Page A4-The Chronicle, Thursday, September 13, 1984
Winston-Salem Chronicle
hounded I974
ERNES* M. Pin, /.v,.,
NDUBISI IOEMONYI ^ . ALLIN JOHNSON
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ILAINE L. PITT ROBIN AOAMS MICHAEL PITT
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Preserving our history
The needs of the black community are many, and in all
too many instances, the resources to meet those needs are
few. All across the country, black people desperately require
adequate housing, clothing, employment and the
necessities of life which other Americans take for granted.
But even as we struggle to find the financial means to
provide such necessities, there are other, non-physical
needs, as well. One of these is preserving black history and
our unique cultural heritage ? intangible possessions which
define us as a people and support us in our search* for individual
identities.
That's why we think a recent proposal by local historian
Joseph Bradshaw to establish a museum for WinstonSalem's
black history has merit and deserves serious attention.
Bradshaw, a 69-year-old retired teacher, has been collecting
photographs, slides and other artifacts about the city's
black community since 1957. Among this collection are invaluable
photographs and documents about the old Atkins
High School and the city's only black-owned bus line (the
now-defunct Safe Bus Co.), as well as information about
prominent black men and women who not only shaped the
development of the immediate black community, but that
of rising generations which moved elsewhere.
"To prepare for our future, we must never forget our
past," said Bradshaw in a recent Chronicle personality profile.
His collection of black memorabilia has been a labor of
love. Now he is offering the fruits of that labor to anyone
committed to developing such a museum.
Such an institution would be an important educational
asset to Winston-Salem. It not only would display our
heritage, but also could serve as the focus for historical
research. The museum could direct, for example, a local
oral history project, through which community volunteers
college students armed with tape recorders would interview
the city's black residents for a permanent record of what
the city was like in the recent past and how it has changed,
for better or worse.
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Financing poses problenrls fo^any black undertaking, we
realize. But investment in Mr. Bradshaw's project promises
to deliver a much greater return in the long run than many
profit-making ventures.
Crosswinds
Russia vs. Hymietown
From The Miami Times.
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wnen jesse jacKson aescrioea Jews as "Hymies" and
New York City as "Hymietown" in off-the-cuff remarks to
two reporters, one of whom printed the remarks, the press
was lauded for doing the right thing even though Jackson
insisted that his comments were not meant for public consumption.
It was argued that, as a presidential hopeful, all of
Jackson's statements were important to a full understanding
by the public of the man who was asking them to make
him the leader of the nation.
The one man who went public with criticism of the
reporter who published Jackson's remarks was Louis Farrakhan,
and he used language which made his defense
untenable.
Compare that with President Ronald Reagan's statement
^urii^ a miccophone test-two weeks .ago wkenTie jokingly ^
said: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you that I
just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The
bombing begins in five minutes."
White House officials were reluctant to comment on that
statement because, they said, it was off-the-record and not
intended for publication.
There was much writing in the press about how the president
does these sorts of jokes as self-mocking humor and to
ridicule those who see him as a warmonger.
Then Reagan told reporters in Montana that no one
would have been concerned about his remarks about the
Soviet Union "if the press had kept their mouth shut."
"It isn't funny," Reagan said. "If the press had kept
their mouth shut, no one would have known that I said it."
That is nothing if not a rebuke to the press for publishing
the remarks of the president in circumstances where they
were not meant to be made public.
But then, so Jackson insisted, were his remarks about
"Hymietown," but Jackson was drawn over the national
coals, fueled by Jewish anger, and he had the good graces
to apologize. Where is the national outcry against the President's
strange sense of humor?
Are there separate standards for the man who is president
and one who is Black and happens to be trying to reach to
the Ahest office?
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By JOHN E. JACOB
Special to the Chronicle
Affirmative action is central
to the black quest for equity.
But the war for affirmative action
is in danger of being lost.
The Supreme Court just
said that seniority takes
precedence over minority jobs.
Reasonable goals and
timetables are stigmatized as
reverse discrimination and
. quotas._Perpetuating_ black
disadvantage is excused by
pious statements about a
"color-blind, racially neutral
soeietv."
J Well,
black people also
want as color-blind, raciallyneutral
society. But we're not
there yet. And the only way to
get there is through affirmative
action programs that
overcome discriminatory bar^
riers to opportunities.
There's nothing color-blind
when the black poverty rate is
triple the white rate. There's
nothing racially-neutral when
black unemployment is more
than double the white rate.
The heritage of racism will
not be broken until effective
remedies overcome the disadvantage
imposed on blacks
because of their blackness.
That means race-conscious
remedies based on positive inclusion
of black people into
mainstream America. Such
remedies would reDlace the
historic negative exclusion of
black people.
In 1789 the U.S. ConstituThe
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By JOHN W. LEWIS JR. 1 .
Syndicated Columnist
WASHINGTON - In the
spring of 1981, Coleman
Young, the black mayor of
Detroit, had a dangerous
economic and political problem
to solve.
His city was faced with the
most serious economic condition
it had faced since the
Great Depression of the 1930s.
Detroit had a $119 million
budget deficit for the 1981
fiscal year and a projected
$145 million budget deficit for
the following year.
These devastating back-to
back budget deficits made it
likely that if the deteriorating
financial situation were not
quickly turned around, the city
would face bankruptcy
when the fiscal year ended on
June 30, 1981. Detroit's road
to the brink of bankruptcy was
paved with statistics explaining
the ever-widening gap between
city revenues and expenditures.
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John Jacob
tion defined blacks as threefifths
of a person for counting
purposes. In 1984 we are still
three-fifths of white people as
measured by family income,
by employment, bu educational
attainment, by all of the
other meaningful measures of
life.
Affirmative action is not a
new concept. Back in the
1930s, when racist administrators
kept blacks out of
work relief programs, the
Public Works Administration
wrote specific hiring quotas
for blacks into its contracts.
We've lived with veterans'
preference for years and no
one complained about reverse
discrimination. Throughout
our history we had an unwritten
affirmative action code
that reserved the best jobs and
schools for white males.
Black people have been ?
and continue to be ~ subjected
> black vote
Since 1Q71 the numher nf
businesses in the city had
fallen by 30 percent, from
15,527 to 10,923. The number
of tax returns from employed
Detroiters had also fallen by
24 percent, from 408,378 to
309,554.
Young saw jobs leaving for
the suburbs. The .general
"Carton, a political consulta
Martila and Ki/ey, found th(
by volunteers and commu
black precincts increasec
dramatically."
the proportion of people with
problems - the number of
households on welfare or
public assistance ? was rising.
He saw that the tax base
wasn't growing and Detroit
was caught between the
pincers of declining revenues
and increased demand for city
services. Nearly 60 percent of
Detroit's residents were receivY0U
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dying?
to pervasive negative action
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mai win perpetuate our disadvantage
unless our society implements
positive affirmative
action as a remedy.
1 am not prepared to abandon
the war for affirmative action
as lost. The hostility of
the Justice Department and
the inconsistencies of the court
notwithstanding, there is still
hope that the innate fairness
of the American people will
give affirmative action a
chance.
I am encouraged by a recent
Harris Poll that asked this
question of potential voters:
Do you favor or oppose
federal laws requiring affir"
mative action programs forwomen
and minorities in
employment and education,
provided there are no rigid
quotas?
Two-thirds said, "Yes,"
they favor such laws. Less
than one in five opposed them.
Now, the poll doesn't mean
too much in the general
scheme of things. But it is
heartening that such a strong
majority backs affirmative action
in the face of the extraordinary
campaign against it.
If nothing else, that poll
ought to put some backbone
into politicians in both parties
who seek to exploit racial divisions
by pandering to racist,
sentiments.
[jonn fc. Jacob is President of
the National Urban LeagueJ
r turnout
ing some form of public aid in
1981 and enrollment in welfare
programs in the Detroit area
had increased by 64,000 people
during the previous year
alone.
In lota Mar/?k o kln?
m*> iuiv nidi VII, a U1UV> I 1UUU1I
"budget crisis" committee
unveiled a three-point plan to
r c^c. uc the city fi oia lam ki_u p tz
cyr 'Fhe- cornerstone of-the
mt with the Boston firm of
it the face-toface appeals
nity leaders in Detroit's
i black voter turnout
plan was a recommended increase
of one percentage point
in the city's income tax for
both Detroit residents and for
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within the city.
Michigan state law requires
that any increase in a city's income
tax must be approved by
Please see page A?5
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*
Letters
Judge Hayes
due respect
To The Editor:
I am sure that I speak for a
large segment of the community
in extending congratulations,
good wishes and wholehearted
support for attorney
Roland Hayes upon his appointment
as district court
judge.
It is too bad that positive
words of support had to come
from the white community
and negativism from the black
community. Although this attitude
is very typical in
Winston-Salem, it is
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UWIIVIIIVIV39 uiaiui 1/1115.
This fine product of this
community (is) always a hard
worker, involved in church,
community and civic activities;
intelligent, and most
of all, qualified for this position
by virtue of education, experience
and temperment; yet
someone finds fault with his
appointment.
The old platitude that "the
white man" can't hold you
down unless he stays down
with you while he holds you
there is no longer true. There
are lots of "brothers and
sisters" around who are more
than willing to do the job of
keeping you down.
They dare you to let a better
education, a larger piece of the
economic pie or some outstan
ding achievement cause you to
stand out from the crowd.
They findf it much easier to
sneer at achievers than it is to
give them a hand up.
I am sure that attorney
Hayes will not allow any of
these attitudes to dampen his
enthusiasm for doing his best,
just as he has always done. He
will find that we who respect
him and "wish him well are in a
majority.
Mrs. Martha J. Young
Winston-Salem
On the mark
(The following is an open letter
to Chronicle Columnist
Clifton Graves)
Dear Mr. Graves:
I read your column
whenever I read the Chronicle
and enjoy it very much. You
have the same attitude and
opinion as I have on many
subjects.
After I read about your move
to New Haven, Conn., I
became interested in writing to
you. Your column about
Vanessa Williams finally made
me pick up the pen and paper.
What you wrote to Ms.
Williams is exactly what I have
felt from the beginning of her
ordeal: she has been used by
the same ones (white America)
who she was sure would never
-harm her.
It is a shame what dollar
signs do to the minds of many
Americans, but I agree that
she should know this and it is
about time she found out.
My boyfriend and I had a
discussion about Ms.
Williams' ordeal and he could
not understand why I insist on
not wholly trusting some white
people. I do not, because
many, not all, of them have
ulterior motives, such as:
to use blacks to get ahead;
to gain their trust and then
hurt them;
to strengthen the view of
blacks as inferior;
Please see page A 5
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