, ' ........ vAV.V.ViV.VAWAV.W.V.V.V.W.V.V.V
4 THE CAROLINA TIMES SAT., MAY 12, 1979
7A nr miiii
v III I Ur FP-lllll
1 . ; ... . f By Vernon Jerden v J
Dlnrtlr Pnllono flainc An llliicinn .Vy-
Diauii ullliuuu uaiiio nil iiiuoiuii imuim viuviv
I
m
-$ iPBUCKPOUiniSTOHM 1 !J S
M NY RELEVANCE WUACK. AJjj
. AMAfl WOHBNIN THE STREET, J .
r3 ITMUSX BE TRAHSLATBD INTO fr-5Mi
DOLLARS AND CENTS JTT I
At00iXA"AAVH'L f
NATIONAL UIIAN
LEAGUE
l
Every time I see an analysis of the state ol
black Americans there is always one suppos
ed bright spot in an otherwise gloomy pic
ture. More blacks are going to college, and
the proportion of blacks in college is .about
equal to the number of college-age blacks,
and to the white rate of college attendance.
The only trouble with that bright spot is
that it isn't true. j
That's because all post -secondary educa
tion is lumped under the label "college.
Surveys show more black high shcool seniors
aspire to a college education than do whites.
But they don't get it.
Blacks in post-secondary education are lar
more likely than whites to be in vocational
schools or in two-year community colleges.
Proportionately fewer wind up in four-year
colleges, and still fewer in universities. The
opposite is true for white students.
Of special concern is the fact that the two
year community colleges are playing a
steadily larger role in educating black youth.
Almost half of all black students attending
colleges are going to those institutions.
And yet there has been no national
strategy devised concerning just what the
proper role of those schools should be. Too
often they are restricted to providing ter
minal occupational training.
That may be ' fine for many of their
students, who receive the skills and
knowledge required for specific occupations.
But many others are drawn to the two-year
colleges because they are cheaper, because
they think they can eventually transfer, to
four-year schoolsror because they wrongly
assume they can't do academic college-level
work. ! ..
Black educators have expressed dismay
that bright youngsters who should be getting
university training are moving instead into
community colleges and foregoing the career
mobility and higher status, occupation open
to those holding higher degrees.
There are also fears that the nation may be
creating an underfunded. understaffed and
underachieving sector of higher education,
designed to drain off minority and disadvan
taged students whom the colleges and
universities want to ignore.
Thus, critics say there is a danger that the
two-year colleges may become the ghetto of
the community, reservations for the disad
vantaged. Meanwhile, the higher track col
leges and universities would be free to cater
to the needs of white and middle class
students. ' ... '
Such a development would be a cruel blow
to black educational aspirations. The two
year community colleges have a tremendous
potential to develop into important institu
tions integrated into the structured higher
education.
Properly, funded and organized communi
ty collet can fulfill he basic needs of their
A PLEA FOR
OUR DAY BEGUN
AM1 CP Celebrates Brown
s.udents and also serve as bridges to con
tinued education. But so long as many foun
year Colleges refuse 16 accept transfers with
full credit and so long as they art viewed as
centers for remedial work for job training,
that won't happen. '
Too many black students who want to at
tend four-year colleges and universiteis don't
do so because they can't afford them; Finan
cial aid to students is drying up, and what's
left is being spread more widely instead of
being targeted to those most in need. j i
Federal grants are limited to half the tui
tion costs. This works against many blacV
students in two ways: First, more attend
public colleges that charge lower tuitions. So
they get minimum grants while those attert
ding high-Cost universiteis get several times
as much in aid. Second, since' most black
students come from poor and low income
families, they need more help just to stay in
school, regardless of tuition costs. They're
not getting it.
So the raw numbers purporting to show
that blacks are holding on to college enroll
ment gains are illusory. The; numbers of
enrolled blacks are slipping, they are concen
trated in the least-favored sectors of higher
education, and the gap between whites and
blacks is growing in education, as in other
fields. Those who are searching for bright
spots will have to look elsewhere.
By Benjamb L Hooks
This newspaper has expressed con
cern about the concentration by the
University of North Carolina on
capital improvements at the
predominately black campuses. It is
our position, and we believe that of
most of the chancellors of these cam
puses, that the greatest need is . for
operational funds,
Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville
State, North Carolina Central, North
Carolina A&T State, and Winston
Salem State Universities face great
.challenges in the coming years..,They,
'XWitf compete equally forj students,';,
they must not allow themselves to
become second-class schools.
We have seen North Carolina Cen
tral University make strenuous efforts
to meet the challenges. One commen
dable effort has been to develop pro
grams to serve working adults, those
who often out of necessity interrupted
their educations to earn their livings
and those whose educations were cut
short by family responsibility.
But NCCU had to make that effort
without significant state support. To
achieve significant results with the
Evening College and Continuing
.Education programs at NCCU, the
university must have sufficient funds
to plan the programs, to adjust to a
temporary duplication of course offer
ings, and to let the public know what it
is doing.
Planning is essential. There is no
great body of study which can be used
to guide the development of employee
and adult education programs. The
university must know what course
employees and other adult' students
want to take, must know what courses
will be supported by employers (who
often pay tuition for employees and
who reward educational activity by
promotions) and must examine its
schedules and offerings in light of the.
needs of a new population. J
North Carolina Central University, :,
and , the Qther black universities,5
already serve a large body of students.
The students now enrolled cann.pl tae
V-$s?agf"d bVhe developing 6
new programs. In the instance! Of
NCCU's evening course offerings the
regular students must be able to take
their courses during the day even while
those courses are also offered at night
Until time brings an adjustment to the
new scheduling system -? as t will
NCCU and other schools' engaged in
efforts like this one must expect classes
to be smaller then they could be and
will become. .
And finally the. public must know
what is happening. The effort to in
form the public may Include the stories
this newspaper and others' carry, but
additional information sources are re
quired: catalogs, brochures, ad ver-"
tisements, and posters among, them.
AH of these things will require addi
tional program funds. The university
has laid as good a groundwork as it can
without program funding." Now UNC
must find a way to help NCCU carry
out its plans.
EXECUTIVE MIECTOR, MAACP
V
.vaw.vw,vv.w.
Recent articles in Jet Magazine and the
Washington Post have tended to cast a pall
over the approaching 25th anniversary of the
Brown v. Board of Education victory of
j .May 17 which ended -the judicial sanction of
separate but equal school facilities.
.; v The articles , have focused on purported
conflicts between the parent NAACP and its
now totally independent and separate offspr
etngrithftNAACP Legajpefense and Educa-
SaiFurW, Incia 1 wt
x 'from its incorporation 1939 until its
separation in 1958, the' Inc. Fund served as
the civil rights department of the National
Association for the Advancement of Col
ored People under the direction of Special
Counsel Thurgood Marshall. The Fund had
been created to receive tax deductible con
tributions as well as to launch a concerted
legal drive against segregation.
Because offers that the federal govern
ment would revoke this special tax status due
to its aggressive civil rights stance, the Inc.
Fund was completely divorced from the
NAACP. But despite the fact that both
organizations have gone their separate ways
over the past 22 years, many people still
regard the fnc. Fund as the NAACP's legal
department. Nothing could be farther from
the truth.
In any event, the NAACP will proceed to
commemorate this landmark victory as it has
done over the years by special proclamations
and other ceremonies. , We have called on
local units to present scrolls of proclama
tions to legislatures in every state.:
At the same time, the National Board of
Directors will meet from May 16-8 in Col- .
umbia, S. C.whicKf&riired in one.T M.n"
cases that led to the decision. There als'd, dn
the 17th, the NAACP will have a special
banquet.
The Brown victory indisputably was
masterminded by the NAACP under the
leadership of its Special Counsel, Thurgood
Marshall. The chronicle of this victory in
the 1954 NAACP Annual Report states:
"In the history of the United States, and
Certainly in the history of the American
Negro, the decision was and will continue to
be of utmost significance: it put the law of
the land unequivocally on the side of human
rights. For that legal victory the Associa
tion, and all Americans, owe a tremendous
debt of gratitude to the many dedicated
lawyers, living and dead, who over the years
fought without compromise for unabridged
Negro citizenship rights. Among them were
such men as the late Moorfteld Story,
Charles H. Houston, Arthur Garfield Hays,
and Leon Ranson. The list of the living must
include, among many others, Arthur B. Sp
ingarn. Thurgood Marshall, Williarn H.
Hastie, Robert L. Carter, and ' Loren
Miller." ' ' ; """
-Arthur .Spingarn,. .then jrerident bt the
principal Brown strategists with Marshall."
In calling for an end to "separate but
equal facilities" "with all deliberate speed,"
the U. S. Supreme Court under the guidance
of Chief Justice Earl Warren had expressed
an optimism that has beert frustrated at
almost every turn. Without a doubt, pro
gress has been made in civil rights and race
relations since then.
But black Americans must measure their
progress by the distance that they yet must
cover to achieve their goal of equal social
and economic opportunity and justice. Arid
that distance is indeed great. So by tom
memorating the Brown decision, the
NAACP is seeking to recommit the nation to
these just ends.
7 there ft no struggle, there is no progress. Those who propose to
favor freedom end yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops
without plowing up the ground. They want rain, without thunder and
lightning They want the oceans majestic waves without the awful roar
ofltswatsn."
Frederick Douglass
Congrossoati llanblns' Cohra
BLACKS LOSING GAINS OF THE 60 's
Augustus F. Hawkins
t 7HO
I 4; .
TIIIUGS YOU SHOULD UiOVJ
ROWM.
"i i
..THE FIRST NEGRO NOVELIST
IN AMERICA he TRAINED AS
A PRINTER WITH ABOLITIONIST
EDITOR ELIJAH R LOVEJOYO OECA!3 Atf AGENT
Or THE WESTERN MASSUUgTTSAILRYS
C'TTY ttS BOOLOTEImE FRESIDZNTSDJGH
TQ'nS PU PUSHED IN IQNDON IN 1053, IN THE US.
IN IC3frAKDV&3 WIDELY READ coTiwgm.faTira
If you don't live in the ghettos of this
country, then you can't know how really bad
things are for blacks.
And they are going to get worse, given the
predictions of most economists that we are
headed for a recession this year, and given
the President's 1980 budget.
Unfortunately the President is hell-bent
on cutting programs that blacks need just to
survive minimally. He's also not about to be
moved by the argument that black America
is in crisis, even with all the information he
has access to in order to substantiate such a
charge.
But since American President's have never
been particularly noted for their sensitivity
to pending crisis, this President is no worse
on this issue than his predecessors.
What I would like to do, relative to this
matter is to share with Mr. Carter some
things I've been reading recently about what
happens when black desperation overcomes
black rationality.
Twa years after the Watts (or more cor
rectly - South Central Los Angeles) riots in
August 1965, and after all the reports on the
riot were filed and forgotten, there suddend
ly appeared a small gray booklet called
"Riots In the City." Its publishers were the
Lds Angles Chapter of the National Associa
tion of Social Workers.
The booklet written by three social science
prbfessionals and activists, describes events
which lead to race riots. More specifically
the bookelet described Watts in terms of its
economic poverty which: made desperate
people in Watts do desperate things.
In that hot summer of 1965, Watts boiled
in its: li
"Resentment against the Police whom the
Negroes regarded as an occupying army,
frustration in their ability to find employ
ment, anger at the increasing prosperity in
which they did not share, bitterness as being
economically exploited, and anguish at being
kept at the lowest rung of the social lad
der...." Alienated, powerless, rejected, and unable
to economically move up and out, the people
of Watts, systemaiclly destroyed the
businesses of all those they felt were guilty of
exploiting them.
It didn't solve their problems, but it gain
ed the attention of the decision-makers, in
the white community, and it dramatically
presented the black community's desperate
plight.
There ought to be a happy ending to these
events. We should be able to say that pro
gress was made and that these things are
behind us.
Instead, blacks, in Watts, and all over this
nation never having recovered from the
economic crisis of the 60's, are in a more
severe crisis today.
For example, overall joblessness went
from 5.8 per cent to 5.7 per cent between
January and February. But for blacks,
unemployment rose from 11.2 per cent to
1 1.9 per cent, while at the same time the rate
for white workers fell from 5.1 per cent to
4.9 percent.
More acutely, the Jobless rate for adult
black males with families to support, rose
sharply to 8.6 per cent from 7.5 per cent in
January. '
There are other, equally infamous signs:
blacks are being victimized by income
erosion; the nation is on a fiscal conser-.
vatism kick which Is bad for; blacks;
blacks are becoming more unequal to whites
educationally; the Administration lacks a
viable urban 1 policy; i affirmative action
policies are under continuous legal attack;
and fee-for-service health care ignores black
family economic conditions.
On March 15, 1965, President Lyndon B.
Johnson addressed the U.S. Congress and
noted:
"Our mission is at once the oldest and the
most basic of this country: to right wrong, to,
do justice, to serve man."
Those arc good words. We need now more
than' ever to pay attention.
, (usps 091380) :
. 1. 1. AUSTIN
Publiihtd tvary Thunday (dated Saturday) iat
Durham, N.C. by United Publishes, Incorporated.
MeMng Addreti: P.O. Box 3826. Durham, N.C..
.27702. Office located at 923 Fayetteville Street,
Durham, N. C. 27701. Second Class Postage paid at
Durham, North Carolina 27702. POSTMASTSR:
S"Vd(,,,.cn,nBe -0 THE CAROLINA TIMES,
P.O. Boa 3828, Durham, N.C. 27702. 1
' SUBSCRIPTION RATES: One year, $8.56 (plus
$0.34 sain ten for North Carolina residents). Single
copy $0.20. Postal regulations REQUIRE advanced
payment on subscriptions. Address all communica
tions and make all checks and money orders payable
to: THE CAROLINA TIMES. V ,j
NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
Amalgamated Publishers, Inc.. 46 West 46th Street,
New York, New York 10038. i
Member: United Press International Photo Service,
' National Newspaper Publishers Association, North
Carolina Black Publishers Association. t
Opinlona expressed by columnists In this news
paper do not necesserlly represent the policy of this
newspaper. '
i This newspaper WILL NOT be responsible for the
return of unsolicited pictures. ' P