CVB tour to explore city's black side I
CHROMCLfc STAH HgOKT
The Winston-Sirlem Con
vention and Visitors Bureau is
gearing up for the 2003
National Black Theatre Festi
val by conducting a VIP tour
of Winston-Salem that will
highlight African-American
contributions and venues on
July 16. The tour promises a
day filled with tons of sight
seeing of the city 's attractions.
?? w
The Umoja Experience:
African-American Art, Cul
ture and Heritage" will begin
with an Alrican-American
walking tour of Old Sakm and
St. Philips Church followed
by tours of the Historic Oak
Grove School. Museum of
Anthropology. Winston-Salem
State University's Diggs
Gallery, Delta Arts Center and
the Special Occasions Book
store.
The tour will stop for
lunch at Mela's, a Southern
cuisine restaurant in down
town Winston-Salem.
According to the bureau,
the tour will provide essential
information for visitors, new
comers and others who desire1
the history of this community.
The cost of the tour, trans
portation and lunch is $15.
Registration forms are due by
July II.
Photo by Kevin Walker
Dozens of people packed the Central Library auditorium for the program.
Reck
from, paA1
power." The letter also urged
that the United States be more
"assertive" in the Middle East.
Reck also cited an even
more eye-opening report from
2000, in which the group pre
dicted that changes in the Mid
dle East would come slowly
unless there was a "catastrophic
and catalyzing event, like a new
Pearl Harbor."
"Sept. 11 changed every
thing." said Reck, who believes
that the terrorist attacks gave the
Bush administration the
thumbs-up from the American
people to finally implement
plans that were brewing for
years.
Reck stopped short of accus
ing White House officials of
knowing about Sept. 11 before it
happened, but when an audience
member asked Reck about his
thoughts on the theory, he did
not not completely rule it out.
"I certainly agree there was
a...breakdown of U.S. intelli
gence. It is hard to believe that
such a breakdown could have
occurred," he said.
Calling dissenters the most
patriotic Americans. Reck urged
the audience to not be silent. He
encouraged audience members
to talk about the chinks in the
Bush administration's armor
with anyone who will listen.
Reck said it may be the Only
way that those who are not buy
ing what Bush is selling have to
get their message out. Although
mainstream mass news media,
including ABC. have found and
reported on the PNAC docu
ments. Reck said for the most
part mainstream media seem
content with the status quo.
"If we dare to differ and dare
to dream, we will be victori
ous." Reck said.
There was no mistaking that
Reek was preaching to the con
verted. Members of the multira
cial crowd, which included sev
eral Muslims, already have seri
ous doubts about Bush and
America's foreign policy. One
member of the audience did dis
agree with Reck and much of
what he had to say. The man
called for people on all sides of
the pohtical spectrum to stop the
name calling and demonizing.
Reck said he is not anti-gov
ernment or anti-American. He
said he's deeply compelled to
speak out because the direction i
in which the country is heading
is stealing the democracy on t
which it was built and not mak- i
ing the United States any new i
friends overseas.
"I love this country and I i
think it has tremendous poten- i
tial, but I have feal (concerns)
for what is happening in this
country,'" Reck said.
Plioio by Kevin Walker
Members of the Broadus family descended on Winston-Salem last week. The family came
from all over the country for a family reunion that was held over several days. The
reunion included many activities/ including a tour of The Chronicle. Here the family takes
a minute to pose for a picture in The Chronicle's production department.
NAACP
from page AI
but are illegal and could lead
to jail time.
The NAACP gets about a
dozen letters each week from
the Forsyth County Jail, most
ly from young black men who
want help getting out of the
criminal justice system.
Stephen Hairston hopes Com
munity Patrol will help nip the
growing problem in the bud.
"If (these young people)
don't talk to us now. they will
talk to us when they get to
jail." Stephen Hairston said.
Community Patrol came to
the East First Street area after
Stephen Hairston attended a
recent neighborhood meeting
where several elderly people
who live in the area com
plained about drugs being
sold on street corners and late
night gun fire. Stephen Hair
ston spent more than two
Jecades on the Winston
Salem police force but the
Community Patrol is not some
:ype of police force designed
[o confront wrongdoers.
"We are not here to jump
an anyone. My police days are
aver." Stephen Hairston said.
Community'Patrol is in its
infancy. East First Street was
just the second neighborhood
that has been hit so far.
Stephen Hairston and
Patrick Hairston. a former
NAACP president, make up
the chapter's Community
Patrol for now.
"Every million miles starts
with two steps, and we are
starting those steps," Stephen
Hairston said.
Other members of the
NAACP have expressed inter
est in walking neighborhoods
along with the Hairstons.
Patrick Hairston led the
NAACP in the late 1970s
through local school integra
tion and high-profile employ
ment discrimination cases.
But he said the issues that
Community Patrol is trying to
address are just as pressing.
"We need to try to reach
these young people now
because it will be too late for
us to do anything when they
gel (to the courthouse),"
Patrick Hairston said.
Patrick Hairston. who is
still active in the NAACP.
said the patrols also will give
the NAACP a chance to moni
tor substandard housing and
give residents a chance to see
what their NAACP is all
about. |(
"We are not going to stop.
We are going to be here, there
and everywhere." Patrick
Hairston said.
Photo by Kevin Walker
Stephen, left, and Patrick Hairston walk along 1st Street.
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