The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 28, 2000, Page 3, Image 3
Thousands protest Diallo verdict
by Beth Gardiner
Associated Press
New York — Thousands of angry and frustrated
New Yorkers took to the streets Saturday to protest
the acquittal of four white police officers who killed
an unarmed African immigrant in a barrage of 41
bullets.
“Killer cops have got to go! ” shouted a crowd
of more than 2,500 people who marched down Fifth
Avenue in midtown Manhattan to criticize the ver
dict in the Amadou Diallo murder trial.
About 40 people were arrested when they sat
down in the street near St. Patrick’s Cathedral and
blocked traffic.
Hours earlier, Diallo’s mother told a crowd in
Harlem she hoped her son’s death would inspire peo
ple to fight against police brutality and improve un
derstanding between police and civilians.
“It’s about justice,” Kadiatou Diallo said a day
after the verdicts. “Nothing can replace Amadou,
... but if his cause can help clarify this situation,...
so that the people can live in peace, I think that
would be a great honor for us.”
In Newark, N.J., about 150 people protested the
verdicts. About 50 gathered outside Diallo’s
Bronx home, where several hundred had demon
strated after the verdicts were announced Friday.
The same indignation was evident in many of
the 350 people who crammed into the Rev. A1 Sharp
ton’s National Action Network headquarters in
Harlem for an emotional rally.
“Murderers! ” they shouted. “Racist cops! ” “We
want justice!”
But a hush fell over the packed room when
Diallo’s mother approached the podium. As she
thanked the audi
ence in a soft voice
for the support
they had given her
family, listeners
cried out, “Thank
you!” and “We
love you!”
Diallo said that
after sitting
rnrougn nearly a month or trial testimony and ar
guments, she still could not understand why her son
died. The defense argument that her son’s actions
had drawn the officers’ attention and led them to
believe he had a gun caused her particular anguish,
she said.
“The crime that they committed is to consider
my son suspicious,” she said. “That was the first
crime.... Uur whole lamily are wondering why they
said that everything that happened was Amadou’s
fault. Because we know he was a nice kid.”
Jurors have avoided the media since the verdict,
but juror Thomas Knowles, who answered the door
at his upstate home, said the group was consider
ing issuing a statement or speaking publicly on Sun
~ Protests seepage 4
‘Nothing can replace Amadou ... but if his cause can
help clarify this situation ... so that the people can live
in peace, I think that would be a great honor for us.’
Kadiatou Diallo
mother of Amadou Diallo
Bush 'regrets' BJU visit
by Glen Johnson
Associated Press
Austin, Texas — In a letter to the
leader of New York’s Catholics, Gov.
George W. Bush says his campaign ap
pearance at a South Carolina school with
anti-Catholic views was a “missed op
portunity causing needless offense, which
I deeply regret.”
Bush has come under steady criticism
for his Feb. 2 visit to Bob Jones Uni
versity, a Christian school whose leaders
have criticized the Pope and labeled
the Catholic church a “Satanic cult.”
Opponents have assailed Bush for not
using the appearance to denounce those
views and the school’s ban on interracial
dating. Bush spoke about his conservatism.
In a Feb. 25 letter to Cardinal John
O’Connor of New York, leader of the
archdiocese’s 2.4 million Roman
Catholics, Bush stated his “profound re
spect” for the Catholic Church and said
the criticism of him is unfair and un
founded.
“On reflection, I should have been
more clear in disassociating myself from
<
anti-Catholic sentiments and racial prej
udice,” Bush said in the letter, which his
campaign released Sunday. “It was a
missed opportunity causing needless of
fense, which I deeply regret.”
The letter marked an abrupt reversal
for Bush, who only last week said: “I
don’t make any apologies for what I do
in the campaign.”
At a news conference before departing
for Seattle, Bush said he had a change
of heart after thinking about impressions
of himself as an anti-Catholic “that just
are not true.”
“I regret not using the opportunity
to speak out against the policies,” he said.
“My job is to lead the nation. My job is
to convince people to follow me. This
was a missed opportunity and I regret it.”
Bush faced questions about the speech
almost as soon as he finished it. In re
sponse, he has repeatedly stated his op
position to the ban on interracial dating
and the comments of the school’s lead
ers. Bush also has noted that a brother
and sister-in-law are Catholic.
Bush’s appearance also was the sub
ject of telephone calls that GOP presi
dential rival Sen. John McCain now ac
knowledges his campaign placed to Michi
gan voters before the primary there last
Tuesday. But McCain stood by past as
sertions that the calls did not say Bush
was a bigot.
That didn’t satisfy Bush, however,
who contended that McCain did not speak
the truth when he initially denied knowl
edge of the calls that informing voters
about the university visit.
“This is a man who says he talks the
straight talk. This is a man who talks
the parsed talked,” Bush said. “The cam
paign of pitting one religion against an
other has got to end. Senator McCain,
when given the chance to set the
record straight on who did it, couldn’t
come to the truth.”
In a television interview Sunday, Mc
Cain acknowledged approving the
calls. He said he and members of his staff
originally denied they were being made
because the questions they were asked
about them mischaracterized the calls as
labeling Bush a bigot.
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Duke president admits error
in keeping quiet about death
Associated Press
Durham — Duke University Presi
dent Nan Keohane said she erred by
not speaking out sooner about the al
cohol-related death of a student in No
vember and pledged to work harder to
change the campus perception of drink
ing.
Raheem Bath died Nov. 27, fol
lowing a drinking binge that led to a
form of pneumonia, officials said. But
the university didn’t publicly ac
knowledge the cause until Feb. 17,
which was wrong, she said.
“In retrospect, we should liave been
more aggressive in our response at
the outset,” Keohane said Friday in
an emotional speech to the Duke Board
ofTrustees.
“We should have talked openly
about this in December, bringing home
the shocking import of this death as a
cautionary tale for others, while the
emotional wounds were still veiy fresh,
if we wanted the death to have maxi
mum impact as a lesson for others,”
she said.
Bath, 20, of Narberth, Pa., con
tracted “aspiration pneumonia” days
after drinking heavily, passing out and
inhaling his own vomit. A second stu
dent was hospitalized recently for the
, same condition, but survived. The
Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper,
fitst reported the cause of Bath’s death.
Keohane said Bath’s death'has
brought her and the Duke communi
ty to a painful conclusion: “Wfe have a
serious problem at Duke around binge
drinking, and we need to do something
serious about it”
Keohane did begin speaking about
the death to groups of parents and alum
ni in early January, but she did not men
tion Bath by name at that time.
“I still think that was the right ap
proach,” she said.
Keohane added that she missed an
opportunity to use Iter office as a “bul
ly pulpit” for students.
News Briefs
■ U.S. Pacific
commander arrives
in Beijing
BEIJING (AP)—The commander of U.S.
forces in the Pacific will discuss the sensi
tive issue of Taiwan and work on repair
ing ties with the Chinese military during a
visit to China that began Sunday.
' Adm. Dennis Blair’s five-day visit
comes amid rising tensions over Taiwan
following Beijing’s threat to use force
against the island if it continues to put off
negotiations about reunification.
China issued the threat in a govern
ment policy paper on Feb. 21 and cre
ated a stir in Taiwan, which has resisted
communist rule since the two sides split
amid civil war 51 years ago.
Blair’s trip, which includes three days
of meetings with Chinese officials, also
is part of efforts to restore military ties
that China severed in May, after U.S. war
planes hit the Chinese Embassy in Yu
goslavia during the war over Kosovo.
Lt. Gen. Xiong Guangkai, a deputy
chief of the general staff of the People’s
Liberation Army, will be among the Chi
nese representatives that Blair will meet
in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday. He
then travels south to meet with Chinese
military officials Wednesday in the cen
tral city of Nanjing and visit a military fa
cility.
■ Colorado governor
says S.C. must decide
flag issue
DENVER (AP) - Colorado Gov. Bill
Owens says South Carolina residents, not
outsiders, should decide if the Confed
erate flag flies over their state’s Capitol.
The Republican governor told high
school students Thursday that South Car
olina residents might not like the mon
ument Colorado has honoring Union sol
diers either, but that is something for
Colorado residents to decide, not those
in South Carolina.
Owens said he agreed with Texas Gov.
George W. Bush on the flag issue. Owens
is backing Bush for president.
Owens said South Carolina Gov. Jim
Hodges came up with a good compro
mise proposal to take the flag off the Capi
tol and put it on a Civil War monument.
0
Carolina Student Judicial Council
is accepting applications for new members. ^ ^
Applications are available in the
Student Government Office,
Office of Student Judicial Programs,
and the University Housing Office.
=—Applications are due March 3
to the Student Government Office.
CSJC consists of graduate and undergraduate students whose purpose
is to uphold the ideals of the Carolina Creed by hearing and deciding
outcomes for students alleged with violations of the Student
Code of Conduct.
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