Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Sept. 3, 1992, edition 1 / Page 4
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Winston-Salem Chronicle "1 he Twin dry's Award Winning Weekly" Established in 1974 Ernest H. Pitt ? Ndubisi Egemonye Editor/Publisher Co-Founder Member in good standing with: National Newspaper North Carolina Audit BurCfltl Amalgamated Publishers Attocuhon P r?s? Awoaabon of ClTCUldtiODS Publishers. Inc. Editorials 18th anniversary The Winston-Salem Chronicle was founded in 1974 to fill a void in the African- American community: to make sure that the black voice was heard, to record histo ry from an African- American perspective. We felt then, and believe now that it is important to publicize all aspects of T hanks to our loyal readers . . . you are the reason we exist. African-American life, not just the negative aspects, which the majority media are often so willing to put forth to the public. Since that time, the Chronicle has covered black artists, poets, and entertain ers; politicians and businesses; black churches, family reunions, weddings, and social events. It's not surprising that many of the people who are making waves today were names in the Chronicle's pages in the mid-70s: Annie Brown Kennedy co-chaired a people's rights group; Mazie Woodruff ran for county commissioner; Maya Angelou visited Wake Forest Uni versity and read excerpts from her new book, "Swingin' and Singin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas;" Larry Lit tle retired the Black Panther ambulance and ran for alder man, and Dr. Benjamin Hooks was named director of the NAACP. As Winston-Salem has grown, so have we. We hfcve tried to fairly and accurately reflect the changes that have taken place. We have not always taken the popular posi tion on issues of controversy. At times, we have been faulted by the black community for reporting its bad deeds along with the good. We have been faulted by the white community for being one-sided and demanding too much change too quickly. But we have always allowed dissenting opinions from both black and white citizens. Heart-felt thanks goes to our loyal readers: you bring us your news, tell us of your joy and share your pain. Without you, we simply would not exist. Although 1992 finds us, like many small businesses, faced with the challenge of a recession, we are meeting that challenge by working even harder to gain your inter est and loyalty. The fact that the Chronicle exists goes against all odds: our readers may rest assured that we will move into ttte future with the same courage and deliberation that has seen us through the past 18 years. Desperate acts Several weeks ago, a pre-schooler watched as his 19 year-old father beat the child's mother with a pistol. He later returned with another man, and she was shot in the face. As this young moth er fell to the floor, all she . i could think was: I want a better life for my child. Everyone wants a bet ter life for their children: but for a black mother, When can we have a better life for everyone, at the expense of no one? even if she is the best mother in the world, there are conditions out of her con trol that will adversely affect her child's entire life. A black child will always be in a minority, and the white upper class majority have a habit of making decisions that serve them: if they help the black community or the lower classes at all, it is often a benefit-by-default. Equality will be a long time coming, and many of us are not so patient as we once were. About letters . . . The Winston-Salem Chronicle welcomes letters from its readers, as well as columns. Letters should be as concise as possibleand should be typed for printed legibly. They also should include the name, address, and tele phone number 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 P.O. Box 1636 Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102 Both whites and blacks respected McMillan To the Editor: I ? ? ? I was in attendance at the funeral for the Rev. J.T.McMillan last Friday and observed that among the many stirring tributes there was none from the white citizens of Winston -Salem. Therefore, I would like to add my belated voice to the chorus of praise, trusting that many whites share my appreciation for his con tribution. I was with Dr. McMillan on many of his ventures for justice and equity. Nothing was said in the many tributes about the night in 1968 when he and his church wel comed the members of the Poor Peoples March who came to through town on their way from Atlanta to Washington in the wake of Martin Luther King's death. My wife and I were present that night when his church, alone in the city, fed and assisted in the housing of the marchers. Again, nothing was mentioned of the response Dr. McMillan made to the burning of the city during the racial crisis of 1967 (one can still sec the scars driving along the downtown section of Liberty Street). Dr. McMillan, joined by attorney Curtis Todd and Dr. F.W. Jackson, agreed to express the grievances of the African-American community in a hastily organized forum which I was privileged to moderate. They told it like it was. So much so that on the front page of the Winston-Salem Journal the mayor, "Red" Benton, demanded an apology for their effrontery! As a member of the NAACP at the time I had a chance to observe his progressive leadership. I was a part of the small nucleus which ccyi ceived the strategy of the Catherine Scott Legal suit, and saw it take off from that small beginning under the leadership of McMillan and Jack Adkins until it changed the whole structure of education in our city. .From the time McMillan arrived in Winston-Salem in 1962 till now, 30 years later, I have been an appointed member of the North Carolina Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and have dearly appreciated the < vision and the energy supplied by someone like McMillan on the local * level. Now that the new "advocates" of civil rights (of the Reagan-Bush variety) have raised their voices of reaction, both among the white and black segments, one can be all the more thankful for a courageous pio neer such as McMillan. Finally, for the whites who bemoan the state of race relations in our city it would have been a boost to experience the togetherness at the funeral to say, "Thank you, Rev. McMillan, for what you have done for all of us." G. McLeod Bryan Professor Emeritus, Wake Forest University Hurricane Andrew To the Editor: Hurricane Andrew: was a very devastating Class Four hurricane that hit southern. Florida and New Orleans. Thousands of families were left homeless, some have no electricity, water or jobs. My heart goes out to these people. Thanks to the efforts of many GOON SAPPAM, MAKE MY ELECTION VAY, Axaufi? v CHRONICLE MAI LB AG Our Readers Speak Out churches, celebrities, and organiza tions, relief is on the way. Several locations in the Triad have relief efforts on to help. Having lived in the Triad dur ing our tornado in 1989 we can see just how destructive Mother Nature can be. My concern is that President Bush waited for several days before sending the military and other much needed_assistancer This shows a total lack of concern for humanity. We must all do our part to help in this effort. And let's hope that the inner city families, can get much needed food and shelter, as well as the middle class families in the sub urbs. April Jeter, Greensboro Spivey says thanks To the Editor: I want to thank the people of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County for their support and encouragement both before and after my primary for Forsyth County District Court , Judge. It was an honor for me to run as a candidate for public office, and I feel fortunate to have, had this opportunity. I learned a lot about our community and the people who make this a great place to live. This is an exciting and crucial political season from the national races to the local races. I encourage you to becomeltivolved in the polit ical process. Your involvement is crucial to the success of our form of government. Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to be a candi date for public office. I look for ward to continuing to work with you to advance our community. Ron Spivey Assistant D.A. * Op-Homes have B'day To tfate Editor: This year Youth Opportunity Homes Inc. celebrates its 21st birth day. Since 1971 we have served thousands of at-risk youth in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County community, providing them with a safe, therapeutic home-away-from home and offering their families counseling and other support. To help celebrate this occasion, Youth Opportunity Homes recently held its first annual reunion of resi dents of our Emergency Shelter and our Boys' Home/Girls' Home. Near ly 100 people ? residents and their families, YOH staff, board mem bers, and other involved members of the community ? joined togeth er for an evening of food and fun in Hanes Park. County Commissioner Earline Parmon provided an inspiring mes sage to all those assembled, and a number of local businesses helped make this event possible through generous donations of food, bever ages, and prizes for the participants. ~ We would like to express our sin cere appreciation for the support and concern these businesses have shown for the youth and families of this community. Hats off to: Rich Halverson's McDonald's, Bojangles, Planters Lifesavers, E.G. Forrest, Joyce Brothers, Merita Bakery, Camel Pawn Shop, Camel City Cleaners, Norman Stockton, Wake Forest University, Action Videq, and Hin kle's Bookstore, Jbrna W. Dougbu, Prqgtdenfe Board of Directors Robert Beasley, Executive Director, Youth Opportunity Homes Inc. Stalking or protecting? I Editor's Note: This is a revised version of Rev. Gordon's letter that appeared last week. This is what should have been pfinted.] To the Editor: Are they stalking us or protect ing us, Which!? That's what I want to know. I am very, very upsew outraged and at the same time fearful with these recent attacks by Winston Salem Policeman on females. This most recent alleged rape of a 21 year-old white female is frightening indeed. Couple it with the McKellar case and the message is loud and clear that women and Blacks in this city are the least important people. On its face, police behavior appears sinful, racist and a terrible injustice. Where is the protection? A Police Review Board is urgently needed to monitor behavior. Look at their history. The mur der of the WSSU student in 1991, the Stoney cover-up, the McKellar girl, bound and gagged where she couldn't even cry out against the pain in her body. What is even more sad and pitiful is that the Winston Salem Journal and WXII are so quick to publicize the Mushroom Four but show bias when the system appears corrupt otherwise. "If my people which are called by name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ^vays; then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and WILL HEAL THEIR LAND", Chronicles II 7:14. Unless this happens and soon, our future prospects as a nation or city are not pleasant to contemplate. Rev. Mrs. Carolyn Gordon Call to action To the Editor: Someone has asked, "Are we going to run the government or let the government run us?" That is the question. lt !, No business man would hire. a, man to run his business for two years without his supervision and then after the two year period, check into his business to see how it has been run. Yet, isn't that what we are doing with our members of Congress? We elect them to office and send them to Washington to run our gov ernment for us and pay very little attention to what they do. Two years later we are trying to find out how they handled our business. We lis ten to them talk and decide to vote for them or against them by what they say. vSome members of Congress have a reputation of talking one way and voting another. Then too, some of them will occasionally vote the way their party wants them to vote instead of the will of the peo ple. When that happens, it is because we are not watching them. It doesn't take much time to keep tabs on them but it is so important Wouldn't you agree that it is high time for a "Call to Action?" It is time to write your Congressman. [David Adamson is founder and chairman of the National Write Your Congressman organiza tion in Dallas, Tx.J Republicans test ?o dangerous strategy Essentially, the Democratic Party exploits Blacks and the Republican Party ignores them. I know you've heard that before, but both political conven tions this year gave that statement new meaning. At their meeting. Bill Clinton's new batch of Southern-led moderate Democrats appropriated the Repub lican's old Southern strategy of wooing the White vote at the expense of Blacks. Clinton jumped 30 points ahead of George Bush by denouncing the values of Sister Souljah and muzzling Jesse Jack son. But the Republicans weren't' napping. Realizing that Clinton's new strategy disassociated him from the charge of representing the interests of Blacks, the Republicans tacked another "special interest" group on his back: homosexuals, and lesbians. Immediately, Clinton began to distance himself from gay themes, Blacks already were eliminated by first being isolated by the Republi cans and now the Democrats. So Buchanan didn't have to spend any TONY BROWN Syndicated Columnist as he has from civil rights and affir mative-action. The Republican strategy was already working. Patrick Buchanan introduced the GOP convention's new attack dog conservatism: vile, separative, hypocritical. He called for "family values" that would result in an ethnic cleansing of the party of Lincoln. time on them. During his primary run, he said that Africans cannot successfully assimilate into this country. Other than sadical feminists, it's the gays that are tearing down the country, he made clear. It's a dangerous strategy. Unfortunately, like the historic bounce Clinton got from politically emasculating Jesse Jackson and the televised convention, the Republi cans went from 30 points down in the polls to a dead heat with their brand of family values. Jack Kemp and Barbara Bush tried to offset Buchanan's fascism, with some success. Kemp was con servatism with a human face; Mrs. Bush was grace under fire, asking for common sense on abortion and tolerance in accepting people who are different, meaning gays. Buchanan, the lace-curtain David Duke, lost the primary, but won the convention with his ethnic cleansing "cultural and religious war" on non-Whites, gays and femi nists. The Republican Party may ulti mately win with this strategy. But this exclusionary policy is sewing the seeds of losses to come.
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Sept. 3, 1992, edition 1
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