Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 4 May 2000 — Page 10

The Muncie Times, May 4, 2000, page 10

DEAN FROMPAGE 3 and the Hoosier Lottery. “I have never failed on anything that I have started. The Muncie Times is not going to fail,” she told Kumbula. From that was bom the 10-year-old newspaper. Williams said The Times has found its niche as a forum and a leader for Muncie’s 10,000 African Americans, because it chronicles their achievements and provides them with role models. “The Muncie Times has been truly unique. No newspaper aimed at the African American community here has lasted more than 6 months. That is why this 10year celebration is very significant. I know that in Columbus (Ohio), I anxiously await my copy of The Muncie Times. Even my secretary loves to read it before I get my hands on it. “The paper brings me news of my hometown. But it also has significant and timely articles. The paper once ran a story about an African American Muncie native who discovered a device to allow ships to travel back to earth. And the paper was the first to break the news of Mike Tyson’s conversion to Islam. These are truly momentous achievements,” Williams said. “Bea Moten-Foster, our publisher of The Muncie Times, was strong enough not to be turned around by those who said she could not create a paper out of whole cloth. But she did and she proved everyone wrong. Of course she did not do it alone. She was able to draw people to her who believed in her dream and wanted to help her provide a forum for Muncie’s black community. “One of the most common problems in our society is unsuccessful people with great potential. Literacy is the bridge to knowledge

that can bring success. We cannot guarantee what an individual will do with knowledge, once he or she gains it. But it is certainly in the best interest of everyone to facilitate the process, to help build that bridge, no matter the outcome. “The Muncie Times, in its efforts to reach out to the community with relevant news, informative articles and timely discussion of the issues of the moment and even broader currents of our time, is truly making a difference—and I salute you. The celebration of 10 years is truly a job well done.” Moten-Foster’s husband, Dr. Robert Foster, gracefully acknowledged that he was among those who had initially been skeptical that The Times would survive. Now he is 100 percent behind the project. Williams was introduced by Hurley C. Goodall, a retired member of the Indiana General Assembly. Goodall said he was among those Munsonians who had hoped that Williams, one of three finalists to succeed outgoing Ball State President Dr. John Worthen, would be selected by the board of trustees. Instead, the trustees chose Dr. Blaine Brownell, director of the University of Memphis Center for International Programs, to replace Worthen who retires June 30. Goodall said, “Greg, many people in Muncie and the Ball State community are extremely disillusioned by Ball State’s trustees decision in the search for president. There are some who feel they chose someone less eminently qualified. That sent a troubling message to the community. “The tragic thing is that this opportunity will not come to Muncie again. This sends a message that Muncie has not progressed much

since the day you arrived in Muncie in 1954.” Goodall said the selection of a scholar and academician such as Williams would have sent a message that Muncie has changed for the better, Williams said he and his wife and family had looked forward to coming back home to Muncie to be among many friends and relatives. That would have been a spectacular rags-to-riches story for someone who was a janitor while earning an undergraduate degree at Ball State to return as the university’s first African American and first alumnus president. But he said he was not disappointed. “If the Lord closes one door, he opens another.” As a child growing up in Virginia with his brother, mother and father, Williams thought he was white. His father’s annual income was about $50,000. They lived in a nice neighborhood. Then that world collapsed. The father had to bring his sons to Muncie. It was on that trip that the sons realized that their father had been passing for white. That was a shocking and numbing experience. It became the title for Across the Color Line: The story of a white bov who discovered he was black. Later Williams would discover racism and prejudice, graduate from Muncie Central High School and then attend Ball State where he earned a bachelor’s. Today he has five earned degrees and three honorary. After stints in Virginia, Washington, D. C., and Iowa, he is now dean and Carter C. Kissell Professor of Law at The Ohio State University College of Law. He is immediate past president of the Association of American Law Schools.

A community of family, friends, staff and supporters show their appreciation to Moten-Foster with a rousing standing ovation. Over 400 people gathered for the evnt which was held at the Horizon Convention Center.

Moten-Foster prepares to sing “We’ve Come This Far By Faith” in duet with her daughter, Pam Jackson.

From African drums to gospel drums, the rhythm of drummer Jeremy Webb and Travis Jones brought foot stomping and hand clapping to the crowd.

Among those attending the celebration were from LtoR Henry By rd, publisher of the Star Press, Dr. Ceola Digby-Berry, psychologist and Ball State University Trustee, former Muncie Deputy Mayor Walter Berry, Kim Jacobs, Ball State University Trustee and former Congressman Andy Jacobs.