OPINION
We need
fathers, all the
right kinds, to
lead the way
? ,
This past Sunday was Father's Day, a time we
celebrate fathers. In many churches across the land,
preachers make the distinction between the fathers
who merely gave their chromosomes to make chil
dren and the fathers who give love to young people;
with or without his chromosomes being involved.
We celebrated the latter fathers this past weekend
across Winston-Salem.
There was Mo Lucas, who has become a father
figure to hundreds of youth just by giving part of
himself in a job with the YMCA. There was My
Brother's Second Chance, which honored men who
volunteer as mentors for young boys in the commu
nity. And there is Bishop Freddie B. Marshall and his
family, who have started a foundation that sponsors
a comprehensive eight-week mentoring program for
African-American young men.
But we can't forget the fathers who have con
tributed the chromosomes but must love their chil
dren from afar. They still have some influence over
their children, but not to the full extent they wish
they could have. They are "the baby's daddy."
Fathers, we need you. We needed you in Africa to
lead tribes and nations to greatness. We needed you
in slavery to lead families, as many as allowed, to
freedom and dignity and those fathers who were free,
we needed you to show us the way to a better life. We
"We urge the good fathers to rise
up. We urge the courage and
tenacity of our forefathers to rise
up."
needed you during the World Wars and other wars to
show that fathers can overcome obstacles and sur
vive.
We need you now to help us through these times
of heartache, uncertainty and fear. So many young
people, especially boys, have gotten attention from
various organizations in the Winston-Salem area. It
seems as though young boys need an extra helping of
courage, fortitude, wisdom and selflessness, among
other attributes, that help them become leaders in
these times.
So many distractions and harmful elements have
arisen over the decades. It's almost like in the movies
"Transformers" or "Hie Terminator": The harmful
elements seem to morph into so many things, it's
hard to keep up. The gun violence and drugs seem to
snatch young boys and gobble them up if they are
allowed to. Without sexual restraint and responsibil
ity, the generations birthed are growing up without
the foundations they need.
We urge the good fathers to rise up. We urge the
courage and tenacity of our forefathers to rise up. We
urge the kindness and gentleness to rise up. We urge
the knowledge and wisdom to rise up, because so
much is rising against youth today.
We have heard about those fathers who merely
contribute the chromosomes but seem to contribute
nothing much else in their children's lives. In these
days, many of those fathers are proving dangerous.
The killer of 49 people in the Pulse nightclub in
Orlando, Florida, had a young son. He didn't appear
to care about him when he went about killing other
people's sons, for he must have known he would die.
The man who mowed down his fellow workers in
San Bernardino, California, had a young daughter.
Did he express his love for her before he conducted
his dastardly deed? He must have sensed he would
die, too.
What happens when a father dies? He is no longer
able to contribute to the life of his child or children.
What happens when a father takes away other peo
ple's children? He leaves a legacy no one wants to
live up to.
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R- GCPSBWE '
? ' Y?US <3oM PROfOSKL
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
This man is
seriously
'unhinged;'
no name needed
To The Editor:
? The man has become seriously
unhinged. Congratulating himself on
predicting an Orlando-type massacre;
consistently hyper-inflating the num
ber of Muslim refugees allowed into
the United States; stating there is vir
tually no vetting process, which is
completely inaccurate - the process
takes anywhere from 1-2 years; sug
gesting that a ban on allowing
Muslims will stop terrorist activity -
never mind that the last two jihadists
were bom in America; insinuating
that there may be some kind of con
spiracy because our President is "...
either not tough, not smart or he's got
something else in mind," suggesting
that President Obama himself might
sympathize with radical elements.
He has become the cheerleader
for encouraging and validating rude,
adolescent-style behaviors of name
calling, verbal bullying and mimicry
- behaviors we work hard as parents
and educators to eliminate in our chil
dren.
His outrageous statements and
character assassinations about
Hispanics, Muslims and women give
racists, bigots and ignorant people
permission to spew their latent
hatred, fear and homophobic rantings
against people they mostly know
nothing about. And they say God is
on their -side. Really? This is what
your church teaches you?
Many media sources have chosen
not to recognize nor give credence or
humanity to the Orlando shooter by
naming him. For the same reasons, I
will not name the person described
above. You know who he is, what he
is', and the serious danger an
unhingecUperson poses to the position
and reputation of the great nation of
our United States.
Lois Roewade
Pfafftown
Animals, just as
humans, shouldn't
be exploited
To The Editor:
As a proud member of the
LGBTQ community and an employ
ee of People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals (PETA), I was
appalled by the horrific, massacre in
Orlando. My heart and thoughts are
with all of our community and the
nation as we mourn this terrible
tragedy and try desperately to make
sense out of the senseless.
The LGBTQ community has
struggled long and hard to overcome
oppression and hate, and the deadly
shootings at Pulse remind us that we
still have much work to do. As a
country and as a community, we
must stand united against hate and
bigotry, and fight for love, respect,
i
and kindness to ail. But in order to
truly foster a climate of compassion
and acceptance, it's important that
we not limit our concern to members
of our own community - or our own
species.
Just like any oppressed group,
the animals beaten on factory farms,
blinded in product-testing laborato
ries and skinned alive for something
as frivolous as fur suffer these and
other injustices because of prejudice
and ignorance. Their feelings are
entirely discounted, even though
they experience fear, love, grief, joy,
and pain, just as all of us do.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
rightly said, "Injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice everywhere." So
much violence is out of our control,
but we can reject the violence in our
daily lives by choosing not to sup
port industries that exploit other liv
ing beings. As the nation stands with
Orlando, I urge readers to visit
www.PETA.org to learn more about
cruelty-free living and extending our
circle of compassion.
Amanda Nordstrom
People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals
Norfolk, Virginia
I
Juneteenth
should prompt
us to recommit
to equality for all
To The Editor:
We celebrate Juneteenth, also
known as Freedom Day, each year to
commemorate June 19, 1865, when
news of. the end of slavery reached
millions of slaves in Galveston,
Texas, and they were informed of
their freedom and the end of the
Civil War.
It is a day when we reflect on the
suffering of slavery and honor the
lives lost over the course of one of
the darkest periods in American his
tory.
As we celebrate Juneteenth 2016
with friends and family, we recog
nize the many contributions African
Americans make to society and
recommit ourselves to ensuring all
Americans are treated fairly and
equitably under the law and have an
opportunity to achieve the American
dream.
Since its establishment in 1971,
Members of the Congressional Black
Caucus (CBC) have joined together
to empower America's neglected cit
izens and address their legislative
concerns.
For more than 40 years, the CBC
has consistently been the voice for
people of color and vulnerable com
munities in Congress and has been
committed to utUizing the full
Constitutional power and statutory
authority of the United States gov
ernment to ensure that all US. citi
zens have an opportunity to achieve
the American Dream.
US. Rep. G. K. Butterfield (NC
01).
Chairman
Congressional Black Caucus
f ?
Washington, D.C.
Black Caucus marks
one-year anniversary
of the shooting at
Mother Emanuel
Church
To The Editor:
One year ago today, nine parish
ioners were violently gunned down
as they worshiped in peace at
Emanuel African Methodist
Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in
Charleston, South Carolina.
An incident of such terror and
racial hatred could have easily
sparked an outpouring of anger and
violence from the community and
around the nation, but we witnessed
something different. It was not rage,
nor was it vengeance. We witnessed
a response of Christian forgiveness,
unity and peace that led a communi
ty and the nation to grieve for the
nine victims and all those impacted
by this tragedy. Our hearts were bro
ken by the senseless act of hate and
racism as such violence should never
be tolerated in a country as great as
ours.
Today, as we pause to remember
the lives of the beloved individuals
We lost - Depayne Middleton
Doctor, Cynthia Hurd, Susie
Jackson, Ethel Lance, Clementa
Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel
Simmons, Sharonda Singleton, and
Myra Thompson - we renew our
commitment to the cause that united
a nation in love, peace, and racial
unity to once and for all eliminate
the Confederate Flag, one of the
longest standing symbols of hatred
and divisiveness in America's histo
ry, from pubjic institutions across the
country.
U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield (NC
01),
Chairman,
Congressional Black Caucus
Washington, D.C.
Caucus supports
sustainable
funding of HBCUs
To The Editor:
The North Carolina Legislative .
Black Caucus supports affordable
college tuition with a long-term
commitment that preserves the his
torical heritage of oUr historically"
black colleges and universities
(HBCUs) and any other bills con
taining said language.
We support engaging with Vari
ous stakeholders regarding legisla
tion, which impacts HBCUs as well
as other constituent institutions, and
how we fulfill our Constitutional
obligations to North Carolina stu
dents.
Rep. Garland Pierce
N.C. Legislative Black Caucus
e
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