[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 74 (Thursday, May 20, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1058-E1060]
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

                         Thursday, May 20, 1999

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

   White man sentenced to prison for punching would-be black neighbor

       Birmingham, AL (AP).--A judge sentenced a white man to 2 
     years in federal prison and ordered him to pay more than 
     $30,000 for punching a black man who wanted to be his next-
     door neighbor.
       Wendell Johnson, 33, was convicted in February of violating 
     the Fair Housing Act by hitting Kenneth Ray Coleman, who 
     suffered a broken nose in the assault.
       ``I want to apologize,'' Johnson, choking back tears, told 
     Coleman during a hearing Wednesday. ``I know you went through 
     a lot of hard times because of it.''
       Coleman, 35 said he believed the apology was sincere and 
     accepted it.
       Johnson hit Coleman in the face last June after Coleman 
     came to his house and asked where he could find the local 
     water company.
       Coleman testified he has since had breathing difficulties, 
     and a doctor has recommended surgery to fix the problem. But, 
     Coleman said, he lacks the $3,500 for the operation.
       U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon ordered Johnson to pay 
     Coleman $30,911 for pain, suffering, lost wages and other 
     expenses related to the assault. Johnson also was ordered to 
     pay $1,300 to the Alabama Crime Victims' Compensation 
     Commission.
       Clemon said he would consider a request to let Johnson 
     remain free during a possible appeal.
                                  ____


     Taft Scores Points at Meeting With Black Democrats With BC-OH

                           (by Paul Souhrada)

       Columbus, OH (AP).--The honeymoon continues for Gov. Bob 
     Taft. Taft, who smoothed relations with labor leaders last 
     month, scored points with black lawmakers during a wide-
     ranging meeting over issues important to minorities.
       The members of the all-Democratic Ohio Legislative Black 
     Caucus on Wednesday asked Taft, a Republican, for more money 
     for Central State University, a more aggressive state 
     affirmative action program and a commitment to appoint more 
     minorities to state agencies.
       ``We had a very fruitful meeting with the governor,'' Sen. 
     C.J. Prentiss, D-Cleveland, told reporters afterward.
       Taft impressed the group with his sincerity, Prentiss said. 
     Taft also found the meeting useful and said he wants to meet 
     with the group again, said spokesman Scott Milburn.
       Taft was particularly interested in looking for ways to 
     increase literacy among schoolchildren, said Prentiss, 
     president of the black caucus. She said she told Taft that 
     her 18-member group was concerned that the cornerstone of his 
     literacy program--the high-profile OhioReads campaign to 
     recruit 20,000 volunteer reading tutors--falls short of what 
     is needed.
       Milburn said Taft assured the lawmakers that OhioReads was 
     only the first step in the governor's effort to make sure all 
     children learn to read.
       Prentiss also pressed Taft to ask lawmakers for another 
     $3.5 million for Central State, the only state-funded, 
     historically black college in Ohio. The money would be used 
     to expand the urban education program at the school in 
     Wilberforce, for recruiting and to pay back debt from the 
     school's financial troubles in the 1980s and early part of 
     the 1990s.
       Taft already asked for an extra $2 million for Central 
     State, Milburn said. He wants to meet with Central State 
     President John Garland before making any other moves.
       Taft is interested in a suggestion from Rep. Otto Beatty, 
     D-Columbus, to study how successful minority businesses are 
     in getting state contracts, Milburn said.
       The issue of minority set-asides has been at the center of 
     conflicting rulings recently from the Ohio Supreme Court and 
     a federal district judge. But until the matter is decided, 
     Taft wants to resume Ohio's programs without raising new 
     legal issues, Milburn said.
       Taft also will consider another Beatty proposal: an order 
     dealing with affirmative action statewide.
       Taft might be interested in expressing support for reaching 
     out to women and minority businesses and encouraging them to 
     seek state contracts, but he opposes quotas, Milburn said.
       Among the other ideas suggested by the legislators:--Adding 
     more money for education to stop the spread of AIDS, 
     particularly among young blacks and women.
       Creating an independent watchdog agency to oversee state 
     contracts.
       Making sure that minorities and inner city residents get 
     their fair share of the money from the state's settlement 
     with the tobacco industry.
       Including more minorities in state government jobs and on 
     state boards and commissions.
                                  ____


    University of Texas Asks Court To Reconsider Its Hopwood Ruling

                              JIM VERTUNO

       (By Austin, TX (AP).--The University of Texas has asked a 
     federal appeals court to reconsider a decision that led to 
     the elimination of affirmative action policies at the state's 
     public colleges and universities.
       School officials asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of 
     Appeals on Tuesday to reconsider its so-called Hopwood 
     ruling.
       ``This case addresses one of the most important issues of 
     our time . . . and it deserves the fullest possible hearing 
     and a most careful decision by the federal courts,'' said 
     Larry Faulkner, president of the university.
       The Hopwood ruling came in a lawsuit against the University 
     of Texas law school's former affirmative-action admissions 
     policy.
       The ruling, which found that the policy discriminated 
     against whites, was allowed to stand in 1996 by the U.S. 
     Supreme Court.
       Former Attorney General Dan Morales then issued a legal 
     opinion directing Texas colleges to adopt race-neutral 
     policies for admissions, financial aid and scholarships.
       Legislators asked new Attorney General John Cornyn for a 
     second opinion. His office helped university officials write 
     the appeal submitted Tuesday.
       According to University of Texas System Regent Patrick 
     Oxford, the Hopwood ruling left Texas at a competitive 
     disadvantage with other public universities in recruiting 
     students.
       The appeal argues that limited consideration of race in 
     admissions is necessary to overcome the effects of past 
     discrimination. It also says the school has a compelling 
     interest in a racially and ethnically diverse student body.
       A state Comptroller's Office study released in January 
     showed a drop in the number of

[[Page E1059]]

     minorities applying for, being admitted to and enrolling in 
     some of the state's most selective public schools.
                                  ____


                  Proposal Would Make Ole Miss Private

       Oxford, Miss. (AP).--A College Board member has proposed 
     making the University of Mississippi a private institution as 
     part of the settlement in the state's 24-year-old college 
     desegregation case.
       James Luvene of Holly Springs submitted the proposal, among 
     others, to U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr.
       ``Allowing Ole Miss to go private will help solve many 
     funding problems as they exist today,'' Luvene said in the 
     10-page proposal.
       Luvene said his proposal is designed to ``bring closure to 
     our state's long and painful epoch of discrimination against 
     black citizens and historically black institutions of higher 
     learning.''
       Immediately the plan drew opposition from lawmakers and Ole 
     Miss.
       ``We're a great public university,'' said Ole Miss 
     Chancellor Robert Khayat. ``We like being a public university 
     and can only serve the state better.''
       The desegregation lawsuit, known as the Ayers case, accused 
     the state of neglecting its three historically black 
     universities. Biggers is overseeing the desegregation of 
     Mississippi's colleges.
       Khayat said he is not familiar with any public American 
     university ever going private.
       Luvene recommended paying the Oxford college $151 million 
     before making it private in 2000. He recommended that the 
     University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson become 
     independent and be called the State Institute of Health and 
     Medicine.
       Khayat also opposes that and said 72 of the 73 U.S. medical 
     centers are tied to a parent university.
       ``It's just ludicrous what he (Luvene) is saying,'' said 
     Sen. Terry Jordan, D-Philadelphia, an Ole Miss alumnus. 
     ``They've all been state-supported and will continue to be.''
       David Sansing, a retired Ole Miss historian, said, ``the 
     likelihood of this happening is nil, zero.''
       ``This plan would open up an entirely new controversy that 
     would rage for years. I'm just astounded by it,'' said 
     Sansing.
       Luvene said Ole Miss' nearness to Mississippi State in 
     Starksville ``puts two of our three comprehensive 
     institutions in a sparsely populated part of the state, 
     causing unnecessary duplication.''
       Luvene also has proposed that historically black Jackson 
     State be given a law school, pharmacy school and an air 
     traffic control program.
                                  ____


              New Jersey Concedes Racial Profiling Exists

                          (By Thomas Martello)

       Trenton, N.J. (AP).--Complaints that state troopers target 
     blacks and Hispanics along the heavily traveled New Jersey 
     Turnpike are ``real, not imagined,'' according to a report 
     issued by the state's attorney general.
       The report, released Tuesday, concludes that even though 
     the state police have no policy condoning the practice known 
     as racial profiling, it does exist--and was fostered in part 
     by ambiguous rules.
       ``There is no question racial profiling exists at some 
     level,'' Gov. Christie Whitman said. ``These findings are 
     distressing and disturbing. Minorities deserve the assurance 
     they will be treated no differently than any other 
     motorist.''
       The report, commissioned by state Attorney General Peter 
     Verniero, stresses ``the great majority of state troopers are 
     honest, dedicated professionals.''
       But the force's command structure needs to institute policy 
     changes to end a culture that encourages using race as a 
     reason to stop motorists, the report says.
       While six out of 10 motorists stopped are white, minorities 
     are far more likely to be subjected to searches and 
     aggressive treatment by troopers, the report said. Statistics 
     show that 77.2 percent of motorist searches were of blacks or 
     Hispanics, and only 21.4 percent were of white motorists.
       ``Minority motorists have been treated differently than 
     non-minority motorists during the course of traffic stops on 
     the New Jersey Turnpike,'' the report says. ``We conclude the 
     problem of disparate treatment is real--not imagined.''
       The report came one day after two troopers were indicted on 
     charges they falsified reports to make it appear that some of 
     the black motorists they pulled over were white.
       The U.S. Justice Department also has been investigating 
     racial profiling allegations against New Jersey's state 
     police. Similar accusations have been made in Florida, 
     Maryland, Connecticut and elsewhere along the Interstate 95 
     corridor.
       The findings in the report confirm what many civil rights 
     activists said they have known for years.
       ``We do not believe that any reasonable person in New 
     Jersey is surprised at all today to hear this 
     acknowledgment,'' said The Rev. Reginald Jackson, executive 
     director of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey. ``Now, 
     however, comes the hard and difficult part, and that is the 
     process ending racial profiling.''
                                  ____


      Judge Approves End to Race-Based Enrollment in San Francisco

                            (by Bob Egelko)

       San Francisco (AP).--A federal judge has ordered an end to 
     16 years of race-based enrollment in San Francisco public 
     schools, approving a settlement of a lawsuit by Chinese-
     Americans who were denied admission to the city's preferred 
     campuses.
       Despite protests by blacks and Hispanics, U.S. District 
     Judge William Orrick said racial admissions violate Chinese 
     Americans' constitutional rights to equal treatment in 
     choosing their schools. He approved the settlement on 
     Tuesday.
       The suit was filed in 1994 on behalf of one student who was 
     denied admission to a magnet high school despite a high score 
     on its entrance exam--higher than some non-Chinese students 
     who were admitted--and by two who were turned away from 
     neighborhood elementary schools.
       The settlement repeals a limit of 45 percent of any racial 
     or ethnic group at a single school and 40 percent at 
     desirable ``magnet'' schools. Those limits were part of a 
     1983 consent decree, approved by Orrick, that settled a 
     discrimination lawsuit filed in 1978 by the National 
     Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
       The district has until October to prepare a new enrollment 
     plan for the fall of 2000 to maintain diversity in schools 
     without assigning any student primarily because of race.
       ``Resegregation is inevitable,'' declared Robert Franklin, 
     who said he lives in San Francisco so that his two children--
     a 7-year-old black girl and a 2-year-old white boy--can 
     attend its schools. ``I want to keep them in an integrated, 
     racially diverse public school.''
                                  ____


         Formal Ceremony Will Decry Racism in Oregon's History

       Portland, OR (PA).--Bobbi Gary moved to Portland in 1942 
     and found a scene straight out of the old South.
       Restaurants wouldn't seat her. Real estate agents wouldn't 
     sell to her. And theaters would only let her sit in the 
     ``buzzard roost'' seats--all because she is black.
       Gary will recall those experiences when she travels to 
     Salem on Thursday to hear Oregon's leaders formally 
     acknowledge the state's discriminatory past.
       The Day of Acknowledgment, timed to coincide with the 150th 
     anniversary of a law that barred ``negroes and mulattos'' 
     from the Oregon Territory, also will honor Gary and others 
     who have struggled for racial justice.
       Leaders of Oregon Uniting, the multiracial organization 
     that proposed the Day of Acknowledgment, hope a ceremony 
     formally recognizing the state's racist past will be a step 
     toward racial healing.
       Some who plan to witness the ceremony say they are 
     ambivalent about it--pleased at the recognition, but 
     skeptical about what it will accomplish.
       ``To acknowledge these things forces us to relive them,'' 
     said Carl Flipper Jr., a North Portland economist who has 
     rented a bus for more than 30 Portland blacks who will attend 
     the ceremony. ``It's painful.''
       Witnesses will bring different memories to the observance 
     in the House chamber on Thursday.
       Sue Shaffer, chairwoman of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua 
     Tribes in Southern Oregon, will think about a massacre of 
     American Indians outside Roseburg in the mid-1850s.
       ``I am hoping, and I said hoping, that events like this, 
     days like this, acts like this, will help to bring up a 
     consciousness across America of the rightful place of Indian 
     people.'' she said.
       Peggy Nagae, a former civil rights attorney and now a 
     diversity consultant based in Eugene, said she will think 
     about her parents, grandparents and others in the Japanese 
     American community who were forced into internment camps 
     during World War II.
       And she will think about Minoru Yasui, a lawyer from Hood 
     River who dared in 1942 to test federal curfew laws placed on 
     Japanese Americans by walking the streets of Portland after 
     dark.
       Nagae, who helped him fight his arrest all the way to the 
     U.S. Supreme court, remembers him as one of Oregon's heroes.
       ``The thing that always struck me about Yasui was that he 
     was an ordinary person who did extraordinary things,'' she 
     said.
       Gary, an impassioned community activist who has fought 
     discrimination for decades, recalls the day in the '40s when 
     she and her future husband, Fred, went to a popular Portland 
     restaurant. At first, no one would wait on them, she said. 
     When a waitress finally did, the couple ordered steak, the 
     most expensive item on the menu.
       But when the food came, the steak was buried under so much 
     salt and pepper that it was inedible. Before walking out, she 
     scolded the waitress over the restaurant's obvious attempt to 
     discourage them from returning.
       Now a great-grandmother of two, Gary continues to fight 
     battles on behalf of African Americans, children and the 
     elderly. A saying that hangs on her dining room wall captures 
     her resilience: ``Good things come to those who wait. But 
     they come a lot sooner to those who act.''
       It is that spirit that will propel her to Salem on 
     Thursday. ``This is not exactly a joyous occasion,'' she 
     said. ``It is something I feel is late in coming. But I'm 
     glad to see it.''


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