OPINION '? " , " ' ?"
Ki?tia?4?iia StttktMM Mua r*Mi
The Chronicle
ntCk^mfm i ?- m?*mmd%4 n \
Ernest h. Pitt Publisher! Co-Founder
Ndibisi Egemonye Co-Founder
elaine Pitt Business Manager
x Fannie Henderson ? advertising manager
, J eh i yol'ng Managing Editor
Steven Moore Production Manager
IWoMlNMVpr ri^-tTnn of Circulation i^ZlISmUnc.
We stand corrected
We stand corrected.
Years after completing kinder
garten, we have learned that the very
first thing our teacher taught us is a
lie.
Yes Virginia, there is such a thing
as a stupid question - especially if
you're dealing with the Winston
Salem Police Department and race
relations.
Since finding out that Brian
Barker, the Forsyth County sheriff's
deputy who shot himself and
blamed the act on "Hispanics" in a
Chevrolet Impala, the minority
community has been buzzing. The
main topic of conversation is how
quickly law enforcement officials can
launch a wide scale man hunt for
minority suspects with little or no
description.
Would the reaction be the same
if the perpetrator was described sim
ply as a white man, people asked
themselves and The Chfonicle
repeatedly over the last week.
When The Chronicle finally did
ask that question of the Winston
Salem Police Department the
answer was shocking.
According to Lt. Fred Jones
there is such a thing as a bad ques
tion - if it's about race and the force.
When asked point blank about
the police's reaction to minority sus
pects, Jones replied, "That's a stupid
question."
When asked if the department
would change any of its procedures
as a result of the case, because of the
attention it gained and the negative
affects it had on the minority com
munity, Jones responded with an
abrupt "no."
Though he did call the next day
to apologize and explain the depart
ment's policy, the damage had
already been done.
Several local residents had
already reported being pulled over at
gun point by officers looking for a
subject with no description - save an
ethnic group with members as
diverse as the,rainbow.
And already, many people of
color once again have begun to ques
tion the motives and policies of the
police department.
If teachers have a mantra, it's
probably "there's no such thing as a
stupid question."
And most taxpayers and The
Chronicle feel that it should be the
same mantra that drives the police
force.
Asking those tough questions is
the only way things are going to get
better. It forces law enforcement offi
cials to think about how the com
munity perceives them. It is the only
way to begin to heal the communi
ty's racial divide.
Evidently, the force has a long
way to go before that truly happens.
And in the meantime, people of
color will become more and more
wary of the intentions of law
enforcement officers.
Yes Virginia, there is such a thing
as a stupid question. Your kinder
garten teacher lied
East Winston deserves a
high tech high school
? The Winston-Salem/Forsyth
? County School Board is likely to go
_ * forward with a $200 million bond
referendum request sometime in the
year 2000. Most of the money will
go toward new elementary, middle
and high schools.
None of the proposed schools,
however, are currently slated to be
. located in the traditional African
American community.
What a travesty.
The school board has a peculiar
way of addressing the critical needs
of the black community - they just
ignore them. If keeping our schools
integrated is one of the goals of the
! system - and we must assume that it
' is since that's what we've been told -
this new infusion of public money
would be an excellent opportunity
to place a high-tech high school
somewhere in the African American
community. The Kimberley Park
Magnet School program taught us
that if you place a unique school
with sought after programs and
excellent teachers in the black com
munity, people will bring their chil
dren. If the school board were to
put a high schooT'that concentrated
on computers and computer tech
nology, in East Winston white par
ents would have no problem with
enrolling their children there.
We should not support anything
that continues to drain the African
American community to the benefit
of all the other areas of the city and
county. It is absolutely wrong for the
school board to continue to ignore
the critical needs of our community.
Brick and mortar are the stimulants
for economic development. It is too
bad that not enough members of
our leadership understand this -
especially since white leadership
understands it very well.
The writer of the following
is the Executive Director of
Today's Woman Health and
Wellness Center
To the Editor:
This letter is just a small
token of our appreciation for
the wonderful article that was
done in your publication last
week. Today's Woman Health
and Wellness Center was very
well presented to the public.
Your coverage of the recent
award for Perinatal Health
Model of Excellence that was
present to the center by the
State of North Carolina. This
award allows the community
to know that this center is
one that others can model
themselves after, *
Bravo to your writer Fele
cia McMillian on her profes
sionalism, style and assis
tance given to us in obtaining
copies (of the edition).
Thanks again for provid
ing this forum to get worthy
information across to the
Winston-Salem community.
Linda Carter
W 1 \
I SHWfe/
[&m\
'Still slaves' - community faces long road to good health
Dr. Frances
Ferguson
Guest
Columnist
When it comes to inequali
ties in Healthcare, are African
Americans victims "of collabo
rators? ?
There has been much specu
lation about the underlying rea
son for racial/ethnic disparities
in the health status of Ameri- "
cans. The fact of the matter is,
African Americans have the
highest morbidity and mortali
ty rates from nearly all causes,
most commonly cardiovascular
disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Furthermore, young black
mothers are still more likely to
be under the age of 18, unedu
cated, unmarried and without
prenatal care until late in the
pregnancy. These are all impor
tant risk factors for poor mater
nal and fetal outcomes.
r And, while black women are
more likely than white women
4to have had four or more preg
nancies, the leading cause of
death among black males, ages
1-14 and 15-34, remains unin
tentional injury and homicide,
respectively.
As a result, the average
African American born today
can expect to die six or seven
years earlier than his white
counterpart, and live a poorer
quality of life while living.
The prevailing question is
whether the overall poor health
of American blacks is the result
of a fundamentally racist
healthcare system or the result
of genetics and/or poor socioe
conomic status.
The question of genetics is
moot because the only medical
disorder common to the
African American gene pool is
sickle cell, which, of course, is
also found in American Indi
ans, people of Mediterranean
descent and even some whites.
There are a far greater num
ber of medical disorders geneti
cally linked and commonly
manifested in individuals of
European heritage, thereby con
tradicting the notion that a
poor gene pool is a significant
factor in the development of
poor health.
On the other hand, there is
no question that racial bias has
a negative impact on the health
of African Americans. Africad
Americans have the highest rate
of the underinsured, uninsured,
and uninsurable in the United
States." i?
Even in this new era of man
aged care, with its focus on pre
ventive medicine, the system
works to the disadvantage of
African Americans. One major
reason is money. Many black
Americans cannot afford the
cost of employer-sponsored
health insurance, let alone the
higher premiums associated
with continuing healthcare cov
erage after leaving a job. Medic
aid managed care is Still an
experiment that reaches too
few people who could benefit.
As a result, black Americans
are more likely to present
healthcare providers with long
standing untreated illnesses and
suffering from irreversible
chronic complications requiring
intensive therapy and huge
sums of healthcare dollars.
Access to care is further lim
ited because of lack of or inad
equacy of government and pri
vate sector resources to provide
for their extensive medical
needs. ?
u
Enough said.
The healthcare industry, like
all other industries in America,
is undoubtedly tainted by
racism. It is also quite obvious
that socioeconomic, cultural,
and environmental risk factors
play a major role in the health
of blacks. These are the factors
which are the most modifiable.
For example, there is an
extremely high incidence of
tobacco and alcohol usage in
the African American commu
nity. Tobacco, as well as high
fat diets, are associated with
cancer and heart disease. Alco
hol is a significant risk factor in
the development of cancer,
infant mortality, homicides,
chemical dependency, and unin
tentional injury. Although
stress, poverty, and racism are
often cited as reasons for this
increased usage, no group of
people could have been more
stressed, impoverished, and
subjected to racism than oi|r
forefathers who were staves.
Surely they would not havte
escaped the bonds of slavery if
their longest vision was the next
bottle of gin or bag of crack
cocaine.
We are still staves. The dif
ference is that now we are bond
ed by cultural superstitions,
complacency towards our
healthcare, drugs, ethanol, and
interracial violence. Slavehold
ers don't have to mutilate or kill
us, we are doing it to ourselves.
Perhaps we have long since foi
gotten what brought the slav$
- out of' the southern Unitefl
States and those out of Egypt
thousands of years ago...God,
and the power of prayer.
If we willfully allow the
abuse of drugs, tobacco, alco
hol, and even cultural supersti
tions, to cbntrol our lives, we
will always be staves to poor
health, ? poverty, and lack of
education, not to mention an
oppressive society.
We contribute to our own
early death sentence by freely
partaking of the poisonous
fruit so readily provided for us.
You can lead a horse to water,
but he doesn't have to drink. '
t
Crimes against one's owh
health are far greater than any. ?
acts of racism engineered in the
American healthcare system. -
-? * . ? >
Frances E. Ferguson, M. Dj,
. . practices medicine at Internal
Medicine Associates.
i
! M FROM THE
f
The details of Sgt. Brian Barker's shooting and well known now by people throughout
the Triad Although the sheriff s deputy shot himself and then fingered two Hispanies,
he has not been fired from his job as of yet, though the district attorney says his ouster I
is inevitable. We asked local residents if they thought Brian Barker should be fired.
I Ida Moa Bradlay
t aont tninK he should he a
deputy because if he did thai and
pretended that some else did it. he
doesn't need lobe in law enforcement
any more."
Sandra Jordan
"I don't think he should he a
deputy because there is something
serious going on in his mind And I
don't think that would he good for the
safety of the people for his mind to he
confused or distraught."
Robin Itavti
"I think it Li sad he put himself in the
position he put himself in. But I don't think
he should he a deputy because they have to
deal with all types of people and a lot of
people are offended, no matter what color
they are. when someone Li pinpointed like
that You can't accuie people of something
like that"
JtooMvwfr Bonnutt
"If you would shoot yourself
you have problems of such that
wouldn't require you to he a deputy, I
would think."
f
Harry Andrew*
"I don't think he should he a
deputy. It is a had example to the
community if we let something get
hy like that I don't think that it's
right and I don't care who it was."
t ?