NAACP annual dinner focuses on the positive

The Providence Journal

While the dismissal of the civil-rights claim by the mother of Sgt. Cornel Young Jr. is discussed, speakers concentrate more on what's being done and what can be done in the minority community.

01:00 AM EST on Saturday, November 8, 2003

BY KAREN LEE ZINER
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- The dismissal of a civil-rights claim brought on behalf of slain Police Sgt. Cornel Young Jr. permeated last night's 94th NAACP Providence Branch's Annual Freedom Fund Dinner, but amid the communing and the fellowship, rancor was largely left aside.

Guest speaker Wayne S. Smith, president of The Justice Project, did excoriate U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi's dismissal of the claim brought by Leisa Young on behalf of her son.

"One is left to wonder, what rationale Judge Lisi had, other than preventing a verdict for Leisa Young," said Smith.

However, even as Smith accepted a community-service award for his years of social-justice advocacy, he insisted that the "real honor" belongs to lawyer Robert Mann, who represented Young.

Smith, who called Mann "my personal hero," credited him with perservering "against some of the most outrageous judicial decisions in memory," and an "apparently biased court."

Leisa Young, who had been expected to attend the dinner at the Providence Marriott, did not. Police Maj. Cornel Young Sr. did attend: Smith also offered "honor and respect" to the slain officer's father.

A second guest speaker, lawyer Anita S. Earls, is director of advocacy at the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights.

She received the Ida B. Wells Barnett Award, in part for her legal work in a redistricting lawsuit -- Metts v. Murphy -- that claims new state Senate districts illegally dilute black voting power in Providence.

Though U.S. District Chief Justice Ernest C. Torres dismissed Metts v. Murphy, Earls said the recent 1st Circuit Court decision offers "a glimmer of hope" for revisiting the case. A federal appeals panel last month reinstated the lawsuit, ruling that plaintiffs must be given a chance to prove their case. She called that "a significant" victory.

She credited former state Sen. Charles Walton, of Providence, who lost his seat this year after the Senate redistricting, with first getting her involved in the case in 2002. Walton's former district was "a community of interests voting together . . . it was being divided for political ends," said Earls.

"What we're saying is that there should be two districts -- one where Latino voters get to vote their candidate of choice, and one for black voters to elect their candidate of choice."

"IN THE SPIRIT of being positive," Earls offered a five-point plan for moving forward in the Young case.

That includes that "we, as a society, must have zero tolerance for racial profiling," and "zero tolerance for excessive use of force" by police.

Earls suggested pressing for the House Judiciary Committee in Washington to exercise its oversight of federal district judges. "They could easily investigate the procedures used by Judge Lisi, to see if there was an improper bias," said Earls.

And, she pushed for enforcement of Title VI, which prohibits grants to agencies that engage in racial discrimination, against the Providence Police Department. "I say that a police department that is engaging in racial profiling, is engaging in racial discrimination."

"You have to call on the government to suspend those grants -- that's another tool you can use."

Her fifth point -- "the need for fair and balanced courts."

She pointed out the Bush administration's success in affirming judicial appointments. "So far, 165 federal judges nominated by Bush have been confirmed," but filibustering has prevented only 2 percent of his appointees from coming up for a vote.

In the Clinton administration however, "there were 63 percent of nominees that never came up for a vote."

AT A NEWS conference earlier, NAACP branch president Clifford R. Montiero said that both the Providence NAACP branch and the national, are supporting "Mrs. Young and the entire Young family" in this matter.

But the branch is just "part of the community," he said, and "the community will be leading" and deciding what's next.

Other awards last night included the Joseph G. LeCount Medal, presented to Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas of the Narragansett Indian Tribe.

The LeCount Award is the NAACP Providence Branch's most prestigious award. It is named after LeCount, an attorney who "epitomized leadership, service and commitment to the cause of freedom and human dignity all of his life."

As Chief Sachem, "Thomas has been a tireless advocate for his tribe," the NAACP noted, "maintaining tradition and culture, seeking financial stability and working to improve the quality of life for all tribal members."

Other receipients: The Roy Wilkins Award was presented to Ruby N. Jenkins; the Thurgood Marshall Award to O. Rogeriee Thompson, associate justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court; and a community service award to the Rev. Virgil Wood.