VOL. XVI NO. ,10 An Informe-d People is A Free People AUGUST :l� . SEPTEMBER �l. 1 �.�n
Lending A Helping Hand
Northern High School Team Center student ,(I-r front row} Cry
tal Boone, and Ebony Paul and standing April Rice and Melinda
Martin were part of Highland Park' ·Paint The Town· c,rew
Saturday, Augu. t 20, The youngsters are just a few of the
tudent who pent part of their ummer vacation helping
enior and d' abled cititzens. (photo by N. Scott)
OIT (AP) - Reflecting
t chism ithin t NAACP
o r the ou ter of Benj min
Chavis i 1 er, th h of
the Detroi chapter ld Sunday
he disappointed with th d
ci ion. Hi predece or ex-
p relief.
Chavis' removal Saturday fol­
lowed tumultuous 16 mont
in office. Almost immedi tely, h
was challenged by those who
qu ioned his attempts to link
with more militant elements in
the community, including Na­
tion of Islam leader Mini ter
Louis Farrakhan.
Such attemp ere a strain
for the organization beca the
separatist group were not wor -
ing within the NAACP's frame­
work, said Arthur L. Johnson,
the former president of th De­
troit chapter, the largest in the
nation.
The Rev. Wendell Anthony,
the current president of the De­
troit chapter and Chavis' long-
r
DR. ARlliUR JOHNSON
time friend, praised his efforts. Anthony said young people
had been encouraged under
·1 W SORRY to see him Chavis'. leadership to join the
go," he said in an interview with NAACP.
WWJ radio. "My greatest (I ar, as well as
incinerators, a company official
at a Highland Park meeting ad­
mitted that there were no abso­
lute guarantees of complete
safety.
CECE challenged the id
that the company's "new tech­
niqu "would stop dangerous
chemicals from getting into the
environment, stating that its
own permit, approved by the
Wayne County Air Pollution
Control division would .allow
t
p
LOS ANGELES (AP) -Defend­
ers of Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt
called Monday for the former
Black Panth r leader to be freed
from prison, saying the govern­
ment framed him for murder
more than 20 years ago.
Pratt, a decorated Vietnam
veteran, is h form r deputy d -
fense minister of the Black Pan­
ther Party. H was convicted in .
1972 and is erving a life n­
tence for the 1968 nta Monica
tennis court murd r of 27 -year­
old schoolteacher arolin Ol­
sen during a $30 robbery. Her
husband, Kenneth, was shot but
survived.
case.
P T'I" 1 P role h ar-
ing is scheduled for Wedn day
at state prison in Tehachapi.
Frat claims h w a Bla
Panth r P y m tin k-
,
land at the time of th murder
and that he was framed as part
of an FBI program to undermine
radical groups.
The government "has actu­
ally stolen more than 24 years of
my brother's life," his sister,
Emelda Granger, s id at the
IUGHLAND P - High-
land Par Councilwoman Greta
Johnson announced that she
will work with a local environ­
mental group called Citizens
Empowerment for a Clean Envi­
ronment (CECE) to rezone the
entire city of Highland Park to
ban medical waste incinerators.
A firm in St. Claire, Michigan
called Highland Co-Gen has
been seeking to build such an
incinerator in Highland Par
Although the company
claimed to have invented a pro­
cedure eliminating dangers of
o
news conference.
"This is reprehensible, it is
inhumane and it is the greatest
sin ever committed against an­
other human being," she said.
Over the years, calls for
Pratt's release have come from
congressmen, labor groups and
•
o
Is cllvu'onnlental racism destroying
learning ability, health?
y
others.
THE REV. JAME
McCloskey, aNew Jersey minis­
ter, has been sending materials
to the Los Angeles County Di -
Pie e FREED, D8
high levels of dangerous chemi­
cals.
THE STATE Department of
Natural Resources [DNR] re­
fused to approve the permit,
sending it back to the countyfor
review.
However, officials from
CE E and the Natural Wildlife
Federation state that environ­
mental agencies like DNR do an
inadequate job in protecting
communities and it i n ry
for individual communities to
take action on th ir own.
In a joint press confer n e
held jointly by CECE and the
National Wildlife Federation,
which was open to th public and
allowed the comm unity as well
as th m ia to k qu tions, an
individual said, "I'h time to in-
flu n this thing is for th
permit i grant d. Form r
Mayor Coleman Young' (D­
troit) incin rator h b n in
court veral y rs but it i still
going on."
The Highland P rk ity
Please ee REZONE, D8
A ch i th
PI e
AFRICA, B8
my rvent ho ,. that yaun
people do. not top ffili ting
ith the NAACP, that th y
ould continue to join it nd
or ith u and th t th Y
ould n be eli eouraged," h
id,
"The organization ying
h vy price for something that
ha ving no valu for anyone, "
Johnson id in a telephone in­
tervie .
The decision to remove
Chavis cam in a closed m ting
by the 64-member board in Bal­
timore. Chavis has been under
fire since. the disclosure
332,400 out-of-court settle­
ment of sexual discrimination
lawsuit, made without the
board's knowledge.
PLIT, B8
By WILLIAM REED
S eellli to Michl n Citizen
W HINGTON
Rwanda captur
eral and Nigerian national has
offered Common ealth help to
r tore the country's democratic
system saying, "There is an ur­
gent n for Nigeria's leaders to
reach a truly national consensus
to pull th country back from
what ms to be an inexorable
drift to national disaster."
,
a car capable of runnir •. at 200
miles an hour but which is mov­
ing at only 20 mil an hour and
bowing signs of breakdown.
JACK ON WENT to Nige­
ria as President Clinton's envoy
to encourage th toration of
•
mencan er
d ·rectly lnuo ve
Iarqe lac nei. ion in
world.
J on said if civil war brok
'out th bloodshed in Rwanda
, "
would small. by comparison,
nd that th could also be di
co uences for th U.S. econ-
omy.
nyaouku likened i ri to
civilian rul . The country' mili­
tary gov rnment void d la t
June's pr id ntial election
hen it pp ar d oppo ition
candidate Chief Mo hood A.
AbioIa would win.
Abiol w in jail, but i now
NEWS
Defen e:
Jordan'
father faked
Is death
N.C.
o{ t •
he
d th o( the t of bas-
ketball uperstar Michael
Jordan argued in court last.
week that the elder Jordan
was not dead but had faked
his death in a bid to avoid
financial problems.
Larry Demery and
Dani l' Green, both 19, are
accu ed of killing 56-year­
old James Jordan as he
slept in his car in Robeson
County, North Carolina in
July of last year.
But attorney for Green
say that the body that was
cr mated and identified by
den I records was not that
of Jordan. They also ug­
ge t d that Jordan was
n by tit two differ-
ent pie th day after.
h wa suppo d to hav
nd d.
Court rulings
conflict over
Black district
"
othirig" to
r Blacks'
o
MIAMI, 1. - Th Flor­
ida Republican camp ign
for gov rnor has k n on
anti-minority favor. During
nt date, J b Bush
._ son of the form r pf i­
dent - was sk d what
would he off r BI ck if
I . H thought for a .
econd nd responded,
"Pro bly nothing."
Bu h expanded on hi
answ r by uggesting that
Blac w r not p pared to
"Work h rd nd play by the
rul ."