Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / July 2, 1992, edition 1 / Page 4
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Winston-Salem Chronicle "The Twin dry's Award-Winning Weekly" Established in 1974 Ernest H. Pitt ? Ndubisi Egemonye Editor/Publisher Co-Founder Member in good standing with: Audit Bureau Arrw^^ X of Circulations Puu?h?r?, inc. Editorial Working for change This week, when asked what amount of responsibili ty they accept for race relations in the city, several elect ed and appointed officials squirmed in their seats. When is the Chronicle ever going to ease up, they wonder, but we never get tired of ask ing about race relations. If you don't see the people's plight, you're likely to wonder why they keep Some white individu als are working for change, side by side with blacks or in more individual ways; but it is the structures them selves that must be broken down. When they are, we will all experience an enrichment in our lives: the lives of blacks and whites and other cultures. There's a difference between treating African- Ameri cans with decency and the reality of true equality. Many whites will treat blacks with respect, but they still think the home of a black family is worth less than the home of a white. Many whites pledge their support to equal rights but have never read a book by an African- American, have never had an African- American in their home. Blacks in positions of authority also shoulder a con fusing responsibility: many of them have assumed, along with their positions, the job of "calming their people." A silent, unspoken pact is made: the (white) authorities expect them to conform to white codes of conduct, and speaking out about racial unjust is not a behavior that is met with glee. But the most important thing you may v ever do is to seek and tell the truth about the quality and texture of relationships between the races: what is there and what is clearly missing. Never forget: unless we make changes, nothing will change. How do you deal with people who feel ^ihey've given you enough? ~ " - CIAA: Bring it home Three months ago, an enthusiastic Winston-Salem delegation returned from Richmond ready to build local support to entice the CIAA tournament to make Win ston-Salem home for the next three years. Since then, the Chamber of Commerce, the mayor and the city manager's office have worked hard to try to secure the necessary commitments and financial package to bring the tournament to town. CIAA events attract an upscale crowd. This year, 20,000 fans packed into Rich mond's 11, 000- seat coli seum. During the long weekend of CIAA events, thousands of fans are out on the town, 24 hours a day, buying, eat ing, and shopping. Winston-Salem seems a natural home for the event: North Carolina has eight of the 14 CIAA col leges, while Virginia has four. Seating is more comfort able and parking is more ample and accessible at the Joel Coliseum than the Richmond coliseum. We applaud the efforts of those who have diligently pursued the event and local businesses and corporations who have pledged their support If we succeed, it will be attributable to a cooperative effort from the whole community: something we could use a lot more of. About letters . . . The Winston-Salem Chronicle welcomes letters from its readers, as well as columns. Letters should be as concise as possible and should be typed or printed legibly. They also should include the name, address, and telephone num ber of the writer. Columns should follow the same guidelines and will be published if we feel they are of interest to our general readership. We reserve the right to edit letters and columns for brevity and grammar. Submit your letters and columns to: Chronich Maibag P.O. Box 1636 Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102 | The CIAA wil critical event for our city: its economic might is great. Reader thanks Chronicle for foresight To the Editor: "My God is Real," "How Great Thou Art," "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" are songs that have dominated my thoughts since reading your May 21 editorial enti tled, "Standards: Black vs. White" and then the June 11 eloquent remarks of Tang Nivri's "On The Avant Garde" article entitled "Whose Mind Needs Changing Anyway?" You see, the views expressed in each article are long-time overdue. 1 know God acts in mysterious ways and now he has acted to open the eyes of black Americans. I praise God that at last some publicity is being given to the truth ? which has been crushed to the ground by our leaders for too long. These arti cles should be posted in every place frequented primarily by black Americans and on every lightpost in inner cities. They offer not only food for thought but food for action. The Chronicle is to be congrat ulated for having the foresight to publicize the other side of the story ? the side that will open doorways, inform the uninformed, remind the apathetic and wake up the satisfied, instead of waiting for permission and acceptance. There probably are as many non-racist white people as there are black people. A vast num ber of our young can be somebody, go someplace and do something, if only we find more leaders that can speak positively about opportunities that are available to all Americans. Our form of government dic tates that freedom means an oppor tunity 1 6 make sacrifices to secure whatever one desires. We know it works because it has worked for millions of black people in the past D. Drake Fourth of You-Lie To the Editor: With so much attention being focused on the problems of the KgASAM'S ggST PgFgAiSg SIR.WVOOTRAPg _ ARMS FDR HOSTAGES? MO, SIR,,, I SWP,P|P WO Sga MISSIES 72? IRAAi? SIR/ 7H6S? ARE FACTS FORgM RlUWe TROOBCE, FOR SAUSA&SST what? w i sMgu, wisras /AIM^VAN? MO, I f^BVJER ACTEP WCTH BARN?^ RUBBL5... CHRONICLE MAI LB AG Our Readers Speak Out black community, I would like to offer an opinion on one area specifi cally: ECONOMICS. More precise ly, the economic exploitation of^ black people by the majority popu lation fostered by the adaptation by black people, the customs and social mores of our enemy. We (black people) are about to spend countless millions of dollars on new clothes, food, travel, alco hol, and only God knows what else, under the guise or assumption that we are supposed to be celebrating Independence Day. May I suggest that this is pure and total foolish ness. When you are independent from someone, that means that you are able to separate from them. I dare say that we Africans in Amerikkka [sic] are not in a posi tion to separate from the sons and daughters of our oppressors. Please excuse me if I should make such an assumption that we would want to separate from them. The problems in the black community will persist r until we become independent in our thinking and in our conscious actions on a day to day basis. As long as we continue to adopt and facilitate the oppressive mind games that have us so out of touch with who we are, and what our mission should be, we are doomed to suffer the consequences of mental if not physical slavery. Think about it. Happy Fourth of You-Lie! Husayn Abdur-Rafi Clinton apology To the Editor: I deeply regret that 1 was unable to attend your National Newspaper Publishers Association annual conference on June 11 in Baltimore, Md. ? =_ Although 1 was unable to par- ~ ticipate in the luncheon program, I did offer several alternative times for personal appearances as well as an interactive satellite feed that would have afforded NNPA mem bers the opportunity to ask ques tions at the luncheon. That was rejected, and although NNPA officials worked diligently with my staff in an n attempt to settle on a mutually \i acceptable time, it was not possi i ble. Again, please accept my sin cere apology for missing your con ference in Baltimore. Sincerely, Governor Bill Clinton Exploring the psychological concepts of racism Gordon Allport, one of the leading social psychologist of this century, explains that "any negative attitude tends somehow, some where, to express itself in action." He ventured to distinguish certain degrees of negative action from the t* disliked group. Rarely does one inflict harm. 3) Discrimination: Here the individual who harbors the prejudiced attitudes undertakes to exclude all members of the disliked group from the social arena. 4) Physical Attack: Under conditions GUEST COLUMN By BILLY BOOKER least energetic to the most Using a five-point scale, Allport calls atten tion to the range of activities that may issue prejudiced attitudes and beliefs. 1) Antilocution: Most people who have prejudices talk about them with likemindcd friends and occasionally with strangers but rarely go beyond this mild degree. 2) Avoidance: When the prejudice is more intense, the individual usu ally tries to avoid members of the of heightened emotion, prejudice may lead to violence. 5) Extermi nation: Death of the disliked indi vidual marks the ultimate degree of violence that is directly related to prejudice. This degree of negative action is the one that we aic must con cerned with, although all are of con cern. Violence against a disliked member because of race is an out growth of antilocution. By tolerat ing antilocution, this country per M ? ?? petuates violence by listening and keeping silent AllpdW suggests that in cases where violence breaks out, we can be fairly certain that the fol lowing steps have prepared the way. 1) There has been growing dis crimination. 2) There has been some outside strain upon members of the group that commit the vio lence. 3) There has been a long period of prejudgement. 4) There has been a long period of verbal complaints against the victim. 5) The individuals are in an explosive state. 6) The individuals are discon tented 7) They see that their irrita tion and wrath are socially sanc tioned. Racism is a learned behavior that will in all probability continue as long as it is positively reinforced by white society. All behavior is learned , and for any behavior that is not negatively reinforced, there is a strong likelihood tliat the behavior will be repeated. This is not neces sarily applicable exclusively to the group that basically exhibits racist behavior, but to the subgroups as well. When racist white groups are increasing in popularity, and well meaning whites do not speak out openly against this, there is a mes sage of covert approval. When the media puts blacks in the image of the criminal or someone who is sub human, it makes it easier for whites who feel that they have been denied economic advantage because of blacks, to annihilate the enemy. This image-making keeps everyone in check. It keeps the white commu nity suspicious and always on* guard, while it keeps the black com munity in the image of the criminal, or the reason for the problems. Until the white community real izes that the problem facing this country is so complex and so involved and has been here so long ? unsolved ? and that the problem is not caused by black people, but instead, the effect of the racist atti tudes of white people, and the silence of well-meaning white peo ple who wear blinders, this country : will continue to sit on a powder keg with the fuse getting shorter and shorter. There are other ways to balance < the budget Supporters of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution say it will finally stop the hemorrhaging of America's finances, but it is more likely to destroy our economy and our fragile social system. True, the deficit is a problem. We're headed for a $400 billion shortfall in the federal budget, and interest payments on the national debt will be the single biggest item in the budget. It's crazy to shove scarce revenues out in the form of interest payments to Treasury bond holders instead of using those rev enues to do the many things govern ment has left undone all these years. But there are plenty of ways to bal ance the budget ? and a constitu tional amendment is by for the worst There are four big reasons why it is the wrong way to go. First, and most obvious, it would replace sub stance with process. Federal spend ing and taxation levels have to be based on national needs and eco nomic conditions, not by a rigid pro cess divorced from the substantive needs of the nation. A constitutional ban on deficits, for example, would effectively wipe out chances for a Marshall Plan for America that would invest in our human and phys ical resources to make us competi tive again. Other important initia tives would be stymied because a constitutional mandate to balance the budget would lock the nation into a fiscal straitjacket A second reason is that the current federal budget is an accounting artifact. It makes no distinction between current operating expense^, such as Congressional salaries, and long-term capital expenses, such as building a new airport that will last for a hundred years. The argument that if states can balance their budgets the federal gov ernment can, falls apart on that point State and local budgets generally sepa rate those two expense categories, financing current expenses through taxes and capital expenses through bor rowing. Businesses operate that way, too, with regular expenses coming out of earnings and construction of new factories financed by borrowing. Fami ly budgets are the same ? with cars m and homes financed by borrowing. So long as the federal government runs a unified budget that lumps all spending in one pot, it is likely to run a deficit, and it doesn't make any sense to freeze an outdated accounting prac tice into the constitution. A third rea son why the constitutional amendment approach is wrong is that it is bad eco sway estimated it would result in a big drop in economic output, 3.4 million fewer jobs, huge cuts in social security and huge tax hikes. Finally, a rigid pro cess effectively prevents the govern ment from responding to emergen cies ? whether a foreign policy cri sis such as the Persian Gulf War or a domestic crisis such as the Los Ange ???????????? TO BE EQUAL By JOHN E. JACOB nomics. Economists expect govern ments to run budget surpluses in good times, with deficits to help stimulate the economy in bad times. Forcing an budget balance in both good times and ' bad ones is to force the country into a fiscal straitjacket that could put it deep into a permanent Depression. That's what we'd be in for too, if a contitution al amendment mandated an end to the deficit within a short time frame. One lcs riot that required emergency aid ' and new urban programs. We're run- ? ning big deficits because a decade ' * ago we cut taxes for the affluent and * s escalated military spending. The' deficit can be controlled now byu reversing the process ? raising taxes 1 for the affluent and cutting military 1 and other non-essential spending, and we don't need a constitutional amendment to do that 41
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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