Minority & Small Business Week
PageA2
September 26, 2007
Civil Rights Issues Dominate Landscape
Little Rock
Nine Marks
50 Years
(A P) - T he Little Rock Nine,
once barred from C entral High
School in Little Rock, Ark. because
they are black, arrived on its soggy
cam pus Tuesday in lim ousines as
the com m unity m arked 50 years
s in c e P re s id e n t D w ig h t D.
E isenhow er directed soldiers to
escort the students inside.
"They didn't ask to be a part of
history, but they certainly are now,"
said U.S. Rep. Mike Ross o f A rkan­
sas.
Seating was set out for 5,000
people on the front lawn o f the inner-
city campus, where the high school
is now 52 percent black. Classes
were canceled Monday and T ues­
day to accom m odate cerem onies
marking the school's integration.
Gov. Mike Beebe said society
had made progress since the C en ­
sch o o ls."
G e n e P re sc o tt, w h o p h o to ­
graphed the school's integration
for the A rkansas G azette in 1957,
noted the difference in the crow d
over 5 0 years. The all-w hite m ob 50
y e a rs a g o je e r e d th e n in e ;
T u esd ay ’s crow d o f blacks and
w hites w elcom ed them.
"They are m ingling and they are
shaking hands. T hat certainly is a
change," Prescott said.
Form er President Clinton joined
the ce rem o n y . T en y ears ago,
C lin to n a n d th e n -G o v . M ik e
H uckabee w alked to the front o f the
tral crisis, but he said econom ic and
educational inequalities still exist.
"There will alw ays be a neces­
sity to show that we are inclusive as
a society," Beebe said. "The lesson
is that we need to m ake sure that
people learn from this event and be
as inclusive as possible."
Dale Charles, head o f the state
N A A C P chapter, said the co m ­
m em oration overstates the progress
in race relations. Broad sw aths o f
Little Rock are still predom inantly
black or predom inantly white.
In Septem ber 1957, then-G ov.
Orval Faubus used the A rkansas
N ational G uard to keep nine black
children out o f Central High, telling
a statew ide TV audience that court-
ordered integration w ould spark
mob violence. He didn't acknow l­
edge that he helped m anufacture
the crisis to boost his segregation­
ist credentials.
O utside the school Tuesday, the
Rev. Jesse Jackson said the civil
rights struggle continues 50 years
later in a social system that has
"first-class jails and second-class
Carloto Walls LaNier (from
left) Ernest Green and
Terrence Roberts, three of
nine students who in 1957
integrated Little Rock Central
High School, applaud
Monday during dedication
ceremonies for a National
Historic Site visitor's center
near the school in Little
Rock, Ark. (AP photo)
school and held the doors open for
the Little Rock Nine: M elba Patillo
Beals, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest
Green, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Carlotta
W alls LaN ier, T errence Roberts,
J e ffe rs o n T h o m a s, M in n ije a n
B ro w n T ric k e y a n d T h e lm a
M othershed Wair.
The U.S. Supreme Court declared
segregated classrooms unconstitu­
tional, ruling that many districts were
operating education systems that were
separate but not equal. By the fall of
1957, the Charleston and Fayetteville
school districts had integrated peace­
fully, but agitators targeted Little Rock
for trouble.
Forthree weeks. Little Rock became
the focus of a showdown between
Faubus and Eisenhower. Faubus pulled
the Guard away, but a crowd gathered
outside the school Sept. 23 to prevent
it from complying with U.S. District
Judge Ronald Davies' desegregation
order.
Eisenhower that night authorized
the use of federal troops to enforce
Davies'order, and members of the 101 st
Airbomeescortedthe Little Rock Nine
to classes on Sept. 25,1957
‘Jena 6’ Points to Enduring Double Standard
Young make
stand for
racial equality
(AP) - Drawn by a case tinged
with one o f the m ost hated sym bols
o f Old South racism — a hangm an's
noose tied in an oak tree — tens of
th o usan d s o f p ro testers rallied
Thursday in Jena, Ark. against what
they see as a double standard o f
prosecution for blacks and whites.
The plight o f the so-called Jena
Six becam e a tlashpoint for one the
biggest ci vil-rights dem onstrations
in years. Five o f the black teens
w ere initially charged w ith a t­
tem pted m urder in the beating o f a
w hite classm ate.
Old-guard lions like the Revs.
Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton
joined scores o f college students
bused in from across the nation
who said they w anted to m ake a
stand for racial equality just as their
parents did in the 1950s and '60s.
"It's not ju st about Jena, but
about inequalities and disparities
V o te r ID
L a w b e fo r e
H ig h C o u r t
(AP) - The Supreme Court agreed
Tuesday to decide w hether voter
identification laws unfairly deter
Radio personality Michael Baisden, second from left, with Rev. Al Sharpton and Melissa Bell,
mother o f Mychal Bell walk behind two Louisiana State Troopers that are holding hands during a
march in support of the Jena 6 in Jena, La. (AP photo)
around the country," said Stephanie
Brown, 26, national youth director
for the N A ACP, w ho estim ated
about 2,000 college students w ere
am ong the throngs o f m ostly black
protesters w ho overw helm ed this
the poor and m inorities from vot­
ing, stepping into a contentious
partisan issue in advance o f the
2008 elections.
The justices will hear arguments
early next year in a challenge to an
Indiana law that requires voters to
present photo ID before casting their
ballots. The state has defended the
law as a way to com bat voter fraud.
The state Democratic Party and
civil rights groups com plained that
the law unfairly targets poor and
minority voters, without any evi­
dence that in-person voter fraud ex­
ists in Indiana. The party argued that
those voters tend to be Democrats.
The court is expected to issue a
decision by late June, in tim e for the
N ovem ber General Election.
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with Special Portraits.
tiny central L ouisiana town.
But the teens' case galvanized
dem onstrators as few legal cases
have in recent years.
The cause o f Thursday's d em ­
onstrations dates to A ugust 2006,
when a black Jena High School
student asked at a student assem ­
bly w hether blacks could sit under
a shade tree that was a frequent
gathering place for whites. He was
told yes. But nooses appeared in
the tree the next day. T hree w hite
students w ere suspended but not
crim inally prosecuted. LaSalle Par­
ish D istrict A ttorney Reed W alters
said this w eek he could find no
state law covering the act.
Brown said the Jena case reso­
nates with the college-aged crow d
because they aren’t much older than
the six youths charged. M any o f
the student protesters had been
sharing inform ation about the case
through Facebook, M ySpace and
other social-netw orking W eb sites.
Jackson, who led a throng o f
people three blocks long to the court­
house with an American flag resting
on his shoulder, likened the dem on­
stration to the marches on Selma and
the M ontgomery bus boycott. But
even he was not entirely sure why
Jena becam e the focal point.
Record Heating Bills Expected
(AP) — U.S. consumers are expected to
pay record prices for heating oil, electricity
and propane to warm their homes this win­
ter, and low-income families will need gov­
ernment help to cover those bills, govern­
ment energy officials said on Tuesday.
Heating fuel expenses this winter will be
highest for heating oil, with the average
family paying $1,834 for the season, up 28
percent or $402 from last year, according to
the National Energy Assistance Directors'
Association.
The group expects propane costs to aver-
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percent or $50, the group said.
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"Y ou can never quite tell," he
said. "R osa Parks w as not the first
to sit in the front o f the bus. But the
sparks hit a dry field."
T he noose incident w as fo l­
low ed by fights betw een blacks
an d w h ite s , c u lm in a tin g in
D ecem ber's attack on w hite stu­
d e n t J u s tin B a rk e r, w h o w as
knocked unconscious. A ccording
to court testim ony, his face was
sw ollen and bloodied, but he was
able to attend a school function
that sam e night.
Six black teens w ere arrested.
Five w ere originally charged with
attem pted second-degree m urder
— charges that have since been
reduced for four o f them. T he sixth
was booked as a juvenile on sealed
charges.
M artin Luther King III, son o f
the slain civil rights leader, said
punishm ent o f som e sort may be in
order for the six defendants, but
"the ju stice system isn't applied the
same to all crim es and all people."
State police estim ated the crow d
at 15,000 to 20,000. Organizers said
they believe it drew as many as
50,000.
OREGON ON THE MOVE
Interstate 5 Is under construction!
Be safe, be prepared and be patient as the
Oregon Department of Transportation
repairs and modernizes our highways
and bridges.
Between Portland and Medford, drivers will
pass through 19 active construction zones
on 1-5 in 2007. In the Portland metro area,
SLOW DOWN!
BETTER ROADS AHEAD
crews are currently replacing two highway
bridges outside Wilsonville, and a paving
project between Capitol Highway and the
Tualatin River will be complete this fall.
How can you prepare? Stay informed with
up-to-the-minute information about traffic
and construction by visiting TripCheck.com
or calling 5-1-1.
CTB
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