Guest Commentary

On July 1, when newly elected members of the UNC Board of Governors begin their four-year term, pay close attention to the blatantly unbalanced selections made. For the first time in many years, there is a lack of representation from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), African American women, or Democrats in the selections made by the GOP-dominated NC General Assembly.  Our state university system, which prides itself on its five historically Black universities, will have its least diverse Board of Governors in recent history. Statutory provisions required at least two minority race members, minority political party members and two women, but that provision was repealed in 2001 after legal challenges. However, the Democratic majority always ensured the election of women, HBCU alumni, Republicans, African Americans and Native Americans.

In 1971, legislation was established to incorporate HBCUs into the University of North Carolina system; and in 1972, the first Board of Governors was appointed to govern and oversee the development of a well-planned and coordinated system of higher education, to improve the quality of education, to extend its benefits, and to encourage an economical use of the state’s resources. This mission will have difficulty being accomplished without input from the significant and diverse components of the UNC system. Although HBCUs serve diverse populations, they remain the gateway to a promising future for African Americans. These institutions provide access to some modicum of equity in careers and transforming dreams into realities.

While the Board of Governors will only include five Caucasian women, the absence of African American participation speaks volumes during a time when African American women represent a significant percentage of the college demographic, and equation for economic recovery within their communities. At the encouragement of the GOP Senate majority, an eligible African American woman candidate was recruited, and while she was the only candidate with HBCU affiliations included on the final ballot in both chambers, the majority refused to elect her.  However on a positive note, the GOP did elect two African American Republican males – who are graduates of UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.

The impact of these decisions, if not the intent, is to assign less value to, and restrict the contributions of, African American women and HBCU alums committed to higher education in this state.  These decisions set in place a cascading effect that denies access at the governance, education and economic levels. This lack of inclusion will have a negative impact on decisions regarding HBCUs, selection of trustees, programming, budgets and other administration approvals.  The outsider position for HBCUs in relation to the board is exacerbated by the exclusion of African American women and Democrats who are likely to foster relationships and affiliations with these institutions. This steadily declining participation is certain to forecast trouble in the days ahead.

How will the voice of the HBCU community be heard at the governance table?

We are issuing a challenge to Republican leadership, Board of Governors, UNC President, historically White campuses, and HBCUs to take proactive, aggressive steps towards resolving this discriminating exclusion. The Republican majority should fill any vacancies on the board with persons possessing a strong HBCU affiliation. University leaders must create every opportunity for influential HBCU alumni to be represented on decision making committees, provide input and have timely access to critical information.

It is time for HBCU alumni to become more vocal than ever with the General Assembly and members of the Board of Governors regarding the way decisions impact their institutions as a vital component of the university system. The UNC Board of Governors presides over a historical and varied campus system uniquely designed to serve North Carolinians from ALL racial, political, regional and economic backgrounds. It is our job to broaden the diverse, bipartisan culture that seems to have diminished within the Board of Governors. It is a job at which we cannot, and must not fail.

Charles Edgerton/ Carolina Peacemaker
N.C. State Representative Alma Adams (far right in photo) held an community forum to discuss the state’s education issues.

There are more than 200 bills on education currently in the General Assembly, according to NCAE (North Carolina Association of Educators) UniServ Director, Tyronne Melton. Melton spoke at public meeting on education in the state held by District 58 House Representative Alma Adams at Saint Matthews United Methodist Church on April 18.

Faced with $139 million in cuts on the state level, education in North Carolina has taken a hit. Adams held the public forum to give constituents an opportunity to learn about the education bills that would affect students and families across the state.

Talk of possible consolidation or elimination of one or more of the 17 UNC system campuses is an issue Democrats are fighting against. The prospect of closing a campus triggered an outcry from communities around the state, concerned that the campuses in their regions were in jeopardy.

At the UNC Board of Governors meeting this month, N.C. Governor Pat McCrory said that state legislators were not pursuing the consolidation of UNC campuses as a way to save money in this Senate’s two-year budget.

Adams isn’t sure this issue is off the table.

Andrew Moretz, vice president of State Government Relations of the UNC Board of Governors opposes the closing of any of the UNC campuses saying, “We have to be able to have more opportunities for folks to get an education.”

Moretz noted that the board will be evaluating colleges to make sure students are getting the skills they need and colleges are utilizing technology to provide access to classes through “electronic learning.” “We have to make sure we have the jobs in place to care for an aging population such as doctors and nurses. The Board [of Governors] supports low tuition and strong financial aid,” said Moretz.

Moretz recounted a conversation he had with UNC System President Tom Ross saying, “We had a discussion about how important our school system is. Not the jobs, not the budget, but the impact on the community. It is a precious asset to the state of North Carolina.”

Adams noted it was also suggested by lawmakers to raise out-of-state tuition, something Adams strongly disagrees with. An out of state student enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University pays a tuition of $15,549, while the average out-of-state tuition for the UNC system is $17,987.

“You learn more from interacting with different people,” said Adams. “Hopefully we can keep our diversity. We want to make sure education is strong in our state.” Adams stated in her opinion the lawmakers are trying to “decimate public education.”

Melton noted the NCAE is concerned that the education bills being voted on will do more harm than good to the state’s education system. “Our concern is how can we make sure the students are getting the education they need from qualified teachers. We’re voting for how we educate our children. Our future.”

The state legislature is currently voting on bills like SB361 on K-12 education that includes measures such as new teacher evaluations and the elimination of teacher tenure; and SB374 which would remove teacher assistants from the classroom.

“Education is being attacked. Funds from education are being taken to pay for other stuff,” said Melton. “If in fact we want to maintain HBCUs, if in fact we want our public school system to succeed, if we don’t want to be fighting virtual learning, then we need to stand up right now and look at the big picture.”

New legislation passed in the Senate last week, sponsored by District 27 State Senator Trudy Wade, former District 5 Greensboro City Council member, has changed the makeup and elections process of the Guilford Board of Education. The new bill will change the 11 member board from non-partisan with nine district seats and two at-large seats to a partisan board elected every two years instead of four.

The two at-large members will be elected from two new super districts – District A, which would encompass most of Greensboro, and District B, which would cover the rest of the county.

“It will completely create chaos in our school system,” said Margaret Arbuckle, executive director of the Guilford Education Alliance who also spoke against the bill at the Senate’s Redistricting Committee meeting last week.

The progress of these bills can be followed at www.ncleg.net. 

Courtesy Photo
Mark Nivet presents troubling medical school enrollment numbers for Black students.

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Fewer Black males were enrolled in the first year of medical schools last year than 32 years ago, a trend that, if left uncorrected, could hamper efforts to provide quality health care to underserved communities, according to a top officer in the American Association of Medical Colleges.

Marc Nivet, chief diversity officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges, made that startling disclosure at the recent Howard University Symposium on United States Healthcare.

“We don’t have the luxury of waiting 10 years 15 years 20 years to intervene in effective ways to insure that we have the talent necessary to come to our institutions,” Nivet said. “If we don’t effectively intervene in this pipeline and hold our institutions and ourselves accountable for finding the talent that we know exists than we have failed those 32 million people soon to be enfranchised and we have failed ourselves.”

The conference brought together health professionals, students and educators to develop strategies to improving the pipeline for people of color in healthcare.

According to a diversity study by the Association of American Medical Colleges, Black women account for nearly two-thirds of the students entering the first year of medical school.

“This positive trend for racial and ethnic minority women is not mirrored in their male counterparts: Black or African American males are applying to, being accepted to, and matriculating into medical school in diminishing numbers, which speaks to the increasing need for medical schools to institute plans and initiatives aimed at strengthening the pipeline,”  the report stated.

With states and the federal government planning deeper cuts in higher education, more of those pipelines may get shutdown permanently.

Without access to pipeline programs, Black enrollment at medical schools may continue to decline. In 2011, Blacks accounted for 7.3 percent of medical school applicants, compared to 54.6 percent for Whites. Despite comprising 5.6 percent of the U.S. population, Asians accounted for 20.4 percent of medical school applicants that year.

Applying is only the first step.

The number of Blacks accepted to medical schools fell from 40 percent in 2010 to 38.3 percent in 2011. Meanwhile, the percentage of Whites accepted to medical schools increased from 47.9 percent in 2010 to 48.3 percent in 2011.

The numbers show that once Blacks were accepted to medical schools, they struggled to earn degrees. The percentage of Black medical students who matriculated fell from 6.3 percent in 2010 to 6.1 percent in 2011. The percentage of White students grew from 57.1 percent to 57.5 percent.

Even as researchers continue to address pipeline issues, the cost of medical school continues to be prohibitive for Black students who often show up at medical school already burdened with thousands of dollars in debt.

“Black or African American undergraduates  have higher rates of premedical debt than other racial or ethnic groups and among all students carrying premedical debt, most of it exceeds $25,000,” noted the AAMC report.

That’s nothing compared to the cost of earning a medical degree.

The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the average cost of four years at a public medical school, including living expenses and books, is $207,868. That bill balloons to $278,455 for private institutions.

“There is increasing recognition that we need to look at new ways to deliver that education in a more costs benefit way,” said Mark Johnson, dean of the College of Medicine at Howard University.

Johnson said that ultimately it’s up to parents and students to look at the education as a long-term investment. Johnson added that he tells students who are weighing their options, that they’re worth it.

Courtesy Photo

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Barber

“We hold it to be self-evident that all persons are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor, and the pursuit of happiness. All political power is vested in and derived from the people; all government of right originates from the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole.”  – The North Carolina State Constitution

Some of our best answers in history come from raising the right questions: “Who can be patient in such extremes?”  Shakespeare. “What happens to a dream deferred?” Langston Hughes.

“When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25

“What doth the Lord require but to do justice love mercy and walk humbly before God?” Micah 6:8

The questions above must be raised in North Carolina now. Because how we answer and respond may determine what kind of state and country we are in the future.  Early this year, thousands of people came to Raleigh and asked as citizens for this new legislature to focus on an agenda to move us forward in speech and in writing.  We, like the long leaf pine, extended our desire to work together and debate in good faith on what should be the real and major focus of justice focused public policy: Economic sustainability with a focus on jobs and ending poverty; Educational equality; Healthcare for all; Fairness in the criminal justice system; and Voting rights.

That was rejected and instead we find ourselves in a time in North Carolina that from the Governor’s desk and the Speaker and Senate Pro Tem’s gavels in this General Assembly, we are experiencing the agenda of extreme, cruel and unusual policies. Policies being passed that will have devastating impacts on those in our state who are hurting and will set back the history of progress in our state.  Dreams are being deferred.  The least of these are being ignored.  And the moral call for justice, mercy, and humility is being torn apart.

Already, on July 1, three days before Independence Day, over 170,000 out of work North Carolinians will be cut off from their unemployment insurance, and more jobless people are targeted in the months to come.  The extremists rejected $700 million from the U.S. Government, based on political petulance.

On January 1, 2014, over 500,000 North Carolinians will wake up without health insurance, because the extremists rejected U.S. Government funds that would pay 100 percent of the bill for the next 3 years and 90 percent for the next 10 years, based on petty ideological politics.

While the extremists lower taxes for a few families, the rich and big corporations, they raise taxes on 900,000 poor and working people by reducing earned income tax credits that give more take home money for working families.

Although the constitution says that voting is a right and must be free, fair and unabridged and the Speaker of the NC House of Representatives said there was no problem with voter fraud on national TV, he could not control the extremists’ efforts to place roadblocks on the path to the polls for people they are targeting with their mean-spirited policies.  They plan to vote on their new “poll tax” plan this week–disguised as voter photo ID.  All objective observers say their plans, which include reducing early voting, banning Sunday voting, ending same day registration, and requiring a photo ID, are a clear attack on students, minorities and the elderly.

These are extreme policies that defer dreams, hinder progress and undermine justice.  It’s as though the Governor, Speaker of the House, President Pro Tem and their team have decided to be the George Wallace’s of the 21st Century engaging in interposition and nullification and standing in the door of progress. They are employing a new White southern strategy here in North Carolina rather than build fusion politics that responds to our better angels.

Think about the timing of these bills placement on the calendar.  They filed and intend to pass a bill that crucifies voting rights, voting opportunity and the positive elections laws during the holy season of Easter – when 48 years ago Blacks, Whites, Latinos,  Christians,  Jews, Muslims,  Catholics,  Democrats and Republicans were marching together to expand voting rights.

Last week, on the anniversary of the founding of SNCC (Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee), the writing of the Dr. Martin Luther King’s letter from the Birmingham jail, and as the nation was unifying in response to the horrifying terrorist bombing in Boston, this legislature acted as though they had blinders to events around them and no sense of history.  Drunk with the arrogance of power, they pushed through a regressive, divisive and unconstitutional voter suppression poll tax, disguised as voter photo ID that will be discriminatory based on race and class with its impact on citizens of this state and in its implementation.  In other words, they want to make it harder for people to vote. Arrogantly, they defied the cries of those whose ancestors bled and died to obtain the sacred right to vote.

According to the legislative calendar and the proposed budget, they are not through yet and plan to do more.  This leadership has had a propensity to pass laws that the courts of our state have later ruled unconstitutional. They are determined to push its extreme race-based and class-based agenda forward.  No real debate and no concern for the moral call for justice and fairness.  No regard for how it will affect our future.  Instead, we are seeing the arrogance of power that corrupts and undermines the true meaning of democracy – a vision to only use power to do what is best for the good of the whole.

We as faith leaders are issuing a Call to Action to all people of good will of North Carolina to protest the immoral, mean-spirited, extremist and unconstitutional attacks. These attacks are against African Americans, Latinos, poor and working people, women, students, and the elderly launched by the far right.  These immoral attacks must be met with peaceful, non-violent moral witnesses and led by women and men of the Cloth.

We have had teleconferences with hundreds of citizens around the state, we have met as clergy and theologians in prayer and consolation.  We must speak and act now.

We have released an open letter to religious and moral leaders to sign on and the response is growing.  We are calling this state to prayer.  We call on North Carolina citizens who believe the common good to pray and discern the ways we can use the moral tactics of the nonviolent movement to dramatize the shameful place we find ourselves in.  The extreme actions of this legislative and executive leadership places a moral demand on us to even consider if peaceful, moral and nonviolent civil disobedience is necessary to dramatize the shameful nature of what is going on.

We call everyone to build the bridges of understanding, and not the walls of division.  The policies now being promoted demand our voice, not our silence.  These new walls demand our action, not our complacency.

Twenty clergy and theologians were in attendance including from Greensboro:

Rev. Dr. Cardes H. Brown, Jr, Chair North Carolina NAACP State Religious Affairs Committee; President, Greensboro Branch of the NAACP and Pastor, New Light Missionary Baptist Church, Greensboro

Rev. Gregory T. Headen, Pastor Genesis Baptist Church, Greensboro

Rev. Amos Quick, Pastor Calvary Baptist Church, High Point

Rev. Clarence Shuford, Pastor St. Philip AME Zion Church; President, Pulpit Forum, Greensboro

Malveaux

Thus, the term Obamacare was used to attack the health care program that President Obama fashioned and worked with Congress to approve.  While Obamacare is not perfect, it brings more people into the health care system, and further solidifies the safety net that many have attempted to fray.

Now these folks are running with the term “Obamaphone,” which speaks to the fact that President Obama has simply extended a Lifeline plan that was authorized by Republican President Ronald Reagan when it was clear that those who were either isolated by poverty or by their rural status needed telephones to connect themselves to the world.

The Reagan program used taxes on some of us to provide telephones for the rest of us. People were able to get a telephone that offered basic service for a basic fee. With the onset of technology, Lifeline customers had the option of getting a landline phone or a cellular phone. This is not an Obama initiative.  It began in 1996.

Those who get a subsidized telephone have numerous restrictions. They don’t get to choose their phone, but are offered whatever is available, usually a refurbished phone. They get 250 minutes a month if they get a cell phone.  The 250 minutes is about four hours a month, or an hour a week.  Is this really some kind of rip off, or is it a reasonable way to bring people on the periphery to the center?  What do you do with no phone when there is a medical emergency or even a job call?  Absent Lifeline, you are yet again a peripheral citizen.

Obamaphone?  Give me a break.  Until the Tea Party began to hold sway on our national consciousness, Republicans were among those who embraced the notion that every American should have basic telephone service.  Now, anything associated with government assistance is associated with President Obama, despite the fact that both Democratic and Republican presidents have attempted to assist people at the bottom, albeit with different levels of energy.

Let’s not forget that it was Democratic President Bill Clinton who pushed the “welfare reform” that limited government assistance to 60 months or five years.  When President Clinton, long a favorite among African Americans, proffered a 1996 reform that I described as “welfare deform,” several of his African American supporters excoriated him.  He weathered the storm, as did the public assistance program.  Still, nobody describes it as Clintonwelfare.  It was an ill- conceived and pandering policy change that allowed President Clinton to brag that he’d gotten “tough” on public assistance.

Associating President Obama with government support to the poor is a subtle way of associating people of African descent with public assistance, and with the pejorative term “welfare.”  This is a most understated form of racial coding, a coding that enabled former Congressman Newt Gingrich to describe President Obama as a “food stamps” president and to falsely assert that President Obama “put” more people on food stamps than any other president in history.  Does Mr. Gingrich remember the Great Recession that the scion of his party, former President George W. Bush, enabled, or is he too busy purchasing jewelry for his blushing bride of a decade to pay attention to our nation’s economic situation?

One in six Americans lives in poverty.  More than one in four African Americans and Latinos live in poverty.  One in 10 of all Whites live in poverty. The Great Recession and economic restructuring have kicked these diverse groups of poor people, many who are grateful for food assistance, to the curb. President Obama has been responsive to this group of people to the extent that a hostile Congress has allowed it.

If I were President Obama, I’d be flattered by descriptions of Obamacare and Obamaphones.  I would not even mind having food stamps being described as Obamafood.  Would we prefer to describe poverty as Romney starve, or sequester starve?  Make it plain.  Associating President Obama with health care, Lifeline telephones and healthy eating is to his credit, not his detriment.

 Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and writer.  She is president emerita of Bennett College for Women.

A 7 Campus Scramble runner gets dusted in flour as she reaches the finish line.

Saturday, April 13, marked the last day of activities for the 2nd annual Greensboro Collegiate Biscuitville Bowl. The weeklong extravaganza brought students from Greensboro’s seven colleges and universities together for three individual events. Scratch-Made Success Week, Brand Your Biscuit and the 7 Campus Scramble were each designed to introduce the students to entrepreneurship and team work. It also presented students with the opportunity to contribute to a charitable cause. All proceeds raised from the extravaganza were donated to the Greensboro Urban Ministry. The 7 Campus Scramble raised more than $1,000 for the nonprofit organization.

Biscuitville’s CEO Burney Jennings and Marketing Director Kathie Niven view the ability of having or paying for food as a luxury that some people are not able to enjoy. Both agreed Greensboro Urban Ministry, a nonprofit actively involved in the establishment of food security locally, was a great beneficiary for the event.

Close to 400 runners participated on Saturday. Designated individuals were seen climbing a 12-foot tall wall while holding a lemon in their mouths and others were required to slide down into a pool of iced tea. Other team members would crawl through a terrain smothered with strawberry jelly while another team member hurled him or herself into a slip n’slide filled with buttermilk. The last obstacle made participants run through tires filled with grits.

University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) graduate student Scott Essick was thrilled about participating for the first time in Biscuitville’s themed obstacles.

“This is a great chance to get messy, run in downtown Greensboro and meet other people from other colleges,” said Essick.

Planning committee member from synerG, Micheal Mahoney, said the event was a great way to bring young professionals and college students together in Greensboro for fun and service.

The Biscuitville Bowl also included Scratch-Made Success Week that featured talks with Michael Wesch, a cultural anthropologist exploring the effects of media on society and culture, and Chris Blackburn, the co-owner and executive chef of Josephine’s Bistro. Participants were also able to partake in the Startup Weekend program through the Biscuitville Bowl. The program permitted inspiring entrepreneurial teams to formulate and pitch business plans at an open mic platform with award prizes valued at more than $1,000. The prizes included free legal consulting, accounting, marketing and support.

The last event gave teams the opportunity to brand their own breakfast product for Biscuitville. The winning team would have their creation sold at local Biscuitville restaurants; have a business breakfast with the CEO of Biscuitville and $5,000 donated towards their college or university.

UNCG students Kyle Gattie, Rogers Mason, Benjamin Nichols and Matthew Troy won the Brand Your Biscuit challenge.

Cecelia Thompson, the Biscuitville Bowl project manager, said Opportunity Greensboro, synerG Young Professionals and Biscuitville wanted to conduct events that fostered camaraderie amongst Greensboro’s colleges and universities. They wanted to give students the opportunity to expand themselves culturally and academically. The Bowl was also meant to display the many opportunities Greensboro has to offer in business and services.

The special committee, made up of Board of Trustees members, was tasked with researching the Florida Street Extension project and making a recommendation to the full board by its April 19 meeting. The Board of Trustees has the final vote allowing or prohibiting the road extension through A&T’s 425-acre farm.

Committee member, Faye Tate Williams said, “It just wasn’t clear to me. I see clearly the impact for the city but it’s not that clear of the impact to the university.”

Group members asked Chancellor Harold Martin to set up more meetings to find out what the city’s intentions are with the road and what the city would be willing to exchange for the 2.7 acres of farmland. The group suggested that the city offer some sort of funding to help with costs associated with re-purposing the farmland after road construction takes place.

Although city planners are stressing connectivity with the Florida Street Extension project, City Manager Denise Turner-Roth stated at the April 4 meeting that there is no pressing need to build the road immediately, giving committee members more time on the issue.

Committee member and Board of Trustees Chairman Willie Deese noted a recent tour of the farm changed his position on voting yes to the road. Deese also said possible offers from the city could include guaranteeing long-term access to Memorial Stadium where the A&T baseball team plays or agreeing to help A&T as it improves agricultural facilities at the farm.

“If we were getting a good deal from the city, it would be in good interest to agree to this road extension,” said Deese.

N.C. A&T’s School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences conducts classes, labs and educational research on the farm.

Pamela McCorkle-Buncum, special committee member, said she wanted to be sure the city would really keep any promises made to the university regarding the road and the farm. “We need to have something concrete. I think the city has a plan for the broader community, which I think is great but I am leery of doing things that are outside the view of what we’re tasked to do as the Board of Trustees of N.C. A&T State University. I would like for this to be a decision around what a long-term partnership with the city will look like,” said McCorkle-Buncum

The proposed road project has been on city books for years and initially included a plan that cut more centrally through the farm. It was rejected by university officials. The current plan proposes crossing the northwestern part of the farm from E.Lee Street to McConnell Road.

“This is a very challenging and long-term conversation. We have to frame a different kind of conversation of the importance of East Greensboro to the city. We have to discuss the fullness of a partnership with the city, a relationship that supports a win-win for both when it comes to the connecting road,” said Martin who added that further discussions with the city could take up until June or July to complete.

The public was not permitted to make comments at this meeting.

North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University

Photo Courtesy Kevin Dorsey
Janessa Benn wins the 1500 meters at the 2013 Aggie Invitational on Saturday at Irwin Belk Track. Benn led a group of Lady Aggies who performed well during the Aggies’ first home meet of the season.

After the women’s track and field standout graduates in May with a civil engineering degree; she plans to get married and start a family. Then there is her other love interest – track and field.

“We have our good days and our bad days,” Benn said about track and field. “This week I fell back in love with running.”

The love affair led to Benn winning the 1500 meters at the 2013 Aggie Invitational on Saturday at Irwin Belk Track on Saturday. Benn led a group of Lady Aggies who performed well during the Aggies first home meet of the season.

Benn and track and field made nice with one another this past week after the Aggies coaching staff did a continuous run to prepare for the Aggie Invitational.

“I just love running in circles,” said Benn. “I know that sounds crazy to people, but when I don’t have to be timed, I generally love to run.”

Benn, a native of Pittsburgh, was timed on Saturday. But she still excelled. She ran the first lap of the 1500 meters in 1:15. When she completed the second lap, the clock stood at 2:35.

“I should have completed my second split in 2:28,” she said. “I knew I was little off my pace, so I could go out a little faster, but I wasn’t quite sure how fast to pull away.”

Benn wanted to get out ahead and let the pack catch up with her before making her final kick. But the pack didn’t catch up until later, putting Benn in a situation where she started to fatigue as Hampton’s Cydney Robinson gained on her and took the lead. But Benn had enough stamina to overtake Robinson in the final turn to finish in 4:44.76. Benn said being at home made all the difference.

“It’s easy when you’re a distance runner to fall asleep,” said Benn. “You’re just running in circles, you don’t know what’s going on, the next thing you know you’re waking up and the race is over.  When I have people cheering for me, I feel encouraged. You actually have people who believe in you. I try to do better because I hear some type of support.”

Benn wasn’t the only Aggie who utilized the support.  Junior Roshel Bygraves ran a personal-best 54.61 in the women’s 400 meters to finish second. Freshman Tiffany Ellick finished second in the women’s long jump with her best leap going 17-feet, 8 ½ inches. Freshman Nakita Gray continued to excel in the women’s high jump. A week after her first-place finish at the Duke Invitational, Gray finished second after jumping 5-feet, 7-inches.

But it was Benn’s love affair that stole the day. As the MEAC Outdoor Championships approach, the distance runner hopes to improve on her second place finish in the 3000 meter steeplechase from last year’s conference meet.

After she ends her relationship with track, she plans to get a professional engineering license, a doctorate in environmental engineering, reignite her passion for ceramics and become an ordained Christian minister.

“I want to do everything, I want to be everything,” Benn said.

Howard

The Greensboro community mourns the loss of William “Bill” Howard, who died last Wednesday, April 10 in Severn, Maryland. Brother Bill, as he was affectionately called by several Peacemaker employees, served on the Carolina Peacemaker’s Editorial Board and was a longtime columnist. He served as the paper’s editor in 1996 and continued to write insightful commentary as a columnist through 2012.

Howard was most passionate about his work with the Greensboro Urban Ministry, “an ecumenical outreach agency supported by more than 200 local congregations to provide crisis intervention, emergency services, food and shelter in order to help families break the cycles of poverty, hunger, addiction, and homelessness.” He volunteered with Urban Ministry for such a long time the organization presented him with a “30 Year Award” for his dedicated service.

Executive Director of Greensboro Urban Ministry, Mike Aiken praised Howard for his years of community service to the organization. “Bill Howard was a staple at Urban Ministry for years and years, where he was a faithful servant and volunteered every week at Potter’s House and became friends with everyone from the staff to the clients. He was dedicated to helping people. He made sure he participated in every way he could. He believed in ending hunger and contributed ideas to that cause. He was a real saint and now he’s in heaven celebrating, knowing justice has been done. We’ve lost a great man in our city, county and state.”

Bill worked to help make the world a better place. He believed if people came together in an ecumenical way, we as a community could eradicate hunger and poverty in our midst. Howard once wrote in a column entitled Establishing Ecumenical Unity, “It’s time for the world’s richest nations to be more involved in combatting human suffering. To better accomplish this goal, diversity must become a priority in the education of children and teens worldwide.  If children worldwide are fed and educated the prospect of wars and terrorist actions might be significantly reduced. Today, more than ever, there is a major need for change.”

Bill also sounded the call for the fostering of multicultural partnerships as an active member of the Greensboro Branch of the NAACP where he served for many years on the civil rights organization’s executive board. Rev. Cardes Brown, president of the NAACP’s Greensboro Branch and pastor of New Light Missionary Baptist Church, has known Bill Howard for more than 25 years. Brown shared, “When I think of Bill, I think of a person who was determined to get the story right. He was always observant and made the story come to life with his words. He always wanted to see the best in all of us. As far as the local branch of the NAACP, there was no one more creative, dedicated, conscientious and determined to stand for the least, the lost, the left out and the over looked. We will miss Bill Howard.

Within Bill’s columns one could always find a quote from the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. whom Bill greatly respected as a person. Bill said King was someone who filled people with the hope of a more kind and inclusive society.   In a salute to Dr. King, Bill wrote, “As we remember Dr. King and his legacy… it is not enough to attend a meeting or a church service and sing – “We Shall Overcome,” which is a powerful song to sing, but it possesses a pressing question… “When?” We must involve ourselves and our organizations in our struggle to achieve full equality for all residents of our communities.”

As an active member of St. James Presbyterian Church, Howard was most instrumental in making sure his church members were well-informed about the issues and events happening in Greensboro’s African American community. He did this by single-handedly delivering the Carolina Peacemaker every week, without fail to his church.  Rev. Diane Givens- Moffett, pastor of St. James Presbyterian Church described Bill as having a huge heart. “He was a worshipper of God. A lover of people.  A fighter for justice. A promoter of peace.  And an advocate for unity among all people—across race, creed and color. We will miss him sorely,” said Rev. Moffett.

Although he most determined in his mission to help others, Bill Howard knew when it was time to take a rest, relax and enjoy what the world offered. One of his favorite past times was traveling to the Caribbean Islands. The Peacemaker staff always knew when Bill visited a sunny island like St. John or St. Thomas. He would return appearing most refreshed with a golden glow, humming and dancing to island tunes.

Greensboro resident Sharon Hightower also worked closely with Bill over the years as a member of the local NAACP branch. Hightower recalled that Bill was extremely concerned about the homeless being able to eat. “He was concerned about being able to feed people period. From my perspective he was a caring and considerate person. He had a very humble spirit. He was quiet but very passionate about speaking up for those who were less fortunate. Bill talked about the Greensboro Urban Ministry so much that he inspired me to make a suggestion to the local chapter of the NAACP for the organization to make a donation towards feeding the homeless. We did just that during the last holiday season. I’ll always remember his dedication to others and will make sure I honor his memory by helping people like he did.”

A celebration of William “Bill” Howard’s life will be held on April 19, 1 p.m. at St. James Presbyterian Church. Visitation will begin at 12 noon. St. James is located at 820 Ross Ave. in Greensboro.

The Carolina Peacemaker Staff and Management send our sincere condolences to the family of William “Bill” Howard – a wonderful and dear colleague and a true friend. Yasmine Regester and Alyssa Judd contributed to the writing of this story.

Joe Daniels/Carolina Peacemaker
Two-time Olympic Gold medalist Cullen Jones signed autographs for YMCA swimmers on Tuesday at the Greensboro Coliseum’s Special Events Center.

Two-time Olympic Gold medalist Cullen Jones spoke to the more than 1,500 registered YMCA swimmers Tuesday to help kick off the YMCA Short Course National Championships (April 3-6) at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

Jones, who swam collegiately at N.C. State,  spoke during the YMCA’s Athlete Welcome Party in the pavilion. Prior to his speech, Jones signed autographs for YMCA swimmers in the YMCA Athletes’ Village in the Coliseum Complex’s Special Events Center.

With more than 200 Ys competing for titles in 42 events, “Short Course” is traditionally the largest youth swimming national championship in the United States. The 2012 championship in Greensboro featured 213 teams representing 27 states, resulting in an estimated economic impact of more than $6.5 million to the local economy.

Jones has been determined to break the stereotype that Black people cannot swim since almost drowning at a Pennsylvania water park at the age of five. He is the first African American to break a world record as well as win a gold medal at the World University Games when he was a student at North Carolina State University. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Jones became the second African American to win swimming gold as a part of the world-record shattering 4x100m freestyle relay team.

In the 2012 London Olympic Games, Jones added to his relay gold from Beijing with two silver medals and a gold medal, including an individual silver medal in his specialty 50m freestyle. He is currently looking ahead to 2016 and his first individual Olympic Gold.

He currently serves as an ambassador for USA Swimming Foundation’s Make a Splash program, travelling the country to provide free swim lessons to children of all ages. The program focuses on teaching children and minorities to swim and the importance of water safety and drowning prevention.