Newspaper Page Text
Page4
August 2, 2007
National World
Breaking the wall of silence -black churches protect predator while neglecting victim
By MARIAN H. JEFFERSON
Special to the NNPA
DALLAS (NNPA) -
Research has shown that alle
gations of clergy sexual abuse
can have a great impact on
victims and their families,
atfecting them spiritually,
socially, economically and
psychologically.
And algcr the abuse, many
victims become even more
ABC morning anchor Robin Roberts to have breast cancer surgery
NEW YORK (AP) -
ABC Good Morning
America anchor Robin
with breast cancer and will
be undergoing surgery
Friday.
Roberts, 46, tld viewers
about her cancer on
Tuesday moming’s show.
“I am so blessed that |
found this in the carly stages
Sixteen indicted in alleged Black Mafia Family drug ring
ATLANTA (AP) - Sixteen people have
been indicted in an alleged drug ring run by
the Black Mafia Family, which came t
Adanta several years ago seeking legitimacy by
infiltrating the hip-hop industry here, federal
authorities said Wednesday.
The indictment charges them with taking
part in a nationwide cocaine distribution
conspiracy that engaged in violence while
moving thousands of pounds of cocaine
worth an estimated $270 million.
“The government is one step doser to erad
icating one of today’s most violent and noto
rious drug trafficking organizations,” said
Rodney G. Benson, special agent in charge of
the Drug Enforcement office in Adanta.
“The Black Mafia Family wreaked havoc
from coast to coast.”
Seven of the 16 defendants were arrested
Wednesday. The names of seven of the
remaining nine defendants remained under
seal because they are still being sought by law
disillusioned at the response
of the church as some church
es place greater emphasis on
blind forgiveness and restora
tion of the perpetrator, rather
than the healing and support
of the victim, as in the cases of
Sherman Allen, Terry
Hornbuckle and Ruben
Thankful, ministers convicted
of sexual assault against
women in their congrega-
& - ‘.g
Robin Roberts
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Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory
enforcement, officials said.
Local law enforcement learned the organi
zation existed after a 2003 double homicide
in Club Chaos in Buckhead when an assodi
ate of hip-hop mogul Sean “P Diddy”
AUGUSTA FOCUS
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Sherman Allen
tions. Countless victims suffer
silently in the pews of Black
and the prognosis is so
promising that my doctor
expects me to be flying
planes and hanging on w©
submarines in the middle of
the Atlantic and scaling the
Mayan pyramids in no
time,” she said.
Roberts, who is co
anchor of Good Morning
Sce Robin, page 17
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Terry
Hornbuckle
churches for years, with feel
ings of shame, guilt, fear of
Family moves to collect damages from Farrakhan's son
HAMMOND, Ind.
(AP) — A Gary couple
asked a judge 1o help them
collect $350,000 from
Nation of Islam Minister
Louis Farrakhan’s son,
who lost a lawsuit over a
crash that injured them.
Nasir Farrakhan has yet
to pay any of the punitive
damages awarded 1o
Charles and Gladys
Peterson, though they
Coombs and another man were both shot
after the dub dosed early one moming,
Officials dlaim the enterprise’s leader in
Adanta was Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory,
while his brother, Terry “Southwest T”
Flenory allegedly ran the organization’s Los
Angeles hub.
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Ruben
Thompson
received $464,000 for
their medical expenses
from his insurance compa
ny.
The couple’s attoreys
filed papers in U.S. District
Court in Hammond on
Wednesday secking inter
vention by a judge and
requesting a hearing to
determine Farrakhan’s
income and assets.
Farrakhan said in court
Federal authorities say the Flenorys went
from selling SSO bags of crack in high schools
in southwest Detroit in the mid-1980s to
masterminding a criminal enterprise operat
ing in 11 states.
See Mafia, page 18
reprisal and disbelief from
those meant to guide and pro
tect them.
Meanwhile the Black
church consistently fails to lift
their voices with a collective
moral outcry against this dev
astating act of betrayal.
Wolves in sheep’s clothing
In May, Ft Werth pastor
See Victim, page 18
Nasir Farrakhan
See Farvakhan, page 8