Winston Salem ( hroniclo Thursday July 1 1993 Opinion Winston-Salem Chronicle, I hr '?? 11 City's Award Winning Vi eekly Ernest H. Pitt Ndubbl Egemonye Publuhcr/Co-fourKfcr Co-Fouider Richard L. Williams Managing Editor Elaine Pitt Michael A. Pitt Dira&or of Community Relation* Advertising Manager Mel White Vlpaporn Ratanatanincherl Circulation Manager Office Manager jdit BureSU Ctmna Vif?n* Audit BlifflU Ama^a/natcd p'mi Auoomox Aivx^iix- Of Circulations Py6i4?i?it. ix Newell' s Leaving a Void Virginia "V.K." Newell was recently tpwing around two of her grandchildren visiting from Youngstown, Ohio. When they saw a tall building on the corner of Church and Third streets, the boys wanted to know what the building was. Newell shamefully told them: "That's a ? building that incpfcerates black males more than it does anybody else. HI was saddened to tell my grandson that if you live here, your chances are four times greater going there than other folks/' she said. During Virginia Newell's 16 years serving Winston-Salem as an alderman, she has tried to change Virginia Newell that. She has tried to make Winston Salem a thriving community where all its citizens can work together for a common vision. Newell, who for years was WSSU's math department chairperson, has run the Math and Science Academy for black youths since 1991. She has also fought for economic development in EasrWinston. Sick of "band-aid approaches" to escalating crime, she is now calling for the city to form a Crime Task Force to study the root causes of crime and vio lence. Virginia Newell's decision to not seek re-election in the fall will leave a major void in this city. But it will give her ~ more time to instruct, cajole and admonish her two grandboys ? and whoever else is smart enough to listen ? on the importance of being a public servant working toward the good of everyone. Virginia Newell Roy "Campy" Campenalla Roy "Qmipy" Campanella, who died Saturday of a heart attack, was one of the first great black athletes to break major league baseball's color barrier. Campanella played for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1948 through 1957, being named the National League's Most Valuable Player three times during that stretch. Campy, who later became a great humanitarian, was arguably the best backstop in his era during his brief stay in baseball. He was great defensively and at handling pitchers, but it was his power that set him apart from most National Leaque catchers in his era. He still holds the record (41) for most home runs hit in a season by a catcher. Seldom does a catcher display the firepower at the plate that Campy did. The only modern-day catcher that may have matched his power was Johnny Bench. Although Campy was highly recognized as the best back stop of all time, his career was cut short one January night in 1958. He was driving alone near his home on Long Island, N.Y., when his car skidded and overturned. After the acci7 dent, he lay paralyzed from the chest down in a hospital bed for 10 months with spinal nerve damage. That accident left him in a wheelchair for the final 34 years of his life. And during those years, Roy Campanella has remained in the eyes and hearts of millions of baseball fans. How To Reach Us 722-8624 Production Kithy Lee - Supervisor Deborah Belcher Crystal Wood Karen Harmon Doug Ritz Reporters Mark R. Moss Deby Jo Ferguson David Dillard Business Office Donna Conrad LaCheryl Mitchell Crystal McNair Advertising Cliff Hunt Judie Hoi comb- Pack Circulation Bill MoseT Walter Mickle Varnell Robinson ^Todd Fulton Patrick Edmunds 0 Dialogue Will Bring Answers to City's Problems To the Editor: In reference to the letter from Mr. Greer that was published recently (6/24) in your Chronicle Mailbag section, 1 would like to take just a few minutes to tell him and anyone else who might be wonder ing "Who is that Man?" As past president of the Win ston Sports Travel Club, I organized and personally sought out as many as nine families to participate in our annual Feed the Hungry Program. Not one year, but this will be our ' eighth consecutive year. I have organized several food drives, clothing drives and made cash donations to Crisis Control, the Samaritan Soup Kitchen, the Salva tion Army and the Christmas Cheer Toy Shop, just to name a few. I am _ sure you know thai these organiza tions and services cater to a large number of black people in this city. I do not remember seeing you at the Ernie Shore Field parking lot unloading and loading those 2,100 Christmas trees to be given away in all of the city's public housing pro jects as well as in other economi cally deprived areas. Although I do commend Larry Womble for staying the entire day in spite of suffering from the flu, as he was. A coward, Mr. Greer? Far from it. I was one of the few citizens, black or otherwise, who saw fit to protest when the Ku Klux Klan marched in our city. I also attended their marches in King, Dobson, High Point, Yadkin vi lie and Thomasville. I sure do not remember seeing you. Waiting for the master's crumbs? Not me, brother. Eighteen years on the same job, the proud owner of 16 perfect attendance awards. The only things that have kepi me off the job were birth of my twins and the death of my grand mother, Callie Hauser. So you see, Mr. Greer, I have never waited for the crumbs; 1 didn't have the time. I was busy helping make the bread. No, I don't attend your candle light vigils, which I feel are just an asinine attempt on your group's part_ to divert attention away from the real problems that we face: a lack of education, drugs, high rates of sin gle-parent households and teen-age pregnancies. I don't know all the answers, but I do know that they don't lie in blaming the white man for all of our troubles. The time has long since come when we have to take some responsibilities ourselves. . I marched in the Citizens United for Justice march from the Winston Mutual Building to the Hall of "Injustice?" as the Rev. Mendez is fond of saying, although my beef was not with the police, but only to nothing could be further from the truth, although even he had a part to play. Conflict breeds communication, and dispute brings forth dialogue, so maybe some good will come out of all of this. I have always heard that there is more than one way to skin a cat; we just happened to have cho sen different paths to follow in our quest for what is best for our people. 1 can live with that. Marches and vigils were instru mental in venting our frustrations, but the road to freedom lies in eco nomics. And the way to economics is through education, not in falling in line behind someone just because he happens to be a politician, minis ter or so-called leader. Your group should encourage our youth to acquire all the education that they can, so they will be better armed to compete against the other people that they will have to compete against for the jobs and opportuni ties that await them. Acting Professionally? To tbc Editor: In my opinion, the daily news paper was proud to print the article "Officer Shot During Fight." Officer Gene F. Piscitelli shot himself in the line of duty, thus triggering him to shoot, kill and cold-blooded murder Daron Lamont Bines, who was unarmed. I understand that the officer was only doing his job, but he is also . trained to think as well. Upon a self inflicted wound to the thigh of Offi cer Piscitelli, I feel he became angry, and instead of thinking to call a back-up and reporting he had shot himself, instead he fatally shot Mr. Bines in a vital area of the body. -Why not the thigh or arm, if he wanted to wound him? Or why shoot him at all? The shooting of himself should have been enough shooting. Was it just an act of pride, to be CHRONICLE MAILBAG Our Readers Speak Out make known my belief that black children would have been better served if the school board delayed their plans for redisricting until the two black board -members had taken their seats, something that we all pri>bably agreed on. Being a former softball umpire, 1 have been trained to call 'em like I see 'emrand if all I see is negative," then ... You insinuated that I am a "step'n fetchii" kind of man, but Our city is blessed to have an abundance of black leaders and role models: C.B. Hauser, Mutter Evans, Michael Grace and Coach "Big house'* Gaines, just to name a few. I am sure that all would echo my sen timents about the importance of a good education being the key to our future. So, Mr. Greer, who is that man? "That's that man. Steven A. Floyd Secretary/treasurer Winston Sports Travel Club heroic and gel the media's attention? He would have been a much bigger hero in my eyes if he had not mur dered this man in cold blood. If Bines displayed a weapon or was shooting at him, I could see it But that act he displayed was simply cold-blooded murder. 1 hope he can live with himself after this, but 1 don't see how anyone else could. Murder is murder, not matter how it's done or who does it I just hope other officers learn from this. Danny E. Lindsey NAFTA: A Bad Gamble for African Americans African Americans have an important stake in a new trade agreement now pending in the Con gress. The trade agreement is the North American Free Trade Agree ment, or NAFTA as it is better known. Very little has been written in the black press about NAFTA, but the economic implications of this trade agreement for African Ameri cans are enormous. Currently, there is a big debate on the benefits that U.S. industry could yield from NAFTA, but little is said of the grave and severe impact that will be suffered by African Americans if this pact is approved. v Relative to their white counter parts, black workers are more likely to be employed in industries which will experience large job losses to Mexico, including automobiles and trucks, apparel, household glass ware, ceramics, major household appliances and electronics. History has proven that U.S. workers who are thrown out of work because of import competition do not climb up the job ladder. Instead, they fall back to lower wages, or worse, end up in unemployment lines. ? Jobs lost to imports from Mexico are high-wage manufactur- grams and services. Public sector ing jobs. In 1991, average hourly workers, who are disproportionately GUEST COLUMNIST By WILLIAM LUCY wages in those industries running a . trade deficit with Mexico ranged from $8.30 to $16.30, with wages in six of the nine affected industries averaging more than $12 per hour. ? Threats to move production to Mexico will depress manufacturing wages as well as undercut wages in other sectors of the economy. One economist concluded that NAFTA will inflict ai\^ average annual wage loss of $1,000 per worker for the lower 70 percent of the U.S. labor force. ? To be sure, increased unem ployment and wage depression will have powerful ripple effects throughout every African-American community. Less disposable income will result in shrinking retail sales for neighborhood businesses. The local tax base will erode, drying up funding for critical government pro female and minority, will be laid off. ? In addition to the obvious eco nomic backlash of NAFTA, there are also social costs ? chiefly, drug trafficking ? to be considered. NAFTA is likely to put more crack cocaine on the streets of our inner cities. A recent U.S. intelligence report warned that drug traffickers have started buying Mexican manu facturing, trucking and warehouse businesses as fronts for drug ship ments. There is already a massive drug enforcement problem on the border, NAFTA will make it worse. NAFTA proponents claim that firms are not moving to Mexico for low wages, but rather to reach the Mexican consumer market. That claim" is ridiculous. The Mexican market is tiny, less than five percent of the U.S. market. By almost any criterion, there are more attractive consumer markets right here in the U.S., including African-American communities. Consider this, in 1990, the aggregate purchasing power of the Afro- American com munity was $265 billion, roughly equal to Mexico's Gross Domestic Product ? all private and public sector spending ? of $270 billion. Instead of policies to make Mexico more attractive to investors, the U.S. government should encour age investment in our own African American market. If the American business community were making investment in jobs, plants and equipment in our inner cities and poor, rural communities, as it is doing in Mexico, black unemploy ment would plummet from its cur Let's be clear: the real motiva tion behind NAFTA is the lure of cheap labor for U.S. investors. NAFTA is a massive gamble with America's economic future. For African Americans, the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against us. William Lucy is secretary-trea surer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. mm I ~VR\&9 ; yojid MHeAMfe <566 \F YCO wamtsp T> CFSCA A UOJ\B after Xcu NAU6T VjOVE n\C6 NAGNM85 . TlON\,TOOi \ \MOOU? TVMNKXOO COO IP TAV3& A W5AVC S\JS?X NO\M ANP 1WGH. CON6EAT UIATIO&! vw YOU JCEWN&IAT& INIUeCFRCJ? i^fcUCN^eET r \V\ \ncpk me. \ , NNANTT TVD3& fOfeTO WoM i?0Ofe N0.39f PELT .TU9f N6ECEP miDlWDUl "W ItfPtEW