Thursday, May 17, 1990 ? VOL. XVI, No. 39
80 cants
36 Pagaa This waak
"The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly"
Drug war heating up; black communities under siege
Shore killed. Brown killed. Nowlln charged.
Try to set a positive example for your children to follow and tell them to give
the Lord some of their time. ... Guide them and pray for them, then if tragedy
comes you can deal with it. "
- Chlories Shore
( ?
Two dead; mothers griovo
as druijwar escalates
By RUDY ANDERSON
Chfonfcte Managing Editor
Last Sunday should have been a happy
occasion for women with children. But for two
women in this city, Mother's Day 1990 will For
ever be frozen in their memory as a time of
tragedy, as the time when their sons were mur
dered.
"It's been a hard couple of days for me, M
said Chlories P. Shore in an interview Tuesday.
Ptea$e see page A11
SambQ. Sold At Bookstore - ______
?Book furthers racial stereotypes
By ROBIN BARKSOALE
Chronicle Staff Writer
A discussion of a childhood experi
ence with a painful story is causing feel
ings of uneasiness in the community and
raisins the issue of
censorship vs. good
taste.
Last week, D.
Smith, president and
GEO of the Winston
Salem Urban League,
shared a recollection
of one of her first
experiences with
racism. She talked of
the pain that she felt
while listening to the
tale of a dark-skinned
lad, dressed in bright
ly-colored clothes
who managed to out
wit several tigers and
take hundreds of pan
cakes home to his family. The story was
the tale of "Little Black Sambo," a book
around which controversy and charges of
racism have swirled for years. But, here in
1990, Ms. Smith and other community
members are feeling some consternation
over the fact that the book is still available
at public libraries.
Ms. Smith said that she thought the
book had been removed from shelves
across the country in the 1960s and that it
was no longer available. She said she was
outraged when alocal resident brought lier
a copy of the book which had been pur
chased at a local store. She was even more
-"ninr ^?nxinriiiii,
LBS courtty of Reity A Britton Co. 9 1908 (Hlus. by John ft NeW)
frustrated, she said, when a
league staff member discov
ered that the book was cata
loged at the public library.
"I went into the educa
tional system extremely trust
ing," said Ms. Smith. "But in
kindergarten, the teacher
called us into a circle and began to read to
us from this book. That's how I saw
myself in the educational system: patent
leather black, shiny with braids and look
ptea$e see page A9
" That's how I saw
myself in the educa
tional system: patent
leather black , shiny
with braids and look
ing like Buckwheat. I
remember him ('Little
Black Sambo ) being
so smart he could
outwit tigers but /
knew he didn't turn
them into butter
Those images horri
fied me."
- Delores Smith
Renewed caltloncorfew draws fire
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
Murders, shootings and fights among
youth in the city's public housing areas is
proof enough that something needs to be
done to alleviate drug trafficking* however,
neither the aldermen nor residents have an
answer as to what should be done.
On Sunday, 19-year-old Thomas Derrick
Shore of Pfafftown was shot in the head dur
ing a shootout in Happy Hill Gardens.
Also killed was Brian Christopher
Brown, 18, of 930 Cleveland Ave.
Because of their deaths, numerous
other violent incidents and a fear for
their safety, in April leaders from the
public housing communities suggested
that the aldermen consider establishing
a curfew in the four neighborhoods to
keep teenagers off the streets at night.
The aldermen's Public Safety
Committee scheduled a follow-up dis
cussion of the issue for Monday and
asked that police Chief George L.
Sweat and the public safety attorney
present their case. But three and a half
hours into the meeting when the item
came up on the agenda, residents used
the opportunity to express their feelings on
the issue.
Walter Marshall, president of the local
branch of the NAACP, called such a selective
curfew unconstitutional and said such a. move
on the part of the city could be interpreted as
a racial incident
Alderman Vivian H. Burke, chair of the
committee, conceded that at the present time
the board can't legally install a curfew.
Khalida Lovell, chair of Concerned
Mothers of Forsyth County, proposed that her
group be allowed to "reteach parents the val
ues of parenthood/ saying that change in the
neighborhoods must first begin in the home.
Others agreed, but those people living in the
public housing areas said a curfew might not
be the answer but that something needs to be
done to restore peace in their neighborhoods.
"We're not just asking for a curfew but
Please see page A11
they will
Photo by LB. Speas Jr.
From left, Amy Hageman, Donna Radar, D. Smith, David Abernathy, Lee Faye
Mack, Felicia Klrby and East ward Alderman Virginia Newell discuss how to
combat neighborhood drug problems.
Community gets outside help
on ideas insight against drugs
By ROBIN BARKSDALE
Chronicle Staff Writer
Marie Christopher never liked interacting
with the police. They were there and she J
respected their authority and that, she said, was
the extent of her involvement But her attitude
changed after she was exposed to the effects of
living among drug dealers.
Ms. Christopher and her family, who live in
government-subsidized Section 8 housing, were
burned out of the apartment they had occupied
for several years. The accident left them home
less. When they were able to relocate, they were
moved to another location. Her experiences in
that situation, she said, set her on a mission to
rid drug dealers from her neighborhood and
helped her form an alliance with the Citizens
Committee for New York, an anti-drug organi
Please see page A 1 0
Tracking racist, audit concludes
By ROBIN BARKSDALE
Chronicle Staff Writer
High schools in tne Win
ston -Sal em/Forsyth County
school system have received
a poor rating from an audit of
the local curriculum and the
report's findings on the track
ing system, which it classi
fied as "segregationist" and
ultimately "racist" are
expected to have the most
direct effect on African
American students.
The audit describes the
local tiered tracking system
"perhaps the most
glaring deficiency of
the entire school pro
gram in WSFC" and
concludes that the
practice has "lowered
pupil learning expecta
tions and resegregated
the high schools."
Tracking in the
local system is used
to group students into leveled
groups based on ability. But
the report found that the Win
ston -Salem/Forsyth County
system has employed track
ing in a subjective manner
Bailey
Com*
that is having a discriminato
ry effect on black students.
"The subjective nature of
tracking criteria and their
Please see page A10