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Our On 17
By Hoyle H. Martin Sr.
Post Executive Editor <
With lingering menories of Water
gate, American voters are rightfully
skeptical and critical of all persons
engaged in the art of politics.
Therefore, in 1976 voters are un
doubtedly going to reject any candi
date who offers no more than the
usual oversimplification of facts
Promises to be “all things to all
people,’’ and rhetoric that appeals tc
the deep-seated biases of particular
groups or individuals.
With this in mind, the POST offers
what it believes to be the best
possible choices for state, district,
and local offices in the primary
races to be held on August 17.
In the Democratic primary for
governor, we believe that Lt. Gover
nor Jim Hunt is the best choice. He
has shown a commitment to pro
gressive government and he has
stated a desire to strengthen the
N.C. Human Relations Commission.
He also favors a full employment
economic policy for the state which
will greatly benefit blacks. Equally,
if not more important^ Hunt’s legal
background and his four years as Lt.
Governor has provided him with
insights and understandings about
the functions of state government
and the complexities of legislative
nmn/voo #
Neither of Mr. Hunt’s leading
opponents, Edward M. O’Herron or
George Wood, can offer comparable
qualifications.
In the Mecklenburg County Com
mission race, we believe that there
are three candidates worthy of voter
support.
Elizabeth G. Hair, 56, incumbent
and chairperson of the Commission,
has demonstrated fair and impartial
leadership, has endeavored to re
spond personally, and sought to have
the Commission respond collectively
to the needs of the citizenry. She has
also brought to the Commission a
compassionate understanding of the
people’s concerns and she has creat
ed an atmosphere of open dialogue
between the Commission and the
public.
Lewis C. Coleman, 56, a business
man and dedicated community
worker, has an outstanding record
for getting things done to improve
community life - street lights, hot
lunch programs and youth recrea
tion programs - to name but a few.
Such accomplishments has led Go
vernor Holshouser to appoint Cole
man to two health boards. The
Commission needs men of action
like Coleman.
Our third choice for the County
Commission is Robert Walton, a
banker and Presbyterian minister.
The youngest of all the 15 candidates
for the five Commission seats, Wal
ton will take to the Commission a
youthful but mature perspective on
the needs and obligations of good
government. His contributions to
, civic affairs have been such that he
was named one fo the 10 “outstand
ing young men” in America in both
, _ 1970 and 1973.
In the non-partisan Charlotte
Mecklenburg School Board race,
with 27 candidates seeking six seats!
it is difficult to find major differen
ces in viewpoints. Therefore, the
POST has identified and endorsed
those who have some unique charac
teristics that we believe will contri
bute to a better school board. These
are:
DONALD T. AUSTIN. A strong
voice for fulfilling the state mandate
to the needs of mentally retarded
and other handicapped children as
well as vocational education.
HENDERSON BELK. His 12.
years of Board experience ending in
1971 and his reflections on Board
actions and policy since leaving the
school post should add to the Board’s
PHIL BERRY. An incumbent who
has served well and used logic apd
reasoning when ideological ancTper
sonality differences often impaired
the effectiveness of his Board col
legues. The Board needs Berry’s 1
experience and cool-headedness.
DON BROWDER. Active in PTA
work and the campaign manager of
two Board members still serving out
their terms, Browder possesses
some good ideas plus experience on
improving the quality of the budget
ing process.
OLIVER N. FREEMAN. His 40
years of experience as a school
teacher and an administrator at all
levels of public education makes
Freeman immensely qualified to be
a school board member. He has a
perspective on educational policy,
programs and school-community re
lations that is unmatched by most of
the other 26 candidates.
PAT LOWE. She offers a fresh
up-to-date point of view about the
real conidtions under which teach
ers must work and is very sensitive
to the lack of communication be
tween the School Board and the
community, and the administration
and teaching personnel.
Other POST Choices
Governor, David F. Flaherty (R);
Lt. Governor, Howard Lee (D);
Secretary of State, George W.
Breece (D) and Asa T. Spaulding
(R); State Treasurer, Lane Brown
(D) and J. Howard Coble (R); state
auditor, Lillian Woo (D); Commis
sioner of Insurance, John Ingram
(D); Congressman (9th District)
Arthur Goodman, Jr. (D); Commis
sioner of Labor, John Brooks (D);
Superintendent of Public Instruc
tion, Craig Phillips (D); District
Court Judge, I. Manning Huske (D);
and for the State Senate, Fred D.
Alexander (D), Cecil Jenkins (D),
Craig Lawing (D), and Barry Miller
(R).
■___— .
Stop The Fear, Trembling In The Streets
□OWN TO
BUSINESS
Understanding Parity
By Dr. Berkeley G. Burrell
National Business League
About two (2) years ago
when the theme for the Na
tional Business League's Dia
mond Anniversary Convention
in Boston was announced, we
also introduced to the nation a
new word in relating the eco
nomic conditions of all Black
people and other minorities in
the United States.
That short six-letter word was
“PARITY’,
Not only was it the key word
in the 75th Annual Convention
theme, "parity” became the
year-long overall theme of the
NBL program activities. A
gain, the same word was
made the key element of the
76th Annual Convention of
NBL.
Parity, according to the new
Webster Dictionary of the En
glish Language, means "the
condition of being equal or
equivalent; the like state or
degree; equality;...equal va
lue.”
That is exactly our goal for
minority economic develop
ment. To the degree that
Black and other minority A
mericans are represented in
this country, is the degree to
which we want to participate
in and benefit from the eco
nomic and business activities
of this nation.
First, we must accept the
concept of parity as a goal for
which we must strive. Most
importantly, we must believe
that it is a very practical goal
for Black Americans.
Secondly, every aspect of
parity has to be examined in
reference to the state and
condition of the Black com
munity. Parity cannot simply
be viewed as a theoretical
vision.
Understanding parity-in its
fullness, it is suggested that
you first identify the dispari
ties among and between us
and the white community. The
specific terms will become
evident and emerge as we
move to areas such as busi
ness participation and re
ceipts; income of Blacks;
housing; and the overall eco
nomic stability of our commu
nities.
Parity cannot be considered
just in terms of minority
business. The disparities af
fect us in every aspect of our
community life. Therefore,
parity has to be understood in
each of the ways in which the
disparities constrain and ham
per Black people.
Our Communities should not
be “ghost towns" of economic
activity; Black and minority
businesses should not be re
ceiving a minute and inappro
priate amount of the business
receipts; investment capital
ought not be virtually inacces
sible; unemployment among
Blacks should not be double
that of whites; Black income
has no reason to be 20 to 40
percent less than that of
whites; and our housing
should not always be substan
DR. BERKELEY G. BURRELL
dard to the housing of white
America.
This is just one method of
understanding parity: the
state of being equal or equiva
lent to the degree that we are
allowed to participate freely
and substantially in all of the
economic activities of this
nation.
As stated in an earlier co
lumn, one discouraging note in
the celebration of the nation's
Bicentennial is the immeas
urable distance and the great
disparity between Black and
White America-a disparity
that has grown wider as the
nation has grown older. Ame
rican's rich inheritance of
justice, liberty, prosperity and
independence, secured by the
blood and toil of our ancestors,
is not enjoyed by all today.
If we do not move seriously
and quickly in the direction of
economic parity, it simply
means that our doom becomes
imminently conclusive. The
question is not can we, but
rather will we as a unified
people, get down to business?
■■—a,
to HHH
BE tJHj
e,eai jag
~T Vernon E. Jordan Jr. —
Our Invisible Young People
Years ago Ralph Ellison wrote a novel, “The
Invisible Man,” that remains one of the classics
of American literature. His hero, a black man,
was “invisible” in the sense that the larger
society totally ignores black people, doesn’t see
them as human beings, doesn’t care about their
problems, and doesn’t acknowledge their exis
tence.
Blacks became “visible” in the sixties but the
policy of “benign neglect” heralded a new era C!
invisibility, one that continues today. But today’s
invisible black is young-hundreds of thousands
of black young people simply don’t exist in the
official statistics.
About a quarter of black youth between the
ages of 18 and 21 are out of school and out of
work. They’re not in the educational statistics
since they are no longer in school. They’re not
counted in the employment statistics since
they’re not working. And the government doesn’t
even count them among the unemployed since
many have just given up looking for jobs that
oron’f
! Back in 1950, two out of three black teenage
1 men were in the labor force; today only about
two out of five are working or looking for work.
The rest have been pushed into invisibility.
Except that they aren’t really invisible;
they’re on the streets, facing an aimless present
and a grimmer future. No jobs, no training, no
skills, no work experience all add up to prospects
for lifetimes of dependence and poverty.
Even those who haven’t yet been totally
pushed out of our schools and our economy are in
bad trouble. The government admits to a 40
percent unemployment rate among black teen
agers, and the true rate is about 67 percent.
Among black young people between the ages of
20 and 24, one out of three are jobless according
to the understated official figures. And a third of
young black Vietnam veterans, men who laid
their lives on the line in a war no one wanted,
can’t find work.
This _ awful sityajipn can’t be laid to the
recession. All the other economic statistics seem
to be improving, but youth unemployment is
rising. And it’s been rising steadily-for blacks
and for whites-over the past twenty years or so.
This is an insane siutation. Our country is
simply throwing millions of its young people onto
a rubbish heap, denying them the training and
the jobs that would not only equip them for
productive futures, but also ensure the full use of
America’s human resources.
It is clear that the situation demands speedy
and effective action to get our young people back
onto the track that will lead to responsible
adulthood, and it’s also clear that this national
problem demands national solutions in the form
of a National Youth Employment Program.
Such a program would start off by establishing
the right of all young people to the education and
job-training experiences to equip them for
productive work.
Since most current proposals for full employ
ment don’t include young people, there ought to
be a Youth Employment Agency in Washington
to deal with youth job problems and to provide
opportunities for voune nennlp
THE CHARLOTTE POST
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Bill Johnson .- Editor-Publisher
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■SSESl^^i^lliilS^il^iii^iiBusiness^Manager^
By Gerald Johnson
Post Staff Writer
With school board elections
only a few days away, the
scramble is on. I can not tell
the difference in any candi
date's philosophy about edu
cation and that makes select
ing a hard chore
But we can only elect 6
people from a list of 27,
Before giving you my en
dorsements. however, let me
continue with some problems
facing the school system.
Everybody that follows CMS
closely will probably say that
teachers are underpaid The
same people will tell you that
we need to find money to give
teachers a raise Nothing
could be further from the
truth.
There is enough money in
this state now to pay teachers
adequately. The problem is
how the money is distributed.
Obviously, there are good
teachers and there are bad
teachers The current pay
system does not discriminate
between the two. It should.
A bad teacher makes the
same pay as a good teacher
Each year the bad teacher
gets regular increments just
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4
i
School Board Endorsements
like the good teacher
This tvpe.of pay system
breeds unconcern by teachers
If a teacher is going to get paid
regardless of performance
then why break your neck
trying to do a good job?
The system needs to rate
teachers rather than using a
pay scale. A system similar to
the federal government grad
ing system would be good
Upon entering the school
system each prospect should
be given a test which would
determine a teachers grade.
This grade would be used to
determine the teachers pay,
i.e. a grade 7 might have a
pay scale of $8,000 to $8,700
dollars a year.
Each year the teacher
should be evaluated for possi
ble promotion. An evaluation
team composed of the princi
pal. vice principal, and other
school administrators would
sit in on a teacher's class and
judge his effectiveness With
this evaluation and other in
formation such as teachers'
other involvements with the
school could be used as a basis
for a promotion.
This method would reward
the good teachers and giv*
an altogether different educa
tion from those students at
Myers Park Elementary.
This is probably due to the
fact that the system does not
have standard objectives.
There is a serious need for
uniform grade objectives for
the entire school system.
A student at Lincoln Heights
Elementary should be expos
ed to the same material that a
student at Newell Elementary
school is exposed to.
The objectives should go
even further by specifying
what a student should know
upon leaving a particular
grade Obviously, if a student
does not meet these objectives
he has to repeat that grade
By not having a unifrom
objective program you cannot
fairly retain a student If your
school has an accelerated pro
gram compared to another
school of the same level then
the student you hold back
possibly could have made it in
another school. Differentia
tions could even exist in differ
ent classes at the same school
It is important, therefore.
that a uniform curriculum
program specifying objectives
of the grade and evaluation
procedures be done by the
system and that teachers in
the system adhere to the
program
There are a lot of things that
should be talked about as
issues in the coming election.
Everyone is talking in general
terms and no one is being
specific. It is easy to say let's
get back to basics. But that
statement says nothing about
the problems of the system or
how to solve those problems
But I managed to scrap up a
few facts that can be used to
pick the best six school board
candidates For the school
board candidates worthy of
your votes I think the follow
ling list is a good one.
The two incumbents. Phil
Berry and Tom Harris, have
been adequate on the board
and deserve your support
Both men bring years of expe
rience serving on the board
with them
O N Freeman should make
a good board member Mr
Freeman has many years of
experience with education in
all facets. He has been a
teacher, principal, and school
administrator. This overall ,
experience will prove to be a •
valuable asset to the board.
Sylvia Stinson would do well
as a voice for teachers on the
board. Her teaching expe
rience should be a plus for the •
board.
Dot Camp has been active in
the system without actually
being a part of the system
This type of initiative and her
work with the CAG makes
her a good candidate for the
board.
The sixth person is really
rough Both Donald Austin
and Pat Lowe would probably
serve equally as well as any on
the board Nancy Campbell
seems to be concerned, also.
But I think Mrs. Lowe's expe
rience in education gives her a
slight edge as my sixth pick. I
disagree with some of Mrs
Lowe’s opinions but overall
she should serve well on the
board
This wraps up my endorse
ments and I'll see you at the
polls
incentive to the bad teachers.
This method would also save
a lot of money Contrary to
popular belief this method
leaves no room for discrimi
nation.
Principals and other admi
nistrator s should be evaluat
ed similarly to teachers every
year, also.
Another problem with the
system is the non standard
educational policies through
out the system
A student going to Hidden
Valley Elementary receives