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America Needs The NAACP
By Hoyle H. Martin Sr.
Post Executive Editor
A Mississippi court ruling on
August 11 ordered the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) to pay 12
merchants over 1.25 million dollars.
The award was the outcome of a 1966
boycott led by the NAACP. The
merchants charged that the boycott
violated restraint-of-trade laws.
While the trial judge noted that the
boycott as a tactic to press for
political change was “laudable,
commendable and highly praise
worthy,” it was nevertheless illegal.
Since Mississippi law even re
quires an appeal bond of 125 percent
of the award-approximately 1.6
million dollars - the 67 year old civil
rights organization is facing a seri
ous financial crisis.
Crisis' and financial problems are
nothing new to the nation’s oldest
civil rights organization. Born in
1909 following the crisis that led to
the Springfield, Illinois, race riot of
1908, the NAACP has had to cope
with laws in every Southern state
designed to limit its activities and
harass its members.
The organization’s success in
fighting racial segregation through
the use of existing institutions --
legislation, voter education and re
gistration, law suits, economic self
help and, in more recent years,
selective buying campaigns - has
made it a landmark example of what
makes American democracy what it
is.
This means too that the NAACP
has helped change a backward,
racist, segregated Southland into a
beginning progressive and racially -
tolerant region. For this reason,
both blacks and whites should come
to the aid of the NAACP in this, its
greatest hour of need.
Ronnie Long And Dual Justice
- Konme L.ong, a 20-year-oia un
employed black youth, was convict
ed last Friday in Cabarrus County
Superior Court by an all-white jury
of eight men and four women of first
degree-burglary and first degree
rape. The alleged victim in this case
was the 54-year-old widow of a
Concord textile executive.
Since Mr. Long’s attorneys chose
not to have him testify, it appears to
the POST that the jury’s decision
was based largely on whether to
accept the testimony of the alleged
victim or Long’s mother, who said
that her son was at home at the time
of the reported burglary and rape.
While the South has made substan
tial progress in the area of race
relations, there is still strong reason
to suspect mat in a crime involving a
black man and a white woman, I
regardless of which is the victim, the
black man will come out the loser.
The point is that considering the
myths and psychological fears that
white men continue to have about
relations between black men and
“their” white women, it appears to
us that Mr. Long had little or ho
chance of getting a fair trail. Fur
thermore, in addition to the jury
being all white, none were Long’s
peers in terms of age.
The POST wishes Long and his
lawyers much success in their ap
peal and request for a new trail
because we agree there is little
likelihood that this case resulted in
equal justice before the law.
Blitz should Have Been t ired
AarieilltllPal Qanrofnmi n..4_ i-i.-_• i._a? _ __ • _
w 7, .- * J
who should have long-ago been fired
as the Holder of a Cabinet post, has
tarnished his office again with the
lowest form of racial remarks about
black Americans.
As quoted in the New Times
magazine, Butz said the reason
“coloreds” could not be attracted to
the Republican Party is because of
their preoccupation with sex and
living a care-free shiftless life.
President Ford reportedly gave
Butz a “severe reprimand” last
Friday for uttering the highly offen
sive remarks. Just under two years
ago, Butz made similar derogatory
remarks about Italians and the
Pope.
While the President has accepted
Mr. Butz*s resignation, the Post still
feels, as has been expressed by some
elected officials, that Mr. Butz
should have been fired without the
opportunity to resign at his own
pleasure. By doing so, the President
has failed to fulfill his responsibility
w tarn, appi upuaic a^UUll WI1C11 16
percent of the nation’s population
has been insulted publically by a
cabinet member.
While Earl Butz certainly has no
monopoly on derogatory remarks
about blacks, we believe he has
demonstrated once too often his low
respect for nearly 12 percent of the
nation’s population that his office is
supposed to be pledged to serve
fairly and impartially. We believe
that the attitude expressed by the
secretary is such that he can not
properly carry out the duties of his
office. Therefore, President Ford
should have ceased immediately
playing politics with the dignity of
black Americans by wasting time
trying to assess the impact of Butz’s
comment on the presidential elec
tion and fired the man immediately.
It was one of President Ford’s own
top aides who recognized these
weaknesses in the Secretary when
he said, “Butz, He’s got to go.”
« -—
4 -
IF THE GOVERNMENT HILL NOT PROTECT OSANO
IF THE POLICE CANNOT, IT FOLLOWS THAT BLACK
CITIZENS HOST PROTECT THEMSELVES." /*
HE CANNOT WAIT UNTIL
DISCRIMINATION ENDS
BEFORE WE RID OUR
COMMUNITIES OF CRIME.
WE CAN NO LONGER
EXCUSE CRIME BECAUSE
OF SOCIETY!* INEQUITIES,
WE STAND MENACED BY
OUR OWN KITH AND KIN.
IT IS INCONCEIVABLE
TOME THAT WE WHO HAVE'
PREVAILED IN SPITE OF
THE BARBARISM OF WHITEi
PEOPLE SHOULD, IN THE
LAST QUARTER OF THE
CENTURY, STAND AS
MUTE SPECTATORS
TO OUR DOOM!'
ORDE COOfias
h.y./wgazihe
—ju WMF -W IJ I
Time For Community Action.JNow j
Blacks Turn Out For NAACP Rally
special 10 I he Post
In Jackson, Miss., blacl
folks turned out for an NAACI
sponsored rally. The affai:
was designed to raise $100,00
towards a massive nation
wide fund-raising goal. By th<
time you read this the Missis
sippi blacks may or may no
have attained this goal, whicl
is designed to offset the $1,250
599 damages a Mississipp
court assessed against thi
NAACP.
The court declared that l:
white merchants in Clairborm
County (Port Gibson) wen
damaged to that extent by ai
NAACP-led boycott from I960
1970. The NAACP believes i
can win this battle on appeal
But under Miss law the nr
ganizatin must first post no
100 percent, but 125 percent o
the total in bonds before thi
case can be appealed to i
higher court.
It will take money, mone;
from hands of blacks folks t
help raise this bond. To tha
end, NAACP chapter:
throughout the country an
mobilized, staging neighbor
hood drives, church rallies
street solicitations befon
downtown stores, in suburbar
shopping centers; raising mo
ney to buy commercial adver
Using spots on television anc
radio; staging phone-a-thons.
At New York NAACP head
quarters, officials have drop
ped all but the most essentia
duties in order to put all theii
efforts behind the fund-raising
drive. A number of top offi
cials volunteered to mar
phones on weekends in th«
headquarters office to receivi
calls from the organization':
branches - calls that detailec
uiauiii unve guau> anu a
mounts of money raised.
I The NAACP is still reeling
from a $240,000 libel judgment
, awarded a Jackson, Miss, po
liceman against the organiza
tion’s field director and na
tional office in February of
this year. Before that, the
[ organization's financial cof
fers were all but empty. They
were briefly replenished by a
, $300,000 fund-raising dinner in
honor of the venerable Roy
, Wilkins, in Washington, D.C.,
\ last fall.
! During those heady days
i when civil rights fever was at
- its height, black organizations
t could and did count heavily on
financial support from liberal
- white individuals and organi
t zations.
Today, given a different
! racial climate, interest and
i sympathy have shifted to en
vironmental issues, thus these
sources of financial support
j have, for the most part, dried
up.
w*ov.iv iuiivs, men, die
thrown back on their own
resources. Ultimately, this is
the way it should be. ftp one
can earn another’s freedom.
He must do that for himself or
herself. It is a lesson that
blacks will learn and it is best
we learn it sooner than later.
In the libel matter, the
NAACP had to put up $262,000
cash in order to appeal. In the
boycott judgment, using once
more the 125 percent figure,
the organization must post
$1.6 million.
Together, these two judg
ments amount to less than $2
million. If each and everyone
of America's 30 million blacks
put up a piddling 15 cents, the
NAACP would be home free. It
is unfortunate that some I
NAACP officials do not be
lieve they will be able to raise
the money. s.
Recently, the organization
had $200,000 in cash in the\
bank, the phone-a-thon to its \
natfbnal branches, garnered .
$300,000 in pledges. The
NAACP said it would just have
to float a loan for the balance
of the $1.6 million (the $262,000
has already been posted).
This is a crying shame.
Some folks say that black
people always have money
enough to buy what they want,
but turn around and beg for
what they need. If this were
ever true, and sad to say it
certainly appears to be so in
too many cases, it is surely
time to shed this shabby and
needless old burden.
We must step out smartly
now as free men and women,
chin up, head high, putting
aside for a time, the Saturday
night “party time” fever and
that impulsive bent to invest
in.a new set of “threads”. We
must divert that money to
• support our timeless institu
tions : the church, civic groups
and a beleagured organization
like the NAACP, all of which -
have been our Rock of Ages in
time of need.
I am confident that black
folks will rise to the occasion,
that the “party time” label
has never been a true, overall
assessment of our character.
So that even though the hour
is late, the note past due, we
will continue to send our mo
ney - more than that 15 cents
each, hopefully - to help bail
out the NAACP in these diffi
cult times. Won’t you help'
PI.EASE1 • fNNPAl
TO
BE
EQUAL
Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
Kipped-Utt Society
It seems that every passing day brings new
scandals about bribery, tax evasion, pay-offs
and misuse of power in high places. The alarm
about “crime in the streets,” is now joined by
dismay over “crime in the suites.”
In a society that appears at times to be
saturated with wholesale exploitation of the
law’s loopholes, it’s no surprise that some
scandals have hit governmental programs in the
social arena.
A Senate investigation reveals that some
doctors and Medicaid clinics have ripped-off thqj
Medicaid program of hundreds of millions of-—
dollars through fraud or unnecessary medical
services.
Before that the nursing home scandals reveal
ed that operators were bilking public funds of
millions. Recently, a man was indicted for
allegedly stealing $1 million that customers
paid for food stamps bought at his check cashing
company. Meanwhile, the government is sitting
on thousands of homes it took over because of the
operations of real estate interests in a subsidized
housing program.
i nis sort ot tning isn t too unusual in vast
spending programs like the defense program,
Where over-runs and contract add-ons invariably
make new weapons twice as expansive as
they’re supposed to be when Congress agrees to
them.
No one proposes the answer to abuses in that
system be the dismantlement of the centralized
defense procurement procedure. But the revela
tions about rip-offs in social spending have led to
-new calls for decentralizing, for having the
federal government turn over its responsibilities
to states and cities, and for massive cuts in the
programs themselves.
But what such critics overlook is that they’re
proposing to punish the victims of shady
operations and incompetent administrators.
They’re forgetting that while they’ve been
screaming about “welfare chiselers” the various
welfare programs were being ripped-off not by
the poor, but by middle and upper class people. -
The scandals in Medicaid, food Stamps and
other programs were caused by the “respect
able” elements in our society, and the real
victims, along with the public treasury, are the
poor themselves, whom the programs are
suDDOsed to helD. .
Shifting control from Washington won’t end
scandals; it will just make them more wide
spread. Most people forget that many social
programs gravitated toward Washington in the
first place because local power interests abused
the poor, the weak and the powerless.
Part of the reason the current scandals have
taken place is because of decentralized authori
ty. Medicaid, for example, is a state program.
The answer to its abuses is not in doing away
with the program, which will hurt poor people, or
in increasing state and local authority, which is
where it’s gone wrong in the first place, but in
.strengthening federal controls and expanding
legislative and administrative oversight.
Social programs need to be made' more
effective and immune from white-collar-rij>-off
article whn nrov nn tho nnnr /'
THE CHARLOTrE POST
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«.*.*/ •
“Colored” Issue Forces Blitz’s Resignation ~
vremiu jonnson
Ex-Secretary of Agriculture
Earl Butz was forced to resign
his position in President
Ford's cabinet because of a
derogatory statement he
made about black people's
voting habits. Butz was quoted
as saying that blacks don't
vote because blacks are only
interested in three things: “A
tight —, loose shoes, and a
warm place to defecate”. Of
course Butz used worse lan
guage in places but the idea is
the same.
Butz's statement horrified
many people because this is
an election year. If the tame,
statement had been mad/^iK
an off year, it would have gone
practically unnoticed
But because this is an elec
tion year, the Democrats an
nounced such statements are
unheard of The Republicans
acted in awe and requested
Butz's resignation
The truth is Butz's state
ment probably expressed the
sentiments of most white Re
publicans and Democrats. It is
obvious that neither party
cherishes the black vote No
black journalist has been invi
ted to participate in the Ford.
Carter debates. Very little
money is spent in black com
munities to encourage blacks
to vot^ Neither presidential
l
candidates has addressed
himself to the maior issues
facing the black community.
Hence Butz’s resignation
has no meaning whatsoever.
So, the other day when I was
asked what did I think about
Butz’s statement, I replied “It
didn't bother me because as
long as 1 can get a tight —,
loose shoes, and a warm place
to defecate, I am happy.
GASP IS A GAS
There is a group against
smoking in public that calls
itself GASP. The group has
become more of a public
nujsance than the smoke that
'TKey are trying to stop.
- .The group claims that non
smokeFs" rights are violated
when smokers smoke in pu
• blic. In an attempt to be heard
they have gone so far as using
fire codes to stop smoking in
certain stores. Moreover, they
have used minors to purchase
cigarettes from vending ma
chines to prove that minors
can buy cigarettes
The trouble with GASP is
the same problem that most
lobby groups have They be
come victims of their cause
In fighting for what they think
is right they simply forget
about other people's rights
Regardless of how absurd
they become in their de
«_
mands, they just keep push
ing.
The latest episode in
GASP'S adventures was to try
to ban smoking in public
schools It wasn't enough that
schools only allow smoking in
certain areas of the campus,
but they wanted it banned
altogether How ridiculous. 1
think GASP has abused the
responsibility of freedom and
as a group I would like to see
their rights go up in smoke
NCC LAW SCHOOL
CRITICIZED
In an attempt to get North
Carolina Central's Liw School
moved to a white campus, a
strong lobby group is forming.
The heads of this group are
using statistics to try and
prove the incompetancy of
NCC. The most used criticism
of NCC Law School is that
since its existence more than
50 percent of its graduates
failed the North Carolina Bar
Exam.
This point is true, but it
should be pointed out that it is
true for a reason. The Law
School at NCC is not supported
properly by the state of North
Carolina beoause they want it
to fail.
The Law School was granted
to NCC by the Federal Go
vernment in hopes to upgrade
the quality of schools in North
Carolina besides those in the
ACC. However, NCC’s inabi
lity to draw whites in great
numbers has greatly impeded
its progress. The lobby groups
are going to see to it that the
Law School is moved The site
most mentioned to accomo
date the Law School is UNCC
The state of North Carolina
has been very unfair in expen
ditures per student to a lot of
schools in the North Carolina
network.
It is because of this unfair
ness in monetary appropria
tions that the federal govern
merit threatened to cut ott
federal funds to North Caroli
na for Higher Education. The
state of North Carolina has
proven that N.C. State and
UNC merits the bulk of higher
education funds. But every
body in North Carolina desir
ing a college education can not
go to these schools. So, is it
fair not to allow them the
same opportunities simply be
cause they get accepted at
N.C. AAT or NCC and can’t
get accepted at N.C. State or
UNC?
It is a fact that practically
all new acquisitions of sophis
ticated equipment goes to N.C.
State and UNC. These schools
in turn give their hand-me
downs to East Carolina and
the like, who in turn give their
hand me downs to Winston
Salem State and Fayetteville
and the like.
This injustice must be stop
ped <
The moving of NCC Law
School is just another attempt
by the state of North Carolina
to keep the scales of equality
tilted towards those of fairer
complexion
BULLS BLAHS'
"Plop, Plop Fizz. Fizz, oh
what a relief it is" has become
the Sunday morning theme
song for Johnson C. Smith
Golden Bulls' football team
after suffering through the
last three Satruday night fias
cos.
What had been predicted as
a most promising season for
the Bulls has been every thing
but promising
But behind every dark cloud
there is a silver lining. In this
case it turns out to be the Bull
Band. The band, though not
completely in step, sounded
respectable. Even the officia
ting was decent for a change.
The football team, however,
left a lot to be desired. The
lack luster offense played as if
it were the first time they had
seen a football The play selec
tion was poor, the execution
was even poorer. The defense
showed signs of 3efeFr?nBITTon
at times, but seemed to lose
enthusiasm after spending so
much time on the field What
amazes me more than any
thing else about the team is
how three teams can use the
same play against the defense
and score consistently. Virgi
nia Union. Hampton, and A4T
used the half back flair pass i
against JCSU successfully Af- 1
ter seeing that play for the last 1
three weeks I know that that is I
the one play the Bulls will be 1
able to stop. I know this.