FIVE WHITE Durham 'VOters
challenged the adopted plan that put
almost half the tate' Black voters
in tho e two eli tric , aying' it
amounted to c·politica1 parthcid.' ,
luCY d the plan violates the 14th
G
ele Police De
11 ift nd ho
r m ldemo
tbe family membe
porters of three Bl c men c-
c ed 0 be ti white true
driver, Regin Id Denny,
durin the L.A. upri in on
April 29, got out of nd.
Th city' ne POlicec.hief,
Willie Willi ms, ent out
me ge of intolerance of
mob-ruled tree by letting
100 riot-equipped officers,
thatm de55arres ndquick­
Iy restored "order", according
to a recent article in the New
York Times. The officers
employed a new crowd control
. technique, Chief William
id, firing hard foam-rubber
projectiles from a .37 mil-
limeter tear g capon.
When people from the
demonstration began throwing
roc and bottle, 40 to 50 of­
ficers moved in, omething
they did not do in April. ChIef
William rated his
department' performance at
"way up ther around 9" on a
scale of 10.
OU tud nt
make
d mand for
minority po t
aOCRESTK RIL MI-
Black student protestors mar­
ched into the offices of the
president of Oakland Univer-
ity demand tlf UQ'� ••
a long oVerdue miilo ty ilfaIrs
omce.
The students contend the
office is needed to address the
issues of an increase of racial
tension and a decrease in finan-
'cial aid for mioorities. .
"We've done the lunches,
the bruncbes, we've had the
meetings, we've shuffled tbe
papers," student Omar Davis
said. "But nothing is happen­
ing."
Some students say the re­
quest for a minority affairs of­
fice dates back to the
mid-l97Os.
Last fall, Blacks made up to
six percent of Oakland's
12,530 students. .
Oakland University Presi­
dent Sandra Packard. who took
office in June, said she had
never heard the request and
read about the concern in
Umoja, the Black student
newspaper. "They might have
been wanting this for years,"
ahe said, "but I haven't been
here for years."
Black can
empower
their
communltle
DETROIT-Joe Darden,
dean of urban affairs at
Michigan State University,
contends that when Blacks
spend money in other com­
munities, their own com-
munities lose. .
"We continue to be too in­
dependent from ab economic
standpoint. When you spend
money at businesses not
owned by people in your com­
mWlity, it draim the city of
important resources. The
more you spend, the more you
lose."
In November, the City
Council approved the city'
first seven enterprise zones,
according to a recent article in
the Detroit Free Press, and in
1988, a survey by Black
Enterprise magazine found
that Detroit granted more than
$132 million in contracts to
minority-busirieSSes in Detroit,
more than any other city in the
country.
"The Black community bas
the capital, it just requires a
leadership that bas been mi -
ing." Darden says. "Not all
Blac are poor."
nd 5t
Co litution, hich e dopted to
protect the olin righ 0 Bl
" e thin t t' harm to
t ,to African-Ameli , to
live Ameri , " id retired
Judge ob on veren, one of the
vote d also the group's ttomey.
"It harms everybody.
• • he e o-c lled
minority-majority di tric re
uo tem for congressperso ,"
he id Monday in telephone
Interview.
. ue raised by the court;
ho ever, i not the 0 raised by the
nve voters. The court pparently
ecepted the J nee Department's
rulin that North Carolina to
c.rea two Blac -m [ority di tric
to comply with the Voting Righ
Act. But it questioned whether the
Legi lature can be accused of racial
discrimination because it didn't put
the di trict where the Justice
Department recommended.
LESUE WINNER, a lawyer
from Charlotte who helped devise
the new congressional districts, aid
the court's que tion "a umes
omething that isn't true. " The
Justice Department didn't tell the
tate where to create Black-majority
districts, he said. It merely acccp
�'"
,
:
..
"
-.,
p
..
.
..
'I
"These
so-called
minority-majority
districts are a -
quota system for
congresspersons. "
"We followed what we thought
the law was," Hunt aid. "The
Justice Department made create a
econd (minority district). We did
that.
"It's ugly," Hunt said. "With
the Justice Department and the
courts, districts being neat circles
TH UI A
di . ed in July by p el o three
federal judg . Everett and other
lawyers in the . d they ere
puzzled by the one-paragraph order
in which the Supreme Court ted
i decision to revive it.
Should Everett and the others
eventually win their , the impact
would be felt beyond North
Carolina's borde .
The e could halt most 30
ye rs of legal and politic,1
momentum thatled last month to the
election of 39 Blac us, Ho
members - the m t ever
In 1965, the Voting Rights Act
ouUa cd cial d�Dltion in
SOURCE: �Organiz.aion IUMtyI of � 1,000 and 1,� � YOtIf1; nwgin of error 3%.
HU.nt sugge t tatewide
referendum to settle flag issue
By PHILUP RAWLS
MHi:Mfwl Pr ... Writ.,.
MONTGOMERY, ALA. (AP)
Gov. Guy Hunt said a statewide
referendum might be the best way to
decide whether to fly the Confederate
battle flag atop the st ate Capitol,
rather than fighting it out in court.
Hunt made the suggestion Tues­
day after Black legislators filed a
lawsuit in Montgomery County Cir­
cuit Court seeking to bar Hunt from
unfurling the flag.
Their suit is based on an 1896
state law that they aid preclude any
banner other than the state flag or
U.S. flag from adoming the Capitol's
white dome .
"My suggestion is put it to a vote
and settle it from now on at the next
election we have. Let the people vote
which flag we ought to have," Hunt
said in an interview.
HUNT HAS ignored requests
from Black legislators and several
chambers of commerce not to fly the
flag because he said he is convinced
a majority of Alab amians want it to
fly, as it has done since then .. Gov.
George Wallace ordered it up in
1963.
"Government leaders are up­
posed to do what the people want
them to do. I haven't come to the
place that I'm cocky enough to ay it
doesn't matter to m e what the people
think," Hunt said.
No flag has flown above the
. Capitol in even months because of
renovation work being done on the
building. Hunt said no flags will fly
when the Capitol reopens Dec. 12
because engineers have decided it's
unsafe for maintenance workers to
continue climbing the narrow iadder
at the back of the dome to raise t.he
flags.
'lbe state will have to take bids to
hire a steeplejack to do the work and
�hat will take veral weeks, he aid.
The Black repre entative who
filed the suit - Alvin Holmes; D­
Montgomery; George Perdue, D-Bir­
mingham; William Cl rk,
D-Pricba{d; and George Oay, D-Tu
skegee - and other members of the
Legislative Black Caucus plan to
boycott the opening because of the
flag.
THEIR SUIT CITES a state law
which says, "The flag of the state
shall be hoisted on the dome of the
Capitol when the two houses of the
Legislature are in session, and shalt
be used by the state on all occasions
when it may be necessary or cus­
tomary to display a flag, except
when, in the opinion of the governor,
the national flag should be dis-
played."
"The law is clear," Holmes aid.
"The governor does not have the
authority to fly the Confederate flag
above the state Capitol."
Holmes, one of 14 legislators ar­
rested in 1988 for trying to remove
the flag, said, "The Confederate flag
has become the official flag of the
KKK, the Neo-Nazis and the Skin­
heads." To Blacks, he said, it is a
symbol of racism and oppression.
"It's not as far as I'm con­
cerned," Hunt said.
U;. • cuts off
fl' eing ai ian
By BETH DUFF· BROWN
A .. oclatfll p,. .. Writer
MJA.Ml (AI') - The Coast Guard
. in a single day intercepted about
640 Haitians at sea, including a
pregnant woman who was
hemorrhaging and had to be
airlifted to a Florida hospital,
officials said.
- "We are just completely
busy to the hilt right now," U.S.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Roger
Wetherell said Tuesday.
- The woman, eight mon�
pregnant, and another woman who
was unconscious, were aboard a
50-foot freighter intercepted 25
miles east of Fon' Lauderdale.
:_ They were flown by
helicopter Tue day to Broward
County Medical Center and have
ince been discharged, hospital
spokesman Craig Biles said today.
A thir d woman, suffering possible
appendicitis, was flown off a Coast
Guard cutter this morning and was
in fair condition at the hospital.
- They will be turned over to
the U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service and will be
allowed to apply for asylum,
officials said. If the pregnant worn
an has her child in the United
States, it will be entitled to U.S.
citizenship.
Nearly 200 others found aboard
the vessel were loaded onto three
Coast Guard cutters and will be
hipped back to Hai ti, officials
said.
Also Tuesday, about 280
Haitian boat people were
intercepted in the Windward
Passage between Cuba and Haiti.
Another 159 traveling in a 40-foot
sailboat were intercepted about 30
. miles south of Great Inagua,
Bahamas, the Coast Guard aid.
They were all put on Coast Guard
cutters to be taken bac to Haiti.
The Coas t Guard ha
intercepted D( arty 40,000 Haitians
who have fled the impoverished
Caribbean nation since soldiers
taged a bloody' coup last fall, au
sting Jean-Bertrand Ari tide,
Haiti" first freely elected
president.
Most have been forcibly
returned to Hal ti. The Bush
. dmini tration claims they are
escaping poverty. Refugees y
they are fleeing anny terror.
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