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14 THE CAROLINA TIMES SAT..WHIL lo, isoi BUCKS'DESTW IN OWH HMDS.,. MILY FLIGHTS OF BLACK CAPITAL FRO BLACK COmUNITliSy to Be Equal . America Prays For President By VqrnQn B. Jordan, Jr. Why is it that Americans seem able to be united only in times of tragedy or crisis. An experience like the terrible attempt on the life of President Reagan brings all people together in prayers for his recovery and outrage at the vicious attack on his life. And that feeling cuts across the political spectrum. Even the most outspoken op ponents of his economic program, including myself, like him as a human being, respect the office he holds, and abhor violence of any kind, especially violence of the sort we witnessed in Washington. The President is president of all of the people, and all of the people have a stake in his ability to discharge the functions of his office. We all have a stake in the stability of the government. We all realize that our freedoms are endangered when dangerous weapons in the hands of people with twisted minds replace the political process. As one who has been the victim of a similar attack, I know what the President is going through, and he has my prayers and hopes for a complete recovery. America chose Ronald Reagan to be its President, and all Americans want him to serve his term in the White House for the next four years. The would-be-assassin who wounded the President also wounded America. It is im possible to look back at the past twenty years of assassinations and attempted assasina- tions without sinking into an awful feeling of doubt about our society. It as become a cliche to talk of a "sick society" and people are tired of that kind of self-flagellation. But after yet another assassination attempt we have to face the awful truth of violence and mindless brutali ty so often displayed in America. We have to face the fact that Presidents of America can be gunned down while their counterparts in Europe and other industrial democracies are not. We have to face the fact that America has as many guns as peo ple, while other countries do not. We have to face the fact that our society produces many people who are rootless, angry and alienated, while other societies do not. And it is not just this one incident, or even the chain of attempts on the lives of American leaders. It is also the killings of black children in Atlanta, and the similar events that have occurred in recent years. Mass killers have worked their evil in Chicago, Houston and New York just in the past few years. And there is mindless violence in the streets as well. It has become a part of American life we cannot and should not ac cept. One way to express our indignation is to press for gun control. But even a simple sug gestion that handguns, which are not used for sports, be registered, has been defeated time and again. Perhaps it is time to declare fof full and complete domestic disarmament. I know the old line that guns don't kill people, people do. But people with guns kill people. Take away the guns and you reduce drastically the chance for such lethal possibilities." Beyond such steps, what can we do to make our society less productive of misfits and violence-prone people. A long history of frontier violence, racism, and mindless selfishness may be at the root of the pro blem. How do we counter that awful heritage to encourage tolerance and respect for human life? There are no easy answers. No one knows how to create a caring society that values the lives of its members. But it is a copout to blame the violence on isolated, alienated individuals. We must ask why there are so many such people, why their sickness takes the form of violence against others, and what there is in our socie ty that encourages this. My own feeling is that a society that directs its energies to social justice, that devotes itself to caring concern for the least of its citizens, and that demonstrates respect for life by trying to make all lives mean ingful, would be a society that has a better chance to escape the destructive pattern in which we seem trapped today. CETA Works For America By Congressman Augustus F. Hawkins Just Common Courtesy Many Durham citizens find it particularly disturbing to address the City Council on issues of their deepest concern when many of its members are either in the back of the chamber or. are conversing with each other while the citizens are often pleading to them to give It is rude and disrespectful of those: whom the councilmen ate elected to serve hot to be given the common courtesy to at least; pre tend to be listening, even if they have already made up their minds on how they will vote on a given issue. On one occasion a citizen became so annoyed by the cons tant movement of the councilmen as she attempted to speak to them that she felt compelled to remark: "When we begin talking, you begin walking,'' Mayor Rodenhizer of course assured her that the councilmen could still hear her talk over a microphone that he says is constructed in the back of the chamber behind the shade. Nevertheless, it must still be very disheartening for one to prepare an address for the council on an issue that affects one's life or the lives of several individuals, as is often the case, and then have the councilmen constantly move about the chamber, chatter jovially with each other, smirk to themselves, or leave' their seats altogether. There are sometimes as many as five councilmen out of their seats as citizens areattemp-i With all due respect ' to the ; female members who serve oh the council, they do . not find it necessary, as the men do, to leave their seats while citizens are ad dressing them. The City Council represents all of the citizens of Durham. Its members have the responsibility to sit and listen to citizens, even if they are unable to identify with what they are saying. Perhaps when reelection times comes, those citizens who have experienced the frustration of ad dressing empty seats in the coun cil chamber will reconsider their choices of representatives when the time comes to pull the lever in the voting booth. Hilda Bynum, 46 years old and handicap ped, works as a blood donor recruiter in rural Buncombe County, North Carolina. Unemployed for the past eleven years, she is now able to earn $3.39 an hour as a partici pant in a CETA training and employment program. "CETA has given me hope," she says, "has helped me to stand up and say, 'I can get a job. I can do something with my life. I am somebody'. CETA doesn't give you something for nothing, only the incentive to go out and do for yourself." Shelley Johnson also benefits from a CETA program. She has moved off welfare and is supporting a nine year old daughter with the stipend she receives from her CETA sponsored part-time job at the San Bernar djnp County Economic Development Agen-u cy rWhen. .not '.working at the Agency, she f$esytdt')0fnfrmntygAh co'nv. pletion of the program, she, could land a job with a starting salary of $1, 100 a month. If the Administration has its budget slashing way, Hilda, Shelley and roughly 330,000 others will soon, Jose their jobs, along with the pride and independence their individual CETA programs provide them. The President has already deferred Title II (d) and YACC monies, and rescinded Title VI PSE funds. This has caused immediate and serious repercussions. Many people have already lost their jobs, many small programs have been forced to close their doors, and many families at the borderline of poverty have given up the hope that CETA provides and moved onto welfare. If the Administra tion continues to push further and alter the CETA legislation (as they threaten to do), these negative effects will be greatly multiplied. These actions make no sense whatsoever, especially from an Administration which claims to want to put Americans back to work. These large cuts in CETA will result in more unemployed people, not less. Training opportunities for those who need it the most will be greatly diminished, the long term unemployed will be denied one of the few opportunities they have for substantive employment, and the cycle of poverty will become even more entrenched. ,,That CETA works has been clearly borne out by the statistics. Almohalf a million of this.niQpXmQtf, serjp&ly disadvantaged people moved from CETA programs into unsubsidized employment last year. This is exactly the purpose of a training and employment program, yet the Administra tion wishes to sharply curtail CETA. To state that these cuts, made in the name of fiscal austerity, will be counterproductive, is to belabor the obvious. CETA workers are not only helping themselves through their training and work experience; they are also helping the hation by performing needed tasks and services which would otherwise go. undone, paying taxes, and lowering the unemployment and welfare rolls. In a sluggish economy, this na tion has a vested interest in increasing employment as much as possible. A full employmennt society not only benefits the individual worker, it means that the American economy is functioning at a high and productive level. Economic recovery can not come about by forcing thousands of Americans out of pro ductive employment and onto welfare. Economic recovery can not be achieved by condemning the long term unemployed to a life without hope or work. Economic recovery can not be achieved by eliminating skills training opportunities for the under and unemployed. Economic recovery will not be attained by making insignificant budgetary savings now, while ensuring economic and personal catastrophe in the (near) future. ' In prderfo aqhieve economic recovery we must target our . spending and taxation policies to the programs which will restore economic growth, increase normal revenues, create jobs and lower inflation, We must once and for all abandon the failed "trade-off" attempt between unemployment and inflation. We must immediately imple ment the very specific anti-inflation program spelled out in the Humphrey-Hawkins Act, such as monitoring inflationary trends, in itiating anti-shortage programs, strengthen ing competition, removing unnecessary regulation, and purging a fair voluntary "national incomes" policy covering all types of income. United Nations Talking To All Elements Vital To U.S. Diplomacy If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who propose to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean's majestic waves without theawful roar of its waters. Frederick Douglass By Curtis T. Perkins SMAUS,,, ... A YOUNG SOUTH CAROLINA SUAVE WHO LED A DARING ESCAPE IN 1862 Ik SEAMAN,HE SMUGGLED HIS WIFECHILDREN AND SEVERAL OTHERS ONTO A COTTON STEAMER WHILE THE WHITE OFFICERS WERE ASLEEP HE SET OUT FOR THE NORTH AND SURTKDCnSD THE SHIP TO THE UNION NAVY " Continental The Reagan Administration has in advertently triggered a needed diplomatic course and the animosity of 51 African na tions at the same time. For Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick met secretly with the South African intelligence chief arid Dirk Mudge, the white leader of the Turnhalle Alliance of South West Africa (Namibia) both anathema especially to the govern ments of black Africa. V It is difficult to believe that our State Department and our United States Represen tative at the United Nations did not know the true identity and purpose of Lt. General van Der Westhuzen a feared suppressor and all out advocate of apartheid. As I, along with millions of black Americans supported former Ambassador Andrew Young when he met with the PLO, I sort of defer to Mrs. Kirkpatrick to meet with the South Africans! I believe firmly that the United States should talk fully with the officials of any nation or any duly recogniz ' ed movement for independence. But my dif ference is with Mrs! Kirkpatrick and the State Department not telling the truth in conferring with these racists and interna tional bigots. If we here in America are going to help the people of Namibia gain statehood, we must talk with all levels of. the government of. South Africa. We must tell them straightfor wardly that this U.N. mandated territory led by the South West Africa, people's Organt ' nization (SWAPO) under the leadership of Sam Nujomo should be set free now. I have checked thoroughly and I do not have at this moment information that Mrs. Kirkpatrick has met with Theo-Ben Guriab, the Observer at the U.N. for the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO). Mr. Guriab's movement has long fought South Africa for independence, as we Americans fought the British for ours. She should have met with Mr. Guriab. ,. Ambassador Kirkpatrick is obviously white. I do not see an outcry for her scalp as many elements demanded in the PLO , meeting of Ambassador Young. Nor do I see the venom displayed against Mrs. Kirkpatrick as it was sprayed on former Am bassador Donald McHenry when he voted for mild resolutions in the U.N. Security Council supposedly affecting Israel. Racism is the basic factor. South Africa is an Israeli ally and Am bassador Kirkpatrick is perceived to be over ly sympathetic and a consistent advocate of the total Zionist position in the Middle Fast. I expect no condemnation from these people of Mrs. Kirkpatrick. Then there are the cor porations invested in South Africa, whose executives in many instances, pilloried Mr. Young but who will be compassionate with Mrs. Kirkpatrick. This holds true for the dealers of armaments in the U.S. and Israel and despite the embargo imposed by the U.N. on South Africa, they are realizing huge profits. I am happy to see the Congressional Black Caucus and certain of our black press and broadcast media chastize Ambassador Kirkpatrick. She deserves to reap the wind not for meeting but for lying. Those Needing Talks By America . The other day U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig offered to talk to Cuba under certain conditions. Having attended the Non-Aligned Movement at Havana several months ago, I feel we can wean Cuba from Russia if we really tried. We had no btisinessjosing Cuba in the first place if Johri Foster Dulles, our late Secretary of State, had not been so precipitous in forcing Castro to communism by denying him food and medicines after the Cuban Revolution. The Reagan Administration has lately welcomed the leaders of Korea and Argen tina to the White House. This could be wor thwhile if democracy can be advanced in these military ruled nations. I note too, that Secretary of State Haig has had conversa tions with Ishaya Audu, External Affairs Minister of Nigeria. This is healthy since the problems of Southern Africa were discussed by Minister Audu. We need Nigeria's good will and its oil. This biggest of African na tions is one of our largest trading partners. If we are to push peace in the Middle East we must talk directly with the PLO which is accredited to the U.N. Talking only to Israel will never resolve the Palestinian problem. Instead of sending the CIA. and arms to the insurgents in Angola, we should talk (Continued On Page 16) (Thr Carolina Ciaco (USPS 091-380) L E.AUSTIN Editor-Publisher 1927-1971 Published every Thursday (dated Saturday) at Durham-N.C. by United Publishers, Incor porated. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 3825, Durham, N.C. 27702. Office located at 923 iFayetteville Street, Durham, N.C. 27701 . Second Class Postage paid, at Durham North Carolina 27702. POSTMASTER: Send address change to THE CAROLINA TIMES, P.O. Box 3825, Durham. N.C. 27702. . SUBSCRIPTION RATES: One year, $12.00 (plus $0.48 sales tax for North Carolina, residents). Single copy $.30. Postal regulations! REQUIRE advanced payment on subscriptions. ! Address all communications and make all checks and money orders payable to; THE CAROLINA TIMES. 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April 18, 1981, edition 1
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