Wilmjax News

Students who are black, poor or suffer from disabilities are less likely to succeed on standardized tests, state data shows.

At the district level, all five area school districts failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress during the 2006-07 school year. A federal accountability measure, AYP measures student performance on math and reading tests among various socioeconomic subgroups.

In order for a school or a district to make AYP, students in every subgroup must reach a target goal. For example, about 77 percent of students in each subgroup needed to show proficiency on end-of-grade reading tests in order to make AYP.

While several districts reached more than 85 percent of their targets, no local district had every subgroup make AYP. The subgroups that most frequently missed the mark were black students, economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities.

In the Camden County Schools, for example, state data shows that the school district missed AYP because black students and students with disabilities in grades 3-8 didn’t show proficiency on end-of-grade math tests.

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The civil rights group fears police will engage in racial profiling.

Greensboro, NC — The NAACP is taking aim at Greensboro’s new gang task force.

Members of the civil rights group fear police officers will focus more on putting minority youth in jail.

They would rather see a gang prevention plan.

The NAACP wants to deal with causes of gang activity such as poverty and the drop out rate.

NAACP member Deena Hayes said, “One thing, I think we need an analysis here. What happened here in Guilford County? How have we gone from gangs in the single digits to gangs in the double digits? What’s happened around economic development? We’ve had major employment losses in this county for some time.”

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Despite a covenant not to sue each other for four years, it was evident at the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners meeting Monday night that tensions between commissioners and the Beaufort County Board of Education have not eased.

Surfing on a wave of controversy regarding the school board’s hiring practices, Commissioner Jerry Langley asked his colleagues to approve a “symbolic resolution” urging the school board to seek qualified black employees. Of the 498 teachers working in the county’s schools, 39 are black. Of 14 principals in the school system, one — Victoria Mallison — is black. Mallison is the principal of the Beaufort County Ed Tech Center, an alternative school.

“It is important to me that we move toward a colorblind society,” Commissioner Stan Deatherage said. “For there not to be more black teachers and principals, I think we have a problem. It’s got to be quite a leap for a black child to seek a role model in a white teacher.”

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Do you know anything about the Jena Six?

Do not feel bad if the answer is “no.” Mainstream news media has carried scant coverage of an event that has captivated and mobilized a large segment of the black community.

In cities across the country, organizers have arranged bus trips to Jena, La., population 3,000. They had intended to protest at a sentencing hearing for one of six black teenagers charged in Jena for beating up a white schoolmate.

The hearing is off. On Friday, a state appeals court overturned the conviction of Mychal Bell, who had been tried as an adult and had faced up to 15 years in prison for aggravated battery.

At press time, the status of the bus rides was unclear. But the other boys in the case are still awaiting trials on battery.

Students at North Carolina Central University have organized a bus trip scheduled to leave Wednesday from a Wal-Mart parking lot in Durham. News of the ride hit my e-mail inbox Friday.

Most of my news about Jena has come through e-mail from friends with links to press releases and news stories. Black radio talk show hosts have kept the story in heavy rotation. T-shirts are being sold with the slogan, “Free the Jena Six!”

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GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) – Reaction to racial tension and injustice in a small central Louisiana town has spread across the nation.

At the beginning of the school year, a black student at Jena High School asked to sit under a tree on campus unofficially known for being for “whites only.”  He was reportedly told by a school administrator he could sit anywhere he wanted.

The next day, three nooses were hung in the tree.  The white students involved with putting the nooses in the tree were briefly suspended.

Then on December 4, 2006, six black students are accused of beating a white classmate at Jena High School.  The victim of the beating, Justin Barker, was treated at a hospital for injuries.  The motive for the attack was never established.

Five of the black teenagers were originally charged with attempted murder.  The sixth student was charged in juvenile court. 

The protests of racism and unequal justice followed after the six were charged with attempted murder by LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters. 

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CULLOWHEE – A wall representing the “Wall of Oppression” built by discrimination, racism and sexism will be built this week and then torn down Friday on the A.K. Hinds University Center lawn as part of Western Carolina University’s eighth annual Diversity Week.

Diversity Week began with an introduction to the first “Wall of Oppression” event Monday on the university center lawn at a plywood wall.

Throughout the week, students, faculty and staff will be invited to paint words or images that reflect what they have seen and heard that are examples of oppression. Volunteers will staff the site from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. daily until the closing ceremony at 2 p.m. Friday.

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A Rocky Mount councilman removed himself from an economic development board during Monday’s City Council meeting because of what he said were racially motivated comments made by people on the board against the black members of the council.

Councilman Andre Knight said that when Carolinas Gateway Partnership board Chairman Frank Harrison said earlier this month he supports Tom Looney for Ward 4 because the council needs leadership, the message was full of racial undertones.

Knight pointed to Harrison’s $1,000 donation to first-term councilman and mayoral candidate David Combs, who is white, as an indicator in addition to his $1,000 contribution to Looney that Harrison does not support the black members of the council, an allegation Harrison denies.

“It’s clearly racial,” said Knight, who also called comments made by local businessman Tom Betts into question.

Betts called the Telegram from Berlin to respond to Knight’s criticism. He said his support for Looney stems from Looney’s past experience on the council. Looney is challenging incumbent Lois Watkins, who was appointed to the council in March.

He said his comment regarding the importance of “having the city governed correctly” was not an indictment of the council.

“To portray this as racist is the farthest thing from the truth,” Betts said. “We don’t need to get into personality conflicts. It’s just that some people are more qualified.”

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