Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / June 26, 1971, edition 1 / Page 2
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2A —THE CAROLINA TIMES SATURDAY, JUNE 28, IQTI Ckt Car&i&i (Time# * Tr i~Trr»gf EDITORIALS When oik 4 looks at the history of the separation of races in America and considers the mutual misunder standing and fears that have accom panied such separation, it is not sur prising that the large distortions of the past are carried into the present even by some of those who claim to Ik* committed to racial justice and reconciliation. The updating of old racial myths have taken the form of cults of one sort or another. There appears to al ways lx' some "new" angle to the race problem or some new gimmick that people latch on to in hope of finding a short-cut solution. Easy answers al ways indulge in racial mythology lo calise they must if they are to be easy obscure the real depth of the race problem. One of the new cults is "black Eng lish." At a recent conference, some 3-54) linguistics experts, teachers and students (most of them white), met to discuss Black English: Mythology or Reality. According to a NKW YOHK TIMES report, tile "experts" seemed convinced that "black Eng lish" is very much a realitv "(black English)." according to these "ex l*-rts is saying "where Charlie?" in stead of "where is Charlie?" "Ex perts the report noted, "now say that Mack English has an identity independent of white dialects of Eng lish." They also feel that it might be In : t to teach black children in thek "negative tongue" rather than force them into the difficult situation of using English. There is already a course in "black English being taught at a Brooklyn College bv a woman who heads a language Curriculum research pro ject: that is financed by a $65,000 l ord Foundation grant. Perhaps the motives of some of these new "black linguistics experts" are sincere. They want to see black children learn, but do they want to prepare them for A Positive Step for DtiA Problems Tl»e importance of the Senate ac tion on June 19, 1971 is that it marks » positive step towards alleviating many of the problems that have plagued public housing in this city for many months. The Senate signed into law, on June 19, a measure that would in crease the membership of the Durham Housing Authority from five mem bers to seven members. It also pro vided that the members shall be ap pointed by the city council instead of the major. This is a small positive step forward. With the power of appointment intrusted to the Coun cil, at least, an appointee must have some consensus of the representatives of the citizenry before assuming a position of power. It has long been considered a monstrous proposition that a public official need only to curry the favor of a single public officer to assume a position of power over the lives of a substantial segment of its citizenry, It is even more monstrous when the official, so appointed, is unaswerable only to Goa and his conscience, if any. Things You Should PERRY.? j&i . . . A SLAVE WHO, IN 1834 WS HIRED QUTTO THE SOUTH CAROLINA RAH. ROAD/IN 1852 HE 111p|i x | )/f|iS|' FSCMAN ROB ENGINEER S. RAWORTH ft SERVED FOR NINETEEN \ XBiBSi AS LATE AS FEBRUARY 856, CONTRACTORS 80UJ GANGS OF FORTY SLAVES TO RAILROADS AS I 43 WELL AS UNSKILLED WORKERS / Food For Thought life outside the ghetto? Do they want to see them become first-class citizens? "Black English," after all, has nothing to do with blackness but derives from the conditions of lower class life in the South and northern ghetto, poor southern whites also speak "black English" as well as new immigrants from European shores. This writer well recalls this type of English as witnessing it while living in a predominantly-foreign-born and other ethnic type community. Reinforcing this consequence of poverty will only perpetuate poverty since it will prevent black children from mastering the means of com munication in an advanced tech nological society with a highly edu cated population. Adult education programs in language proficiency in many large communities support the need for good communication skills as well as to enable one to better pre sent himself for job opportunities that may become available with a good command of the English language. The new coalition of liberals who romanticize the characteristics of black poverty and foundation execu tives, who are looking for a cheap solution to raciat injustice, is just one more obstacle that we will have 16 fight. The CRISIS, publication of the NAACP, in a recent editorial, spoke forcefully and to the point about the cult of "black English." "Black parents, throughout tins na tion should rise up in unanimous condemnation of this insidious con spiracy to cripple their children permanently?. . ."Let the black voice of protest resound loud and clear throughout our land." Black parents, let us start imme diately to clean up this language of ours. We must have and need good leadership skill of communication if we are to have proficient leaders for developing our role in this highly technological and educated society. Many studies have been conducted which touched upon the problems of public housing in Durham. Yet the conditions in public housing has been the major source of generating boy cotts, protests and demonstrations which have only produced greater tensions. The recent public hearing on public housing illuminates the monstrous nature of such a circum stance. Statistics reveal that approximately 61 per cent of the heads of house holds in public housing ate women and the majority of them are black. It is hoped that the City Council in exercising its newly granted power will give serious consideration to the adequate representation of these two minorities on the new Durham Hous ing Authority. If the City Council will give its most serious considera tion to this major issue, then Durham will be the beneficiary of lessened tensions that accompany non-polar ize, non-abritrary housing policy. The City Council must meet this task in a forward looking, constructive way. Re-Registration ... Delisting Black Voting Power THE NAMES OF 35000 PEOPLE WERE ON THE FORMER JONES COUNTY, MISS. VOTING LIST, CONGRESSMAN EDWARDS SAID, BUT ONLY 15,000 HAVE REGISTERED SO FAR, SO THAT 19,000 PEOPLE HAVE MEN APPARENTLY DEPRIVED OF THEIR RIGHT TO WITH THE DEPARTMENT^ Tightening Of Job Market Pinch The veteran returning from the war in Vietnam shares a common economic con cern with the college graduate who re ceived his diploma in this spring's com mencement exercises. Both are the vic tims of a job market pinch, and both are In keen competition with many other Ameri cans who are looking for work. And for all of those in the same boat, the May report on unemployment released the other day did not carry an encouraging note for the foreseeable future. It showed that total employment was up and total unemployment was down. How over, neither the May increase in employ ment nor the decrease in unemployment was as large as normally would be expected in that month of greater business and construction activities. Also, there was a sizeable increase in the labor force and so the net result was a fractional rise in the unemployment rate on an ad justed basis to match a nine-year high. In short, the job pinch has tightened somewhat at a time of normal expansion. That does not augur well for the summer months ahead, when many more thou sands of Vietnam war veterans will be re leased into a civilian economy already unable to take care of the several million people seeking work. Veterans who held full-time jobs before entering the service will be in a better po sition than many young people in this spring's crop of college graduates and others looking for jobs. Under federal law, they can reclaim their old jobs. But many will not be in that category, as is indicated in a Labor Department report that an The Sky's the Limit FOR those who have often wondered about the hidden costs of political campaigns, a recent book published by the Citizens' Research Foundation of Princeton, N.J. should be in structive. The book, entitled Financing the 1968 Election, summarizes information gathered from many sources on campaign spending in 1968. Although some of the information has been published before, the new analysis provides fresh examples of large pri vate donations. For example, a New York ad agency, working for the Republican ticket, spent sl.l million on campaign balloons, posters, placards, straw skimmers, and paper dresses, which were purchased and stored in a Warehouse until they were needed. This expenditure was not recorded in the formal accounting of campaign expenses. Neither, for that-matter, was the money spent by Humphrey forces in wooing delegates to the 1968 Democratic Convention. Hundreds of these delegates were flown to Washington and wined and dined in the former vice president's successful campaign for the Democratic nomination. The foundation's estimate of the "total political bill" for 1968 was S3OO million a 50 per cent increase over 1964. About SIOO million was spent electing a president, of which $45 million of tnis was spent by both parties prior to the nominations. General election expenses ranged up to $46 million for both major parties and George Wallace's American party; and about 20,000 Americans contributed SSOO or more to the campaigns. The man later named by President Nixon as ambassador to France, for example, gave the GOP $54,875. The ambassadorship in Denmark cost the present occupant about $51,000. Jamaica cost about $44,500; and the ambassadorship in Vienna a nice place where nothing much happens cost the present occupant about $43,000 average of 375,000 Vietnam veterans were unemployed during the first quarter of this year. The May unemployment report is not encouraging to veterans and others who are job seekers. But it does emphasize once again that this nation has been on a limited war economy for nearly 10 years, and now that it is moving away from it there is evidence of a woeful lack of ade quate preparations for the transition to a peacetime economy. The Nixon administration has seemed to adopt the attitude that things will work themselves out in time, an attitude some what reminiscent of that in the Hoover years of the depression. For the benefit of the nation and its 4.4 million unemployed, it is evident that a more aggressive and realistic approach to economic problems of the times is needed. Inconsistent The most striking inconsistency in the 1971- 'General Assembly is that the* legislature rejected a bill to allow the people in all the counties and mu nicipalities with an alcoholic beverage control system to vote on whether or not liquor could be served by the drink, but has subsequently enacted legislation to allow the people in Moore and Mecklen burg counties the opportunity to do so. If a liquor-by-the-drink referendum Is bad for the state as a whole, why isn't It bad for Moore and Mecklenburg? And if it is good for Moore and Mecklenburg, why Isn't it good for the rest of the state? in personal donations to Nixon-for- President committees. The estimates above are based on known donations. They don't include unrecorded cash donations of post election contributions intended to wipe out certain political debts. If these items were included, total spending in 1968 would come closer to SSOO million. Obviously, some kind of limitation on campaign spending is needed. The White House doesn't want any limits presently because the GOP has a surplus of cash and, given Mr. Nixon's incumbency, is bound to collect millions more for the 1972 race. The Democrats, with no big surplus and a number of unpaid debts, are inclined to support a spending limit in federal elections. But neither party, deep down, wants the kind of limitations that are needed. Both parties have their big backers. Eleven prominent families, for example, gave the Republicans a listed $2,500,000; the Rockefellers alone contributing $1.7 million. Thirty seven "committees" tied into the labor unions reported expenditures in 1968 of $7.1 million, most going to the Democrats. One New York donor alone gave the McCarthy campaign SIOO,OOO during Sen. McCarthy's pre-convention appearance in the city. Nobody wants these private donors restricted in any way. The parties need them, not only for campaign expenditures but for maintaining during the off-years sufficient bank accounts to carry on the party's work. But until Congress does meet this problem head-on, until some restrictions are placed on private donations, the politicians will continue to be compromised by them. Candidates may swear all day long that they are never influenced one way or the other by large private gifts. But when we are talking about in dividual contributions ranging up to $1 million money that often spells the difference between a winning campaign and a lost cause one has to ask: How can any candidate not be compromised by such sums? By JOHN MYERS Have you seen the posters, reading Save Our Schools, on the telephone poles of Durham? Have you asked yourselves what they are? Well, this time its legal, it's above ground, and it's important. Save Our Schools is the name of a ten day Charrette to be held in Durham July 18-28. The doors will be open 24 hours a day for the 10 day period. Any hour of the day or night you will be welcomed at the Charrette headquarters (to be specified at a later date) to state your feelings on our school system. You will be at liberty to comment on any topic, concerning our school system, you may have ques tions about. You may offer any suggestion for improv ing our schools. I will not cry out that this will affect the entire Dur ham community. Expectantly, a 98-year-old lady or gentleman in a Durham rest home could "give a damn' about next year's school program. But the people it does concern should not hesitate to make their feelings known. If you are in school, if you have children in school, or if you care where your tax dollars are going, you owe it to yourself to ask questions. If you do not care about Durham's school program, that is your right. I blame no one for not participating in a program which does not affect them. I per sonally do not like or admire "cause jumpers." The people for whom this Charrette will be beneficial are those who genuinely care, who want to know, and who have a part of their future at stake. If you are not concerned, forget it. If you care, come. You may regret not doing so. But by the time you realize your mistake, complaints may be too late. If we do not act for ourselves, we may live to see the day our acts are automatically instated for us; Without our consent, without our approval, and without our knowledge. Dont let this happen. Support this cause if you care. If you let this pass the day may come when your, "But I may fall to deft ears. New Civil Rights Division President Nixon has recently appointed a black man, Frank Render, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Depart ment of Defense, in charge of a newly created Civil Rights Division. While this Division it much needed and late in coming into being, if it is to be relevant then there must - be an extensive staff that has the freedom to act when racial discrimination is found in any branch of the service. All command personnel must comply with equal opportunity programs by commitment and by action. Members of the Black Caucus are currently conducting a review and an investigation of racial discrimination in the armed services, and I have personally conferred with officials of the varipus branches of the armed services in an effort to bring about early and effective changes in thr treatment of black servicemen. We plan unrelentingly to carry on the fight to end al.' racial discrimination in the armed services. Tan OEopics BmWMrt PICKTHE MAN WITH THt MOST MONEY' . CONTINENTAL f»CTUWt» | I Published every Saturday at Durham, K. ft' by United Publishers, Inc. } L. E. AUSTIN, Publisher-Editor ■ CLARENCE BONNETH Busin#s Manager. ■ J. ELWOOD CARTER Advert! iii*| Manager B Second Claaa Postage Paid at Durham, N. & ~f7TM 1 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Qi United SUtea and Canada i Year 9* (Xr H United States and Canada 1 Years $ll.OO I Foreign Countries fTJO ■ Single Copy « » I; ! f| - Principal Office Located a* 480 East Pettlgro# Street, ; B t mat** ft •• • i J?,
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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June 26, 1971, edition 1
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