BRIEFS
IS - When antiapartheid
tivi s in amib' announced
th formation of the South e
frica People Organization
( APO), the South African
government, an occup tion force
of veral thousand troop , had
and un
eventually
re Ited in the development of
the n tional organization with
ings for women, youth and
elders.
SW APO abo maintain re-
fu ttlements, 001 and
cia! institution in neighbor-
ing African countries and
- offICial mission in 20 countrie .
In 1966, six year after the
organiz tion's pe ceful prote s
h d failed, APO launced
PLA. The years since the
founding have been marked
by resi ance and bloodshed.
SW APO's Angu1a e timates that
8,000 to 9,000 amibians h ve
been killed over that period.
COURT IG ORES RACE
ashington, DC - Th
U.S. Supreme Court la
ee rejected arguments that
the death penalty as un-
con itutional bee u it wa
dispro rtion tely handed
out to Black. The ruling
came in Georgia ca in
which I wyer ught to re
ver the death ntence
given a Bla man convict
ed of ooting a white
police officer. Death penalty
opponents had pre nted vi-
dence to the court owin
that per n was II times
more likely to be ntenced
to death if he had lied a
white per n. Ho ever in a
n no 5-4 deci i n the
court ruled th the death
penalty was c n itutional
even if Black were more
likely than whites to b
put to death. Forty-two
of the last 70 people execut
ed in the nation prison
were Blac and virtually all
of them had been found
guilty of killing a hite.
Civil right groups denounced
the court rulin. Congres-
. nal Blac C ucus member
John Conyer pledged legis
lative efforts to top th
disproportionate number of
Blac s being put to death.
spy CASE SH Y
Quanti 0, Va. - The ca
of U.S. marines allegedly
spying for the So let while
guarding the U.S embassy
in osco i being compli
cated by an apparent lac
of evidence and the i sue
of race. Despite a lot of
publicity bout the verity
of the spying government
la yers are privately admitt
ing they a having diffi
culty building ca to sup
port the y charges. The
ca wa m e worse when
two of the marines recanted
earlier inc rim in ting ate
rnents, The ca is further
complicated by the fact that
two of the three key marine
are minority American . CpI.
Arnold Br cy i Black and
Sgt. Clayton Lonetree is an
American Indian. La t w
th CP entered the c
on beh f of Bracy and
ellkno n civil right ttor
n y illiam unt er i .)Vork
ing ith Lonetree. The
go ernment beli ve Lon tre
headed the y op ration
but far they have fail d
in efforts to t Bracy to
te ify g in t him.
L.. G G VIOLE CE
SOARS
Los Angele Calif. - Bat
tles for control of the city'
lucrative illegal dru bu i
ne have reportedly resulted
in a major increa in Bla k:
gang violence in Lo n eles.
o t of the vi len e ha
been ntered in pred rni-
nantly Black- uth Central
Lo ngele . La t ye r
the p li e reported more than
5,000 incident of gang-
related violence including
328 murders. Most of the
fighting i id to involve
conflicts bet e n rival gangs
struggling for control of the
multi-million d liar dru 11;
in bu ines. Poll e offi ial
y 15-ye r-old ith the
right gang conne ,t i n can
m S500 to 1 000 day
lIing drugs.
ISTRE TS
o 0 SR - In an
apparent c unter- tt
gain U.S. charge f human
rights vi lations in hi coun
try Soviet leader . hail
Gorbachev la t wee accu d
the U.S. of practicing racism
and failing to combat pover
ty. There ere report th t
Gorbachev even ggested
that U.S. B1 s be alIo ed
to e tablish par te state
in America. But Son t
spokesmen denied the report.
ember of .S. Congres-
ional delegation hich met
with Gorbache al id hi
rem r s about
state had been t
of context.
African-American useum
hold Grand Opening
The $35 million Museum of African American History,
ne t resident facility in the Detroit Cultural Center, was
fonnally dedicated in services held May 7. The general
public joined the Museum officials and other dignitaries to
celebrate the even . The structure, which combines African
and American architectural techniques. It as designed by
the S - Varner and Associates architectural finn and built
by J Gough Construction Company. Inaugural activities
will continue through Sunday. .