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Let’s Stop Black On Black Crime
By Hoyle H. Martin, Sr.
Post Editorial Editor
A few months ago a black busi
nesswoman was forced to close a
relatively successful retail record
and jewelry shop in North Charlotte
because three robberies in as many
months had depleted her inventories
and caused insurance cancellations.
A black businessman in a large
mid-western city was quoted in
BUSINESS WEEK magazine as say
ing that pilferage, theft and high
insurance premiums are taking a
big toll in his automobile dealership.
He pays $30,000 a year for insurance,
another $600 a month for a burglar
alarm system plus the maintenance
of a big dog to guard his service area
at night.
Theft in residential areas is very
bad too. Recently a young black
woman left her northwest Charlotte
apartment to go make a $41.00
payment on a color television set.
While she was away the television
was stolen. Shortly thereafter, an
elderly widow residing in a public
housing project was burglarized of
her television set, a set of china, food
stamps, and even the food in her
refrigerator.
According to the Charlotte police
Department’s 1975 crime report,
residential thefts alone totaled
$2,212,321 in property losses in 5,146
reported break-ins. While this data
refers to the city of Charlotte as a
whole, police records indicate that
black and low-income neighbor
hoods are just as likely to be targets
for break-ins as are affluent white
areas.
An article in THE CHARLOTTE
POST (April 1) mentioned similar
crimes, that is, crimes committed
by blacks against blacks. While
crimes of any nature are morally
and legally wrong, they are particu
larly devastating for blacks and
low-income individuals and business
people because of the meager re
sources held by such groups. Statis
tics show that exclusive of white
collar crimes, black and low income
neighborhoods and business firms
suffer proportionately more losses
due to theft than do other groups.
Such disporportionate losses are
the result of at least two facts. First,
a lack of adequate police protection
in black and low-income neighbor
hoods. That is, a failure of the police
to adequately patrol such neighbor
hoods. Secondly, a lack of coopera
tion by neighborhood groups with the
police when they respond to pro
blems in such areas. That is, the
hostility that h.% developed toward
policemen-some justified and some
unjustified-has led many blacks and
poor people to view policeman as the
numoer one enemy.
Nevertheless,, if we want our
neighborhoods safe for our children
and our property free of vandalism
and theft, we must cast aside our
“see-nothing”, “hear-nothing”, “do
nothing” attitudes when sincere ef
forts are undertaken by the police to
solve crimes. In spite of the some
what negative views that many may
—have toward policemen, they de
serve to be aided and praised when a
job is well done.
Since the criminal element has no
regard for person or property re
gardless of color or neighborhood,
we must remember that community
organization and the work of law
enforcement officials are our only
defense against crime.
Justice For Black Policemen
i ne aoove editorial implies a dis
couraging human problem in our
community that is exploited by the
criminally intent as they act more
boldly in stealing from the rich and
- poor, black and white.
The problem is this : while black
policemen should be fighting crime
in the streets they must use much of
their energies to fight the crime of
discrimination in employment and
promotion practices in their own
department.
This point was made quite clear at
the National Black Policemen As
sociation’s (NBPA) regional meet
ing held in Charlotte recently. The
Association is seeking to have fede
ral funds cut off from local police
departments that continue to prac
tice discrimination in the hiring and
promotion of blacks.
The national chairman of NBPA,
Harold James, listed Charlotte’s po
lice department among those that do
not have black policemen in suffi
cient numbers to reflect the number
of blacks in the populations of their
communities. More specifically, Mr.
James said that black policemen are
needed to deal with black-on-black
crimes because “black police offi
I mi ife ¥ rrri a yaw a-v« ■■■■■■ ^
cers are more sensitive to the pro
blems of the black community.”
T. C. Barrett, president of the
Charlotte chapter of NBPA and a
Charlotte policeman, said black po
licemen in Charlotte “want more
responsibility, community involve
ment and fair hiring and promotion
al policies.” Until Officer Barrett’s
demands are fully met black-on
black crimes in Charlotte will con- f
tinue to increase and hostility to- '•
ward white police officials will be i
extended. This combination is and
will continue to cost the city millions <
in good-will and potential business <
investment. !
The time has long since passed <
when the City Council and civic I
leaders should have made equality i
of opportunity a priority issue in our ]
police department. Charlotte can ill i
afford to have racial hostility within 1
as well as toward its police depart- <
. ment if it is to reach its potential as a 1
good place to live, work, rerfr chil- <
dren and worship god. <
To refer to Charlotte’s failure to 1
practice equality of opportunity in
its police department as well as ,
other parts of city employment as a !
“Crime” has been clearly put in
perspective by Ramsey Clark.
irUL. UlAlUAil 1L 1X01
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The American Black In 1977
by Gerald O. Johnson
Since this year is the bicen
tennial for America I can not
resist the temptation of doing
an article on Black Life 200
years ago. The account about
to be given was taken from
“The Chronological History of
the Negro insAmerica" by
Peter M. Bergman.
The total population of the
New England colonies was
659,446, of whom 10,034, or 2.4
percent were negroes. Massa
chusetts had a total population
of 338,667, of whom 5,249 were
negroes.
New York had 21,993 negros
in a population of 191,741.
The Continental Congress
passed a resolution in April
calling for an end of the impor
tation of slaves.
Thomas Jefferson's original
draft of the Declaration of
Independence contained the
following accusation against
George III: “He has waged
cruel war against human na
ture itself, violating its most
sacred rights of life and liber
ty in the persons of a distant
people who never offended
him, captivating them and
carrying them into slavery in
another hemisphere, or to
incur miserable death in their
transportation thither. This
piratical warfare, opprobrium
of "infidel” powers, is the
warfare of the Christian King
of Great Britian. Determined
to keep open a market where
Men should be bought and
sold, he has prostituted his
negative for suppressing ev
ery legislative attempt to pro
hibit or to restrain this exec
rable commerce; and that this
assemblage of horrors might
want ho fact of distinguished
die, he is now exciting these
very people to rise in arms
among us, and to purchase
that liberty of which he depri
ved them, by murdering the
people on whom he also obtru
ded them; thus paying off the
former crimes committed a
gainst the liberties of one peo
ple, with crimes he urges
them to commit against the
lives of anotherAt the re
quest of delegates from South
Carolina and Georgia, and
some slave-trading New Eng
land Stales, the accusation
was deleted.
In the debate in the contin
ental Congress on July, 30, the
delegate Thomas Lynch of
South Carolina said: "If it is
debated, whether their slaves
are their property, there is an
end of the Confederation, Our
slaves bing our property, why
should they be taxed more
than the land, sheep, cattle
horses, etc? Freemen cannot
go to work in our colonies, it is
not the ability or inclination of
freemen to do the work that
the negroes do.” To which
Benjamin Franklin replied:
“Slaves rather weaken than
strengthen the state, and
there is therefore some differ
ence between them and sheep;
sheep will never make any
insurrection.''
Adam Smith published the
"Wealth of Nations" which
became the standard work of
Economical theory. About Ne
gro Slavery in the British Col
onies, he expresses the opinion
that "the work done by slaves,
though it appears to cost only
their mantenance, is in the
end the dearest of any. The
work done by freemen comes
cheaper in the end than that
performed by slaves."
In July of this year, the
British Army on Staten Island
included 800 former American
slaves who had joined the
British on the promise of free
dom
The Virgina Committee of
Safety ordered the removal
inland away from the British
forces of all slaves over 13
years of age from the Eastern
Counties of Norfolk and Prin
cess Anne to guard against
their escape to Bristlsh lines.
The Congress of North Caro
lina ordered all male adult
slaves south of Cape Fear
River to be moved inland.
In November, Americans
printed an appeal in a Wil
liamsburg, Va. newspaper to
Negroes urging them not to
be misled by Lord Dunmore’s
offer of freedom, arguing that
the British would sell them in
the West Indies after the war
was over. The flow of Negroes
to the British decreased some
what thereafter. Apparently
some Negroes were in fact
being sold In the West Indies
instead of being used as sol
diers.
In the Battle of Long Island,
1400 Negroes were among
those who covered Washing
ton’s retreat, for which Lafay
ette praised them.
Two Negroes. Oliver Crom
well and Prince Whipple, were
among the soldiers who cros
sed the Delaware River to at- '
tack the Hessians at Trenton
on Christmas Day., 1776.
Cromwell served 6 years and 9
months in all, and later fought
at the battles of Brandywine !
and Monmouth. Negro troops
also fought under Sullivan in \
successful rear guard actions ;
at Trenton and Princeton to :
cover the withdrawal of Wash
ington's troops. :
Thomas Kench called for a :
separate detachment of Negro :
soldiers (White Commissioned
officers would be over them), •
saying "We have divers of
them (Negroes) in our ser- i
vice, mixed with White men,
but I think it would be more
proper to raise a body by
themselves than to have them
intermixed with White men."
One of two such companies
was formed in Massachusetts
under the command of Samuel
Lawrence, a White man.
And that's the way it was
January thry December 1776.
Black Community Control....By Whom?
REPORT FROM
Washington
Questionnaire Results - 1976
by Cong. Jim Martin
9th District, N.C.
Earlier this year,
questionnaires were
mailed from my office
to residents of Iredell,
Lincoln, and Mecklen
Dtirg counties, which I
represent. You should
ae receiving the results
in the mail this week. In
this Washington Report,
[ want to give you a
jrief preview of their
abulation.
For the fourth year in
i row, over 20,000 re
sponses were received
n my office.
The 12 questions ask
id this year were inten
led to give people of the
ith District a convenient
ipportunity to express
heir views on major
ssues facing Congress,
fiany other important
ssues were omitted for
ack of space. Some
juestions sought to ex
>lore a more narrow
sspect of a broader
luestion asked in ear
ier years.
In reviewing the is
sues, I want to place
special attention on
;hree of the issues, in
addition to giving you
the results on the other 9
issues.
Spending cuts high
lighted fiscal-economic
attitudes, showing that
people favor tying spen
ding cuts with tax cuts.
The margin was 8-to-l
on this issue. Last year,
a tax cut to ease the
recession was favored
by a margin of 2-to-l.
While I am sure there is
still a majority for tax
cuts regardless of spen
ding levels, it is note
worthy that an over
whelming number
wants offsetting spend
ing cuts.
On defense spending,
only 1 out of 4 felt that
$20 billion, that is 5 per
cent of the federal bud
get, was too much to
spend on military wea
pons and supplies. This
does not mean our peo
ple approve of every de
fense proposal, because
in two previous polls,
41-to-35 and 50-to-37
margins favored cutting
defense spending. Ra
ther than repeat the
same general question,
this specific version was
put to constituents, find
ing that only 1 out of 4
would cut military hard
ware. This is the only
area of defense propo
sed for an increase in
Fiscal 1977 (up from 2.8
percent), and is the fo
cus of current legisla
tive controversy. In
view of the continuing
Soviet buildup of weap
onry, it is essential to.
maintain a balance ;of
strategic (nuclear) as
well as conventional
weapons, until such
time as Russia agrees to
comparable reductions
on their side. There has
been great resistance in
Congress to new weap
ons systems. The res
ponse to this question
will be valuable in forth
coming legislative de
bates. The total 1977 de
fense proposal would be
$101 billion, 25.7 percent
of the budget, but will
probably end up at
a somewhat lower frac
tion.
On the issue of jobs,
given the choice be
tween creating govern
ment jobs for the unem
ployed versus tax incen
tives for businesses to
provde jobs, 3 out of 4
are solidly for the free
enterprise system.
TO
BE
EQUAL
VKKNON K. JORDAN JR |
Do Prisons Have A Future?
The federal government is planning to spend
almost $50 million next year to build new prisons.
, Add to this the expected push for new state
prisons to relieve overcrowding and it looks like
prison-building will be the new growth industry
in the ‘70’s.
Instead of stumbling blindly into a massive
new prison-building program, this ought to be
the time when the nation re-examines the whole
conceDt of Drisons and of sentencing convicted
offenders.
After two hundred years of prison-building we
still don’t know what prisons are for. Are they to
separate from the general public dangerous
criminals? Are they supposed to be instruments
of rehabliltation? Are they effective tools in
fighting crime?
The evidence seems contradictory. While
some dangerous persons are kept off the streets,
prisons house many more persons no more
dangerous than you or I, people unlikely to
commit further crimes whether they are locked
up or not.
And the prison as an institution of rehabilita
tion is a big bust. The kind of counseling and
training necessary to convert prisons into rehab
ilitation centers is almost never available.
Even their effectiveness as a crime deterrent
is a myth; it’s commonly agreed that prisons
often serve as crime schools that make it more
difficult for young offenders to break with their
past.
The need for some basic decisions about the
future of prisons has been made more urgent by
the revelation that so many of these institutions
are modern-day snake pits -- overcrowded, dirty
and themselves crime-ridden centers that brut
alize prisoners and staff alike.
A federal judge in Alabama termed that
state’s prison life is “cruel and unusual punish
ment” that violates the Constitution and ordered
minimum standards of living space, linen chan
ges, food, exercise and medical treatment.
The judge was immediately set upon by hard
liners, including the Governor whb charged him
with wanting' to create “a hotel atmosphere.”
But what hotel has 4 foot hv R foot relic in ivhirh
six grown men are crammed without running
water or toilet facilities? What hotel throws
together violent men with the weak and the sick
in dormitories so crowded with mattresses that
you can’t cross from one end of the room to the
other?
These conditions are not only shameful, they’
re unconstitutional and if not corrected may lead
to tiie closing of the prisons. And Alabama is not
Unique; similar conditions and overcrowding are
leading prison authorities to re-examine the role
of their institutions.
Along with court actions challenging the cons
titutionality of such conditions, the hard-line
push for minimum sentences and longer senten
ces means either a massive national investment
m new prisons or changed thinking about
prisons.
None of this may sit well wrth a public that’s
been deceived into thinking that crime can be
stopped by locking up a significant portion of the
population, but taxpayers are going to have to
make the choice of paying higher taxes to build
and staff new prisons or putting a much smaller
amount of money into community-based prog- <
rams aimed at rehabilitatine offender*