Oprah Winfrey visits Navajo Nation
WINDOW ItpCK, Arte. (AP) - Oprah Winfrey visited the
Navajo Nation this week to gather footage for an upcoming episode of
her show, tribal officials said.
Winfrey toured the Navajo capitol of
Window Rock and watched children perform
a powwow dance, according to a statement
released by the tribe.
"It was a real honor to have such a celebri
ty grace us with her presence, especially on
sacred ground right under the Window Rock,"
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said in
the statement. "She's a very likable pereon, of
course, very honorable."
The Window Rock is a geographic feature
Winfrey that gave the community its name.
Priscella Littlefoot, the To'Nanees' Dizi
Chapter coordinator who organized the event, said in the statement that
"Oprah is our key to let the world in."
"Hopefully, Oprah's visit will portray that while we do have social
problems, we're still rich in our heritage, our culture, and language,"
she said.
Ex-Player revises lawsuit against Portland
STATE tOLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - A former Penn State basketball
player in the midst of a discrimination lawsuit against coach Rene
Portland said Portland made "defamatory statements" against ^ier, the
latest chapter in the months-long verbal and legal battle.
Jennifer Harris amended her lawsuit initially filed last December
in response to comments Portland made in a statement on May 18.
> Harris contends in the suit that Portland discriminated against her
because the longtime coach perceived her to be a lesbian.
Lawyers for Harris, who has said that she is not gay, accused
Portland of "humiliating, berating and ostracizing" the former play
er. Hams was the third-leading scorer with a 10.4 average before
transferring to James Madison following the 2004-05 season.
Portland has firmly denied the accusations, and said in the state
ment that Harris' departure was related only to basketball issues.
"The sexual orientation or race of any player or person is irrelevant
to me," the coach said.
In court documents filed last week, Harris' lawyers said
Portland's comments were false.
"We're not saying Rene does not have a right to defepd herself.
Of course she does," said Harris' attorney, Karen Doering, of the
National Center for Lesbian Rights. "But the law does not permit her
to make defamatory statements, which is what she has done by
claiming that Jennifer was unable to make contributions to the
team."
Commission: North Carolina should
pay compensation for 1898 racial riot
RALEIGH (AP) - A state-appointed commission is urging
North Carolina to provide reparations for the 1898 racial violence
that sparked an exodus of more.ihan 2,000 black residents from
Wilmington.
The 500-page report that was produced after six years of study
also said the violence, which killed as many as 60 people, was not a
spontaneous riot but rather the nation's only recorded coup d'etat.
"There is no amount of money that can
repair wnat nappenea years ago ana compen
sate for the loss of lives and the loss of prop
erty," said vice chairman Irving Joyner, a pro
fessor at N.C. Central School of Law.
The commission did not provide any cost
estimates, although compensation advocate
Larry Thomas of Chapel Hill estimated that
the economic losses calculated today are
"probably in the billions of dollars."
Along with compensation to victims'
descendants, the commission also recom
mended incentives for minority small busi
nesses and help for minority home ownership.
It also recommended that the history of the incident be taught in pub
lic schools.
State Rep. Thomas Wright, a Democrat who helped establish and
chair the panel, said the next step is to file a bill in the Legislature
with the recommendations. That won't happen before 2007 because
the filing deadline for this session has passed.
The 1898 violence began when white vigilantes, resentful after
years of black and Republican political rule during Reconstruction,
burned the printing press of a black newspaper publisher, Alexander
Manly.
Governor draws protests over bill
COLCHESTER, Vt. (AP) - A group of 25 protesters stood last
week and turned their backs on Gov. James Douglas as he addressed
a conference "Creating a Welcoming Community" kt St. Michael's
College.
The protesters objected to Douglas' veto last week of a bill bar
ring discrimination against people based on their gender identity.
They rose silently as the governor began his 15-minute address,
turned to face the rear of the auditorium and remained standing until
he finished.
Another group of 15 activists stood outside the building holding
signs that read, "1st Governor to Decrease Human Rights," and
"Douglas the Discriminator." The protest didn't seem to faze
Douglas, who merely noted in his speech that dissent is "part of the
constitutional process."
Douglas was delivering the closing remarks at the daylong event,
which drew 250 social workers, educators and community activists
from around Vermont. They gathered to celebrate Vermont's increas
ingly diverse population, and to strategize how to make newcomers
- particularly refugees and immigrants - feel at home.
Douglas spoke about valuing diversity, and noted that Vermont
was the first state in the nation to reject slavery. "Ending discrimina
tion," he said, "reflects the state's core values."
But transgender activists . and their allies said the governor's
appearance at the event was ironic and insulting. "He just rejected
civil rights legislation that would have ended discrimination," said
ies Kraus. a Burlington transgender man who took part in the protest.
The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Emest H.
Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published every
Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co. Inc.,
617 N. Liberty Street, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101.
Periodicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C. Annual
subscription price is $3(?.72.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636
Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636
Church may apologize for slavery
BY ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The
Episcopal Church is poised to
apologize for failing to oppose
slavery, but making up for its
19th century inaction won't
come without 21st century con
troversy.
At its national convention
hepinnino
June 13.
t h e
church is
expected
t o
approve a
resolution
express
ing regret
for sup
rnorneu porting
slavery
and segregation. But the debate
will likely get more heated when
a second resolution comes up,
calling for a study of possible
reparations for black
Episcopalians.
The church, already divided
over the separate issue of gays'
role in the church, is struggling
over whether reparations would
be a meaningful gesture 141
years after the Civil War ended.
"A lot of times you say, 'I'm
not a racist, I didn't have slaves,
no one in my family had slaves,
I could not possibly be complic
it in this,'" said Sharon Denton,
a member of the church's
National Concerns committee
that deals with domestic min
istry and mission issues.
"But if you start digging
back in the history of things, you
find out there were a lot of
things that come to you that
were built on slave-holding and
the slave trade," said Denton, a
member of a small, all-white
parish in Salina, Kan.
The Rev. Harold Lewis, a
black priest and rector at
Calvary Episcopal in.Pittsburgh,
called the idea of reparations
outrageous and impractical.
"The better thing to do is to
talk aboat how we can work to
eradicate racism and how we can
fight to eliminate economic dis
parities regardless of racism,"
said Lewis, the denomination's
former longtime staff officer for
black ministries.
The church declined to
embrace a resolution three years
ago backing federal legislation
to create a national reparations
task force. This year's resolution
is more focused on the church,
calling for a study of how the
denomination benefited eco
nomically from slavery and how
that benefit could be shared with
black Episcopalians, about 5
percent of the denomination's
2.2 million members.
But it doesn't give specifics,
and both supporters and detrac
tors say reparations could mean
anything from cash payments to
college scholarships.
Previous attempts to deal
with the issue have proven diffi
cult. In 1969, the church's
General Convention - or legisla
tive body - approved a $200,000
Sec Wichita on AS
Wichita may have had sit-in before Greensboro
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WICHITA, Kan. - Nearly
50 years after a sit-in at a North
Carolina lunch counter to protest
segregation gained nationwide
attention , the NAACP has recog
nized that a protest at a Wichita
lunch counter may actually have
been the first to eventually cre
ate policy changes.
The protest at a Wool worth's
lunch counter in Greensboro,
* N . C . ,
File Photo
The site of the
famous Greensboro
sit-in is now being
transformed into a
museum.
happened
i n
February
1 9 6 0 ,
-inspiring
sit-ins
across the
country
and the
creatioh
McClinton Of the
Student
Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee, a prominent civil
rights organization.
But a sit-in at a lunch count
er at Wichita's Dockum Drug
Store gained far less notoriety
about two years earlier, when a
group of black youths began fre
quenting the business twice a
week for about three weeks.
"It didn't register as a monu
mental thing," said Prentice
Lewis, one of the protesters,
who was 21 at the time.
The National Association for
the Advancement of Colored
People did not endorse sit-ins or
other forms of direct action at -
the tim?, according to historians.
And Curtis McClinton, a former
speaker for the Kansas House of
See Wichita on A5
Celebrating Historically Black Colleges & Universities
227 W. Fifth Street Wirwton-Salem. NC 27101
www. HBCUStore.com
Your Source for Black
College apparel and
Gift*.
?
Providing HBCU and
Greek Gear for the
Boardroom, classroom or
the coliaeimi. From Tee
shirt ? and poioi to dreas
?hint and leather jackets,
we have it all. We take
cuftom orders for col
lege, Greek, and local
organization!.
For more information
call 336-499-6921.
HBCUStore sells only high
quality licensed and ap
proved college apparel.
Check out our website often
as we add new merchandise
often.
Come in the store and take
advantage of our weekly
specials
New Name. New Location. Same People.
Mike Carico
336.231.8917
Lisa Clayton
336.831.1050
Ruth Hudspeth
336.831.1055
Dario Romo
336.231.8918
Granite Mortgage, Inc.
fiMMring 'I hr Amman thrum
Granite Mortgage, Inc. is our new name.
You may remember us as GLL & Associates, Inc.
Initially founded in 1985.
Offering great rates, quick closings, numerous
loan programs and more.
Unique mortgage solutions at a local level.
For tht past IS ytars (ironist Mortgage has bten ?1
in NC for Firs I Tim * Homtbuytr Loans.
Bob Churth
336.712.1444
Natalie Dillard
336.831.1057
Denise Marotdy
336.499.1121
Lisa Wright
336.231.8915
Ann Tucker
336.831.1054
Suite 110
Carolina 27103
? 336.760.4915 Fax
Formerly GLL & Associates, Inc.
o