TUESDAY
ACADEMIC HONORS
Reginald Springer a Ligon Middle School
student will be recognized by Duke
University Identification Program for
academic achievement.
This Week
HEAD FOOTBALL COACH
Jerome Harper, assistant coach at Alabama
State University has accepted position as
head football coach at Fayetteville State
University.
Page 8
The first black slaves arrived in Vir
ginia on a Dutch ship on May 29 in 1619.
But as late as 1704, with a white popula
tion of 76,000, there were still only
10,000 blacks in Virginia, some of whom
were freedmen.
AROLINIAN
I
RALEIGH, N.C.,
VOL. 51, NO. 53
TUESDAY, MAY 26,1992
N,C. s Semi-Weekly
DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
SINGLECUrY QC
IN RALEIGH
ELSEWHERE 300
Henderson Wants Black Ponce Chief
BY CASH MICHAELS
•toff Writer
HENDERSON—You wouldn’t
know that Melvin Smith is at the
center of a raging controversy in
the town of Henderson to talk with
him. His easygoing manner and
confident charm aeem to emotion
ally distance him from the deep
rooted feelings of hurt and anger
that now permeate through the
African-American community
N.C. Lags In Health Care
Race
Plays
Role
North Carolinian# exceed the
national average in deaths from
heart disease, cancer, stroke, mo
tor vehicle and other accidents,
lung disease, pneumonia and in
fluenza, diabetes, and chronic liver
disease, says the N.C. Center for
Public Policy Research in the lat
est issue of its quarterly magazine,
“North Carolina Insight.’ The cen
ter also says the state is lower
than the national average in
dtathf from suicide, homicide, kid
ney disease and hardening of the
arteries.
"Healthwise, North Carolina’s
population is on the mend. But the
state still lags much of the nation,
and race and geography still seem
to play a role in the health of indi
viduals,” says Mike McLaughlin,
editor of Insight
The center sorted through data
kept by state agencies, plus a
number of other studies and opin
ion polls, to formulate its report on
the health status of North
Carolina’s population. State
Health Director Ron Levine best
summed up the results of this
■wlyis. “Compared to ourselves,
we are healthier than ever before,”
saye Levine. "Compared to the
United States, we are not as
healthy as we should be.”
Mortality rates currently pro
(See N.C. HEALTH, P. 2)
there. And yet, Smith knowe all
too well what the battle is about,
and what role he muit play.
People in Hendereon say what
hae happened to Melvin Smith has
happened before, but this time
they’re not standing for it. When
Henderson Police Chief DeBoyd
Kimball announced hie retirement
earlier this year, it was assumed
that the most senior officer on the
force would be appointed to the
BEST M THE STATE - EFNEP Assistant Ma Burgin,
Ml, receives a Mlnni Minor Brown Award from Ms.
rotirod hoad of EFNEP In North Carolina. Tho
sponsored by tho North Carolina Association of
Extension Homo Economists, is presented to the top
Raleigh Woman Gets Outstanding
Performance Award As “Pioneer”
Alter just two years as an Ex
tension Nutrition Program assis
tant, a Raleigh woman has been
named top Expanded Food and
Nutrition Education Program as
sistant in North Carolina.
Ida Burgin received the Minnie
Miller Brown State Award from
c
Calendar
SICKLE CELL FUNDRAISER
The Women’s Opportunity Network is hosting local high school stu
dents in their efforts to help raise money for the N.C. Sickle Cell Anemia
Foundation. "Who’s Got the Juice?", a talent show, will be held Satur
day, May SO, at 7:80 pan. at St. Augustine’s College Fine Arts Building.
Tickets are $6 in advance or $6 at the door. For more information, call
2814589.
INTERNATIONAL DINNER
Good Shepherd United Methodist Church announces its third Inter
national Dinner on Saturday, May 30, from 6-7 p.m. at Oak Grove
Elementary School, Wake Forest Highway at Mineral Springs Road.
Hie community is invited to share in the fellowship and supper.
Guests are invited to bring a dish representing their national heritage.
Please contact Good Shepherd Church at 696-8616 if you need direc
tions or more information.
ORDINATION SERVICE
Faith Tabernacle United Holy Church, 741 E. Juniper Avenue,
Wake Forest, will hold an ordination service far deacons Sunday, May
31, at 6 p.m. District Elder Robert Siler will be in charge.
On Sunday, June 7, at 4 p.m., Sis. Miriam Upperman will preach
her initial sermon.
Hie pastor is Elder Eula Coleman.
GREEN ROAD COMMUNITY CENTER CLASSES
Green Road Community Center at 4201 Green Road is offering the
following:
KM. Time. Children ages 3 to 6 have a ball on Mondays and Wed
nesdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Activities include: arts and crafts, cooking,
letters, nature, colors, numbers and much more. City residents, only $48
(See CALENDAR, P. 2)
post. That has been the tradition
in this Vance County town for as
long as folks can remember.
If tradition held true, then that
man would be Smith. Capt. Melvin
Smith is a 28-year veteran and be
yond being a well-respected profes
sional and admired figure in the
community, he holds the distinc
tion of being the first African
American ever to join the Hender
son Police Force. After paying his
the North Carolina Association of
Extension Home Economists for
outstanding performance at the
EFNEP State Conference May
12-14 in Raleigh.
Burgin and two other Wake
County EPNEP assistants—Mary
Jane Chedester and Clara
Meekins, both of Raleigh—were
among nine receiving Outstanding
Performance Awards from the
North Carolina Cooperative Ex
tension Service. All work in
Extension’s Wake County center.
“Ida helped pioneer EFNEP’s
work with non-traditional groups,
such as people in homeless shel
ters, at the Correctional Center for
Women, in the Housing Authority
Historical, Economic Perspective
U.S. Policy And Family Stability
BY DR. IRENE R. CLARK
An Amlyila
On May 17, President Bush fo
cused on the fact that the nation
must “restore our families* to solve
its problems. He went on to say,
“Whatever form our most pressing
problems may take, ultimately all
are related to the disintegration of
the family.*
These were words uttered at the
commencement ceremonies at the
University of Notre Dame in South
Bend, Ind. He called the American
family ‘an institution under siege
from the following: divorce, teen
pregnancy, single-parent house
holds and youth violence.”
Vice President Dan Quayle de
nounced even more recently the
morals of a fictional character—
dues and gaining the support of
the community, people were look
ing forward to what seemed to be a
sure thing... Police Chief Melvin
Smith.
But it was not to be.
Eric Williams, Henderson’s city
manager, reportedly decided that
the police force lacked profession
alism, and needed an overhaul not
only of leadership, but direction.
Williams made the decision to
■ * .
EFNEP assistant In the state. Burgln also received a 1992
Paraprofesslonal Award from that organisation and a
Distinguished Service Award from the North Carolina
Cooperative Extension Service.
and through Habitat for Human
ity,’ said Jewel Winslow, exten
sion home economics agent in
Gates County, who represented
the NCAEHE award. 'She has
spunkiness and an optimistic atti
tude, but if I had to choose just one
word to describe Ida, it would be
‘pioneer.’ ’
Minnie Miller Brown, for whom
the award was named, presented
the plaque to Burgin at the
awards ceremony May 13. Brown
worked 36 years with Extension,
combatting rural poverty and mal
nutrition. As a member of a na
tional task force in 1968, she
(See TOP WOMAN, P. 2)
Murphy Brown—for assisting in
the corruption of our society by
having her TV baby out of wed
lock. For African-Americans, fam
ily life has been historically under
siege, often with the sanction of
our system of justice. President
Bush concluded his remarks on
this matter with, "We all know
that putting America’s families
back on track is essential to put
ting our country back on track."
Bush as well as Quayle were
perhaps correct in focusing on the
importance of the family as a key
institution in any society. How
ever, there is much missing from
the remarks of our country's lead
ers in terms of the total historical
picture and its cause-and-effect re
lationships., We do not need a fic
break from tradition and look be
yond Hendereon for the next chief.
So the qualifications for the post
were changed, and all of a sudden,
Capt. Smith was no longer in the
running, because he didn’t qualify.
The police chief of Clinton, Steve
Kinchlow, was hired instead. He
was white, and an outsider. The
African-American community was
outraged.
"The reason the process [for se
Black Business
Resource Center
Plans Insubator
BY CASH MICHAELS
Waff Writer
Mora and more, economic
development in the African
American eommunity ia
seen as the key toward
maintaining any parity with
the constant changes of
mainstream society. Last
week, another project to
address that need was intro
duced here in Raleigh.
The Foundation for Eco
nomic and Educational De
velopment (FEED), a non
profit, non-partisan organi
sation developed to encour
age business and educe-,
The center will
be a unique facil
ity that will have
a definite impact
on economic
growth in the Af
rican-American
community and
the city of Raleigh
as a whole.
tional endeavors among
people of color and women,
announced plans for the
Minraity Business Reource
Center and Small Business
Incubator.
When finished, the MERC/
SBI will be located at 112
Cox Avenue, formerly the
headquarters of the North
Carolina Hospital Associa
tion.
According to Asa T.
Spaulding, Jr., president of
FEED, the center will be a
unique faoility that will
have a definite impact on
economic growth not only
tional character to see the truth of
the matter on family stability. All
we need do it look at history.
U.S. policies on matters which
have seriously affected the stabil
ity of the African-American family
go back a long way and continue to
haunt us generations later. From
the breakup of the African family
during slavery going back to the
15th century and beyond, to the
overwhelming urbanization of Af
rican-Americans in the 1960s, to
the overflow of anger in the LA.
riots of 1992, black family life has
been in a constant state of up
heaval, oppressed and degraded by
human, economic and social forces
emanating from white European
racism in our larger society.
The family system which devel
lecting a chief] was changed was
because of racism,* said an angry
Rev. Albert Moees, pastor of Cot
ton Memorial Baptist Church.
Rev. Moses was one of 200 black
citizens who rallied in front of the
Vance County Courthouse Thurs
day night, demanding the city
manager rescind his decision.
“[The white leadership] saw that
a black man had an opportunity to
(See POLICE, P. 2)
r m m
ASA T. SPAULDING, JR.
on Raleigh’s African-Ameri
can community but on the
city as a whole.
“We believe that the cen
ter will be a real first of its
kind in North Carolina and
the Southeast,” Spaulding
told The CAROLINIAN. “You
wont find another such op
eration between Washing
ton, D.C. and Atlanta, Ga.”
Spaulding said the facility
will be state-of-the-art, hous
ing a small uuuuess incuba
tor consisting of shared of
fice space at or below pre
vailing commercial market
rates. Support resources
and services vital to African
American and women
owned businesses will be
brought together under one
roof. Those resources and
services include utilities,
conference rooms, recep
tionists, telephone answer
ing and more.
Spaulding adds that the
MBRC/SBI will spawn satel
lite sites in “economically
disadvantaged” counties
across the state. The plan is
(See BUSINESS, P. 2)
oped among African-Americans
during slavery was one, according
to Alphonso Pinkney (in Black
Americans, Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
1969), with “few characteristics
that were normal to the white
American family of the time.” The
very nature of slavery as an eco
nomic institution, as well as the
attitudes which led to the institu
tionalization of American Negro
slavery, militated against the
black family’s developing stability.
Associations between male and
female slaves were frequently en
gaged in for the sole purpose of
satisfying sexual desires. Slave
holders, some of whom admittedly
were non-white, could and often
did mate their slaves to produce
(See FAMILY, P.2)