-rr"iii uvvutupiijii viuici , VJ1 (JU5MDiy
both, of two things:
A. The voters will hear so many charges and countercharges,
without the benefit of knowing who's telling the
truth, and become more confused and uninformed th^n
CV^-v
B. The best debater may be determined, but not
necessarily the best candidate. (After all, superconservative
. William F. Buckley is as sharp a debater as they come, but
we wouldn't want him in the Oval Office.)
The long-awaited confrontation between the two has also
revealed that issues of particular concern to black people
are not of particluar concern to candidates Hunt and
Helms.
Neither broached the subject of civil rights (Hunt mentioned
it in passing once) and both seemed more intent on
punting such less controversial political footballs as tobacco
("tobaccer," Helms called it), government spending,
Central America and the federal budget int each other's end
zones.
Both also obviously reveled in slicing each other with
statistics and Helms was especially happy to point out that
Hunt accused him of spending billions in his campaign
when he actually had meant millions.
But that's to be expected, Helms noted, since Jimbo has
trouble with facts fairly often.
As for demeanor, Hunt flashed the obligatory smile
every now and then but seemed to be more intense. Helms,
meanwhile, tried to inject a little humor into the fray every
now and then and even mentioned in his opening remarks
what good friends he is with the Hunts.
"Dot and 1 sincerely like Gov. and Mrs. Hunt," Helms
said, "and we've always enjoyed a cordial and personal
relationship with them."
Sure thing, Jesse.
Then bosom buddy Helms proceeded to strike his pal like
a viper, but with a smile showing all 32 fangs.
We guess our point is, that, aside from confirming our
fears that black issues are low on their agenda ? if they are
there at all -- the Helms-Hunt debate served otherwise only
to mildly entertain us.
But so does Andy Rooney.
Days of absence
Is there life on other planets?
What really happened to Amelia Earhart?
Does the Bermuda Triangle gobble up wayward ships?
Add to that list yet another unsolved mystery that defies
rational explanation: Where are the black supporters of Eddie
Knox?
As similar as both men's stances on the issues armeared
?r g ?
to be, the black people who so fervently supported runnerup
Eddie Knox have treated Democratic gubernatorial
nominee Rufus Edmisten as if he has a social disease.
Before the June 6 primary runoff, local black workers in
both camps were as visible as the Wachovia Building on the
Winston-Salem skyline.
Now, it's as if all of Knox's folk went on vacation at the
same time (to the Bermuda Triangle, perhaps?).
They won't come to campaign functions and have evaded
the issue as to whether they'll work for Edmisten, which
would appear to be a logical next step. Pretty soon, they
There are several possible reasons for the Knox workers'
suddenly low profile. Maybe they are following the lead of
Knox himself, who says he will support the Democratic
ticket come November but hasn't endorsed Edmisten individually.
Maybe they are embarrassed that Knox, who
professed to have the best interests of black voters at heart,
stood by passively as his wife and brother endorsed Sen.
Jesse Helms, whom most black folk consider their political
arch enemy.
. Maybe the wounds opened during the often-heated
primary campaign were much deeper than anyone imagined
and haven't had sufficient time to heal.
Maybe they just don't like Edmisten.
i\ru ? .? *1? -t ?- ...
- infii?icvcr mc reason, mey aren i saying. And local supi
porters of Republican nominee Jim Martin have reason to
i smile. Non-stances translate into non-votes.
? The Chronicle welcomes letters from its readers, as well
z as columns. Letters should be as concise as possible and
? typed or printed legibly. They also should include the name,
y address and telephone number of the writer.
Columns should follow the same guidelines, and will
| published if we feel they are of interest to our general
?. readership.
Submit your letters and columns to Chronicle Letters,
P.O. Box 3'54, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102.
V , i"
?P
Page A4-The Chronicle, Thursday, August 2, 1984
Winston-Salem Chronicle
bounded 1974
ERNEST H. PITT,
NDUSISI iOIMONYE AUIN JOHNSON
( ii t imnJr' tdilf
ELAINE L. PITT MICHAEL PITT
O/lur Wnnunr' ( WtfAtft*'
That's entertainment
n
We don't mean to sound cynical, but the first of five
debates Sunday night between Sen. Jesse Helms and Gov.
Jim Hunt annarpntlv \i/ill ar?r?r*m?*1?ofc u? :i~i
?
I
Tfe CAW
?0UUT? THIS
CANv?*\&N W\TH
T)eKMs60M6Ry... y
I^J
WAM&-CALUN&, HYPtXC
AND LOUSY UB6RM
Blacks di
By TONY BROWN
Syndicated Columnist
Jesse Jackson told. his
followers that he would send a
"signal" about the "degree of
support" they should give to
Walter Mondale's campaign
this year.
It depended, he said, on the
degree of "fairness" he received
at the convention. Jackson
made clear that he wanted to
be recognized as a premiere
member of the Democratic
Party.
When Minister Louis Farrakhan
became anathema to
the Democratic Party's Jewish
interests, Jackson dumped
Farrakhan, calling his remarks
"unconscionable and
reprehensible." By doing so,
Jackson guaranteed himself a
nrim#.t im? talaMif ~
yr m ?ia v k nil V V V IV I9IV/11 C& "
pearance at the convention.
But before the convention's
Jesse Jackson night festivities,
white women had successfully
intimidated Mondale and a
white woman won the affirmative
action circus-search as
his running mate. White
Southerners had been paid off
with the rubber-match appointments
of politically
tainted Bert Lance. Blacks, the
Democratic Party's most
Reducing
By JOHN JACOB
Syndicated Columnist
C..11 a
ruu cuipiuyiiiciii is nui
simply job creation - it is the
creation of a stable economy
that generates enough decent
jobs for all. Today's economy
is not stable and it generates
many fewer jobs than we think
it does.
If we see the unemployment
problem in its full dimension
frequent recessions, shorter
recovery periods, higher
unemployment and a permanent
Depression in the black
community.
Since 1971 we've had four
recessions and two of them,
including the last one, would
have been labeled Depressions
in the past. The beginning of
each recession period found
more people unemployed than
at the start of the previous
recession.
Unemployment is getting
longer, too, as the jobless are
out of work for longer
periods. Currently, some two
million people were jobless for
27 weeks or more - not including
almost as many who
SSAAMJ - HOW CAN vex;
AOXPT CONTP\BUT>OHS ?BD*A
ft>U*nCAL ALTlOW COWAlTTtt*?
/
\
distortions,
Jr deception, S<
MOHeeatN&..
ilSy I INTEND TO G
^
A
ivided at cor
I 1
Bf KjgW ^Jl i r '^ M^fl
V* CL 2j ^
' _^^CTNP^P^
VV .xs^K^*^"^jKv V^H
^BpL ^ .1 M
WEE^pEE^^M
Brown
dependable voting machine,
were ignored.
When the Democratic Party
defeated three of four of his
platform planks -- called "litmus
tests'* by Jackson -- he
called on his delegates to stay
in the party and not, as he had
1_ ? - A ? * * - -
niniea previously, defect from
vigorous support of Walter
Mondale.
Jackson's delegates, many
of whom naively believed that
he had a chance at nomination,
watched Mondale's
forces reject Jackson's proposals
plank by plank; "No
first use" of nuclear weapons
lost first by more than two to
one and a "substantial"
reduction in military spending
; deficits ke>
are no longer counted as being
in the labor force.
Another disturbing trend is
the fact that fewer of the
jobless get unemployment
compensation benefits. In the
past about half did. That's
down to about a third now.
Still another trend has
serious implications for the
economy, and especially for
opportunities for the jobless.
"Acktitttitt&stahie ernnon
stilts yet-ttr-be^ffainedgam
depend on passing job-creati
reducing the budget deficit.
The official statistics tell us
how many jobs there are, but
while the job-generating
capacity of the economy looks
impressive, a large proportion
of jobs are part-time or
marginal.
A 1 A "?A - ' <
/\ouui pcrccni 01 tne jobs
in America are part-time jobs
? over 19 million. About five
and half million people work
part-time when they want fulltime
work.
And many full-time jobs
aren't really full-time, since
they are characterized by
im WONfcY SUVS INFLUENCE
*M0 D\ST0BT6 T*fe DeNOtCATtC
?Koces?
I /?IhM
X.. ? = = =*aer*
r
IIR5s5==ESS3Seb@^
ivention
bombed. On another Jackson
"litmus test," Mondale's people
deleted all references to
racial quotas from Jackson's
affirmative action plank. Then
they let it be known that Mondale
would not support even
the watered-down version.
Although Jackson continually
threatened that
"blacks could not be taken for
< itiar
51 wuvu) lb ? OO V/UYiUUS IU ail
that the party leaders and the
white majority knew that by
giving prominence to the black
presidential aspirant they had
cut the head off the body of a
potential black revolt.
Jackson's delegates, as a
result of this- divide-and*?
conquer strategy and focusing
on the messianic delivery in
Jackson's oratory before the
nation, faced the prospect of
returning home without so
much as a crumb. And
whenever one had the consciousness
to see through the
*1 * - 1 1 - ?
moiu, mc rcjoinaer wouia
come: "We've (Jesse's)
already won!"
But one Jackson delegate
from Pennsylvania, state Rep.
David Richardson, thought
out loud: "We have to have
something to take back to our
people to save face." The tenr
to jobs
periodic layoffs. Only about
half the work force works fulltime,
all year-round.
Blacks, relegated to
marginal jobs, arc the prime
victims of the skewed job
market. Over a third of all
black workers had two spells
of joblessness last year. Each
typically lasted over 16 weeks.
Add to that the millions of
jobs that pay below povertylic
gro wths skansd* by all is-?
t That kind af growth will
ion programs, and also on
?i
V
IavoI vi/ o n?c an/1 ti/vti - ??
>v 'vi nagva cuiu JUU MUi )CC
that the official statistics mask
the real weakness of a labor
market that leaves many
millions of families exposed to
unemployment and depressed
living standards.
Given this, it's hard to get
excited about a recovery that
has barely affected blacks,
minorities and the poor. And
that's especially so when we
see a poll of business executives
that says a majority
expects to see another recesPlease
see page A5
\T VIOUTES THfc
Of OWfc WW, owe vera
letters I
He's off the I
bandwagon I
To The Editor:
The closer one is to an illu- I
sion, the sooner one begins to
recognize how truly deceiving
it is. It is for this reason that I
many white, Irish Catholics
from Massachusetts, like
myself, have jumped off the 1
Kennedy bandwagon and now
find themselves with a greater
willingness to support black
conservatives.
JESiejalHiwate- challenge -for?
biacks and whites in thfcr
modern age is to understand
that the radical Democratic
party is not the same as it was
in years past. It is the party
that has been successful in
creating the permanent
welfare plantation, a system
where the poor are made to be
permanently dependent and
then given "cheese sandwiches"
in exchange for their
vote.
It is the party that exist most
strongly in the state of
Massachusetts, the state which
continues to field more
legislators who deliberately
help to advance the cause of
communism than any other
state.
Like never before there ex
ists a time for whites and
blacks to put issue before race
and political labels. The issue
of Central America and the
advancement of communism
is one of paramount concern.
There are powerful people
within our nation who desire
iu wrcaic a pusi-v^nrisuan era
by helping to extend the
blanket of Marxist Communism
over the surface opf
North America. Surely, the
differences that exist between
blacks and whites are not as
great as the difference that exists
between communism and
democracy.
At this moment, the battle
for the black vote in the state
of North Carolina is raging. If
the media wins, as it did in
Vietnam, blacks will vote for
Mr. James Hunt and if
elected, he will give the radical
Democrats, led by Sen. Kennedy
and supported by Jesse
Jackson, more voice and
power in Congress to support
Marxist Communism in Central
America.
The time has come for us to
act together or to be acted
upon.
William Santy
Chicopee, Mass.
Keen interest
Tzx Tk. rji.
iu i iic c^uiiur;
On behalf of th?ltaembers
of the Winston-Salem Alum?nac
Chapter of -Ehrtwr Slipway ^
Theta Sorority, Inc., I extend
to you and your staff our
heartfelt gratitude for the
splendid coverage given us this
1982-84 biennium.
We deeply appreciated your
covering our breakfastreception
for our national
president at the early hour of
/:ju a.m., and all of the other
activities of the sorority. Your
coverage has indicated a keen
interest in our sorority and has
helped to project our programs
to the public.
Our very best wishes to you
and your staff as your
newspaper continues to grow.
Modesta T. Eart
Immediate Past President
D\D VOU SJSV f
OHt PKC, ON6 NOT*.'?
iM