14 THE CAROLINA TIMES SAT, JUNE 20,1981
CLACKS D&TINYIN CMHHAUDS....
RETURNING TO WILD
ABETTER BLACK
COMMUNITY,
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To fie Equal7
Editorial
Let Us Stick Together
Anyone over thirty-five years
old remembers the peridd when
blacks pooled their resources and k
strengths to work for common
goals. It was a time when there
were blatant reminders
everywhere of the assaults on
black dignity, and all blacks knew
that it was only through a united
effort that these assaults could be
confronted and annihilated."
It was consequently through
black unity that opportunities
blacks had previously dreamed of
began to become a reality, and
the doors reluctantly began to
open, for what was often a token
black to slowly enter.
Now, the disturbing
phenomenon is that too many'
blacks who received their oppor
tunities through hese collective
efforts reflect that they are not
compelled to be accountable to
those who labored and sacrificed
to make , these opportunities
possible for them. Thus, too
many of those who were for
tunate enough to enter the newly
opened doors ironically believe ,
that they are secure in these token
positions, even as they witness the
strength of the masses rapidly
eroding around them.
kt ViA uA (n. nnfl nVc
have blacks forcefully used their
votings strength to change the
quality of their lives on the local,
state, and national levels. In the
last ten years since the early
seventies fewer and fewer
blacks have bothered to exercise
their voting strength. The result
has often been the election of can
didates who are insensitive to the
needs and aspirations of poor
people and black people.
; Presently, the Voting Rights
Act is under attack. Some of the
elected officials in both the North
Carolina : state government and
the federal government many
of whom were elected because
blacks refused to participate in
the election process have vow
ed to repeal this act.
The awful truth is that the
rights of all blacks affluent
and poor are now under at
tack. Without the Voting Rights
Act, the protection of the only
right that all blacks have, the
right to vote, may slowly
diminish! When blacks can no
longer vote in many of the areas
of this country, once again, the
dignity of ALL blacks will be in
jeopardy.
It is therefore time for blacks to
put aside political differences,
differences in economic status
and their petty personal
disagreements, It is time to come
together in the spirit of unity, for
if blacks are going to be saved
the only recourse now is to stick
together.
Things You Should Know
COTT
.. V.;-
OM0
1852
Born in slavery in Mississippi,
he went to Madison, Arkansas at 21
rented a farm for $5! His tiny savings
from working this farm went to buy a
tract of ruined land his friends
laughed , but, later the Rock island ,
R.R. made for the gravel there... as a ,
result his lot improved, and by 1920
he owned over 4,000 acres! His total
holdings valued at $280,000!
Continental Features'"-
Help Wanted: Jobs
By Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
A couple of months ago President Reagan
spent a weekend in New York City, and
while the news reports gave ample space4cu
the theatres and restaurants he went to, they ;
also found room for some serious comments
about jobs that he'made.
The President said he read the Sunday
paper and found a 48-page section devoted
exclusively to want ads. His conclusion: jobs
are available if someone wants a job. It's
those .high unemployment benefits, he said,
that keep people from taking new jobs.
Thus, the President pf the United States
lent the authority of his office and the sanc
tion of his prestige to one. of the most
prevalent myths about jobs.
The fact is that a close reading of the want
ads not just counting the number of pages
gives a totally different picture of the job
market than the one the President got.
Reading those ads forces the inevitable con
clusion that the jobs advertised cannot be
filled by the vast majority of the unemployed
without a national program to teach skills .
needed in the workplace.
There are serious scholarly studies and in
formal journalistic reports to back that up.
One such report comes from a surprising
source, conservative Fortune Magazine,
which in 1978, analyzed one day's want ads
in a small town iti New York State,
The local paper carried 228 help wanted
ads. After eliminating come-ons, commis
' sion work, part-time jobs, and business op-
portunities Tor people with cash t6 invest,T
only 131 ads were for actual full-time jobs
within cbmmuting distance.
Over two-thirds of those called for special
skills, often for skills that are in short supply,
everywhere. Trained hospital workers,
nurses, technicians, experienced automotive
mechanics, and similar skilled workers were
advertised for. But few people in those
categories are unemployed; that's why those
ads run week after week. Other jobs demand
educational degrees, licenses, or other re
quirements tnat effectively exclude most of
the unemployed.
Onlv one Out of five of the advertised inhc
were for unskilled workers, and they were
snapped up immediately. One job in a motel
paying $3 an hour had seventy applicants.
And that was typical of low-skill, low-pay
jobs in the area an army of applicants ap
peared as soon as they were advertised.
So one city's newspaper appeared to be
running help wanted ads for 228 jobs but ac
tually rai ads for only 42. jobs that could be
filled by the area's jobless, who actively ran
after those few openings.
The kicker is that 7;800 people were of
ficiallv counted as unemployed in that coun
ty at the time the ads ran, and only about a
lOUrin OI UlClll wcic vu.ivv.nug uuviiipioy.
Thaf isiust one story from a conservative
source, mere arc jhcihjt uj umcij. iry
yourself study the wants ads carefully anj
see how many jobs actually are available that
.1 I J ..... .1,4 fill Qatlar !lt :
me unempiuycu tvuiu u. uvuvi iu next
tim vnn hear someone sav that the iohlp
don't want to work, ask them to study those
ads and then follow up by calling advertisers
or ynsiuiieu juua iu aw mhu oi
response mey goi. n - cvi iai mey
always repwu ucmg jwemfivu vj -fhhs,
Most neonle net their iobs through frienHc
J' W W If W
whose emnlovers SDread the word that thev
need additional workers. Impacted
neighborhoods where many people are out
of work just don't have that kind of job
producing network.
The President should know that the
unemployed w,ant to work, that unemploy
ment insurance benefits go to relatively few
.. ...
of the jobless, and tnat ieaerai programs to
provide the jobless with skills employers
need would go a long way toward cutting the
jobless rolls and boosting national productivity
The Help Wanted the unemployed need is '
jobs, and it is unneiptui tor national leaders
to spread myths long proved raise.
Reagan's Social Security Double Gross
By Congressman Augustus F. Hawkins
The new Administration has been forced
to retreat, at least momentarily, from its
scheme to cut Social Security benefits a
scheme that would shatter the retirement ex
pectations for millions of workers.
The United States government is honor
bound to the 1 15 million contributors and
the 35 million current beneficiaries to
preserve the integrity 6f the Social Security
system. However, preserving that integrity
does not mead breaking the promise held out
to workers who have so faithfully supported
the system. To break that promise now is
both unfair and unconscionable.
"Inflation" is the culprit to which the Ad
ministration has pointed in its feeble attempt
to justify reducing Social Security, benefits. - a
However, the Administration's justification
becomes suspect when one considers the fact
that the older people of America, at whom
these cuts are aimed, particularly those on
fixed incomes, are precisely those who suffer
the most "from inflation. That fact, coupled
with the fact that one out of every six elderly
Americans already exists on an income
below the poverty line would make cuts in
Social Security nothing short of a national
disgrace. I '
the truth of the matter is that slashing
Social Security benefits would only bring
shame to our nation and misery to millions
of retirees.
Considering the sharp cuts already impos
ed in programs such as food stamps and
medicaidmedical, as a result of the Ad
, ministration's budget, it would be fiscally ir
responsible and morally reprehensible to fur
ther reduce assistance to the needy, par
ticularly the elderly needy.
Workers must not be denied the benefits
they have worked for and paid for during
their working lives. The government must
keep its word. Changing the terms for Social
Security at this late date would constitute a
breach of faith that would undermine public
confidence in Social Security.
The- coflccpt-Tnost-toured by the Ad
ministration as a way to hold down the cost
of Social Security and insure the system's in
tegrity is to simply ask Congress to reduce
benefits for all future retirees and to impose
stringent new curbs on disability payments.
In addition,vhe Administration has discuss
ed the idea of penalizing those workers who
choose early retirement. Under this proposal
a worker entitled to the maximum Social'
Security benefits who retires next January
would receive $159 a month less than under
present law $310.50 under the Reagan
plan as compared with $469.60 under the
current plan.
Waste, fraud and abuse in Federal spen
ding must be stopped; and all of us have a
stake in pursuing efforts to bring about their
end. However, concerned citizens should not
sit idly by and support a proposal which
would unfairly place the burden of correc
ting government waste, fraud and abuse on
the poor and the weak.
As a nation, we must be committed to in
suring that-jenior citizens have sufficient
resources and income to live with the dignity
they deserve. .
The problems of maintaining the solvency
of the Social Security system would be great
ly eased if the Administration would embark
on an effective anti-inflation and 'full
a . . ... t
employment, program. . I his would increase
revenues ana cut costs wunoui narming
either Social Security beneficiaries or con
tributors. The misguided policies of the Ad
ministration will serve only to make worse
the financial crunch on both the Social
Security system and the American people.
Civil Rights 'The Need For A New Approach
x , . By Bayard Rustin
i : - - r A, Philip Randolph Institute
It is widely recognized that the struggle to
improve the social and economic life of
black Americans and poor people in the
United States has reached an impasse, While
we are fully aware of the impending pro
blems and hardships we face, too little
thought has been given to three important
questions:
1. What economic changes have occurred
in the 1970s and 1980s which require changes
in the strategies and tactics used so suc
cessfully in the '60s?
2. Why do we appear to have lost the sup
port of those allies who stood so firmly
alongside us in the 1960s?
3. Why do so many of the major objec
tives and programs we in the civil rights
movement earlier espoused appear to have
lost support even within much of the black
community: integrated schools and housing,
busing, etc.?
To intelligently answer these questions we
must ask others:
1 . To what degree has race declined as the
dominant factor in the continuing inequality
of the races, and in what areas is this
development most apparent? '.
2. Which problems have not traditionally
received significant attention by black
leaders, but require their attention today?
3. Can we develop a strategy to deal with
the decline in black political participation?
This question involves both the role of
blacks in the electoral process (political party
participation, registration levels, voter par
ticipation rates) and the relationship of
blacks to such grass roots forces as com--
munity groups, business, the ' trade union :
movement, and the like. . '
4. Can new approaches to affirmative ac
tion be devised which can win the support of
a consensus of those groups which once
comprised the civil rights coalition? Here it
would be essential to carefully look at
whether a course of action based on
economic and class criteria or on ethnic,
religious, racial, and sexual criteria should
be pursued.
" 5. An examination of the process by which
blacks can achieve further economic and
social progress..
6. An assessment of the differences bet-'
ween the social and economic programs of
the traditional civil rights organizations and
those of the back political leadership, with a
view toward creating a common program for
the future. "
7. The attitudes and relations of American
blacks toward refugees and undocumented
aliens who are perceived to be in competition
with blacks for jobs and social services, and
how these attitudes and relations affect the
process of coalition bulding.
8. The role of heightened racial identity as
a motivating force, toward progress and,
simultaneously, the role of race con
sciousness as an impediment toward the
development of effective, strategy and tac
tics. ; - ,
9. How can the educational process be
modified to meet the changing needs of the
job market?
10. Can new careers be created to meet (he
needs of the poor? Can the very nature of
work be redefined? k
There is a need to bring together the most
creative minds in America to explore these
questions. Such a group must try to develop
a new social policy for the 1980s, founded
upon the results of their philosophical,
sociological, and intellectual exploration.
This group, or, institute would need to ex
amine both domestic and foreign policy
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. ' Those vho 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 waves1
without the awful roar of its waters.
' Frederick Douglass
issues which affect minorities, women, and
the poor. For instance, it is imperative to
recognize that blacks may lose a vast number
of American jobs, not because of
discrimination, but because of the shift of
labor intensive industry abroad a fact
largely ignored by the black community.
There is a clear and urgent need to respond
to this and similar developments.
A broad range of very important issues,
require from us a serious analysis, and the
formulation of new objectives. If we in the
civil rights community do not make such an
effort, we will continue to hold on to those
policies, programs, and strategies of the past
which demonstrably are failing.
(USPS 091-380)
I.E. AUSTIN
Editor-Publisher 1927-1 971
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