WS Chronicle

Why I support Attorney Patterson, community leader

To the Editor:

First, I have been a lifelong resident of the city and I have seen firsthand how the media (but not The Chronicle) have tried to discredit African-American leaders within our community.

Second, we tend to forget that there have been many black celebrities that have been found guilty in the eyes of the IRS (different facts but same guilty pleas). For example, Redd Foxx, Ron Isley, MC Hammer, Sinbad, Wesley Snipes, Tonie Braxton, Dianne Warwick, and the list could go on and on.

But my letter is not about them. It is in support of a young man who is a community leader, who has helped many churches, many employees (including me) with their jobs involving discrimination, and who has helped many people from Africa to get their citizenship.

Attorney [S. Wayne] Patterson was and still is a beacon of the community.

As the NAACP president, he turned the local organization around, made sure that scholarships were given out, and he submitted a grant to get the NAACP building renovated. Also, he is the same person who gives back every year for the Cleveland Projects Reunion and Back to School celebrations. He is a Christian man and a strong black father and husband who is in the home, and the list could go on and on.

I was compelled to write this letter after reading some of the “horrible’” comments and blogs that were mentioned about him because they were senseless. We are so fast to cast someone away without getting all the facts but yet forget about his other good deeds.

In conclusion, I would like to say to Attorney Patterson, Thank You! You have helped me out and so many others within our community. You have more supporters than naysayers in your corner. Continue to be the community leader that you are and continue to keep the faith.

Anonymous

Note: Published reports say that S. Wayne Patterson, 46, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Greensboro last month to aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return through tax businesses he co-owned and operated in Salisbury and Kannapolis between January and May 2015.