Editorials and Comments
Problems Of The Black Candidates
ine black candidates, who have
recently announced for local public
office, will undoubtedly maKe the
same mistakes that were made by
the Black candidates in past elec
tions.
-.Tfrey seem to feel-thar-they will
have a better-than-average chance
for getting elected simply because
the color of their skin is black.
It is difficult to get elected under
any circumstances. And it’s even
more difficult to get elected when
the candidate operates without
sufficient finance and good
organization. There is no claim that
Black people can vote their way out
of poverty and oppression nor is
there any claim that Blacfk people
can perform beyond second-class
status in a city-wide campaign
against the established
organizations that offer white
candidates for public office.
The Charlotte Black community
needs a carefully planned program
designed to get the maximum
number of people to register and to
vote, rather than an increase in the
number of candidates seeking
-election to public _
Iff-. .
lone me position that the
power of the black vote is only
powerful if it is effectively used. We
also believe that Black votes in
Charlotte have not been dealt with
effectively.
No one seems to come up with a
logical answer on the important fact
that less than one-third of the
eligible Black voters in Mecklen
burg County took the time to cast
their ballots in the last election. And
there is no reason at the moment to
believe that there will be a larger
turnout of Blacks in the next elec
tion.
’ It seems to us that a Citizen
Organization, with non-partisan
political affiliations, is .needed here.
This organization should be
designed to attack the deeply rooted
institutional problems which are
faced by Black people as well as
other minorities and the poor.
What we are saying is simply that
no Blacks or anybody else can
succeed in the electoral process
unless he develops some degree of
unity. This unity cannot be obtained
without involvement of all segments
of the Black Community.
It is difficult for us to understand
how a candidate hopes to win
elections when he has not provided a
vehicle for achieving community
cooperation, and black unity as well
as providing a pool of information,
experience and ideas necessary for
the development of an invigorating
campaign.
The results of past elections show
clearly that the Black candidates
seldom perform their homework.
Most of these hapless candidates
operate like a man in a small boat in
treacherous waters — they see
where they want to go; and, they
know that they must use. their
strength well in order to get through
the waves. But, if they have not
done accurate research, they are not
aware of the flow of the currents and
tides, which really determine where
they are going.
Research is essential in
developing a strong, campaign. A
candidate should be well aware of
the fact that politics is an art.HHB
science. There are three
functions of political resear ch^HHE
The first is to analytically (fl
data and to find out what hasV|H|
don<' and how b*'s: to do it.HHH
second function is to develop fHB9|
basis for argument to support
and gain support from re^^^l
public. The third function l -.V;'j
development of staff and comiflBE
educational programs direcBgjj|||
part toward equipping peo^^^^l
carry out research and to app^BHB
information to their progra
their actions. '|HHE
Research ought to includ^^^^
some information on the pat^^nSS
vote participation of blacks arflHH
best to get the majority ofl|||||||
people actively involved.
There should also be a gatfl&H§!
___
overview of black participaB|§§§
electoral politics in the comnH
One of the primary goals! ' ;
political research we recomnflSSSj|
that of /creating a
knowledgeable, active and infl||||||
citizenry m the Black
People cannot be effective^HH|
volved in community affairHBHE
any feeling of self-reliance uflm
unless, they possess fundaKental
insights into how their community
political system is intended to
operate and how the operation of the
system can be influenced and
changed.
It is obvious that most! black
candidates for local publiq office
lack the self-confidence thatlsprings
from knowledge in those fields that
touch intimately upon the lives of
all-municipal and county govern
ments.
The City of Charlotte is in great
need of sound leadership which is
supported by large numbers of well
organized Black people.
Inflation's Running Wild
—_.4__i_*_...1_ ...
V«ui owp TTUtlUV/1 lllg VT11J lit*
nation is running wild and the cost of
living is threatening to exceed your
income. One glance at the Federal
budget for the next fiscal year ought
to clear up any questions you had.
The budget will spend some nine
billion more ... that’s right ... nine
billion dollars more than the
Government will take in during the
fiscal year 1974-75. That bothers us.
We have always advocated a
balanced budget.
The budget includes a seven and
one half percent pay increase for
members of Congress, Supreme
Court justices, and high government
officials. That’s not all. Every year
for three years that same raise is
automatic. You see, it’s all part of
the President’s budget. That way,
congressmen don’t have to go on
record as having voted themselves a
raise that nobody wanted them to
have. But Congress can choose to
turn down its automatic raise and
try to live on the pay they are
receiving. It might not keep them in
the style they desire, but it would
certainly endear them to the hearts
of those who keep them in office.
THE CHARLOTTE POST
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CONGRESSMAN
JIM MARTIN
Most of us, at one time or
another, have known or heard
of a family being wiped out
financially because of a major
prolonged illness or medical
calamity to befall one of the
members of the family. We
read of such cases in some
newspapers every day. Many
people carry medical in
surance where they work or
have coverage on an in
dividual basis. It’s a sad fact
though, that many families do
not have enough protection if a
catastrophic illness occurs.
f\>r other families there is nc
coverage because their em
plcyer does not provide the
fringe benefits, or they can’t
afford premiums for a health
policy, or they are unin
surable Millions of
Americans fall into this
situation, from the poor and
elderly, to middle and upper
Income wage earners.
r- The public is going to be
hearing a great deal about the
health insurance issue in the
coming months, as Congress
begins considering a wide
range of proposals to provide
protection for All Americans
There is one plan providing
coverage only in cases when
a catastrophic or long tern
illness would be requirt
hospitalization and treatment
where the financial resource!
of a family would be depleted
This is a proposal by Senatoi
Russell Long of Louisiana
which I support. J
Another plan would offei
protection by requiring
employers to offer a com
prehensive insurance
program to all full time
employees, with the em
ployers paying a share of the
costs and the federal govern
ment covering premiums for
the unemployed. The role of
the private health insurance
companies would be expanded
under this plan.
One health insurance plan
would be entirely federal
funded at a cost of 80 billion
dollars, and would be run
through the. Social^ Security
Administration. This cradle
to-the grave approach would
pay all bills for all illnesses.
The measure, introduced by
Senator Edward Kennedy of
Massachusetts^ has the
backing of the AFL-CIO.
The Kennedy plan carries
health insurance for all
Americans to the extreme. I
am against the bill because it
would set up another federal
bureaucracy and the cost
would be on the order of
magnitude of the defense
budget and would be
prohibitive. It suffers further
from what appears to be a
i slight flaw, but it is one that
would be disastrous. The
measure does not provide for
. any type of “deductible"
i clause. Most insurance
policies include a deductible
clause which
dissuades people from taking
advantage of- the companies
involved with providing
[ protection. A deductible
clause discourages people
from using a doctors office as
a day care center for adults. If
insurance policies lacked
deductible clauses, some
people might waste doctors
time with trivial medical
matters. A deductible
provision is a must in any
health care proposal. If a
medical situation is something
more than trivial, a person
needing treatment should be
more than willing to pay the
amount deductible, or pay the
first part of the au|f>. %a
Kennedy bill is 'nearest
thing to complete takeover of
medical care by the govern
ment that has been proposed. I
don’t think the results of
similar nationalization of
medical care in other coun
tries should be an en
couragement for us to make
the same mistake.
I do encourage the
catastrophic illness protection
that has been proposed by
Senator Long of Louisiana
which would be subsidized
through private companies.
Under an insurance plan
devised by the Ad
ministration, families would
not have to spend more than
l&-hundred dollars per year on
medical expenses. This is
where catastrophic
provisions of the plan would
begin to apply. Doctors and
hospital bills, some drug
costs and other medical ex
penses would be covered by
the insurance plan without
requiring additonal taxes to
cover the proposal.
The Roy Wilkins Column
All around the room the too-real atmosphere of
he film settled around each viewer, imprisoning
hem so completely that it is difficult to shake the
eeling off and come again into the real world.
This difficulty is
sostiy - not entirely -
ecause the picture is
ot a fantasy, but
istory, so fresh, at
last in its latter parts,
s to form unforgettable
pisodes in the lives of
11 but the youngsters in
le audience. The |
larvelous new film is !
The Autobiography of
liss Jane Pittman,”
rhich was sponsored by
le Xerox Corporation
t a nationwide
slevision showing.
The picture (the lead
i played by the brilliant
^■uuug ulucss, v^iceiy lysonj is a msiory oi DiacK
■xmericans such as has never been unrolled
^^fore. There have been stage plays and films
■iat hare told some part of black history. We
^uiow of the brief heroism of Denmark Vesey and
Ve other insurrectionists. We know of the
■peeches of Frederick Douglass and of the bits
■nd pieces of a people struggling to be free.
■ But never in the past has any book, no matter
Vw eloquent, spread the panorama that this film
■>es. The director and writers have been honest.
■is^Tysonixaskasther spelLand has included her
■hole race in her seemingly sirrvple~lale^ of 110
^^ars of life on this earth.
Not once has she indulged in propaganda, but
what comes out of her experiences are powerful
arguments (not pleas) for the freedom of her
people, and for all who are on the bottom of
sdcietv, exploited and despised*
The story spans the years just before the war,
and the protest marches and demonstrations of
the 1960s. They cover the era when the Negro did
not own his body to the years when he crashed
through to at least an admission of racial
inequalityf
Maybe the scenes of personal persecution will
be the cement to convince the black youngsters of
today that all their progenitors were not Uncle
Toms. There is a strong feeling, after the picture,
that nearly every black person helped.
What does one say after the gunfire raid on the
escaping slaves, with fighting to the death so that
some could survive and carry on? What does one_
_ — _l_ 1_• _• a' . a • _l
•'“j uaviiig w ui ivcu uic ic^uiicu
number of yearaXmyiftB freedom, is told that he
must wash, stilVTdn^iMft* * (
w j? jr •'»'' *
When Miss Jane lives long enough to see, with a
gleam in her eyes, the protests of her people in the
60s, she proves by her curiosity that she is a
bridge between the years gone by and the years
ahead. When she actually takes part in a protest,
staged amidst the hostility of the whites and the
timorousness of the blacks, one could hear a pin
drop in the theatre.
White Americans, regardless of the spectacular
crimes charged to blacks, must remember that
even if 2 million are so charged, this is but one
tenth. How shall the other nine-tenths be treated?
“The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman”
makes plain that white Americans ought to be
proud that out of slavery have come the blacks,
who are the real stuff of America, of the vin
dication of its dream of free men.
The film makes plain to blacks that unity is
judged not by rhetoric, but by the seamless web of
deeds in support of goals common to all mankind.
There are no shortcuts to solidity. Miss Jane
never wavered. It took a steady march of 110
years, but she saw, finally, the light that she and
thousands like her had envisioned not as far as
before, but still far down the tunnel.
To Be Equal ,
Health Insurance Plan Falls Short
By VERNON E. JORDAN JK.
The Administration’s
Comprehensive Health In
surance Plan goes a long way
toward improving the chaotic
mess in American health care,
yet it falls short of providing
the kind of federally financed,
federally administered health
system that will assure each
and every citizen access to
high quality medical at
tention.
But perhaps more im
portant than the failings of the'
plan is the fact of its
existence. It Is much better
than the weak proposals of
fered some years back. And
by putting the issue of national
health care to the Congress
and the country, the Ad
ministration has helped move
the issue off center. Because
of this, it is likely, that the
naten will finally get some
kind of comprehensive
national health program this
. year
The big question is, what
kind of program ? Will it be the
Administration plan, with all
is failings, a weaker version
of that plan, or a truly com
i
prehensiveall inclusive health
program
The Administration plan
would be financed by em
ployer-employee con
tributions to private health
insurance plans that meet
government specifications.
Families with health costs
would be reimbursed for part
of tfielr expenses until they
had paid $1,500 in costs, then
the insurance would cover
everything over that.
Here are a few of the faults I
see in this program:
•Because it operates
through insurers rather than
through a Social Security-type
trust fund, and since it
preserves the old fee-for
service medical billing
practices. It is bound to result
in continuing inflation in
health costs
-Because families will have
to pay part of their medical
costs in addition to con
tributing to Insurance
premiums, serious Illness
could cost « family $1,500 a
year. That may be a financial
disaster for some of the people
who think the bill provides
protection against
catastrophic illness, but its
enough to wipe out a working
man's savings and bury him in
debt. Only about one out of
four people would collect
benefits in any given year,
because of the high deduc
tibles. *
- -There are really three
plans-one for working people
whose employers contribute
too, another for the poor and
marginally employed whose
premiums are paid by the
government, and the elderly,
covered by Medicare
This kind of tracking
system, based on Income and
work situations, can easily
lead to abuses with two
standards for health care, one
for the paying worker, and
the other for the poor. A truly
comprehensive system would
insure the same treatment for
all
-There's nothing in the
program to end the doctor
shortage, make doctors
available to urban and rural
poverty belts, encourage
doctors to practice family
medicine, or to insure con
sumer participation in health
decisions
There are other faults in the
program too, and I think (he
basic difficulty is that the plan
Is designed to leave the basic
structure of the medical in
dustry intact and to provide
some help In solving the
financial problems in paying
for high-cost health care.
It's a program that
private insurers can back;
one that has definite at
traction for many families,
but one that doesn't deal with
the essence of the health
problems the country faces.
Despite the Ad
ministration's High praise for
the present state of America
medicine, it is clear that we
are nowehere near "number
one” in health. In key in
dicators like infant mortality
and life expectancy, the U S.
ranks pretty far down on the
list of developed countries.
And I fear that the proposed
reform won't change that
situation to the degree that it
could.
The Administration plan
welcome as a big Im
provement over the present
mess, ought to go a lot farther.
Next week, I’ll outline some of
the points a truly adequate
national health program ought
to include