Page 4-The Chronicle, Saturday, January 24, 1981
l^E S Ndub
'fl .. . v. k_ .. Ernest H. Pitt
# Editor/PuMishe
M- --NCPA Spem'Sor
sgi N.C. Press Association
A Community
Recent reports concerning the East Winston I oral
: Development Corporation prompted us to investigate the
: Local Development Corporation concept. What we
found was most interesting.
; First of all our Community Development Corporation
:is a community based organization, in this particular
case, non-profit which qualifies it to obtain initial fun ding
from Community Development money.
; Part of the overall problem that some people have with
the city providing initial Community Development
; money to the East Winston Local Development Corpora
tion is a lack of understanding of the use of Community
: Development money. The Community Development
; block grant program was amended in 1977 to permit
Economic Development activities. And yet, we could find
no indication that the city of Winston-Salem has used any
Community Development money for Economic Development.
: We think it is perfectly logical for Community
: Development money to be used in this case because of the
:goals and objectives of the East Winston Local Development
Corporation. One stated goal is to provide increased
economic opportunities for low and moderate income
: persons. Also, to strenghten the community internally by
; means of creating community controlled businesses and
muusiries.
What is extremely important here is the necessity for
the black community to increase and develop an
economic base and to control it themselves. Acording to
By Clifton Graves
King's Drean
Last Thursday, January 15, millions across this country
^ marched, rallied and prayed in supportj)f a national holidaxJG
commemorate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. Among that number were 200,000 in
Washington, D.C., over 5,000 in Atlanta, and nearly 500
: here in Winston-Salem.
This tremendous outpouring of support was at once
necessary and commendable. Necessary because so many
of us - blacks, brown, red and white alike - are indebted
to Dr. King for forcing this nation to analyze its moral
fiber; commendable, because tKose who marched on last
Thursday have not forgotten that indebtedness, and further
realize that King's dream has yet to be fulfilled.
It was in this spirit that nearly 300 concerned citizens
from across the state gathered last weekend at the Patterson
Ave. YMCA and Goler Memorial AME Zion Church
to discuss the formation of a North Carolina chapter of
the National Black Independent Political Party
(N.B.I.P.P.). The Party, founded at a national convpn.
tion in Philadelphia, Pa. last November, was established
to offer a fresh approach to the pressing problems confronting
African Americans today. The basic platform of
the N.B.I.P.P. is to organize black communities at the
grass-roots level so that we can better impact on the
political, economic and social institutions which control
our lives.
Delegates to the Winston-Salem meeting heard Rev.
Ben Chavis assert that an independent political move.rnent
is "needed now more than ever...and even though a
national holiday to honor Dr King is a worthwhile objective,
it would only be a symbolic gesture unless
Americans of African descent renewed our commitment
to fight for the principles Dr. King lived and died for...".
Rev. Chavis and most of those in attendance concurred
that the N.B.I.P.P. has the potential to be the appropriate
vehicle for continuing to wage the struggle for
justice and equity in this country.
Some came to Winston out of curiosity. Others, out of
frustration with the present state of black America. But
nearly all came with a sense that at this juncture in our
An Open Letter To
Channels 2 And 8
Dear Sirs:
Your media blitz on the Klan was nothing but a recruitment
advertisement for the Klan. On Nov. 15, with the acquittal
of 6 Klan and Nazi cold-blooded murderers, the
wrI - - ...
Man was given a green light to shoot down blacks, communists,
trade unionists, anyone. Now follows the
stepped-up promotion of the Klan in the mass media. The
timing is no accident. Now that the government and
monopoly capitalists have shown people what the Klan
can get away with, these same Klan promoters, who own
the mass media, are blatantly recruiting for their reactionary
army. We have been bombarded with Klan propaganda
coming at us from all over the tube.
Why don't you tell people about the Klan's 115 year
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Elaine L. Pitt Altthmi I
Office Manager of Circulation*
r Opportunity
the Center for Community Economic Development in
Cambridge, Mass., the land resources of the community
are especially critical to development. Most Local
Development Corporations, therefore, have some plan
by which they expect to exert influence over the use of
local land. Usually, that requires the Community
Development Corporation to own and control large
parcels of land. Only by doing so will it be possible to
carry out other parts of the Community Development
Corporation strategy.
For example, let's suppose a Local Development Corporation
applied to its local government to donate land tc
the organization for development purposes. In this case,
the EWLDC is not really asking the city to give it
anything, only to return some of the community's money
back to it. This then gives the Local Development Corporation
the ability to leverage private investments with
public funds, thereby creating new permanent employment
and improving the commercial goods and services
available to residents of the community.
This Local Development Corporation concept that the
East Winston Local Development Corporation is talking
about is not something that was pulled out of the air.
This tvnp nroanintinn I*. ?1 * "
It.C*I IV/1 I 13 u^ciaiing inrougnoui tne country.
Places such as New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles,
Kansas City, Louisville, St. Louis, and Dayton all have
development corporations providing the same type of
See Page 16
i Party Goal
history, an alternative approach to deal with existing conditions
was imperative.
Whether or not you think a black independent political
party is viable, or even necessary, is of relative importance
to the organizers of the North Carolina chapter.
For while they are actively soliciting members and support
from all segments of our communities, they vow that
the Party will not be deterred by skepticism and
negativism.
And while the organizers are cognizant of the
seriousness and difficulty of such an undertaking, they
contend that the times are on their side. For they sense a
collective frustration with the same old - same old
"politics of accomodation"; a frustration with black
folks continually being pawns in Democratic and
Republican political chess games; a frustration with
America's malignant neglect of the oppressive conditions
endemic to black and brown communities in this land.
Whenwe add to the above the calls by certain members
of Congress (e.g. Helms, Thurmond, and Hatch) for curtailment
of the food stamp program, cut backs in affirmative
action, and reinstatement of the death penalty nationally;
the resurrection of the Klan in white sheets, and
of a Klan mentality of those in three-piece suits; the continuing
disproportionate number of blacks, Chicanos,
Puerto Ricans, etc. overcrowding this nation's prisons;
the widening disparity between white and black median
incomes; and, yes, the growing international crises in the
Caribean, Africa, and the Persian Gulf which most of us
fail to fully^rasp-signs seemingly point to the need for a
novel approach, a unique strategy to combat not only
racism in the larger society, but indeed complacent
among our own people.
History will be the judge of the effectiveness of this
new independent political thrust. But if Dr. King's dream
is to become a reality; if "justice is to truly flow like
water, and righteousness like a mighty stream," then it
should be crystal clear to any intelligent person that the
same-old, tired tactics and politics will not do!!
history of murder and torture? This account from the
Chattanooga Times of Feb. 13, 1918, is no isolated incident,
but shows what the Klan is really about??////.
"This evening at 7:40 p.m., J.H..was tortured with a
red-hot iron bar, then burned...A crowd of more than
2000 people...many women and children, were present at
the incineration...After the negro had been bound from
behind, a fire was kindled. A little further away, another
fire was kindled in which an iron bar was placed. When it
was red-hot, a man took it and applied it to the black's
body. The latter, terrified, seized the iron with his hands,
and the air was immediately filled with the smell of burning
flesh...The red-hot iron having been applied to
several parts of his body, his shouts and groans were .
heard as far away as in the town. After several minutes of
torture, masked men poured petrol on him and set fire to
the stake. The flames rose and enveloped the negro who
implored to be finished off with a shot. His supplications
provoked shouts of derision."
Since 1866, thousands of blacks have been burned
alive, hung, shot, cut to pieces and tortured by the Klan.
As the above quote shows, the press duly promoted the
Klan, without a word of reproach for the criminals, or a
word of pity for the victims. A headline, 5 inches high,
See Page 17 ^
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Washington? I don't want to absolve the neoconservatives,
neo-racists and opponents of minority
progress.
But one of the deadliest assaults on affirmative action
has been launced by its friends.
Lawyers- for the government and the highly respected
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights are trying to cut a
deal that is so manifestly unfair that it bids to cut the
moral ground right from under the whole concept of affirmative
action.
* What they propose is to junk the federal government's
Professional and Administrative Career Examination
(PACE) and to keep experimenting with new tests until
they come up with one that is wholly free olf bias, A.
And when will they know that the bias has been removed?
When the proportion of blacks, whites and Hispanics
who pass the test is roughly equal to the proportion who
decide to take it.
Forget actual qualifications. Forget job-relatedness.
Forget elemental fairness. If the test doesn't produce the
proper racial results, then keep fiddling around with it until
it does. ~
It may be the most absurd affirmative-action proposal since
the Cleveland school official ordered that the city's
high school basketball teams must henceforth be at least
20 percent white.
Imagine that your city wants to hire a number of
drivers for its bus system. Imagine further that a
disproportionate number of black applicants for the jobs
fall short in the basic skills as measured in the driving
test.-Maybe they grew up on farms and never had a
chance to become adept at maneuvering in city traffic.
Maybe the best black drivers have gone to work for
Greyhound. Maybe it just happens that this particular
crop of black applicants is unusually inept.
No matter. If the proportion of black applicants who
fail the test is significantly larger than the proportion that
decided to take the test, you'll have to come up with a
new test until the proportions work out right.
The rationale for affirmative action is that since racism
still exists in America, job-screening devices that routinely
screen out disproportionate numbers of non-white applicants
are, on that account, suspect.
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Given the enormous problems facing the nation, President
Reagan may be strongly tempted to let the plight of
minorities and the Door take a hark tn wufno ???
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stagnant economy and shoring up our internation position.
In effect, that would be a revival of the old "benign
neglect'* approach of the early Nixon years. That approach
was based on the supposition that blacks had
made great progress and no longer needed special governmental
efforts.
A new benign neglect approach would probably be based
on a different belief?that by solving the nation's
economic dilemmas the Administration would at the
same time solve the economic problems of blacks.
Therefore, no special efforts need be considered.
The new benign neglect approach would be as mistaken
as the old. In both instances, the neglect would not have a
benign effect at all. Rather, it would inevitably lead to a
deterioration of conditions for poor people while impeding
solutions to problems of inflation and unemployment.
One reason for this is that the free-market approach
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Fair enough. And if, upon review, it turns out that the
screening tests are full of questions that have nothing to
do with the work to be performed, the tests ought to be
changed.
That is pretty much what happened with the old
Federal Service Entrance Examination. Not only did
blacks have more trouble passing the FSEE; but many of
the questions were demonstrably non-job-related.
That's why the government finally abandoned the
FSEE and instituted PACE. But even with PACE, the
pass rates for minorities still lagged behind the rate for
whites. (Forty-two percent of white applicants pass
PACE compared with only 13 percent for Hispanics and 5
percent for blacks.)
Two years ago, a group ot bracks! and rfispanfe who
had failed the test sued the Office of Personnel Management
on the ground that the test was manifestly unfair.
They alleged further that the exam tested for general
knowledge not required for the 118 job categories for
which it was used.
The case never came to trial.- What the attorneys for
the government and the lawyers committee are working
out now is a consent decree mandating a test that will
produce the right numerical results.
The sensible thing, of course, would be to check again
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related to the work to be performed. If they turn out to
be reasonably job-related, then the problem is not in the
test.
To keep monkeying with the test until it produces the
"correct" arbitrary results is both foolish and unfair.
And to the extent that the whole idea of affirmative action
depends on a general consensus that it will reduce the
amount of unfairness, the newest proposal is likely to
work against the long-term interests of minorities.
Maybe the exam ought to ask applicants to tell in their
own words why the proposed solution is unfair on its
face. Anybody who couldn't explain that satisfactorily
doesn't deserve an administrative career in the government
or anywhere else.
On the other hand, anybody clever enough to make a
cogent defense of the proposal ought to be summarily
qualified for selection asattorney general, sottcttor
general or senior partner in the law firm of his choice.
- - * * *
Reagan Should
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iavorea oy me Aaministration would-even if it turns the
economy around in the long run-have serious negative
short-term effects on the poor.
Low income families, for example, feel the brunt of inflation
in sharply rising food and energy costs that take a
greater part of their budgets than better-off households,
which spend greater parts of their income on nonessentials.
That means the poor depend on government props like
food stamps, minimum wages, and unemployment benfits.
Few of the poor actually get such assistance, just as
few actually get welfare. But their availability is important
for many low income families.
If such income support programs were cut sharply or
even, as some advocate, abandoned, those families would
be in desperate straits. Even if, in the name of Fighting inflation,
eligibility standards are stiffened or public jobs
programs cut, many inner city families would be shoved
over the brink.
Theorists may claim that ultimately the lower federal
spending and other measures will pay off in private sector
* See page 5