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75 cents Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point Vol. XXVIII No. 4
TM&ETnRONlCLE
The Choice for African-American News 0
o i ? ??
^omerence
focuses on
diversity and
health care
Speaker tells doctors, others to
leant how to become more
flexible in dealings with patients
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
ITHE CHRONICLE
As this city and places like it around the
nation become more racially diverse, area
health-care workers, social workers and non
____________ profit agency employees
have to become more
flexible in order to pro
vide adequate services
to the ever-growing
minority population.
That was the over
whelming message of a
man who has been
dubbed "Mr. Inspira
tion" for his uplifting,
straightforward motiva
tional talks.
Evans
"We have not been flexible enough in our
approach to different people." said Dr. Ted
Evans, a Henderson native. "If we are flexible,
we will never be bent out of shape."
fcvans, a pediatri
cian who is the former
vice president and cor
porate medical director
of Cigna Corp.. was the
keynote speaker at a
day-long conference
last Friday at the Rama
da Plaza Hotel on Uni
versity Parkway.
The conference -
"Delivering Culturally
Competent Health Care
and Human Services" - was designed to
enlighten and inform. Seminars included ses
sions on the history of racism in Forsyth Coun
ty: providing equal access to people of color:
and the behavioral patterns oi Hispanics and
Latinos.
The belief among conference organizers is
that if health-care providers can gain some
insight into the cultures of their patients.- they
can understand some of the patterns that may
exist in patients that are not of European
descent.
For instance, studies have shown that some
cultures are less likely to take prescribed medi
cine regularly. Some health-care providers have
viewed this as patients not trying to make them
selves healthier. But. in fact, there is a vast
belief in some cultures that Western medicine is
too potent and may sometimes be more harmful
than good.
Linda Carter, the executive director of
Today's Woman Health and Wellness Center,
served as the chairperson for the conference.
-SV, Conference on A5
Carter
Many Faces
u.-fc* ?t ,, <?ac???? -
Photo by Kevin Walker
Winston-Salem State University art student David Listokin creates portraits of Mario Martinez and Zenaida
Serrano on a T-shirt at Fiesta 2000. The annual downtown festival celebrates the accomplishments and con
tributions of Hispanics. Thousands packed the streets of downtown Saturday for the daylong event. Among
the activities offered were musical bands, activities for children, information booths and lots of traditional
Hispanic food. For more pictures from the event, see page A3.
Hope may be fading for LIFT
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Supporters of LIFT Academy went to
Tuesday's meeting of the Winston
Salem/Forsyth County School Board
upbeat, hopeful and optimistic. They left
frustrated and shaking their heads in dis
gust.
It took only a few words from mem
bers of the board to change supporters'
moods. They had come hoping that the
board would use its power to extend to
LIFT one of the last opportunities it may
have to keep its doors open.
Earline Parmon - the executive direc
tor of LIFT, a former charter school that
recently lost its charter after a long, hard
fought battle against the State Board of
Education - said LIFT's attorney sent a
proposal to board members Friday. It asks
that the school system enter into a contract
with LIFT to educate students in grades 7
12. The school's student body, which Par
mon said is about 150, is made up mostly
of students who have been expelled or had
rocky starts at public schools.
In exchange for providing education,
meals, books and transportation, the con
tract seeks from the school system nearly
$6,(XX) per student.
Although School Board Chairman
Donny Lambeth said the board would
consider the proposal, Schools Superin
tendent Don Martin hinted that the pro
posal as it is currently written may not be
See LIFT on A9
Photo b\ Kevin Walker
Car line Parmon, from left, Carolyn Cooper, a LIFT parent, and J.R. McClure,
the school's student body president, answer questions from the press.
Photo by Paul Cottins
Sandra Pennington works with Norman Kidby.
Black
Muslims
targeted
Hatred stemming from
terrorist attacks has
reared ugly head locally
BY T KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
The wrath of angry Ameri
cans expressing anti-Islamic
sentiment has been directed
most
severely
at Mus
lims of
Middle
Eastern
origin.
Over the
(past two
weeks,
Arab
Muslims
and
Griggs
those believed to be Arab have
been beaten, verbally assaulted
and. in a few instances, shot
dead.
But the attacks have put all
Muslims, those born here and
abroad, on guard since the
evenls of
Sepl. 11.
when the
World
Trade
Center
and the
Pentagon
were
allegedly
attacked
by Mus
lim ter
Farrakhan
rorists from Arab nations.
African-American Muslims
have not completely escaped
harassment. Imam Khalid
dGriggs. the leader of the Com
munity Mosque on Waughtown
Street, told a roomful of pastors
and other people of faith that his
mosque has been the target of
vandals twice since Sept. 11.
Last week, a slur about
Mohammed, the prophet and
founder of the Islamic religion,
was carved into the outside wall
of the mosque, near the front
entrance. A patch of white paint
now clearly indicates where the
offensive words were written.
The week of the attacks, a badly
mangled copy of the Koran, the
Muslim holy book, was found
See Muslim on A4
Man pursuing American dream -
with the help of literacy program
BY PAUL COLLINS
THE CHRONICLE
Norman Kidby moved to thi^v
country from Oxford, England,
near London, nearly six years
ago. After the terrorist attacks on
the United States on Sept. II,
2001. Kidby. of Winston-Salem,
proudly displayed American flags
on his vehicle.
Not only is Kidby patriotic, he
is pursuing the American dream.
He hopes to one day open a
British pub in Winston-Salem. He
has a strong work ethic. He is an
electrician's helper for R&K
Electric and a handyman for Sani
Clean.
Kidby. 39. believes the
progress he has made and is con
tinuing to make in the VMCA Lit
eracy Initiative program in the
last three years will help him
achieve his dreams.
Kidby said: "Going back
three years ago. I couldn't even
pick up a newspaper. I used to
pick up a newspaper and just fly
through it. pretend I'm reading or
look at the pictures."
Now. he's reading, and under
standing. the newspaper more,
and starting to read txx>ks.
Growing up in England, he
said. "My grades were very, very
low. hut I did not miss any school
in England. I went all the way
through school. I was a bit slower
than other people...so 1 got put to
the back of the class. Then,
because I got put to the back of
the class, the guys who don't want
to learn, I got put w ith them."
He earned an award for hav
ing the best attendance in junior
school (for students ages 9 to 13).
He missed only four days in four
years. In addition to having excel
lent attendance, he also was gotxl
in sports.
"I went all the way through
school. until I was 15 1/2." Kidby
said.
"I'm quite handy with me
hands." Kidby said, so after he
started working manual jobs, he
shied away from jobs or assign
ments that involved a lot of read
ing. or passed them on to other
people to "do the writing and
reading." Kidby kept it a secret
that he was illiterate.
Kidby was the assistant man
ager of a bar when he met his
future wife. Kendra. a Wake For
est University student studying in
London, whose class would meet
at the bar. The first few times
Kidby asked her out. she said no.
but then she agreed to go out.
"After she moved back here (to
the United States), we kept in
contact; we wrote. I eventually
came ... here (the United States)
the first of November 1995....I've
been here ever since. We got mar
ried on Dec 30. 1995, in
Sir Literacy on A10
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