Yahweh ben Yahweh embracing
a legal advi er after h wa ac
quitted of murder.
Black
. .
supremacist
and disciples
, acquitted
MIAMI, FL.-A Florida
state jury has acquitted Black
supremacist, Yahweh ben
Yaweh, and three of his fol
lowers on the murder of a man
who allegedly challenged
another follower. Apparently,
the jury did not believe the
prosecution's star witnes
forcing prosecutors to drop
remaining state murder char
ges against the leader of the'
religious group, the Nation of
Yaweh.
Yet Yaweh remains in
Federal prison, serving a sen
tence for a conspiracy convic
tion for 14 murders, two
attempted murders, and arson.
Immediatel y after the Federal
'rial, the state filed charge
against the defendants for the
murder of Cecil Branch, a
Miami man reportedly slain
for retribution after Branch
knocked down' a follower at
tempting to bring her message
to Branch's home.
Yaweh, 57, has preached
against drugs and offers a mes
sage of Black power to urban
poor. He also built an $8 mil
lion empire of motels,
warehouses and stores.
Misconduct
uncovered by
prosecutor
CHICAGO, ILL.-Accusa
tions of a Federal prosecution
. team include sex talk, smug
gling and ecret drug tests.
The United States Attonery's
office is being accused of roo-
cealing evidence in its
prosecution of EI Rukns, an al
leged street gang, according to
n article in the New York
Time.
After boasting of the con
viction of 53 EI Rukns, the
conduct of the pro ecutors has
led court hearing to rai e
questions of whether
prosecutors provided pecial
favors to gang members who
became Government wit
ne es and te ted posl tive for
drug use while in Federal cus
tody.
A prosecution-paralegal ad
mitted to having exually ex
plicit conversations with an
imprisoned gang member and
muggling drug to a Rukn
while he was in prison.
The conviction of the
Rukns severely crippled the
gang who nto
drugs, property, busine sand
politi . The uncovering of
the alleg d candal could
resultinwarran f r new trial
or di mi al [indi tments.
deatho fonner Duvaliero
Lafon
"The President and � Y of
Haiti deny any involvement of b Presi
dent or anyone in his government in t
murder," Am: r Casimir declared
in a letter published by Tbe W hington
t on Saturday.
"The President and the embassy
deplore the of ummary eXCQltion in
any form, for any purpose,' , he added.
Cbarges that exiled PresidentArlstide
"ordered the murder of a jailed political
opponent on nl regime
1Dppled by I miU1Iry ooup" lie am-
1alned ina ClOlumn by Andeaooand
Michael B tein wbich � In �
on December 17.
� IT STATES THAT an FBI
polypph expert flew *> Port u-Prlnce
on Sep mber 110 lnIervIew b fbimel'
bead of Haid'a tiooal PenI ,
where lafOnllnl' eJeCUdon lOOt pia.
Penitentiary chief Capt Slip
Doura • 'passed a polypPil *>detcnJlD
the veracity of ICCOUIlt ol1be mUider
(mI) the information passed on 10
� State Department wm:re It Is d to
remain highly class16ed."
Foundation pledges $15
million to Black col/eges·
DEl'ROrr (AP)-The Kresge Fowm
tion has pledged $15 million, b largest
grant it ever has made, to the ni1ed
Negro College Fum for reoovation and.
construction of buildings at 41 historical
ly Black sebools.
The foundation was created by
Sebastian S. Kresge, woo started what
now is Troy-based Kmart Corp., the
nation's No. 2.retailer. Tbe foundation
specializes in construction grants to
. .. ns.
o
tunity to make an eoormous diffe rce
in the lives of Black Americans," foun
dation Chairman Alfred II. Taylor Jr.
said M Qnday. -
The Kresge grant was earmarked for
a $l00-million construction and renova-
tion program for b fund'. 41 ClOUeges.
1k Blac ClOllegc tum alJady bad
raised $36 million, and 1be KJeage grant
is ClOntfngent on it raising the remaining
$49 million from other sources.
''THEMAGNITUDEANDooOOi
tions of this grant will allow m not only
to significantly strengthen tIae coneges
but to' ue a challenge to aU Amcricam
tojoin m in helping to educate minority
citizens,' dfuOOP W' H.
y
-� 'Black ClOUe
raise $250 million and say it has -
received $153 million in pledges so far.
A 50 million pledge from b Walter
AruiCnberg FowxSation is contingent on
the fuOO meetln_g its $250 million goal.
Rev. Jesse Jackson
released from hospital
lack lawma er
r comm ndAID
WASHINGTON (AP)-. Doctors
released civil rights leader Jesse Jackson
from a Washington bospital with orders
that he cut back on his busy Schedule.
Jackson left Howard University
H pita! on Thursday night and headed
for Chicago, where he spent the boliday
with relatives.
He was admitted to Howard on Sun
day wi� a fever and broochial eonges
tion, the National Rainbow Coalition Inc,
said.
r
BY GINA HOLLAND
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRrrER
JACKSON, MiB. (AP)-Black law
makers unveiled a budget.Thcsday that
would pump money into AIDS programs
and ocial services without raising taxes.
The plan, endorsed by eight Black
legislators, includes $55 million more in
state funding than the recomrrendatiors
by tate budget writers and Gov. Kirk
Fordice.
Otief architect Rep. Ed Blackmon,
D-Canton, said the group projected a 3.6
percent growth in revenue for fiscal year
1 4, which begins July 1.
The Legislative Budget Committee
and Fosdice had predicted only 26 per
cent growth in tax collections aOO other
revenue.
" TO pat
�mselves on the y 'I'm
conservative;" Blackmon said of the
projection. "This (3.6 percent) is a meat
and pota projection. We didn't get
wild and crazy and pull figures out of the
air."
The plan divid the Il:W money be
tween the Department 0 Human Ser-
During his five-day stay, doctors
fouOO Jackson in "generally exeelle
Ialth" after perfonning tests, said a
written taterrent the group released Th
·umday.
"The main problem seems to have
been an exhamting schedule that bad
gradually aOO temporarily broken down
some of Mr. Jaclcson's resistancc,"the
stat ement said.
vices, the Board of Health, the Depart
ment ot"'Mental Health, public scbools
and colleges, aOO others. .
The $10 million t aside-ln the plan
for AIDS testing, courseling aOO the care
of AIDS-infected ppiam would
address the growing nwnber of AIDS
cases in the tate, particularly in Black
ClOmmWliti ,Blaclamn 'd.
The plan also Ux:ludcs $2 million for
education on xually trammitted dis
eases and other disease prevention, $5
million for the State Hospital at Whitield,
and $1.4 million for scOOols at Oakley
and Columbia for troubled juvenil
The state monies would attract an
additional $43 million in federal fuIX1s
through match programs, Blackmon
said. .
"I D N'T TIDNK the appropria
tion chainnen are going to be nmning
from . "Blaclanon d. "It mala:s a
lot �f sense."
The budget bill will filst go to the
appropriations comminees in the Ho
and the Sena .
one of the Black lawmakers who
have signed off on the plan 00 rve on
those committees, but ��n George
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,.
Lafontant, fonner of the once- while awaiting trial for attempting
dreaded "Ton-ton Macoutes" (enfor- overthrown the Aristid government
cers) of "lifetime" President Frarco Am dor Casimir in his Ie r
"Papa Doc" Duvalierw � ona list . ti w in- 0
of most hated men in. the Canbbean volved, arguin that ident decrease
country. He fled Haiti when dictator himself "incarcerated" at that tim . He
Duvaller's son left offiee for exile in regards the Anderson-Birst in article
Fnux:e,butre�afterAris 'de'sel� upportiveof' a continulngcampaignto
tion victory and was jailed for leading a discredit Aristid and to pl ce him in a
failed January 1991 coup agairst Presi- weakened position so t h w uld have
dent Aristide. to accept 'a po li tical compromise'."
Meanwhile, the' military which
o�ted Aristide on Sept. 30, 1991 issued
a for his arrest on November 6
on Ch3.rges connected with Lafontant's
mwder. Theex-Duvalierofficial wasim
prisoned in the National Penitentiary
idze ult of the brutality 0 � .
military junta. "
H
"Aristid h up rted and will con
tinue to upportpolitical compromise but
only within the fram ork of of the
Haitian constitution," the am
remarks in conel ion," h said.
IF Lafontant' death
should divert attention from "the 3
persons who ha been wnmarily ex-
ecuted in Haiti or the ,<xx) political
refu es and the 400, displaced
,
,
"
':
WANDA F. ROOUEMOAEJMlchigan Cllzen
Installation Ceremonies
Five new members of the Detroit Board of Education were recently installed during ceremonies held at
Detroifs Museum of African American History. Pictured are: Attorney Chokwe Lumumba Kwame Kenyatta
. (new board member), Reverend Ruth Mosley, Irma Clark (new board member) and Robert Boyce (new
board member). New members not pictured are Dr. Margaret "Betts and Rodeana Murphy. The event
dr� an estimated 300 people for a combined lnstanatlon and Kwanzaa Candle Ughting Ceremony
t.
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fund. n
Flaggs, D- Vicksburg. said he expects
more Blacks to be appointed to the com
mittees in January.
House Appropriations Chairman
awlie Capps, D-Oeveland, said Tu -
day that he would be unwilling to revise
the projected revenue without rew in
foratio n from economists aI¥1 other
agencies that advise budget wriers.
"We don't arrive on our revenue
figures lightly," Capp said." As far as
I'm concerned, we will have to go with
the people �t we depeoo on to give us
this figure."
changed in January after the
tate Tax Commission talli collections
from Ouistmas sales.
Tbe Legislature usually follo the
Legislative Budget Q>nunittee recom
mendations in p ing budge . The
governor also ubmi a budget recom
mendation.
Blackmon said the budget w for
mulated after m tate departments
ubmitted critical reeds, It would in
Mi . ippi' bud t for fiscal
1994 to $2.55 billion.