Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / March 14, 1991, edition 1 / Page 4
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"* r?i j a M ?::*!. . ???"? ? ? ?. ? ?; ?' T' ;;?? r .'? ''?? ? v-: ? ?Founded 1974 W* : f ?? v:; v- ;j? s- . m m sp Publisher ,;:' v:^ ERNEST H. PITT - t NDUBISI EGEMONYE tnmmmjf, Co-Founder |K?r<ry-ff-' ? ' ^Vll'lTl'; *' ' ' " ? " ' w ?*?" '? - ' ?v >. -?i | ; ELAINE L PITT VIVAPORN P. : Director of Community RATANACHAROENSIRI ..r ' Relations vi Controller . ? "V IMHWI >w w? ?(? VIIWI ys-j ?' -??. ?' v ? ? ?- -?*.?? ??;?? ?:> :>?ShP ^ RUDY ANDERSON ffejil;. _ Managing Editor M Think pro franchise * ' * . 'This community is looking for that first collaborative community wide success story. Community leaders have gotten together and pro duced a long range strategic economic development plan. The Forsyth Community Development Council is getting input from those leaders on a course of action. Consider this. Redirect the focus of the local sports commission from being an advocate and/or promoter of only local sports or sports related events to seeking out potential investors interested in bringing professional sports enterprises to the area. No ,this is not about becom ing an expansion city for the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, or the National Hockey League or any of the other major sporting franchises. At least not yet. For your consideration, we ask that you consider those sports opera tions that are just beginning, those that are at this moment trying to find a home base of operation that will provide the kind of support environ ment that will promote the growth of a fledgeling sports enterprise and make our community the center of a new-age sports and championship gaming industry. The overtures are already in the air. Leaders of the Greater Win ston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, community leaders, and leaders in the business community are working to bring the CIAA Basketball Tournament and other CIAA championship events to the area. The leadership of the Winston-Salem Sports Commission, albiet half-heartedly) are discusssing the options available for bringing major sporting events to the area that could very well be^an economic boom to our somewhat depressed economy. =--^? -p ? - ? ? ? For most of the other major college events, like the ACC Basketball Tournament for example, Winston-Salem does not have the seating capacity to host those events. But for other events like high school foot ball, wrestling, baseball, boys and women's basketball, or other ACC events that don't command the same type of attention, the field is wide open. ,f The opportunities for building a sports industry infrasturcture for them alsd exist. If Winston-Salem were to aggressively go after, and land, one of the World Football franchises, or Global or Women's Bas ketball League franchises, that opens up a another world of economic opportunity not only for the investors in the franchise but also for those businesses that spring up around the industry. The single fastest-growing industry in our community is in the area of medicine and the applied health field. With a solid medical training community already in place, the potential for the development of a sports medicine industry is possible. That industry alone could be extremely lucrative, considering the potential for endorsements from pharmecutical, sportswear, and other sporting concerns. But to accomplish any of this, Winston-Salem must decide whether or not this is the road it wants to travel. Leaders in our community have spent months and hundreds of man hours trying to come up with a plan to boost the economic growth of the communty. What they have lackcd is a concrete idea in which all segments in our community could play a role. Bringing professional sports franchises into a community is not new, but it is a venture that this community has not done much with in the past. With a larger coliseum, an annex, college campus, city and county sporting facilities better utilized, a lot more could be done if coordinated. Being known as the "city of champions" or the "home of profes sional sports" has a nice ring, don't you think? Besides, if we don't establish this nitch for ourselves, others will do it and reap the benefits. In fact, it is already beginning to happen in others parts of the state. : ^ What's wrong with East Winston? As of this writing the developers of the New Walkertown Market have not secured a drugstore to locate in the new shopping center going Up on New Walkertown Road. We are both amazed and puzzled by this. Practically every other shopping center in this city and county has a drugstore in it. Why won't a drug chain put a store on New Walkertown Road? ? ^ An argument could be made that because Revco has a store in the East Winston Shopping Center there is no need for another one so close. But that argument does not hold up under closer scruntiny. Consider the fact that on Reynolda Road from Polo Road to Shat talon Drive there are no fewer than six shopping ccntcrs and all have drug stores. Additionally, the demographic profile of New Walkertown *Road clearly justifies an additional drugstore. It is estimated lhat more than 20*000 cars pass along New Walkertown Road daily, making it one of the most visible sites in the area. So, what is the problem? As far as can be determined, with the exception of Crown Drugs, no other drugstore is a consistent user of black media. When you couple that with the fact that none seem willing to locate in the African-Ameri can community, the following conclusions regarding the attitude of some retail drugstore owners can be drawn: % ?They feel that African-Americans will have to travel miles across town to purchase their products and do, so why risk opening a store in the community; and ? ? That the risk of shoplifting, vandals, crime, drugs, etc., makes doing business in the African- American community too great. Our community is insulted by such attitudes and rightly so. When you consider the $200,000,000 in spendable income in the African American community you have to wonder why a drugstore would refuse v to get as close to it as possible. The fact that black media is not used, again with the exception of Crown Drugs, suggests that perhaps they do not want to encourage African- Americans to shop in their stores. Sounds crazy, bu i remember what just happened in Los Angeles to fr motorist mugged by the police. Unfortunately, we will never be able to capture attitudes on videotape. The fact of the matter is that East Winston is a great place in which to do business. It is composed of all socio-economic groups. There are some well-to-do African-American neighborhoods, some middle class, some poor but not one neighborhood that we know of that consists sole ly of undesirables. There are more than 300 churches in East Winston which suggests to us that African-Americans are very religious and have good hearts. x It is a shame that we have to beg someone to come into our commur .. WWWUSy common sense to open a drugstore up in the New Walkertown Market. We hope so. Carl Rowan blasts Brown's criticism To the Editor: Tony Brown has written two scurrilous, error-filled and probably libelous articles about me and my new book, Breaking Barriers. It is possible that your newspaper car ried one or both of the articles. If so, 1 ask that you consider the fol lowing facts: ? Brown referred to the U.S. Information Agency, which I head ed in the Johnson Administration, as having an H intelligence function," -which. is absolutely untrue. ? Brown referred lb the Nation al Security Council, on which I sat as the first black man ever, (it was headed in the late Reagan years by Gen. Colin Powell), as "the master spy agency." It is incredible, or irre sponsible, that a man who calls himself a journalist does not know the difference between the White House-based National Security Council, which has no spy role, and the National Security Agency, the super-secret intelligence facility with which I have never been asso ciated. ? Brown uses his ignorance about USIA and NSC as a basis for making sleazy, libelous suggestions that I might in some way have been involved in the surveillances of, and illegal campaigns against, Dr. Mar tin Luther King Jr. Anyone who reads my book will see that this is outrageous innuendo. ? Brown delivers a personal tirade, based on lies, about my including in Breaking Barriers vital, unpublished information about the late FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's campaigns to destroy Dr. King by whispering that the civil rights leader and the late Dr. Ralph Abcrnathy were "sex perverts" and homosexuals. I believe that your newspaper stands for fairness and truth, so I ask that if you ran Brown's articles, you now run this letter. I write in confidence that you will "do the right thing." With best regards, Carl T. Rowan Chicago Sun-Times . < ? ? I ? ? ' "? Brown blamed To the Editor: Congratulations on your found ing of the Winston-Salem Chroni cle. It has been a sourcc of infor mation and a pleasure to read most publications. There is a need for the "Black Press" as was pointed out in the column by Editor Patricia Smith-Deering, especially for reporting positive aspects of the African-American activities and community life. It will continue to survive and grow in readership as long as there are wholesome news items published. The African-American commu nity does not cherish or should^ not cherish the repulsive news articles like the last two or three columns published in the Winston-Salem Chronicle on Thursday, January 31, 1991 and Thursday, February 21, 1991 written by syndicated colum nist Tony Brown. We do not need to embarrass and divide our ethnic CHRONICLE MAI LB AO Our Readers Speak Out ISQAI Decfk group. Enough of that kind of reporting has been done by other groups. We do need to try to bring our group together to work for the common good for all. The African American child needs some heroes and some heroines (women of hero ic achievements) to serve as exam ples for their lives. If columnists continue to write about all of the nefarious things about those whom African- Ameri cans' children have been taught to consider as heroes, it will help to destroy their self-esteem and give them no one to serve as models for their lives. Basically, we as Chris tians know that all human beings are sinful, and therefore we have only one whom we can look to for a perfect life; and that is Jesus Christ. There is a need to build charac ter not tear it down as in the charac ter, assassination in the January 31, 1991 and February 21, 1991 issues of the Chronicle written by colum nist Tony Brown. I am hopeful and I trust that you will continue to publish all of the worthwhile news. I am not only voicing my opinion but also the opinion of some of your other clien tele. Mrs. Sadie McClure Set it straight To the Editor: I would like to set the rccord straight as to my position on district elections of school board members. I am not opposed to African- Ameri can representation on the school board, nor to district elections. I am opposed to most of the current political leadership saying that white racism, not poor leadership, has placed our community in its current predicament. I am also opposed to the appeal to racial anger and white guilt to disguise that failed leadership.. Finally, I am opposed to the ridicu lous notion that districts, without empowering parents, will improve educational opportunity for low income families one bit. While district supporters have made a good case that we African Americans are nice people and hav ing us on the school board would be a good thing, they have yet to make a strong case that, absent their failed political leadership, the at large system discriminates against liberal blacks any more than it dis criminates against liberal whites or any philosophy not shared by the majority of the electorate. This is particularly true when one considers that an African American candidate running as part of a center-right coalition was over whelmingly supported by white vot ers in the county in both 1988 and 1990. Without this vital case, there is insufficient support for changing the system. Besides, the earliest African American representation that can be ensured through district elections is January 1993. If the agenda of many of the district supporters was something other than covering-up their failure as political leaders, they would all call for Nancy Wooten and Candy Wood to resign immediately. After all, African American voters have always sup ported them. It's only fair now that the straight-ticket voting disaster has ensured that they repay us for our loyalty at the polls and step aside. Their resignation would ensure African-American represen tation through the next election and achieve such representation before, the end of March 1991, not January 1993. In regards to the strength of the NAACP's ease, I did not say, "The NAACP has no case." In fact, legal experts in the field have told me that it's hard to say how good the case is until the statistical evidence is examined. I have said that the County Commissioners' suit was settled less on its legal merits and more on political imperatives, the hopes of John Holleman to stave off the inevitable final split between white and African-American Democrats. Finally, I am disappointed that you failed to inform your readership that you caught an elected official in a bold-face lie as their involve ment with the disastrous straight ticket voting effort inspired by the Gantt campaign. This cov^r-up, called Ganttgate for lack of ^ better term, does not protect African American officials. That's what the African-American media thought it was doing by not exposing Marion Barry. Failing to hold Barry account able resulted in him forsaking the public trust in an ever bolder fash ion. Such lack of hard-hitting reporting in the Ganttgate matter speaks to a failure in your responsi bility to serve the community at large. Vernon Robinson Director N.C.'s PAC for Effective Schools Did you forget? To the Editor: Mrs. McLean shouldn't have forgotten 'Lurl's Tresses House & Beauty Shop" on 7th and Patterson between Hooper's Grocery Store and Dr. Leroy Hall's office in the '50s. I opened business in 1948 on top of 11th St. hill at 1017 E. 11th St. I had a successful business, advertised well, and was licensed. My business was competition to LaMae Beauty College on the next corner. For 20 years, I had a mail order house for hairpieces made by hand with human hair. I had to move because of redevelop ? men V^nd. fire several times. At one time f was in the same building with Mrs: McLean. I can understand why she didn't remember. But I am sure I am not forgotten. Because of my standard of business, I was always in parades in the business section. I won 1st prizes most of the time in the busi ness section. Please give my busi ness credit although 1 am no longer in business. It did last about 25 years in all. My business was a great help to the community and was one of its kind in the city and state at that time. When I took the state boards I passed with an "A'* average and kept a Grade A business with a sec retary and four operators with all phases of beauty and culture. . Thanks, if you list my business although 1 am retired now. My busi ness will never be forgotten. "Lurl" stood for hair color, fashion and beauty. Mrs, Lurline P. Tyson Winston-Salem Against the odds: these ten men still made it They stood in a circlc looking at each other talking about their lives. There were ten of them. They could afford to look back, now that they had made it No, it hadn't been easy for them when they grew up. Black men had very few options. ? They placed the cards they'd been dealt in a game where the odds were stacked against them and the dealer was lying and cheating, all the while dealing aces to somebody else from the bottom of the deck. Yet these men made it. To be sure, they had to make some very tough choices along the way ? choices 4hat would ultimately place them ir. harm's way. Eight of these ten men had served in the United States military. As they looked around the room, they asked one simple ques tion: "Where wojld you be had it not been for the military?" The answer was unanimous. "I don't know where I'd be if it weren't for the military." These were our lawyers, doctors, dentists, teachers, preachers, businessmen, and our executives. These were the plft&rs of the black community talk ing; the men to whom we've all turned for leadership and for wis dom. Each had been through the Contrary to what you have military and each pointed to that heard from some of our so-called experience as being key to his sue- black leaders who will do anything cess. . to draw a crowd, black folks not Like most of us, these men only supported the war, including were discussing the question of President Bush's oolicv, but thev ON THE AVANT-GARDE By TANG NIVRI black participation in the military also know the value of the military and hence the visibility in the Per- experience. sian Gulf War. In other words, "there is a This conversation, which whole lot more who do than don't" occurred right here in Winston- feel that the military has been and Salem, could have taken place any- continues to be a very good option where in this country. In fact, any- for a whole lot of black folks ? time you find ten successful black despite its well documented short men over the age of 50, eight of comings. them will have that one common Sure, all of us want more trait ? military experience. options ? options to pursue other It is my feeling that their con- career paths that do not require one versation is much more than an to place his or her life in jeopardy, accurate reflection of how black But what of the military experi America truly feels about black par- ence itself and should blacks go into ticipation in the military and also the military in such large numbers? about our leading role in resolving This is no unqualified endorse the Persian Gulf Conflict. ment of the military and its pur chase of S750 hammers and toilets, but let's be honest. What other institution exists right now in America that can take a boy ? good or bad ? and actual ly make a man out of him? Help to mold him into a well-disciplined young man who not only cares about himself, but also about oth ers? We have public schools (and we're all working to make them bet ter) that aren't educating our chil dren worth a damn, and with few exceptions, too many of today's graduates arc hardly suited to any thing but the most menial labor, sure guarantee for certain economic dependency and hence, trouble* ? But if these young men choose the military, not only will they le&m some discipline ? the key to suc cess in life ? but they will also receive valuable training in a num ber of technical areas. They will be able to do something. They will have a chance to be all that they can be. I know that this is not true for everybody, but listen lo what this old woman in New Orleans said: * > Please see page A6
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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March 14, 1991, edition 1
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