Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / May 1, 1975, edition 1 / Page 2
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atais tcoiMii When Economy Catches A Cold, Blacks Get Don hie Pneumonia__ The bitter reality of massive lay offs and unemployment is hitting Blacks, teenagers and women in greatest proportions these days. March unemployment figures show ed that while 4.1 per cent of white men were out of work, 5.9 per cent of women and 12 per cent of minority workers were on the unemployment lines. .. And these figures do not tell the whole story. In many cities, like Detroit, joblessness is up to 40 per cent among minorities. The most spectacular layoffs hitting Black and women workers are not neces* sarily where workers are getting pink slips in the greatest numbers. An Equal Employment Opportuni ties Commission representative su mmed up the situation recently wh en she told the New York Times that “in places where minorities and women may represent oly 10 percent of the employees, we are finding the represent 60 to 70 per cent of those laid off.” . .An outline of the job market in one icity • Cincinnati - tells the story faced by Blacks and women needing a job. MacGregors, which makes baseballs and hires mainly Black M » V women, recently laid off everybody. This in itself is not so unusual, but three years ago the company threa tened to move to Taiwan if the workers wouldn’t forego a raise and agrne to cut the rate earned for piecework. The workers - then num bering 500 - compiled. I oday the 250 workers left are out ary way. Many of the Black women Mred by the firm (doing the worst and lowest paid work, lacing the baseballs) had been on welfare, and that’s where they will have to return. . .Kenner Toys, a division of General Mills, had always taken on extra Black women at Christmas, but nol this past Christmas. And a little-not iced aspect of joblessness among women is the fact that every year the number of female-headed fami lies increases. When these women - heading 9.6 per cent of all white families, 17 per cent of Spanish surnamed families, and an astro nomical 37 per cent of Black families - lose their jobs, there is not another pair of hands to earn a living. There’s no doubt about it: As a wise person once said, when the economy catches a cold, the Black community gets double pnuemonia. \ . (Guest editorial from the Philadelphia Tribune) Joann Little Case’s Confusion Fveryone is conversant with the case of North Carolina’s Jo Anne Little. But the turn of events in the case are indeed untoriunaie. . .The main focus should be upon the 'defense of Miss Little who faces a trial that could mean life in prison, or more, depending on how the Supreme Court rules next time on the death penalty. ..Listen to this! Golden Frinks, North Carolina field coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, is saying that lawyers for Miss Little promised him 30 per cent of monies from Miss Little’s Defense Committee, Inc. The lawy ers deny being party to such an agreement. . .Frink wants to publicize and spon sor mass demonstrations and rallies to call attention to the injustice he feels has been done to Miss Little and others. .. The attorneys want to concentrate more on the legal fight. . .Now Miss Little’s mother has beet drawn into the fight. .. It seems to us that the main focus should be on defending Miss Little during the forthcoming trial The wrangling over funds should n«t be permitted to cloud the issue. Neither SCLC, nor any other activist groups have any right to the defense monies. ..People have contributed monies to defend Jo Anne Little, and the funds must be spent for this purpose alone. (guest editorial from the Carolinian) Let Us Hear From You ..For the last 6 weeks the editorial page has consisted of articles which are contrary to the belief of some, agreeable with other, and erroneous to other. The editorial staff wel comes this patronage and we are extending an invitation to all to “Let Us Hear From You.” We welcome the chance to print your opinion. ..We, the staff, are only airing our opinions on particular situations and we don’t exDect i>nmni»t« iance. We only ask that comments, corrections, and - or criticisms be forwarded with your name and ad dress. When your letter is received i will appear in the next edition of th< Post. Letters need not pertain t< articles of the Post. Any opinion 01 any meaningful topic will be printed Just mail your letter to: The Charlotte Post P. O. Box 97 Char lotte, N. C. 28230 REPORT FROM ly^WoshingtonJ. The South Vietnam Evacuation By Congressman Jim Martin 9th District, North Carolina The war in Vietnam is nearly over. The United States Congress may have authorized the last American dollar to be spent there when it approved humanitarian and evacu ation aid funds to bring our role in that country to a close. . .Congress passed the bill to support evacuation of Americans, as well as their Vietnamese dependents and significantly those Vietnamese who i would be executed by ~the commu nists. The final vote was 230 to 187. I voted for the measure and was pleasantly surprised when it passed the House. There had been a number of Members of the House arguing for abandoning even our own people in South Vietnam. .. I think Congress took a very re sponsible position. It was controver sial, to be sure, weighing the risks of sending the necessary forces to sa feguard the removal of the Ameri cans and the otherwise endangered Vietnamese from the trap in which they were caught. Yet, I think the majority in Congress, once they faced the dangerous consequences of what the minority advocated, took the humane step that conscience dictated. President Ford underst ands clearly that this vote autho rizes no prolonged re-escalation of the war. [ • • During the course of very lengthy , debate, those in the Congress and > elsewhere who opposed this mea , sure repeatedly tried to confuse the issue. Shrill false alarms raged over the monumental hoax that had cla imed a million refugees were com ing to Los Angeles. That was fol lowed by dramatic but false anno uncements that U. S. Marines had landed! Some criticized the Ford Administration for having an unau thorized evacuation already under way; others criticized the slowness of that evacuation. .. It is a wonder that cool Judgment prevailed. In large measure that was to the credit of Representative Otis Pike (D-N.Y.) who chaired the stormy session, and to the stalwart leadership of the senior members of the Committee on International Re lations, whose informed judgment was listened to and respected. .. In retaliation against the tactics of confusion being employed, an ame ndment was passed stating that this ' humanitarian and evacuation assis tance was needed because it was North Vietnam that had flagrantly violated the Paris peace Accords. The seventy or so hard core liberals even refused to agree to that, and later (incredibly) voted against suc cessful amendements which prohi bited any of the aid being channeled to the North Vietnamese! .. The major controversy of the bill, of course, was the decision to evacu ate South Vietnamese. Had we tur ned our backs on these people, it might have been impossible to get the American citizens out, because we were not in much of a position to ward off vindictive retaliation. Our main concern, though, was that it would have been callous and inhu mane to abandon a hundred thou sand or so to their probable execut ion by the communists. From the experience of recently captured vil lages, it was feared that the North Vietnamese armies would liquidate any potential opposition, such as teachers, professionals, merchants, politician, and anyone who worked with the United States. TO BE EQUAL !{.. ' Voting Rights Action Due . .One of the most important pieces of legislation in recent history, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, is due to expire this August. The Act. which runs for five years, was extended in 1970 over the opposition of the Nixon Administration, and the Congress is now considering another extension. ..In contrast to earlier struggles, there is now broad Congressional support for a simple exten sion of the Act which has been responsible for the enfranchisement of black voters in many parts of the South. . .The record of the Act’s success is stunning. In 1965, there were only about 72 black elected officials in all eleven southern states; today there are over 1000 in just the seven states ppverfd by the Act. *>• Tbs enormous increase in black voting in those states'and the big jump in black elected officials tends to loll some people into thinking the Act is no longer needed. But the facts are otherwise. . .The black registration figures are still too low and would trend even lower without federal protection from the intimidation, harassment and legal obstacles that would be sure to be instituted on the state and local levels. ..And blacks are still far underrepresented among southern officeholders. The Joint Center for Political Studies estimates that although the black population in the seven affected states ranges from 18.5 to 36 percent of their population blacks are only two to four percent of elected officials. There is a black official for every 10,000 black people, but there are 16 white officials for every 10,000 whites. . .So while gains - important ones - have been made, they can only continue under the umbrella of federal protection and extension of the Act. It is vitally important to prevent any weakening of the Acts provisions. Talk of allowing literacy tests, for example, would only open the door to discriminatory use of such tests to get blacks off , the voting rolls. >•■ ■■• t.tn . i . . . .Two questions under debate concern the length of the Act’s extension and whether it should be expanded to include southwestern states with large Mexican-American populations. .. A simple five-year extension of the Act would only mean the whole battle would have to be fought again in 1980. A ten-year extension, which would carry the Act pass the 1980 Census and the redistricting that always follows the Census, is important. The ten-year period is also needed to establish and institutionalize a black voting tradition in the South too strong to be tampered with. . .The second issue, that of extending the Act to states with significant numbers of Spanish-spe aking citizens, is also important. . .A title ought to be added to the Act preventing the apparent discrimination faced by Mexican Americans in the exercise of their voting rights. Reminiscent of traditional southern actions aga inst blacks who tried to register to vote, there have been instances of economic pressures, such as threats of firing, used against Chicanos. ..Extending the Act to cover the southwest would mean that in places where there is low participation of Spanish-speaking people in elec tions, federal registrars would be empowered to register voters, and the Justice Department would go over local voting laws to weed out discriminatory ones. a * I Poor Rationale Help Defeat Bond Package By Gerald Johnson Poor rational held defeat bond ..Recently, I talked with several individuals who opposed the airport bond referendum that was voted down several wfeeks ago. All of the individuals wer& black and they all said basically tbe same thing. .. The core of their opposition was that .. < 1) More pressing things needed attention . .(2) Blacks don’t use the airport . .(3) Jobs created by the expansion would not help blacks because the work would be manual labor. .. Let me be the first to say that I’ve never heard of more ridiculous rational in all my few years. . .With the economy at a standstill, the unemployment line is four blocks long and 3 people deep, small busi nesses going bankrupt, and crime increasing rapidly what is more I pressing than Jobs? ..The majority of Mack people do not use the airport directly but most blacks are affected by the airport indirectly. This old town is becoming quite transient and quite big. Each individual is affected by this trans parent but real growth. I am not saying big is good, but I am saying big and under facilitated is bad. . .The final point mentioned to those in opposition to the bond was the point that got my dandruff up (for all the good it did). You don’t talk about type of jobs with half of the country unemployed. How many black people in the unemployment line do you think you can tell that he can’t get a job because you thought it was too menial for him. The very people who voted down the airport bond are probably all employed. My way of thinking is to get the people the job first then fight for types of jobs or positions. ..To demonstrate how irrational this type of thinking is let me tise an example. Suppose you told a friend to buy you a bus ticket from Char lotte to San Francisco because you wanted to see your ailing mother before she passed^ Your friend re turns later to Inform you that he did you a favor. Instead of buying your ticket and reserving you A seat on the very next bus to San Francisco he reserved you a seat on the bus departing one week from today. Your friend reasoned that since the earlier bus made more stops and the trip on the earlier bus would take 5 more hours he has saved you time. Well, obviously he has lost you a week instead of saving you 5 hours. . .This story sums up my feelings on the reasoning In found prevalent in the Black community by those who opposed the airport bond. The mis take that was made is one that is so often made by most of us. We assumed. Well, assume spelled out Ass-u-me tells the story pretty well. For the good of our people, for the good of our community we must assess the needs of all of our people. Our decisions must be based on that which will help the most and hurt the least.. . .Ihclosing I would like to say that I haven’t heard a good reason yet why the black community opposed the airport bond. ... ■ r THE CHARLOTTE POST “THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER” Established 1918 By A.M. Houston Published Every Thursday By The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. 9139 Trinity Road - Charlotte, N.C. 28216 Telephones (704 ) 392-1306 - 392-1307 Circulation 11,000 Bill Johnson ....Editor - Publisher Gerald O. Johnson.Business Manager Robert L. Johnson.Circulation Manager <i ' Second Class Postage Paid at : Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3,1878 Member National Newspaoer Publisher: Association National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. 45 W. 5th, Suite 1403 2400 S. Michigan Ave New York, N Y. 10036 Chicago. Ill 60616 489-1220 Calumet 5-0200 - « VERNON K. JORDAN JR -5e (uidtfie courage to dream,the compassion to Cove, tfie spirit to persevere!’
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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May 1, 1975, edition 1
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