OPINION
Winston-Salem Chronicle
Ernest H. Pitt
Publisher/Co-founder
Elaine Pitt
Business Manager
Ava Pegles
Administrative Assistant
*
Ndubisi Egemonye,
Co-Founder
Kathy Lee
Production Manager
TJ. Wills
Copy Editor
m
National Newspaper
I Publishers Association
Nortti Carolina
Prass Association
Audit Bureau
of Circulations p
^t~T
Amalgamated ?
utXishers Inc
Food for Thought
Much has been made of the federal jury's verdict and its ruling
' that ABC/Capital Cities must award Food Lion $5.5 million in puni
tive damages. Indeed, the decision dealt a blow to investigative jour
nalism. But exposes will probably continue to be standard fare on tele
vision news shows like "20/20," "Primetime" and "Dateline NBC."
Interestingly, Food Lion never challenged the veracity or importance
of "Primetime's" revelations. Instead, the grocery chain challenged
? , ABC's investigative methods, which involved a reporter working
undercover as a store clerk. Without a doubt, any viewer who saw the
"Primetime" segment thought twice before buying meat at Food Lion.
Not surprisingly. Food Lion's stock plummeted. But at least, shoppers
were making informed decisions.
While Food Lion roars about its victory and ABC's attorneys pre
pare for an appeal, other problems plague grocery shoppers, chief
among them skyrocketing food prices.
But in African-American communities, typically underserved by
major supermarket chains, high prices go with the territory. Not only
are supermarkets' prices sometimes higher and selections more lim
ited in inner city neighborhoods, but often the quality of fresh meats
and produce is far inferior to that sold at more affluent locations. Now
that should be a federal offense.
Our Stories, .Our History
This Saturday, the North Carolina Association of Black Story
tellers brings tales and traditions to Winston-Salem. The festival, "The
Art of Black Love," is scheduled for 6 p.m., Feb. 8 in Winston-Salem
State University's Anderson Center. What better way to kick off Black
History Month!
After all, in ancient Africa, storytellers were the first historians. In
the days before written language, storytellers were revered. In tribal
Africa, storytellers or griots (pronounced gree-ohs) not only told sto
ries, but kept the village's history as well.
Endowed with long memories, griots still chronicle rituals, births,
deaths, marriages, floods, disease and famine.
Griots also tell folk tales and fables that have been passed down
by word of mouth. Griots created folk tales to explain natural occur
rences. Thus, the tales' titles often pose questions.
Rich with wisdom, fables are designed to teach moral values and
often feature animals as main characters. One of the most popular,
Anansi the spider, is a great Ashanti folk hero, a wise, lovable creature
who defeats larger foes.
Fairy tales are also folk tales. The African fairy tale, "Mufaro's
Beautiful Daughters," tells how a kind peasant girl wins the prince's
heart. Notably, the first fairy tale ever written down was Africa's, "The
Tale of the Two Brothers," which was recorded in Egyptian hiero
glyphics.
When Africans came to the Americas as slaves, they brought their
stories with them.
Here, African descendants conceived "Br'er Rabbit" fables, fairy
tales like "The Talking Eggs," and folk legends like John Henry.
From the ancient times to the present, successive generations have
made African-American oral traditions their own. In Southern fields,
slaves sang spirituals. Similarly, work songs set the pace for laborers
in fishing, railroad and other industries. Turn-of-the-century poet Paul
Laurence Dunbar captured the rhythms of rural life in catchy dialect
poems. You could say, he was the father of rap.
In time, spirituals and work songs evolved into blues. Singers
wailed about hard times and heartbreak. Come Sunday, gospel music
rocked churches and set souls on fire. When blues gave way to jazz,
vocalists had their say. Louis Armstrong talked over the music, and
tiia Fitzgerald made scat her signature.
During the 1920s, Harlem Renaissance writers also danced to the
music. Poet Langston Hughes paid tribute to blues, jazz and the work
ing class. And novelist/anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston traveled
back roads collecting black folklore.
* And throughout our struggle, African-American preachers have
delivered the word.
Martin Luther King Jr. took old time religion and spoke to his
j, times. Freedom riders sang protest songs demanding equality. .
The civil rights era bred young poets who wrote of black pride
and revolution: Nikki Giovanni, Haki Madhubuti, Amira Baraka,
Sonia Sanchez and others. Artists like the Last Poets, Sweet Honey in
: the Rock and Gil Scott Heron set their verses to drum beats.
By the mid-1970s, party DJs were joining with MCs who rapped
over rhythm tracks.
Before long, hip-hop jumped off and New York rappers picked up
on the spoken-word vibe. Today, the sound has come full circle, meig
ing hip-hop with jazz, gospel, blues, funk, reggae and African chants.
Modern-day griots often set their tales to music, playing African
. instruments ? drums, shekerees and kalimbas. This weekend's story
' telling festival promises both message and music. We commend the
North Carolina Association of Black Storyteller for keeping this tradi
- tion alive.
But you don't have to join an association to be a griot. In fact,
. most families boast at least one great storyteller who enlivens gather
" ings with stories and anecdotes. Be forewarned, though: storytellers
' are prone to exaggeration. Sometimes, listeners can't tell where truth
-ends and fiction begins. But that's part of the fun. Pass it on!
A
The Chronicle Mailbag
Our Readers Speak Out
t
Addresing the Nation
To the Editor:
The president's address
during his inauguration was in
a timely manner. Many are
quick to criticize, but few are
able to give resolutions to the
common old problem, "the
melting pot of America."
The president may not be a
scholar of the ancient mysteries
of evolution, but the hidden
secret lost in the shaping and
coalescing of America is in fact
that we are all one. How we get
from point A to point Z is
determined by how well we
improve the quality of life for
all.
TTkio 11/111 nrtf Ka J
i ilia win iii/i i/t atuicvcu
by violence, rhetoric, demon
strations, or the ballot. It will
be reality when we realize how
important it is to change our
limited perception of the world
and ourselves.
We as a country have
received rewards that have
indeed been limited in stature.
We see and hear continuous
dissatisfaction, discontentment,
despair, crime and homeless
ness. It's not a pretty picture,
and for many fellow citizens,
this is the only vision they hold
close to their hearts. Therefore,
America is a reality based on
the collective thought forms of
all of us in this melting pot.
Dare to be as the president
encourages us to be. Dare to
change tomorrow by changing
our thoughts today. If our
neighborhoods, our schools,
our family life, our work force
are not what we desire; dare to
fill our minds with thoughts
that promise a reality of beauty.
This is not an impossible
achievement. It starts with you,
not your enemy, nor your
bipartisan brother or sister, not
the welfare system, and cer
tainly not the president.
We can't run away from
love. It is going to follow us to
our endtime. Unite with this
thing called love and dare to
live your dreams!
Khalida Lovell
North Carolina
About letters...
The Chronicle welcomes letters as well as guest columns from
its readers. Letters should be as concise as possible and should
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the authenticity of the letter. Columns must follow the same
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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.
Elder urges guidence for young black males
lb the Editor:
I am 85 years old, and I am
writing in to the Chronicle
because I have a concern. I am
only a fifth-grade scholar, but I
know that the newspaper is
power. I have a question for die
men of Winston-Salem: Where
are the Big Brothers?
Young black males need
more supervision and attention.
I have seen news stories about
die Million Man March. I often
hear about big meetings in
churches and in court about
what should be done to help the
situation of black men. But very
litde comes out of the talk.
Very little seems to be
going on. We tend to leave God
out of the situation. We think
that worldly things will solve
the problem. I raised my chil
dren alone. I worked for R.J.
Reynolds for 49 years, but I had
to go to God every day to help
me to make it.
Many of the young male's
are unemployed or are working
on temporary jobs. 1 don't
understand what is going on.
Maybe we turn them out oh
their own too soon. They need
more supervision to encourage
them to study more and to
become strong men.
Please let me know if there
are some men who will step for
ward to help the young males.1
>
4
Geneve B. Allen
Formerly of
Big Brothers/Big Sisters
ofWhuton-Salem
Something of Value
When Carter G. Woodson, the noted
historian, inaugurated Negro History Week
in 1926, he intended that it become an
occasion for thinking about the facts, cir
cumstances and meaning of African-Amer
ican life in the United States.
Woodson acted out of political as well
as intellectual reasons: In 1926, few
whites, whether in the South, where segre
gation was the law, or in the North and
West, where it was the custom, believed
that African Americans had made or could
make any meaningful contribution to
America.
Although what was once one week has
grown into the month-long observance of
Black History Month, its fundamental pur
pose remains unchanged ? and just as
necessary ? today.
That was brought home to me recently
by the news that Howard University, the
historically black university in the nation's
capitol, has enrolled in its first-year class
the largest number of winners of National
Achievement Scholarships of any college
in the country.
m. ? ?
ine acnievement program honors
exemplary black high school students who
take challenging courses and rank in the
top 10 percent of their high school graduat
ing class. Howard out-paced Harvard,
which enrolled 69 scholars; Florida A&M
University, which enrolled 51; Yale, with
28; and the University of Virginia, with 23,
for the top five spots in what has become a
fierce competition among institutions of
higher learning. Beneath them were such
institutions as Stanford, Princeton, MIT,
Duke, Johns Hopkins, and Georgia Tech.
Significantly, five of the top twenty
schools enrolling this elite corps of stu
dents were historically black colleges:
Morehouse College enrolled 18; Xavier
University, 12; and Spelman College, 12.
This is the first time in recent memory
that Howard has appeared on this presti
gious list of schools, and that so many
black colleges and universities have been
in the top twenty schools. For that they
must acknowledge the example Florida
A&M has set during the past decade in
recruiting National Achievement Scholars:
the Tallahassee, Fla., school has been in
the top five since 1989 and twice ranked
w
first.
Dr. Janice Nicholson, Howard's chief
undergraduate admissions officer, says that
its achievement was the result of "a very
concerted and comprehensive effort to
move Howard into the first rank" of col
leges and universities, and that it intends to
be at the top of the list for National
Achievement Scholars from now on.
That declaration drew a laugh from
FAMU's director of public relations, Eddie
Jackson, one that combined institutional
pride with the vision of the competition's
larger significance.
ten nowara we welcome inem to tne
top of the ladder," he said. "We're; disap^
pointed that we're not number one this
year, but we're happy to see another histor
ically black school in that spot. But tell
them, too, that their success has got us
charged up even more. Watch out next
fall!"
At one level, the meaning of this com
petition can be put three ways;
One is that some historically black col
leges and universities are doing quite well
competing with their predominantly-white
and resource-rich counterparts for the top
performing black students. This, in fact,
constitutes a return to their historic mis
sion of bringing together and educating a
cross-section of black America.
The second is that some predomi
nantly-white institutions are competing
fiercely with their historically-black coun
terparts for high-achieving black students.
They are aware that there is a broader and
deeper strata of talent among young Amer
icans they need to tap.
The third is that there are numerous
young black boys and girls who are fol
lowing what the novelist Albert Murray
has called the "indelible ancestral impera
tive to do something and become some
thing and be somebody;" and that the corps
of high-achieving high school students
among them knows that the range of col
leges offering a top-flight education
include a growing number of historically
black ones, too. /
All of America benefits ft<Sm this
either way you look at it, C
But 1 think that Howard's breakthrough
and the attention it has focused on the
excellence of the young people they and
the other colleges are enrolling has a par
ticular resonance for what Carter G. Wood
son had in mind for the consideration of
a trie an-a menc an
life.
On the one hand,
it reminds us that
African Americans
have sought with a
poignant determina
tion throughout their
existence here to gain
something of value
ironHnSniT^nAinenca!
And on the other hand, it underscores
black America's proud declaration that it
has contributed something of value to this
nation, however much that contribution has
been overlooked, and that it will continue
to do so.
That indelible ancestral imperative
goes on. ;
I
(Hugh B. Price is President of the
National Urban League.)
TO BE EQUAL
By HUGH B. PRICE