Winston-Salem Chronicle " "The Twin City's Award Winking Weekly" Established in 1974 Ernest H. Pitt ? Ndubisi Eg?monye Editor/Publisher ? Co-Founder Member in good standing with: ^ ^t=v N*?k >oa< N*w*p?p#f North Carotana AiKflt Bufttti A Put*?h?r? Aiioculio o Prttt Aseoowfcon of Clrculltlons Pgbteh?r?. tnc Editorial A Welcome Change The torch has been passed. A new generation of leaders has finally sprung to the fore front, having been chosen by their baby-boomer counter parts. The exuberance over Bill Clinton's election is reminiscent of the excitement over John F. Kennedy's election. We have hope once again. We realize that in the days ahead we still face the same problems ? economic uncertainty, a $4 trillion deficit ? yet we trust Clinton to tackle these issues on our behalf. And we trust him for completely different reasons than the ones for which we elected JFK. Clinton is a regular guy who made the most of himself (much as Ross Perot). Clin ton's childhood wouldn't make a bedtime story, yet it is much more typical of many Americans than the childhood of Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan or Texas oil mogul George Bush. His father was an alcoholic who died before he was born. His mother remarried a man who was also an alcoholic and who abused her. She leaned heavily on him for emotional support after her second divorce. He helped raise his younger brother. Yet he studied hard to earn academic scholarships, graduated from Yale school of law, and returned to Arkansas to practice. While he was governor, the State Bureau of Investigation informed him that they had evidence that his brother was involved in drug use. Clinton told them to prosecute him just as they would any pther citizen. i Clinton understands the concerns of the average American: he has been there himself. Throughout this campaign, George Bush repeatedly asked voters, who do you trust to make the change for you? We have answered. We have chosen Clinton. Black voters in particular rallied to the polls like never before in support of Clinton. A September 492 survey of newspaper readers in the state (commissioned by the North Carolina Press Association) revealed that 66 percent of blacks surveyed answered they would vote for Clinton. Clinton's leadership will bring many welcome changes. He can be counted on to aggressively address the needs of at risk families and children. He supported the Family Leave Act of 1990 and again in 1991. He will most likely call for measures to limit health spending nationally, and wants to require employers to provide health insurance for workers. These are measure that send small businesses screaming down the street in protest: until they are made to realize the far greater price we all pay in remedial health care, which is always too little, too late. If Clinton has his way, those who are able to pay extra will be required to, such as requiring the rich to pay more for Medicare premiums. He wants to see fair taxation on Social Security and Medicare of upper-income families. We hope to see an quick death to the trickle-down econom ics theory: instead of tax breaks on luxury boats, Clinton proposes deductions for families with incomes under $60,000. Clinton will not be able to change the country overnight, or make much difference in one four-year term. But he plans to dig in vigorously and stimulate more investment and more give-and-take in the economy. We welcome his leadership. Clinton's leader ship will provide fredh, workable ideas. 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 number of the writer. Columns should follow the same guidelines and will be published if we feel they are of interest to our gener al readership. We reserve the right to edit letters and columns for brevity and grammar. Submit your letters and columns to: Chronicle Mailbag P.O. Box 1636 Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102 Reader Wants To "Make Things Clear" To the Editor: In September, we were asked by an interracial, ecumenical group of clergy to meet with U.S. Attor neys Doug Cannon and Bob Edmond about a concern which had been expressed in the community regarding the cases of Lee Faye Mack, Patrick Hairston, and Rodney Sumler, namely, that they were sent to prison even though their cases were being appealed. As a result of our meeting with the attorneys, it is our opinion that the confusion arose because the public was not made aware of a dif ference between state and federal law. While it is not unusual for a person convicted under state law to be allowed to go free while his/her case is on appeal, it is highly unusual for a person to go free if convicted under federal law. Can^_ non and Edmond said they could recall only one person who did not go to prison while his/her case was being appealed since the current law went into effect in 1984. Federal law states that a person who has been convicted of a crime, sentenced to a prison term, and has appealed will be detained unless the judicial officer finds that the appeal "raises a substantial question of law or fact likely to result in reversal, an order for a new trial, a sentence that does not include a term of imprison ment, or a reduced sentence ..." It was the opinion of the court that the appeals of Mack, Hairston, and Sumler were not likely to lead to any of those conclusions. We believe that the responsibil ity for making the public aware of such legal distinctions rests with the press and the media We encourage local newspapers, radio and televi sion stations to be diligent in provid ing all information that is required for sufficient understanding of sen sitive, divisive issues. Edgar Christman David Partington Richard Groves Reinvest in America To the Editor: Our priorities are all wrong! It's time to change those priorities and pat people first for a change! No one ? especially someone from North Carolina ? would ever advocate weakening our national deiense or placing our country or the countries of our allies at risk. But it's time to find a balance in how we set our priorities and expend our resources. We're hurting here at home. And we can't help the rest of the world if we fail to keep our own nation strong and successful. It's time to reinvest in America. Our economy is faltering. Our streets aren't safe. Basic services are being cut Health care is a constant worry. We have the strongest mili tary in the world, but our economy seems to be falling behind. In 1991, there were 198,000 unemployed North Carolinians. Almost 906,000 of our fellow citi zens were living in poverty. And over 1,451,000 had no health insur ance. In 1989, every taxpaying citi zen of North Carolina spent an aver age of $1,392 on the military. Each taxpayer in North Carolina spent more on the military than on educat ing our children ? and policing our streets ? and maintaining our high ways ? and keeping our citizens healthy ? combined! CHRONICLE MAI LB AG Our Readers Speak Out This year, North Carolinians will pay roughly $480 per person in taxes to defend Europe from a nonexistent threat, over five times more than will be spent to keep our own streets safe. It's time to rearrange our priori ties! As a share of the total federal budget, education dropped from 2.5 percent to 1.8 percent between 1980 and 1992. If the level of federal funding had remained constant, the U.S. Department of Education would have SI 0.3 billion more to spend to help schools than it currently has. Less than one percent would have meant more than $10 billion addi tional education dollars. What would that have meant for North Carolina? In 1992, North Carolina received $425 million from the fed eral government to support 1 1 highly effective school programs, -including Chapter 1, Individuals with Disability Education, Voca tional Education, and post-sec ondary student aid. . If the level of federal help had remained constant, if we had invested that extra one percent here at home, North Carolina could have received an additional $230.7 mil lion ? about a 50 percent increase in needed education services. . The world is changing. charge of their education. He, told \them even though they were young, they needed to take responsibility ' for seeing that they learn and gradu ate; to learn all that the teacher knows that is teaching them, even * when the teacher seemed not to care ? whether they learned or not. They . needed to take responsibility, for it was their life and their future on the line. He further remarked that his craft, which is athletics, often led him into the local schools to talk to various classes. Sometimes, and quite sadly; he saw students "hang ing out," and "snuggling up" at the classroom door, rather than being ' inside with their class being atten tive and doing their work. He reminded us that these students were wasting their valuable timeT and if teachers let them, they would be the . ones to pay the cost for misusing this grand opportunity to get pre pared for the future. The success of schools is very encouraging, and it was heart-warm ing to see that Howard and North Carolina A & T State University led in the number of black male stu dents that grdrfiiated. Maity who know said'ttte'cfe'ciine of 6dllege " graduates was also the result of the " Vietnam War which dried up monies for college grants and schol- ? arships. This letter only offers a few ideas. Why students do or do not graduate is not known by this writer. But this I do know, those who grad uate and complete other comparable rigorous programs and projects do so because they make up their minds and decide that they will let nothing -stop them ? nothing. "Nei ther fire, hell, or high water!" And often this can be said of a lot of things: of living, of life, rearing a family, keeping a job, and even hon oring your God ... "I'll let nothing 1 separate me from the love of God" is a refrain over the centuries that has kept many, many African Americans steadfast and moving forward to reach their goals and des- ' tinations. We simply cannot let bar riers stop us; we must overcome all ?' barriers. Lozie Ann Gray . Historical Roots of Genocide Spring Forth Deja Vu The Neo-Nazi, anti-foreigner riots in Ger many that are being reported to us by the news with great frequency are a terrible and distribut ing thing, even though the participants seem to be nearly all extremists. German novelists like Hein rich Boll, or th Australia poet Ingeborg Bach mann have pointed out to us that after the war and up until the present day there is a great deal of even though many of them are probably "stu dents," Old issues, that is present events with roots in the past, have certainly been sprung into the hands of the wolfpack while gaining a modem, more multi-ethnic momentum. While listening to Mahler's Titan" First Symphony and his momen tous Fifth, some of these issues came to mind for - me because I feel that the achievement of Mahler has always been diminished by ? some critics, then and now, because of his Jewishness. Mahler was given, almost liter ally,, a devil of a time GUEST COLUMN BY Carl R Martin corruption in Germany, whereas members of th old regime have been able to use their vague con nection with the past as intimidation or network to amass money and respectability. This has taken place apparently not as a function of ideology but as a function of capital ism; the practical urges of greed, and the decidu ous nature of money. Some persons with a cyni cal urge would probably be found to say, "Winter comes after The Fall, but Spring soon follows. " No doubt they would be branded as the "rem nants"* of leftist ideologues* but we might find that these living remnants do have a notion or two by what is often called the "anti-Semitic Viennese press" while individuals also made it hard for him. Perhaps some of the blame can be attributed to the propensity for command of Herr Mahler, but that is not an adequate excuse for all the deri sion that lay like hot coals around his head, mahler, to his credit, perhaps, was actually of such musically accommodating good intention that he became, as a conductor, a fateful inter preter of the music of Richard Wtgra, the wild anti-Semite and convinced vegetarian wote one time statement was, 1 ffcel myself to be the only true German amidst this dull-witted race of peo pie they call the Germans." Mahler's behavior shows that he could certainly put pondering the , man aside, to show the exposed jewellike like beauties in Wagner's music to an appreciating , public c. I think that Mahler's real "fault" and what I call an "old issue" was Mahler's astute and fanci ful ability to seem the ultimate Viennese in his music whjje often blending it purposefully and perfectly with the sinuous, circular rhythms of Jewish folk song and the Jewish fiddle of the Bohemian countryside or streets of the old Ghetto. His symphonies with their tint and inclu sion were perfectly convincing. ..to convincing. This music, in part, threatened the already threat ened identity of the central German population of Vienna which was becoming immersed in the diverse ethnic acquisition of the Hapsburg Empire. This music threatened to represent Vienna, the proud repository of a German popula tion and Germanic aristocracy, as more of the "Eastern " city, merging towards Slavic-Semitic Orientalism as a culture. In present day Germany there is the seducing hand saying, "Accede to us this difference (between us and "them"); affirm . our German ity. " The implication is always that it's preferable and safer to ?o along with then for this brief period, to not become an "outsider." then the brief period becomes a permanent extension.