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. .