OPINION/LETTERS
Winston-Salem Chronicle
Ernest H. Pitt. Publisher/d>-founder NDUBISI EGEMONYE, Co- Founder
Richard L. Williams, Executive Editor
ELAINE PlTT, Director of Community Relations \ '
MlCHAEL A. Pitt, Advertising Manager MEL WHITE, Circulation Manager
Equity of Opportunity
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Dorothy Graham-Wheeler is interested in the much- ,
talked about, proposed program for at-risk 4-year-olds as
?11 much as anyone. And for good reason. ' - ? ' ? '
Mrs. Wheeler runs the Best Choice Center on Highland
. Avenue, and she sees first-hand the myriad of problems
many of the children, who are from 5-15, bring to her highly
regarded center. " . ?
' . i The problems of those children 'underscore the need for
the program to be implemented in -the Winston- ,
Salem/Forsyth County school system. The school board,
which has begun to study the proposal should move on it
r post haste,
?Our children arc growing up ill-equipped. Several
school systems across the c^nntryJiave implementedthe-4^ ?
. vear-old program. One, Manassas Elementary School in .
? Woodbridge, Va., began seven years ago.
One of the teachers, Ritchie Carroll, said the program .
has been an overwhelming success. Carroll, who happens to
be the daughter of Mrs. Wheeler, said the program gets the
children "ready to learn." The intent, she said, is to give
them the "equity1 of opportunity to learn." Part of that is
familiarizing them with what they will be faced with when
. they enter kindergarten at age 5. v a !
Many of these children come from households where
th^parertt is a high school or junior high school student, and
4 there is' a need for some intervention. Without it, not only
will these children be lost ftt age 4 and 5. but likely for a .
^lifetime.
> The Waiting' Game
. Last month, some of this city's more forward-thinking
-Tridents and leaders got togejhef and compiled ? after
'-'^uch-'cfeHberation ? a federal grant application that, if
awarded, would make a sizable portion of Winston-Salem
an enterprise community. \ .
Now that the process has been completed and the appli
cation rests in Washington, the waiting process has begun in
earnest. " ? ? . ? ,
? Members of tRe East Winston Community Development
Corp.. the city staff and several concerned citizens who pro
? vided much needed input into the document arc sitting on
pins and needles hoping' that Winston-Salem will be one of
104 i oimiiuiutte^^ionwiile ? 15 applications from North
Carolina were submitted ? to win the grant, which could be
- as little as S3 million and as much as $100 million.
These grants will allow cities and towns to find ways to
deal with issues like poverty, unemployment, lack of health
care and education.
The urban enterprise community application includes
the long-term goals of economic self-sufficiency and neigh
borhood revitalization. This "strategic plan also highlights
partnerships to marshal and sustain human and financial
capital.
Winston-Salem ? as indeed the entire Triad ? is on the
cutting edge technological-wise. Although many businesses
are downsizing, many others are relocating here bringing
more jobs in the area.
There is a dire need for employers and employees in
eastern Winston-Salem, where the unemployment rate more
than quadruples that of the city at large.
* If the city is granted community enterprise status, more
jobs will be created in that area and there also will be more,
opportunities for residents to find work in other parts of the
enterprise community. It will also create opportunities for
minority entreprenuership, and equally important, it will
create hope in much of the area's disenfranchised that the
African-American community is not always getting the
short end of the economic stick.
The designation will entail creating jobs for the Unem
ployed, improving benefits and pay scales for the underem
ployed and attending to the health care needs of the elderly
and the working poor.
Gov. Jim Hunt occasionally visits Winston-Salem and
he understands the problems that this city and many others
in North Carolina face. He supports Winston-Salem's
, ? application bid. .1 1 : -
"Winston-Salem residents know that by joining together
they can make their communities better places to live," Hunt
said. ? : ? . .? _ ' ' . .
If the city gets the designation, we will be well on our
way.
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>K \ '
School Board is Not Self-Serving to Ask for More Pay
To the Editor:
Before the people of Forsyth
County leap to an. ill-advjsed. cyni
cal conclusion and confuse the Win
stotn- Salem/Forsyth County school
board's altruistic efforts to hire a
superintendent as something sleazy
and self-serving, they must look
closely at the real issues! surround
ing the search to. determine for
themselves if the board's request for
pay was justified or just another
selfish way for a board to manipu
late the system for personal g^in.
As a member of the board, I
have no problems with public criti
cism when ^he public is well
informed on the issues; however,
the public has been misinformed
because the media have not been
entirely truthful. j
To reach an objective decision
as to whether the board's- decision
was reasonable, the people must
first determine what constitutes a
(reasonable time frame for a ?art
. time board to fulfill its .political
obligations to the people. Next: the* .
must, determine \yhether a superin
tendent search is a matter that can ?
be dedlt-with as a routine agenda
item or a matter that requires special
v sessions and extra time beyond that
which has been defined as reason
able. rifi.tily. the issue of compensa
tion rnusi- be weighed and compared -
.V*
About letters ...
The Chronicle welcomes letters
as well as guest columns from
its readers. Letters should be as
cdncise as possible and should
be typed or tegibly printed. The
letter must also include the
name, address and telephone
number of tlte writer to ensure
the authenticity of the letter.
Columns mu follow the same
guidelines and will be pub
lished if they are of interest to
'? out* general readership . The
letters or columns that arrive
without this information. We
reserve the right to edit letters
and columns for brevity and
clarity. Submit letters and
columns to:
Chronicle Mailbag,
P.O. Box 1636
Winston- Salem, N.C. 27102.
with the alternative of hiring a head
hunting consulting firm at four or
five times the cost of our compensa
tion request. . , y,
Since our main objective to
save money and take on the burden
of the search ourselves has been
questioned, the public must examine
the expanding rules that consultant
fims play in the day-to-day function
of local governments. Otherwise, no
at the formula they use to pay them
selves. Furthermore, the Forsyth
County commissioners hire consul
tants to do some of their work. Con
sultants make a living manipulating
part-time elected officials inability
to meet public expectations, in-addi
tion, the commissioners have the
' authority to set their own rate of
compensation, which is twice/ that,
of school board members and they
board's policy on the issue of con
cern. This board felt so strongly
about the public having to pay for
an untimely superintendent search
that we added a clause to Dr. Mart
in's contract, which reads: "The
Superintendent agrees to pay or
reimburse the board for its actual
expenses to advertise recruit and
select a new superintendent; of
schools; provide, however, that the
CHRONICLE MAILBAG
Our Readers Speak Out
point of reference can be established
and confusion will prevail.
Personally, I equate the search
for a superintendent to that of a spe- '
'rial session of the state Legislature.
Items that cannot be attended to dur
ing regular sessions must be han
dled during special sessions. Our,
legislators arc paid for their time
and no one seems overly concerned
also enjoy other perks, such as sepa
rate telephone lines in theirjhomes
to take care of the board's business.
I Am I uj^t with citizens who
are concerned about the dark and
,shady side, of politics. Absolutely
not! Nevertheless, I do believe that
the only way that a citizen can
gauge the true values of a govern
mental body is by examining that
superintendent shall not obligate to
pay a sum of more than $20,000.""
The clause further stipulates that
any untimely termination of his con
tract would result in his haveing to
pay a sum equal to 15 percent of his
remaining salary. Is this action
indicative of self serving board?
; Walter Marshall
~ ? School hoard member?
111 .""i
"?fhftatfwu- I
" ' TTianks ?%?!?? and Hpusmgjggjii
We would lik? to tH??V Art ??
We would like to thank Ait Milligan, director of
Winston-Salpn Housing Authority, for (lis financial
support of the Happy Hill Garden Reunion. You are ? .
man with much class and caring. You believed in the
program we created for the community.
Our ancestors gave us our rich heritage.
Our families gave us life, love and comfort
Our Maker gave us each other
by celebrating these gifts with us.
Thank you for your contribution to the : ;
Happy Hill Reunion Weekend
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~ Ben Ptggott, Rock Bitting
Happy HiU Garden Reunion Commit U* ami
^WmamCSmsTCecremnVetUif.
We Must Find
Ways to End Violence in
Our Communities
'\The hero drives an expensive car and bran
dishes a gun. Perhaps he implies that he sells
drugs and he calls women "hos and bitches'\-He's
a gangsta rap video star and he's listened to by
millions of children and young people
Day after day we see stories of the violence
engulfing our cities. Some of us even live those
stories. Violence is destroying a whole generation
of young people who are not only the victims_pr
the killers, but those who are afraid to leave their
homes after dark and even mothers who are said
to put their babies to sleep in bathtubs in the hope
that stray, bullets cannot reach them.
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Violence is enslaving those who live miles
away in suburban communities remote from the
inner cities of America. Because the reality is that
children in suburban communities are caught up
in the fervor of violence as well. Because the real
ity is that more and more tax dollars are being
used to incarcerate the perpetrators of violence
and to pay the astronomical health costs of many
of its victims. The reality is that every American
is enslaved by violence in some way and we'd all
better get busy doing something about it.
Several African-American women |d Con
gress are doing just that ? they are getting busy
and doing something about the violence and nega
tive images found in gangsta rap music. In the
process they are taking on the multi-billion dollar
Entertainment industry and beginning an impor
tant public debate.
Both Congresswoman Cardiss Collins and
Senator Carol Moseley-Braun have sponsored
hearings on violence and demeaning images^
found in popular music today. Not surprisingly,
they found that many music videos depict vio
lence and crime. Not surprisingly, they found
many are demeaning to women. Not surprisingly,
they found that the addition to violence found in
all of American Society is a part of rap music cul
ture as well. "We are a society infatuated with
violence in a clinically obsessive way," testified a
representative of the American Psychiatric Asso
ciation. Not surprisingly, they found that there is
a relationship between exposure to violence and
childhood development.
A symposium held recently by Congressman
Tom Lantos of California on violence and video
games heard many of the same kinds of testi
monies. Indeed, those middle-class suburban par
ents who think their children are escaping the vio
lence need only to look at some of the video
games their children play. Games where women
are hunted and hung on meat hooks. Games
where captives are beheaded or have their hearts
ripped out.
Both the hearings on violence and gangsta
rap and those on violence and video games have
focussed attention on the entertainment business
and the epidemic of violence this nation is. suffer
ing. It is estimated that the video game industry
earns $10 billion a year worldwide and that hip
hop music, including gangsta rap, generates
nearly $1 billion, or ? ?
close to 10 percent of ?
the total U.S. music' '
market every year. ^
Without counting the t
movie industry or the % '
television industry's
revenues from movies . /
featuring violence, violence is big business in
America. - , _
Thankfully, some of those in the record
industry and video game industry also are con
cerned and there are efforts underway to develop
ratings systems for video games and rap music.
Already some radio stations across the country,
many of them African American owned, have
refused to play gangsta rap music. But some crit
ics question how vigilant a self-imposed rating
system really will be.
Thankfully, softie are beginning to talk with
parents to try to make them more aware of the
content of the music their children listen to con
stantly or of the video games they play everyday.
But far too many parents remain ignorant of or
just don't care about what their children watch or
hear.
inally, the hearings are raising important
questions about how music reflec s the culture in
which it is created. The reality is that as awful, as
demeaning, as frightening as the lyrics of gangsta
rap music may be, they are only reflective of the
economic and social breakdown of the cities in
which these young people live.
Music critic and author Nelson George testi
fied at Congresswoman Collins' hearing that this
music is a consequence of the long-term lack of
employment, the isolation from middle class val
ues and the concomitant adopting of street-values,
the contempt for authority /the celebration of
male bonding and the rampant consumerism of all
of U.S. society. '
Similarly, Congresswoman Maxine Waters
testified at Senator Moseley-Braun's hearing that
gangsta rap was bom of the frustration and hope
lessness, the raw energy and alienation .among
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL .
By BERNICE POWELL JACKSON
inner city youth. She challenged America to listen
to the message of these young people, who have
been isolated and alienated.
Clearly, we must find ways -to end the vio
lence in our communities.
We must get rid of the guns, we must get rid
of lyrics, music videos and video games which
glamorize violence and desensitize our children to
it.
We must find ways to get parents involved.
But if we are truly to be successful, we must
find ways to give young people hope ? hope that
, they can get jobs, hope that they are valued by
society, hope in the future.
There are no fast and easy answers or quick
fix solutions.
(Bernice Powell Jackson is the executive
director of the United Church of Christ Com
mission for Racial Justice .)