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Page A4-The Chronicle, Thursday, February 2, 1984
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Wiqston-Salem Ctu^oqicle.
Founded 1974
ERNEST H. PITT , Pyfitis hff
NDUBISI EGEMONYE ALLEN JOHNSON
Co-boi*K<ltr t rfcuti Editor
ELAINE L. PITT JOHN SLADE
Of fur kianegtr A tsutint Editor
&
Our Olympians
It is easy these days to want to discourage our young fromholding
athletes too highly in esteem.
Certainly enough athletes have dropped out of school to
pursue what they thought would be lucrative, glory-filled
careers in the pros, only to unceremoniously drop out of
sight.
Others have made it to the Promised Land, excelling in
what they do on the court or the field, but either retire too
late for fear of having to live normal lives away from the
limelight, or find the pressures of their personal or professional
lives too great a burden to bear, and seek drugs as a
convenient, albeit expensive and dangerous, refuge.
Then there is the fear we older folks have of our young
becoming too preoccupied with being the next Dr. J or
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and not spending enough time
cultivating the most marvelous natural talent of all ~ the*
^rt>ifiry~to ihtrrkr
So we relate the tales of such men as Kevin Ross, who
played collegiate basketball at Creighton University while he
could nardly read. And we shower them with the statistics
dramatizing how remote their chances of playing professional
sports are, how instant millionaires are few and far
between, and how there are millions of little boys and girls
dreaming the same dreams as theirs.
Still, the professional and amateur athlete is a wonder to
behold, and despite the horror stories of drugs and shattered
dreams, there are plenty among that special breed who earned
their success through discipline, intense training and
study, and who have achieved the delicate balance between
being famous and wealthy and being human beings with the
.. same joys and pains as the rest of us.
A special breed among that special breed are our nati&n's
Olympians, many of whom devote most of their young lives
to earning what may be one chance to compete against the
best of the worlds
? And, although some might debate whether today's Olympians
are amateurs in the truest sense, we think it would be
safe to say thaKthe overwhelming majority compete for the
sheer joy of competition.
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Of particular.and enduring pride to Black America is the
sterling record of its Olympians, frwn^he great Jesse Owens^
to Rafer Johnson to Wilma Rudolph-to,Bill. Busseli
- Cassius Clay to EkhVip Moses. ?
Black History Month series entitled "Black Olympians In
. History.''
The series begins next issue and will continue throughout
the month. We look forward to sharing it with you - and
your young dreamers.
Crosswihds
? The Hutchins Case ?
From the Carolina Peacemaker.
Death comes to each of us, eventually.
Usually it comes unexpectedly.
Seldom does it come as a welcome visitor in the night or
day.
"Thou shalt not kill" has been the Commandment which,
as much as any of the Commandments, has contributed to
the civilizing of human beings. Moreover, commitment to
the Commandment has been a standard bv which the human
civilizing process has been measured by much of society.
So we have laws to prohibit killing and prohibit the
violence which could lead to it. As a society, we have struggled
to find ways to inhibit killers, to penalize them, to reform
them, to isolate them, to avenge their deeds.
We don't know whether killing a human being as punishment
or as a means of social control is ever justified. We have
a feeling that some day society will resolve the question,
probably on the side of "Thou shalt not kill," meaning
"Thou shalt not kill," no ifs, ands or buts.
James Hutchins killed.
The State of North Carolina, in turn, sentenced him to be
killed, and it plans to kill him.
It is likely that a wealthy James Hutchins could have
avoided the sentence. We believe that many good and decent
people honestly believe that the killing of Hutchins by the
state is appropriate, just and humane.
Because of the way the legal process works, however, the
Carolina Peacemaker believes that the killing of Hutchins is
wrong. He was sentenced to death, not because he was
himself a killer, but because he was unable to muster the
defense against death which other killers have used to such
advantage in thousands of other cases.
Moreover, to compel the killer to choose his preferred
method of execution is doubly wrong, and we believe the
Supreme Court will some day so hold.
Hutchins the killer is not yet dead. He is being scheduled,
so to speak, to pay the price. However, society will continue
to pay the price for both the killings by Hutchins and of Hutchins.
Please see page A5
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GSAVAS TO PKesecve THE
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An open lett
By CLIFTON GRAVES
Chronicle Columnist ^
Dear Sister Earline,
First, let me say congratulations to
you upon your recent election as
chairperson of the Forsyth County
Democratic Partv.
This historic achievement makes
you not only the first black - and, of
course, black woman -- to head the
county organization, but makes you
one of the few blacks nationwide who;*
hold such an esteemed and strategic
position.
Admittedly, I was initially extremely
skeptical of your chances at'attaining
the chairmanship. My assessment
was based primarily on the local party's
historic neglect of and lack of
sensitivity toward our black community.
And while I all along believe
ed that it was obviously in the
Democrats best interest to select a
committed and dedicated loyalist as
yourself, I am still surprised that your*
colleagues removed the blinder^ from
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Hunger rep*
By JOHN JACOB
Syndicated Columnist
The scandal of hunger in the land
of plenty led to the appointment of a
presidential commission to investigate
hunger. Its report is itself a
scandal ? papering over a serious na
tional problem and recommending
steps that can only make the problem
worse.
The commission essentially dealt
with three questions: Is there
widespread hunger in the United
States, why, and what should we do
about it. It answered none of them
satisfactorily.
On the question of whether there is
hunger, the commission pussyfooted
around the issue, getting bogged
down in definitions. Sure, some people
are hungry, it said, but not all that
many and while we can't really place
an accurate number on the hungry,
there's no widespread national problem
here.
That won't wash. There's plenty of
evidence of hunger, and it can't just
be dismissed as "anecdotal." For
those "anecdotes" are factual case
histories of real people who don't
have enough to eat.
Acknowledging that there is some
hunger, the commission goes on to
doubt that malnutrition is a "major
health problem" in the U.S., is if
there's a level of malautrition a derpnf
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there's no national epidemic of
malnutrition, there is so much hunger
this Pamphlet bxPimns the
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their collective eyes and catapulted
the local party into the 20th century.
Whether your election, Earline,
was based on your loyalty and competence,
or due to pressure put on the
party regulars of just plain electionyear
political practicality, the reality
is that you are
now the *
your election, I
had, and still # ^
have, some Clifton Graves
serious concern as_to how you will
cope with the tremendous pressure
which you will encounter as the 1984
national, state and local elections
draw into sharper focus. To be sure,
you will be put on the proverbial "hot
seat" as you attempt to balance the
4.. ;
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ort: What a
and - even malnutrition in poverty
areas and among the poor that failure
to address the situation amounts to a
retreat from decency.
Why is there hunger? The commis
sion's report makes it seem as though
the only reason lies in bureaucratic
practices that allow some people to
fall through the cracks between the
various federaTTood programs.
That- may be a small part of the
reason, but by far the greater part lies
in cuts that deprive pregnant women
and their infants, school children,
and many of the poor of participation
in nutrition and food stamp pro"And
to recommend, as the con
line include the value of vario
joke. " ^
grams.
The commission points'out that the
program cuts tried to ppgssrv*
benefits for the "truly needy." But
that meant that people whose incomes
were just above the poverty
line were dropped from aid programs.
In fact, such people are poor, and
the poverty line is meaningless since it
is based on an outdated formula that
measures extreme deprivation, not
poverty.
And to recommend, as the commiscinn
rl aoc thot tVio r\/~\\iart\i linn /-tafini
OIVJII vavwa, uiai iiiw pwvvri IIIIV, u^iiiiition
include the value of various
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party's interests vis-a-vis the vested
interests of the black community in
the presidential, gubernatorial and
local electoral sweepstakes. While
I personally" do not envy
you, I am certain that I echo the sentiments
of the black cpmmunity in
wishing you Godspeed,^ the courage
of Harriet Tubman, and the savvy of
Mary McCleod Bethune as you face
struggle after struggle.
Needless to say, the task will be difficult
and the headaches numerous.
Yet, if there is anyone up to the
challenge, that person is you, Sister
Earline.
Remember well the words of
Frederick Douglass:
Power concedes nothing without a
demand; it never did and it never will.
If there Is no struggle, there will be no
progress.
In Peace, Love and Unity,
Clifton Graves
Clifton Graves is affirmative action
officer at Winston-Salem State
University.
i # 1111 i < , > 'fit 111.. 111 <
scandal
federal subsidies to individuals is a
bad joke. It would make the line even
more unrealistic by defining some
people out of poverty by virtue of
benefits they get precisely because
they are poor.
Some of its recommendations do
make sense, such as making sure that
the value of food stamps be raised to
the full cost of the Department of
Agricultures?thrifty" food budget.
But the commission's single most
important recommendation is the
1 j 4 _i_
mosi ludicrous suggesuon yei maae
by a prestigious commission on a major
national issue.
emission does, that the poverty
us federal subsidies is a bad
Faced with the clear need for expanding
food assistance to help growing
numbers of the poor and the
hungry, the commission suggests a
new block grant program. It wants to
give states the option pf taking
federal food and nutrition funds in a
lump sum and then running their own
food programs.
Not only is this idea totally irrelevant
to the problem the commission
was supposed to be considering, it
represents a formula for increasing
hunger. It would make the system
even less flexible and less effective.
Please see page A5
CHARGE!!
^HS W(Jf|r m
Aiding 'wards I
of the street* ~
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By MARIAN EDELMAN
Guest Columnist
"Some of them, they just never
go home. They just live in these
trucks, .going from one state to
another."
That's the way one truck driver
described a growing but still largely
invisible problenv iivthis country
-- runaway and homeless youth -w
in the moving documentary
"Wards pf the Street," produced
by Robbie Gordon for Post
Newsweek stations inc. *1?
Last year, a U.S. Senate committee
reported that there were 1.2
million runaways .in the United
States. Their average age is 15
not old enough to drink, to work^
to drive a car.
Over one-third report having
been physically abused or,
neglected by their parents before
they left home. Others are children
discarded by parents who no
longer can handle them; children
Whose parents are dead, sick, in
jail or unable to afford their care;children
who simply have no
families.
Many have been in so many pre*,
grams, in so many homes and institutions,
that they have chosen to
reject help before it rejects them!
Some children have been discharge
ed from the foster care system or
from juvenile detention programs
with no plans and no place to go.*'
The lucky ones find their way up
runaway and homeless youth
shelters. Most seek shelter on the
streets or in the arms of waiting pimps,
prostitutes and drug dealer^,
who make their living from preying
on vulnerable and unskilled
children. 9
"They try very hard, these kids,
to separate out in theif heads whar
they really are from what they do
to their bodies," said Father Bruce
Ritter, founder and president of
Covenant Hoirse, a Catholic
runaway shelter for youth in New'
York City.
In 1974, Congress enacted the
Runaway and Homeless Youth Act
to help states develop more shelters
like Covenant, House far. ruw\Sy
children. Although the program
has received slight increases in the
last two years, it remains seriously
underfunded. Federal money
reaches less than 20 percent of all
runaway youth in America today.
As a result of underfunding, the good
programs that exist must
constantly struggle to survive;
many are understaffed and only
able to provide short-term cari
Most social service agencies do not
have enough resources to help a
family through a crisis and prevent
a child from running away. Nor
are there adequate resources for
those children who need longrange
care in a supervised, supportive
environment but who are too
old and too hurt to accept another
family.
The problem may be invisible
but it is costly; Runaways with'no
other source of support are not on
ly likely to turn to prostitution but
to crime. The damage they experience
or do to others may make
them permanent wards of our
mental health or criminal justice
systems.
Runaways who are forced to five
oft their own from day to day soon
learn not to trusf anyone and have
the odds stacked against their
growing up to become responsible,
contributing members of society.
But perhaps the greatest argument
for paying more attention to
the needs of these children is pain:
the pain of being a frightened child
in a world made for adults. Asked
what she would advise other
children who are thinking of runnPlease
see page A5
S\&- DON'T POPfrGT
YOUE PAMPHL6T |!
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