Page A4-The Chronicle, Thursday, January 12, 1984
Wi qston-Salenr~6iirx>qicle
Fou\dtd 1974
/ ERNEST H. PITT
NDUBISI EGEMONYE ALLEN JOHNSON
Co-Founder Executive Editor
ELAINE L. PITT JOHN SLADE
Office Manager Assistant Editor
Playing Their Game
~ - ? ?
Whatever things the Rev. Jesse Jackson might be, one of
them is not dumb. >
Jackson has played the media as a virtuoso performer
plays a finely-tuned instrument ? much to the dismay of the
Glenns and Mondales of the world.
Jackson's recent successful negotiations to free Lt. Robert
Goodman'from Syrian captivity is the latest master stroke in
his campaign to be on America's political agenda, whether
_ some Americans like it or not.
The former director of Operation PUSH already has been
on the cover of Time, announced his candidacy on "60
Minutes" and logged coveted minutes on all the major television
news programs in the land.,
He's fast capturing the nation's imagination, even among
those time-locked black folk who, wonder of wonders, have
said they^ouldn't'support him because he pan't win. ?
Jackson's presence also is becoming more prominent on
the home frontT^
Aldermen Larry Little, Larry Worfible and Virginia.
Newell, as well as CountyyCommissioner Mazie Woodruff
and schoc^lJ?$>ard member Beaufort Bailey, have begun laying
the groundwork for a Jackson campaign organization in
Forsyth County;
We applaud their initiative and fdVesight.
Still, the question persists, though $e don't quite understand
why: Is Jesse Jackson merely a public relations marvel,
the ringmaster of a political circus that makes Phil Donahue
salivate and provides a sure-fire conversation topic at receptions
and dinner parties?
We think not. Though he is indeed those things, Jackson
surely is not merely those things.
Jackson is intelligent, articulate and versatile; he can hobknob
with dignitaries and heads of state, deliver a fiery Bap
tist sermon with the best of them, calmly field ridiculous
questions from middle-class white housewives - on
"Donahue" and sit down to a meal of black-eyed peas, pork
chops and greens with a rural black family.
Jackson is schooled on the issues (an obvious and welcome .
departure from the man presently in the White House, who
sticks foot so firmly in mouth so often that he should consider
having his lips measured when buying shoes).
More importantly, Jackson is as audacious a Negro as we
have seen in quite some time. He has a knack, it seems, for
doing things he isn't supposed to be able to do ? for taking
what traditionally has been a white man's game and beating
white men at it.
How far Jesse Jackson will go we can't say. Surely he's
gone a lot farther than many of us could ever have imagined.
One thing we do know at this point, however, is that
Jackson has set an encouraging precedent and sparked an excitement
among the black electorate about registering to vote
and using the political process to effect change.
And he has made the idea of a black presidential candidate
a lot more conceivable than it was even a few months ago.
Nobody's snickering about his campaign anymore.
Crosswinds
The Most Significant
From The Carolinian
The publishers in the black press wefe recently asked to list
the most important events of 1983, not necessarily the most
popular, but the most important.
The campaigns to register voters was listed as most important,
and we agree that this one particular development will
have the most far-reaching impact on black America for
some time.
The event listed as second most important, the election of
Harold Washington, is closely related to the first. The voter
registration drives will also impact the upcoming national
party conventions, hundreds of local and state races and the
presidential candidates. Of course, one cannot overstate the
importance of the Rev. Jesse Jackson's role in stimulating
voter registration and his entrance into the presidential
sweepstakes.
The March on Washington was listed as number three in
importance. It likewise is connected with the efforts of
blacks to focus attention on problems and to find redress
through all available channels ? especially the political
avenues. By bringing the concerns of black Americans to the
doorsteps of our government, the elected officials can be
made aware of the voter's opinions. Again, voter registration
is the key to any meaningful results here.
Number four, according to the black publishers, was Col.
Guion Bluford's flight into space. The emerging revitalization
of the auto industry ranked fifth, and sixth was the
- crowning of a black woman as Miss America.
The conventions of the major civil rights organizations
won seventh place. Assuredly, on the agenda of each convention
was voter registration. With only 10 million of the 17.6
million eligible black voters registered, the black organizations
face a significant challenge. As always, it is within these
organizations that we find much of the organized dedication,
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1984: ADe<
By JOHNVACOB
Syndicated Columnist
Ever since George Orwell titled his
bleak novel of a totalitarian future
^*1984," the coming of that year has
been charged with special meaning.
The coming year is not going to,
fulfill such drastic. visions of the
future, but it will be decisive in a
number of ways.
First, 1984 is a presidential election
year, with all that implies for public
policy and national choices.
Election years seem to be fairly
good ones, since incumbent administrations
want a flourishing
economy and at least the appearance
that they are dealing constructively
with national problems. . .
inis year should be no different.
We can expect an easing of overall
economic policies, such as lower interest
rates and targeted federal spending,
that, taken together, create
more jobs.
But the big question in the 1984
elections is what policies the nation
will follow in 1985 and beyond. If, as
expected, the slow economic recovery
turns into a real rebound from recession
in 1984, the structural dislocations
that have thrown millions out of
jobs or rendered them unemployable
will remain.
So the election will have to turn on
philosophical differences between the
The Key: Tl
By WALTER MARSHALL
Guest Columnist
As election '84 approached, black
Americans must realizeV^hat even
though we posses a vast potential as a
voting bloc, we are a minority and
must avoid the delusion of
pseudopower and stop restricting
ourselves to doing the things we did
decades ago - if we hope to be full
participants in the great political
scheme of things.
Although democratic governments
offer minorities an opportunity to
achieve some success, they also tend
to be limited in their capacity to respond
to the demands of minorities
because it is dependent either upon
majority support or upon those'
groups that already have economic
political and social pow'er. For that
reason, we as a people must take the
necessary steps to gain the controls of
our destinty, but, before we can address
the issue of who will control our
votes, the black leadership must learn
itself and the generation in which it
serves.
A major task for the community is
to inspire the masses into believing
and serving themselves the way they
serve and believe in others. The plight
of black America is closely related to
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as a people. Sure, we must continue
to educate and inspire the illiterate
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cisive Year (
major candidates and their specific
plans for the future, and less on the
day-to-day economic statistics.
The black vote will be a major fac
tor. The signs are all there: Higher
black registration, black mobilization
to maximize the black vote and the
large black voter turnouts- in recent
years all point to the black vote as being
important, perhaps decisive.
A second key factor in 1984 will be
the growth of poverty in America.
The ranks of the poor have swelled by
five million over the past years and
me recovery nas not toucned them.
Unless the current recovery
"The ranks of the poor have sw
past three years and the recoverj
broadens*to become a boom that
creates jobs in industries hit hard by
the recession, the poverty level will remain
high. The 35 million poor need
not be poor in this affluent nation.7
Experts say a transfer of $45 billion
would bring the incomes of the poor
up to the poverty level. The Pentagon
wastes more than that on cost overruns,
inflated payment for parts and
inefficiency.
Poverty could be relieved, too, by
changes in the tax structure that
penalize the poor. The muchballyhooed
tax cuts didn't benefit the
kinking For
and apathetic among^Tus^about^the.
power of a large, unified bloc of
\/At AC* XV. a
T vivjt i IIV Ulll^IdlClCU II1UM UC
registered and educated on the wise
use of the ballot; plus, coalitions with
other groups must be formed.
r? Howler, before the black vote can
vbe used wisely. Black leaders must
fikst eliminate their slavish habits of
berating black political candidates
and worshipping whites. We must be
as fair to black candidates as we are
to white ones, if we hope to solve our
major problems.
Blacks who exploit their race for
"A major task for the commum
believing and serving themselves
in others."
social or economic gains must be
caste aside. Those who hate
themselves to the point of being
frightened at the thought of a black
man being president must be
repudiated and exposed for what they
really are. If the democratic process
and the major political parties cannot
sustain the candidacy of a black candidate,
then our system of government
is not worth saving.
Blacks cannot wait on an endorse
ment from the majority or for some
opinion poll to tell the public that
they are ready for full citizenship
rights.
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poor ? a poor family of four paid
almost $1,000 in income and payroll
taxes last ^ye^r -- enough to move
*many out of ptwerty.
A third factor of importance in
1984 is whether the nation will
broaden equal opportunity. We've
had a lot of hand-wringing about how
bad the schools are and how limited
minority progng^s has been. But if we
don't start implementing national
policiesj that prepare the poor and
minorities for productive jobs, the
economy will be in even worse shape.
Over the next decade one-fourth of
the new entrants to the labor force
I "U>
>elled by five million over tb \
v has not touched them. " /
will be black and minority. The
young people now getting inferior
educations, on the verge of dropping
out of school and denied the skills
training they need to get decent jobs
wim in the coming months>and years,
have to function in a high-tech
economy.
Their needs are also the economy's
needs for skilled, trained people. But
too many people are still trapped in
the mind-set that thinks of their needs
as a "social problem" and the investments
in their human capital as
Please see page A 5
Ourselves
The responsibilities for promoting
a black candidate rest with black people.
All of the negative talk about
how- Jesse Jackson cannot win can
never be substantiated until he runs.
The misinformation about how
Reagan will be given a second term if
Jackson seeks the Democratic
nomination for president is at best an
irrational assumption aesignea tc
make Mondale's task of winning the
Democratic nomination easier.
America needs the candidacy oi
Jesse Jackson. Black Americans need
his candidacy to help them regain
\ty is to inspire the masses into
the way they serve and believe
their self respect and to give them a
positive perspective as a people,
White Americans need Jesse's candidacy
to help them reshape theii
warped moral values and make them
face the reality of their dual and racisl
system. Jesse may not gain the
nomination. But his efforts anc
gallantrv will inspire millions and aic
in the election of hundreds ol
minorities and women across th<
country.
Reganomics has hurt blacks
however, that is no reason for us a;
people to "cast down our politica
Please see page A 5
v WHO pots HE think HE ISRONM-P
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Chronicle Letters
Leader's Role Is
Questioned
To The Editor:
Though I wouldn't vote for tnc
Rev. Jesse Jackson for Dog Cat- .
cher in Cat County, I do believe in
giving credit where it is due.
I'm ashamed and embarrassed
that one of our so-called black
leaders here intimated (WintonSalem
Sentinel, "Jan. 3) that
Jackson succeeded in getting Lt.
Robert Goodman released because
he's black like the Syrians. If one
u/hitp nprcnn intimatfl/1 tKir o 11
>>? pv> jum iiiiiiuaivu 11113, an lien
would break loose.
The black so-called leader who
intimated this is so obviously
possessed by the "green-eyed
monster" until he dared hit not only
Jackson below the belt but our
whole race*."' It is usually white
racists who contend that black
people can't undertake anything
that requires brains.
To be questioned now is if one
of our so-called community leaders
is but an insecure Uncle Tom. All
of Winston-Salem should now and
forever more denounce him as, a
leader, for the only way he can
lead us is backwards.
<7
J. Thomas
Winston-Salem
_ ,?v
^ Article Lacking
/To The Editor:
fr
?
/ I am a proud and public sup.
porter of and subscriber to the
Winston-Salem Chronicle. It is not
only objective and the best weekly,
black or white, in North Carolina,
I believe it to be one of the very top
black newspapers in the nation.
Even the best, however, are subject
to error, and I believe the lead
article of the Dec. 8 edition,
"Local Baptist Ministers Will Not
Support Jesse Jackson," was
chock-full of mistakes both in conception
and design. a
First, the headline itself, in the
i, .1. context of A^in&ton-^alem, implies,
that the Baptist Ministers Conference
and Associates had taken
an anti-Jackson stance in defiance
of Dr. T.J. Jemison, president of
the National Baptist Convention,
and his endorsement of Rev.
Jackson. Not only is this not the
case, I can say with reasonable
assurance as a member and a fairly
regular attender of the conference
(meetings) that the Jackson campaign
was not even discussed until,
Jan. 4, when (W^CII reporter)
Rudy Anderson asked several
i ministers what we thought of
Jackson engineering Lt. Robert
Goodman's release from Syria,
i Second, apparently no
background research was done on
the Baptist denomination, its
structure and doctrine. One of the
distinguishing hallmarks of Bapi
tists is our commitment to a radical
> sense of local autonomy, from the
: local church up through the
association. statp anH natinnal
' levels. Along with this is our proI
found sense of individual consi
cience under the sanction of the
Holy Spirit. This .leads, ideally, to
a highly democratic form of
church government. All Drs.
Butler, Drayton and Hay were saying,
therefore, was that Dr.
Jemison's endorsement, despite his
i presidency, must be justified by ail
the various other church leaders
before it could viewed as an of
? ficial stance of the convention,
i This is a completely accurate
t analysis on their part.
; Third, the clear implication of
I the Chronicle headline is that the
I majority of local Baptist ministers,
f and at the very least a substantial
; minority, are opposed to Jackson's
candidacy. Upon reading the arti-r
_ I _ -- - '
; cie, we discover only three1
> ministers out of the well over 100:
1 the Chronicle itself hasdocumented
are quoted, and onlytwo
of those make definitive anti-: Jackson
statements. :
When we actually analyze thiji
article, we 1'discover" that les. \
than 2 percent of "local Baptis :
I ministers" don't support Jackson :
I question whether or not two of
I- even three doctors, lawyer* j
businessmen or even journalist, i
who don't support the campaign i
newsworthy of the lead article <
any paper that had anythir J
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