From Staff Reports 

 SWANNANOA — The need to strengthen public education was emphasized in Timothy B. Tyson’s Feb. 10 address on “The Vision of the Black South” in Warren Wilson College Presbyterian Church.

Tyson also touted the need for access to ballots and help with poverty.

He criticized politicians for backing school vouchers, noting that “they’re paying people to leave public schools. That will leave public schools as holding pens.”

Tyson said the conservatives and entrepreneurs “want the money from the schools.”

What’s more, he noted, “We are in a perilous situation. White conservatives thought public education was a terrible idea” to begin with and now they are trying to slash them back. However, in Tyson’s view, “it’s a step” forward to provide public schools.

“They’re going to do-in the public schools — and it’s going to be hard to build them back up” again, he warned.

About 50 people attended the program and all were white except three guests accompanying Tyson.

Tyson is probably best known as the author of “Blood Done Sign My Name,” which tells the story of the racial and sexual tension surrounding a 1970 lynching in Tyson’s hometown of Oxford, N.C. It was later turned into a movie.

He serves as senior research scholar at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and visiting professor of American Christianity and Southern Culture at Duke Divinity School.

The program began with some black gospel singing by Mary D. Williams, who is billed as an Afro-American historian studies performer of the song and narrative of the black South. Williams had the crowd clapping and swaying to the music.

She noted that “the strength, the solidarity enabled these songs” — on plantations for slaves — “to be used to fight injustice.”

Among the songs she performed were “All Over This Land,” “Wade in the Water,” “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep No More” and “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round.”

Following Wilson’s performance, Tyson began his talk, noting, “We’re complicated creatures.” He said human beings have “no hooves or armor” and “we’re not so strong or fast. So we’re nervous, and it makes us violent.”

He said Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union, once said that “you can’t shoot everybody.” However, Tyson added wryly, Stalin still managed to shoot 20 million of his countrymen.

After a pause, he asserted, “Nuclear weapons plus ethnic hatred is the formula for the end of the world.”

Referring to the songs Williams had performed earlier, Tyson said, “Spirituals are the theology of an unlettered people. That’s why they’re so good. The ones that didn’t perform a useful function are gone.”

He also expressed frustration with churches that have not become involved via social activism.

During a question-and-answer session, someone asked Tyson about the “school to prison pipeline.”

“There’s not really a pipeline,” Tyson replied. “It’s not like it’s automatic, but we’re letting it happen.”

He added, “White children use drugs about half a percentage point higher than black children, but we hurt (black children) for sport.”

Worse, “I don’t see the political will to stop it ... If we had really good public education, we could take some people out of the pipeline.”

More pragmatically, Tyson said, “There’s no substitute for political victory. In the end, it’s ‘get out the vote.’”

A man in the audience asked, “What can we do? The government’s been bought in Raleigh by a major interest.”

“One thing is, there’s a movement happening,” Tyson said in reference to the NAACP. Also, he touted progressives, noting they favor greater access to the ballot box.

“I believe the Asheville NAACP is in mothballs right now,” he noted. “It used to be powerful ... So I want you to join the NAACP. If you keep showing up, you’ll get to know people. It’s a great thing.”

He then urged those at his talk to “join your NAACP. White people can belong. It’s just got black leadership... The freedom struggle always has been biracial on both sides.” Tyson serves as the education chair for the North Carolina NAACP.

Regarding poverty, Tyson said, “Things are hard. We’ve got bad unemployment in this state.”

Tyson also cited an African-American proverb, which states, “We’ll know how the story goes when the fight starts.”