Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Dec. 21, 2000, edition 1 / Page 6
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A6 December 21, 2000 The Chronicle OPINION WSJJSTOJJ-SaW-M «RB3E!>JSii<38« SfXClS! Po;( 8 The Chronicle The News and Infbrmaiian Ernest H. Pitt PubUsherlCo-Fomder NdEBISI EGEMONYE Co-Founder Elaine Pitt Business Manager EA N NIE Henderson Advertising Manager Kay StULTZ Production Supervisor Certified Audit National Newspaper Publishers Association North Carolina Press Association CAC of Circulation Amaloamated Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. Not so white Christmas As you drive around town and look all the beautiful Christmas decorations city residents have put on display, it should become clear that it is no longer a white Christmas. Black Santas and beautiful ebony-colored angels are all the rage all over the country. It’s about time. For years, African Americans have chosen to buy black baby dolls for their daughters and have demanded little miniature black bride and groom fixtures for wedding cakes, but our black pride did not always extend to Christmas. It was as if the image of a white-faced, red-cheeked Santa Claus was branded on our brains. • The black Christmas revolution started out small, with just a ■few houses opting for black Santas and Nativity scenes. But the trend grew rapidly. This year, according to the Associated Press, black Christmas items have seen an unparalleled year in popular ity. Our demand has created great supply. Black Christmas fig urines are sold side-by-side with white ones at major retailers. We no longer have to special order the items. Those retailers who still do not carry diverse items, and there are a few, should really get with the times. Some may not understand the need for such black images. But those who do not understand do realize the importance of self- love and black pride. Why can’t Santa be black? If he is only make believe (don’t let the children read this), then he can be anything we want him be. New tomorrows Kudos to the staff at the Forsyth County Jail and Forsyth Technical Community College for giving inmates an opportunity to better themselves. The popular notion is that jails and prisons are wastelands where men and women sit around idly for years. The reality is that there are many inmates who realize they have made mistakes and are working on making themselves better peo ple so that they will never make such mistakes in the future. Officials at the jail have realized that once you give inmates something like education, it can never be taken away from them. They feel better about themselves and are able to dream and think outside of their caged environment. Granted, a GED will not ensure that a person will not go jail - neither will a college degree, even a P.h.D., for that matter - but an education does mean that a person has been given a chance. Much too often men in women in the penal system are not even given that. Hdppy Holiddys From the Stdff of The Chronicle Submit letters and columns to: Chronicle Mailbag, P. O. Box 1636, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. Please print clearly. Typed letters and columns are preferred. If you are writing a guest column, please include a photo of yourself You can also e-mail us your letters or columns at: wschron@netunlimited.net Letters to tlie Editor Senior Tar Heel Legislature To the Editor: The N.C. General Assembly cre ated the Senior Tar Heel Legislature in 1993. Its purposes are to provide information and education to senior citizens; promote citizen involve ment and advocacy concerning aging issues; and assess the legisla tive needs of older citizens. The Senior Tar Heel Legislature is made up of one senior from each of our 100 counties. We are to report to the General Assembly our list of legislative needs for the elderly in our state. Our Senior Tar Heel Legisla ture has been faithful to our assigned tasks. A concern is that seniors are not aware of this voice that speaks directly to our legisla tors. Your Tar Heel delegate for Forsyth County is Tom Vaughn Southern, P.O. Box 573, Walker- town, NC 27051. The alternate is Nancy M. Hall, 2654 Merry Oaks Trail, Winston-Salem, NC 27103. Contact these persons if you would like more information about the State Tar Heel Legislature. Sincerely, Lamar Moore Senior Leader, Duke University Long Term Care Growing up right To the Editor: For those who may not recog nize the term “Nesting Santas,” it refers to Santas you can place inside one another, from smallest to largest, as you combine the Santas. It starts with the smallest Santa being solid; the subsequent Santas are hollow, which allows you to place one inside the other. I have provided you with this delineation so that the story I am about to share with you will appear sequential. Sitting with my 8-year-old daughter, Nijah Imani, going over her six times table, Nijah abruptly stops, grabs the Nesting Santas sit ting on the entertainment center, brought them back to where we were and stated, “Daddy, look at this.” I said, “OK,” thinking, “Where are we going with this?” Then Nijah proceeded to demonstrate and explain how the smallest Santa rep resented me as a chiW, taking it and placing it inside the next largest size, representing me as a youth. This analogy continued sequentially with Nijah taking the time to stop and explain to me that each larger size Santa was an indicated stage of my maturity as a teen-ager, a young adult and as an older adult, with all the other Santas contained in the final size Santa. With that said and done, Nijah, as if she possessed the wisdom of a venerable sage, paused long enough to be sure she had my complete attention, held up the intact nesting Santas and said, “Daddy, this is you as an older adult.” I then said, “OK, and your point is?” Nijah was waiting for that retort because she quickly responded with, “Daddy, even though this is you now, remember, inside of you, is still that ‘child.’” With my mouth hanging wide open and taken back a bit, I thought to myself, “Out of the mouths of babes.” It was then that I decided that this plethora of insightful knowL edge should be conveyed to the masses. So allow me now to evince what I believe is the true message impacted to me by my daughter for interpretation. As we move through this experience we affably refer to as “life,” there are many stages of maturity that we r. the Nesting Sal needs to be enjoyq nurtured for whal is everlasting, as s each developing t perfectly. In reflection, i inadvertently p^ stages without trt what we have been to have experiena , plain and go on a wait to grow upi and go on about g few contemplatinji It is at this jun like to state empl] you are as you s give a gleaming t stage you have ju& the utmost of hru have just been gift and this gift is Get that (‘N word) off the US. Supreme <i Herbert Harris Jr. Guest Columnist A black mans prayer for hope and justice I was one of those writers who produced numerous articles against using the “N word.” Along with other writers, I stated that use of this word was demean ing, derogatory and insulting to all black people. The Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling directing, among other things, that the 14,000 votes of predominantly disenfranchised black citizens of Florida would finally be counted. In spite of a concerted effort by the Republi can forces of George W. Bush to keep the votes of the black citi zens from being counted, the Florida Supreme Court rose above the mire of partisan politics to reaffirm a fundamental right of all Americans ^ the right to have their votes counted. Though these Republican Bush forces offer high sounding platitudes and mumbo jumbo explanations, the truth is that if the ballots of those predominant ly black citizens of Florida are counted, George W. Bush would lose. The U.S. Supreme Court, by stepping in and stopping the Florida hand-count of the 14,000 ballots of predominantly black citizens, has destroyed the illusion of fairness and justice for all. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a black man, cast the deciding vote that dealt the death blow to the concept that America is concerned about fairness and justice for its black citizens. The U.S. Supreme Court has, in effect, reaffirmed the disenfran chisement of black . Americans. History has indeed repeated itself again, and this ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court shows the same lack of concern for the rights of black Americans to have their votes counted that the Congress of 1877 and President Rutherford B. Hayes demonstrated when they withdrew the federal troops from the South and ended Reconstruc tion. This action more than 123 years ago by Republican President Hayes in effect abandoned Ameri ca’s black citizens to the clutches of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacist violence for the next 75 years. If this parallel between the events of 1877 and the elec tion of 2000 continues, Black America and Americans in gener al are in for a long, hot millenni um. Now, back to Thomas. With the U.S. Supreme Court and the country pretty much evenly divid ed on the election and the court rulings, Thomas was the last hope of black Americans in Florida to have their votes counted and their will expressed in electing the next president of the United States of America. Thomas, of all the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, should remember what i; people to have garded. Thomai some special regarding the bio black people whd to have the right But alas, that As black America ed all along, Thor the soul, hopes, i, black American believe in the Aa fairness and just; because of this Thomas has desC: the “N word. “ What is an “T “N word” is a ten be used only by b ond, it is a term: used only in refel person who is en substantial interet pie in general, word” should h black people to leaders who have with the substar black people 'MS FROM WE COMMUm We asked a few local leade us their New Years resolui I • • Here is what they told us. A Nelson Malloy City Alderman “To be more appreciative of the bless ings God has given me. ” Larry Womble State Representative “Peace and understanding. ’ John Mendez, j Emmanuel Baptis ‘To keep my perspet
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