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393Q 27599-3930
I ISPS 091-380
VOLUME 71 - NUMBER 51
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA —SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1993 TPLEPHONE (919) 682-2913
PR!CE:30 CENTS
\\ hal If Black America Boycotted
‘White’ Christmas
Page 6
A REMINDER
Your last issue of The Carolina Times for 1993
will he dated December 25. Your next issue will be
dated January 8,1994.
]
Who Are The Wise Men?
Page 11
]
WF -Wt. Ol
The joy of the season...the love
of those dear to you...the abundance
of prosperity. May all these blessings
be yours!
WEST END COMMUNITY ADVISORS DISTRIBUTE GIFI'S
West End Family
Fetes Its Children
Rep. Annie Brown Kennedy
First Black Woman To Serve
In General Assembly Retires
On Saturday, December 18, llic
youth group of Durh^’s West End
Community gathered at the Lyon
Park Community Center. The
standing room crowd had more
parents — fathers and mothers —
than have been seen at any
gathering lately, fulfilling the "We
Are Family" concept of the West
End Community.
The West End Community has
rebounded from a reputation of a
fallen area plagued by drugs and
despair. The people refused to bo
counted out. Their big Community
Day parade is one of the events of
the year in Durham. People come
back home from all over the nation
each year to participate in the
"family."
The chief reason for the success
on the West End is credited to the
reclamation of the youth. They
refused to believed in the "lost
generation" theory. As many
recalled, that in their youth on the
West End, you were everybody’s
child and everyone was concerned
about you. The resurgence of this
concept made for success.
On this day, the West End Family
gave each of the youth a bag of
fruit and candy and a present.
The committee emphasized that
one person’s problems are
everybody’s problems, and "we all
will work as a family to solve them.
If your child doesn’t have a coat,
we all are cold. If you have no
food, we all are hungry and won’t
be satisfied until we all arc
satisfied."
They are Family!
By Ray Trent
WINSTON-SALEM (AP) - Rep. Annie Brown
Kennedy, the first black woman to serve in the N.C.
General Assembly, has announced that she will retire
IVom the Legislature when her term ends in 1994.
"I’m just ready to come home and resume the
practice of law," Kennedy said.
For six full terms Kennedy, 69, has often been a
passionate advocate for affirmative action, women’s
rights and minority representation on local boards.
But she said she is tired of the grueling schedule
and long drive from her home in Winston-Salem to
Raleigh.
First appointed to the house in 1979, she lost in
1980 but won a second term in 1982. Two years later
the Legislature created two predominantly black
districts, the 66th and the 67tli. Since then, Kennedy
has represented the 66th, which now covers much of
the east and southeast parts of the city.
Kennedy was effective in winning support for
several key local bills that strengthened the city’s
minority-contracting goals and made black
representation on the local school board and board of
commissioners almost guaranteed.
She is the chairman of the Courts and Justice
Committee and the vice chairman of the Business and
Labor Relations Committee as well as a judiciary
committee member.
An Atlanta native, Kennedy attended Spelman
College and graduated from Howard University Law
School. She practices law with her husband, Harold,
who is a former state representative, and two of their
three grown sons.
Separate Holiday Parties Held
For Black, White County
Employees In Halifax
white and a member of the country
club.
About 520 people work for
Halifax County, said Peggy
Hudson, clerk to the board of
commissioners.
PARENTS AND CHILDREN A t
WEST END CHRISTMAS PARTY
HALIFAX (AP) - Black and
rite Halifax County employees
Id separate Christmas parties this
ar after the original fete was
hedulcd for an all-white country
ub.
About 100 white employees and
eir guests gathered at the
lotfield CounUY Club in Scotland
eck Dec. 10 to dine on spare ribs
id cheesecake.
On the same night, 18 black
nployecs gathered at a restaurant
id celebrated the holidays by
lemselves.
The county picked up the tab for
mployees at both affairs, where
le menus were virtually the same.
The episode has touched a raw
erve in Halifax County, where
early 50 percent of the residents
re black and about 47 percent are
/hite.
"Halifax County is not a
plantation where African-
Americans and others can be
invited up to the big house once a
year for Chrisunas and back to the
fields the rest of the year,” John
Hall, vice chairman of the county
commissioners, complained in a
letter to the Roanoke Rapids Daily
Herald.
Hall and his supporters say
county officials displayed
insensitivity to minorities when
they decided to hold the party at the
club.
W.B. Hux, chairman of the boarc
of commissioners, said county
officials tried to find anothei
location for the party after Hall
complained in November, but ii
was too late. He said he doesn’'
understand what made Hall so
upset.
"Personally, I thought it was son
of ridiculous,” said Hux, who is
Minority Farmers Provide
Fresh Produce to Feed The Needy
Doing their part to feed the
hungry during Uic holiday season, a
group of African American and
other small farmers delivered
several tons of freshly grown
produce to soup kitchens, homeless
shelters and churches that prepare
meals for the hungry. Deliveries of
fresh collard, mustard and turnip
greens, turnip roots and sweet
potatoes were made as a part of the
Harvest For The Hungry Project
The project is sponsored by the
Durham-based N.C. Coalition of
Farm and Rural Families.
According to James P. Green, Jr.,
the coalition’s executive director,
"this project was made possible by
a grant from the Presbyterian
Hunger Fund and donations from
local churches."
Rev. Eddie Lawrence, pastor of
Greenwood Baptist Church,
Warrenton, assisted in organizing
local church support. He said that
each church was asked to give S50
to support the delivery of produce
in their communities.
Farmers began making deliveries
on the day before Thanksgiving,
and continued the project through
December 22. During this time,
over six tons of fresh produce were
delivered to help feed over two
thousand needy people in Durham,
Raleigh, Enfield, Henderson,
Rocky Mount, Louisburg and
Warrenton.
The problem of hunger will not
JO away the day after the holidays.
According to coalition office
manager, Ms. Audrey Hawley,
"most of the places we contacted
said they appreciated fresh produce
for the holidays, but that the need
continues year round."
Green says the coalition hopes to
expand the project to make
deliveries year ’round. "It doesn’t
make sense that million of people
in this country go hungry, while
farmers are losing their land
because they are unable to unu -a
market for their crops." "Under this
program, funds are raised to buy
produce from farmers at a
wholesale price. Donations are
maximized because there: is .no
middleman. We buy produce
directly from small North Carolina
producers. A donation to the
project will feed the needy and
support area farmers at the same
jme," Green said.
The coalition wholesales produce
*0 supermarket chains such as Food
Jon and Winn-Dixie in North
Carolina, Bi-Lo in South Carolina
and Supermarket General in New
Jersey.