VOL XIV NO. 11 FEBRUARY 5 - 11 � 1992
Jordan takes
his image off
NBA clothing
8-7
UAW says Japanese
ignore civil rights
-A-3
WVA
,
e that hi original guilty pie
over," n ide cried, momen later.
Inv tig tors tracin li nd following
leads cro conunuents arre ted J m Earl
Ray in London in June. Within year of the
ination, on March 10, 1969, Ray pleaded
guilty to King' killing.
In his new book, Ray now calls th court
proceeding a ham, but his enti ment i not new.
He registered it before h left the courtroom.
ASHVlll.B, � . - At the Rivero nd Maxi­
mum Security I titution, behind 12-foot razor
wire fe , in a concrete cube of cell with no
bars and a 4-inch- ide gl lit for a window
j J m Earl Ray, the man rving 99 years
King' in..
Ray i on quest. H wan to know 'who
killed rtin Luther King?' and' out to prove
he Innocent, a claim he repeats In a new
autobiography nd in prison interview.
He' peak! the truth, is his refrain, and the
truth can t him free.
Once in court, he vow to prove he w a dupe
of mysterio middleman' named "Raoul" in
one of the most pectacular murder conspiracie
of the century.
y' new book, "Who Killed Martin Luther
TH V. TI Luther King, Jr.'
untiring travel to th fl hpoints of the civil
righ movement won him the Nobel Pe ce Prize
in 1964, and in early April 1968 took him to
Memphis, wh re nit tion workers, mo t of
them African Americ n, were triking for better
pay and an end to di crimin lion.
He tirred a crowd with a peech that'
memorized by children now, declaring, "I've
been to the mountaintop ... I'm not fearing any
man." After pending much of April 4 planning
yet another demonstration, he prepared for din­
ner, then tepped onto hi balcony at the Lor­
raine Motel.
King stood alone there at 6:01 p.m., a
Ingle rifle shot struck him in the head. "It's all
will do wha
fund Proj C
roi
THEN-U.S.ATIO EY General Ramsey
C1 rk had id immedi tely after the hooting ,
that a lone in killed King; there w no
evidence of co piracy. But even he pleaded
guilty, Ray told th jud : "the only thing that I
have to ay i that I can't agree with Mr. Clar ."
A-10
"I don't think there has been enough oppor­
tunity for discussion both pro and con on 'Detroit
2,000'," Cobbin aid. "I'm not sure that's the best
thins for this district to buy into, ifit 1 that's fine,
still I'm in favor of open discussion about it and
not sneaking it through, which they did in
December, with no opportunituy
to see it until that meeting." . ,
"Apparently everybody else
had bought into it and I didn't have
the opportunity to bear both side
and I had to eek information from
other entities," Cobbin aid.
"I'm very suspicious when you
try to sneak something pass the
community," she aid. "Why can't
we use our own staff. Why are we
.diverting money from kids again.
• . typical position of a Republican administra­
tion ... diverting you away from the real i ue."
SCHOOLS, PageA-10
. What doe.
Black
Hi tory
onth
m an 0
you?
� .
I
THE AFRICAN CONNECTION
• Speak segment of the ptIJH!r
lour par. of RIJbert 1l4ydtm's
poem: Midille PtBsage.
TIte 3t!1'U!s begins with 1M profile
of Catherine C. Blackwell.
IDGJD..AND PARK-Catherine C.
Bl ckweU owns African Toms by
Catherine B. and she will be t.aki.Dg a
tourist groups to Senegal during
Black History Month.
The one week tour leaves Detroit,
February 22 and returns the 29 of
February. The round trip fare,
Detroit to Detroit, which includes air '
fare, hotel accommodations and
"other little goodies," is $1,899.00,
Blackwell said. If the individual has
his or her passport in order, she will
accept registration until February 8.
new po t as the chair of the "Detroit 2,000"
coalition.
Deborah McGriff, Detroit Public Schools
general superintendent provided her with the
opinion written by Lynne Metty, general coun­
el, at the Jan. 28 Detroit Public Schools board
meeting at the School Center Building. '.
Cobbin said she was concerned about Patrick
stepping down as board president, to become the
chair of the local chapter of President George
Bush's "America 2,000."
D.
,
IN JULY, Blackwell said he
will take a second tourist group to
three countries in West Africa and to
Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa.
The tourist will visit many inter­
e ting places-i ncluding the hi toric
slave castles on Goree Island whicb
is about 22 minute from
Dakar,Blackwell said.
The February trip will be
Blackwell '5 "55th trip to the
.(African) Continent within the past
32 years," sh� said."
Blackwell aid he began con­
ducting tours about ten years ago and
when he first went to Africa, the
reason was to become educated
about the mother land.
"I am an educator and early in my
teaching career I became very con-
cemed about the fact that our
youngsters had little, if ny
knowledge about their heritage," she
said. In order to teach it, "I had to
]mow more about it myself."
Thus, Blackwell's recantations
about the mother land are those of a
teacher and a cholar.
She has visited 39 African
countrie , met "almo t all of the
heads of tate" who were in power
when she visited their particular
country, including Leopold Senghor
and Hiale Sel ie-"Tbe Lion Of
Judah."
S • AFRICA, A·10
By FLODEAN S. RIGaS
hffWrlt.,.
The Detroit Board of Education is putting its
money where George Bush's mouth is.
The Board has stepped up to do what Presi­
dent George Bush won't do for his own educa­
tion reform program Project 2000,
fund it.
The Board will provide taff and
pace to Bush' Potject 2000 point
man in Detroit, Board member
Lawrence Patrick.
Project 2000 i Bush's platform
for education reform targeted at
making American schools the best
in the world by the year 2000. Bush ,
has insisted his program be private­
ly upported and refuses to reverse the trend of
dwindling federal upport for education ..
Early in January, Gloria Cobbin,school board
member, ked for a legal opinion regarding
former board pre ident Lawrence Patrick Jr.'s
' ..