Black
Entertainment Television News, the
Tavis Smiley Show, Fox News and
the Bev Smith Show. She has also
been featured or quoted in articles
in the Associated Press, New York
Times, Los Angeles Times, Wash-
ington Post, St. Petersburg Times,
Africana.com, Eurweb.com and
Bet.com. Cannick is a member of
the National Association of Black
Journalists, a board member of the
yeti eT Hae Coalition, a
y civil rights organization

and cor roducer of the new cable
series Noah's Arc, America Ts first
lack gay series, Cannick is the Di-
rector of Public Relations for the

Black AIDS Institute. She lives in
Los Angeles and can be reached via
www.jasmynecannick.com

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USS. attorney has launched a quiet probe into the

_By Johnnie L., Roberts tant federal prosecutor in Manhattan, The violence first erupted into Death Row Records (now Tha Row).
NEW YORK ooo berwcen is involved. When Scudder was public view in the mid-1990s, That It took on all the bloodiness of a real
the trial of a rap iva vie for top head- tion he referred all inqueries to a Coast-West Coast rap wars pitting Shakur, Death Row Ts star, and the s -
lines recently, federal authorities are oman for U.S. attorney of the Sean oP. Diddy ? Combs T New York- ing a few months later of Notorious
Pressing a wide-ranging investigation District of New York. Cit- Sane Rin emerainmene spans BIG, Bad Boy's star. Both murders re-
into the $1.5-billion hip-hop music ing Justice Department policy, she Suge Knight's Los Angeles-based main unsolved, despite massive inves-
industry. would neither confirm nor deny the
According to top industry insid- existence of an investigation.
ets, federal investigators are digging For some of those caught up

into a playlist of crimes, ranging
extortion and robbery to the

_ industry's persistent violence and

mounting casualties "including the
unsolved murders of Tupac Shakur
and Notorious BIG. Investigators are
oasking about anyone in hip hop
from what I understand, ? says a top
music lawyer. Another top lawyer
and a prominent entertainment
business manager also said they were
aware of an investigation. In a recent
NEWSWEEK interview, one influ-
ential executive who was questioned
recently by investigators adds: oIt Ts a
investigation of hip hop and

the music business and the crimes

have come out of it. ?

Although the probe is months, if

not years, old, these sources say, buzz
about it began to resonate within hip-
hop circles in recent days, fueled by a
fresh round of violence when entou-
rages for The Game, rap Ts latest phe-
nomenon, and 50 Cent, perhaps rap's
biggest star, allegedly ngage in a
shooting match outside New York's top
hip-hop radio station on ones The
encounter left a member of The
Game's with a minor gunshot
wound, ie to authorities. Later,
several shots reportedly were fired in
front of 50 Cent's manager's office.
New York police are now taking pre-
cautions to try to prevent a rap war
between the wwe Sia Raymond
Kelly, New York City Ts police commis-

this week. .

se onialy the les shoo
3 test oc-
curred on the same day hers Lif
Kim went on wil for allegedly lying
to a federal ry investigating a
shootout in front of | the same tao
station in 2001. That firefight alleg-
edly involved a lo ite
between Lil T Kim and rapper Foxy
Brown. Federal investigators oare
pissed off, ? especially by the latest
shooting outsi radio station, said
one music industry insider who was
contacted by the federal investigators.
As best can be determined, the
U.S. attorney for Manhattan is lead-
ing the probe, either as part of a Jus-
uae Task Force, through
volving grand jury thar basicaly fe
vo ury
ens erent coal aly has
Says the prominent entertainment at-

torney.
ho ing to people familiar with
the matter, Scudder,

in the current investigation, it Ts a
. . ° b
jarring experience. oIt's scary, ? says

the prominent industry execitive _

who was questioned by investiga-
tors. This person, who isn Tt sus-

pected of any crimes, said he was _
~asked generally, owhat's going on

and what's the story ? about
shootings and unsolved murders.

Based on his contact with the au-
thorities, the executive said he believes ~

the investigators ohave found ary §

people who've come forward ? wi
evidence about artists being extorted
and robbed. oThey are looking at
money coming into the business and
going out of
tive said. .
The executive said he was asked
if he knew anything about two indi-
viduals in particular. One was Jimmy
Henchman Rosemond ho Case Enter-
tainment, a prominent talent-mai
ment firm whose clients ATE,
among others, The Game. Asked
whether he was aware that deral te
ors were ini ut
or whether hed been questonelby the
authorities, Rosemond through his
spokeswoman declined to comment.
oFF there is an investigation, we're not
concerned, ? said the spokeswoman,
Sibrena Stowe deFernandez. oWe're
legitimate business executives. ?
During their recent questioning
of witnesses, investigators also have
mentioned the recent indictment of
Irv oGotti ? Lorenzo, cofounder of rap
label The Inc. (formerly Murder Inc.).
Last month, the federal government
Gotti, as he is widely known,
with using The Inc. to help launder
drug money. (Hip-hop stars Ja Rule
and Ashanti record for the label, but
neither is implicated in the money-
laundering case.)

- During their questioning, inves-
tigators also expressed a d mila.
ity with the case against Lif Kim, sa
those who were recently amiervines
That investigators alluded to both the
Lil T Kim and Gotti cases suggests that
they might be linked to the broader
investigation.

¢ hip-hop scene, most notably
the gangsta rap music sub-genre, has
long been p' by violence. Hos-
tility has been a staple of gangsta rap
lyrics from the beginning, and many
of rap Ts top stars acknowledge that they
were former drug dealers or gang
members.

Ow neaerrs
?,? bac ew bes
sanvecd

business, ? the execu- |

By Robert Bums |

WASHINGTON - Young blacks
have grown markedly less willing to
join the Army, citing fear of being
sent to fight a war in Iraq they don't
believe in, according to
unpublicized studies for the military
that suggest the Army is entering a
prolonged recruiting slump.

Fear of combat also is a leading
reason fewer young women are
choosing the Army, the studies say.
Although female soldiers are barred
by law from assignments in direct
combat, they nonetheless have
found themselves under attack b
insurgents in Iraq, and 32 have died,

oMore African Americans iden-
tify having to fight for a cause they
don't support as a barrier to mili
service, ? concluded an August 2004

_ study for the Army. It also said atti-

tudes toward the Arm among all
groups of American youth have grown
More negative in recent years.

oIn the past, barriers were about
inconvenience or preference for an-
other life choice, ? the study said.
oNow they have switched to some-
thing quite different: fear of death
or injury. ? Statistically, the fear fac-
tor is about twice as strong among
potential recruits as a whole as it was
in 2000, the study said. That and
other studies, all of which are posted
on an obscure Defense Department
Web site, cited the Iraq war as a
major turnoff for many.

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Army Finds Recruiting Young

The Army has suffered more of
the 1,500-plus U.S. deaths in Iraq
than any other service, and thousands
have been wounded. Some sokiens
peat While Army leaders say soldiers

ave shown a strong interest in re-en-
listing, the strains of war seem to have
become a barrier to first-time enlist-
ees.

The Army's recruiting challenge
is critically important not only to
the long-term commitment in Iraq
but also to the Army Ts goal of ex-
panding by 30,000 soldiers.
Through the first five months of the
budget year which began last Oct.
1, the active Army is about 6 per-
cent behind schedule to meet its
2005 recruiting goal.

Explaining the overall drop-off,
Army officials cite an improving
national economy that offers more
career opportunities as well as con-
cern about the war in Iraq.

Blacks make up about 23 t
of today Ts active-duty Army, bat the
share o} Slacks in the recruit classes of
recent years dropped. From 22.7 per-
cent at the tithe of te Sept. 11, 2001
terrorist attacks, the share slid to 19.9
percent in 2002; 16.4 percent in 2003

and 15.9 percent last year, accordi ;
to figures provided By Ana Rea :
ing Co spokesman

= [Don't Mak

mmand
Smith

In fact, we provide it to them, 24/7. And, because of our consistent

, we've carned a solid reputation for reliability,

nd in the community, So you know you can depend
ness running like it should. Powerfully,

performance
In the business world a
On us to keep your busi

. rye 20° ind fi a long: o8
and, acconding to sources, a second rap
label that is highly familiar to the pub-
lic. Since the murders of the genre's
two bi stars, a of other kill-
i i ings and assaults

The slide has continued, drop-
ping to 13.9 percent as of Feb. 9.

A July 2004 study of parents T
influence on young people of re-
cruiting age found that black par-
ents have more say in their child Ts
career decisions
than is the case

hip-hop music business _

have left hip hop bloodstained. In
2002, Jam Master Jay of the pioneer.
ing rap group Run DMC was shor
dead. Authorities have yet to charge
anyone with his murder.

Jobnnig L. Roberts wirtes for Newsweek.

Blacks Tougher

As recently as 2001, before the
global war on terrorism, young
people tended to think of military
service as less risky. The 1991 Gulf
War had ended after only 100 hours
of ground combat wi relatively
few deaths,
and no

with white par- S
ents. Also,
black parents
trust the mili-
tary less and
have more

Youth The

Branch Ts Image Suf-
frag Among All Groups o
6 percent behind schedule to
meet its 2005 recruiting goal.

American
soldier died
in the 1999
air war over
SOVO.
Females

is about

moral objec-
tions to military service.

The Army isn Tt the only service
having trouble finding recruits. The
Marine Corps fell slightly short of
its recruiting goal in January - the
first month that had happened in
nearly a decade - amid parents T con-
cerns about the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. However, the Marines
remain on target to meet their full-
year goal. .

Navy and Air Force have had

no problems meeting their goals.

PA eRe done shortly
after President Bush declared major
combat operations in Iraq had
ended, concluded, oCombat is the
number one reason why ? blacks
dont want to join the Army.

Smith, the Army Recruiting
Command spokesman, said Mon-
day that the current, reduced level
of black recruits is closer to the per-
centage of young blacks in the eli-
pible nonin oOur strategy of

ing representative of America is

working, ? he said.

also are get-
ting harder to recruit, with the share
of females in Army recruiting classes
falling for four years running, from
21.6 percent in 2001 to 19.2 per-
cent last year. It has slipped still fur-
ther this year to 17.1 percent.

oOver time, females are seeing
less benefits to joining the Army and
more barriers, particularly combat-
related reasons, ? concluded another
study done for the Army last spring
by the market research firm
Millward Brown.

Another study cited a survey
that said 50 percent of youth rate
the Army as their last choice for a
career

° There is a lot of work to be done,
and it will eae: to make
major changes in the Army experience
and ie Ae image, ? thar study
concluded. Risks of military service,
and particularly the Army, are per-
ceived to far outweigh the rewards for
the vast majority of youth. ?
By Robert Burns writes for the AP

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Rev Al Sharpton -_

By Tracy Connor and Bill
Hutchinson
NEW YORK CITY -The Rev. Al
Sharpton is calling for a 90-day ban
on radio and TV airplay for any
performer who uses violence zo
settle scores or hype albums.
oThere has to be a way to step
in and regulate what Ts going on
with the airwaves and with vio-
lence, ? Sharpton told the Daity
News yesterday. oThe airwaves are
being used to romanticize urban
violence. ?

oe

esidential Candidate

The activist minister plans to
ask the Federal. Communications

_ Commission and the country Ts ma-

jor radio broadcasters to back his
proposal.

His call follows last week Ts
shooting outside Hot 97 radio Ts
SoHo studios that apparently was

_ Sparked by a feud between rappers

50 Cent and The Game.
, _Amember of The Game's en-
tourage, Kevin Reed, 23%- of
Compton, Calif., was shot in the
buttocks after 50 Cent bad-
mouthed The Game during an on-
air interview at the radio station.

Bad blood between 50 Cent
and The Game continued to boil
over the weekend when The Game
challenged his former mentor to
oCome get me, you little bitch! ?
during a concert in Long Beach,
Calif.

Last night, 50 Cent was es-

corted through LaGuardia Airport -

by Port Aut ority cops ofor his
own protection ? when he arrived
on a plane from Detroit about 8
p-m., a Port Authority spokesman
said.

Said Sharpton, oWe may not
be able to stop people from shoot-
ing, but we can stop people from
profiting from the violence. ?
Sharpton declined to comment
specifically on the beef between 50
Cent, who was born Curtis Jack-
son, and The Game, whose real

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_Sharpton said he has no inten-
tion of trying to broker peace be-
tween the two rap stars, who have
both recently released top-selling
CDs. .
oYou can't deal with this on an

COMMENTARY:

MEMPHIS -Who knows exactly
what happened Monday night
. | (Feb. 28) in
New York
City between
rappers 50
Cent and
newcomer
|The Game,
but when the
smoke cleared
} (literally) one
ial man was shot
in the lobby
of radio sta-
tion WQHT-
FM (Hot 97).
It probably doesn Tt really mat-
ter how it all started, what was said

50 Cent, the Gam

By Nekesa Mumbi Mood

NEW YORK CITY - By March 9
after selling 1.1 million copies of his
new album in four days has softened
the heart of 50 Cent. Or maybe he
has so many feuds going, he can af-
ford to let one go.

"On Wednesday, 50 Cent and
The Game publicly squashed a bit-
ter feud that had erupted into gun-
fire last week after 50 kicked Game
out of his G-Unit clique for disloy-
alty.

The two platinum-selling
gangsta rappers didn't exactly kiss
and make up. When they emerged
before a media throng at Harlem's

famed Schomburg Center for Re- .

search in Black Culture, both looked
as if theyd been shoved into apolo-

- gies by a stern mother.

But they did shake hands, albeit
at the end of the press conference,
after speaking about contrition and
the need for peace.

50 noted that Wednesday was
the anniversary of the unsolved mur-
der of Biggie Smails in 1997, the
culmination of a rap war between
Biggie and Tupac Shakur that pit-
a East Coast against West.

Salary Disputes Nearly Crushed
This Group's Reunion Before It

Seated
o "We're here today to show that

artist-by-artist basis, ? he said. oI Tm
not going to become a mediator
between artists. This is a recurring
problem. ?

In a letter Sharpton plans to
send to the FCC and. broadcasters,
he said the outcry against violence

The 50 Cent cost of shooting a Man

or not said. All that should matter
is that a gun(s) was shot in the left
leg and taken to St. Vincent Ts Hos-
pital, where he was listed in stable
condition the néxt day. Sadly, it all
sounds like a scene from a mob
movie showing at your neighbor-
hood theatre. But this is real life
and not the movies, so it Ts particu-
larly sad that this incident oc-

curred on the streets of New York _

and in the studios of Hot 97 -
would have played out on streets
of the Dodge City.

At any rate apparently 50
Cent said on the air that The
Game was no longer part of his
camp (Game was 50 Ts protégé).
That statement was su osedly

e Call

Foss

Fe ae ee

March 2005 The Minority Voice Newspaper Page 5

among entertainers should be just
as loud as the response last year to
Janet Jackson Ts breast-baring Super
Bowl stunt.

oI recall the outrage that the
FCC and others displayed in re-
sponse to the Super Bowl perfor-

in response to Th Game's disre-
specting 50
on air at
another
New York
radio sta-
tion. ear-
lier. (Or at
least 50
said he was
disre-
spected.)
As a re-
sult, while
50 was on the air with Funk mas-
ter Flex, The Game and some of
his crew allegedly went to the sta-
tion attempting to gain entrance

Calling for Ban On Gangsta Rap

mance of Janet Jackson, ? Sharpton
wrote. oYet, when acts of violence "
happen around radio stations that
actually have caused bloodshed,
there has been a strange and dis-
turbing silence from all quarters. ?

Rappers '50 Cent and The Game appear at the Schomburg Center For
Research in Black Culture on March 9, 2005 in Manhattan to announce
they will end their fued and donate money to the Harlem Boys Choir

eople can rise aboye the most dif-
feu t circumstances and together
we can put negativity behind us,"
said 50, a native New Yorker. "A
lot of people don't want to see it
happen, but we're responding to
the two most important groups,
our family and our fans."
"I just want to apologize on
behalf of myself and 50," said
Game, who's from the Los Ange-

les suburb of Compton. "I'm al-
most ashamed to have participated
in the things that happened in the
last couple of weeks."

50 presented an oversized
check for $150,000 to the Boys
Choir of Harlem. Game donated
$103,500. It was not clear why
Game chose that amount or
whether he had been reinstated in
G-Unit; no questions were taken

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with some men in the lobby who T
were leaving the building when
the shooting took place.

(And there you have it. The
good thing is chat in a twist of
ate, this f
likely play well for 50, who ate
about to release his new album,

_ appropriately titled, oThe Mas-

sacre. Is he psychic or what? It
also goes without saying that The
Game too, will likely benefit
from increased sales of his al-
ready top-selling CD, The Docu-
mentary. In other words, in the
rap game this is a win-win situa:
tion - if you don't count the man
who was shot in the leg. And no
doubt, there are a few out there
who do count him!)

Tim Butler - Tri-State Defender

truce, Give Boys Club $250,000

at the press conference. They also
both made contributions to the
Compton schools music program.

Is the truce sincere?

"Of course it was genuine,"
said hip-hop mogul Russell
Simmons, who was at the event.
"They stood on stage together. ?

At the very least, it was a re-
markable concession for rappers
who routinely brag about kil ing
their enemies.

oTt is the first time we've seen 50
publicly take a step back" from a

attle, said Elliott Wilson, editor in
chief of the hip-hop magazine XXL.

In a statement earlier Wednes-
day, 50 Cent said: "I'm launching
a new foundation, the G-Unity
Foundation, Inc., to help people
overcome obstacles and make a
chance for the better in their lives
.. to help them overcome their
situations. I realized that if I'm
going to be effective at that, I have
to overcome some of my own.
Game and I need to set an example
in the community."

50 Cent has always set an ex-
ample - usually as an unapologetic
criminal gleefully wreaking havoc
on other rappers. He almost
single-handedly dismantled the
multi-platinum career of Ja Rule
by relentlessly targeting him in
songs, magazines and his 2003
debut, the eight-million selling
"Get Rich or Die Tryin T."

Last week 50 released his
sophomore CD, "The Massacre,"
which including a song attacking
trappers like Fat Joe, Nas and
Jadakiss for making a record with
Ja Rule. But his beef with Game
was unusual because it involved a
member of his own camp.

As 50 was on the radio an-
nouncing the expulsion of Game
from G-Unit - apparently because
Game wouldn't turn his back on
some of 50s many enemies -
Game's crew rolled up to the sta-
tion. Guns were fired inside the
lobby and a member of Game's
posse was wounded.

Game is a protege of
superproducer Dr. Dre, who put
Eminem on the map, who in turn
made 50 Cent a superstar. They're
all on the same parent label,

See Rappers Page 1

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Older Unm
The newly analyzed census data
has received a shocker: The number
of men and women 65 and older
who choose to live together without
getting married had nearly doubled
in a decade, says Linda Greider, a
freelance writer in Washington, DC.
In fact, some 9.7 million unmarried
artners were cohabiting in 2000.
The census counted 266,000
couples in the 65 plus group. With
some couples are reluctant to report
their living arrangements, many ex-
rts think those numbers are much
igher "and expect those numbers
to climb as baby boomers age and
Americans in general stay healthy
and live longer. Nancy (alias), 65
and Joe (alias), 64 met at a dance.
After a full year of debate, they
decided to set up housekeeping
together. o If someone had told me
10 years ago I'd feel this way, I
would have said they were crazy ?,
said Nancy, a widow who was mar-
ried for 39 years. But wedding bells
are not in Nancy and Joe Ts a
What earlier generations used to
call oliving in sin ? has become the

Aimuinity Doices

arried Couples

most reasonable-and economically
feasible-way for many older people
to have companionship, especially
after a divorce or the death of a
spouse. What stops many of them
flom tying the knot is the prospect
of financial loss, a worry that trumps
any desire for the religious or social
blessings of marriage. Remarriage
may mean giving up a former
spouse's pension, Social Security and
medical insurance. Nancy, who has
hepatitis C and is a breast cancer sur-
vivor, would lose the health benefits
of her late husband, an Air Force
officer, that help pay her substantial
medical costs.

Some older couples stay single
in order to avoid the objections of
their grown children who fear the
will be displaced in their parent's
affection-and in their will-or that
a new spouse will take advantage
of their parent financially or emo-
tionally. Bob (alias) 66, com-
ments, ? I don't want a remarriage.
I want a friend and confidante-
someone to hike and travel with,
someone who shares my values. I Tm
not against marriage, but it Ts not
the right choice for me. ?

While many cohabitation de-
cisions seem based on

Yi.

practicalities, romance can be abig p=

_ part of the equation. One geron-
tologist referred to the steamy.
prime time TV show Beverly Hills

90210 by saying that, othe human
drama is the same whether you are
18 or 88." Older people are sexual,
too ?, he added. Nor that long ago
an older woman wouldn't consider
romance, let alone sex and cohab-
iting, if her husband had died, If
she did, it was in secret. But today,

both society and religious theory |
accord that God wants people to T

be happy and that in Jesus Christ
there is liberty, Nancy's priest has
assured and enlightened her to this
attitude about her relationship.- .

Regardless of the judgment of

people, she knew that before her hus-
and died, he had told her that he
wanted her to have companionshi
which made her more comfortab
in her new relationship. Her friends,
who were once opreachy ? and judg-
mental about her live-in arrange-
ment, have warmed to the idea. Her
most ojudgmental ? friend has since
developed a relationship of her own.
That's a long way from when N:
and Joe first got together and friend:
» oWhen are you two lovebirds
going to get married? ? Nancy Ts re-
ply, oWhen I get pregnant. ?

Note: This article does not
necessarily reflect the sanction of,
or neither disapproval of the writer
nor the publisher of Minority
Voice Newspaper. It is for your in-
formation only. a

dBi

na rvs Carolina Uni-
versity has n t oMarty ?
Hackney of Washington N.C. to di-
rect the newly organized Entrepre-
neurial Initiative.

Hackney, age 52, currently serves
as the anaes for the Small
Business and Technology Develop-
went soak dey .) ci ECU.

orking through the UNC System's
Office the President, and in part-
nership with the Small Business Ad-
ministration, the SBTDC helps small
businesses improve their operations
and expand, as well as providing help
to serious start-up businesses.

The Entrepreneurial Initiative
will focus on fostering entrepreneur-
ship within the university community
and eastern North Carolina. A major
goal of the initiative is to help regional
entrepreneurial companies develop

and grow.

The new effort will create part-
nerships with public and private orga-
nizations to stimulate innovation in
the region, and it will coordinate and

offer entrepreneurial seminars and

Gid Holloman
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he

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fy

networking opportunities.

oThis inwrative is designed to
build on the talents of individuals in
case North Carolina and at ECU
to develop and keep companies in east-
ern Norh Cn vid Dr. Ron
Nowaczyk, associate vice chancellor,
who heads ECU's Regional Develop-
ment Services.

oI am excited to have the rtu-
nity to work with university and com-
munity leaders to create products and

ies that will im our region, ?
said. oOur ill be to

build a $ system from concept to

, commercialization that can compete in

the economy.
Sa Initiative has
three primary objectives:
feate regional partnerships
with public and private organiza-
tions that help the university develop
companies and take products to mar-
et.

Create partnerships with public
and private organizations to stimulate
innovation throughout the business
community in eastern North Carolina.

- Foster practical experience for
ECU students in an entrepreneurial
environment.

The Entrepreneurial Initiative
works with a few select companies each
yeat, as well as potential companies that
develop from faculty ideas and prod-
ucts. These companies will be:

o en ag Sy
E | : ial

- re-screened by the SBTDC and
ECU's Office of Technology Transfer.

- Companies may be either ospin-
ins ? " companies from outside ECU
but from this region that need ECU
research or technology help " or ospin-
outs, ? companies developed by ECU
faculty that are ready for commercial-
ization.

Students and faculty from across
the different colleges at ECU will have
to opportunity to be involved in this
development Process as part of their
teaching/learning process. Student
teams will learn the process of taking
an idea from concept to commercial-
ization.

Hackney, who earned her
master Ts degree in business adminis-
tration from ECU, has more than 25
years of experience in finance, ad-
ministration, technology, manufac-
turing, retail, real estate and consul-
tation. She is active in various civic
organizations, including the ECU
College of Business Commerce
Club, Self-Help Credit Union Re-
gional Advisory Board, the
Greenville Noon Rotary, Eastern
Carolina Research Foundation
Board, North Carolina World Trade
Association, Pitt Greenville Cham-
ber of Commerce and the Pamlico/
Tar River Foundation.

Hackney assumed her new du-
ties on March 14, 2005.

Save the Date

" CC a.
Bile

JA monthly column by East Carolina University

rae .

i

By Dr. Steve Ballard

The word odiversity ? often
evokes Sours and images of dif-
erences. In fact, the dictionary de-
fines diversity as othe fact or quality
of being diverse; difference. ?

~ Another way to think about di-
versity is in terms of variety, such as
having a diverse background, or ex-
Ploring a diverse set of viewpoints
on a particular subject.

. Here at ECU, we yalue diver-
sity for all of these points, and
even more. We believe diversity
means having a wide array of
thinking, viewpoints, ideas, ex-
periences, cultures, values and
philosophies, 7 a

Cultural diversity should
mean something to each of us,
both professionally and person-
ally. For us to live together as a
peace-abiding society, each of us
must be aware of and sensitive to
all members of the community.
That, in turn, will enrich our
lives. Everyone benefits from a
society that honors and under-
stands all approaches to living.

Because we value different
approaches, we have taken a se-
ries of steps to help us enact our
commitment to diversity among
faculty, staff and students.

One of the most recent steps
we've taken is the current set of
interviews for a newly created
position of Assistant to the
Chancellor for Institutional Di-
versity. This position will report
directly to me. The person cho-
sen will be responsible for ensur-
ing this university delivers its
commitment to diversity. I will
look to this person to ensure we
are doing everything we can to
honor differences and to engage
in issues of equality, multi-
culturalism and inclusion.

These interviews are set for
the latter part of March; I hope
to have the position filled soon.
Look for a public announcement
on the successful candidate.

Another recent development
is the reopening of the Japan
Center East at ECU Ts Regional
Development Services. Follow-
ing the untimely death in 2004
of Don Spence, a long-time ECU
faculty member who worked to
develop economic development
ties between eastern North Caro-
lina and Japan, the Japan Center

East now.is up and running un-
der the direction of Chikako

Massey, a native of Japan, who.

serves as interim director.
With her extensive experi-
ence in international business and

-consulting, Massey comes to ECU

with an impressive background
well suited for this region.

companies, helping business

people learn the subtleties and tra-
ditions of Japanese customs as

they relate to business.

It is just this kind of atten-
tion to detail that makes her a

great choice for the Japan Cen-
ter East. Not only will she be car- ©
ing on the work of economic

ryin
evela ment, but she will teach

the cultural nuances of Japanese
business to American companies,
and will help Japanese businesses
learn more about American styles
of business and management.

Massey also will be introduc-
ing to Greenville a very old Japa-
nese tradition called a obon
dance ? during the upcoming In-
ternational Festival

During summers in Japan,
people in many communities
gather to celebrate and honor the
memories of their ancestors. A main
feature of the celebration is a com-
munity dance that involves men and
women, young and old.

Participants wear colorful out-
fits (many of us know them as ki-
monos), and they form a circle in a
wide open area. The slow, graceful
movements of the dancers are em-
phasized by the deep, resonant
sounds of large drums, called otaiko ?
drums. As the drummers keep the
beat, the dancers engage in thyth.
mic, beautifully choreographed
steps, always honoring and remem-
bering their ancestors through their
movements.

While this Japanese tradition
goes back hundreds of years, its

he has

worked in numerous American ©

~ Dr. Steve Ballard, Chancellor

opularity in the U.S. is just
Peginning In cities and communi-
ties with sizeable Japanese popula-
tions, the bon dance is gaining fol-
lowers from many ethnic back-
grounds. It Ts one way that'people of
different and diverse background:
can share a cultural event under the
guise of a community experience.

This year Ts International Festi-
val, co-sponsored by ECU Ts Office
of International Affairs and the
City of Greenville, is set for April
16 at the Town Common on First
Street. Last year Ts event attracted
nearly 7,000 people who visited
booths featuring exotic and deli-
cious foods, clothing and
handcrafts from 24 different coun-
tries. :

This year, you can expect a day
of entertainment, education and
fun activities that will contribute
to our community Ts efforts to cel-
ebrate our differences and make
Greenville a city that embraces di-
versity and welcomes all those who
call her ohome. ?

t; Eb

| eLearatine Our
Rowiawo Haners Proroseay

uray 252-757 0770

Floral Creations
Neck, NC
(252) 826-5004

oFamily Serving Families ? -

2

Hemby
Fountain, NC
(252) 749.3256

Each year during the month of
March, citizens across our count
pause to honor the many "sheroes ?
whose diligence, determination, cour-
age and vision have made history.

This year's theme is "Women
Change America/7 Let's celebrate
some women or "sheroes" from a
wide range who are ofirsts ? here in
Greenville and Pitt County. Dr. Ha-

| dl Brown, Black dentist, Velma

"Library, Elizabeth Co

Harper, Winterville, Alder woman,

Nancy Jenkins, mayor, Pattie Elizabeth

Kearney, owner. Hat Shop, Dickinson

; Avenue and one of the founders of

Carver Library, Lucille Gotham, Board

~ of Education, Mildred Council,
- coundlwoman,

. principal, J.H.
paca J

Shirley Carraway,
Rose High School,
n, librarian. Carver
d, librarian,
Sh Memorial Library, Carolyn
- Edwards, Trustee, Pitt County
Memorial Hospital, Hannah Brown,
Pitt County Public Health Nurse,
Bernita Demery, Director, Financial

Services, LouiseMcConnell, Supervi- .

sor of Pitt County Schools, Laura
Marie Elliott, Black graduate of
ECU, Shirley Person, Police lady and
Beatrice Maye, a park and first to in-
tegrate schools.

_ There are so many unsung
women whose contributions have
made life better for their families and
their communities. Perhaps you
know some "sheroes" that | don't
know. If so, let me know for inclu-
sion another year.

Note - We centered primarily on
African Americans.

How to Ju le A Woman
By Hos Het

You can get a feel for'more than
just a woman's hand by giving it a
shake. You can get a grip on her per-
sonality. oA handshake sends a mes-
sage, ? says Robert E. Brown, a Cali-
fornia management consultant,
longtime handshake observer and
lecturer on the psychology of hand-
shakes. According to Brown, the best
greetings engage the full hand and
involve eye contact and a brief lin-
get, all of which signify sincerity,
confidence and openness. Beware of
shakes that are:

+ Half-handed - A fingers-only
squeeze may show a lack of T connec-
tion and a fear of intimacy.

# Clammy - A cold and indif-
ferent shake typically conveys fear or

_ervousness.
_ #Two-handed - This double
grab tells you the woman wants in-
timacy too quickly; it may be a sight)
that she cant be trusted.

+ Over-the-top - When her
palm faces down in relation to yours;
she is expressing superiority and
dominance. ©

The definition of a real man.

He is one who has self-confi-
dence but does not show it. He keeps
his word, his temper and his friends
He can be courteous in the face of
discourtesy. He wins respect by be-
ing respectable and respectful. He

* ment of the Ten Commandments re-

ligious message, and that such an en-
dorsenient violates the Establishment
Fae ne ie seagate
ose who defend the displays argue
that they reflect the pe |
stitutionally legitimate acknowledg-
ment of the Ten Commandments T
-Signigicant role in the development of
American law and government.
Van Orden and McCreary
County offer the Supreme Court the
Opportunity to clarify its approach to

A Monumental Decision: a controversial question: Under what
Supreme Court & Federal circumstances may the government
Court Considers Constitution- sponsor the display of religious mes-
ality of Ten Commandments sages or objects? The Court's resolu-
and The Official Seal tion of these cases will strongly influ-
by Faith May ence future decisions in official seals
On March 2, 2005, the Supreme and mottoes, and the use of religious
Court heard oral arguments in Van " in otherwise civic ceremonies
Orden v. Perry (No. 03-1500) and such as reciting the Pledge of Alle-
McCreary County v. American Civil giance,
Liberties Union of Kentucky(No. 03- Also, The Ninth Circuit Court of
1693). The two cases involve chal- Appeals, site of the infamous lawsuit
lenges to several government-spon- £0, outlaw the phrase ounder God ?
sored displays of the Ten Commang-.., : from the pledge of Allegiance, has been,
rhents. whi are bringing T 0 ieth yecariSe its ? "seal bears the T
challenges contend that these displays image of woman representing the
amount to governmental endorse- oMajesty of the Law ?.

The plaintiffs point out that this

| ON woman is reading a book resembling

_ atablet ooptining een lines,

They claim that the small tablet

rests at the woman T feet is a depiction

of the Ten Commandments and must _

be removed from the courthouse and
the court Ts letterhead because it con-
stitutes a government endorsement of
religion.

The attorney bringing the suit
complained that the certificate admit-
ting him to practice before the Ninth
Circuit Court contains the court's seal
that he finds offensive.

It appears that the purveyors of
secularism don't simply want to wipe
out all palpable symbols of faith, but
also want to eradicate even ill-defined
public works of art that may or may
Not pay tribute to religious artifacts.

If the government were to rule in
thei sans cee we eradicate

vestiges of religion from the culture
would be ni uickened.
Matthew Staver, president of Lib-
erty Counsel has initiated the oDefend
The Ten ? coalition at the Liberty
Counsel website.
Readers are encouraged to visit the

website to learn about this new pro-

Fe Vip theres os oa.
"Resource: March 2005 National

Liberty Journal

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has a steady eye, a steady nerve, a
steady tongue and steady |
is silent when he has nothing to say,
and he is calm when he judges and
humble when he misjudges. That
defines a real man and a gentleman.
Don't Skip Breakfast!

Few of us would dream of leav-
ing the house in the morning with-
out brushing our teeth, but many
people don Tt take time to eat before
starting their day. Thisis a mistake.
Upon waking, your body has been
fasting for é 8 or even 10.to 12
hours and needs nourishment.

According to numerous studies,

a balanced breakfast helps to maintain "

health. Nutrients found in a healthy
breakfast-including protein, B vita-
mins, essential fatty acids, and com-
plex carbs-improve concentration,
mental performance, mood, and
memory. Breakfast is also linked to re-
duced risk for diabetes or excess weight

in, both by kicking your metabo-
ism into gear and by decreasing the
chance that you'll grab a high-calorie
snack. By eating first thing, you give
your hungry body the chance to re-
plenish blood sugar levels, burn calo-
ries effectively, and maintain more con-
sistent enerty all day long.

Boost brainpower and metabo-

lism with a quick and healthy morn-
ing meal. By Devin Alexander, De-
licious Living
Beatrice Maye

p Have

The Pitt County 4-H Office has
announced that a babysitting work-
shop will be taught on April 11th
from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm at the
Cooperative Extension Center, 403
Government Circle in Greenville.
The workshop is open to youth be-
tween the ages of 12 and 16. It will
cost $1.00 per participant. Prereg-
istration is required and the class size
is limited.

The workshop will cover
babysitting preschool information
related to nutrition, play, develop-
mental stages, dealing with siblings,
safety issues and rules. The instruc-
tors for the class are East Carolina
University seniors in Family Life
Education in cooperation with the
Pitt County 4-H staff.

Call the Pitt County 4-H of-
fice at 902-1712 to preregister be-
fore April oIA. Slots will be filled
on a first come basis. Come and
leran about the oIns and Outs ? of
babysitting preschoolers and pick
up some valuable information as
it relates to caring for oné or more
preschooler. yi

abits. He |

CAFS Wh it Ts the tall va-
tte you grab on your way into
work, the You 20 on, at your morn-
ing meeting or the pizza that your boss
orders because there is no time to take
a lunch, working can be a very fatten-
ing proposition. As CNN Headline
News health anchor for more than
tive years, my work Touring certainly
elped me put on the . I spent
eye doing Sediceenrts
writing and broadcasting on-air in a
busy studio environment.

The irony was that as a health re-_

porter, I was coveri weight loss
method in the book I tried ee
programs but just couldn't find one
that fit into my busy lifestyle. Finally,
after struggling with my weight for
years, I have taken off 41 pounds and
feel great. I discovered
NutriSystem.com. .

Here are some work place tips that
I learned along the way that can ben-
efit anyone who wants to lose weight
and feel great.

° Eat a balanced breakfast

Like mom said, breakfast is the
most important meal of the day. To
make things easier, write out several
?,?asy-to-prepare meals so you don't have
to think about what to eat. Better yet,
stock up on healthy, prepackaged,
ograb & go ? t options. Using
NutriSystem foods made this real-ly
easy for me to do.

* Plan your lunches ahead of time.

When you fail to plan, you plan
to fail. Whether you plan your lunches
the night before, or even over the
weekend, having a plan will help you
avoid diet-disasters at work.

* Keep healthy, single-serving
snacks in your o

Dont starve yourself during the

workday. Make it easy to have a
healthy opick me up. ? Ee
* Find ways to sneak in extra T
hysical activity. Park further from the
uilding. Walk to your co-worker Ts.
office rather than sending an e-mail.
Dont keep a trash can near your desk
(so you have to get up each time you
need to throw something away). Take
a walk around the building during
your lunch hour. .
* Stay hydrated throughout the
y-
Keep a large bottle of water at
your desk and sip through our the day.
Maybe add a slice of lemon or lime.

For other great tips and free
weight loss counseling, go to
NutriSystem.com.

* Ms. Carney was CNN Head- T
line, News health anchor for three
years.

Former CNN Headline News
Health Anchor Kat Carney went from _
size 16 to size 8 within four months.

2005 Greenville-Pitt
County Senior Games

GREENVILLE - Greenville-Pitt

County Senior Games are re-
cruiting participants for the
2005 Local Games. The Local
Games are scheduled for April
14 - 28, 2005.

Athletes and artists age 55
and over will have an opportu-
nity to compete in more a 40
sports events, and SilverArts (in-
cluding visual, literary, perform-
ing, and heritage). Sports events
include, shuffl
shoes, walking, swimming, bas-
ketball, softball, bicycling, bowl-

eboard, horse-..

ing, billiards, table tennis . . .
and much more.

Coordinated by Pitt County
Community Schools and Recre-
ation and the Greenville Recre-
ation and Parks Department, the
Greenville-Pitt County Senior
Games Program is a leading
health promotion and well-be-
ing program for the citizens in
Pitt County.

Join the team for fun and fit-
ness by calling Pitt County Com-
munity Schools and Recreation at
830-4216 to receive an application.

oo a see I * SE sae Foodhoocd

(NAPSA)-It Ts important that deal-
ing with otal stress doesn't
become a full-time job. That's one
conclusion of a recent study that
found stress is becoming a promi-
nent fixture in the American work-
place, with only half of workers able
to deal effectively with it.

The study revealed that work-

. efs now take up to two weeks of sick

time a year to deal with stress-related
illness and that many use over-the-
counter analgesics in an effort to
remedy their stress-related sickness.
The study, conducted by the
Hadassah women T organization, in
partnership with Aetna and the
nited States Tennis Association,
polled approximately 1,000 people
at companies across the Northeast.
It was created by stress expert and
author Dr. Deborah Bright, who
served as co-investigator with Dr.
Mark Popachin, a prominent gastro-
enterologist at New York-Presbyte-
rian Hospital's Weill Cornell Medi-
Center.
One in three respondents said
are ohighly stressed ? at work,
with nearly four in 10 reporting that
they have more stress at work today
than two years ago. Only 50 percent
rated themselves as overy effective ?
in handling this stress. As a tesult,
32 percent admitted missing any-
where from one to 14 days of work
in 2004 due to stress- related illness
and just about one-quarter (24 per-
cent) disclosed taking anywhere
from one to five aspirin or acetami-
nophen tablets daily because of

stress-related complaints.

_ Fifty-five percent said t

According to the study, there
are numerous factors contributing
to on-the-job stress. Fifty-five per-
cent of respondents cited their bre.
Most stressor as being given more
tasks and responsibilities than time
to do them. Forty-three percent
cited being on the receiving end of
criticism as the second greatest
source of stress, while having to give
criticism rated as the eighth highest
stress-producing situation (36 per-
cent).

oAmericans are experiencing
higher levels of stress than ever be-
fore, ? said June Walker, Hadassah Ts
National President and a health care
professional. oThe challenge of bal-
ancing work, family, and finances in
an increasingly more competitive,
demanding world is definitely tak-
ing its toll. ?

oStress has become a health con-
cern for people both in the work-

lace and home setting, ? said Dr.

opachin. oIt cannot be eliminated
from our lives. Our study assesses
which coping strategies are bei
utilized by those who successf
manage their stress, From these fi
ings, we hope to identify practi
methods for all of us to minimize
the negative effects of stress in our
lives. ?

Building oto do ? lists seemed to
be the most effective way respon-
dents managed workplace stress,
while smoking was the least effec-
tive. Unfortunately, most people
said their work-related stress doesn't
leave them when they leave work.

hey frequently

Y TRENDS

Handling Office Stress Is Hard Work

think about work while at home, and
20 percent said they have difficulty
sleeping at night due to stress-related
problems from work.

Also, people may want to be

careful about just how quickly they
climb the corporate lad

are a manager between the ages of
25 and 44, chances are you are
among those who are least effective
at handling everyday work-related
stress.

der. If you

Stress Busters In The Workplace...
results from a Hadassah survey

* Seventy-four percent of people said
they build oto do ? lists.

© Sixty-nine percent break larger tasks
into smaller parts,

© Sixty-two percent talk to a co-worker,

© Sixty-four percent clean and organize
their work areas,

© Fifty-eight percent establish clear goals.

Stress Busting After Work

© Seventy-four percent talk to family
members, one Ts mate and friends.

© Sixty-four percent said reading is the
most effective way to deal with stress.

© Fifty-seven said a
pail en hhal

© Fifty-six percent soid they listen to
music.

® Smoking was found to be the least

effective stress-busting method "on or
off the iob. mm

EE SE LEE ROR ERR Re ee ee «

of one unusual woman.

Member of the Vietcong Resis-
tance, journalist, physician, film-
maker, and art dealer, Xuan Phuong
has now added oauthor ? to her resume.
She tells the story of her fascinating
life to journalist Daniele Mazin
in oAo Dai: My War, My Country, My
Vietnam ? (Emquad International).

In Washington D.C. recently, she
participated on a panel discussion at
the Carnegie Endowment for Inter-
national Peace, along with Stanley
Karnow, author of the best-seller
oVietnam: A History. ? Dr. Phuong
iater visited with students at the Viet-
nam Center of Texas Tech University,
Lubbock, TX.

Said Robert MacNeil, former co-

anchor of oThe NewsHour ? on PBS, "
oThis is one of the most extraordinary [ff

memoirs I have ever read: heroic in

the scale of human courage and char-

acter it describes ...and deeply inspir-

ing, .
You can learn more at www.

emquad.com/aodai.html.

tes ev Chine

The findings of delegation of
North Carolina policymakers, edu-
cators, foundation officials and oth-
ers who studied education in China
have been released by the Public
School Forum and the Center for
International Understanding, the
groups thar led the study. The T pur-
pose of the study was to examine
China's approach to education and
to identity best practices chat could
be incorporated into North
Carolina Ts school improvement
plans. Key findings included:

* Education is very much part
of China's economic expansion
drive. The country Ts goal is to pro-
vide a high quality education to all
if its young people.

. From elementary school
through high school, China's schools
place a priority on the teaching of
mathematics, science and foreign
languages.

* Teaching is a highly respected
career in China. Teachers can ad-
vance up to as many as six different
levels during their careers - each level
is at a higher pay level.

_¢ There is a clear distinction
between academic high schools and
high schools that focus on technical
or occupational skills. Technical
high schools, however, are academi-
caly demanding and focus on skills
that will be needed as China mod-
ernizes,

SEE CHINESE PAGE 9

. crease on the $23.2 million allocated

By Lloyd Nicholas | . .

_ Mother Tetesa may have only
seen the color of love in caring for
the homeless. Thé. Biblical Christ
wanted grown-ups to.embrace the
young. So too for many White
couples. But according to Robert L.
O'Connor, professor of social work,
Metropolitan State University, the
foster care offefed by White folks to
Black children is a mere business
venture that chunks away the tax

. coffers,

oWhite people who provide fos-

_ ter care to children of color make

big bucks from special payments "
a difficu of ae which is pro-
rated on the basis of the level of chal-
lenge a particular child presents and
it is a very lucrative business, almost
an industry, for a lot of European
Americans. oO

oSome of them do not even
work " all they do is take care of
these kids [sometimes three or four
kids at a time] and rake in $2,000-
$3,000 per month per child, ? said
O'Connor. -

Bob Denardo, adoptions and
guardianship supervisor, Minnesota
Department of Human Services

(DHS), explained that total adoption

assistance for all children: adopted
from the foster care system amounted
to $26.3 million for 2002, and in-

WASHINGTON - Middle-age black
men are dying at nearly twice the rate
of white men of a similar age, reflect-

ing lower incomes and poorer access

to health care, a study says. But mor-
tality among black infants is dropping.
While overall longevity for bo

ee a whites ke improved Ae
le past 40 years, the tween the
races has narrowed ligke former Sur-
geon General David Satcher said in a
paper published Wednesday in the
journal Health Affairs.

Satcher's paper was one of several
in the journal, which is devoting most
of its March/April issue to the topic of
health care discrepancies between
races.

Elimination of this racial gap
would prevent an estimated 83,570
early deaths annually, Satcher said.

Some 10,472 of those deaths oc-
curred among black men who were 45
to 54 in 2000, according to research
based on a death rate of 1,060 per
100,000 black men in that age group
compared with a rate of 503 for white
men.

In 1960 the rates were 1,625 for
black men and 932 for white men in
that age group.

One reason for the differences is
that gains in health care access gener-
ally have not included black men un-
less they were older or disabled, Satcher
said. For example, when Medicare be-

- tionately hi

" progress for i

Black child, White parente

during the previous year.

nih an interview with the local
media, he said, oFinancial assistance
[to adoptive parents] is offered in the
form of a ry cash grant calcu-
lated by adding a base assistance rate
and a supplemental rate [subject to
eligibility], based on the level of the
preponderance of difficulties the
child presents. ?

Foster parents are paid an aver-
age of $17 to $21 per day per child
in addition to fees for providing spe-
cial care to the kids under their
charge. Basic foster care payments
are based on the U.S. Department
of Agriculture estimates of the cost
of raising a child. :

And given this level of gener-
osity by the state, O'Connor wants
Black families to also cash in on the
deal; after all, he says, people of color
are more culturally sensitive to the
needs of their young,

On the point of trans-culture,

sychologist John Taborn of J.
Fabom Associates psychological ser-
vices says he has oseen quite a few
kids having coping problems ? in his
practices and agrees that black kids
in white homes will eventually need
help.

oWhite parents are just as lov-
ing as black parents but whites may
have trouble in providing a culture
transition for the kids of color in

MEDICINE: Satcher

. came law, the average black man did
not live long enough to become eli-
gible, he said

Other factors include the rela-
tively low incomes of black men com-
pared with whites, a rise in gun-related
deaths among blacks, their dispropor-
death rate from AIDS,
and higher rates of heart disease and
diabetes, Satcher said. .

While a gap remains, there has been
ts, Satcher notes.

Deaths per 100,000 black males
under 12 month fell from 5,307 in
1960 to 1,653 in. 2000, he found.
Comparable figures for whites were
2,694 in 1960 and 656 in 2000.

For baby girls the infant death rate
fell from 4,162 in 1960 to 1,363 in
2000 for blacks and from 2,088 to 530
for whites.

Social factors, including neigh-
borhood quality and residential segre-

ation, contribute to the differences in
ealth care, according to a separate
paper by David R. Williams of the
University of Michigan and Pamela
Braboy dadsoon of Indiana University.

Additional factors include educa-
tion, income and health practices such
as diet, physical activity and tobacco
use, they report.

later life when the kids are older and
no support system is available for
these parents during this challenge, ?
said born. |

And oat the time of dating or
early college years the teenagers and
young adults emerge into a world
without a living history of them-
selves in a race-tinged America and
a culture not passed on, so when they
experience negative racial attitudes
in the real world, T they end up in a
tailspin, ? he said.

But few white prospective adop-
tive parents are now seeking to avoid

the trans-culture hassle, says attor-
ney Christopher O. Obasi, who is
involved in a controversial court
battle over the termination of paren-

~ tal rights from an African American

mother now serving time at a
Shakopee correctional facility. oSome
whites go overseas flow to avoid the
hassle of adopting black kids, ? he
noted. |

In 2002, Minnesota families
adopted 383 foreign-born children
but this amount is significantly lower
than the 548 in 2001, the 565 in
2000, and 551 in 1999.

The DHS is blamed for the
trans-culture problems.

O'Connor says, oThe agencies
responsible for aclitating] adop-
tions and foster care are the same
people who take away your children

oStrikingly, the homicide rate of
black males in the highest education
category exceeds that of white males
in the lowest education group, ? Jack-
son and: Williams wrote.

In an accompanyi r, Sen.
Edward. M. Kennedy, D-Mass, calls
on Congress and the Bush adminis-
tration to act to improve health care
for minorities.

oTt es the mind that for a
generation the United States, with all
its wealth and leadership, has been the
only industrialized country in the
world that does not guarantee health
care to all of its citizens, ? Kennedy
wrote.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist,
R-Tenn., that it is crucial to seek
the goal of health security for every-
one. But his approach would differ
from Kennedy T.

oThe best way to eliminate health
disparities is through improvements in
the care we deliver to each patient, ?
wrote Frist, a heart-lung surgeon be-
fore coming to Congress, in an accom-

paniyirip' paper! 0M To wih

Frist said he wants to foster com-
ition to lower health care costs and
favors proposals such as health savings

accounts.

3112 Memorial Blvd Greenville, NC
Phone: 355-7133 & 7657-

Hours: Tues-Fri $06

~ the institutions are White, the
people who work in these institu-
tions are White, and they don Tt have
healthy connections with the com-
munities of color, so they do not do
culturally competent recruitment [of
adoptive parents]. ?

Human services officials, he
claims, wills says oWe can't find any
black parents, we can't find any Na-
tive American parents, we can't find

any Hmong parents, and as a result

the children are labeled hard to place,
when the real deal is the agency is
inept and communities of color get
blamed for not coming forward.
O TConnor also noted that an

investigation of 200 African Ameri- .

can family prospective adoptive par-

_ ents conducted by Robert B. Hill for

the National Urban League showed
only two of the families were success-
ful in their bid. .

In a publication titled Dispel-
ling myths and Building on
Strengthit Supporting African
American Families, Hill explainéd
that social welfare policies and fam-
ily support programs ignore the
strong kinship networks among
black families,

He stated that while some claim
that the extended family in the ur-
ban areas is declining, the propor-
tion of black extended families con-
tinued to increase during the 1970s

Says Poor Health Care

The disparities in health care are
unacceptable, Frist wrote, oThey are
an affront to the U.S. promise of equal
opportunity for all. ? |

The collection of studies echoes a
report in 2002 from the Institute of

edicine that concluded that minori-

ties receive lower quality health care

whites for serious conditions and
routine services.

That report represented a call to
action, but olittle clarity has been
achieved as to who is doing what to

and 1980s. During this period, ex-
tended families living in single black
households tose from 23 to 28 per-
cent, and in 1990 two out of five
Black households were made up of
three generations. |

Te is.not known if this. trend is
continuing.
_- Hill also argued that the Afri-
can American extended families of-
ten extend beyond a household and
may include significant persons

who are not related by blood or -

marriage. These kinship networks,
Hill claims, already provide a wide
range of support services such as
daycare, services to unwed moth-
ers, informal adoption and foster
care,

Across the United States, some
80 percent of the one million blacks
who live in households without par-
ents are informally adopted by Lin,
the remaining 20 percent are in fos-
ter care.

Hill concluded, oWhile the gov-
ernment could not find permanent
homes for the 200,000 foster chil-

" dren, the black kinship succeeded in

finding homes for 800,000 children.
Yet children of color still account for
the majority of children in foster care
in many Cities. ?

This article appeared in Edition
157 of Voices That. Must Be Heard.

Hurting Blacks

eliminate gaps in health status and
treatment, T according to a forward
published in Health Affairs.

oSolving this national embarrass-
ment will not be easy, ? the forward
said. It was signed by Rita Lavizzo-
Mourey, president of the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation; William C.
Richardson, president of the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation; Robert K. Ross,
president of the California Endow-
ment and John W. Rowe, chairman of
the insurance company Aetna.

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ee eet ee

member, March 7, 1965, is a day that
will forever be etched in our memo-
ries. It was on that Sunday 40 years
ago that a courageous group of civil
rights activists set out from Brown
A.M.E. Church in Selma, Ala-
bama, en route to the state capitol in
Montgomery to demand voting rights
for blacks in southern states,
Just weeks earlier another group at-
tempted to make the trek but encoun-

violence on the way, asa young pro-
tester, Jimmie Lee Jackson, was shot and

would die days later from his wounds. In Vi

a state where blacks lived a subterranean
existence under Jim Crow, the simple act
of seeking the right to vote could be a
Although the 15th Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution, adopted af-
ter the Civil War, conferred the right
to vote on citizens regardless of race or
color, state and local officials across the
country spent the next 100 years find-
ings ways around the statute. If poll
taxes or literacy tests didn Tt work, than
intimidation usually did the job.
People were killed merely for trying
to vote.
~The demonstrators on March 7
were determjned to complete the jour-
ney to the state capitol, in part as a trib-
ute to Jackson. Their determination

was matched and overwhelmed by the
SEE CHINESE PAGE 8

This study is the sixth in a se-
ties of studies of education in for-
eign countries. The studies have been
planned by the Public School forum
and the NC Center for International

Understanding. According to
John Doman Executive Director of
the Forum, oBy exposing legislators,
members of the State Board. of Edu-
cation and leading educators to the
best educational ideas in other coun-
tries, we hope to see new and effec-
tive approaches incorporated into
North Carolina's schools. ?

oAdditionally, as North Carolina
is more and more impacted by and:
a part of the growing global
economy, we hope to create ties be-

tween North Carolina and countries.

around the world, ? Doman added.

_ The study of education in China
was made possible with the support of
the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the
Kenan Family Charitable Trust.

Please Note: Previous studies of
educational practices in Great Brit-
ain, The Netherlands, [#6833 Ja-
pan; TDenmark and South Korea are

i available-upon request. 8 +:

: For those of us old enough to te-

the Edmund Petrus Bridge

racism of Alabama officials on that day.
As the marchers made their way across
they were
ub wielding
state troopers. The brutality
that ensued left the activists bruised
and bloodied. The beatings the march-
ers endured were so graphic that the
day has come to be known as oBloody
Sunday. ?
; People ae "
or trying to voteThe events of oBI
Sunday ? triggered a culminating oe.

ment in the civil rights movement: the

greeted by a phalanx of

oting Rights Act. The use of clubs

and tear gas against a non-violent

group of Americans marching to dra-
matize the right to vote was broadcast
on national television. This finally
proved too much for the established
powers in Washington.
Co President regen chron cliedon
to pass far-reaching ion
that would ensure the voting i sa all
Americans. oThe nigh to vote with no
ifs, ands, or buts, that Ts the key, ? said

North Carolina Ts Business Climate Viewed Favorably by Small Businesses

State's business outlook positive
but business conditions lag behind.
neighbors
WASHINGTON - North Carolina Ts

overall business climate is support-

ive of small business, but the state Ts .

business conditions are lagging
against its peers, according to the
inaugural North Carolina Small-
Business Conditions report. The
reports data, which is the first com-
pilation of its type, was released to-
day by the National Federation of
Independent Business (NFIB)/

China begins

Several human trials of vaccines
are being held globally

China has begun its first human
trials of a new HIV vaccine, the state
news agency Xinhua news agency re-
ports.

A 20-year-old man became the
first volunteer to receive the vaccine
on Saturday. He will be followed by
seven others, four of whom are
women.

A total of 49 volunteers aged be-
tween 18 and 50 will take part in
the tests to be carried out over three
stages, officials were quoted as say-
in

oChina says 840,000 people have
e fi

HIV but experts fear the figure is
higher, ©
~* oFhe first seage ofthe test will last

_ VALUE MAX

WE VALUE YOU AS A CUSTEMER.|
RON BRUMMELL Montion the M-Voice Newspaper and I

The Voting Rights Act: 40 Years After

Johnson. He signed the Voting Rights
on ioe 1965, jus ive months

The Act outlaws discriminatory
practices such as literacy tests, the
dfather ? clause, and the poll tax

t had been used to disenfranchise
blacks. The Act prohibits any changes
in election laws unless approved or
opre-cleated ? by: the federal Depart-
ment of Justice. It provides for federal
election monitors to be deployed as de-
terrence to the use of intimidation to
keep blacks from the polls. It also T re-
quires bilingual electoral assistance

ere necessary.

Impact Beyond Voting

_ The impact of the Voting Rights
Act extended beyond voting. It created
the environment for blacks to seek
pubic office from city halls to Con-
gress, laying the groundwork for the
election of an unprecedented number
of elected local officials and a signifi-

cant number of members of Congress.
Even with the law on the books,

North Carolina. It provides an over-
view of small-business conditions
within North Carolina and com-
pares them with neighboring states.

A net 36 percent (positive per-
cent minus negative percent) of re
spondents to a recent survey indi-
cated North Carolina is supportive
of small business. Comparatively,
South Carolina, Tennessee and Vir-
ginia registered a net 40 percent, net
31 percent and net 36 percent, re-
spectively. However, only a net 38
percent indicated business condi-

14 months, Chen Ji, director of the
disease control agency in southern
China's Guangxi region, was quoted
by Xinhua as saying.

No details on the test were
given, but the second stage would

efforts to deny people of color the vote
have persisted. Violations of the Act
, continue today across the country. The
nation has experienced two consecu-
tive presidential elections during
which the rights of black voters in
some states were subjected to segrega-
tionist era tactics to suppress their par-

. ticipation.

Discriminatory practices against
blacks, Latinos, and immigrant
groups in the North persisted into
the 1960's. New York State's literacy
test, which was law until the Voting
Rights Act, acted as a barrier to vot-
ing among Puerto Ricans as well as
immigrants from Southern and East-
ern Europe.

In New York City, we are particu-

larly challenged to secure voting rights .

for large segments of citizens of cer-
tain language minority groups who
comprise an increasingly significant
share of the city's population. For this
group language and literacy barriers
must be addressed in the reauthoriza-

tions in their market area are good,
which compared to a net 55 per-
cent in South Carolina, net 47 per-
cent in Tennessee and net 53 per-
cent in Virginia. Nonetheless, a net
27 percent of North Carolina small
employers said business conditions
are improving, which was slightly
higher than South Carolina (net 26
percent), Tennessee (net 21 per-
cent) and Virginia (net 24 per-
cent).

oNorth Carolina's climate for
small business js improving, as the

HIV vaccine trials

tests have received physical check-
ups and signed waivers, Xinhua said.

The tests were approved by
China's drug regulators last November.

The Chinese government says
80,000 of its 1.3 billion population
have developed full-blown Aids.

The UN has warned that the
number of people affected by HIV
and Aids in China could rise to 10
million by 2010 unless much is done
to fight the disease.

More than 43 million people
around the world have been infected
by the HIV/Aids virus and around
25 million people died.

Human trials of vaccines are be-

cover oimmune nature and safety of ing carried out in several countries but

?,? vaccine ?,

All of those taking, partsin the

none have yet proved to, be signifi-

cantly effective against the, disease. .

WHAT'S IT GONNA TAKE
TO KEEP OUR KIDS
TOBACCO-FREE?

youth populations.

Organizations are eligible for funding if they fit into any of

these categories: '
* State agency,

* Local government or other political subdivision of the state,

* Nonprofit organization that has a significant purpose
promoting the public Ts health, limiting youth access to
tobacco products or reducing the health

tobacco use,

Existing HWTF grantees as well as groups not currently
working with HWTF are encouraged to apply.

The deadline to apply is March 29, 2005 at 5 pom. So apply now:
When teens T lives are at stake, we need all the heroes we can get
To apply for a grant, visit HWTF's Web site at

www.hwtfc.org

Health @ Wellness

Atomey & Counselor At Law
930 S. Evans St, Suite C

$18 MILLION
SURE WOULD HELP.

ae

| he NC Health and Wellness Trust Pund (HWTF) is
i proud to announce the availability of $4.5 million
annually for four years in grant funding to help prevent teen
tobacco use, HWTF is now accepting applications from
eligible organizations that seek to:

* Prevent youth initiation of tobacco use.

* Eliminate youth exposure to secondhand smoke,

* Promote cessation among youth. .

* Eliminate tobacco-related health disparities among certain

consequences of

March 2005 The Minority Voice Newspaper 7 Page 9

oBloody Sunday ?

tion of the Act.
Renew Crucial Sections

Three crucial sections of the law -

requiring pre-clearance of election law

changes, authorizing federal observers
to monitor elections, and mandating
bilingual election assistance " will ex-
pire in 2007 unless Congress votes to
renew them. We must work with our
Congressional delegation to pressure
the Bush Stee and Congress
to extend those sections. h

As we pay homage to the courage
of those activists who stood tall on
Bloody Sunday, our moral obligation
is to make fain future Beferations
are apprised of the | ve
inherited and see voting 22 dehnitive
cultural statement. Many bridges re-
main to be crossed on the path to full
voting rights in this country.

From the New York Amsterdam
News and Community Service Soci-
ety of New York * 105 East 22nd Street
New York, NY 10010 © 212-254-
8900 * info@cssny.org

data indicates, but we've got some
ground to make up against our ri-
vals, ? NFIB/North Carolina State
Director Gregg Thompson said.
oWhile North Carolina is viewed
nationally as a business-friendly
state, we shouldn't be trailing our
neighbors by as many as 17 per-
centage points when it comes to
business conditions. ?

Not surprisingly, employee
health premiums (37 percent)
ranked No.1 as the most rapidly
rising business insurance cost fol-
lowed by vehicle collision and li-
ability (14 percent), and workers T
compensation and property and
casualty (both 11 percent).

As a result of last year Ts hurri-
canes, 6 percent of responding
small businesses suffered signifi-

cant damage, 13 percent suffered

minor damage and 81 percent said
they suffered no damage at all.

A net 70 percent characterized
the outlook for business over the
next three months as good, citin
sales prospects (57percent) and
greater productivity (17percent) as
primary reasons for their view. A
net 24 percent indicated that prof-
its were ogood, ? and a net 39 per-
cent of those same respondents
characterized sales as ogood. ? Over-
all, a net 54 percent of small em-
ployers reported that over the last
three months their urchasing

, Prices rose, which was higher than

its peer group, while a net 17 per-
cent reported they had increased
selling prices.

For information on small-
business conditions in North
Carolina, visit www. NFIB. com/
object/sbcnc0305.html. Visit
www. NFIB.com/NC for informa-
tion about NFIB Ts activities in
North Carolina. For information
about the Small-Business Condi-
tions project and other small-busi-
ness research studies conducted by
the NFIB Research Foundation,
visit www.NFIB.com/research

: ion Ts


*

www.air-mania.com
(252) 757-1307 Wk
. (252) 757-3853 Fax

JACKIE ROBINSON
FROM PAGE 1

unite the country Ts political
leaders. oe Sh
Bush said he hoped fora
Robinson baseball card; even ?

though he rooted for the Giants. =
House Speaker Dennis Hastert,

R-IIL, recalled going to a Cubs:

game with his grandfather, and

cing told the Dodgers-were

playing and he would see history
eing made. EE
enate Democratic Leader _-
Harry Reid remembered listen-~
ing to Pallgame broadcasts grow-
ing up in

hearing the play-by-play an-.

nouncer describe Robinson |

come through with a game-win-
ning hic. ae

oHe was so much more than
just a baseball player, ? Reid said.

oJackie Robinson brought "
.the civil rights movement to my ~
hometown. ?

Born in Cairo, Ga.,
Robinson was raised in Pasa-
dena, Calif. and was a four-sport
letterman at the University of
California, Los Angeles.

The legislation to give him
the medal was sponsored by Sen.
John Kerry, D-Mass., and Rep.
Richard Neal, D-Mass. It was
awarded on the same day Bush
honored the Boston Red Sox at "
the White House for winning
the World Series last year.

The Red Sox, the last major
league team to integrate, gave
Robinson a tryout before he
signed with the Dodgers, but
chose not to sign him.

The Congressional Gold
Medal is the highest honor the
legislative branch can bestow on
a civilian and must be co-spon-

_ sored by two-thirds of members

in the House and the Senate. _
Robinson is only the second
major league baseball player ever
to get the award " the frst was
Roberto Clemente in 1973.
Ironically, the House ap-
proved fegislation in January
that could have made Robinson
ineligible for the honor by re-
stricting posthumous medals to
a 20-year period beginning five
ears after a person Ts death. The
legislation, which arose from
concern that the distinction was
being diluted by overuse and
also limited medals to two a year,
has not yet been approved by the
Senate.

earchlight, Nev., and » :

Page 10 The Minority Voice Newspaper March 2005

a

WHAT ARE WE TO DO... REALLY DO?

A Jim Rouse Pictorial

The massive turnout to the funeral of yet
another young innocent shooting victim

once again cappres a somber community
with more grief...

Jahmel Rashaad Little

SUNRISE: May 19, 1991 SUNSET: March 6, 2005

.

David Kravets -
San Francisco, CA "

_A federal appeals court refused:

to consider blocking the execution
| of Stanley oTookie ? Williams, a
founder of the notorious Crips
, Street gang who was nominated for
the Nobel Peace Prize while in
prison.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of

Appeals refused to grant Williams .

_ another hearing based on his arou-

ment that prosecutors violated his
rights when they dismissed all po-
tential black jurors from hearing
the case. Agreement from a major-

| ity of the 24 active judges is re-

quired to grant a rehearing.
Judge Johnnie Rawlinson

was joined by eight other judges

rehearing. She said Williams,

who is black, deserves a new trial _
because his attorney did not
object to the unlawful removal
of black panelists during jury se-

lection.

oIf our judicial oyuem is toin-
1

spire a sense of confidence among
t

?,? populace, we must not, we _

cannot permit trials to proceed in
the face of blatant, race-based jury
selection practices, ? said

Rawlinson, a Clinton appointee T

who is black.

oThe very legitimacy of our ©

system of justice depends upon
continued vigilance against such

t Nobel Prize Winner,

in a written opinion favoring a.

ae

in this undated photo
oTookie ? Williams

Williams Family, File)

provided by the family
oses for a photo in the visiting area of San Quentin
appeals court on Wednesday, Feb. 2,
| | 2005, said Stanley oTookie ? Williams, a founder of the notorious Crips
| | street gang who was nominated for a
can be executed for killing four people in 1981. (AP Photo/Courtesty of

State Prison in California. A federal

of Stanley Williams, Stanley

Noble Peace Prize while in prison,

practices. ?
Williams, who was con-
victed in 1981 of killing four

people, will appeal the decision.

to the U.S. Supreme Court, said
his attorney, Andrea Asaro of
San Francisco.

oIf you have a biased jury con-
sidering your guilt or innocence,
that Ts unconstitutional, ? Asaro
said. oThis raises constitutional
implications for the fairness of the
trial. ?

She noted a 1986 Supreme
Court ruling prohibiting race
from being a reason for excusing
jurors.

The majority of judges who
declined a rehearing did so with-
out comment.

Nathan Barankin, a spokes-
man for California Attorney Gen-
eral Bill Lockyer, made a brief
statement after the appeals court
ruling: oA jury determined that the
appropriate sentence for Stanley
Williams for his crimes was death.
We're defending that judgment. ?

Wednesday's decision was the
latest setback for the former Los
Angeles gang leader. In 2002, a
three-judge panel of the San Fran-
cisco-based court approved his ex-

If you are a United policyholder and
arty apy pa presets

HH COMPANY OF
A UNIT Contparsy q

vos ecnemenacamnares

renee

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ecution but did not fully consider
the jury selection process or
whether Williams T counsel was in-
effective. Asaro then asked the
court to rehear the case, leading to
Wednesday's decision.

In the 2002. decision, the
panel said Williams had run out
of legal options but suggested he
was a good candidate for clemency.
The judges cited the children Ts
books he has written from prison,
in addition to messages of peace
he posts on the Internet.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
has rejected clemency for the first
two condemned men asking to
commute their terms to life with-
out parole. In Schwarzenegger's
latest rejection, just last month, he
said an inmate Ts model behavior in

tison was not enough to sway
im to grant mercy.

If Wednesday Ts ruling survives
scrutiny by the Supreme Court, it
could pave the way for as many as
three executions in California this
year. That would be the most since
the death penalty was reinstated in
1978

Last month, a Redwood Ci
man was executed for killing two
women in 1981. A week later, the
9th Circuit cleared for execution
the leader of a Fresno crime rin
who ordered murders from his cell
at Folsom State Prison.

Williams and a high school.

buddy, Raymond Washington,
started the-Grips street gai

e in. Los. sonteone who-ye

With; it docsn'c op Nou

March 2005 The Minority Voice Newspaper Page lI

Crip

Williams was sentenced to
death for fatally shooting Albert
Owens, a Whittier convenience
store worker in 1979. He also was
convicted of using a shotgun a few
days later to kill two Los Angeles
motel owners and their daughter «
during a robbery.

_ He claims he is innocent, ar-
guing that jailhouse informants

fabricated testimony that he con-

fessed to the murders.

If this is OK with the public
for a person to be executed who
could not get a fair trial, if that is
OK, I don Tt know what to say, ? said
Barbara Becnel, who has co-writ-
ten the children Ts books with Wil-
liams. .

She said Williams has received
more than 40,000 e-mails since
April, when oRedemption: The

Stan Tookie Williams Story ? aired

on television. Many messages came
from young gang members who
said his life story helped them turn "
their lives around, she said.

While in San Quentin, Will-
iams has been nominated five
times for a Nobel Peace Prize and
four times for the Nobel Prize for
literature for his series of children Ts
books, Becnel said.

Rappers Continues from Page 5
Interscope Records.
Those relationships

played a hand in Wednes

onciliation.

"It's pressure for 50 to look at it
from a business perspective and not
a personal perspective," Elliott said.
"I think the press conference was
forced by the mainstream media's
reaction to the incident. They don't
benefit on a business level to be as-
sociated with violence."

Could the whole thing have
been a publicity stunt for two rap-
pers with albums in stores now?

Elliott doesn't buy it. "There re-
ally was a beef. I think there was a
genuine conflict that 50 felt The
Game was unappreciative of all the
work he did on his album ... and
Game is feeling like, 'I'm my-own
man now."

But the two have apparently de-
cided that they have more to lose go-
ing against each other.

"T think (50) will continue to
beef with other artists," Elliott said.
"But to beef with your own artist and

re-in~business

robably
ay's rec-

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

ions. The GHA manages approximately 750
Section 8 units Interested ee btai
i ge package by containing: _

y Peterson, Procurement
Greenville Housing Authority
1103 Broad Street, Greenville, NC 27834
(252) 329-4025
(252) 329-4026 (FAX)
Proposal will be accepted until 4:00pm
April 15, 2005

Martin Luther King, Jt. Or.

Building.

Old GUC
Main Office

Please enter through the Greene Street entrance:



Our Uptown Offices Have Moved Next Door

We are now open for business next door in the Wachovia

The move will enable us to provide better customer service,
helfialleviate space and storage issues, and allow for future
expansion. The Wachovia building is a perfect fit, and it allows
Us O maintain a strong uptown presence.

Cireenville Utilities drive-thru customers can conduct busi-
ness in the Wachovia drive4hru. However, past due payments
are not accepted in the drive-+hru. Payments on past due
acccunts need to be made inaide GUC's new offices.

We look forward to seeing you in our new home!
f) et

:

4 Js
Greenville Utilities

408 Boweh Groene St. 799-7166 were gnecom

s Founder "

~ogtreet: inr

SEL KIM PAGE Ss
Seibel told the Manhattan jurors that

Lil Kim, referred to throughout the Ss

trial by her real name, Kimberly Jones,
had repeatedly lied to them, just as she
did to the grand jury. a

The testimony was preposter- )

ous. It was insulting. It was insulting 2

to your int pance. kt ve ion a

to the adic process, ? Seibel told

jurors before they returned pr ped Cup
justice

dict on perjury, obstruction
and conspiracy charges.

Seibel had belittled the defense

that the sunglasses-laden Lil T Kim did-

Not notice two people she knew at the

scene of the shootout " her b..
Damion Butler, and a friend, g uf
Jackson, both of whom haye since
Pleaded guilty to gun charges. =

oYou would
were magic s
out your frien
people, ? Seibel said.

ve to believe they.

Lil T Kim defense lawyer Ma. :
Sachs had argued that his client had -

No reason to protect Butler and Jack-

son because she had iminated

them from her life. .
When Lil T Kim was testifyi

Seibel confronted her with evidence
she owes nearly $1 million in back

asses that only block ©.
who were shooting.

taxes. The singer told jurors she leaves

decisions about her finances to her «

manager and accountant. « _ " "

Among witnesses at the trial ans

were Antoine oBanger ? S ain and

James oLil T Cease ? Lloyd, Brooklyn

Tapers who once teamed with Lil T:
Kim in a group called Junior

They testified they saw»
Butler and Jackson at the radio Ste NE

M.A.FLA.

a

tion with her.

The jury had been shown secu- a
rity photos taken at the station show- s
ing Butler opening a door for her anid
the pair outside together just moments. .

before the shooting, | F
Li! T Kim had testified that after
the shooting she had a falling out

with Butler, Banger and Cease be- ,
freeloading at her. ?

cause they were

New Jersey town house, She saidshe
decided to cut off Butler completely

after he caused a ruckus outside a |
video shoot with Phil Collins T. -
(news), the basis of a defense argu-

ment that she had no incentive to
lie for him. -

oI was just fed up, ? she said.
oThey were taking advantage of me. ?

The rapper also testified at»
length about her modest back- °°
pround and mercurial career, which.

egan with an impromptu audition
with rapper Notorious 3.1.G. on the

their.

world to perform and promote her
records.

Li T Kim won a Grammy Award
for her part in the hit remake o
Marmalade ? in 2001. . |

PUBLIC RADIO RECLAIMS

TAVIS SMILEY 7

Host signs with Public Radio
International for weekend show,

months after
leaving Na-
lic Radio
following a
contract dis-

miley will
soon return
| to the pub-
lic airwaves after signing a deal
with Public Radio International to
host oThe Tavis Smiley Show ? and
produce other programs,
Premiering April 29, the
show will run two hours and. is
slotted to air in the Friday-to-
Sunday window. The program
will feature newsmakers and

- regular commentators including

Princeton professor Cornel West
and former congressman J.C.
Watts.

Smiley will continue to serve
as host of his late-night PBS talk
show oTavis Smiley ? and is creat.
ing a series of prime-time specials
for PBS. The best, oAmerican As-

ROOMS FOR RENT

JOSHUA T CHRISTIAN
HOME Has spacious rooms
for rent. Safe environment,
Utilities included in rent,

Central heat, air, 931-0816
GET itt:

Interscolastic "
Athletic

Coaches Needed
Pitt County Schools is seek.

ing to increase its pool
middle school and high

school interscolastic athlete

coaches in all

are interested § fae an
4290) or email
bdailey@ ittk12.nc, Us a re-

sume to Dailey,
: dannii

hood. She described T ttaveling the

oLady

*Three

tional Pub- |

ute, Tavis |

cension, ? is set to ait this summer

Page 12 The Minority Voice Newspeper March 2005

Preachers

Would Le

ave Us At the Back of the Bus

|

marriages. Do you want to laugh
ors

By Rew bara Reynolds Bush, who has aggressively social programs and tax cuts for the struction Bush Jooks the other way, rich friends on Wall Street. Rev. Barbara Reynolds is the
A Coiurnnist affirmative action, including two rich, is so immoral you'd think the but attacked an oil-rich country with ~ Are these well-nealea preacners religion columnist/or NNPA is an

There was a time when black preach- cases involving the University of _ preachers would be rising up in out- no weapons of mass destruction that tening me presiucni mul wnnc wu.- author of four books, including

ers could be counted on to confront Michigan. . a rage, but little church mice make had not attacked America? iii-ingtonians, many of whom are Af- oOut Of Hell & Living Well: Heat-

the ruling of theirdaywhen " I bet they do not talk about the more noise than most religious lead- Since they have so much clout in- _rican-Americans, are dying and Deing ing from the Inside Out ? and a

the ess were receiving a raw budget, a moral document reflect- ers. ae side the White House, why are the wounded in Iraq, they have no vote in _ graduate of the Howard University -

deal. But if black folks had to depend _ ing the values paid for in taxes and Where are the pointed questions _ black not telling the presi- the U.S. House of Representatives nor ool of Divinity and the United
. upon sri clergy for seaderahi, in the blood of our daughters ahd coming from those bragging about dent th: since black Americadepends the Senate. Theological Seminary, where she
at e i wanes (hey sal Still be confined to the sons in.the U.S. military. The cur- dining with the. paatcat Why more on Social Security in their senior So while so much is threaten- _cafned a doctorate degree in min-
ON of the bus. rent budget projecting a $427 bil- when North Korea defiantly an- years for survival than whites, the ing our survival, many of our nation Ts _istry. She can be reached at

At a time when black America is lion deficit, with its severe Cuts in nounce it has weapons of mass de- tem can not be left to the mercy of his clergy are busy cracking down on gay T / WWw.reynoldsnews,com.

of the black clergy, especially those ee Oe - "

heading mega-churches, are ' either :

apolitical or apologists for the status

uo. *

; The Rev. Clarence James, a so-

cial critic and author of the oLost

Gener-. ation? Or Left Generation, ?

says the trouble with today's clergy is

there are too many priests and not

enough prophets. oThe priests are the

ser- vants of the privileged, criticiz-

ing little crimes at the bottom,while

ignor- ing those at the top. The
prophets remind the rulers they are
not exempt from the laws of God, |
but the priests are blinded by wealth |

and power. ?

Recently a small group of con-
servative preachers (the priests) have
* been hotfooting it over to the White
House. But these are not the kind to
trouble the water. With no agenda'that
encapsulates the needs of black «
America, they are in danger of being
ived as sell-outs.

One group is the newly estab-
lished Hig impac Leadership Coa-
lition, formed by Maryland pastor
Bishop Harry Jackson. It has unveiled

mah ah 3 T
wie ee

Catch the Madness in High Definition.

the Black Contract with America on : eae
Moral Values to gain more clout 9) paren 7 TlH, | _
within the ublican Party. Bishop = MITSUBISHI WIDESCREEN TV SON Y LCD Projection am ?
Charles E. Blake Sr, senior pastor o 7} en TV |
_ the 25,000-member West Angeles - 42° wra2315 i 60" |

Church of God in Christ and the Z KDF6OWFESS 46" WLPdsesw
Rev. Fred Price, pastor of the Crenshaw . -
Christian Center are among the West 48" we 8,699" 2,400"
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cording to the Christian Examiner. *1, 500" 50" scrsowzess 50" SLPso6sw

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supporting President Bush would re- Fv an Hongo ant peor Preceneer . *s Wage Enging?"? maintains pi aie i oO
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Crow, segregation and fueled the TD 27" AV27E47S q " "
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rican-Americans, the top issue for
Jackson's black contract is fighting

: same-sex marriages. This piovision Pte 20" LIV-20V281. ss |
; was a successful strategy concocted by SST SB@er gor. ;
Karl Rove, Bush's top gun. to throw a ae iy | * Diaganal Screen Size 32 inch
enough red meat at lical Chri " " . " | * Aspect Ratio 4:3, 16:9 Enhanced
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for Bush Whie he oon the top 1: Conle Rew * Next-generation Direct Digital Circuitry Il, 1 Sunes Tuner Ta 46" AvaGr475
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same-sex marriages (I am against BY a. WDSR20800 o, &§ we Intuitive
them), banning them as a top prior- oWhirtpool ET1FHTXM ; oN ee IWLK nan
ty for Black fli iiculous, Ar Ray acromechancl ont } * Vas eset Washer
led homosexuals responsi r . = * Two gulue washyapin pee
draining billions from health, educa: OTT 12004 Energy Star® Quatitied siquemhowe ) |; Asem cai
tion and housing for the poor to spend - ,, _. * UilraEase?"? Water Filleation Sysiem + fiaach Dispenser * Eco Active ?"? wash system
on blowing up raq? Are gays respon- « i. 4, ** © Aecu-Chill Temp Management System » Three Water Lovols * 3 Spin Seeds
sible for the failure to prevent the mur- a 4 * Adjustable SpiliGuard'?"? Glass Shelvas oSqn ony Onn a
der of thousands of black Christians mt .
dying in Sudan? No, the genocide aces BET ws . TS25aFXio hey Qos
Pai be stopped if Bush used his dout Water Firion Sy BY. a DRYER
in the UN Security Council to = «2 Aahematto Gaon Coes Bins \. a sprees!
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Gay marriages are something that J -suayoces * ? OPQ BOON: Siscenrection onion Load®
the presid afford nd ET1 MHRXM * Quiat-By-Dosiga?"? * Drum material
president can afford to spe at + Fixed End-Ol-ycte & Dryer
rhetoric on because it doesn Tt cost him ee rab Glass Sholves ; meee : sel Chcaning at filter
dime, but for black ea it is a + EZ-Vue Humidily-Conirolled Crispers ae Sane T | Lint Bucket DEGX1
iversion we can not umes
" When the black ote ata q
talk to Bush I bet they do not men- ° .
tion access to higher education for ca reay .
blacks because that would embarrass ye mchtregmeenrl AERS715 a oy
, lle-Pi noma mome o
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ounty Senior Games entlee aad erune an ooh wut . WR er
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more, SKRAND
_ Coordinated by Pitt County | : SBRANDSOUR Q
Community and Recreation
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