16—THE CAROLINA TIMES SAT., SEPTEMBER 26,1981
Sabotage, Assassination
Howto
get the most
from your bank
CHECKING ACCOUNTS
by Shirley Gragg
Shirley Gragg
Paying your bills by check is safer and more con
venient than using currency and coin. Americans
seem to know this because more than 90 percent of
• th« money that changes hands
each day is transferred by check.
, A check creates a written record
which can be used to verify what
you paid to whom and when you
paid it. And since checks can be
sent safely through the mail and
are accepted as money by banks
here and abroad, they save time
and let you conduct business over
great distances.
When you open a checking account you are con
tracting with a bank to keep your money safe and to
pay it out at various times according to the checks
you write.
You can also leave standing instructions with the
bank to make certain pajunents automatically from
your account. These instructions might cover insur
ance premiums or regular deposits to your savings
account — anything for which the sum paid out is
the same every time.
Almost anyone can open a checking account in a
North Carolina bank simply by showing proper
identigcadon, filling out a signature card and mak
ing an initial deposit.
There are several types of checking accounts
which many banks offer
• The most common type of account is one in
which you maintain a certain minimum balance
to avoid being charged service fees for the checks
you write.
• Another account is one in which you maintain a
minimum balance in your savings account to
avoid service fees for your checking account.
• Interest bearing accounts and NOW (Negotiable
Order of Withdrawal) accounts, earn interest,
but usually you are required to maintain a larger
minimum balance to avoid service charges.
Having a checking account can be even more con
venient and safe by arranging to have social securi
ty benefits, wages and dividends deposited directly
into your account. With direct deposit, you avoid
having to take or send a deposit to the bank yourself.
You have the money available quicker and do not
risk losing it.
Your banker can help'you determine which kind of
checking account would be most economical for you.
Shirley Gragg, a banker for 15 years, is a Personal Banker at a
Wachovia Bank and Trust Company office in Asheville.
By
tne
umy
• 09
By Joe Black
I have never said that racism does not exist
in these United States. And it is my contention
that rai. sm has been a part of our societysince
1619 when John Hawkins first brought us into
this country'as slaves. But I do say that too often
Black people use the word racism as an excuse
for our inadequacies. Quite often these are the
sanie people who, in a bragging fashion, tell me
about Harriet Tubman and the"Underground
Railroad," Crispus Attucks and the Boston
Massacre. Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., encouraging their people to strive for
independence and equality of opportunity. We
seem to have lost that fighting spirit, so 1 keep
saying that racism is an eSturse, but not the
reason why Black Americans fail to achieve our
anticipated socio-economic growth.
We must admit that some of our failures
are because too many of us have allowed apathy
and laziness to persuade us to abandon the
fighting spirit of "We Shall Overcome." Well,
.somebody up there must like us and is giving
us a second chance to destroy this unconcern
and put forth the needed effort.
My friends, it is no longer a request
but an ultimatum that Black Americans become
involved in the political process. Black people
lailed to put forth the necessary efforts during
the last national elections and are now grumbling
about budget cuts and loss of jobs. Procrastination
and postulation cannot be tolerated now, because
the survival of the Voting Rights Act ef 1965 is
ciependent upon pressures from millions of
Black people.Tb impress you with the importance
of the voting ;tcl to Black America, let me citf
a statistic from the Voter Education Project:
"Since passage of the act in 1965 rriinorlty
voter registration has increased by a thousand
percent in Mississippi, more than a hundred
percent in some other Southern states:
additionally, the regiorr now has 2400 Black
elected ofl'icials as compared to less tlj-an
a hundred prior to 1965."
So. heed the urgings of the Joiiit Center
for Political Action and write to the President,
your senator, and congressperson. Remember!
The vote you save may be your ou'n.
Jee'Hhck
Vice President
• The Greyhound Corporation
period.
Reduction of tensions
between Losotho and
South Africa has also
meant closer political
cooperation. South
Africa promised to keep
a closer eye on possible
BCP infiltration routes,
while Lesotho pledged to
increase its surveillance
of South African exiles
who flee there. Several
members of the African
National Congress have
since been expelled by
the Lesotho government.
So far, there has been
no sign that rapproche
ment with South Africa
has diminished
Lesotho’s ability to at
tract foreign help. And it
is too soon to know the
international impact of
last week’s kidnappings.
Howard University
Africanist Robert Edgar
argues that, at the least,
the fate of Edgar
Motuba will hurt the
government at home.
“Because he was a pro
minent figure and the
editor of the most
popular newspaper in the
country,” Edgar said,
“his death will be hotly
debated. I think it will
certainly prove to
damage the
government’s ability to
win people over to their
side.”
MOTUBA SILENCED
[AN] Edgar
Mahlomola Motuba, 38,
was a soft-spoken
veteran journalist who
built a small 108-year-
old church newspaper in
to a powerful publica
tion with a circulation
above 25,000, and a
readership many times
that.
Leselinyana, whose
name in Sesotho means
“little light,” is publish
ed by the Lesotho
Evangelical Church, a
Protestant denomination
whose leaders have fre
quently been arrested for
speaking out against
government policies.
Motuba was detained
five times before his
death, and the
newspaper has ex
perienced brief suspen
sions. In an interview
last year, Motuba said he
believed that only Leseli-
nyana’s ties to the inter
national ecumenical
movement dissuaded the
Lesotho government
from shutting the paper
down completely.
For the last decade,
the journal has been the
primary source of infor
mation about opposition
politics. Its popularity
contrasts sharply with
that of the only other
paper, the official
Lesotho Weekly, with a
circulation of less than
2500.
An innovative
reporter, Motuba often
resorted to disguises to
document charges of
police atrocities,
sometimes visiting
villages dressed in the
ragged clothing of a poor
shepherd. He once work
ed for an extended
period in the mines of
South .Africa, to learn
first-hand, he said, what
thousands of migrant
laborers from Lesotho
experience.
“A competent, honest
government — and this
one is neither,” he said, •
“could do much to im
prove our plight. One of
our major problems is
erosion caused by
overgrazing. How can
you idl a poor herder to
.slaughter some of his
cows when he sees a
Cabinet minister with a
thousand head of cattle?
Or when the foreign ex
perts sent to teach us*
modern farming
methods spend their time
on officials’ private
farms? How can we pro
vide homes for poor peo
ple when the prime
minister uses develop
ment bank money to
build houses ai?d rents
(Continued from Page 13)
them at a profit?”
“He was most certain
ly a thorn in the side of
the Lesotho
government,” . says
Howard University’s
Robert Edgar. “He was
threatened numerous
timgs by the police and
the rMU (Police Mobile
Unit). When I saw him
last, he showed me some
particularly vicious
leaflets being circulated
by the police that were
aimed directly at him.
He confided to me that
he expected one day to
be murdered for his
work.”
Lesotho police say
they are investigating the
killing.
Motuba took precau
tions, such as avoiding
leaving his house at
night, but he said that he
would never leave the
country and he remained
perpetually optimistic
about its future. Before
assuming the editorship
of Leselinyana, he work
ed on newspapers in
England, Wales and
other parts of Africa,
where he earned a
reputation as careful and
talented.
Motuba leaves behind
his wife, Evelyn
‘Matabai, and three
children: TabSi Joshua,
8; Motsoanyane Carol,
5; and ‘Mampoetsi
Meriam, 3.
Still
In Prison
(OLl MBIA, S.C.—“Uncle John” Davis, serving life in prison forsUaiinj
$5 and a walch in 1922, reflects on his life both in and out of prison ai a part'
recenll> celebrating his 105th birthday. S.C. prison officials said that [hsi
could be paroHed at any time, but that he didn’t want to leave.. “Getting outo
GPiPhoi,
could be paroHed at any
here would be like digging my own grave, Davis said.
NCC Condemns South Africa Invasion, UN Voti
SENEGAMBIA?
[AN] Senegal’s Presi
dent Abdou Diouf last
week declared his
government’s intention
to complete a formal
confederation with Gam
bia by January 1, 1982.
The two countries are
already moving to in
tegrate their defense
forces, and discussion on
a monetary and customs
union are also in pro
gress. The current
merger negotiations
follow a failed coup at
tempt in Gambia on July
30 ' and Senegalese
military intervention on
behalf of President
Dawda Jawara.
LABOR UNIONISTS
DETAINED IN
SOUTH AFRICA
[AN] In the widest
crackdown to date
against resurgent black
trade unions, 205 people
from three unions were
arrested on September 5
by security police of the
South African homeland
of Ciskei.
The workers, members
of the South African
Allied Workers’ Union,
the General Workers’
Union and the African
Food and Canning
Workers’ Union, were
arrested while returning
from a meeting in the
port city of East London
to the nearby black
township of Mdantsane.
Mdantsane is included in
the Ciskei homeland,
where authorities work-**
ed closely with the South
African police in an
earlier clampdown in
June against the leader
ship of these same
unions.
The workers are being
held under a Ciskeian
security law which allows
. for three months deten
tion without trial.
NEW YORK — A
group of Protestant,
Anglican and Orthodox
church leaders has
strongly criticized South
Africa’s August 23 inva
sion of Angola and the
United States govern
ment’s subsequent veto
of a U.N. Security Coun
cil resolution condemn
ing South Africa’s
military action.
The executive commit
tee of the National
Council of Churches,
meeting September 11,
unanimously adopted a
resolution condemning
“South Africa’s military
invasion of the People’s
Republic of Angola”
and its “continued illegal
occupation of
Namibia.” In condemn
ing “the United States
government’s veto of a
United Nations’ Security
Council resolution which
condemned South
Africa’s invasion of
Angola,” the committee
said, “We believe that
this action implies sup
port of apartheid and
represents a tilt towards
south Africa.”
In adopting the state
ment, the committee
noted that “the United
States government has
refused to condemn the
South African invasion
of Angola on the pretext
tha| the ‘broader pro
blem’ in southern Africa
needs to be addressed.”
Although not explicitly
stated in the resolution,
discussion of the resolu
tion revealed that the
‘broader problem’ to
which the resolution
refers is the East-West
conflict perceived by the
Reagan administration.
The executive committee
declared its di.sagreemeni
with this analysis of the
basis of conflict in
southern Africa saying,
“We believe that apar-'
theid is at the*root of the
political, economic and
social problems in all of
southern Africa.”
The committee urged
“the United States
government to earnestly
support the implementa
tion of United Nations
Resolution 385, which
calls for United Nations
supervised elections in
Namibia, and Resolution
435, which outlines a
plan for elections” and
called upon “the United
Slates to recognize the
government of the Peo
ple’s Republic of
Angola” and to “sup
port the United Nations
Council of Namibia.”
In a press briefing im
mediately following the
executive committee ac
tion, a group of church
leaders related to the
NCCC, but hot speaking
' for the Council, issued a
companion statement to
the resolution approved
by the executive commit
tee. The leaders called on
the “citizens and
organizations of this na
tion (to) speak against
'the U.S. government’s
support for apartheid
and white minority rule”
and called for “the im
mediate and permanent
removal of South
Africa’s troops from
Angola and Namibia and
a resumption of negotia
tions that will insure full
independence for
Namibia.”
“We believe we are be
ing pulled into a false
East-West debate on
South Africa,” the
leaders said, “when the
real issue is the struggle
for self-determination
and majority rule in
South Africa and
Namibia.” The leaders
noted that “while our
government verbally
states that the U.S.
abhors apartheid, we
support it in practice”
citing as evidence friend
ly diplomatic relations
with South Africa, oil
and truck sales, bank
loans and computer
' to the nation, and '
refusal to cond
South Africa’s invc
of Angola.”
Explaining the
tionale for makin
statement, which wi
circulated to n
church leaders are
the United States
their support, Th*
M. William How
Jr., president of the
tional Council of C
ches, said, “We be!
there is a residual
position to apartheii
the United States ant
want to awaken that
timent. This is ames:
to the peace-lov
justice-loving people
our nation.” Hovi
was joined in signing
statement by Willian
Thompson, stated d
United Presbyle:
Church; the Rev. A'
Post, president, Un
Church of Christ;
Rev. James R. Crum
Jr., bishop, Luihe
Church in Amer
Bishop Leroy
Hodapp, Illinois An
the United Meiho
Church; and the 5
Robert W. Neff.^geni
secretary, Church of
Brethren.
The need
(Continued on Paget
■C’1981 JOS. SCHLITZ BREWING COMPANY, MILWAUKEE.
LABOR VS.
STEVENS
[AN] Sierra Leone
President Siaka Stevens -
declared a state of
emergency on September
1 after the nation’s
Labor Congress resumed
its general strike. The
trade union confedera-,
tion, which has some
250,000 members, had
suspended its walk-out in
mid-August while
negotiating for a
package of economic
reforms with the govern
ment. According to press
dispatches from Lon
don, there was shooting
in the streets of
Freetown, the capital.
A View From Capitol Hili
(Continued from Page 13)
fascism has become. During the past ten years, the
income gap between whites and blacks has increas
ed, the political rights of blacks have been decreas
ed; freedom of the press has been reduced;'and the
judiciary has become less independent.
Indeed, could it be that the professed purpose of
“constructive engagement’’ is merely a shield for
the imihoral greed of American wealth, since return
oh investment is greater in South Africa than
anywhere else in the world, almost twenty per cent
today, which means complete recovery in only five
ygars?
I will complete this report on South Africa next
, week.