[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 77 (Wednesday, May 26, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1109-E1110]
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

                        Wednesday, May 26, 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.

        Homosexuals, Disabled, Elderly Added to Hate Crimes Law

                         (By Dennis Patterson)

       Raleigh.--People who hate homosexuals, the disabled or the 
     elderly and target them for crimes could face increased 
     sentences under a bill approved by a House committee.
       The measure, which now goes to the full House, expands 
     North Carolina's hate crimes law to include sexual 
     orientation, disabilities, gender and age. Crimes that are 
     proven to be motivated by hate would be increased to at least 
     a felony.
       The hate crimes law now applies to race, religion and 
     national origin.
       ``This bill doesn't protect anybody,'' Rep. Martin Nesbitt, 
     D-Buncombe, said Tuesday as the House Judiciary I Committee 
     debated the bill. ``It punishes people for perpetrating a 
     crime because they hate a class of people.''
       The bill ``centers on the question of whether we will be 
     civil in North Carolina,'' said Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham, 
     one of the bill's two primary sponsors. ``It is, to put it in 
     a phrase, a statement that we will not hate.''
       The bill is named after Matthew Shepard, a homosexual with 
     North Carolina connections who was beaten to death in 
     Wyoming.
       John Rustin of the North Carolina Family Policy Council 
     called Shepard's death a ``brutal and inexcusable crime.'' 
     But the homosexual acts that would be covered by the hate 
     crimes law are illegal in North Carolina, he said.
       ``This is not about crime. It is not about hate,'' he said. 
     ``It is about legitimizing the homosexual lifestyle.''
       Johnny Henderson of the Christian Action League said 
     individual homosexuals are guaranteed the equal protections 
     of all citizens and do not need the status of a protected 
     group.
       But Janet Joyner, a retired professor at the North Carolina 
     School of the Arts who works with a support group for 
     homosexual and bisexual children, said the law would help 
     relieve a hostile environment.
       ``I must tell you that name-calling and intimidation 
     already occur in elementary school,'' Joyner said.
       ``It's a bigger issue than just sexual orientation,'' M.K. 
     Cullen of Equality North Carolina, a homosexual group, said 
     after the committee approved the bill. ``It's going to be an 
     uphill struggle to educate all the members of the House about 
     this bill before it comes to a vote.''
                                  ____



          Student Paper Apologizes for Alleged Racist Cartoon

       SYRACUSE, N.Y.--Syracuse University's student newspaper 
     apologized in print Tuesday for running an editorial cartoon 
     that sparked a student protest and accusations that the paper 
     was racially insensitive.
       Protesters said a depiction of Student Government 
     Association President Michaeljulius Idani in Friday's Daily 
     Orange looked strikingly like the fictitious Little Black 
     Sambo, a century-old storybook character embodying offensive 
     African-American stereotypes.
       About 200 students protested Monday. After an hour meeting 
     with protesters, the newspaper agreed that Tuesday's top 
     story would be the protest with a quoted apology from editor 
     Ron DePasquale.
       The paper also agree to have staff participate in a 
     diversity sensitivity workshop and to appoint a student 
     adviser for race issues.
       ``I think that while we never want to go through and 
     experience like this, it's something that in the end can 
     benefit everybody,'' DePasquale said.
       Cartoonist Dan Dippel said he never intended race to be an 
     issue in the cartoon.
       The cartoon showed what is supposed to be a tongue-wagging 
     Idani skipping down the road with money flying everywhere. I 
     was paired with an editorial criticizing the SGA leader for 
     promising a student group he would help fund a Hip-Hop 
     Showcase without going through the proper channels.
                                  ____



     John Hope Franklin, Historian and Educator, Gets Truman Honor

       INDEPENDENCE, Mo.--Historian, educator and author John Hope 
     Franklin will receive the 1999 Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor 
     Award.
       The honors were announced Tuesday by the Truman Foundation, 
     formed in 1973 to honor each year a person or people in 
     public life who have improved the community and the country 
     through citizenship, patriotism self-reliance and service.
       Past recipients include Gerald Ford, former Chief Justice 
     Earl Warren, Nelson Rockfeller and Dr. Jonas Salk.
       Franklin is chairman of President Clinton's racial advisory 
     board, ``One America in the 21st Century. Forging a New 
     Future.'' The board was established to inform and counsel the 
     president on ways to improve race relations.
       The seven-member board was criticized in September after 
     releasing the results of its $4.8 million, yearlong 
     examination of racial attitudes and conditions. It endorsed 
     several policies that Clinton had already undertaken, and 
     voiced support for his ``mend it, don't end it'' position or 
     affirmative action.
       The board also offered two suggestions that Clinton make 
     his racial dialogue permanent through a presidential council, 
     and that he conduct a multimedia campaign to teach Americans 
     how this country developed its beliefs about race and 
     institutionalized them through the notion of ``white 
     privilege.''
       Critics said the report was short on substance and wasted 
     taxpayer money.
       ``We make no apology for what we have not done,'' Franklin 
     said after the report. ``There are limits to what one can 
     do.''
       A native Oklahoman, Franklin graduated from Fisk University 
     and has taught at several institutions since receiving his 
     doctorate degree in history from Harvard. He holds honorary 
     doctorates from more than 100 colleges and universities.
       Franklin will receive the Truman honor May 7 in Kansas 
     City.
                                  ____



         Marine Command Orders Punishment After Racial Incident

       JACKSONVILLE, N.C.--Three Marines now deployed in the 
     Mediterranean Sea will be punished for their involvement in 
     writing racial epithets on the face and arm of a black 
     Marine.
       Lance Cpl. Todd C. Patrick of the 26th Marine Expeditionary 
     Unit based at Camp Lejeune called Jacksonville police April 
     11 and reported he woke up in a motel room with the words 
     ``KKK'' and ``nigger'' on his forehead and ``Go back to 
     Africa'' on his left arm. He told police three white Marines 
     in his unit wrote the words on him.
       Patrick decided not to press charges and instead asked the 
     Onslow County magistrate to contact his battalion commander.
       Lance Cpls. David P.H. Brown and Jeremy J. Goggin were 
     found guilty of using provoking words during summary courts 
     marital onboard the USS Kearsarge, Camp Lejeune officials 
     said Tuesday. They were reduced to private first class and 
     will be confined to the ship's brig for 24 days.
       A third Marine, Bobby Ray Gurley, identified through police 
     records, was found guilty after an Article 15 hearing for the 
     same charge. The Marine was ordered to three days confinement 
     in the ship's brig with bread and water, forfeiture of one-
     half of one month's pay and reduction to private first class.
       An investigation ordered by the battalion commander found 
     racial overtones but no malicious intent in the part of the 
     three Marines. All of the marines have reconciled on a 
     personal level, base officials said.
       All four Marines are aboard the same ship which deployed to 
     the Mediterranean on April 15.
                                  ____



               [From the New York Times, April 21, 1999]

                   Congress Supports Award for Parks

       Washington.--Rosa Parks is getting the gold.
       Congress voted Tuesday to give the 86-year-old Parks a 
     Congressional Gold Medal, its highest civilian award, for an 
     act of defiance more than 40 years ago.
       Often hailed as the ``first lady'' or ``mother'' of the 
     civil rights movement, Parks was tired after a day's work as 
     a seamstress in Montgomery, Ala., on a December day in 1955 
     and refused to give up her seat to a white man on a 
     segregated city bus.
       Her arrest set off a lengthy bus boycott by blacks that 
     lasted until the Supreme Court declared Montgomery's bus 
     segregation law unconstitutional and it was changed. The 
     boycott was led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a local 
     minister at the time.
       ``One brave act of a humble seamstress triggered an 
     avalanche of change which helped our country fulfill its 
     commitment to equal rights for all Americans,'' said House 
     Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo. ``For her leadership and 
     her example, Rosa Parks deserves to be honored with the 
     Congressional Gold Medal.''
       The House voted 424-1 in favor of the measure, one day 
     after the Senate passed it without dissent. Rep. Ron Paul, R-
     Texas, was the only lawmaker to vote against the bill, which 
     President Clinton is expected to sign.
       ``This courageous act changed her life and our nation 
     forever,'' said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla. ``Passage of 
     this bill will be our contribution to her legacy today.''
       Parks, an Alabama native, watched the debate on television 
     from Los Angeles.
       ``Mrs. Parks is very excited to have this honor,'' said 
     Anita Peek, executive director

[[Page E1110]]

     of the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. 
     Parks co-founded the nonprofit group in 1987 to help young 
     people in Detroit, where she now lives.
       She moved there in 1957 after losing the seamstress' job 
     and her family was harassed and threatened. She joined the 
     staff of Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., in 1965 and worked there 
     until retiring in 1988.
       She now travels the country lecturing about civil rights.
       A guest at Clinton's State of the Union address in January, 
     Parks has received numerous awards, including the 
     Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian 
     award, and the Spingarn Award, the NAACP's top civil rights 
     honor.
       Lawmakers initially used the Congressional Gold Medal to 
     honor military leaders but began using it during the 20th 
     century to recognize excellence in a range of fields, 
     including the arts, athletics, politics, science and 
     entertainment.
       The first such medal was approved in March 1776 for George 
     Washington for ``wise and spirited conduct'' during the 
     Revolutionary War.
       More than 320 medals have been awarded.
       Recent honorees include Frank Sinatra, Mother Teresa, the 
     Rev. Billy Graham, South African President Nelson Mandela and 
     the ``Little Rock Nine,'' the group that braved threats and 
     jeers from white mobs to integrate Central High School in 
     Little Rock, Ark., in 1957.
                                  ____



               [From the New York Times, April 21, 1999]

                   Court Asked To Review Hopwood Case

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


       Teacher suspended after ridicule of racial slur reassigned

       LORAIN, OH.--A teacher suspended for repeating a student's 
     racial slur disapprovingly was reassigned today to observe a 
     veteran teacher in another school
       Terence Traut, 28, a seventh-grade math teacher at Lorain 
     Middle School, was reassigned to Whittier Middle School.
       ``Some of our master teachers, who have been in the 
     district for 19 to 20 years, have been involved in difficult 
     student situations,'' school spokesman Ed Branham said.`` 
     Hopefully, he can learn through observing teachers with 
     strong classroom management skills.''
       He was assigned to his home, with pay, since April 1 and 
     was suspended last week. It was not clear how long he would 
     be observing another teacher.
       Traut could not be reached for comment today. Messages were 
     left at his new school and at his home.
       Traut, who is white, became upset when he heard a black and 
     a Hispanic student call each other ``nigga,'' slang 
     popularized by some rap musicians but derived from the 
     similar-sounding slur.
       As the students left for the principal's office, Traut 
     repeated the word and told the class that it was stupid to 
     use such language. He repeated the comment disapprovingly 
     when one of the boys returned.
       The 11,000-student district 25 miles west of Cleveland is 
     about half white, 25 percent black and 25 percent Hispanic.
       The city chapter of the National Association for the 
     Advance of Colored People wanted Traut's dismissal and said 
     any use of a racial slur by a teacher was inappropriate.
       The school board said it might consider dismissing Traut, 
     depending in part on his willingness to apologize.

     

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