75 cents THE CHRONICLE See Sports on page Bl See Opinion/Forum pages on A6&7 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C THURSDAY, October 31, 2019 Volume 46, Number 9 Panthers Speak Winston-Salem chapter of the Black Panther Party celebrates 50th anniversary BY TEVIN STINSON THE CHRONICLE In the fall of 1966, Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton founded the Black Panther Party (BPP) for Self-Defense in Oak land, Calif, an organization call ing for the protection of African American communities from po lice brutality and all other forms of injustice. Three years later, a group of young people here in Winston- Salem, inspired by the “A&T Four,” founded the first chapter of the party to be established in the southeast. And last week the surviving members of that chap ter came together to celebrate the 50th anniversary of arguably the most successful chapter of the Black Panther Party to ever ex ist. Although the original chapter in Oakland is no doubt the best known for establishing “survival programs” that would eventually take hold in African American communities across the country, Last week the surviving members of the Winston-Salem Chapter of the Black Panther Party celebrated their 50th Anniversary. when you look back at the suc cess of the programs established by the Winston-Salem chapter and the success of the members after the party ended, it’s hard to argue with Dr. Larry Little when he says, “The Winston- Salem chapter of the Black Pan ther Party was the baddest in the country.” The Joesph Waddell Peo ple’s Free Ambulance Service As part of the larger Black Power movement, the party em phasized black pride. Although the party was often portrayed as a gang of troublemakers look ing to cause problems for police, they are credited with starting a number of popular community social programs, including free breakfast programs for school children and health clinics in 13 different cities across the coun try. The Winston-Salem chap ter’s list of survival programs included the free breakfast pro gram, clothes and'shoes?; give- aways, pest control, screening Photos by Tevin Stinson Members of the Winston-Salem Chapter of the Black Panther Party during a march on Saturday Oct. 26. for sickle cell anemia, and regis tering people to vote. The chap ter is also the only one in the country to offer a free, around- the-clock ambulance service. The service, which was provided throughout the city, was offered to those who couldn’t afford to pay the county fee to use the public ambulance. While discussing the Joesph Waddell People’s Free Ambu lance Service, Nelson Malloy, one of the original members of the local BPP and a graduate of Winston-Salem State University (WSSU), said they saw a need and fulfilled it. He said they started the free ambulance ser vice after the county started re fusing to transport black patients unless they paid the fee upfront. Malloy said after analyzing the problem, they decided to send members to Forsyth Techni cal Community College (FTCC) to study emergency medical care and the ambulance service took off from there. “We didn’t complain; we as Black Panther Party members saw a problem, we analyzed it and said, what are we going to do? What do we do to solve this problem?” Malloy said. “...We came up with the Joseph Wad dell People’s Free Ambulance program, providing emergency transportation to the hospital and doctors’ appointments.” Malloy encouraged the doz ens of students and community members in attendance during the panel discussion held during the anniversary event, to take a page out of the BPP’s book when they’re faced with an issue and go on to fulfill their purpose. He said, “Even today, if you have a problem, you’re smart, you’re intelligent, you’re articulate; an alyze it, study and come up with a solution. “We fulfilled our mission and we’re still doing it today. Your challenge is to fulfill your pur pose and find out why you are here.” ■ Continuing the fight The free ambulance service and the other programs offered by the local BPP continued until 1976. Although the Party didn’t have the funds or support to con tinue, many of the members con tinued the mission of the Party by entering the realm of pub- See Panther on A2 WSPD getting new gunfire detection system BY TEVIN STINSON THE CHRONICLE The Winston-Salem Police Department has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to enhance the de partment’s Violent Firearm Investigations Team’s abil ity to investigate shootings in the area. The grant, which is worth $699,608, will be used to purchase a gun- fire detection system that detect and triangulate the source of gunfire within a designated area. The sys tem then authenticates the sound to make sure it is indeed gunfire before tomatically reporting incident to local law forcement. When discussing au- the en- the uses acoustic sensors to gunfire detection system earlier this month, Chief Catrina Thompson said, after seeing a rise in shoot ings earlier this year, they started looking at ways to increase their capacity to deal with the issue and decided to apply for the grant. Thompson said the system will be used to dis perse officers to areas that have the highest level of gun violence. “We will use this sys tem, relying on our data, to determine where we have the highest level of gun violence as reported to us and that’s how we will use this tool to deploy and help us attack the gun violence in the city,” Thompson said. During a recent Public Safety Committee meet ing, Thompson mentioned the sensors that will be deployed throughout the city have the capability to pick up sounds of gunfire from about three miles away. She said the system, commonly known as “Shot Spotter,” has the technolo gy to distinguish gunshots from similar sounds such as firecrackers. She said the detection system will help the Vio- .lent Fireaim Investigation Team which was estab lished earlier this year to help with the rise in gun related crimes. Thompson said, “This just becomes a part of our overall system and initiative on attack ing gun violence.” Since 2017, violent crimes have increased nearly 10%. This year more than 1,000 gun- shots have been reported and there have been 21 ho micides. Mayor Pro Tempore Vivian Burke thanked Chief Thompson for find ing out about the grant and looking for solutions to problems in the city. Burke said, “Every grant we get helps us im prove ourselves. I know and I pray that this will be a good project. We have so many people shooting and we can’t get control of where they are, and this will probably help us.” Councilmember James Taylor, who is publisher of The Chronicle, said he believes the gunfire detec tion system is one way the city can take a step toward reducing gun violence. Taylor, who is chair of the Public Safety Committee, said, “I think this is one way that we can lead the country by figuring out where gun violence did oc cur and going out and stop ping those perpetrators and working to keep the people in our community safe, so this is a great tool in our tool belt.” During the City Coun cil meeting on Monday, Oct. 21, the board voted unanimously to approve the 2019 Local Law En forcement Crime Gun In telligence Center Integra tion Initiative Grant. The grant is for three years and is expected to be in place by 2020. fa 5 HAPPY # 8 WILSOW NcU I 00 co ^ 1 00 % 8 £9 W 0C •H X i v Taste of the South a u UOMECOMlNg UJ S S U Thursday, November 21, 2019 at 6:00-8:30pm V MILTON RHODE A An evening of local stories, cuisine, beverages, music & program to support Authoring Action. To Buy Tickets visit our website: authoringaction.org CN (JI

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