The Minority Voice, April 1-12, 2002


[This text is machine generated and may contain errors.]






The Pocono Palace ||},

age 8

What You See Is What You

Serving Since Eastern North Carolina Since 1981

School Choice... Then & Now

School Choice...... Then & Now
By: Casey J. Lartigue, Jr.

When religious liberty
activist Barry Lynn reminded the
audience at a recent Cato policy
forum that racists used school
vouchers to evade the 1954 land-
mark Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka decision, the
woman seated next to me let out
a loud sigh. Virginia Walden-
Ford, executive director of DC
Parents for School Choice, said
she clearly recalls those tumultous
days------and believes they are
irrelevant to the current discus-
sion about school choice.

During the 1960s she
attended Central High in
Arkansas, where the Little Rock
Nine integrated the school in
1957. Around the country, White
parents used voucher programs to
flee public schools when integra-
tion loomed at their neighborhood
schools. Some schools were shut
down in defiance of the Brown
decision. According to Stetson
Kennedy in the 1959 book, * The
Jim Crow Guide: The Way It
Was?. both Arkansas and Virginia
went ahead with their plans to
close all schools affected by
integration orders. I in the latter
state 13,000 students were left
without instruction by the closure

Maggie Edwards

of nin schools.

Walden-Ford notes with
both regret and pride that Black
families united to teach children
in makeshift schools and_ their
homes. But when she_ hears
critics argue that school choice is
inherently racist, Walden-Ford is
blunt. oThatTs nonsense. ~ she
said.

oThat was then. Right now
we're talking about opportunities
for kids.?

Some pubic school detenders
hearken back to segregationist
academies from the 1960s, but
they donTt discuss the discrimina-
tory roots and history of public
schools. That starts with lawmak-
ers cutting off money to public
schools after the influx of
Catholic immigrants in the 1840s.

It wasnTt until 1916 that there
were as many Blacks in public
high schools as there were in
private schools------and Blacks in
all public schools were in separate
and unequal facilities. The
Brown decision itself was a
response to a century of segra-
gated public schools.

Choice opponents who cite
the segragationists academies of
the 1960s also avoid mentioning
the 1925 Pierce v. Society of
Sisters case. Oregon's

ry

MAGGIE EDWARDS IS 46 years old and a J.H. ROSE HIGH

SCHOOL GRADUATE: with a A.A.S. FROM

PITT

COMMUNITY COLLEGE. SHE IS A MOTHER OF SEVEN
CHILDREN, HOMESCHOOLER & BUSINESS OWNER.

WHY SHE
COMMISSIONER _ DIST.#2

IS A CANDIDATE FOR COUNTY

IS THAT SHE IS AN

ADVOCATE FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE...(Flood Recocery,
Remove unsightly structures, etc.) SHE WANTS TO ENSURE

APPROPRIATE

USE OF

TAX

DOLLARS....DEVELOPMENT THAT WILL ENHANCE
QUALITY OF LIFE AND SHE SUPPORTS QUALITY

EDUCATION FOR ALL CHILDREN.

ET OUTAND VOTE!

Compulsory Education Act re-
quired that parents send their
children between the ages of eight
and 16 oto a public school for the
period of time a public school
shall be held during the current
year. The Supreme Court, in a

~9-0 decision, concluded that the

Act. unreasonably interferes
with the liberty of parents and
guardians to direct the upbringing
and education of children under
their control.? Among the biggest
boosters of the Act forcing all
children into public schools?
None other than the Klu Klux
Klan.

The King Kleagle of the
KKK hailed the ballot initiative
when it passed in 1922. o(The
KKK) with its White-robed senti-
nels keeping eternal watch, shall
for all time, with its blazing
torches as signal fires, stand guard
on theTouter walls of the Temple
of Liberty, cry out the warning
when danger appears and take its
place in the front rank of defend-
ers of the public schools.? he said.

Another Klansman leader
stated. ~ | believe that our Free
Public School is the cornerstone
of good goverment and that those
who are seeking to destroy it are
enemies of our Republic and are
unworthy of citizenship.T

HIV/AIDS: A Killer on the
Rise in the African
American Community

On March 21, 2002 Hydeia
Broadbent was the featured
speaker at the 2nd Annual Spring
Youth Forum "Keeping it Real".
This event will occur at the CM
Epps Recreation Center, Thomas
Forman Park beginning at 4:00
pm. At 17 years old, Hydeia is a
nationally and internationally
known youth HIV Educator and
Activist. Bor HIV positive,
Hydeia has dedicated her life to
the goal of bringing HIV
Awareness and Prevention mes-
sages to young people.

According to the Center for
Disease Control (CDC), states in
the South and along the eastern
coast have the highest number of
adolescents with HIV It is
estimated that of the 40,000 cases
of new HIV infections that occur
in the US each year, half are
among young people between the
ages of 15-25. Since HIV may
take up to 10 years to produce
symptoms, adolescents with HIV
may not feel sick until they are in
their 20s. Meanwhile young
people unaware of their HIV
status may without intention
transmit the infection to others
during this period.

The 2001 North Carolina
HIV/STD Surveillance Report in-
dicates that in Eastern North
Carolina the number of new HIV
infections of young people 13-29
was 402 or 25.1% of the total
number: of reported cases. This
number is a substantial increase

over last year and represents a
wake up call for parents and
community members. It is impor-
tant to add that these are only the
numbers of young people who
have been tested; there are other
adolescents and young adults
- are unaware of theis HIV
us.

What Yo

April 1 - April 12 2002

What You Know And Savel

" HIP HOP COMES TO G'VEGAS !!!" - |
Shown above at a recent concert held at Club Dynasty here in Greenville....the owner of "SOUL 92.

Mr. Chuck Johnson, Soul 92 crew, rappers..Petey Pablo & Magoo.

Who Benifits From Prison

Prior to 1967, rehabilitation and
other New York State prison
programs served as viabke instru-
ments for behavioral modifica-
tions of prisoners. During these
same years good time(the reduc-
tion in the amount of time a
prisoner had to serve for good
behavior) availed as an incentive
to prisoners. That is rehabilitation
and good time served its purpose:
it alleviated overcrowding, moti-
vated prisoners to change deviant
behaviors to those behaviors that
were socially acceptable, and it
facilitated their return to society.
(Yet, it is important to keep in
mind that the prison population
was predominatly white: and
hence, rehabilitation was a plausi-
ble solution for white prisoners
who would return to the general
or white society upon release).
Rehabilitation provided prisoners
with the basic skills, trade or
education that would enable them
to become functional elements of
the general society.

Within the last 34 years,
however, the complexion of NY
State prisons has changed from
White to Black to Latino, but
rehabilitation and other obsolete,
prison programs have not changed
to accommodate the occurred are
the demise of good time as an
incentive for positive prison ad-

justment. harsher sentences for

the same crimes that whites
commitied, the denial of parole,
the denial of higher education, the
denial of PrisonersT Legal
Services, not being recognized in
the courts, etc. Today. most
blacks and latino prisoners come
from specific racial communities
that are infested with crime,
drugs, homelessness, welfare, and
other social ills. The same
rehabilitation that was designed to
give the prisoners the basic skill,
trade, or education to function as
an element of society does not
hold true in prison today. The
conditions have not been im-
proved and degenerates each day
as Black and Latino prisoners are
constantly being snatched from
their neighborhoods and housed
in these warehouses. The present
alternatives for prisoners are 1.)
to accept the present conditions
that exist. 2.) to remain neutral

about the conditions that exist, or "

3.) develop unity among the
prisoners (black and white) to
bring about a change in these
Prison Industrial Complexes.

The latter is an imperative
option for many prisoners, in that
more and more evidence is start-
ing to reveal that prisoners from
Black and Latino communities are
nothing more than commodities to
provide employment for the ex-
pansion of prison enterprise.

oBeen.
Btownsville, and

_. Free!

(Photo by Jim Rouse}

Evidence id also revealing that
precincts and courts in black and
latino communities are conveyer
belts for the criminal justice
assembly line. Indeed there is a
direct relationship between Black
and Latino communities and the
NY State prisons.

The numbers alone, (85%
Black/Latino in state prisons: 75%
from seven neighborhoods in NY
City), establish~the direct conec-
tion between the communities of
these seven neighborhoods and
the prisons. Each feeds off the
other and is affected culturally.
socially, economically, and in
many other ways by one another.
This influx is now 25,000 per
year, going and coming.

The seven New York City
neighborhoods that produce 75%
of the states total prison popula-
tion includes Harlem, South
Jamiaca, South Bronx, Crown

East New York,
Bedford
Stuyvesant. The remainder to the
state prison population of color
comes from Buffalo, Syracuse,
Rochester, Albany, Poughkeepsie.
Beacon, Newburgh, Westchester
County and Long Island.

These are the. communities
where 85% of New York State
prisoners come from and will
return, and these prisons continue
to do nothing aboo **e

CU SALLTS RST BLACK GRADLATE OF

a

Pola pre ar

"ECU SALUTES FIRST BLACK ECU STUDENTS..."

Shown above is the Director of the Ledonia
Chairman of the Diversity Committee of ECU,
first black ECU graduate....Ms. Fearing.

i sh nt Beg eb Ee

ight Cultural Center, Ms. Nell Lewis,
r. Naim Akbar. Also
(Photo by Jim Rouse)

with Vice-
ing an a for being the







Enough to make you sick:

Racial disparities in health care

ncouraging, but perplexing, news

from the U.S. health front: from

1990 to 1998, the breast cancer

rate among Black women de-

clined four percent, but it saw a

13 percent downslide among Hispanic
women and an 18 percent slippage with
White women.

Why the disparity? That old standby,
racism, could be blamed, but there are other
culprits, too: a lack of adequate medical care,
economics, geographical differences, social
and behavioral factors, education and the lot.

But whatever, the case, something must be
done by the medical community, patients and
just people themselves to correct the aberra-
tions that offer a telling synopsis on Ameri-
can medical care, circa 2002.

The tuberculosis rate for Blacks is eight
times greater Blacks than for Whites, and six
times as high for Hispanics. Homicide is 10
times as high for Blacks and four times as high
for Hispanics; syphilis, more than 30 times as
high for Blacks and three times for Hispanics,
and so on. Other inconsistencies continue, de-
spite many modern medical advances.

oIn many ways, Americans of all ages have
better health today,? the outgoing head of the
Centers for Disease Control, David Satcher
said recently.

oBut our work isnTt done until all of our in-
fants have the same chance to thrive, all
mothers have the same access to prenatal care
and all Americans are equally protected from
cancer, heart disease and stoke,? Satcher said.

That too, is our American dream.

Turning away from
the death penalty

arby Tillis should have been dead

by now. So should have Anthony

Porter and Gary Gauger.

All three men were convicted

in the state of Illinois of murder
and sentenced to die in its electric chair. If
they had been put to death soon after their
convictions, some would have trumpeted their
executions as proof of the proper working of
the criminal justice system.

Fortunately, these men found tenacious le-
gal help which proved that their convictions
were wrong " that they were innocent of the
charges against them. In recent years, after
spending up to 19 years on IllinoisT Death
Row, they were freed.

According to a March 11 Washington Post sto-
ry, the three were among the participants at a
conference of death-penalty opponents who gath-
ered at ChicagoTs DePaul University last week-
end to discuss what comes next in the nationwide
effort to abolish the death penalty in Illinois and
the 37 other states which now have it.

The National Urban League has always op-
posed the death penalty. We believe it is
morally wrong, and that its practice has been.
irredeemably tainted with racial and class
bias. We oppose it for every inmate on the
death rows of AmericaTs prisons, not just the
ones who, like these men, are innocent of the
crimes for which theyTve been convicted.

These cases have helped to throw a harsh
light on some egregious flaws of our criminal
justice system: Defendants, who are most of-
ten poor, being saddled with incompetent or
uncaring or just overworked attorneys who
canTt provide adequate legal representation.
Evidence being handled carelessly by police
lab technicians " or mishandled by police
and prosecutors in such ways as to raise suspi-
cions of deliberate misconduct. Judicial rul-
ings which improperly favor the prosecution
and in some cases push the jury toward sen-
tencing the defendant to death.

As Rob Warden, director of the Center on
Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Uni-
versity Law School, remarked last year to the
New York Times, oWhen we see the vast
numbers of errors that occur in these relative-
ly few DNA cases, what does that say about
the rest of the system?

oWe can only wonder,? Professor Warden

continue, oabout how many innocent people
weTve executed and how many hundreds,
thousands of people are languishing in prison
for crimes they did not commit.?

These words, and the cases behind them, un-
derscore the growing alarm about just how
widespread are the flawed criminal justice pro-
cedures which produced these unjust sentences.

Illinois Republican Governor, George Ryan,
who was at the DePaul conference, has been
in the forefront of the governmental reconsid-
eration of the death penalty " in part because

the examination of death-penalty cases there
by advocates of abolition and newspapers has
produced stark examples of injustice.

Two years ago, Gov. Ryan declared an in-
definite moratorium on executions in the state
after DNA testing proved 13 death-row in-
mates were innocent of their accused crimes.
(Since it re-established the death penalty in
1977, Illinois has executed 12 men.) For most
of the men, the testing came years after the
initial date for their executions.

That moratorium remains in effect while a
special 14-member commission he appointed
readies its report on the death penalty, which
is due this spring.

But even as he awaits that study, Gov.
Ryan, who leaves office next January, said
earlier this month that heTd review the cases
of all 159 inmates on death row in Illinois,
and suggested that he might commute some
or all of the sentences to life in prison.

Meanwhile, bills seeking to impose morato-
ria on executions have been filed in 2] states;
a growing consensus is forming to bar execu-
tion of those found to be mentally deficient;
and last year in Illinois, which may be the
bellwether state as far as repealing the death
penalty goes, a bill was filed to replace the
death penalty with a sentence of life without
the possibility of parole.

All these developments may be the harbin-
ger of a turn away, again, from the death
penalty, a recognition that our justifiable anger
against those who commit murder and threat-
en the safety of all law-abiding citizens should
not become a rationale for tolerating practices
which are themselves unjust.

(Guest editorial by Hugh B. Price, presi-
dent of the National Urban League.)

Too few Black scientists in
human genome research

he human genome project, called
by some, the most important sci-
entific endeavor of the last centu-
ry, is flawed.

Thousands of biologists, geneti-
cists and other researchers are working on
whatTs become known as the book of life, the
human genome. TheyTre deciphering the com-
plete human genetic map,.

Yet somethingTs wrong. Here are the pro-
jectTs two worst flaws.

With the exception of a few lab technicians,
only a Handful of African Americans partici-

te in the governmentTs gene sequencing pro-
ject. The International Genome Sequencing
Consortium, comprised of thousands of scien-
tists from 16 research universities, include no
African-American professionals among its re-
searchers, who work under the auspices of the
U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

In the private sector, only a few African
Americans take part in the work of Celera Ge-
nomics Co. in a project that will yield dizzying-
ly large fortunes to scientists, company share-
holders and executives who will sell benefits of
their genetic research to the health care industry.

This dearth of Blacks at work on genome
research is doubly galling, if not ironic, since
its breakthroughs promise to end sickle cell

| gan
aa
i 7 f fy
# i

anemia, a malady that affects 8 percent of
African Americans.

Genetic research reveals worlds of discov-
ery, including genetic analysis showing that of
99.9 percent of human DNA is identical.

That means itTs next to impossible to deter-
mine race through a personTs DNA. As a re-
sult, mapping the human genome can be piv-
otal in promoting the enlightened concept of
one race, the human race.

It an do so by eliminating any remaining
retrograde public perception of racial superi-
ority or inferiority, which is the basis of
racism, says Dr. Harold Freeman, a Celera
executive.

Craig Venter, Celera CEO, finds that differ-
ences between members of a given racial group
may be greater than the average differences be-
tween members of different racial groups.

NIH is trying to increase participation of
African Americans in research that will be
needed as a result of access to the human
genome, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Ed-
ucation reports.

NIH has 22 African-American scientists
among its 3,000 researchers, and is working
with Howard University to get greater support
from the Black community and to recruit
more Blacks in NIH research.

Np

COMMENTS

Paying homage to the
legacy of Bayard Rustin

by Norman Hill

t the A. Philip Randolph Institute,

we are very proud of our organi-

zationTs two founders. The Insti-

tute is named, of course, after the

greatest Black labor leader in
American history and one of the most impor-
tant leaders of the civil rights struggles during
the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. But this time I
would like to focus on our co-founder, Bayard
Rustin, whose birthday falls in March.

Bayard, with whom I had the honor to
work for many years until his death in 1987,
was a courageous civil rights activist who par-
ticipated in the first freedom rides in 1947 "
for which he served time on a North Carolina
chain gang. He advised Martin Luther King
on the philosophy and strategy of Gandhian
nonviolence during the Montgomery Bus
Boycott of 1955-1956, conceived and orga-
nized Dr. KingTs Southern Christian Leader-
ship Conference in 1957, and was one of
KingTs key advisers for years afterward.

He also was a close associate of A. Philip
Randolph. In 1963, Randolph initiated and
Bayard organized the great March on Wash-
ington for Jobs and Freedom held in August
of that year. ,

In the two years after the March, the civil
rights movement won two great victories.
One was the passage of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964, which banned Jim Crow segregation,
prohibited race and gender discrimination in

employment, and barred federafaid to institu- ~~?

tions engaging in racial discrimination. The
second momentous triumph was the adoption
of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which for
the first time since Reconstruction assured
Blacks, particuiarly in the South, of the right
to participate in the political process.

Once Blacks and their White supporters
had secured this legislation, Bayard believed
that the movement for Black equality had
reached a new stage where the emphasis must
shift from securing equal legal rights to secur-
ing economic justice for African Americans.
As he once said, oWhat good is it to win the
right to sit at a lunch counter if you canTt af- "
ford lunch?? And the two keys to economic
justice, Bayard stated, were the union card
and the ballot box.

For 300 years, African Americans had been
the most exploited segment of the workforce.
Therefore, to raise their economic level, they
needed desperately to have union representa-
tion. To protect their right to join unions, they
had to cast their ballots, along with other
workers, for candidates who support a fair,
level playing field for union organizers.

The years have proved Bayard right.
Unionized Black workers earn far more than

their nonunionized couterparts: in fact, the
gap is even greater than for White workers.
And with their votes, Blacks have helped to
secure such programs as Medicare and Med-
icaid; and legislation banning discrimination
against women, the elderly, and disabled.

But so much remains to be done. In recent
decades, union membership has declined as a
proportion of the workforce has a growing
minority component. One reason is the disap-
pearance of so many unionized, manufactur-
ing jobs in the late 20th century. Another is
the aggressive anti-organizing campaigns of
the corporations over the last 20-odd years,
encouraged by a resurgent radical right.

During the past seven years organized labor
has fought back. Under the leadership of John
Sweeney, the AFL-CIO has increased its
spending for union organizing and encour-
aged its constituent unions to do the same.
Last year trade unions held the line: the pro-
portion of workers belonging to unions re-
mained the same as in the year 2000. But this
is just a start in the right direction. With the
workforce increasingly composed of minori-
ties, Black trade union activists who make up
the A. Philip Randolph Institute will remain to
our Rustin legacy by continuing to support
union organizing drives.

The Randolph Institute, following BayardTs

emphasis on the ballot, has promoted a grow-~

ing Black turnout through its voter participa-
tion programs, which have consisted of three
components: voter registration, voter educa-
tion, and get-out-the-vote drives. In this yearTs
election, to make sure that the Florida elec-
toral fiasco of two years ago does not reoccur
there or in any other state, we are also taking
steps to inform Blacks of their rights a voters
so that they are not again deprived of the fran-
chise that the civil rights movement fought so
hard to win. And we have been pressing our
legislators to pass measures that will eliminate
confusing ballots and make it possible for
even the poorest communities to acquire the
most modem, mistake-free voting machines.

We can think of no better homage to Ba-
yard than doing this work. And if we step up
our efforts " which we fully intend to do "
perhaps we can increase the Black electorate
enough in this yearTs Congressional elections,
and then again in the 2004 Presidential elec-
tion, so that friends of the Black-labor alliance
are in control on Capitol Hill and in the White
House. Then we can move toward a society
consistent with BayardTs legacy, a society
where racial equality and economic justice
prevail, thanks to a strong trade union move-
ment and a government committed to the
well-being of all.

(Hill is president of the A. Philip Randolph
Institute.)

by Don King

t was to be the largest convention

in Cincinnati this year, pouring in

between 8,000 and 18,000 mem-

bers with an economic impact of

$8 million to $18 million in its
week of teaching, preaching and celebrat-
ing the greatness of God.

But when the Progressive National Bap-
tist convention told the city of Cincinnati,
oThanks, but no thanks,? to its offer, it sent
a message that resonated across the country
" and may even have helped strengthen
the goals and strategies of the civil rights
movement.

The PNBCTs action came as a result of a
movement by the Black United Front and
the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati, two
groups that have been urging outside
groups to boycott Cincinnati because they
believe that the city has not done enough to
improve police community relations or the
economic status of African Americans.

Those comments, quite frankly, reflect
negatively on the leadership of Cincinnati

yor Charlie Luken. Ever since the boy-
cott of Cincinnati began last July. Luken
has engaged in steps that have been viewed

=

De cel eee parents y nen .

Progressive Baptists rebuff
Cincinnati for confab

called their action oeconomic terrorism? "
a coinage he later claimed to regret, but
which stood of the hateful actions of
Osama bin Laden.

Cincinnati has already been wounded
significantly by the ohostile racial climate?
referred to by the Progressive National
Baptist. We see their action as the reaming
of a powerful weapon that the movement
has used into he past " economic sanction
against those who operate in a manner
which does not benefit the African-Ameri-
can community.

There will always be those who claim
that such measures ohurt the very people we
are trying to help.? But so, in many ways,
did the Montgomery bus boycott 46 years
ago. But it required a short-term pain to ex-
perience a long-term gain: the destruction of
a system of American-grown apartheid that
was being fueled financially by the very
people who were suffering from it.

e city of Cincinnati has experienced
severe economic loss because of the per-
ception that it is hostile to its own African-
American citizens, and therefore likely to
be inhospitable to those African-Americans

in, Now may be the time when the
Cincinnati can sit down with the
and all those who have a con-

America mustdo "
better by its Veterans
Dear Editor:

When we watch the news and see the re-
spect and honor given to the dead military

men and women being returned from the bat-

tlefields, many things come to mind. I no
longer feél pride in the rituals in the military.

America cares for its dead service people
only. But when it comes to caring for the
men and women that put their lives on the
line to protect the nation and its world wide
interest, America becomes a miser.

Veterans have to march and demonstrate to
get the attention of government. While we
are rushing troops to hot spots in the War on
Terrorism and talk about taking war to even
more locations, we are closing veterans hos-
pitals and increasing the co-payments for
drugs and to see a doctor.

It is a pitiful sight to see veterans waiting
long hours in crowded waiting rooms. There
is something amiss when the cost of Veterans
affairs fail to be considered when the cost of
war is calculated.

Were it not for the help given by private
veteransT organizations, the suffering would
be even greater.

America can and must do better in caring
for her own.

Hollis Chester,
Chicago, Ill.

Time everybody supports
the War on IgnoranceT

Dear Editor:

We have had a oWar on Poverty,? a oWar on
Crime,? a oWar on Drugs,? and now a oWar on
Terrorism.? We have lost those wars and now I
suggest a oWar on Ignorance,? because igno-
tance is the root cause of the worldTs problems.

No matter how many degrees or titles you
h old, if you teach hate, preach hate or prac-
tice hate, youTre ignorant.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said oNothing in
the world is more dangerous than sincere ig-
norance and conscientious stupidity.?

If a White person hates a Black person be-
cause of the color of his skin, he is ignorant. And
if a Black person hates a White person because
of the color of his skin, he too is ignorant. oLord
what fools these mortals be? said Shakespeare.

No single group holds an exclusive monop-
oly on bigotry and hatred because hatemon-
gers and bigots come in all sizes and colors.
Hatemongers speak in many tongues. Hating
an entire group for the behavior of a minority
of that group is bigotry and stereotyping.

Every Sunday, I hear the venom of hate
spewed from the pulpits by pastors of pes-
simism and deacons of despair. They too are
ignorant. If anyone who knows the difference
between right and wrong and if he chooses to
do wrong he, too, is ignorant.

oHe that hideth with lying lips and he that
utters a slander is a fool,? Proverbs 10:8 states.
If ignorance was a felony, a large segment
of the worldTs population would be on Death?
Row. oBetter to be unborn than untaught, for
ignorance is the root of misfortune? " Plato.

Robert Wilson,
Englewood, Calif.

Lock the
cloning genie

Dear Editor:

There is a pagan world view that sees hu-
man lives as simply cattle. This meant man-
ager mentality never ceases to plague us with
new and more perverse assaults on human
dignity and societal ethics. The scientific arm
of meat management is now trying to con us
that thereTs a difference between a cloned hu-
man embryo intended for implantation (ore-
productive? cloning).

The overwhelming arrogance of these self-
styled witch doctors and their obio-ethicist?
enablers is revealed in their assertion that the
difference lies not in the. nature of the embry-
onic entity but in their intended use of it.

So-called obio-ethicists? want to define hu-
man value based on brain functions. But they
have forgotten why the loss of brain waves
first became accepted as a criterion of death.
It was the irreversibility of the loss with exit-
ing medical technology that justified a pro-
nouncement of death.

However, brain waves and all other func-
tions will be irreversibly present once concep-
tion (fertilization) has occurred, whether by
natural or mechanical means in the lab. The
same criterion of irreversibility of the onset or
loss of brain functions can be used logically to
mark the beginning or end of a human life.

oBio-ethics? is rapidly becoming the Black
art of rationalizing the unconscionable. LetTs
at least lock the cloning genie in the bottle
before we suffer new waves of ethical night-
mares from which we may not recover with-
out horrific social convulsions.

WAN





?"?
8
]
a
+
S
=
=
s







"The Making of the City

of Greenville
Mr. Jesse Harris
Deputy Human
Resources Director

Before Jesse arrived in Greenville
in 1972, the City of Greenville
was viewed as a small, rural
community with a small, state-
supported college known as oEast
Carolina Teachers College."
Except for farmers bringing their
tobacco crops to the market, few
knew the city existed outside of
its citizens. But then, he came!

A well-trained, good-
looking Black man, he was hired
as the Director of Human
Relations. He brought his leader-
ship experience from high school,
college, and the _ military
(Vietnam) with him. He was
anxious to make a civic contribu-
tion to this community, working
among a diversified workforce.
But he was not surprised to learn
that he was the only minority on
the management team!

In 1977, he transferred to
the Planning and Community
Develpment Department, where
he assisted staff and local leaders

service and commitment to human
rights, dignity, and equality for all
Citizens.

He also sought the help
of the Human Relations Council
and local community leaders to
address the growing numbers of
homeless people. Together, they
started the City's homeless shelter.

Jesse knew from the start
that he had his work cut out for
him, and that he would eventually
end up in Human Resources to
help the City "do the right thing."
He likes to recount his first
excperience in helping out an
employment interview back in the
early 70's.

_ As the story goes, the
City Manager at the time was a
retired military officer with a "no
nonsense" manner. He _ asked
Jesses to sit in on several inter-
views and to offer any suggestions
for improvements.

The first candidate had
long. blonde hair. The City
Manager immediately asked the
young man if he would cut his
hair. The young man said no.
The City Manager told him that
he would not hire him if he didn't
cut his hair. The young man
replied, "You won't hire me be-
cause I have long hair? Don't
you know that Jesus had long

Professional * Dedicated ¢ Fair

saauinniamanal

Ines

erry

Paid for by the committee to elect Terry Vines

1

in sprurring business growth in
the community. Asa result of this
concerted team effort, several
major manufacturing companies
relocated to Greenville and fed-
eral funding was received from
the Small Cities Community
Development grant programs. A
key element for funding success
was citizen participation.

Once in the HR ,
Department, Jesse further ex-
panded his valued role within the
organization. He initially focused
on recruitment, selection, and
promotion. He became recog-
nized as an expert in the develop-
ment and administration of
assessment centers for selection,
and was called upon frequently to
assist other cities in conducting
their assessment centers. "

His open door policy "
allowed employees to seek his
advice on how to resolve their

lems or concerns. He always
Pandled these situations confiden-
tially and diplomatically.

Still involved in veryrs

relations, Jesse crea ?,?
Roe Humanitarian Award to
recoggiae outstanding individuals
and businesses that exemplified

hair?" The City Manager stood
up to escort the young man out of
his office and said, as he pushed
him out, "Yes, J do. And Jesus
was unemployed, too!"

Life was never the same
for Jesse after that! It was from
that time that Jesse pushed to
formalize the interview process
and to use only valid testing
instruments in candidate selec-
tion.

He gained the support of
the City Manager and the depart-
ment heads in developing fair
employment practices. He added
non-traditional recruiting sources

such as the military bases, histori-

lack colleges and universi-
oat NBCU and national trade
associations. Since then, the City
has significantly increased the
number of minorities and women
hired and promoted in every
department.

Jesse matter-of-factly states that
this effort alone has resulted in
saving the City of Greenville

minimum of $50 Million in po-

tential lawsuits.

= Vote For...

House Seat
District #8

PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO ELECT JIM ROUSE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE. DIST. 4 8

Xe OO OX Oe

Rent-A-Center settles
sex bias lawsuit

ST. LOUIS, Mo."Attorneys
for more than 5,000 women in a na-
tional multi-million dollar sex dis-
crimination class action suit and the
United States Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
said March 7 that they had reached
a tentative settlement in principle
with national rent-to-own chain,
Rent-A-Center.

The settlement covers two pend-
ing cases with a potential class of
more than 5,000 women, Wilfong,
et. al. and EEOC v. Rent-A-Cen-
ter in the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District in East St. Louis,
Illinois and Equal Employment Op-

portunity Commission v. Rent-A-
Center in the U.S. District Court for
the Western District of Tennessee
in Memphis, Tennessee. It includes
acash settlement of $47 million and
an agreement on the part of the
rent-to-own giant to make signifi-
cant changes to its hiring. firing
and promotions policies and to cre-
ate and maintain a Human Re-
sources Department, which had
been dissolved when Renters
Choice acquired Rent-A-Center in
1998, the lawyers said. This is the
largest nationwide employment sex

discrimination case for a company

of this size, they added. Rent-A-
Center has 2,294 stores nationwide.
The plaintiffs in the suit are repre-

sented by the law firms of Sedey
& Ray and Schlichter, Bogard &
Denton of St. Louis. The EEOC,
which is a plaintiff/intervenor, is
represented by attorneys Donna I,
Harper, Anne Gusewelle and An-

drea Baran. & ,

This settlement provides
significant benefits for the
women who brought this
case of sex
discrimination and creates
genuine opportunities for
all women at Rent-A-
Center in the future.T

"Mary Anne Sedey

oThe women of Rent-A-Center
will finally obtain well-deserved
justice,? said Mary Anne Sedey of
Sedey & Ray. oThis settlement pro-
vides significant benefits for the
women who brought this case of -
sex discrimination and creates
genuine opportunities for all
women at Rent-A-Center in the
future.?

WOOW

@ April 13-Evangelist

Joseph Sasser

@ April 19-20 Adult

Conference oWings

- of the Spirit?

@ April 20-Miriam Tyson

in Concert

@ April 26-Scott Bircher

in Concert

@ May 12-17-Norman

Robertson Ministries
Six Day Crusade

Every Thursday Night 7:00p.m.

Love offering will be received.
We are sorry, but there is no child care available.

room 287-087

Sex

- Even with a system as safe and secure as your
natural gas system, a leak could ocour. That's
"why you and your family need to know what to
do in case you smell gas.

First, call Greenville Utilities immediately at
551-1567 or 752-627. Call anytime, day or
night, and we'll correct the problem.

While you're waiting for repair service, open a
window, don't use affy matches, and don't
operate electrical switches or appliances.

Leave the site until the GUC representative
arrives.

Chances are you'll never experience a gas
leak, but it's good to know what to do just in

case. If you don't know what naturalgas
smells like, you are welcome to stop by our
Office and pick up a scratch and sniff brochure.

NUMBERS

EMEKGENCY

551-1567 © 752-5627

NGreenville
A Utilities

ova

VACUUM
CLEANER
HOSPITAL Floorcare

(252) 752-9395
114 E. 10TH ST. GREENVILLE NC 27858
FULL SERVICE DISTRIBUTORS OF
FLOOR CARE & JANITORIAL SUPPLIES

f Glory Ministries

Saturday, April 20

Ks, Music, Clothing
Garden Items







PP.

of the Greenville, NC area asked

know that my fellow brothers
and sisters are making things
happen for themselves. But that
doesnTt mean ITm limited. True,
it may be harder for me; I may
hit some roadblocks along the
way, but | AM going to reach my
goals, no matter what anybody
says. So, to all of the young
Black students who plan to
attend college, I say, oDonTt let
anyone stomp on your dreams.
No matter where you choose to
go, you can do anything you
want to do. DonTt let / can?T
OR you can be a part of your
vocabulary."d East Carolina
University. This gentleman
made the assumption that I chose
to go to a owhite? school
because | wanted to be white, |
wanted to surround myself with
white people, and because | felt
that the only way I could
succeed was by going to a
owhite? school. Of course, | had

wanted a university education
without leaving home. Also, I
knew for a fact that ECU
provided excellent programs for
my intended major at the time,
computer science. This gentle-
man also made the statement that
the majority of successful blacks
graduated from _ historically
Black colleges. He insinuated
that | would not be successful in
life because I chose not to go to
one of the Black schools. |
heartily disagreed. | informed
this brother that, although I donTt
dare to diminish the many ad-
vantages of going to an all black
school, I would NOT fail in
lifebecause | did not attend one.
I let him know that my success:
in life depends on me, on
achieving the goals I set for
myself. It doesnTt matter what
school I go to, I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens
me. | will NOT be limited by
any man. Instead of encouraging

Black Ch
For Voung

"Any religion that professes to be
concerned with the souls of men,
und yet is not concerned with the
economic and social conditions that
strangle [and] ... cripple them, [is
wrong]." Dr. Martin Luther King.
Jr. Civil Rights Leader.

Saying that African American
churches for years have become
oappendages of the Democratic
Party," a North Carolina conserva-
tive thinktank has blasted a new
voter project mounted by at least six
of the state's Black denominations.

"For years, politicians have
made political speeches at Black
churches, taken up collections for
political causes, and otherwise
trampled over the very real bound-
ary that does and should exist
between tax-exempt religous or-
ganizations and partisan political
activity.? John Hood, president of
the conservative Raleigh-based
John Locke Foundation, wrote in
the March 18 edition of The
Carolina Journal.

"(Fhere's] a new effort by Black
religous leaders to make suree the
delay in North Carolina's primaries
this year doesn't result in a low
Black turnout," Hood continued.
"The political import of their
activities is obvious, though not
owned up to.

"The white conservative was
referring to the "Making History
Not Just Remembering History: A
Time For Action Voter Empower
ment Summit" held last Saturday in
Raleigh, where over 50 ministers
from across thestate met to discuss
nonpartisan strategies on how to
educate, register and mobilize the
Black vote for this year's primary
and fall elections.

The summit, endorsed by the
AME, AME Zion, General Babptist
State Convention, Bible Way
Churches Worldwide, the Church of
God in Christ, and the Church of

Christ (Disciples of Christ), was
actually scheduled long before the
state Supreme Court and Board of
ElectionsT postponed May 7 prima-
ries. Local, state and congressional
elections were suspended until an
April 4 High Court hearing on a
Republican Party lawsuit alleging
that the 2001 Legislative redistrict-
ing maps are unconstitutional, 1s
held.

There is concern among African
American leaders that if the state
justices order the maps to be
redrawn, and the primaries put off
possibly until September, that the
Black vote may not be as much as a
factor as it would in May.

But summit organizers maintain
that despite what Hood or other
conservatives may say, the Black
church has the same right to get
involved in shaping public policy as
teh Republican-dominated Christian
Coalition does.

"The goal of this conference was

to focus on the lessons learned from

past elections, particularly the presi-
dential election in Florida last year,"
Rev. William Barber, civil rights
activist, and pastor of Greenleaf
Christian Church in Goldsboro,
told7he Wilmington Journal
Monday.

"The Bible sets our public
policy agenda.

Beyond the alleged Black voter
disenfranchisement that took place
in the 2000 Florida presidential
election, the summit also discussed
the legality of voter participation
programs in the church, and how to
empower pastors to organize con-
gregations in nonpartisan voter
education, registration and get-out-
to-vote campagins.

As the African-American com-
munity's anchor institution, organiz-
ers say the Black church always has,
and continues to be the hub of
political activity.

"The church has always been a
sanctuary of hope where ordinary
people could congregate and re-
ceive spiritual and. moral guidance,?
Rev. Barber said. oIt is only natural
that the church would sound
trumpet for political awareness,
irrespective of party affiliation.?

"It is everyone's responsibility to
be a molder and shaper of our
communal futures," Rev. Gregory
Edmonds, representing the African
Methodist Episcopal denomination,
added.

According to a 2001 survey of
1,900 Black churches nationwide by
Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga.,
tow-thirds of those houses of
worship have assisted with voter
registration in the previous ten
years. At least half of the
congregations queried organized
rides to the polls in their communi-
ties on Election Day.

"The pastor sets up a system
where everyone 18 and older

votes," Rev. Barber said, "but he
doesn't tell them for whom to vote.
In some cases, only 30 percent of
the Black vote comes out. That's an
insult to all of us, and especially
those who died and suffered for that
right:

Bishop Darnell Dixon, the sum-
mit's host pastor, agreed.

"At the beginning of the last
century, African Americans were
forced out of political representa-
tion," he said. "Today we can
participate without restriction and
we must honor the struggle by
upholding our obligation.?

The Masonic Lodge statewide
will also join the effort, Rev.
Barber added. '

Though they criticize the politi-
cal activism of Black churches,
Hood and other conservatives have
a hard time explaining how Pat
Robertson's Christian Coalition and
other conservative religous groups
have adroitly undergirded the
Republican Party for the past 15

i ECU, number one, becanse I
me why I attendeAmerican and Wwante :

he to bie si sibhehtion. this older,
well-known citizen, who also
appened to be African

say that he failed,miserably.
Yes, historically Black schools

tend to produce highly success-
ful Afrean me I am
very pro to be

AfricanAmerican and know that
my fellow brothers and sisters
are making things happen for
themselves. But that doesnTt
mean-!Tm limited. True, it may
be harder for me; I may hit some
roadblocks along the way, but |
AM going to reach my goals, no
matter what anybody says. So,
to all of the young Black
students who plan to attend
college, I say, oDonTt let anyone
stomp on your dreams. No
matter where you choose to go,
you can do anything you want to
do. DonTt let 7 can?T OR you
can?T be a part of your vocabu-
lary.?

ttacked
roject

years.

In 1999, while a federal judge
struck down a 1996 Federal
Election Commission lawsuit
against the Christian Coalition for
allegedly oaiding? Republican can-
didates by distributing partisan
voter guides to churchs, that same
judge did rule, according to The
Associated Press, othat the coalition
in 1994 improperly assisted then-
Rep. Newt Gingrich [R-GA] and
IranContra figure Oliver North,
then the GOP Senate nominee in
Virginia, and should pay a fine."

The Internal Revenue Service
later ruled that the religous organi-
zation was not entitled to tax-
exempt status as a result, causing it
to break up.

A year later, after announcing
teh formation of "People of Faith
2000" to register 10 million voters
in time for the presidential prima-
ries, "Moral Majority? leader Rev.
Jerry Falwell, after denying allega-
tions that he was trying to ensure
that a Republican took the White
House, later admitted to The
Associated Press, "You know and |
know that the churches and pastors
who allow me to assist them in this
effort probably are not connected
closely with Al Sharpton, Jesse
Jackson or Al Gore. That's reality.?

All three Falwell mentioned are
liberal Democrats.

"Conservatives are quite hypo-
critical." Rev. Barber told The
Wilmington " Journal. "Black
churches are conservative biblically,
but compassionate when it comes to
advocating for public policy. The
very nature of the Black pastor and
the Black church is not only to care
about the poor, the sick and the
powerless, but to challenge conser-
vatives to do more about poverty,
inadequate healthcare. a lack of
affordable housing.?

Barber told The Wilmington

Journal that a special 40-page voter
information booklet, detailing the
history, law, county-by-county voter
statistics, along with steps to start
nonpartisan voter education regis-
tration and get-out-to-vote pro-
grams, is being made available to
churches that are either part of the
ecumenical alliance, or would like
to join.

Ironically, the booklet is similar

in concept to one the conservative
Christian Coalition distributes.
The manual makes it clear, Barber
says, what churches can, and cannot
do. Political donations or endorse-
ments, for example, cannot be
directly given to any candidate for
office. Three more regional Black
minister summits are tentatively
scheduled to be held starting next
month in Kinston, Charlotte, and
down east.

For more information call Rev.
William Barber in Goldsboro at
919-735-9059.

* Local Coupons
w Free classifieds
*Currént Local Events

* Weekly Yard Sale posting

#Let us link you up-

# Local City & government Information
#Complete Searchable Business Directory
%* Did you know your business is here

Have you seen the Site everyone
is talking about ? -

www.greenville.net

=

Before vou know it. vear child will be ready for college. But will you be ready?
Now theres enew 324 phir that can help vour tamil, save for education expenses "

North Carolinas: National College Savings Program.

North CarolinaT National College Savings Program ts:

Accessible \inyone parcuts, grandparents. friends. even an organization " can save
toward the oll CE ¢ duc ation of someone thes Care about. And the benetician can
bean ave, froma newborn to an adult. You can even open an account for vourselt
H College is in vot fituire

Affordable You decide bow much to contribute and when. Make lump-sum
Contributions whenever vou want

oe Obsct up a monthly drat.

Comprehensive Choose trom
(Varley of investinent opuions,

from conser\ ative to more

AYYTESSIVG

Tax free \Ccount earnings are free from federal and North Carolina income taves

when the money is used to pav for qualified education expenses.

Flexible Use the money to pay expenses atany college anywhere in

the count

Nationally recognized Lhe National College Savings Program has received the
highest possible rating from oSavingforcollege.com,? a leading rating service for state

5249 plans

\lore information on North Carolinas National College Savings Program is available through
College Foundation of North Carolina, Callus toll-free or visit our website today to get

details and enrollment forms.

\moment of vour time now could make all the differengein vour child's future.

800-600-3453
www.CENC org/Savings

College #

Foundation
3 of North Carolina

Helping You Plan, Apply, and Pay for College

bbe Proves ond shall pat Consttete an atier te sell any raterests inthe Program: faterests in the (rage

Pi abst contiees gee at cats dden we
HDescrptin ind Parofhneet Wrecment See the Priggramt Deng raptisn far gamplety details

hog Woh tars ob a eettee! Prange

Porth Corba the State Pelicatien \seatance Autherty. Callous haundiation. ine or any im estaneat
othe potential laws a prise apal ts well as responsibility for federal and state tay consequentioes. Noonan ts
eth the PDTC ora governmental anit ar pen ate poean, and ayy bese vale,

heoNeat

(ly ave stite tl ty ices p at
Verve Parti tpennts ssi Woive st rg rt cask tea

vee ct tynak ahe quesaty cee ine

\ © Cabloge Faunduvem, tin 202







EVELOPMENT CORPORATION
PRESENTS ITS
13TH ANNUAL

MAY 3 - 4, 2002
ROCKY MOUNT,NC &

ae

THELONIOUS S. MONK JAzz FESTIVAL
FRIDAY, MAY 3
6 PM - 10 PM

Featuring T.S. Monk
The Winstons
Johnny White & the Elite Band

GOSPEL FESTIVAL

SATURDAY, MAY 4

12 Noon - 6 PM

Featuring F. C. Barnes
Gerald Hinton & the Redeemers
The Jones Sister
Otesha Creative Dance Ensemble
William Rigsby
Farine School of Dance

And More...

A Special Thanks to Our Cosponsors:
Centura Bank
City of Rocky Mount
Consolidated Diesel Company
Edgecombe County Cultural Arts Council
N.C. Arts Council
Sprint

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL 252-442-5178

HARAMBEE CULTURAL FESTIVAL

Tevis Harris and the Kwanzaa Choir

Games - Rides - Food - Arts & Crafts

ye conmunrry ||

sesiitiieiiaieamaais Suan iaiacenidaimasti

Have you seen the Site everyone
talking about ?

* Local Coupons
& Free classifieds
#C urrént Local Events
* Weekly Yard Sale posting
*Local City & government Information
* Complete Searchable Business Directory .
*& Did you know your business is here

* Let us link you up

www.greenville.net

oa

Pace Your Ad In The Minot Voice New paper

REUNIT

A

Over the years,
Holiday Inn Express has welcomed
more families than anyone else.
It's never too early to start making
plans for your next family reunion.

Come experience all the fun and
inviting accommodations that
Holiday Inn Express has to offer...
at a special family rate.

* Free continental breakfast
* Free local calls
* Kids stay free with parents

EXPRESST

909 Moye Bivd.
Greenville, NC

a aa)

GREENVILLE

Where generations come to gather.

* Meeting room
* Outdoor pool
* Jacuzzi suites

For reservations call
800-HOLIDAY
_ 252-754-8300

ae

GPU Puy We edsoy uy sag ay WV OFET Aor

Suejette Jones

A Lesson About Ministry

Mack Timberlake who died re-
cently at his home in Creedmor.
N.C. was know as one who
brought boldness to ministry.
Timberlake was known as the
founder of the Christian Faith
Center. He was an architect of a
new trend among black
Christians. He wanted to move
the church beyond denomination
and racial division. By taking a
small group of black Baptists, he
started what became one of the
most influential congregations on
the East Coast. His members
came from Raleigh, Durham,
Burlington, Greensboro,
Fayetteville, and Virginia. He
was loved for being bold enough

to follow his heart. Traditional
black Baptists feared him. They
feared the same thing happening
to their church. A charismatic
minister could persuade the mem-
bers to change the name of the
church, the denominational af-
filiation and the focus of the
ministry. What followed were
massive changes in the way
churches governed themselves,
protected themselves and went
about the business of selecting
leadership.

.. Christian

that the people were just vulner-
able, and being: suckered into

what oultimately was man-made

religion. But-Timberlake met a
need that wasnTt being addressed

-by those who stood in pulpits.

The people were needy. They
wanted something different.
Timberlake met them where they
were.

What is it that Timberlake saw?
He was able to break the mold of
traditional church leadership. He
redefined what it meant to be the
leader of God's people. The
people wanted strong leadership
what stood outside the safety
zone. They wanted a person who
would talk about the issues that
touched them day after day. They
had heard enough sermons about
the great life after death. They
wanted instructions to held them
deal with the reality of today.

Timberlake talked about family
and marriage. He helped people
figure out why they were having
problems in their marriages. They
discovered that other couples had
the same issues. They discovered
that it is appropriate for a person
to want to be blessed on Earth.
Black Christians have spent more
than 100 years singing songs
about life after death. It was time
to deal with life in the here and
now.

Mack Timberlake didnTt look like

the typical minister. He wore
flashy clothes and he shared
leadership with his wife. He
wasn't afraid to be himself. He
did things his way. His boldness
touched those fed up with busi-
ness as usual. Church had
become irrelevant. The people
weren't connecting to the mes-
sage or the work. The people
trusted Timberlake. He talked
about building God's kingdom on
Earth. They opened a school (300
students) because they didnTt trust
the public school system. He

~ members). Some pastors claimed

believed it is necessary to teach

In response to this need, he
opened a child development cen-
ter (35 children). Not:only is it
necessary to take care of the needs
of our youth, we need to provide
a place for our seniors. In
response, he opened a senior
citizens retirement center (28
older people in residence).

To get the message out he started
a televison broadcast. He did
everything first class. To assure
the best production possible, he
built a television studio. Many
were employed by the Christian
Faith Center. Not only did he talk
about the importance of economic
development, he did something
about it by creating work for those
within the church and in the
community.

Mack Timberlake will be missed.
Many loved him. Some feared
him. But he taught us a lesson
about ministry that will never be
forgotten. From an article by
Carl Kenney II

Note: The following quote was
taken from News and Observer
staff writer, Rah Bickley:

oTimberlake forged an interna-
tional

coalition of about 100 churches
with a

similar bent, and mentored hun-

dreds of
their pastors. He and his wife.
Brenda were

invited to come minister to their
churches all

over the United States, and in
Africa, Europe,

South America, Europe. South
America and the

Philippines?

Observing Black Press Week: Reflecting Black America's Goals

By Todd S. Burroughs

WASHINGTON (NNPA)--The black press in America was and is the growth of the movement for blacks
to define themselves, their purpose, their friends and their enemies.

In

The Shaping of Black America. The concept of a black America was starting to develop.

A newspaper was needed to link Africans in America together. The heart of \African
communication--the drum and the word, the voices of the villiage-needed to meet the technology
of the European-created printing press. hopefully with empowering results.

The black press was created to give black America's "founders" a unified voice to publicly
air their grievances, black press historians Clint C. Wilson II and the late Armistead Pride in
their book, 4 History of The Black Press, wrote about how blacks were viewed by the white
Northerners: "In all walks of life, free Negroes in the antebellum North were regulated to
positions of inferiority; they had their assigned places in society regardless of station or means.
The poverty stricken found themselves locked in a vicious cycle. Proof of their alleged unfitness
to associate with the rest of society lay in their confinement to mental occupations and their
lowly condition. Their lack of access to jobs, the ballot, even the schools and the churches,
deprived them of minimum needs to realize a measure of success."

A primary mission of Freedom's Journal was to add a black -controlled voice--and
perspective--to the largely white abolitionist movement. It also showed the world black

achievements and aspirations.

Freedom's Journal sought to counter the racial stereotypes of blacks presented by the The
New York Enquirer and its editor, Major Mordecai Menassah Noah, "Whatever mention the
editor made of the Negro usually came in the form of ridicule of diatribe,? wrote Wilson and
Pride. "As an example, soon after its founding, the paper carried an indecipherable, highly
unintelligible letter dubiously credited to Nigger Hannerbal' and his troo lub...Dina Hannerbal.""
One of the Enquirer's editorials, they wrote "cheered the news of the deaths of the balck
colonizers who were on their way to Liberia from Boston."

Russwurm and Cornish wrote letters to the paper protesting such treatment. The Enquirer
refused to print them. They created a newspaper so that their voices would never be silenced.
Freedom's Journal, Bennett writes, listed six priorities that last to the present day:

Defending the black image from attacks--.Economic development of

the black

community--.Black AmericaTs self-assertion--.Attaining civil and political rights--.Access to

equal education; and The creation ot an "African renaissance.

Announcing She Fenth Annual "Making Pitt's Babies Fit" Maternity Fair
A Health Fair fox New XK Expectant Parents

Join Us At The Greenville Hilton: | .
Sunday April 21, 2002
2:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Don't miss the opportunity to learn about numerous resources for parents and young chil-

FREE Admission
For more information, Call

Browse through exhibits

Register for door prizes

Visit the childrenTs corner

Have your child's car seat checked

413-1424 OR 413-1416

View the latest in maternity wear
Enjoy refreshments

Grand Door Prizes donated by the Greater Greenville Kiwanis
2002 Maternity Fair Sponsors:
Pitt Infant Mortality Prevention Advisory Council (PIMPAC), Pitt County Health Department Healthy Start; Nutrition, Health
Promotion, and Project ASSIST Programs; Pitt County Memorial Hospital; and North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service

¢* ¢ @ © @© @

Supported in part by project number 1H49 MC 00086-01 from the Healthy Start Initiative, Maternal and Child

Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services.

«







ame |

Aes 1s Api 12th 2002

Pictured from left to right are candidates for the next ele
ction, N
Roy Gray for North Carolina Senate, and Kathy Taff for Marth Caroling Sone Tarboro City Council,

photo by Jim Rouse

READ THE MINORITY VOICE NEWSPAPER

Shelly Willingham NC House of Representatives is shown at Edgecombe Dameeek Convention in
Rocky Mount along with other young brothers being apart of the Democratic process. The "M' Voice
newspapers salutes all the contributions of African American representatives.

Photo by Jim Rouse

SAAD RENTALS"

Call Steve Johnson If You Would Like To Rent A
1, 2, or 3 Bedroom Housing Unit

Real Estate .......

907 Dickinson Ave. Greenville, NC (252) 757 . 3191 Accepted

HYVVVYVVVVVYVVYVVYVYVY
pFROM TRE STUDIOS OF JOY 1340 AM WOO

* REGGIE PRICE AND THE GOSPEL MUSIC MIX PARTY: * :

3% FEATURES oo
. . AMOTHER'S DAY CELEBRATION |
: STARRING 3 ;

CANDE STATON
SATURDAY MAY 11, 2002
DOORS, OPEN @ 6PM
5 PROGRAM STARTS @ 7PM
q SO FEATURING...

Open 9 am 5 pm
Mon - Fri

EQUAL ridVIhG

VvTvuVvVvVvVvVvVvVYV

CARLTON WINFREE

BE BEE nasi i

3
a

, fr, fr, Li, Mi, A, Mr, , M, M, h, M, Mt, Me, Ml, Me, Mr, A,

| Kimbody Blount &
WILLIE J.DUPREE PURPOSE |:

PROGRESSIVE FWB CHURCH HOOKER RD. GREENVILLE
++ TICKETS $20/ADVANCED TICKETS $15 t
AVAILABLE @ PROGRESSIVE, FWB CHURCH & WOOW JOY i340
FOR MORE INFO CALL (252) 757-0365

; Sanday

PhbD*

by No, AD Department of
Mathematics .
Naim Akbar

Cofounder and chair of the Minority
Student. Coalition (1998)

Jeri Barnes

Homecoming queen (late 1970's)
Robert L. Beeman Il

Football player received the
University Award (1991)

Edwin Bell, DhD*

Chair of the, Department of
Educational Leadership &chool ol
Education

Andrew A. Best, MD*

Member of the ECU Board of
Trustces (1972)

Theresa Dierce Blount

Student in the Department of Home
Economics, Institutional Management
(1964-70)

Doris Bowden

Services tor the deal and hard ol
hearing

Delores R. Brown

National Student Exchange Program
coordinator

uellrey Bbrown*

Swim team member and member vi
the Colonial Athictic Association
championship team

(198387)

Rhonda Brown*

Immigration spec alist (1992)

Samucl! Douglas Bryan*

Graduate [rom the &chool of Allied.
Health Sciences (1970)
dheila Grant Bunch
One of three who organized the
first olficial black alumai galheri
which led to the Black Alumni
Chapter (1981)

Arlene Burke-Mor

Master of fine arts in ceramics (1983) Miss Last. Carolina University ,

Virginia ( arlton-Gaynor*
Oulatandit ng Resident Award t in
Jarvis Hall (1982) :
Female sr aduale of the Department
Of Dave Tology (1985)

Helped establish and became

pre: sident ol a student chapter of
the NAACP (1982)
Rachel Cherniet
Administrative secretary Ih isthe
dean's ctlice. School of Education
Dennis Chestnut, PhD*
Elecled to the dtudent Government
Association legislature

Chair of student judicial board
Outstanding Graduating denior
award in the Department of

a

doaciclogy (1969) a =
Head resident, adviser in Tyler tal u

(970)
ets cived a masterTs of arts in
chntcal pavchology
FOL eriduate to receive a PhD 5
tx li xraduate Lo be hired as a
lul-time facully member
President of the Organization of
Black Facully and &t all
John B. Clark*
Member of Phi Mu Alpha Fratemuity
Malthew Clark. PhD
Poconed a PAD trom the Brody
dchool of Medicine
Vincent Colbert *
Athicle in basketball and baseball
and prolessional athlete (1966-1968)
Nalalear Collins MD
One of two females to reccive an
MI) fram the ECU &chool of
Medicine
Tarrick ©. Cox
Direclor of the Legislators dchool
lor Youth Leadership Development
Carroll V. Dashiell Jr.*
Member of the music faculty (1989)
David Dennard
Member of the history department
| adc ull y
Renee Moore Duckentield
One ol the three whe organized
the first ollicial black alumni
gathering which led to the Black
Alumni Chapter (1981)
James Ebron (deceased)
Graduale student in chemistry
Kalina Eley
Bachelor of science in physician
ansistant (1999)
Laura Maric Leary Elliot!
fulltime undergraduate student
(1963)
Bachelor's degree in business
(1966)
dovee Evans
Female graduc aled {rom the
De parlment of Communication and
Broadcasting

Wanda Bennett,

Honored by the N.C. Occupational
Therapy Association

Executive board of the N.C.
Occupational Therapy Association
Administrator, Outpatient
Rehabilitation Services, Pitt County
Memorial Hospital

Karen Bethea-Shields

ECU graduate Lo become a judge
Theresa Pierce Blount

Clinical dictitian employed by
Wilson Memorial Hospital (1972)
Public health nutritionist employed
by Martin-Tyrell-Washington Dialrict
Health Center (19%)

Emel Fonville-Thompkins

Female principal in New Bem (1991)
Marcus Goodson

Housing authorily director of
Santord, NC.

"These rsts have been i
Individuals with additions

» progra
oBelly livermay

the ig orf

"Dea fecal

Bachelor of science in health

Member ol the tennis cue (1993)
Curtis Frye*

Assistant track coach-and assistant.
soccer coach (1974)

Cary Goelle* ,

Assistant football coach (1977-79)
Deborah Hall*

Position analyst. in the Department.
of Human Resources

Kenneth Hammond*

Senior Class preaident. (1972-73)
SCA secrelary of external allairs
(1972)

Professional stall member in the
Division of Student. Aflairs (1973)
Gloria B. Harrell*

Secretary in the Department. of
Communication and Broadcasling
(1990)

Mary Harris-Lunn*

Director of the Eastem Area Health
Education Center (2001)

Tony Harris

Member of Phi Sigma Pi honor
lraternity (1972)

Lilla Holsey = y

Gained tenure al ECU in home
economics (Schdot of Human
Environmental Services)

Cynthia dohnson*
MasictTs degrce program in the

OT aly f of Child = Sy ll
opind Family Relations (193) i.

Chait of the Departmen

(19)

°Mintie Johnsetehndéiscd

© oResident administrator for'women,
o Sudent bervices (1972) -

Tonja towel Jolly
called the homecoming ~

Female ute, ia the Department *
of me { Therapy
Darlene J. Keetnie, MD
Reccived the G.W. Kalmus
Scholarship (1982)
pmpicted the Neondll elo.
0998) ,

Jeanifcr ng a
Cound (1978) .

Shetylelta Williams Lares
Staff member in the JO

Male graduate. occupational Ihéfacy
8

Captain, of the Pure Gold Danosrs

QO8687) Gy ys

Valeria Olivitsflovetace, DhD*
W graduate-to serve oil el

Julius C.Nallettc wD

One of two males 1g adusic from

the ECU Shoo! of Medicine (1982)

Started the Office of Minorily

Allairs al the School of Medicine

Assistant dean for student affairs in

the &chool of Medicine

Senior associate dean, Brody

Schoal of Medicine (2001)

Annictle MallocksKeyes*

Adininistrative assistant in the

School of Computer Science and

Communication (2001)

Rev. Ronald Maxwell

Student Union presicent (1981-82)

Media Board chair (1981)

Linda McLamb-Gorham

Black homecoming queen (separate)

(1971)

Student worker for Chancellor Leo

W. Jenkins (1969-72)

Kathy Mcleod AllenT

Vareil y cheerleader (1971-73)

Charter member of the first. black

sorority, Della Sigma Thela, Kappa

Sigma Chapter, (1973)

Brenda Mills-Klutz, MD

One of two females lo receive MD

from ECU

Garric Moore, EdD*

Vice chancellor, Division of Student.

Lile

Clarence Morgdn?

Facully member in the &chool of Art

Coordinator of the painting and

drawing program

Pansie Hart. flood

ECU alumna to author and publish a
childrenTs book (2002)

Brenda K. Jones

Chair of the Beaufort. Counly
Hospital and the Beaufort Regional
Hospital Authorit:

Alyce Reed Hawkins

Interior deaign field (1983)

Eve Rogcra

TV talk show host-T er With
Eve on WNCT (1972-1976)

Ray Rogers

Banker in 8 Greenville NC.
Benjamin Eric &mith

Certified on-air meteorologist lor

~ WNCT TV 9 (1996)

Verita Altice Staton
remale officer, 1/330th Regiment.
84th Division (If), Army Reserves

, Dc ely tp a

(

One mer three who organized

first, official black ie
which ledilo the Black i

Chapler (1981)
Admissions roomier

ce Mourning Mitchell
Editor of the student union
newalelter, The Enicriaincr (1978)
Jerome A. Murdock
Chair of the homecoming commillec
(1996)
Emerging Leader Award (1996)
Naom Newlon*

- Charter meaiber ol Kappa digma

chapter of Della Sigma Theta
Sororily (1973)
Bachelor of science in medical
terminology (1975)
lon Oullerbridge*
Greck coordinator of the
lnterfratemily Council (2000)
Glenda Palmer-Moullrie
Member of the pom pom squad of
the Marching Pirates (1976-79)
Yvonne 1. Dicree
ECU Alumni Association
Distinguished Service Aw ard (1996)
dover? Dellis DhD*
English professor
Harticttc L. PowcellNichols
Graduate of the Department ol
biology (1970)
Sharon Pruitt, DAD
Art history teacher
Introduced courses on Alrican snd
African-American art
Encouraged Dr. James Lankton lo
donale the first African art.
collection lo ECU
» Harold Randolph*

« Linebacker lo make the mast. tackles
ECU history: still holds the record

OTATI
James E. Reid, MD

One of two males Lo gradual Irom
the ECU &chool of Medicine (1982)

». Waltes, Rhodes (deceased)

6e of ROTC program and

MERON drill team (1963)

ference Roberson*

Gtadent in deal /hard of hearing
odervicesT

dady G. Rodgcrs*

rail lulHime employee in the
rLucnt of Theatre and Dance

)-

OlliceT caseistant Vv fn Medical
th Information
Syatetis/ Services) (200!)
Willie, Setile*

¢ in physical therapy (1974)
we Spealt PhbD* .
Chair bi the Department o!
oCemmaclor and Adult. Education in
the Schoo! of Edie ation

Male graduate of the Department ol

Dh E gra o

Robin Yolanda Taylor. MD*

Isducted to Alpha Omega Alpha

honor society in the Sheol ol

Medicine

Bennic Earl Tecl (deceased)

First male acmittcd lo FOU

Manas edilur ol the Easl

Carolinian

Member of the Men's Glee Club

Rosie Thompson*

Leading career scorer and

rebounder in ECU basketball history

(men or women)

Female to have her basketball

jetscy eclired (1980)

Female lo be named to the ECU

Athletics Hall of Fame (1990)

tlead coach of women's basketball

(1992-%)

Anne Tillman*

Administralive assistant. in admissions

Jellrey Warren

Record lor most tackles in a single

scason (1980)

Reginald Watson, PhL)*

Male on tenure Lrack in the

Deparlinent of English

George Whitley*

foolball player (1963-70)

Mary Williams*

facull y librarian (1970)

Grace Whitley-fdwards

Reaidence hall resident (196)

Kerold Woods

Degrees in Communication Sciences

and Disordcrs (BS 1995, MS 1997)

Ledonia Wright*

Department bears her name, the
Ledonia Wright Cullural Center

Evelyn Sweall-Dawaon
Director, Halifax, County
Department of Social Services
Norris Kirk Taylor

Male kindergarten Leacher in
North Carolina

Jamic A. While

Established a preschool al. a
predominantly while church
Teacher al friendship Chrialian
&chool and Ravenscroll. seal
in Raleigh

Robert. White

Alumnus to become a lawyer
Johnnie Lee Williams, MD

ECU unde: lo feceive an
MD from Howard University

verified as of January 15, 2002. The list is a work in

rther i

Hise about thooe alrendy on the liek heed

contact the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center at wool. ecu.edu.







April 1st - April 12th 2002

cono Palace

?,?

=
~
o
=
~

Trip To





April 1st - April 12th 2092

Spiritual
Warfare: The
Battle

Greetings,

We are in a spiri-
tual battle, a spiri-
tual war, a
spiritual fight, a
spiritual wrestling
match, a spiritual
struggle?

THEREFORE
ENDURE
HARDNESS (or
hardship), AS A
GOOD SOLDIER
OF JESUS CHRIST
NO MAN THAT WARRETH ENTANGLETH
HIMSELF WITH THE AFFAIRS OF THIS LIFE (or
civilian affairs), THAT HE MAY PLEASE HIM WHO
HATH CHOSEN HIM TO BE A SOLDIER--2 Tim
23,4 Asa follower of Jesus Christ, you are in a war
That war is against Satan It is against the forces of
darkness

Dr. George Hawkins

on Satan's side, the Lord may deal with us to get us
to repent If we are on the Lord's side, Satan tries to
cause us to fall, as the SOW THAT WAS
WASHED returned TO HER WALLOWING IN THE
MIRE--2 Peter 222 Do not underestimate Satan
and his powers to deceive. As it 1s written, BE
SOBER, BE VIGILANT (be on your guard, be alert),
BECAUSE YOUR ADVERSARY THE DEVIL, AS
A ROARING LION, WALKETH ABOUT, SEEKING
WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR--! Peter 58
Do not underestimate Satan and his powers
of deception, His ability to put obstacles in your path
is great He deceives some that are going to hell into
believing there 1s no hope. He also deceives others
that are going to hell into believing they are really
going to heaven Those that are saved, Satan often
tries to deceive them into thinking they are not
An army that 1s going to war that teaches

5 nothing but victory, health, and success will lose the
i war An army that 1s prepared for the battle wi!l win
The army needs to know about the enemy, they need
to know who the enemy is. The army needs to know

Say So a ee

VOTE FOR

NC HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - DISTRICT 8

Committee to Flec! hm Rouse PO Box 8361, Greenville NC 27835
ph (252) 787-0365 bax (252) 757 1793
ard for by the commiutiee to elect am Rouse to the NC House of Representotves

|

So, ina

ict

Spiritual Reflections.

how the enemy will attack and what weapons he
will attack with. The-army needs to know when
the enemy will attack and where, and to be ready
at all times. The army needs to know, if they
get wounded, what they must do to get free.
The army must know what weapons they have
available and how to use them. This comes
from first being trained, then practice, and
finally engaging the enemy, and on to victory.
All facets of warfare must be taught and

- practiced, lest the enemy gain an advantage and

win the war. We need to know who the enemy
is and all there is to know about him, his tactics,
and his capabilities. We also need to know our
own weapons and capabilities. We need to
know the consequences of surrender to the
enemy. We need to know when to use our
weapons and when not to. We need to be ever
vigilant, for our enemy the devil goes about as
a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour or
conquer

A person that is never taught about the
battle he 1s in will probably lose. A person that
is taught nothing but victory, success, health,
and prosperity will go forth with great zeal but
little knowledge. He will be unprepared for the
onslaught of the enemy. You may go forth with

This battle never ends until we die. If we are the most advanced and powerful weapons, but

these are of little value, if the enemy success-
fully sneaks up behind you and takes you by
surprise. , This 1s exactly what the enemy 1s
planning to do

Jesus had the victory, but do you? Will
you hold firm to the end, or will you fall into
Satan's cunning deceit working in your mind?
Will you be defeated and never realize it till the
judgment? Beware, lest it happen so slowly that
you never recognize you are backsliding
THROUGH KNOWLEDGE SHALL THE JUST
BE DELIVERED--Proverbs 11.9 "MY
PEOPLE" ARE GONE INTO CAPTIVITY,
BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO
KNOWLEDGE ..THEREFORE HELL HATH
ENLARGED HERSELF--Isatah 5 13,14

Beware. Satan will try to keep you
from reading your Bible, as it 1s your spiritual
warfare instruction manual It covers every-
hing you need to know. Read it. study it, hear
it, meditate on it, and obey it

VOTE FOR

JIM ROUSE JIM ROUSE

NC HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - DISTRICT 8

Committee to Elect im Rouse PO Box 836), Greermille NC 27835
ph (252) 757-0365 fax (252) 757 1793
Pord for by the committee to elec! hm Rouse to the NC House of Representatives

|

Dreamers are part of our electric co-op.

Inside where itTs warm and safe, dreams take shape.

sense, the products and services we deliver could power your wildest dreams.

North Carolina's
electric cooperatives

" buhstore Eccry oe

LOCAL WOMAN TAKES TOP POST
by Ginger Livingston - The Daily Reflector

It was a sight that turned driversT heads all along NC 43--a dozen matching red Pontiacs traveling caravan
stvle with a few Cadillacs, painted an unmistakable shade of pearlized pink

The drivers were Mary Kay sales consultants and directors on their way to honor the woman who brought
them into one of the nation's most successful cosmetic companies |

Greenville's Ann Brown 1s one of the most successful saleswomen in that company She recently earned
a national sales directorship and 1s the 11th black woman nationwide to reach that position and the first
from North Carolina to do so. She has been with company 21 years. |

"When I had the decision to be a national, | decided I would be a role model, and I cant walk around
scared." she said. "I love America--the idea you can start with nothing and work your way up

As a national director, Brown will serve as the voice of the company's founder, Mary Kay Ash, who died
Nov. 22, 2001. She'll train consultants and help design policy ;

A person has to recruit 18 directors and meet certain milestones to become a national sales director, she
said. Brown works with 35 directors in North Carolina, Texas and Maryland.

More than 170 women worldwide have attained National Sales Director status
Mary Kay beauty consultants and sales directors in 35 countries . .

Recently, a film crew from Mary Kay corporate offices spent two days documenting Brown's routine
The video will be shown when she is formally introduced during the companyTs national seminar in Dallas
in July. During filming, 25 of the 35 directors Brown supports gathered at Rock Springs Center to display

There are about 750.000

- their red Pontiacs and signature Cadillacs

The crew also filmed Brown speaking at a new consultants training session, with her family

Only 5%
Of Cardiac
Arrest Victims

Survive.

Bo,

Be : - ak ae i Be

So when you give him the wheel,
trust me, your State Farm agent,

ariu CD and
with your car insurance. Early CPR and

defibrillation can help
Bill McDonald, Agent

2710 E 10th Street increase survival rates.
Greenville, NC
252-752-6680

STATE FARM

LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBOR, STATE FARM IS THERES
statefarm.com*

STATE Faihid MUTUAL AUTTORROBELE HESURARCE COMPANY inet 9 M/'« Homme Qithoe Biemengen, Mhmets

INSURANCE

Have you seen the Site everyone
is talking about ?

*Local Coupons WWW.g reenville.net

* Pree classifieds
*C urr?,?nt Local Events

* Weekly Yard Sale posting
*Local City & government Information
* Complete Searchable Business Directory
*Did you know your business is here
Whet us link you up







~~ Vote For...

House Seat
District #8

PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO ELECT JIM ROUSE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE, DIST. # 8

+t hte SO OF

_ 201 Carolina East Mall
- Heel/Sew Greenville. NC 27834
a 1-252-756-0044

32) 2-

25
Fax 1-252-758-0139

© FOOTWEAR CLINIC

Quality Shoe Repair While You Wait!
Half Soles, Full Soles, Heel Replacement,

Shoe Shine, Factory Shines, Dye Work, Marvin Staten
Complete Line of Shoe Care Products, Shelly Staten
We Clean Timberlands & Suede Boots
(Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10 am - 8 pm)

Ask about our 1 Year Shoe Shine Card

Owners

a 201 Carolina East Mall
Sf Heel/Sew Greenville, NC 27834
- 1-252-756-0044

" 252-758-0139

2 Fax 1-2
FOOTWEAR CLINIC

Quality Shoe Repair While You Wait!
Half Soles, Full Soles, Heel Replacement,
Shoe Shine, Factory Shines, Dye Work,
Complete Line of Shoe Care Products,

We Clean Timberlands & Suede Boots
(Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10 am - 8 pm)

Ask about our I Year Shoe Shine Card

Marvin Staten
Shelly Staten
Owners

@ the REAL Circus!

Trapeze Stars! Clowns!
High Wire! Ponies! Amazing House Cats!
The Human Cannonball! The Wheel of Wonder!
Elephant Rides On the Midway One Hour Before Showtime!

APRIL 10 & 11, 2002 AT THE COLONIAL
MALL, GREENVILLE, NC.

On Showdays. Tickets On Sale At Ticket Wagon On Circus Midway

¢ KID'S TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE AT:

TICKETS ON SALE IN ADVANCE AT: BUY IN ADVANCE - SAVE $2 OFF
SHOWDAY RESERVED SEAT TICKET PRICE!

ADVANCE SALE PRICES:
ADULTS $14 KIDS/SENIORS $9

¥

at the

=

sx Color the Circus Elephant
PE ips! and get in...

WIDE

"yr ye COMING TO www

APRIL 10 & 11, 2002 AT
THE COLONIAL MALL,
GREENVILLE, NC
STARTS AT 7:30 PM

ius

Exchange this colored page
for one FREE ChildTs General
Admission
Each child must be accompanied

by a paid adult.







Api Ist- April 12th 2002

From The Des

To the editor,

oNo investigation. No
right to speak.? (Confucius)

Very often we find our-
selves in conversation of the ohe
said, she said? variety. We may
not know the parties involved or
we may have heard some other
version of the same story from
another source. The sad thing is
we use this information as the
basis for our opinions and interac-
tions with the people uninvolved.
ThereTs an old African saving.
oEars donTt pass head,? which
means we should never let what
goes into our ears override good
common sense. Common sense

tells us we should accept people
for who they are based on our
individual experience with them.
All too often the side of the story
that is not told is the other
person's side. It is in our best
interests to give everyone a fair
start, regardless of what we have
heard about him or her. We
should make our own mental

o| am willing to give everyone a

Women of Distinction

These women in
Sycamore Hill Baptist Church
were cited by Beatrice Maye,
Chairperson, Courtesy
Committee, worthy of extolling
during WomenTs History month,
Sunday, March 10, 2002: Vernida
Bowman, Rosa Bradley, Dr. Hazel
Brown, Dr. Janet Bullock, Dede
Carney, Patricia Clark, Carolyn
Ferebee | Edwards, _"_ Shirley
Carraway-Folks, Majorie Gatlin,
Vina Hassell, Ella Harris, Dr.
Mable Lang, and Dr. Monica
Diane Weathers.

Looking for Decent Men

You'll not find them in
bars, but look for the man who
teaches in Sunday School. who
serves dinner at the homeless
shelter, who's at the gym three
afternoons. who love to read and
can be often found at the book-
stores or library. If available,
women, look in the
right places. Now, if they don't
tind you, they will at least be
attending church. helping " the
homeless, getting exercise, ex-

panding their minds and staying
out of the bars.

William Bennett in his
book, The Book of Virtue. states
his Ten Universal Values: Self-
discipline. compassion, responsi-
bility. friendship, work. courage.
perservance, honesty. faith and
loyalty,

inventory; identify any negative
experiences we have had. If there
are none, we should commit
ourselves to be open and deal
with people as they deal with us.

Six Pillars of Character

Lawsuit filed on
behalf of detainees

Civil liberties advocates and three
publications in New Jersey have filed
a lawsuit secking a ban on secret hear-
ings for people detained following
Sept. I] attacks. The lawsuit, which
challenges the unprecedented secrecy,
was filed by the Newark chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union, the
New York-based Center for Constitu-
tional Rights on behalf of New Jersey
Law Journal and North Jersey Media ye
Group, publisher of The Record of ff

| Hackensack and the Herald News of
West Paterson. Laywers say journalists
from the publications were barred from
courtrooms where the fate of detain-
ees was decided.

Hundreds of detainees have been let
20 since the attack and 326 people re-
main in custody as part of a terrorism
investigation launched after Sept. 11,
the Justice Department said. The civil
liberties advocates argue the public is
skeptical of secret trials and what hap-
pens in court belongs to the public.

Miami-Dade police under
investigation

A decision about whether Miami-
Dade police should undergo a full in-
vestigation will be decided in three
months, a Justice Department official
said March 8. Driscoll, deputy assis-
tant attorney general for the Justice
Department's Civil Rights Division,
announced the inquiry at a hearing
sponsored by a Black congressman.
Rep. Carrie Meek (D-Fla.) convened
the hearing. She was,disturbed by sev-
eral police shootings of young men. Rob and Grace Priest came to
minorities over the past year. Greenville! last summer from

At the hearing, advocates for the Asheville where they were very
community, lawyers for the victimsT active in several ministries and
families and civil rights called for fun full time students at the commu-
nity college there. They worked,
individually, with children, ado-

enta lescents, the homeless, and the
Mentally lll man given addicted through a motorcycle

life sentence ministry, a rescue mission, and a

_A Seattle jury couldn't decide to diverse, iriner-city church, the
give Kevin Cruz, a paranoid Body of Christ. They believe they
shizophrenic, the death penalty"in- were called to Greenville to attend

investigation of the police department,

stead he will serve a life sentence with- the School of Social Work at ECU ,

out parole for allegedly killing two and gain the credentials that
people and wounding two others at the would allow them to take their
Northlake Shipyard. _ ministries to a higher level.

The 32-year-old manTs lawyer be- ' Here, in Greenville, the
lieves an incoherent, rambling state- Priests are members of Faith and
ment Mr. Cruz gave kepthim off death Victory Church and are both
row. The disjointed speech gave the tive in the Recovery Ministry.
jury a chance to see the extent of Mr, , is also in the Men's

, oHess o., Leadership Ministry. Grace is a
(CruzTs mental illness, the attorney said. member of the Pitt County

- Literacy Council and both serve
TUESDAYS FROMS-10AM = 9), committees in the Student

MISS MINNIE & QUEST § Minority Coalition at ECU.
VARIOUS TOPICS Both have a long history

of drinking and drugging, but are
JOY IRAIDI

four years clean and sober now.
Rob and Grace attribute their
1340 AIM

OE Pee ee ee re

recovery to "the grace of God and
the healing powers of Christ."
They say their experiences of
addiction and recovery are the
inspiration for their desire to serve
humankind, "The miracle of God
working in my life set me on fire
to share these gifts with people

Rob and Grace Priest

Of Beatie Maye

1. Trustworthy (honest,
promise-keeper, loyal, has integ-
rity)

2. Treat people with

respect (courteous, nonviolent,

non-prejudiced, accepting)
Responsible

(accountable, pursues excellence,

self-restraint)

. 4. Fair (just, equitable,

open, reasonable, unbiased)

5. Caring (kind
compassionate, empathic. unsel-
fish), and

6. A good citizen
(law-abiding, community servant,
protective of environment)

Confucius, Book of
Rites:

Miss Oceola McCarty,
the humble washerwoman who
became the university of southern
Mississippi most famous benefac-
tor, passed away September 26.
1999, after a bout with cancer.

Southern Mississippi has
appreciated hearing from persons
around the nation who inspired by
oThe Gift? offered by Miss
McCarty.

Stephanie Bullock of
Hattiesburg received the
scholarship.

first

Not willing to travel by
air at the beginning of the
activites surrounding her gift.
Miss McCartyTs early travel was
by Amtrak train.

The value of hard work
and a saving ethic gives rewards
is the lesson she leaves.

who are in need," says Rob.
Grace adds, "I felt as low as a
person could go. I had no hope
and no will to live. If God can lift
me above that, everyone can be
saved."

When asked about race
relations in the area, Grace said,
"Discrimination is not as obvious
as it once was. So many are lulled
into believing that there is equal-
ity among races. Successful
African Americans are often com-
placent and Caucasians usually
will not recognize covert racism
without " education. White
privilige is so taken for granted
that we cannot see it without
help.? Rob emphasizes, "Talking
about such things make every-
body uncomfortable and we are
conditioned to believe that it's
rude to make other people uncom-
fortable, so no one wants to talk
about white privilige or minority
oppression. We've got to be open
and honest with each other and
talk about this stuff or it won't get
any better. If you don't know, ask.
If someone says something offen-
sive, let them know and explain
why."

This couple believes, that
"making the world a better place
is all our business. Anyone who
is a positive influence on just one
other person has the potential to
change the course of history."

Terry Vines is shown with his wife, mother-in-law and supporters. Mr. Vines is running

for the Sheriff of Pitt County.

photo by Jim Rouse

meine

" GEFF CON

Phone (252) 355-7100
Fax (252) 355-3978

a]

|

IF YOU NEED A LOAN FOR
HOLIDAY
EXPENSES,AUTOMOBILE
DOWN PAYMENT OR
HOME REPAIRS - COME
SEE JEFF COX IF IT CAN
BE DONE, JEFF CAN DO IT

3005 S. Memorial Drive
Greenville, N,C, 27834

1414. W. 14h Servet

(252) 757-3921

Al's Barber Shop

ew,
. Mon.-Thurs. 8:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
ae Fri. & Sat. 8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m

"Keeps your hair looking good"

SATURDAYS FROM 6 - 10 AM
LATIN MUSIC WITH

JAVIER CASTILLO

OLDEST LATIN SHOW IN PITT CO.

THE
MINORITY
VOICE

Hours:

Storytellers are part of our electric co-op.

Whether the day is beginning or drawing to a close, our story, '» the same.
We're there with the power you need. The end.

North Carolina's
electric cooperatives

Touchstone EnergyT







April 1st- April 12th 2002.

A Beautiful Face to see at St. Luke Credit Union in Williamston,
NC is Kathleen Askew Springs.

Shown above is Randy Warren Commissioner of the Jackie
Robinson Baseball Leaque.Mr. Warren invites all the young
brothers to join the team. Children that participate in sports
seem to do better in academics.

Pictured above is Henry Williams, N.C, Senate Candidate. He
wants fo remind everyone to get out and exercise their right to
vote in the next election.

ge

a

Q
OK

syz. Ske. sl...
AIS AIS As

9
Sef. we. wz. .

e@c
(

AIS

=)

ft
|}
SV

if}

gy |

SAV

3@E
nS
YW

ek.

Orr

ee

Rm a
QZ Qe?
3@ ?,? 3
OS ANS POS
U

« ee Be tS te. Z
ie Ee es ht ee fe

United States, especially in the South, that in 1921 Repre-
sentative L. C. Dyer of Missouri introduced a bill in the
House of Representatives to make lynching a federal crime.

Dyer acted out of conscience but also at the strong behest of
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo-
ple.

The bill passed the House, but Southerners in the Senate or-
ganized a filibuster that prevented a vote, resulting in the
measureTs failure and leaving the states to deal with the
lynching problem. Although the number of lynchings had de-
clined from 64 in 1921 to 57 in 1922, the record was not a
source of pride.

In the year just ended, 51 of the victims were Black and six
were White. Texas led the nation with 18. It was followed by
Georgia, 11; Mississippi, nine; Florida, five; Arkansas, five;
Louisiana, three; Alabama, two; Tennessee, two; Oklahoma,
one; and South Carolina, one.

It is doubtful that the handful of residents in Rosewood, Fla..
ever read those statistics. Yet its citizens would be victims of
racial violence in 1923 and several would be murdered.

In the first week of January, Rosewood was the center of what
became known variously as a riot, a massacre, and a race war;
a small hamlet of 25 or 30 families in Levy County. Rosewood
was largely populated by Blacks.

Elsie Collins Campbell, a White woman of nearby Cedar
Key, once lived at Rosewood, and was about three years old at
the time of the disturbance. She remembered the village as one
of green forests.

This view is shared universally by Blacks and Whites when
they describe the communityTs dominant features.

Population estimates of the settlement nestled along the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad vary, but none of them place it as
being large.

Rosewood and nearby Sumner constituted a precinct of 307
people in 1910 (158 Whites, 128 Blacks, and 21 Mulattues); by
1920 the population had more than doubled to 638, except now
Blacks were a majority with 24% peuple, while Whive resicesiis
numbered 294.

The Rosewood voting precinct in 1920 had 355 African
Americans.

Rosewood is located nine miles east of Cedar Key in western
Levy County which was established March 10, 1845. What be-
came the village of Rosewood"section 29, township 14 south:
range 24 east " was first surveyed in 1847,

By 1855 seven homesteads were strung out along a dirt trail
leading to Cedar Key and the Gulf of Mexico. The Florida Rail-
road connecting Cedar Key with Fernandina opened in 1861.
Rosewood took its name from the abundant red cedar that grew
in the area.

By 1870 the market value of cedar and the commercial pro-
duction of oranges, as well as vegetable farming and limited
cotton cultivation, justified a railroad station and small depot at
Rosewood.

The cedar was cut in the Rosewood vicinity, shipped by rail
to Cedar Key on the Seaboard Airline Railway, which had re-
placed the Florida Railroad, and processed there at two large in-
ternational pencil mills. The finished timber was then sent by
boats to New York factories and fashioned into lead pencils.

Prosperity meant the establishment of a post office and a vot-
ing precinct in 1870. Black and White families moved in, and
although the hamlet became a small village, Rosewood was
never incorporated.

The county opened a school for Whites, and soon a privately
owned hotel for Whites began registering guests. Whites estab-
lished a Methodist church in 1878, and Blacks followed in 1883
with their own African Methodist Episcopal church.

By 1890 the red cedar had been cut out, forcing the closing of
the pencil mills at Cedar Key. The community had a Black ma-
jority by 1900, as White families moved out, leasing or selling
their land to Blacks. The post office and school closed, relocat-
ing to the site of a new cypress mill that opened in Sumner, a
village three miles west of Rosewood.

But Rosewood survived. Some of its male residents obtained
work at the large saw mill in Sumner; a number of RosewoodTs
Black women worked at Sumner as part-time domestics for
White families. Some men worked at a turpentine still located
at Wylly, a small settlement one mile to the east. Other Rose-
wood Blacks worked for the Black-owned M. Goins & Broth-
ersT Naval stores company in Rosewood.

The company prospered by distilling turpentine and rosin ob-
tained from the large tracts of pine trees growing nearby.

Housing for some laborers was in RosewoodTs oGoins Quar-
ters,? and at its peak the Goins brothersT operation owned or
leased several thousand acres of land. Other African Americans
made their living by small scale farming and by trapping in the
vast Gulf Hammock that surrounded the area. Gulf Hammock
was also the name of a village six miles south of Rosewood.

Although some Whites moved away, others remained so that
Rosewood was never exclusively a Black settlement. The vil-
lageTs largest total population was seven hundred in 1915; in

1923 Blacks made up the majority.

Facing a number of law suits from competing White firms
over land rights, the Goins family terminated their operations,
and by 1916 had removed to Gainesville in adjoining Alachua
County.

Even so, Rosewood maintained its sense of community. A
number of Black owned businesses continued to operate. There
was a general store owned by a White family and another by a
Black family. ;

One Black operated a sugar mill. Blacks organized a private
school and hired Mrs. Mullah Brown as the teacher. The com-
munity baseball team, the Rosewood Stars, had their own play-
ing field (near the depot) and played home games against teams
in Levy and surrounding counties.

In 1920 Rosewood had three churches, a train station, a large
one-room Black masonic hall, and a Black school. There were
several unpainted plank wood two-story homes and perhaps a
dozen two-room homes that often included a lean-to or a half-
roofed room.

There were also a number of small one-room shanties, some
of them unoccupied.

[i the early 1920, lynching had become so common in the

The only surviving photograph of a burning home in Rosewood during the massacre.

* a : 8
: = in :
; % Fae 8 a . +. .
wa i Ne ett ace 8, ph ym

The events that culminated in the Rosewood affair began on
the morning of January 1, 1923, at Sumner. the neighboring saw
-mill village.

Residents would remember the winter as one of the coldest
on record. Frances ("Fannie") Taylor, a 22-vear-old married
woman, whose husband James Taylor (30) had gone to work at
Cummer and Sons sawmill at Sumner, was home alone.

Fred Kirkland and Elmer Johnson, two Whites who were
young men in 1923, remembered 70 years later that TavlorTs job
at the mill required him to oil the equipment before the other
workers arrived. It was his habit, once he got the mill started. to
return home for breakfast.

Deed records do not indicate that the Taylors owned proper-
tv in Sumner. Their residence, said to have been surrounded by
a picket fence.

According to several versions of events. a Black male came
on foot to Tavlor house that morning and knocked. When Fan-
nie opened the door the man proceeded to oassault? her.

From most White accounts the alleged intruder did not
consummate the act of rape, although he beat her about the
head and face. Some versions of the event claimed that she
was both raped and robbed. Fannie Taylor's cries for help
attracted the attention of neighbors, and her assailant fled,
supposedly headed south for Gulf Hammock, a dense ex-
panse of swamps covered with jungle-growth vines, palmet-
toes, and forests. /

Although Fannie Taylor was not seriously injured and was
able to describe what happened, the shock of the alleged assault
rendered her unconscious for several hours.

Because no one ever disputed that some kind of physical at-
tack took place, the incident was never referred to as an oal-
leged attack.?

The White community Was practically unanimous in its belief
that the man who assaulted Fanmie Taylor was Black. That view
has been challenged in contemporary accounts, and a number of
Blacks whose families were involved in the trouble disagree
with the White version of events.
bee Rives Shes OV efi Was a abil aveae fond tee
mith birthday when the attack occurred. lived in Rosewood
with her father John Wesley Bradley and her brothers and sis-
ters in 1923. She was the seventh of 9 children: Hovt, Kellie.
Bradley, Donarie, Marion, Sylvester, Ivuty Lee (herself), Wes-
ley James, and Clift. Virginia Bradley, her mother, was dead.

Davis based her account on stories told to her by her father
(who was involved in the week's events). by her grandmother
Sarah Carrier, her cousin Philomena Carrier, by other princi
pals, and by her own memory.

According to Davis, it was a White man who visited Fannie
Taylor that New YearTs morning. Never identified by name, he
supposedly worked for the Sea Board Air Line railroad. He got
off the train and was seen entering the Tavlor house by Sarah
Carrier and her granddaughter Philomena.

Sarah Carrier was emploved by Fannie Taylor on a weekly
basis to do her washing and ironing.

That morning the woman and the young girl had, as usual.
walked from Rosewood and arrived at the same time that the
White man entered the Taylor house.

The White visitor reportedly remained a while, reemerged,
and left sometime before twelve o'clock. It is not known if
James Taylor came home for breakfast, but about noon he re-
turned home (perhaps for lunch) and his wife told him that a
Black man had assaulted her.

Fannie TaylorTs version of the assault was the one accepted
by the White community of Sumner. and the news spread rapid-
ly.

Soon a posse under the direction of Levy County's Sheriff
Robert Elias Walker, popularly known as Bob, was formed to
search for the unidentified felon. Walker was a longtime Levy
County resident.

According to the Jampa Morning Tribune, oThe entire coun-
ty is aroused, and virtually every able bodied man has joined in
the search.?

Sheriff Walker obtained a pack of bloodhounds from Captain
H. H. Henderson at Convict Camp Number 17, Fort White, near
High Springs in neighboring Alachua County. There is some ev-
idence that the manhunt was begun before the dogs arrived, and
that the posse used a single dog initially.

Although the lawman headed a deputized posse, the search
was soon joined by numerous other men who converged from
several locales.

By Tuesday night a crowd estimated at between 400 and 500
people combed the woods. It was logistically difficult, if not im-
possible, for all of them to be sworn in as deputies.

Many of the men were, in fact. independent agents who
formed their own search parties and pursued their own extra-le-
gal objectives.

Jason McElveen, a White resident of Sumner, would remem-
ber Sheriff Walker's concern. He told McElveen, oI donTt know
what to do.? The lawman added, othis crowd wants blood, and
they [are] going to have blood.?

McElveen told the sheriff, oBob, keep them [the posses] out
of the colored quarters in the mill [at Sumner]....We knew if we
could keep them niggers in the mill we could keep them
straight, but we knew if we let them out of there the farmers
[White posse members] would get them.?

The assault on Fannie Taylor and the search for the Black
man who she accused of committing the crime were the initial
incidents in the story of the Rosewood tragedy.

What happened in the week of January 1-8, was reported
across the state and nation by the Associated Press (AP).

The accounts went out by telegram and telephone to various
towns and cities where they were picked up and edited further
to fit space and local interest needs. Beyond the AP dispatches,
a number of newspapers reacted editorially.

Besides the AP's coverage, the Chicago Defender, ran an ac-
count authored by Eugene Brown, and another unsigned story
was used by a Black newspaper, the St. Louis Argus. Presum-
ably both reporters were Black. Their versions of events were at
odds with those of the AP. :

:o@

°

nein cee







shila

Shonice Pettaway
Shonice Pettaway, age nine, is
the daughter of Jerome and
Patrena Pettaway, born on
June 21, 1992. She enjoys
basketball. singing, playing
the piano, and doing hair. Her
father, Mr. Jerome Pettaway is
employed at Collins &
Aikman as a mechanic, where
he was worked for 23 years
Her mother, Mrs. Patrena
Pettaway is self-employed.
She has been the owner and
Operator of New Image
Beauty Salon for 13 years.
Shonice is a fourth-grader at
West Greene Elementary in
Snow Hill where she is taking
Academically Gifted subjects
this year. She has been a
straight A and B student since
kindergarten. Her future plans
are to become a cosmetologist
like her mom, and a profes-
sional basketball player. Miss
Pettaway is a faithful member
of the Junior choir at St. Rose
Church of Christ. where she
attends diligently. She hopes
to become the musician for
her choir or one of the other

choirs of the church in the
near future. We honor
Shonice Pettaway for her
achievements and say to her,
"Keep up the good work!
Continue to be a light to every
one you meet.?

Faith May

MAN'S NEED TO WORSHIP

Man was Created in the image
of God, anu for His pleasure we
were created (see Revelation
4:11). By virtue of man's
disobedience to God, man's
flesh became the governor of the
spirit and soul of man.
However, the spirit of man cries
out to be restored to God.
Although man tell in the garden,
there still remained an innate
need for man to worship be-
cause the spirit of man is from
God. Yet when we fail to
acknowledge God, we remain
ina fallen state. The cries of the
soul and the need to worship,
love, and adore the true and
living God become more faint.
The tlesh then becomes of more
importance than anything else.
Pleasing the flesh seems the
natural thing to do. Pretty soon

you no longer hear of recognize
the cries of your soul as a need
for God. However, the need of
the soul to worship still remains.
The spirit of man desires that
which is true and honest and of
good report. A perfect example
of this is the lie detector test.
This test actually monitors the
spirit, the conscious of man.
When the truth is told, there is:
no adverse response. Yet when
a lie is told, the spirit, or
conscious of man, responds in a
different way. The spirit or
conscious of the man who has
not been completely darkened
or hardened by sin will give
warnings signals within (show
remorse) when a lie is told.

Christine Fitch is running for a congressional seat for the

U.S. House of Representatives

bas ood, a beautiful lady and a
Dorothy Norw at Progressive

red here in concert
Puasday March 19th 2002.

Photo by Jim Rouse

Photo by Jim Rouse

Christ. (
may be met, but if the worship
is not to the one true God, then
the soul is still unfulfilled and

a

vis een

- The devil knows that even in
manTs fallen state, within his soul

« there is still a need, a hunger,

and a longing for God. So the
devil magnifies the needs of the
flesh so as to keep you from
filling the need within your spirit
to worship God. He tries to
harden the soul of man to the
cry of his spirit and his need and
desire for God. Without God's
Spirit, we can't even know the
things of God.

The Holy Spirit is the compass
for our path. It is He who leads
us and directs us into all truth. It
is a hard to follow an unknown
path without directions. The
devil knows this, so he uses our
flesh to be the compass of our
entire being when we are not
submitted to God. We then
ourselves worshipping the god of
our flesh. We are living in a time
when it is very evident that man
has a need to worship. Many
religions and religious leaders
have surfaced, including many
who denounce the deity of

The need to worship

undelivered from the bondage
of the flesh, the devil , and sin.
Without the Spirit of God in us,
we would be carnal minded,
wordly, and unable to compre-
hend the things of God. Nor
would we have a desire for the
things of Cod. Without the
knowledge of the Spirit of God,
you walk as a natural man. 1

Corinthians 2:14

vad

Observing Black Press Wee

By Todd S. Burroughs .-

WASHINGTON (NNPA)--The black press in America was and is the
to define themselves, their purpose, their friends and their enemies.

In ;

The Shaping of Black America. the concept of a black America was starting to develop.

k: Reflecting Black AmericaTs G

A newspaper was needed to link Africans in America together. The heart of African communication

drum and the word, the voices of the villiage-needed to meet
press, hopefully with empowering results.

the technology of the European-created printing

The black press was created to give black America's "founders" a unified voice to publicly air their
grievances, black press historians Clint C. Wilson II and the late Armistead Pride in their book, A History
of The Black Press, wrote about how blacks were viewed by the white Northerners: oIn all walks of life,
free Negroes in the antebellum North were regulated to positions of inferiority; they had their assigned
places in society regardless of station or means. The poverty stricken found themselves locked in a vicious
cycle. Proof of their alleged unfitness to associate with the rest of society lay in their confinement to mental
occupations and their lowly condition. Their lack of access to jobs, the ballot, even the schools and the
churches, deprived them of minimum needs to realize a measure of success."

A primary mission of Freedom's Journal was to add a black -controlled voice--and perspective--to the
largely white abolitionist movement. It also showed the world black achievements and aspirations.

Freedom's Journal sought to counter the racial stereotypes of blacks presented by the The New York
Enquirer and its editor, Major Mordecai Menassah Noah, "Whatever mention the editor made of the Negro
usually came in the form of ridicule of diatribe," wrote Wilson and Pride. "As an example, soon after its
founding, the paper carried an indecipherable, highly unintelligible letter dubiously credited to Nigger
Hannerbal' and his troo lub...Dina Hannerbal."" One of the Enquirer's editorials, they wrote "cheered the
news of the deaths of the balck colonizers who were on their way to Liberia from Boston."

Russwurm and Cornish wrote letters to the paper protesting such treatment. The Enquirer refused to print
them. They created a newspaper so that their voices would never be silenced. Freedom's Journal, Bennett
writes, listed six priorities that last to the present day:

Defending the black image from attacks--.Economic development of the black community--. Black
AmericaTs self-assertion--. Attaining civil and political rights--.Access to equal education; and The creation

ot an "African renaissance.

The black press had another function. The Freedom's Journal founders used it to record births, deaths,
marriages and all other aspects of free black American life the white press chose to ignore. "

This duality of purpose--to explan and defend black life while documenting its everyday happenings--would
become black media's permanent raison d'etre. The black press would create and recreate black America.
The six priorities would emerge again and again as the 19th century yielded to the 20th. a

The crusading journalist Ida B. Wells in 1895 published the pamphlet "A Red Record,? her investigation
into lynchings of blacks. She castigated whites who felt they could treat freed slaves and their descendents
in the post-Reconstruction era as though they were still slaves: a

"The white man had no right to scourge the emancipated Negro, still less has he a right to kill him," she
writes. "But the Southern white people had been educated so long in that school of practice, in which might
makes right, that they disdained to draw strict lines of action in dealing with the Negro.

Place Your Ad In The Minority Voice Newspaper

"Furl That Banner"
What would Confederate heroes think of this

display?

In 1962 a Confederate flag was
raised over the capitol of South
Carolina, supposedly in com-
memoration of the Civil War
Centenninal then under way. But
it has been there ever since,
becoming an increasing source of
controversy.

The National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People, for example, has called
for a boycott of tourism to South
Carolina. The Southern Christian
Leadership Conference has can-
celed a meeting in the state as
well.

South Carolina's gesture
seems curiously ahistorical. | can
find no record of any state capitol
regularly flying a Confederate
flag during the existence of the
Confederate States of America.
After all, the whole point of the
Confederacy was to enable con-
Stituent members to turn their
backs on what they saw as
unconstitutional aggrandizement
of national power in Washington.
It was designed as the loosest
possible alliance that would still
allow for credible mutual defense.
And Confederate archives are
filled with hundreds of letters of

_ recrimination between President

Jefferson Davis and state gover-
nors (including the governor of

@ April 19-20 Adult

| @ April 20-Miriam Tyson
@ April 26-Scott Bircher

May 12-17-Norman

Every Thursday Night 7:00 p.m.

Love offering will be received, ©
We are sorry, but there is no child care available.

South Carolina) promoting their
StatesT prerogatives over Davis's
_ attempts at national "dictator-
ship."

The blue-backed crescent
and palmetto that was adopted as
South Carolina's state flag in 1861
was based on South Carolina's
Revolutionary War flag.
Interestingly enough, a __resolu-
tion was later introduced into the
General Assembly to change the
background color from blue to
purple, as a memorial to
Confederate dead. That was in
1899. The resolution was re-
jected.

Even more curious, the
flag over the capitol dome in
Columbia today is not one of the
Confederacy's national flags like
the Stars and Bars. It is, of all
things, a Confederate naval jack.
What representative government
in the world flies the flag of its
military forces over its buildings?
Such a display is the antithesis of
civil society.

So what is going on in
South Carolina is impossible to
defend on historical grounds.
And the more one thinks of a
naval flag flying high and dry in
the midlands of South Carolina,
miles from the seacoast, the
funnier it might become.

Conference oWings
of the Spirit?

in Concert
in Concert

Robertson Ministries
Six Day Crusade

Gm hoseof gory ond

Unfortunately there's nothing
funny about the symbolism.

That naval jack today has
taken on a life of its own. It is an
emblem --like the swastika -- that
is Now sported by some members
of the Ku Klux Klan, outlaw
motorcycle gangs and German
skinhead neo-Nazis. One
year before the naval jack was
first raised in Columbia, Freedom
Rides were broken up by mobs in
Alabama. The year it was raised,
President Kennedy had to send U.
S. marshals in to protect James
Meredith, a black man who was
admitted to the University of
Mississippi.

At the time, Southern
governors fro George Wallace to
Ross Barnett were dusting off
some of the old statesT rights
arguments that had led to the Civil
War -- this time in defense of
segregation and again in defiance
of the federal government. There
is little doubt about the reason this
flag was raised, or what winds of
sentiment keep it aloft today.

Does this conduct "honor
fallen Confederate heroes,? as
some supporters have claimed?
What would real Confederate
heroes think?

Twa of the most re-
spected Confederates gave their

Great

Spread The WORD

Announcing the Grand Opening of

Hope of Glory Ministries

. Saturday, April 20
\. In-Store Specials All Week

oBibles, Books, Music, Clothin
Decorative Garden Items

opinions within a few months
after the Civil War ended. One of
them, Father Abram Joseph Ryan.
was a Jesuit priest who served in
the Confederate Army. He was
also a popular~ poet: Ryan
composed a verse that read: "Furl
that banner, softly, slowly! Touch
it not, unfold it never.?
And Robert E. Lee

stated: "I think it the duty of
every citizen... to do all in his

power to aid in the restoration of -

peace and harmony." He repeat-
edly urged those who had served
under him to go home and be
good American citizens.
Perhaps, as George W.

Bush said a few months ago,
outsiders should "obutt-out" of
South Carolina's flag controversy.
But how hard should it be for all
local factions to agree to remove
a flag that dishonors, by its
misuse, the express wishes of

those who served bravely under it

in battle -- and which serves no
purpose now but divisiveness?

Surely there can be no
more inappropriate place to dis-
play this banner than over the
heads of the men and women who
make laws for all the citizens of
South Carolina.





April 1st - April 12th
ECU African American First
ECU Alumni Community First


Title
The Minority Voice, April 1-12, 2002
Description
The 'M' voice : Eastern North Carolina's minority voice-since 1987. Greenville. N.C. : Minority Voice, inc. James Rouse, Jr. (1942-2017), began publication of The "M" Voice in 1987 with monthly issues published intermittently until 2010. At different times, the paper was also published as The "M"inority Voice and The Minority Voice. It focused on the Black community in Eastern North Carolina.
Date
April 01, 2002 - April 12, 2002
Original Format
newspapers
Extent
Local Identifier
MICROFILM
Subject(s)
Spatial
Location of Original
Joyner NC Microforms
Rights
This item has been made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Researchers are responsible for using these materials in accordance with Title 17 of the United States Code and any other applicable statutes. If you are the creator or copyright holder of this item and would like it removed, please contact us at als_digitalcollections@ecu.edu.
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
Permalink
https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/66409
Preferred Citation
Cite this item
Content Notice

Public access is provided to these resources to preserve the historical record. The content represents the opinions and actions of their creators and the culture in which they were produced. Therefore, some materials may contain language and imagery that is outdated, offensive and/or harmful. The content does not reflect the opinions, values, or beliefs of ECU Libraries.

Contact Digital Collections

If you know something about this item or would like to request additional information, click here.


Comment on This Item

Complete the fields below to post a public comment about the material featured on this page. The email address you submit will not be displayed and would only be used to contact you with additional questions or comments.


*
*
*
Comment Policy