Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Feb. 23, 2012, edition 1 / Page 6
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OP/ED Ernest H. Pitt Publisher/Co-Founder ^ / 5 elaine Pitt Business Manager O i^ H, ^ T. Kevin Walker Managing Editor "oily >? Atkins needs your help Virginia Newell Guest Columnist Concerned Citizens for Academic Achievement and Accountability, with permis sion of Superintendent Don Martin, has studied about 10 schools - elementary, middle and high schools - for one and a half years. It was obvious after six months of visiting the schools, talking with facul ty, visiting PTA meetings and observing students that the "No Child Left Behind" law was not working in these schools. After one year, the Concerned Citizens group recommended to the superin tendent to change the way the curriculum is delivered at Atkins Academic and Technology High School. Today, S.G. Atkins Technology High School is thriving like no other school in the system. New Principal Joe Childress, along with faculty and students, are excelling.Concerned Citizens are fully aware of the needs of the school and are on board to assist the school in any way possible. Concerned Citizens is a group of volunteers helping in the areas of mentoring and providing financial assis tance for books and athletics. Concerned Citizens is plan ning a $50,000 Book Campaign to help schools buy current textbooks. The group is inviting all "old" Atkins alumni to join in the effort to make the new Atkins one of the top aca demic high schools in Forsyth County. Atkins par ents, businesses and the men and women who make up the community are also encour aged to help make Atkins the best. In closing, I want every one to read what Winston Salem State University Founder Simon Green Atkins said about education. In a radio adckess on Nov. 15, 1930, Atkins, who first came to Winston-Salem to lead the city's first black high school, dtove home the importance of education. "Education is the most fruitful investment of mod em times. Education bears the torch that enlightens the world, fires the imagination of man and feeds the flame of genius," he said. "Let educa tion speak for itself. I am the parent of progress, creator of culture and molder of des tiny. I banish ignorance, dis? courage vice, and disarm anarchy. Fortunate nations and happy homes welcome me. Education is irresistible power." Virginia K. Newell is a former educator and elected official. Call her at 336-722 4606 to help Concerned Citizens in its efforts. ? ? ? Taking Responsibility Delron White-Bey Guest Columnist My name is Delron Eric White-Bey. I was introduced to the newspaper by a friend. I'm a 24-year-old young man who is currently incarcerated at Marion Correction Institution. I've been serving time now for 6-going-on-7 years. And it's sad to say it took receiving a 20-year sen tence just for me to wake up out of a dark mind-frame, but it did. I wanted to write and reply to a guest columnist Kalvin Michael Smith. In his January 26, 2012 col umn, he quoted a statement from the one-time Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory said; "Many African Americans live in a moral sewer." Now, to many the state ment may offend, but to the very few who can actually look outside the box and keep it real will say that it's the truth. Now I'm no saint. No one walking God's green Earth is. A two-time loser to this prison system that is quickly killing off our popu lation, an ex-gang member, fool, dummy - you name it and I'll take responsibility for my past. It's true that there were many people who played roles in helping blacks get the chains removed horn our ankles, but it's a proven fact that as we got free, the pow ers that be got smarter and started placing the chains on our minds, -"leaving the majority of us in mental slavery. I see the effects from it 24/7. I represent a generation where more than 90 percent have no morals for them selves or others. This is a time in civilization where money is more important than a person's life, where there's no honor for our mothers and fathers and no respect for our females. It wasn't our forefathers or fore mothers who were hit the hardest by slavery and racism. It was the offspring. Because now there is no ben eficial or obligatory pursuits in life. What can be done to save a generation that respects nothing, not even them selves? Well, first you must start by teaching them to be themselves. Like Kalvin, it offends me to see so many brothers and sisters suffering from mental slavery. Even more so the older brothers because they are the ones that the younger generation looks to for that positive guidance. Only when men and women start being them selves will they gain the knowledge, wisdom and understanding it takes to deal with their condition. The road to recovery is going to be long. It's not going to happen overnight. What this issue needs is men and women who are willing to take the initiative to help correct the situation. Conscious men and women who are not afraid of taking on the responsibilities. The reason why so many kids turn to gangs is simple: either they didn't have some one to look up to or some one gave up on them. Brothers and sisters, we can't give up. We must keep fight ing for our people. Because in the end, we are all we have. Don't let mental slav ery be the cause of our nation dying. In unity we shall stand, and one by one we shall piece this puzzle together. All praises go to God and Noble Drew Ali for saving me and opening my eyes to the light. I'd also like to thank The Chronicle for your services inside our communities. May God con tinue to bless you all. Delron Eric White-Bey is serving time in Marion Correction Institution in Marion, N.C. Clarification A photo of Patrice Y. Toney was used erroneously last week. It appeared in the front-page skybox to promote a story about a new Health Department anti-STD program. Toney was pictured with one of the men involved in the program, but Toney, a former Health Department employee, is not a program par ticipant. She was an invited guest at last week's kick-off event for the new program because during her days as the leader of the Health Department's FOSSE, she wrote the grant that made this new program possible. Toney, the vice chair of the Winston-Salem Urban League Board, left the Health Department late last year to take a position at the County's Budget Office. The Chronicle apologizes for any confusion the use of her photo may have caused. Policy from pagtAl Police Chief Scott Cunningham says the number the ACLU derived was erroneous, due to "very poor data and data collection" on the Department's part. Cunningham told mem bers of the City Council's Public Safety Committee that his department will begin a new system of checks and balances for the checkpoints. As part of the improvements, checkpoints can now only be authorized by someone with a rank of lieutenant or higher. Previously, a sergeant could approve them. The Department is also requiring an addition al training session for all officers involved in the checkpoints and will feature a much . more deliberate I approach to data collec- I tion, Cunningham said. I Each time a checkpoint I is staged, the lieutenant I in charge will be I required to fill out a I form describing the pur- I pose and duration of the I checkpoint, and the pat- I tern of cars stopped. Any changes to the pat Dummit tern must oe recorded along witn tne reason for the change, and the entire procedure will be videotaped and monitored after the fact, the chief explained The Department will report back to the Public Safety Committee in three months. Cunningham said he is hopeful the new polices will alleviate the strain that exists between the Department and some members of minority communities. "This has become such a big issue in the community that we need to make sure that we have the right focus on it and we need to be able to ensure that it's fair and balanced" he stated "...All of our citizens need to have comfort with the police department and the way we do business, and making these changes I think will help." Stephen Hairston, who handles the com plaints department for the local NAACP branch, said he is pleased with the changes. "I felt that it was an exceptional compro mise," said Hairston, who is retired from the WSPD. "...I think it's a great victory for the community and the police department." The Department hasn't always been so willing to hear the ACLU and the NAACP's concerns about the issue, Hairston said but he believes Cunningham is making a good faith effort to right its past wrongs. "They were completely on the wrong track, but they've got a much better plan now. I'm completely on board with it," he com mented Cunningham says the Department's only mistake was not property recording data relat ed to the checkpoints. "1 don't think the police department, as far as delivering a service, has done anything wrong. What we could have done better and should have done better and will do better is having the documentation," he commented "Had we done it from the start, a lot of this wouldi't have been an issue." Pinto said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the new measures. "We want to see that these new reforms have the effect of not burdening minority communities anymore," said Pinto, who has led the charge to have the checkpoints reformed "1 hope it does, and I think it will." The ACLU and NAACP had threatened to file a lawsuit against the Police Department if it did not adckess the organizations' concerns about the checkpoints. Pinto added that the ACLU would continue to monitor the check points and reports from community members regarding their implementation. "It is important for the community to know about these changes, look for these changes, and if they're in any way suspicious that these new measures are not being fol lowed to please contact the ACLU," Pinto said "We're here to keep track of what's going on. After years of litigating against stationary license checkpoints - which he says are large ly unconstitutional - Attorney E. Clarke Dummit, who addressed the issue at a recent NAACP meeting, said he is not happy to see the ACLU's months of data collection lead to just a change in policy. "Getting a higher supervisor on board doesn't change the fact that they are violating the constitution," said the Wake Forest School of Law alumnus. According to Dummit, staging license checks for any reason other than apprehending drunk drivers who pose an immediate threat to the lives of the public is illegal. "I have been litigating it for the past 15 years and I'm certain that I'm right on the constitutional standards," he stated "...to begin to set up those checkpoints for general enforcement of regulatory laws just moves us into a gestapo state." Dummit has won several criminal cases regarding the checkpoints, but says it will take a civil lawsuit to change the state's pol icy on the issue. "It's time for the people to come forward ... and say, 'We want this changed'" he said The Department had put the checkpoints on an "unofficial hold" pending Cunningham's appearance before the Public Safety Committee, and will begin to roll them back out again in March, after officers are trained Cunningham said > Photos by Todd Luck The children and parents who partici pated in Chef and a Child at Fam i ly Services helped out at ACF's open ing banquet. Chefs pom page AI ^ I Development (FSCD). They prepared grilled vegetable roll-ups, ripe salad and bean quesadillas. The children were guided by local chefs involved in the Chef and Child program - people like Suzan Smith, the executive chef at downtown Centenary United Methodist Church. She said she was amazed at how focused and efficient the kids were. "They were fast," Smith said. "I told ... the ones mak ing the quesadillas, i need some kids like you on my staff.' They put quesadillas out so fast we couldn't get them on the grill fast enough," said Smith, whose staff of eight at Centenary regularly feeds hundreds of people. The youngest meal pre parers came from FSCD, which offers pre-school pro graming. They made fruit kabobs. The kids cut fruit like the pros, thanks to the training they've received through Chef and Child, which is offered in Forsyth and 13 surrounding counties. For the last three years, Chef Don McMillan, owner of the Stocked Pot cooking school and store, has taught FSCD kids and parents how to cook economical, healthy meals. The ultimate goal of the program is to encourage kids to adopt healthier habits in order to fight the growing childhood obesity rate. McMillan said the message is getting through. He recalled a recent class where he had parents prepare soup. The kids were pleading with their parents to add in veg etables they'd prepared to the soup. "When you have four and-five-year-olds telling their parents to eat vegeta bles, you know it's work ing," said McMillan. Sibhan Sturdivant took part in Chef and Child with her five year-old daughter, Keziah Jones. Sturdivant agrees that the program works. She said Keziah not only helps her prepare healthy meals at home, but is also eager to eat the food. "She wants to know what it tastes like," said Sturdivant. "She wants to eat just about anything now." All the kid chefs received a certificate, a culinary medal, an apron and a chef's hat. Twenty professional chefs and 30 culinary stu dents also prepared a variety of food for the massive open ing banquet. Brave local chefs''prepared barbeque ribs on an outdoor grill as snow fell. ACF Southeast Regional Vice President Chef Jeff Bacon said having the conference come to Winston-Salem for the first time was a dream come true. Bacon teaches culinary arts at the Second Harvest Food Bank's Triad Community Kitchen and is actively involved with Chef and Child. The theme of this year's conference is "Celebrating Diversity, Sustaining our Future." Its focus is on both gender and racial diversity and Sustain able, eco-ffiendly practices. "We have diversity among our ranks, so we real ly wanted to celebrate that," said Bacon. Smith, who has been a chef for 12 years, said she has seen an increase in diver sity in her profession. She said when she began serving on the ACF Triad Chapter Board she was the only woman, and now other women have joined. "There are so many women becoming chefs. I applaud that," said Smith, who now chairs the ACF Triad Chapter Board. The four-day conference featured cooking contests, workshops and meetings. Chef Jeff Bacon I L?-1 I U Chef Suzan Smith
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