WS Chronicle

Panel weighs-in on eliminating racism

(Rev. Dr. John Mendez is flanked by Cindy Gordineer and Mayor Allen Joines as he addresses the topic. Photos by Charles E. Leftwich Jr.)

Racism was framed as America’s Berlin Wall Monday morning during the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast sponsored by The Chronicle.

For nearly an hour and a half, local leaders offered up ways to dismantle the wall, brick-by-brick. More often than not, their solutions were received with applause and other positive affirmations from a crowd of more than 1,300 spread out over an oversized banquet hall at the Benton Convention Center.

The Chronicle made the MLK Day breakfast a yearly tradition 15 years ago, but this year’s event was different. The soul-stirring gospel numbers – performed by Willie Mason and Friends and the Big 4 Choir – remained, and Judge Denise Hartsfield returned as moderator/mistress of ceremonies; gone were the eloquently-delivered sermons on love, hope and peace – the hallmarks of King’s legacy. Chronicle Publisher Ernie Pitt decided a civil dialogue about race was more pressing, with the nation still roiling over a series of police encounters that left African-Americans, including a 12-year-old Cleveland, Ohio boy, dead.

Rev. Dr. John Mendez, one of 10 discussion panelists, said this year’s format was a more honest way to salute Dr. King. Mendez argued that King was more than his docile “I Have a Dream” speech; he was a forceful advocate for ending racism, poverty and the kind of militarism that led America into the Vietnam War.

“We have domesticated him. We have made him safe,” Mendez said.

Panelists Gayle Anderson, president of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, and United Way of Forsyth County President/CEO Cindy Gordineer said in the long run, working to eliminate poverty will help close the racial divide. To that end, Gordineer touted United Way-funded programs that are helping high schoolers graduate and adults learn job skills. Anderson said Chamber members and all businesses should be willing to consider “relaxing” policies that keep many with criminal records from gainful employment.

Dr. Elwood Robinson, the new chancellor of Winston-Salem State University, held up higher education – namely historically black schools, as a solution. Less than 14 percent of black North Carolinians have college degrees, he said, something that must change in order for equality to be achieved.

Dr. Elwood Robinson

“As we begin to change that mindset, folks begin to appreciate who they are,” Robinson said.

Dr. John McConnell

Dr. John McConnell, CEO of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, said his institution, too, is committed to providing education as a way to uplift. He also touted the Medical Center’s efforts to confront one of racism’s deadliest side effects: health disparities.

“How can we say we live in a just America when people don’t have equal access … when there are food deserts?” asked McConnell, adding that the Medical Center’s Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity was making inroads on those fronts.

Dr. McConnell’s remarks were preceded by ones from Larry Little, a well known fighter for social justice who teaches political science at Winston-Salem State. He said the wall will continue to stand tall and strong until white power-brokers give the issue of racism more than platitudinous lip service.

Dr. Larry Little

Little highlighted J. Gordon Hanes Jr., the late white business and political leader who reportedly offered to recoup white business owners out of his own pockets if they agreed to integrate their establishments and lost money as a result. We need more men like Hanes, Little asserted.
“Black people can’t go it alone in this city,” he said.

The youngest member of the panel took Little’s assertion further. Javar Jones, a Wake Forest senior born and raised in Winston-Salem, said African-Americans and other people of color are powerless to end racism; whites, on the other hand, could tear down the wall today if they so choose, he believes.

“They are the majority,” he said. “They have the wealth … they have the privilege.”

Jones has been one of the loudest voices bemoaning a series of racial flare-ups at Wake, including a planned party by white students where attendees were to dress “black” and allegations of racial profiling by

Javar Jones

campus cops.

Frank discussions about racism are needed, he said, but often avoided because they discompose people.
“We are going to have to get uncomfortable,” he said.

The panel also included Mayor Allen Joines and Police Chief Barry Rountree, both of whom spoke of the city’s wide-ranging efforts to promote diversity and fairness; and Green Street United Methodist Church’s Rev. Willard Bass, who said people of faith could do much to eliminate racism if only they were more receptive to admitting it exists.

Chief Barry Rountree (right) speaks. Beside him is Rev. Willard Bass.

The program was somewhat interactive. Printed copies of relevant questions were placed on tables; breakfast-goers were asked to discuss the questions with those seated around them. One question asked attendees to weigh-in on whether the nation is more or less racist since the election of the first black president.

Cash Michaels has his say.

Journalist Cash Michaels, who screened the trailer for his critically-acclaimed documentary “Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington 10” during the breakfast, was so passionate about the query that he took the liberty of answering it from the podium. President Obama’s election turned the clock backward on racial progress, he said, because it gave closet, casual bigots the motivation to practice a more open form of racism.

“If they feel that way about (President Obama), a clearly accomplished man, you have to wonder, how they feel about us,” he said.