Burr
from page AI
Act, among other issues. A press confer
ence will also be held.
“ We really want to raise our concerns
with our elected officials that we need to
take a fair and moral stance when it comes
to any reform of public health care,” Rev.
Carlisle said. “Don’t be irresponsible, def
initely don’t try’ to repeal without replac
ing, and when we’re looking at replacing,
it’s important that we also look at bills that
will continue to benefit the poor in our
community that will also allow for afford
able care, and also care that does not dis
criminate against those that have pre-exist
ing conditions.”
Saying that “It’s always important that
the people’s voices are heard,” Rev.
Carlisle agreed that now that Sen. Burr
was just re-elected last November, and has
said that this
is his last six
year term in
Congress, he
may not be
vulnerable to
public pres
sure as would
someone run
ning for re
election in
2018. But
that shouldn’t
matter,
Carlisle said.
Rev. Carlisle
i umuc it s
important for us, not only for him but for
all of our elected officials to continue to
hear the voice of the people, and, of
course, to make clear that they serve at the
will of the people,” Rev. Carlisle said.
Of course, it would be hard to protest at
Sen. Buir’s office Monday without citing
clear concerns about where the month-old
Trump Administration is headed, and how
many are fearful that the gains of the
Obama Administration will all but certain
ly be erased.
“There are reasons for concern that
we’ve already seen after only one month
in,’’.Carlisle said. “There are major con
cerns about some of the things we’re see
ing from the Trump Administration. Even
when it comes down to executive orders,
we still believe that there is a system of
checks and balances in our country that
needs to be enforced, and we don’t feel
that our elected officials should sit back
and allow “45” [Trump] to do whatever he
wants.”
The local NAACP chapter will be only
one of several groups from across the
country to target Republican lawmakers
with concerns about issues ranging from
repealing Obamacare to supporting a ban
on Muslims entering the country. GOP
congresspeople have been targeted at rau
cous town hall meetings by their own sup
porters in many cases.
Earlier this week, the North Carolina
chapter of the national group ‘Together We
Will” took out a quarter-page “lost and
found” ad in the Sunday News and
Observer. The ad said, “LOST- United
States Senator. “He may respond to the
title ‘Senator Richard Burr’, though his
constituents have been unable to verify
whether this is still the case, as they have
been unable to contact him in recent
weeks. ... If found, please return Senator
Burr to his constituents by way of a Town
Hall meeting or other suitable gathering in
which the Senator demonstrates his
accountability to his constituents by listen
ing to and honestly addressing their con
cerns.”
Amattullah Saleem reads to children from the Bethlehem Community Child
Development Center earlier this week during the annual African-American
Read-In Celebration held at the Malloy!Jordan East Winston Library.
Photos by Tevin Stinson
Maurice Graham Jr. reads “The Clouds and Their Faces,” which was written
and illustrated by his grandmother Kim Bell, during the African-American
Read-In Celebration earlier this week.
Read-in
from page Al
To wrap up the event Dr. Elwanda Ingram, who recent
ly retired from the English department at Winston-Salem
State University, recited her own rendition of “In the
Morning" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. During a brief talk
with The Chronicle, Dr. Ingram said although she is
enjoying her retirement, she felt it was her duty to partic
ipate in the read-in event.
“They need to be exposed to African-American litera
ture in all genres. They need to be exposed to the value of
reading,” she said. “I think if children are exposed to read
ing at an early age, they will build a thirst for reading that
will help them succeed in life.”
Retired elementary ®
school teacher Anne
Jenkins reads a book to
children during the local
African American Read
In Celebration on
Monday, Feb. 20.
Trump
fro m page AI
the first of many productive meetings in Washington.”
The convener of the two-day conference in
Washington, DC next week is Republican Rep. Mark
Walker (R-NC-6), a white conservative congressman who
wants to see the “full repeal” of the Affordable Care Act;
strongly supports North Carolina’s controversial HB 2
“bathroom law,” and when once asked if starting a war
with Mexico was appropriate in order to secure the border,
joked that it was, though he seriously added that the
National Guard should be used.
And yet, despite his ultra-conservative rhetoric. Rep.
Walker, chair of the House Republican Study Committee,
apparently has a soft spot for HBCUs.
His wife, Kelly, graduated from Winston-Salem State
University with a degree in
nursing; summer interns from local HBCUs work in
the congressional offices of Walker and NC 12th District
colleague Rep. Alma Adams; NC A&T University in
Greensboro is in his district; and he is a member of the
Congressional HBCU Caucus.
Walker has invited House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Ws),
South Carolina Sen. Tun Scott, Sen. Marco Rubio and
other influential Republican leaders to take part in the
conference Tuesday to meet with HBCU leaders, and,
according to a spokesman, understand the history of
HBCUs and their unique role in higher education, and
why the Republican-controlled federal government should
continue to support their future.
The event is supported by the Thurgood Marshall
College Fund, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit group
that helps needy students attend the HBCU of their choice.
Its president, Johnny Taylor, says HBCUs have no choice
but to work with whomever runs Congress, and whomever
is in the White House.
To that end, it is also expected that the Tramp
Administration will issue a new executive order next
week, moving the HBCU Initiative from under the US
“It is vital that
North Carolina A&T
State University main
tains a healthy rela
tionship with the
executive branch.”
Dept, of Education, to direct supervision of the White
House. There have been unconfirmed reports about what
else the Tramp executive order contains, but at least one
N.C .college president is optimistic.
“UNCF and The Thurgood Marshall College Fund
have pushed for the White House Initiative on HBCUs to
be removed from the Department of Education and placed
directly under The White House, led by an executive
director; therefore, we are happy to hear this is being
strongly considered,” Bennett Interim Pres. Phyllis
Dawkins said. “This move, should it occur, will provide
direct access to a senior adviser who reports to the
President, thereby identifying policy priorities that are
important to HBCUs.”
HBCUs reportedly comprise only 3 percent of all col
leges and universities in the country, yet are responsible
for 27 percent of African-Americans with bachelor’s
degrees in science, technology, engineering and math,
according to the U.S. Dept, of Education.
While there is naturally some caution, hopes are high
that a positive bond can be forged with President Trump.
There are still hard feelings from eight years of the Obama
Administration that, while HBCUs ultimately saw more
funding , also saw Pell Grants cut for black students, and
parental qualifications for the PLUS Loan program for
college students changed, ultimately disqualifying many
parents on the credit bubble, and resulting in many black
college students being forced to drop out of school .
HBCU enrollments dramatically dropped, and many
schools are still recovering, officials say.
Dr. Ontario S. Wooden, associate vice chancellor for
Innovative, Engaged and Global Education at North
Carolina Central University in Durham, whose interim
chancellor is not attending next week’s meeting, hopes the
baggage from the Obama Administration can now be
fixed.
“We should be making the same [demands] of the
Trump Administration that we did of the Obama
Administration - restoring Pell Grants so students have
the opportunity to use them in summer school; looking at
the creditworthiness of parents in the PLUS Loan pro
gram; and doing something about the relatively high inter
est rates on those loans,” Dr. Wooden said.
Harold Martin, chancellor of NC A&T University, told
this paper last month that HBCUs have to forge a strong
relationship with the Trump Administration if they are to
survive.
"It is vital that North Carolina A&T State University
maintains a healthy relationship with the executive
branch,” Martin, named the nation’s most influential
leader of an HBCU by HBCU Digest, said.
tion. One is keeping the
departments as they are,
but eliminating both boards
and placing the Forsyth
County Board of
Commissioners as their
governing body. Another
option is having a consoli
dated human services
director over both depart
ments, who is appointed by
the county manager with
the advice and consent of a
new consolidated board for
both departments. A final
option has the county man
ager hiring a consolidated
human services director
with the advise and consent
of county commissioners,
who would act as the board
for human services. The
last two options would
mean that the State Human
f
i
Resources Act would be
optional for human servic
es staff and put them under
the same policies as other
county employees.
Assistant County
Manager Ronda Tatum told
commissioners that most
clients of consolidate
human services don’t
notice a change in service.
Staff did find some poten
tial efficiencies in consoli
dation, including cross
training between depart
ments and combining back
office functions like pur
chasing, finance and other
administrative functions.
When asked by com
missioners, Tatum said
some counties have had
issues with consolidating
and have switched between
the different types of con
solidation. She said
Guilford did its consolida
Martin
tion too fast. That county’s
human services director
left in 2015 and still hasn’t
been replaced. She said
Guilford’s human services
are still “all over the place”
and not truly consolidated
yet.
County Commissioner
Walter Marshall said that
commissioners lack the
time to provide effective
oversight of human servic
es.
“As part time elected
Marshall
officials, you don’t have
time to deal with all those
issues that I think boards
can deal with better,” said
Marshall, who is on the
Department of Social
Sendees Board.
He also said that poli
tics get mixed into things
when commissioners run
human services directly,
which he said was the rea
son for consolidation prob
lems in places like Guilford
and Mecklenburg.
%
County Commissioner
Don Martin felt they could
just refer issues that come
up to staff at the depart
ments.
“Theoretically, the
administrative staff in all
agencies should be han
dling the problems,” said
Martin.
Martin said he’s inter
ested in consolidation
because of the possibility
that the employees in both
departments could be
under the county’s person
nel policies and not the
state’s, which includes an
extended state appeals
process on things like ter
mination.
Ultimately, the com
missioners decided to take
the staff recommendation
to engage the consulting
services of Cansler
Collaborative Resources to
determine if consolidation
would be best for the coun
ty and how it could work if
it was feasible.
The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest
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 $30.72.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:
The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636
Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636
4