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„ „ J Come Forward Blaek Middle Class! Speaking to a group of Virgina black elected officials last month McKee noted, “I believe that the crucial concern in this campaign for black people is not just for those among us who are poor and near-poor, though concerned we must be, but also for the large, invisible and forgotten black middle-class of this nation, who receive little attention and concern.” Most significantly, McKee says it is from this group - the black middle-class - that black youth find role models to use as examples of success in their lives. In reality, what Mr. McKee is saying is what others have been saying for years; the middle class Americans have always carried the major portion of the nation’s tax burden because the poor have little and the rich find ways to pay little. To that extent, the black middle-class is no more forgotten than the white middle-class. With racrorH fn fha Klonlr middle-class’ invisibility as de fined by McKee, this only occurs to the extent that black youth neither see, hear nor have an opportunity to communicate with most blacks because they are too preoccupied with being middle-class. Proof of this is in the nearly 40 percent unemploy ment rate among black youth and their school drop out rate. On the other hand, the high visibility of professional black athletes attracts a disproportion ate number of black youth to ward a sports career only to lead to failure and frustration fbr many if not most of them. More ' communication such as Bill Rus sell and Arthur Ashe have of fered might reduce this kind of tragedy. Thus, whiie McKee can find justifiable reasons for question ing Jimmy Carter’s ability to lead the nation in economic affairs he really says nothing to suggest that Mr. Reagan has a plan for dealing with inflation or making blacks more visible. Therefore, we, the voters, still must think it through and then vote (register first) on primary and election day. It’s your country, your duty, and your life, so vote! As President Carter continues to pursue ways to cut the federal budget in- a Teeble effort to. reduce the nation’s inflationary rate, many blacks are growing increasingly disenchanted. A re cent editorial in THE AFRO AMERICAN reflected this feel ing when it said “War should.be declared on efforts to balance the federal budget at any cost; that is, at any cost to the poor, minorities, the elderly and han dicapped persons.” Because of black disenchant ment, the manner in which it’s been expressed by a major black weekly newspaper, and the very strong possibility that Ronald Reagan will be the Republican Party’s candidate for the presi dency, has led Clarence McKee to seek out black voter support for Reagan. What malrpc this a tnnip umrth mentioning is that McKee is black and Reagan is viewed as a far-to-the-right conservative, and blacks historically do not support conservatives. McKee, a lawyer who worked for Ben Hooks when Hooks was a mem ber of the FCC, says himself, “Reagan’s image is very nega tive among minorities because he’s a conservative, and to blacks that has meant opposi tion” to social and economic change. McKee adds that conservatism “now reflects the concerns that a lot of middle-class blacks share. The average hard-working Mack banker, bus driver, government employee and business person is being devastated by double-digit inflation and skyrocketing in terest rates, all of which are serving to erode the economic gains of the past decade.” In effect, McKee is saying that the Carter administration is the cause of the erosion of black economic gains and that there fore blacks should “look past (Reagan’s) image and take a look at the man and his record.” Mr. McKee, who aims his observations at middle-qlas§ “ blacks like himself who he calls the “forgotten people,” says fur ther “liberals keep addressing us in terms of the ‘black and poor’ as though the terms are synonymous. To me, that’s a put down.” Dr. King Is Above Controversy ai last on ^aturoay tne long awaited statue of Dr. Martin Luther King will be unveiled in Marshall Park. However, after much criticism over fundraising, bickering a mong the planning and fund raising commissioners, ques tions over whether there should even be such a statue, and the seemingly selfish reasons for the expected absence of Coretta Scott King; now there is the possibility that the statue may not be a real likeness to King. Undoubtedly, as King looks down from the Heavens, he is winning, "sucn trivia, sucn tri via, why don’t they spend the money on something worthwhile to aid humankind. I need not a statue because I’ve left behind a dream. My dream should be their conscious and the equality of human kind should be their statue.” It seems to us that the huppla over King’s statue should not be tarnished by any petty comment about its likeness or any other thing. If we truly admire and respect this great American, let’s honor him with dignity, humility and Christian brother hood. THE CHARLOTTE POST Second Class Postage No. 965500 “THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER” Established 1918 Published Every Thursday By The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. 1524 West Blv. - Charlotte, N.C. 28208 Telephone (704) 37*0496 • Circulation, 9,915 61 Years Of Continuous Service BILL JOHN80N... Editor Publisher BERNARD REEVE8...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. All photos and copy submitted become the property of the POST, and will not be returned. National Advertising Representative . . Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. 4SW.Sth Suite 1403 24008. Michigan Ave. New York, N.Y. 10030 Chicago, III. 10414 (212)489-1220 Calumet S-0200 v .— ■ Stop Daily Flights Of Black Capital From Black Communities BLACK PRESS POLITICIAN BUSINESSMAN DOCTORS LAWYERS ARTISTS TEACHERS MINISTERS WORKERS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS . SOCIAL WORKERS j^Tp FRATERNAL GROUPS *£1! ll ‘‘Whites appear determined to forfeit the cities to Blacks and it is inconceivable that the people, who through forced slave labor built this country for others, cannot now willingly unite to rebuild our communities for ourselves.” As I See It Father Knows Best? By Gerald O. Johnson Post Columnist The other day my wife and I arrived home from work to discover our daughters waiting eagerly to talk to us. Before we could get in the house good, my oldest daughter ran up to us and said “I learned about intercourse today”. My heart fell to my sto mach as all I could think about was what the hell are these fool kids doing on the school bus these days?! You see I’m not against them learning about inter course as long as it is taught in the proper en vironment. out, ui tuunc, uua w«2> immediately cleared up as she continued, “...in my health class. They showed us all about intercourse”. A sigh of relief came across my lips. “I know how chil dren are born and the vagina and the penis,” she explained. Well, I knew that this was going to be a long evening. It seems proper to teach your children about sex, but the first time they start telling you what they know it makes you queasy. Both my wife and I listened tentatively as my daughter went on with her newly learned topic. We hit a few points that made me blush, but I finally made it through the whole thing. When my oldest daughtei finished she politely got up and walked away without one question. Unfortunate ly, my youngest daughter decided she would take over the spotlight. “Well, Tania has explained all this to me and I want to know Gerald O. Johnson why the man has to put the penis on the lady’s vagina?” That’s itl 1, ■ thoughttosnyself, that’s it! I can’t get any redder. We must stop this conversa tion. I must say something bright, witty to get off this subject. But what? What should I say? “Ask your mother,” I blurted out. Oh, no stupid, you didn’t say that, I thought to myself. Well, my wife intelligent ly explained the why, the what, and the how of sex. She went on and on em barrassing me more and more. “Do you and daddy do it? she continued. That’s it! That’s it! We don’t have to sit here and take this humiliation from a 7-year old, I thought to myself. “Do it”, where did she get that slang from, I con tinued thinking. God, please get me through this in a hurry. Again, my wife took the floor, "Yes, we do. In fact, that is how both of you got here”. “When do you do it?”, my persistant little one continued. Well, I started thinking to myself again -1 was doing a lot of thinking, no talking, just thinking -1 ought to hit this brat in the mouth. One more wise crack like that and she is going to get it. “At night when you go to sleep”, my wife said. Okay, Gerald, compose yourself, I thought; because if she asks to watch next time, it will take an army to get me off her. Well my daughter’s curiosity was satisfied and she dropped the subject. My wife commented that it was nice having 2 adults and a child discuss sex but she thought I should play an adult role next time. Not to be outdone I said, “Girls, feel free to ask us questions pertaining to sex whenever they arise. Your mother and I will be more than happy to answer them as truthfully as we can.” + + + + n li uc incuu unuusoms freely, advises justly, as sists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend un changeably. William Penn CRISP CEREAL High humidity can take the crispness right out of your morning read-to-eat cereals if they’re not stored in a tightly closed package. To restore their crisp ness, heat the cereal in a shallow baking pan in a pre-heated oven at 350 de grees F. for about 5 minutes, suggests special ists with the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service. p——V er non E. Jordan^JrjBj V - r, k« Balanced Budget * ' Or Balanced Lives? . s ' • * . Balance-the-budget hysteria is sweeping the country. The Administration, which first submitted an austere budget amount ing to a real decrease in social program spending, tore it up and came up with a newer, even more austere budget. This one takes the hatchet to programs that primarily benefit poor people. Instead of giving the poor job programs, welfare reform, and expanded necessary services, the new budget gives them MX missiles. It’s all in the name of fighting inflation. But the budget doesn’t fight inflation at all. You could travel the length and breadth of this nation and not come up with a single economist who believes a balanced budget will shave more than an insignificant fraction of a percentage point off the inflation rate. A good part of the inflation rate is the result of OPEC increases for oil. The planned ten-cent-a-gallon tax on gas will just force a few more poor people off the roads while actually fueling inflation through higher gas prices. s loo small 10 conserve energy ana too big to do anything but harm poor people. If the Administration is serious about limiting gas imports it would impose a rationing system that allocated gas through transfer able coupons and put a firm lid on imports. The rest of the balanced budget program is similarly concerned with symbols rather than substance. There’s no serious effort to get a handle on big ticket spending items. Defense spending is still scheduled to rise. But social programs and urban aid are slated to be trimmed. This is less an effort to balance the budget than it is a move to pander to an electorate perceived as being fiscally conservative. Everyone wants to eliminate budget deficits - so long as the other guy pays for it. The budget becomes a political instru ment and the politically powerful get to keep their tax loopholes and favorite programs while the cities and the poor are ‘ cut. For all the rhetoric about how we all ' must make sacrifices, the sacrifices are concentrated disproportionately among those who depend most on federal programs. fsiacit unemployment is actually about twenty percent and black youth joblessness is about sixty percent in sOme cities. But job creation and training programs become the priority target for the budget cuts. Those cuts have been justified as a signal to the international financial community that the United States is finally serious about controlling inflation. There’s talk about giving the bond market a psychologi cal lift. Black people and poor people have always been asked to make sacrifices. They’ve borne the burden of wars, depressions, recessions, and now, inflation But this may be the first tn»c in history that poor people have been asked to make sacrifices to give a psychological lift to the bond market! I’m all for real steps to get a handle cm inflation. From Capitol Hill Budget Committee Will Cause Fight On House Floor? Alfred* L. Madison Special To The Post The House of Represent ative Budget Committee came forth with a bill that calls for a $16 billion cut which exceeds the Presi dent's $13 billion cut. When Congressman Giamimo, Chairman of the committee was reminded of the very large number of unem ployed minorities and with the predicted rise in Job lessness, he replied that there is plenty of money for Jobs and that he expected the senate to make more drastic cuts than the House. After being quest ioned further on the pro posal to cut one million Jobs that already had a high rate of unemployment back to 500,000 Jobs how could such an increased cut back produce more Jobs, he said the budget committee bill will cause a fight on the House floor. When the Director of Council on Wage and Price Stability testified before the Joint Economic com mittee, he also argued for budget reductions. When approached about the soar 3 Alfreds L. Madison ing unemployment among minorities his reply was the always old worn-out excuse about the hard core. He was told that it was a terrible indictment on the United States to have al lowed a large hard core segment to develop, about the Roosevelt CCC pro gram and with the present action of the Administra tion and congress how did they expect this group to make a living? He an swered that inflation must be reduced first because it’s hardest on that group of people. There seems no concern at either place for the welfare of minorities and the poor. Caucus has publicly an nounced that it is dis associating itself from the Democratic Administra tion and the Democratic Leadership in the House on the issues of the fiscal 1961 budget. These members say they do not oppose the concept of a balanced bud get but heartily object to having it balanced on the backs of the poor, minor ities, elderly and children. They agree to inflation fighting measures which address the causes of sky rocketing prices for energy housing, food and health care, but they do oppose political rhetoric which arouse emotion and false hopes which violate the democratic principles. Representative Parren Mitchell has prepared an alternative budget to that approved by congress. This budget focuses on both in flation and unemployment. It targets a tax cut for small businesses with the intent of increasing labor productivity throuoh train ing incentives. This budget will also focus on educa tion, training and skill de velopment programs. The details of the budget will be released to the public after the Easter holidays. The Congressional Black Caucus feels this budget can be passed by congress if the senior citizens, veteran groups, health care and education as sociations, and many other groups and individual citi zens will put pressure on their various congressmen, 'ntese Caucus members are taking the Administra tion and congressional bud get to the people through its network which has repre sentatives in all fifty states. This same method will be used in galvanizing support for the Mitchell budget There is little doubt that this Mitchell human rights amendment can pass if all black leaders muster their black constituents support for it. Black leaders must not fall victims to some little personal hand-out of recognition by the Admin istration at the expense of betrayal of the Jobless, poorly educated, ill-housed and poor health care of the blacks who put them in office. As a black reporter who meets many black officials on Capitol Hill and at the White House, I find it alarming to see some of them criticizing the Presi dent’s and congress’ con tinuous neglect of the pre vailing devastating con ditions of Macks and the poor and yet these same leaders are heartily en dorsing Mr. Carter. Upon serious scrutiny, it can usually be found that these individuals have been gi ven some minute personal favor, such as a trip, a patronage powerless ap pointment, or something else minor by the Administration. AFDC Program Increases? KAUE-IUH-Tne number of teen-age mothers and their children receiving public assistance in North Carolina under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program has mushroomed during the past three years. In 1979, there were 4,664 teen-age mothers receiving financial assistance com pared to only 206 three years earlier in 1976 • an increase of over twenty fold. “The over-all problem of teen-age pregnancy has be come a matter of great public concern across our and nation. It is act ualJy a greater problem in North Carolina than it is nationwide since in 1876, the state ranked fifth in the nation in proportion of births to mothers under age 18,” said Secretary of Human Resources Dr. Sarah T. Morrow. Ninety-five percent of those receiving AFDC pay ments in 1879 were IS and 19 year olds and the re mainder were younger. i . niw i !!■— luujiiii N ' ¥J
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