Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / June 26, 1976, edition 1 / Page 1
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PUke University Lilrary ' Newspaper Departs cfct 4 Durham, t?. C. - 27706 11-2G IT r - i -"a . '-,1 "s .: , VJords olAVIsdom r Mindi are like parachutes they only func tion when open. Anonymous The Dacfr Press Our Freedom Depends On It! VOLUME 54 - NUMBER 26 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1976 i TELEPHONE (919) 688-6587 PRICE: 20 CENTS piimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiu B E mm johng oepinority hir U1IKM. re s S The report ;, prepared by the personnel -department of the City of Durham on minority hiring and pre sented to the city council's human re lations committee on Wednesday is de ceiving at first reading. Deliberate scrutiny of the report and some digging for details reveals that it isn't exactly what it appears to be on the the surface. For the report to state in the first paragraph that there is "49. 37r minority representation among all City employees" gives the average reader the idea that blacks are moving on up the ladder in Durham. The results of the City of Durham's efforts in "Fostering Equal Opportunity", as the report is entitled, fall far short of achievement and are certainly nothing to be touted. The first paragraph of the report reads: "Durham'i system of personnel ad ministration is characterized by a long standing practice of evaluating and recognizing the job applicant of (sic) the employee solely on the basis of his or her job related qualifi cations. The level of success of this practice is affirmed by the fact that today (May 27, 1976) 657 minorities are represented in a total City Work force of 1,333 employees. This is 49.3 minority representation among all City employees and they are employed throughout a wide range of salries (sic) and levels of responsibilities." Now, if "minorities", as used in this report, had been defined at the end of that paragraph as meaning everyone EXCEPT white males, the intent of the report would not have been so suspect. But one must go to the attached graphs to discover that not only were 108 "white females" lumped in as "minorities", but so were all blacks in the federal Manpower program in Durham AND Orange counties included, according to the City's personnel director. Except for staff, Manpower jobs are temporary and emergency employment, funded on a yearly basis by the Con gress. As of the May 27, .1976, report, there were 13 whites and 20 blacks on the staff; 90 blacks and 74 whites in temporary emergency jobs programs. While these employees are on the same pay scale and receive the same benefits as permanent City employees, it is of no great credit to Durham to count them in order to substantiate or enlarge figures on minority hiring. its Next comes the matter of salaries. The report states that minority repre sentation is "employed throughout a wide range of salaries and levels of responsibilities", but it is only when we begin to apply a little arithmetic that we find 94 of all blacks' salaries below $12,885 as compared to 78 of all whites' salaries below 513,885. Further 226 blacks hold jobs in the lowest salary range as compared . to 70 whites in the lowest salary range. In the salary range $9, 155 to $12,885, there are 95 blacks compared to 337 whites. In the upper job classifications, where salaries range $19,995 to $26,799 and $23,148 to $32,576, there are eleven whites and NO blacks. Two blacks fall in the range of $17,271 to $23,148 as compared to twelve whites. Salaries... of the city manager and the city attorney are not included in the figures of the report. They are fixed by a special act of the city council. In interpreting the foregoing figures, the reader should keep in mind that the City Councilman Ralph Hunt con tends that the city needs to put greater emphasis on minority and female hiring and placement than it is currently doing and that it needs to adopt an affirmative action plan. Hunt was critical, as he should have been, of City Manager I. Harding Hughes' apparent stalling tactics in postponing the drafting of an affirma tive action plan. This in, spite of a previous directive to do so from the human relations committee. Hunt said that was "a clear indication to me that the administration of this city is an obstacle to efforts toward affirmative action and human rights." According to Joseph Becton, Durham's human relations director, Hughes had advised that more specific guidelines from the committee were needed before a working paper could be prepared from presentation to the Council. Does this mean that everyone understood the original directive except Mr. Hughes? That "long standing practice of evaluating" a job applicant "solely on the basis of his 0r her job related qualifications" brings to mind one blatant example oLjust the opposite - the hiring of one white individual who had a few preparatory courses (in an institution) over a black college graduate with a major in the particular job area. One begins to wonder about the qualifications of the evaluator or at least what the city's definition of "qualifications" might be. In this case "qualifications" apparently meant the color of the applicant's skin. There are two blacks now in- city employ with bachelors, masters, and juris doctor degrees, whose counsel ought to be mort vigorously sought than it apparently is in the matter of fostering equal opportunity - if indeed the administra tion of the City of Durham is really as sincere in the matter as it would like to have the general public believe. Durham needs to hire some knowledgeable blacks in upper adminis trative, decision making positions, stop playing games such as evidenced in the report and get on with the business of living up to at least the real intent of some of those bittersweet merit position statements written in the new Personnel Handbook which the report cites as "further affirmation of the City's intention to apply equal employment considerations for all people " City of Durham is roughly 50 black. iiiiiiiii iii ii itiiiiiitiiiiitiiitiif riiiii iiiiiitiiitiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiii 1 1 iiii i ii 1 1 iitiiii iiittiii ii 1 1 1 ii 1 1 MiitiiiiiiiiiJiiiiiti iiif in iniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiini iiiiiiiiiiii iti 1 1 1 him i ii i ti 1 1 1 in i im in inimiiiimiiimminiuHitmiiiiimiiffl Condemn Police Massacre of Bled South Alncens Howard Lee Opens Local Jstfer iim By Elva P. DeJarmon NEW YORK - The fol lowing statement was re leased hy Peter Came jo and Willie Mac Rcid. Socialist Workers Party candidates for president and vice-president: "The brutal police massacre of Black South Africans and the police rampage following the demonstrations in Sowclo by (more than 10.000 Black students is a bitter reminder for the American people of the barbaric nature of Prime Minister John Vor ster's apartheid regime. The police attacked the students because they were protesting the forced use of Afrikaans, the language of the racist oppressors, in their schools. The murderous attack on the demonstration and the deployment of thousands of armed police to Black townships where hundreds have been wounded is . meant as a harsh warning to the twenty million Blacks in South Africa that demon strations against apartheid and for Black rights will not be tolerated. "Secretary of Slate Henry Kisscngcr's scheduled meeting with Vorstcr in West Cicrmany on June 23 & 24 is also meant as a warning to South African Blacks. The meeting represents a public reaffirmation of Washington's intention to continue and even strengthen it tics with the apartheid regime, which is the most powerful bas tion of imperialist rule on the African continent. The talks, which will be the first such high-level meeting between Washington and Pretoria since 1945, have been hailed by the press as a diplomatic victory for Vorstcr. "Kissinger's occasional expressions of disapproval of the racist apartheid system arc nothing more than a democratic bid to deflect criticism from Washington's actual aid to Pretoria, which has included the sale of millions of dollars worth of military . aircraft and other equipment. "While Kissingers hypo critically: criticizes the in justice of white minority rule in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and Namibia, he chooses to ignore the murder of close to one hundred Blacks by Vorster's police, and the atrocities of the Vorstcr regime. The South African government forces Blacks into Bantusans, pays them slave wages, maintains an inhuman pass system to regulate travel of Blacks in while areas, and wantonly murders Black demonstrating for basic human rights, as il did during the Sharpcsvillc massacre in I960, and as it is doing now. Vorster's police also attacked the 1000 white workers and students in Johannesburg who coura geously demonstrated their opposition to the racist mur ders. "There is no difference between the racist govcrn , v (Continued On Page 9 Howard Lcc, candidate for Lt. Governor of North Carolina, opened his Durham County headquarters on Eriday, June 18 with a ribbon cutting ceremony held at the Michaux Building. Apex Highway. The candidate's youngest daughter, Karen, assisted her father in the ribbon culling activity. Speaking briefly regard ing key issues, l.cc reiterated and listed some key issues in the program that he would try to place in motion if elected. Citing his education plan, he stated that more than 60 per cent of ihc Slate's citizens have not completed school and that the stale lias the eighth highest illiteracy rate in the nation. The education pro gram must be strcngtchncd and repaired in order for all its citizens to enjoy Ihe benefits of the stale. He would certainly attempt to provide leadership in the area of education. Another point offered was the setting up of a 15 member Advisory Council on Education which would be formed in order to give advice and counsel and set kihe lone for educational directions in N. C. He would also work toward developing "a cohesive system of educa tion , from kindergarten through post graduate levels, Continued On Page I4 fffilfl f " FORD MEETS WITH CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS- At a Whit House meeting with President Ford and Attorney General Edward Levi (right), civil rights leaders pleaded for the President to abandon his campaign to halt or curtail busing as a court tool for school desegregation. NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins (left) said later that he received a pledge from Ford that he supports desegregation. (UPI). festival to feature Nearly 300 Performers 1 m CINCINNATI: Congrtsswoman Barbara Jordon, shown here it the commencement program of the University of Cincinnati, was named on a list by Jimmy Carter as a possible Vice Presiden tial running mat in the November election providing Carter gets the Democratic nomination... (UPI) Nearly 300 musicians, dancers, storytellers, crafts people, tradespeople and cooks are now under con tract to perform and demon strate traditional folkways at the North Carolina Bi centennial Folklife Festival. The event will be held July 3-5 at the Eno River Park West Point Mill restoration site in Durham. All performances and demonstrations represent authentic methods as transplanted and developed from origins in F.uropcan, Mid Eastern, African and Native American cultures then naturing and preserved through generations of fam jjy and community traditions. The participants themselves represent a combination of professions and "just plain folks" who have kept the old ways alive. In addition to the staged events the audience will be encouraged to participate in games and constests, stump speeches, and a Tiddler's con test as well as spontaneous music, dancing and singing. Fifty to Seventy-five thou sand people are expected to attend. Presentations will be organized in three geogra phical groupings: Coastal, Piedmont and Mountains, plus a main stage area for special performance as well as Mountain and Piedmont area stages. Performances, both with in the geographical groups and in the main stage area will feature everything from Old Timey string bands and buck dancers to blues singers and balladccrs. Other per formances will include such things as storytelling, moun tain music, country music and homor, special folk instruments, and gospel and sacred harp music. Types of things to be featured in the coastal demonstrations include fish net making, boat building, bird carving, dug out canoe making and seafoods. Dutch, Lebanese, and Native Continued On Page 9 From Where I Sit i By Ethel L. Payne EDITOR'S NOTE: The Carolina Times is pleased National Newspaper Publishers Association on the to share with its readers the third in a scries of in- tour. At long last, the United States has moved terpretive articles on U. S. Secretary of State from a benign neglect stance to a clearly stated Henry Kissinger's six nation tour of Africa, April policy on Atrica. We believe these articles wBl en- 23 through May 7, 1976. These written accounts able the reader to understand the significance of this are by the organized Black press' foremost foreign new U. S. posture toward Africa trom a "Mack per- correspondent, Ethel L. Payne, representing the spectrvc.") Points For Peace LUSAKA, Zambia-Secretary of State against the Russian backed MPLA Henry Kissinger chose this place to un- faction in Angola and insistent on veil the historic new U. S. policy on freedom now the black 'majority in Africa because of its strategic geographic Rhodesia. Since the country is land? and political position. Zambia, is a locked Kaunda" took a heavy gamble pivotal state. It borders.; on" Southern ''when; he c6s&.hil ' border ;tp Rho Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Southwest Africa desian good passing through, lt .meant (Namibia), Angola, Mozambique, and further hardship for his people. But Zaire and Tanzania on the North. It is Kaunda who is a devout Christian stuck buffeted by the winds pf change sweep- to his principle. ing through Southern Africa, Zambia is Kissingers coming turned the spot the focal point for the politics of the light on Southern Africa and the grave possible. Klcments of the nationalist problems there. It was the logical place movements have headquarters here and to announce a new American policy. At this is the staging ground for many of a luncheon in the State House, the U. S. the guerilla forces operating in the area. Secretary gave his 10-point proposal: President Kenneth Kaunda has First the United States declares through persuasion and negotiations its support in the strongest terms for the which have subjected him to severe, proposals made by British Prime Minister criticism from some quarters played the Callaghan on March 2Z of this year: that role of arbiter in the explosive situation, independence must be preceded by None could challenge his sincerity in majority rule , which in turn, must . K frying to avert a major conflict. He was achieved no later than twe years V onunucu y rapt 7 1 : ! 1 -I
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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June 26, 1976, edition 1
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