Smith Files Candidacy for East Ward Alderman Seat
A Smith, Johnson set to battle for.Newell's seat in November
By MARK R. MOSS
ChronicU Suff Writer
Norma T. Smith and Jocelyn
Johnson, two politically active
African Americans, both want to be
aldermen of the East ward.
Smith, a 45-year-old computer
consultant at Winston-Salem State
University, filed with the Forsyth
County Board of Elections yester
day to run for Alderman Virginia
Newell's seaL
"I think we need to continue to
go in the direction in which we
started, N Smith said.
Johnson, a social worker at
Baptist Hospital, threw her hat in the
ring early last month, shortly after
Newell decided not to run for re
election. Smith said at least two oth
ers, including a Republican, have or
will soon decide to vie for the seat.
Some say Johnson, a well-known
activist, appears to have the edge.
"I don't want to talk about Ms.
Johnson. I want this to be a positive
campaign. I want people to vote for
me because I think I can do a good
job. I don't think it necessary to tear
down or negate the activities of
another campaign," said Smith, the
divorced mother of a 15-year-old
daughter. "I can bring a vision to
East Winston. A vision of a thriving,
vibrant East Winston. The plans are
already out there, they just ne$d
implementation."
She is opposed to the construc
tion of more low-income housing in
the ward. "We can't just talk exclu
sively about that. I think we need
more mixed housing," she said.
She said that people who live in
low- and moderate-income homes
tend to be more sensitive to the com
munity at large, and the infrastruc
ture in those communities - streets.
lights, etc. - gets repaired faster.
She said she didn't mean to
sound insensitive to the poor's
needs, but "it's the way our society
addresses things. People tend to
write off poor people."
Smith, who has never run for
office before, also believes that East
ward residents should be more sen
sitive to the community's preserva
tion. "Right now, all I hear is tear
down, tear down. A lot of the struc
tures have history," she said.
When told that most of the his
toric structures in East Winston have
already been demolished, Smith
replied: "That just means we have to
be all the more diligent."
On crime, she said: "I wish I
had the answer to the crime prob
lem. 1 do feel that to make any
impact calls for early intervention. _ ?
Smith, chairman of the East.
Winston Economic Task Force, said
her first taste of politics came~when
she served as campaign manager for
Ne well's second run for alderman.
Her mother was Newell's campaign
manager during the alderman's first
run. T ? ?
Smith, a graduate of Morgan
State University in Baltimore, is a
native of Winston-Salem and lives
on Kentucky Avenue. Her daughter,
I 1 ^ fl I
Norma Tanner Smith
Natasha, is a sophomore at Salem
Academy.
Discussion on Race Relations Focuses
on Black Student- Athletes
By DAVID L DILLARD
Chronicle Staff Writer
Panelists at the third forum of
People for Racial Reconciliation, a
part of the Crossing 52 initiative,
told more than 300 people at Ml -
Zion Baptist Church last week that
ending racism in society is the key
to ending racism in the classroom.
The panel, mostly comprised of
educators, agreed that racism still
exists in the school system, but they
- disagreed on the prevalence and
effects of it.
"We arc a mirror of what's hap
pening in the community," said Jim
Wilhelm, division director for high
schools. "The students mirror what's
in the home arid the community."
Denise McDonald, of the
school system's program services,
said race relations are better
because people are talking about it.
"It appears to be worse because
people are being vocal," she said. "I
think it's healthy for the issue to be
in the forefront"
Talking about the problem and
solving the problem are two differ
ent things, said the Rev. Carlton
Eversley, pastor of Dellabrook Pres
byterian Church. He said blacks are
hurt in the school system because
society never established integra
tion, only desegregation.
"Undoubtedly, things are better
that blacky and whites are in the
same system," he said. "But blacks
lost a lot in desegregation. Segrega
tion had higher expectations of
black students."
Earline Parmon, director of
LIFT Academy, said the need is to
get black males away from focusing
on athletics as a means of scholar
ship and steered on a more solid
course of science and math.
"Big, black, husky males are
aam.
*lt
Earline Parmon
being used the whole season to run
touchdowns but can't read," she
said. "They are being prostituted by
football."
Parmon criticized teachers for
not recognizing the difference
between the races and the need to
1
Rev. Carlton Eversley
stop treating adolescents as adults.
"A lot of black males have told
me they go to school knowing peo
ple don't expect them to perform,"
she said. "African-American stu
dents are different, but adolescents
are different period."
Educators Dismayed over Expulsion from page A1
Independence, a student is perma
nently excluded from the entire sys
tem. The student does, however,
have the chance to re-apply the fol
lowing year.
Geneva Brown, one of the
* ! school board's African- American
members, said of the findings: "It
didn't have anything I didn't
expect."
She called the figures "alarm
ing" and said they may even be
worse if the expulsion figures for
elementary school were considered.
"It says to me something is not
^working ... Kids are being kicked
out because people don't understand
them."
Brown said that the school sys
tem will always have students who
will have serious problems, but
most of the ones who get kicked out
are those whose behavior can be
modified.
Teachers are going to have to
be more tolerant, she said, "unless
thev want to see crime escalate/
Students who are expelled usually
turn to crime, she said.
"The answers come with people
knowing how to treat people," she
said. She said that she is in favor of
teachers being re-trained.
"I grant you, we need some
things that talk about the contribu
tions of blacks, but that's not all we
need," she said.
Board member Walter Marshall
echoed Brown's comments on the
connection between school expul
sion and crime. The figures for
black males indicate that "we're not
really doing anything to deal with
that group."
"This community cannot feel
safe until the problem with this pop
ulauon is dealt with," he said. He
called the figures "terrible" and
"symptomatic of something bigger."
Said Elsa Woods, director of
middle schools: "My personal opin
ion is that this is a reflection of
what's going on in society. There
axe more crimes committed in soci
ety in general, so there are more
committed in school."
She also blamed joblessness
and the frustrations inherent in a sit
uation where a parent can't support
his family. The school-aged child is
affected by that frustration and car
ries it to school, she said.
"If things aren't good at home,
they're -not good in school," Woods
said.
Officials at Hanes Middle
School recommended that 23 stu
dents be expelled this past school
year, the third highest of the middle
schools. Of the 23, 21 students
were black.
Ron Montaquila, Hanes' prin
cipal, blames that disproportionate
number on "economics."
"If 1 had to pick one reason, I'd
say economics. It's a result of the
situation they're living in," he said.
He said the school has a consid
erable number of students who live
in the Piedmont Circle public hous
ing community. But while he
also said that students from the
same community were also making
the honor roll.
Montaquila attributes the high
number of expulsion recommenda
tions in general to the school's status
as the last stop for a troubled youth
before being sent to Petree, the mid
dle school counterpart for Indepen
dence.
i: Suspect Served 3 Months from page A1
; * had to serve had he been sentenced
? ! otherwise," he said.
? *
The five-member parole board,
j : which is appointed by the governor,,
; ! does not give reasons for granting
? : parole, only when it denies parole.
A new parole board began its
four-year term June 30.
Barber and Shannon Wayne
Huffman, 16, of 222 E. Devonshire
St., are accused of the July 10 shoot
ing that left Talonda Lanier in a
coma for a more than a week. A bul
let was removed from her head last
week.
The shooting occurred shortly
after Saidet Lanier, the child's 21
year-old mother, pulled to the side
of Interstate 40 to rest. They had
traveled from Snow Hill and were
en route to Killeen, Tex., where
Lanier is an army private.
The two men allegedly sprayed
the car with bullets and sped off.
Because Lanier chased the car and
memorized the license plate num
ber, two men were arrested later that
day.
Barber and Shane are being
held in the Forsyth County Jail
under $200,000 bond. Because Bar
ber is a parole violator, he cannot be
released until the case is resolved.
Michael Barber
Second Suspect Beaten in Jail Cell from p&ge A1
considered serious.
"Since that incident we've
administratively segregated him,"
Schweitzer said. "That means he's
housed by himself in a single cell ...
to protect him."
Huffman, 16, of 222 5. Devon
shire St. and Michael "Shane" Bar
ber, 18, of 3801 S. Main St, -have
been held in the county jail in lieu
of $200,000 bail since the July 10
shooting. They are charged with
assault with a deadly weapon with
? intent to kill, causing serious injury.
The shooting occurred during
? the early morning hours when the
' family stopped to rest beneath an
? overpass on Interstate 40. The fam
'. iiy ? Talonda, her mother, Saidet
? Lanier, and her sister Adrienne
? Lanier ? had been visiting relatives
? in Snow Hill and was returning to
Killeen, Texas, where Saidet Lanier
is an army private at Fort Hood.
After the shooting, Talonda lay
in a coma for several days. Last
week, doctors at Forsyth Memorial
Hospital removed the bullet from
her head and said she was steadily
In all likelihood, Schweitzer
said, the assault on Huffman
stemmed from the shooting.
"This was a senseless act that
he allegedly was involved in," he
said. "The other inmates know that
he allegedly took part in that act."
Only one of the three inmates
were disciplined, he said. One was -
released before the hearing was
completed; authorities could not
come up with conclusive evidence
linking the other man to the beating,
Schweitzer said. The disciplined
inmate, Larone Crockett, was placed
in isolation from July 16 through
Shannon Huffman
Aug. 9, he said.
Huffman is white; Lanier and
the three men who allegedly
attacked him are black.
. "I don't think race had anything
to do with it," Schweitzer said.
"Even in jail there are some crimes
that not tolerated If there is an inno
cent victim out there, then certainly
a child falls into that category."
Everslcy wants to mandate sen
sitivity training for teachers of all
races to become knowledgeable of
cultural differences.
"When African-American chil
dren are getting expelled in grades
K, 1 and 2, what we're dealing with
is at-risk teachers, not at-risk stu
dents," he said. "If you can't deal
with our children and teach them,
then you shouldn't be teaching."
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