[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 8] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 11207-11209] [From the U.S. 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 [[Page 11208]] 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. It 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 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. [[Page 11209]] 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. ____________________