124
iVTKE CAr.OUMA TlES SATURDAY," AUGUST 14, 1882.
Editorials ''
$154 Billion in the Black
Black Americans must stop thinking poor and crying the blues
. about (Uscrimination, oppression and sundry other problems.
This is not to say that the problems don't exist, and certainly
we do not minimize their seriousness. Rather, we submit that
black Americans who constitute a $154 billion consumer market
in this country have the resources to battle the problems and win.
We must first learn the lesson of the American economy, and
understand the power of money.
The real value of a money system, over a barter system; for ex
ample, is that the money system puts the control of the economy
in the hands of producers, rather, than in the hands of consumers.
There are but three things to do with money: spend it, save it (to
spend), or invest it. It's relatively easy to understand which of
these three money activities is considered most important; The
government doesn't tax investment.
But there is even power in spending money. The September
issue of Black Enterprise reports that a black woman is promo
tion manager for several of Kellogg's cereal brands. Her job is to
convince consumers to buy Kellogg's products.
Promotion managers use several "gimmicks" to convince you.
Kellogg's, for example, puts that cute little black kid on the front
of the box, and here is where the power of spending money comes
in.
If you buy Kellogg's and you're black, buy the one with the
black kid. That purchase ripples throughout the economy, and
produces many positive results.
The store manager will recognize that the boxes with the black,
kid disappear off the shelves as the traffic of black consumers in
creases. He'll order more boxes with the black kid, and advertise
to get more black consumers. .
The sales reports will explode in the manufacturer's office, and
the black promotion manager will look like a genius, and will
carry more clout, which will produce more black pictures, and
more money in the black community.
And even the white sales manager, or vice president for whom
the promotion manager works, will understand the relationship
between! his vacation in Europe, and the box of corn flakes you
buy. Thus, hetoo, joins the fight to treat the black consumer
with more respect. So he just might start looking for another
black promotion manager, and who knows, maybe one day, your
son or daughter, who. always wanted to work for a big corpora
tion might be making the decision about whose black face goes on
. a box of corn flakes.
Does this sound farfetched0 We sure hope not, because this is
America, and there are three lessons of power that all Americans
must know and practice. They are:
The biggest rewards go to those who are willing to take the
biggest risks.
The business of America is business, and everything else
about our American lifestyle is based upon the success of
business.
The best way to control negative behavior, i.e., racism, is to
make positive behavior profitable.
And,' with an annual income pr about $154 billion, . black
Americans can produce a lot'of positive behavior in this country. .;'
But before we do that, we must stop thinking poor, v
A Message From The
Third World
fin a recent column, nationally syndicated columnist Pat Orvis
wrote about a letter she says came from India's prime minister,
Mrs. Indira Gandhi, written to a Texas financier tn 1975.
: At least one quoted paragraph in that letter has significant inv
port-; for blacks in this country, especially in Durham. That
paragraph, attributed to Mrs. Gandhi, said: "But such is the
magnitude of India's needs thau.no country can really solve In
' dia's" problems. We just have to solve them ourselves."
: : Mrs., Gandhi said this though she also said in the same letter.
; that many of India's problems were caused by European coloniz
- irig; Speaking of the colonizers, she said, according to Ms. Orvis: .
"for the most past they systematically inhibited our initiative in
trade and industry and deliberately destroyed-our traditional in
dustry. Real development had to wait until we became free, 27
years ago.".. ' f
It should be clear by now, that much of what Mrs. Gandhi says
about her people can easily and very aptly be applied to blacks in:
this country. Her conclusion is especially appropriate. Paraphras
ed to apply to us, it says: "Such is the magnitude of black
American needs that... no federal government or private grant or
much of anything else can really solve our problems. We just
have to solve them ourselves."
But how is always the next question, and right on the heels of
that question comes all of these reasons why we can't solve these
problems ourselves.
But, for a change, let's look at why we CAtf do it ourselves.
There are more than 50,000 blacks in this city, and at least
35,000 of them are employed. Why, then, can't we establish the
Durham Black Community devlopment Fund, financed by every
employed black to the tune of $2 per week?
Such a fund would generate capital at the rate of $70,000 each "
week. That totals $3,640,000 annually. Yet, each individual
would have invested only $104 each year all tax deductible. We
all spend more than that each year on things that cannot be
remotely construed to favor our. development.
The fund could be insured by the world's largest black in
surance company. It could be deposited in the state's oldest black
bank. Legal ramifications could be examined and explained by
one of the South's oldest law schools at a predominantly black
university. One of (he South's largest black-owned accounting
firms could help establish guidelines for controlling and accessing
this fund.
This fund could be used to finance a venture capital firm to
help fund viable and potentially profitable black businesses. It
could issue revolving loans andor grants to black organizations,
such as the Durham Committee. There is just no limit ro what
could be done if the black community decided to finance its own
progress.
" Will this be done? Only time will tell. But the longer it l ,es us
to do it, the higher will be the price of freedom we all ardently
claim to desire. , " '
To Be Equal
Civil Rights Enforcement
By John E. Jacob
Executive Director, National Urban League
It was quite a thrill to take part in the .
White House ceremony highlighted by
President Reagan's signing of the exten
sion of the Voting Rights Act into law.
' In spite of a concerted drive to weaken
the measure, decent .legislators of both
: political parties combined in a genuine bi- .
partisan effort to get a strong bill through
the Congress. '
. And despite months of ambiguity and
: public reservations about the bill's key
feature, President Reagan demonstrated
; great wisdom and flexibility by signing the
.'' bill into law. ''"':';::. -. -
Unfortunately, one of the biggest
obstacles to, swift passage of the bill was.
the Justice Department, which should
have spearheaded the fight for strong law. '
With the Justice Department consistently
, : working to undermine enforcement of
. other civil rights measures, and with other,
agencies exhibiting resistance to tough en-J
forcement, the Administration c: is in
danger of appearing to weaken the na
tional commitment to the constitutional
protection of civil rights. ' '
The' Justice Department's opposition to
school desegregation's just one example t
of that stance. It is incredible for the of
ficial in charge of civil rights to say, as the
Assistant Attorney General was quoted:
"we are not going to compel children who
don't choose to have an integrated educa
tion to have one." M I
A statement like that not only defies
logic, it defies the constitutional rights of
all school children: It also means, despite
the Constitution and an abundance of
court rulings, that children who have the
right to an integrated , education will be
s denied jt. rV. r:.''i'i V'-':
Administration, spokesmen assert that
the federal government, is still committed;
. to protecting individual rights. But the
focus on individuals and not on groups ', ;
and discriminatory systems must
ultimately mean less protection for the in
dividual. .,
Enforcing the' law against discrimina-' ,
tion in employment is a good example. '
There aren't enough lawyers in ,
Washington to effectively monitor all job
discrimination in an economy as huge as
ours. So enforcement efforts focus on
large employers and on key industries. '
. Sophisticated techniques were devised to
deal with systemic abuses.
The systemicapproach aims at winning
' relief for large numbers of people affected
by system-wide discriminatory practices.
-. Shifting the emphasis to dealing with
individual complaints is a time-consuming
process that inevitably means increased
backlogs and inaction that will cause peo- '
pie to lose faith in their government's pro
mises of protection.
Instead of efficient wholesale rights
protection, we're getting inefficient dime
store treatment.
Enforcement agencies have also been
hit by the budget cuts. Especially when
adjusted for inflation, their budgets will
be sharply reduced from previous levels.
That means less staff, less data collec
. tion and analysis, and less effective rights jc.
protection, as pointed out in an important;,
.. recent report by the UJS. Commission on
1 Civil Rights. ; . ,v' j.'ip;
The repqrt condemns what it calls "this rt
retrogressive trend" and says that as a.-.;".
, result of budget cuts and .change in '
operations, enforcement agencies. "Jiave; v
cut back on activities that-more effectively ri
prevent and resolve major wvh ngnis . 5
violations." i .'' : K i-: ;
The rollback ia enforcement sends a.
message to the nation that the government
is not taking its responsibility to protect c.
constitutional rights seriously, something
that can only increase the alienation of .
minorities suffering from social service ,
program cuts and the general depression
of the economy. ......
And it. sends, a message to employers
too, a green light to backslike on their
legal obligation to maintain equal oppor-
tunity in employment. Fortunately; that
message has been ignored by most major
companies' where affirmative; action is
firmly embedded in corporate practice.
' But in other areas, where compliance
has been grudging and halting, prolonged
government indifference to enforcement
could result in serious violations of the
law.
So signing the extension of the Voting
Rights Act should be the first step of a
new civil rights stance by the government, -
a stance that should include responsible -enforcement
of the laws of the land and
the rights of minority Americans.
Business In The Black
PUSH Proud
A Drinking Man's Answer Seven-Up Signs Up
By Charles E. Belle
i . -.--.
It's obvious this old economic world is
sick and getting sicker. Some more people
may be driven to drink. Being a Jack
Daniel's and Seven-Up man myself (J.D.
drinkers close your mouths) my heart
almost missed a beat for a moment. Many
will recall giving up grapes, lettuce and
even Cdors beer before their civil rights
settlements. Still smarting from those
crusades for equal economic rights for
black Americans and other minorities, my
intake of same is minimal at best today.
Thank the powers that be, PUSH, in this
case, and Seven-Up saw the light before
the strike. Stepping in line with Coke and
: Heublein, Seyenp became the third ma-
jdr U.S. corporation1 o cooperate "with
civil rights organizations to bring black
Americans into the mainstream of
American society. 1
Seven-Up president Edward W. Frantel,
and Rev. Jesse Jackson signed a five-year
agreement in which Seven-Up committed
to spend $61 million to develop black
American business including the first
award of a Seven-Up bottling franchise to
a minority entrepreneur. "
Also part of the agreement called for
hiring a black American as a vice presi
dent, naming an additional black to
Seven-Up's board of directors and
establishing a goal of IS per cent minority
employment. Even spending $2.5 million
with black American travel agencies and
venders, as well as buy $5 million worth
of group life insurance from minority
owned life insurance companies
(insurers). Investing $4.35 million on
advertising in black American media, in
vesting 15 per cent of all bank deposits in
minority owned banks, plus channeling
$15 million in payroll accounts through
i black American, owned ' banks .Black
American collegeVwfn benefit Tso' from a
grant of $250,000 for minority charities
which includes a tuition scholarship pro
gram for black American colleges.
The Seven-Up plan, similar to the
Coca-Cola agreement, includes a $10
million guaranteed capital accumulation
program to aid minority businessmen and
women in establishing soft-drink fountain
wholesale dealerships in areas where the
company is expanding.
The Coca-Cola, USA, agreement pro
vided for distributorships, wholesalers,
vendors, fountain supply and wine
distributorships.'
. Dobbs Corporation, William A. ClV
. ment, Jr., president, has been retained to
assist the Coca-Cola Company in im
plementing its agreement. A call to Joe.'
Gardener at PUSH, Inc. offices in.
Chicago will get you the name of the
Seven-Up man in charge of minority
business opportunities.
Sejyen-Up should be congratulated and
itt1easVax2pack purchased for their pro
mptness in responding to the growing
, needs of black American business. Black .
American businesses are going to bust at
an even greater: rate than the total
economy. Everyone should praise PUSH
and Seven-Up for reaching a sensible and '
swift agreement to activate economic
justice for black Americans. I for one will
drink to that - J.D. and Seven-Up '
please. For a while there it was, "nip and
tuck." ,
Happiness Through Health
Herpes: Infects Millions With Disease and Despair
fVMJJ.fnMjtM.MM.UEM.flM.t.U.MJ..MA
By Otto McQarrin
At least a dozen
methods have been tried,
without notable success, '
to cure herpes. Among
them: Vitamin C, injec
tions of inactive herpes
viruses, flourescent light,
ether, even zinc in the
diet. An ointment con
taining 2-decoy-D
glucose seemed promis
ing a year ago, but
researchers are not so
. optimistic now.
Acyclovir (ACV), an an
tiviral drug, looks pro
mising, but testing is far
from complete or con:
elusive. , ,..
Smallpox vaccine has
been tried unsuccessful
ly, and vaccines in
general are viewed wari
ly: if herpes does in fact
cause cancer, some vac-J
cines could increase the
v risk by increasing Ihe
v number of herpes viruses
r 'in the body.
' That leaves only such
' palliative measures as
keeping the af fected area
clean and dry and acting
decisively if herpes is
suspected. Says Dr.
Yvonne Bryson of
UCLA: "A woman
should have a viral
culture done immediate
ly." One obvious way to
control the disease is
abstinence from sex or at
the very least a high
degree of sexual selectivi
ty. Condoms may reduce
the risk of infection. One
1 thing that will surely help,
is better informed physi
cians. Says one Seattle
doctor; "A lot of women
and doctors believe
everything down there is
a yeast infection." ,
. To reduce misinfor
mation about herpes, the
American Social Health
Association of Palo
Alto, Calif., distributes a
newsletter called "The
Helper" and is setting up
HELP chapters around
the. country. .
One of their objectives
is to eliminate the stigma .
of herpes. Often more
painful than the illness.
It affects performance
on the job, disrupts per
sonal relationships and
in not a few cases has
resulted in cancellations
of weddings when one of
the partners is told the;
other fias herpes. It also
makes the victim
something of a pariah.
After being told by a
doctor that he had
herpes, Joe, 32, a college
instructor,' turned on
departure to shake
hands. The doctor would
not extend his.
Last summer a
number of publications
headlined the fact that
herpes simplex had been
suppressed in a test of
the new antiviral drug:
ACYCLOVIR.
This dramatic achieve
ment of the new drug in
10 Johns Hopkins
Hospital patients being
treated for leukemia or
severe anemia "could
lead to far wider
uses,"the reports stated.
"One use," one article
stated, "could be against
the heretofore unstop
pable recurrences of
genital herpes lesions,
caused by a virus known
as herpes simplex 2, that
have' been transmitted
sexually to up lo 20
: million Americans, as
many as five million in
1980 alone, according to
the American Social
Health Association."
"We have o be
cautious in generalizing"
and much, work lies
ahead. Dr. Rein Saral,
director of the Johns
Hopkins study has warn
ed journalists. "But the
potential is there. We've
, now seen something very
dramatic in therapy
where before we had
nothing. This is one in
dication that we are now
entering a 1 new era of
anti-viral therapy."
The , drug acyclovir
was given to 10 men and
' women scheduled for
b o n e- m a r r o w -transplants.
Tests show
ed that all harbored
herpes simplex viruses,
which typically remain
present or "latent" for
years , and , periodically
may erupt to cause
rashes or sores.
The doctors started
the drug in these patients
three days before the
transplants and con
tinued it for an addi
tional IS days. None of
the patients broke out in
herpes infections during
this time. But seven out
of another 10 patients
; given placebo or dummy
compound developed
sores or other signs of a
herpes outbreak.
' The drug did not
'eradicate Ihe virus, Some
of the acyclovir patients
developed mild herpes
infections after the drug
was stopped.
More study is needed
of the drug's possib,c
side effects, and an oral
instead of an injectable .
form of the drug may
have to be made for
long-term use.
Still, there now is at
least a possibility of
short-term use Of the
drug to prevent herpes
infections in especially
vulnerable persons and a
hope, at least, of future
long-term use in habitual
heroes sufferers.
ISM 091-380)
LE. AUSTIN
Editor-Publisher 1927-1971
(USPS 091-380
(Mrs.) Vivian Austin Edmonds "
Editsr-Publlshw
KinnethW. Edmonds
. . 6snrilMinsgr
- L.M.Austin
. ' Production Supervisor
Milton Jordin
Exacutivo Editor
' . Curtis T Parkins
Contributing Edltor-Faralgn Affairs
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