Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / May 22, 1997, edition 1 / Page 6
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A Conservative block author C. Mason Weaver visited Forsyth County to promote his book. It's O.K. To Leave The Plantation. WEAVER from page AI under a thousand at last count. A Southern Region Office of Project 21 was recently founded in Greensboro. Sharon Brooks Hodge, coordinator of Project 21 's Southern Region Office, is an edi . torial writer at the Greensboro " News & Record. Hosted by the Forsyth . Republican Women, Weaver made ? his second trip to the area in a year. He continued his book pro . motion tour last week. The subtitle of Weaver's book, "A Journey From Liberalism to Conservatism," only partially ! explains how the self-described '60s militant became a conserva tive radio commentator and inspi ! rational speaker. His conversion to conservatism is summed up in a brief paragraph in which Weaver describes his realization that "the Democrats were the party for the poor and the Republicans were the party for the rich." He decides that the Democratic Party must be bent on keeping their constituents poor. One of Weaver's proposals to end poverty is eliminating the min imum wage. Government-mandat cd wages hurt black entrepreneurship. Weaver argues Essentially, Weaver asserts, government control puts all Americans "back on the planta tion." He includes social pro grams, affirmative action and welfare as examples of the govern ment plantation, and blames increasing poverty on an expanded government. Ignoring that poverty among the working class increased expo nentially during the Republican leadership and trickle-down eco nomics of Reagan, Weaver declares that the 1980s were a boon to all Americans. Weaver declares that black leaders such as Jesse Jackson are "poverty pimps," acquiring pres tige through his position of leader. In order to remain a leader, says Weaver, Jackson must have a fol lowing of impoverished, hopeless African Americans. Weaver maintains that "the original home of freed blacks was with the Republican Party," and says that after Reconstruction, the Democratic Party forced blacks out of elected offices. Weaver ignores the major party conver sion that occurred in the South in the earlier part of this century, when the traditionally liberal Republican Party and conservative Democrats switched platforms. In fact, say African-American historians W. Augustus Low and Virgil A. Clift, after the Reconstruction "the first spoiler of the dream of equality for blacks was the Republican Party." Low and Clift state, "the Republican Party abandoned southern Afro Americans to the local white pop ulations who, once assured that they would be free from northern interference, began a systematic curtailment of black political power." Weaver does not acknowledge that Helms' colleague, South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, was a "Dixie-crat" who turned to the Republican Party when Democrats began actively seeking black constituents. Although he is an avowed adversary of communism, Weaver also ignores Sen. Helms' statement following the desegregation of higher learning in North Carolina. Lumping together race and poli tics, Helms said the initials of UNC at Chapel Hill stood for the "University of [Negroes] and Communists." Though the majority of black Americans vote Democrat and are considered liberal, conservatism can be traced in African-American history. Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Institute, endorsed an accommodative phi losophy which advised blacks to "cast down your bucket where you are." Washington eschewed politi cal power in favor of promoting trade skills among post Reconstruction African Americans. During his lecture, Weaver echoed Washington's anti-political aspirations: "We don't have lead ers in this country, folks ? we are the leaders." When asked of his own politi cal aspirations, Weaver answered, "I have too much fun throwing bricks at politicians to become one." And bricks he will throw. Weaver criticized Rep. Maxine Waters and said that she helped incite the 1992 Los Angeles riots that followed the Rodney King verdict. In his book, Weaver rails against the media's failure to rep resent his claims of the 70 percent of African Americans living above the poverty line; in the next breath, he chastises blacks for "sitting on the front stoop drinking wine and waiting for the next game of bas ketball." Weaver's contradictions may not be indicative of all black con servatives; indeed, his contradic tions may place him alongside some who would identify them selves as liberal. Part of what Weaver represents is another side of the diverse African-American community, breaking the mono lithic myth. TENSION from page AI from the Guilford County Social Services board. The controversy stems in part from the Social Services board's decision to offer interim director Joyce Lewis a permanent position as head of the Department of Social Services. Lewis was hired following the commissioners' request that the board hold off on a decision. Bad blood between the chair of the board, the Rev. Michael King and the Republican commission ers has also strained relations. Several months ago, King threat . ened to sue the board of commis sioners after they froze Social Services funds. - . A court order returned Dorsett * and Barnett to the board last month. Their permanent status will be determined within the ? month. While the actions of the com . missioners have concerned some, many more people are frustrated by the school redistricting process 1 and the condition of Dudley, Greensboro's remaining histori cally black high school. ; * A capital improvements cam " paign was recently initiated by - Dudley's administration, alumni, parents and students. Dudley sup porters set a goal of $100,000 to replace seats in the auditorium and provide other improvements for the school. The campaign and redistricting process have brought to light a number of problems with Dudley, both in structure and outside per ceptions. During the meetings of the redistricting steering commit tee, some white members said they perceived Dudley as a violent school with poor academics. Many in the African-American community view this perception as an excuse to lock Dudley into a zone of low income, inner city stu dents; these fears were exacerbat ed by some of the preliminary feeder zones offered by the redis tricting committee. One map effec tively cut a large black middle class neighborhood from Dudley's attendance zone. School board members have stayed clear of most meetings, leaving the redistricting committee to face questions they cannot answer. One concern about redistrict ing that has surfaced again and again is the fate of magnet schools. "If we get caught up in the redistricting the way they're trying to do it, we may lose that academy at Dudley," said Gloria Tatutn Wade, vice president of Dudley Academy, the high school's math and science magnet. "We have to be aware that this is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity for the chil dren that come from this district." Other concerns have been with the school system's commitment to equity funding and academic achievement. If some schools bear too many of the low-achieving students, overall achievement may drop at those schools. Under the new state ABC plan, this would make them vulnerable to state intervention. Frustration with the redistrict ing process has boiled over to anger in some cases. "You don't know what you're fooling with," said one woman, speaking at a redistricting forum held last month at Dudley High School. "This summer is going to make the L.A. riots look like noth ing." Some whites are also upset about the process. "It's time for this country to stop building prisons and put our money where it needs to be (in education) ... The white people in Greensboro need to come out," said Mark George, a white partic ipant in the march. MEETING from page 41 left. Womble touched on welfare reform, the proposed lottery refer endum and the cross-state train service that will skip Winston Salem. After the meeting, Malloy said that the city had not yet ear marked where the bond referen dum's economic development money would go. However, the city's bond refer endum information packet states that money may go to acquisition and development of the down town area and "other industrial and business opportunity areas." Malloy and Johnson agree that there are no sites in East Winston on which to develop industry. "We just simply don't have the large tracts of land to purchase for businesses," said Malloy. "The Wachovia building, they couldn't build it [in East Winston]." Johnson named the Eastway Plaza and the area containing the ABC liquor store and Aegis med ical center as examples of site development in East Winston. Johnson also included Baptist Hospital's proposal to build a new medical facility on 14th Street in potential economic development. Many people were concerned about how Food Lion's purchase of the Eastway Plaza's Bi-Lo gro cery store would impact East Winston. A Bi-Lo employee said that the area can definitely syp port more tharuone grocery store. "In my opinion, Bi-Lo was a thriving store," she said. Some residents asked that the city assist the introduction of a new grocery store in East Winston. Johnson said that aldermen were communicating with the cor porations, but "unfortunately, the issue is profit-margin." The site where Food Lion's Martin Luther King store was housed could be used for the pro posed Eastway Cafeteria, Johnson offered. Vivian Burke, alderman for the Northeast Ward, said that efforts to create jobs in East Winston have not been as successful as hoped. A scheduling conflict pre vented Burke from attending the meeting. "The kind of jobs that are being generated in East Winston are not your high-paying jobs," she stated. Since 1990, the city has invest ed $9.3 million in economic devel opment projects, which have produced almost 5,000 new jobs. However, Burke said, minorities receive the low end of the pay scale for these new jobs, which ranges from $6.28 to over $26 an hour. The city does not keep records on racial demographics in job participation. The City's Workforce Development Department offers training sessions twice a month to teach job skills. Since it was estab lished in November, about 600 people have visited the Joblinks Career Center each month. Burke thinks these efforts have not effectively met the needs of the East Winston community. "We're spending an awful lot of money going through the motions of training people, but the track record is not that good," Burke 9aid. Nevertheless, Malloy asked that citizens have faith in the bond package. "Let's not take too negative a view of this bond referendum, because you'll cut your own throat if you don't look at this with an open mind and objectivity," said NAACP from page A1 Chapel Seventh Day Adventist Church School still operates today. Charles Powell, who works with Haizlip Funeral Home and Washington Drive Enrichment Center, received Man of the Year Honors. Powell has been the dri ving force behind local NAACP membership drives. at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. The Religious Service Award went to the Rev. Wallace Powell, local NAAGP vice president. Pastor and founder of Phillipian Baptist Church, Powell is a past president of the Minister's Conference. He has served as vice chair of the board of management at the Carl Chavis YMCA and sits on the board of the Urban I Ministry Drug Action Task Force. A Distinguished Service Award was presented to Raymond McAllister Sr., a retired educator who served as branch president for six years. The Rev. E.B. Freeman, pastor of St. Paul Presbyterian Church, is president of the High Point Branch NAACP. Carmen Davis was dinner chair. Rochandra Lomax, a senior at Southwest Guilford High School, received the Outstanding Student Award. A volunteer with the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, Triad Health Project, Hurricane Andrew Relief Project, High Point Regional Hospital and the Homeless Shelter, Lomax plans to major in business administration Bridal - Prom-Tuxedos . . . , "Home of The Last Minute Tuxedo Rental" Hundreds of Gow? n Stock Sees 3-44 *Layaway Program Tuxedo Rentals & Sates Ful Seivioe or Outlet Prices Grooms Free With 5 or More Rentals Mon-Fri 10-6 Sat 1(M CCQ.1 OOO 1606 S. Stetford Rd. Call For Sun. Hrs. Beskla Putt-Putt We hope you have noticed the many changes in The Chronicle over the last few weeks. We have tried to produce a newspa per that you can be proud of. To that end, we are asking you to please send us only professionally done photos with your articles and announcements. Good studio color photos are the best. We scan all of our photos electronically and must start with a good photo in order to produce a clear crisp image on newsprint. If you take trie photo your self, make sure you have enough light to expose everyone in the pic ture. We sincerely appreciate the support you have given us thus far. We look forward to giving you the kind of newspaper that will make you proud. Thank you. Here are ?om? guidelines; ? Please take photos up close. The * closer you are. the better the picture will look in the paper. ? Copyrighted photos, photocopies, newspaper clippings, overexposed pictures and dark photos cannot be used. ? Avoid taking photos in the shade or against dark backgrounds. ? Make sure faces are easily identifi able. atShobers i MAY 29 ? 8:00pm I 871 \\ 4th St. Winston-Salem ? 724-3510 featuring: Mary fitting. Handy Johnson. Allison King, Janice Price, with the American Rock Ensemble Horns Entrant FREE with your First Sight Button Buttons sold at Shobor's - $S . BfiTNQB Ito^k I?. BBW Journal ffp ,
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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May 22, 1997, edition 1
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