Newspaper Page Text
2A
September 2, 2004
National World
Bryant rape charges dropped
EAGLE, COLO. (AP)
—Attorneys in the Kobe
Bryant case hastily assem
bled behind closed doors
in the courtroom
Wednesday, September,
1, amid reports prosecu
tors will drop the rape
charges against the NBA
star.
District Attorney Mark
Hurlbert scheduled a late
afternoon news confer
ence on Thursday, Sep
tember 3, to break the
news. However, Lin
Wood, an attorney han
dling the 20-year old
accuser’s federal civil law
suit against Bryant, said
that case was intact.
“There has been no set
tlement of the civil law
suit and there have been
no discussions concern-
Powell and Rice cannot overshadow
Bush’s civil rights record
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
— The Bush Administration’s
top blacks — Secretary of State
Colin Powell and National
Security Advisor Condoleezza
Rice — will cast long shadows
over the Republican National
Convention in New York this
week — but not long enouih
to win black votes, predicts the
last black Republican to serve
in the Unitecr States Senate.
“I applaud Rice and Powell’s
appointments and I think
most African Americans
applaud them as well. But
when you're talking bread
and-butter issues, when you're
talking jobs and health care,
you have to balance that.
What are they doing for the
millions of African Americans
who are suffering?” asks for
mer Massachusetts Sen. Ed
Brooke, the first black elected
to the U. S. Senate in the 20th
Century. “From the tax pro
grams, the war, and the dis
proportionate number of
African Americans going to
war, when you look at it that
way, they cant expect to
receive African-American
votes just because of a few
black appointments.”
Record number of blacks
attend GOP convention
EH\JGEORGE E. CURRY
PA Editor-in-Chief
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
—The 167 blacks attending this
week's Republican National
Convention in New York rep
resents the largest bloc of
African-American delegates to
ever attend a GOP convention.
“This dramatic increase in
African-American delegate par
ddpationisaremarka;fi show
ing for the limublimn conven
tion, and it will be interesting to
see whether it filters into the
voting booths come Novem
ber,” said Joint Center for Polit
ical and Economic Studies
President Eddie N. Williams.
“Our polling since the 2000
election has indicated some
increasing support for Republi-
i~ /
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L At TR i
;Q ki BN S i BN .
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: | r ey
AP Photo
Kobe Bryant, pictured here with a member of his defense team,
is reported to have spent millions for the case that never went
to court.
ing a settlement,” he said.
He declined to comment
when asked about the
criminal case.
Brooke, who remains loyal
to the Republican Party, says
he will not attend the conven
tion because he is not a dele
gate and is no longer involved
in Massachusetts politics. He
says his decision not to attend
the convention is not a
protest. Yet, his disappoint
ment is evident.
“The Republican Party has
not done what it should have
done to attract African Ameri
cans,” he says. “The party of
Lincoln is not the party of
Lincoln today. Unfortunately,
African Americans still view
the Republican Party as
opposed to the issues that are
most important to African
Americans.”
Brooke, who served in the
Senate from 1967 to 1979,
comes from an era when pro
gressive Republicans main
tained a strong influence over
the direction of the party, not
just in obtaining black
appointments.
Until Franklin D. Roo
sevelts “New Deal” from
1933-1938, most blacks were
registered Republicans. As late
as the early 19605, it was not
unusual for Republican candi
L 2 2 LAT Y
2 . &8 T
AL b -
AP photo
Boxing promoter Don King (right) and Republican delegate Wade Web
ster at the opening session of the 2004 Republican National Convention
in New York.
cans among younger African
Americans, a.ltho‘fileas shown
AUGUSTA FOCUS
Bryant, 26, has said he
had consensual sex with a
then-19-year-old employ
ee of a Vail-area resort
o ?
N "
.). y ’3&
LDY X f
R
Y
Colin Powell
dates to get 30 percent of the
black vote, particularly mod
erate Republicans such as New
York City Mayor John V.
Lindsay and Connecticut Sen.
Lowell Weicker.
A major turning point for
the party and its relationship
with African Americans came
when Republicans chose Sen.
Barry Goldwater, an archcon
servative from Arizona, as its
presidential ~candidate in
1964. Goldwater ran on a
states right platform, an overt
attempt to court Southern
in the 2002 midterms, this
generally has not translated into
where he stayed last sum
mer. If convicted, the Los
Angeles Lakers star would
face four years to life in
prison or 20 years to life
on probation, and a fine
up to $750,000.
Reports that the prose
cution was dropping the
case surfaced as jury
selection began to wrap
up. Attorneys and Dis
trict Judge Terry Ruck
riegle had hoped to seat a
12-member jury this
week, with opening state
ments coming next Tues
day.
Defense attorneys this
week asked the judge to
dismiss the assault
charge, saying prosecu
tors had refused to turn
over details that could
See Kobe, page 12A
R e T
Condeleeza Rice
segregationists. Only 6 per
cent of blacks voted for Gold
water.
By contrast, 94 percent of
African Americans supported
incumbent Democratic Presi
dent Lyndon B. Johnson, who
was elected in a landslide.
Since that time, Republicans
have never received more than
15 percent of the black vote.
In 2000, George W. Bush
reccived only 8 percent of the
African-American vote, the
weakest support a GOP nom-
See Civil Rights on page 10A
more votes for the GOP”
Blacks aé this year’s corfwedr:-
tion are 6.7 nt of the
2,509 total def:;t; surpass
ing the previous record of six
parcent -st i 1912,
“After 1912, the Republican
Party changed its rules, allocat
ing delegates to states, and it has
:.Ecn 92 years for black repre
sentation to exceed the 1912
level,” the Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies
said in its report, “blacks and
the 2004 chublimn National
Convention.
In 1996, the 52 black dele
gates were 2.6 percent of the
total delegate count. In 2000,
there were 85 African-Ameri
can delegates (4.1 percent). In
See GOP, page 12A
Poverty continues
to rise under Bush
?{. .MAKEBRA ANDERSON
ational Correspondent
WASHINGTON
(NNPA) - As George W.
Bush and John E Kerry
debate who will do the most
to benefit the middle class,
recently-released Census
Bureau statistics show that
poverty decreased among
African Americans during the
Clinton Administration, but
went back up during the first
three years of the Bush
administration.
In addition to the increase
in poverty, overall Census
Bureau figures show that the
number of uninsured Ameri
cans rose to 45 million in
2003, up 1.4 million from
2002 when 43.6 million
Americans were uninsured.
In 2000, the year Bush was
elected, 39.8 million were
uninsured.
“The year 2003 marked the
third straight year that living
standards have deteriorated,
with poverty increasing, the
number of uninsured climb
ing, and the income of the
Black Baptists hope
meeting will spur unity
By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II
Associated Press Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -
The week of Labor Day, black
Baptists will be assembling as
they do each year, but simulta
neously in separate cities, the
result of a history of splintering
during the past century.
But now there are tentative
signs of cooperation among
the divided branches. Leaders
of the country’s four major
black Baptist denominations
hope a joint meeting Jan. 24-
27 in Nashville will forge a uni
fied voice to address social and
political issues affecting all
blacks.
“Is going to be exciting,”
said the Rev. William J. Shaw,
a Philadelphia pastor and pres
ident of Nashville-based
National Baptist Convention
USA, Inc., the oldest and
largest of the four groups. “It’s
an exploration of what the
future can hold in terms of
joint effort.”
Shaw said he met with the
other denominational presi
dents shortly after he was elect
ed in 1999 and discussed ways
they could better coordinate
initiatives. Out of that session
came the January meeting,
which will be the first of its
kind since the groups began
splintering in 1915 over policy
and operational disagreements.
The first division of black
Baptists was between the
National Baptist Convention,
USA, and the National Baptist
Convention of America, now
based in Shreveport, La., over
ownership of the convention's
publishing house.
Then in 1961, the Washing-
typical household stagnat
ing,” says Robert Greenstein,
executive director of the Cen
ter on Budget and Policy Pri
orities.
According to Census tables,
the percentage of African
Americans living below the
poverty level was 33.4 percent
(10.8 million) in 1992, the
year Clinton was first elected
president. By 2000, the year
Bush was elected, that figure
had dropped to 22.5 percent
(7.9 million) — a decrease of
10.9 percent. From 2000,
however, the black poverty
increased from 22.5 percent
to 23.9 percent in 2002 and
24.3 percent in 2003 (9.1
million). .
Overall, the number and
percentage of people living
below the poverty line rose
for the third conservative
year. The poverty rate —the
percentage of people who are
poor — rose from 11.7 percent
in 2001, to 12.1 percent in
2002 and 12.5 percent in
2003, according to the Cen
sus Bureau.
See Poverty on page 10A
ton-based Progressive National
Baptist Convention broke
away from the National Bap
tist USA group when the Rev.
J.H. Jackson altered rules so he
could continue as president. A
related issue was Jackson’s
sharp criticism of civil rights
protests led by the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr.
Another split came in 1988,
when the National Missionary
group broke from the Nation
al Baptist Convention of
America over governance and
the structure of the National
Baptist Publishing Board.
The National Baptist USA
group faced other problems. It
was shaken in 1999 when its
president, the Rev. Henry J.
Lyons, was convicted of grand
theft and racketeering and
served nearly five years in
prison.
An investigation revealed
that Lyons, then a pastor in St.
Petersburg, Fla., used his posi
tion as convention president to
steal an estimated $4 million to
buy luxury homes and jewelry
and support his mistress. Still,
the five million-member
denomination remains intact.
While leaders plan to discuss
general church business, they
also hope to develop a plan to
raise the concerns of black
Baptists with whoever is in the
White House in January.
“Weve got to wake black
America up as well as shake the
Democrats and Republicans
up,” said Rev. James Thomas, a
Nashville pastor. “Many black
Americans have gone to sleep
politically and socially.”