Winston-Salem Chronicle
"The Twin City's Award Winning Weekly''
j
Established in 1974
Ernest H. Pitt ? Ndubisi Egemonye
Editor/Publisher Co-Founder
Member in good standing with:
National N?w*pap?r North Carotna Audit Bureau Amalgamated ?
Pubkthars Association Pwu Association of ClrCUldtlOTtS Publahai, Inc.
Commitment
Education is
~ Good Business
Sustaining economic activity and prosperity in the
United States in the next century will require the talent
of every one of us, and American-based businesses
maybe forced to lead the
imperative that
they understand the
importance of bringing
minorities fully into the
nation's economic and
educational mainstream.
Our opinion
Businesses must
actively support histor
ically black colleges.
Nearly one-third of all
new entrants into the American labor force will be
minorities. Between 25 and 30 percent of adult African
Americans are semi-skilled or unskilled. Many earn
only minimum wages, many work two or more jobs.
Although minorities and immigrants are the fastest
growing segment of the workforce, they are the most at
risk of suffering from the economic undertows of our
time: plant closings, the rise and fall of industries, sky
rocketing housing costs.
The wholehearted support of the business commu
nity is critical to black colleges and to support organi
zations such as the United Negro College Fund. Since
1944, the United Negro College Fund has raised well
over $600 million for historically black colleges and
universities.
Ninety percent of UNCF students require scholar
ships and loans. If not for UNCF, an education beyond
high school would be impossible for many black stu
dents. Because tuition at UNCF colleges represents
less than half of total revenue, these institutions are
more dependent on gifts and grants than are other pri
vate colleges.
Is UNCF important? Abopt two-thirds of UNCF
students are the first in their families to attend college,
Historically black colleges enroll 35 percent of all
black students in four-year colleges and graduate about
33 percent of all blacks earning bachelor's degrees in
this country. If businesses expect to tap the resources
of bright young minds which happen to be housed in
black skins, they must commit to aggressively support
ing black colleges.
Locally, Winston-Salem State University is con
ducting a $26 million fupd raising campaign to help
the school develop the resources it has and attain the
level of excellence it deserves. Our local businesses
must rally to this cry, and realize they bear a clear
responsibility to assist Winston-Salem State become
the community resource it aspires to be.
While the recent boycott of Family Dollar stores
seems to be at least partially unwarranted, one fact
remains: American-based businesses have a duty to
reinvest in the communities which patronize them.
They must respond in a responsible manner to the
educational needs of the area, and they should be proud
of their contributions. We look forward to the day
when businesses, when called upon to compare the
percentage of their profits to the percentage of their
soctal responsibility programs, can proudly sound their
trumpets.
About letters...
The Winston-Salem Chronicle welcomes letters from its readers,
as well as columns.
Letters should be as concise as possibleand should^pe typed for
printed legibly.
They also should include the name, address, and telephone num
ber of the writer,**
Columns should follow the same guidelines and will be published if
we feel they are of interest to our general readership.
We reserve the right to edit letters and columns for brevity and
grammar. .
Submit your letters and columns to:
Chronicle Mailbag
v P.O. Box 1636
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102
i- .? y >4;y **w.
Groups and churches
need help also
When you benefil the communi
ty, you benefit everyone in it, not just
a few individuals or businesses.
Another term for community devel
opment is "macro" economics.
In "macro" development, "com
munity" can be broken down as
churches or mosques (which build
our spiritual selves and teach the cor
rect values) and groups or organiza
tions which build social and human
potential: anti-drug programs: literacy
programs (such as AOIP); and pro
grams to help young people develop.
To stimulate "macro" or commu
nity development, The Buy Freedom
900 Network (BFN) is offering a
FREE 900-number capability to
churches (mosques) and community
organizations that directly benefit our
people, either spiritually or materially
or both. BFN will start in January on
Martin Luther King's birthday, utiliz
ing AT&T's finest technology.
Therefore, these 100 groups and
churches will have their own special
ized means of nationwide promotions
and will earn money ($1) every time
they receive a phone call. Callers will
get information on their activities
and, if they do desire, can also send a
donation.
This offer is only made to read
ers of the newspapers in which this
column appears. Inquiries for this
FREE service must be made in the
form of a letter on you organization's
letterhead to: Buy Freedom Network,
1501 Broadway, Suite 2014, New
York, NY 10036. No phone inquiries.
All a church, group or organiza
tion roust do to take advantage of this
offer is to use its membership to drive
calls to its extension number on the
are absolutely no up-front fees, set-up
fees, equipment costs, monthly fees
or call minimums! The BFN even
pays all of the appropriate telephone
company charges.
Suppose its a church. How can
this same AT&T state-of-the-art tech
TONY BROWN
Syndicated Columnist
telephone network.
One example is a community
organization in Washington, D.C.,
Courtesy For Kids Ministry, Inc. Rev.
Bobby Drayton has 1,000 young peo
ple in his program that teaches them
how to go into business and how to
develop a business plan.
The program needs money and
volunteers. So, when you call exten
sion number 0512 on 1-900-976
6670 (after January 15), you will hear
Rev. Drayton explain the need to help
young people go into business and
how his ministry is helping them and
ask for volunteers. He may offer the
caller free information via mail.
If all 1,000 of his youth get two
people to call his extension on the
Network once a month, his ministry
will receive $2,000 a month. There
nology work for your church? Take
for example, Rev. James Deleston's
Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in
Jamaica, New York, which has exten
sion number 0511 on the BFN or the
Galilee Baptist Chufch in Suitland,
Maryland with 4,000 members.
Callers to the 900 Network from
all over the United States will be able
to hear a recorded message in the
preacher's own voice. They can hear
scripture readings, an inspiring
prayer, get church news of the sick
and shut-in, choir practice, special
events, weddings, information on
fundraising efforts ? or receive an
invitation to visit next Sunday's ser
vice.
The BFN extension even cap
tures the name, address and phone
number of each caller so you can fol
low-up with a mailing or a phone
call.
The ability of any organization
or church to generate calls is built in:
the membership. For example, if each
of Galilee's 4,000 members calls the
church's 900 extension once a week,
the church's general fund will e richer
by $1 or more per call.
That $4,000 a week in extra
income from calls alone ? or
$16,000 a month. If each member get
one non-member to call, that amount
would double to $8,000 a week or
$32,000 a month.
After hearing the inspirational
message and church activities, many
of those non-members would start
attending services. If so, the member
ship would grow by leaps and
bounds. The Network provides a
closer contact with the pastor while
extending the church's outreach pro
gram.
Thanks to the latest in advanced
technology, the church can, for the
first time, minister to its congregants
and witness to the community ?
anywhere in the United States? 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. Any for
mer church members who have relo
cated to other cities can now stay in
touch via the telephone broadcasts.
The BFN is, therefore, designed
to build up the total community.
That's why we call it The 900 Num
ber That Pays Off. "
Black Universities' lawsuit
for equal rigths
Is Mississippi providing fair and
equal funding for each of its slate
assisted colleges and universities ?
black and white? Do the students at
Mississippi's three traditionally black
universities get an education equal to
that provided at Mississippi's five tra
ditionally white universities?
These two questions are parts of
the large issue now before the U. S.
Supreme Court. All states that fund
traditionally black universities will be
affected by the Court's decision.
These seventeen are the fifteen old
slave states, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
.The 1954 school desegregation
decision resulted in some states'
merely admitting blacks to the pre
dominantly white colleges and
assuming they had complied with the
law. The change allowed any student
with acceptable grades to attend
whatever university he or she desired.
But blacks in Mississippi and
elsewhere argue that black universities
are unable to provide an equal educa
tional opportunity for their students
because the state funding formulas are
rigged to produce more money per
student for the white colleges which
School boar
Has your child been hit with a
paddle or experienced another form of
corporal punishment this year? If so,
you might be able to stop such an
approach to discipline.
The 1991 General Assembly
changed a longstanding North Caroli
na law that made spanking a routine
part of school discipline. Now, for the
first time, local school boards have the
power to restrict or abolish corporal
punishment in their systems. At least
12 North Carolina school systems
? have banned corporal punishment, in
both urban and rural areas, and Others
are considering this change.
Overwhelming evidence shows
that reward, praise and promoting pos
itive self learning, are the most power
' . ful motivators for children to leam.
Similarly, research has demonstrated
that corporal punishment promotes
violence as a way to education. Cor
poral punishment is often the first
punishment imposed for non-violent
and minor misbehaviors, rather than a
last resort as many people mistakenly
believe. Twenty-two states, including
[? Kentucky and Virginia, have banned
corporal punishment statewide.
If your local school system has
not banned corporal punishment,
North Carolina law provides some
protections for pupils wh6 may be
punished physically. Here arc the pri
mary protections. 1) The force used to
discipline must always be ^reason
able," which broadly prohibits severe
malicious beatings. 2) Corporal pun
ishment may not be administered in
front of other childrcn3) All students
and parents must receive notice of
what types of misconduct could lead
to corporal punishment. 4) Another
school official must witness the corpo
ral punishment, 5) Parents must
rcccivt notification when their child
has received such punishment.
reject some black students on the basis
of entrance requirements.
Local public school districts in
Mississippi (as elsewhere) are not
uniformly funded, so some students
always get better primary and sec
ondary school education than others.
" Because the Supreme Court usu
dents may deluge the white campuses
to get a better education if they
believe white universities are really
superior. With black colleges equally
funded and obviously so, some white
think, black students would tend to
"stay put" in the black universities; 3)
Some black college teachers fear that
MINORITY REPORT
By JAMES E. ALSBROOK, Ph.D.
afly conSkiert public opinionin mak
ing its decisions, these factors could
be involved in its deliberations: 1)
Some Mississippi whites want to
keep the white colleges better funded
than black $plleges because they do
not believe in racial equality and have
said so. Within the last few days the
governor of Mississippi has called for
the repeal of the Voting Rights Act;
2) Some Mississippi whites want to
make the black colleges apparently
equal because they think black stu
with an equalizing of general funding
teachers' pay would come more white
applicants for teaching position at
black colleges and stiffer perfor
mance requirements. Their "boats"
would be "rocked" ; 4) Some black
teachers believe that black students
really learn better in a "culturally
homogeneous" black) setting and that
social support and better learning
result earlier in racially segregated
schools. Therefore, the say, black col
leges should accept a little less
money and keep black student power
and leadership experience; 5) One
black college president said "A black
student doesn't have to sit next to a
white student in order to learn." (Was
this man more concerned about his
job than about the students?); 6)n
Recently a black colleges said, "I
would not want to be in a room with
a person who did not want to be in
the room with me."; and 7) Another
black professor at a black college
said, " blacks have special problems
that can be addressed better in their
own separate setting.''
Meanwhile, other black educa
tors in Mississippi, seeing better
buildings, equipment and other facili
ties at the predominantly white
schools, are suing for equal funding.
Now, two questions arise: 1)
How do you think the Supreme Court
will rule on the matter of equal fund
ing among all state-supported col
leges within the respective states; and
2) How do you think Justice Thomas
will vote on the matter? Hint: The
Bush administration recently changed
its mind and assigned lawyers to help
the black plaintiffs get more money.
ds can now end corporal punishment
If a teacher or principal fails to
follow these guidelines, or the force of
the punishment is "unreasonable,"
then parents may complain through a
assault charges against the teacher or
principal who administered the beat
ing.
Assault charges can be either
THE LAW AND YOU
By GREGORY MALHOIT And LOUIS TROSCH
series of procedures. Generally the
parent must first complain to the prin
cipal. If the situation is not corrected
at this level, parents can explain the
problem to the system's superinten
dent and finally to the local school
board. If school officials fail to correct
the problem through this process, par
ents have the option of bringing
criminal, in severe cases, or civil, with
the child receiving money damages
for his pain and suffering. Until
recently, courts have required particu
larly severe mistreatment before
deciding that the force used was not
"reasonable." North Carolina's courts
have begun showing increasing sym
pathy to children abused in the name
of "reasonable" school discipline.
Research has shown that schools
with high rates of corporal punishment
have high rates of suspensions. Minor
ity and poor white children receive
paddlings four to five times more fre
quently than middle and upper class
children. Boys are hit more frequently
than girls. Corporal punishment often
increases violence, aggression and
vandalism among school children.
Spanking sanctions violence as a way
to control children that can escalate
into child abuse.
Parents interested in restricting or
abolishing corporal punishment now
have a new legal right to assist them.
If you have questions about your legal
rights concerning corporal punish
ment, contact a local attorney, your
local Legal Services office, or a local
children's organization.
Which Turkey Has ?
The sest? chance of
Surviving The Holidays?