2A
JOB CASOUKA niß SATOM>AY, MAT §, IfTI
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EDITOR IMS
Hm Block Mai's Message
To His FtVowMOO
Hie 250,000 or more protestors of
the Viet Nam war who gathered on
the steps of the White House last
week, as time goes by may prove that
they were calling the attention of the
people of this nation to a historic
epoch in its history of wliich, sooner
or later *must be confronted by all of
the ten million or more citizens of the
United States. We contend that the
time lias arrived when John Doe, who
may not own a mammoth farm or
business, but pays an annual tax to
the federal government for its sup
port, and above all, lias one or more
sons now fighting in the hopeless and
endless war in which the U.S. has
been engaged for the past several
years, and above all a closer investi
gation may disclose that he lias one or
more sons now sleeping in Viet Nam.
We call upon mankind all over the
world to stand up and listen - nuclear
warfare has made lustory in such no
longer obtainable, when it is consider
ed that the U.S., the most powerful
nation on eaflh, has been engaged in
conflict with an insignificant power
that it should be able to cottier
The Mayor's Electioa Oa May 15
Hie voters in the mayor's general
election to be held in Durham on
May 15 presents for the city's highest
office two of the best qualified candi
dates that have,been brought before
the voters of Durham for its highest
office within the last 50 years. Along
with the 14 candidates to face the vo
ters of this city on May 15, in addi
tion to the office of mayor, are Asa
T. Spaulding, already the flat black
and member of Durham County's
board of commissioners and James R.
Hawkins, former member of the Gty
Council and local real estate agent.
Add to the above in the ward
races: J. Leslie Atkins and the Rev.
Billy E. Griffin, Ward Four; A Car
roll Pledger and Rubin N. Johnson,.
for Ward Two; Clyde Strickland, Don
C. Christian, Ward Six. Since only
two candidates filed for each primary,
no primary is required.
The above picture is the very best
we can give under the present situa
tion and with the limit of press time
now before us, along with many
other historic and epoch making ques-
An Iffy'
LXHI two decades California voters
■ have had a power of veto over
l«m rent housing projects. Although
I lie Supreme Court upheld the
California referendum law this w'eek.
it by no means resolved the difficult
legal. political and moral questions
which touch upon this issue.
\V*lh the best of intent but with
consequences possibly not foreseen,
i IK* court warned that what is legal
in California might not be legal in
oilier states. In other words. North
Carolina and the 41 states which lack
referendum laws need
not be erfewraged by this decision to
think that they can now enact such
statutes and have them stand.
This means, in effect, that these
stales will be presumed to have acted
far reasons of racial bias whereas
California is presumed to have acted
for quite different reasons.
Ironically, the court upheld the
California statute (while seeming to
knvck down others in advance) under
th 4 14th Amendment's "equal
protection" clause. That clause, of
course, was adopted solely in an effort
to eradicate legal discrimination
against blacks—to guarantee the freed
slaves the same constitutional
privileges and immunities as white
citizens.
Nevertheless, it seems odd to hear
the court explain that, in California,
the referendum is a "procedure for
democratic decision-making" while
elsewhere it might be found to have
some other basis entirely. Equal
protection?
No doubt the court meant well. It
Nmw that the housing question is a„
within the span of 24 hours should it
dare use the weapons of destruction
at its command. That stands for so
well and good, just so long as another (
major power - Russia or Giina - does
not dare draw their nuclear instru
ments of distniction on the U.S. in
retaliation.
Oh, yes we again call the attention
of the world to stand up and listen,
while we uncover the grim truth in
this short editorial the grisly fact that
two nations, other than our own -
Russia and China - have enough nu
clear power in their possession to de
stroy, not only the earth, but every
iota of life now existing on this and
other planets.
So we again confront mankind with
the sad but significant fact that unless
lie can fiid a substitute for hatred,
revenge and the other "seven deadly
sins" he may as well kiss the world
goodbye and we cry out to him in
this editorial as we have done so often
in others - who knows but we have
been brought to this country for just
such a time as this."
tions now facing all the voters of the
Gty of Durham. It is with this
thought in mind that we call upon the
voters in the May 15 election to give
serious thought as to how they cast
their ballot for the of ice of mayor in
a city that has had so much contri
buted to its economic welfare in the
area of black business and black edu
cation.
We call upon the most scrutinizing
use of the X-ray in examining every
phase or qualification and other faci
lities o fthe candidates for mayor of
the City of Durham. It i* therefore,
our hope that Durham has reached
the point in its development when it
will no longer consider the race or co
lor of one's skin as a qualification for
the office of mayor or any other high
office in a city, county, or state of
this nation.
With this in mind we again call
upon intelligent voters of all races to
go to the polls on May IS and vote
for Asa T. Spaulding for mayor of
the Gty of Durham.
politically sensitive one in many
communities throughout the land- In
many of these communities, including
our own. the authorities have at
tempted to eradicate the black ghettos
hv buflding public housing projects in
whiie suburban or near-suburban
areas. Unfortunately, the tendency to
build such projects in massive blocs
tends to undo the noble design. Out
North* Cherry Street, where one of
these projects is now being built, the
"for sale" signs practically equal the
number of houses. What happens to
our goal ot social integration if these
people depart, possibly with heavy
financial losses, and the entire area
is taken over by Negro families?
The court knew all this, and wanted
to discourage in advance the passage
of new and admittedly
discriminator)' legislation.
What. then, are we to make of this
doctrine of "presumptive" guilt?
By itself, the decision perhaps
would not be all that significant. Yet
it seems to be part of a developing
trend. The court, it appears, no longer
is so adventuresome as in the Warren
years. In many opinions it seems to
be closing off new options without
abandoning too hastily principles
fashioned ov the Warren court. The re
cent school desegregation case was
an example. In that one, the court
seemed to be saying tbat it would,
rigidly enforce desegregation laws in
the South but might not do so in other
parts of the country. Other retreats are,
manifest in the court's obscenity and!
citizenship rulings, to mention only!
two types of cases. ~
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL
But What About The Five Million
Who Are Demandin
PRESIDENT NIXON IN
HIS ATTACK ON WELFARE
STATED, "I ADVOCATE A I
SYSTEM WHICH WILL / lA/|.l A /|. J
ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO I Wfc /
TAKE WORK AND THAT DEMz
MEANS WHATEVER WORK / I
J$ AVAILABLE" L
The New Opium War
WASHINGTON
Perhaps the Red Chinese are now
smiling at us across the ping-pong
table because they have successfully
intervened in Vietnam. There is
evidence that Peking's probable
weapon a recent massive infusion
of high-grade heroin to "blow the
minds of Gls—has had devastating
effects, not just in Vietnam but in the
United States, where veterans are
being drawn to crime to support ex
pensive drug habits.
There is no small irony here. More
than a century ago, between 1840 and
1860, China's "Celestial Empire" was
thrown open to the West by two
"Opium Wars" which Britain fought
to compel China to permit the
lucrative opium trade. Now China
appears to be mounting its own
"Opium War" to speed Western
departure from Southeast Asia.
Shortly after the 1970 invasion of
Cambodia wrecked Communist ability
to undertake further ifmilitary of
fensives, the Reds switched to a drug
offensive. Large quantities of heroin
began arriving in Vietnam. It came
through the Saigon docks, and at first
was available only in that city.
Uniform packaging and refining in
dicated a single, highly-organized
source; moreover, one that was willing
to forego profit in return for
widespread distribution. Pure heroin
(which costs $40,000 an ounce in the
U.S.!) is being sold throughout Viet
nam at prices far below those which
our well-paid troops could afford. The
motive, therefore, is not profit but
addiction of Gls.
Philadelphia's assistant district
attorney, John Steinberg, who probed
the Vietnamese drug scene last Oc
tober as a special consultant to the
Senate Subcommittee to Investigate
Juvenile Delinquency, has little doubt
about the source: ping-pong-loving
China, an off-and-on center of opium
poppy cultivation.
i Steinberg quotes unreleased figures
' that sketch a hardly coincidental
chronology. During early 1970, U.S.
service deaths in Vietnam from drug
overdoses were averaging a
it
* 4/ /l °P p ' * all this go
you aren't going to let being right about
month. As a heavy heroin influx
followed shortly after the Cambodian
invasion, drug deaths rose to 46 a
month in August, then to 60 a month
in October. More recent data are not
available.
Last fall, 60 per cent of the cases
in U.S. medical facilities were drug
related. There are days in Vietnam
when more soldiers die from drugs
than from combat!
According to a confidential report
from the surgeon general, the U.S. can
do nothing because there is no way
of cutting off the heroin supply. Under
these circumstances, treatment is
impossible, and soldiers return home
still addicted.
The U.S. command in Vietnam is
releasing data showing that 30-45,000
troops are using hard drugs. The
actual figure may be much higher.
Steinberg quotes Medical Corps Major
Jerome Char as saying that 40-50 per
cent of the "Screaming Eagles" of the
101 st AirMobile Division are heroin
users, and that -90 per cent are taking
some drug.
According to Brigadier General
Roy Atterberry, deputy commander of
the Americal Division, men under the
influence of drugs began the now
spreading practice of "'fragging"
killing their own officers with
fragmentation grenades.
No substantial treatment of army
junkies is being undertaken in Viet
nam, nor is the government moving
to meet the problem of addicted
veterans. Hundreds of thousands
picked up varying degrees of drug
dependency in Vietnam, and not a few
are turning to crime.
Steinberg claims that in
Philadelphia alone, 12 to 25 drug
related offenses are committed each
month by veterans of Vietnam. On a
national scale, this could reach 500-
1,000 a month.
The U.S. Government, evidently
afraid that revelations of the growing
drug problem in Vietnam would fur
ther erode homefront morale, has done
little to acknowledge the situation. But
this canker can no longer be ignored.
It demands immediatt action.
to your head"
OOK
By JOHN MYERS
ABORTION: MURDER OR SURVIVAL?
There is presently a law before the state govern
ment, which, if carried to its fullest, will permit a
pregnant woman to walk into a hospital at will and
have an abortion. The "Southern Baptist" are going
wild. "Moral decay," they scream,"Loss of values, "
they preach," and "turning away from God," they
predict.
Let's suppose fora moment that there is no such
animal as an unwanted child; There exist no illigiti
mate children; Every child is born into a middle
class surrounding with a loving mother and father
and all the necessities for developing into "normal"
adults. There are no incidences where twelve and
thirteen year old children have to work to help
support the families. There are no welfare children,
no food stamps, no public school meal tickets, and
no orphanages. None of these things are needed for
all children are born into families full of love and
material necessities.
Now that we have looked at "Walt Disney's
Wonderful World of Children," let's look at our city
streets. City streets, bordered by ghettoes where
children war with rats for the only bed; City streets
ravaged by gangs of 13-16 year old boys molesting
women and old men for pocket money; City streets
with row upon row of welfate families with thirteen
children per family and no, father.
Birth control might be an ultimate solution to the
population problem. It might be, after years of edu
cation to teach some of the mothers where children
come from.
The 08-GYN Clinic at Bowman-Gray School of
Medicine in Winston-Salem has daily cases of wo
men receiving birth control measures. Some of them
returning pregnant, three months after beginning
use of the pill, can't understand what hap
pened. They say they always make sure to take their
pill after every sexual encounter. Others, on foam,
feed it to their husbands. Cases such as these are
. , ,l r ~; J . i «,/h -W ha fy. •i * .». t\ rj ,
common in every birth control clinic across the
state. In these cases, education is needed as much
as the prophylatic.
Education takes time, meanwhile, children are
being born at the rate of one child every minute and
a half.
Abortions have been illegally practiced on kitchen
tables with butcher's knives, in the floor with coat
hangers, and in every conceivable place with every
object at great cost and greater threat to persona!
welfare, through the past centuries. If the churches
wish to condemn on the basis of moral decay; Let
them begin in the kitchens, closets, and back-alleys,
and place blame and horror with the flesh mer
chants rather than condemning a woman and man
for a mistake and making them live with it the rest
of their lives. Let us bring abortion into the light of
legality so mistakes of the future will not mature
into regrets of the past.
Brezhnev
The western world always learns something about condi
tions in Russia, and about Russian leaders, at the Com
munist Party's Moscow Congress every five years. The
current Congress is no exception.
One of the revelations at the current Congress is the
growing strength and image of Leonid Brezhnev, party sec
retary, who called for better U.S.-I'.S.S.R. relations at the
session. The party secretary's post has always been of
immense importance in Russia, transcending the position
of Premier. It was the main power source of both Josef
Stalin and of Nikita Khrushchev.
In the 1966 party congress Brezhnez was a relatively
new party secretary and speeches by various attending
officials failed to lavish on him very noticeable and unique
praise. In the Present Moscow meeting speaker after speaker
has dwelled on his strength and virtues; veteran correspond
ents report that not since the days of Nikita Khrushchev
has such almost-unamimous praise been evidenced at a
party congress.
The speeches were all presumably screened by the Cen
tral Committee, which Brezhnev heads, and this and the
fact that praise is so lavish, indicates Brezhnev, strongest
man in the Russian upper circle, is growing stronger.
€l*Carqli?ui Cim*&
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