Horton Society Poetry Conference attracts thousands from
Yale Young Poets winner Margaret
Walker and Pulitzer Prize winners
Rita Dove and Yusef Komunyakaa
read their poetry.
t
j br felecia r mcmillan
Mote than 2,000 literary nrttwinh from
around the nation converged oo Chapel Hill to
celebrate the Iqocy of George Moses Morton,
the Historic Poet Laureate of Chatham
County, the rich oral tradition of African
American poetry, and the scholarship on this
peon.
The first George Moses Horton Society
Poetry conference was held at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the
weekend of April 3-5 in conjunction with the
first biannual North Carolina Literary
Festival. Yak Series of Young Poets winner
Margaret Walker Alexander and Pulitzer Prize
winners Rita Dove and Yusef Komunyakaa
wowed the audiences with the fruits of their
pen. Poets, scholars and lovefs of African
American poetry from around the nation par
ticipated in the poetry readings, keynote
addresses, panel sessions, and social events
George Moses Hortoo was a poet enslaved
in the Chatham County and Chapel Hill areas
of North Carolina from his birth, around
1797, until be was freed by the Union soldiers
in 1865. The Horton Society was conceived by
Dr. Trudier Harris, J. Cartyle Sitterson profes
sor of English at UNC-Chapel Hill, in the
spring of 1996.
Her purpose for founding the organization
was "to encourage sustained scholarly focus on
the works of African American poets and to
foster presentation and publishing opportuni
ties for that scholarship "
Harris named the organization in Horton's
honor because he established his career on the
UNC campus Although he was not allowed
to attend the university, he learned from the
students who often solicited his poems for
their sweethearts and paid him with dictionar
ies and other literary gems The conference
opened on Friday, April 3 in the Wilson
Library Assembly Room. Dr. Harris wel
comed the participants and thanked the
Horton Society Planning Committee and the
See om A4
UMtrto King,
tacratary/tram
toni?dn?>
Wmmmr
African
A/Fi^Wcofi
7% iaula Winston-Salem Greensboro Hi6h Point vol. xxiv no. 32
Chronicle
FORSYTH^cnt^ ^ 2 01_27 55 The Choice for African-American News and Information ?-mail address: wschron? netunlimited.net
Court:
?
Redraw
? ?*
voting
districts
?
;Federal court orders
?North Carolina to
redraw congressional
,-districts
?? RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? A
'federal appeals court ordered the
; state to redraw iu congressional
-districts, threatening primary elec
tions scheduled for May 5.
After the 4th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals issued the ruling
Friday, state Attorney General
Mike Easley said he plans to
- appeal the ruling to the U.S.
Supreme Court. >
?I The three-judge panel ordered
state legislators to report by
Wednesday on how they plan to
redraw the districts. If the General
_ i Assembly doesn't come up with a
''' pew plan, the judges will do it
themselves.
? "This is getting ridiculous,"
Easley said. "A federal court
approved this plan last August and
today another federal court struck
down the same plan. Our state leg
islature is getting very confusing
signals as to how to draw districts
thit will satisfy these federal
judges."
If Easley's appeal fails, the pri
.maries for all of North Carolina's
Z\2 congressional districts will be
'postponed indefinitely.
?. Earlier in the week, the panel
-Beard arguments for and against
the makeup of the 1st and 12th
Districts. Duke law professor
.Robinson Everett, who represent
*1 See MMSTMCTINO on AS
iApril is Fair
^Housing
Month
*iY TABITHA J. BELL
The Chronicle Reporter
?
*
"? Concerned citizens turned out
Ifor Fair Housing Month Kick-off
Celebration, at the Human
Ce'ations Department Office.
>1 Attendees included Pat Gilliam,
?Sherita Carter, Dorothy S.
Ifohnson, Annie Doris, Joann Falls,
lalong with realtors. Trip Smith deal
?;ind -Randy Cunningham were
?imong those celebrating this occa
sion.
I* " April is Fair Housing Month
lacross the country," says, Eugene
?I Set' HOUSING on A2
?
HAACP Chairman Julian hand gatturar whlh dl$tu$$lng "A Virion at Hata Moriom In Amarka"
whllaaddratrlng tha Anti-Datamation Laagua't annual Loodorthlp Canfaranea In WaMngton Monday
April 6, 1999. (AP Photo/Ruth Fr?m?on)
NAACP leader urges unity
By PAUL SHEPARD
Anociatcd Pre?? Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) ?
Blacks and Jews should mend divi
sions in an alliance that has seen
severe strains since it helped define
the civil rights struggles of the
1960s, NAACP Chairman Julian
Bond said Monday.
"The coalition between blacks
and Jews helped make the
American promise real," Bond told
a luncheon gathering of the Anti
Defamation League's Annual
Leadership Conference.
"Strengthened, that coalition can
finish what it helped begin, and in
the process, revive the spirit that
brought black and white, Jew and
gentile together in common
cause."
A history professor at both
American University and the
University of Virginia, Bond in his
address, traced the history of
black-Jewish relations, saying that
while there are points of conflict
between the groups, they share
much in common.
"I want to return to that day
when we work hand in hand,"
Bond said.
Bond, a former Georgia state
senator and civil rights activist
who marched with the late Martin
Luther King Jr., was elected chair
man of the Baltimore-headquar
tered NAACP in February.
Blacks and Jews helped form
the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
in 1909. The height of the com
radeship between the groups is
probably best recalled in the 1964
killings of James Chaney, a black
man, and Andrew Goodman and
Michael ?chwerner, both Jews, in
Mississippi during the civil rights
movement.
But a more divisive underside
to the relationship was shown in
some Northern cities, Bond said,
where "conflict between blacks
See BOND on AS
Drug policy j
draws mixed
.' ' . ' r.' ?*
reactions
t
By DAMON FORD
and TABITHA BELL
THE CHIONICLE Reporter!
There is a new drug policy in
the Winston-Salem/Forsyth
County school system. The new
policy will have students who par
ticipate in extracurricular activities
randomly tested for alcohol and
drugs next year.
A majority of the members of
the WS/FC Board of Education
believes that participation in extra
curricular activities is a privilege
ahd not a right. They contend that
students involved in extracurricu
lar activities represent the school
and school system in interscholas
tic competition, public perfor
mances and various other
activities.
Consequently, those teens are
role models for other students.
Their use or abstinence in the use
of alcohol or illegal drugs is likely
to influence the choices of other
high school students, some official
argue. In addition, the use or abuse
of alcohol and/or illegal drugs by
these athletes is likely to increase
student injuries to the user or oth
ers with whom he/she is playing."
"This policy applies to all high
school students who elect on a vol
untary basis to participate in any
school sponsored extracurricular
activity. This includes, but is not
limited to: athletic teams, school
bands, orchestras, choruses, cheer
leading squads, majorettes, drill
teams, dancing boots squads, aca
detnic competition teams, student
government, school sponsored
clube etc.
"Next school year a student
that wants to participate in an
extracurricular activity will have to 1
"agree in writing on a form adopt
ed by the superintendent to submit
to random alcohol and drug test
ing."
The parents must also be in
agreement with this.
Keith Wilkes, the varsity head
football coach at Carver High
School doesn't look down on the
policy. *?
? "If it's going to deter the kids
from doing drugs, then I like it,"
said Wilkes.
One concern from Wilkes and
other coaches deals with the way
students will be selected amongst
all the county schools. No coach
wants over half of their athletes
tested while another schools have
only a quarter of theirs tested.
According to the policy,
"approximately ten percent of the
eligible students at each high
school shall be selected at random
for testing on a periodic basis as
established by the
Superintendent." ,
"I want to know the steps
they're going to have to help the
kids that come back positive," said
Wilkes, who also believes that the
student should be given a second
chance.
"We all have made mistakes in ;
the past, I'm sure the people who
made up theses rules and regula
tions have made mistakes in tfie
See DRUGS on A2
By CHARLENE FLOWERS
>'S'\ ,C\A \';A>V .v .ill ?> ? .
Shirley Young has an unusu
al situation, /.
She has identical twin sons.
Cedric and Frederick Young.
Frederick was convicted in
1993 of armed robbery and
received a 68-year prison sen
tence. Frederick Young insists
that he is innocent of the crime
of armed robbery. The twist to
the story is that Frederick
believes that his twin brother.
Cedric, is the person who com
mitted the crime
In 1993 Frederick was
stopped by the police.
Frederick did not have any
licenses so he used his brother's
name, Cedric . when the cops
:
< JW >, ' ?!|m If 1
asked for his licenses. Federick
knew that he had drags on him.
The cops searched his car and
found the drugs and a gun that
Frederick did not know about.
Federick was taken downtown
and was released on bond later
that night. A few days later the
police arrested Frederick as a
suspect in a armed robbery.
Frederick knew nothing about
the robbery so he could not give
the police any information
about the robbery. The victim
of the armed robbery identified
Frederick as the robber, not
knowing that he was a twin.
When Frederick was arrested
for this crime he was wffling to
take a lie detector test to prove
his innocence.
Frederick has had three
attorneys working with his
" i- ' Wl|: P
case. His case is going to be
heard before a judge the end of
this month. Frederick has sev
eral witnesses that will be at the
trial the end of this month.
There will be a few people that
can tell his whereabouts the
night of the robbery The per
son that was with his brother,
Cedric the night of the robbery
is willing to testify that
Frederick was not the one who
committed the arm robbery.
The guy that was with Cedric
the night of the robbery
received 20 years in prison s
Shirley Young, the twin's
mother says, "I believe my son
did not commit the arm rob
bery and I believe Cedric did"
Shirley Young has not had
much success in freeing
rreciericK; from prison.dniriey
Young writes to tali shows,
radio station, congressmen,
attorneys, and even the presi
dent of the United States trying
to get some answers to her son's
case. Shhtey Young has not had
much help from family and
friends. She has dedicated the
past four and a half years to
freeing her son from prison on
a crime that he did not commit.
Shirley Young has had three
attorneys since the beginning of
this entue ordeal. Frederick has
received some support from
people around the United
States. "I have received so
many letters from the public I
can not write all them back."
says Frederick.
Still it seems as if Shiriey
.Sw TWINS <m A3
CIiUaw Yhnwn tm rf? > Kiflm' -?
BHHmNRP^HMRMHHwmHHM