Ticker tape

Jet, June 23, 2003 by Simeon Booker

Confidential: A war veteran himself, Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel is championing a draft to maintain the 1.4 million active-duty soldiers so that all economic groups could be represented in our military. He argues that no one segment of the population or reservists should be dominant in the U.S. fighting force.

By April 24, more than 16% of the GIs killed in Iraq were Black and 14% were Hispanic, he argues. Angle: Rangel rates little mention in the news media for his idea ... Baltimore is regarded as the main locale of super Black politicos. Three of the chairs of the Congressional Black Caucus hail from the seaport city--the present chair, Rep. Elijah Cummings, and former lawmakers NAACP President Kweisi Mfume and Parren Mitchell ... When civil righters gathered June 5-8 in Sunset Beach, NC, they came to participate in the 25th annual Julius Chambers Golf Tourney and support and honor one of the kingpins of the Legal Defense Fund. The tourney is a brainchild of Chambers, who recently retired after eight years as chancellor of North Carolina Central University ... Named president-elect of the U.S. Conference of Mayors was Republican Mayor James Garner, of Hempstead, NY ... When he recently appeared on Capitol Hill for his confirmation hearing to head the Agriculture Department's civil rights office, GOP lawyer Vernon B. Parker of Arizona vowed to "end abuses against Black farmers." Now that he is the department's assistant secretary, and highest Black official, he is being called upon to keep his promise.