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
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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.
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We Have Not Done Enough To Resolve Agony In Somalia
The rising agony, suffering and
needless death in Somalia simply
cannot be tolerated. Over a million
persons are certain to die if some
thing more is not done immediately.
The United Nations has not done
enough! The Organization of
African Unity has not done enough!
The United States has not done
enough! And yes, the African
American community here in the
United States has not done enough!
And yes, the African American
community here in the United States
has not done enough!
The fact that public attention,
during the last several months has
focused primarily on the U.S. presi
dential election is no excuse for
inadequate actio on the crisis in the
nation of Somalia. To be sure, the
situation has deteriorated during the
last weeks due to the increase in the
senseless fratricidal warfare between
armed Somali parties fighting to
control the county.
To see women and children
dying as they crawl helplessly on
the ground begging for a few
crumbs of food is an awful sight to
behold. Yet, the world community
seems incapable or unwilling to
intervene in Somalia on the side of
the oppressed people of Somalia
who are being forced into irre
versible starvation. Genocide cannot
be tolerated anywhere in the world.
When ethnic factions of a
nation are supplied with weapons of
mass death and destruction by the
so-called civilized western nations,
the resulting horrors of fratricide
and induced-famine are ultimately
to be the shared blame of the suppli
ers of the arms as well as the perpe
trators of the internecine bloodshed.
Therefore the excuses that nothing
more can be done to help Somalia
until the civil war stops i totally
unacceptable.
The civil rights and human
rights community inside the United
States must make this issue a prior
ity even during all the euphoria over
1992 elections. As ewe have
reminded our constituencies in the
past, the fact is that Somalia up until
1991 was a staunch ally of U.S. for
eign interest in northern Africa
throughout the Reagan-Bush era.
Most of the weapons now in Soma
lia were made in the United States.
But this is not the first time that this
nation has hid its ha nd of complic
ity in the suffering of others, partic
ularly in Africa.
Of the first order, however, we
would be remiss if we did not say
directly and clearly to General
Mohammed Garrah Aidid and Mr.
Mohammed Siad Herse Morgan,
"Stop the fratricide in Somalia!
Your inability to resolve your con
flicts peacefully as Somalians only
aids and abets the evolving genocide
of your own people whom you
claim to represent... stop the blood
shed now!"
In the small town of Bardera in
southern Somalia, it is reported that
more than 3,000 have died from
starvation in less than two weeks.
All of those lives could have been
saved because torts of food had been
stored less than 30 minutes flying
time away from Bardera. Sources
have said the armed conflict in the
area arouncf Bardera prevented the
relief efforts from reaching those
starving.
The history of the African
American community has always
not rally across the nation to
demand action on Somalia then this
tragedy will get worse.
Next, the United Nations should
have a contingent large enough to
Somalia to deal with the magnitude
of the logistical and security prob
lems. The 500 or more U.N. troops
from Pakistan cannot begin to meet
the challenge. Why is the UN. so
slow to see this response to Somalia
is insufficient? The U.N. contingent
should be tenfold its present size.
Only when Africa unites, as
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
By BENJAMIN CHAVIS JR.
been relatively strong on the issues
of charity and relief. Yet, given the
current socioeconomic crisis con
fronting many in the community,
there has been an unusually slow
response to the tragedy of Somalia.
Of course, there are significant
exceptions, but in general there is a
growing feeling of helpleness
among many African-Afhericans
who think that nothing more can be
done. We disagree with such a fatal
istic approach to Somalia. If the
African- American community does
Nkrumah has sid, in both spirit and
body will these situations of suffer
ing really end. The Organization of
african Unit has to offer a vision and
strategic plan to unify the continent
economically, politically,, culturally
and most importantly, spiritually.
Africa needs a spiritual unity
strong enough to defy the historic
"divide and conquer" schemes of the
forces of oppression. If the agony of
Somalia does not bring together the
continent, what will?