HURRY HOME EDWARD TORRENCE
THE TRIBUNAL AID
SERVICE TO ALL
VOLUMN 1. NO. 5
WEDNESDAY, JUNK 27. 1973
Press Run 5000
Father Bernadine Watson, S. A. Passes
Promised
June Wedding Bells
by Eva Stewart
News has been received
that Father Bernadine
Watson, S.A., formerly of
High Point, N.C. died
Tuesday evening in
Washington, D.C. after a
prolonged illness.
In 1940 Father Bernadine
founded Christ the King
Catholic Parish, 1600 Kivett
Drive, and served there until
1946. In 1961, he was ag^in
appointed pastor of Christ
the King.
He was a native of
Philadelphia, Pa. After
attending high school in
Easton, Pa., he entered St.
John’s Seminary, Graymoor,
Garrison, N.Y. in 1928,
where he began his priestly
training. Father Bernadine
did his philosophical and
theological studies at Catholic
University of America,
Washington, D.C. Bishop
John McNamara of
Washington, ordained him to
the priesthood on February
10, 1938 at the National
Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception.
Father Bernadine has held
FATHER BERNADINE WATSON
church posts in Canada,
serving as Parish Priest of St.
Paul’s Church in Port Chapel
in Vancouver and of
Atonement Church in
Kinston, Canada. In 1955 he
was appointed superior of the
Atonement Theological
Seminary, Washington, D.C.
He held this office until
1961 when he was again
appointed pastor of Christ
the King, the church he
established.
Father Bernadine will long
be remembered for his
unceasing efforts to establish
a church in High Point for
black catholics. He came with
httle funds and few wordly
possessions but with an
abounding faith in Divine
Providence; and he was able
to inspire hundreds of
benefactors to contribute
financially and spiritually
towards to fulfillment of this
plan.
Today a modern colonial
style brick church, a sturdy
rectory, convent and school
stand as a monument to his
ambition and his priestly
work.
Condolenses may be sent
to his sister, Mrs. Johr
Knoblock, 58 Bayberry
Street, St. James, L.I., New
York.
Labor
Committee
Voice
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
Secretary of Labor Peter J.
Rrennan has pledged a
nationwide “Partnership
with Women” to improve the
status of women in all areas
of the economy. As a means
to that end, he intends to set
up a worhen’s advisory
committee to the Depart
ment of Labor which will
have substantial black and
other minority represen
tation.
Meeting for the first time
with representatives of
seven national women’s
organizations, Brennan said
the U.S. Department of
Labor will focus its efforts on
expanding opportunities for
women in occupations not
presently open to them.
“THERE IS no reason
qualified women should not
be able to work where and
when they want, at jobs they
want to do,” Brennan said
following the meeting.
Continued on Page 2
MRS. oPejWCER DAVIS
UNC Soul Teacher Has Unique Style
By STEVE ADAMS
Th» Chap«l Hill Newspap«r,
SfaH Writsr
CHAPEL HILL - “In every
Negro there is a potential
Black Man,” reads the caption
for a poster hanging in the of
fice of Dr. James Brewer at
the University of North Caroli
na at Chapel Hill.
The picture shows a virile
black with an afro climbing
from the skin of a Steppen-
fetchit stereotype Negro. It
symbolizes something of the
mission Dr. Brewer, a one
time boxer- and football play
er, feels in his position as the
first professor in UNO’s Afri
can and Afro-American stud
ies curriculum.
“ ‘Negro’ carries the conno
by Wayne S. Pray, Director
As many residents of
Southside High Point know
by now the much discussed
and planned Neighborhood
Development Program (NDP)
for that neighborhood is at a
virtual stand still. The drastic
curtailment of Model Cities
and Urban Renewal Programs
and supportative Federal
Housing Programs are the
basic cause. The Second Year
effort for the Southside
Neighborhood Development
Program to start in July of
this year will do little more
than complete the basic work
started in the First Year. That
work is principly, preparing a
two acre site for housing
development and a paving
adjacent streets, with some
small amount of
rehabilitation to existing
homes. Original estimates to
rebuild the entire Southside
Neighborhood which
undoubtly would be much
more today, called for some
fifteen million dollars. So far
in the Neighborhood
Development Program itself
some five hundred thousand
tation of emulation — the de
sire to emulate what? ... the
white American,” he ex
plained. “To call us ‘Afro-
American’ makes us a people
just like the Irish-Americans
or the Italian-Americans- The
only thing the ‘Negro’ has for
a heritage is slavery and op
pression. Itis a name that was
given.”
Dr. Brewer’s appointment
was announced last month.
Last year, he served as acting
co-director of the black studies
program as a visiting profes
sor of history from N.C. Cen
tral University in Durham.
Brewer developed his class
room style, a fill-in-the-blanks
conversation, in 24 years of
“soul teaching” at Virginia
State College in Petersburg
and N.C. Central.
The black people respond to
emotion in learning rather
than abstract iceas, he said.
“Soul teaching” means getting
the students emotionally in
volved in the subject so they
will make the move from the
emotional to the abstract on
their own. Dr, Brewer said.
“We try to focus to see
what’s happening and we re
peat a lot to get a sense of his
tory — a feel for the meaning
of history, a feel of the culture
as a device to get the kids to
learn history. That's what we
call ‘soul teaching,’ ” he said.
The problems of a black stu
dent at a predominantly white
university are a little different
from those on a black campus.
“I find one of the unfulfilled
neeas of black students that
the University is picking up is
to provide what? ... ego mod
els in the world of academia,”
Dr. Brewer said. “This in
volves hiring competent, high
ly trained blacks. Thp wnrst
thing you could do is hire an
ass.
“When a black kid comes to
this campus, where does he
find black adults? Right, with
a pick and shovel. These kids
need black professors — my
office is like the lobby of a ho
tel at a convention. A lot of
kids come to talk to me. It's
kind of a catharis for them.”
His course in black history
has a salutory effect on a
black kid full of hate, he said,
but also on a white student
steened in American mytholo-
gy
' “If you look at history with
a black focus, the result is
what? ... blind hostility. If you
look at history with an Ameri
can focus, it begins to put
tnings in a more reasonaoie
focus,” he said.
Blacks were brought to this
country for exploitation, Dr.
Brewer said, but so were mil
lions of Europeans.
“The most amazing thing
happens in my class,” Brewer
said. “There is a metamorpho-
sib of both black kids and
white kids. The black student
learns he is not the only vic
tim of exploitation and the
white student learns that his
heritage is one of exploitation,
too.”
Dr. Brewer is finishing a
Boon: entitled “The Black
Ethos,” detailing the change
in the black psyche in the 20th
century, particularly the dec
ade of the ’60s, and the migra
tion of blacks out of the South.
“The migration of the black
people is going to Americanize
America,” Dr. Brewer said.
“This nation is going to be
come a multi-cultural nation
— it’s a melting pot, right?
Black America is moving to
America.”
The movement of blacks out
of the South is a migration, in
his interpretation, as impor
tant to the history of the Unit
ed States as tiie westward
movement in the 19th century.
“The Confederate Negro,”
Dr. Brewer’s first book, won
Sergeant
Is First In
Engineering
She Ranks In
Top Half Of
22 "Man" Class
FT. EUSTIS, VA.-“Any
objections to having a black,
WAC grandmother enrolled
in your class?” came the
voice over the telephone,
direct and to the point.
Such was the marine
engineer course instructor’s
Continued on Page 7
High Point Model City Commission Notes
dollars in federal funds has
been spent and another one
hundred eighty thousand
dollars will be spent in year
two of this program.
Although the very large
sums of money required have
never been available, as
originally hoped for, a
considerable investment has
been made in the physical
development of that
neighborhood. It might be
well to list these programs, as
they beg the question; how
do we now proceed to
capitalize on these
investments m a manner
which will not allow further
decay to negate the defmite
progress that has been made.
Prior to listing these
investments, it should be
noted that this neighborhood
is still far above the most
bhghted neighborhood in
High Point with a very
inadequate environment and
should be the first priority
for any physical development
funds from whatever source.
During recent years the
following investments have
been made in the Southside
Neighborhood. The Southside
Multi-Purpose Center, which
after much bureaucratic delay
will be out for construction
bids this month; The
Southside Park, which has
been acquired, cleared and
will be partly developed
starting late this summer;
major improvements to the
Hillside recreation area; the
replacing of an out-fall sewer
line, the Municipal Operation
Center Study which pointed
the way for the removal of
the city garage from the
Southside Neighborhood; the
City Garage project itself
which initiated the move of
the City Garage from this
Residential Neighborhood;
the Rodent Control and
Stream Clearance Project
which has been well executed
in the Southside
Neighborhood; Relocation
activities which have carried
very adequate reimburse
ments to many Southside
families living in mostly
sub-standard homes and
finally the NDP itself which
started in July ot 1972. These
investments total a dollar
amount of $1,939,439.00.
Further, in recent years, there
has been some minor private
investment in housing which
probably would not have
happened without the public
investment in this
neighborhood-
In addition, a variety of
new Social Services and
projects have been provided
in the Southside
Neighborhood. They include:
The Demonstration Health
Center, which recently closed
but only after having pave the
way for the City wide
out-patient clinic at the
Hospital which will open next
month; other health projects
include, Family Planning
Clinic and Sickle Cell Testing
and Counciling; the Outreach
Office of the Social Services
Department has provided
timely and constant
assistance to the Southside
residents; Day Care Centers
for working Southside
mothers have been provided
along with opportunities to
receive credit counciling,
assistance in finding a job and
free college education for
some disadvantaged students.
No one can deny the
positive influence of the
above mentioned programs in
improving the quality of li, 3
for the Southside resic- nts.
On the other hand it is
admitted that little progress
has been made in that area in
which Southside residents
most desire progress;
improvements of the physical
environment especially paving
the streets, the RehabiUtation
of homes and the building of
new homes.
Admittedly there is
presently a lack of resources
to accomplish physical
development in this
neighborhood but it still
remains within the power of
Southside residents to
influence the commitment of
future resources for
re-building this neighbor
hood. Most Southsdie
residents feel that there is
something less than a
complete commitment by
city council to rebuild this
neighborhood and until and if
such a commitment is
reaffirmed, then substantial
allotments from next years
community development
program budget or any other
funding sources will not be
made. At this point it appears
that the community
development program will be
the vehicle for rebuilding the
Southside Neighborhood. If
this program is approved by
Congress by next spring and
started in High Point in July
1974 there will be a Block
Grant from the federal
government in excess of four
million dollars. This
community development
Program however, is a city
wide program, and no one
neighborhood could
realistically expect to receive
all the benefits from this
grant. The block grant itself
will incorporate the existing
categorical, federal programs
of Model Cities, Urban
Renewal, Neighborhood
Facihties, Open Space, and
Water and Sewer Programs. If
for some reason this program
is not passed by Congress,
then it is very likely that
Congress will refund the
categorical programs
mentioned above for another
year and these resources
could potentially be used in
Southside.
The responsibility for
continuing the effort to
rebuild Southside and
capitaUzing on previous
investments is a responsibiUty
divided between City
Councilman, The City
Manager, PoUcy Makers in the
Housing Authority and the
Model City Commission and
finally the Southside
Residents themselves. Should
the city council set a very high
priority for rebuilding the
Southside in their goals
statements, the allocation of
the available and appropriate
resources will naturally
follow. Many Southside
residents are undoubtedly
discouraged, disgusted or
both, but it will be wasteful
indeed not to follow up on
the limited progress to date.
Janice LaVern Spencer,
daughter of Mr. & Mrs.
WiUiam McKinley Spencer of
Henry Place, and Craig
Alexander Davis, son of Mr.
Harold Davis and the late
Jane Alexander Davis, were
united in marriage on
Saturday afternoon at the
home of the bride.
The Reverend James
Robertson officiated at the
3:00 p.m. ceremony. Mrs.
Audrea Stewart was organist.
Given in marriage by her
father, the bride was attired
in a formal gown of silk
organza, with pearls and lace
trimming the bodice and
neckline. The gown had long
full sleeves with fitted cuffs.
The A lined skirt had a full
length chapel train. The
bride’s headpiece was a
camelot style cap of sheer silk
organza with a bouffant silk
tulle veil.
Miss Sharon Bruton was
the honor attendant. The
bridegroom selected his
brother, Mr. Steven Davis to
serve as best man.
The new Mrs. Davis is a
graduate of T. Wingate
Andrews High School, and
Guilford Technical Institute.
She is secretary to the
manager of Foster Brothers
Manufacturing Company.
Mr. Davis is a graduate of
T. Wingate Andrews High
School and is studying at
A&T State University.
Mr. & Mrs. Davis are at
home in Springfield Town
House Apartments.
Mr. & Mrs. WiUiam
McKinley Spencer
entertained at a reception
honoring their daughter and
son-in-law, Mr. & Mrs. Craig
Davis following their marriage
on Saturday, June 23.
The reception was held at
the Masonic Hall.
Mr. & Mrs. Davis greeted
guest from 4 until 6 p.m.
Although it is not the most
efficient way to plan, the old
addage “the squeaky wheel
gets the grease” still has a
validity in this election year.
City Council and other
decision makers must be
intimate with the problems
of Southside residents or they
could not possibly and
adequately respond to those
problems. Although for many
residents the process of
citizen participation in
government decision making
is a long and difficult process,
it is still a vital process if
Southside is to successfully
compete for the limited
resources available.
WHAT’S INSIDE
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Editorials 4
Religion 3
High Point
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