Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Oct. 14, 1972, edition 1 / Page 2
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2A —THE CAROLINA TIMES SAT.. OCT. 14, 1972 EDITORIALS & COMMENT b It A Trick Or b It A Treat T The recent Old Age Assistance increase through Social Security for aid to the elderly, the blind and the disabled comes as a heart breaking delusion to most recip ients of Old Age Assistance. What one. under this Administration, had been led to believe would be an increase in benefits, now turns out to be even less. In California, some 362.000 el derly. blind and disabled persons have had their Old Age Assistance payments reduced to match the So cial Security increase. In Durham County, nearly 800 elderly County residents either lost money or had no increase at all in their income following last week's 20 per cent increase in Social Security benefits. North Carolina Law, for such aid. as set out by the legislature or General Assembly has set the low ceiling of only SI 15 per month for a single adult. With such a base, the new increase then brought them above the level of $115.00 and many old age recipients were cut off even from Medicare to Medicaid; cost of Food Stamps It Is Voir Decisioi Tbot Counts We note that millions of dollars and thousands of man hours will be spent in the remaining weeks of the 1972 political extravaganza, not only by the Presidential nominees, but by the many seekers of Senate, House and a great host of state and local posts as they try to express their views to enlist our votes. Although many candidates are trying to state the issues and their positions clearly, the issues are not simple and oftentimes the speakers are quite biased. It is difficult to make sensible comparisons and judgments. But you must try to make a wise decision and vote your convictions and some times you must help guide others in their choices. However, rhetoric and promises will continue to come from both parties. You must somehow attempt to sift through the maze of rhetoric and separate the wheat from the chaff. Among the vast rhetoric and con tinued promises, it would appear that there are certain issues that can be somewhat categorized. They Did Yoi Register ? How about you and you and you? Were you among the vast ma jority of Durham's black citizens who found time to register for this year's most important elections or were you among the apathetic 12,- 000 who just didn't get around to performing this citizen's duty. To which group do you belong? A major reason for much dissat isfaction among people today is be cause we allow others to make the voting decisions for us while we have slumbered in apathy. If you have failed to register, you let your franchise pass you by and your voice in this decision making process has been stilled. All the Rights Aid TF THERE IS any one thing in our world today that racial, nation al or Kraal groups are fighting for it is their "rights." Every group wants its rights and gives a variety of reasons why these rights should be conceded. We have the old civil rights movement, the women's lib eration movement, the nudist move ment, the poor people's movement and other groups— all demanding their rights lor one reason or an other. Old leaders of the feminist move ment and the current leaders of the liberation movement for women want the same opportunity to per form in the world economy today that men have They want the chance for jobs as men and equal pey for their work. The nudists contend they have a personal right to go naked if they want to and poer people are demanding the elimination of racial bias on jobs and their right to work anywhere with equal pey for their labor. The contention in most cases is that if these groups arc given their rights they will be bettor off and the world will benefit from their liberation. They argue that given their rights they would be in a po sition to bring changes in world or der and government programs wkkh would help eliminate the problems from which mankind is suffering, but this is doubtful and in any case is beside the point Ihs women's liberation move nat if an example of the argument were increased from zero cost to some additional cost and many will receive much less in Medicaid bene fits. Medicaid pays for the elderly poor, medical expenses not covered by Medicare. Further, if a per son's yearly income rose from the very low sum of $1,700 to $1,900 a year, the Medicaid benefits might well become a SIOO deductible pro gram whereby the recipients would then have to pay the first SIOO of their medical bills. Two-thirds (2 3) of Durham County's Aid to the Elderly recip ients are also Social Security re cipients as well as about 2/3 of thf aged recipients are also on welfare. Across the state of North Carolina, the figure is about 45' A among the elderly. Thus, those who were led to be lieve that benefits would be in creased, so that a better quality of life would be available, have now found that it is a tremendous loss. So we ask again—ls this a cruel TREAT OR is just another political TRICK? You be the judge. include the issues revolving around the Standards of Living—which in volves a number of factors includ ing inflation, unemployment and the general state of our economy. Another may be Moral Values, which centers on the war, social, legal and economic justice for all Americans, individual rights and environmental violations. Reforms are still another issue that includes pro and con struggles over taxes, welfare reforms and how the reve nues and riches are to be shared. Will it be that the Rich get Richer and the Poor get Poorer? Finally there is the Alienation. This includes the many things that people are unhappy about from sex customs to the "system and or the establishment." You name it. It then becomes even more neces sary for all of us to listen carefully, and really hear, as well as to read widely, sovthat we can somehow make the right decisions about the various issues that will face the voters in this important election year. candidates we know are pitching hard for his or her share of the 25 million or more young people who should vote for the first time in No vember. We have urged all of them to register. However, there still remains a temporary or limited registration between October 18 and November 3. This type of registration will al low you to vote only for the Office of President of the United States, and after that it is no longer valid. With such temporary registra tion you are still allowing others to make the decisions on all offices from the Senate to the Court House. Responsibilities in support of the equality of rights for the feminine sex. It was argued, by some that women voters would help get rid of scandal and hypoc risy in politics, but they didn't, and no one should have expected it to happeq. In fact, women have the same right as men to be political hypocrites. We still have to con tinue to deal with both and insist on honesty and excellence in poli tics and government. And we had just as well forget the argument that 18-year-old voters will clean up politics or elect better men and women to office. Young voters certainly haven't had much inspiration or instruction from their elders to perform, such a miracle. It is likely young voter will have little effect on the out come of the presidential election oi Nov. 7. They have been trained at least from the example of their eld ers—for the status quo not a revo lution; and many feel that it will take a revolution to achieve any real change in the course of politic! in America. Black Americans, 'young Ameri cans, the women, the nudists and all other groups working for~~groups rights and personal freedom, have a right to win before the bar of jus tice. It will be easier to gain and maintain the rights of all if no one is made a goat in the liberation struggle. How well all groups will use their rights is an evangelical problem.- JOURNAL AND GUIDE. Destiny Of Blacks BLACK PRESS (TISHCOHCeMBLEVWTHEPEpPLe UHOTmOUeHFUXCB SUf/E M LABOR BUtU THIS COUNTRY FOR OTHERS CANNOT HOWULUHGtyUNTE TO REBUILD OUR COMhUNMES FOR OURSELVES? j .Getting Smart BY WALTER L. SMART Executive Director National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers During the past two years the President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, has made several public statements in which he has repeated his opposition to the busing of public school pupils for the purposes of desegregation. He has warned that if no effective law is passed by the Congress of the United States to prevent such busing, he will call for the passage of an amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The position of this Administration appears to be in conflict with the decisions of the United States Supreme Court, beginning with the Brown decision of 1954, and by federal district courts, which have ordered busing as a meth od of dismantling bi-racially organized, segregated school systems. The busing of children for purposes of obtaining racial balance has now become a paramount political issue. It is no longer approached on the basis of the facts but, instead, emotionally and with strong racist implications. What is proposed is no total prohibition of school busing to protect the "neighborhood school." This proposed legis lation is directed only at busing intended to achieve racial bal ance. At this moment, through out the United States, nearly twenty-million pupils are being transported to school by buses at a public expense of nearly $1 billion. The best estimates of the Metropolitan Applied Research Center, New York, in a recent fact book on pupil transport ation, would indicate that only 3% of all bussed students are being transported to schools for purposes of school desegre gation. Their study suggests that a larger number of pupils are being transported at the public expense to racially-segre gated schools, including public schools, private schools, par ochial schools and church-re lated academies. The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund recently published its report on busing entitled, "It's Not the Distance, It's the Niggers." This report indicates that Massachusetts en acted the nation's first pupil transportation law in 1869; that 43%% of the total U. S. public school enrollment is transported to school daily; that 156,000 buses are now traveling 2.2 billion miles per year. The U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Wel fare points out that busing has been motivated by a commit ment to further educational, social and humanitarian ob jectives and also out of a con- cern for more efficient utiliza tion of facilities. HEW states that the major increases in busing have been occasioned by moves to provide greater educ ational opportunities through consolidating rural schools. It becomes evident, as one reads all of the studies, analyses and statements by represent atives of the National Education Association and others com petent to testify that school authorities have used the school bus as a vehicle for enriching the educational program for children, both in rural and urban districts. No one can argue with the conclusion that quality educa tion is needed in all of our schools. Present evidence would indicate that Black students transported to desegregated schools gain academically while white students maintain their * Congressman • Hawkins' * Column # IT REP. AUGUSTUS F. HAWKINS U.S. NEEDS INCOME MAINTENANCE After nearly four decades of public service as a state legis lator and presently as a U.S. Congressman, I have remained perplexed by our government's inability to develop adequate income maintenance for all needy Americans. I have always felt strongly that a national policy on in comes should exist which has as its goal the elimination of poverty, the strengthening of human resources and an equit able distribution of our nation's wealth. Failure to establish such a policy and the continual use of the 25 million poor Americans as a whipping boy is criminal and self-destructive. The United States can well afford and must achieve a com prehensive and universal system of income maintenance that will free every American from the vicious cycle of poverty with dignity. Certainly, gainful employment should have prior ity as a process for accom plishing this objective. Thus, meaningful and adequate pay ing jobs should be available, supported by needed job train ing. In the early thirties, the United States Congress estab lished the Federal Social Se curity System and Unemploy ment Insurance at which lime and for several decades later, these programs were fairly suc- | usual academic performance. In those few cases where white students are transported to pre dominantly Black schools, most often the Black schools are improved physically as indeed are their educational facilities and programs. For me, one major argument in opposition to this anti-busing legislation or Constitutional amendments to prohibit busing comes from a statement made by Dr. Kenneth B. Clark. "All of these proposals," he states, "have as their central fact that, for the first time since the Emancipation Proclamation the legislative and executive branches of the federal govern ment are seriously entertaining action to limit the rights of racial minorities to unqualified equality of opportunity—and are also attempting to limit the duty of the federal courts to assure and protect these rights." I agree with Dr. Clark when he says that any anti-busing legislation wilf be racially re strictive and regressive. I agree with his statement that a Con stitutional amendment to pro hibit such busing of children "would perfert and demean the Constitution of the United States and would make it an instrument for the perpetuation or racism." cessful. As we examine them 40 years later, many glaring inadequacies are obvious. First, obviously they have neglected our nation's 25 million people. Secondly, one has to have been gainfully employed over a per iod of time in order to realize any benefits from these prog rams. Thirdly, the level of benefits needs to be substan tially increased, especially for the low-paid worker. It's ironic that even after a person has worked a life time and contri buted to the program he must still turn to other forms of as sistance to supplement his social security benefits. Fourthly, the benefits have not been kept up-to-date with cost of living increases nor have the salary deductions risen accordingly. Further, appropriate wage in creases have also gone lacking in many work situations, es pecially in non-union employ ment. Lastly, there is no auto matic provision for periodically increasing benefits as the gen eral level of living rises, per mitting the retired, disabled widows and orphans to share these gains. The recent Social Security increases of 20 percent occurred forty years after the last in creases and were grossly in adequate. Further, there yet exists a large percentage of workers such as agricultural workers and domestic employ ees not covered by Social Se curity. The program ia self defeat- Filas Nicks VERNON E. JORDAN, JR. ■ Hollywood is back at its old game of creating vicious stereotypes of black people for popular consumption. The of black people is de graded and exploited for a fast buck, and these days those big profits are supplied by black movie-goers. In part the large black audiences for movies with and about black people is a re flection of the years in which we were starved for blacks in movies. Another reason for the drawing power of these films is the success with which they depict the fantasies of the ordinary man in the street, much as the Jame6 Bond films satisfied the fantasies of their audiences. The Bond comparison is apt, for many of the new black exploitation films are just warmed over James Bond in blackface, featuring lots of sex and violence and having very little to do with the realities of life. Back in the 1930s blacks - on those rare occasions when they were shown on screen were depicted as childlike, irresponsible creatures shuff ling along in a trance of harm less stupidity. Hollywood never saw fit to portray black people with honor and dignity and its stereotypes both re flected and spread the racism of the period. Today's films portray a different black stereotype, no less objectionable. When the black hero of one of these films is not tosang around in bed with a variety of women, he's pushing dope, killing peo ple, beating people up. or otherwise engaged in senseless violence. If the America of the 1930s saw blacks as simple tons, then the America of the 1970s apparently sees blacks as vicious, dangerous and vio lent people. For black people who flock to these movies, such an image may fulfill the longings of their powerless situatioa For the white people who are often the pro ducers and writers and profit makers on these films, it ap parently fulfills their racist image of black people as threatening and violent. But no matter whose fan tasy-life is fulfilled on the screen, the main losers are the masses of black men and ing in many ways. Its eligibility requirements are too strict, elig ible persons are required to wait too long before receiving benefits, there are no provisions after eligibility expires, and it perpetuates unjust and punitive disqualification of workers. This list of criticism could be extended considerably. How ever, the listed criticism pro vides sufficient view of the federal Social Security System and the Unemployment Insur ance program's inadequacy. These programs should be vastly altered so as to do the major part of the income main tenance job. The benefits serve the worker from job to job. Further he is not plagued by the embarrassment of an indi vidual test of need and his benefits are backed by the U.S. Government. These benefits should be supported by sup plementary programs such as private retirement plans As an inducement, appropriate tax deductions should be allowed during the working years. I believe strongly in the work principle. Therefore, I have sponsored and cospon sored many bills in the Cali fornia State Legislature and U. S. Congress that promoted pri- (J- E.'AUBTXN Editor-Publisher. 1827-1971 ( »I Published every Saturday >t Durham. N. C. United Publishers Inc Mns. VIViAN AUSTIN EDMONDS. Publisher BONNETTE Btuitum * ... nnm ,MUJ " Durham. N. C «TTM \ United Stete. «, C^S! CTOTION * A ™ -United Mates and Foreign Countries 7.7.7.7.'. JtEL'S'J! •tafW Cdpy T «« PrtoeUtel °JfleV>oc.ted ■» 4M w ■fit"* DurUn, North Carolina «71«f women who have yet to find their lives, their hopes and their aspirations come to life on the screen. And to the extent that the vile image of black people peddled in these films is accepted by the public at laige, racial progress will be that much harder to achi eve. It is ironic that at this moment, when black artists, writers and actors are flourish ing in a cultural renaissance not seen snce the 19205, Hollywood should come along and pollute neighborhood mo vie houses with racist junk. Rather than create real equal opportunity in employment in the film industry, it seems much easier to turn blacks loose on bad movies aimed at ghetto audiences. Main stream film production in Hollywood is still a lily-white affair. Of course, the black ex ploitation films are variable in quality, with some less ob jectionable than others and some even fairly good. But the bulk of them constitute a financial and moral rip-off of blacks and fe£d the fires of racism. There are some signs that the tide will soon turn. Many black movie-goers afe fed up and are speaking out against the kind of film being shoveled out of the studios. Release of a recent film in which the hero is a dope pusher may have been the final humiliation that led to pro tests. Black people are getting disgusted with the consistent portrayal of black men as hustlers and criminals, and with the portrayal of black women as prostitutes and neurotics. In the last two years, there have been over 50 films re leased aimed at black audien ces and at least two-thirds of them insult and degrade the very people who are expected to part with their hard-earned dollars to see them. As the Hollywood hustlers push more and more of these films into movie houses they're going to find that their audiences, sated with the junk, melt away. Then, today's fast profits will turn into losses. These film makers ought to wake up to the fact that black people are tired of getting "Shaft"-ed. vate sector and public service employment. It seems incon ceivable to me that one can vociferously condemn public welfare and laud the blessings of the work ethic philosophy while our Federal Government refuses to accept a larger role as an employer and cuddles those private employers who practice job discrimination. If all Americans are provided a minimum income guarantee, there will be many instances in which our government will have to supplement the work er's income. For instance, the federal minimum hourly wage standard is far less than the income level required to avoid poverty living. Mothers with small children who wish to work should be provided the necessary federally subsidized child care. The U.S. Federal Govern ment is yet a long ways from developing an adequate income maintenance program. I am not convinced, as yet, that the Federal Government feels the moral commitment to establish a minimum income guarantee adequate in amount and paid under conditions that support the dignity, humanity, and rights of needy Americans.
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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Oct. 14, 1972, edition 1
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