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VOL. xv NO. 42 .. 111/nf('rmt'd Pt'crll(' Is A Frce Poopte SEPTEMBER 5 -11. 1993
Mayor Sharon Pr�tt Kelly of th Dletrlct of Columbia, the
R v.· J • Jack.on, left, and com dian Dick Gregory
w re mong 20 demonetretor. arr t d Thur day for
blocking Ind pendence Av nu In the on-golng .truga.
for etatehood for th dl8trlct
erst vote 0
DC state ood
By ALLISON JONES
says. This will enable the federal
seat of government to constitu-
WASHlNG'roN, D.C.- History tionally coexist with the new
will be made this fall when the' state.
first-ever vote is taken On the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Sena­
question of statehood for the tor for the D' trict, has lobbied
District of Columbia. intensely for D.C. statehood,
. H.R. 51, the New Columbia since he like the other' 639,000
Admis ion Act, cleared the D.C. residents, is disenfran­
House Subcommittee last week, chised.
according to the National Raln­
bow Coalition newsletter. The
, bill now moves to the full House
and Senate for committee hear­
ings.
The bills before Congress
granting statehood would create
New Columbia out of the non­
federal parts of the current Dis­
trict, the Rainbow Coalition
and
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,
"The 'citizenship' of Blacks .
ba ed on the Fourteenth
Amendment a unilateral dec­
laration without bi-lateral mu­
tuality, consent or aooeptanoe,'
Brock has argued in the· suit
which now goes to a mandatory
tatus conferenoe on September
27.
JUDGE JOHN G. Davies,
the ame judge who handed
down the tenoea in the civil
rights lawsuit against the offi­
oers who beat Rodney King. .
hearing Brock's case against the
IRS.
See IRS, A8
for
Coalition vows: Voter
h·�e
THE ONLY DELEGATE in
Congress from the District .
Eleanor Holmes Norton. But she
has no vote. With statehood
would come two Senate ta
and a representative, adding a
progressive voioe to Congress,
S
STATEHOOD, A4
t
t
oertify the Constitution, the Dec­
laration of Independence, the
13th, 1 th and 15th amend­
men , - aid Attorney Robert
Broc , counsel for Leonard
hton, man uing t IRS
b use he belie lave de-
eendanta hould not pay
Brock made his demand at a
hearing in Los Angel ,Friday,
August 27 in the preliminary
stages oftbe suit.
"We never swore to uphold
the Co itution, The Declara­
tion of Independence --all this
happened when e ere slaves,·
Brock said. "We want proof our
condition comes under the Con- '
stitution. "
a
ge
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cr
sentence
By SONYA ROSS
A .. ocla,«I P, ... Writ.,
WASHINGTON (AP) - While in
town to commemorate the 1963
march on Washington, civil
rights activi are joining forces
behind a new cause: changing a
federal la that has nt thou­
. Dds of � Blacks to prison
fol' crlm iU"IOlvl craCk eo­
caine.
T
by the law, hich ts tiff pen­
alti for era but allo proba­
tion for equivalent amounts of
more expensive, powdered c0-
caine.
As a result, they argue, a dis­
proportionate number of Blacks
get t to prison inoe crack is
ch p and pervasive in impover­
ished communities. Tbey are
meeungtoday to plot their strat­
egy for change.
-It' not even the moral ques­
tion that nobody should be using
any of it," said J e Jackson,
p ident of the National Rain­
bow Coalition. "But when the
(prison) time doesn't correspond
to the crime, it isn't serving soci­
ety well."
S CRACK,A8
By TERRY KELLY
Michl .n CltlDn
�----��-----------
Proposal D- An insurance
company dream, a consumer
nightmare.
Though the public soundly re­
jected "0" last November, Re­
publican lawmakers, goaded on
by the i urance lobby revived
it, passed it into law and sent it
on for th governor' willing ig-
nature.
Now, the Committee for Fair­
ness and Accountability in In­
surance Reform (FAIR) is
gearing up for a two-pronged
battle to insure voters have the
final say, one the lawmakers
cannot ignore.
"People should not be fooled
by the claims that this bill will
give them the meaningful relief
from high auto insurance premi­
ums that they have been de­
manding. As passed by the
Republican -controlled Senate,
this bill provides a six-month
rate rollback. After that brief'pe­
riod, the insurance compani
are free to hike th rates back
up," said State Senator Virgil C.
Smith, who with other oppo­
nents walked off the floor of the
Senate to pro - t.the measure.
By ALI Z. MAZROI
"Long before slave days
we lived in one huge village
called Africa. And then
strangers came and too
someofusaway. Today,
are scattered so widely that
the sun never sets on th
descendants of Africa."
Those were words from
See' SLAVERY, A8
IUGHLAND PARK - Tanya
Sharon, Hi P dent
and Spanis in a ubur-
pri J would like to
warn Mayor Linsey Porter that
developers are peddling him a bill
of goods on a new Highland Par
incinerator.
The facility could cause cancer,
wesken the immune system and
attack the kidneys, IUIlg3, bo
prostate and blood, she warns.
Sharon' was active in opposing
the Detroit incinerator and one of
her relatives actually persuaded
the state Department oiNatural
Resources to hold hearings about
it in Detroit, rather than Lansing.
When hearing that a "recycling
plant" was planned in Highland
Park, which she felt was a rode
word for incinerator of medical
wastes, Sharon said s did an
investigation of the project, talk-
S DANGER,A6
The bill does not ad th
inequiti in auto insurance pre­
miums suffered by urban areas,
and it caps th medical coverage
at $1 million for injuri sus­
tain in arrauto accident.
'SON OF D' is a re­
play of what the voters rejected,"
says Carl Alden, public policy
See REFORM, A2
s icheal
Jac 0
bei g
tied .,
the ess?
"Yes. He's being tried as if he
was in a court room. We have
yet' to find out the truth.·
·Yes. The press is talking about
Micheal Jackson before they
have all th facts.·
·Yes. 'I don't think they (the
press) have all the facts.
They're just listening to what
the parents are saying.-
- Vera Willi
Wood rd
- Ern t WII on
"No. The press is not unbiased.
They· have a point of view and
it represents a certain class,
the rich class."
-c
Cook
