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Inside
THURSDAY, June 24, 2021
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C
Volume 47, Number 35
V-J
Larry Little delivers powerful message
during Juneteenth Freedom Ceremony
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Juneteenth commemo
rates the day those enslaved in
Galveston, Texas, the last geo
graphic area in the United States
to receive word of their free
dom on June 19, 1865. About a
month earlier, on Sunday, May
21, 1865, those enslaved in
Salem (now Winston-Salem),
found out about their freedom
when a Union Cavalry chaplain
read the orders at the African
Moravian Church (now St. Phil
ips Moravian Church). General
Order #32 proclaimed that “All
persons held as slaves are free.”
In recognition of Juneteenth, for
the past 17 years Triad Cultural
Arts, Inc., has hosted a festival
and this year the celebration be
gan with a ceremony in the same
space African descendants oc
cupied that Sunday morning in
1865.
The opening ceremony
dubbed “Freedom Ceremony”
featured several speakers and
was headlined by local legend
Dr. Larry Little, co-founder of
the Winston-Salem Chapter of
the Black Panther Party, the first
chapter of the Black Panther
Party to be established in the
South.
Little, who is an attorney
and professor at Winston-Salem
State University, said we have
come a long way, but there is
still work to be done and history
has taught us that the journey
won’t be easy. He said when we
look back at the history of Black
Photo by Alphonso Abbott Jr.
Young performers at the Juneteenth Festival hosted by Triad Cultural Arts, Inc. on Saturday, June 19. Triad Cultural Arts, Inc. has
hosted the local Juneteenth celebratoin for the past 17years.
people in this country’s history,
at every juncture of the fight for
freedom and progress, there has
been backlash.
“After the 13th Amendment
was passed, what did the South
ern states do? They enacted
Black Codes making it a criminal
act to do plain, simple things,”
Little continued. “Thel4th
Amendment that supposedly
makes us citizens of this country
if we’re born here ... they comp
up with Jim Crow laws. We get
the 15th Amendment that gives
Black males the right to vote and
they come up with gerrymander
ing, literacy tests, poll taxes. Ev
ery step when we make progress,
there is backlash.”
To further his point, Little
went on to discuss the backlash
from the civil rights movement
in the form of President Richard
Nixon and the response of Don
ald Trump to the election of the
first Black president in 2008.
Despite the continued back
lash and reverberations through
out history, Little said for those
who believe in change, we have
to keep pushing. “As Curtis
Mayfield and the Impressions
used to say, we have to keep on
pushing,” Little said.
He said although Trump is
no longer in the White House,
the fight against “Trumpism”
continues.
“We have withstood four
years of Trump, but we have
not defeated Trumpsim. He’s
not in the White House, but his
followers are in the state legis
latures throughout this country
and they’re passing in droves
at breakneck speed voter sup
pression laws, laws designed to
frustrate us in our efforts to use
the ballots,” Little continued.
“Finally, I say this: Fredrick
Douglass was asked, how do you
make progress? And he said, you
have to fight for it. He said Black
people don’t get all they fight for
but we must fight for all that we
get in this country.
“...So brothers and sisters
we are not where we used to
be. We’re not where we want to
be, but Lord knows we’re going
to get there. We’re going to get
See Juneteenth on A5
Local organization seeks to help end violence in the city
BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY
THE CHRONICLE
For the 20th anniver
sary of the Million Man
March, Minister Louis
Farrakhan, leader of the
nation of Islam (NOI),
called for an action agenda
which included 10,000
men to go into the com
munity to stand between
the guns, the gangs and
the violence by setting up
conflict resolution centers
to mediate issues before
they resulted in some sort
of negative action.
Efftainguan Muham
mad, representative of Far
rakhan for the Winston-
Salem Local Organizing
Committee, has led this
action named lOKFear-
less and they have been
putting in the necessary
work to affect change in
Submitted photo
Members of the lOKFearless clean up trash in the com
munity.
the city over the last few
years. They have been
trained not only in conflict
resolution, but also with
de-escalation techniques,
physical conditioning, ba
sic self-defense, and first
aid. They offer these train
ing programs to the com
munity as well.
“Minister Farrakhan
called for an action agenda
and one of the things he
called for is 10,000 fear
less men who would be
willing to come back into
the community to set up
conflict resolution centers,
so we could mediate some
of the beefs before they re
sult in violence and blood ¬
www.wschronicle.com
shed,” said Muhammad.
“Sometimes we have actu
ally broken up fights and
violent engagements in the
community in real time.”
Earlier this month, the
lOKFearless initiated a na
tional day of service in the
same spirit to encourage
the brothers to go back to
the communities, especial
ly since there has been an
uptick in gun violence in
Winston-Salem and other
cities around the country.
This was a relaunch to the
initiative that was halted
due to the pandemic.
Also included in the
See Violence on A2