Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Dec. 9, 1993, edition 1 / Page 4
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Page 4A - THE CHARLOTTE POST - Thursday, December 9,1993 EDITORIALS Cljarlotte The Voice Of The Black Community Gerald O. Johnson Publisher Robert L. Johnson Co-Publisher Herbert L. White Managing Editor Gk)veminent can’t fix crime "We've got to get the Legisla ture back for a special session. Somebody has got to do some thing about his crime thing. We've just got to put a stop to it." That is my friend Joe talking. He holds the members of the General Assembly responsible for our rising crime problem. He wants them to come back to Raleigh and ftx everything. In case you don't remember Joe, he Is the same guy who was complaining last summer that the General Assembly had hung around Raleigh way too long. I remember his saying then that nobody's property or livelihood was safe as long as, the Legislature was in session. Back then Joe was saying that the Legislature messed up everything that it touched. But now Joe wants them to come back to Ra leigh, and, in a few days of courageous action, eliminate crime. How I wish that It could be done! There are some things that would be helpful: More re sources for courts and prosecutors, more prison beds, more policemen, restrictions on the ownership and use of various weapons. These things would help a little bit. But you and I know that they wouldn't work miracles. And then there would have to be other things done to make us think that the legisla tors really meant to strike a hard blow against crime: Mandatory lengthy sentences for all types of crimes, more death sentences, automatic this and automatic that, and other things that look good but may actually take away from the ability of real crime fighters to marshal the state's resources to fight dan gerous criminals. And the General Assembly would have to consider more Innovative proposals. Some body, for instance, would suggest the use of National Guard troops to help safeguard ur ban areas. (Some of us laughed at similar suggestions by mayors Mjo'ick and Pratt. But there may be something to the concept of an organized citizenry answering a call to arms to respond to a common enemy. If we leave the ordinary system. Would Reagan support Powell? By James Alsbrook SPECIAL TO THE POST Was Ronald Reagan sincere when he recently invited Colin Powell to California, gave Powell the Reagan "Freedom Award," and said he would like to see Powell in the White House as presi dent? Many people are not aware that this conservative, two- term ex-Presldent Reagan who opposed most civil rights laws evidently changed, now saying he would like to see a black man in the White House as Presi dent. The implications of Rea gan's "Powell for President" statement are enormous. We know Reagan made the statement because he wanted to Influence the political di rection of this nation. Whether the statement was made with sincerity and in good faith is conjecture based on one of these three theories: Theory No. 1: Assume Rea gan was sincere. If this is true, he endorsed Powell be cause he knows victorious military leaders are popular at all levels of society. Also, he know the present Republi can leaders having potential presidential support lack the promise of victory in 1996. But Powell has more than 30 years of outstanding mili tary service and has that "over and above petty poli tics" air and is popular. The Democrats and the Republi cans of Virginia - each party - Is asking him to run on its ticket for the next vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. Rea gan knows people like Pow ell's communication skills, his mainstream personality, his charisma, his modesty an his brilliant military record. Reagan believes Pow ell would win the presidency for Republicans and be a good and strong leader. Theory No. 2: Assume Rea gan was not sincere. If this is true, Reagan endorsed Powell because he has a "hidden agenda" and wants to keep Powell from divulging infor mation that would discredit the Reagan administration just as the Watergate affair discredited Nixon. Powell could severely damage Re publican hopes for a 1996 presidential election victory. Reagan knows Powell has received offers of between $4 million and $6 million to write his autobiography in cluding his memoirs. Reagan knows that the "clean" and credible Powell could Include in his forth coming book a hailstorm of damaging facts that would further sully the Reagan im age and further injure Repub lican election hopes in local and national politics. Theory No. 3. Assume Rea gan is sincere and believes Powell would be the white conservatives' Uncle Tom ro bot and flunky like Clarence Thomas. Which is correct? JAMES ALSBROOK is a syndicated columnist. Our fight against violence By Fess Bradley SPECIAL TO THE POST Citizen unorganized and alone to face his fears of crime and violence, what choices does he have? Build walls and fences. Buy guns. Train dogs. Hire bodyguards. Retreat into despair so con fusing that he no longer sees the difference between shoot ing a criminal who is invad ing our home and shooting one who is running away. More organized citizen par ticipation might save us from individual angry stu pidity.) And the General Assembly would throw money at other attractive "solutions" that are really money down the drain. All this done in special legislative session might give Individual legislators license to say, "I voted to allocate many millions of ex tra dollars to fight crime. I understand your concerns." Maybe it would get you and me and Joe off their backs - for a little while. But the truth is, for all the legislators might do, we proba bly wouldn't notice the difference. The other day, my minister, in a sermon on another topic, said, "The problem Is that we don't know what the problem is." We do know some of the ingredients of the crime problem. We are surrounded by them - family breakdown, urbanization, total mo bility and the resulting loss of responsibility for those who live and work around us, drugs, joblessness, hopelessness, race, and insecuri ty- "A problem well-stated is a problem that is already half-solved," someone told me last week. But, as a community, we can't yet state our problem with crime in a fashion that points towards its solution. Before we rush our legislators to solve our crime problem, let us be sure we know what the problem is. And let's get the problem well-stated - before you and I and Joe push the General Assembly into a special session. D.G. MARTIN is vice president for public af fairs for the University of North Carolina Living in America in the 1990s, one would think that white-on-whlte violence does not exist. It certainly does not come blaring across the television screen. One cannot find it in newspaper headlines. There are no stop the killing movements in the European- American community. President Clinton goes to a black church in Memphis and to a Hispanic church in Los Angeles to address the Issue of crime and violence. Why doesn't he raise this issue in the same tenor before European-Americans? After all, over 30,000 European-Amerlcans have been murdered in this country in the last three years. The overwhelming majority of these European-Americans were murdered by other European-Amerlcans. In fact, records indicate that 80% of all crimes com mitted against European-Americans are committed by their own people. White-on-white violence is primarily a problem that affects lower class European- Americans - the white invisibles. When im ages of crime and violence are being project ed, they don't exist. When images of poverty and welfare are being projected, they disap pear. Their class status has relegated them Invisible. Whereas class status explains some of this, the double-edged sword of white supremacy must be examined to explain the rest. Dr. Amos Wilson says, "there is a need for the dominant elements of white America to maintain their pristine self-image, to per ceive themselves as faultless and superior to Africans who they oppress and exploit." Con sequently, they must deny and distort the re ality of "their past criminal and immoral be havior" and the contemporary criminality of their power structure and of their lower classes. One result of this Is that the social problems of poor European-Americans never get addressed. They are sacrificial lambs of the white power structure and its "pristine self-image," yet they still adhere to the tenets of white supremacy. Are African Americans supposed to believe that the white power structure will do for us what they will not do for their own poor? On the flip side of that double-edged sword. Bradley white supremacy holds as one of its qualify ing myths that African Americans, particu larly black males, are inherently criminal. Thus when Images of crime and violence are being projected they are overwhelmingly projected as African (nationally and in ternationally). This qualify ing myth is also used to deny our humanity, and to deny basic human rights to Afri cans on a world-wide basis. Consequently the African struggle against crime and violence is more definitively a human rights struggle. It must neutralize the white su premacy dynamic, particu larly its ability to define us as inherently criminal, and its ability to create conditions which induce black criminal behavior. Em powerment is a fundamental component of any human rights campaign. It should be clear that this is not what Clinton and other European-American officials who infre quently "show" at African American anti crime programs have in mind. The African American struggle against crime and violence has been waged at the grassroots level. However, we now see that some black elected officials and traditional leaders from the civil rights community are finally moving to "break the betrayal" of their deafening silence on this issue. This group can contribute something, but the masses must be aware that they usually rep resent the go along to get along crowd (trans actional leadership). Their forte is wheeling and dealing, and all too often these deals shortchange or sell out the masses. To win this struggle, transformative leadership must become the dominant element in Afri can America. Maulana Karenga defines these leaders as those who have the "self-conscious capacity to provide vision and values, pro gram and practice that not only satisfies hu man needs, but transforms people in the pro cess so that they can become self-conscious agents of their own liberation." Transformation is not an easy process, however given the oppressive conditions that African people have continuously faced over the past five centuries, it is our only choice if we are to realize salvation and liberation. FESS BRADLEY lives in Charlotte. Reducing crime requires united response By Joel Nwagbaraocha SPECIAL TO THE POST Over the past three years, more than 7,500 violent crimes have occurred throughout the nation's col leges and universities. Some of these crimes include rape, robbery and murder. On Nov. 25, our celebrated day of thanks, Barber-Scotla Col lege became a part of the gris ly statistics of crime. On the morning of Nov. 25, five men shot Shontel Wright to death outside his college apartment. Mr. Wright was an aspiring 18 year-old-freshman, who like so many other youths, de sired to accomplish his dreams of greatness through higher education. Those dreams will never be ful filled and his life goals will never be accomplished, for Mr. Wright's life ended as a case of mistaken identity. As Barber-Scotia searches for answers, one reflects whether Mr. Wright's death is a coincidence, or is it a re flection of the vast ills of so ciety. One can only conclude that the pervasive mecha nisms of crime on college campuses Is a reflection of our society. From 1981 to present, serious crimes such as homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault in creased over 50 percent at the national level. Most disturb ing is the growing number of young people who are vic tims of homicide, particular ly as a result of gun-related crimes. According to The National Center for Health Statistics, over 40 percent more teen deaths occurred from firearms than diseases. The Centers for Disease Con trol reports that gun related deaths for all teens have es calated over 80 percent from 1985 to present. Deaths among black males between 12 and 19 has nearly tripled during this same per iod. Sadly, in this 12 to 19 age group, gun-related homi cide rate for black males was 11 times the rate for white males. Gun-related homi cide is the leading cause of death for black males in this 12 to 21 year old category. Dr. David Satcher, the in coming director of the Cen ters for Disease Control in Atlanta, has gone on record that the Cen ters will be gin address ing violence in America as a social Illness. As Barber- Scotia Col lege begins its healing from Mr. Wright's trag ic death, the looking for an- solutlons to the Nwagbaraocha college is swers and plague of crime that has hit all of the nation's colleges and universities. Barber- Scotia College is coming off the sidelines and Is taking a leading role in addressing crime. Barber-Scotia's target on crime zeroes in on develop ing more effective relation ships with the surrounding neighborhoods through strengthening families, churches, and schools. The solution calls for the devel opment of an Urban Devel opment Community Net work that will instill a greater sense of community and a system of social con trol; thus allowing for more socialization of youth. The Implementation of this net work in conjunction with the George Shinn Leadership Development Center pro grams and the Shontel Wright Scholarship Fund for disadvantaged youth major ing in criminal justice will enable us to engage in pre vention oriented work with neighborhood residents, es tablish programs, resources and opportunities for youth, and work to improve cooper ation and collaborative ac tions between the communi ty, police and the college. As the mission of Barber- Scotia College mandates, ac tions must be made to im prove the overall quality of life, including better health care, better housing, more recreational facilities and greater opportunities for job training and securing mean ingful employment. It is strongly felt that the afore mentioned strategies are needed and can be successful. However, the work to be ac complished demands a high level of commitment and guarantee of resources from the college and both the pub lic and private sectors. It is also believed that an effort of this magnitude is required in order to interrupt this cycle of disorder and crime. We carmot begin to address the magnitude of social ills plaguing this nation, includ ing gun-related deaths if we are not willing to make a commitment to prepare the young people to become pro ductive, economically self- sufficient adults. Many peo ple have grown impatient of elaborate community for ums and discussions. We must ensure a better quality, more meaningful educational experience for all youth, especially those in disadvantaged environ ments. I am not suggesting that we at Barber-Scotia Col lege only answer to the com munities' and nation's prob lems. nor will it be the answer for all our youth. However, it is a place to be gin, and it is something that we will do. To Ignore the problem will cost our com munity and nation millions of dollars, and as Mr. Shon tel Wright's fate, it will cost young lives. JOEL NWAGBARAOCHA is president of Barber-Scotia College in Concord. "Many people have grown impa tient of many elaborate com munity forums and discussions." Barber-Scotia College President Joel Nwag baraocha
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Dec. 9, 1993, edition 1
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