Of A
COM
- ^ - 11 — - — ~ . — ■- »-1 "W "U
NAACP Needs Your Support
The realization that these are
indeed difficult times should make
you even more aware that there are
organizations in our mldst that de
serve our financial assistance.
And, at a time when it has been
_ reported that the NAACP is deep in
debt, it would be most appropriate
that you consider this great organi
zation wffen you begin compiling
your Christma^ gift list in the
coming weeks.
According to Gloster Current,
director of branches and field
administration, the NAACP is
appealing for 500,000 new members
in 1975. This would bring the total
enrollment up to almost a million.
Considering that there are some 25
million Blacks in this country, the
figure is far too low.
The nation's oldest and one of its
most effective civil rights groups
should not have to suffer with this
indignity. One must realize that if
less than five percent of our Black
population would give their friends
NAACP Memberships for Christ
mas, it would bring the total mem
bership up to well over a million and
a miminum of six dollars per mem
bers would provide the organization
more than 7 million dollars to work
with.
You ought to think about it!
Remember through the years,
about 400,000 Black and White
NAACP members have carried the
responsibility for enfranchisement,
school integration, the desegrega
tion of places of public accommoda
tion, and the expansion of job oppor
tunities as part of the long NAACP
legal battle for freedom and equality
of opportunity for all. It's time for
the freeloaders, who have talked
civil rights and shamelessly shared
in all the-benefits, to dig deeper in
their pocketbooks and come forward
with a worthwhile donation to the
NAACP.
This is also to remind you that
each of us is deeply indebted to the
NAACP for gains we have made.
However, once again, those gains
which were so painfully won are
under seige. Bigotry rears its ugly
head in Boston and other places. The
barbarians who stoned the buses and
beat Black men, while shouting
racial epithets are the descendants
of refugees who fled tyranny and
famine to seek freedom in a new
1 1 rril · · · · · "
lanu. Hicic wcib <> muuen issue 01
racism in the campaign to bar
certain textbooks and library books
from West Virginia schools. Despite
the laws already enacted, both the
government and the private sector
persist in finding ways to circum
cent them in the areas of housing
and employment.
The administration of equal
justice under law continues to be
thwarted. Blacks and other minor
ities are still being short changed
and frustrated in the blessings of
democracy.
Too many of us have been lulled
into a false sense of security,
Sleepers awake! The time is now to
join the NAACP. Freedom is more
■ 1 1
than a word. It is more than a token
contribution. And it is more than just
a dream.
Your membership is an invest
ment in the future. Let's make that
goal a million and a half by the end
of 1975.
The life membership is $500 a
year, but the memberships are only
four and six dollars per year.
You should remember that no fuss
was raised about busing as long as it
was used for keeping the races
segregated. It came evil only after it
was used to desegregate the schools.
So don't be a freeloader. Joiq,
yourself and give a membership to
one or more friends for Christmas.
Can you think of a better gift to
give?
A Serious Problem
By Kenyon C. Burke
Special To The Post
A report just crossed my desk
indicating that by the age of 17, one
in every 16 girls has become a
mother. Furthermore, adolescent
mothers now comprise almost 20
percent of all mothers compared to
12 percent in 1950.
These two startling statements
carry with them alarming and grave
implications for our communityjind
its people. Given the ordinary ad
justments a mature self-sufficient
adult must make to attain respons
ible parenthood, one wonders how
these young people can cope in our
complex industrial and skills de
manding society.
Consequently, with the increase in
early parenthood have come many
serious emotional and financial pro
blems resulting in a divorce rate
twice as likely for early marriages.
Add to this the fact that 9 percent of
adolescent mothers attempt suicide
- seven times the rate for adolescent
who are not parents.
Too often, it's a person's age,
rather than the responsible desire to
avoid the tragedy of unwanted pre
gnancy, which determines whether
or not he or she will be able to obtain
bith control information and ser
vices. The result: an epidemic of
some three-quarters of a million
pregnancies among single teen
agers in 1974,
With it come all the health and
human tragedies of parenthood-too
soon for the young parents and for
their infant : greatly increased risks
of maternal death, premature birth,
broken marriage (or out-of-wedlock
birth), welfare dependency,
dropping our of school, abandoned
hopes for a meaningful career. In
deed, half of all out-of-wedlock
births in 1974, and one-third of all
abortions,were to teen-agers.
Of course, there are those who
would keep our young people igno
rant, or as the old folks used to say,
"dumb and happy" by denying them
information and services because of
their own sexual hang-upe, religious
beliefs, mythology, superstition and
fear of some master plot to wipe us
all out.
A SUPREhC COURT
UtTHOUT WILLIAM 0.
POUÔLAS WILL
meveh be the same.
N Y TIMKS
He Cared,
REPORT FROM
Jt^WcshingtoflJ
CIA Destruction
By Congressman Jim Martin
9th District, North Carolina
For months, Members of Congress
have engaged in a complete disman
tling of the Central Intelligence
Agency. Now the Senate Intelligence
Committe has crippled the nation's
intelligence gathering operations
even further with the announcement
of the committee's prospective re
lease of the names of 12 CIA foreign
agents.
No purpose is served by naming
these individuals except to jeopar
dize their lives and cause harm to
their families.
If American laws have been
broken those responsible should be
punished through our judicial
system. Beyond that I don't see how
our national interest would be ser
ved by exposing everything. The
interests of anti-American nations
would be served by exposing every
thing. The interests of anti-Amer
ican nations would be served simply
because foreign sympathizers will
avoid our intelligence operations for
fear of having their names made
public by a House or Senate
Committee. A Senate Committee
decision on release of the names was
rather moot, since it is usually just a
matter of time before secret intelli
gence information is leaked to the
media from Congressional
Committee. This has already
happened in the case of one indivi
dual whose name was printed in
various publications learned from
"informed sources". If we must
know names, why don't we have the
name of the "informed source" to
learn a little more about their back
ground. Would it be in the public
interest? Does the public.really want
to know? Does the public really
care? Has the public interest been
served by the CIA disclosures?
As I have said before, it is vital to
our national security to have an
effective intelligence gathering
operation and it must not be des
troyed by exposing its network of
operations.
It is not in our national interest to
promote assassinations. If applic
able criminal laws are violated and
can be proven the CIA's effective
ness need not be weakened. (I Jsint» it
for a political stepping stone is
detrimental to its strenght)
CIA Director William Colby told
Members of the Senate foreign
operatives were acting under orders
and should not be exposed to hostile
action. I think he's right. These
people were working for us, after all,
not for the Communists!
The Chairman of the Senate Intell
igence Committee (he's running for
President) says his Committee has
acted "judiciously and properly". I
submit they have been self-righteous
and irresponsible.
Metric Conversion Act
Congress recently ended 150 years
of debate over the issue of conver
ting to the metric system by passing
the Metric Conversion Act of 1975.
Thus, the United Stat» becomes the
last major industrialized nation to
set up a governmental body to coor
dinate changeover to the metric
system.
TO
BE
EQUAL
War On The Hungry
The food stamp program, perhaps the fastest
growing federal social welfare program, has
been under heavy attack for months now,
culminating with the Administration's new pro
posal to cut the program back sharply, reducing
the member of recipients and slashing benefits.
That such a proposal should come at a time of
increasing unemployment and rising food prices
is an illustration of the hard-hearted cynicism
which the survival problems of the poor receive
today.
Instead of a'war on hunger, we're getting a
war on the hungry.
And the reason for the attack on the food stamp
program is simply that it has proved successful· -
Its purpose, as stated in the Food Stamp Act, is
"to safeguard the health and well being of the
nation's population and raise levels of nutrition
among low-income families."
And that's what it has done. In fact, if it can be
faulted it's because so many poor people eligible
for food stamps don't get them, in part due to the
government's failure to publicize it adequately
and to stimulate annlioofinnc f""" Λ1 :u1 _
V..0.w.v
families.
Sky-rocketing unemployment and lowered real
income among people still on the job led many
• people to swallow their pride, subject them
selves to the program's means test, and apply.
As a result the numbers of recipients jumped
from 14 million to 19 million and it's predicted
that well over 20 million people will be in the
program by next year.
Those are the kinds of figures that bring worry
to the brows of officials who think nothing of
putting the same amounts of money into big
military budgets and into subsidies for the
well-off. But keeping food on the tables of
low-income families is more important and the
budget-slashers ought to keep hands off the food
stamp program. They didn't complain when it
served as a disguised subsidy for big farm
j interns seêking expanded market for their,,
i foOdSttiffe, SO they shouldn't complain ndw that
the program has reverted back to its principles
of helping low-income people eat better.
The Administration's cutback proposals were
preceded by a heavy campaign of rhetoric
against the Drocram. eulminnHno in fho
tary of the Treasury's blast that thé program is a
"haven for chiselers and rip-off artists." And
everyone has his share of folk tales about college
kids or middle class people buying steaks for
their dogs with food stamps. 1
Those are the kinds of stories that circulate
about almost any program aimed at poor people
and have no basis in fact. The willingness of so
many people to believe such stories is an
indication of the revulsion so many feel at
programs designed to help others, but that's no
excuse for knowledgeable federal officials to
distort the truth.
The facts tell a different story :
The typical family receiving food stamps
makes about $3,000 a year.
Three out of four make less than $5,000 a year
and almost nine out ot ten make under $6,000.
For all the "middle class" talk, virtually every
one in the program makes under $10,000 and
those at the higher end only qualify because of
large family size.
Less than half of those below the poverty line
« ·— — J
gvkviiig twu οιαιιιμο.
Black People Have Endured A State Of Rape For Hundreds Of Ye«r»
By Sidney Moore Jr.
Poet Staff Writer
Ever notice how most
writers seem to do their best
when they write about another
writer?
A writer's tool is the word.
With it he must paint pictures
on the readers mind. He must
use words that color every
detail of the images he
pictures. In this way, the
reader can see exactly what
the writer is trying to say
The words not only give
the reader a chance to see
what the writer is saying. He
lets his reader hear, as well.
It is like looking at tele
vision. As every important
scene is viewed, music plays
in the background to suit the
mood of the drama being
acted out.
This vivid detail can be
delivered by a writer most
easily when his subject is from
his own experience or when a
writer writes about another
writer.
"The once strident Black
Panther information director
Eldridge Cleaver, authored a
book several years ago entit
led Soul On Ice. The book
revealed the inter-most
thoughts of a young oppressed
black man.
In that publication. Cleaver
described the rape of a white
woman by a black man as an
act of political liberation. He
wrote descriptively and elo
quently of this exalted act
As a student in a tradition
ally southern white state uni
versity, this writer was struck
by the frequency of black
male-white female contact on
the campus. It was as if a
number of students were
motivated to act out this for
bidden fantasy. »
Perhaps Cleaver had obser
ved and a'ftempted to explain
something about human
nature that most people refus
ed to see It did seem that the
timing of the release of his
book was somehow related to
something I had observed for
myself I have wondered since
Sidney Moore Jr.
then what Cleaver really in
tended to say.
Seven years later, Cleaver,
39, returns to the United
States, after having played
the role of an exile political
prisoner and living among
communists Cleaver declares
that the "American political
system is the freest and most
democratic in the world."
This must be the end of an
era. The Cleaver return signi
fiée that white men have be
come increasingly powerless
to enslave non-white men for
one reason. Non-white men
have become determined that
he will no longer act out the
emotion and low self-esteem,
but that he will act out of
reasoned intelligence and self
pride.
The fanstasy of rape is the
lowest point of pride and self
esteem that a man can reach
It is a point at which a man
fools himself into believing
that he can deny the humanity
of another human being.
To rape someone is to en
slave that person.
You require the enslaved
persons to perform at your
command You force the per
son to submit to your wishes
regardless to his own wishes
Black people have endured
a state of rape for hundreds of
years They have been forced
to accept slavery at the hands
of white men
Other non-white men have
suffered the Mme late.
In the course of time, non
white men have learned many
ways in which to avoid the
power of white men Chiefly,
non-white men have learned
that the power of white men is
not based on their physical
strength, but in the manner in
which they use their minds
Cleaver, In "Soul On Ice,"
tried to answer the question,
"How do I get the power I need
to keep the white man from
raping me." He answered
himself, "Rape white
women."
He thought the power of the
white man was based on "the
barrel of a gun," "the police
state," "the atom bomb "
He thought the way to over
throw white ruled govern
ments was to create anarchy
and destruction
The new Cleaver seems to
have a different anaylsis of
power. There is a definite
acceptance of more conven
tional thought He now says,
"changes must be conducted
through our established instit
utions and people with grie
vances must find political
methods for obtaining re
dress."
White commentatored have
rushed forward to say, "I told
you so," in bloated and self
righteous tones. They want to
point to Cleaver as proof of
their better judgment
They are missing the point,
however. For the facets of
Cleaver s personality have
being etched in the pictures of
his writings. He has been and
is now seeking to fulfill for
himself the reason of his own
existence.
ff my guess is right, Cleaver
wants to make some contribu
tion to the ongoing struggle at,
non-white men against theP
enslavement by white men.
The only difference between
Cleaver then and Cleaver-now
is that he wants to use his
brain instead of his back.
From this writer, there is
only one admonishment for
Kldridge Cleaver It is, "wel
come home!"
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
Gerald O. Johnson
Robert L. Johnson
Editor - Publisher
Business Manager
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 24<X) S. Michigan Ave.
New York, N Y 10036 Chicago, III. 60616
489 1220 Calumet 5-0200
J