Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / March 31, 1983, edition 1 / Page 4
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I A t4. Page 4-The Chronicle, Thurtdwr* March 31, 1983 Wiriston-Sslem C^noqidc NdubUi tVmo '\i* F.rn?*?t H. Pitt (SImIju^ i ?'?i" XwT^? Allrii Johnson Kotwrt Mler I Uinc I Cat I < .. \r. .. . An Editorial Cheap Shot When does journalism cease to be journalism and become something wicked, irresponsible and dangerous? When it shuns rational thought in favor of a snobbish, know-it-all tenor laced more with cheap shots and personal attacks than facts, or opinions grounded in fact. A case in point is the March 21 diatribe by Winston-Salem Sentinel editorial writer John Falls, who used a column to attack, among others, black school system employees Victor Johnson and Larry Wombte for expressing their opinions xm the system's four-year high school plan. But before we continue, let us make one point clear: the bone we have to pick with Falls is not his right to take whatever editorial stance he sees fit (although we consider his tUof ? -J ?? ? -4 * ?? ?* ' J * I1V/11VJI1 mat 3VIIUUI itacncis aiiu auIlllIlIMI aiUTS snouia DC seen and not heard when it comes to discussing, of all things, the school system, ludicrous at best). It is the manner he uses. In a^tyle that favors tastelessness and pettiness-over substance, Falls, proceeds, in the space of one article to: Label those who have the audacity not to agree with him "nitwits," and their suggestions to the school board "harebrained" and "half-baked." Deify former school Superintendent John Adams as enough of a man to chew up and spit out any heathen who has the gall to differ with him (We imagine that even Dr. Adams would find that point a little hard to swallow). Use his right to free speech in the Sentinel, as an attorney to the Forsyth County Association of Classroom Teachers has noted, to attack someone else's right to free speech. Grope desperately for any reason he can find to personally criticize and attack the integrity of school board member John Holleman. Holleman's "sins": asking citizens what they thought about the neighborhood schools in the lower grades and, worst of all., having the nerve to propose a teacher pay raise and dental insurance plan. Create more stench in his column than he accuses V ? - - Honeman and a group of black citizens of creating with their 4 4 red herring'* proposals merely to examine the possibility of neighborhood schools on some levels. We normally try to avoid responding to such tactics as Falls' to prevent giving him more publicity than he deserves, but we couldn't restrain ourselves this tifhe. And we hope that the schizophrenic Sentinel ? which alternately offers decent and atrocious coverage of the black ? community -- will find the journalistic ethics it misplaced last ^week^ Crosswlnds , An Frnnnmir Plan From The Carolina Times. North Carolina's population is steadily growing older, an observation that is not of itself profound. But, because it is predicted that in the next 17 years, a larger percentage of the state's population will be 65 years old and older, the problems created by that demographic shift could be profound indeed. . All responsible information indicates that the growing percentage of elderly will include quite a number of people who are poor. Quite a number of them will be women. Quite a number of the elderly poor, men and women, will be black. Some of the problems to be considered because of these projections are obvious. We need some in-depth and definitive discussion on how to deliver better health care ser* * -f*? vices to the elderlv. ? But there are other problems that are not so obvious. < Aging produces an array of special needs. Among them are a different diet, different housing demands and a different social environment, not to mention a higher level of security. The elderly are rapidly becoming America's almost 4: automatic crime victims. ; Yet, these problems, nagging as they are, are not insoluble. One key to solving the problems of the elderly is to keep them economically viable. And why not? Why should we routinely assume that because a person is 65 years old, his or her income must become fixed at whatever retirement, social security or other subsidies can produce? Quite frankly, it seems to us that the explosion of technological advances offers a unique opportunity to address the problems of the elderly by building for them a solid economic foundation they can stand on and use to enjoy the fruits of their labors. Consider computer operations. It is rather exciting and interesting work, and it pays well. Who says one must be young to do it? The youth of computer operators is more a function of ^ where the educational emphasis is placed than any need for. computer operators to be young. Therefore, we conclude that the North Carolina Community Colleges system should take a careful and detailed look at how to teach our senior citizens to take advantage of r, the state's technological advances. Please see pane 5 *i i ? > . ? . 1 Tte mw f? S, BUfDOXU VilTH fAA&\VE R6TKUKTlONi /mnm i . ^ 0HN0/lH E jt&r-IMtLOPCP to fy*3 AVTl-MTl-Ml&llE Academics l m By TONY BROWN Syndicated Columnist Recently,plans by the NCAA to adopt a proposal that would tighten sports eligibility requirements for incoming college freshmen has ignited a nationwide controversy -- oro and con ? concerning its fairness. Simply put, Proposal 48 requires that, by August 1, 1986, any high school ^youngster 2.0 or "C" grade average. Brown But some black*college presidents. ?say the jmoiivated by Earlier this year, when Proposaf*48 * was announced, those presidents spoke out in opposition to the ruling i ^ - - oecause iney leu n was untair to black students who traditionally ~~don*t score Tfiat well on standardized tests. And when white?Penn State football Coach Joe Paterno, at the NCAA's annual convention in San Diego, said that he thought Proposal 48 is fair and that the presidents were "selling their black students down the river," they labeled him accordingly. Recently on public television (PBS), I interviewed two blackcollege presidents and a black sports writer on this issue. Dr. Frederick Humphries, president of Tennessee State University, maintains that the ruling is discriminatory and that black institutions were slighted because they were not asked to participate in the decision. Humphries is joined in his opinion by Dr. Roscoe Brown Jr., president of Bronx Community College in New York. Brown feels the real issue is being avoided. The FBI's C "The (new FBI) guidelines permit the launching of a full investigation based on 'advocacy' alone...Such investigations could chill legitimate First Amendment-free speech activity. " -- congressman Don Edwards (D-Calif.) Chairman, House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights By CL/FTON GRA VES JR. Chronicle Columnist On March 21, the Federal Bureau of Investigation rule^ "Guidelines on General Crimes, Grave* BTOND ~ I \VtST5 KV I 1 SVSTE^ / fx. \ & M pW HAS F &\ K ^nd The Bla "The real issue is that the institutions should be held responsible for graduating athletes in the same proportion as they graduate any other student/* he says, "and if they don't, the institution should be penalized." However, opposing those views is Howie Evans, sports editor of the Amsterdam News in New York. "I . believe it is long overdue," Evans says of the more stringent requirements in Proposal 48. I believe something dramatic had to be done to impress upon our youngsters that there is more to life than basketball and football and baseball. 1 don't believe that a 700 score is asking too much. What 1 think it is going to do is motivate a generation of black youngsters to become achievers, something that we haven't done in this past generation." 441 just find it absolutely amazing/' added Evans in response to Dr. Humphries, J'that you ... and alt the other ' tyack^tolkge president** would speak t out -and challenge anything that would have to do with motivating black youngsters to join the frameworks to Society educationally." Dr. Norman Francis, president of Xavier University and the United Negro College Fund, says too much i 1 ? uiMu^Muu n<u> cciucicu arounu ine legitimacy of the SAT. The real problem, he believes, is the failure of the nation's schools to properly educate all students. Francis applauded the NCAA's bold step in tightening its academic requirements, but called the inclusion of the SAT minimum a dangerous step in the wrong direction. Unlike many other black college presidents, however, he does not base his objections on racial bias, but rather the contention that the NCAA's plan is, in effect, using the SAT for a purpose it was not designed. "I'm glad that no one looked at me when I was a youngster and decided that I could not make 700 on the fSrhnlactir AntitnH* "TVct " Frantic ^ m m w imv/ v m%iv A Vtf %f ihiivltj said. "Many of us in those days did a restapo Guii Racketeering Enterprise and Domestic Security/Terrorism Investigations/' with a specific section ("Criminal Intelligence Investigations") designed to outline a modus operandi for the infiltration of "domestic'security/terrorist" risks. Now. the naive amono us micht view the implementation of these guidelines as "good and necessary police work," which surely will be focused on groups such as the American Nazi Party, the Ku Klux Klan, Puerto Rican and Palestinian Liberation Organization sympathizers, etc. ? entities that have either espoused "violence," orr at some point, actually engaged in violent acts in the continental United States. However, the politically astute among us must certainly view the FBI's "new" rules in a completely different light. For, all we need to do is reach back into the recesses of our minds and recall the dastardlv recent history of the FBI's notorious COINTELPRO project -- an extensive domestic surveillance program IN> vmm HEW T 1 JTl-fA\SS!LE rmTl WWAT A 6REAT GAME / ~ WC0UU> KE6P IAYM& THIS f~T 0R6VW / & || "A # ck Athlete lot better than that. Of course, 1 must admit two distinct advantages: my generation performed better academically than our current peers and as an individual, I was the benefactor of all-black primary schools with excellent teachers who made excellence natural and achievable. There is nothing racist about expecting a student-athlete to be a scholar first - at least to read his own name. In one study, only one out of every 250 black athletes at a white college graduated. Another - study reports that the University of Georgia has graduated only six black athletes since 1971. Penn State's Joe Paterno charges that white colleges have for years "raped" the black athlete. And everyone knows that, although the SAT measures potential aptitude, it also measures - accurately ? achievement, or what the student ^Mflearned to that point. And there's MjWttb.f " - The NCAA Proposal 48 proponents also know that low scores comc from poor school systems that believe in social promotions and few challenges. Poor schools"and" poor scores are also relatives of poor in-come and blacks are disproportionately poor. What's the solution? Why not ask Georgetown's basketball coach, John Thompson, who successfully graduates 95 percent of his black players? If he can, why can't the other 177 large colleges and universities? Why can't they diagnose the athlete's weaknesses and adopt scholastic remedial programs to repay the athlete for his fund-raiser role with an education that will make him useful in life. That's the issue ? not racism or academic standards. Tony Brown %s Journal, the televi ston seriesy can be seen on public television Sundays on Channel 26 at 6:30 p.m. * ielines initiated by the late FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, which was ostensibly designed to "infiltrate, divide, disrupt and emasculate" the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and '70s. COINTELPRO (an acronym for "Counter Intelligence Program") was launched at the direction of Hoover to curtail black political activity and, in Hoover's words, "prevent the rise of a black messiah" capable of galvanizing the black movement. Pursuant to that directive, Hoover's overzealous agents ? in cooperation with state and local officials - illegally tapped phones, spread vicious lies about various black leaders, fabricated letters to the media concerning indiscretions of black activists such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Whitney Young, etc., and instigated inter- and intra-organizational disruption through the use of paid informers. (Indeed, local activist Larry Little Please see page 5 Chronicle Letters 1 The Church's I Mission I To The Editor: 1 am writing in regard to your segments concerning the church in the I black community. fl 1 find that the total purpose of the church has been overlooked iiLiavoi I of matters that interest itching ears. If 1 recall the purpose of the church, however, it is to meet the needs of total man. Christ has promised that th*? will h# arlrimA nntn ? vwft "ill WV ? % ?? W UIIIV us if we seek first the Kingdom. The first objective of the church is to preach the gospel, enlist disciples, baptize and teach, committing the word to faithful men to govern selfsupporting churches. The church has been under the attack of the world for many years, but before one qualifies her or himself able to speak of an affair or situation, he or she should know the basis of . which he speaks, m The church is not only all that the black peoplt have, it is all that the world has. It is the best that God has to offer, whether it be a black or I white consresation. During every crisis, there must be I someone for us to lay our blame on. But why blame the church? Since the day the first church began to grow, it had its problems. Even the 7- church in Jerusalem had problems of members working together and helping one another, and these were not I black members, but they represented I us all. 1 How can we say that the black I community has not felt the impact of the church? We feel it when those who stole steal no more, those who rape rape no more and those who gamble no longer do it because they are off the streets and in the church. I ? The crime rate is high in the black I community, but don't blame the I U/U? *1-- ' ? * wnuivii. Tviicn was inc lasi lime you yourself made a step in helping prevent crime? True, the church does not feed all the hungry, but it feeds all of L those who let the church know their hunger. So, in a way, the blame is not the church's, but ours, black and white. Have you ever gone to a church for help and were rejected V- been cloth^ less, thirsty or hungry, and personally asked for help, putting all pride aside, and did not receive it? You must reach out to the church in order for the church to come to VOU. As members of the chnrrh arou/ so grows the church. Yes, the church has its problems. It can't feed everyone, but through faith, none dies of hunger. And the young preacher and old may not see eye to eye, but through faith, 'they have a right to disagree in love. The Lord said that the church "must suffer persecution.'* Yet he also said that church members should "rejoice in your tribulation and work ... for the day of the Lord draweth nigh." Then and only then will the perfect church he seen Steve Carlton ^ Associate Minister St. Stephen's Baptist i Church Winston-Salem 01 4 Thanks For Coverage To The Editor: > On behalf of Iota Phi Lambda Sorority Inc., I would like to take this time to thank the staff of the i Winston-Salem Chronicle for giving us such good coverage in your paper on March 10, 1983. We are looking forward to working with you in the near future. Please feel free to call upon us if ever our assistance is n^H cd. { i MelUn L. Parker Vice-President Iota Phi Lambda Sorority Inc. Winston-Salem Errant Labels <* To The Editor: Please, please refrain from pasting the address for delivery label on top Please see page 5 I
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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March 31, 1983, edition 1
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