THURSDAY. OCTOBER 8. 1992
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Prlmetime Seniors
Dent, Owens, and Sifford in town
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Rap artist delivers hard-hitting
speech at Emmanuel Baptist
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Winston-Salem Chronicle
75 cents "The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly"
VOL. XIXV No. 6
Ben Chavis, Civil Rights Warrior
By TRAVIS MITCHELL
Chronicle Staff Writer
For those who know him. Dr. Benjamin
Chavis is a homeboy from Oxford, N.C. The
young boy who dedicated his life to fighting
oppression at the early age of eleven, as he
walked past a segregated library and decided
that he "wanted a book with two covers on it,"
has matured over his 45 years and recently
brought his message to Winston-Salem to
share it with the next generation of leaders.
Chavis is the executive director of the
Commission for Racial Justice, a national
organization of the 1.7 million memoer Unit
ed Church of Christ. He gained international
fame as a member of the Wilmington Ten, a
group of young students who were convicted
of inciting a riot in Wilmington, N.C. and
served four and a half years in North Cait^n^
prisons during the 70s. The convictions were
overturned in December 1980. Chavis has not
forgotten the injustice of that day in 1971.
"We were organizing voter registration
drives in Wilmington and the Ku Klux Klan
decided to attack us while we were marching
and shoot up our church," he said. "When we
went to seek justice and protection from the
police department they told us to close up the
church and leave town. The riot broke out
after they shot up the church. We did not
incite any riot."
Chavis told students that he became
involved in the civil rights movement because
as a young boy he realized that things were
not right.
"One day walking home from church as
an eleven-year-old boy, maybe it was the Holy
Spirit," he said, "but something sent me in the
library to get a book with both covers on it.
The fear was gone. That night I could not
sleep because the next day I was going to inte
grate the movies and the dime store."
Chavis' resume reads like a professional
revolutionary. He is the vice president of the
National Council of Churches, co-chairman of
the Southern Organizing Committee for Eco
nomic and Social Justice, vice-president of the
National Black Leadership Roundtable, and
has worked closely with the NAACP, the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
the National Conference of Black Lawyers,
the National Rainbow Coalition, and the
Leadership Conference of Civil Rights. He
writes a nationally syndicated column, Civil
Rights Journal, and has traveled extensively
around the world, recently returning from
Angola.
He encouraged students to become
grounded in the movement but added, "You
Benjamin Chavls
can't understand the civil rights movement in
the U.S., if you don't understand the role of
the black church. The social ethics of (Martin
Luther) King were formed based on his under
standing of who God is. Through all of the
things that I have gone through, I never lost
my faith."
Chavis spoke briefly with students at a
reception in WSSU's Reynolds building on
Tuesday, before yesterday's lecture on
'Religious Ethics.' He was invited to speak
by the Wesley Foundation, a religious stud
ies organization, and the Winston-Salem
State University Student Government. Me is
one of several speakers that will be featured
in a five-part symposium on "Religion and
Ethics in 2 1 st Century America."
NEWS
BRIEFS
USAir Machinists Strike
NEW YORK ? Machinists union member
Lewis Sheppard carries an extra message on the
picket line outside the USAir terminal at
LaGuardia airport in New York Monday morn
ing.
The International Association of Machinists,
representing some 8,300 ground support workers,
struck the airline in a dispute over wage conces
sions and work rules. The airline scaled back
operations across the country.
Thumbs Up
kinston;
N.C. ? Democratic
presidential candi
date Bill Clinton
acknowledges sup
porters as he arrives
at a campaign rally
in Kinston, N.C.
Clinton is flanked
by North Carolina
House Speaker Dan
Blue, left, and nursing student Traci McCoy,
right, who introduced Clinton.
Drought Conditions Continue
GAZANKULU', S.A. ? Children wait for
water at a pump in South Africa's black home
land of Gazankulu near the Mozambique border
on Sept. 24. Because of the worst drought in a
century, the pumps on which people depend on
for water are often dry.
Villagers in some places eat mud to stave off
hunger pains. Up to 20 million people in 10
nations are struggling to survive.
News Briefs
Compiled from staff and A P reports
Robinson Joins Bush f92 Campaign
By SHERIDAN HILL tional choice coalition.
Chronicle Assistant Editor In August, after losing the bid for
Republican candidate for N.C. superinten
Winston-Salem's best-known black dent of public instruction, Vernon L. Robin
Republican has found a place to channel his son moved to Washington, D.C. to work on
active ego and abundant energy: as the staff the Bush reelection campaign. Robinson,
director of the national Bush/Quayle educa- the first black to run for that office, said he
Art Classes Inspire Inmates
Detention Officer Leon V. McColloi
It s hard to imagine spending your
free time going back to work, but deten
tion officer Leon V. McCullough does
just that. He returns to the jail several
times a week to bring art supplies and
-words of encouragement to the inmates.
McCullough realized he could use
his B.S. in art education with lonely
inmates who had lots of time on their
hands, and created a project he calls
"Plant A Seed."
"When you plant a seed, if it hits on
good soil, you have a little plant coming
up, growing in a new direction," says
McCullough. "I want the inmates to
realize they can do something with the
h (R) with David Holley (L).
gifts they've got. I tell them, 4Go into
your inner self and put it on paper, what
ever you feel inside.'"
McCullough has worked with about
65 inmates since he started the project
several months ago. He hopes the art
will create the spark of a positive change
in some of the people with whom he
works.
"You can see the sparkle in their
eyes when I tell them their work is good.
I want them to realize they are still
somebody with something to give the
community."
See related story, Page A-6.
always thought a campaign season was a
terrible thing to waste.
A former assistant business professor
at Winston-Salem State University, he felt
unfairly penalized earlier this year when the
UNC Board of Governors voted to slash his
salary because he was campaigning
statewide, lie maintained the decision was
at least in part due to racial discrimination.
Working for the president, he has been
putting together statewide coalitions in sup
port of schools of choice ? as a Republican
educational strategy.
Robinson has long advocated methods
of empowering parents to choose which
schools their children will attend ? includ
ing awarding low-income parents a $4000
voucher per child towards the school of
their choice. *
Since coming, to Washington' in
August, Robinson says he has put together
strong political alliances in the California
and Ohio, critical election battlegrouQds,
and in South Carolina.
"1 bring immediate credibility to this
facet of the campaign," said Robinson thii
week.
Please see related story, Page A3
Mack Continues Ministrv "
By SHERIDAN HILL
Chronicle Assistant Editor
Serving time in jail hasn't stopped the
Rev. Lee Faye Mack from working with the
people ? for her, it's just another opportunity.
She is serving a 5 month sentence in the Meck
lenburg County satellite jail for perjury in con
nection with an alleged political corruption
trial.
According to Rasheed Bey, director for
-Jhe^Uck^FoiifeXenter founded by Mack, she
is requesting citizens and corporations in Win
ston-Salem donate socks, t-shirts and under
wear for the female inmates who have no fami
ly or loved ones "on the outside."
"She discovered that some inmates got
socks and clothes from their loved ones, and
those that didn't were stealing from one anoth
~ er," said Bey. "It's getting cold down there, and
they need underwear. She felt that a way to
curb that, a way to harmonize things, is to have
people donate these items for the 40 or 50
women in the facility."
Mack, political consultant Rodney Sum
ler, and former alderman Patrick Hairston
began serving their sentences last month. At
the end of the FBI/IRS investigation dubbed
"Operation Mushroom," Sumler was sentenced
to 70 months without parole, and Hairston
Rev. Lee Faye Mack
received 41 months without parole.
Mack will be out of prison in February,
'93, after which she will be under house arrest
and wear a bracelet-like device that monitors
her whereabouts for five months..
Bey asks that her supporters help Mack in
this project "so that she can continue her min
istry, and continue to feel that she's helping the
people." To make a donation, call the Back to
Life Center at 722- 1 1 19.
Citizen's United for Justice Will Hold
Columbus Day Demonstration Saturday
By TRAVIS MITCHELL
Chronicle Staff Writer
October 12, 1992 marks the quin
centennial (500-year) anniversary of
Columbus' 1492 discovery of the
4New World' , but in Winston-Salem
one organization plans a celebration
that won't be anything like a party.
Citizens United for Justice have
planned a weekend of activities to
celebrate the survival of the invasion
by Columbus. -
"For many Americans, October
12, 1992 will be a time for expression
of patriotism and celebration," said
the Rev. John Mendez, spokesman
for the group. "The Reagan adminis
tration appointed a special Quincen
tenary Jubilee Commission and
Congress appropriated $87 million to
prepare a series of lavish festivities,
nationally and internationally to
relive those days of adventure."
According to Mendez the hoopla
surrounding the event is based on
lies.
"Manufactured myths of Colum
bus as being the brave and noble
visionary who set sail on an unknown
course and discovered a whole new
world fit into the larger scenario
which celebrates the so-called pio
neer spirit which has propelled the
US to its current world dominance/'
he said.
"However, our intention is to
reexamine these myths and expose
what really happened in 1492. The
coming of Columbus was character
ized by violence, genocide, slavery
and domination by Europeans over
the Indians and Africans. The con
nection between violence and oppres
sion in 1492 must be linked to vio
lcncc in 1992 because the values of
4
greed, materialism, conquest atad
domination have not changed, for
America, this is no time for celebra
tion, but a time for confession."
Activities begin at 10:00 a.m.
Saturday with a march from the K.R.
Williams Auditorium on the Win
ston-Salem State University campus
to Rupert Bell Park, where lH rally
will be held from 11:00 a.m. until
12:30 p.m. On Sunday, an ecumeni
cal service is scheduled for 7:00 pan.
at Emmanuel Baptist Church.
TO SUBSCRIBE. CALL 722-8624. JUST DO IT!