20-THE CAROLINA TIMES SAT., SEPTEMBER 26,1981
Commission: Voting Rights Act Needs Extension
WASHIGNGTON,D.C.
— Congress should ex
tend the special provi
sions of the Voting
Rights Act an additional
ten years, and both Con
gress and the Depart
ment of Justice should
make important changes
in the law and its en
forcement practices to
t provide necessary added
protection of minority
citizens’ right to vote and
seek office. Those
recommendations are
part of a new report, The
Voting Rights Act: Un
fulfilled Goals, released
at a press conference
recently by the U.S.
Commission on Civil
Rights.
The 426-page report
evaluates the current
status of minority voting
rights in jurisdictions
covered by the original
special provisions of the
Act enacted in 1965, as
well as those covered by
the 1975 amendments.
The Commission’s
report also assess
whether discrimination
continues to exist in
those jurisdictions and
whether minority par
ticipation in political
processes has increased.
Nine Sates and parts
of thirteen others are
covered under the special
provisions, and must
“preclear” any changes
in voting procedures
with the Department of
Justice (DOJ) or the
U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia,
to prove that the changes
do not discriminate
against minority citizens
in purpose or effect.
The Commission
recommended several
amendments aimed at
ymore effective -enforce
ment of the Act: section.
2 of the Act (the portion
applicable to all 50
Stales) should be amend
ed by Congress to pro
hibit voting practices
that are discriminatory
in effect, even if they are
not necessarily
discriminatory in intent;
Congress should amend
the Act to let com
plainants sue for civil
penalties or damages
against the Slate and
local officials who refuse
to comply with the sec
tion 5 preclearance re
quirements; the attorney
general should be given
an affirmative respon
sibility to enforce Sec
tion 5, since some
jurisdictions either do
not submit proposed
changes for preclearance
or implement such
changes despite DOJ’s
objections; and DOJ
should issue more
specific guidelines than it
has to date on what con
stitutes effective
minority-language
assistance, since lack of
specificity in the current
regulations has resulted
in inadequate assistance
to minority-language
voters.
The Commission also
recomended Congres-
sTonal hearings to con
sider enactment of a
Federal law establishing
minimum standards for
registering and voting in
Federal elections.
The Commission said
that despite increased
political participation by
minorities in many States
covered by the special
provisions, “minorities
continue, to face a variety
of problems which the
act was designed to over
come.” For example, the
number of blacks elected
to public office nearly
doubled between 1975
and 1980 in six of the
covered Southern States
(Alabama, Georgia,
Lc^isiana, Mississippi,
South Carolina,
Virginia) plus North
Carolina, from 964 in
1974 to 2,042 in 1980.
Nevertheless, the Com
mission’s report cites
evidence that minority
registration ' still lags
behind that of whites in
some covered jurisdic
tions and that minority
citizens have been elected
to few positions on coun
ty governing bodies or to
major statewide of
fices.
Moreover, the Com
mission states, “harass
ment and intimidation of
minority voters and can
didates persists, and
registration still is inac
cessible to minorities liv
ing in rural
areas...Building on the
blatant and pervasive
discrimination against
them in the past, the pre
sent attitudes of
registrars deter
minorities from register
ing.” Registration in
many areas takes place
only during the work day
and in central locations
like county courthouses
— doubly inconvenient
for the many rural, low-
inncome minority
citizens without ade
quate public transporta
tion.
Minority requests for
alternative registration
procedures, including
the use of deputy
registrars and satellite
registration offices in
minority communities_,
have reportedly been^
denied by registration of
fices or granted only
after appeals to Slate
legislators or national
civil rights organiza
tions.
Another problem cited
in the report is the loca
tion of polling places in
predominantly white
communities or in
buildings that house all-
white organizations or
civic clubs. At-large elec
tion systems, numerous
voting rules, annexa
tions, consolidations and
boundary changes also
continue to dilute
minority voting strength
and “severly limit the
ability of minority com
munities to elect the can
didates of their choice,”
according to the report.
The Commission
found that of the more
than 700 specific pro-
sposed changes by
covered jurisdictions ob
jected to by TJOJ bet
ween 1975 and 1980, the
largest number concern
ed annexations that
would have increased the
number and percentage
of whites in the annexing
jurisdictions. The report
also points out that DOJ
frequently objected to
requests that would
create at-large . election
systems, and to use of
the “majority vote rule”
requiring winning can-,
. didates to receive a ma
jority of the votes cast
rather than a plurality.
The report cites other
evidence indicating that
although bilingual oral
as|jstance at registration
ana polling places is
needed by the minority
language community,
this need has not been
met. Although the
minority language provi
sions in jurisdictions
subject to preclearance
by the 1975 amendments
are not due to be con
sidered for the extension
until 1985, the Commis
sion recommended that
these provisions be ex
tended now until 1992,
thereby , allowing all of
the act’s special provi
sions to expire at the
same, time.
In a separate dissen
ting statement contained
in the report. Commis
sioner Stephen Horn
takes issue with the
report’s findings and
recommendations con
cerning the minority
language provisions of
the act. “If one wishes to
cast a ballot in the
United States of
America, one should
learn as much English as
is necessary to fulfill thdt
limited, but fundamental
aspect of citizenship,’’
Horn said.
A limited number of
copies of The Voting
Rights: Unfulfilled
Goals are available from
the Commission’s Office
of Program and Policy
Review. Bound copies of
the report can be obtain
ed after October 1, 1981
from: Publications
Warehouse, 621 North
Payne Street, Alexan
dria, Virginia 22314.
The U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights is an in
dependent, bipartisan
fact-finding agency con
cerned with discrimina
tion or denial of
protection of the U
because of race, coloT
religion, sex, age hai
dicap or national oriair
Members of the
mission are Chairma
Arthur S. Fleming- Vif
Chair Mary fVancc
Berry, protessor .
history - and law an
senior fellow at the h
stitute for the Study o
Educational Policy
Howard Universitj
Washington,
Stephen Horn, presitlpr
of California Slai
University, Long Bead
Blandma Carden,
Ramirez, director j
development at the Im,
Cultural Renen;
Association, San
tonio; Ms. Ji|| ,
Ruckelshaus,
special assistant to ti
President for women
affairs, Washington'an
Murray Saltzman, Ral
hi, Baltimore Hebre
Congregation
Baltimore.
John Hope, III, isaj
ting director.
Register To
Vote
A&T Students Spend Summer On Oil Rig
HOUSTON — For' Spruill and Gregory ‘81 was expected to be employment in a routine
college students Norn.an Twyman the summer of filled with temporary office setting. For
College students Norman Spruill (left) and Gregory Twyman traded in textbooks for pipe
wrenches to learn more about the petroleum industry during summer training at an Aminoit
offshore oil production platform.
Valdez Chavis, it was
supposed to a summer of
leisure.
Little did the three ex
pect at the time that, at
the close of their second
semester at North
Carolina A&T Universi
ty, they would find
themselves working 100
miles from shore in the
Gulf of Mexico. They
would fill the position of
“roustabout” and would
be assigned to work on a
steel island known as an
oil production platform.
Norman and Gregory,
both electrical engineer
ing majors, and Valdez,
an architectural
engineering major, were
among more than 30 col
lege students from across
the nation who par
ticipated in a summer in
tern program sponsored
by Aminoil USA, Inc., a
subsidiary of R.J.
Reynolds Industries, Inc.
The program, which
includes colleges and
universities that do not
specialize in petroleum
studies, is aimed at fill
ing the critical need for
technical professionals
for Aminiol’s growing
petroleum exploration
and production business.
The development plan
is designed to expose
students to basic oil and
gas operations in their
first year of the program
and in succeeding sum
mers provide special
training in the technical
disciplines.
, For college roommates
Norman and Gregory,
who heard about the
program just before their
freshman year came to a
close, the opoportunity
to work on an offshore
platform led to the
discovery of a new
world.
“I didn’t know
anything about the oil
business,” Gregory said,
following the conclusion
of his three-month
assignment as a general
laborer working 10 days-
on and 10 days-off the
platform.
“My first day on the
job,” he continued, “so
meone told me: ‘Go over
to the Christmas tree (a
.system of gas and oil
valves) and set off the
wing valve.’ I said,
‘What?’ ”
Norman recalls that
his first assignment was
to fetch a pail of grease
and to lubricate a derrick
cable. “As a roustabout,
you do everything —
you’re a mechanic, a
technician, a crane
operator,” he explained.
“.And that’s a good
way to learn about this
business,” Norman add
ed. “You don’t learn
just about equipment.
You learn how that
equipment applies to the
process.”
The students said there
was no lack of answers
for the many questions
they had about the oil in
dustry, and the electrical
systems they were so
eager to learn about.
“Everybody was help
ing us out,” Norman
said. “Roustabouts, the
platform foreman, the
operator. They’d say,
‘Let’s talk about this
process or that process.’
And if one person didn’t
know the answers, he’d
find somebody who
did.”
Valdez related similar
experiences.
“At first I was ner
vous,” he explained. “It
took until about my se
cond hitch on the plat
form before. I
Understood what was
happening. .
“Now I have an idea
of how it is to be off
shore. Before, the only
time I had seen an off
shore platform was on
TV.”
Under the Aminoil
summer intern program,
individuals have the op
portunity to work at on
shore, as well as off
shore, sites. Students
pursuing engineering
studies become engineer
ing aids the summer bet
ween junior and senior
years.
; At a meeting earlie
this year with Non
Carolina A&T Univerisi
ty officials, George H
Trimble, Aminoil’
chairman, president am
chief executive office
said, the petroleum in
dustry is overlooking
valuable source of poten
tial administrative
technical professional
when it recruits sole!
from those tradition:
institutions that focus oi
petroleum studies.
•Although petroleun
engineering is not amon
that university’s areas o
specialization, Aminoil'
individual developmen
program would enabl
non-petroleum technic^
degree graduates i
“convert” to petroleun
engineers.
Aminoil is the nation
third largest independen
petroleum expioratioi
and production com
pany. In addition to ex
ploration and produc
tion in the United Stale
and other countries
Aminoil produces, pro
cesses and sells natura
gas; markets crude oil
natural gas am'
petroleum products am
develops and supplie
geothermal steam.
EQUAL HCDSIW
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