THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1 993
DANNY GLOVER TONIGHT AT
E. Forsyth Wins Big
Coach Phillip Beeson's JV basketball
team goes an ttnpressive 12-2.
B SECTION
r-L,
r *
*? k
IS WEEK
Never Too Late
Journey from a segregated one-room
school house to Forsyth Tech.
PAGE A14
Winston-Salem Chronicle
75 cents * * ? "The Tw>^ Cir\'s Award-Winning Weekly" " VOL. XIX
Shooting Leaves 3 Victims, Angers Manager ?"""
? Violence pre-empts
"rump shaker" contest
B> MARK R MOSS
Chronicle Staff Wfiier ?
The shooting incident at Studio 54
early Sunday morning, which left three
people wounded and frightened the club's
patrons, was an anomaly, club and city
officials said, : ? r
"We haven't had any more trouble up
there than' we've had at any other club,"
said Lt. P. R. Rumple of the Winston
Salem Police Department.
"At the present time, no one. includ
^ing the residents ifl the area, has called to
complain," said Alderman Vivian H.
Burke, who presides over the ward in
which the club, at 728 E.^28th Street, is
located.
Andre Simpson, manager of Studio
54, claimed quite adamantly that no one
got shot inside the club. ' ^
"Didn't nobody get shot in this club.
It's all a damn lie." he said. He then went
on to castigate the local media and threat
- ened to sue if- retractions- weren't made; ?
However. Robert Denard Cunning
ham. 20. of 108 Inverness Street, and the
most serious of the wounded, disagreed.
Cunningham said he was shot inside
the club and immediately left to get help.
The bullet pierced his side and exited
through Vis back. Samuel Lee Able. 20. of
427 Barbara Jane Ave. was shot in the toe.
Roderick Stewart. 24. of 1302 Free Street,
was shot in the calf. All but Cunningham
were treated and-released from Baptist
Memorial Hospital. Because of the seri
ousness of his injury, medical personnel
kept Cunningham overnight.
Cunningham, who said he had visited
the club a week before the shooting inci
dent. said he came to the popular spot to
hear rap artists and to the see the "rump
shaker" contest in which women vie for
pnze money by dancing. Around 1 a.m.. a
Please see page A1 2
Robert Denard Cunningham, 20 ,
was the most seriously wounded of
the three young men who were shot
at Studio 54 on Jan. 24.
The "rump shaker" contest at Studio 54, at 728 E.
28th St., couldn't be held last Saturday night
because of the shooting incident *
Local Party Returns
Froralnauguration
H;. SHERIDAN HILL
( hronicle Assistant Editor
In thre wee hours of Wednesday
morning last week, a local delegation of
nearly 150 people boarded three buses
bound for Washington, D.C. and the
inauguration of America's 42nd presi
dent, Bill Clinton. It may have been the
middle of (he night, but the air was
charged with excitement.
Winston-Salem's black community
was well represented: about 30 percent
of those who made the trip were black,
according to Annette Wilson. Forsyth
County Democratic Party vice -chair..
Many others made the trip in private
cars and used the time to visit relatives
or go sightseeing.
Despite the hundreds of thousands
of people who jojned them, the crowd
was orderly, Wilson said. There was vir
tually no pushing or shoving.
And when Clinton spoke. Wilson
said a hush came over the crowd that
stretched for more than 12 city blocks.
"They were very intent," she said.
"You could sec them nodding, taking
hold of what he was saying.
There was definitely a sense of
pride, -a feeling that at least somebody
cares about me."
A similar feeling ran through the
crowd when "author and poet Maya
Angelou delivered the poem she wrote
at Clinton's request.
Inaugural celebraters included Frank B. Wood, an unknown Carolinian, Mayor
Martha Wood, former Housing Authority Director David Thompkins, and ( sit -
ting) Rep. Annie B. Kennedy and Olivia Thompkins.
lives in my hometown' and told them all
"When she spokeTstie reallv mes~ about her. Wilson said."
menzed people, and 1 heard them asking
where is she from? And I said. 'She Please see page A1 2
NationsBank -Commits
$238,000 To CIAA
A" Charlotte -based bank
becomes "the official bank"
for basketball tournament
By MARK R MOSS
Chronicle Staff Writer
- ? When the CIAA tournament comes to Winston
Salem next year, it will bring" with it a major sponsor
that is a long-time rival to the city's hometown bank.
NationsBank Corporation, which is headquartered
in Charlotte, and the CIAA announced on Jan. 26 that
the bank would contribute S238.1KX) to tund scholar
ships and to sponsor championship athletic events held
by theJTIAA s 14 universities. *
As a result of that partnership, the bank also
announced that it has been named "The Official Bank
of the CIAA^' A* the exclusive financial services _
company sponsor of the CIAA, NationsBank will also
Please see page A 10
m
i i
ON THE
AVANTGARDE
BY TANG NIVRI
Coming Home
As soon as it was known that sistermother
had been asked to "bring forth" on the occa
sion of the inauguration of our 42nd president,
all of Mt. Zion knelt down to pray.
Without prayer, sistermother would fail,
and we kne^? this. She had given birth man^',
many times before ? but this would be differ
ent.
We remember looking into her searching
eyes as she stood among us, nurturing within
her womb, the burden of a nation desperately
in search of its way.
We remember looking upon her uncertain
face, holding her clasped hands, whispering
into her hearing ears, praying to God that she
should carry forth proudly the truth of all our
forefathers.
We remember how sistermother had stood
with, and before thevchildren, bringing forth
words filled with power.
We remember how she knelt down.^o
face this, life's greatest moment, and then
stood up filled with the genius of her mother's
mother's mother in her womb.
There wasn't much that she would say that
Sunday morning in November. We all knew
that without prayer, sistermother would fail.
And she knew this.
And so, a great cry went out all across the
world.
"SisterMother will bring forth in a few
days," we said. "Pray for mother and child.
Remember them by name, not by gender, not
by race, not by size. Remember Angelou," we
all prayed.
And then she went away.
We didn't know where she would go. We
Please seepage A 9
Marshall's Legacy Lives
A Giant is Memorialized
By SHERIDAN HILL
Chromclc Assistant Editor
The death of retired Supreme Court Justice Thur
good Marshall on Jan. 24 was mourned across the nation,
but nowhere more than in the black community. His life
long fight for civil rights broke the back bf segregation
and ushered in a new doctrine of fairness and justice
acrosvthis country'.
Appointed by President Lyndon Johnson in 196". he
was the first black justice on the nation's highest court,
where he. often led the dissenting opinion during his 24
years of service.
Ruth W illiams Harrison scans through the pages of
one of her many scrapbooks , containing letters from
the presidential offices of "JFK", Harry Truman and
Bill Clinton , and from the wives of "Babe" Ruth
(Claire Ruth) and "FDR" (Eleanor Roosevelt).
During his 23 years as the legal director of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People and iris tenure as the federal government's solici
tor general. Marshall argued 32 cases before the Supreme
Court. He won 29. He argued and won the case that out
lawed segregated schools. Brgwn v. $oard of Education.
Marshall retired in 1991. He^succumbed to heart failure
last week.
Rep. Annie B. Kennedy said she had the pleasure of
witnessing Marshall's brilliance as a tnal layer when she
was studying law at his alma mater. Howard University
in Washington. D C. Civil rights lawyers would appear
Please see page A 12
ii >. m ^
Former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall ,
the first black to serve on the nation's highest court ,
died of a heart attack Jan 24.
Local Poet Adds To Collection
By KAREN M H ANSON
Community New s Reporter
You could call Ruth Williams Harrison a "presiden
tial first lady." At least, she's the first lady to reveal to
the Chronicle original letters from a number of United
States presidents" including Harry Truman. John F.
Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. 4
Now she's excited because she recently received a
postcard from then president-elect Bill Clinton that she
has added to her collection.
"Something about him impresses me." Harrison
emphasized, as it' she is a proud mother speaking about
her own son. "He might not be successful, but that's just
a chance you take."
Wh> has this woman received letters in her mailbox
on Bacon Street from so many U.S. presidents on Penn
sylvania Avenue?
She says it all goes hack to June 6. 1944 ? the
beginning of World War II ? the day President Roo
sevelt addressed the nation in prayer over radio airwaves.
"It was ius\ before the invasion of Germany." Harri
son says, rearing her head hack as she begins her history
lesson. "While allied troops were landing in France, Roo
sevelt said a prayer for them over the radio. I just took the
words of his prayer and converted them into poetry."
She called her poem "The President's Invasion
Prayer inT>oetry" and mailed a copy to President Roo
sevelt's office.
In October. 1961'. she received a thank you letter
from Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt. The original
letter, yellowed with ace and u ith Mrs. Roosevelt's origi
nal signature in green ink. still sets adhered to the sticky,
plastic-covered page of one of Harrison's many scrap
books.
In 1949, she says a copy of her poem was buried in a
time capsule at the Forsyth County Courthouse Square
during the county's centennial celebration. The capsule is
scheduled to be opened in May 2049.
Rut Harrison's first nationally recognized poem
started with meager beginnings in the locker room of a
local plant. -?
"It was during World W ar II. and I was on my lunch
Please see page A 10
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