Despite all the controversy, ESR director upbeat
By T KEVIN WALKER
TIB OBDNOE
Colorful, beautiful flowers
sprout in Twana Wellman's mental
garden.
They are nourished every time
she sees the lobby of the Experi
ment in Self-Reliance packed with
clients, and they grow with each of
the agency's success stories.
But her lovely garden is not
without weeds They manifest each
time critics take aim at her beloved
ESR, uprooting some of her flowers
and making others eyesores.
For the past two months, the
weeds have been at battle with the
flowers and, at times, it has seemed
that the weeds have had the upper
band.
But WeUman says the garden
will endure.
"I won't get messed up along the
way with the weeds that are in the
flower bed," she said. "I have to
tnjoy the smell and the fragrance of
the flowers; the weeds will take care
af themselves."
WeUman the executive director
of ESR, a nonprofit that helps the i
homeless and working poor; is tak- j
ing the agency's most recent setback I
with her trademark optimism. Dur- i
ing a four-hour marathon meeting <
last week, the Board of Aldermen
rejected a proposal that would have I
awarded ESR a nearly half million <
dollar contract to provide services I
to those in the welfare-to-work pro- i
gram. I
The money is part of a federal I
grant, but ESR's bid for the con- I
tract had to be OK'd by the city's
Workforce Development agency <
and the aldermen. The Workforce
Development board voted to grant
die contract to ESR, but the major
ity of the aldermen want to explore
other options.
Although technically the agency
has really not loss anything - the
x?ntract would have meant new
'unds for the agency Wdlman says
she is disappointed and surprised
that a majority of the board <hd not
like the idea of awarding the agency
the contract.
"I'm frustrated by it. People
don't really understand how this
impacts the people we serve," Well
man said Monday in her office with t
ESR board member CP. Booker
present. **11118 particular pot of
money would have helped us teach 1
out to people with specific needs"
A splintered Board of Alder
men voted to send the proposal
back to Workforce Development,
the city agency that first picked ESR
to receive the contract The agency
will come up with a seldom-used
voucher proposal for the services, in
See WeBmaw on AlO
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1974 - Celebrating 25 Years -1999
BLR
holds
gala
Organization vows to
continue to serve black
community
By T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE '
Amid the steady beat of African
drums, the city came together for a
mammoth birthday bash Jast week.
The Black Leadership Round
table of Winston-Salem and Forsyth
County celebrated its two-year
anniversary at the Urban League on
Friday, with well over a hundred
members and well wishers.
It was an evening of elegant
pageantry and great fanfare, where
African attire did more to brighten
the room than the dozens of scat
tered candles placed on tables.
"This is our party," announced
N.C. Rep. . .
Larry
Womble, con
vener' of the
Roundtable.
"When you '
come to our
meetings, you
will think (hut I
we are I
very,very seri- |
ous all the
time....But we
celebrate one month out of the
year." ? >
And celebrate they did. Ordi
nary folks, politicians, business peo
ple and ministers packed the party.
They talked, ate and danced the
? night away. -
c The tone - or rhythm - of the
event was set by the Otesha Creative
Dance and Music Ensemble. Mem
bers of the ensemble pounded
Congo drums as others danced to
the rhythms.
The audience clapped and
cheered its approval, but unknown
? to some of them, they became part
of the show.
"In the African tradition there
are no spectators," Otesha member
Hashim Saleh said^as members of
the ensemble grabbed party-goers
and led them to the dance floor.
Fittingly, BLR's special guest for
tfys year's bash was Rachel Gbeny
on-Diggs, the Liberian ambassador
to the United States. Gbenyon
Diggs - glorious and majestic in
' \
:See 11R on All
Wombie
?n?n?T ^^??
* -t Photo by T. Kevin Walker
Libarion Ambassador Rathal Obanyon-Diggs signs an autograph for a youngster during a reception last week. Obenyon-Diggs
talked with local leaders and participated in a town hall meeting.
-w m ? ? ? ? m .? . A
| Liberians grill ambassador at meeting I
" ByT. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE *
The Liberian ambassador to
the United States urged Liberi
ans in the "Diaspora" to bury
whatever feelings of discontent
they have about the presidency
of Charles Taylor and focus sole
ly on the monumental task of
rebuilding their war-ravaged
homeland.
"Many of the problems we
have in Liberia, I don't feel are
Taylor-made," said Rachel
Gbenyon-Diggs, who was
appointed by Taylor in 1997.
"The Liberian people gave us
Charles Taylor. There is nothing
any one of us can dp about it
until we go to the ballot box, as
the constitution calls for."
Gbenyon-Diggs' words came
during a town hall meeting Sat
urday at Goler AME Zion
Church. The meeting was one of
the ambassador's last stops on
her whirlwind tour through the
state and Winston-Salem. A day
earlier, she arrived in Raleigh
and met with Gov. Jim Hunt; she
then addressed the General
Assembly.
After arriving in Winston
Salem in the afternoon, Gbeny
on-Diggs met with Mayor Jack
CaVanagh and had several meet
ings with local business owners
and community leaders. Last
Friday night, Gbenyon-Diggs
was the guest of honor at the
Black Leadership Roundtable's
second anniversary celebration.
But her appearance at Goler
was different from the others.
The crowd of 45 or so who
attended were overwhelming
Liberians, While the mostly
American crowds that Gbenyon
Diggs had faced the day before
seemed awed simply by her title
and majestic elegance, the
Liberians came to talk serious
business.
For more than three hours,
they grilled the ambassador
about the state of Liberia and
the Taylor administration - an
administration that many of
them say is unstable and violent.
Gbenyon-Diggs knew the
meeting would not be a walk in
the park. During her introduc
tion statement, she vowed to
answer every question truthfully,
and while acknowledging that
she was a Taylor appointee.
Gbenyon-Diggs said she came as
a representative of the nation of
Liberia, and not necessarily of
Taylor.
"I'm the messenger, and I
bring the message....Usually the
messenger gets beheaded," she
said. "Liberia does not belong to
Taylor. Liberia does not belong
to me. Liberia belongs to all of
us."
Taylor ascended to power in
1990, after forces led by him
overthrew President Samuel
Doe.
Doe - who came to power
himself 10 years earlier by way of
a coup - was killed.
Doe's killing led to years of
Civil unrest, but a cease-fire has
been in place in the country since
See Ambassador on A12
Agencies
give relief
from heat
ByPAULCOLUNS .
THE CHRONICLE
Even though it's been a bit chilly
lately, hot weather is coming back.
And some local agencies are provid
ing air conditioners for people with
medical needs.
Sunnyside Ministry of the
Moravian Church has a new pro
gram this year that is providing air
conditioning units for people with
medical problems who cannot afford
to buy them.
"We have provided six air-condi
tioners so far, and we only have
about six left....They are reserved for
very young children and elderly peo
ple who have severe medical prob-"- ? i
lems," director Roma Combs said. '
"We've had to turn dojyn some - J
requests because the medical need ,
wasn't severe enough."
Sunnyside Ministry serves the
27107 and 27127 zip codes in
Forsyth County and some areas in
northern Davidson County.
Applicants must present a letter
from a doctor that they need air con- _
ditioning because of a severe medg>
ical problem; a picture identification:
something with their Social Security^
number printed on it; a piece of may
showing the applicant's address; ver
ifiable information about the entire
household's income (such as pay
check stubs); receipts showing how
up to 80 percent of the income has
been spent in the last 30 days
Sunnyside Ministry also inter-j
views the applicant and verifies the
information on the application.
If an applicant qualifies, an air^
conditiqning unit is provided at n<S
charge.'
The air-conditioning unit is
small; it can cool only one room.
"We don't usually have this kind
of jhot weather." Combs said of the
recent heat wave. "It's really danger
ous for some people. "
A lot of elderly people who live
on fixed income face a dilemma
when hot weather comes: they must
choose between running their air
conditioning (if they have air condi
tioning) and buying., medicine.
Combs said.
Sunnyside Ministry also pro
vides free 20-inch window fans to
people who qualify. Sunnyside has
already distributed 20 or so fans this
year. Combs said. Sunnyside Min
See Font on A11
t ?
Fiery Civil rights leader, James Farmer, 79, dies
By J.Y. SMITH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
James L. Farmer, 79, the founder
of the Congress of Racial Equality
and the moving force behind some
of the most dramatic episodes of the
civil rights era of the 1960s, died yes
terday at a hospital in Fredericks
burg, Va.
No further details were available,
but Mr. Farmer had diabetes, which
led to the amputation of his legs
Mr. Farmer was a preacher by
training, a pacifist by conviction and
a union organizer by profession. In
the Nixon administration, he served
as an assistant secretary in what is
now the Department of Health and
Human Services He also was an
author and lecturer. In later life.
despite his ailments and the loss of i
his eyesight, he became one of the 1
most popular professors in the histo- I
ry of Mary Washington College in
Fredericksburg. i
As a civil rights leader during s
some of the peak years of the move- 1
ment, Mr. Farmer was one of the <
"Big Four," ranked with the Rev. 1
Martin Luther King Jr., the head of 1
the Southern Christian Leadership t
Conference; Whitney Young, execu- ;
tive director of the National Urban
League; and Roy Wilkins, of the ;
NAACP. . <
The moral foundation of his <
career was a belief in "the beloved i
community" envisioned by King, an j
integrated society in which all races <
share a sense of humanity and jus- t
tice. His means for achieving it was
lonviolent protest in the manner of 1
Viohandas K. Gandhi, leader of |
India's struggle for independence. i
Although most of his work was i
n the mean and dangerous streets of I
1 segregated America. Mr. Farmer <
xcame a familiar figure in the corri- i
iors of power he claimed credit i
"or suggesting to President Lyndon J
8. Johnson the outlines of affirma- s
:ive action, a centerpiece of John- i
ion's Great Society program.
In 1961, Mr. Farmer won nation- I
il attention by organizing a Free- <
Jom Ride from Washington to Jack- <
;on. Miss. He and a dozen compan
ons challenged a reluctant federal
lovernment to enforce Supreme <
Court decisions outlawing segrega- |
ion in interstate bus facilities. i
The episode was a defining i
moment. Television carried unfor
gettable images of a burning bus and
of racist mobs attacking peaceful
demonstrators. Volunteers flocked
to the South. Pressure mounted to
dismantle Jim Crow laws. Unable to
remain on the sidelines, the Kennedy
administration joined the struggle,
and ultimately the infamous "white"
and "colored" signs that labeled ter
minal facilities went down.
In January 1998. President Clin
ton awarded Mr. Farmer the Medal
of Freedom, the nations highest
,-ivilian honor.
Mr. Farmer started CORE in
1942 with an interracial group of
students at the University of Chica
go. Applying Gandhian principles,
its volunteers would "substitute bod
es for exhortation" in fighting racial
prejudice, in Mr. Farmers words
CORE members sat at tables at a
segregated Chicago restaurant and
insisted on being served. Mr. Farmer
believed this was the first of the civil
rights sit-ins Over the years CORE,
a thoroughly integrated group, tar
geted barbershops sw imming pools
community centers and housing
developments There were voter reg?
istration drives
In 1947. CORE moved into th?
South with a freedom ride called ?
"Journey of Reconciliation." Sixteetr
CORE members set out to tesk
enforcement of a Supjeme Court
ruling that desegregated seating oif
interstate buses Mr. Farmer, busy
with union work, was unable to take
part The group was arrested iit
See fuiiwi on a3
"
Farmer
? M ? ? FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS CALL (336) 722-8624 ? MASTERCARD, VISA AND AMERICAN EXPRESS ACCEPTED ? R j
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