Opinion
Winston-Salem Chronicle
Ernest H. Pitt, Publisher/Co-founder NDLB1SI EGEMONYE, Co-Founder
Richard L. Williams, Executive Editor
ELAINE Pitt, Director of Community Relations
MICHAEL A. Pitt, Advertising Manager MEL WHITE, Circulation Manager
Editorials
A Sad Farewell
Larry Womble, in our estimation, has served the city of
Winston-Salem and his constituents about as well as anyone
can. For that reason, we are sad to see him lose his seat on
the board of alderman. Mr. Womble during his 12 years as
alderman often revealed the ills of this city with hopes that
honest dialogue would begin a healing process. Many of his
thin-skinned colleagues, however, weren't as visionary and
derided him for his painful honesty. Though he was defeated
_ . in Tuesday s election by 22-year-old newcomer P-obert
Nordlander, we hope that Mr. Womble will continue to
speak out on concerns of the city in general and the black
community in particular.
And while we congratulate Vivia/i Burke, Nelson Mal
loy and Joycelyn Johnson ? the other three African-Ameri
cans who won seats on the board ? we hope that they will
not be easily hoodwinked and will be as vigilant addressing
critical issues as Mr. Womble has been during his tenure.
U nequahf us tic e
On the front page of last week's Chronicle , we ran a
story that pointed out that African Americans account for
nearly 70 percent of the city's arrests. To most of our read
ers, we are sure it was not shocking news. African Ameri
cans have always been targets of law-enforcement officials.
In fact, most blacks believe police have an unwritten "pro
file'' of blacks they are supposed to stop and question for
suspected illegal activity. Tlipse black".* suspicions are for
good reason. Many black young men from the area's public
housing communities have complained about these unfair
and racist practices by police. Most of the complaints stem
from young blacks being "patted down" by police for no
apparent reason. Sometimes these tactics lead to arrests. But
, more times than that they do not, translating into harassment
of innocent young black men. This leads to the mistrust
many African-Americans have regarding law-enforcement
officials. ' . '
Yet another reason why arrest figures are so dispropor
tionate is because District Attorney Tom Keith refuses to
.investigate many a crime committed by whites. Two weeks
ago, Chronicle staff writer Mark Moss reported on a speech
Mr. Keith delivered to senior citizens at Sunrise Towers. In
Mr, Keith s effort to reassure seniors that he is tough on
? crimes^gainst^he elderly, he told them that he has ignored
white-collar crimes to go after ones in which seniors were
preyed upon. We are not questioning whether Mr. Keith
should go after thugs who strong-arm seniors citizens. We
are questioning, however, his refusal to go after middle
class criminals who bilk companies out of thousands of dol
lars and go scot-free. We're talking about equal dispensing
of the law.
Says Tony Fisher, associate director of the National
Organization of Black Law -Enforcement Executives: "You
can't ignore one set of criminal activity and say that (you're
going after this set because) the major problem of crime fac
ing a community is crack-cocaine. . . . That is clearly
exceedingly racist." Fisher goes on: "It's no secret that the
people who are embezzling money are white."
Mr. Keith is wrong to believe that because a company
can absorb the loss of an embezzlement that the embezzler
should go unpunished. He, instead, goes after criminals that
will not put restrictions on his budget, he said. Those
include picking up street-corner drug dealers, criminals that
are easily detectable.
Fisher makes a further point. "Ninety percent of the peo
ple who are involved in illegal drug use is white people in
the- suburbs," he says. However, the sentence for cracks
cocaine (the choice drug for inner-city blacks) is much
greater than the equivalent of powder cocaine (the choice
drug for white suburbanites). *
If the dispensing of justice were equal, we believe the
arrest rate also would be. But as long as law-enforcement
officials ignore some criminal activity and hone in on the
more easily detectable offenses, arrest figures will continue
to be lopsided. And young black men will continue to be the
ones who suffer.
How To Reach Us
722-8624
Production
Kathy Lee, Supervisor
Charlotte Newman
Scarlett Simmons
Karen Hannon
Doug Ritz
Reporters
Mark R. Moss
Michael Johnson
David Dillard
Circulation
Walter Mickle
Varnell Robinson
Todd Fulton
Patrick Edmunds
Business Office
Lexie Johnson
LaCheryl Mitchell
Crystal Wood
Advertising
Carol Daniel
Judie Holcomb-Pack
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of Circulations ^
Now that the Bond Referendum Has Passed, Now What?
Well now Cleon Thompson,
now that the bond referendum has
passed, we now shall sit back and
see if the students will be happy
with what is to come from selling
! you their souls for a few crumbs
from the white man's table. The
threat of expulsion from this univer
sity ferret d some students- to -switch
sides, because they do not know
! how to fight. What do this univer
sity hope to gain from this bond. Let
I me see if I can explain to the stu
dents what is going to happen to
J some of the areas on campus.
When this university receives
its thirty pieces of silver. The "Plot",
will be torn up. Remember this
school does not have frat and soror
ity houses, you just have the "Plots."
This historical piece of land will
become* a new building of some
kind. The historical building will be
torn down, not remodeled, but torn
down. Why . is it that on black col
lege campuses, we lose historical
buildings? But on white campuses
they remodel? The powers to be are
removing all traces of black
involvement of this school, so that
when it becomes a the white univer
sity at Winston-Salem, white people
won't need to ask who was that per
son. They will already know
because all traces of black people
will no longer exist on this campus.
The buildings will be called the
RJR, the Wachovia, and the
Spanger building, etc. Isn't that right
Cleon? It will cost about the same,
or less, to give these old historical
buildings a new face, this is part of
our heritage, why destroy it for the
good of those who wish you harm?
The time has cofne to stop begging
the white man for crumbs and stand
on our own feet. Because if you
look around you will notice that
white people are losing power, and
if you don't take a stand now to save
yourselves, when the white man
falls, and he wilj fall, what will hap
: hsW't* J.
pen to you?
We are so used to the white
man doing everything for us that if
the day comes, and it is_?oming, are
we going to fold like babies and be
so helpless, because are modem-day
slaves who can't make it without
your master controlling you, like a
puppet If we look aroyid America,
you will see the work of God. In
California, around the city of Los
Angles the cities are burning, this
summer with all the flooding, the
drought out west, these are signs
that God is letting white America
know that their time is up. And if
black people don't start doing for
self and their own, you will go
down with your modem-day slave
masters.
Winston-Salem State Univer
sity is a black historical university.
You, Cleon, cannot sell this school
out Why must people like you be so
stupid? Do you love that white man
that much you let him take what
they did not build? This school, just
them and make decisions about the
future of their white students? Does
the white man come to us and ask
for money to keep their school
open? Can you go to their board
trustees and administrators and
demand that they not allow certain
people to speak on their campuses?
I say they will not allow you that
kind of control. Then why do you
allow them control over you? Why?
Because you got rabbit blood run
ning through your veins. You are
worst than the cowardly lion in the
"Wizard of Oz" Take care Cleon,
that you don't reap what you sow.
Thanking Voters
To the Editor:
Many thanks to all of you who
helped with the campaign. Count
less volunteer hours were spent
making telephone calls, putting up
yard signs, walk door to door to
give literature addressing cards and
the history of Winston-Salem has
been Mrs. Vivian H. Burke. In this
alderman of the Northeast Ward, we
have a public official who has
emphasized consistently principles
above politics, pride above criticism
and democracy above race. This
"grass-roots person" of unusual
political acumen has, keen a leader
of the community, for the commu
nity and by the communityiHer
record speaks for itself: Advisor of
the Liberty East Re-development,
Inc; Member of the Transportation,
Communications and Public Safety
Committee; Leader in the establish
ing a Citizen Drug Task Force and
Youth Advisory Council for the
Board of Aldermen and District #9
Representative for NC Black
Elected Officials. In addition, "this
public official has been instrumental
in the development and naming of
the Carl H. Russell Community
Center and the Helen Nichols Park;
responsible for the Public Safety
Center and several fire stations
CHRONICLE MAILBAG
Our Readers Speak Out
like this country was built on the
blood, sweat, and tears of black peo
ple. Let me ask you a question. How
did the white man build this coun
try? Was it their hands that got blis
ters? Was it their feet that went
without, shoes in the winter? Was it
their backs that ached at night? Was
it their stomach that went without
food? Did their children go without
an education? Was it their children
that lacked self-esteem? Was it their
children that went to bed hungry?
The answer to these and more ques
tions will be no.
Will the white man let you go
into thejyinivwutx talxfroro ?
letters. Many others attended meet
ings, worked at the polls, served on
committees and gave contributions.
I also want to say a very special
thank you to those who took the
time to vote for me.
As always, I will continue to
speak for all the people of the
Southeast Ward.
Larry Womble
Support for Burke
To the Editor:
One of the finest aldermen in
? aiayns avini oCl ijsuj -i>ii (u
including the Ebony Hill fire sta
tion. Northeast, and instrumental in
working with citizens to implement
a Citizen Review Board of Winston
Salem. Her honors attest also to the
effectiveness and dedication of this
public figure. Some of these are:
NAACP award for Outstanding
Political Award; Black Political
Action Leadership Caucus Award
for Dedicated Service; Omega Psi
Phi Award for Outstanding Citizen;
National Association Equal Oppor
tunity and Higher Education Presi
dential citation; and Black Woman
Political Action forum Award for in
Civil and Human Rights. .
t oasvii,.' .; - .
Job Creation is National Priority
Remember when the Clinton campaign
headquarters last fall was hung with hand-let
tered signs proclaiming: "It's the economy, stu
pid." * ?
That simple slogan was there to remind
everyone in the campaign that the top priority
had to be reviving the economy.
We need that kind of focused national atten
tion on job creation today, because the economy
will continue to stagnate unless there's an all-out
drive to create more and better jobs.
Sure, health security is a must. So is control
ling a runaway budget. So is welfare reform.And
a dozen other urgent policy mandates have a
rightful claim to be among the top three or four
national priorities.
Put unless we create more and better jobs,
we'll just see poverty and hardship continue to
grow, urban decline will accelerate, and there
| won't be enough tax revenues generated to fund -
health security and other reforms.
One place to begin educating the public
about the job crisis is to stop peddling misleading
statistics.
The official unemployment rate is just under
seven percent high enough to stimulate concern,
but not high enough to spark immediate action on
the necessary scale.
But the true jobless rate is closer to double
the official rate, since the government counts as
i employed anyone who worked at all in the pre
| vious month, even if that "work" amounted to a
I couple of hours baby-sitting.
Whbh Ifc Coming From
9~
And that seven percent rate doesn't include
discouraged workers who have given up the
fruitless full-time work.
And don't buy the. myth about nearly two"
mill jobs a year being created - the vast majority
are part-time or temporary, low-wage, no-benefit
positions.
Meanwhile, layoffs continue. Virtually
everyday brings news
that another large corpo- ~
and adults seeking full-time jobs that pay a living
wage are not finding work, while people are los
ing decent jobs at recession-level rates.
Continued high unemployment and ihfc.
social breeds are the price we pay for govern
ment's refusal to create the job and training pro
grams required to get people working again.
When Congress passed the federal budget it
ration will trim its pay
roll and layoff thousands,
often tens of thousands,
of workers.
According to a For
tune magazine story,
every business day since
the start of the year, an
average of 2,389 Ameri
can workers learned they would be losing their
jobs.
Young people, especially African-Ameri
cans and minority youngsters, are especially vol
unerable.
A smaller percentage of young people work
today than before the onset of the last recession.
That's not suppose to happen - this far into an
economic recovery period there should be more,
not fewer, working young people.
In this context, it is ridiculous to talk about
an economic recovery or even abut the many new
jobs being generated.
Young people seeking entry-level positions
TO BE EQUAL
By JOHN E. JACOB
ditched the Administraiton"s economic stimulus
package, which at least promised some mild job
creation effects.
Failing that, and with the job outlook
worsen, Congress and the Administration should
be turning to the Urban League's Marshall Plan
for America as a blueprint for revitalizing the
economy.
The Plan would create jobs through infra
structure programs which would include hiring
and training the long-term jobless. And its train
ing and education programs would prepare pco^
pie for the more demanding skills requirements
of today's economy.
By Barbara Brandon
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