[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.
____________________