II
Paoe A4-The Chronicle, Thursday, June 12,1906
m Winston-Salem Chronicle
Founded 1974
ItNIST M. MTT, Publisher
NDUtlSI IOIMONYI ALLIH JOHNSON
I : ? Co-Founder,. Executive Editor
| ILAINIL PITT MICH AIL WTT
Office Manager Circulation Manager
!? EDITORIALS
. I f y
Unfair and outdated
NORTH CAROLINA'S second primaries are as
? fmprant awtfritlfrtftl f"*
Created ill 1915, they require run-offs when a candidate
fails to receive a majority (more than 50 percent) of the
vote. They also spell political doom for black candidates,
who have shown an ability to win a plurality of the vote in
first' primaries, but who lose in the nin-off? in <uh?t
amounts to white-backlash voting.
Second primaries have helped disfranchise blacks in
statewide races and are a major reason North Carolina has
not elected a black man or woman to Congress since
Reconstruction.
Democrat H.M. "Mickey" Michaux seemed poised to
change that situation in 1982, when he led the field in the
2nd District with 44 percent of the vote. But the runner-up
in the primary, I.T. "Tim" Valentine, won the run-off
after waging a campaign with racial overtones and pledging
that he would support a Republican rather than
Michaux should he lose the run-off.
; , White males dominate the political arena, it appears,
and they don't want to give up even a portion of that
power.
Runoff primaries could be reformed in the General
Assembly's current short session. State Democratic Party
Chairman Jim Van Hecke has orooosed to create a lower
threshSty of 4Q percent, rather than 50 percent of the vote,
to avoid a run-off.
Under such a system, Michaux would have won.
Van Hecke's proposal obviously is a compromise aimed
at soothing angry black Democrats without alienating
white conservative factions in the party. But that little bit
' is better than nothing. Though
most black politicians would just as soon get rid
of the run-offs altogether, ours is a woefully stagnant
state. Bills have been introduced in the General Assembly
tyur times to abolish primary run-offs, and all have been
lolled. ??
Even the compromise has its opponents, among them
Valentine, who fears that the 40-percent threshold would
endanger his re-election in a district that is 40 percent
black.
I
^ Neither is the latest word on the climate in Raleigh en
couraging: The run-off reform could be put to a vote only
if a two-thirds majority of both the state Senate and the
state House approve. That majority will be difficult to
muster, say Democratic leaders.
The two-thirds rule won't apply during the 1987 regular
session of the Legislature, so some Democrats say they
might be inclined to wait to consider the matter.
But some black leaders have warned that further delay
i might mean a lawsuit. They're right. We've waited long
I ; enough.
Run-off primaries are unnecessary, outdated and
patently unfair. They need to go. Now.
?H
Ill The Piedmont Club
11 T
f 4 * . * '
I - TO THOSE of us who can't afford to join - and many
of us can't ~ the Piedmont Club doesn't mean very much.
rn? . ??i ??? ? :
?5 - So what if Winston-Salem is getting another posh
private club? It won't solve the city's housing woes, nor
will it do much to remedy teen pregnancy or joblessness.
Ml- * ' " . j
But the club still represents a significant step in thecity'*
future. Heretofore, private clubs in Winston-Salem have
been a last refuge where whites can socialize in the tradition
of the Old South - a lily-white inner sanctum where
racial epithets flow, we are told, and where blacks are
tolerated only as bartenders, waiters and janitors, and
Jews are avniHuH
- ? * BUVKMUUi
i
The Board of Governors of the Piedmont Club has
stated for the record that its organization won't be another
j; constitutional, legal excuse to discriminate. The club's
doors are open to anyone, its organizers say, regardless of
: race, sex or religion.
i
There was no boycott or Supreme Court mandate. A
1 group of blacks and whites simply decided that it was time
, for a change.
It is frequently said that you can't legislate how people
feel. That's the significance of the Piedmont Club; people
felt the need to found it.
s
j
"jjj?
New York si
NEW YORK - The establishmcnt
press has decided that New
York's Governor Mario Cuomo
can lead his party out of the
. -doldrums and into the White
House.
Time magazine even carried
the smiling likeness of Cuomo on
the cover recently. "Some believe
that out of this man's head and
heart may come the soul of a new
Democratic Party, and perhaps
the strength to lead it to the
White House in 1988," Time
? said. That's an endorsement if
cvn mere was one.
Cuomo has a 70-percent approval
rating in New York and
won the state's top job because of
the black vote; in fact, it was a
black vote against New York's
- Mayor Ed Koch, his rival. But
this son of Italian immigrants
also had;^something the black
voters liked: soul. s
Time described his "soul"
(charisma, standard English calls
it) this way: "Cuomo is impulsive.
He bristles easily. He
boils over. He blurts things out."
And without knowing it, the na
tion is now beginning to
recognize that Cuomo is the only
white presidential contender with
"soul." ^
mixture of the best of both
~ worlds and his self-described
label . of "progressive
pragmatist" can make him the
center of gravity of a badly divided
Democratic Party. In 1988,
Jesse Jackson is going to pull it
even further to the left and Gary
, Hart will push it further to the
right.
Tim* j:..?<?
? ruz ut v&sirnt
HAMILTON, N.Y. - General
Motors recently announced that
it will halt the sale of vehicles to
South Africa's military and
police. Pressured by antiapartheid
OM stockholders, including
various religious
organizations and the New York
City Employees Retirement
System, OM finally agreed to
make concessions.
Only several months ago, GM
had insisted that it had to continue
selling cars and trucks to
apartheid-enforcement agencies,
otherwise it might be "jeopardizing
all its governmental business
in South Africa and possibly all
its operations in this country."
Now OM Chairman Roger B.
Smith says no ''meaningful
negotiations" for peace can occur
inside South Africa without
the release of black leader Nelson
Mandela, head of the African
National Congress.
The divestment movement,
once small and marginal, has
grown even beyond the optimistic
expectations of many antiapartheid
activists, in 1984,
American companies had $1.8
billion directly invested in South
Africa. Six U.S. firms that year
stopped doing business there; by
1985, 38 U.S. companies pulled
out. Bell and Howell Co. halted
its operations last February, for
instance, amounting-1 to $12
million in annual revenues.
Donald N. Frey, Bell and
Howell's chief executive officer,
has criticized divestment as
"wrongheaded." But Frey also
admits that the possibility of a
. ' * ^ ^
J id
^ BHBRS Ji
Uuil^HtX
iJJ^l
& %
tate's two-par
TONY BROWN
Syndicated Columnist
.'V
Moreover, if you read the polls
correctly (discount Lee Iacocca's
18 percent), Cuomo is the second
choice among the white candidates,
closing the gap on Hart.
Jackson's third-place ranking is
inconsequential (the black vote
notwithstanding) since a white
male will win the Democratic
Party nomination and get the
black vote in the November
general election without lifting a
finger. ^
hurt her more, almost as many
voters (38 percent) have an unfavorable
evaluation of Jackson
as t >se w io see him favorably
(47 ircen \ Hart is 67-14 and
Cl no is 64-20.
Ironically, Cuomo's success
presents a rare opportunity for
the Republicans - if they play
their "race card."
Cuomo was forced to select a
running-mate lieutenant governor
in his coming gubernatorial
bid against a relative unknown,
Republican Andrew O'Rourke. It
took on unusual importance
because, if Cuomo is elected
t^presk)fent, the lieutenant governor
Would automatically succeed
him.
New York*s black politicians
wanted Cuomo's running mate to
be black, for obvious and opportunistic
reasons. Cuomo instead
picked a white man from the nonurban
region of the state, a man
who emphasizes "agriculture and
economic development.*' Most
/
nt movement g,
FROM THE ORASSROC
By DR. MANNING MARAB
mass boycott against his company
made "us consider the
potential negative impact our
continued involvement in South
Africa could have on other Bell
and Howell businesses."
The divestment boycott threat
it A. *- - *
puis uic wnoic company in
jeopardy," he says.
H *jjp|
iHn$NarniR/j0HNS0NB)cem
A number of cities and states
have already divested.
Philadelphia's $57 million in
assets have been cleaned of South ?
Africa-related stocks. The values
of others* assets divested from
apartheid firms include those of
Massachusetts, $110 million;
Connecticut, S79 million; Kansas,
$26 million; Washington,
D.C., $35 million, and Nebraska,
$28 million.
Many investment managers insist
that partial or total
<>
)
(pr
ty racism
of the others considered were also
from the "upstate" (that's how
you say "white" in New York)
region.
The Republican Party, if it
were not just as racist, would
nominate Roy Innis, a black neocnns?rvfltiv?
ril/il riahic lao/^or /*
? ?* v ?ITU il^llVO 1VUUV1 I IU
run for lieutenant governor on
O'Rourke's ticket. He's perfect
ideologically as a Republican
and, in this race, couldn't
possibly hurt the party's already
scant chances. He may even add a
vote or two.
The Republicans could
legitimately seize the civil rights
issue by nominating a black when
a liberal Democrat, put in office
by the black-voter margin, refused
to do so. Though Cuomo will
be re-elected governor no matter
what the Republicans do, they
could hurt the, perhaps,
Democratic frontrunner later
with this issue when he cam
paigns for president.
However, Republicans won't
play this "race card" because
they are too racist, just like the
New York Democrats who use
blacks to become governor, but
refuse to repay them when the
time comes. iSH ^
(fir' ' .#>f-? ' %*, WW:, *1 V
So much for the two-party
system.
Tony Brown is a syndicated
columnist and television
host, whose series, "Tony
Brown's Journal," airs Saturdays
at 1:30 p.m. on channels
4 and 26.
others steam
>TS
ILE ? ;
divestiture simply courts
fiduciary disaster. But the actual
fiscal record of states which have
begun to divest isn't bad at all. In
Connertirnt a 1089 1 on; noriJa IKt
..w.NVH?| H A XU1> IH TT piu UIU1J
divested the state's pension
funds, which currently total $3.9
billion. This fund has earned an
average of 12.7 percent per year
WHBfMB&MlMUItim.
. X IV f V II IV fF W*
over the past five years. And in
Michigan, according to Business
Week, "consultants think divestment
of the state's $12 billion
pension fund would bring extra
transaction costs of only $23
million over five years, since over
that time many stocks would be
routinely traded." In short, apartheid
divestment can be done
without extreme financial risk.
Since late 1985, 64 American
universities and colleges had sold
Please see page A5
/
CHILDWATCH
A health crisis
among teens
By MARIAN W.'EDELMAN
Syndicated Columnist '
WASHINGTON - Wc adults ; 1
tend to assume that teens do not
have serious health problems. '"
But Dr. Robert Johnson of New
JC1KJ a uiuvcisuy ui mcuikilic
and Dentistry, who has had hundreds
of teen-agers in and out of ' '
his office, calls that belief a r"
myth.
i tor fttCtfr WrV Di. JUkilWm. *
Between five and 10 million ' ;
children under 21 suffer one or
more health problems, ranging
' from poor vision or hearing to ',
chronic illnesses to mental or
emotional problems. Lowincome
teens are at highest risk "
because even such crippling con- '
ditions as poor eyesight are more " :'
likely to be untreated or even
undetected during childhood.
"The youngsters don't have '
the money to afford the glasses,"
says Johnson.
Today, our teens are increasingly
threatened by a whole new*:'
group of health.trends that doc- ''
lors caii tnc "new morbidity."
These illnesses do not come from * %
germs but from societal ills: I
alcohol or drug abuse, teen
pregnancy, violent behavior^ ?
suicide and mental-health pro- ;
blems. Some are now among the ;
leading causes of death and :
disability among our youth. I
For example, at one inner-city I
cL'nic during 1983, the majority
of young patients were admitted
for 4'new-morbidity" problems. ;
Fifty-one percent were hospitalized
for abortions, deliveries or
sexually transmitted diseases, and
another 24 percent for trafeina
related to accidents and injuries.
The estimated 5 million teen- 1
age girls and 7 million teen-age '
boys who are sexually active to
day have an especially high risk ~*
of developing various health problems.
Those teen-age women
who become pregnant and have
babies will be more likely to have ' {
low-birth weight babies. Both
young men and women ages IS to
1Q flr# in thi? htoh??*_*4eV m>Aun
- ? w w >u? uyivwi i wn %/up
for sexually transmitted diseases.
Teens often don't know when
they have a serious health problem,
says Johnson. "Youngsters
will come in for a cold and they
will actually have a sexually
transmitted disease," he says.
Or they need counseling on
avoiding teen pregnancy. He tells *
the story of a bright young man
of 16 who tried to share the
responsibility of birth control
with his girlfriend by taking the
birth control pill himself every
other month.
What can be done to help more
of our teens get the health care
they need? My prescription has
three parts: Make it affordable,,
make it accessible and make it appropriate
to their needs.
First, only half of America's', ;
poor children are now covered by :
Medicaid. We should make sure*;
that all children have adequate;,
health coverage, including teens. ?
- ? ?- I
Second, we should explore
ways of taking the services where
teens are. One idea that has often
improved teens' health is comr *
prehensive etinics in ornear>
schools or in housing projects ;
where many disadvantaged teen*'
may live.
Finally, all of our doctor* tiav*
got to learn what Johnson*.
already knows: how to talk to.^
teens, teach them preventive"
health care and look out for their
total, long-term health needs.
We parents can help doctors dp '
their jobs better by encouraging *
our children to get regular ami*
complete health care. *'
Marian Wright Edeiman it a
National Newapaper:
Publishers Association coJ?
umnist who Is preaidant oftha
Children's Defenae Fund,;
a national voice for youth.
/
5?