[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 67 (Tuesday, May 11, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E924-E926]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            EXPOSING RACISM

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 11, 1999

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, in my continuing efforts to 
document and expose racism in America, I submit the following articles 
into the Congressional Record.

 Judge Clears Way for Trial of Five Whites in 1970 Killing of Black Man

       Belzoni, Miss. (AP).--The rejection of speedy trial 
     arguments has apparently cleared the way for five white men 
     to stand trial for murder in the beating death of a black man 
     almost three decades ago.
       Humphreys County Circuit Judge Jannie Lewis on Thursday 
     rejected claims by defense attorneys that ordering a trial 
     now would violate the rights of the men.
       Lewis ruled the state Supreme Court had earlier rejected 
     similar speedy trial arguments in the case of Byron De La 
     Beckwith, convicted in 1994 in the ambush slaying of black 
     leader Medgar Evers in Jackson.
       The five are accused of killing 54-year-old Rainey Pool in 
     April 1970. Authorities said the sharecropper was beaten to 
     death and his body thrown into the Sunflower River.
       Charged with murder are Joe Oliver Watson, 56, of Rolling 
     Fork; James ``Doc'' Caston, 65, of Satartia; his brother, 
     Charles E. Caston, 60, of Holly Bluff; Hal Crimm, 49, of 
     Vicksburg; and Dennis Howell Newton, 49, of Flora.

[[Page E925]]

       Watson's attorney Gaines Dyer of Greenville argued that 
     Beckwith had two trials with hung juries in 1964 while the 
     defendants in the Humphreys County case never went to trial.
       ``Should this defendant be subjected to a trial 29 years 
     later because the district attorney believes now he can get a 
     conviction because the racial climate is different?'' Dyer 
     asked the court.
       The case against Beckwith's was reopened after records of 
     the defunct state Sovereignty Commission showed the 
     segregation spy agency had screened jurors for Beckwith in 
     1964.
       District Attorney James Powell Reopened the case last year 
     at the request of Pool's relatives. He said the defendants 
     were not entitled to a dismissal because ``they can no longer 
     get a jury that stacks in their favor.''
       ``There was never any real attempt to secure justice'' in 
     the Pool case, Powell said.
       In a 1970 ruling, then-Circuit Judge B.B. Wilkes threw out 
     a statement Watson made to police in which he allegedly 
     implicated himself and four others. Wilkes dismissed the case 
     three days later at the request of prosecutors.
       Powell in July obtained new indictments against Watson, 
     Crimm and the Castons, plus Newton, who was not previously 
     charged.
       A June 28 trial date is set for Newton. Powell said 
     Watson's trial would follow.
       Charles Caston, James Caston, and Crimm, all represented by 
     Vicksburg attorney Mark Prewitt, will face trial together.
       Newton and Watson made statements implicating themselves 
     and the others, Powell said Thursday. He said Crimm admitted 
     involvement to the woman he would later marry.
       Newton on Thursday testified that he wasn't read his 
     rights. ``They said they knew I didn't do it, didn't have 
     anything to do with it, and just wanted to know what happened 
     that night,'' Newton testified.
       Retired Highway Patrol Investigator John Pressgrove said 
     Newton was read his rights. However, he acknowledged that 
     part of the record was in someone else's handwriting.
       Pressgrove said he had no independent recollection of the 
     interview.
       ``You know I can't remember 30 years ago. I can't hardly 
     remember what I did yesterday,'' the 71-year-old Cleveland 
     man said.
       Lewis ruled a jury can be told about Newton's statement but 
     Crimm's wife, Margaret Crimm, could not be called to testify. 
     She did not rule on the admissibility of Watson's statement.
       Greenville attorney Howard Dyer III, who also represents 
     Watson, argued that Powell's statements in newspaper 
     interviews, including his intention to use Watson's 
     confession, should be grounds to dismiss the charge against 
     his client.
       ``He shouldn't be making statements to the public, 
     particularly in view of the fact that we've got a confession 
     that has been suppressed, thrown out, done away with,'' Dyer 
     said.


     
                                  ____
                 Fire That Damaged Black Church Was Set

       Winston-Salem--A fire that heavily damaged a black church 
     Sunday was set, investigators said.
       ``Everybody's devastated,'' said Bishop Evelyn Timmons, who 
     has been the pastor at Saint's Delight Church since 1997. 
     ``That church is going to have to be demolished.''
       Winston-Salem fire officials have not found a motive or a 
     suspect in the burning of the Pentecostal church in east 
     Winston-Salem. Damages were estimated at $25,000. The small, 
     whitewashed building was uninsured.
       Ken West, an assistant fire marshal for the city, said an 
     accelerant was apparently used to start the fire near the 
     church office. The fire was reported about 6 a.m. Sunday.
       The congregation of about 25 members plans a larger 
     building in the same neighborhood. ``We will rebuild,'' 
     Timmons said.
       In the last several years, more than 30 churches have been 
     burned in the South. Investigators have said that some of the 
     fires were racially motivated.
       Timmons doesn't suspect a racial motive behind the fire at 
     her church, but said some drug dealers operate in the area 
     and might have been involved.
                                  ____


              2 in GOP Join in Fight Against Racist Group


 Legislation: New life is breathed into stalled effort to get Congress 
  to condemn white supremacist organization. Sen. Lott once addressed 
                                council

               [From the Los Angeles Times via Dow Jones]

                   (By Sam Fulwood III and Judy Lin)

       Washington.--For nearly two months, Republican 
     congressional leaders have played down calls for condemnation 
     of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist 
     group that espouses anti-black views on its Internet Web 
     site.
       But the issue, which gained attention partly because of 
     news reports that Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) 
     has spoken to the council at its conventions, has not 
     disappeared.
       On Thursday, two moderate Republican leaders stepped out 
     front of an emerging coalition of liberal Democrats, civil 
     rights groups and GOP activists to demand that Congress pass 
     a resolution that ``condemns the racism and bigotry espoused 
     by the Council of Conservative Citizens.''
       Backers of the legislation said during a news conference at 
     the Capitol that they have the votes to pass the resolution, 
     counting nine GOP House members among 138 co-signers. But 
     House leaders so far have refused to bring it to the floor. 
     In the Senate, Lott has declared his opposition to pushing 
     the measure, and no one has stepped forward to introduce a 
     corresponding resolution.


                 Pressure Appears to Build in Congress

       ``We are not going to go away,'' said Rep. Michael P. 
     Forbes (R-NY). He and Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) were the only 
     Republican lawmakers at the news conference. ``I think the 
     pressure is mounting on all members of Congress, especially 
     the leadership in both houses because so many Members are 
     concerned . . . about this group.''
       Council officials attended the news conference, and some 
     members came to the organization's defense.
       ``Congress can ignore Bill Clinton's perjury and 
     obstruction of justice, but it has time to condemn an 
     innocent group of law-abiding, hard-working conservative 
     Americans,'' Gordon L. Baum, the council's chief executive, 
     said in a statement. ``It is grotesquely inappropriate for 
     Congress to condemn an entire organization for its political 
     views.''
       The House resolution, introduced last month by Rep. Robert 
     Wexler (D-FL), is modeled after a similar 1994 resolution 
     that condemned a speech by former Nation of Islam activist 
     Khalid Abdul Muhammad for ``outrageous hate-mongering.'' That 
     resolution sped through both Houses of Congress in 20 days, 
     while the resolution citing the council has languished for 
     nearly two months.


                    Lott Unlikely to Introduce Bill

       The controversy began late last year after reports about 
     links between Lott and the group. John Czwartacki, a 
     spokesman for Lott, said that the Mississippi Senator ``would 
     be inclined to support legislation opposed to all forms of 
     racism and bigotry'' but has no plans to introduce any 
     legislation on the issue. Czwartacki cautioned that, ``when 
     you get into singling out a group for a few individuals, 
     there could be a problem.''
       Offering what some GOP leaders hope will be an alternative, 
     Rep. J.C. Watts, Jr. (R-OK), the only African American GOP 
     legislator in Congress, introduced a bill Thursday to condemn 
     all groups that promote racial hate or intolerance.
       Watts' legislation, however, drew immediate criticism for 
     being, in the words of one Capitol Hill staff member, ``a 
     transparent, watered-down version offered by befuddled 
     Republicans who don't know what to do when the subject of 
     racism emerges.''
       Faye Anderson, president of the Douglass Policy Institute, 
     a Washington-based group of black Republicans, called on Lott 
     and all GOP presidential candidates to repudiate the council.
       ``The Republican Party, the party of Frederick Douglass and 
     Abraham Lincoln, isn't inclusive when its leaders refuse to 
     condemn racism directed at black people,'' said Anderson, who 
     has led an effort to make the GOP more receptive to black and 
     other minority voters. ``This party can't talk about 
     inclusion when under that tent are the very people who would 
     enjoy seeing people like me swinging from a tree.''


     
                                  ____
           UC Board Expected to OK Davis Plan to Admit Top 4%


 Education: Another 3,600 students a year would be eligible to attend. 
 Davis has said minority enrollment would increase, but officials say 
                        impact would be minimal

               [From the Los Angeles Times via Dow Jones]

       San Francisco.--Helping Gov. Gray Davis make good on a 
     campaign promise, the UC Board of Regents today is expected 
     to approve new admission rules that guarantee a seat for high 
     school students who rank in the top 4% of their class.
       The regents' education policy subcommittee recommended the 
     new rules, which are considered certain to pass the full 
     board today. Republican holdovers on the panel joined with 
     Davis and his newly appointed regents to easily push through 
     the plan that would make an additional 3,600 students 
     eligible for admission to one of the UC campuses, but not 
     necessarily the campus of their choice.
       While of limited practical impact, the vote was heavy with 
     symbolic import, both as an indication of Davis' control of 
     the board and of his desire to set a new tone on the 
     controversial issue of university admissions.
       ``We owe it to the chief executive to work with him and 
     advance his agenda,'' said Regent Ward Connerly, who was 
     initially suspicious that the 4% plan was an end-run around 
     the affirmative action ban.
       Although controversial in the past, the proposal would add 
     only about 1,800 students to the 46,000 freshmen who decide 
     to accept UC offers of admission each year. Officials plan a 
     slight enrollment increase at some campuses to accommodate 
     the additional students.
       Manuel N. Gomez, UC Irvine's vice chancellor for student 
     services, said the change will serve as a tremendous 
     motivating force for bright youngsters at high schools that 
     struggle to produce university-caliber students.
       ``It's a very good sign,'' he said. ``It's going to mean 
     something more real, more attainable, for students at each 
     and every high school in California.''
       The change will have little discernible effect on UCI's 
     enrollment, Gomez said. Still,

[[Page E926]]

     the university will have a larger pool of eligible students, 
     and that might lead to more minority students being accepted 
     at UCI, he said.
       The new policy, which would take effect for students who 
     will be freshmen in fall of 2001, would make no change in the 
     rules for determining which campuses a student qualifies for, 
     and therefore would have little, if any, effect on who gets 
     into the most selective campuses--Berkeley, UCLA and San 
     Diego. Test scores will remain a key criterion in that 
     decision.
       Davis campaigned on the 4% plan as a way to shore up 
     minority admissions that have slipped since the end of 
     affirmative action. But UC officials released new information 
     showing that of the newly eligible students, whites would 
     make up 56%, Latinos 20%, Asian Americans 11% and African 
     Americans 5%. Now, Latinos are 12% of UC freshmen and blacks 
     3%.
       Yet Davis stressed the importance of sending a welcoming 
     hand to high school students who do not think attending the 
     university is possible.
       ``This admissions program says, `Keep dreaming big dreams. 
     Keep working hard. If you really excel, you will get a place 
     at one of the eight UC campuses.' '' Davis said. ``And it 
     completely consistent with the will of the voters'' who 
     passed Proposition 209's ban on racial preferences.
       Such a change in policy probably would not have passed a 
     year ago, when Republican Pete Wilson was governor. When the 
     faculty brought the idea before the regents last year, it was 
     roundly trouched by Wilson's appointees. They feared that it 
     not only would violate Proposition 209, but would bring in 
     unqualified students and set them up for failure.
       Longtime Regent Meredith J. Khachigian cast the lone vote 
     in opposition to the plan, saying that it would raise ``false 
     hopes'' among students ill-prepared for a rigorous university 
     education. She also said that it sent the wrong message to 
     schools that do not have college-prep programs that 
     adequately prepare students to compete statewide for the 
     46,000 freshmen slots at the campuses.
       But state Supt. of Schools Delaine Eastin joined the 
     governor in arguing that the plan would inspire a culture of 
     academic excellence and competition in those schools that 
     historically send few, it any students, to the prestigious 
     public universities.
       Here is how the new admissions process would work:
       At the end of the high school junior year, UC officials 
     will help public schools compile grade-point averages for 
     students taking college-prep courses and then rank the 
     students accordingly.
       Those in the top 4% of each of California's 863 public high 
     schools--about 10,000 students--will be sent letters 
     informing them that they are eligible for UC admission, 
     provided they send in an application, complete all required 
     college-prep courses and take the SAT and SAT II tests. The 
     university will extend the program to interested private 
     schools.
       Poor test scores will not make a student ineligible for 
     admission. But good scores are one of the main criteria for 
     who gets into the most competitive campuses, especially UCLA, 
     UC Berkeley and UC San Diego.
       Of the 10,000 students in the top 4%, about 6,400 would be 
     eligible for UC admission without the policy change. Of the 
     3,600 who would not have been eligible before, officials 
     expect that about half will enroll.
       Davis emphasized Thursday that this approach opens the door 
     to a new pool of students without displacing anyone who would 
     otherwise get in.
       Davis agreed that the change in policy will not alter the 
     racial balance of the university, which has seen steep drops 
     in black and Latino students admitted in the post-affirmative 
     action era.
       But, the governor pointed out, referring to the newly 
     eligible students, that ``about 800 or 900 of them will be 
     people of color. There is no denying that 800 people of color 
     will have a chance to come to the university that otherwise 
     they would not have had.''
       The issue of who gets admitted to UC has been a 
     particularly hot topic since 1995, when the regents, let by 
     then-Gov Wilson, voted to ban affirmative action. The ban on 
     racial preferences was extended statewide with the 1996 
     passage of Proposition 209.
       Adopting a companion proposal, the regents decided to 
     require all UC-bound students to take music, dance or other 
     performing arts classes. The goal is to bring UC requirement 
     in alignment with those of the California State University 
     system.
       But the regents, following Davis' lead, shunned a faculty 
     proposal to halve the extra grade points awarded to high 
     school students who take Advanced Placement and honors 
     course.
       The governor said he did not want to do anything that would 
     diminish the incentives for high school students to challenge 
     themselves by taking the tougher courses.
       Under a program set up by UC officials more than a decade 
     ago, students can now earn up to five points for an A in 
     Advanced Placement on honors courses, resulting in grade-
     point averages that exceed 4.0.

     

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