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A Challenge To College Graduates
Black college graduates today
have the unique distinction of being
among some of the best educated
young people of our times. It would
appear that you are indeed challen
ged to be responsible first to the
Black community and through that
community become responsible to
the rest of society as a whole.
For if the academic degrees you
have earned after serious and dili
gent study mean anything if what
you have indeed become means
anything at all-it should mean that
you are now dedicated to the service
of the Black community and through
that cdfftmunity to the rest of the
world.
You cannot afford to accept the
platitudes by Wattenberg and Scam
mon as reported in the Commentary
Magazine and many others who
may think that the great major
ity of Black Americans have put
poverty behind them and have be
come middleclass Americans. Even
now the traditional patterns of two
blacks being unemployed for every
one white has returned to haunt the
economy. There is also the continual
exclusion of blacks from an equit
able share of managerial positions
just to mention a few.
So, no Black college graduate can
afford to ever forget that your train
ing represents tremendous invest
ment-Black investment-for the fu
ture.
We submit that the great majority
of Black Americans are not in the
“so called” middleclass; but if being
a college graduate makes this a
reality, then you must accept
middleclass responsibilities with a
deeper and more pervasive sense of
responsibility, not only for your own
selfish and personal aggrandize
ment, but that true responsibility by
which all we do must be marked.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO THE
BLACK COMMUNITY.
When we speak of such respons
ibility we mean responsibility to the
Black parents who have sacrificed
so that you could be where you are
today and the responsibility to those
other Black youths who, instead of
receving degrees or “sheepskins”
today, now languish behind prison
bars in greater number perhaps
than many Blacks who are in educa
tional institutions today and even the
expellees who could go no place,
become college pushouts.
Remember always the revolution
ary-spirit of the far-reaching 60’s
which truly aroused the conscience
of the nation with their cry of “Ain’t
Gonn$ Let Nobody Turn Me
Around”; and remembering always
the wisdom of that great leader, Dr.
King that “We Shall Overcome
Someday.”
That day can become a reality if
you, the Black College graduate of
today’s turbulent times will become
truly responsible, first to the Black
community with your services and
know how and through that
community responsible to the rest of
the greater society.
The greatest test of this challenge
will be how well you and you and you
Black college graduates accept your
responsibility to the black commun
ity first and to the greater society at
large.
me irrational school Controversy
The controversy involving our
schools has been switched from
integration to the Optional school
concept. We have been told that the
projected enrollments for the five
open schools fell short of the 20-25
percent racial ration requirements
approved by the courts.
The Charlotte Post is concerned
about the lack of interest shown by
Black parents. This, of course,
raises some key questions.
First of all, why all of a sudden so
much emphasis has been placed on
Black recruitment at this late date?
We would also like to know why were
Black parents not adequately in
formed before now?
It is our feelings that the city
school board and the officials of our
shcools should make a genuine effort
to make Blacks feel more officials of
our schools should make a genuine
It is our feelings that the city
school board and the officials of our
- schools should make a genuine effort
to make Blacks feel more welcomed
in the system. It seems to us that this
should be done before they come
face-to-face with court approved
assignment plans and deadlines for
compliance with court orders.
We also believe the lack of genuine
aggressive leadership in our school
system has made the Black
community leary of real intent. Are
our city school officials asking
^ack^o save the optional school
program just to make it possible for
more whites to attend or are they
genuinely interested in a new con
cept to really help meet the educa
tional needs of all children?
Optional educational opportunities
do have merits. The traditional
school has advantages, too. We must
consider the fact that most Blacks
are traditionally inclined.
The basis difference between the
two concepts is that the open class
room is student centered whereas
the traditional is teacher centered.
The child is free to work at his own
pace in the open school. The teacher
sets the pace in the traditional.
We believe the school officials
ought to make an extra effort to
better inform Blacks of all their
programs. Most Charlotteans Black
and White have no conception of
what is going on in our schools. We
believe these parents would give
greater support ot the city schools
and all of their programs if they
were better informed.
There is a crying need for the
school officials to recognize the fact
that the great majority of Black
parents with school age children do
not have the time to get actively
involved in the school program.
They are either confined with jobs or
they are bogged with transportation
problems. When a person is not
actively involved with himself he
tends to be less interested in invol
ving his children.
Down To
Business
Black Business
- Fighting For Survival
Dr. Berkeley G. Burrell
President, National Business
According to a recent study pre
pared for the Department of Com
merce’s Office of Minority Business
Enterprise, an estimated four out of
every ten Black businesses operat
ing in 1972 have gone out of business,
which represents a forty per cent (40
percent) failure rate. The major
blame for this failure rate among
Black businesses should not be cast
upon the businesses themselves, but
rather upon the community struc
ture in which they operate.
A business cannot survive without
a healthy economic environment -
that is, an environment with an
adequate supply of capital for the
purchase of goods and services, the
investment in business enterprises
and the expansion of manpower and
plant capacity. A minority business
is not different. It, too, needs a
healthy economic atmosphere. Un
fortunately, the Black community
does not currently provide such an
environment.
Traditionally, Black-owned busi
nesses have concentrated in the
Black community and have been
forced to limit their enterprises to
the areas of retail trade and selected
services. Such businesses were pri
marily small-scale, and actually
thrived on the racial segregation
which characterized our commun
ities. Black businesses satisfied the
commercial needs of the Black
community and, in turn, got their
share of the total Black income. But
in so doing, Black business captured
control of only a small fraction of the
nation’s total business activity.
Retail trade and selected services
have declined in recent years, and
the increase in integration has in
troduced an element of competition
for which Black businesses have had
little experience. These businesses
can no longer depend upon the
monopoly of the Black market as a
means of survival. They must now
compete with white businesses that
have the money and managerial
expertise to threaten their very sur
vival.
But there are other, more impor
tant reasons, why Black business
must enlarge their market base. As
a group, Blacks represent only 13
percent ol the total population in this
country. And in 1970, we collectively
accounted for a meager 6.5 per cent
of the total money income. This
means that a business sector that
concentrates solely on the Black
market is effectively ignoring more
than 93 percent of the total dollar
income in America. With such a
limited financial market, a business
entity must remain small in order to
make a profit, since it can ill-afford
to build up inventories larger than
their marketability. *
Further, our current problems of
inflation and recession place tre
mendous pressures on the small,
unstable income areas. As a result,
the Black market is seriously deple
ted. High unemployment, poor hous
ing conditions and inadequate train
ing and experience in the labor field
combine to disintegrate their al
ready decaying financial base.
Since the majority of Black-owned
businesses are sole proprietorships -
one man operations - the source of
capital needed to sustain these firms
usually come from the owners per
sonal savings.
TO
BE
EQUAL
Vietnam’s Refugees
It is estimated that over 125,000 Vietnamese
refugees have come to the United States, setting
off a national debate about how they should be
treated. *•'
The President speaks for a sizable sector of
national opinion when he urges that the refugees
be welcomed to these shores and provided with
federal assistance in building new lives.
America has always been a haven for people
fleeing other lands, supporters of this position
argue, and it cannot turn away political refugees
now. This is especially relevant in regard to the
Vietnamese for we encouraged their ties with
Americans, prolonged a war that destroyed their
country, and so have an obligation to assist those
who fled.
_ • j • • *
uuici 31UC die UlUfcti WI1U dll^ie dt^llllbt
any special treatment for the refugees. They
maintain that the U. S. cannot absorb them into
the work foreeat a time of economic Depression,
and stigmatize many of the refugees as being
part of the elite that stole their country blind, or
tiger cage guards and other undesirables.
The answer to these points make the opponents
of the refugees look mean-spirited indeed. It is
estimated that only about 30,000 of the refugees
will join the work force, an insignificant number
in ah economy that has over 80 million jobs even
in a Depression. And while some of the refugees
may have undesirable backgrounds, the over
whelming majority are innocent persons who
may have been in danger because they worked
for Americans during the war.
The debate goes back and forth, but some of
the issues just below the surface are more
important for the country to consider. After all,
the refugees are here, no one is about to ship
them back, and there is an obligation on our part
lO act in a humane fashion that was so noticeably
absent from our actions during the war.
I have misgivings about the way the refugee
problem has leaped to the top of our skewed
national priorities, about the racist feelings
unleashed by their presence here, and about our
national double-vision that treats anti-commun
ist refugees with greater consideration than
others in our society.
The influx of brown-skinned refugees has
reawakened racist attitudes. From California,
which has a long history of anti-oriental perse
cutions, have come cries of anger against the
refugees and demands that they be “dispersed”
throughout the country. It seems that the racial
feelings that helped us to bomb their country
with impunity are now surfacing in the form of
nativist rage against colored outsiders.
But another consideration refers to the special
priorities given the refugees. Like the Hungarian
refugees in the ‘50s and the Cubans in the ‘60s,
they are slated for aid that has been denied our
own citizens fleeing economic and racial oppres
sion within our own borders. And previous
European immigrants who came over in steer
age had to fend for themselves.
The President is asking for half a billion
dollars to get the refugees settled here. In the
context of their needs and the already swollen
size of the budget that does not sound unreason
able.
But this is the same President who wanted to
slice a half billion dollars out of food stamp aid to
the poor, and out of old people’s social security
checks and medical payments. It is the same
President who wanted to cut proposed GI
benefits for veterans of the Vietnam war, many
of whom are black, jobless and in need of better
veterans’ benefits.
Blacks Need History
By Gerald Johnson
Suppose one morning you awoke to
find that you couldn’t remember
anything. You had forgotten your
name, your past, everything. Can
you imagine the dilemma you’d
be faced with.
Because you can’t recollect the
events that actually brought you to
this point in time you are completely
lost. Hence, you don’t know what
you’ve done which consequently
clouds what vou are doing which
destroys plans for what you nope to
do. Without knowing your past there
can be no hope for the future.
Such is the case with the black
race.
We as a race seem to be wander
ing relentlessly to no where. With
only fragments of our past to rely on
we borrow the history of the white
race to try to help mold our future.
• 9
f
We have adopted his religions, his
education, and basically his entire
lifestyle. This is a primary reason
for our oDDression.
Weil, there is nothing that can be
done about all that now. The black
lifestyle can only be found by those
who can’t afford any other kind, the
feelings, desires, and aspirations of
the black people living in Hyde Park
is practically identical to those white
people living in Foxcroft.
The only problem, with this is that
as black people we can’t afford this
luxury.
Because as a race we have no
concrete direction, no unifying goal,
no significant objective we have
become a diverse and divided
people.
We don’t know where we are going
«
because we don’t know where we’ve
been. *
The strength of other races of
people lies in their history. The
Jewish people’s strength is not in
their wealth but in their history. The
same is true with the Chinese.
As a first step toward unification
as a race it is of the utmost urgency
that steps be taken to consolidate
our past. Much time and money ^
should be spent on researching our ^
beginning, preparing documents
from the findings, and dispersing
these documents to the people.
A divided people is only a luxury
the oppressor can afford
We need to get started immediate
ly you know, the future is as close as (
_
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
Second Class Postage Paid at
Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3,1878
Member National Newspaoer Publishers
Association
National Advertising Representative
Amalgamated Publishers, Inc.
45 W. 5th, Suite 1403 2400 S. Michigan Ave
New York, N Y. 10036 Chicago. 111. 60616
489-1220 Calumet 5-0200
0LACK'ON'BLACK /
cmnes exploomc!
\JHYHAVE MURDERS,
RAPES, AND ASSAULTS
BECOME SO COMMON \
IN BLACK COMMUNITIES- ^
BOTH IN THE FREQUENCY \
AND PATTERN-THA T
THEY HAVE BECOME
ROUTINE AND THE
ONLY PEOPLE CON
_CERNED ABOUT THEM_
OF THE VICTIMS.”
HOUSTON Font*ARP TIMES
^ ■ CN
VERNON K. JORDAN JR
Crime Must Be Curbed