Pete’s
Pickin’s
BY W.A. “PETE” WILDER
Well, Easter Monday has come and gone again. In the early days it was
the day for Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith) and Livingstone; it
was A&T and Bennett College; it was Kittrell College vs. Christian College
at Franklinton, but the biggest of all was Shaw vs. St. Augustine s. I
remember the 1916-1917 games. They were played at the League Park,
which was located where Williford’s Gulf Station now stands, bounded by
East Hargett Street, Tarboro Road and Pettigrew Street. Shaw, for some
unknown reason, always came out on top. Surprisingly, I only remember
Prank Watson as the third baseman, Tom Toliver at shortstop and George
Allen, first baseman. It was a gala affair and people came from far and near
to see the spectacle. St. Aug.’s girls wore blue skirts and white blouses and
marched in a straight line, in the middle of the street from St. Aug.’s campus
up North Tarboro Road to the park, to the music of the St. Augustine’s band
which had been rehearsed by Major Andrew Haywood, who was our next
door neighbor at 1117 New Bern Avenue. Shaw girls wore maroon skirts
and white blouses and paraded from Shaw to the league to the music of the
Shaw Univesity Band which was led by George “Charlie Chaplin” Allen,
musician-athlete.
In 1929 I had the chance to begin pitching for Shaw in the Easter
Monday classic, but this time it was held on St. Aug.’s field. There had been
a cessation of athletic hostilities for some years at the schools following the
“bloody” Thanksgiving football game. It so happened that George Mitchell
and Jim Lytle had been team members at Shaw in 1923, where both had
received All-America honors. George had become coach at St. Aug. and Jim
had become coach at Shaw. So the series was resumed. I can never forget
that game. Let me see if I can recapture some names of that 1929 game. Dr.
George T. Jones, a pharmacist who had coached both George and Jim,
elected to help George at St. Aug. Leonard “Biggie” Leonard, who had been
Jim’s idol when he came to Shaw in high school, elected to become Jim’s
assistant. John D. Lewis, Sr., who had recently come to Raleigh with N.C.
Mutual Life Insurance and who had been a star at Morehouse, was the
umpire in chief and called the game from the pitcher’s mound.
The local crowd was divided by geographies. Those who lived near the
schools rallied each to his own. East Raleigh and West Raleigh were about
a neutral zone. Earnest “Iron Mike” McDowell, who had been my friend for
years, forsook me for St. Aug. I can hear him now: “Massage that horsehide;”
“Get wilder out of there;” “He ain’t got nothing.” St. Aug.’s lineup included
George Haywood at third base; Rand and Harold Taylor at shortstop;
Stirrup at second base; “Neck” McLaughlin at first; "Bo” Williams, catcher;
Johnny Clarke, Coble (I can’t name the third outfielder); “Baby Face”
Heritage was the righthander but a lefthander named Mills drew the
starting assignment.
Shaw had “Army” Armstrong at shortstop; “Peacock” Henry Black at
second base; Cecil “Mike” Flagg at third; Clarence “Clancy” Moore at first;
Big Bill Walker in centerfield; “Crip” Baldwin in left field and Bob Earle in
right field and I drew the starting assignment. As expected, Shaw pre
vailed. Many funny things happened during the game but I shall not tell
them at this time. Let me say that we were champs that year. We were the
heaviest-hitting black collegiate club in the country.
The year before, 1928, we played A&T in Greensboro at Cone Park. Ah,
what big names A&T had: “Horse” Lane, “Bus” Coleman, Lefty Taylor,
Brown, Connie Raeford, Austin Lane, Pollard, “Uncle Dee” Deberry. Coach
for that club was “Big Annie” Byrum. As my memory serves me, Sheriff
Baker’s father was “trainer” for that club. A&T had no coeds at that time.
For my friend, A1 Perry’s sake, there was no Holland Building. She was
working here in Raleigh. Jim Keck had already been run out of Greensboro
and was resting comfortably at Shaw Hall. A1 Cook, who went on to coaching
and AD at Jackson State, was our catcher. Charlie Gwynn was our pitcher.
So much for Easter Monday in the '20s.
I am really happy that Mrs. Otis Autry saw fit to let Otis come back to
us. He came back strong, talking about the Elks convention in Atlanta
shortly and the national in Los Angeles. And he said that he was going! A1
Perry is walking again and is unafraid. He is walking down to Lucille
Hunter School. I wonder if he is considering school work again. Rev. Todd
was on pins recently because A1 Perry and Hickerson were “talking low.” I
asked A1 to please speak a little louder. Jim Keck said that there was a
reason for Deacon Willie Jones to go to K&S Cafeteria last Saturday. George
Newkirk has really deserted us. I wonder if it is because “the money makes
a difference.” I really don’t believe it. George, come on back to see us.
Ms. Fannie Montague, of the City of Raleigh’s Fair Housing Program,
is really arranging an outstanding program for her annual confab. Every
thinking Afro-American ought to make a sacrifice, if needs be, to be present.
I had arranged for Luther Williams to be the speaker at an eastern
Wake County school on April 17. The school board closed the school! Luther
shouldn’t cry; they will call again.
One of the most interesting Bible study students is Ms. Tanis Scott. Her
dynamic minister is Rev. Raney at Laodicea United Church of Christ.
Easter Sunday was Rev. Paul Anderson’s first as pastor of Baptist
Grove Baptist Church. Let me hope for the church and the pastor a lovely,
growing and progressive relationship. Prayerfully it can be attained!
New Book Notes Racism
In Anti-Drug Campaign
In a hard-hitting boon recently
released by South End Press, jour
nalist Clarence Lusane shed s a
harsh light on the drug crisis that is
devastating poor communities and
communities of color.
In Pipe Dream Blues: Racism and
the War on Drugs, an uncompromis
ing examination of the roots of the
U.S. ‘drug wars* both here and
abroad, Lusane claims ithat racism
and corporate greed-rather than a
benevolent concern for the lives of
black or Third World people—have
motivated government policies on
drugs.
Lusane argues, “The government,
in engaging its drug war at home
and abroad, has aimed its weapons
overwhelmingly at people of color.
Despite the fact that whites are a
majority of users and traffickers,
blacks, Latinos, and Third World
people are suffering the worst ex
cesses of a program that violates
civil rights, human rights, and na
tional sovereignty*
In an argument that is well sub
stantiated and difficult to dispute,
Lusane traces the historical and
contemporary effects of racism and
the war on drugs to the black com
munity, on women and children,
and on poor people in Latin America
and Africa. Then, in a section called
“Drug War on the Potomac,* Lusane
(with colleague Dennis Desmond)
provides a disturbing case study of
the nation’s capital city, illustrating
• * .it the government’s emphasis on
mw eniurcemeni as a suiuuun to tne
drug crisis occurs at the expense of
already impoverished communities.
Lusane, a journalist based in
Washington, D.C., has worked for
nearly 20 years in national black
politics and foreign and domestic
policy issues. His article, "Israeli
Arms to Central America,” ap
peared in Covert Action Informa
tion Bulletin in tihe winter of 1984,
and won the first place award from
Prqject Censored for the “most cen
sored story” for 1983.
As the chairman of the board for
the National Alliance of Third
World Journalists, Lusane also
serves as special assistant for the
Democratic Study Group, the pri
mary source of legislative informa
tion and analysis of the Democratic
members of the House of Represen
tatives.
In addition, he is currently pursu
ing a doctoral degree in political
science at Howard University.
Lusane has appeared on numeroui
radio and TV talk shows, including a
PBS teleconference organized by
the Christie Institute and a national
town meeting on the drug crisis
aired on the Pacifica Network.
The sharpest humor
derives from truth.
• * •
Manners cost nothing,
but open the doors to
everything.
nuuiui oa%ya
Schools Still
Biased InU.S.
OMAHA, Neb. <AP>—An author
and educator saye inequality re
mains in U.S. schools despite dec
ades of effort to bring an end to
imbalance in education.
Jonathan Korol spoke at a Uni
versity of Nebraska at Omaha ABC
(Academy, business and Commu
nity) breakfast last week.
Kozol said he taught in a segre
gated Boston elementary school 25
years ago. He said most inner-city
schools are still separated by race
and that the quality of education is
unequal.
When he was teaching, Kozol said
his fifth-graders did not trust him.
He said he was one of at least 13
substitutes who taught during one
year.
Kozol, bothered by out-of-date
textbooks, read poetry by Robert
Frost and Langston Hughes to get
the students excited and enthusias
tic about learning.
He said he was fired a week later
for 'curriculum deviation." School
officials said he was teaching litera
ture that pupils in higher grades
were to learn.
The crowd burst out in laughter
when Kozol said he was later hired
by the federal government to de
velop curriculum.
“That was my first experience
with inequalities [in education],” he
said.
Two years ago, Kozol decided to
visit urban schools to see whether
integration and the quality of edu
cation have since improved. In his
latest book, Savage Inequalities:
Children in America's Schools, he
said he found that things have not
changed much.
In the north Bronx, 1,300 elemen
tal school students, most of them
black or Hispanic, are divided into
five classep that are packed into a
one-room former roller-skating
rink.
He said students at Martin Lu
ther King, Jr. High School in East
St. Louis, Dl., are concerned with
surviving rather than learning.
School officials believe apartheid
will end in South Afirica faster than
it will end in East St. Louis, he said.
In Chicago’s urban schools, the
scene is not much better. On any
given spring day, 20,000 children
attend school, only to find they are
without a teacher, Kozol said.
He said teachers leave urban
school systems because classrooms
are crowded, there are usually few
or no textbooks, and the pay often is
low.
Teachers with 30 to 40 years ol
experience are paid about $44,000 a
year in the Chicago public schools,
compared with $70,000 in the sub
urbs, he said.
r
MM
MEDIA APPRECIATION DAY - The Alpha That! Omega
Chapter ef Alpha Kappa Alpha tererlty, Inc. af Raleigh
recognized The CAROLINIAN far Ns oatstanding
contribution to local, stata, regional and intarnaMonal
news reporting. For over BO years, The CAROLNAN has
kapt the public aware af community events and a
supporter of sorority program targats: I.O., education,
family, the arti and the
irnattonal president Is Mrs.
International media snppert
council chairman Is Mrs. Earaestlna 6. McNealey. Mrs.
Barbara T. Rood, president, presents the Cartfflcate of
Appreciation to Paul Jorvay, Jr. Ms wife. Evelyn, right, Is
shown looking on.
Blacks Denounce “Police Dog” Plan
LINDEN, NJ. (AP)—For some
blacks, plans to use police dogs to
disperse rowdy summer crowds are
bringing back haunting images of
the vicious German shepherds set
loose on demonstrators during the
civil rights movement.
Police and the mayor say they
could use the trained dogs as a psy
chological tool against crowds they
can’t handle. Just the sight of a dog
is enough to send a crowd of teen
agers packing, Chief John Miliano
said last week.
One black leader says a lot of
people disagree. No matter how
good the police department’s inten
tions, using dogs against a crowd it
as frightening a symbol to blacks ai
a swastika is to Jews, said Albert
Youngblood, one of two black city
councilmen against the proposal.
“It really strikes a nerve,” saic
Money is the issue, he said.
"I say, “First change the schools
that are killing children’s spirits,”’
he said.
“These schools in many cases are
in despair.”
Youngblood. “A picture is worth a
thousand words and if you've seen
the pictures” of police dogs biting
demonstrators for civil rights in the
South “you know.”
“This is something real for a lot of
people,” said Youngblood, who wit
nessed police violence when he lived
in the South during the turbulent
years of the civil rights movement.
The 11-member council is debat
ing a proposal backed by Mayor
John T. Gregorio to set up a canine
unit if funds can be found.
Officials say they understand
people’s fears, but that officers and
dogs will be trained far differently
than they were by officers on the
streets of Birmingham, Ala., in the
1960s.
Dogs usually are used as a deter
rent, Miliano said, not set on people
indiscriminately. An officer can
usually move people along by just
showing up with a dog, he said.
‘I look at it as adding an addi
tional weapon to our arsenal, a psy
chological weapon if you will,” said
Miliano.
Dogs are used for crowd control in
Elizabeth, Irvington and other po
lice departments in New Jersey, he
said, This week, Miliano planned to
demonstrate for skeptical council
members and residents how police
dogs are used.
The plan will be tabled if
Youngblood and William Motley,
the city’s other black councilman, do
not back it, Gregorio said.
Budget cute have pared down the
Linden police force from 130 officers
a few years ago to 120 members
today. On an average night, six offi
cers patrol the streets of the city and
dispersing a crowd can occupy half
of them, Gregorio said.
The city can’t afford to hire more
oficers, so a canine unit is a cheap
alternative, Gregorio said. Setting
up a unit would cost about $25,000.
Youngblood questions why a ca
nine unit really is needed in a city
the size of Linden, which has a popu
lation of about 38,000.
Police say they are called to dis
perse crowds that gather on the city
street three or four times a month in
the summer, usually in the pre
dominantly black Fourth Ward.
I
Ecu Clayton
“The Best for the First”
WHY EVA CLAYTON
SHOULD BE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE
Democrat
1st Congressional District
SHE WORKS FOR THE PEOPLE.
Of those who have expressed interest in representing the First District, only Eva
Clayton has worked successfully at the community level for progress in North Caro
lina.
HER LEADERSHIP IS A PROVEN COMMODITY.
Throughout the past 25 years, Eva Clayton has been recognized repeatedly by her
peers for leadership at local, state, and national levels. Most recently, she was named
North Carolina County Commissioner of the Year for 1990, and in December 1991
was presented the Intergovernmental Relations Award for Outstanding contributions
by the North Carolina Regional Council and the North Carolina Joint Forum.
HER POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE
AND INTEGRITY ARE STEADFAST.
Eva Clayton, an active Democrat, is an independent candidate not controlled by
political bosses. Nor is she heavily influenced by ties to any one area of the District.
She is the only candidate who has united people throughout the First District—all
races, ages, and income backgrounds—toward the common goal of a better life for
themselves and their families.
PAID FOR BY PEOPLE FOR EVA CLAYTON