OPINION
The Chronicle
James Taylor Jr.
Publisher
Donna Rogers
Timothy Ramsey
Todd Luck
Tevin Stinson
Shayna Smith
Deanna Taylor
Paulette L. Moore
Our Mission
The Chronicle is dedicated to serving the
residents of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County
by giving voice to the voiceless, speaking truth
to power, standing for integrity and
encouraging open communication and
lively debate throughout the community.
Urban League
still working
amid these times
The Winston-Salem Urban League will hold its annual
meeting this evening, June 28. That might sound unim
pressive until you see what the organization has been
doing.
Last summer, CEO James Perry released a collection
of data called, “The State of Black Winston-Salem.” The
25-page report measures how black residents are doing
compared with white residents in areas of health and well
ness, social justice and civil rights, education equity and
economic and asset equality. More work needs to be
done to achieve parity. Perry has been sharing the
report throughout the community.
The local Urban League has partnered with other
local organizations, such as the Winston-Salem
Branch of the NAACP, to help build black business
es in the area. The Chronicle has joined in the effort
to promote a Business of the Month feature.
And the leader of the local Urban League’s
Young Professionals group, April Johnson, delivered
a speech on Jan. 20 in Winston-Salem during the
Triad Women’s March, which was held to encourage
women and other minorities to exercise their right to
vote.
She began her speech: “How do you feel? I am
energized, awakened, emboldened, and empowered.
My hope for you is that you are awakened, embold
ened and empowered to be the change ypu want to
see in our cities, in our states, and in our nation. Feel
this energy today. Maintain this energy when you
leave the March and then use it to make transforma
tion happen.”
The local Urban League sponsors a Senior
Community Service Employment Program and a
Summer Youth Employment Program, also. The
teenagers in the summer program are gearing up for
the internships this year, which will start next week.
This program, which also will teach them basic life
skills in special weekly sessions, will allow the
teens, who are from under-privileged homes, to learn
about the work world before they have to officially
get into it.
This internship program takes on greater signifi
cance this year amid the turbulent times black people
face under President Donald Trump’s administration
and the Republican-led N.C. General Assembly.
They need to have skills that will propel them above
the bigotry and racism that have risen to the surface
all over.
This evening, the meeting will be 6 p.m. at 510
Trade St. Perry will update members with successes
from the current year and share his vision for the new
fiscal year.
The organization is striving to make a difference
in the Winston-Salem community. We should contin
ue to support it.
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ft
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letter addresses
legislative delegation
regarding veto of
NC Farm Act
Honorable Colleagues:
I am writing to you as members
of the legislative delegation repre
senting Forsyth County, to urge that
you vote to sustain Gov. [Roy]
Cooper’s veto of SB 711, NC Farm
Act of 2018.
At the heart of this bill is an
extraordinary
curtailment
of the proper
ty rights of
North
Carolinians,
particularly
those proper
ty owners
who suffer
__ from the
Besse antiquated
waste disposal
practices of neighboring factory-style
hog production processes. The plain
motivation for this action is to insu
late one of the world’s largest global
agricultural corporations from liabili
ty for its polluting methods.
The courts have historically been
the place for injured property owners
to obtain redress for the injuries they
have suffered. In this case, these are
injuries to (often poor and dispropor
tionately minority) families and other
neighbors from the polluting prac
tices, which have been allowed to
continue under weak regulations and
inadequate enforcement resources.
When regulation is weak and injured
neighbors cannot even seek effective
help from the courts, what possible
incentive is there for a polluter to
modernize its old and damaging busi
ness practices?
I believe that it would be difficult
to convincingly explain to the rural
residents of Forsyth County why our
legislature chose to protect the profit
margin of a $16 billion global corpo
ration over the health and property
rights of neighboring North Carolina
families.
Please vote to sustain the veto of
SB 711.
Thank you.
Dan Besse
Forsyth County resident and
voter
Note: Dan Besse represents the
Southwest Ward on the Winston
Salem City Council.
Supreme Court
fails to protect
fundamental right
to an equal vote
To the Editor:
Five years ago today [Monday,
June 25], the Supreme Court gutted
the Voting Rights Act in Shelby
County v. Holder. On the anniversary
of this decision, the Court once again
failed to protect our fundamental
right to an equal vote by refusing to
strike down extreme partisan gerry
mandering. Partisan gerrymandering
gives state legislators the power to
stack districts for their political gain.
This effectively gives them, not the
people, the power to choose their rep
resentatives. This is a threat to our
democracy and I am appalled by the
Court’s con
tinuous fail
ure to address
it.
This ses
sion, the
Court has
made deeply
troubling
decisions
regarding vot
ing rights.
Faced with
this fact,
Congress must step up to restore and
strengthen the Voting Rights Act. It
is past time for us to come together to
ensure full voting rights for every
American.
Besse
UJS. Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12)
Washington, D.C.
Note: The above statement was
made regarding the U.S. Supreme
Court’s decision not to hear North
Carolina’s partisan gerrymandering
case this session.
Five ways to save for
your summer vacation
Algenon
Cash
Guest
Columnist
Many families are
preparing for vacations and
summer road trips, but you
don’t have to go into debt
while'enjoying the season.
Here are some insight
ful tips to help you save for
your upcoming summer
vacation:
1. Plan ahead - You
may not be much of a plan
ner, but when it comes to
your summer vacation,
planning ahead is the key
to success. If you look at
the data, many Americans
don't have even $1,000
saved up. So it’s easy to
see why so many people
end up in debt.
2. Get specific about
the details - Estimate
about how much you’ll
need for upcoming vaca
tions and divide it by the
number of months until
you plan to travel. For
example, if you think
you’ll need about $600 for
an August trip, plan on sav
ing about $150 a month
until then. That may seem
like a lot, but it's about $35
a week, or $5 a day. And
there are iots of small steps
you can take to trim spend
ing enough to get there,
like automatic transfers.
3. Get specific about
the details - Alongside
planning ahead for your
trip, also try to estimate lit
tle expenses you’ll have
along the way. Determine
where you want to go and
the costs for air and ground
transportation, accommo
dations, meals, activities,
souvenirs, etc. For better
prices, travel during the
off-season. Factor the cost
of all these items to deter
mine exactly how much
more or less you may need
to save. A good rule of
thumb is to add 10 to 15
percent above what you
think you heed for those
‘hidden’ costs. Once
you’ve got a good idea of
how much the vacation
will cost, review your
budget, divide costs by
said number of months
needed to save, and then
have money automatically
transferred to your bank’s
o
savings account.
4. Invite friends -
While you are budgeting
for your summer vacation,,
determine if you will be
covering all your costs
alone, or with others. After
all, a $50 per night Airbnb
may only cost $25 a night
if you and a friend are shar
ing it. Think about
whether you'll be vacation
ing solo, with a partner,
with friends, etc., because
that will influence the
overall amount you need to
save.
5. Stop focusing on lit
tle things Cut out your
morning coffee run
and save that money for the
Bahamas instead, you can
also eliminate other ongo
ing expenses. You can start
packing your lunch for
work and consider pausing
any monthly subscription
services, such as Netflix or
Amazing Prime, or even
club memberships if
they’re not critical. Plus,
encourage free or low-cost
activities with friends and
family. Going out to
brunch every weekend or
getting takeout all the time
really adds up, but we
don’t think about the total
cost when it’s just $10-15
here and there.
6. Use travel rewards
- While you don’t want to
charge your whole vaca
tion onto your credit cards,
using credit cards with
travel rewards is another
story. NerdWallet’s 2018
Travel Study found that
Americans who sign up for
a travel credit card get, on
average, $901 in free
flights and hotels in.just the
first year of having the
card. That’s a ton of money
that many Americans
might straggle to set aside
specifically for a vacation,
and it could make the dif
ference between staying
home this summer or tak
ing that dream vacation.
Enjoy your vacation
and share pictures with us
here at The Chronicle :-)
Algenon Cash is a
nationally recognized
speaker and the managing
director of Wharton
Gladden & Company, an
investment banking firm.
Reach him at
acash@algenoncash .com