/ .
*.rl
Legal Defense and
Fund (LDP) ibnd.
,t»t the Adam's
&
22S'5S212
i Dapulv L*nUrCn OT *• •
V Will be this guest
the occasion. A na
tive of Norfolk, Va., Dr. Proctor
hae been a minister and educator
throughout hie professional ca
reer. He has served aa president ’
of Virginia Union University
and AAT State University. He
has held administrative poets
with the Peace Corps in Nigeria
and in Washington, with the Na
tional Council of Churches, the
Office of Btonamle Opportunity*,
the Institute fbr Services to Educa
tion, and the University of Wis
consin. He also was on the facul
ty of the Graduate School of Edu
cation at Rutgers University end
upon Ms retirement from this poet
in 19$4, Proctor was named Mar
tin L. King Professor Emeritus
and was awarded the Rutgers
Medal fbr distinguished sette
es. Dr. Proctor hae Men paator at
Abyealaian Baptist Church since
1974
The annual LDP ftindraleing
•vent ia held annually in Char
lotte, tha base of operation fbr the
North' Carolina Fundraising
Committee headed by Zaal and
Eathar Hargrave. Tha Har
graves are wall known in the
Charlotte arse for their many vol- -
unteer effort#.
The Hafgravae are suggesting
that persons interested in attend
log tha banquet should get their
reservation in right away he
cause the afftdr wee a sellout last
yoar, with people on a lengthy
waiting Hat. Ticket costs in
clude: Table of S, $900.00
(benefactors) and MS for Individ
ual Rebate Tickets are also
available fbr sponsors. Many or
ganisations, businesses and
churshaa have already reserved
multiple tables according to the
Hargraves. For mors informa
tion ot for reservations call loci
or Esther Harrravs at (704) IM
M$7.
I EDITORIALS-2A
I CHURCH NEWS-4A
I SPORTS.-- IB
I ENTERTAINMENT— 4B
^ CLA1I1P1IPI—14B
TV chors Have
Local News
_ _ . , .. . .A
By Rowell Clark
Pbet Staff Writer
Has the local television news
media quietly lured the black
community into assuming that
only whites can be starting an
chors on the 6 and or 11 o'clock
news reports Monday through
Friday?
Currently, there are no starting
black anchors on either W80C
TV (9), WBTV (3) or WPCQ-TV
(36) and there have been no regu
lar black anchors in Charlotte
since the early 80s.
Now let's uncover a few Mack
personalities who used to be very
visible in front of the camera to
get their view of what's happen
ing in the local tv market
"A. long as no one raise* the
issue about the shortage of Macks
in on-air positions, then everyth
, in« wiU remain the same,; as
$fr°ij|i
make the ultimate decision about
who appears on air. They can
pickup thairphope or write a let
ter to the stations to let them know
who they prsfkr to watch. Letters
are batter because the stations
have an obligation to keep thorn
on flic," adds Koonti, co-ownar of
th* Excelsior Club On Beatties
Ford Road.
Clara Williams worked from
1971-1980 in Community Altairs
for WBTV. She did on-air public
service announcement*, ap
peared on Top O' The Day, This
Morning, and Whistle Stop..
"I see a need for mOre positive
news about blacks in the commu
nity,'' mentions Williams who
now runs the C. L. Williams
Public Relations Firm. There
are fewer blacks in tha local ma
dia now than there wars whan tha
FCC (Federal Communications
Commission) mad* them get
more blacks on th* air. When
they do a story on teenage preg
nancy or drug abuse, they use
blacks as examples," says Wil
liams who would consider going
back into television. "I would
~Formwrly with WBTV
y i
Clara Williams
—Formerly with WBTV
-tocmmr WBTViH*port«r
Uk* to go back into television if I
coaid contribute positively to our
youths and senior dtlsens."
The local madia was criticised
for its coverage of tha racant
County Commissioner case but
Curt Paters faala thay had a news
worthy subject
In my opinion, tv news
doesn't go after a parson because
of there race creed or color, but be
cause of tha impact that thay have
on people. You can compare that
issue with tha racant PTL contro
versy bacauaa both of them hava
' ' ■ I
Amanda Davit
—Wat a WRET anchor
an impact on people, tie men
tions. "The bottom line is they
only have about 12 minutes of real
news for a 30 minute news show
and they have to make decisions
about how it effects people as a
whole.* Are there other positions
that blacks should consider in tel
evision? .
Curt Peters, a former reporter
and producer at WSOC-TV from
1972 to 1977, points out, "What
blacks have done is concentrate
their efforts in being on-air.
That's fine, but the money is in
SCLiC Calls Fcr BlackFa
Director Appointment
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference President Dr. Joseph
Lowery has asked President Rea
esn 1a COT) lid AT SiltfHnff m WlaaW
• ; . \ r-. •
Lowery ha* spent more than a
waak ho*pi tallied after undergo
inf eurgery for gall bladder ail
ment. But ho sold ho considered it
important to let President Reagan
know there are black Americans
qualified to ait In the PBTs highest
chair. Iq a telegram sent to the
Proaidant after the U.8. leader's
last televised address, Lowery said
appointing a black person to the
FBI slot "would send wave* of re
•gad and recognition of tha need
to Address failures in history to in
clude black Americans for such
important positions in law sn
for ram ant H
An editorial endorsing Lowery’s
proposal in an Atlanta newspaper
put H more bluntly, stating that
Rorfald Reagan could salvage a
sickly civil righto record by sect
inf a black in tha old chair of J.
Edgar Hoover
esowrws • , ,
Lowery’s challenge drew ap
II righto leaders from 'across thl
country. Benjamin Hooks, auscu
tive director for the National Asso
elation for tho Advancement of
Colored People^wted the pres
ence of a formefflack sheriff and
Republican oajWbdatc on the list.
Coretta 8cott King, president of
the Martin Luther King Canter for
Nonviolent Social Change, says
she was impressed because the list
also included a black woman.
"It would be a most significant
step for women and blacks for
such an appointment to take
place," she said.
Hooks commented that such an
appointment "Would be the single
moat dgnlflcant step the Republi
can Party oould teke to give it seri
ous consideration by black voters
in IBM."
The 11 names Lowery sent to
Reagan and other members in
Congress are: William burnt, far
mer FBI agent, sheriff of Wayne
County, Michigan, one of Ave An
aliste far the jab along with Wil
Ham Webster and Republican can
didate for Governor in IBM.
Mk
Curt Patera
• —Former repo rter/p rod uoer
•ales. Most people in nsws make
between $20,000 and $26,000 but the
ones in sales work on commis
sion and make much more.
"Rngineerlng 4* another-good
field. An electronic maintenance
engineer can almost write his
‘ own ticket to success," notes Pe
ters who is now in public rela
tions at Southern Bell. Peters was
also news director at WRET-TV
(36) from June of 78 to July of
1979. While he was there, he
hired Amanda Davis who was the
first black anchor at the NBC af
filiate station. Davis is currently
anchoring the weekend news for
W8B-TV in Atlanta, Ga.
Peters continues, "Personally,
I'd love to see more black an
chors. I think the pendulum has
swung when the Reagan admin
istration took over. There was a
time in the 70s when the media
was looking for black females to
stick in front of the camera to get
two minorities in one. But Rea
gan's conservative administra
tion has made it easy for the me
dia to fade out minority anchors.
I think it's going to change
again, but it's going to take people
of superstar quality to break into
the anchor positions in the Char
lotte market."
im n possible ior black reporters
to come up with more positive sto
ry ideas for blacks in the commu
nity?
According to Beatrice Thomp
son, a former morning anchor
and reporter at WBTV, black
journalists have a soicial respon
sibility. "Black reporters must
push to make sure that the public
get's a balanced picture of the
black community,'' reminds
Thompson who is now a media
specialist for Duke Power.” We
must have integrity and remind
ourselves that we are black befors
we are journalists.”
If you can tune into the Greens
boro/Winston Salem tv news
market, you will notice that
blacks are more visible in an
choring roles. Denies Franklin
is a Mack anchor at d and sloven
for WXII-TV Channel 12 in
Winston 8alem while 8audra
Hughes is anchoring the 7 o'
clock news show at WFMY Chan
nel 2 in Greensboro. Charlotte
ranks 29th among dties with the
largest black poulation with mors
than 100,000, blacks according to
the latest census report and black
anchors could provide positive
role models for the cities black
youths.
Dsa*t mb* the Foot neat weak fbr
the sssoad part of the series that
foe usee an blaoka who are ear
rmrtjjr working la on air goal
Rev. Hoaea William* '
Rev. Hosea
Williams
ToSpeak
The Carolina Interfaith Taek
Force on Central America serves
as a watchdog on- the situation in
Nicaragua and El Salvador.
This group, composed of people
of different races and denomina
tions is especially concerned that
poor people and blacks in Ameri
ca will eventually ba the victims
of the poht&a? situation there.
In observance of "Central
America Week", the Carolina
Interfaith Task Force on Central
America will feature as its guest
speaker, civil rights activist,
Rev. Hosea Williams on Sun
day, March 29 at 4 p.m. at North
west Middle School, 1415 Beatties
Ford Rd.
Rev. Williams' speech will fo
cus on "In Sleeping Times Like
These." According to Rev.
James Barnett, minority outreach
coordinator, Rev. Williams’
speech is appropriately titled.
"Black people are sleeping.
And as long as we close our eyes
to what's going on, racism will
continue to thrive," stated Rev.
Barnett.
According to Rev. Barnett, "we
need to look at Central America,
South Africa, and the United
States and see that attacks of ra
cism are perpetrated on people of
color.
‘With the U.S. policy of war in
Nicaragua and no action in South
Africa and the growing amount
of racism in the U.S., it is high
time that black people took a
stand against the U.S. policies.
Why should blacks support the
U.S. in Nicaragua when the U.S.
will not support the blacks in
South Africa?”
Rev. Rarnett said that he fears
that if the Reagan administration
can not win the war in Nicaragua
with money, then they will try to
win by sending blacks and poor
people there to fight. Blacks, need
to be particularly outraged con
sidering the fact that so many
blacks enter the mlHtiry service
because of the lack of jib opportu
nities.
”1 feel that Rev. Hoeea Wil
liams will £ive a charge to
blacks,” exclaimed Rev. Barnett.
Rev. Williams will also be
speaking on the movement in
Forsyth County, Georgia and how
it affects people in other parts of
the country.
Rev. Williams is a native of
Attapulgus, Georgia. He received
Ms education from Morris Brown
College and Atlanta University.
Very politically and dvieally
motivated, Rev. Williams is the
publisher of The Crusader news
paper.
Married to the former Juanita
Terry, Rev. Williams is the fa
ther of six children. He has re*
ceived numerous awards and
lecturer and civil rights leader.