Selma: 25 Years Lai ! v J** ' \ ? Civil rights leaders re-create 'Bloody Sunday' In Alabama offers academics id caring and hope S0SHKB555SS"! 30 Pages This Week Thursday, March 8, 1990 Winston-Salem Chronicle 50 cents "The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly" VOL. XVI, No. 28 'Niggers out-whiting white folks' must be purged from community, leader says By ROBIN BARKSDALE Chnonide Staff Writer = ? . - T. Willard Fair, the executive dircctorjtfthe Urban League of Greater Miami, drew both shocked gasps and nods of agreement last weekend when lie suggested - that some city resident, who recendy made headlines, was a good candidate for his "Nigger of the Year Award." Mr. Fair, the featured speaker at the Chronicle's "We must decide for ourselves and not allow them to decide v>hich of those people repre senting us must come or go." - T. Willard Fair annual awards banquet, saidlftaiheTegqiarly selects an individual in Miami whose dubious actions make them standouts for the award. Mr. Fair has followed recent Chronicle ^headlines and he said that he is convinced that Winston-Salem has a prime candidate for "Nigger of the Year." "I've started giving out what I call the 'Nigger of the Year Award' to the person that can best out-white white folks," said Mr. Fair, the executive director of the Urban League of Greater Miami. "I read my Chronicle and I read it religiously. And Winston-Salem, ya'U got problems. You have got somebody up here that is out Keep Children In School 'Action Plan' cracks down on truancy ^ Uy TONYA "\A~3MITH * ? ==;: Chronide Staff Writer Truancy is the cause of many absences among stu dents in the Winston- Salem/Forsyth County Schools. When students have an excessive amount of absences, they are more prone to drop out of school. And drop outs, said Police Chief George L. Sweat, usually end up on the wrong end of a pair of handcuffs. In an attempt to end the cycle of events caused by truancy, a committee of school officials, service agen cies and law enforcement personneFpresented a "Tru ancy Watch Action Plan," Monday, to the city-county school board. The Truancy Watch Committee was divided into six subgroups - education, business, legislative, law enforcement, family advocacy and communication - and each had the task of studying different aspects of the problem. Each subgroup reported its findings and an executive committee, composed of the chairs of each subgroup, was formed to synthesize recommendations which comprise the action plan, said Barbara K. Please see page A9 Staff Photo the NAACP, served on thactty Board tan, And new Patrick T. Halrston has shockad tha community with Ms campaign tor tha Porsyth County Board of Commlaatonars. whiting white folks and who should be ya'll's 'nigger of the year.' " Mr. Fair did not mention specific local individuals that he would target for the award but he did say that_ recent headlines in the paper had convinced him that " the awara wouiaoe well-deserved. He said tliat often those individuals he considers candidates for his award are quick to respond by citing their individual "right" to perform a particular action which may not be in the . best interest of their minority constituents. But Mr. Fair said that those individuals have no right other thaiMo do what is best for the people they represent. "They don't have no right when the only reason they are allowed a chair at the table is because of my miseryr" _ he said. "They're not there because they are any smarter than anybody else. They're there because the other people want someone there who looks like the problem to articu late what the problem is alt about. Those people are out whiting white folks in their own best interest and 1 submit - to you that those persons must be purged from your com munity. We cannot sit back in the name of community sol idarity and not purge our community. If some white folks had done to ya'll what I read a black person did to ya'll up here, ya'll would be ready to march. But because they're black, you come up with excuses, like 'Well, let's just wait and see.' " Such rationale Mr. Fair said, is consistent with the Please see page A9 RJR Gives $4 Million WSSU Chancellor Cleon F. Thompson Jr. extends a friendly hand to RJR chair and chief execu tive officer James W. Johnston. At a Tuesday luncheon, the Reynolds executive presented a $14 million gift to the university's Centennial Campaign fund. See story on page A2. Halrston says commissioners' vote prompted him to run for office again By TONYA V.SMITH Chronicle Staff Writer / His blunt and abrupt nature has always caught people unawares. Although he has been one of the most vocal proponents of Afro- American equality, he has frequently been chastised by members of the race. T V ? "! U Usr-'