Community News B1
Peace Corps seeks black volunteers
By ROBIN BARKSDALE
Community News Editor
Afro-Americans traditionally have made up only a
small percentage of the Peace Corps volunteer pool, but
recruiters say the benefits of Peace Corps work make it
a viable option for the country's minority populations.
Colin Enger, in the Triad area on a recruiting tour,
said that Peace Corps volunteers have the opportunity
to provide more than lip service to the solution of the
world's problems. But he said, too, that for Afro-Amer
icans the rewards can run even deeper.
"The Peace Corps provides an opportunity for
Afro-Americans to become leaders and to further
develop their leadership skills," said Mr. Enger, who
spent two years in a Togo, W. African village as a
physics teacher. "It's a great experience in terms of get
ting more of a perspective 6n race relations in the Unit
ed States."
>r* M0tks?vAs an Am&icun black,
^part of a proud tradiliomoj ' peopl
| people. lit the PeafcCorp^yo'^
the chance to serve a larger comrnui
of reemftmffl |
. . ' : -
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And, he said, there are practical benefits. Return
ing Peace Corps volunteers receive one year of prefer
ential hiring status for government jobs. A portion of
National Direct Student Loans are forgiven for volun
teers and they are entitled ta a^ deferment of payments
on those loans and some other educational loans. Sev
eral of the country's colleges and universities offer aca
demic credit for Peace Corps service, and scholarships
and assistantships are available to returning volunteers.
More than 5,000 Afro- Americans have served as
Peace Corps volunteers since the agency's work began
in 1961. In 1978, Dr. Carolyn Payton, an attorney and
Howard University faculty member, became tfie first
Afro- American and the first woman appointed as direc
tor of the Peace Corps. Afro- Americans currently make
up 2.4 percent of the Peace Corps volunteers and
trainees, but Mr. Enger said that the agency hopes to
increase that number in the near future. Afro
Americans and other minorities, !* said, lend a unique i
perspective to the work of thc Corps and often return to
r
America with a different view of the world as well as
their homeland.
"Americans who go over and learn what it's like in
another culture and what it's like to organize people can
come back and do the same thing here. The Peace
Corps is a leadership experience/' Mr. Enger said. "It's
an extremely good way to get a healthy perspective on
the United States. If you spend two years away, you
learn that the American way isn't always the best way
of doing things. When you come back you have another
perspective. I came back with an African perspective. I
could see America the way people in Africa see it."
Vinnette Jones, director of recruitment, is con
cerned by the shortage of Afro-Americans opting for
Peace Corps service because she said there are many
rewards available to participants.
"As a black woman who has been associated with
the Peace Corps since 1971, I am concerned that our
program does not have more blacks," said Ms. Jones.
"The Peace Corps, after all, is for all Americans, for
men and women from 18 to 80. As the Peace Corps
expands toward a roster of 10,000 volunteers, it is my
hope that more blacks will join and reap the benefits
thousands of other volunteers have enjoyed. Peace
Corps service offers you a chance to explore a wider
world, to polish your leadership abilities, to find great
personal satisfaction. As an American black, you are
part of a proud tradition of people helping people. In
the Peace Corps, you have the chance to serve a larger
community."
Mr. Enger said that many individuals forgo Peace
Corps service because they have accepted the stereo
type that volunteers are all idealists who believe they
-can save the world. What the Corps actually looks for
um between optimism and realism.
"You have to have a desire to help in a pragmatic
way instead of sitting around and thinking about the -
world's problems," said Mr. Enger. "Instead of sending
$5, you're going in helping farm and you can see the
benefits of what you're doing. You have to have a blend
of pragmatism and idealism now as opposed to the 60s.
The Peace Corps is looking for people with some kind
of skill to offer to the developing world."
Peace Corps volunteers are called upon to teach
instructors how to teach English, to demonstrate farm
ing techniques and to bring medical technology to vil
lages. The Peace Corps, Mr. Enger said, is not a two
vacation, but it is a valuable experience for any
individual. Volunteers spend three months learning the
*
gjVWj
Colin Enger, a regional recruiter with the Peace Corps organization, Is visiting North Carolina on
a recruitment trip that will include stops in the Triad area.
language of the land that they will call home during
their two-year stay abroad. They live in huts and shacks
with few if any of the modern conveniences Americans
have come to consider necessities. Volunteers adjust to
the varied tastes of native foods and they adjust to the
customs and tradition of their villages. Mr. Enger said
that by working through problems in other areas of the
world, Peace Corps volunteers return to the United
States with the tools and leadership skills that will
enable ihem to attack some of the problems in their
own back yards. "
"There is really no price you can put on the joy of
being able to see our work lake place. You make a dif
ference in the day-to-day living of the people in the vil
lage you live in," he said. "If you were to measure the
number of people's lives changed by the Peace Corps, it
would be in the millions."
A Peace Corps representative will be at the
Greensboro Public Library July 20 and 21 to talk to
interested individuals from the Triad area . The Thurs
day session will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and
Friday's session will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Former city alderman disturbed by blacks ' apathy
By ROBIN BARKSDALE ??
Chronicle Staff Writer
Former East Ward Alderman
C.C. Ross Sr. has seen Afro- Ameri
can politics come nearly full circle
since he first entered local politics,
and he is bothered by the apparent
lack of interest among today's vot
ers.
Mr, Ross, the East Ward's first
alderman, helped to stir local Afro
Americans into political action in
the early 1960s. An Army veteran,
Mr. Ross said he returned to Win
ston-Salem armed with leadership
experience and an interest in being
a part of the action.
"I came bade from the service
and that was when we started a new
movement among blacks," said the
75-year-old Mr. Ross. "We wanted
to get involved in politics. We got
together aitd went to meetings.
Then after we started showing up at
all the meetings, they started to
change the times and locations at
the last minute. We'd have to hurry
around and try to find out where the
meeting had been changed to. They
did things to keep us from coming
but that just made me want to get
more involved."
Mr. Ross, along with the late
Carl Russell and other leaders,
spent time watching local politics in
action and faithfully reported back
to the Afro-American community.
Mr. Ross said that before that time
the Afro-American community had
not been overly active in politics in
terms of getting out and voting, but
that the tide began to change once
they became more informed.
"People were concerned once
they found out what was going on
and that they could be a part of it,
too/ he said. nI think that when
they found things out, that's when
people became more interested in
helping us get involved. By going
to the meetings we became educat
ed and that was the beginning of all
of iL"
For Mr. Ross, those early
actions were the start of a political
life that would see him serve four
terms on the Board of Aldermen
and act as mayor pro tem and chair
of the board's finance committee,
the first Afro-American to hold the
position.
But Mr. Ross' activities were
not limited to the confines of issues
broached in the aldermen's cham
bers. He served as a member of the
Winston-Salem State University
Board of Trustees for 12 years. He
was the board's first Afro- American
chair for the academic year 1973
74. Mr. Ross is credited with initiat
ing efforts to allocate funds to relo
cate Stadium Drive and to construct
the Francis Atkins and Hall-Patter
son Communications buildings at
WSSU.
Mr. Ross, a native of Missis
sippi, said involvement was some
thing he learned from his parents,
who taught in West Virginia and at
Hampton Institute. His father, who
became impressed with Hampton
during a teacher exchange visit,
vowed that his children would
attend the school. As his father had
hoped, Mr Ross found the Hamp
ton facilities attractive and enrolled
in the school. He said that his lead
ership skills got an opportunity to
flourish while he was at Hampton
and that he took advantage of every
opportunity to be involved in the
campus activities.
He received his degree in
painting and decorating and was
offered a position at Winston
Salem's Atkins High School. He
had not been at Atkins long before
receiving an offer to teach at West
Virginia State. He packed up his
family and headed for West Vir
ginia where he taught for several
years before answering the call
from Uncle SamTs army.
"I came back to Winston
Salem when I got out of the army
because I decided I was going to do
what I had always wanted to do and
that was run my own painting and
decorating business/ said Mr.
Ross, who opened his business in
1947.
Shortly after opening his busi
ness, Mr. Ross said he rediscovered
his interest in being involved and
entered local politics. But, he said,
the original enthusiasm among
Afro-Americans has softened over
the years and that they have again
settled into complacency.
"Blacks feel that they don't
need as much as they used to and
they think that they have over
come," he said. "We've got to do
Please see page B5
photo by Mike Curwinghan
C.C. Ross
I
'Education and the Black Student' topic of NAACP forum
By THE REV. CARLTON
A G. EVERSLEY
Special To The Chronide
On Wednesday, July 26, at 7
p.m. at Dellabrook Presbyterian
Church, 115 Dellabrook Road, the
NAACP Education Committee will
hold its second community forum
on the topic "Education and the
Black Student in Winston
Salem/Forsyth County.
This is the second forum in a
series of three, one each in June,
July and August.
The goal of these forums
together is to bring the various
viewpoints into focus from the
black community in order to priori
tize our goals for the new school
superintendent and the school
board.
To enable this to happen, a
form has been designed to reflect
the desires of any person attending
the forums.
In the firsi forum, held on June
28 at Shiloh Baptist Church, Dr.
Barbara K. Phillips lifted up the
goals of the local school system,
and Sam Puryear, principal of Park
land High School, told how he and
his staff try to upgrade the perfor
mance of underachieving students.
Willa Sumler, a parent,
expressed concerns about drug use
in the system, and her son, Christo
pher Henderson, a 1989 graduate of
Carver High School, reflected on
the local system from his own expe
rience.
Beyond the panelists, much of
the discussion from the audience
centered on whether or not the sys
tem's goals were realistic and/or
whether the needs of black students
were being adequately addressed. A
frank and lively exchange of opin
ions ensued on these issues.
All panelists and audience par-,
ticipants agreed that it was time
well spcnL
Often the Afro-Amciican com
munity finds itself in a reacting
position to others in the educational
(and other) system(s). These com
munity forums, arc designed to be
proactive and initiating a black edu
cational agenda for Winston
Salem/Forsyth County.
Moreover, the objectivity of the
forms to be filled out lifts us from
the realm of personality power
plays.
It won't matter as much what
the individual opinions of persons
in the NAACP 01 even the NAACP
Education Committee arc; what will
be advocated is the collective plan
of the entire black community as
gleaned from the priority form.
Wednesday, July 26, at 7 p.m.
at Dellabrook Presbyterian Church
continues the journey toward unity
in pursuit of black educational
cxcellcncc.