Page A4 Winston-Salem Chronicle Thursday, April 16, 1987
Winston-Salem Chronicle
Founded 1974
ERNEST M. Pin, Publisher
NDUBISI EOEMONYE ALLEN H. JOHNSON
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ELAINE L PITT MICHACL A. PITT
Office Manager Circulation Manager
EDITORIALS ~ ~
Days of absence
RESIDENTS have stayed away in droves from the first
four in a series of East Winston Area Plan drop-in sessions.
The first session drew 11 people, the second three, say
planners. The third, held Monday afternoon at the East
Winston Branch Public Library, did considerably better,
attracting 25 people, but most of those were students
taken to the session as a class by a Winston-Salem State
University professor. Much the same happened during
I' nocHoir'r ?T"* * ^ " ~ "* *
i uv^uo; j ai ricumuiu i^ccTcanon center. inirteen
residents dropped by, but 10 were members of a Boy
Scout troop brought to the meeting by their Scout leader.
All of this despite a concerted effort by the Planning
Department and the Chronicle to let residents know how
important the predominantly black community's first-ever
area plan really is.
More drop-in sessions are scheduled, and planners hope
that attendance will pick up. In the meantime, a litany of
whys remains:
s
- Why the small numbers?
? Why the curious absence of black elected officials at
the meetings, especially Aldermen Vivian H. Burke and
Virginia K. Newell, whose wards contain the study area?
-- Why haven't more members of the East Winston Area
Plan Review Committee attended the sessions?
-- Where are the black ministers? Though they, like
other community leaders, have more than full schedules as
it is, surely they realize that a plan that addresses housing
and economic development directly impacts their congregations.
-- Where have the Urban League and NAACP been?
i ^ ? ?
duui ncea 10 ai least send representatives to some of the
sessions.
- Where are the black businessmen?
- Where are those who have complained about the lack
of more shopping oportunities in East Winston, the need
for more affordable housing or the reluctance of
developers to come to East Winston?
-- Above all, where has East Winston been?
Fortunately, two sessions remain. The first will be held
on Thursday, April 16, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the 14th Street
Recreation Center.
The second will be a special session co-sponsored by the
Chronicle on Thursday, April 30, from 1 to 7 p.m. at the
East Winston Branch Public Library.
As is the case with the other meetings, copies of the area
plan will be available and planners will be on hand to
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oinnti pui V^UCMlUIlb.
What's more, the sessions are not formal meetings. *
There won't be speeches. You don't have to stay. No one
will ask you for money. You can browse, ask questions
and leave. At your convenience.
The important thing is that your voice be heard.
"I think it's important that people come," Senior Planner
Ann Massey told the Chronicle two weeks ago. 4'If
they want to make East Winston better, if the image of
East Winston is going to change, then it's going to take the
involvement of all the residents, churches and
businesses."
That involvement, thus far, has been sorely lacking.
A good idea
IN light of its continuing presence on the public agenda,
the Voice of Minority Contractors, an organization
that expresses the concerns and protects the interests of
area black contractors, would do well to send an advocate
to every aldermen's meetine ? as well as thp mpptinoc r*f
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other local elected boards.
Part of the problem facing black contractors and suppliers
in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County is their lack
of communication with their elected officials.
That lack became sorely apparent in the still-simmering
controversy involving Larco Construction Co., a white
contractor, and black-owned Camel City Construction
Co.
Amid charges and counter-charges, it was hard to sort
out whom to believe, especially where the intricacies of
construction are involved.
In another instance, one black contractor recently mm
plained that a white general contractor claimed that he
couldn't involve more minorities in a job hauling asphalt
because no black firms had the right types of dump trucks
to carry asphalt.
"That's crazy," the black contractor said. "You don't
need a special type of dump truck to handle asphalt. I've
done it enough to know."
Please see page A5
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Jackie Rot
NEW YORK - This spring
marks the 40th anniversary of
Jackie Robinson's streaking
nels of the Brooklyn Dodgers,
carrying on his broad shoulders
the future of professional
athletics in America.
In these times, it would do well
for America to pause and consider
what this republic would be
like if Robinson had lost out to
Dixie Walker. The Dodgers' outfielder
floated a petition demanHino
that Rronr-Kl Dir<baii
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front office keep the 27-year-old
Robinson off the team. Professional
baseball, Walker argued,
must remain what it always had
been, a white man's game.
The media, with very few exceptions,?sided
with Walker.
"Blacks have been kept out of
the big leagues because they as a
race are poor ballplayers," wrote
New York sportswriter Joe
Williams, typically.
To field an obviously unqualified
black player, the
baseball world argued, would be
to take a job away from a white.
Racial discrimination had
nothing to do with it, they said.
Teams had the right to field the
best teams. And blacks like
Jackie Robinson simply weren't
qualified.
In Branch Rickey, Robinson
had an advocate of quite some influence.
The -front-office
manager would ignore Walker
and his petition, drive past the
other baseball owners* 15-1 vote
against him and bring his gifted
player up from Montreal. His
final step was to ensure that
Affirmative
NEW YORK ? The response
to the Supreme Court's recent affirmative
action decision has
been almost as interesting as the
decision itself. The decision affirmed
that it was legal for an
employer to promote an
employee, with equal qualification$*_over
other employees in
order to achieve a better balance
of women and minorities in the
workforce.
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lcuy nasuana, me justice
Department's top spokesman,
sharply criticized the decision and
said that what the Supreme Court
needed was 44a new appointment
or two."
His comment might be considered
just a bit presumptuous,
given the fact that the Reagan administration
has already made
two appointments to the Supreme
Court. The administration's
anger is understandable,
however. For this is only the
latest in a series of Supreme
Court rulings to refute Reagan's
hell-bent opposition to affirmative
action.
In February, the Justice
Department sided with white
Alabama 'state troot>ers who were
fighting a court-ordered action
plan. The Supreme Court upheld
the plan, noting that Alabama
had refused to hire any AfricanAmerican
troopers until forced to
do so in 1972, and that even since
then, Alabama had continued to
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rinson: Soc
LES PAYNE
Syndicated Columnist
Robinson was steeled for the
white-hot crucible he would face.
"I need a man who will accept
insult, take abuse, in a word,
carry the flag for his race,"
Rickey reportedly told Robinson
in their first meeting. "If a guy
slides into you at second base and
calls you a black son of a bitch, I
wouldn't blame you if you came
up swinging. You'd be justified.
But you'd set the cause back 20
years. 1 want a man with courage
"Adversity hardened Robin
this crucible, he was transfo/
bo I. To children, men and w
- A mericar Jackie Robinsonknickers
enough not to fight back. Can
you do it?"
Robinson reportedly-thought
about it for a long three minutes
before answering. Finally he promised
he would walk away from
all incidents.- Having disarmed
himself, Robinson stood ready
for the warm welcome of the
civilized white world of baseball.
A black cat was heaved onto
the field in Syracuse as a fan yelled:
"Hey, Jackie, there's your
cousin." This and other upstate
New York fan behavior, according
to one historian, would have
"shamed a conclave of the Ku
Klux Klan." It was no better on
the field.
Pitchers threw high, hard and
often at Robinson's head in those
days before batters wore helmets.
i action foi
BENJAMIN CHAVIS
Syndicated Columnist
resist court orders to hire more
African-Americans.
Of course, the Justice Department's
response to affirmative
action is predictable, given its
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own record in this area.
The New York Times obtained
figures which show that not one
of the Justice Department's major
divisions is headed by women
or minorities, and of the 94 U.S.
attorneys, only one is AfricanAmerican,
one is female and two
are Hispanic.
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pointed by Reagan, only five are
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:ial pioneer
Base runners brandishing their
spikes slid murderously at the
black second baseman. For the
most part, Robinson's teammates,
as they had in Montreal,
stood idly by, uninterested spectators.
Adversity hardened Robinson
to his sense of mission. In this
crucible, he was transformed
from an athlete to a symbol. To
children, men and women in
every black hamlet in America,
Jackie Robinson became their
proud hope in knickers.
His spectacular play, all the
'j
son to his sense of mission. In
rmedfrom an athlete to a symomen
in every black hamlet in
became their proud hope in~
more striking for his treatment,
pushed back the racial frontier.
He probably never ^changed the_
bigots' minds, in general, but he
stripped them of their uniquely
American notion that whites, and
only whites, can achieve com*
petency.
After Robinson pushed in the
envelope, in sprinted Willie
Mays, Roy Campanella, Don
Newcombe and Hank Aaron.
Since Robinson was a rookie in
this white man's game, 48 percent
of the batting champions in both
leagues have been black. So have
44 percent of the RBI leaders and
63 percent of the stolen base
leaders. Further, although Babe
Ruth retired years before baseball
Please see page A5
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African-American and 12 are
Hispanic; however, 26 are
female. In fact, women have
generally fared better than
African-Americans in the Reagan
administration. Last year, for example,
white women held more
than 200 of the top federal posts
}
controlled by the administration,
while African-Americans held
fewer than 50.
This brings me to tbe sccond
response to the Supreme Court
decision -- that of women,
specifically white women.
The decision was based on a
suit filed by a white male who
scored two points above his white
Please see page A5
?r ?? H
VERNON ROBINSON I
Not giving I
still hurts I
A recent article in the Joint
Center for Political Studies
newsletter, FOCUS, summarized
the analysis of a poll of black and
white Americans on the topic of
charitable giving. This analysis
belied the claim that blacks only
receive charity and never give.
Unfortunately, the results also
?hnu/ that hlur'lc oiwo 1 1
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percent of their charitable donations
to political organizations far
less than whites of the same
income group.
This report validated
something I have felt for some
time: Black people don't give to
support their political institutions,
and that lack of financial
support causes many worthy candidates
to lose needlessly.
Such support should not be
mistaken for carte blanche. Candidates,
elected officials and
political organizations must be
accountable to those who support
them. ..
However, failure to financially .
support political action means^
that you will not have elected officials
from your community, accntintnhlf*
nr nth#?rix/ic*?
The Jewish community has an
interesting interpretation of giving.
Western understanding of
giving is that it is an optional act,
done to help others. The Hebrew
word for giving is tsedakah, and
it means obligation ? something
required of civilized members of
the community.
How does this tsedakah cut
with regard to political giving?
The Jewish community's actions
speak for themselves. This community
contributed half of the
- money raised by the Democratic
Party in 1984, one-fourth of the
money raised by the Republican
Party ? and Israel is secure 1
regardless of who wins office.
?The black community must live
up to its obligation to invest in I
political action.
I really like fund-raising,
especially political fund-raising.
But sometimes it's really tough.
I've heard every excuse for individuals'
not living up to their
obligation.
Some say they would rather
give to the candidate than to a
political action committee, but
then give to neither.
Some say they can't give
because of a new mortgage, a
new baby or a new college student:
one must wnnHpr what IrinH
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of school system the baby will
enter, given the fact that his
parents are asleep at the wheel.
We all have obligations. Other
communities are not exempt
from babies, mortgages or college
students, yet they find a way
to invest in political action to
lower infant mortality, build adequate
infrastructure and maintain
security in their
neighborhoods, and insure that
Brandeis and Notre Dame will
receive government support. The
black community must do so as
well.
_? The 21st Century-PAC of
North Carolina networks citizens
who are ready to meet these
obligations and provide the inH
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necessary to play major-league
ball.
One sage has said that politics
is the only game' in America
where the spectator loses. It costs
a lot to play the political game. It
costs a lot more to watch. Failure
to invest in political action confines
us to the political equivalent
of the peewee sandlot league.
I would like any DeoDle who
are reading this column to turn
inward and ask themselves
whether they have given their fair
share for political action and, if
not, when they will move to correct
this oversight.
Someone once said to give until
it hurts. .We are not giving
enough to political action -- and
it still hurts.
Vernon L. Robinson is
chairman of the 21st Century
Political Action Committee of
North Carolina and a faculty
member at Winston-Salem
State University.
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