CW W^JcL
Time to ‘give peace a chance’
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
In response to the re
cent rise in gun violence,
three different neighbor
hoods did their part to stop
the violence with a series
of peace walks last week-
end. The “Day of Peace”
began in the Salem Gar
dens community and then
picked up in the Cole Vil
lage community before
wrapping up the day at Mt.
Carmel Baptist Church in
the Easton community.
Statistics show gun vi
olence is on the rise across
the country and Winston-
Salem is no exception.
There have been 18 ho
micides in Winston-Salem
this year, and six of those
occurred between June 1
and Aug. 5. During that
same time period, the Win
ston-Salem Police Depart
ment (WSPD) received
849 calls related to the un
lawful use of firearms and
49 people reported being
shot.
Sophia Russell-Hall
and David Villada who
helped organize the Day of
Peace in Cole Village said
they believe that it’s going
to take the collaborative
efforts of the entire com
munity to make a differ
ence.
“In order to see any
true change, it will take
the members of the com
munity to work together,”
Russell-Hall said. “In my
opinion, the proverb “it
takes a village to raise a
child” truly speaks to the
village coming together
for the betterment of their
future. A future beyond the
years of that one child. A
future that will dictate how
legacy and healing work
happens.”
Responding to the
rise in gun violence, City
Councilmembers Mor-
ticia “Tee-Tee” Parmon
and Annette Scippio have
called for the WSPD to do
whatever it takes to stop
the violence in their wards.
Parmon, who represents
the Northeast Ward, said,
“Something has to hap
pen.” She called for the
council to push for a zero
tolerance policy within the
WSPD when it comes to
gun violence.
“As the City of Win
ston-Salem, we have to
stand with our Winston-
Salem Police Department
and say that whatever you
have to do to bring forth
justice that these families
need and to make sure that
our neighborhoods are se
cure, then we stand with
you to do,” Parmon contin
ued. “We hired them to do
a job; don’t restrict them or
limit them on what it is we
want them to do as long as
they’re enforcing the law
and doing what they’re
hired to do.”
Scippio, who repre
sents the East Ward, said
she receives calls and
emails regularly about
reports of gun shots. She
said it is important that
the community knows that
they have the full support
of the WSPD. She said the
gun violence isn’t about
poverty and it’s not some-
Submitted photo
Residents and community leaders chat in Cole Village during the peace walks held
in the Southeast Ward on Saturday, Aug. 29.
thing that can be fixed with
civic groups and programs.
“This gun violence is
not something that’s going
to be solved with a social
program that’s going to
take two and three years to
effect. This is not a social
issue, this is very much
like cancer,” Scippio said.
Councilmember James
Taylor, who is publisher of
The Chronicle, argues that
simply more policing isn’t
the only answer, which is
why he collaborated with
neighbors to organize the
Day of Peace. He said the
purpose of the event was to
reach out to the people and
make a communitywide
push for peace. At each
location on the Day of
Peace, peace walkers went
door-to-door conducting
surveys with residents and
gathered information and
ideas from them on how to
best keep the community
safe. There was also food
and a live DJ at each loca
tion.
“We’ve had challenges
in several communities,”
Taylor continued, “par
ticularly Salem Gardens,
Cole Village and Easton,
and what you’re seeing is
neighbors pulling together,
being vigilant and striving
to have peace in the com
munity.”
Taylor, who represents
the Southeast Ward and is
chair of the Public Safety
Committee, said although
he supports the WSPD,
instead of militarizing the
police on our own neigh
bors, it’s the duty of the
city council to actually
reach out to the commu
nity and talk to them about
how we can better serve
them.
“Let’s go in, talk to our
neighbors, find out what
they need, and if that’s po
lice presence we’ll provide
it. If it’s programming,
we’ll provide it; if it’s re
sources, we’ll provide it,”
he said. How can elected
officials speak for a com
munity that they have
never talked to or even at
tempted to meet with? So
this Day of Peace is just
about that, we’re talking
to people, finding out what
they want, what they’ll
need, and we’ll come back
with results.”
Russell-Hall said it’s
equally important that the
community has the sup
port of property owners
and management. “It will
also take property owners/
managers and landlords
of certain communities
to care. The support from
the property owners and
manager with Vista Re
alty (Cole Village/Pepper-
ridge Apartments) have
been amazing! It matters
when those who own the
property cares about the
wellbeing and livelihood
of their residents. Having
their support when I posed
the idea truly made it eas
ier for me to organize the
event,” she said.
Villada, who is known
throughout the community
for his work to put a stop
to the violence through
his youth program Nuevo
Vida (New Life), said he
believes the Peace Walks
is a step in the right direc
tion. He said to make a dif
ference you first have to
build a working relation
ship and get to know the
people in the community.
“We just can’t pro
vide survey with made-up
questions and limited an
swers for the community
to choose from and think
then we can get enough in
formation to come up with
a solution,” Villada contin
ued. “No, we have to have
dialogue ... we have to be
able to relate to the com
munity, understand where
they come from so that we
all can prosper from those
who are true to wanting
equality and prosperity
for all. That’s our model at
New Life/Nueva Vida.”
Free at Last
State drops case against Ronnie Long, Black man who spent 44 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
After spending the last
44 years behind bars for a
crime he didn’t commit,
last week Ronnie Long
was released from prison
after his conviction was
vacated by the state.
Long’s release came
after the U.S. Court of Ap
peals for the Fourth Cir
cuit ruled that due process
rights were violated and
sent the case back to the
district court. Instead of a
retrial the State of North
Submitted photo
Ronnie Long moments after being released. Long spent 44 years in prison for a
crime he didn’t commit.
Carolina decided to no
longer contest Long’s con
viction.
When he was only 19
years old, Long, who is
www.wschronicle.com
Black, was charged with
the assault and rape of a
white woman in her home
on April 25, 1976. Accord
ing to police reports, the
victim was the widow of
a top executive at Cannon
Mills, a major textile com
pany and employer in the
area. The victim described
her attacker as a “yellow-
looking African Ameri
can,” wearing a leather
jacket, a toboggan, and
gloves. She told police her
attacker came through an
open window before press
ing a knife against her neck
andripping her clothes off.
After she was unable
to pick her attacker out of
a lineup, two weeks after
the assault, investigators
with the Concord Police
Department took the vic
tim to the courthouse and
told her that her attacker
may or may not be in the
courtroom, and asked her
to identify anyone who
looked “familiar.”
Long was in the court
room to settle a minor tres
passing charge, but as soon
as he stood up wearing a
leather jacket, the victim
identified him as her at
tacker. She later picked
Long’s photo out of a line-
up where he was the only
person wearing a leather
jacket.
Despite having an alibi
that placed him elsewhere
at the time of the assault,
and no physical evidence
connecting him to the
crime, on Oct. 1, 1976,
Long was sentenced to
serve 80 years in prison.
In his opening argu
ments, Jamie Lau, execu
tive director of the Duke
Law Wrongful Convic
tions Clinic, who has been
working on Long’s case
since 2016, said the Con
cord Police Department
deliberately suppressed ev
idence that proved Long’s
innocence and pointed to
another suspect. Lau said
the Concord Police De
partment’s efforts to frame
Long included the creation
of a false police report and
testifying falsely about the
evidence they found at the
crime scene.
“Suppressing the evi
dence prevented Long
from presenting affirma
tive exculpatory evidence
demonstrating that some-
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