Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Nov. 5, 1981, edition 1 / Page 4
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Page 4-1 he Chronicle, rhursdas, Nosembei Wi qston ??1| Ndu ly!1! Mrnib^i loilh C Atoltiu X*!y Blai k Publi%hff % AtttH UhtMi l|i Li Jiiiiii "\NCPA Li S-jii:: Robert I lie N C. Association Sfunis t <Jih>r < y. A Mvth At i W hile people - at least main of them -believe that black people ate not guile as intellectuals fitted as thev. When we attend predominantly white colleges and universities, tor example, they claim that most of us do so undei relaxed admissions standatds. That's just not right, thev say. Whiles have to work so hard to gel in. they argue, and lose their spots to blacks with I esse i credentials. W, U, .. A couple of years ago. Associate Dean Hayden Renwiek of the University ol North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a black man, accused the school of failing to admit qualified black students and, in numerous cases, admitting white students with consideiably weakei academic credentials. Those "special eases" included sons Put That Ba Here's someTood for thought for those of Vou who plan to be professional athletes: . According m n IU7J I Ini\/,t / >?i -C- - .. ... T V ' v -<ll J VI VA'forado stud>, onls one black .person in esery IS,(XX) made a living in sports. Onl> one out ol'cvcr> 6,(KK) black males in the 18-64 age group played pioles sionally, the studs added. In a 1974 Ness York limes studs, 200,000 high school seniors played basketball and 5.7(H) college seniors played the game. Only 211 ol those col lege seniors si ere dialled bs the pros, "wSTfHC Bs vv K j I Rev. Warner R. Durnell "Is Abortion ur. t ? .... e nave oeen asxea tnis past week, "Where was your article?" Yes, a search through last week's Chronicle would not have uncovered the whereabouts of our article. The truth of the matter is, we were unable to write it in time for printing. Our debate over this highly controversial series of articles on issues that in one way or another involve the taking of human life (abortion, euthanasia, war and capital punishment) has been unusually lenghty. We have been divided in our opinion and have found it difficult to arrive at a consensus. After a little give and take on both sides, we dare to share our beliefs. First, on the question; "Is abortion murder?" The sixth commandment states, "Thou shalt not kill." (Exodus 20:13) A more accurate translation is; "Do not commit murder." (Good News Bible) God has placed an extremely high value on human life. Human life is to be preserved and respected. However, there ari times in which the justifiable taking of human life is consistent with the command to preserve and respect human life (see "How We See It," October 22,1981). It is our contention that under some circum^ stances, abortion is a means of preservj ing and respecting life, while at the same I time being forced to take a life. We believe that abortion is morally permissible only in such cases where (1) carrying the fetus to full term would cause severe physical harm to the woman and/or infant. However, where modern [medical services are available, the conflict between the obligations is often reducible; (2) pregnancy is the result of incest or rape. Here abortion is a means of protection against further harm for a woman who has already been the victim of violence; (3) pregnancy and the responsibility of rearing a child would be too great of a psychological and emotional strain on a minor or even an adult. Before an abortion in these cases of psychic stress, sunnnrtlve resource* u/Mrh ? * ri *", * would enable the teenager or woman to cope with child bearing and rearing, ' A. L:L>: 5. 1981 MS* - Salem Gtir ? . ?rtrerra?frw*3?- - - ijijiji hiM Lticmonso iu-ltmmtvt Mum Ao&ii B?r?au jXv. I I LllllC I . Pitt ?f Cif?%UU?M WiiHuiU'f UNC J I I - *" 1 ' 1 ' * unu uaugnicrs 01 aiunmi wno nau verv lo\s SA1 scores and athletes with same. Sonic black applicants denied admission were National Achievement scholars, among the cream of the crop of rising black freshmen. And I NC tells HI W that the pool of "qualified" black applicants is too small. We beg to differ. Kenwick's accusations caused considerable luroi on the UNC campus, but the local media all but ignoied them. Main of the'state's larger daily papers, for instance, shunned investigative coverage 01 anv other - on the mallet, electing instead to critici/e the state's black institutions. And the Univcisity ol North ( aiolina neithei fned Kenvvick, reptimanded him, nor responded to his allegations. W e think we know win. ill Down though, and a giand total ol 55 signed contracts. Today, with onlv one piolessional basketball le !thi ml ">0 m.il 1... .... ? v.c vv , 'ill tir I I'l'fS IV> tillnualk get a spot among 284 pro players. As fat as l oot ball rs concerned, only one out of every 1,000 high school football players makes it to the professional : ranks. Those statistics are as good a reason as any for black youth to do their homework. And for black parents to make sure of it. Father Mk-haei B. Carry i Murder?" should be sought out first. We firmly believe that abortion for reasons of birth control, unwanted child* ren and deprived socioeconomic circumstances, in and of themselves, do not constitute the justifiable taking of human life. The fetus is a form of human life. From the beginning the fetus has its own genetic endowment, different from that of either mother or father. True, a fetus is not a fully developed human life, and should not be treated as such. It lacks characteristics of consciousness and personality which makes us fully human. It is incapable of surviving outside the womb until its nervous and circulatory systems are developed during the gestation period. But having said all this, the fetus is human life in potential, and to take it for reasons other than out of a need to preserve and respect life that is already fully developed, i.e. the woman, is unjustifiable. As we earlier stated, the unjustifiable taking of life is murder. This does not mean that, abortion is an illegitimate fnhffll rtt/si/v In Ai/^fu clfnoflnn !? Mi v vij jiiuonuiii vjiny in those cases where it is the choice of a woman and society that seeks to make its life less burdensome. In summation, there are no simple solutions to most serious abortion questions. It is a conflict between life and life. This means that there will always be a tragic dilmension to any decision for abortion. There are cases where abortion may be morally permissible; otherwise, we are forced to call a spade a spade: it's murder. Either way, God forgive usl Send your I opinions to: CHRONir.I F I FTTPDC P.O. BOX 3154 I WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. I 27102 I "V Affirmative Ac Washington - It was a beautiful windup. I a person is denied I of I race, national origin or sex," the assistant attorney I general for civil rights said, U "the consequences may well , uy Jf be so serious as to make I ^ other civil rights largely I academic. For example, ac- I cess to equality of housing opportunity has little practical significance if an individual is discriminated Reynolds,. the administraagainst in the job-market tion official charged with and cannot earrra wase to rivit rioHu w __ - . . . . . J WI1 I Ul VVIIIVttt ,? purchase decent housing, called for an end to affirSimilarly, a diploma mative action as generally becomes less valuable if it understood, fails to open doors to posi- "We no longer will insist tions for which the person upon, or in any respect sup&as trained." port, the use of quotas or Then came the delivery: a any other numerical sweeping curve so wide of statistical formulae designthe plate as to constitute a ed to provide to non-victims wild pitch. Or a bean ball, of discrimination preferenWilliam Bradford tial treatment based on ~7~ HOUSING OUTLOOK Letters T o Educational Interest j To The Editor: information and partirinnfino in rliolnnnac uiuiujuvi auu Many thanks for the efforts to raise the conChronicle's coverage of the sciousness of concerns various community about where the black child organization's efforts to stands in the educational provide programs that ad- system, dress the educational in- Is he or she losing ground terests and needs of Black or falling through the people.. A special thanks is cracks? Are gains being also given to Ms. Marilyn made or lost? Where has Truesdale, new program the black child come since administrator for resources Brown v. Board of Educain the minority community, tion 1954? What can be for planning as her premiere program a discussion of education and the black child. V^lclrll In this climate of Reagancrmics^ and the resulting constant uproar- To The Editor: from (some) Congressmen and the general public over 1 wish to clarify the budget cuts of social pftK Quotation appearing in the grams; we could easily lose^Chronicle's (October 29, ?iioht nf thp rol 198M rnvpraop r?f ? ? ? VI .1IV i VUVI u i guTVi II- ? - r " *" ' *' **0* w 1 ??>V ment's more subtle moves YWCA-sponsored panel toward cutting, and discussiop of "Education - possibly eliminating of and th# Black Child"^ educational programs and The basic program with services. the black child preparing In fact, historically and for college deals with traditionally, schools have tracking, or being been our primary social in- mislead, stitution. This statement is confusAnd for Blacks, they ing and, in addition to behave been the major, and in ing taken out of context, is many cases, the only means misleading. It is misleading for upward social and in the sense that tracking economic mobility. Lack of might be viewed as the only federal assurances for a free important issue relevant to and appropriate education Blacks at the secondary for our children would be educational level. There are the ultimate blow in virtual- many more issues, e.g., unly eliminating future serious Tair and disproportionate mack challenges to the suspensions, grading social structure, economic systems, black history, the and political powers in this killing of the self-concept, country. etc. These problems arc Each parent, each public probably found in any and community organiza- school in any city in this tion should seriously con- country, cern itself with providing Furthermore, the basic > V :tion Races Its E William > II Raspberry If * race, sex, national origin or gressional hearing on affirreligion.** mative action, was for It was a definition handling discrimination calculated to cut the moral comnlainK nnlv nn a rac#? ground from under affir- by-case basis, which is to mative action. After all, say a proposal for not w ho (except white men, for handling them at all, save in w hom it is a matter of the most flagrant of cases, routine) can countenance The remarkable thing is preferential treatment for that he seems to understand "non-victims of discrimina- the problem that led to such tion? concepts as "goals and Reynolds' proposal, of- timetables" for correcting fered in testimony at a con- racially skewed hiring pat1 XOOJTUO OHI2UOH T" The fe^jtor \nd Needs Of Blacks done by parent and com- children to private schools, munity now that the federal further cuts in educational government appears to be services (breakfast, lunch gradually relinquishing its programs, Title programs, mandates for financial sup- support personnel, etc.), port of education of the block grants to states masses? wherein the state deterIssues that should be wat- mines how the money will ched very closely in the near be used for education, future include repeals of Supreme Court rulings on education acts, repeal of the use of federal money for Voting Rights Act, com- busing (desegregation), etc. petency testing, tax breaks for parents who send their Rhonda Covington y The Quotation program (in WS/FC dent. Granted, some schools) does not deal per se students are in basic prowith tracking. It is a pro- grams who can function gram designed to meet the successfully at more difacademic skill level of a stu- See page 5 Corpening And WSSU I To the Editor: 0f appreciation for his invaluable assistance to our our editorial describing university, I would like to ayor ayne Corpening's publicly acknowledge his relationship with Winston- support. Salem State was in- jn his multiple role as accurate. In fairness to Mayor, member of the UNC Mayor Corpening and out See page 5 "Food For Thought" To the Editor: inspiring and contain a wealth of "food for I iust want to take this thought". I look forward to opportunity to tell you that 1 reading them weekly, enjoy very much Mrs. Naomi McLean's articles in the Chronicle. Vivian H. Burke, These articles are very Alderman \ )emise I "term. ? - ^ originally promulgated b> President Lyndon Johnson, -involved expanded recruitment of minority ap- I plicants. It quickly became I apparent, however, that 3 I employers who wished to continue to discriminate could do so, even while casting a wider recruitment net. The question arose as to what might properly be done if such an employer met the Johnson require- I ment by Interviewing im- I nrAC c i we n m I* a r c ? f pi v J JI ' v II u ill V V I 3 VJ I minorities without significantly changing his Hiring patterns. The answer: insist on changed results - or at the , very least an explanation of why the results hadn't changed. Reynolds, naturally, describes it differently. Some, he said, "were impatient with the progress of minorities and began to urge use of new hiring requirements designed to achieve immediate numerical equality among the races in the place of work." He would handle the recalcitrant employer by supporting suits by individual applicants who could show they had been discriminated against in the personnel office. Lots of luck. To begin with, the person who is rejected by a large company usually can not know who got "his" job, let alone whether his qualifications were equal or better. Under the present rules, the rejected applicant could point to the death of minorities or females on the employer's workforce as evidence of discrimination. If the complaints were 1 upheld, the employer could I be required to do something I about the make-up of his M staff. M >? -Ndt^und^ thtf HCyttMfc M rule. To the extent that M "doing something" about evident discrimination in- |H volved a requirement to hire 'H members of a discriminated-against group - without regard to whether the individuals hired had . t memseives been discriminated against by the jm employer - it would amount to preferential treatment at the expense of white poten tial employees: reverse discrimination. V Where an applicant is able to prove that he has been discriminated against, Reynolds would require that he be hired and -another big windup - "seek injunctive relief directing the employer to make future employment decisions on a nondiscriminatory, race-neutral and sex-neutral basis." Then: "To ensure that the injunction is followed, we will require as part of the remedy that the employer 1. _ :_i - cc? uiaKc spctiai enons 10 reach minority or female workers through comprehensive use of employment recruitment techniques; such as media advertising and visiting, high schools and college cam puses,...(and) regularly file records detailing its recruitment efforts and revealing the number of minority and female applicants being attracted." He would even seek, "Where appropriate," percentage recruitment goals. And again the widebreaking pitch: Reynolds is talking recruitment, not hiring. This whole elaborate scheme of injunctions and follow-up and record-filing deals only with getting minority applicants. Victims of discrimination could tell him that it doesn't help a lot to require a biased employer to take your application. It's getting the job that counts. ;
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Nov. 5, 1981, edition 1
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