Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990 TAG: 9003022958
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Evangeline Jeffrey reported to the FBI and Roanoke police that callers to her home said they were going to "bomb the niggers" out of Valley View Mall. She said a call from a woman came about 1 a.m. and similar calls from a man came about 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.
NAACP membership chairman Robbie Board said she received a similar call to her home from a woman about 2:30 a.m. She said the caller "said something about the niggers at Valley View." Calls to Roanoke's NAACP office are forwarded to Board's home.
In a third incident, the Rev. Carl Tinsley, a past president of the NAACP and still active as a member of its advisory board, received two calls shortly after 5 a.m., but he said the caller hung up without saying anything. Tinsley said he had been getting silent callers at odd hours for about a month.
Will Garrett, spokesman for the FBI's office in Richmond, said the bureau is reviewing the complaints. Roanoke police said the calls also were reported to them, but they would not comment further.
On Feb. 15, the NAACP accused Valley View security guards of hassling black adults and teen-agers at the mall. Jeffrey said she received reports that the guards were breaking up gatherings of black young people while white groups often were left undisturbed.
Threats to NAACP leaders have come at a time when they are beginning discussions with mall Manager Joe Marx about how to deal with teen-agers who congregate at the mall on weekend nights. Two Roanoke teens have been arrested in connection with a shooting incident in the mall parking lot Saturday night.
Jeffrey and other NAACP leaders are to meet with Marx next Thursday to talk about the problems.
At a special meeting Wednesday night of the NAACP's board of directors to talk about the mall, Jeffrey said, members planned how to urge parents to monitor their children at the mall.
"They need to supervise them more closely," she said. "They don't need to dump them" at the mall.
She said parents and teen-agers need to know that some areas of the mall draw crowds on weekends and should be avoided. Saturday's shooting followed a fight near the Mind Boggle video arcade inside the mall.
Tinsley said children should not be at the mall unless they're there for a purpose. "If they're not shopping or going to a movie, they don't have any business out there, as far as I'm concerned," he said.
He and Jeffrey are eager to talk with Marx about reports that mall guards target blacks during their patrols. Older members of the NAACP who went to the mall to investigate the discrimination complaints also were told by guards not to linger along the mall's corridors, according to Jeffrey.
"You can't have two classes of customers," Tinsley said. Marx has denied that security guards are targeting black teen-agers or adults.
Marx said he was "real happy" when the NAACP called to set up next week's meeting.
"I'm really looking forward to working together with them," he said.
by CNB