Massive Gathering at Mt.
Zion Baptist
Church Talks Race
Relations
A 350 were at the East Winston
meeting, fewer than 50 were black
By MARK R. MOSS
Ckromcit Suff Writer
About 350 people jammed into
the fellowship hall at Ml Zion Bap
tist Church on Martin Luther King
Jr. Boulevard last Tuesday for a dis
cussion on -race relations. Surpris
ingly enough, less than SO people
who attended were black.
A young black man who identi
fied himself only as Dijon, pointed
out the obvious. "Blacks should be
overrunning this place," he said.
\ Sponsored by several religious
and community groups, the "The
Crossing 52 Initiative: A Public Dia
logue on Race Relations," attracted
the young and the old, and those
who wanted to speak their minds.
"I hope what we are about to do
will go down in local history," said
William H. Turner, the moderator.
He characterized the crowd as "good
people who have come for a good
reason."
Tables were assigned to discuss
different questions, such as how
local media should respond to race
problems. There were about 10 peo
ple at each table. More than 30 peo
ple went to the microphones to
express their feelings about race
relations.
"To succeed," said Ted James, a
Gemmons resident, "we must sacri
fice those things we have learned."
He said that during his lifetime,
black people have been called col
ored, Negro, black and now African
American. "I want to be known as a
human being."
Raymond Oliver, a local den
tist, "stopping the violence" and
"improving the relationship with
police" would be the "pragmatic
approach" to dealing with race rela
tions in the city.
"The police would have to be
stupid to overtly abuse persons of
color," Oliver said. He said people
should go into the black community
and get them to "understand" the
police.
"We need . . . to start rebelling
against those who stand for evil,"
said the Rev. Otto Gaither. "We
have to change the reality for peo
ple, by telling them they're doing
wrong. (It's) in our hands to change
the child of deviant behavior."
The Rev. Carlton Eversley, pas
tor of Dellabrook Presbyterian
Church, lambasted the city/county
school system for allowing "people
to teach who have no cultural sensi
tivity; no appreciation of who we
are."
A woman who introduced her
self as Sister Rhonda, and wore
Muslim garb, said in a stentorian
voice that although she hasn't been
in Winston-Salem all her life, she
knew that the black community was
once a thriving community, and thai
at one time blacks didn't need to
deal with whites for anything.
"This black community was
ours " she said. "Now we don't
know who we are. We need to come
together and teach ourselves. Forget
all this we need to be friends stuff.
Until we get ourselves together, we
can't mingle with anyone."
During the second part of the
program, when people at the tables
turned their attention to the ques
tions that had been assigned, John
D. Gates, the editorial page editor of
the Winston-Salem Journal, was
asked why the newspaper published
such mean-spirited letters.
"Whether or not I like the let
ters has nothing to do with whether
they get published," he said. "They
are a legitimate reflection of what
the community is thinking.*
The remarks of two youths who
attended also struck a chord.
Rita Davis, a 12-year-old who
is in the academically gifted pro
gram at Wiley Middle School, said
she hates being asked if she is black
or white or mixed. She said a per
son's skin color shoukLa't make any
difference.
"Everybody should have equal
rights to everything," she said.
Dana Robinson, 9, said that
people "ask too many questions
about my race. ... If Martin Luther
King were here, he would be
proud."
The next meeting is scheduled
for July 27.
Local Soldier Honored for Achievement
By MARK R. MOSS
CkrtmkU Staff Writer
How cold was it for Hayward
Oubre when he was in Alaska in
1942 .helping an all-black U.S.
Army regiment build ifie~AIcan~
Highway?
It was so cokl it took two days
for a dead man's body to thaw.
It was so cold the bugle boy
? who came out to blow reveilte ooe
morning lost $ good portion of his
lips because he forgot to warm up
his trumpet
It was so cold that when Oubre
woke up one morning to find his
tent mate's mouth encircled in frost,
he was scared to awaken him for
fear that he might be dead.
It was so cold . . . Well, you get
the picture. i
"Prison? It was worst than
prison," Oubre said from the com
fort of his living room in Skyland
- Park, thousands of miles and 50
years away from a wilderness he
said he has no desire to see again.
"Yoi can break out of prison;
wasn't no way in the world you
could have broken out up there."
Oubre, an artist and retired
chairman of the Art department at
Winston-Salem State University,
w* one of the over 3,000 African
American men who, in the midst of
World War II, were sent to Alaska
to construct the first highway that
connected the United States with
Alaska.
Somewhat belatedly, the fed
eral government last month recog
nized the achievements of those
men with a ceremony in the Penta
gon to mark the opening of the
"Miles To Miles" exhibit, which
features memorabilia from the sol
. diers who worked on the road.
Oubre was the representative and
keynote speaker for the four black
engineering outfits that laid the
Alcan Highway, which is still in
use.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engi
neers, which included the 97th,
Oubre's regiment, completed the
1 ,500-mile road in just over eight
months. A third of the 10,607 men
who built the highway were black.
According to information pro
vided by the University of Alaska,
two previous attempts to build the
highway were aborted because of
the sub-zero weather and the rugged
terrain. But the third attempt
Hay ward Oubre discusses his Alaskan tour of duty.
brought in the 97th , whose motto,
was The Difficult We Do Immedi
ately, the Impossible Takes a Little
Longer." With that kind of determi
nation, there was no question that
the project would not get done,
Oubfe said.
Oubre had a desk job during his
stint in Alaska. He was a technical
sergeant in Headquarters and Ser
vices, and one of his responsibilities
was making sure that equipment got
repaired. He also served as a water
sergeant and had to convince one
commanding officer that the water
the soldiers had been drinking was
polluted by decaying fish. He said
he was responsible for the chlori
nated water soldiers drank from
then on.
Oubre said that besides the hos
tile environment, one of the major
obstacles the soldiers had to over
come in constructing the road was
muskeg - a quicksand-like marsh
that couldn't support the materials
needed for road construction.
When you're out in the wilder
ness and there are all kinds of life
threatening hazards, people tend to
work well together, Oubre
explained. "We thought together to
solve problems "he said. "There
was a lot of trial and error."
He couldn't say if the black sol
diers, or the white commanding
officers, were responsible for com
ing up with the idea to layer
saplings - three rows, criss-crossed
- on top of the muskeg to support
the heavy road materials.
Oubre said he and some of the
others had problems sleeping
Man on Life Support
After Arrest by Police
By Richard L WQliarai
ChnmieU Managing Editor
A black Winston-Salem man
was in critioal condition on life
support 'last night at Rorsyth
Memorial Hospital after he was
arrested by Winston-Salem police
early Wednesday morning.
Lawrence Frahciso Cannon,
whose address was not immedi
ately known, was arrested about 4
a.m. in the 1000 block of East
15th Street, police said Accord
ing to police, a man flagged down
Officer L.L. Sims and told him
that a man was lying in the front
seat of his 1978 Ford The man
told police that he did not know
the man and wanted him arrested.
Moments later, police said,
Officer R.O. Crater arrived and
the two officers tried to handcuff
Cannon. Police said that Cannon
resisted arrest, and the officers
used pepper spray. Cannon was
taken to the City Clerk's office
and charged with tampering with
a motor vehicle and delaying an
officer. His bond was set at $800.
The two officers then took Can
non to the Forsyth County Jail.
While walking toward the jail,
police said, Cannon tripped and
fell on the steps. They said that
there was no apparent injury to
Cannon. The jailer refused to
admit Cannon until he had
received medical attention.
When the officers arrived at
the hospital, Cannon was uncon
scious. Medical personnel tried to
revive Cannon in the parking lot
and in the emergency room. The
State Bureau of Investigation is
investigating the incident
because being that close to the
North Pole the sun is always shining
during certain times of the year. To
kill time, some of the soldiers gam
Wed while others iried to sleep.
Oubre, who said he doesn't drink,
smoke or gamble, said sometimes
the games would get out of hand
and the profanity that erupted would
disturb those who wanted peace.
The gamblers were reported to rank
ing officers. The compromise that
was reached allowed the gambling
to continue, but only if the gamblers
cursed quietly.
"They didn't get boisterous like
blacks think they have to. It was
something else to see them get mad
and never shout," he said, laughing.
Oubre said that as far as he
could recall, loss of life was rare.
His time in Alaska, and in the
Army, "seemed like an eternity. I
thought I would never get out
"If I'm going to hell, I know
what it's like because I've already
gone," he said.
He called the fact that it has
taken 50 years for the black soldiers
who worked on the Alaska highway
to get recognition "unreal."
"There's a tendency for us to
get written out of history... This (the
recognition) is important not
because of me but because of the
men I served with."
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