/ 4V x
rm
4
'* >? 9
4
*?kv xu
Choosing Success
Best Choice Center wins $25,000
grant for their good work.
PAGE A1
Second Chance
Man in his 80s wanted more
from his life, attends Forsyth Tech.
PAGE A7
7
Winston-Salem Chronicle
75 cents
"The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly"
VOL. XIX, No. 15
State Report Vindicates Citizens United For Justice
A Commission makes recommen
dations to improve race relations.
By MARK R. MOSS
Chronicle Staff Writer
The Citizens United for Justice is not exactly gloat
ing, but it is feeling vindicated because*fc report released
by the N. C. Human Relations Commission in many
ways buttresses what it has been saying about race rela
tions in Winston-Salem.
"We thought that the state report verified our posi
tion," said The Rev. Carlton Eversley, of Citizens
United for Justice. "Although it did not explicitly call
for a citizens review board, we basically felt that the
Anti-Poverty
Program Brings
U sers/Providers
Face-To-Face
By SHERIDAN HILL
Chronicle Assistant Editor
The Opportunities For Families project is now
organizing a Human Services Advisory Commission.
On it will be consumers and board members from
human service agencies. For many of them, it will be
the first time they have sat face-to-face as equals.
"That makes some of them real nervous/* said
OFF Manager Anne McLeod, "for consumers to talk
to board members. But their input is necessary, and it
becomes part of the change."
Opportunities for Families is the county's new
an ti -poverty program. Funded in 1991 by a three-year,
SI million grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Founda
tion, it's unlike any other program that deals with the
poor.
If OFF is effective, the Department of Social Ser
vices might overhaul the way it handles clients.
OFF's target group is pregnant and parenting
teens. The main goal is to break the cycle of poverty
that surrounds these youth and their families. It is an
ambitious task.
Talk to someone working with OFF and you'll
hear buzzwords such as"consumer" (clients who con
sume social services), and phrases such "changing
the delivery of services."
Please see page A3
Mm i 1 ON THE
? P I AVANT GARDE
J ? ?
,i^t ' ~ UN I \\<. \l\ R I
WL _
? ?
We were standing in the lobby of the Arts
Council Theatre when a young black woman
; walked up to ask for directions to the ticket
Ibooth. We were hoping she'd ask for tickets to
: .see "Celebrations: An African Odyssey." Instead,
- she asked for tickets to the Nutcracker.
No doubt, Larry Leon Hamlin was disap- ,
pointed and frustrated; not that the lady shouldn't
have taken her family to see the Nutcracker, but
'frustrated because she didn't ask for tickets to see
Celebrations, too!
Larry Leon and the North Carolina Black
Theater Repertory Company are trying to help
.ALL of us to see the value of tradition, the
strength of tradition, and the necessity of ritual.
They are hoping that this community will see the
value of celebrating our history, that we will see
the value of reliving die truth of our past
_ But ho^ shall we develop a tradition
observed as passionately and as fervently as is
the Nutcracker? How shall we create a sense
within ALL parents to dream of seeing their
daughters prance not only in Tchaikovsky's
Dance of the "Sugar Plum Fairies** but also in the
*Dance of thaNe^r Time Celebrations?*
(Editor* t note: Following It Takg's review .
Please see page A7
state justified what we've been saying for months."
'Their report reflects and substantiates what the cit
izens have beert saying all along," said the Rev. John
Mendez, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church and a
founder of Citizens United. "What we're concerned
with is that the police department and the city manager's
office take these recommendations seriously."
The state commission's report, based on a meeting
held in August at Winston-Salem State University and
attended by 250 people. The report consists of two lists:
community perceptions that are factual or not; and rec
ommendations ? those changes the panel suggest
might help the city's race relations. The panel hearing
the comments consisted of four state commissioners and
r
two from the city.
The report listed eight "perceptions," which were
summarized from comments at the meeting. Those per
ceptions included:
? Skin color and social class seem to determine
what attention and treatment citizens will get from law
enforcement;
? Young black men may habitually be the victim of
undue harassment and mistreatment by police;
? And there exists a lack of trust, in general, for
government leaders and officials by the poor and minor
ity community.
Among the eight recommendations in the report,
two are proving to be controversial.
? ^ V'
Twenty-one executives were chosen from local companies as the first Project Blueprint class.
Black Executives Headed For Boards
By SHERIDAN HILL
Chronicle Assistant Editor
Chief executives of nonprofit groups now can find
more qualified blacks to serve on their board of direc
tors.
On Tuesday, 21 black executives threw their hats
in the ring, as they became the first graduating class of
Project Blueprint. It is a new program sponsored by
United Way of Forsyth County to train minority volun
teers for service on such boards.
Brenda B. Diggs chaired and organized the pro
gram, which was initiated this spring by Floyd R.
Davis Jr., United Way President and CEO.
"We both saw a thirst for this kind of thing," said
Diggs. "When Floyd was new to the community he
saw the same faces serving on the same boards. We
decided it was time to spread the idea of community
involvement."
Nigel Alston, assistant vice-president of employee
and community relations for Integon Corporation,
addressed the class last Thursday.
"I'm always hearing people say, 'If I only had
more like you,"' Alston said. "Now we have a ready -
P lease see page A13
One recommends that the Winston-Salem Human
Relations Commission and the Winston-Salem Police
Department report to different supervisors to avoid
potential conflicts of interest
"I don't see that there's a potential for a conflict of
interest/' said Alexander R. Beaty, Winston-Salem's
assistant city manager. The only interaction the city
manager's office has with the city's Human Relations
Commission has mainly to do with bureaucratic func
tions, such as budgeting and travel arrangements, he
explained. "I don't think a lot of people understand our
relationship to the commission. I view them as an
extension of the Board of Alderman, which saw a need
Please see page A9
Brown, Marshall
Sworn In; Wooten
Elected Chair
A First Time Two Blacks
Hold Seats On Boards
By MARK R. MOSS
Chronicle Staff Writer ;
As president of the local chapter of the NAACP,
Walter Marshall led the fight to change the rules gov
erning how members were elected to the Winston*
Salem/ Forsyth County School board.
Victory came last Thursday when Marshall and
Geneva Brown were sworn in, making this the first
time in the school board's history that more than one
African- American held seats on the board.
In an atmosphere devoid of the anticipated acri
mony, the board elected Nancy Wooten to be its next
chairman. In other business, the board approved
changes in the school system's academically gifted
program and approved a 10-year capital plan that calls
for $ 1 40 million in constuction and renovation.
The 5-4 vote along party lines gave the lawyer and
14-year veteran of the school board the chair, and a
subsequent vote gave Nancy Griffith, a two-year vet
eran of the board, the vice chairmanship.
Wooten and Griffith, both Democrats, will preside
over a nine-member board.
The board's first African-American was Beaufort
Bailey, whose loss in the 1990 election prompted Mar
shall and other black leaders to push for district elec
tions, which the General Assembly established last
Please see page A8
Panel Members Remember
Malcolm X
A 'Tom can stick a knife in my back 9 inches deep,
and pull it out 6 inches ? that's not progress . You
can take it out ? that's not progress. But taking it
out and letting the wound heal ? now that's
called progress."
? Malcolm X, in response to a reporter's question
By MARK R. MOSS
Chronicle Staff Writer
Perhaps the most poignant moment
at the panel discussion on Malcolm X and
the recently released biographical feature
about his life came when a Turk from
Cypress went to the podium and
explained how he first learned about the
controversial Muslin leader.
Ibrahim Benter told the audience,
which met in the auditorium of the Main
Library on Dec. 5, that when he was 15,
he happened to notice a large photograph
of an African -American in the cultural
center of his hometown. He asked the
head of the center who the man was. "His
name is Malcolm/* the man explained,
"and he lived in the United States and
was one of the few men who managed to
lead a life similar to the prophet Muham
mad."
"He sacrificed everything for what
he believed," Benter said. "He was an
example for everyone all over the world.
He was an example for people oppressed
and suffering. He was my hero."
Benter said he later read "The Auto
Pltast seepage A8
Sara Lee Awards $25,000 To Best Choice
? Student Will Deliver
Speech Describing Center
By M C DAVIS
Chronicle Staff Writer
Shayla Cannon, of Gray Avenue,
doesn't fear public speaking. She is a vet
eran of 4-H Club speaking engagements.
But the thought of speaking before
Winston-Salem's dignitaries tonight at
the M.C. Benton Convention Center
might give any sixth grader pause.
"I'm scared to read my speech in
front of all those people. But I'll have it
memorized enough where I won't have to
look at the paper too much," the Kennedy
Middle School student said. "And I won't
pass out in front of the audience."
Cannon attributed her poise to the
Best Choice Center of Winston-Salem, a
neighborhood-sponsored, after school
education, drug intervention and preven
tion program.
Cannon is enrolled in the center's
after school learning program.
The Sara Lee Corporation will award .
Please see page A3
Shayla Cannon , Travest Hunter and Brandy Hunter attend Center
TO SUBSCRIBE. CALL 722-8624. JUST DO IT!