Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Feb. 21, 1980, edition 1 / Page 2
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Integrity Is The Issue Doug Smith, a City Hall news reporter who was recently named political editor of THE CHARLOTTE NEWS, has start ed his new assignment on a poor note with his article recently (Feb. 7) about the three an nounced candidates for the Board of County Commissioners who happen to be black. • Smith, reflecting a subcon scious racist mentality, said that black political leaders are con cerned that the three candidates -Bob Walton, Raleigh W. Bynum and L.C. Coleman - “will divide the black vote and defeat one another in the 10-person primary on May 6.” He adds that black leaders claim Walton needs to “do some fence mending in the black community...”’ m__a /» _ . Except for a few comments by Bob Davis, president of the questionable Black Political Caucus. Smith does not say who these black leaders are that are concerned about the three can didates. Since the white news media has a habit of asking one or two blacks about an issue and then saying black leaders say... we are inclined to believe that Smith’s presumed concerns by black leaders really mean only the opinions of Bob Davis. Furthermore, since little is known publicly about the Black Caucus’ true membership-size, and since some of the Caucus leadership’s actions in the past few years has been at odds with the black community, it is dif ficult to take seriously, at this time, any comments made by Bob Davi^/ The really significant question is not in how many black or how many white candidates have announced for office; but rather, of those who do seek public office, what is their level of competency, integrity, common sense and toughness in the face of political pressure? To this extent, Mr^mith could have just as well said that seven (7) white announced primary candidate for the Board of Coun ty Commissioners might split the white vote and need some aid from black voters to win. Un fortunately, Mr. Smith and his newspaper are more interested in reminding blacks that there still exists an element in our city that is more concerned with the color of a candidate’s skin than in the “content of his character” and political leadership. The Post has long advocated a need for unity in the black community. However, we have also advised that unity does not mean sameness without differ ences in viewpoint and ap proach. What blacks need from a political perspective is diversity within the context of a political philosophy rooted in unity. A well planned political sta tegy with an absence of black political apathy will enable any black candidate of dignity, high moral character and political toughness to compete in the political arena in spite of linger ing racism and other latent hostilities. Planning And The Human Condition The City of Charlotte appears to be inundated with planning - the RTKL Plan, the Urban Plan ning Symposium, The Urban Development Act Grant (UDAG), Community Develop ment and the Uptown Develop ment Corporation - just to name a few, are all talking about developing the same tracts of land, or some parts of it, in an uptown area between the ex press ways and interstate roads. We have begun to wonder who and how will all this be co ordinated in order to achieve an end result of “livability.” “Liv ability,” a term that Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Director Martin Cramton has used to describe an important aspect in the urban planning symposium is without question a centerpiece to all of the talk about planning. “Livability” in effect refers to all the factors that contribute to a comfortable human living en vironment. It deals with traffic and pollution control, the pre servation of trees and as much as is possible of the natural environment, housing of a variety of types, recreational and cultural facilities, com mercial centers, open space and transportation to job sites. While the$e appear to be very basic human needs that we might tend to assume will be a significant part of any uptown development plans, there is evi dence that much planning has somehow ignored the human condition needs. Urban renewal programs have often led to high rise public housing apartments that failed to accommodate low income black families. A mother can’t watch out for the needs of her children if they are fifteen floors below in the playground or if the playground is three blocks from a first floor apartment. The demand for super high ways and city expressways has too often led instead of following the planning process, thus lead ing to the destruction of many livable communities. It is our hope that the powers that be will recognize these pitfalls and constantly remind themselves that when planning removes the human condition as its first priority, then planning has lost its full meaning. After all, if human beings cannot interact with the environment _ —Wherein planning has occurred, then planning- Is meaningless and the human condition is truly lost. *A RACE IS tfKEAMANrWm* IT uses ITS OWN TALENTS TAKES PRIDE IN ITS OWN HISTORY AND LOVES IT'S OWN hEHOPIES.IT CAN NEVER FULFILL ITSELF COh~ k PLETELY." £ JOHN W. VANOERCOOK _Give Our Children A Sense Of Pride As I See It Advice On Investing By Gerald O. Johnson 1 didn’t know so many Black people had money saved to invest. But I have been flooded with requests for advice on personal finance. Well, besides from computers, mathematics,._ love making, politics, sociology, religion, and etc. investing is one of my best topics. So, you’ve come to the right place for advice. Interestingly enough one astute reader commented that purchasing Ford Mo tors was foolish. He con tended that the automotive industry is in shambles and that investing in such an industry was not sound. I must say that the person is well versed in current economical trends but is apt to be a poor investor. The truth is that the stock market reacts well in ad vance of trends. Investors knew that the American automotive industry was in for hard times over 8 years ago. Consequently, the automotive stocks have been lackluster performers over the past ten years. Currently, GM and Ford are revamping their mar keting and production to start full swing into small car production. The initial signs of this turn around will be seen in late 1980 and early 1981. However, smart investors know this now and are beginning to ac cumulate the stock. The stock price has discounted all of the tragic news, already. This is why the stock is so cheap now. The downside risk at the cur rent price is limited to the upside potential. More over, the stock pays hand Gerald O. Johnson some dividends. It looks like a solid medium term investment to me. Remember, you are in vesting money in a com pany for the future not the ' present. The future of the auto industry looks good, regardless of its present weakness. The industry represents a great deal of the wealth of this country. If the industry fails then so will the country. Enough about Ford. If you are contemplating stocks, then there are a few things you need to know. You must know both the technical and the fund amental characters of that stock. The fundamental characteristics are related to economic strength of the company and to the strength of the industry. The technical character istics refer to the stock price trading range. Both characteristics must be known and fully understood prior to investing. Most poor investors use the fundamental basis with little or no regard to the technical basisTT^Ts ■ demonstrate. Stock prices fluctuate much like a sine curve. If charted over-time you will notice distinct peaks and roughs. You will also no tice that stocks trade with in price ranges that form patterns. The basic stra tegy is to try to purchase a fundamentally sound stock when it is trading near its I trough. These same pat | terns can be used with their associated trading volumes to indicate when a stock is beginning to weaken (time to sell). But this gets hairy — and is not for the average investor. But it should be obvious that purchasing a solid stock when it is trading near its peak may result in an unprofitable expe rience. The risk of losing money is dramatically in creased when purchasing at peaks. To understand the tech nical pattern requires a study in the psychological makeup of investors and a little knowledge of the market. At all times the outstanding shares of a company are held by shareholders. When you purchase stock someone else must be selling it. The price of the stock is fixed at the rate that you, as a buyer, are willing to pay and someone else as a seller is willing to sell for. If the number of buyers is greaterlhan the number of sellers, then the price goes up. If the reverse happens the price goes down. No two investors view a stock the same; conse quently, there is always a i eady market for trading. J~ ~ by Vernon E. Jordan, Jfj— TO BE EQUAL Humphrey-Hawkins Abandoned The release of the Administration’s Eco nomic Report to Congress at the end of January gave the nation . some grim predictions. B80will be a year in which we experience— a “mild” recession, whatever that is. Recessions are always “mild” except for the people who are hit by them - working people who are laid off. For them, no recession can ever be “mild.” But the real kicker in the Report was the section on long-term goals. There, the ^President reluctantly ditched _the Hum phrey-Hawkms mandate to lower un- ~ employment rates. You will remember that Congress passed the Humphrey-Hawkins Bill in late 1978. It required the government to pursue policies leading to sharply lower unemployment rates. It set an interim goal of four percent unemployment by 1983. Blaming the OPEC price increase on oil and stagnant economic growth, the Presi dent extended the timetable for lowering the jobless rate. Now, it is 1985. Along about 1983, we can expect more extensions. As it stands, the Bill is dying, if not dead Why? The first basic cause for the demise of the promises in Humphrey-Hawkins is Con gress itself. It passed the Bill only after adding the cynical provision that the goals for joblessness had to be tied to goals for lowered inflation rates. That perpetuated the old myth that you can’t have both low unemployment and low •nflation rates. And in today’s economic . invironment, it virtually assured that the - unemployment goals could not be met. The second reason lies in federal eco nomic policies. Meeting the Humphrey Hawkins mandate would have meant mobil izing the economy for sustained growth and launching massive programs of job training and job creation. That was not done. To its credit, the Administration did do more by way of Jobs — programs than its predecessors. But not enough. Certainly not enough to meet the Bill’s goals. i So now, instead of projecting lower 1 unemployment, the government is predict ing jobless rates of 7.5 percent in 1980. That’s bad enough, but the job picture is actually much worse. For blacks, the jobless rate may shoot up to 17-18 percent. That’s because black unemployment is now over double the white rate. So that 7.5 percent estimate for all workers translates to well over double for blacks. It is another example of negative affirm ative action in which blacks get the lion’s share of bad news. But even that 7.5 percent figure is grossly understated. The official unemployment statistica don’t count many of the un employed. Working as little as an hour or so makes the federal jobless-counters include you among the employed, even though you want full-time work and even though that hour of work netted you only a couple of dollars. And millions of discouraged workers don t exist at all for the head-counters. People who have searched for jobs, and were convinced by their fruitless job-hunt that there’s just no work out there and stopped looking, are not counted as un employed. ' THE CHARLOTTE POST Second Class Postage No. 965500 --“qiiIF PriPPI.gS ^W«PAPER” Established 1918 Published Every Thursday By The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. 1524 West Blv. - Charlotte, N.C 28206 Telephone (704) 376-0496 Circulation, 9,915 61 Years Of Continuous Service !■ 1 i ■ BILL JOHNSON...Editor Publisher BERNARD REEVES...General Manager Second Class Postage No. 965500 Paid At Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3,1878 Member National Newspaper Publishers . _Association North Carolina Black Publishers Association Deadline for all news copy and photos is 5 p.m. Monday. Alhphotos and copy submitted become the property of the POST, and will not be returned. , National Advertising Representative . , , Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. 45 W. 5th Suite 1403 New York, N.Y. 10030 (212) 489-1220 2400 8. Michigan Ave. I Chicago, til. 00010 | Calumet 5-07QQ j In Richmond, Vtu .National Conference On Black Agenda Will Convene by Alfreds L. Madison Special To The Post The National Conference on a Black Agenda will convene In Richmond, Vir ginia from February 28 March 2. Around 3,000 blacks from across the country are expected to attend. The purpose of this meeting is to develop a "Black" social, economic and political agenda for the 80’s. Conference con veners are: Black Leader ship forum, National Con ference of Black Mayors, National Black Caucus of State Legislators and the National Black Leadership Roundtable. These repre sent the heads of more than 100 national organizations Mayor Richard Hatcher, of Gary, Indiana one of the originators of the confer ence said, “respectful of our rich diversity, we shall, nevertheless, in unity chart a path through the 1980's that will once and for all move our people from de pendence to independence We shall ask why promises of equal opportunity, full ^nployment, and affirm t Alfreda L. Madison ative action have been de ferred by the courts, uni versities, and the market place.” Answers to these questions not excuses, solu tions not postponements, and strategies not diver sions will be sought at this meeting. In Richmond, besides the plenary sessions there will be a number of beneficial workshops Each workshop will be conducted bv three panelists. They will be In the following areas: Foreign policy. Economic area, Social area and Poli tical area. Since Blacks and His panics make up a large (segment of the poor, the poor minorities are being set off to the side. Blacks and Hispanics will make up one fourth of this country's population by 1985. This makes it necessary that blacks move from token ism to parity. Blacks are not really present in cor porations - it is a rarity to find a black in any substan tive position. In Richmond affirmative action will be looked into from the standpoint of those who feel there is no longer a need for It, to where the real problem lies; that is the lack of parity on the state level. Certainly the President 's budget will be given a hard Jpok and his foreign policy sWtion as it affects blacks. The conference will deal with the domestic policy and its economic impera tives that work against self-sufficiency. An ex ample is the CETA pro gram which may address black youth unemploy ment. but it does not lead to economic! UUVCIbpiiiuil fui Blacks. The same is true of the United State’s relation ship with Africa, in that the assistance is designed to purchase leadership al liance and not to assist in the development of the African countries. Black college students will be invited to the con ference smcftlw eighties will be their decade to assist decreasing their distance from the types of activities that will take place at these meetings. The meeting agenda shows that blacks want to know why the rattling of sabres in distant lands command higher budgets and quicker response than continuing crises at home, which have left too many of our families without hope. Simply put, it is this, why are so many blacks still poor, still hungry, still il literate, still sick and still denied admission to America’s promised land. All of the Presidential candidates have been in vited to the Sunday ses sion; Republicans in the morning and Democrats in -Uia afternoon Tt]py will be questioned in a ‘‘Meet the Press" format by a panel of outstanding black jour nalists. Then there will be questions from the audience. In deciding on a meeting place, the planning com mittee had a problem with Virginia because it has not passed ERA and because of its labor policies. However, problems oHH Is nalQFg Will be dealt with at the meet ing. From all indications this promises to be a most important conference which will cause the lead ers of this nation to realize that blacks are a very viable part of this country and that they must be dealt with as genumesquals. YWCA To Honor Female Athfeto* This year the Charlotte YWCA will honor amateur female athletes with Sportswomen of the Year Awards in May. Applicants are now being accepted for eligible par ticipants Winners will be chosen from five age categories and must be female athletes in Union and Mecklenburg counties. Awards will be given in the following age groups: 7-12, 13 IS, 19-29, 30-45, and 55 and over. The purpose of these awards are to publicly honor gifted, well-trained women and girls who have jfcelled in athletic en deavora; to encourage par ticipation and excellence in women** sports; to create established role-models from which young women can learn and emulate; and to create enthusiasm and support in our state (or women's sports activities. Applications must be completed no later than April 1. For applications contact your nearest Y
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Feb. 21, 1980, edition 1
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