Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Nov. 20, 1975, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
_\ It’s Our Turn To Aid NAACP Our National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which has been working for 66 years to achieve first-classcllizenship sCF~ tus for us black Americans, ‘‘is in grave financial trouble,” according to the New York Times* Charlayne Hunter whom the NAACP helped to get into the then segregated Univer sity of Georgia a decade ago. Elaine Welles of the Philadelphia Tribune reports that the NAACP has a deficit of nearly $250,000, and is said to be ‘Teaching a point where it could imperial critical programs that are the life-blood of the organi zation.” To put it bluntly, our NAACP is in debt, bills are going unpaid, lawyers are awaiting their fees, and the payroll for the New York national staff is in danger. In years past, the organization turned to the wealthy Joel and Arthur Spingarn who put in tucu uwn iuiiui> ana raisea aaaition al monies from their friends. At other times, the NAACP called on labor, especially the United Auto Workers, for financial aid; and still later it depended heavily upon its late millionaire President Kivie Kaplan who increased the number of Life Memberships from a few hund red to more than 50,000, as well as contributed out of his own pocket. Today, the NAACP is rightly turn ing for funds to us black folks whom -- it has aiHoH pnr.rrTnpuslv through tho years. Here’s a small sample of that aid: It fought lynching for 30 years, shaming Americans out of the bar barous practice; it succeeded in getting abolished white primaries in the South which for years nullified the black vote there; it fought res trictive covenants in housing through the courts until these were outlawed and we, like everyone else, are free to live wherever our check books would allow us. And the NAACP, figuratively, snatched away the humiliating rail road dining car curtain that used to segregate us as if we were carriers of some deadly disease. Its crowning achievement was the 1954 Supreme Court decision which beean remov ing our children from the indignity of segregated schools. But still fur ther, the NAACP worked with other organizations in the 1960's to end jira crow public accommodations, as well as secure the passage of the important ‘‘Voting Rights Act” through which the number of blacks elected officials has increased to more than 3,500, including 140 mayors. But the work of the NAACP is not finished. Job discrimination is ram pant in government as well as in private industry; too many blue collar unions are keeping us out; equal opportunity is too much of a sham; and contract compliance is a sharade. Even equal opportunity in education is far from a reality. So. we have a long way to go, and only the NAACP has the capacity and the expertise to help us travel the road if U70 QnnrnnioiA _ —grr~ j/moi. uuut v c ments of the NAACP, and we want its assistance in the future, it’s time to reach down in our pockets and come up with the money to keep the NAACP going full speed ahead. And we have the money. Dr. Andrew Brimmer says blacks last year earn ed nearly $58 billion or $58,000 mil lion. The NAACP owes only one fourth of a million, or $250,000, and they are saying it is in deep financial trouble. Why? We spend billions on high-powered cars, cigars and cigaretts, Scotch and Dour bon whisky, l'uugtt, lipstick and eyeshadow, but not nearly enough toward achieving equal op portunity for ourselves. The local branch of the NAACP is at 237 W. Trade st. Go by today and take out a membership. They start as low as $4. _ There are 10 million' of us blacks who can send $5 and not feel it; 3,000,000 who can send $10 or more; and 500,000 who can take out $500 Life Memberships. Let’s take our NAACP out of the “hand-to-mouth” status and give it the financial support it needs to finish the fight against racial discrimination in America. If we don’t, then maybe we are phonies and don’t deserve the NAACP. (NNPA) Policy Of The Post The Charlotte Post is a weekly newspaper devoted to the black community of Charlotte. It is not nor will it ever be the policy of this newspaper to cover news outside of the realms of this locale. Our commitment is to you - our news is about you and yours. The fost makes no attempt at covering world-wide or international news. Any newspaper on the stands offers this. We pride ourselves oh being the only one on the stands whee black people in Charlotte don’t have to kill or steal to make it in print. It is past time for the unheard of news in Charlotte to be heard. The Post welcome the challenge. The Charlotte Post has been under new management since June 1,1974. Since this time, we’ve been trying our “gosh darndest” to bring you the best weekly newspaper in the area. And with your support we have done well. However, there is still a lot to 6e done. A lot of news is getting past us because we don’t have a full staff to cover it. We need your support. Here is what you can do. Have your church or civic group contact us about setting up a program with your organization to get subscrip tions to all of your members. This alone would enable us to hire more personnel to cover a wider range of Charlotte. To bring you the best coverage of the black news in Char lotte is our goal. With your help that goal is only a step away from reality. 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 57 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS SERVICE 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 Newspaper Publishers Association National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. 45 W. 5th, Suite 1403 2400 S. Michigan Ave New York, N Y 10036 Chicago, III 60616 489-1220 Calumet 5-0200 j I BLACK CONVENTIONS SPEW IN EXCESS OF 38.000,000"POUAR8 - - EACH YEAN WITH NO RETURN TO SLACK A COMMUNITIES. jV CONVENTION I ) DOLLAR^ i /1 i ( \ t t 1 < Are We Too Eager For Prestige? ~==gi-- -—_—--—=========8^f^^M i REPORT FROM Washing to ^_ _ % * ~ — Perils Of Over-Spending oy \_uiigi esaiudii jnn mariin 9th District, North Carolina Just as the Arab oil embargo alerted our nation to the perils of. over-dependence on imported oil, similarly the perilous financial prob lems of New York City should alert our nation to the perils of over spending. Those of us who advocate a balan ced federal budget now have New York’s plight as an example. That New York City’s balloon is about to burst has focused public attention on one of the major issues facing the country-deficit spending by govern ments. Recent elections made clear that the voters believe it is time for elected officials to get the govern ment’s financial house in order. In New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Virginia, voters rejected bond proposals totaling billions of dollars. Without passing judgement on the merits of the various bond votes, it seems clear that the electorate re sents what government spending is doing to their local, state, and fede ral governments, and to their own personal finances. New York City has been the catalyst for the anti spending mood in the country. Peo ple do not want financial disaster to threaten their own communities as it has in Fun City. '■* In New York, the prospect of municipal collapse has prepared the public to accept a certain amount of austerity and fiscal responsibility. They are far ahead of the city’s elected officials. New York City voters approved b amendments to the city charter requiring balanced budgets, more authority for budget control officers, a ban on the use of capital improvements funds to pay for current expenses, arid more com plete disclosure of labor agree ments. The city’s mayor opposed all these amendments. Congress should give careful at tention to events of the past few weeks where voters have turned down new spending programs. The anti-spending votes are a clear sig nal to the big spenders beyond its means. New York is the perfect example of what can happen. The federal government is not immune from financial disaster. With the federal debt over a half trillion dollars or $74 billion higher than it was one year ago, we are courting disaster by not making attempts to cut federal spending. After all, a balanced budget is no more unob tainable for the United Staes than for New York City. Even so, Con gress rejected our efforts to limit federal spending and even raised the ceiling by another $8 billion. Consumer Agency Congress took 2 recesses during October. While I have opposed Con gress taking time off when impor tant decisions were delayed, I have to admit the October recesses may have been educational for some of my colleagues in Congress. They also learned that the American peo ple are increasing their awareness about what government regulators have cost them. TO BE EQUAL VKRXON K. )ORI> \N JR. Setback For The U. N. When the UN General Assembly passed the resolution declaring that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination,” I thought back to the historic day in 1936 that Haile Selassie went before the old League of Nations to ask for help in saving Ethiopia from Italian invasion. The League of Nations refused to stand up to protect the integrity of small countries then. It rejected Ethiopia’s plea and thus sealed its own death warrant, for it became irrelevant, a pawn in the hands of the Axis powers out to dominate the world. I fear that by passing this obscene resolution the UN may be taking the same path of weakening its own integrity and becoming irrele vant to a world in need of international leader ship and reconciliation. Smearing the “racist” label on Zionism is an insult to intelligence. Black people, who recog nize code words since we’ve been victimized by code words like “forced busing,” “law and order,” and others, can easily smell out the fact that “Zionism” in this context is a code word for anti-Semitism. Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, a movement the overthrew British colonialism and articulates the national — aspirations of the Jewish people. Its drive for national independence was one of the models for African independence movements. Is the Gene rPl AsQPmKl V m Q inritir mrina _1 -J J J * • ' O Iiukiuuai self-determination is for everyone except Jews? Proponents of the resolution insisted on defin ing racism as not only color discrimination but also ethnic and national origin discrimination. By that standard most of the states voting to condemn Zionism are themselves racist. — The Arab states that rammed the resolution through are among the countries most guilty of discrimination. Many are guilty of persecuting their own minorities, be they Copts, Kurds, or Jews. In fact, most Israeli Jews are dark-skin ned people who fled oppression in Arab lands and the handful that remain there are forced into grim ghettos where they are ruled by terror. In the Sudan, blacks were victimized by Northern Arabs who killed many in a brutal civil war. Elsewhere black Africans face discrimination in Arab states, despite propoganda to the contrary. And the odd partners that made up the General Assembly majority included the Soviet bloc led by a Russia that persistently discriminates along ethnic lines, and countries like Brazil, a brutal military dictatorship currently engaged in destroying Amazon Indian communities. The common denominator seems to be a cynical hypocrisy that is morally offensive. Perhaps the biggest reason for many states’ vote was fear of Arab oil power and also the promise of aid from the oil-rich Arabs. While many African countries stood firm against these pres sures, others succumbed. From the African viewpoint, that was a mistake. Earlier Arab promises of aid have been broken and I suspect new ones will be too. More important, the struggle against racism is crucial and by turning the definition of racism upside down and diluting it with lies the real struggle becomes severely compromised. It is also in the interest of smaller nations that the UN remain a viable force in the world. Dreams That Motivated NAACP Now Bursting Bubbles By Sidney Moore Jr, Post Staff Writer It is a joy to see kids blow bubbles on pretty spring days If they are bright, they some times learn the lesson that bubbles only raise just so high before they burst. When the bubble burst, at least kids do not get so upset They know when fun is fun They do not depend on just one thing for fun. they find another game or more friends Sometimes it would seem that adults could learn a thing or two from kids Take those adults who head up the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACPt For years, these among our leaders have claimed to be a prominent force active in se eing for blacks their civil and human rights No doubt they have done a thing or two for the cause, as most every black has either by intention or accident, but what has been done by the NAACP is a curio sity A skeptic might say those who run the association have been the cheerleaders of the movement They have spoken at rallies, represented blacks in the ceremonial meetings of white groups and served as a focal point for church activit ies in the community. More avid NAACP support er might want to give the association more credit than that. No doubt someone somewhere can list a series of accomplishments that might be credited to the NAACP But extreme ideas about this organization are just as much just soap bubbles and pipe dreams as those that motivated "super nigger radicals to take up arms and demand freedom as they did in the late 1%0's Sidney Moore Jr. The truth is probably an idea some historian may per ceive some years from now Vet. if we critically consider our time, we might see that most blacks think of the NAAC'F as something we needed in the past We do not see it as something that we should depend on today. NAACP organizers are quick to take such a point as this and claim that the people are deserting the association. They love to appeal to our sense of duty and self-right eousness by saying a black person ought to be a member of the NAACP But today. NAACP organ izers need a better argument than “how else can we fight Jim Crow," 4 Even with the current rise in police violations of alledged black criminals is not a strong enough issue to impress modern minded blacks that they need the NAACP And the low key but all to obvious relationship the association maintains with the Democratic Party is probably the sorest point of all * If the NAACP is to become an organization whose image is future oriented instead of past oriented in the minds of the overall black community, it is going to have to reformu late its basic organizational structure It is going to have to move into programs areas that may not be traditional but are never-the-less of concern to blacks A useful approach would probably move the organize lion in more consumer rela lions type programs. Less attention should probably be given to black white relations and more attention to black black relations The association would do well to try to get more black businessnessmen as local branch officers and fewer ministers and morticians It should try and get more youth ful leadership into its veins. Most of all, the NAACP needs an executve director who is himself future oriented rather than past oriented After all, Roy Wilkins is well into his seventies. He has con tributed much, but the dreams that motivated him are now ■ bursting bubbles Note: This column is in no way an attempt to minimize or -compromise the NAACP. I am president of the Rock f)ll Branch of the NAACP and have every hope that the or ganization can continue to positively affect the quality of life of black people in this country For this hope to be realized, I believe, it must be understood that criticism can be a positive shot in the arm to such a powerful body of an institution like the NAACP
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 20, 1975, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75