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Thursday, July 8,1993 - THE CHARLOTTE POST - PageSA Who Represents Blacks? Dole Needs Attitude Adjustment The nation is tired and fed up with Sen. Bob Dole's tired rhetoric concerning the national deficit and everything else that he grumbles about. Mr. Dole's problems seem to be anger... angry because he has been unsuccessful as a presidential candidate... angry because it seems that he Is a paraplegic, bitter because he was not selected as a vice presidential candidate to run with Mr. Bush... Downright disturbed because the Republi cans lost the White House in the last election. The smart thing that Mr. Dole should do is to get his wife, if he knows where she landed last, and go home and have some chil dren... if that is possible. The nation and his party are being badly served with his continued rhetoric. JAMES FOXX Charlotte How Close To Political Utopia? The June 30 Charlotte Observer quotes one of the Voting Rights experts as saying Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conner's ruling in the case of the North Carolina redls- trlcting plan was "Utopianism." Of course Utopia would be on its way to realization if we could obtain a political sys tem in which race no longer matters. Surely a desirable state of all fair-minded people. The question is how may this be done considering the past and present attitude of the majority of citizens who exert the power? "After 1900 one Southern sate after another, at their Con stitutional Conventions contrived means of circumventing the 14th and 15th Amendments. It was the Grandfather Clause in Louisiana, the education test in Tennessee, the property qualification in Mississippi, the character tests in Virginia, and everywhere the poll tax and the white pri mary. By 1010 the Negro in the south was as completely dis enfranchised as he had been under slavery." "In 1965, the Voting Rights Act, signed by President Lyn don B. Johnson suspended literacy tests and other devices found to be discriminatory as qualifications for voting in the states Alabama, Alaska, 'Georgia, Louisiana, Mississip pi, South Carolina and at least 26 counties in North Caroli na." Now, North Carolina has met the requirements and the state has officially approved the 1st and 12th Congression al Districts. In 1992, the Justice Department under Presi dent Bush told the state to create two districts with a major ity of black voters. It had." The Supreme Court decision unsettled what many thought was established." One is forced to ask how far we are to the Utopia described by Sir Thomas Moore. FLORETTA D, GUNN Charlotte More Emphasis On Remediation After spending a year as a social worker in a local middle school, I wonder why we have allowed the "D" students to exist in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. I'm not talking about the Exceptionally Certified students (Learning Dis abled, Mentally disabled, or Attention Deficit Hyperactive) but those students who will probably make D's and maybe an occasional "C" throughout their middle and high school years. These are students who enter middle school reading 3-4 years below grade level and will spend the next 6 years struggling to understand language arts, social studies, science, health and all courses which require them to read for information. This past year I became just as frustrated as my students, their parents, their teachers, and their tutors (which our program provided) as they struggled to keep up with all of the written instruction. Why these students can not read their studies on grade level is not as important as how to help them catch up to where they should be. With all of the successful reading remediation programs that are available to adults through literacy programs, why can't the same process be used with middle and high school students? Do they have to wait until they graduate from high school before learning how to read? Can we not include these remediation classes in the regular schedule without having to re-write that entire middle school cur riculum? Let us change the "D" student from despair to determined to succeed. RITA BROWN Charlotte Two Rules For Foreign Policy Welcome to the Terrodome. President Clinton called for a raid on Iraq's intelligence headquarters In Baghdad, which sent Tomohawk cruise missies to do the destruction/terrorism, while once again killing innocent Muslim civilians and destroying their homes in the process. This was supposed to have been a "retaliation" against an "alleged" attempt to assassinate former President Bush. This seems more like a cleverly devised scheme created to destroy Iraq's intelligence oper ations. Clinton said the attack, (which was unauthorized by the United Nations and not valid under international law) "sent the message we needed to send" against terrorism. Webster's dictionary defines terrorism as the use of terror and intimidation to gain one's political objectives. In def inition, this describes the recent attack on Iraq, among others: Panama, Grenada, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the list goes on. The so-called "terrorist" events that have been created are miniscule compared to the major terrorists events that have been committed by the beasts of this country. Many may wonder why the U.S. was swift to "retaliate" against Iraq, but has done nothing to punish the Chris tian Serb aggressors against the Muslims in Bosnia. The answer is simple. It Is because they are Muslim. The U.S. can not directly kill Muslims in Bosnia and have "just cause." but by not allowing this aggression they are indi rectly killing Muslims in both places. Stay tuned, the dou ble standards of the real terrorists will continue...Watch your back! HAMPTON HOUGH Charlotte Tony Brown! When the political descrip tion "liberal" is used by the mainstream media, it now refers exclusively to black Democrats and, to a lesser extent, white and black femi nists. And liberal causes are now relegated to such social wel fare issues as increasing the very "entitlement" programs that are driving the debt and the interest on the debt (your family's share is about $50,000 as of this week - and growing) - without limiting even their growth or cutting the political pork payoffs that hide in the so-called "stimulus" bills. So it's not hard to under stand why budget conscious white America and a handful of blacks see the liberal Con gressional Black Democratic Caucus as a group represent ing fringe issues. The result is that liberal blacks, virtu ally all black politicians, are an increasingly marginal force in American politics - despite the numerical in crease in black elected offi cials. Most of them will blame ra cism for their political Isola tion, but a closer look will show their politics to be the real culprit. The flip side of this concern is the question: are blacks in Congress representing the le gitimate interests of the black community or white liberal causes? Case in point: abortion. Last week, blacks in Con gress, allegedly defending the rights of poor black women to get an abortion put a tele vision show not seen since the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas soap opera. According to The Washing ton Post, "tempers flared" af ter Rep. Cynthia McKinney, a black Democrat from Geor gia, said she had 'just about had it' with the white men. Republican and Democrat, who were backing a "discriminatory policy against poor women who happen to be disproportion ately black." After the hisses died down. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) sponsor of the 1977 Hyde Amendment which has lim ited government payments for abortion to saving the life of a woman and now wants it amended to Include federal funds for rape and in cest victims, responded to the enraged chorus: 'We tell poor women, 'You can't have a job, you can't have a good education, you can't have a decent place to live. I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll give you a free abor tion because there are too many of you people and we want to, kinda refine, refine the breed.'" Essentially, Hyde said what black people are saying eve rywhere. The system prefers dead black babies to radical ly changing the conditions which could make them suc cessful as living human be ings. But the double standard doesn't permit a white, and certainly not a Republican white man like Hyde, to say what many, if not most, black people believe. So the black liberals tried to shut him up with the worn-out tactic of "racism." "At that point," the Post said, "an angry Rep. Cardiss Collins (D-Ill.) rose and grabbed the nearest micro phone. 'Em offended by that type of debate.'" "I'm going to direct my friend (Collins) to a few (black) ministers who will tell her just what goes on in her community," and unln- timldated Hyde shot back. "Several other black female lawmakers quickly got out of their seats and tried unsuc cessfully to respond. During a subsequent procedural vote, tempers still raged as several black women screamed at Hyde," the Post observed. Then the abortlon-on- demand black women's lobby tuned on white male Demo crats as well in what the Post story called "a bizarre kind of chaos on the House floor." Are these black politicians in step with the abortion- rights movement or the black community? The an swer Is readily at hand. A poll by Home Box Office and the Joint Center for Po litical and Economic Stud ies, a black think tank, proves that most blacks flunk the Ideological abor tion litmus test of these lib eral feminists. Almost a ma jority, 47 percent of blacks, believe that abortions should be legal only under "some cir cumstances" - conditions very similar to the revised Hyde amendment. Only 32 percent said abortions should be legal under any cir cumstance, whenever you want one at government ex pense, as the black politi cians want for poor black women. That's why these outraged black politicians will not make these same abortlon- when-you-want-it demands in the black churches where they must go to get reelected. The Joint Center's study also found that 33 percent of blacks consider their politi cal views to be "conservative," 31 percent "moderate" and only 28 per cent "liberal." So who does this tin-cup brigade of fringe liberals rep resent? TONY BROWN is a national ly-syndicated columnist. U.S. Shouldn't 'Help' SomaKa By James Stroud SPECIAL TO THE POST It was less than one year ago (December 1992) that the U.S. undertook its relief, res cue, and peace restoration mission in Somalia. The world was reminded daily of the starvation of millions of women and chil dren fleeing the wrath of So malia's warlords the col lapse of any form of government, and the utter chaos that resulted. The U.S. and UN pondered, considered and debated for years C90-'92) just what to do to help the beleaguered coun try in the face of world opin ion. It seemed as though they were worried that some of the world body would disap prove of the leadership of the U.S. in rescuing that country from Its hand wringing, and indecision while crying large "crocodile" tears. Finally a decision was made by George Bush to save some of his dignity as a de feated politico by going out of office as a world hero by re leasing U.S. troops and arms to free up the ports at Moga dishu. Mind if you will, there had been ships sponsored by various world health organi zations sitting within sight of the besieged city with up to 50,000 tons of food and med icine for weeks, and even months. These relief sup plies rotted while the world watched Somali warlords henchmen, thugs, and thieves parade openly with out fear of any consequence, but back to the main point: With the U.S taking the lead, (and the UN waiting for permission to help the city of Mogadishu was taken from the roving gangs, order re stored, people fed. Band Aids passed out, and the U.S. was shown as a hero of humanl- tarlanlsm, but whoa! Whatever happened to those warlords who caused the need for this rescue in the first place? What happened to those roving bands that were killing unarmed relief workers to steal the meager supplies? Where did all the bad guys go? Reports numbered less than 100 the number of gangsters, thugs and thieves cap tured, arrest ed and/or killed. Strange! Meanwhile, the news was that the war lords were holding council, and meeting with the U.S. and UN officials to work out "settlements"? After a few months, all was declared much better, and the U.S troops came home, leaving the "peacekeeping" forces of the UN to hold things together. This was in the interest of rebuilding the city/country. Now here we are again. They're back. These same warlords. The most outstanding one in the person of "general" (of what army)? Mohamed Farrah Aldid. Stroud Other Minorities Proactive In Dealing With Bigotry William Reed NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Whenever African Ameri cans are wronged in Ameri can society, they do every thing possible to demonstrate, have the world contemplate, and fully illus trate that act of discrimina tion. You will hear about how "they done me wrong" from the hurt party, and if it is a really bad act of preju dice or racism, more than the normal that we encoun ter day-to-day, you will hear about the act, or read about It, in the general community media. But, a question for the African American com munity, which has found it self in this situation so many times, to ponder, is that: "Is it probable that Aslans, Arabs and Jews get discriminated against in American society too? What do they do when they find that they don't get served at a restaurant, or turned away from a hotel, or forbidden to see the girl, or boy, of their dreams? Do they act like us and try to make everybody guilty? They don't get mad, they just get even. WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND? Your opinions are important to The Post and Charlotte. What are your feel ings about issues like health care, education or crime? Write The Charlotte Post P.O.B0K 30144 Chariotte, N.C. 28230 or FAX f704) 342-2160, We edit for brevity, grammar and clarity when ap plicable. Please leave a da5dlme phone number and your name. All correspondence becomes prop>erty of The Charlotte Post. The Images We Show Our Children By Dr. Paula Newsome SPECIAL TO THE POST Newsome What type of images are we showing our chil dren? Who are we ac knowledging and glorify ing in our so ciety? Two recent inci dences on television occurred that me. Let me why I am This time the "General's" thugs and thieves are cast as "troops." Troops to the ex tent that today's news is a "major offensive" centered on 4 square blocks In the middle of the city of Mogadi shu. This is where the "general" is said to be head quartered. Strange! Question: Why was the gen eral and his "forces" left in place during the U.S. occupa tion of Mogadishu? Why was Aldid and other warlords permitted not only to sur vive, but even to meet In counsel with the full (report ed) knowledge of occupying U.S. forces? Strange indeed! By the way, despite the "all out assault" (helicopter gun- ships, rockets, heavy artil lery, and tanks) on the "headquarters," there Is no General Aldid to be found and the body count from the assault was less than 10! In conclusion, it is our re sponsibility as believers in human rights to stand up to the real warlords (the U.S. and UN) and hold them, ac countable for the hundreds of thousands of needless deaths from starvation, and the immeasurable sufferings of the Somali people. It is morally wrong for us to send a 5,000-man army at the cost of $500 billion to re store Kuwait to its former luxurious state, and yet not even have the human decen cy to at least leave Somalia alone! In the name of human de cency, dignity, and God, don't "help" the Somalis anymore. JAMES STROUD is a Char lotte writer. have bothered share with you troubled. First I, like most of the world, enjoy basketball. I am attracted to the visual imag ery of these human beings having to run, jump, shoot and think all at the same time. The beauty of that sport is unsurpassed in my book. During the NBA playoffs, however, I was con stantly exposed to a "color analyst" who had difficulty making his subjects and verbs agree and who over used the verb "be." This per son has also publicly touted his sexual exploits with little regard for how his wife may feel at this public disclosure. He bragged about his life style, which was fraught with excesses and abuse of responsibility. Is this per son, Magic Johnson, the only African in America NBC could find? I thtnk hot. So the message as I see It is, don't worry about learning much in school, don't worry about learning adequate communication skills, don't worry about being irrespon sible because if you're a big enough basketball talent or star, we will still pay you big bucte to stand in front of our children night in and night out and it is all okay! Friday night, I just hap pened to watch Arsenlo Hall and I was sorry I did. Women were constantly being de graded and talked to as if be ing good sexual partners were all our daughters could aspire to do. I was even more shocked at Bell Biv DeVoe's performance of a new tune with scantily clad women dancing In a sexually exploi tive manner. I thought I was watching a burlesque perfor mance instead of a late night talk show. The final click of the remote control came when BBD surrounded this female in the center of a cir cle making lewd and sugges tive motions and the five males encircling her. It looked like what we used to call a "train" and what today may be called "gang rape." It is no wonder to me that Magic Johnson and Arsenlo Hall are good friends. They both have a very different sense of values. The bottom line for them is money, not the messages they may be sending. While Africans in America do not launch mass writing campaigns to the media we ought to do so In these cases. While I always support Afri cans In America "making It," I have come to discover that at what expense people are making it Is even more Im portant to me. Let's let Arsenlo know that holding one's crotch on tele vision and using profanity actually makes us turn off the television set Instead of turning it on. Let's let NBC know that we love Magic and our support, but let's get an African commentator who took the time to pay atten tion in English class. We as adults have to con stantly look at the images we are showing our children. DR. PAULA NEWSOME is a Charlotte optometrist.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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July 8, 1993, edition 1
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