Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Aug. 29, 1991, edition 1 / Page 4
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Winston-Salem Chronicle "The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly'' Established in 1974 Ernest H. Pitt ? Ndubisi Egomonye Editor/Publisher Co- Founder Member in good standing with: Maiion^ NawiMMf -North Carafe* Audit BUftlU Amalgam1td_ ^ PvtoRifeam immteMm Pmi A?ocie?on ^ of Ckculltions Pgto?*her?, k?c. SAT scores Education ~ vs. Economics "Education makes a greater difference between man and man than nature has made between man and brute." So wrote John Adams just after the Decla ration" of Independence was signed. Like it or not, the past 215 years have made pre cious little differ ence in the education al disparity between _e conomic a roups - poor, middle class, rich and -ultra-rich: Our opinion The SAT should in clude the black expe rience too1__^_ Even less pTogress-has-beeivmade in address* Ihg the educational disparity between blacks ---1- U and whites. we Know that the most accurate predictor for how well a child will perform academical ly is how well his or her parents were educat ed. The SAT, CAT and other standardized tests measure life experiences. Not ability. Not intelligence. ^ Poor parents find it hard, if not impossible, to provide their children with a wide variety "d . _ ? - - ? ? - ? * * ? " ?/ of enriching experiences including travel and exposure to mind-expanding ideas. ^ Recent hullaballoo over rising Or falling , SAT scores must be carefully analyzed. The SAT is a college-entrance test- which was - developed as a yardstick for New England preparatory schools. Its use as a standardized test has become controversial, and many par^ ent groups charge that it measures not knowl edge but life experiences which are common to the white middle and upper classes. There are many ways to test children, but the tests used are those in whichminorities consistently under-perform. Let's take a look at tests and curriculum which are culturally friendly, rather than culturally exclusive. When the economic standards of a child rises, so does the child's academic perfor mance, in many cases. North Carolina's popula tion living in poverty endures one of the low est standards of living in the nation. We have one of the lowest pay scales for industrial wages. Once again, it all boils down to economics. Our agenda is quite clear. Let's get on with the business of implementing it. ,) attack!6**7 J-^BReAKOF*1" | PCTWttiONOR ?r ?am wmmm U I II 11 : wmmm The mhfe welcomes letters from its readers, Letters shoutd |^|;:<?f>cis? a* poss&teafld should be typed for will be published if - 4 tf> ?dtt tottara ?fid oohmift# tor btavtty and m iSS Submit your Wt?ra|gi6*lW awn** mvhkq mmM iflUpx 1 Wln?ttw*Satan, N.C. 27?02 for black Don! To th# Editor: Instead of setting up "defense funds" for aH of the black crooks in town, maybe the same money should be directed toward an "educational fund* for young black children! It is no wonder that we blacks are considered a second class race. The aldermen are crooks and they ai^guilty of dragging all of us down. While the community laughs at us. ouiLblaokkidy are failing in school and falling way behind their white fellow students in their school work. Let us get our priorities straightened out and use our money and our resources where they are needed the most education, not defense funds! Let's open our eyes and wake up before it is too late. * Lawrence Crime & Punishment To the Editor: Professor Robert E. Powell, vice president of Shaw Universi ty's CAPE (Center for Alternative Programs of Education), has recently published a well-docu mented study of efforts made by correctional institutions anfJ social scientists of criminal behavior to address the serious problem of how to treat criminal offenders. One approach taken to the problem is, says Dr. Powell, an attempt to understand "the rea soning process [in] an individual's conception of socjety^and its laws - as well as thelnteraction between the individual and society at rr? t me m ervjeooR potice me protw H WpSwimu CHRONICLE MAI LB AG ??OOT?AW VIPeO CAMERAS. large." In other words, one way to rehabilitate criminals is to alter their thinking processes ? shades of George Orwell's 1964! Short of brainwashing or mind-blowing, however, Dr. Powell does conclude in his study that inmates who are engaged in aca demic studies are tapping an ^opportunity for ethical reasoning - and self-development that may result in sufficient reeducation which, in turn, may result in more constructive attitudes and behav ior. Enough evidence has been accumulated from criminal justice persons throughout the country to demonstrate that, beyond a doubt, ^reducing recidivism, and promot ing ethical reasoning is cost effec? tive in economics aiB welt as human terms." Powell's detailed study was published by the Journal of Moral Education, Volume 20, No. 2, 1991, in joint authorship with Dr. Don C. Locke and Dr. Norman Sprinthall, both of North Carolina State Universityln Raleigh, N.C.~~ Patrick Elliott In spite of black Nazis, blacks keep speaking up Dr. Niara Sudarkasa is a noted anthropologist and the pres ident of Lincoln University in Lin coln, Pennsylvania. In short, when she speaks, ? people iistern And last week in a full page of Newsweek magazine, she spoke eloquently. r Specifically, she disagrees with historian John Hope Franklin's rather mean historical attack on Judge Clarence Thomas and the NAACP's campaign to keep him otf the U.S. Supreme Court. She sees "a greater risk in . casting. our lot with an unknown nominee whose record might be far worse." She is referring to the ultra right white female'andlhe Hispan ic judges who are frequently men tioned as Thomas* replacement if the NAACP succeeds. Polls show that 58% of blacks approve of his confirmation. Dr. Sudarkasa also addresses the broader implications of the Thomas nomination. "His ambiva lence toward affirmative action, for example, could lead to a search for an alternative approach to pro* viding equality for African- Ameri cans and others." Blacks who went to college in the '50s, she explained, "before there was affirmative action, wel corned this federal initiative of the '60s as a means of helping deserving black students get into college. But we did not experience affirmative action from the point of our own' (although we too had help), and how much that affects our own sense of self-worth. "When we raised our clenched fists in the cry for black TONY BROWN Syndicated Columnist view of the student ? as Clarence Thomas and his peers did.""? ^ "I recall many of my students at The University of Michigan resenting the notion that they did not make it to college on their own merit. They suffered slurs and innuendoes from faculty as well as other students. Although they appreciated the opportunity for an education, they felt there had to be a better way of opening the door. I guess that today many of them have mixed feelings, if not wholly negative feelings, about affirmative action," Dr. Sudarkasa points out. Those of us in my generation who entered college without affir mative action should stop and think about how much pride we take in the fact that *we made it on , ? m ~ ' **V '"Y . power.* "I don't think we meant power for black liberals only. Thomas should not be barred from serving on the Supreme Court because he? does not speak for the liberal black leadership or what we think is the .majority of black people,* Lincoln University's president bril liantly explained. - The fact is, Dr. Sudarkasa observes, that Thomas "speaks for many blacks, including a grow ing number of black leaders." As one of those leaders, Dr. Sudarkasa sees Thomas' confir mation as "a personal triumph over poverty and racial discrimina tion. Many in our community would see his success as a victory for us." As insightful and logical and strategically mature as Dr. Sudark asa's analysis ist she and I and you know that it will have no meaning for the black Gestapo (so-called black "liberals") thought poKce who, absent of any com pelling logic, specialize in personal attacks and dirty, unfounded rumors as a device for Hack racial oppression in the name of fighting white racial oppression. One such black brown-shirt, with a highly suspicious record, I claimed in his column in some black papers that it is a "sin* for a black to be a Republican. Dr. Sudarkasa, obviously aware of the black Gestapo storm troopers, was careful to explain that she is not a conservative. Her comments, however, are evidence that oppression has never stifled the human need to know and express the truth, and that truth has a compelling force of its own. . Last week, the Russian people thwarted a coup attempt to return the Russian Gestapo to power. The black community is slow ly, but surely, openly opposing the black Gestapo agents of white lib erals who are more interested in keeping blacks on their plantation than tearing down the plantation system. Pros & cons of the lifting of South African sanctions ing of sanctions against South Africa has both pros and cons. To the Africans inside and outside the country, as well as all anti apartheidists around the world, it was a thunderbolt from the blue. But, to the ruling racist Afrikaners who dominate and monopolize the country's political life, the lifting of sanctions was manna from above. Thus, the act was a disillusion ment to the opponents of apartheid, and a boon to the racist regime who now feel jubilant and triumphant. f Ail over the land, Afrikaners lit up bonfires in celebration of Presi dent Bush's lifting of the economic sanctions! President Bush's action was a turning point to the ruling Afrikaner clique, and a crushing blow to ail opponents of apartheid who saw Nelson Mandela's release from prison in February 1990 as the beginning of the end of apartheid and the advent of the democratization of South Africa, where the African population enjoy no citizenship rights and participa tion in government, and yearn for the early demise of apartheid. But, why hurry to lift sanctions and not to end apartheid? Instead of simply nibbling at apartheid, why not abolish it In toto? Why not hurry to enfranchise the African population, and abolish the mad balkanization of the country into concentration camps called Ban tustans? Or, why not distribute the land equitably and end all forms of racial differentiation? However one looks at the act of lifting the sanctions, one cannot escape the fact that the act has turned the global struggle against GUEST COLUMN By DANIEL MAROLEN the wicked policy of apartheid into a fiasco which will only delay the democratization of the country by several years. Nevertheless, America's inter vention in South Africa's racial problem is a welcome phe nomenon because black and white South Africans cannot by themselves solve their country's racial problem without the inter-, vention of a third party. But, for America to succeed in ending apartheid and its concomi tant problems, America must fully understand the problem and the aspirations of the victims of apartheid who have been held down in subjugation for one-third of a millennium. However, Ameri ca's aid to the liberation move ments merits everyone's apprecia- . tion, and is a step in the right direction. But, without a ray of doubt, the lifting of sanctions will delay the process of negotiations and democratization of South Africa. The movement towards black and-white negotiations towards a new non-racial constitution has been jolted and confused by Bush's action. But there is also a possibility that the lifting of sanctions may also lead to the speeding upo{ steps towards early constitutional negotiations and the demise of apartheid. But, why did President Bush not seek wiser counsels before plunging headlong into lifting* the sanctions? Why was this column not heeded when it frequently cau tioned that Nelson Mandela had been betrayed ancJ dragged out of ,? prison against his wish to remain ' in incarceration until his people were free? Mandela's goal of ? V % V . . .... ? r ^ . . ? ? . ? * . s democratizing South Afrioa was foiled by President de Klerk whHst this column acted as a timely whistleblower ? in vain. Did we not say that President de Klerk and his racist henchmen were not sincere and genuine reformers, and that they stood for white domi nation and the reintroduction of ... apartheid in newer guises? Or, did this column not point out that Mr. F.W. de Klerk was a fraud because of his opposition to the universally accepted democratic concept of majority rule? Presi dent de Klerk simply ignored the whistleblower who timelessly cau tioned him of the dangers of his dilly-dallying with the implementa tion of change which he was man dated to put into practice... Still for all, President Bush's lifting of the economic sanctions against South Africa leaves some hope, and speaks volumes, when he says that the battle towards ending apartheid must continue until South Africa becomes a democracy in the fullest sense of that term. In this regard, everyone is in full agreement with the American President, and nd time should be lost in closing all ranks and putting the shoulder to the wheel in an effort to bring art early demise to the evil scourge of apartheid... - .
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Aug. 29, 1991, edition 1
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