_Editorials & Comments
• *
Real Melting Pot -—
Americans have developed a
new self-portrait, or, in the
words of Census Director Bruce
Chapman, “...a snapshot of the
country.” What this means is
that when we look inward as a
nation to where we were, what
we were doing and what were
our habits and beliefs in 1970 and
compare these with 1980, we can
see some startling changes.
What we have found out about
ourselves is that as a nation we
have made Some substantial
changes in the last decade. This
is undoubtedly highlighted by the
changing notion about America
as a melting pot of ethnic types.
Twenty years ago sociologists
Glazer and Moynihan wrote,
“The notion that the intense and
unprecedented mixture of ethnic
and religious groups in
—American Jife^ was soon to blend
into a homogeneous end product ~
has outlived its usefulness, and
a iso iis creoimnty tbeeause),,jt
did not happen (as evident by)...
the unevenness of achievement”
of people in different ethnic
groups. This belief about the
myth of a melting' persisted
through the early 1970s.
• However, “the new self
portrait,” in the words of the
Associated Press, painted in 1980
and now revealed by the Census
Bureau, “shows that America is
more of^a melting pot than—
ever.” For example, 23 million
Americans use a language other
- than English in their homes - 49
percent of these are speaking
Spanish. Secondly, Asians had a
; median family income in 1980 in
_the United States of $22,075,
compared to $20,840 for whites;
$14,911 for Hispanics; and $12,618
..for blacks. In the Carolinas,
; whites had a substantially higher
median family income than
- hlacks.For whites it was $ia as7
. in North Carolina and $19,498 in
; South Carolina. For blacks it was
; :$11,597 and $11,282, respectively,
•Tin North and South Carolina.
People of Spanish origin in 1980
• had median family incomes of
$12,471 in North Carolina and
$10,837 in South Carolina.
Other major findings in the
1980 Census included:
Poverty Decline
(1) The percentage of people
living in poverty declined from
13.7 to 12.5 percent in the ten
year period ending in 1980, with
the largest decline in the South
ern states where the poverty
level has been the highest. “A
high percentage of people in
poverty are women raising
children. Poverty seems to
attach itself to people trying to
raise children alone,” notes
Bruce Chapman.
However, in the Carolinas
while overall poverty levels de
clined they remained above the
national average with 15 percent
JnNorth Carolina and 16 percent
in South Carolina. Furthermore,
nearly 20 percent of all families!
bom nationally and in the
Carolinas, were headed by a
single parent - usually a woman.
(2) In the decade of the 70s, the
number of women in the labor
force increased by 58 percent
while the increase by men was
only 42 percent.
(3) The median household in
come in 1979 was $16,830, up by
98.3 percent from 1969. However,
adjustments for inflation show
no real change in income during
the ten year period. In the
Carolinas median income more
than doubled and therefore
exceeded the 98.3 percent
increase in the national average.
A typical household in North
Carolina had an annual income
in 1979 of $14,876, up nearly 112
percent from $7,025 in 1969. In
South Carolina r the- Jeap_. was
about 122 percent to $15,145.
Sharp Decline
(4) The number of non-family
households - people living alone
or with a non-relative - increased
by an astonishing 71.9 percent'
during the decade of the 70s;
while the number of families
increased by only 15.7 percent.
So-called non-family households
now constitute over one-fourth of
all households^ in the nation.
Nealy 90 percent of the nom~
family households consist of a
single person living alone, usual
ly an elderly person or a young
adult. Non-family households
make up over 20 percent of
the households in the two
Garolinas.
(5) There has been a sharp
decline in the use of public
transportation by Americans
traveling to and from work - 6.3
percent in T980 compared lo 8.9
percent in 1970.
(6) For the first time over
half—66.3 percent—of all Ameri
cans 25 years of age and older
have completed four years of
high school. In North Carolina it
is 28 percent for a six percent
increase since 1970. In South
Carolina the increase was from
21 to 27 percent.
(7) Approximately 17 percent
of all Americans had completed
four years of college in 1980, up
from 11 percent in 1970. In North
Carolina completing four years
of college was at six percent in
1970 and up to *13 percent in 1980.
For South Carolina the percent
ages were six percent inl970 and
14 percent in 1980.
(8) All types of housing cost
more than doubled between 1970
and 1980. For homeowners with
mortgages, had monthly in
creases of 112 percent from $172
to $385.
Next week: This column will
explain the impact of these
changes on black Americans.
“IT IS INCONCEIVABLE TO ME THAT WE WHO HAVE
IN SPITE OF THE BARBARISM OF WHITE
PEOPLE SHOULD, IN THE LAST QUARTER OF THE 20TH
CENTURY, STAND AS MUTE SPECTATORS TO OUR OWN
DOOM ’ ’
A'
HEAR
NOTHING
SEE ^
NOTHING }y
\
SPEAK
NOTHING,
United Community Leadership...Needed Now
Tony’Hrown’s Comments
Had® Sn_-3ed At Si^Jy-SUe Education _
i ms year I have had
three distinct honors. I was
drafted by the Council of
National Alumni Associa
tions, an umbrella group
representing 92 of the ill
black colleges, as the first
member of its CNAA Hall
of Fame. I also had the
distinction of being select
ed as Prairie View A&M
University’s commence
ment speaker.
The third honor was an
opportunity to produce a
program, “Supply Side
Education,” on this unique
university. During the film
ing we found out that the
supply-side concept had
-beeniuTexas for-years,
Advocates of supply-side
economics stress tax cuts
and regulatory reforms to
help American industry
supply goods and services.
And although the idea is
perceived as new and revo
lutionary, it presents no
new body of theory. As a
matter of act, one Dr. Alvin
Thomas has been applying
mis neociassic mode of
analysis to black higher
education at Prairie View
A&M University near Hou
ston, Texas since 1966.
By taxing defeatism and
subsidizing success, while
preparing graduates for
growth markets, Dr.
Thomas, Prairie View’s
president, with an enroll
ment of 5,500 produces
more black professional
graduates than any college
in America. And their -
average starting salary
will be $14,000 - twice the
average of their parents.
Prairie View is the major
producer of black engin
eers. Prairie View grad
uates more black engin
eers than any of the
nation’s 307 colleges and
universities - black or
white - offering engineer
ing. Approximately 70 per
cent of the black register
ed nurses in Texas are
graduates of Prairie View.
The university has com
missioned more than 1,000
officers through the Army
ROTC program. Prairie
View's Naval ROTC has
commissioned more black
officers than all of the uni
versities in the South have
produced in the history of
the nation.
The state’s second oldest
university has graduated
more than 50 percent of the
black currently enrolled at
medical and dental schools
in Texas. And every pre
—medicad-student —wttf- be'
accepted by at least one
medical school.
But nruny have paid re
markably little attention to
the lessons of this univers
ity and Dr. Thomas’ ability
to increase the nation's
supply of educated’, em
ployed Diack professionals
' In the 60’s many black
colleges abandoned their
iraaiuonai supply-side
strengths in vocational and
technical education for li
beral arts programs while
the market was glutted
with these majors. Many of
them have fared poorly as
a result of this and the
black student exodus to
white colleges.
But Dr. Thomas is over
seeing a growth program
because he has refused to
emulate white univers
ities: a classic supply-side
concept and an idea that
has paid off.
Why is Prairie View so
successful?
One intangible, but very
real reason is the environ
ment. Admittedly,, while
some students at Prairie
View have the traditional
gripes of college adjust
ment - discipline, aca
demic assignments and
finding Mr. or Miss Right,
they pale when compared
to adjustment problems of
blacks at white colleges.
An increasing number of
black^students in white
academics spend huge ~
amounts of time and
energy railing against
white rural environments,
isolation from other blacks,
music preferences, the
availability of black men,
women or churches, teach
er bias, academic difficul
ties and an overall-racists
environment.
Prairie View has a head
start in educating black
' sttidems wlR) are academic—
victims of busing for racial
balance or blackboard
jungle ghetto schools -
something white colleges
must now do. Remedial
training in freshman read
ing, math and writing have
long been emphasized.
But that’s not the only
reason for this success
story.
There are the black role
models: blacks who prove
by their demonstrated
ability and leadership that
a Mack can create destiny.
Confidence also comes
from a compatible social
environment that includes
rather than excludes the
black student into a feeling
of isolation or marginal
acceptance at best.
The bottom line: Prairie
View students are emotion
ally and academically pre
pared for any aspect of
our society - all white, all
black or various shades of
salt and pepper.
Dr. Thomas is the most
revolutionary black educa
tor Since Booker T. Wash
ington. His student body is
poor and frequently bene
fits from lenient admis
See BLACKS on Page 10
'By Rev. John Perkins^SSSSSS
— i
Walk
Your
Tp/k
-Rev. Perkins I
Great Concern For Hack
Community Of America!
I have a great concern for the black
community of America. I am also con
cerned about the Spanish people coming to
this country from Central America. My fear
~is that the same thing that happened to us
win happen to them. My greatest concer^
however, is for the present leadership
within our black community and the kind of
image that it is projecting.
• A leader is more than a person who
diagnoses the problems. He must not only
understand the problem, he must have
some idea and visions for solutions. He must
also be the one who takes the responsibility
for that condition and move forward lo
administer the solution.
Presently, our leadership basically ex
plains the condition and then lay blame on
the historical situation and expect those
people who created the condition to come
forward-with a solution. For a leader to
expect the ones who put us~tfTto~this~
condition to get us out is to expect the
impossible. A leader mustynqtivate the
people to pull themselves out of the ~
condition.
m order to move out of that condition, a
community must possess the skills, tech
nology, and economic resources. How do we
bring these resources together? This is the
point where the gospel of Jesus Christ
becomes relevant. If we look at where the
motivating ownership and Dride is in our
community, you will discover that it is in
the black church. It then becomes natural to
me that if blacks utilized the resources that
are there and then submit themselves to the
lordship of Jesus Christ, we would have a
much better model of liberation. John 5:1
exemplifies what I am saying.
“After this there was a feast of the Jews
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now these
were at Jerusalem, by the sheep gate a pool
which was called in the Hebrew tongue
Bathesa, having five porches. In these laid a
-*reat_ multitude of impotent folks, blind,
lame, paralyzed, etc:; waiting for the - •
moving of the water. For an angel went
down in a certain season into the pool and
troubled the water; whoever then first,,#
after the troubling of the water stepped in
and was made well of whatever disease he
had. A certain man was there who had an
infernity for thirty and eight years. When
Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he
had been there now for a long time, he said
to him, “will thou be made whole?” The
man answered him, “Sir, I have not man
when the water is troubled to put me into the
pool, but while I come, another step down
before me.” Jesus said to him, rise, take up
and walk. Instantly the man was made well,
and took up his bed and walked. That day
was the sabbath.”
From the multitude of people at the wall,
Jesus selects one person who symbolizes the
people who were there. This one had been
there for thirty eight years dangling at the
pool depending on other people. He had
created a welfare mentality. He was
expecting others to do things for him.
Within his own mind, he forgot that others
were performing his deeds and came to
depend on them without thinking.
Jesus says to the man, "Rise, take up
your bed and walk." Immediately the man
was made well and took up his bed and
walked.
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Second Class Postage No. 965500
“THE PEOPLE’S NEWSPAPER”
Established 1918
Published Every Thursday
by Thfe Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc.
Subscription Rate $15.60 per year
Send All 3579’slo:
l.»21 West Blvd., Charlotte. N.C. 28208
=-Telephone <704)376-0496
_Circulation 7,151
104 Years oicontinuous Service
Editor. Publisher
Bernard Reeves Genera| Manager
Fran Farrer Advertising Director
Dannette (.aither Office Manager
Second Class Postage No. 965500 Paid At
Charlotte. North Carolina
_l nder 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.
.'MW S. Michigan \ve i;, v\ r,ih Si.. Suite iisj
Chicago. HI. (mis \rw York. \eu Vork loom
' nlumet .*-0200 (2121 ISO-122#
From Capitol HUl
Ronald Mums Holds Hearings On Dfeaslroro SHkarv Polioe
ny wirena l. Madison
Special To The Post
The Reagan Administra
tion which seems super
saturated with a Soviet
phobia, sees all foreign
problems as an East-West
conflict and that they can
be solved militarily. He has
proposed a weapon pro
gram that is causing a
growing fear in this
country and around the
world of a total world
human destruction. Both in
foreign countries and here
at home there is a ground
swell of nuclear freeze.
Hearing those clarion
calls, Representative
Ronald Dellums, a senior
member of the House
Armed Services Commit
tee. being unable to pur
suade the committee to
hold hearing on full impli
cations of the military bud
get. set up an ad hoc
commiteee in order to
develop a coherent and
cohesive rethinking of the
military assumptions and
weapons spending Del
lums said, "U S. strategic
and tactical weapons pro
grams are leading us
toward nuclear war -
Reagan Administration
policy escalates and ac
vciciflics development of
the military systems which
have been identified as ag
gressive and destabiliz
ing."
The hearings focused on
four phases: (1) foreign
policy and national secur
ity implications of the mili
tary budget, <2) economic
implications of the budget.
(3) moral implications of
the military budget, (4)
impact of gobal arms sales
on the military budget, and
(5) Third World implica
tions.
On the foreign policy and
national security military
implications, former Sen
ator Fulbright said, “This
budget, together with the
propaganda to sell it to
Congress and the public,
has the effect of shifting the
focus of our policy from
that of deterring nuclear
war to the waging of
nuclear war. The military
budget is s6 large and the
emphasis on nuclear wea
pons so strong and rhetoric
about Soviet threat so
extreme, that one cannot
resist the feeling we are
preparing to fight and win
a nuclear war."
These witnesses viewed
the Reagan foreign policy
Alfred* L. Madison
as amateurish; that it is
filled with misstatements
and misconceptions of
Soviet intent and capabi
lities and that Congress is
being swamped by the mill
tary seeking bigger bud
gets for more expensive
weapons They strongly
criticized the Reagan Ad
ministration for its lack of
world leadership because
his policy is inherent in a
military solution of world
problems instead' of' an
economic policy.
One witness stated that
our present foreign policy
proves that we’ve learned
nothing from our involve
ment during the 60’s in
Vietnam and Nicaraugua,
with our immense military
power, which was insuffi
cient to determine a winner
in either case.
Economic implications
of the budget showed that
American economy is in
ruins, because of neglect of
vital services such as clear
water, reliable transport
ation, efficient ports, com
petent waste disposal - all
of this has been reflected in
U.S. industrial production.
American industry is
making inferior products
and is investing in foreign
countries. These conditions
developed because the
United States has assigned
tq the military economy
large quantities of machin
ery, tools, engineers,
energy, raw materials and
skilled labor and manage
ment.
Moral implications of the
military emphasis was
shown as greatly affecting
our education system. Dr.
Herndon, President of Na
tional Education Associa
tion stated, "Our depend
ence on the implements of
war seemingly threatens
our will and capacity to
establish justice, insure
tranquliity, promote the
general welfare and secure
the blessings of liberty.
Moreover, it may indeed
provide more common Jeo
Dardv than defense.”
Bishop Walter Sullivan of
the Catholic Diocese of
Richmond stressed three
points; (1) American po
licy on arms shipments
contributes to the spread of
death around the world;
(2) the proposed military
budget is a theft against
the poor, (3) emphasis on
national security has had a
negative effect on the
attitudes and hopes of the
young people in our
country.
He stated that arm
aments are big business
which has caused our world
to become an armed camp.
He said that in the last 10
years arms purchases have
risen by 825 percent in the
Middle East, 422 percent In
Latin America and 3,500
percent in America We
lead the world in arms sale.
Bishop Sullivan said that
our emphasis on arms have
caused tension to increase
and our military weapons
keep oppressive govern
ments alive. He stated that
our weapon build-up, bills
the poor by causing them to
starve, while the money is
used for military produc
m
tion. The Bishop said that
the arms emphasis has
caused our young people to
believe that a nuclear
holocaust is inevitable.
Bishop Sullivan ended
with a paraphrase, “The
arms race does not form a
more perfect union, does
not establish justice, does ^
not insure tranqulity, does
not provide for the common
defense, does not promote
the general welfare and
finally the arms race does
not secure the blessings of
liberty for ourselves and to
our posterity.”
Even though these hear
ings were attended by only
a very few congressmen, it
is likely that in the near
future, the anti-nuclear
sentiment will force major
congressional hearings on
our military phobia. Ron
Dellums is just another
example of blacks being
ahead of the powerful white
establishment. “