OPINION
The Chronicle i
Ernest H. Pitt
Publisher Emeritus
1974-2015
617 N. Liberty Street
336-722-8624 I 42 V
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www.wschronicle.com /
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Elaine Pitt Business Manager
Donna Rogers Managing Editor
wali D. Pitt Digital Manager
Our Mission
The Chronicle is dedicated to serving the
residents of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County
by giving voice to the voiceless, speaking truth
to power, standing for integrity and
encouraging open communication and
lively debate throughout the community.
Be prepared
to face 2015
issues into
next year
Tomorrow is the beginning of a new year in the
21st century. What could be hard to believe is that we
have some of the same problems we had in the 20th
century. Voter suppression, police brutality and
racism have been carried over into this century and
into this year. As we move toward 2016, be aware of
what we face.
?The N.C. NAACP and other groups have chal
lenged N.C. government over the 2013 law that
restricts voting in the state. The legal case was split
so that the voter ID segment is being heard separately
after state government did an end run and modified
the use of voter IDs to appear kinder and gentler. No
part of the legal case has been settled, so we head
into 2016 anticipating decisions. Decisions against
the plaintiffs will harm voting rights in America.
'Meanwhile, in 2016 we prepare to vote in early
primaries, which were moved up for political rea
sons. Republicans, who run the government in North
Carolina, decided they want to have more influence
over presidential politics. So they moved primary
elections from May to March. This means two
months of the primary segment of the election cycle
has been cut. Democrats complained that the shorter
cycle could hamper the party's ability to recruit qual
ity candidates. The filing deadline was Dec. 21. The
election move also cuts the time frame to register
voters. The deadline to register to vote in the primar
ies is Feb. 19, two months earlier than in the past.
*N.C. government is also being sued over how it
drew lines in 2011 that govern voting districts for the
General Assembly and the U.S. Congress. The U.S.
Supreme Court this year told the N.C. Supreme
Court to revisit its ruling against the plaintiffs in a
lawsuit against N.C.'s redistricting. Civil rights
groups say the districts illegally concentrate black
voters in a handful of districts. The state Supreme
Court did revisit its ruling and upheld it on Dec. 18.
Look for this fight to continue into 2016.
'Americans have been made more aware of
police attacks and killings since 2014, when unarmed
black teenager Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson,
Missouri. This year, several more young black men
and women have died while in police custody in
cities across the United States. The phrases "Black
Lives Matter" and "Hands up. Don't Shoot" have
gained prominence among African-Americans and
other Americans. In 2016, those phrases probably
will not die because the cases won't die. In Winston
Salem, the family of Travis Page and the African
American community wait to see the video on Travis
Page's arrest and reports that give details on what
happened when Page died in police custody in
November.
?Racism and ethnic and religious hatred have
been revealed in high places as Republican candi
dates for president of the United States have blurted
out facist-like policies and derogatory words on the
campaign trail. The Ministers' Conference of
Winston-Salem and Vicinity denounced black GOP
candidate Ben Carson when he appeared in Winston
Salem at a church after he said a Muslim should not
be president. The Ministers' Conference spoke
against rich businessman and GOP candidate Donald
Trump over his racist comments against African
Americans and Latinos. Former Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush also said disparaging words about African
Americans. Get ready for more insults as the race for
president continues.
We also still have poverty in the 21st century.
Winston-Salem has about a 24 percent poverty rate
based on income, which is higher than the poverty
rate of North Carolina. While there are efforts in
place to fight poverty, Mayor Allen Joines, who is up
for re-election, has announced a new effort in the
fight. This effort will involve a 21-member panel and
could take up to five years. We should follow the
progress of this effort into 2016.
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New Year's resolutions for
Black America in 2016
Benjamin
C ha vis
.
NNPA
Columnist
Whenever we begin a
new calendar year, it can
be useful to make New
Year's Resolutions to prior
itize and focus for the
immediate future. Beyond
the traditional litany of
making very personal and
oftentimes private resolu
tions at the beginning of a
new year, Black America
as a whole, I believe,
should be vocal and public
about our determination to
keep pushing forward for
freedom, justice, equality
and economic empower
ment.
What should be our
collective goals and strate
gic objectives over the next
12 months? Recent aca
demic studies by the
Dominican University of
California on the impor
tance of "goal setting" to
overcome individual and
social procrastination
revealed that writing down
your resolutions and shar
ing your goals with others
that you care about will
help you work more dili
gently to achieve those
goals.
Every time I pick up
and read a Black-owned
newspaper in America dur
ing this season of annual
proclamation, it is always
informative to see a written
list of New Year's resolu
tions that challenge Black
America to continue to
strive for excellence and
achievement in all fields of
endeavor. I am obviously
proud of the trusted impact
of the Black Press of
America. Check us out at
www.NNPA.org and
www.BlackPressUSA.com
Resolution #1: Get
out and vote
We have another criti
cal election year coming
up in 2016 and the Black
American vote will have to
be mobilized in every pri
mary election and across
the nation next November
in elections in every
precinct in every state,
county by county. Get-Out
The-Vote (GOTV) efforts,
therefore, will be a top pri
ority and we must collec
tively resolve that in 2016
we will ensure the largest
voter turnout of black vot
ers in the history of the
United States.
Remember, we had a
record voter turnout of
black voters both in 2008
and in 2012. According to
the U.S. Census Bureau,
"66.2 percent of blacks
who voted in the 2012
presidential election, high
er than the 64.1 percent of
non-Hispanic whites who
did so ... This marks the
first time that blacks have
voted at a higher rate than
whites since the Census
Bureau started publishing
statistics on voting by the
eligible citizen population
in 19%."
We cannot afford to let
the black vote be taken for
granted in 2016.
Resolution #2:
Improve and expand
economic development
Politics and economics
are inseparable in the
United States. Yet, even
though Black Americans
spend in excess of $ 1.2 tril
lion annually in the
nation's economy, that kind
of spending volume has
not translated into real eco
nomic power: increasing
the ownership of global
businesses and billion-dol
lar revenue-generating
investments. We still have
a long way to go to achieve
economic equality and par
ity in America.
We should resolve,
therefore, in 2016 to
improve and expand the
economic development of
i
Black American families
and communities.
Although the American
economy continues to
recover under the Obama
Administration, for Black
Americans we have not
closed the wealth gap.
White Americans today
have 12 times the wealth of
Black Americans. We must
without hesitation and
without apology, be more
determined to end poverty
and to generate more
wealth for Black America.
Therefore, we join in com
plete solidarity with the
resolve of the National
Association of Real Estate
Brokers (NAREB) in the
goal of striving to increase
black homeownership in
2016.
Resolution #3:
Support Black-owned
media companies
We are very encour
aged that the 2016 NAACP
Image Awards will once
again be broadcast on TV
One. We all should support
Radio One, TV One and
Interactive One. We all
should also support The
Impact Network and other
Black-owned media com
panies as well as the pub
lishers of the National
Newspaper Publishers
Association (NNPA).
V
Resolution #4: 'Black
Lives Matter!'
Ending mass incarcera
tion, reforming the crimi
nal justice system, and
stopping police brutality
are related urgent matters
that demand the resolve
and activist involvement of
Black America. Yes, in
2016 our national outcry
will continue to be "Black
Lives Matter!"
Resolution #5: Renew
and strengthen our sup
port of education
The highest quality
education for our children
and our young adults
requires our vocal support
and energetic involvement
from pre-school to post
graduate higher education.
At every level of the edu
cational process and jour
ney we must be vigilant in
our demands and commit
ments to attain the best
education for our families.
Thus let's renew and
strengthen our dedication
to support the National
Association for Equal
Opportunity in Higher
Education (NAFEO), the
United Negro College
Fund (UNCF), and the
Thurgood Marshall
College Fund (TMCF) as
well as work to sustain all
of our Historically Black
Colleges and Universities
(HBCUs) and predomi
nantly Black institutions
(PBIs).
Resolution #6:
Support and strengthen
our religious institutions
Lastly, we are a spiritu
al people. All African peo
ple are spiritual. We
resolve lastly to support
and strengthen our reli
gious institutions: church
es, temples, mosques and
synagogues.
I asked the Chairman
of the NNPA, Denise
Rolark Barnes, who pub
lishes the Washington
Informer, for her perspec
tive about 2016 New
Year's Resolutions. She
emphasized resolutely, "In
2016, our first priority
should be to commit our
lives and our dollars to
those individuals and insti
tutions that represent our
best interests. Let's strive
to be the ones that will
make a difference in our
own communities. Be
mindful that 'If it is to be, it
is up to me.'"
Dr. Benjamin F.
Chavis, Jr. is the President
and CEO of the National
Newspaper Publishers
Association (NNPA) and
can be reached for lectures
and other professional con
sultations at: http://drben
jaminfchavisjr.wix .com/dr
bfc.
Photo by AFP/Jim Watson