Ticker tape

Jet, Jan 28, 2002 by Simeon Booker

CONFIDENTIAL: Intensely involved in improving the nation's schools, Education Secretary Rod Paige is being credited with spearheading the passage of the $26 billion program for education reform. At the White House bill-signing, Paige stood behind the president, along with two Black children. In an uphill struggle which had neither the publicity nor the attention given such areas as defense or the economy, Paige managed to keep the pressure on--in his quiet and friendly manner.

He described the legislation as creating "the biggest change in education in 30 years." ... George Haley, brother of prize-winning Roots' author Alex Haley, and former U.S. ambassador to Gambia, has not been re-assigned to another foreign post. He is preparing for the 25th anniversary of the acclaimed novel's publication ... For the first time, the Discovery Center in Silver Spring, MD, will open an African section. President and CEO of the African society is former diplomat Leonard Robinson. Backers include ex-UN envoy Andrew Young and C. Payne Lucas, the Africare president ... After 10 years on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas is finally receiving his due. At 53, he's the court's youngest member, and has emerged as "a man of reputable and independent justice" who has proved his critics wrong, says the Lincoln Review publication. When he was nominated to the court as the second Black, following the late Thurgood Marshall, he was given a poor chance to succeed.