WS Chronicle

White teacher wants to help in the fight against injustice

To the Editor:

I am an Exceptional Children’s teacher at a combined middle/high school in East Winston, where nearly all of the students qualify for free and reduced-priced lunch.

On the day after the election, one of my African-American students asked me whom I voted for. After I explained my dismay that my candidate didn’t win, she asked, “Why are you worried? You’re white.”

I responded that I don’t think it’s fair when people are judged or treated poorly based on the color of their skin, which seemed to satisfy the student for the moment. But because the classroom isn’t the best place to express political views, we moved on to the literary analysis and the rest of the day’s lesson. I want to give a more complete answer, though, and I hope you won’t mind if I use this forum to elaborate a bit.

First of all, I want to acknowledge the amazing bravery in the student’s question. The students and I are only just beginning to get to know each other, and there is a fair amount of risk involved for a student of color to ask a white teacher to examine her own white privilege.

Secondly, I have already seen the fear on student’s faces and heard their voiced concerns. [President-elect Donald]Trump has given us plenty of clues about his governing style before the election, and I believe we should expect that he will follow through on his threats to deport immigrants, expand racial profiling programs like “stop and frisk,” and continue to stereotype and objectify women and others not part of the majority culture.

Not only do I think this is unfair, but I think there is a good chance Trump and his supporters may undo or set back what little progress we’ve made toward equality for all Americans in the little time he may spend in office. So I am not happy about that – not at all. I fear for all of us, but I don’t intend to sit on the sidelines. I intend to fight.

Friends, this is where I need your help. I know that my whiteness blinds me each and every day to the true experiences that people of color face. I appreciate the patience you have showed me in my interactions with you and I will continue to celebrate with you the small successes both in and out of the classroom with students.

Please allow me to walk alongside you in the fight against injustice, bigotry and hate. Tell me how I can help and be most useful.

Brooks Jones 

Winston-Salem

Note: Brooks Jones is an educator in Forsyth County and a graduate of Salem College.

Ministers’ Conference

Ministers’ Conference grateful for help with Disaster Relief Project

Dear Mr. Ernie Pitt:

On behalf of the Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity (MCWSV), I would like to thank you for your generous support in making our Disaster Relief Project a success.

Our efforts to assist those affected by hurricane Matthew would not have been effective without your kind donation of basic living essentials and your propensity to publish, in The Winston-Salem Chronicle, the message of this collaborative work in our community.

We consider your contribution, to be an expression of your confidence in our faith organization to serve our community and beyond, for the greater good of the people.

With your donation of goods and solicitation for others to participate, we successfully delivered 23 pallets of needed living essentials in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

The Winston-Salem Chronicle reporter, Mr. Tevin Stinson, served with outstanding professionalism and kindness.

Thank you again for your charitable contribution to the Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity.

Bishop Todd L. Fulton 

Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity 

President Senior Pastor at Mount Moriah Outreach Center 

Kernersville, NC

Let’s use our reason to continue building local coalitions

To the Editor: 

Sunshine and rain … As a non-profit civic educational organization founded by Imam W.D. Mohammad(AS), [American Coalition for Good Government] ACGG encourages all of our associates and community members to stay engaged in your civic responsibility to make America a “more perfect union.” Assess, plan and implement your local efforts to improve your local communities based on the quantifiable needs of your community.

The Presidential elections have resulted in some citizens feeling like it’s raining on them and others feel like the sunshine is favoring them. As people of faith, we know that both rain and sunshine comes from the Most Merciful and Gracious Creator. That reality grounds our emotional response in reason instead of rage.

Let’s use our reason to continue building coalitions with others who accept the universal principle that “every human being is endowed with certain unalienable rights … among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Continue to assess, plan and implement your local efforts to improve your local communities. Be mindful of the political climates which may impact your local communities and plan accordingly to continue building the model community for the benefit of humanity.

Civic engagement is more paramount and needed from every local community. ACGG is a non-partisan organization and reminds all citizens to reflect on the source of both rain and sunshine.

You are invited to listen to American Muslim 360 on Tuesday from 9 p.m.-10 p.m to stay informed and engaged in your civic responsibilities.

Contact us at www.theamerican-coalitionforgoodgovernment.org, Fleming El-Amin, Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator, Fleming07.fea@gmail.com; 336-575-0895.

Fleming El-Amin

Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator

American Coalition for Good Government (ACGG) Winston-Salem

Trump selection of Jeff Sessions  for AD is ‘alarming choice’

To the Editor:

We face an alarming choice in the selection of Senator Jeff Sessions to serve as the chief law enforcer for the United States of America. Senator Sessions’ civil rights record is appalling and should disqualify him from Senate confirmation.

Senator Sessions has continuously obstructed the progress that we’ve made since the historic Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s. Senator Sessions has blocked legislative efforts to ensure racial equality in minority communities, including his opposition to President Obama’s judicial nominations and full enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.

Having previously been denied a nomination by members of the U.S. Senate over concerns about his views of African-Americans, Senator Jeff Sessions will very likely face an uphill battle in being confirmed as the next Attorney General of the United States.

The Attorney General must run the Department of Justice with a total commitment to the rule of law and must guarantee minority citizens their fundamental constitutional rights.  The Congressional Black Caucus stands ready to oppose Senator Sessions’ confirmation, as we adamantly believe his appointment will set us back in the advancement of civil rights and race relations across the country.

U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC)

Chairman, Congressional Black Caucus

Washington, D.C.