D To orr -In n unprece
den bid to w y public opinion
and up tage the chool board,
union lude recenUy 0 red
plan for improving Detroit cl
rooms, hile eng ged in contract
negotiations with them ..
The union blueprint ac)�w
ledg the need for inajor over
h ul of the 167,000- tudent
ystem, plagued by low chieve
ment and dropout ra of 40
percent.
The plan calt for smaller
chool that stay open longer,
tricter di cipline nd new
"de ign team " of chool
employees, parents and tudent to
work on pecific educational and
management issues.
The plan w developed by
leader of 12 district unions, with
upport from the Metropolitan
Detroit ALF-eIO and an Oakland
County public relations firm.
Union official hope to
counter the school board' Em
powerment Plan, which seeks to
give principals, teachers and
parents control over budgets, cur
riculums and most, other
decisions.
Wild r m at with ANC
JOHANNESBURG - Virginia
Gov. Doug! Wilder recently
met with African National Con
gress officials during a nine-day
vilit. bleb lDcluded funerals for
the 46 victims of a June 17 mas
sacre in Boipatong township -
the country's worst in years.
The ANC has blamed the
government for the killings and
broke off constitutional talks with
the white government. Wilder,
who has visited six African on a
23-day African trade and cultural
mission, did not meet with ANC
. president Nelson Mandela, who
flew to meet with United Nations
Secretary General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali in Dalar, Senegal
to discuss the crisis.
Chicago Suburb
Agree to Pay, In Bla
Suit
CIIlCAGO - Chicago Heigh1S,
a Chicago suburb, has agreed to
pay $4.5 million to owners of a
housing complex who contended
in a lawsuit tbat the 12 buildings
there were condemned and
demolished by the town in 1985
because most of the resident were
Black. .
The town's officials agreed to
the settlement in Federal District
Court on Monday to avoid the
possibility that a larger amount in
punitive damages would be as
sessed by a jury that issued a ver
dict against the town last week,
said Mayor Douglas Troiani.
The jury concluded last
Thursday that because of the ra
cial makeup at. the complex, the
Sunset Apartments, several
Chicago l:Ieights offici", moved
in the mid-1980's to have it van
dalized, making it uninhabitable
under the community's building
codes.
. Magne lum Improve
urvlval chance
Lo_OII - Injections of mag
nesium immediately after heart
attack ymptoms begin ig
nificantly improve the chances of
survival, according to a study
published in a British medical
journal.
The death rates after one
month among patients who
received magnesium was 24 per
cent lower tban among those who
did not, the study reported in the
June n issue of The Lance.
CHARTRA 0
HI 01'0 - An objection
from judge bout I wyer'
choice of ttire h become the talk
of legal circle in W hington, rai -
ing que tio about where
I yer' perso I freedom collid
with couruprocedur and whether
clothing can influence jury.
The que tio aro e after a
lawyer, John T. Harvey 3d, wa
removed from a case last week by
Judge Robert M. Scott of the Di -
trict of Columbia Superior Court
after a dispute over Harvey's wear
in a ente cloth. The judge had
aid that the stole might unduly in
fluence jurors' cultural ensitivites.
. Neither the pro ecutor nor
Harvey's client raised objections
about the cloth.
Harvey h ked the Di trict of
Columbia Court of Appeals to
reverse the order and to remove the
judge from the case, and he vowed
.. to appeal to Federal court if the
ruling is not reversed.
"An Orthodox Jew wears a yar
mulke, an Indian wears a turban,
and according to the case law they
can appear before this judge," Har
vey aid in a recent interview.
"What is the difference between a
yarmulke or a turban and my stole?"
The Issue has intensified be
cause Harvey is representing a
Black man who was accused of as-
ault with ten . That
bas raise the q on r
predominantly Black jwy would be
prejudiced by the cloth in favor of
Harvey's client.
The Cloth of King
The multicolored kente cloth,
Originally from West Africa, has
become popular with African
Americans in recent years as a sign
of racial pride.
Kente, which is thought by some
scholars to derive from a word
meaning "basket"s, was originally
reserved for kings 'and high-ranking,
chiefs like the leaders of the Astian
ti tribe in Ghana.
In the United States, it is worn
mostly as an accent, fashioned into
hats, scarves, ties or stoles. Though
he seldom wore one as a public of
ficial, Marion Barry, the former
,
W hin ton Mayor,
ttention ror we rin
tole.
received
kente cloth
K nte nd ult
The di pute between the lawyer
nd the judge began I t February
when H rvey ppe red in court
wearing the triped cloth draped
over hi uit a he prepared to
defend hi client.
At the hearing, Judge Scott, who
i white, gave Mr. Harvey, ho is
Black, choice: remove the stole,
re ign from the court-appointed
case, or try it before the jUdge but
without a jury.
Rejecting all th e options. Mr.
Harvey, wearing h stole, next p
peared before Judge Scott I t week •
for a he ring on the case. Harvey
aid that lthough he, his client and
the pro ecution had agreed on a
guilty plea to a charge of robbery,
he would refuse to enter the plea
until the dispute over the stole w
re olved.
Judge Scott then di mi cd Har
vey from the case. "I will remove
you today, not on the b is of your
kente cloth, but on the buis that
you will not enter a plea," he aid.
Citing the Constitution
Other lawyers and legal scholll1
later agreed with Harvey that tbe
SOUlU of the conflict remained the
te cloth. But -'nIII.
that loth' sm
relevant.
"It's my choice to war it, pure
and simple," he said.
Harvey said his church, the
Faith United Church of Chri t, re
quires that the cloth be worn in
private and at work as an expre -
sion of religous faith and ethnic
solidarity, and that he has worn a
stole since November.
"My client said he had no prob
lem with my repre entation," said
Harvey. "I can't see any juror look
ing at my stole and saying the
defendent must be innocent. I am
not for or against Marion Barry be-'
cause Marion Barry has nothing to
do with why I wear it."
Judge Scott has refused to dis
cuss the issue outside court. "It's
my policy," he said in an interview.
"I don't comment on ongoing cases.
Calling for direct-action picket
ing and boycotts which led to
world-wide anti-apartheid
mobilization against South Africa,
TransAfrica officials in
WaShington, DC, urged all
Americans to support an effective
national lobby .for a more positive
United States policy toward the
Republic of Haiti as well as other
oppressed peoples and govern-
ments. .
The same intensity and commit
ment that African-Americans
fostered to end the separatist
governments in southern Africa
must now be brought to the broader
concerns affecting the political and
economic empowerment of all
Africans, Randall Robinson, Trans
Africa executive director, declared
at the opening of the organization'
1992 conference recently.
"As the Rodney King verdict
showed, the struggles waged by
Africans and African-Americans
are not divergent. The quest for
freedom, justice, self-determina
tion, human rights and economic
empowerment (are the same) ... The
marginalization of Africa has coin
cided with the marginalization of
Blacks in America," Robinson said
in his report.
"Black organiztions-schurches,
ocial groups, schools, trade
unions, professionals and others-
must now step-up efforts to inform
and instruct their constituents about
John T. Harv y 3d, a Wa.hlngton lawyer, wa. removed from a
ca.e atter a Judge objected to hi. wearing In court a .tole made
of African kente cloth. The .trlp d cloth Iw worn a. a ymbol of
Black pride.
I let therecord speak for itself."
Legal experts said they could not
recall other cases in which lawyers
were removed from cases because
of their attire.
"I've just never heard of such a
thing," said David Rudenstine, a
professor of constitutional law at
the. Benjamin N. Cardozo Law
School at Yeshiva University.
"The probable narrow question
boils down to whether the stole
jeopardized the dignityof the court
forum Or constituted contempt to
th judge," Rude tine dded.
"Cle rly the judge did not feel
that y, ince he w willing to
h r the e himself.
"So can judg require n Or
thodox Jewi h ttomey to remove
yarmulke on the groun that me
on Je . h on th jury might be
unduly ympathetic?" he cd. "I
can't ee how it not far."
An 'In ult' to Black
Bl c lawyers and c demics
were critical of wh t they w
racism in the judge' implication
that Black jurors would be in
fluenced by th ente cloth.
"It is n insult to Blac
Americans to sugge t they 10 e
their objectivity when they it on a .
jury because they ee piece of
cloth," aid Keith Walters, vice
pre ident of the National Bar
celation, a Black lawyers group.
.. If a lawyer went into court wearing
a clown outfit, I don't think anyone
would tolerate it. But I talked with
everal members of our bar in
California and Detroit, and they
aid in their courts it is not n un
usual ight to e an attorney wear
ing a kente cloth, and no one says
anything."
Still other argued that the
proper place for any concern about
juror sympathie w during
�ef net p �Qtion l� rt'. \
[nterview of prospective i
r leno n vol dJre.
�wouW e1Hninatc the
quiry, or put it where it belongs,"
aid J. Clay Smith, a professor of
constitutional law at Howard
University, who has just finished a
book on the hi tory of Black
lawyers in the United States.
"The question is, whether a
lawyer as opposed to a juror can be
removed from a case by a judge on
some type of arbitrary standard.
We're not talking about omeone
coming into a courtroom with a
Batman cape. I have not seen this
in researching the first 100 years of
Black lawyers nor in my own 20
years of work. .
He added: "Women wear kente
embroidery on their suits. I have a
kente cloth bow tie. So the ques
tion is, how much kente cloth i too
much kente cloth?"
I
upportsma
lobby for Haiti
events in Africa. The Congres-
ional Black Caucus is pivotal in
ensuring that the African American
voice is heard in the corridors of
power. Africare's Constituency for
Africa (CFA) project will do much
to bolster grassroots intere t in
Africa. The Black media has an
even greater task in ensuring that
Africa and its multitude of issues
are not forgotten," he emphasized.
SPFAKlNG AT TransAfrica's
15th annual dinner, Robinson and
other officials paid tribute to
depo ed Hai tian President Jean
Bertrand Ari tide and thousands of
refugees seeking relocation in the
United State until the first
democratic government i restored
in tbe Caribbean island. Human
rights advocate Alice Walker,
author of "TM Color Purple,"
union leade William Lucy and
Rev. Charle Cobb, retired mini ter
and civil rights acnvtsi, were also
honored at the dinner which high
lighted TransAfrica's annual
foreign policy conference.
President Ari tide also told the
black-tie guests " ... In one ense,
you already know what I have io say
because my history is your history,
the hi tory of your tribe, of your
people or your nation ... We,
daughters and 0 of Africa re
not. .. beaging for pity. We explore
our historical and anthropological
horizons and celebrate
List of ANC demands
of government
TransAfrlca's courage and great
ne ,the courage and greatness of
those who speak with their actions
and their brave deeds ... "
Referring to President George
Bush's order for U.S. troops to send
back 34,000 Haitian refugees flee
ing political oppression, Aristide
quoted Robinson in saying " 'If
the e refugees were white, they
would be let into the U.S. immedi
ately. We've admitted 70 percent
of all refugees from Eastern
Europe, but fewer than one percent
from Haiti. The numbers don't
lie ... "
The CFA was organized at
Africarc House in Washington with
representative of 40 African
American organizations and the
,United Nations based Organiza
tions of African Unity (OAU). The
miaaion is mobilize and fo ter in
creued cooperation of a broad
bued coaltion committed to the
progress and empowerment of
Africa and African peoples, aid
Melvin P. Foote, coordinator.
TransAfrica also announced, the
scheduled opening of its new head
quarters in thC DuPont Circle em
b y section of the capital. The
building w purchased under the
leadership of activi t athlete Arthur
Ashe, chairman of the TransAfrica
capital fund nd keynote luncheon
speaker.
religious Washington Office on
Haiti, delegation of U.S. citizens
who recently returned from a fact
finding mission to Haiti, also i sued
a critique calling for urgent changes
in U.S. policy toward Haiti to head
AN INTERRACIAL, inter-
JOHANNESBURG, Soutb Africa
(AP) - Here is a list of demands
the African National Congre s
made to the government Tues
day when it suspended negotia
tions on political reforms:
- Establishment of an inter
national commission to inve -
tigate township violence, and an
international team to, monitor
violence;
- Creation of a Constituent
embly to draft and adopt a
new constitution ending white
minority rule;
- Establi hment of an inter
im government to oversee the
transition to multiracial
democracy;
- Termination of all covert
activitie by police and military;
- Suspension and prosecu-
off "a social explo Ion termed as
potentially imminent" The group
wa headed by Worth Cooley
Proust, president of th board of
directors of the Washington Office
on ;Haiti (WOH).
tion of soldiers and police in
volved in political violence;
- Halt to repre ion in the
nominally independent Black
homelands (statement doe not
elaborate);
- Replacement of all-male
workers' ho tels, often impli
cated in violence, with family
units;
- Increased scrutiny of hos
tels, including guards on 24-
hour duty and regular earches
of dwelling ;
- Banning of all dangerous
weapons in public, including 0-
called cultural weapons such as
pears and shields;
- Release of all pollttca!
prisoners;
- Repeal of 11·· repre sive"
legislation. The tatement did
not elaborate.