Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / March 18, 1999, edition 1 / Page 6
Part of Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
OPINION ? - ? '4 WiMTM-l?iiii liirtktMtv Mica f?i?t The Chronicle Ernest H. Pitt PubiisheriCo-Founder NdIBISI EcEMONYE Co-Founder Elaine Pitt Business Manager Fannie Henderson Advertising Manager jeri Young , Managing Editor Steven Moore Production Manager A^cac ^ ftaliiind Hbr^i^iri IHim of Circulation Pwliiitlwri kmodttkm ^ Arson hurts more than congregation In the wee hours Sunday, fire gutted a small church ofT Old Greensboro Road. , The flames that roared through the church left little untouched. Hymnals were destroyed as were Bibles. The pulpit was left a smol dering mass of charred wood and metal. And Sunday morning, the church's two dozen members were left to ponder an uncertain future. But that fire, which investigators believe may have been inten tionally set, did more damage tiny Saints Delight Church. It's a blantant reminder of a rash of fires that devastated black churches throughout the South over the past six years. The fires began in rural Mississippi in the early '90s and wound their way through the heart of Dixie, destroying sanctuaries that housed the dreams of the black community. * Though the arsonists succeeded in causing millions of dollars of damage to buildings, they failed in their main mission to break the spirits of the members of the churches' they burned* . The more fires they set, the more people - both black and white - rallied to offer support to those in need. The fires also served as wake-up call for black America. It reminded us that we need to protect what it ours. According to the Congress of National Black Churches, many of our churches still lack adequate security systems and insurance coverage. Over the next few weeks, we will print several articles aimed at'helping black churches arm themselves against arson. Consider it yet another wake-up call. It doesn't matter how the fire began Saints Delight. What matters is that. the congregation is in need and the community has to respond to that need the same way it did three years ago at the height of the church burnings. Better late than never for Lyons For the past 19 months, no member of the clergy has been in the news more than the Rev. Henry Lyons. Lyons' brush with infamy began two summers ago when his wife set fire to a plush home owned by Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA. Inc. and a woman - also an employee of the convention alleged to be his mistress. Black America watched in horror as reports of "dime-sized" dia mond tings, expensive cars and sexual liaisons that rivaled any found on day-time TV were played out in the media. Question were raised about the conventions finances and its long-time boast of more than 8 million members. ^ Throughout the brouhaha, Lyons held fast to his claims of inno cence. He was the black community's "Teflon Henry," managing to thwart every effort to remove him from NBC's top post. Monday, a scant week after he denied wrong-doing during a speech in Winston-Salem, Lyons admitted he had done wrong dur ing a gripping television interview. He tearfully admitted to reporter Connie Chung that he had at least one more mistress and finally said he was willing to resign. Tuesday, facing a tribunal of his peers who vowed to ask him to "politely step down," Lyons finally did the right thing. He tendered his resignation and finally asked the convention to forgiye him his transgressions. For the first time in two years, Lyons made a decision that was beneficial to the convention and black America. By stepping down, Lyons is allowing the convention to move for ward and put the horror of the past year behind. The black church is our strongest entity and any scandal threat ens to shake it to its very core - particularly when that scandals involves the one of the nation's largest and strongest conventions. The convention's road back to credibility began "Tuesday when Lyons stepped down. It will end when the convention's member churches once again teach their children the old mantra "Baptist born, Baptist bred, * when I die I'll be; Baptist dead.' ? ^ ? rpND frit f 6V I Editor's note: The writer of the following letter is a 1965 graduate of Winston-Salem State University. To the Editor: I was reading my copy of The Chronicle dated February 18, 1999 in which Benjamin RufTin, who was recently elected the Chairman of the Board of Governors for the University of North Carolina, stated that "he does not expect -r r * ? HBCU to look to him for prefer ential treatment." He does not want to separate the universities. These kind of statements con cern me because Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas thinks the same way. I have never heard a White person make a statement like that about predominately White schools. The Chronicle also stated that the predominately African Ameri can schools are losing white stu dents and African Americans with high S.A.T.scores. I wish he had said that he would fight to upgrade all of the schools that needed facil ities, equipment, and instructors in order to assist the poorer schools. During my tenure at WSSU only one small dormitory was built, and the one men's dormitory had to be repaired almost every year. Yes, WSSU has come a long way, but we still don't have a I R.O.T.C. building, a graduate school, poor recreational facilities, very poor parking spaces and it appears that the current and future programs and buildings for the school are being kept a secret as much as possible. I suggest Mr. RufTin personally visit each school and tell why pref erential treatment is not necessary! John H. Smith Columbia, Md. t; - DesegregatingWins ton-Salem Dr. J. Raymond Oliver Guest Columnist The following article is the first of two articles written by Dr. J. Raymond Oliver on the turbu lent years of desegregation in Winston-Salem. Oliver was a leader of Congress of Racial Equality and sqH' first hand the steps city leaders and the black community made toward inclu sion. Racial segregation in Win ston-Salem did not, go away because national black leaders said it must. It took two years - of sit-ins, drive-ins and stand-ins on the part of activist organizations and the brilliant efforts of diplo macy on the part of then mayof M.C Benton to bring about peaceful changes. During the years 1962 and 1963, there were more than 200 members in the Congress of Racial Equality. Even larger numbers decided to go to the streets to make their concerns known. This activist group was led by Mrs. Louise Wilson, who later became director of Experi ment'in Self Reliance. The sec ond level of leaders who sup ported Mrs. Wilson were Father Thomas Smith and the Rev. J.D. Ballard. This group had the responsibilify of maintaining nonviolent action to bring about recognition to all that CORE would accept no less than com plete desegregation of all movie theaters, restaurants, hotels, motels and all otf&r areas of public accommodations avail able to residents of the city. * CORE members drove 50 cars to drive-in theaters to block traffic attempting to enter. The group sent 50 members to K&W . restaurant to block entrances. CORE organized sit-ins at bowl ing alleys, drive-in restaurants and any public accommodations that denied them service. Twelve activists were sent to L ?'? - jail. At First city officials tried to get other black leaders to exer cise control over the CORE group. But it was to no avail. The activism was large, intense* and showed no signs of weaken ing or settling for less than the group's demands. The situation became fright ening for all leaders in the city - black, white, business and clergy. The leaders of CORE were in complete agreement with young activists and did all they could to direct activities, counsel them and above all protect them from harm and danger. The NAACP wanted to nego tiate for slower less direct con frontation. This too was rejected by CORE. Final|y Mayor Benton appointed a biracial goodwill committee made up of leaders from the black community, NAACP and white community to try to resolve the conflict. Ini tially CORE leaders were left out. Mayor Benton realized that this arrangement was going nowhere fast. He then included leaders of CORE, which made for longer and more heated dis cussions, but the first signs of progress became visible. Mayor Benton then brought in Charles Wade, a top official at R.j. Reynolds and members of several prominent families including the Hanes, James and Gordon families, who met with CORE leaders and other activists. CORE leaders were nervous during the meeting, but held fast to their demands. The group decided that it was indeed time for a change. The list of demands from CORE was presented. White leaders decided that the demands were not unreasonable. Then, it became a matter of how to'' desegregate public accommodations without bringing in the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups. The group also wanted to ensure that no riots ensued when young blacks attempted to enter the aters, restaurants and other for mally segregated places. w y Last week a federal judge in Philadelphia ruled that the National Collegiate Athletic Asso J . elation can not use a minimum SAT test score to exclude student-athletes form playing college l/y^w pn Ai | rPTWH /l/\ 1 #1 ##*71 TJMY7 sports. Since blacks tend to have lower SAT scores than white students, the judge concluded that W f |f| L V L Ul) RjJ I U h' |/1 J I \j J J y the practice was racist. We asked students at Winston-Salem State University if. they thought rwlLLJ I AWtI lilL LWfllflUlul liit student-athletes should be required to make a minimum score on the SA T. , I trik Warrmn "Student-athletes come to col lege for a certain reason. They are here to learn and to better their lives and to eventually leave. When they come here just like anyone else, they r should have the same standards as everyone else." Kaith McClunay An SAT can't determine a stu dent's ability to perform in the class room. The ability pf a student to learn should be based on what they do in the classroom." Latitha Fmrguton "I feel they should because if reg ular students have to make a certain score on the SAT to be admitted into the college, than the athletes should be held to the same standards." M'bo/u Kamara " Yes, I think that we all should have the same rights. Playing foot hall and basketball doesn't make you better than anyone else. All students should have equal rights and stan dards. " i Maya Johnson "I don't think they should base whether someone should be able to play on the SAT. The GPA should also be considered. You want your team to represent well in athletics as well as in the classroom."
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 18, 1999, edition 1
6
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75