Newspapers / Winston-Salem chronicle. / Aug. 12, 1999, edition 1 / Page 6
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 ? itai*v?iii? CatiN?iaM hiv? r?im ' The Chronicle Ernest H. Pitt PublisherICo-Founder ndiiisi egimomi Co-Founder elaine Pitt Business Manager , Fannie Henderson Advertising Manager J e ri Vol nc Managing Editor steven Moore Production Manager , Karen J. Olson Circulation Manager ?* ?W?f*l ~nil of Circulation Appointments of Frye, Freeman, McDevitt and Holman are good choices The appointment of Henry Frye to become the first African American to head the N.C. Supreme Court would have been news within itself, but the subsequent appointments have themselves become sources of interest and inquiry. Henry Frye's appointment to chief justice left a , vacant position on the court. That position has been filled by Hunt's chief of staff. Franklin Freeman. Freeman is no stranger to the legal profession. He is an attorney by training and has served as head of the Administrative Office of the Courts and was a district attorney before becoming part of the Hunt administration as secretary of the Frye Department of Corrections. Freeman had served as chief of staff for Hunt since the departure of Ed Turlington in 1997. v Freeman's post will be filled by Wayne McDe vitt. McDevitt was appointed by Hunt and con Firmed by the state Senate to head the Department of Environment and Natural Dar AllfAao McDevitt's departure from DENR left the door open for the appointment of Bill Holman as secretary of DENR. Holman's appointment is significant because he is vconsidered to be a dyed-in the-wool environmentalist and an enemy of the business community - Hunt in other words Holman is a "tree hugger." So, how do we move from Henry Frye to a "tree hugger?" Very cautiously. Administrative appoint ments always cause a domino effect. The smart administrations always know what the last appointment is goipg to be before they make the First one. . That saves a lot of headache, embarrassments and bad press. I give the Hunt administration good press on these appointments. The appointments of Frye, Freeman, McDevift and Holman are good for the administration, for African Americans and for all the people of North Carolina. - Val Atkinson ?sass HIGHWAY jj To the editor: This year's National Black The atre Festival has come and gone, and Winston-Salem was again treated to a week of theater and excitement. Most communities should be so lucky. Everyone associated with the festival, starting with Larry Leon Hamlin, should be very proud. As usual, much of the success of the festival was due to the loving work of the hundreds of volunteers. There seemed to be more volunteers than ever before, all ready to help or provide information, and there were many times when they were really needed. The volunteer co-coordinators, Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin and Joyce Elem. did a special job this year. They certainly deserve thanks from those who enjoyed either attending the festival or working with it. To all the festival volunteers, congratula tions on a job well done! Dave Fergusson Winston-Salem To the editor: Yvonne Whites letter to the Winston-Salem Journal was long overdue. I have dedicated a good portion of my life helping students safely to and from school every day. As a school crossing guard. I can attest to everything Ms. White said in her letter. School crossing guards are never included in the awards cer emonies or other activities/functions that are put on by the Winston Salem/Forsyth County School Sys tem. School crossing guards have a dangerous and responsible job. Yet the position is taken very lightly by the public and more specifically the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System. There have been numerous articles in the newspaper addressing child safety. The child's safety does not rely solely on the school bus This is not to discredit the importance of school bus safety, but rather put some emphasis and focus on the following: a) safety of the children as the buses are being directed in and out of the school grounds; b) safety of the children not being bused (dropped off by parents children walking, etc.). These chil dren are directed across the streets by school crossing guards There are a number of things that could not be carried out proper ly if we did not have dedicated and experienced school crossing guards . Another issue is the lack of com munication, lack of meetings and lack #of concern for the guards. We should be made aware of openings at other posts. Experience and seniority should be one of the main criteria in filling open positions The safety manager as well as the Win ston-Salem/Forsyth County School System should review these concerns and issues and do something about them. Dedicated and experienced employees are few and far these days - Jessie McCollough, school crossing guard To the editor: 1 read William L. Holmes' article concerning Clementine Cone's vice chancellor for financial affairs resig nation at Winston-Salem State Uni versity, on Aug. 7 in the Winston Salem Journal. I can't understand how a person can resign and still receive a salary at taxpayers' expense. The article .stated that Mrs Cone would be paid through Sept. 30. 1 can understand how she could have been dismissed and receive pay for at least 30 days I believe taxpayers are due an explanation. Beaufort O. Bailey Winston-Salem Editor's note: According to a release issued by the university, Cone 's last day is Sept. 30. The release also states she resigned To the editor: In response to your editorial on July 29,1999,1 wanted to express my opinion about "The Whitewashing of Woodstock *99." Most, if not all, of the school and job-site massacres have been committed by white males? Isn't it interesting that black males are so feared by white society that it can take the extensive measures that you mentioned to protect entire towns against the imaginary threat of a group of black youths and remain naive of the tendency in white kids to be incredibly violent? ? White society has been far more violent over the centuries than those made up of people of polor. The very nature of slavery in this hemi-' sphere was spawned in hatred and its resulting violence by whites. The slaughter at Wounded Knee' and the cruelty of the Trail of Teart' cannot be traced to anything related to people of color except that they were the slaughtered and the tor-'1 tured. I am well aware of the struggle' that African American communities 1 have with crime, and I am not writ- - ing to you out of some urge to ease a ? sense of white liberal guilt. But I spent 12 years as a jailer in the old Forsyth County Jail when its conditions were horrible' and (the jail was) packed-with black men. One of the inmates stopped me one time and said, "Do you know what 'jus tice' means, Sgt. Bradstock? It means, 'just us.'" As I looked around the jail that day, 1 realized the truth in that state ment. Ken Bradstock. Pastoral minister Jamestown Friends Meeting Jamestown, N.C,' The bad mood of black America : I Earl Ofari Hutchinson Guest Columnist In June Newsweek magazine boasted thpt many African Ameri cans are living better than ever before in America. They, are better educated, make more money, live in better neighborhoods, and own more businesses The message is that since things aren't nearly so bad as many blacks make it out to be, stop complaining about racial ill-treat ment. But many do complain, and complain loudly. And there are good reasons why they do and should. Many blacks .are subjected to 1 poor (or no) service, bad seating, i long waits, special cover fees and ] prepayment requirements in restau- < rants Even if the lousy service has i nothing to do with race - it's difficult to determine whether it is deliberate discrimination by management, s inattentive waiters, or short-handed I help - the experience is deeply unset- I tlin? for many blacks who suspect I that the mistreatment has everything i to do with race. i Then there's the perennial prob- i lem with cabs. Many blacks shake : with rage as cabs ignore their signals i and then stop a few feet in front of < them to pick up whites. Some cab drivers privately admit that they i won't pick up blacks. They claim i they fear being robbed or assaulted. I But when was the last time a cab dri ver was assaulted by a black business person dressed in a suit and tie or designer dress with an attache case in hand? Despite an ocean of federal and state laws that prohibit redlining in lending and the heated denials from banks and savings and loans that they discriminate, many banks still reject far more black housing loan applicants than whites. Their expla nation: More blacks had bad credit, shaky work records and little collat ;ral. In many instances, these were dodges or flat-out lies. ? More black students are trapped in crumbling, dilapidated public schools with more ill-prepared teachers, indifferent administrators. and outdated texts and equipment than two decades ago. - Even President Clinton at the commemoration ceremony in 1997 marking the 40th anniversary of the Little Rock school desegregation battle shamefacedly admitted that the schools in Little Rock and othei; cities were nearly .as segregated as they were 40 years ago. These are the towering obstacles that no amount of cheery talk about how much progress blacks have made can erase*; And that's why many blacks are still in such a bad mood. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the author of "The Crisis in Black and Black." His e-mail address is ehutchi344@aoL com. r w y The NAACP announced at its most recent national convention that it may file suit against \ / the major four networks- NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX- because of the lack of black characters I |/y*kw fynn rn Al M rPTWTl /1/\1 #1 MTJ\ 7?fPY 7 on the new fall shows. According to the organization, of the dozens of new shows this upcoming Willi L V LU/ijll I LI L f I I l\fl AM I IIXII I y season, none feature blacks or other minorities in lead roles. We asked local people whether they ri/lvlij ilWJifl lllL tl/irliril/iuiiiM are more inclined to watch a show if it contains characters that look like them. Sharon Jona* "Being black I can't relate to white sitcoms, because most of the time they don't really talk about the things we talk about. / want my son to grow up to know that black people do have pos itive roles, so we should not just have black sitcoms but black lawyer shows, doctor shows. We have more going for us than sports and comedy." Gwen Show "As an A frican American I relate to other African Americans, and therefore, when I look at television, I want to .see someone that looks like me So / think there should he more black actors on 'shows and more shows that feature African Ameri cans. " Shirley Rollins " Yes. / just feel that Hack people need to he promoted. He need to he recognized. We need to he moved up and focused. I really feel that African Americans should watch and support hlack shows." Darryt Wilton "I like to see black characters in high positions so that it can give young people something to strive for If a young kid sees an African Amer ican on television, that is more prone to give them ideas of things to do." t Kenneth Dobbins "It feels good just to see some of us on television. It lets me know that they appreciate us enough to try to give us a chance to he seen and . heard" . f (
Aug. 12, 1999, edition 1
6
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75