Winston-Salem Chronicle / he I vvm City s Award Winning Weekly " Established m 1974 Ernest H. Pitt ? Ndubisi Egemonye Editor/Publisher Co-Founder Member in good standing with North Catofarva Audit Bureau KrmtQmrrmmd * N*iorv* Nwwapapw Pvb*%hmr% A*?oc?iion Pr*?s krrmiQmmatmd of Circulations Put*?hv?. inc. Editorial Blacks must be involved in all stages of CIAA Doing the Right Thing During September 1994, some 20,000 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) fans will visit Winston-Salem for a week of football and social activities. About 19,000 of those fans will prob ably be black. The 14 organizations that comprise the CIAA are historically black colleges and universities. Their teams and coaches are predomi nantly black. ? ~ ~ : Established in 1912, the CIAA is one the nation's old est black conferences. The games and activities are open to anyone, but many of the fans who attend are alumni of historically black colleges and universities. In many ways, it is a reunion for them. Most are now in middle- and upper- income brackets. Some came from disadvantaged home environments, but now they're living comfortably. Some come together to rejoice in the fact that they all finished college. All of them come together to celebrate their personal victories as well as to see great football. The chamber's tourism and convention offices and others who worked hard to court and secure this tournament are to be com mended. But the real work is yet to be done. Now that the CIAA has moved to Winston-Salem for three years, we must make certain that blacks are involved in all stages of CIAA planning. Every CIAA agenda sei, even' CtAA- meeting that takes place ? however preliminary ? must include the opinions of members of the black community. To do otherwise is to display a woeful ignorance of the history and function of the CIAA. To do otherwise is to steal from the black community its rightful authority: one that comes with the birthright. Imagine an all-black group of people making decisions on an all white event: it's unheard of! Those who lead the CIAA planning, from the mayor to the Chamber of Commerce and anyone else, bear a solemn responsibility to ensure that black businesses are asked to submit b|$[%|for sjrvices and products needed. Every effort must be made tp iijvolye th^black community in every way possible. Helping Ourselves Winston-Salem is blessed with a number of community action groups. They include people who want to take back their neighbor hoods and make them safe once again. They want to sleep soundly at night. They long to get crack cocaine and other drugs out of their chil dren's veins. Groups such as Black Men and Women Against Crime need and deserve the full-fledged support of municipal authorities. Leaders of these groups usually live in these neighborhoods and witness first hand the terrorizing that goes on due to crime and drug abuse. Because they are familiar with the people and prob lems of a particular area, they have the best chance of leading any effort to restore a healthy environment. In Winston-Salem, many drug dealers do not live in the very neighborhoods they help to destroy: they just drive through to sell their wares. Sometimes a drug dealer will offer a young child a job house-painting or doing odd jobs ? and then pay the child with drugs. ~ . * Black Men and Women Against Crime has asked the city to find a house in or near the city's largest black neighborhoods to renovate the houses. Then they can be used for 24-hour community centers. Its members plan to perform the renovations themselves and staff the ? . centers with volunteers. According to figures compiled by the Center for Disease Control, a black male infant has one chance in 27 of dying in a homicide; a white male has one chance in 205 of dying in a homicide. Class and race often determine who will die. Most homicide victims are poor. The city should make a point to seek out and support community groups: Empower them with the resources to turn those statistics around. The City Should Extend Complete Support To Black Community Groups About letters . . . - The Winston-Salem Chronicle welcomes letters from Its readers, as well as columns. Letters should be as concise as possible and should be typed or printed legibly. They also should include the name, address, and telephone number of the writer. Columns should follow the same guidelines and will be published if we feel they are of interest to our gener al 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 Prison Time: Is Crack Cocaine Really Worth It? To The Editor: I'm a 22-year-old black male presently incarcerated facing 15 years to life ? federal time! My message to you is, "Stop worrying about what the white man's doing, and start worrying about what the white powder's doing!" It's destroying many peo ple's lives. Most of all, it's dimin ishing our race. Each and every day, we're killing one another, or we're getting arrested for selling drugs. Now ask yourself, "Is it really worth it?" If it is, then there's an empty cell right next to mine ? that's if you live long enough to get here. The jails and prisons are occu ? * pied by at least 65 percent blacks. How many of your home boys are in my situation right now? All because of that substance crack cocaine. I've seen lots of successful peo ple I know go through hell because of crack cocaine. It doesn't only affect their lives, it's affecting the lives of their family and friends as well HEVCiwsna-me _ PRESIPEKT.NOT CUHTOH tcwieer press, COVERAGE TOO.' I want to make it evident to you that we are not the only ones cor rupting people's lives. But we are the ones who are paying for the offense. There comes a time in a person's life when a change has to be made. If not now, when? If not you, then who? Think about it! Marc Lorenzo Sloan, of Wiri ston-Salem, and Thomas Howard Boyd, of St. Louis, are Alamance County Jail inmates. Sloan is to be sentenced Nov. 23, while Boyd's case is pending. CHRONICLE MAI LB AG Our Readers Speak Out Thanks for the Support To The Editor I want to express my thanks to each citizen of Forsyth County, Sen ate District 20 who voted for me for North Carolina Senate on Nov. 3. As citizens of this great American Democracy in which we live, and North Carolina, one of the Original 13 States, and Forsyth County, the most sacred privilege we have is to vote for those persons who govern as our representatives. Thousands of you exercised that privilege on my behalf, and I am grateful. We lost this time, but those who were elected knew they were at risk. I hope each one of you will observe our government in Raleigh and work to assure that those who are our Senators fulfill their com mitments. A campaign promise is a promise. We should expect to see improvements in education, the availability of health care to all citi zens, welfare reform, improvement in the availability of high-paying jobs and a reduction in crime. WOMEMSHOOIP MCST Be SERVW6 ifi "me front UNES WITH MEM. tTMOOLP pesrRov MORAl??, / AH^wsrafccr THE S0