OPINION
The Chronicle
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Kay Stiiitz
Puhl isher/Co- Founder
Business Manager
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Managing Editor
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When crime
equals dollars
For most people it is good
news that crime in Forsyth
County has taken a dramatic
nose dive. Having fewer mur
ders. rapes and assaults means
that hard-working, law-abid
ing folks can sleep a little eas
ier and walk our streets with
more confidence.
But crime and punishment
have become big business for
some people. So as morbid as.
it may sound, bad people
doing a lot of, bad things is
good news for the pocket
books of some people. Take,
for example, the circum
stances behind the opening of
a new federal prison in a small
South Carolina town (see story
on page A2).
The bad deeds of some
1,200 inmates, the number that
will be housed at the $110 mil
lion facility, will mean an eco
nomic surge for many. Hotels,
shops and eateries are spring
ing up. hoping to take advan
tage of those w ho will work at
the prison. The prison plans to
hire more than 350 people,
most of whom will make at
least about $25,000 iif a town
where the average personal
income is not even $13,000.
Millions have already gone to
developers who have con
structed the mammoth build
ing. And millions more will go
tp various companies for a
variety of services the prison
will need.
Business is business and
somebody has lo do it. but it's
sad that our economy has
sunken to such a low that peo
ple are turning flips over the
positive benefits of a prison.
Granted, most prisoners
deserve to be behind bars for
the unmentionable crimes they
commit, but does that mean
they deserve to.be pimped by a
system that is erecting prisons
like they are Holiday Inns?
So crime is not always bad,
at least for some people. It has
become a cottage industry and
fodder for politicians who use
high-crime numbers to slide
into office. Preventive pro
grams for crime have been
slow to take effect, and there
are still not enough of them.
When will the powers that be
realize that the millions that
are used to lock people up,
build prisons and defend and
prosecute perpetrators could
be better spent for training and
educational programs that will
keep many people from com
mitting crimes in the first
place?
When will thqse who have
become multimillionaires as a
result of the business of lock
ing up young black men stop
the madness and cease arguing
for more jails?
Prisons are bad. depressing
places filled with mostly bad
people.. It just doesn't seem
right that their existence
should make so many people
so happy and so hopeful.
- -v\7n k
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Supporting ^
Anderson
To the Editor:
I write to thank The Chronicle
most sincerely for the paper's edi
torial support of Gayle Anderson
and the Greater Winston-Salem
Chamber of Commerce (most
recently, July 10, "A Second Look
at Anderson, Vendors").
As last year's chair of the
board of directors of the chamber
and a continuing active member
of that board and its Executive
Committee, I am confident that I
am in a position to assure your
readers that one situation implied
by your mentioned editorial does
not exist. Specifically, "...the
chamber board..." does not
"...have a problem with Ander
son..." In fact, the board of the
chamber is highly supportive of
Anderson as a great leader of a
great team. She is focused, works
hard and operates with complete
integrity.
Again, thank you for your
support.
Sincerely yours,
Murray C. Greason Jr.
Remembering
little brother
Editor's note: Kenneth Thorn
ton wrote this letter to remember
the one-vear anniversary of the
death of his brother. Rev. Dr. S.
Tyrone Thornton, who was pastor
of Phillips Chapel Baptist
Church.
To the Editor:
There's a difference of six
years in the ages of my younger
brother. Rev. Dr. S. Tyrone Thorn
ton. and myself. I always thought
in the back of my mind that one
day I would have his back to do
some of the things that big broth
ers do. I thought that maybe one
day I would have to break up a
fight or even stop an argument.
Not the case. I never had to get
him out of any kind of trouble. He
was always in the middle of a
crowd of people, but they were
around hint just to hear what the
little big
man had
to say.
O u r
roles soon
changed
from big
brother/lit
tle brother
to best
friends.
H e
hurl ;i nn?
itive impact on every person he
met. He impressed many and was
loved by all.
From his hometown of Cas
cade. Va., to some of the places of
his employment, including Mar
tinsville, Va., Danville, Va. and
Yanceyville. N.C.. he was known
as a motivator and a hard worker.
His church families of Shiloh,
River Zion and Phillips Chapel
knew him as an anointed man
who was not afraid to preach and
teach the Gospel.
His dreams and visions were
huge. He often talked to me about
being on television and starting a
radio ministry. He said that way
he could spread God's word to
everybody.
An automobile accident
changed his plan-. His death
touched thousands, young and
old. The newspaper, television
and radio all reported his story;
Maybe his dream did come true.
Some of the great men in history
have holidays in honor of them
because they changed the lives of
people. To me. my brother was
just as inspirational and changed
many lives; therefore. I wanted to
do a day of reminiscence for him.
An almost fatal illness left me
bedfast for a few months, but it
gave me the opportunity to write
the songs and work out the details
for a program. Now my dream is
near reality. On July 26 at Phillips
Chapel. 132 N. Glenn Ave , at 6
p.m., we will have a night of
remembering Rev. Thornton.
With the help of some of the
greatest singers and musicians
around, we have formed the Rev.
Dr. S. Tyrone Thornton Memorial
Mass Choir. We will do a live
recording on this night. All are
invited to attend. The recorded
project also will feature highlights
front Dr. Thornton's preaching
and teaching. A percentage of the
proceeds will support a scholar
ship fund.
Donations can be made to
either help support the program or
to the scholarship fund, make
checks payable to Kenneth
Thornton, 505 Tender Lane. Cas
cade. VA 24069.
Kenneth Thornton
Reunion thank-you
Special thanks to everyone
in Winston-Salem and to those
who traveled from various
states to support and partake
in the celebration of the Wil
son family reunion. The
reunion was held at the
Hawthorne Inn from July 4
until July 6. We will have our
next reunion in 2005 in Wash
ington DC.
Lois Quinn, president
Rev. Dr. Thornton
/ DON'T NOU \
/ V.OVE R?N?H6
* GOOD J
V TANTKSY? /
No heat from blacks for Dusty
Earl Ofari
Hutchinson
Guest
Columnist
Chicago Cubs manager
Dusty Baker took much heat
from sportswriters, talk-show
hosts, and some ballplayers for
his inane, half-cocked quip that
black and Latino players play
better in the heat than whites. But
why didn't black leaders such as
the Reverends Al Sharpton, Jesse
Jackson, and NAACP President
Kweisi Mfume instantly con
demn his remarks?
If anything, blacks treated
Baker's remarks with a wink and
nod, and bemusement. "Hey. that
was Dusty just being Dusty."
Presumably that means since
Baker has gotten a rep for being
outspoken, then why get upset,
let alone blast him, for a brain
dead racial jibe?
Yet, when Cincinnati Reds
owner Marge Schott, CBS sports
commentator Jimmy the Greek,
and Dodger executive Al Campa
nis made bigoted, racially-loaded
jibes about blacks - in the case of
"the Greek" and Campanis their
remarks about blacks supposed
athletic superiority (or failings)
were eerily similar to Baker's -
blacks demanded their heads.
Jackson and Sharpton regu
larly spruce up their credentials
as black America's racial gate
keepers by demanding the scalp
of any public figure (white of
course) who makes a racially
insensitive gaffe.
If Baker were white, he
would've quickly been in their"
cross hairs. They would have
stormed the Cubs' offices and
demanded that he apologize, if
not fired, maybe both. Dusty, of
course, is unrepentant and insists
that he will not apologize. He
bristles at being dumped into the
same bigot bag with "The Greek"
or Campanis. After all. they were
white, he's black, and that gives
him carte blanche to say whatev
er he wants about blacks, no mat
ter how ludicrous it may be.
But the silence of black lead
ers and Dusty's skewed sense of
racial etiquette again point to the
ridiculous racial double standard
that many blacks impose on
whites, but not themselves. A
glaring example of this is the
perennial debate over the "N"
word. When white comedians,
politicians, talk-show hosts, and
even educators have slipped and
used the "N" word, they are
instantly branded bigots, do pro
fuse ,mea_culpas and solemnly
swear never to do it agtun.
But black rappers.TOmedians
and writers have made a virtual
fetish out of using the word, and
there is no angry outcry from
other blacks. Some black writers
even go through tortuous gyra
tions to justify using the word.
They claim that the more a black
person uses the word, the less
offensive it becomes. They claim
that they are cleansing the word
of its negative connotations so
that racists can no longer use it to
hurl blacks.
Comedian-turned-activist
Dick Gregory had the same idea
some years ago when he titled his
autobiography "Nigger." Black
writer Robert DeCoy also tried to
apply the same racial shock ther
apy to whites when he titled his
novel "The Nigger Bible."
The racial double standard.
however, is fraught with rrach
danger. The standard assumption
is that pseudo-science quips hy
whites about the alleged physical
prowess of blacks, especially ath
letes, reinforce the ancient, but
thoroughly discredited, racial
stereotypes and must be swiftly
reviled. But in some ways the
same quip made by a Baker, or
other high-profile blacks, if any
thing does More to validate racial
stereotypes than if said by whites.
This gives much of the public
pause to think that there may
some truth to it.
When blacks don't protest
bigoted remarks by someone like
Baker. that public pause can eas
ily turn into public belief that
there may be something to it.
That lack of protest also fuels
the suspicion that blacks, and
especially black leaders, are
more than willing to play the race
card and call a white a bigot
when it serves their interest but
will circle the wagons and defend
any black who comes under fire
for bigotry, or for any other
malfeasance.
Some wayward black public
officials and celebrities that are
guilty of mafcasance use the
racial double standard to their
advantage. They scream racism
when they are caught doing
wrong. They can get away with it
because many whites regard
blacks as so far outside the polit
ical and social pale that they see
blacks solely through the prism
of a racial monolith. They think
that all blacks think, act and sway
Jlo the same racial beat. They
freely use the words and deeds of
the chosen black leader as the
standard for African-American
behavior.
When the beleaguered cho
sen one makes a real or contrived
misstep, he or she becomes the
whipping hoy among many
whites, and blacks are blamed for
being rash, foolhardy, irresponsi
ble and prone to shuffle the race
card on every social ill that
befalls them.
Baker's little exercise in
racial genetics was again proof
that a silly, racist remark can c
come out of a black mouth as
easily as it can from the mouth of
a white. But when it does there is
little likelihood that it will draw
any heat from blacks. Dusty cer
tainly didn't.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an
author and political analyst.
KRT Pholo by Karl Mondon
Dusty Baker gets a champagne bath last year after his former team, the San Francisco Giants/
clinched a World Series wild-card berth.