QCH-A
Wilson Library
N C Collection
UNC-CH
Chapel mil NC 27514
September is
Rational
Sickle Cell
cn V E !
Month
(USPS 091-380)
Words Of Wisdom
One of the greatest obstacles to success is
man’s inability to put first things first.
—Charles B. Roth
*****
F.
A successful man cannot realize how hard an
unsuccessful man finds life.
—E.W. Howe
^59 - NUMBER 39
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1981
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913
PRICE: 30 CENTS
mSPECTIVE,
jyRov Harris
question
you think the
,5,(1 Nixon Library
Id be built at Duke?
Solidarity Day Sends Reagan Message
Half Million Protest
Budget Cuts
flemltig Bass
Durham
luDuijht to give it to
outside the ex-
denl. You’d think
lydents should make
Kiivion.
Joe Webb
Durham
I think Nixon did an
awful lot. I’m for an ob
jective look at the man’s
work and Presidency. I
think it would be a good
thing.
maid Marable
ly council mci on
;y night,
mber 21* to receive
's comments and
dew the past ’pro-
and performance
:lie Community
vpment Program,
nor. there were no
Mts because there
citizens present
comment. Coun-
man Adrienne Fo.x
die mayor “if this
hearing had been
i'^ed?” The mayor'
'nded that it had
By Donald Alderman
WASHINGTON, DC
— The nation’s civil
rights groups and
organized labor, seeking
to disprove President
Reagan’s claim that
those groups are taking
the masses of people out
of the mainstrearn of
American life, ma.ssed
nearly one-half million
people here Saturday,
chanting messages of
resistence and discontent
to the administration’s
economic policies.
They called it
“Solidary Day” and the
massive crowd jammed
solid onto the grounds of
the Capitol Mall,
disclaiming the so-called
Reagan mandate and of
fering the President and
Congress mandates of
their own.
The march and rally,
largest demonstration
against Reagan’s policies
during his eight month
presidency, gave
evidence that the ad
ministration’s budget
cuts and across-the-
board tax cuts do not
have universal approval.
The national day of
solidarity was organized
by the NAACP, the Na
tional Urban League.and
Operation PUSH, in
conjunction with the
AFL-CIO and a coali
tion of social, profes
sional and church
organizations to protest
“the reversal in 200 days
of fifty years of pro
gress, painfully achiev
ed, for working people
and the needy,” a rally
speaker said.
The huge crowd brisk
ed cool winds as par
ticipants marched from
the Washington Monu
ment down Constitution
Avenue to 15th Street
and down Pennsylvania
Avenue to the Capitol
Mall, but they seemed to
enjoy the breeze as they
chanted slogans in op
position to “Reagan’s
revolutionary ap
proaches.”
Marchers’ placards
displayed the growing
anxieties and frustra
tions of American
work-ers who cannot
keep pace with inflation,
and the poor, who will
Reclaim Their Lost Baby
Mrs. Sandra Alexander is allowed to see her
baby, Shanta Yvette, for the first time since the
baby was abducted from Grady Hospital in Atlanta
August 4, the day after Shanta was born. Mrs.
Alexander and her husband, Bobby, view their
daughter with big smiles through the nursery win
dow. Ms. Louise Lett, 26, was arrested on charges
of kidnapping. UPI Photo
be receiving less support
from the federal govern-
rnen!, as they sought to
send the President and
Congress messages
against the conservative
tide that has engulfed the
nation’s lawmakers.
“Our mandates:
Lower inflation and in
terest rates,” “Ronald
Robbing-Hood, robbing
the poor to aid the Pen
tagon,” “Bad law's are
the worst sort of tyran
ny” and “The black
American dream is a
nightmare,” were a few
of the chants and placard
slogans of the
demonstrators as they
trekked along the one-
mile march path.
The demonstration,
largest here since the
anti-Vietnam and civil
rights protests of the
i960’s, represented a
diverse population from
all parts of the country.
Teaming up w'ilh
workers from nearly all
occupational areas and
civil rights groups were
anti-war, anti-draft and
anti-nuclear represen
tatives. Welfare ad
vocates, the "elderly,
church activists. Native
(Continued On Page 2)
Ms, Griffin
VVestchesler
Counis. N.V
don't think they
have it.
Kli/abeth Petersen
Chapel Hill
Duke l aw Grad
I don’t mind if lhe>
give his papers to the Ar
chives or the Law
Lft>rar>, but r don t
think they should try to
make a hero out of him.
Brown: Blacks Must Pursue Own Interests
tizens Fail To Show
or Council Meet
been advertised in the
newspapers and on the
radio.
This is the first of
three joint City Council
and Citizens Advi.sory
Comittee public hearings
where the Community
Development and Hous
ing Plan for the next
three years, 1982-85, will
be addrc.ssed.
Bill Diuguid, program
director of the Depart
ment of planning and
Comnuinity Develop
ment outlined the past
(Continued On Page 3)
By Donald Alderman
RALEIGH — Tony-
Brown sought to set the
record straight at Si.
Augustine’s College Fri
day night as he lectured a
group on desegregation,
black economics and
black history.
The notion that
anything segregated is
black and inferior should
be refuted by blacks.
Blacks will lose a
priceless heritage by ac
cepting a mis
interpretation of
.segregation. Black in
stitutions should not be
sacrificed in the name of
desegregation, Brown
said.
"Whites are basically
just like blacks: most are
average, they have a few
geniuses, and a liberal
sprinkling of fools.”
Brown said blacks
should not abandon their
own interests just
because . “somebody
hollers you’re
segregated.” He said tlie
Mormans have a whole
state; Jews, Italians and
other ethnic groups are
exclusive, but “blacks
are petrified by segrega
tion.”
“We have to begin do
ing what’s best for us. If
they like it, fine; if they
don’t, fine. I w'as born
black, I will die black,
and in between those two
great events, I shall re
main black. If anybody
has a problem with that,
that’s them,” Brown
said.
He also said the so-
called desegregated white
schools do not train
blacks better than black
schools. Noting that only
thirty per cent of black
college students who at
tend white schools
graduate, Brown asked,
“Why don’t tire so-
called superior white
schools do a belter job of
training blacks?” He
answered, “because
they’re not in the
business of training
blacks.”
He told the audience
that last year seven of
every ten black attending
a black college
graduated, but converse
ly seven of ten who
entered predominantly
white schools failed.
“It is our task to train
our children and to do
what’s best for us. We
don’t have to prove
ourselves. W^e have
already done that.
Brown, executive pro
ducer and host of Tuny
Brown’s Journal —
America’s top-ranked
syndicated talk/educa-
lional program — ad
dressed a fundraising
banquet for the North
Carolina Cultural Arts
Coalition. The occasion
honored Ms. Patricia S.
Funderburk. She is step- blacks is better than they
ping down av e-xe^'utive are led to believe. “If
director of the group. you can leach a student
Brown said the he is poor, he or she will
economic status of
Greensboro Justice Fund To
Pursue Further Convictions
By Donald Alderman
The retrial of six Nazis
who had been charged
with - conspiracy to
firebomb sections of
downtown Greensboro
ended last Friday as the
Nazis were convicted of
the charges by a jury in
Asheville. ’
A previous trial in July ,
ended in a mistrial due to
a hung jury, with ten of
the twelve jurors voting
for conviction on the
conspiracy charges.
Judge Woodrow Jones
sentenced Frank
Brasw-ell, Gorrell Pierce
and Raeford M. Caudle
each the maximum
sentence of five years in
prison and a $10,000
fine. Ms. Patsy Bra.sw-ell
and James Talbert w'ere
each given a tw'o-year
suspended sentence, fin
ed $1,000 and placed on
a three year probation.
Roger Pierce w'as placed
on probation tor three
years and fined $1,0(X).
The six are appealing
their convictions to the
U.S. Fourth Circuit
Court of Appeals.
The Nazis were charg
ed with planning to
bomb business and
government buildings in
downtown Greensboro i(
Nazis and Klan'sinen liaci
been convicted of
murdering five Corn-
Continued On Page 3)
■conomics and Racism Main Concerns of Blacks
Part II
8y Pal Bryant
yOR'S .NOTE:
f/t llte firs! two
' "I Sepiember, len
•s vho are active in
'* Carolina political
a.iked ten ques-
" tfitiiini; to ihe
>.f Afro-
yns In .. North
yrnd the'nation.
‘IS the second of six
md deals with
'Mips io the question
ore the most
|"'S concerns of
" in I9SI?”
fuses to other
will follow
** Ihe next four
f They have been
; h> conform to
e requirements. We
fege reader reac-,
series and the
J^pressed in these
publisher
Wilmington Jour-
"llie 1960s, we had
g' movement to
so-called first
In the
• emphasized a
' W voting and we
:*hole lot of black
“ elected. In the
'. ' .see it as
' Jesse
Jackson’s success with
the Coca-Cola boycott
indicated that he’s got
the right idea when he
empha.sizes the impor
tance of our people being
able to work in these
large corporations; to get
distributorships; to have
black people sitting on
the board of directors
and to gel advertising for
black newspapers. 1 was
glad when Jackson em
phasized black-owned
radio stations because
most oD them are not
black owned. They cal!
themselves black sta
tions, but they’re not.
Getting the privilege of
going into ihtse places in
the 1960’s was impor
tant, but in the 1980s,
it’s a bread and butter
matter. The economics
that Jackson is working
on is bound to help the
masses of people because
they spend money for
those soft drinks. For
years, I carried on the
bottom of our paper,
“The race that buys
everything and doesn’t
sell anything is always
going to -be a beggar
race.” The mere fact
that you are selling
things will help
everybody. ' •
Gordon Dilahuni,
organizer ot the Black
United Front, Raleigh:
The black community
is divided up along class
lines. So you find a divi
sion of interest, although
youMl find a number of
things that people hold
in common as pressing^
concerns. I think on one
hand right now in the
80’s, the budget cuts
really weigh heavy on the
minds of a large number
of oiir people. Concern
for the welfare of Aid to
Families With Depen
dent Children, programs
to help mother^, and
then of course social
security, the CETA job
program, cuts in these
and many others are very
much in the minds of
people. The same is the
case in housing as well. 1
know at least in Raleigh,
and !’m sure it’s . the
same across North
Carolina, there is a hous
ing shortage of low in
come housing whether it
be in the public or the
private sector. All kinds
of racist organizing is go
ing on around us. While
the most racist form is
the Greensboro
massacre, in Goldsboro,
Winston-Salem* and all
of these places there is
something to be concern
ed about. Finally, 1 think
probably what might be
considered the cutting
edge of this assault on
black people is the issue
of police brutality.
Ms. Virginia Newell,
chairman of the
Mathematics and Com
puter Science Depart
ment, Winston-Salem
State University, and
Winston-Salem Alder
man:
At the moment, thcr
most pressing concerns
of blacks, because of
Reaganomics, are
economics, jobs and
housing. He [President
Reagan] has definitely
curtailed subsidized
housing. So I think the
whole concept of
economics, of jobs and
of housing — people be
ing able to live and just
make ends meet — these
are the most pressing
concerns.
William J. Kennedy, ill,
president. North
Carolina Mutual Life In
surance Company,
Durham:
Without a doubt, as
far as blacks are con
cerned, it is still employ
ment opportunities that
is most pressing. There
continues to be a rather
substantial percentage of
the black workforce
unemployed. 1 am very
seriously doubtful of the
fact that there has been
any reduction, and
perhaps some increase,
in black unemployment
figures in 1981. That,
along with inflation
which- is a general pro
blem, affects the low in
come people perhaps
more than anybody else
in the economy. Most of
the blacks fall into that
low income category!
Rev. Thomas Walker,
pastor, F!benezer Baptist
Church, Rocky Mount:
The most pressing
concern is employment. I
was listening to .some
statistics the other day
that the unemployment
rate is about sixteen-per
cent among blacks and
now' it’s going higher.
Even before
Reagartomics, it was
high. I think we’re going
to be more displaced.
Dr. Earl E. Thorpe, pro
fessor of history, North
Carolina Centra! Univer
sity, Durham, and na
tional president of the
Association for the
Study of Afro-American
Life and History:
Racism is the most
pressing concern. I
define racism as defining
people as inferior based
on their race and having
and using the power to
keep them in an inferior
status. Racism has been
a constant in the history
of blacks since they, were
brought in chains into
the Western world, but
racism intensifies in cer
tain periods and we’re ih
such a period. It’s
manifested by a Mot of
things. The Bakke deci
sion, the whole dismantl
ing of the affirmative ac
tion thrust, dismantling
of social programs
designed to get blacks
out of the cycle of pover
ty, and the increase of
open racist attacks from
gfoups such as the Ku
K1u« Klan are manifesta
tions of racism. We
know the statistics of
black unernployment are
twice as high as white
unemployment. This in
tensification of racism
with its various
manifestations makes
more acute the problems
black people inherited
^ from the days of slavery.
That’s the status of being
on the bottom and in
stitutionally locked on
the bottom by the socie
ty’s legal structure and
so forth.
Ms. Carrie Graves,
organizer of the
Charlotte Equal Rights
Council, and director of
the N.C. Human Needs
and Military Spending
Project of the Southern
Organizing Committee
for Social and FAonomic
Justke:
The most pressing
concerns of blacks in
1981 are economic self-
sufficiency and black
political empowerment
within the black com
munity. Being that
money and political
power are the two most
important things in this
country, 1 believe that
the question of unity has
got to be uppermost in
the black community
and also blacks being
able to deal with class
divisions that we have.
Ms. Jennifer Henderson,
director of the North
Carolina Hung^ Coali
tion, Fayetteville:
The main thing on
everyone’s mind right
now is economic
sovereignty. That is
making sure that people
have basically all their
human needs taken care
of. Black people have
become fragmented into
a very class conscious
society. This has caused
even more economic
deterioration among
blacks than would have
been usually the case.
There was a community
spirit that kept black
folk alive regardless of
whether you were the
school teacher or ihegar-
baee collector.
What has to happen in
the future is a very in
ward look at black
economic development.
This includes education,
health, food production,
basic jobs for folks, and
care for our elderly and
disabled in the communi
ty. Then the issue would
be how do we get folks to
donate their energies and
their resources , to
become a sharing com
munity again as we were
even during slavery
time^i. We have to go
back to that and recap
ture that sense of com
munity while we move
toward, the twenty-fir^
century