I III Vf I -
Aiiirmuuve cuun
The Survival Of lack
Health Care Providers
What Price Black Unity
Gerald C. Home, Esquire
By FrankS. Royal, M.D.
President, National Medical Association
Black health care providers and the communities that they serve face
wh timf ahead. The minority percentage of enrollment in medical
schools is declining; predominately black medical schools and hospitals ; the highest circles and is also
are struggling to keep their doors or. All of this cmcs at a time w
militant black poet iNikki Giovanni. Now
laid back in her home town of Cincinnati,
: this daughter of middle class parents was a
blazing firebrand during the 1960's, writing
fiery poems about Angela Davis and the like.
Presently she is cheering for the murderous
program of Reagan -omics.
"The Pre is the only guy we've got," she
says. '1 like what' I see in the Reagan Ad
ministration. 44e's not nearly as mean as
I Nixon was. And I perceive him to be the type
. The so-called black "neo-conservatives"
are riding high nowadays. Walter .Williams
appears regularly on national television and
writes a column for the "Moral Majority
Report;'; Thomas Sowell is feted regularly in
also seen periodical-1
It is clear that these
the need for healtn care nas never oeen su great, poiuvuiauj m mc, ;much influence in the black community at
black community. ... large yet it remains important to take them
The prediction of the SJJS VtSltJt Onson is that certain "comfortable",
visory Committee (GMENAC) reports that America will have an biacks might decide to hop on what appears
ovrrahiindance of physicians in 1990 is inaccurate as it relates to the to be a bandwagon and throw their weight to
minority community. The trtift i, that those who m?t teperat
i: i M iec liVoiv tn opt it now r nan ever nerore . '
In April 1980, there were 375,81 1 doctors in this country and approx-f
imately two per cent (6.516) of them were black. Additional statistics;
released last .year by the Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS), showed that there are 136 doctors to every 100,000 American
citizens. However, according to that report, there are only 26 black
physicians tq every l.OOOjOOO black citizens in this country. These;;
statistics become more significant when coupled with the fact that a
large; percentage of.the black populus is treated exclusively by black v 0f person who wouldn't ignore the agony of
physicians. In short, black doctors continue to be the primary source of f the poor; He's a man you can talk to."
health care for the nnoy;popula,(nre specifically ISSgSSSSia
Americans) and there will be no abundance of black doctors at the end black journalist who is sponsored by Pepsi
of this decade. Quite the contrary; if the recent trend continues we will ; Cola has provided an easy outlet for the neo
' ha a shortage, no. a
Despite relative increases m numbers over the past decade, the? sponsored by Greyhound, can be found in
Association of American Medical Colleges recently reported that new the pages of the, black press, "blaming the
black enrollment in the nation's 126 medical schools dropped another
half of a point last year from 6.6 per cent to 6.2 per cent.-
5 jow vividly I recall in 1970 when the Sloan Foundation task force
and a number of prestigious medical schools set as their national goal
to increase minority enrollment to twelve per cent as reflective of the
nation's total minority population. Unfortunately, that goal was never
reached, and the statistical trends ) indicate t : that the nation's major
medical schools have relaxed their conimitment. Due to the reliance
upon conclusions n the GMENAC report, the nation's larger medical
schools may begin reducing the size of their entering classes. As a ,
result; qualified black students may be denied access to a medical
education.'-' '4MfS?BK
Not only have the nation's large medical schools begun to reduce
their commitment to black enrollment, but public and private sources
have considerably diminished their funding for graduate education.
Since 1977, the federal government has stripped the $83.7 million fund
victim ' and "lashing blacks repeatedly for
happening to be poor and discriminated
against.
The time has come to take off the gloves
and go at it with bare knuckles with these
characters; because like a virus that will
spread if it is not treated, the fact that
powerful forces support these characters
views means that their words will get a wide
hearing. Black unity must be valued but the
question is: at what price? Does unity mean
that if your black neighbor is setting fire to
your house, you don't try to stop him?
Taking on the black neo-conservatives Is
critical at this stage also because they have
made a fetish out of assailing black leader
ship the NAACP, Urban League, the
black mayors, and others Their machine
gun .like attacks have caused a certain
backsliding on. the part of , some leaders,
which not only calls for assailing the neo-
for capitalization to $7.4 million for universities in financial distress, 'conservatives but for better or worse it
Special Manpower Initiatives, which contain grants, for programs to j
v. .; -i v'.,. . j us j tut-f..j;.t .r-n:: criticisms about certain black 'leaders .
train physicians and allied health professionals for emergency training crcism shouW comc not from the right
and preventive medicine, have been cut from $19.3 miUionih fiscal year' but from the other side of the barricades.
1980 to $9.6 million in fiscal year 1981 ; and then allowed to rise Slightly - This by necessity is a delicate process. In
(due omflation)te $13,5
With M tir&pin thdfnfdllment-percentage, and the reductions in y - - - - -
funding, qualified black students striving to become physicians will
the "broadest front possible in 'opposition.
Sniping at potential allies is not necessarily
the wisest path.
: ' , But the question is: are we talking about
allies? Reagan campaigned in 1980 in the
, black community, not so much because he
was -interested In getting our ballots but
' because he knew that it would soften his im
, age amongst the all-important white liberal
?wvotCTs;';;.v.;ir:v
, , Similarly, when phony elections were held
. in . Zimbabwe that :. propelled.: the puppet
x Bishop Abel Muzorewa into ' prominence
;., against NRobert ? Mugabe and Joshua
, Nkomo's.. Patriotic Front, it was Bayard
Rustin old line .black "leader" who
was trotted out to testify as to how a "free
and fair", vote took place. ?
Today headlines are blaring about a new
study on South Africa commissioned by the
Rockefeller Foundation to the tune of
$2,063 million assisted by business leaders
from Xerox and Cummins Engine and advis
ed by the likes of Henry Kissinger and Cyrus
Vance. Their massive ; study entitled
. ominously Time Is Running Out does take a
position contrary to that of the primary
South African liberation movement, the
fabled African; National Congress (ANC);
i.e., they do not call for- an immediate
withdrawal of the U.S. corporate vultures
who set up shop in. South Africa and profit
handsomely because of low wages paid, after
shutting down shop right here. :'
The black masses' of South Africa have
spoken and they demand disinvestment of
U.S. corporate wealth. Yet, it was inevitable
. that there would be a number of blacks on
the Rockefeller Foundation Commission
who back their dastardly proposals down the
line. Chairing the group were the blacks, e.g.
Prof. Charles V; Hamilton and Dr. Con
stance Hilliard, also affixed their signatures
to this document drenched in blood.
In other words, the U.S. Establishment is
saying in effect, "How can you say our plans
for South Africa are racist, when Afro
Americans support it?" But we need to strip
away this convenient shield and if it involves
pulling the coat or rapping the knuckles of
black leaders here; then so be It t
. For Detroit shows what happens when
critical voices from this side of the bar
ricades are not raised insistently. With the
avid backing of Mayor Coleman Young,
recently awarded : the NAACP's highest
honor the Spingarn Medal a measure
was passed that hikes the city income tax and
will worsen the standard of living of all poor .
and working people, including blacks. A
wage freeze for city workers is in store. For
these reasons and others, the Metropolitan
Detroit AFL-CIO, the local American
Federation of State County and Municipal
black trade unionists came .out adamantly
against Mayor Young's proposals. : ;
. ; Many recognized that the Mayor's reluc? .
tance to take on the banks, the utilities and
.1 w: l .. .1 i . , r c
uic uig uuura witu nave wic muiicjr iu mnu
city services but are hoarding it. Instead, the
mavnr nas cieciueu if) nm m" wrioni iin in
, uaCKs pi me poor, inis curious approacn .
frnm t nno.timo Ipftict loarlor has allniihil tm
racists io stake out progressive grouna w
defense of the interests of the ppor! Jhe
, same thing happened in Cleveland with,
black City Council President George Forbes,
, iThis is why it is so important to run the
. risk of angering ' certain black , leaders.
Members of the AFSCME local, many of
whom are blacks are staring in the face of a
two-year wage freeze, and with food prices
coins ud. housine costs eoine iin.' clothins
costs going up, etc., this is no joking matter,
These realizations have dawned on "others'
For example, Dr. Carlton Goodlctt, noted -black
publisher, physician and Renaissance "
. Man, has sent a scorching letter to 45 black
corporate directors, denouncing those who
serve on corporation boards but "betray the
black masses and the black press" by pro
viding "no direct assistance overt or covert
to the cities or to the black struggle for black
survival. . , He pointed out that "many
black ambassadors to Corporate .America
mistakenly believe that their 'merit! and not
, the struggle got them where they are today;
Marching feet of the Civil Rights struggle of
tne ws ana tne oiacx press literally lorcea
corporate America to respond appropriately
with black appointments." t
As he so often is, Dr. Goodlett is right on
this one. During the 1960's the idea- of a
multi-class front, i.e., blacks united irrespect
tive of class to fight Jim Crow and its
.outgrowths, was the primary resonance in
the black community. The baby should not
be thrown out with the bath water; that is,
just because certain black elements are off
the beam from time to time, does not mean
at all that a declaration of war should be
issued against them. Yet, the fact is that
perhaps the time has come to begin thinking
not ) only about the quantity of black
representation but also the quality. If we are
not ; concerned about the latter, then the
former will inevitably suffer. If we do not
subject certain of our black leaders to sear
ching scrutiny, then we leave them prey to
the cruel clutches and influence of the
notorious "black neo-conservatives" and -their
mentors. If we don't fire up some of
our black leaders behind clnsed iinnM and in
the black press, then we shouldn't be surpris
ed when they begin drifting inexorably to the .
right. At the same time, our primary focus
should always be on those big boys who run
Washington, and Wall Street and who pull
Employees (AESCME) and a number of top v the strings, even thoush thev can't be seen.
again have to turn to the historically black medical schools. But this A Vifw From Pnnitnl Will
time,isome may find the doors of the black-medical schools closed to 1CVV k lULn WUUA 11111
them because of financial constraints. , v
The historically black medical schools have always provided quality
education. Seventy-five per cent of all practicing black physicians went
to predominately black medical schools. According to the National Ad
visory Committee on Black Higher Education and Black Colleges and
Universities, two of the nation's four historically black medical
schools, Meharry Medical College and, Howard University, together
produced 22 per cent of all black doctors and forty per cent of all black
dentists that graduate in 1977;
Growing Disregard of Needs and
Rights Of Blacks .
By Gus Savage
Member of Congress
'v"The U.S. House of Representatives last
week adopted 238 to 195 the tax cuts propos
ed by President Reagan. .,
In the next three years this will
1 a navt ihraA iraori hi mill ct '
mm . i ' i ' 1 lli f ' ' t V Ill J MS WWAfc ! Mti VV , JVI 9 W Wit V
lliese tacts illustrate tne unique service renoerea oy me nanaiui 01 America's wealthiest individuals $223 bilUon
and biggest business $65 billion. What is
? wrong with this is that only last month Con?
" gress approved the Administration's pro-
Eosal to reduce the Federal budget by $35
illion mainly in social service programs.
. .. Because the Reagan tax proposal could
never, meet the standards of equity and
fairness that a tax reform package should,
the Democrats ought to have assumed the
responsibility of proposing one that would.
Instead, the Democratic leadership proposed
: a tax plan that also represented a dramatic
shift in the tax burden from capital to labor.
I 1 Thi plan ;, made " it ? seem that 1 while
Republicans are the party t of , the multi-
millionaires, the Democrats are merely the
, party of the millionaires and that neither
truly represents the masses! . . '
. For instance, under the Democrat's plan,
large corporations would have been able to
write-off the entire cost of a Mercedes-Benz
in one year, while millions of old and poor
people cannot even afford bus fare. Also this
, proposal would have reduced estate taxes to
. the extent that more than half of all estates
. would pay no tax at all. -
Even worse, under the Republican tax cut
plan, a family of four with $20,000 a year in
come would save only $180 less income tax
. next year and a total of $1,100 during the
next three years, while a family with
v, $100,000 annual income would save $1,700
in income tax next year and $18,000 during
r the next three years. .
If we are asking the needy to do without
by specifically asking our senior citizens to
give up the $122 a month minimum they de
pend on to live and asking the hungry to
go without food stamps and asking the
untrained to go without CETA and ask
; ing the unemployed to forget , about sup
plemental unemployment compensation
: ' and asking students to make it without col
lege tuition loans and grants and asking
'children to attend public schools without
: lunch how can . we rationalize using the
savings to fund a welfare, plan for the
m greedy? - , t
I maintain that the Government should
not be more concerned about profits than
historically black medical schools which are now desperately fighting
for their financial viability and Indeed survival. Take Meharry Medical ;
College for example. In 1977, Meharry Medical School opened the
George Russell Tower, a new wing of Hubbard Hospital. The multi
million dollar; 400-becl facility was to become the nerve center for the
entire medical school, however fewer than 150 of the beds are present
ly occupied and the new wing has never used more than half of its
facilities. It is estimated that the Russell Tower is losing approximately
one thousand dollars a day because of a paucity of patients. "Our pa
tient population must increase, The financial implications are enor
mous and an active patient program is essential to a medical school cur-,
riculum,' said Richard Lester, M.D., president, Meharry Medical
School., -
Community hospitals throughout the country may also have to adopt
creative plans to increase their patient populations in order to continue ?
operation. Over the last ten years, a vast number of inner city hospitals
have ' 'closed Philadelphia General Hospital in Philadelphia, and
Horner p. Piillips Hospital in St. Louis have both been closed, and the
services provided at D,C General Hospital in Washington, D.C., have
been'substantially reduced because of severe financial trouble. -
In sum, the new age of medical services has placed black health care
institutions in a precarious position They must upgrade their level of
out patient cafe in order to survive. Private practitioners must become
morexompetitive, hot because of art 'overabundance of physicians,'
but because of a need to ensure equal participation in both private
enterprise and new health care systems. Finally, as America attempts to
reorganize the systems of health care delivery, members of the NMA in
sist that they have the opportunity to participate fully in those evolving
health delivery systems and all efforts to provide quality health care to
the American people. , . '
1852-
Scott Bond
:; Born in slavery in Mississippi, lie went to Madison, Ark. at 21,
rented a farm for $51 His tiny savings from working this farm went to
buy a tract of ruined land-his friends ' laughed, but, laterthe Rock
Island R.R. made a deal for the gravel there,, .as a result his lot improv
ed, and by 1920 he owned dver 4,000 acres! His total holdings valued
at $280,000. , . - Continental Features
about people.
If the Republicans are as hard as uncook
ed beans in pushing for the wishes of the ' ,
greedy, too many I of my Democratic col
leagues are as sof as jelly in defense of the
needy! , The 238 votes for Reagan's tax cuts
included 48 Democrats. ;? ; ; ; - .
I personally pleaded with the House Rules
Committee to bring to the floor for debate a
substitute tax proposal in the true interest of
the middle-class and working poor, propos
ed ' by Congressman John Conyers
(D.-Mich.) and backed by the majority of
the Congressional Black Caucus. -
We were denied by the vote of whites on'
that powerful Committee, Democrats and
Republicans alike. : Its only black member, -Shirley
Chisholm (D.-N.Y.), of course, was
vocally on bur side. ' . , ;' v. 1
Then, I asked the Democratic leadership
to permit one of us, during the Democrat's
time in general debate of the tax issue on the
floor last Wednesday, to state the majority
view of the 18 black Members of Congress,
all Democrats, on this issue. I was turned
down as naturally we were alsb refused by
the leadership of the jily white Republican
Members of Congress, , "
Incidentally,- the so-called white liberal
leadership of the Democratic Study Group
was no more considerate of us. . '
In other words, blacks as a group were not
allowed to amend, or even discuss on the... .
floor either the Democrat or Republican tax ; '
cut proposal.
We should be enraged that blacks are still
t ignored by the Republicans and taken for
granted by the liberals and the Democrats,
even though we are the most liberal of
Americans and the most loyal of Democrats.
Still, it woutd not have mattered whether
the Democrat or Republican tax proposal
passed, because there was not a dime's (due
to inflation, 1 mean a dollar's) worth of dif
ference between the two. In fact, during last
Wednesday's i House debate ! the f Speaker ;
boasted of the number of Republicans who
participated in writing the Democratic tax
proposal. ''"!'', I,.' -i ' ", !
. We Democrats keep. losing to Reagan
precisely because the Republicans .have pro-ams,
proposals, and somewhat of, a
philosophy, while the Democratic leadership
merely seeks to modify Republicans' tenets
of reaction and racism and thereby sanctions ,
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who propose
to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation aremenwho want
era; without plowing up the ground. They want rain without
thunder and lightning. They want the oceans majestic waves
' without, the awful roar of, its waters. ) Frederick Douglass :
thiem; ,: ' ' .. .
That is why the Republicans are more
united and that is why Carter lost. The
American people will always prefer the, real
thing to any facsimile. S
Finally, I may as well admit that the
leadership of my Black Caucus was derelict :.'
and divided or deceived on these tax-cut pro
posals, and must accept some of the blame :
for our frustration in this matter and the
general impotence of blacks as a group itt
this Congress. i;: ;
But I assure you that we Congressmen
John Conyers, Ron Dellums, and I wi!J
continue with renewed; determination to
secure for blacks in Congress the respect of
the House's leadership at least equal to thai
accorded the Women's Caucus,1 and the
VBoIl Weevils", and "Gypsy Moths". ' ,
' We rededicate ourselves to this because "
our plight in this House reflects the growing
disregard of the needs and rights of all black
Americans by the increasingly reactionary
ruler$ of America. . . ; i
' L.E. AliSTlK '
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