Winston-Salem Chronicle
Founded 1974
ERNEST H. PIH
Publisher
MICHAEL A. PIH NDUBISI EGEMONYE
?Assistant icthe^Pubttsher ?Co-Founder ?
ANGELA WRIGHT ELAINE L Pin
Managing Editor Office Manager
JULIE PERRY
Advertising Manager
Apology not accepted
TWO Afro-American male students were suspended last week
from Glenn High School for fighting. According to school officials,
they started a fight with a white male student.
The fight was prompted by a racially inflammatory cartoon that
appeared in the school newspaper. The cartoon compared the atti
tudes of two blade male students with thai of iwo white male stu
dents. The Afro-American males were depicted as rude, uneducated
and vulgar. The white males were depicted as articulate, considerate
and pleasant.
While we can not condone fighting, we can certainly understand
the anger that drove the two black students to the point of violence.
It is unfortunate that school officials could think of no other
way to respond to the students, who were apparently acting out of
frustration and humiliation as well as anger.
The white male student involved in the fight was not suspended.
The white student who drew the cartoon was not suspended, neither
was the white faculty adviser who saw nothing wrong with publish
ing it.
The adviser and the school principal apologized to everyone for
the "error in judgment" and they seem to expect that the apology
should settle the matter.
Tragically, school officials don't seem to really understand the
magnitudToTwhat happened here. This was no accident. This was
not just an "error in judgment", not just a "mistake."
This was a blatant attempt to vilify and humiliate Afro-Ameri
can students, particularly Afro-American male students'. It was
designed to foster the stereotype that black skin is inherently evil
and wrong, and white skin is good and right.
It was designed to elicit anger, and two black males felt obliged
to deliver. To add insult to injury, an Afro-American assistant prin
cipal suspefilied the two black students.
This entire episode speaks to the calamitous conditions that
exist for our Afro-American youths in the public school system.
They are subjected to racial insults, and sometimes physical brutali
ty, at the hands of white administrators and students while Afro
American administrators look the other way.
Palmer Friende, executive assistant to Superintendent Larry
Coble, and Nathaniel Barber, the assistant principal who suspended
the black youths, seem to have bought into the idea that their pay
checks are more important than the miseducation of our Afro-Amer
ican students.
It is insulting to other blacks for Friende and Barber to suggest
that the cartoon was only "unfortunate." If they can not understand
the psychological damage that was inflicted through the cartoon
upon the black students at Glenn, then they don't need to be in the
positions they occupy. -
Friende, especially, should realize that the situation calls for
more than just an apology. Ht has been around long enough to hear
the plea for racial sensitivity seminars from parents and concerned
citizens. There can be no better evidence of the need for such semi
nars than this cartoon and the circumstances surrounding it.
It is time for Coble and his team to do more than pay lip. service
to the serious race relations problems in our school system. They are
not likely to do this until Afro-American parents and the Afro
American community at large make it clear to school officials that
we will not stand for the continued abuse of our children in the
school environment.
More importantly, our Afro-American youth need to know that
we care about what happens to them in the public school system.
We must remember that our future depends on the quality of their
education and the image they have of themselves.
Reader: Editorial about Wood was 'right on time'
To The Kditor:
Your editorial a few weeks
ago calling for Martha Wood to
mend some fences was right on
time.
I was critical of the action
taken by the Wins ton-Salem Jour
rial's editorial page during the pri
mary, which was extremely anti
Martha Wood.
The fliers Larry Little is cred
ited with distributing in East Win
ston were more negative than any
thing the Journal did, and Martha
Wood should have quickty and
strongly disavowed them.
-I hope the vote in the general
election indicates that old-time,
ignorant, hoodlum politics is on
its way out in future elections.
If Larrv Little has any politi
cal aspirations, I suspect he ^?hot
himself in at least one foot. To
portray Dee Smith as a racist isn't
"just politics," it isAiacceptablq
and not anything vkmy learned in
law schoo .
Bert Grisard
Winston-Salem
Snpgr volunteer
To The Kditor:
There are volunteers, there are
good volunteers and then there is
Ed Shclton.
At a time when our city need
ed a victory badly, Ed Shelton led
us to a remarkable success. More
importantly, the success was in an
area where we needed it most --
human services.
The T*)89 United Way Cam
paign will always be a symbol of
the resiliency of our citizenry. In a
county beset by natural disasters
and economic setbacks, this year's
United Way drive was especially
look at voo rc>Pie,.wi ??off me
PU8UC POL?..VOO PONT ACCOM PUSH
ANCTHWfia, VPU TAKE OfiF WR MONTHS
CONGRESSMAN"! I CONSRgsj'
critical. Many will take (and
should take) great satisfaction in a
job well done.
I have always felt that there
are two kinds of people -- the
lifters and the leaners. I believe
this community owes a tremen
dous debt to the Atlas of: Forsyth
County - Ed Shelton.
G. William Joyner Jr.
Chairman
Special (lifts Division
Talking about Aglow
To The Editor:
An Open Letter About Wom
en's Aglow Fellowship:
To our dear sisters in Christ.
We are writing you to bring you
up to date on what is happening in
the Winston-Salem A.M. Aglow
Chapter. As many of you know.
CHRONICLE MAI LB AG
Our Readers Speak Out
wc have not had an outreach
meeting for the past several
months.
Several faetors were consid
ered before the Executive Board
prayerfully made the decision to
take a 90-day sabbatical. Let me
assure you that this decision was
not easily made. The board is
meeting every other week for a
time of prayer and just to seek
God's guidance as to what we
should do concerning our Aglow.
these times
rewarding and we feel we are
making some progress. Wc do
miss each of you. We have been in
touch with the Area Board, and
they are aware of our situation and
they are praying for us. At this
time, we can only ask you to bear
with us and to keep us lilted
before the Lord in sincere prayer.
We would also ask you to seek the
Lord s guidance in what you do to
help improve our Aglow Fellow
ship.
Refnember that serving God ?
"ttTOQgh Aglow is une uf lite most?
rewarding and fulfilling events
that can happen to a woman.
Because of the present conditions
of our society, we are more aware
daily that we need the ministry of
Aglow. Aglow provides an inter
denominational worship experi
ence where women-rare about the
needs of other women.
Can we count on your prayers
and response as to the future of
Women's Aglow in Winston
Salem? Drop us a note.
Executive Hoard
Women's Aglow Fellowship
A.M. Chapter
Winston-Salem
Discrimination in lending must be stopped
The administration's new hous
ing proposals place great emphasis
on home ownership, so it should
rally behind a new thrust to end dis
crimination in mortgage lending.
Discriminatory lending effec
tively raises high barriers to home
ownership for A fro-Americans, and
it contributes to the deterioration of
inner-city neighborhoods by
restricting access to funds needed to
rehabilitate and construct rental
units.
Discrimination in mortgage
lending is a small part of the array
of open and covert policies that arc
responsible for today's housing cri
sis, but it is an important one that
can be solved without huge expen
ditures.
In the old day.s, lenders were
open about the practice of "red-lin
ing" -- not making loans to appli
cants living in inner-city, predomi
nantly Afro-A*mcrican neighbor
hoods.
Today, red-lining lives --
despite lip service to fair lending
principles and a confusing set of
laws and regulations forbidding dis
crimination in mortgage lending.
Lasi summer the Federal Such lending bias should bring
Reserve Bank of Boston issued a strong federal enforcement action,
report that found that Boston banks, but the laws on mortgage lending
savings and loans, and other lenders bias arc weak. The Federal Commu
issued mortgages on properties in nity Reinvestment Act, for example,
predominantly while neighborhoods requires that banks and savings
at double the rate for predominantly institutions meet the credit needs of
black scciions. , their communities, but provides no
TO BE EQUAL
By JOHN E. JACOB
The study considered a variety explicit penalties for violations,
of factors that could have contribut
ed to such racially tilted lending A number of federal financial
patterns. But alter examining them regulatory agencies nave oversight
all, it concluded that a sharp differ- responsibilities, but they've ignored
cncc remained, and that's the dis- the problem. The Department of
crimination factor. . Housing and Urban Development
hasn't done much, either. And the
Boston has plenty of company. Department of Justice didn't get
Last year an Atlanta newspaper serious about lending discrimina
documented the way lending prac- tion until fairly recently.
ticcs discriminate against black So the time is long overdue for
Atlantans. And other cities have had federal action to end discriminatory
scandals that focused attention on lending. Present laws are a patch
thc problem. work quilt of piecemeal measures,
overlapping jurisdictions and weak
penalties.
Congress can rectify this by
consolidating this confusing set of
laws and regulations into a compre
hensive Fair Lending Act that
would clearly establish:
? Lenders' responsibility to fair
lending, including every aspect of
the lending process, from marketing
and outreach programs to servicing
loans,
? Regulatory responsibility for
oversight and enforcement lodged
in a single agency with strong
enforcement powers.
? Penalties for discriminatory
lending practices strong enough to
discourage even the most racist
lenders from discrimination.
? Assistance to private groups
acting as fair housing watchdogs to
get access to lending data and to
monitor compliance.
By such a move, Congress and
the administration would strengthen
the legal and enforcement structure
to end mortgage lending discrimina
tion.
John E. Jacob is president of the
National Urban League.
Chronicle Camera ?
What is your attitude towards interracial relationships and marriages?
The number of marriages interracial marriages.
between Afro-Americans and whites Dr. Joel Wade, an assistant
in the United States has increased professor at Buckncll University,
from 65,000 in 1970, to 164,000 surveyed 160 white students at the
couples today. University of North Carolina at
But acceptance of those Chapel Hill on the subject of mixed
marriages has not necessarily marriages. He found that there often
increased *vith the frequency of is discrimination against the couples.
But his study also found that more so than if they marry blacks of
students' attitudes on mixed couples high status," said Dr. Wade,
varied depending on the social status "Unattractive white females,
of the male and the attractiveness of however, may not suffer, but in fact,
the female. may be viewed as having gained by
"In particular, white females arc marrying blacks of high rather than
viewed as selling themselves short low status."
when they marry blacks of low status In the study, students were
shown pictures of hypothetical white higher social status were most
male/white female couples and Afro- acceptable.
American male/white female But at Winston-Salem Stale
couples. University, a random sampling of
Students evaluated the white students indicated that as far as they
couple most highly but among were concerned, love is love and that
interracial couples, those in which the race of two people is not as
the Afro-American husband had a important as love.
"It doesn't
make a
difference if
two people
are in love. It
doesn't
matter what
color they -
are."
wf, -v, '.di.Tk
Kelsha , LaShawna
Galloway Caraway
i "In my
opinion, it's
all about the
people
being in
love so it
doesn't
matter what
color they
are."
"I favor it -| favor it if
because love yOU |0ve
other
shouldn't person.'
matter if *
you're black
or white."
if
V ^ -
Pierre Kevin
Singletary Rbberts
?There's
nothing
wrong with
it. As long as
the people
don't look
down on one
another."
Walleng
Garrett