Saturday, February 07, 2004
The murder of Deborah Sykes in 1984 and imprisonment of Darryl Hunt for the crime created division between
the city's blacks and whites for years.
Last week, a few days before Hunt's murder conviction was overturned, Mayor Allen Joines convened a group of people whose goal is to heal the community, by bringing people together to overcome their perceptions.
But perceptions are hard to change. Here are two stories of Winston-Salem residents and their beliefs:
Recalling segregation
Rosalyn Howard's parents were custodians, and both held second jobs to support their five children.
When she was a girl, she said, there were water fountains in the city labeled "white" and "colored." Her family entered the Carolina Theater (now the Stevens Center) through the back entrance, because only white people could go in the front door.
"Even though we were segregated within our own community, we were always close-knit," Howard said.
Howard attended college in Washington, returning home before graduating. Over the years, she has been a saleswoman and raised her own family. Today, at 50, she is the owner of Jacob's See-Food Carry-Out at the corner of 25th and Liberty streets.
She and her sister, Arnetha Kimbrough, rejoiced Friday over Hunt's overturned conviction. "Lord, have mercy," Kimbrough said upon hearing the news.
Howard smiled broadly and nodded her head.
"It's sad to say justice is blind," she said. "But knowing that he had people stand behind him, really fighting for his freedom, and he never gave up, that says a lot."
Howard said she believes that Hunt fit the description of the person the police were looking for when Sykes was murdered. He was a young black man, she said.
"That's history for us, always being accused of a lot of crimes we did not commit," she said. "That is especially true for black men."
She said she saw it growing up. And she has seen prejudice play out in her neighborhood.
She recalled that when she opened her business about three years ago, a couple of police officers came in to buy lunch. They started to question some young black men who also were in line.
When the officers were asked why they did that, they told Howard that the men resembled a suspect they had just been looking for.
"I think black men are always on the defensive," Howard said. "You always have to walk with your hands in your pockets, and, Lord, don't be running!"
Some of the things that occur between black and white people are to be expected, Howard said.
"I think we're always going to be racially divided in some aspects just because of who we are," Howard said. "It's what you do with your prejudices that makes all the difference in the world. You can choose to make it better or choose to make it worse."
A different opinion
Wayne Cheek grew up in Hanestown, a segregated mill village off Stratford Road that had dirt roads and outhouses.
"They went their way and we went ours," Cheek said. As a boy, he said, he attended the county fair for whites only and didn't share classrooms with black children.
Cheek quit school in the fifth grade and took a job at a sawmill, and then worked on his family's tobacco farm. He drove trucks and was a mechanic before going on disability after an accident in 1994. He lives in a brick house on Brownwood Drive that is decorated with NASCAR memorabilia and a collection of Confederate flags.
Cheek said he has followed the Sykes case since the killing. The news that a black man was suspected in her death wasn't surprising, he said.
"Look in your prisons," he said. "They didn't get in there from a church."
He also said he was not surprised to hear that Hunt's conviction had been overturned.
"They (blacks) stand together regardless of whether it's right or wrong," he said. "They wouldn't quit until they got what they wanted."
Cheek, 67, said he doesn't think that Hunt is innocent and doesn't understand why Hunt's criminal history and the two trial convictions in the Sykes case don't seem to matter.
"I'll go to my grave believing he was there and he was involved," Cheek said.
He said he is frustrated that the case ended the way it began, surrounded by what he believes are the issues of race and politics.
"It was almost immediately they (blacks) thought he got a raw deal," Cheek said. "White people don't get involved in issues like this. They accept what the judicial system gives them."
Cheek said that the focus of the case has always been about Hunt, how he was wronged and what the community should do to help him.
"Here's the real loser," Cheek said, pointing to a photo of Sykes. "This lady - her picture should be on the front page."
Cheek said he would feel the same way about Hunt if he were white and Sykes had been a black woman. But if that had been the case, he said, he believes that blacks would have still been upset.
"It's like they think white people always owe them something," he said. "I might be a racist, I don't know. But I can't help how I feel."
• Victoria Cherrie can be reached at 727-7283 or atvcherrie@wsjournal.com