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Community
HRC honors local
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Black men offer
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Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point
Vol. XXVI No. 29
275
62201
1938
Chronicle
THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2
als for justice
impassioned speech at the end of
Sunday worship services at
Emmanuel Baptist Church. “It was
murder.”
Four officers were acquitted of
all charges Friday after a the jury -
made of four blacks and eight whites
- deliberated more than 20 hours
over the 24 charges the officers faced.
The officers all contended that
they fired in self-defense on Feb. 4,
1999, after Diallo, 22, reached for an
object they thought was a gun while
standing in the vestibule of his Bronx
apartment building. The object
turned out to be a wallet. Diallo was
of demonstrators
j down Broadway
aBet, not a gun” in
prdict in the shoot-
dou Diallo, dozens
Jers fired up their
heated messages
ility. .
was to the wallet
grant reached for
they mistook for a
what it was,” said
iendez during an
See Pulpits on A8
Jazz
Photo by Cheris Hodges
lef John Gist indulges his love of jazz each week by hosting a show on WSNC. Gist has been a disc jockey for a little
ion two years.
Mef fights fires, spins discs
tS HODGES
ONICLE
bg the week, John Gist
bs days fighting fires,
every Saturday morn-
6 Winston-Salem fire
jJulges his other love ~
•hing sounds of jazz.
Q 11 a.m.-l p.m.. Gist
found at a soundboard
fC (90.5 FM) spinning
rite jazz tunes,
eally enjoy smooth
said.
started volunteering at
the station two years ago.
Gist plays artists like Kim
Waters and Kenny G on his
two-hour show. He often
brings in records and CDs
from his own extensive collec
tion.
“I play music that people
can identify with,” he said.
“Sometimes a jazz artist will
remake an R&B song and peo
ple will call in .and ask me
about the CD I just played.”
Gist decided to do the
radio show when he heard an
advertisement on the radio
calling for volunteers at
WSNC. He contacted station
manager Joe Watson and the
rest is musical history.
The only thing he lacks, he
said with a chuckle, is an on-
air handle.
“I thought coming up with
one of those names would be
kind of young,” he said.
Even without a hip DJ
name like MC Fireman, Gist
has developed a cadre of loyal,
listeners.
“Some days I get around 10
to 15 calls,” he said. “Some
days I don’t get any, but that is
just par for the course for any
one.”
When listening to Gist’s
show, listeners are treated to all
styles of jazz, including vocal
artists and futuristic jazz with
a lot of synthesizers and bass.
“I don’t go too far back
with the music,” he said.
He says he doesn’t use his
show to teach a class on the
history of jazz. Instead he
plays the freshest and most
current music.
See Chief on A12
thews hailed
)it-in efforts
-KER
ws paid an exorbi-
soda he drank at
counter in 1960.
a sip, he had to
intimidation, jeer-
^ stint in jail - all
ired the drink at a
rich counter.
‘ inter, Matthews
what type of soda
it was, though he vividly recalls the
store’s staff throwing away his glass
afterward as if it were contaminat
ed.
There was nothing extraordi
nary about the soda, he said, but it
was the most filling drink he has
ever had.
“It was a good soda in the fact
that I had defeated the system,”
Matthews said last week.
What his drink at the lunch
See Matthews on A12
Photo by T. Kevin Walker
Corf Matthews, far right, talks about his role in the Civil Rights Movement
during a panel discussion.
Diallo verdict a
‘wake-up call’
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Photo by Kevin Walker
A woman lights a candle during a vigil for Amadou Diallo held at Goler
Memorial AME Zion Church.
There were not enough peo
ple at the noon service at Goler
Memorial AME Zion Church
to light the 41 white candles
that were erected near the pulpit
in the top of a cardboard box.
Even after each of the more
than two dozen parishioners
took turns lighting one of the
candles, nearly an entire row
stood useless.
The situation was a little too
ironic for the Rev. Seth O.
Lartey, the church’s pastor.
“All of us can’t even light 41
candles,” Lartey said, “but this
man had 41 bullets shot at him.”
The man to whom Lartey
referred is Amadou Diallo, the
unarmed African immigrant
who was slain by four white New
York City police officers last
year as he stood in the vestibule
of his Bronx apartment.
The acquittal of the officers
last week by a racially mixed
Albany jury has caused nation
wide outrage among many. Sev
eral demonstration marches
See Shooting on A9
NAACP calls for
boycott of hotel
BY CHERIS HODGES AND T. KEVIN WALKER
I’HE CHRONICLE
Officials with the Adam’s Mark Hotel chain are happy theii
problems with the Department of Justice may finally be coming tc
a close, but the NAACP is calling on economic sanctions against
the hotel chain anyway.
In a statement released last week by the NAACP, President
Kweisi Mfume criticized the hotel chain for refusing to meet with
the NAACP or the Florida attorney general. Both have filed sepa
rate suits against the chain claiming it has an established pattern ol
discriminating against African Americans.
The NAACP suit involves five African Americans who said the}
were discriminated against by the Daytona Beach hotel during last
year’s Black College Reunion (BCR).
NAACP officials are angry that the chain is only attempting tc
settle with the Justice Department, which launched an investigatior
Yee NAACP o« A12
West talks census
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Head count. Short form. Long form. Confidentiality.
The census is a concept that most adults have difficulty fully grasping; it’
rocket science for most young people.
But help came Tuesday as one of Winston-Salem’s most successfu
native sons came home to teach Census 101 to middle school students.
Togo West Jr., the U.S. secretai^ of veterans affairs, told the studen
body of Atkins Middle School that it should take an active role in gettin;
parents and neighbors involved in Census 2000.
“Something big is coming to town,” West told several hundred student
in the school’s gymnasium, “something very big.”
West explained to the students that the state and federal governments us
census information to determine where to build schools, draw congressiona
districts and allocate funds for such things as road improvements. He als<
told them about the census’ history of undercounting the nation’s popula
tion, especially young people and minorities.
West - a Winston-Salem native who graduated from Atkins when it wa
a high school and lived on the same street as the school - relayed a local even
to demonstrate how avoiding census forms can be to the detriment of a com
munity.
“\^y do you think (Fourteenth Street School, which was once locatei
beside Atkins) is not there anymore?” West asked before answering his owi
question. “Because somebody took a census and determined there were nc
enough youngsters (in the community) to support keeping the school open.
Census 2000 has been given much attention in Winston-Salem and man
other cities. Mayor Jack Cavanagh formed a Complete Count Committe
several months ago to develop ideas to achieve an accurate local count.
See West on A
Activists: Continue
to fight racism
The panel of whites, blaci
and Hispanics included Cai
Matthews, leader of the Wir
ston-Salem sit-in movement; 1
Smith, president of the Winstor
Salem Urban League; the Re’
Nelson Johnson, a witness to th
1979 Klan and Nazi massacre i
Greensboro; and Richard Bow;
ing, chairman of the Southeas
Economic Developments.
“If you reject a dog, h
BY CHERIS HODGES
THE CHRONICLE
Forty years after students
from Winston-Salem Teachers
College and Wake Forest College
forced down the walls of segre
gation, community activists
warned current students that the
battle is not over.
Wake Forest University was
the site of a panel discussion on
race relations.
See Activists on A1
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