OPINION
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The Chronicle j
Ernest H. Pitt
Publisher Emeritus
1974-2015
617 N. Liberty Street ccX'brJ^
336-722-8624 i 41
WWW.WSCHRONICLE.COM
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.
GUEST EDITORIAL
T\irning back
the clock
in 2016
It is in-conceivable in this year of 2016 that we
have a presumptive candidate of a major political
party running on a platform of racism, sexism, big
otry and hatred.
It is less conceivable that a majority of the party
agrees with and supports his position. This is still
America. It's not quite the same as it was pre-civil
rights days but it still possesses many of the charac
teristics of days of old.
From the days of Lincoln up to the days of
Lyndon B. Johnson, each and every national election
was a political contest between the candidates who
favoredblacks and the ones who vowed to maintain
the status quo. Fear mongers used the bestiality of
the black man and fear of reprisals against the slave
master as a reason to deny the slave full protection
under the law. He had to be contained and controlled.
The country clearly belonged to the White Anglo
Saxton Protestant Males.
The 15 th Amendment gave blacks the right to
vote. United States Supreme Court decisions in the
late 19th century interpreted the amendment narrow
ly. From 1890 to 1910, most black voters in the
South were effectively disenfranchised by new state
constitutions and state laws incorporating such
obstacles as poll taxes and discriminatory literacy
tests, from which white voters were exempted by
grandfather clauses. A system of whites-only primar
ies and violent intimidation by white groups also
suppressed black participation.
Propositions to ease these restrictions during
national elections met with fierce opposition.
White women in the Unites States won the right
to vote in the late 19th century.
Segregationists feeling assured
Barry Goldwater, the Republican candidate for
U.S. president in 1964, can be seen as the godfather
(or maybe the midwife) of the current Tea Party. He
believed the Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional.
But states, he said, should implement the law in their
own time. Many white southerners, especially segre
gationists, felt reassured
by Goldwater's words. African-Americans heard
the message that was intended to be heard, which
was that Goldwater and the Goldwater wing of the
Republican Party were opposed not only to the Civil
Rights Act, but to the Civil Rights Movement, in
large part, as well. What happened to black members
of the "Party of Lincoln"? When Goldwater, in his
nomination acceptance speech, famously told the
ecstatic convention "extremism in the defense of lib
erty" is no vice," he was speaking of "a very specific
notion of liberty. "Small government, a government
that doesn't giye out handouts to black people; a gov
ernment that doesn't have laws that interfere with
states' rights; a government that is not conducting a
war on poverty."
?-> i ? i ii i A"IA .1 i .? f r? l
. from tne middle iy/us 10 ine election or uaracK
Obama in 2008, civil rights, social and political
inclusion was the tone of the day.
Enter Donald Trump in 2008 with his "birther"
rhetoric. Out of the blue, even though proven wrong
time after time, he insisted that Barack Obama was
not an American citizen.
Donald Trump was well aware that if you were
born to parents, at least one of whom was a U.S. cit
izen at the time of your birth; you automatically
gained U.S. citizenship through the process of acqui
sition. It does not matter whether you were born on
American soil or foreign. If you have children, those
children will also acquire U.S. citizenship through
you at their birth.
The US Constitution states:
"No person except a natural born Citizen, or a cit
izen of the United States, at the time of the adoption
of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of
President; neither shall any person be eligible to that
office .who shall not have attained to the age of thir
ty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident
within the United States."
Awareness be damned, Trump persisted even
after the nation had spoken, and Barack Obama had
P Set Clock Cn A7
'tlE GREATEST"
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
We celebrate
a fearless champion:
Muhammad Ali
To the Editor:
Our hearts are filled with sad
ness as we learn of the passing of
Muhammad Ali. He is an exem
plar of personal strength and ath
letic grace. His lifelong career
made it possible for people of dif
ferent races to sit together and
enjoy the meaning of a sportsman
ship that demonstrated relentless
competitiveness, sometimes with
an accompaniment of poetic
assertiveness and provocative
humor.
His emphatic rejection of the
casual racial discrimination,
which others seemed to take for
granted as an inevitable character
istic of American society, took
him high into the ranks of the
nation's chief advocates of equal
status for all persons. Likewise,
his brave integrity outside the
sports arena on behalf of religious
freedom and opposition to sense
less war should admit him into the
orbit of civil rights heroes.
The Civil Rights community
mourns his loss with the rest of the
world, and we will remember him
warmly and honor his legacy as a
fearless champion who led the
way in breaking down walls that
have divided us, without giving up
on who he really wanted to be. We
extend our heartfelt condolences
to his family.
John L. Swaine, CEO
International Civil Rights
Center & Museum
Greensboro
Muhammad Ali:
champion of
human
and civil rights
To the Editor:
Muhammad Ali was not only
a champion in the boxing ring,
but he was a champion of human
and civil rights. During a difficult
time in American history he stood
on principle to end racism and
bigotry. In doing so, Ali showed
the world how a true champion
can stand with courage, self
respect, and dignity.
Muhammad All made a con
siderable impact on the world and
his spirit and
his work will
live on for
generations to
come.
On behalf
of the
Congressional
Black Caucus,
we send our
deepest con
dolences to
his family,
and we mourn
Butterfield
the loss oi a true American hero.
Congressional Black Caucus
Chairman G. K. Butterfield
(NC-01)
Washington, D.C.
REFLECTIONS
My memories of Muhammad Ali
BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY
THE CHRONICLE
As a child, I was introduced to boxing by my father,
Timothv J. Ramsev Sr. During my
early years of watching the sport, I
thought Mike Tyson was the best
boxer that ever lived. That was until
my father showed me clips of
Muhammad Ali fighting Joe Frazier
and epic battle with George
Foreman. I then began to appreciate
the man he was inside of the ring.
You couldn't help but admire a
man that told his opponents what he
was going to do to them before he
Ramsey
entered the ring, then had the skill and talent to back it up.
His classic rhymes and oneliners were before his time, and
his verbal battles with the legendary Howard Coseil will
live on forever.
I remember when I was living in St. Petersburg,
Florida, and I was able to meet Muhammad Ali at a ban
quet. At that time, t he was the first celebrity I had ever
met. I was very intimidated, but he could not have been a
nicer person. This was in the early '90s, so his Parkinson's
had not taken over his body as much. He was able to con
verse with me for a short time. It was the highlight of my
year. He signed an autograph for me that I still have and
treasure to this day.
As I matured, 1 was able to understand the impact Ali
had outside of the ring and admired him more and more.
He will surely be missed.
"Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it
doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just
plain wrong."
-Muhammad Ali
I ? ? ? ,
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