Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 December 2000 — Page 3
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— FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29,2000
THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER
2000 in Review ^y 41106
Editor's note: The following stories made headlines and our front page this year.
Grace Apostolic Church dies.
ContiniMd from A1
January ■ Bart Peterson inaugurated as the 47th Mayor of Indianapolis. .
February
August ■ Architect and community leader Walter Blackburn dies. ■ Community activist Rev. Wayne T. Harris of Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church dies.
■ IPS administrators strictly enforce an academic policy mandating student athletes achieve a C average in their studies and have a 90 percent classroom attendance to play sports. The new policy wreaks havoc on team rosters at Arlington High School, Arsenal Tech and others.
September ■ Community members question the aggressive tactics used by The Marion County SWAT team to capture and arrest Dwione T. Radford on drug charges. No one was injured or hurt and Radford was arrested.
■ IUPUI student Tahnesia Towner brutally murdered.
■ Four white New York City police officers acquitted of all charges involved in the killing of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo.
■ Local filmmakers Betsy Blankenbaker and Troy Julian Gipson produce a documentary on the legendary 1950s Crispus Attucks High School Basketball
team
March • ■ ISTEP test results announced. The year 2000 marks the first time Indiana seniors must pass the test in order to receive a high school diploma. Thousands of students throughout the state fail.
October ■ Indianapolis Public Schools Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to equip the district’s 87 patrol officers with guns.
November ■ Black Entertainment Television was sold to Viacom Inc. for $3 billion.
■Planner House celebrates 102 years of community service.
Gov. Frank O’Bannon is reelected.
■ The Recorder receives The Indiana Journalism Award by Ball State University.
■ Congresswoman Julia Carson is re-elected to the 10th Congressional District.
April ■ After 13 years of civil litigation, Nancy Taylor, the mother of Michael Taylor, accepts a $1.9 million settlement for her son’s wrongful death suit.
■ Annual Mozel Sanders Thanksgiving Dinner takes place for the first time at Butler University.
May I Members of the faith commu-
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nity gather during the seventh annual Celebration of Hope. Founded by Bishop T. Garrott Benjamin Jr. and Dr. William Enright, the event seeks to build bridges of racial unity within the religious community.'
■ The Recorder reports on alleged voter intimidation that occurred in Florida during the 2000 Presidential election between George W. Bush and A1 Gore.
December ■ St. Bridget Catholic Church demolished. The 120 year-old church was the first Catholic church ' to have aiSChdol fdr AttCah-Aftlefi-can children.
June ■ Radio One, the nation’s largest Black-owned broadcasting company , closed on its purchase of Hoosier Radio and TV. (Previous owners were Bill Shirk and William “Bill” G. Mays)
■ Kemba Smith pardoned by President Bill Clinton. Smith re-
ceived 24 years in federal prison for her minimal involvement in a
July I Bishop Morris Ellis Golder of
drug-distribution ring in which she sold no dope. The high profile case revealed the ugly side of mandatory drug sentences.
IDENTITY
Continued from A1
about the robbery and his involvement. He was released after an hour and 30 minutes. No charges or further investigations have been made against him. “It was a confusing situation,” said Lt. Dennis May of the Marion County Sheriff s Department, who acknowledges that an initial telephone call resulted in a robbery and arrests. Although only a few patrons were in the restaurant, Lt. May acknowledges that officers were not aware of the robbery in process or a specific number of suspects. Four men were arrested at the scene, including a 16-year-old who was shot by authorities. The remaining suspects, ages 17 and 18, have also been charged with robbery. The fourth suspect is alleged to be the driver. The negative publicity from news reports pinning Day as a criminal resulted in harsh criticism from fellow classmates and church
members. His employer initially issued a leave of absence for him, but later decided to resume his employment status. Dorothy Slaughter, his grandmother, says “something needs to be done about how (officers) treat Black people. (My grandson) is innocent.” She recommends that police officers fully investigate and verify facts before acting on assumptions, particularly when race becomes a determining factor for suspicion. For now, Day continues to enjoy his winter vacation from classes. When he returns, some of his classmates may still point fingers and accuse him of being a criminal. Despite, the numerous reports on television, he recognizes his innocence. “It was embarrassing,” added Day, determined to fight untrue publicity while resuming his life as a teen-ager not a robbery suspect.
Do Blacks, whites all look alike to other race members?
WASHINGTON (NNPA) — A Kent State professor has unveiled a new study that may suggest that people identify people of other races by code and category rather than by individual physical traits. Daniel T. Levin, a psychologist whose research has recently been published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, has looked closely into the areas that continue to divide people on the basis of race. In Levin’s study, groups of whites or Asians were asked to pick out Black faces from while faces. Most of the participants were much better at recognizing white faces than Black ones. Yet those
who were the worst at recognizing Black faces were the best at finding a Black face among white ones. Levin believes that this is because people focus on features of another race that allow them to be classified racially, but not key in on those individual characteristics that identify a person. “The problem is not that we can’t code the details of cross-race faces,” Levin says. “It’s that we don’t. Instead we substitute the group information, or information about the race, for information about the features that help us tell individual people apart.”
Indianapolis neighborhoods. It’s an awaking of faith-based institutions working together to bring change through social change.” Williams said, “We’re not just bringing together our resources, we’re uniting some dynamic women and men who care and have a concern for their neighborhood. “As long as we make sure God gets the glory, we’ll be fine,” he said. According to Robert L. Woodson, president of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, which provides grants for the minister’s association said alliances can be beneficial in expanding services and capital. He added that it requires a lot of trust between the two parties, which both sides seemingly have. Ten-Point and the Ministers Association have long had similar missions: • Reduce crime and drug trafficking. • Mentor of those in jail and prevent others from going. • Provide survival skills. • Make their neighborhood safer. According to John L. Merri weather, senior chaplain for the sheriffs department unifications of this sort are needed as “various auxiliaries are destined to do the same thing.” “Seventy-five percent of these groups’ objectives are the same,” he said. “They have a common enemy—crime. Even in the times of the Bible when people unified, strength and blessings were multiplied.” The chaplain said, “100 voices are always better than one. We can now have a voice on every comer as we continue to fight to keep our people out of the system.” Merriweather and others praise both groups for their past efforts on their respective sides of the city and said the union should have an impact across Indianapolis. Rev. Melvin J. Jackson, pastor of Christian Love Baptist Church and president andCEO of .Ministers Inc. said he is excited about solidifying efforts to battle crime. He added that the union also allows both parties, who receive an estimated $250,000 each in funds annually, to get the maximum bang for their bucks. Rev. Charles Hattison, senior pastor at Barnes United Methodist and president of the board of directors of Ten-Point agreed and said he wants to see a greater reduction in crime, more teens pulled off the street and produce more young people who are productive citizens.
“There has never been a downside to the large number of groups, but we definitely could do better if we partnered,” he said. Wolley said negotiating stages are almost over for a union that may silence church critics. “God brought us together to touch lives,” he said. “A lot of times people say churches aren’t doing enough. Well it’s time to get beyond the denominational boundaries and the four walls of the church. We have people who are going to be taking it to the streets. We have people who are going to bring change.” For more information call Wolley at 291-4498.
PARDON
Continued from A1
Smith also promised that her atonement would amount to more than just words. “I’m going to make you proud of me,” she said. Gus Smith beamed as his daughter celebrated this first Christmas with her son. “It’s closure because our daughter’s home, she's free and she's with her son and the family's reunited,” Smith said. “But it’s not closure as it relates to the young people she left behind.. .those who will be standing before a judge tomorrow.” Kemba Smith said she’s unsure what she’ll do now, but she hopes to find a job working with young people. Smith said she plans to speak out about the dangers of the drug culture and to “urge revision of tough, mandatory sentences that require long periods of incarceration for nonviolent offenders.”
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