***** Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point v?i. xxv No. 3
The Chronicle
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PERl?^c^TY PUB i"kB 77?? Choice for African American News and Information e-moil address: wschronOnetunlimited.Mt
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Tourney bid gets royal send-off
the rifht to piay boat to the CIAA lnhmitl
the hud* of city oflkab ? btmJK
Tuesday afteraoon ? a cheerful, upbeat
chambersof da OAA Stcrriag Com
The itccnaf committee asked far S13MW0
from aty and county government The group
ako asked for an additional f75j000 from the
Trawl and Viwtori Association.
haw (he most experience at hosting
(the tournament), we have mote botch than
ewer and we pat together a great bid/JMayu*
else; WhatTbMnhMaedTn^t
the C1AA is not only a gnat bathrthal tour
nament (or African Americans but lor families
too, and now it's hn mint pop?hi among
other races m the aty."
The C1AA tournament is the fined most
profitable college bailrrltiall tourney in the
nation, only the ACC and Kg East tourna
ments generate mom dollars. Ower the yean,
the tournament has pumped at least S6 million
? year Mo the local economy.
Winston-Salem baa succcWuUy woo (he
right to boat the tournament for the but free
yean ? and wiB host the tourney for the fast
time under the old contract in February 1999
? but now the dty faces ita strongest compe
titioa yet.
Offiaak a? Raleigh haw been hard at work
preparing a bid of their own. And if published
reports are correct, Raleigh's city and county
aomumanta are pledging half a million dot
fan annually toward the 2000-2002 touroa
StrCMAtwAll
Ll
*
Officer
?
ivows
to fight
?
Vunn's fate to
be decided in
Winston-Salem
By DAMON RORD
iHEOlOWKXE
?
* Former High Point police
detective Michael Dunn is contin
uing to fight for reinstatement.
Dunn, the only .African Amen
C can detectiye "
on the force at I
the time of his I
dismissal, was I
fired in April I
1997 for I
allegedly forg- I
ing his wife's I
name on a I
check. In May, I
he filed a dis
crimination
lawsuit against
the city of High Point alleging the
city wrongfully dismissed him for
racial and religious reasons.
Dunn is an ordained minister
and associate pastor at New Bethel
Baptist Church in High Point.
Though the case was filed in
Guilford County, it will be heard
in Winston-Salem, says Dunn's
attorney Amiel Rossabi.
"We filed it in state court,"
Rossabi said. "The defendents
removed it and had it moved to
federal court."
Rossabi said the change in
I ? venues will not have any effect on
the team's strategy,
i , "The facts are the facts and the
f t law is the law," he said. "We stand
by everything we said in the com
plaint."
Fred Bagget, district attorney
for the city of High Point, would
only say that case the had been
moved to Winston-Salem and that
he is unsure why.
Dunn, who still resides in High
Point, says he has fond memories
, of the police department,
j I "I miss the fellows up there," he
Set DMhn on A10
Bonn ,
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II nUu|bl
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'1
In black and white
? . :t ? * -
Photo by Damon F?il
ttginm. Hughoy, thm only wMto mmnibmr oHhm UNCO chapter, taye mem vme not a factor in hit dmeUan to
Ab&?9 hm fdkf with folow Qnvp nwmbw D&ntJt SWvwmoh.
? 0 / "
Race report reveals divide
By KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Among the brothers of Phi Beta
Sigma Fraternity at UNC Greensboro,
22-year-old Matt Hughey sticks out like a
sore thumb.
In a Greek organization whose mem
bership is predominantly African Ameri
can, Hughey's a minority.
He's white.
"There are white Sigmas at other
schools, but I'm the only one in (the Rho
Beta) chapter," he said. "At first there was
some wariness; they were unsure of my
motivation!"
But over the last three years, Hughey
has proven himself to the chapter's eight
other member* - so much so that he's
been elected president of UNC-G's
National Pan-Hellenic Council, the
umbrella group for all African American
Greek organizations.
In a nation where tales of racial intol
erance and discord continue to be played
out in newspaper headlines and television
soundbites, Hughey's story raises more
than eyebrows.
"I always hear comments...mostly
from white students that don't under
stand why I'm in this organization,"
Hughey said. "I joined (Phi Beta Sigma)
because (its) community service aspect
seems to be greater than that of histori
cally white fraternities, and also the
brotherhood is so strong."
The gulfs between white and black
have never seemed as pronounced as
they are now, a fact that led President Bill
Clinton to appoint a group of Americans
to investigate the issue of race nearly a
year ago.
The group's investigation culminated
two weeks ago with the release of a
lengthy report detailing the prevalence of
"white privilege" in America.
"It is, we believe, essential to recall
the facts of racial domination...We as a
nation need to understand that whites
tend to benefit, either unknowingly or
consciously, from this country's history
of white privilege," the report states.
See Roc* on A11
?
Preserving
black
l>
heritage
Expanded East
Winston library
offers new resources
By JEW YOUNG
THE CHUONICLE .
For two months, the staff at the ok)
East Winston Branch Library have been '
working behind closed doors.
They culled the library's reference
materials, tore up ok) carpeting and
replaced dog-eared books. ^ ??*-*>
And when the library reopens to the
public Oct. 5, their hard work will have
paid big dividends, they hope. The library
will have a new name, new books and a
new mission. I
"This library will be different in that wc
are going to offer some unique services"
said Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, Deputy
Library Director. "We closed the library
these past two months to give it a brand
new look."
And library officials hope the newly
remodeled building, located in the heart of
East Winston, will become a focal point of
community activities.
Library officials spent months gather
ing information from numerous libraries
across the country that served similar
communities. They also analyzed patron
records to determine what services would
best serve area residents.
The result is the East Winston heritage
Library, in addition to the more than
23,000 volumes that will eventually grace
its shelves, will offer a host of community
services and programs that emphasize
African American culture and history.
The East Winston branch will house a
mini business center that will provide a
host of resources for. local businesses, and
the library will be a repository for numer
ous pieces of Winston-Salem's African
American history. When the library opens,
it will house "The Atkins Collection," an
exhibit of photographs and memorabilia
from Atkins High School.
"This is not something we just, though
of," Sprinkle-Hamlin said. "We have been
looking at the services East Winston was
providing and what people actually used
the branch for. They used it for a lot of
community meeting. We realized this
Set Ufaiwy <m AT
Blacks gaining wealth, but still lag behind
By HERBERT L. WHITE
CONSOLIDATED MEDIA GROUP ;
Fewer black Americans are living below the pover
ty line but still lag behind Asians and whites, accord
ing to a Census Bureau report.
The number of poor blacks dropped from 9.7 mil
lion in 1996 to 9.1 million in 1997, which accounted
for 26.5 percent of the African American population.
Eleven percent of whites (24.4 million) were poor and
14 percent of Asians (1.5 million) are living in pover
ty. Fewer families headed by black women lived in
poverty: 1.6 million in 1997, compared to 1.7 million
the year before.
"African Americans accounted for 60 percent of
the decline in the number of poor persons in America
between 1996 and 1997," said Daniel Weinberg, chief
of the Census Bureau's Housing and Houshold Eco
nomic Statistics Division. "Nationwide, about 400,000
fewer families were poor in 1997 an in 1996 and more
than half of them were African American families."
Among African American families, 2 million are
below the poverty level, down from 2.2 million and the
percentage dropped from 26.1 percent to 23.6 percent,
the lowest since 1989. The poverty rate for black mar
ried-couple families, female householders with no hus
band and individuals was also lower.
The poverty line for a family of four is SI6,400
annually and SI2,802 for a family of three.
The per capita income - of black Americans was -
$12,351 in '97, compared with $20,425 for whites,
18,226 for Asians and Pacific Islanders and S10.773
for Hispanics.
Black households had an increase in median
income - meaning half of all families make more
while half makes less - of 4.3 percent between 1996
97. Black families' earnings rose from S24.021 to
$25,050, which was lower than Asian and Pacific
Islanders ($45,249) whites ($38,972)-?and Hispanics
($26,628). From 1995-97, the median income for
African American household matched or surpassed j
the 1989 peak. <
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