The festival will be held from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum Annex. Williams, creator of the National Black Theatre Festival logo, will feature several of his pieces and will showcase the conception and development of the famed NBTF logo he created in 1989.

Born in Lakeland, Fla. and raised in Denver, Colo., Williams now lives in Lexington, Ken. He comes from a long line of woodcarvers. He learned the craft from his brother, who learned from their great uncle. His great-grandfather was also a carver, and his grandmother was a quilt maker. While he started carving as a child, it wasn’t until he graduated from the University of Kentucky, where he helped lead the Wildcats to the 1978 NCAA basketball championship, that he could really focus on his calling.

“The minute I saw (wood carving), it was an immediate love. Even basketball was second to art,” he said.

“Painting, drawing and sculpting is what I think I was born to do.”
Filled with movement, grace and strength, his colorful multi-dimensional works are filled with meaning and tell the stories of African American culture and experience.
The festival event is free and open to the public. Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration marking the end of slavery in the United States.

Comedian Chris Rock’s mother, Rosalie “Rose” Rock, visited Kernersville Monday.

Rock, an educator and host of the weekly Myrtle Beach, SC radio program, “The Mom Show,” addressed students and parents at Sedge Garden Elementary School on June 10 – the next to last day of school – during the Fifth Grade Celebration.

Rock is a veteran parent. She and her late husband Julius Rock reared 10 children and 17 foster children. The family has roots in South Carolina, where Chris Rock was born, and Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where the family relocated when Chris was a child. The wisdom of Rose Rock’s experiences is chronicled in the 2009 book, “Mama Rock’s Rules: Ten Lessons for Raising a Houseful of Successful Children.” Rock addressed both the rising middle schoolers and their parents in her remarks. She advised the youngsters to make wise choices about the company they keep.

“Companions are just like elevators – they can take you up or they can take you down, so you be very, very mindful of who you’re hanging with,” she said. “Because if you’re the smartest person in your group, then you’re in the wrong group. Look out for people who you want to emulate.”

Rock, whose book is billed as “a kicky blend of maternal spirituality and a ‘don’t mess with me or you won’t get old’ sense of authority,” told parents to remain vigilant as their children move into middle school and the teen years.

“Your living room is the first and the best classroom. What you teach at home is what they bring into this environment,” stated the former teacher. “You are the first, and you should be the best teacher, but now your job’s going to get harder because they’re going out into another world.”
Rock touted the importance of a sound education, a luxury she says American children too often take for granted.

“Teachers come bearing gifts,” she told the students. “They give us the gift of an education, they give you the gift of a future, if you want it.”
Rock’s visit was facilitated by Elfreida Dixon, a fifth grade teacher who has a special connection to the Rock family.

“I lived around the corner from the Rocks, before they were ‘The Rocks,’” related Dixon, who babysat for Chris Rock when he was a youngster. “They’re a beautiful family… they’re just down to earth, good people. Fame has not affected them at all.”

Dixon says she has remained in close contact with the family, and has marveled, watching Chris, whom she described as a quiet and reserved child, rocket to stardom. A veteran educator, Dixon said she felt Mama Rock’s message would resonate with the audience.

Warren

“She is such a brilliant woman,” Dixon said. “And she’s family oriented – she’s all about the children.”
Principal Ramona Warren said she felt privileged to have Rock as a guest.

“I was in disbelief when Frieda Dixon first told me that she would agree to be our speaker,” she said of Rock. “This is something that just doesn’t happen, to have someone of her wisdom and her stature speak to our students.”

Theo Howard speaks.

Rock was joined onstage by student speaker Theo Howard, a former Sedge Garden class president. Theo, now a freshman at Glenn High School, offered some words of advice to the Class of 2020 as they prepare to enter middle school. He told the students to respect their teachers, avoid negative influences and, most of all, put their schoolwork first.
“I just want all of you to do a great job in middle school,” commented Theo, whose younger brother Jason Redmond is a member of the fifth grade class at Sedge Garden. “Make sure you handle your business … I wish you all good luck.”

Rock, whose eldest child has used his comic wits and acting ability to become a household name, told the students that the future is their responsibility.
“I want you to go out there with vim and vigor with your minds open and your hearts open to be the best that you can be,” she declared. “Success is a decision. You decide right now where you want to be in life – that is your decision.”

The Triad is home to a vibrant Liberian community. The Winston-Salem-based Liberian Organization of the Piedmont (LOP), which organized Ambassador Sulunteh’s visit, puts the local Liberian population in the thousands. Sulunteh touted the historical connections between his country and this one on Saturday, June 1 during a town hall meeting at Goler Memorial AME Zion Church.

“Liberia has a special relationship with the United States. We were formed by freed American slaves,” Sulunteh said of the West African nation, which is home to roughly 4 million citizens. “…We have a deep root, maybe that we have not realized. Some of us have not seen that connectivity.”

Sulunteh’s itinerary also included addressing the North Carolina House of Representatives on May 29 and meetings with representatives from Forsyth Technical Community College, Wake Forest University Medical Center and Winston-Salem State University on May 30 and May 31.

James Hunder

“It has been very hectic, but very rewarding,” said LOP Founder James Hunder, who facilitated the ambassador’s visit. “The reception has been great (as have) the kind of connections that we have been blessed to have established with other organizations. Everything for the four days has been wonderful.”

He rounded out his visit with the Goler event. During the more than two-hour long event, Sulunteh shared stories of progress and setbacks in his native land, and implored audience members, many of them Liberian nationals, to support the country’s efforts through partnerships and investments.

“Invest,” Sulunteh said. “We’re not asking for aid, we’re not asking for handouts. There is an environment where you can invest, so come and do that.”

Liberia is still recovering from the devastation created by two successive civil wars, the second of which ended in 2003, Sulunteh said. The country held democratic elections in 2005, selecting current President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – the first female president in Africa – for the post. Things have improved during Sirleaf’s tenure, but recovery takes time, Sulunteh said. He listed food and agriculture security, energy and infrastructure and education among the citizens’ most pressing needs.

“The civil war took the lives of 200,000 people and destroyed the fabric of the country,” he related. “…Fourteen years of war created the situation where most of these young people were bypassed by education. They didn’t go to school, they have no skills; consequently, they are unemployed.”

Sulunteh said the Liberian government is working to improve infrastructure by constructing roads and exploring ways of bringing electricity and running water to its villages. Education and vocational training remain critical needs, he added.

“That is the message that we bring, that Liberia is ready for investment, Liberia is ready to collaborate with (American) community colleges and universities to fill the gap of training,” Sulunteh said. “We need support. We need for some of our students to come here and learn, we need for some of our nurses to come here and learn… It’s that kind of association, that kind of relationship that we’re trying to cultivate here.”

The country already has educational partnerships with Forsyth Tech and “Sister City” unions with the City of Winston-Salem. Sulunteh’s wish is that even tighter bonds can be formed between the Triad and Liberia.

Attendees questioned Sulunteh on a variety of topics, from improving relationships between Liberians and African Americans, establishing clear pathways for donations to follow, and concerns related to traveling between the two countries. Sulunteh asked meeting attendees to leverage their personal and business relationships to help Liberia in any way they can.

“When I entered this hall, I did not only see Liberians, I saw friends of Liberians,” he said. “…All of you sitting here have become ambassadors as of today. I want to ask you to join me.”

Goler is home to an active Liberian community. Dr. Seth Lartey, the church’s former pastor, is a native of Monrovia, Liberia and currently serves as bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Western West Africa Episcopal District, which encompasses Liberia. Rev. George Banks, the church’s current pastor, accompanied Ambassador Sulunteh on several of his outings.

Rev. George Banks

“Ambassador Sulunteh is an outstanding leader and just a good person, very down to earth, and has a great message that he’s been delivering across the state, a message of collaboration with Liberia and helping us to understand how we can be a partner as they continue to grow and move forward,” commented Banks, who took the helm at Goler in November. “…We have to make sure that we continue to support Liberia and continue to be a part of their recovery efforts after the civil war.”

Sulunteh made Banks an honorary Liberian during Saturday’s gathering, presenting the pastor with a ceremonial pin bearing the Liberian flag.
“I think his affiliation with our community is exciting, so we wanted to recognize him and honor him as an honorary citizen of Liberia,” Sulunteh said, affixing the pin to Banks’ lapel.

Banks, the self described “new Liberian on the block,” pledged his ongoing support of members of the local Liberian community and of the nation as a whole.
“I am honored,” he stated. “…Mr. Ambassador, we want you to know that when you go back to Washington, D.C., we’re going to continue to work here.”
Though there is much work to do, Sulunteh told the audience that Liberia is on the right track.

“The fact of the matter is that a lot of good things are happening in our country,” he declared. “…Liberia is back and we’re ready to take our rightful place in the community of nations.”

For more information about the Liberian Organization of the Piedmont, visit lopnc.org.

“Showtime in Harlem: A Celebration of the Cotton Club” will be a celebration of the songs and dance that will bring the Cotton Club era to the stage. It consists of performances by local artists including Bertha Young and Joe Robinson. The production will feature performances by singers and dancers who portray artists such as Billie Holliday, Cab Calloway, Lena Horne and the Nicholas Brothers.

Organizers promise that the audience will be taken back to the time where singers demonstrated real vocal skills and dancers engaged audiences in song and dance.
A cocktail hour will begin at 6 p.m., with “Showtime in Harlem,” which includes a dinner, starting at 7 p.m. After the show, there will be an after party with a DJ, dancing and cash bar until 12 a.m.

Tickets are $40 per person and can be purchased online at www.friendsofjohncoltrane.com, through PayPal. Proceeds benefit the 3rd Annual John Coltrane International Jazz & Blues Festival being held Aug. 31 at Oak Hollow Festival Park.

The mission of The Friends of John Coltrane is to preserve and celebrate the life and music of John Coltrane and to enrich the lives of others through the introduction of jazz and other musical genres.

The first meeting was held on Saturday, May 25 with Felecia Piggott-Long, Marcia Piggott, Peggy Bitting–Hale, Nell Perry and Vera Jordan in attendance, along with Addie Hymes, the former director of the program. The goal is to have the reunion during Memorial Day weekend 2014.

“Hopefully, this will give us time to reconnect with all of the students who are interested in attending,” said Hymes. “I’m sure Facebook can help contact many of our students.”
In 1965, the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), under the authority of Title IV of the Higher Education Act, conceptualized Upward Bound programs as a special type of entity. These programs were designed to generate skills and motivation necessary for success in secondary and post-secondary education for youth from low income families. Although these youth have academic potential, they lack adequate secondary school preparation and effort toward their success.

“Upward Bound has made a difference for all of us who were first-generation college students,” said Piggott-Long. “I would say that Mrs. Hymes created a program that became a precursor to what we know today as charter schools.”

In 1965, WSSU was the only college in North Carolina with an Upward Bound program. At that time, it was all-male, and the director was the late Dr. Archie Blount. In 1975, when her family relocated from Milwaukee, Wisc., Hymes was named director of the program and continued the tradition of excellence by enhancing the program in many ways.
She always wanted the students to be empowered to travel. Over the years, Upward Bound students have traveled to Atlanta, Washington, D.C., New York, New Orleans, Orlando, Nashville and the Bahamas.

Prayer and Consecration will be held each evening at 6 p.m. Lectures by local pastors will start nightly at 7 p.m. A Mass Choir, under the direction of Dionn Owen, will perform.
A platform designed to spur unity across the city, the revival will be kicked off with Dr. Sir Walter Mack Jr., pastor of Union Baptist Church, on June 25; Dr. John Mendez, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, will speak June 26; and Bishop McCarter will speak on June 27.

Donations given during the revival will support the Conference’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship program.

Those who need transportation are asked to call Greater Cleveland at 336-661-0226. For questions concerning the revival, call Elder Lamonte Williams at 919-394-6180.

“Bias can affect clinical care and the doctor-patient relationship, and even a patient’s willingness or desire to go see their physician, so it is crucial that we try to deal with any bias during medical school,” said Dr. David Miller, associate professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author of the study.

“Previous research has shown that on average, physicians have a strong anti-fat bias similar to that of the general population. Doctors are more likely to assume that obese individuals won’t follow treatment plans, and they are less likely to respect obese patients than average weight patients,” Miller said.

Miller and colleagues conducted the study as part of their efforts to update the medical school’s curriculum on obesity. The goal was to measure the prevalence of unconscious weight-related biases among medical students and to determine whether the students were aware of those biases.

The three-year study included more than 300 third-year medical students at a medical school in the southeastern United States from 2008 through 2011. The students were geographically diverse, representing at least 25 different states and 12 countries outside the United States.

The researchers used a computer program called the Weight Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measures students’ unconscious preferences for “fat” or “thin” individuals. Students also answered a survey assessing their conscious weight-related preferences. The authors determined if the students were aware of their bias by seeing if their IAT results matched their stated preferences.

Overall, 39 percent of medical students had a moderate to strong unconscious anti-fat bias as compared to 17 percent who had a moderate to strong anti-thin bias. Less than 25 percent of students were aware of their biases.

“Because anti-fat stigma is so prevalent and a significant barrier to the treatment of obesity, teaching medical students to recognize and mitigate this bias is crucial to improving the care for the two-thirds of American adults who are now overweight or obese,” Miller said. “Medical schools should address weight bias as part of a comprehensive obesity curriculum.”
While this study did not address which teaching strategies are most effective, Miller said that a prerequisite to combating prejudice is to first acknowledge its existence.  At Wake Forest Baptist, all third-year medical students in the family medicine clerkship must complete the online IAT, and then participate in an in-class discussion of their experience with bias. In addition, students must accept that their bias could affect their actions and adopt new strategies to mitigate bias, he said.

As part of their efforts to reform curriculum, the Wake Forest Baptist team created an online educational module about fat bias and stigmatization, which is freely available at www.newlifestyle.org.

Parkland will return to the scene of its most recent triumphs for the New Balance Outdoor National Track and Field Championships June 14-16 at the Irwin Belk Track at N.C. A&T.

With seven sprinters on board – Ebony Williams, Erin Morrison, Myshale Spigner, Miaysha Bryant, Ila Mumford, Katlin Sherman and McKinley McNeil – the Mustangs have a roster that’s young, deep and interchangeable. Spigner will be the only senior sprinter on the team next year. Six of the seven runners are versatile enough to compete in every sprint relay event.

At the state championships, Parkland put on a stellar display and in the process, set state meet records in the 4×200 (1 minute, 37.83 seconds) and 4×400 (3 minutes, 47.7 seconds) and tied the state meet record in the 4×100 (47.22 seconds).

“It’s a great feeling to have the opportunity to run at nationals,” said Sherman, a rising junior who placed third in the open 200 at the state championships. “I have a lot of confidence is my teammates. Everybody has worked hard and we’re ready to focus and compete.”

Hughes

Whether Coach Antwan Hughes’ runners can win a national sprint relay title remains to be seen. A year ago, the Mustangs 4×200 team finished fourth. The 4×200 foursome of Spigner, Sherman, Williams and Morrison figures to contend for a top five finish at this year’s NB nationals. So far, Parkland’s record-setting time at the state meet is seventh-fastest in the nation. In the 4×100 (Mumford, Morrison, Sherman and Bryant), the Mustangs are ranked 20th nationally.

Competition in practice is one of the key factors behind the Mustangs success. The versatility of the runners ensures that each will be pushed to the limit when they run against each other at different distances during training sessions.

“Practices are the biggest challenge,” said Morrison, the only Parkland runner who competed in all three sprint relays at the state championships. “When you’re with a good group that works hard like we do, the competition is so intense that it causes everybody’s time to drop. We’re constantly pushing each other, and that’s what makes us better.”

On the surface, it seems that assembling a championship-caliber relay team is simply a matter of having the four fastest runners. According to Sherman and Morrison, however, that’s no guarantee for victory. Team chemistry and a keen sense of unity, they explain, play a crucial role in how well a relay team performs, especially in the pressurized atmosphere of the big meets.

“It takes focus and dedication,” said Sherman. “When we have problems with baton exchanges in practice, we go over it again and again and again until we get it right. We’ve gotten to know each other so well that if any adjustments need to be made once the race has started, we know what to do.”

The spirit of protest was alive and well when the N.C. NAACP’s Forward Together tour rolled through Winston-Salem last Thursday.

Dozens gathered in the sanctuary of Shiloh Baptist Church to hear about the latest pieces of controversial legislation being shopped around the Republican-controlled General Assembly and learn how they can get involved in the growing Moral Mondays movement, a weekly nonviolent protest at the state legislature.

NAACP Field Secretary Rob Stephens reported that the six week-old Moral Mondays initiative is growing by the week; more than 400 people have been arrested for civil disobedience in connection with the effort since the first Moral Monday on May 6. Stephens said the number of people who are actively participating in civil disobedience is unprecedented.

Rob Stephens holds Democracy NC’s Legislative Report Card.

“That has never happened in North Carolina’s history – not in the 1960s, not anytime before,” he said, noting that Moral Mondays arrestees have ranged in age from 18-92.
The movement has attracted thousands of protestors and supporters, and Stephens said that the citizens across the state have been equally receptive to the tour, which covered 26 stops in eight days.

The tour was organized to help raise North Carolinians’ awareness of the host of bills state lawmakers have cranked out since Gov. Pat McCrory took office in January, cinching a Republican supermajority. Derick Smith, a political science professor at N.C. A&T State University, explained some of the recent bills, including voter ID laws to prevent what Smith says is a nonexistent voting fraud issue.

“You don’t really have to look too deep to figure out what’s going on in our General Assembly – our government has been hijacked by a group of lobbyists,” declared Smith, whose students were among “the first foot soldiers” in the Moral Mondays movement.

“…I believe that it’s time to reclaim democracy for the citizens of this state.”

Last week, Republicans killed the Racial Justice Act, a law sponsored by local Democratic lawmakers that gave death row inmates an opportunity to win a reduced sentence if they could prove that racism played a part in their sentencing.

Patterson

Winston-Salem Branch NAACP President S. Wayne Patterson told the diverse group of attendees that solidarity is the key to the movement’s success.
“We can come together as a unified body,” Patterson said. “Black, white, Hispanic, old, young, male, female – it doesn’t make a difference because we are all citizens of North Carolina.”

McCrory and House Speaker Thom Tillis have refused to meet with NC NAACP President William Barber II and others to discuss the current legislative session and have allowed peaceful protestors at the General Assembly to be arrested. Tillis has been caught on tape “literally running away from Rev. Barber and a group of people who tried to engage him,” Stephens said.

“It reflects the public policy that they’re pushing through to ignore people,” he said.

A handful of attendees had firsthand experience with the Moral Mondays protests. Six men, Rev. Steve Boyd, Patrick Donnelly, Dr. Carlton Eversley, Norman Hill, Rev. Ron LaRocque and Smith, shared their experiences of being arrested and detained for as many as 12 hours as part of the Moral Mondays movement.

LaRocque, the pastor of Metropolitan Community Church, said his attendance was “simply a matter of faith.”

“Bills that further marginalize some of the most vulnerable citizens of our state, that is the very definition of injustice,” he intoned. “My faith requires me to raise my voice against injustice until God’s righteousness comes back into our state.”

Despite being arrested, Donnelly described his participation in the effort as “a wonderful experience.
“I got involved because I see what’s coming down the pipe from Raleigh and it truly upsets me – I’m outraged,” he said. “They’re focused on voting rights and everyone’s rights to vote. There’s nothing more fundamental than that, I think, to being American.”

Hill, a math instructor at Davidson County Community College, accompanied Donnelly at the June 3 protest, where more than 150 were arrested for civil disobedience. Hill railed against cuts in education funding and programs, especially pre-kindergarten programming, which he says has been a key factor in the state’s ability to increase its graduation rate.

“Education is something that’s really important to me,” Hill said. “Nothing’s more important to me than education, and I see that under attack.”
State Sen. Earline Parmon has been with the protestors, whom she affectionately refers to as “jailbirds,” every step of the way, even waiting outside the jail until the wee hours of the morning to greet them and thank them for their efforts. Parmon, a Democrat who represents the 32nd District, told attendees that Moral Mondays are making an impact on her conservative foes. She urged all those in attendance to also lend their support to the movement.

Parmon

“God told us what He requires of us, and that is to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God,” she proclaimed. “We cannot be a part of the conspiracy of silence. If you do, you are a part of them.”

To receive NAACP news and updates via text message, text “NAACP” to 46988.

Held June 1 at Northeast Guilford High School in McLeansville, the tournament pitted the Mavs against the Kernersville Mavericks, whom they narrowly defeated, 72-71. They then beat the undefeated Chapel Hill Bulldogs, 58-57. They got the best of NC Elite, 53-49, to win the gold.

The Winston-Salem Mavericks 11U team traveled to High Point to play in the same tournament. They began their day on fire with a 36-24 win over the Greensboro Warriors and a 31-14 victory over the Salisbury Phenoms. They faced the Greenville Bulls to bring home the Gold, 36-23.

The 11U team is headed to the Nationals in Hampton, Va., July 3-8. The 16U squad has been invited to attend the Nike 100 Super Showcase in Atlanta, July 9-14.
The Winston-Salem Mavericks 11U is coached and owned by Mike Gonzalez and Willie “BB” Patrick Jr.; the assistant coaches are Antonio Wardlow and Nathen Belcher. The 16U team’s head coach is Patrick, who is assisted by coaches Taft Mack and Jeremiah Hawks.