Greensboro leaders put aside differences
PVoto by Dura Fbrd
inrtn Brisbon, a supporter of neighborhood schools, loads a
faction of opponents, of o controversial OuUferd County
By DAMON FORD
'?n'itirrr"'
GREENSBORO - After three
weeks of arrests and disrupted
school board meetings, peace once
again prevailed at two meetings
about school redistricting in Gull
ford County.
One hundred people, mostly
African Americans gathered at
Bethel A.M.E. Church for a unity
meeting to bridge the gap between
leaders in the black community on
issues surrounding the proposed
school redistricting plan.
On one end was Ervin Brisbon,
a proponent of neighborhood
schools and a member of the N.C.
Racial Justice Network, a group of
blacks and whites who have fought
continuously to have their concerns
for black children heard by the
school board. On the other end was
Melvin "Skip" Alston, state
NAACP president and member of
Guilford Board of County Com
missioners, who favors integrated
schools with balanced busing
among black and white children. 1
During the meeting, both men
put their differences aside to focus
on one central issue - the educa
tional well being of Guilford Coun
ty children.
"We still have unity on one
thing - that we have a beast that's
trying to oppress us and we won't
stand for it," Brisbon said. "We still
got differences but we're going to
love each other and we're going to
work and we're going to struggle
together and we're going to make it.
Nothing can stop us now."
During the meeting, which was
sponsored by the Ministers Pulpit
Forum of Greensboro, a list of
demands was created, which will be
delivered to the school board by
nine representatives from the com
munity including Brisbon, Alston,
Clarence Tod man, two members of
the Pulpit Forum and four others
from the community.
The demands include a meeting
between the school board and rep
resentatives about their concerns
and a request to drop all of the
charges against those who have
Greensboro on A9
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7S?mm Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point . vol. xxv No. as
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'It's good for me to be anywhere/ Lyons says
? Photo by Jeri Young
Th? Kev, Henry Lyons want on the attack during a sermon at New Bethel Baptist Church Saturday.
| Convicted Baptist leader speaks at New Bethel I
?; By JERI YOUNG
The Chronicle , __i_
The embattled leader of the
National Baptist Convention
USA Inc. maintained his inno
cence during a spirited sermon
I; Saturday at New Bethel Baptist
I > Church.
ILyons, who has been in the
?; news since his wife, Deborah
*;Lyons, set-fire to a home owned
* I '?; by the minister and his alleged
;; mistress almost two years ago,
" was the keynote speaker for the
I ? Rowan Congress of Christian
Educations annual one-day ses
sion.
During his 30-minute ser
; mon, which was met with
- f "** *
" \
applause and chants of "amen,"
Lyons implied that his accusers
were racists and labeled, the
. Florida jury that two weeks ago
found him guilty of grand theft
in the disappearance of almost
$250,000 from the Anti-Defama
tion League of B'Nai B'rith
intended to rebuild burned black
churches in the South; a "kanga
roo court."
"I haven't said anything as it
relates to racism," Lyons told the
crowd of 100 or so who waited
almost two hours for him to take
the pulpit. "I still believe that had
it been anyone else, they would
have tried all of this in civil court.
I still believe that. I'm not holler
ing racism now. I'm just saying if
it quacks like a duck and walks
like a duck - more than likely it's
a duck."
An obviously weary Lyons,
who preached in Detroit Friday,
almost missed the service after
winter storms blanketed the
Midwest. As the hours dragged
.on, members of the Congress
who stayed, debated the minis
ter's innocence. Most admitted
the only reason they remained
because they were curious about
whether Lyons would discuss* the
trial.
"I just want to hear what he
has to say," said one Greensboro
delegate. "You've heard so much
about'him and what he did, I'm
just anxious to hear what he has
to say about everything. I don't
think after all this that I would
vote for him again <to be presi
dent of the convention;)"
Prosecutors accused Lyons
and Bernice Edwards, his alleged *
mistress, of stealing more than
$4 million from corporations
wanting to sell cemetery prod
ucts, life insurance policies and
oredit cards to the convention's
8.5 million black members. i
They said'the pair duped the
companies by promising a mem
bership mailing list that did not
exist - at one point, according to
testimony, even making up lists
from $90 computerized phone
See Lyons on A9
i i
? V
NCAA can't use SAT to eliminate athletes
BY DAN ROBK1SH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA - A federal
judge ruled Monday that the
National Collegiate Athletic Associ
ation may not use a minimum test
score to eliminate student-athletes
from eligibility to play college sports
because the practice is unfair to
blacks.
District Judge Ronald L. Buck
waiter cited the NCAA's own
research showing that the practice
harmed black students' chances of
being declared academically eligible
and that there were other methods
available to reach the goal of higher
graduation rates that would be fairer
to blacks.
The NCAA had required that
incoming freshmen have a minimum
score of 820 on the Scholastic Apti
tude Test, no matter how high their
high school grades were, in order to
participate in college sports,
Four black student-athletes who
were denied eligibility to take part in
college sports challenged the rule,
which is commonly known as
Proposition 16.
An NCAA attorney said the
organization will seek a suspension
of the judge s order "because at this
point there is no rule at all" which
she called a disservice to student-ath
letes.
"It means that there is no stan
dard to guide the schools," NCAA
General Counsel Elsa Kircher Cole
said. "Each school will have to
decide itself whether a student can
play the first year. It could lead to
inconsistencies between standards at
the schools and leaves the possibility
of student athletes being exploited."
Cole added, however, that she
was pleased that the court recog
nized that improving graduate rates
was a legitimate goal of the NCAA.
"While the court struck down
the rule setting forth initial eligibility,
it left the door open for the NCAA
to adopt a rule in the future" using
SAT scores as long as there was
enough of a correlation between
scores and the graduation rate, she
said.
Plaintiffs' lawyers said the deci
sion will be good for both blacks and
whites.
"Low-income white student-ath
letes will also benefit because the
rule has had a disparate impact on
them as well," said the plaintiffs' lead
counsel, Andre Dennis of the
Philadelphia firm of Stradley,
Ronon. Stevens & Young.
SVf NCAA (Mi At3
* >? Photo by The Associated Press
Shock-jock Doug "Oreosoman" Tracht's racist remarks on-air are ?
symptomatic of the country's racism, local leaders say.
Rash of racial incidents
mark beginning of 1999
By T.KEVIN WALKER ' * v>
THE CHRONICLE * '
Racism - the perenniaJ dragon that millions have fought to slay for the
last three centuries - has already reared its ugly, vicious head several times
during 1999 - less than 80 days into the last year of the 20th century.
From coast to coast , newspaper headlines and television news sound
bites scream the lurid details of race-tinged acts of violence and intimida
tion.
This apparent rise in racial intolerance has not gone unnoticed by lead
ers on both the national and local levels
Last week, Kweisi Mfume, national president of the National Associa
tion for the Advancement of Colored People, said that "hate is still a very
destructive force in America."
Citing a number of police brutality cases from
across the country, Mfume also sent a letter to the
White House last week, urging President Clinton to
help the NAACP nip the trend in the bud. And soon
after a young white skinhead was sentenced to death in
the Texas dragging death of a black man, Mfume
called for Congress to strengthen existing anti-hate leg
- islation and enact new laws to prosecute those who
commit hate crimes.
"I'm questioning whether this is a rise (in racism)
or just a consistent pattern that has existed for hun
dreds of years," said the Rev. Carlton Eversley, pastor
of Dellabrook Presbyterian Church and a communify
Smith
- /
I.
and education activist. "(America) was founded on racism and it has aided
and abided it."
Although the case of James Byrd - who suffered a
grisly death at the hands of three 20-something white
men with ties to hate groups - has garnered a lot of
attention because of its gruesome nature, it is the more
subtle types of racism that may be eating away at the
base of racial harmony.
The exploits of Washington shock jock Doug
"Greaseman" Tracht, who was axed from his job as a
disc-jockey two weeks ago after making light of
Byrd's dragging death are symptomatic of the prob
lem, Eversley said..
Tracht played a snippet from a song by five-time
Grammy Award winning hip hop artist Lauryn Hill. .
Eversley
and then said, "no wonder people drag them behind trucks"
Tracht has since apologized for his statement and wants to meet with
members of t,|ie Byrd family in Texas to issue a personal apology.
"Unfortunately, the DJ just spoke publicly the feelings of millions of
See Racism on A13
v
Meet Buster Brown
Busttr Brown is on fho rocffo mry morning during thm 'vlsMr
Brown All-Star Morning Show" wU Afrifco and Amos, hot fWi
hip hop DJ dots mora rhon mokt /okts. Sot pogt C4.
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