2A
NEWS/ The Charlotte Post
June 6, 1996
Intimidation
rears its head
MELODYE MICERE STEWART
In the
spirit of
Ma’at
During the summer upris
ings of the ‘60s, the world saw
violence against African
Americans that it had not
seen since the days of “Red
Summer” in 1919.
During that time, thousands
were arrested, shot, beaten
and some, murdered. The fear
and intimidation of white
supremacy was best symbol
ized by the burning of black
churches. During the past 12
months, 31 black churches
have been violated — burned
and torched - and others
threatened. The Clinton
Administration has promised
to “do all it can” to solve this
latest manifestation of the
still vexing scrounge of
racism, but, the challenge of
changing our collective fate in
America is up to us.
To understand why the
black church has often been
the target of white violence,
one must look at history. The
black church was the first
institution created by Africans
in America. Understanding
who they were, they incorpo
rated the name “African” into
their dominations, e.g.,
African Baptist Church,
African Methodist Episcopal
Church. The awareness of
their Africanness became a
very real source of strength.
As a result, these churches
became strongholds of resis
tance, race education and crit
ical societal agitation. It is
this legacy of struggle which
the churches of the civil rights
era inherited.
Black houses of worship
throughout the South and
North participated in libera
tion struggle activities which
made them targets of horrific
fire bombings. Remember the
death of four little black girls
in Birmingham in 1963? As
we are still caught in “crisis
management,” in terms of our
collective action/reaction to
events, the question is, whose
children must be sacrificed in
the next church firebombing of
1996 before we get off our col
lective hindparts to actively
struggle on our own behalf?
Harsh economic times have
been the historical fuel of
aggressive racial violence
See CHURCH on page 3A
PHOTO/PAUL WILLIAMS II
Frances Moore (left) and Lois Love work the soil on a Lillies of
the Valley project. The Lillies is one of five African American
garden clubs in Charlotte.
Flower club
tests its mettle
on petals
By John Minter
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Francis Moore wasn’t always
an ace gardener.
But now she’s a green
thumb, nurturing her skills as
a member of a garden club
that knows the meaning of
petal power.
“There has been a tremen
dous change in all of us,”
Moore, a member of the Lillies
of the Valley Garden Club,
said. “I couldn’t grow anything
when I got into the club. I had
a brown thumb. A lot of us
did. We can see the difference
over the years.”
The Lillies of the Valley are
eight women, aged 40 to 80
years old, who love growing
things. The club’s flower is the
Lavender Orchid. It’s motto:
“Nothing Without Labor.”
That’s how they came to
spend a Saturday afternoon
outside the First Ward
Shopping Center, planting
flowers in front of Simmons
Restaurant.
“We take on a project each
year,” said club secretary
Frances Moore. “Simmons is a
project. We did a beauty shop
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Paper focuses on homelessness
Continued from page 1A
While at the shelter. Manual
got involved in a creative writ
ing class taught by Maria
Macon under the sponsorship
of Mecklenburg County’s
parks and recreation depart
ment.
“That opened up different
avenues for me,” Manual said.
“I had written briefly before,
but nothing was published.
[ “At the shelter, I saw so
many intelligent people, with
such great sense, but for
whatever reason - drug abuse,
lack of self-esteem, laziness -
they were homeless.
“I decided that once I left the
shelter I would do something
to assist the homeless commu
nity.
Manual’s idea of a homeless
street paper is borrowed from
similar projects around the
world, including major efforts
in Chicago and Seattle.
The idea is to educate the
community about homeless
ness, while providing an out
let for homeless people to
speak out about themselves
and their problems.
The first issue will cover a
wide range of issues. Manual
said.
“We will be talking about the
NAACP convention and let
ting the homeless and finan
cially oppressed of Charlotte,
gettting them to join in and
feel a part to boost their self
esteem.
Thete will be an article
about different recreational
programs of the Mecklenburg
County offers and an article
on different housing options.
“We have decided to target
the Latin American market.
The middle two pages will be
in Spanish and written by the
Latin American Coalition of
Charlotte.”
Manual plans to print 7,500
copies of the inaugural issue,
some of which will be distrib
uted free to help boost sales
later.
Subscriptions are available
and advertisers are being
sought to help defray costs.
At first, the paper will pub
lish monthly, but Manual
hopes that can be inceased to
every two weeks.
“These papers are growing
across the world,” Manual
said. “They are international
now because homelessness is
an epidemic. This will be the
first homeless newspaper in
North Carolina.
“I hope by the fall to expand
to Winston-Salem and from
there to other cities in North
Carolina and South Carolina.”
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