Activist wants to lead Durham group

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Durham activist to challenge Allison for Committee chair

Community activist Melvin Whitley plans to run for chairman of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, saying he wants to restore respect to the 75-year-old organization.

“The correction has to be made at some point, and why not now?” said Whitley, 61.

Whitley would have to win enough votes at a Dec. 10 meeting to unseat Lavonia Allison, the Committee’s chairwoman since 1997.

Durham committee contest heats up

Veteran City Councilman Howard Clement says he has never seen so much interest in an election for officers of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People.

The Rev. Melvin Whitley, a community activist, says he'll challenge Lavonia Allison, chairwoman since 1997, for leadership of the political group. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. tonight at White Rock Baptist Church, 3400 Fayetteville St.

Recently, the committee endorsed newcomer Donald Hughes over City Council incumbent Cora Cole McFadden, who trounced him in last month's election.

Activist has aims for 'Bull's Eye' effort

Community activist Melvin Whitley thinks three things are needed to help improve conditions in a high-crime area of Durham.

Since last summer, Durham police have led "Operation Bull's Eye," a program in which extra police and social services are provided in a two-square-mile area, centered in East Durham, in an effort to reduce crime.

Police have pledged to continue their efforts after August, but Whitley said Thursday he thinks such efforts are pointless without an organized community. He wants Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal anti-violence program run through the police department, to oversee Bull's Eye efforts, along with a Web site and a telephone line so residents can know what's going on.

Durham gang rivals unite for TV appearance

Three members of two rival Durham gangs sat at a table recently to tell their stories to a TV reporter -- and it was not easy getting them together on peaceful terms.

"There's a code on the streets that these guys aren't supposed to talk," reporter Rucks Russell said. Russell is the host of "NBC-17 at Issue: Inside Durham's Gang Life," which airs at 11 a.m. Sunday on WNCN, NBC-17.

With the help of the Rev. Melvin Whitley of Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Durham, two members of Durham's 9 Trey Bloods and a member of the 8 Trey Crips -- normally deadly enemies on the street -- were given permission from their "O.G." gang leaders to speak on the program.

In limited voting, Allison wins again

Only 18 of the estimated 100 people who attended were allowed to vote as the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People re-elected Lavonia Allison as chairwoman for the next two years.

"The black community got robbed without a gun," said the Rev. Melvin Whitley, community activist and outreach minister at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, after the meeting.

Although media weren't allowed in the meeting of the private group, several who attended said Allison, the 75-year-old organization's chairwoman since 1997, produced at the start of the meeting a list of 25 people who she contended were eligible to vote. She cited rules that required members to attend a certain number of meetings every quarter to participate in the election.