5A
OPINIONS/ The Charlotte Post
January 2,1997
New Year’s predictions - mine and yours
D.G. Martin
The new year used to be such fun for me.
Like some other columnists, I burdened my readers
with my predictions for the coming year. It was always
an easy column to write. And if any prediction came true,
I could remind my readers (and my editors) how wise I
was.
Then, several years ago, I really struck out. I predicted
the fall of Castro in Cuba that very year. (Castro in case
you haven’t noticed is stiU in charge down there.) I pre
dicted the return to power in Russia of my hero, Mikhail
Gorbachev. (Gorby, it turns out, is the most impopular
person in aU of Russia.)
After that disastrous set of predictions, who would have
the coimage to try again?
Not me. WeU, not me, until now. But I have three ideas
about what is going to happen in the coming year. They
run counter to what most people are thinking. So I want
to share them with you and see what you think.
1. North Carolina’s General Assembly will agree on a
new congressional redistricting plan by the April 1 court
impwsed deadline. Most people don't think that our legis
lature can do it. The task assigned by the courts would
be difficult enough under any circumstances - eliminat
ing racial gerrymandering while still giving racial
minorities a fair chance to win election to Congress.
The task is made much more diSicult by the division of
party control over the two houses of the legislature.
When the Democrats controlled both houses, they drew
congressional districts to favor Democrats. If the
Republicans were in total charge they would do the same
thing. With divided control, folks think the task will be
impossible.
Here is why I think they will get the job done. The
main consideration in drawing election district lines
always turns out to be - protect the incumbents. This
year, too, the most powerful interests at work will be the
12 incumbent U. S. House members. Each of them will
be working with their political allies in the legislature to
draw a district that wUl give that representative a fan-
chance of being reelected.
Each of them knows that if the legislature fails to meet
the April 1 deadline, the districts will be drawn by the
courts - without regard to the protection of the incum
bents.
With that pressm-e from the incumbents, the legisla
ture can - and I think it will - come up with a plan that
wUl give aU of the incumbents a fighting chance to be
returned to congress, and give most of them a real good
chemce of winning.
2. Newt Gingrich wUl not retain the speakership of the
U. S. House of Representatives.
The experts seem to think that Newt can “weather the
storm” created by his admitted ethical violations. He
seems to have his party’s House members lined up to re
elect him speaker. Compared to some of the things that
go on in our government, his sins do not seem to be aU
that bad. In the last few weeks he has acknowledged his
wrongdoing and done the right things from a public rela
tions standpoint to get the matter behind him. Also,
since the house Democrats would just as soon have a
wounded Gingrich in charge, some of them don't really
want to push him out.
StiU, he won’t make it.
Why? The Repubhcans have President Clinton and the
Democratic fund raisers in their sights and have every
intention of exploiting their vulnerabilities.
But as long as Gingrich is their leader, it is going to be
hard for them to throw rocks at Clinton and the
Democrats. When given the choice between protecting
Gingrich and going fuU steam after the president and the
Democrats, the Republicans wUl abandon Newt.
The Republicans may hold together to reelect him
speaker. But they wUl toss him overboard before the year
is over.
3. China wUl be recognized as our most important for
eign policy chaUenge.
HistoricaUy, our culture is largely European. We stUl
look there, and the Middle East and Africa, to exert our
influence. There is plenty in those places to keep us busy.
But the important threat to our interest is no longer
there.
It is clearly in Asia - with China.
An Asia dominated by China no better for us than an
Asia dominated by Japan or a Europe dominated by
Germany would have been 60 years ago.
Some scholars suggest that we could have prevented
World War II by standing up to Germany's aggressive
acquisitiveness earlier and stronger. On the other hand,
some also say that we could have prevented war with
Japan by being a little more accommodating of its “legiti
mate” interests.
Without arguing either of those points, our policy
dilemma with China will be standing up to its growing
and confident aggressiveness while giving proper consid
eration to its “legitimate interests.”
The finality of the turnover of Hong Kong will put all
that into stark focus this year.
Now, do you agree? What are your predictions for the
coming year?
D.G. MARTIN is vice president for public affairs for the
University of North Carolina system. He can be reached
via e-mail at dgmartin@ga.unc.edu).
Globalization dehumanizes U.S. workers
Sherman
Miller
As I listened to a 50-year-old
professional chap pour forth his
concern about his job potentially
disintegrating in the near
future, I felt compassion for his
plight. This chap works for a
multinational corporation and
hfe knows he is too old to find a
comparable job outside his cor
poration, but he is also too
yoimg to retire and msike ends
meet.
He also shared that he put his
daughter through Purdue
University where she earned a
degree in chemical engineering.
Her bubble burst when she
found that after graduating
there were no jobs for a white
female chemical engineer, so
she had to work a year as an
ordinary operator in a plant.
This father says his daughter
eventually got a job, but with an
outfit that hires engineers for
only a year, then moves on. He
said don't believe those salary
reports you hear and read
because his daughter his daugh
ter mEikeS “30 percent less than
those reports.”
This worried chap’s story
called to mind similar stories. In
1993 I chatted with a fellow in
Detroit who spoke of a son with
a Doctorate of Philosophy
Degree in Physics who could not
find a job. I spoke with a lady of
Eastern European descent who
was proud that her daughter
had migrated from the U.S. to
her homeland and landed an
excellent job with a Liberal Arts
Degree. Recently, a business
man who makes frequent trips
to South America shared that it
is commonplace to see young
American professional migrants
doing very well in jobs South of
the Border where opportunities
are good.
We might also think about the
many who are under great
stress worrying about whether
they win have a job tomorrow. I
hear of people wanting to vomit
when the know they must go
back to work. I hear comments
such as, “It’s a new heartless
environment. I survived the lat
est cutback. They may seU my
unit any day.”
A holistic look at these obser
vations indicates that once
again America views some peo
ple as chattel. That is conve
nient because if you dehuman
ize people then you feel no guilt
Racial redistricting’s results
By Eric Kearney
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Prior to this year's congres
sional elections, it seemed pret
ty clear that African American
candidates would find it diffi
cult, if not impossible, to win in
white majority districts.
However, with the results of
election counted, that premise
has been challenged and the
strategy for redistricting must
be modified, or changed com
pletely.
As has been well-documented
in every African American
newspaper in the country, the
U.S. Supreme Court attacked
majority African-American dis-
■ tricts in Georgia, Texas and
North Carolina, where the 12th
. District represented by Mel
, Watt of Charlotte will be
redrawn for the 1998 elections.
, The Supreme Court determined
' that the districts were created
■ for the sole purpose of electing
more African Americans and
Latinos to Congress. Proponents
of the districts, supported by
, years of racial animosity, both
anecdotal and documented, said
that whites would not vote for
African Americans or Latinos.
I So, the only way to ensure
■ African American and Latino
L representation in Congress was
to create “majority, minority”
, districts.
The premise - whites won’t
‘ vote for blacks - seemed easy
enough to accept. And while it
' may still be true, the recent
1 election does not prove it.
All five African American
' members of Congress whose
African American districts were
erased by the courts, won. They
s won in districts where the
^ majority of voters were not
African American. Further, only
JL-Kr-
Watt
Wilder
Patrick
one African American member
of Congress lost his seat, Gary
Franks, a Republican from
Connecticut.
There are now 37 African
Americans in the new Congress
compared with 38 in the last
session; this is despite the radi
cal change in the make-up of
some of the districts.
There is only one new Afiican-
American member of Congress.
She is Indiana Democrat Julia
Carson. Congresswoman
Carson w£is elected from a white
majority district in the
Indianapolis area.
What does this mean? In some
respects, it could be viewed as a
victory for race relations in
America. African American
incumbents were able to hold
their seats, even in districts
where the racial make-up
changed substantially.
On the other hand, only one
Afiican AmericEin in the coimtiy
won a “new” seat. This shows
that there is some reluctance to
electing African American can
didates. Moreover, this “new”
seat was in the Midwest, and
not the South which is the cen
ter of the Voting Rights Act liti
gation. Additionally, there are
stUl only two recent examples of
African Americans who have
garnered statewide appeal:
Douglas Wilder, who Was elect
ed governor of Virginia, and
Carol Moseley Braun, who is a
in placing social and material
gain before their well being.
Was not slavery the result of a
need for cheap labor at the
expense of hiunan dignity and
freedom of some people?
The real concern is that glob
alization now means de facto
adopting the dehumanizing
mind-set pervasive in Third
World nations where the
exploitation of the masses is
commonplace. Economic
bondage now enchants the
United States because our lead
ership sold us a cock and bull
story that we are a service econ
omy while they exported our
good paying manufacturing jobs
overseas.
Yet a resurgence of U.S. high
paying manufacturing jobs
would mean a need for well paid
plant engineers, operators, and
so on. This would also mean
that American workers can
afford to purchase the high
priced items Americans manu
facture - a lesson that Henry
Ford once taught this nation.
Perhaps the present zeal to kill
affirmative action is premature.
Clearly, America’s future manu
facturing work-force needs a lit
tle help today to allow them to
show that “Made in America” is
once again a badge of honor.
SHERMAN MILLER is a
writer based in Wilmington, Del.
U.S. Senator fipm Illinois.
The debate over impact and
intent will continue to rage on,
but the terms of the debate
must change after the results of
this year’s election. No longer
will the comparison between a
district’s elected minorities and
its minority population be
enough to prove racial discrimi
nation. The intent behind the
drawing of a particular distiict
will now get more attention.
The change in personnel in
the Clinton Administration will
also have an effect. Deval
Patrick, assistant attorney gen
eral for Civil Rights, an out
standing lawyer and intellectu
al, is leaving his position. His
replacement’s approach to
African American representa
tion win determine the types of
Voting Rights Act issues which
are brought before the Supreme
Court.
It is good to know that Afiican
Americans in Congress can
medntain their seats. However,
for the Voting Rights Act to
have real meaning, there must
be gains, like that of congress-
woman Carson.
ERIC H. KEARNEY, a
Cincinnati attorney, is president
of Sesh Communications, an
African American owned pub
lishing company . Send your
comments to him at: P.O. Box
1691, Cincinnati, OH,
452011691.
The love of black people
By Conrad Worrill
SPECIAL TO THE POST
The word love is probably one
of the most used and over
worked words in the English
language.
According to most European
definitions love is “a feeling of
strong personal attachment
induced by sympathetic imder-
standing or by ties of kinship.”
And, of course, we are most
familiar with the usage of the
word love in connection with
“Tender and passionate affec
tion for one of the opposite sex.”
From time to time we also
hear the word love used as an
expression and articulation of
one’s love for black people.
During this Kwanzaa Season
our love for each other, as a race
of people, should be emphasized
in our discussions of the seven
principles of Kwanzaa, the
Nguzo Saba.
It is without question that seg
ments of the African community
in America have lost aU sense of
moral and ethical relationships
with other Afiican people.
This is demonstrated day in
and day out by the increased
number of African people
killing each other, mentally and
physically abusing each other,
stealing from each other, being
dishonest with each other, and
the list goes on and on and on.
I can truly say I love black
people no matter how friistrated
I get with the negative behavior
of so many of our people.
I love black people because I
understand that the creative
force of the universe has
endowed us to make the
great contributions we have
made to the world and continue
to make.
A simple inspection of the
ancient Nile Valley civilizations
of Kemet (Egypt) shoidd cause
all Black people to love each
other.
Ancient Kemet and the
Kemetic people (Black people)
were the creators of math, sci
ence, architecture, writing,
government, astronomy, medi
cine, and so much more.
The ancient Kemetic people
produced wisdom that was writ
ten down in their language
called Medew Netcher, the lan
guage of the blacks, or what the
Europeans called hieroglyphics.
We can examine this ancient
Kemetic wisdom in Dr.
Maulana Karenga’s book of
translations. The Husia, which
gives us insight into how our
great ancestors viewed life,
death, human relations, mar
riage, parenting, use of power,
God, family, and standards of
moral and ethical conduct.
Reading The Husia brings out
aU my love for black people in a
most profound and spiritual
way. Listen to the words trans
lated in The Husia by Dr.
Karenga:
“Do not terrorize people for if
you do, God will punish you
accordingly. If anyone lives by
such means, God will take
bread fix)m his or her mouth. If
one says I shall be rich by such
means, she will eventually have
to say my means have
entrapped me.”
This passage continues with
“If one says I will rob another,
he will end up being robbed
himself. The plans of men and
women do not always come to
pass for in the end it is the will
of God which prevails.
Therefore, one should live in
peace with others and they will
come and willingly give gifts
which another would take from
them through fear.”
Our love for each other and
the wisdom of our ancestors,
should give us the inspiration
and motivation, during this
Kwanzaa season, to re-dedicate
ourselves to the continued
struggle for the liberation of
Afiican people worldwide.
CONRAD WORRILL is chair
man of the National Black
United Front in Chicago.
Letters To The Post
Deadly force is
one-way deal?
The writer is on Death Row
at Central Prison for the 1994
murders of Charlotte Police
Officers Andy Nobles and
John Burnett.
In response to “Deadly
Force” may be used when offi
cers believe they are faced
with an “imminent threat” I
ask is that law reserved for
the police only? Is it police
department procedure to
jump on and beat suspects?
At what point are we sup
posed to feel “imminent
threat?” I too was an
unarmed black motorist who
was forced to defend myself
fiom the realm of pohce bru
tality before I was killed —
only to have Internal Affairs
rule “no wrong was done.”
Even though the law of
“imminent threat” is what I
attempted to use, I was not
allowed to use it. For all of
my efforts, I was awarded the
death sentence for not allow
ing the police to lull me.
So I ask, is it justice or just
us (blacks). As Andrea Long
stated “African American
people can not sit around and
watch them kill us.” Are we
to just lie down? Are we to be
put on death row when we try
to stop them finm killing us?
It’s time for us as black
Americans to stand. Has the
KKK only changed its color to
blue? We must wake up
before it is too late. It’s
already in our back yards.
Five of the seven black men
shot by the police since
January 1995 were all
unarmed. As the students of
CPCC stated “How much
harm can an unarmed man
do if pohce follow proper pro
cedures?” We can’t keep
thinking “oh well.” Next time
it may be you, your husbemd,
brother or sister, or the guy
next door.
ALden Harden
Raleigh
Beware of
sophistry’s case
Journalist Dennis
Schatzman:
Mike King, son of
California’s legendary civil
rights leader and bondsman,
Celes King, III, can wax elo
quently with the best of them.
King and I were “kickin’ it”
aroimd the state office of the
Congress of Racial Equahty
where his father has reigned
as chairman for nearly a
decade, when our conversa
tion drifted into the land of
O.J. Simpson trial coverages.
“Beware of the sophisticated
arguments,” King warned
me. “The story is not alwa}^
in what is said, but more
than likely, it is often in what
is not said.”
“Dum,” I said to myself. I
hadn’t thought about
sophistry (the art of making
plausible, but false state
ments) at length in both my
philosophy and logic classes
at the University of
Rttsburgh over 20 years ago.
It occurred to me that while I
had observed how both the
mainstream media had
reported both the criminal
and double murder trial and
the current civil and child
custody trials, and how the
prosecution lawyers were
serving up the information
for audience consumption,
and how the public was,
indeed digesting what was
being fed to them, I reahzed
that much of that was a clas
sic case of sophistry.
As journalists, you must be
aware of the double-switch in
stories or the omitted facts or
the injection of the half-
truths.
What’s on
your mind?
Send your comments to The
Charlotte Post, P.O. Box
30144; Charlotte, N.C. 28230
or fax (704) 342-2160. You
can also use E-mail - char-
post@clt.mindspring.com
All correspondence must
include a daytime telephone
number for verification.