OPINION/LETTERS
Winston-Salem Chronicle
Ernest H. Pitt, Publisher/Co- founder NdUBISI EgEMONYE, Co- Founder
Richard L. Williams, Executive Editor
Elaine Pitt, Director of Community Relations
MICHAEL Ai Pitt, Advertising Manager MEL WHITE, Business Manager
Black Developers Needed
William Brandon is to be commended for his persistence
and^letermination in bringing the Eastway Plaza Shopping
Center development to fruition.
Anyone following, Mr. Brandon's travails in this project
knows the difficulty he has encountered from local banks as
well as prospective tenants.,
He has done this without any prior pxperience. We know
the lack of experience hampered him in his efforts. However,
Mr. Brandon as a number of other African-American entrepre
neurs, is an intelligent man of extreme character and integrity.
He has demonstrated what can happen when given the same
opportunity afforded others. He had a great concept, a little
money and a lot of determination. * '
. Several years ago, the East Winston^ Economic Develop
ment Task Force, which is currently chaired by Norma Smi^h,
produced a study that indicated the need for African- Ameri
cans to become involved in developing the African- American
community as developers. Heretofore, African-Americans and
t the African-American community have been viewed as simply
consumers and laborers for others who reap huge benefits from
developing. Mr. Brandon has broken the barriers of economic
development..
The real significance of what Mr. Brandon has done lies in
the fact that unless African-Americans take a leadership rble in
developing the African-American community, the community'
will continue to lag behind other areas in the city. It is not
coincidental that there is no thoroughfare or parkway in the
African-American community. There is a direct correlation
between easy access and economic development.
Look at what is happening throughout the western half of
the city. You will see road construction that tends to make it
easy for people to get from one place to the other. The road
system in the African-American community does not lend^ i
itself toward mobility and easy access.
For instance, in the African-American community, streets
tend to dead-end. They simply run out. And there are a huge
number of these ^streets that simply end. In other communities
these similar streets are called cul-de-sacs because at least you
are able to turn around without having to back ^p. A small
item yon might say. But, this is only the tip of thet iceberg.
We want to thank Mr. Brandon for his efforts and encour
age him to continue his development in the African-American
community. So often when we do something of importance we
are suspected of doing something illegal in order to have
accomplished it. We hope others will follow Mr. Brandon s
lead and look for other opportunitiesln our community.
Let's not let all of our money exit our community all of the
time.
* SAT Under Scrutiny
If anything positive tor African-Americans came out of
last week's announcement about how students who took the
SAT fared, it was that there are more African-Americans tak
ing the test. That was- about it. ?"""
The scores of African- Americans in the Winston
Salem/Forsyth County school system were significantly lower
than last year ? 1 8 points off 1993 ? ? and was its lowest since
J 990. : ' .
A bright spot was that scores for African-Americans
statewide improved by one point, from 722 to 723. Nationally,
the score for African- Americans declined one point, from 741
to 740.
?
However, the mostleye-opening statistic can be seen when
comparing the scores of African-American students to those of
white students here. That the gap is 210 points in favor of
white students tells us that there is a segment of the school
population that is not being reached. By not -being reached,
that segment ? African-American males and females ? are
not being taught the skills necessary to do well on these tests.
For the gap between African-Americans and whites to be
so widespread signifies that classrooms, remain segregated.
The needs of that sub-group who continue to perform sig
nificantly lower are not being met because they are not getting
the core curriculum necessary to perform well.
And although the verbal portion of these tests have proven
to be racially biased, it must still be viewed as a point of con
cern for all African- Americans.
Although the test is not indicative of one's potential suc
cess* it can be regarded as a measuring stick. Furthermore, it
can be viewed as a weeding-out tool, and essentially as it
stands now since African- Americans score the lowest, they are
the ones that will be weeded out.
We are glad to see the numbers increase of African- Ameri
cans taking the test, one reason school officials give for the
decline. But which is better: more people taking the test or
higher scores? Our suggestion is that both n$eds to improve. If
not, a segment of the city's population will continue to be dis
enfranchised. If that trend continues, we all will eventually
share the blame ? and its effect.
One Hundred Black Men Making A Return
One Hundred Black Men has
received a $60,000 grant for the
state of North Carolina to run a
mentoring program of 25 men with
25 African- American male yboys and
teen-agers ages 5-15. The Best
Choice Center is cooperatively
administering the grant s funds.
For the next several weeks, I'll
be writing columns with the purpose
of ensuring the recruitment of 25
strong, black men for their particu*
lar project. By "strong" 1 mean men
who are consistent in their commit
ment. This project requires eight
hours per month, four in a group
activity and four in a one-to-one
mentor relationship.
One Hundred Black Men
started in Winston-Salem in 1 985 ,
when 40 brothers gathered in the
Winston-Lake YMCA to ask our
selves: If white folks did not exist,
what would we as black men be
doing for the liberation of our peo
ple?" We organized quickly and
well. The fate attorney Richard
Archia spearheaded our getting 501
(G-3) tax-exempt, non-profit ( status.
Every black male elected official in
Forsyth County was present as well
as some candidates for office. There
were doctors, lawyers, and Indian
Chiefs, as well as everyday blue
collar workers. There were pastors
of large churches as well as pastors
of small congregations like mine.
Rapidly we designed a consti
tution and by laws. An ethics com
~ mittee was established that said men
abusing chemical substances or
women and or children as their reg
ular lifestyle or the organization
thorough inactivity (three unex
cused absences) could not be mem
bers. All of this was done, but we
never went beyond our membership
to do anything, so we died. /
The record dispensation of One
Hundred Black Men was between
1990 and 199^. Here I took a hand-.,
ful of men in arid around
Dellabrook Church including
Charles Burns, vice principal of
North Forsyth High School, Carlos
Diaz, a Willie M worker, Emery
Rann, Human Relations director of
Winston-Salem and two Islamic
students at N.C. A&T State Univer
sity, Chns Henderson and Keir Ris
don to mentor black boys and male
teens on a monthly basis.
Every third Saturday we met at
10 a.m. at the YMCA. After open
the Housing Authority, the Greens
boro Historical Museum's Black
inventors exhibit, Special Occasions
^Bookstore and Discount Records
and Tapes to name a few.
We'll need help in this third life
100 BLACK MEN
By CARLTON EVERSLEY
ing with prayer, we'd talk for a half
hour about a variety of things his
tory, politics, education, personal
financing etc. Our main objective
was to expose the boys and teens to
places and people who were posi
tive for African-Americans. This
included tours of Winston-Salem
State University, Wake Forest, Win
ston-Salem Chronicle, WAAA radio,
a house bei/ig built by black con
tractor led by plumber D. W.
Andrews, Contract Office Furnish
ing, KPCH Management C^rp. at
of One Hundred Black Men to
develop a significant rite ot' passage
as well as create a Black Big
.^Brother system.. Nobody but a. black
man ran teach a black boy or teen
what it means and how to be a black
man. Interested men can call me at
725-4274 or 744 1849 or Kay <ilark
at the Best Choice Center at 722
0597. . .
. (Carlton Eversley is pastor of
Dellabrook Presbyterian Church-m
Winston-Salem.) .
To be Successful in School, Be in Charge of Yourself!
?:> part ii of n
? ? ... ^ ? t ? ?
*11. Are you always trying to
play tricks on other children sycti_x
as; hiding or taking their pencils or
moving their paper, books or other
belongings? (a) This gets the samev
answer as number nine and yoi| can
be assured that this will not help ?
? you make friends or be a good vstu- -
dent!
12. Are you in the habit of tak
ing things that don't belong to you?
(a) This can be very serious. You
need to determine if you really need
whatever it is and if. it's worth the ?
trouble it can cause, (b) It is better
to ask for what you want, (c) find
someone, you trust and ask them, to
help you find better ways of getting
, things you want, (d) Try as best you
can to think of how you would feel
if someone took something of yours.
13. Are you always blurting out
the answers in class without waiting
to be called upon? (a) Try always
repeating to yourself the question
the teacher is asking. Then and only
their raise yourhancTr TbT Counting
to a certain number may help you
(c) Try to make a plan with the
teacher, to help you eliminate blurt
ing out.
14. Do you have tantrums and
cry in class often because things
-don't go your way? (a) You could
keep a list of all the good things
that happen when you cry and have
tantrums, (b) Have a discussion.
with the teacher or any other adult,
on the things or situations that make
you cry. (c) From the list and dis
cussion you and the teacher and
your parents can make a good plan
to help you. v ( ^
16. Are you always blamed for
things other do? (a) If you change a
lot of your disruptive behaviors oth
ers will stop blaming you and tat
tling. (b) Removing yourself from
around those who wish to cause you
trouble will help. Just make sure
moving to another space is OK with
the teacher.
17. Do you constantly call on
the teacher for attention especially
when he or she is busy with other
groups? (a) Ask the teacher to give
you a special place you may go in
the room when you need to talk I
"with him/her. (b) Work out a plan
with the teacher on the best times
you may talk privately v^th her. (c)
Maybe the teacher can make you a
special box in which you can drop
her a note, (d) Hand signals from
you and the teacher might work,
also, mese have to be planned and
learned ahead of time.^
always want to try to be first? (a)'
Will pushing or running to be first*
be worth the consequences, if the
teacher thinks you are wrong and
you disturb the whole class? (b)
Counting to a certain number may
help here, also. Count as you walk. ,
You will probably be just as near v
first as anyone else, (c) Ask the
teacher if you may have a certain
space occasionally in the line.
19. Are you bossy and want to
have your way. especially in group
wqrk or games? (a) Count before
you offer any suggestions, (b) Give
wait time to others in the group, (c)
Let the teacher know you tend to be
"Go to bla2es," "Bug off," vGet the
Sam Hill away," "This cfotton pick- ^
in^ thing makes me mad," or "You
are biscuit." These are .better than
some of the terrible street language,
we hear, (c) Ignoring those who
make you angry is one ofahe best
methods to use. '
-4- ? -
f
GENEVA SAYS
By GENEVA BROWN
bossy and ask her to help you make
a plan which can help you eliminate
thi behavior.
20; Do you daydream and often
forget what you are supposed to be
doing? (a) Ask the teacher for a~
^chart to help you keep on task. '.(b4)
'Ask the teacher for a buddy to keep
you reminded to work, (c) keep a
little pad on things should be doing,
(d) Always repeat the teacher's
^TrectioiTs" to yourself on what you "
should be doing.
and curse words to express anger?
(a) You must remember that there
is, "School Talk." "Street Talk," and
"Home Talk^" You must remember
those words and language to use in "
each place, (b) It is "all right to get
mad or angry. Just teach yourself
some words that may be acceptable
to use in anger. Some of these are.
22. Are you talking all the time
when you shouldn't? (a) Say to
yourself often, "Button my lip." (b) k
Have a friend to remind you by
' using hand signals. These need to be
shared with the teacher, (c) Ask the
teacher to have a "Limbo Chair,"
Where you may go, when talking to
others becomes too much, (d) Again
a piece of string may help to keep
you so busy so that you can't talk to
- others so freely.
All of your behavior has mean-_
ing. You must know thalTwe as
humans act as we do because we
need to satisfy, some inner need,
want or desire. The ways in which
we express our behaviors can make
us successful or not successful.
( Geneva Brown is a member of
the city-county school board. )
Few Whites Know the World of African- Americans
[ ? While African Americans know the world of
white Americans, very few white Americans
know the world of African Americans. The result
of our failure to be truthful with each other has
? been that often it is as if we are speaking two dif
ferent dialeqts of the same language in the best of
times and two distinctly different, unrelated lan
guages in the worst of times. -We haver too often,
based our^^gm^am life in America, on lies or
half-truths. ^
Take, of instance, criminal justice issues. In
the eight months since 1 have been executive
director of the Commission for Racial Justice, 15
20 percent of my letters have been about the
criminal .justice system. They come from prison
ers themselves, sometimes admitting their guilt,
but still pointing to the inequities of sentencing or
the racism they feel in the treatment they receive
by guards and prison authorities. They tell of how
the Klan is active in one prison in Florida. They
in New York, in Illinois, in states all across this
country. The most difficult letters and calls come
from mothers with sons on death row. I have
Written about one such case, the Chain of Rocks
Bridge case in St.' Louis, where' fcftir young
African- American men sit on death row after a
trial which includes questionable testimony and
evidence which mysteriously had disappeared.
But there are dozens of other stories. Indeed,
African Americans still are disproportionately on
death row. That's why the Congressional Black
Caucus held up its support of the President's
Crime Bill of inclusion of a Racial Justice provi
sion which would be used as long as people of
color remain disproportionately represented on
this national's death rows.
Time magazine recently wrote," The percep
tion among blacks that the criminal justice system
discriminates against them in pervasive and
deep." It pointed to the fact that justice in Amer
ica still seems swifter when the murder victim is
white. Sixty-three African Americans have been
executed for murdering whites, while one white
has been executed for murdering a black in the
past 1 7 years.
The letters I receive don't just come from
prisoners or their family members, either. They
come trom ordinary cm- " .
zens like the woman in
southern Illinois who
wrote that in her entire
lifetime her town never
fry
has had an African Amer- *
ican on a jury. 'Or the case
in Virginia where an ill
African American man was taken off a bus, and
even after his relative informed the bus driver and
the sheriff that hewas ill and not intoxicated, the
tnan was forced to leave the bus and the*relative
forced to stay on. The man was then left by the
sheriff at a local truck stop, known to be a KKK
stronghold, rather than taken to a hospital. That
man has not been seen since. These are just a few
of the stories I have heard. The fact is that if there
is a perception that the-laws of our land, and the
system which enforces them does not treat all cit
izens equally, then the perceived injustice is a
reality. It was the judicial system which ruled that
blacks were only two-third human, through the
Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision. Not since
the days of lynchings in the South, when black
men were routinely hung from trees for suppos
edly looking at a white women or for not stepping
off the curb when a white person passed them on
the street, have African Americans felt that they
could receive equal treatment by the judicial sys
tem of our country.-^
Even as the African American leaders and
groups who fought for integration of. schools and
public accommodations in the 1940's, 50' s, and'
60's turned to the judicial system for these
- changes, they were experiencing the water hoses
and dogs of the local sheriffs all across the South.
The scales of justice have not always been baT
- anced when it comes to people of color. ?
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
BY BERNICE POWELL JACKSON
For many African Americans, of all educa
tion and income levels, the moment of truth was
the Rodney King verdict. For all of America,
both white and those of color, had watched over -
and over the tapes of Rodney King being beaten
nearly to death. And, for the most part, white
America accepted the explanation of the jurors
who said that Rodney King was in control of
what was happening that night. For most people
of color it was proof that even when white Amer
- ica could see with its own eyes, it denies what it
sees and that there is not justice for all.
America, we've got to talk about the differ
ences in our experiences. We've got to some
how, some way. speak the truth. We've got to
ensure justice f$* all. For without justice, there
will be no peace.
(Bernice Powell Jackson is the executive
director of the United Church of Christ Com
mission for Racial Justice.)