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Page 4 - The Chronicle, Saturday, December 6, 1980
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* ,. truest H. Pitt
Member North Carolina
Black Publliher'i AitodKion b.(llt()f Eui)Ushi
xrnrr^k Robert tiler
? IrCEft. Sports Editor
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8 N.C. Press Association
Hunt's Concerr
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Tuesday's announcement by Governor Jim Hunt that he
appointed a committee to investigate why Blacks
rlhVl' c?ru? Afi turiar ac nftan a < rkaia ...US*
uyti ? jvi rv vii juiiv* 04 viiv11 as I1IV1I Willie WUI11C1
should reinforce the vote of confidence that blacks gave
hina in last month4s election. It also prevails with
concerns he expressed during a meeting several months
ago with the publishers and editors of the state's seven
Black-owned newspapers.
Hunt, as promised during his campaign is not standing
idle and watching his term. Instead, he is attacking
problems head on making us feel that perhaps he is not
afraid of stepping on a few judicial toes.
Hunt's concern is a trifle too late. The events during the
Klan-Nazi trial in Greensboro last month are evidence of
that.
Had all the Blacks not been eliminated from the jury in
that case, the verdict would have perhaps been different.
Reagan Shift o>
.'A recent attempt by Reagan forces in the government
ty) influence foreign slialc&y on Africa is a bad omen if it
is a model for a formalized Republican policy. Though
Democrats defeated the legislative effort, it would have
put the United States squarely on the side of racist South
Africa and jeopardized a delicate United Nations proposal
in the works to end minority white rule in that
country through democratic elections.
zkodkby iUpufrhdifefenatt* J??Hel*rt4*mri North.
a law bait*"
military aid to Angolans rebelling against their
government.
"^During the campaign President-elect Ronald Reagan
he favored military aid to Jonas Savimbi, the South
Africa-backed insurgent who seeks to overthrow the present
Angolan regime.
Though Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is
backed by the Russians, he has opened his country to
American oil interests, and perhaps more importantly,
exercises an influence over black guerillas fighting South
Africa that In favorable to the U.N. proposal for a
negotiated settlement.
The move by lawmakers supportive of Reagan, many
experts on Africa fear could torpedo the Angolan Arrangement
and further incline the South Africans to balk
on U.N. negotiations.
There is widespread fear that their legislative action
mtiy set the pattern for the Reagan Administration's
policy, which could mark a sad return to the United
States' approach to Africa prior to the initiatives of Jimmy
Carter.
With the point man U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young,
who had the credibility of African blood, the Carter Administration
sought to aid the forces of change on the
continent and bury perceptions of the U.S. as a white
country naturally allied through race with Apartheid
regimes, and one which was eager to rape the continent of
mineral wealth and cvnieallv viewed Africa * viaoino.
? ? - ?' - _
ground tor counter-moves against Russia.
And for mosL of its Tour year term the Carter Administration
avoided the strategems of the Cold War
years and sought instead negotiated settlements to
African disputes with a policy based on majority rule
through democratic elections. These initialises resulted in
The Direction of America
To The Editor: Sapse. We know from past
Biistory that America was
I once wrote a letter and Mounded on God's truth nnH
r
forwarded il fo the editorial prospered through His
section of the Winston- grace. By those divine atSaletn
.Tournal about the tributes we were able to surdircction
in which America vive, thrive and ultimately
is headed. The editorial become the most powerful
stall read the letter and and wealthiest nation in the
returned it to me acconi- world. But what happened?
panted with the words Slavery emerged during the
4* We're sorry we canliot infant years of America. A
print this letter." From that people of dark skin were
ver> biased action, my shipped from their
presumption was that the homeland across the vast
letter had cut to the heart seas for the sole purpose of
and revealed the unwanted servitude and backtruth
to the editorial stafl breaking drudgery for a
of the newspaper. people whose heart had
I simply stated that our turned from God. We are
once great God-given coun- all too familiar with the
try is on the verge of total physical and psychological
sfvinl and (vnnotnic col- effects that these situations
ib" . d
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Founded W745
ihisi ligcmonxc VUHlDwJv
Founder
Audit Bureau
Donna E. Oldham of circulations
*r City Editor
Elaine L. Pitt
Office Manager
i Commendable
Even if the jury had had a "token" black who wouldn't
have changed the verdict at all,Attack citizens would
have felt better knowing that they had a hand in deciding
the fate of the six members of the Nazi Party and Ku
Klux Klan who were standing trial for murdering
members of the Communist Workers l*arty, some of
whom happen to be Black.
Instead, we watch daily as all-white juries systematically
free whites who kill blacks, sometimes in cold blood,
as was the case in Miami last summer.
When pressed. District Attorneys and defense counsels
retort with charges that the blacks summoned to jury
duty just did not qualify as suitable jurors. We reply to
this sentiment by simply saying that anything can be
justified. Hunt in his effort to rectify the situation has
enlisted the aid of the state Human Relations Council
See Page 25
i African Policy
ihe election of Robert Mugabe to Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
and the diplomatic opening in the South African
conflict.
But there was always opposition from Congressional
hawks, and by the end of 1979, the Carter Administration
willed under pressure and Andrew Young was forced to
resign. In areas where there was little interest, conservatives
pressured the Administration to show force in
- reaction to Russia. Military hardware was shipped to
Morocco which was in a land dispute with the leftist
Algerians.over the Spanish Sahara. And Somalia, in a
territorial feud with Soviet-backed Ethiopia over its
Ogadcn region, was granted aid and the U.S. established
bases there.
The damage to U.S.-Africa relations, particularly in
the Moroccan case, resulted because that country^
posture on the Sahara had alienated most of the proAROUND
THE WORLD
Lkwttocs
grcssivc African states, including Nigeria, on whom
America depends heavily for oil. And U.S. support was
justified only through a vague concept of outmancuvcring
the Soviets.
Sadly, this approach may become standard now
through sympathy frdm President Reagan, and many
policymakers fear that U.S. interests on the continent will
be jeopardized. It is conventional wisdom in foreign
policy circles that Reagan will only hazily- grasps
AmcfWaN legitimate interests in supporting African
liberation movements because he views political
events on the continent through the prism of a global test
of wills with the Russians.
Tl?:. ?:? t ?? ?
11ii > uvuiiimm wuiiwk couiu dc sonened somewhat
since I lie President-elect is expected to rely heavily on adSee
Page 25
have had on that dark race, great power, and spreading
That black race w as himself like a** green bay
reduced to the lowest of tree". Arc we not observing
humiliation and degrada- that from the outcome of
lion, but yet somehow sur- the recent 1980 elections,
vived. Had you ever Every accomplishment and
wondered how in God's, positive element fought and
kingdom did an entire race won by the poor and Black
of people survive such an people through the years
ordeal. It seems to me that seems threatened and headsomehow
through a llieker cd toward a reversed state,
of hope and prayer that the But listen to what the
rnrr? pivturivt I nm ?
?... rsaimisi David "said "Yet
cd ol' the Scripture in the he (the wicled) passed away
book ot Psalms (37) antj was noj (0 pc found.
"Though we tall we shall ?vil and hatred has never
not utterly b<; east down: prevailed in America
for (lie Lord upholds us because there are still some
with his hand". That par- people sincerely praying
tieular verse brings me up to an(j looking to Jesus and
the current injustices, tricks n0| Ronald Reagan for the
and strategics conjured to answer to today's troubles,
use against a people....It
will soon be cut down. The Thank you,
Psalmist, David once said
"I have seen the wicked in Phyllis Turner
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If you buy Sen. Orrin Hatch's assumption (that the ris-.
ing minimum wage has priced teen-agers out of the labor
market), then it's hard to resist his solution.
The Utah Republican says he will shortly introduce
legislation to permit employers covered by the minimumwage
law to hire teen-agers at 75 percent of the adult
minimum.
The result, he predicts, will be to render teen-agers
more employable, thereby reducing the disastrous levels
of youthful joblessness.
The proposal is sure to be bitterly opposed by labor
unions, liberals and blacks. But why?
Are these liberals opposed to doing something concrete
about the youthful unemployment thai is threatening the
tranquillity of the cities? Can blacks arguethat it is belter'
for a youngster to be unemployed at $3.35 (the minimum
wage beginning next January) than to be employed at
$2.50? Is labor's resistance nothing more than an attempt
to save jobs for union members at the expense of teenagers?
What are the arguments against the so-called
youth differential?
Some of the arguments are fairly obvious, and Hatch
proposes to meet some of them. One objection, for in?
stance, is that employers will hire teen-agers at the subminimum
(75% of the adult minimum, in Hatch's proposal),
then replace them with a fresh crop of teen-agers
as the original cohort reaches age 20. Another is the fear
tng^pmers vviii lose tlie'r jobs to their own sons.
Hatch intends to meet these objections by requiring
payment of the full minimum wage after a six-month
training period, or when the worker reaches ago 20.
Meanwhile, the youngsters will have had the chance to
prove themselves. - ?
Presumably employers would find it more economical
to keep experienced workers, even at the full minimum,
than to keep training new ones at the sub-minimum.
Meanwhile, there are all these formerly jobless
youngsters now going to work every day. That, at least, is
what might happen if Hatch's basic assumption is correct.
The problem is, nobody can demonstrate that it is.
correct, and there are a good manv ecnnnmisr? artH tiKm
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experts who would argue that it isn't.
Even Hatch himself seems to have his doubts.
"Everyone knows," he said in a recent interview,
One of President-elect Reagan's prime campaign
themes was a call to "get government off our backs."
Like most campaign rhetoric that may not survive the
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realities or governing, out some concrete porposals to
trim the federal role may be serious. If so, they'll rightly
face vigorous opposition from people concerned with
civil rights and economic justice.
One prime example of a smaller role for Washington is
the plan, reportedly favored by Mr. Reagan, to transfer
federal welfare and education programs to state control,
along with the federal funds to pay for them.
If implemented, such a plan would be disastrous. The
record of the states in this area ranges from fair to awful.
State welfare allotments have so lagged behind inflation
that the real income of many recipients was halved in the
1970s.
Block grants have had a spotty history of accomplishment
in housing and other areas. Turning federal programs
in welfare and education into block grant programs
for states to administer would result in even worse
conditions, since many state governments have
demonstrated unrelieved hostility to poor people and
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thai when the minimum wage goes up to $3.35 an hour,
thousands?no, hundreds of thousands?of kids will lose
their jobs because businesses just aren't going to pay that
much for young people who are only worth $2.50 an
hour."
How's that again? There are these "hundreds of
thousands" of youngsters already employed at the cur
rent minimum of $3.IO-surely a number of them with at
least six months on the job-and they are going to be laid
off when the minimum wage goes up by a quarter an
hour? Even when their replacements would have to be
paid $3.35 by the time they became fully trained?
Sorry, senator, it doesn't compute. The sub-minimum
wpuld do nothing Tor the youngsters.already employed.
Nor would it be likely ro do much tor Wir jOtMesr
counterparts if employers know that, after stx months,
they'll have to get the full minimum.
The only way it could work, it seems to me, is for the
youth differential to be permanent-at least until the
worker is no longer a youth. And that would produce
either of two results, neither of them terribly reassuring.
Either the 2fV-v/p?r-nlrU U/nilM Ka S\ff r*r MA
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worth their pay, and their jobs given to 17-year-olds,.or__
you'd have two groups of employees, equally experienced^
doing the exact same job, but at differential pay, based
solely on their age.
Try to sell your 17-year-old son on taking a counter job
at McDonald's for $34 a week less than his 20-year-old
co-worker, with every prospect that he will lose his job
altogether when he reaches that magic age.
Even with these objections, the Hatch proposal might
be worth patching up-if it were true that the minimum
wage is the major cause of youthful joblessness.
~ A number of people who hav^examined the problem?
think the causes lie elsewhere: in the fact that a growing
number of the jobs available to teen-agers are in the
suburbs, while the bulk of the jobless teen-agers are in the
inner cities, and in the fact that a number of employers
simply don't want black, inner-city youngsters around.
I suppose you could fix the second problem by setting
pay scales low enough. But then the kid becomes a more
attractive employee than his own father with all the problems
that entails.
I don't doubt the senator's good intentions, but maybe
he'd better hatch up another scheme.
Goverment's S
Role /'^EHWm %* 'j
''jXMlwminorities.
It's too often forgotten that many such programs
became federal responsibilities because the states
defaulted in their obligations to< their own citizens.
"States rights** was a cover phrase for blatant
discrimination and deprivation of minority interests and
black civil rights.
Today, some of the states with the weakest tax effort
provide the lowest welfare payments and per-pupil school
investments. To turn over vital federal programs to the
tender mercies of such backward states would be an irresponsible
forfeiture of federal responsibilities.
The odd thing about the proposal is that it is not a conservative
one. If the Reagan administration wants to
come up with constructive conservative solutions to national
problems, welfare provides a perfect testing
ground.
A truly conservative solution to welfare would be one
that put more cash into the hands of the poor, reduced
the red tape and bureaucracy that has such power over
poor people*s lives, and grants to poor people the same
See Pa*e 25