Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Oct. 26, 2006, edition 1 / Page 4
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4A EDITORIAL AND OPINION/tl^e Cl^arlotte $08t Thursday, October 26, 2006 Cljarlotte The Voice of the Black Community 1531 Camden Road Charlotte. N.C. 28203 Gerald O. Johnson ceo/publisher Robert L Johnson co-publisher/general manager Herbert L White editor in chief ~ "EDITORIALS Why The Post makes pohtical endorsements For a growing community, it’s our duty to provide readers an idea of who best serves our interests Next week, The Post will publish its recommendations for the Nov 7 elections. We wiU endorse candidates for the U. S. House of Representatives, N.C. General Assembly Mecklenbm^ County commissioners and bond referendums in order to relay to Post readers what we think are the best choices for Charlotte in general and Afiican Americans in particiilar. Against that backdrop is the question that is as prevalent as campaign signs this time of year; Why do endorsements at aU? The answer is simple. As the publication of record in the African American community The Post takes its role as jour nalistic standard-bearer and Charlotte institution seriously As a result, we take om leadership role seriously which means it’s our duty to provide insight on what we feel is right for the com munity in which we live and serve. So, how do we come to our conclusions on what to support on election day? There is no one litmus test for candidates. As an organization, we use a combination of factors, starting with candidates’ voting records, either in their current positions or previous. We also attend forums, research candidates’ websites and interview political observers and neighborhood leaders to determine who can best serve this community Is the process perfect? No. But it does represent our efforts to give readers who may be farther removed from the political fray to draw their own conclusions. By no means do we expect readers to march in lock-step with everything we si:iggest. Endorsements are a tool to help voters understand our stance when it comes to the election process and we try to explain why we back a particular candidate or referendum. At The Post, we endeavor to be fair in weighing candidates’ positions on issues, pro and con. Ih the past, we’ve gone against the grain of what political activists and pundits figure is the safe route. But that’s not the role of newspapers. It takes a mix of ideas and ideals to create a healthy, vibrant community, and the same goes for the political process. As a publication, .we have backed relatively conservative candidates over the rela tively liberal and whites ovm* blacks. The process is never easy but it is our best effort at establishing a framework for what we believe is best for the aspirations and hopes of black Charlotte and Charlotte as a whole. Gorman an apt pupil when it comes to learning district Ai^ust, and h Gorman oeen to conw ■ McNeill Appreciating Jesse Jackson’s impact New Charlotte-Meckleiibiug Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman hit the ground running when he officially took ovei* in Ai^ust, and he hasn’t slowed down. Over the past x)uple of months, Mr. Gkirman has met with countless community groups and individuals to get a handle on what makes the state’s laigest school district tick. Needless to say he’s probably heard fiom just about every one who has an opinion — parents, the business community politicians, teachers, administrators and students. We can only admire his initiative and drive to in Mr. Gorman’s words “listen, learn and lead” He’s certainly done his share of listening, and we’re pretty sure, he’s learned an awful lot, too. After his first semester with CMS, it appears Mr. Gorman is a very apt pupil, soaking up all that there’s to know about the • district. Education advocates and parents fiomboth aids of the economic , ethnic and geographic spectrum give Mi*. Gorman high marks for putting himself in the middle of the fray and being responsive to their concerns. He’s ev«i managed to bring the often-fi’actious school board together to actually, work together, something we figured would happen with a massive overhaul of repesentation. Once he’s totally up to speed on the district’s needs, Mr. Gorman’s pledged to do the due diligence to attack CMS’s most pressing issues, which range fiom overcrowding in the suburbs to inner city schools that historically miss out on the most expe rienced teachers. Mr. Gorman’s go-getter attitude is to be com mended, although we think he is overly optimistic at what can be done and when Regardless, Mr. Gorman is off to a good start and fiom what we’ve seen, he deserves a passing grade. At JCSU, Bulls are golden Johnson C. Smith University’s tumaroimd fium football has- been to contender in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association is one of Charlotte’s best sports sto ries this year. Not bad, considering the Golden Bulls have been perennial doormats. JCSU , which is 6-2 going into Saturday’s homecoming game against Savannah State University has earned a boatload of milestones this season: Breaking a 24-game losing streak, winning its first game at Irwin Belk Complex since the building opened in 2003, contending for the Division championship and perhaps a spot in the Pioneer Bowl. Last week, the Bulls clinched their first winning season since 1998- before 50 Cent and iPods became household names. Coach Darji McNdll, the Bulls’ head coach, is an old hand at tumaroxmds. He took JCSU firom disaster to fabulous during a two-year stint fiom 1995-96, going 7-3 before leaving for Savannah State. Now he’s done it again. We congratulate the BuUs, coach McNeill and the administration foi- having the foresight to bring him back, hopefully for a longer and more i successful stay • Jesse Jackson has turned 65 and his birthday coincides with his fow decades of ser vice to the Civil Rights Movement. There is a big bash planned in his honor this Saturday in Chicago and I regret that I will be imable to attend. After covering him for most of my 36 years in joumahsm, including his 1984 presiden tial campaign for the Chicago Tribune, it would be a delight to attend activi ties that are certain to be part testimoni al, part family reunion. Instead of being in Chicago, I’ll be in Thnnessee, " attending my Knoxville College Board of Triistees meeting on home coming weekend and chair ing a search committee that is in the final stages of select ing a new president for my alma mater. As a product of North Carolina A&T, a his torically black university in Greensboro, I am sure Rev Jackson imderstands the necessity of my not being in Chicago this weekend. We must prepare the next wave of civil ri^ts leaders, many of whom will continue to come fium historically black colleges and universities. Wherever we are this week end, it wid be a good time to step back and reflect on Jackson’s lifelong dedication. As a community we’re pretty brutal in our critique of men and women in public life. We laugh at their foibles, note their voracious craving for publicity and are especially critical when they hop fiom , issue to issue or press confer ence to press conference, with no follow-up in sight. When you’ie a public figure, that’s aU. considered fair game. But we shouldn’t stop there. At some point, we should also express our admiration and gratitude to those who spurn lucrative careers in the private sector to keep the spoth^t shinning on the seemingly intractable issues of racism, unequal education, inadequate housing, imem- ployment, and criminal injus tice. They are the ones, in Jackson’s words, who keep hope alive. Love him or loatiie him - or dangling somewhere in between - it is undeniable that Jesse Louis Jackson has spent his entire adult fife at the forefiont of the battles over dvil rights. After leaving the seminary to participate in the Selma-to-Montgomery March that paved the way for pass^e of the 1965 Voting Ri^ts Act, Jesse Jackson has been on the case. In some respects, he has been ahead of his time. During his 1984 campaign, he often talked about how asinine it was for the United States to have a “no talkf’ pol icy toward its most ardent enemies. Talking to one another provided no guaran tee that differences would be settled, Jackson aigued. But not talking forestalls any fikefihood that parties can set aside their differences, I remember him saying at the time. Tbday more than two decades later, we’re in an imbroglio with North Korea and, like some spoiled kid, we refuse to talk to their leaders. George W. Bush still misun derstands what Jackson imderstood in 1984. Journalists covering Jackson’s maiden campaign were provided an experience that would also prove to be valuable years later. When Jackson took his low-budget national campaign to New Orleans, we did not head for Bombon Street. Instead, he took us to the Desire housing project. As a person who grew up in public housing in Tiscaloosa, Ala., I had not seen the likes of poverty and suffering in Desire or the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago. Even the infamous Pruitt-Igoe, a piibfic housing complex in St. Louis that was deemed such a failure that dynamite was used to level it, could not match the suffering we witnessed in New Orleans. So when Americans were shocked to learn last year that poverty was so widespread in New Orleans, Jesse Jackson had already made that point clear to us during his campaign Right-wing critics often accuse Jackson of expecting too much fium the federal government. His is a genera tion that understood that the federal government, especial ly for those living in the seg regated South, was the gov ernment of last resort. But they miss a larger and per haps more important point; Jesse Jackson is extranely traditional and over the years, he has exhorted stu dents to turn off the TV and get turned on to studying. Rather than bemoaning race-based white voting pat terns, he has challenged African-Americans to increase their voter registra tion and participation. More than black conservatives, he has practiced self-help. The SCLC, Rainbow/PUSH, National Urban League and NAACP are all self-help orga nizations. Conservatives don’t have a monopoly on self- help. Finally my fiiends, as you lift a toast to Jesse Jackson this weekend, lift one for his courage. I have heard death threats relayed over police radios. I know about the hate mail he receives and I know the sacrifices the Jackson family has made to allow Jesse to be Jesse. And while he and I have disagreed on some issues in the past and will probably do so again in the future. I’ve never ques tioned his commitment. It’s time to step back and say to Jesse Jackson: Thanks for your imselfish service. We’re all the better for it. GE'ORGB E. curry is editor- in-chief of the NNPA News Service and BlackPressUSAoom. On the Web at www.georgecurry£om. Time to make work pay for Americans Tabitha and her husband are raising thi'ee sons, ^es 8, 6, and 20 months, near Columbus, Ohio. They are both employed. Tabitha works at check-out at Value City and her hus band works at Subway Both earn the fed eral mini mum wage, $5.15 an hour, for monthly earnings of $1,785. Their combined annual earnings of $21,424 stfll leave them below the poverty line of $22,543 for a family with two parents and three children. Thbitha and her husband are among the 2 million Americans who know that the minimum wage isn’t always a fiving wage. Throughout October, people are joining together across our country to hold Living Wage Days worship services and community events to bring attention to the pfi^t of the working poor. The days of action were sponsored by the Let Ji^tice Roll Living Wage Campaign, a partner ship of more than 80 faith. labor, and community groups foimed to mobilize support among Americans for raising the minimum wage at the state and federal levels. October’s events were the latest in a series of similar evaits Let Justice Roll has mounted to educate people about the tremendous chal lenges low wage working Americans face and what must be done to brir^ about change. They’ve played a leading role in recent state minim.u,m wage increases in Arkansas, Michigan, North Ceuufina, Pennsjivania, and West Virginia and helped win similar victories in California and Massachusetts. Why does a living wage matter? Vfithout it, too many Americans are finding that having a job and working hard are still not enough to keep them fium being dose to or in poverty Poverty mat- ters — deeply Poverty Mils. It also maims and stunts the growth and eclipses the ' dreams of himdreds of mil lions of childrm around the world. Here at home, many Americans don’t realize that America’s poorest residents continue to be worse off than those of almost any other coimtiy in the industrialized world Poverty in America is a political problem, caused less by a lade of resources than by a failure to come to terms with reality and build the wfll to change it. It’s uni versally understood that food, shelter, health care, and other basics are crudal to the well-being of children and families. But what our leach ers, the news media, and the public laigely ignore is that two million workers—many in families like Tabitha’s— still lack adequate incomes to provide tiiese basic necessi ties. As Let Justice Roll puts it, “A job should keep you out of poverty, not in it.” Wages are tied to workers of course, but their children are always directly affected. A childhood spent in poverty can have negative impacts on anindividual’sentirefife. The multiple barriers assodated with poverty buQd on one another and unjustly deprive children of the opportunity to reach their full potential as parents, employees, and dti- zens. The Children’s Defense Fund has identified poverty as the largest driving force behind the Cradle to Prison Pipeline crisis, which leads too many children to margin alized lives, prison, and pre mature deaths. Children in families with annual incomes below $15,000 are 22 times more likely to be abused or neglected than children in families with annual incomes of $30,000 or more, and chil dren in poor families are more likely than non-poor children to attend failing schools, get inadequate , health care, five in unsafe housing, and suffer poor nutrition. CDF believes one solution is to support policies that make work pay, innlnding raising the minimum wage to help ensure workers at the bottom of the earnings scale are not left behind and expanding the Earned Income Tax and Child Tax Credits. And all poor working families need to be informed about and helped to get cur rent tax refunds and benefits for which they are eligible. I’m grateful for Let Justice RoU’s Living Wage Campaign and others who are helping all Americans see the too invisible working parents who constitute the majority of Ihe poor today MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN is founder of, the Children’s Defense Fund. '
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Oct. 26, 2006, edition 1
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