THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1993
DON'T MISS NEXT WEEK'S MLK SPECIAL EDITION
26 PAGES THIS WEEK
" ? .
Winston-Salem Chronicle
75 cents ^ "The^Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly" VOL. XIX, No. 19
Spreading Joy
?5
Pan Hellenic council spreads Christ
mas Joy to nursing home residents.
PAQEB4
Free Coats!
Police have 150 to give away. CaH 773
7888. Children and a^ult sizes.
* ? V
A Mortgage Lending: Are You Being Treated Fairly?
? Part I. Fed figures don't
look good for N.C. hanks
By MARK R. MOSS
Chronicle Staff Writer .
During the sixjweeks Bonnie Smith CaTictilious
name} waited to hear from^ffre mortgage company
where she had submitted her '??n application, she pre
pared to move in. She measured the house for draperies
and furnishings. She introduced herself to her neigh
bors. It was the type of neighborhood where she coftld
feel secure. This was the house and neighborhood she
had |>rayed for.
Then the bottom fell out.
v /
Her realtor, Virginia Newell of GFN Associates,
Inc./Virginia Newell Realtors, received a call from the
mortgage lender saying that the loan had been denied.
Newell said that after she calmed down, she asked
o *
the loan officer to put her through to the company's
president. The company is a small, well-known local
business, and Newell knew the president well.
"I told him, you're not going to turn this loan down.
It's been over six weeks, wfeich is over the legal limk.
And you are going to give this woman her money. I
think he heard what I said because the woman got the
loan.
"I've had to go that far to help someone get a loan,"
said Newell, the East Ward alderman.
Smith is an African-American, and whether her
race played a role in that mortgage company's initial
*
decision to deny her the loan is a question that may
never be answered.
But nationally, the rejection rate for black mortgage
applicants is roughly twice that of whites. According to
figures published by the Wall Street Journal , the same
can be said for the lending practices of local institutions.
The Wall Street Journal article ("Blacks Can Face a
Host of Trying Conditions in Getting Mortgages," Nov.
30,1992) containra state-by-state breakdown of how
black mortgage applicants fared against white appli
cants. Twenty-eight banks are listed for North Carolina
and were chosen becau%^*they received at least 50 mort
gage applications from blacks and 50 from whites.
In 1991 , Wachovia Bank of North Carolina rejected
more than twice (2.29) as many black applicants as
whites, a significant improvement over the 4.09 number
recorded in 1990. Wachovia Mortgage, Wachovia's
mortgage lending unit, had numbers even worse than its
parent company - 4.38 and 4.77, respectively.
NationsBank had slightly better figures: 1.58 for
1990 and 1.46 for 1991. NationsBank Mortgage rejected
3.91 times as many black applicants as white in 1990,
and imprdved somewhat with 3.76 in 1991.
According to information provided by Wachovia
Bank of North Carolina, 72 percent of all home loan
applications were approved by the bank in 1991. Of that
number, 72,3 percent came from white applicants and
23.6 percent were minority applicants. Of white appli
cants, 78.9 percent of their applications were approved,
while only 59.2 percent of the total black applicants
received loans. ^
Please see page A2
AVANT GARDE
BY TANG NIVRI
^ A few ^eeks ago, ^
Fu Worth sponsored/a
looked ike. wmtcst to help
?rljpyw8ptot about as p
panic kids?1*
? ???J'.
an everyday struggle. It
minorities often seem to
Leita Wesley, Kissey Gordon and Skeria Mumford were ready to party down at the teen party on First NighL
Sober New Year's Eve Party Was Fun
? More than 18,000
turned out for multi
stage entertainment
? By SIIERIDANinLL
Chronicle Assistant Editor
Convinced that New Year's Eve must
include a bottle of Jack Daniels (or perhaps
something stronger and definitely illegal?)
First Night ? Winston-Salem's drug-and
alcohol-free New Year's Eve celebration ?
? is holding out a carrot to party-goers and
homebodies.
From Grannies to Gerber babies, an
estimated 18,000 people turned out last
Thursday for a multi-stage night of enter
tainmenr set4 up throughout the Lawrence
Joel Memorial Veterans Coliseum and fair
gronnds. A First Night pin ($4 in advance.
$5 that night) entided the weaker to a full
night of music and hands-on activities,
from space simulators to down-and-dirty
blues. New Orleans-style.
The evening started at 4 p.m. with free
ice skating in the Coliseum Annex, where
hundreds of skaters from 4 to 60 pushed
their way around the ice, falling and pulling
themselves up again for more.
At midnight irfside the coliseum,
12,000 balloons were dropped on 9,000
First Nighters as country singer Ricky
Scaggs led them in a spontaneous and soul
ful rendition of "Amazing Grace." Outside,
Green Beret skyriiVers soared through the
?ool night air.Earlier, 400 kids lined up out
side in the teen pavilion to get an autograph
from MXV comedian Pauly Shore.
The 107- voice choir from the Macedo
nia True Vine Pentecostal Holiness Church
thrilled their audience with perfect har
P lease see page A2
Black Men
Get Brunt
Of Racism
? Bigotry thrived
in '92 in the state
By SHERIDAN HILL
Chronicle Assistant Editor
The most racist violence in the
oi*ic lfaot ycai v,as the June murder
and castration in Winston-Salem of
Carlos Stoner, and the alleged
lynching of a Sanford man, accord
ing to North Carolinians Against
Racist and Religious Violence.
Stoner, a black male who was
an alleged
homosexual,
was found
May 27 on
thfe Green
wafy foot
path cas
trated with a
large hole in
his chest.
His penis
had been
A
placed in his
mouth. Carios Stoner
Four
white men were charged with fint
degree murder in the case: Pwayne
Gregory Dob v. 21: Mark Anthony
Smith, 21; Ricky Eugene Knight,
27 ; and James Andrew Gilbert, 23.
Knight will be tried on Mar. 8.
He allegedly returned to the scene,
an hour after Stoner had been
killed, and used a knife to mutilate
Please see page <43
Hundreds Crowd Diggs Gallery for Kwanzaa
V
? Celebration of African culture and
family- brings community closer together
(Cooperative Econom
ics); Nia (Purpose);
Kuumba (Creativity);
and Imani (Faith).
The Special guest
By KAREN M. HANNON
Community' News Reporter
People who attended the 13th annual Kwanzaa cele
bration at the Diggs Gallery on the campus of Winston -
Salem State University la$t Thursday were treated to fes
tive music, melodic poetry, lively dance and cultural
history.
The event attracted hundreds of people, forcing
many of them to sit oh the floor or stand throughout the
entire celebration.
The program was sponsored by the East Winston
Branch Library.
Youth who participated it^the program addressed
- the sevefi principles of Kw^hiaa and lit a candle for
each: Umoja (Unity); Kujichftgulia (Self-determination);
Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility); Ujamaa
was Poet David Nelson, who delivered poems that
included a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm
x
Entertainment was provided by mime artist, Nathan
Ross Freeman, who told a story through audience partici
pation. Youth who attended volunteered to play parts as
a merchant, a hunter, a healer and a poet who were on a
journey back home. Each was met with an figurative
obstacle, which was portrayed by Freeman. Through this
lesson, participants learned the theme, "helping your
brother."
Musicians who performed included the Ascension
Heritage Band, Lawandria and Casaundria Penn, Cre
ative Arts Ensemble, and Basic Theory. The Healing
Force Ministries used song and dance in "One Foot in
Please see page A3
TO SUBSCRIBE CALL 919-722-8624 ?
Two young girls attending^ the Kwanzaa celebration
are entranced by the drumbeat and movement of mm
African spiritual dancer.