
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 3, 1995                   TAG: 9505030053
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

BLACK LEADERSHIP DIVIDES IN NORFOLK

Many of the city's black political and community leaders have parted company with Bishop L.E. Willis and his local Rainbow Coalition, citing differences in style.

Dels. Jerrauld Jones and William Robinson and City Council member Herbert Collins said Monday they all will work with Concerned Citizens for the Political Education of Norfolk, a rival black political group.

The split could have major implications for Jones and the riverboat casino legislation he has sponsored.

Willis opposes riverboat gambling and his son, Levi Willis, is running against Jones in a Democratic primary next month.

Robinson said Willis, whose offshoot of Jesse Jackson's national Rainbow Coalition gained local prominence in the 1980s, would not accept differing points of view.

``The main difference to the public will be the openness and the level of participation, and the receptivity with which all ideas are received,'' Robinson said.

Willis, who owns a chain of radio stations through his Willis Broadcasting Co. and is bishop of the Church of God in Christ, said his critics are using the power play to get him to step down as leader of the Rainbow Coalition.

On his Crusade for Christ talk show, Willis has grown more critical of Jones and the other leaders who split with him.

Collins, for instance, has questioned whether public housing creates a self-destructive culture that lacks good values. Willis not only disagreed with the assessment, but said the attacks are a prelude to the demolition of public housing.

by CNB