http://www.thecharlot1epost.com
d)e Cljnrlotte
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2006
Section
Lynch
usage of
n-word
By Andre Coe
im: DM1.\S fXWUSER
DALLAS - “Before we
begin, let me see the hands of
all the niggas in the room.
That’s ri^t. Put them up
high.
“Let everyone see.”
Dallas Carter High School
teacher Curtis Ferguson
begins many of his speeches
to local elementary students
this way It ticks off many
people, he says.
Everyone from parents to
teachers, administrators to
townsfolk, “educated-” to
“uneducated-” people tell him
that he is encouraging bad
behavior and that he ought
not ask that question or say
those things.
In their minds, he’s setting
a bad example.
They’re wrong, he says.
He’s only showing them that,
“Your kid thinks he’s a nigger.
I just proved that.”
And that’s a day in the life
for Ferguson. For the past 10
years, he has tal^n it upon
himself to combat, protest
and educate any and every
one about the word nigger
and all its various forms and
associated mindsets.
For those who haven’t got
ten his message already, he’s
taken his mission a step fur
ther From Jan, 8 to Jan. 18.
Ferguson camped out in front
of the Martin Luthei* King Jr.
Community Center and went
on a hvinger strike to cam
paign against and protest the
use of the “N-word ” He want
ed to go further, but his doctor
advised him not too.
Despite reaching some
Dallasites, be they black or
white, he doesn’t think he
achieved his goal. Feiguson
and his students wiQ launch
a campaign beginning Feb. 1
to further combat and protest
the word. He has already pre
sented a proposal to the
Dallas Independent School
District to ‘^tally ban” the
word from its campuses
among all its students and
teachers, he said.
At toni^t’s 6 o’clock school
board meeting, Ferguson wiU
be there to speak on his pro
posal. He’s encouraging any
one who supports the idea to
come out and applaud when
they hear something they
support or just to contact
their school board represen
tative to let them know that
they support the district wide
ban.
His actions have been
noticed. He appeared on
Oprah Winfrey’s talk show in
1999 and 2000 after a stu
dent of his told the talk show
host about him. The publicity
is not what he is after thou^.
He compares himself to a sol
dier in Iraq and says he’s in a
war against ignorance.
“Which word has more
death and blood attached to
it?’ He asks. ‘What one word
has the history of lynching
attached to it?*
“That’s what I tell so-called
educated folks about,” he
said ‘What amazed me wh«i
I was on the vigil, white peo
ple drove from Colleyville and
Grapevine to shake my hand
They had [Black] people tell
them they could say the
word, but they couldn’t .
IVo white cops approached
me to shake my hand also,
lliey hear the word being
used all the time in the South
Dallas area, but if an officer
like them uses the word they
will lose their job right away”
It’s with that same trepida
tion that some people fear the
mere acknowledgement of a
double standard concerning
Rease see THE N/2B
O ® O l .--
LIFE
Passion for reading
Love or hate it, books dig deep into Valentine’s Day
ntE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tb some, Valentine’s Day
means love and losses, lb
others, it’s a day they'd
just love to kiss off
But whether Feb. 14 sets
your heart ablaze or sim
ply gives you heartburn,
you can probably relate to
at least one of these recent
books.
What is love? More than
350 answers to that tou^
question are in ‘Love Is ...
a Wld ’Ride” (Abrams).
This chunky hardcover is
a collection of Kim CasaH’s
popular, syndicated “Love
Is ...” cartoons that feature
a childlike and usually
naked (but innocently so)
couple.
Answers to an infinite
number of questions about
love—which the reader
must supply—are offered
by “The Oracle of Love”
.(Simon & Schuster) 1^
Georgia Routsis Savas.
Readers’ “questions of the
heart” are resolved
through the ancient art of
bibliomancy that is, con
sulting a randomly select
ed page of a book to divine
an answer.
In “Oracle,” answers are
derived from several
sources, including
numerology astrology, the
tarot and crystal ball.
Each answer is illustrated
by a woodcut.
“Happily Ever After”
(Simon & Schuster), on
the other hand, offers a
collection of C?h^les
Addams’ cartoons with
ironic and darkly comic
views of love and marriage
“to Chill the Heart of Your
Loved One.”
Addams, whose work
appeared frequently in
The New Yorker maga
zine, died in 1988. This
book’s 150 cartoons
include classics as well as
previously unpublished
pieces fiom his personal
archives.
And even Prince
CTiarming and Cinderella
See VALENTINE/2B
Super Bowl America’s excxise to party
By Chens F. Hodge.s
ckerisJiodges^ thecharlotieposli'cm
So the Carolina Panthers didn’t
make the Supei* Bowl. That doesn’t
mean that you have to forgo the
party
Super Bowl Sunday is an unoffi
cial holiday of fatty foods, trash-
talking and drinking But when
yoiu* team isn’t playing, does it
mean that you don’t have fun?
Up imtil the NFC Cliampionship
game, Steve Royster had planned
to take Super Sunday off to cheer
on his Panthers. Now, he’s going to
work.
“What do I have to celebrate? My
team isn’t in the Super Bowl,”
Royster said. The avid Panthers
fan said he’s happy his team made
it to the playofis but he could care
less who actually wins the big
game. •
‘Tf I did go to a (Super Bowl)
party it would be for fellowship,
not to cheer on a team,” he said
Beverly McDuffie, also a devout
Panthers fan, said she’s still going
to watch the Super Bowl.
“I love the game,” she said,
admitting she would have been a
little more excited if her favorite
team had been playing.
McDuffie said if she goes to a
Super Bowl party she’s going to do
ha* share of eating but not a lot of
cheering.
If the Panthers had made it to
the Super Bowl, like 2003, fans
would have crowded uptown bars
and pubs to cheer on the Cats. Bar
owners, however, don’t expect
Super Bowl Sunday to be a total
wash. After aU, it is the Super
Bowl.
Owners of the (jk)ld Pepper Grill
and Outa* Bounds Sports Bar, two
of Charlotte’s African American
owned-bars, weren’t available to
talk about what they expect Super
Sunday But it’s safe to assume
that the wings and beer should be
flying.
Colon cancer on the rise among blacks
By Jimmie Briggs
SATipSAL SEWSPAPERS
PUBUSHERS ASSOC!ATIOS
NEW YORK - Blacks
are most likely to die fiom
colon cancer than any
other racial or ethnic
group in America. Its inci
dence has increased 46
percent among blade men
and 10 p)ercent among
Blacks over in the last
several years.
IVeatment and preven
tive therapies for the dis
ease, which was estimat
ed to kill 56, 290 people
last year, according to the
American Cancer Sodety
Nevertheless, black
patients have not
received the best treat
ment available for the
disease, as their white
counterparts.
An innocuously article
titled “Adjuvant
(Chemotherapy for Stage
in (Colon Cancer,” was
published in the Dec. 7
issue of the Journal of the
American Medical
Assodation The crux of
its findings was chilling,
but not entirdy surpris
ing. Black patients with
colon cancer were givai
adjuvant chemotherapy
with much lower fi^uen-
cy than patients of other
radal groi^)s.
“The word ‘at^uvanf
means somebody has
Please see COLON/2B
Teen author has been where readers are
By Chens F, Ftodges
cheraJwdges& iheckarlottepostjcom
UNC (Charlotte sophomore B.
Nicole Hunt, or B. Nicole to the lit
erary worid, has a message for
teenagers she’s put in writing.
The five-book series isn’t about a
little magical wizard - Hunt doesn’t
do Harry Potter. It’s about a 15-
year-old named Jana who experi
ences the ups and downs of life as
she and her mother move to
(Connecticut.
The first book in the series,
“Changes,” was released late last
year.
“Her mother is getting remarried
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Author B. Nicole Hunt
and she moved her fiom Virginia to
(Connecticut and she has to leave
everything she’s known. She has to
deal with her absentee father and
her brother’s tragically murdered
She’s dealing with all of that as
well as being 15 years old,” Himt
said
Himt said she decided to write
the series because she had a story
to tell and wanted readers to have
something to look fOTward to with
the release of each book
And she wanted to deliver a mes
sage to her peers without preach
ing that there are other paths to
See COLLEGEyPB
Red’s the
color of
health
By Chens F. Hodges
cherisJiodges^ thecharlotiepostrom
Heart disease is the number one
killer of women, more than all
forms of cancer and the next four
leading causes of death combined.
But heart disease can be pre
vented. ■ Through the American
Heart Association’s campaign,
“(jo Red For Women” women are
encouraged to improve their
health and fight heart disease.
In the State of the Heart report
released by the organization
Tuesday, doctors say death rates
for women are down and there is
more’ awareness about heart dis-
“This yeEu^’s state of heart for
women brings good news and bad
news: Death rates are down and
awareness is up, but there are
still gaps in care,” said Alice
Jacobs M.D., immediate past
president of the American Heart-
Association.
In 2003, 483,800 women died of
cardiovascular disease, 6 million
had coronary disease and 3.1 mil
lion suffered strokes.
According to a study reported in
the special Circulation issue,
more than half of women sur
veyed in the United States are
now aware that heart disease is
the leading cause of death in
females. Several other studies
also showed that if women are
more aware of their risk, they are
more likely to take action to
improve their health. Those who
knew that heart disease is the
leading cause of death in women
were 35 percent more likely to be
physically active and 47 percent
more likely to report wei^t loss
compared to those with less
awareness.
Women’s awareness of (JVD as
die number one killer of women
has steadUy improved since 1997,
when awareness was 30 percent
compared to 55 percent today
However, this knowledge does
n’t always lead to effective treat
ment. Other studies reported that
women continue to be treated less
a^3:essively than men.
“We need to make sure physi
cians are aware that women may
need special tests and differ^t
diagnostic procedures to identity
and treat cardiovascular disease,”
Jacobs said. “Future challenges
will require more research to
understand disparities in care.”
The challenges, she said,
include a need for more research
to understand disparities in care
at a time when national fimding
for research at the National
Institutes of Health has fallen for
the first time in more than 30
years.
In 1997, the American Heart
Association launched a campaign
directed specifically at women
called Take Wellness to Heart.
Tbday the association continues
to lead national efforts to educate
women about their risk This
month marks the third year of the
American Heart Association’s Go
Red For Women movement that
helps educate women as well aa
healthcare providers, caregivers
and policy makers about heart
disease.
Ck) Red For Women connects
with women and shares the tools
and information they need to pro
tect themselves and their loved
ones. Specifically, Go Red For
Women urges women to love their
hearts, perform the Love Your
Heeirt gesture and Go Red in their
own fashion
• Love Your Heart. By loving
your own heart, you can save it.
When womai learn to love their
Rease see HEART/3B
TT-