victims of police brutality vent frustrations
. , jAman i ha Mckenzie
Stall Writer
Nine-year-old Tyrone Green
has a fascination with rocks. One
hv he brought his favorite crys
.i/iifle rock to school. School offi
: >mstook it for drugs and called
i Hie small boy was inter -
jgaicd for an hour by police at the
?>.hool before his grandmother
? ::\ed. Alter the rock was tested
aiiu proven to be a mineral, not a
drug, Green was allowed to go
? -iick to class. He now has a crimi
record.
A while male, Rodney Ross, testi
>t\i that he was stepped by three state
troopers, handcuffed and then kicked,
' ipped by the officers. He sustained
cruises on the face ?d body.
The community hearing on
rv^ice brutality held at Emmanuel
r.vAh\$i Church Friday served as an
open forum for citizens to air their
concerns and testify to incidents
when they have been harassed or
abused by police officers.
At least 15 people ? both
black and white ? were heard by a
panel, which included community
leaders Larry Little, Walter Mar
shall, D. D. Adams, Bill Booker and
Jacqueline Teal. The panel was
responsible for taking notes of the
testimonies which will be used for a
full report
The hearing was organized by
the group Citizens United for Jus
tice. According to one of the groups
organizers, the Rev. John Mendez, a
report will be made and submitted to
city and police officials. The group
is hoping to establish the need for a
citizen's police review board.
"It's clear that we have to devel
op a network for exposure. There is
no question in anybody's mind
whether or not police brutality is in
fact a reality here in Winston-Salem
i as it is in Los Angeles," said Mendez.
Mendez and other group orga
nizers, which included the Rev.
William S. Fails and the Rev. Carl
ton Eversley, said they were sur
prised to see so many white citizens
testifying that night. "One of the
things that was learned tonight is that
police brutality is not only aimed at
African-Americans, but also poor
people in general, which means poor
white people," Mendez said.
Marshall said the report will
hopefully make the police depart
ment take a better look at its policy*
procedures and practices.
After sitting through five hours of
testimony, Marshall said, "Police vio
lence is becoming more fascist It's no
longer a thing of racism," he added.
Mendez stressed that the hear
ing was not held to discredit the
police force, but to put an end to the
mistreatment of citizens by a "few
bad officers."
"We recognize there are some
good, honest, decent law enforce
ment officers in the police depart
Tyrone Green
merit and we realize they would like
to see the gap between the commu
nity and the department closed. But
that will never happen until these
rotten apples are weeded out/
Mendez said.
Giv'em what they want
Continued from page A1
- what the masses of black folks may
really think about an issue, deferring
n stead to the "most-leader-like
i coking Negro" and thus, oy default,
~^oth crT^laclcspokesman is born.
sest of Intentions
The result of the good inten
tions of many of our black leaders
has been that we as a people now
:t> J ourselves having fallen from
ihe lofty perch of personal achieve
ment and self respectability estab
lished by our forefathers, to one of
being in a helpless condition of
"blaming white folk's racism" for
?v damned-negative thing that
s v. v er happened to us.
It has gotten so bad that many
?k folks have started to wake up
v About a clue as to who's in charge
*!' their owtf lives and who ain't. On
< one hand every Sunday morn
.g, poor darkey is being told that
Tod can make all things possible,
Ki come Monday morning, the
\%-cr of him and God appears to
all but gone to dissipated,
wing the poor helpless Negro to *
the vices and -deviates of the mean
oV white fo]k&-o?4he world.
Such is the pitiful state of mind
?nio which many of our black lead
ers have led us. No longer do we as
. VM?p>e ascribe to be better than
wluie lolks in everything ? regard
5"ss of whose history or what obsta
may lie ahead. No, unlike our
ancestors who knew better, some of
us are now a^ lng as if we believe
^ white man's original lie that said
l.iacks were inherently inferior.
This is not to absolve white
?: >: \of ihe ir nghtful share of blame
this country! They aite due plenty
r ^ r >r and Los Angeles reminds
J a: they and the system ain't
through with needing to be remind
ed of such, BUT what do white
folks have to do with you and I
leaching our own children the value
of self-discpline and self-denial?
do *hite folks have to do
with us teaching our own children
k ' aiue of learning to read and
u ? The list could go on and on
<ind oa . . .
Asking the "tough Question
By electing our black
^wKcspersons and leaders, you and
! >> ou Id have an opportunity to par
ticipate in a far more meaningful
discussion about the serious issues
< c i n vr black folks in America.
For the first time in modern
history, we could begin to debate
critical issues as the idea of choice
for public schools, whether all
lack-male academies is a good
idea, should we return to segregated
hook amt forget about busing? Or
;?cralism or conservatism the
best political philosophy for black
folks? Or should blacks split their
vote between Republicans,
Democrats, and now Independents?
Just what is the best course for
Mack America?
By electing our own shadow
- ovi'mmcnt of elected officials,
, president, senators, black
oiks could debate these and many
Mher issues in a public forum, using
>i r, best minds to determine the best
course of action. We could conduct
our own town-hall kind of meeting.
Just imagine how much more
meaningful this upcoming election
? ? r ? ?1 be it the black leaders for the
i years were coming up ioi
reelection this fall? ? to be held
accountable in the same way that
we are holding George Bush and
Dan Quayle and the rest of
Congress accountable for the mess
of the past 12 years?
Imagine how much more mean
ingful this entire process would be
to black folks if black leaders for
the past 20 years were forced to both
ask and answer the same question
that Reagan posed, "are you better off
today than you were 20 years ago?"
I can assure you that it would
be a most revealing discussion.
Most would be hard pressed to say
"yes" ? especially since most have
made spent a lifetime of preaching
that things were getting worse. The
question then would be why are
things getting worse?
With such a dismal record, it
would seem to me that our leaders
would either voluntarily step down
or we should elect new ones.
DON'T BtQW ffl %
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t
. 4
* Last year's disasters were the most
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disaster relief. Our disaster relief funds
are gone. And we still haven't faced the
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