Nfcys at
Perry, writers announce agreement
ATLANTA - Tyler Pem, Studios and the Writers Guild of
America West announced last week that they have come to an
agreement following more than five
months of negotiations. Several writers
on the Perry -produced shows "House of
Payne" and "Meet the Browns" were
reportedly fired after unionizing. Those
writers will not be re-hired under the
agreement.
Vic Bulluck, executive director of
the NAACP Hollywood Bureau, was
instrumental in bringing the two parties
together.
"We are pleased to have come to a
resolution with the WGA. and thank the
NAACP for their support during negoti
Perry
auons. we look lorwara to many years working witn tne talent
ed writers who are members of the Guild." stated Perry
Writers Guild of America West President Patric M Verronc
said: "At a time when true independent producers like Mr.
Perry are rare in this business, we congratulate him on his suc
cess and welcome his decision to become signatory to a WGA
contract. 1 also would like to thank Ben Jealous. NAACP
national president and CEO. Vic Bulluck. executive director
NAACP Hollywood Bureau, and Clayola Baiwn. national
president of the A Philip Randolph Institute, for their help dur
ing this negotiation."
Police sued for detaining man
NEW LONDON, Conn. (API - A federal judge ha* reject
ed the city of New London's request to throw out a lawsuit
accusing city police officers of illegally detaining a man for
seven minutes last year because he is black.
James F. Wrighten. who is in his 60s, is suing the police
department in U.S. District Court in New Haven over a January
2007 search for a "suspicious" person by city officers, who are
not named in the lawsuit.
Wrighten claims police would not have considered him sus
picious if he was white, and alleges that New London officers
routinely harass black and Hispanic men.
According to Wrighten. a police officer blocked his car
while he was waiting for his w ife to come out of a convenience
store. As other police cruisers arrived, he said the officer
demanded his driver's license and ran a computer check of him
before allowing him to leave.
Wrighten, who was not arrested, said he felt threatened and
intimidated during the incident.
The city's attorney satd in court filings that police who were
called to the area on a report of a suspicious person were enti
tled to conduct "a brief investigatory stop" of Wrighten.
The attorney. Patrick Day. also insisted there was no merit
to Wrighten's claim that police routinely violate that rights of
black and Hispanic people. A police spokesman said the depart
ment does not comment on pending lawsuits.
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits
police from conducting unreasonable searches and seizures, but
allows police to stop and search a person if there is reasonable
suspicion the person is involved in a crime.
o
Asa Hilliard honor goes to educator
Road ScholarLlderhostel presented the Asa Grant Hilliard
III Road Scholar Award for Lifelong Learning to Patricia
Payne, director of the Indianapolis Public Schools Crispus
ahucks center, aunng tne in ad o t
Annual Conference recently held in
Atlanta.
The $5,000 travel award is named in
honor of the late Dr. Asa Grant Hilliard
III. a world-renowned Pan-Africanist.
educator, historian and psychologist.
Patsy Jo Hilliard. widow and life
partner of Dr Hilliard. "inade the presen
tation along with Kathy Taylor.
Associate Vice President of Community
Development at Elderhostel.
With 47 years of service to the
Indianapolis Public Schools. Pavne has
Pmfme
taught lb the city's elementary schools and current!}, serves as
the director of the Crispus Attucks Center, which comprises the
Office of Multicultural Education and the Crispus Attucks
Museum
Road Scholar will award this scholarship annually to an
educator with at least 10 years of experience in education, who
is a member of the National Alliance of Black School
Educators (NABSEi; a member of the Association for the
Study of African American Life and History t ASALH ); is on
the faculty of a Historically Black College or University
(HBCL'i. or is a professor of African American studies The
scholarship provides an opportunity to experience a Road
Scholar or Elderhostel program any w here in the world
Launched in 2004. Road Scholar is an initiative of
Elderhostel i www elderhostel org >. the world's largest not-for
profit educational travel organization for adults
Chuck D receives prestigious award
(G1N/NXPA) - Artist and humanitarian Chuck D has
received the Pan- African Lifetime Achiev emeni Aw and - along
with Zwelinzima Va\i. of South Africa's trade union group
COS ATI - from the Washington. DC-based TransAfnca
Forum.
TransAfnca is the oldest and largest .African American
human rights and social justice ad%ocac> organization promot
ing diversity and equity in the foreign policy arena and justice
for the African World The a\? ards \*ere presented Dec 3 at (he
group's Progressive Vision in Action Awards Benefit Gala cel
ebrating activism through art and culture
Other honorees and special guests were to include Danny
Gloeer. Wynton Marsalis. Susan L. Tay lor, and Congress mem
bers Donald Payne and Maxine Waters
The Chronicle (USPS 067-910 was estaKi*hed b\ H
Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published ever}
Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co. Inc . 61*7
N. Liberty Street. Winston-Salerr . N.C. 27101. Periodicals
postage j>aid at Winston-Salem. N.C Annual subscription price
POSTMASTER
Send address chanee-. to:
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Winston-Salem. NC 27102-1636
Is GAY THE NEW BLACK?
Marriage ban
spurs debate
BY JESSE WASHINGTON '
THE ASSOCI ATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Gay is. the
new black, say the protest
signs and magazine covers,
casting the ga> mamage battle
as the last frontier of equal
nghts for all
Ga> marriage is not a ci\ il
right, opponents counter,
insisting that minority status
comes from who you are
rather than what you do.
The gay rights movement
entered a new era when
Barack Obama w as elected the
first black president the same
day that voters in California
and Florida passed referen
dums to prevent gay-. and les
bians from marrying, while
Arizonans turned down civil
unions and Arkansans said no
to adoptions by same- sex cou
ples.
Racism was defanged by
Obama's triumph, leaving
gays as perhaps the last group
of Americans claiming that
their basic rights are being sys
tematically denied.
"Black people are equal
now, and gay people aren't,"
said Emil Wilbekin, a black
gay man and the editor of
Giant magazine. "I always
have this discussion with my
friends: What's worse, being a
black man or a black gay
man?"
"Civil rights have come
much further than gay rights."
he said. "A lot of people in the
gay community have been
condemned for their lifestyle
and promiscuity and drugs and
sex. so it's odd that v. hen they
want to conform and model
themselves after straight peo
ple and have the same rights
for marriage and domestic
partnership and adoption,
they're being blocked."
In a cover story for the
Advocate magazine titled
"Gay is the New Black,"
Michael Joseph Gross wrote.
These past few years, we've
made so much progress that
we'd begun to think every
body saw us as we see our. we
were faced w ith the reality that
a majority of voters don't like
us. don't think we're normal,
don't believe our lives and
loves count as much or are
worth as much as theirs."
Yet even some gay leaders
are reluctant to directly tie
Emil Wilbekin
their fight to the African
American legacy. They
acknowledge significant dif
ferences in the experiences of
gays and blacks, ranging from
slavery to the relative afflu
ence of white gay men to the
choice made by some gays to
conceal their sexual orienta
tion, which is not an option for
those with darker skin.
"I believe we are very
much in a modern-day civil
rights struggle," said Joe
Solmonese, president of the
Human Rights Campaign, the
nation's largest gay rights
organization.
"We liken some of the
experiences that we have had
and will have to the (black)
civil rights struggle. We also
are enormously respectful of
the differences," he said.
"What we are best served
doing is w hen we take lessons
from the civil rights experi
ence and apply them to our
work."
See New black on A4
President Obama changes the name game
BY DEEPTl HAJELA
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Zenas
Ackah has heard it all his
life: What kind of name is
that? You must not be from
here. You must be foreign.
Actually, no Born in the
United States, the 22-year
old college senior with the
Greek first name and the
Ghanaian last name grew up
in Philadelphia.
"But Ackah is hopeful that
change is coming, that the
idea of an "American" name
will expand beyond monikers
like Tom and Harry and Sally
and Jane and Smith and
Jones. He figures he's got a
strong weapon on his side -
for at least the next four
yeafs. when people look to
the most powerful American
in the country, the "uber
American" if you will,
they'll be looking at
President Barack Hussein
Obama.
"I think it will help peo
ple understand that people in
America aren't just John,
Jack. Mary," Ackah said.
"They're Zenas and Barack."
Obama's name gave him
his share of trouble during
the campaign He acknowl
edged its unfamiliarity to
most Americans, and there
were times when supporters
of his opponent made a point
of using his middle name,
which was seen as an attempt
to cast doubt on his back
ground and faith.
But the next four years
will ensure that his name is
no longer unfamiliar
People have already
named their infants after him.
The more people hear it.
the more mainstream it
becomes, said Don Nilsen. a
professor of English linguis
tics at Arizona State
University and co-president
of the American Name
Society
"Who is more American
than the president of the
United States1" he said
"There's no question it will
ha%e a ripple effect, because
of the power of the posi
tion."
Names traditionally con
sidered "American" tend to
be ' British-sounding stuff."
said Cleveland Evans, pro
fessor of psychology at
Bellevue University in
Nebraska "We are still basi
cally an English-culture
country We reallv are still in
man) ways at our base an
Anglo-Saxon culture "
He and Nilsen pointed out
that immigrants have long
had a history of changing
their names to fit in more
with the United States, or
have even had others change
itQfer them
Obama. bom in Hawaii
and named after his Kenyan
father, went by Barry for
some years before deciding
to use his full first name.
Ackah can understand.
He still finds the comments
about his name irritating,
along with the assumptions
people make upon hearing a
name they're not familiar
with.
"People start talking
down to you because they
think you're foreign." he
Obama
said.
Electing someone named
Barack Obama president
reflects a shift in attitudes
about names that's been
going on in American society
for the past few decades, says
Laura Wattenberg. a name
expert and author who runs
the blog The Baby Name
Wizard.
"As a group. American
?
See Name game on A4
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