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District Representation ΓΝ οw
By Hoyle H. Martin Sr.
Post Executive Editor
We noted in this space last month
that local historical records show
that Charlotte's experience with the
"Ward System," or what we call
today district representation, work
ed quite well from its inception in
1851 until 1945. In that year Bishop
Dale, a black political leader, nearly
- won a council seat from the Second
Ward. That "scare," according to
i many long-time black residents of
the city, resulted in a quick abolish
jf ment of the ward system. Thus, it
~ was not corruption or inadequacy
y but racism that led to the demise of
the ward system. ■ ®
ΐ We noted further our belief that as
a city, Charlotte has matured be
i yond racism, at least to some degree
r in the area of power politics. Our
optimism on this point has been
£ damped by a recent article in the
s CHARLOTTE OBSERVER with this
H headline: "District Plan: Will
Blacks Gain Clout?" The article
λ/v^iibJ wj ûujiug, iuvi ν wtuvntf
might be elected to the Charlotte
City Council...if either of two pro
posed district representation plans
is accepted by the Council."
Either consciously or unconscious
ly, the story undoubtedly created
I certain mythical racial fears and
jj considerable misunderstanding a
bout the purpose and intent of
£1 district representation. For exam
f pie, with regard to who will gain or
I loose "clout" under the two propos
ed districting plans, the OBSERV
S ER article merely implies - to the
s careful reader - that southeast Char
f lotte may loose a little or that
northeast Charlotte's predominantly
< white areas may gain. However,
specific comment was made with
regard to potential black gains
under both plans. This in our opinion
is plain, and·, simple,,,biased news
reporting». JΛ TËSL
District representation as we view
it in the final analysis is not a matter
of race, income or social standing,
rather it is a plan to provide more
equitable geographic representation
within the City Council. Ideally, as
the two proposed plans indicate, it
would be nice if all socio-economic
groups were to be represented in the
law-making chamber, but geogra
phy is the primary determinant in
district representation.
Strangely, the current push for
districting is the result of a citizen'»
petition binding the City Council by
law to hold a referendum on the
issue after the council (some mem
bers) failed to support an election
campaign pledge promote the issue.
The basic concept of district re
presentation is sound and consistent
with our belief in democracy and
equality of opportunity.
The arguments against districting
include charges of sectionalism,
too large for effective law making,
"eroding the good local government
we have," and we should wait for
consolidation. Yet, no one has been
UI1UU1J upov^v TT 1111 OUUlllVUOVvl 11
Charlotte sectional domination. The
charge of eroding good government
is in itself an insult to the intellect of
all citizens. Thirdly, there is no
evidence to support the view that an
11-member law-making body is ne
cessarily less efficient than a seven
member body. Lastly, the argument
to' await consolidation lacks merit
because that is already taking place
in a number of ways.
The concept of district representa
tive involving seven districts of
41,000 residents each with one coun
cilman and four at-large councilmen
appears to us to be a good plan for
Charlotte. We believe this type of
government will be the beginning of
more thhn token representation in
public office for blacks, beginning
representation for all geographic
areas and socio-economic groups
apd njpMy a significant, move
toward «'smooth transition to ooosO
lidaefeiirT*
We urge all Charlotteans to sup
port the concept of district represen
tation.
Yes, The System Works!
It has been said that government
at all levels does not care nor
respond to the needs of the people.
Those who make such arguments
contend that politics is a rough
and dirty business engaged in by
self-seeking individuals who make
campaign promises that they do not
keep once elected to office. Evidence
of this, such critics claim, was seen
—in the "Watergate" mess, the recent
conviction of a state governor for
. income tax evasion, and the failure
of some of Charlotte City Council
members to keep their election
campaign promises to support dis
trict representation.
In spite of these weaknesses · not
in our institutions of government -
but in the frailties of mortal men -
our system of government works.
we saw me system worn wnen nosa
Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.
started a social revolution that now
continues to unfold with the aid ol
government. We saw the system
work in the smooth transition oi
power from Gerald Ford to Jimmy
Carter. More to the point, we saw the
system work when a community
petitioned for rezoning to protect
—their prnpprty vaiiipg and wp it
work when a group of neighborhoods
banded together to get a referendum
on district representation.
Our central point is that our
system of government works and
works best when people sufficiently
express their needs and concerns to
those mortal men and women who
hold public office.
1 ι ·
WE HAVE A RkJHT TO SAFETY
IN THE SmeBV HAULMttS,
APTS AND BUSINESS PLACES
OF OUR COMMUNITIES
HNCTHT ΒΛΚΙΛ -HY.HAACP
■ WW m «Μ·Η··Μ·ν····1
The Level Of Fear Is Shocking.- -
Learning To Read
Experts in the field of child
ren's reading have long been
aware that children who have
had books read to them during
their preschool years usually
learn to read very quickly and
easily. Not only do these child
ren require very little instruc
school knowing; hôw,tç^dj
and they seem to nave taught
it to themselves. This pheno
menon has fascinated re
searchers, for if educators
could ever learn exactly how
this happens, they could take
those findings and apply them
in the schools and the reading
problem would be greatly re
duced.
One of the most promising
clues seems to lie in the area
of motivation. Educators have
speculated that children who
have been introduced to books
and stories at an early age
have gained so much enjoy
ment from the stories that
they develop a natural desire
to want to learn to read.
—Aetlng nn this theory, many
children's stories have been
placed on filmstrips, slides,
records and tapes and are
being used in the classroom
with the hope that the children
will become eager to read the
books containing those stories.
The result has been that the
children enjoy the stories im
mensely, but they do not ne
cessarily get any burning de
sire to want to read the book.
They do, however, want to see
and hear more stories on
fumstnps, slides, records and
tapes.
It is highly possible that
there is nothing deep, mysteri
ous or complicated about
learning to read. We know that
children learn hundreds of
things without any instruction
■^WltiWofever. For example, we
do not know how cliiUdreri- .
to tal* - but
they do learn these things.
Also, we know that children
seem to learn what they want
to learn much quicker than
they learn the things we want
to teach them. Perhaps if we
take what we know about the
way children learn, and add it
to what the researchers have
found about children learning
to read, we might get a
glimmer of the solution.
When children are read to in
the home, they are not just
being introduced to books and
stories; they are being intro
duced to a new medium of
communication - printed
symbols. It is probably the
best of all possible ways to be
introduced to uns nèw medl
um, for sharing a book with a
parent in fhe familiar sur
roundings of his own home can
be a very pleasant experience
for a child. Through this expe
rience, the child begins to
form his own concept of the
value of printed symbols. Mo
thers who have read books to
their three and four year olds
tell us that when a child enjoys
a storybook, he likes to hear it
over and over and over again,
never seeming to tire of it.
unioriunuieiy, uie peiauu wiiu
has to read it to him over and
over and over again gets very
tired of it, and does not want to
read it quite as much as the
child wants to hear it. The
child is quick to learn that he
cannot get the story for him
self by simply looking at (far
pictures, l^puse the storjHjL
locked insSSthe printed l^P
bols. The only way he can get
the story as often as he would
like to have it is to learn to
read it for himself. This sug
gests that the real secret of
reading motivation is - neces
sity.
Children who have not had
this kind of experience not
only miss this pleasant intro
duction to printed symbols,
they also miss the motivation
which this kind of introduction
gives. Their problem is fur
ther compounded when they
enter school and are bom
barded with our attempts to
teach them how to read before
they discover any real reason
for wanting to do so.
Could it be that our theories,
programs ana Instructional
methods are all cluttering and
confusing the issue? Rather
than keeping our attention
fixed so firmly on methods,
devices, and other gimmicks
designed to teach reading,
perhaps the time and money
'would be better spent seeking
to provide them with ample
supplies of printed materials
and enough pleasant expert
ences with it so that they will
feel the necessity for learning
to decode printed symbols.
BE
EQUAL
Vernon Ε. Jordan Jr.
\
Cities Under The Gun
The struggle of the cities to survive continues,
but unless some changes are made in the way
funds are distributed by the Department of
Housing and Urban Development, that struggle
will become a lot tougher in the coming years.
Under the Housing and Community Develop
ment Act of 1974, federal urban programs,
including Model Cities and urban renewal, were
consolidated into a new Community Develon
ment Bloc Grant Program.
Funds that were allocated to cities for specific
projects or developments in the past were now
lumped together to be distributed to cities and
some counties on the basis of a formula that 4ft
included poverty, overcrowded housing and
general population. The number of grant recipi
ents has increased by 50 percent, diluting the
available funds.
Like the revenue sharing program, such a
distribution system has an inherent flaw in that
money would not go to the places that need it
most or to places that demonstrated the
capability of using it for needed programs. To
deal with the likelihood that many cities,
especially the largest and neediest, would suffer
drastic cuts in federal funds, lawmakers insert
ed a "hold harmless" proviso.
This meant that for three years after enact
ment of the bill, no city would get less giant
money than it averaged in the five years
preceding the change in the law. The three years
are up this year. From here on in, unless there's
a change in the law, federal funds to those cities
will be phased down gradually until, by 1980, no
city wouia get a aime more tnan it is enuuea to
under the standard formula.
What this means is that urban centers still
reeling, from general recession, from federal
cutbacks, from deteriorating housing stock, and
from general paralysis of new construction, face
it new rçupdof-cuts in the scarce dollars they get
rom WMMtttttipn. I 1 ·"' """r' ■" ~
* ThanlWWhe "hkf'Wartftlfe^ bftrôvïsÎori;'
those cities haven't been hit as hard as they're
going to be. In 1975 more than four out of every
five dollars of the community development bloc
grants went to metropolitan cities, primarily to
the central cities. This year, the split will be
about three out of four dollars to central cities,
one out of four to suburbs.
But then the ratio will continue to change, to
the disadvantage of the central cities. By 1980,
they'll be getting only a little over half the funds.
There will be a regional shift as well, with the
hard-pressed older cities of the Northeast losing
and nev/er cities in the South and West gaining.
Since such older cities are already suffering the
effects of disinvestment, loss of jobs and
increasing poverty, that means they'll have less
funds with -which to deal with their problems.
—And that in turn means yet another round of
disinvestment, job loss, and higher poverty
rates, ·
That's prescription for urban suicide. One of
the prime jobs facing the new Congress is
revision of the allocation formula for community
development funds to avert the disaster facing
the older, poorer cities.
There's another side to this, too. Cities are pot
using the money they presently get for programs *
in poorer neighborhoods. Bloc grants are being *
diverted from lower income to higher income
neighborhoods.
THE CHARLOTTE POST j
"THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER"
Established 1918
Published Every Thursday
By The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc.
2606-B. West Blvd.-Charlotte, N.C. 28208
Telephones (704) 392-1306,392-1307
Circulation 7,185
58 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS SERVICE
Bill Johnson Editor-Publisher
Albert Campbell Advertising Director
Rex Hovey Circulation Manager
Gerald O. Johnson Business Manager
Second Class Postage Paid at
Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3,1878
Member National Newspaper Publishers
Association
North Carolina Black Publishers Association
Deadline for all news copy and photos is 5 p.m.
Monday. The Poet is not responsible for any
photos or news copies submitted for publication.
National Advertising Representative
Amalgamated Publishers, Inc.
45 W 5th Suite 1403 2400 S. Michigan Ave.
New York, N Y. 10036 Chicago, III. 60616
(212 ) 489-1220 Calumet 5-0200
Scarcity Of Resources
By G«rald Ο. Johnson
A few years ago when we
were going through the boorr
age, energy companies were
pushing their products down
our throats. "Burn our clean
and easy to use gas." "Heat
your home with our conven
ient electricity." "Use up our
resources until your little
heart is content."
All of this advertising got us
doing just that. We used up the
resources until our little
hearts were content.
Now, the creep· are coming
on strong telling us we have
used up the resources. "Cut
back your heat, stop using our
easy to use gas, our conven
ient electricity is not so con
venient anymore."
What kind of madness is
this'' It is no wonder that no
one trusts these eggberts of
energy They are more incon
sistent than politicians
Now, they have gotten ridi
culous Closing schools, cut
ting off gas to businesses, and
(iod only knows what else is in
store for us energy using
consumers.
Well, don't be surprised
when I tell you that the scarci
ty is more monetary than
reality.. The resources are
there but the investors are not.
So, the country has a choice.
Either we can go to Hell
freezing or we can make a few
men richer.
- The problem is one of inves
tor against government and
we, the middle men (the ones
affected by all this), can <
watch from the sidelines You
see, most energy enterprising
is done by private investors
Digging for oil, gas or what
have you is done by private '
citizens of the U.S. of A.
But, after this Is done and
the energy resource is located
and made ready for shipment,
the government steps in. The
government regulates, main
ly, the price tha^can be put on
the resource for selling pur
poses
Now we have reached the
problem this country faces
Gerald Ο. Johnson
today. Investor* say that th«
government prices are so low
that it is not worth their
investment. In other words
they can not make a profit
with the current prices. This
means that no one is looking
for new energy resource out
lets
The government could de
regulate energy and let the
investors have their way and
gas would be flowing tomor
row.
Or the investors could take
the enormous tax break they
already receive along with the
earnings and reinvest without
being greedy.
What will happen? Join us
next week as we continue the
thrilling episode of "Up your
nose with the gas." (Smile.)
No shucking folks, we are
over the barrel with this pro
blem. This contrived crisis to
force prices up is not my Idea
of good business practice.
When you consider that less
than one-tenth of one percent
of this country's population is
responsible for such a crisis, it
makes me shutter What's
worse is the crisis is one for
monetary gain for the one
tenth of one percent. It makes
me cringe When I know that I
am not one of those one-tenth
of one percent I get down right
angry
It was corruption that caus
ed all of the great empires of
the past to cnimhl# The lust
and love for wealth. This
country, after celebrating its
200th birthday, will be lucky it
if makes it to iU 300th. But if
you read your history and
read your current events, it
will become evident that we
are brewing the same ingre
dients that caused great po
wers like Roma to crumble.
Great Brittain lost its strong
hold on the world because of
corruption within. *fhe list
goes on and on.
We might be witnessing the
beginning of the end of a great
world power.
HODGE PODGE
The reason for all of this
srtow is that I finally agreed
with something Paul Harvey
said on his television editorial.
I didn't think 1 was preju
diced until I started watching
"Roots" Sunday night.
Black people with position
like the title and salary of
their Jobs but not the work.
I finally realized what was
meant by the saying "When
' there is smoke from the chim
ney there is tire in the stove"
as I located a gray hair in my
head.
There is a new fad in town -
Retail Distribution. Everyone
I know is hustling either Arrf
way, Mary Kay, Fashion 224,
or the like. What happened tfe
the days of being invited φ
someone's house for cards of
fun. These days you are invit
ed to a show. Oh, boy!
Have you noticed how weH
Charlotte has functioned io
spite of the City Council. May
be we can get up a petition φ
do without that governing bd
dy permanently. Officially,
anyway.
Happiness is not getting ft
tax audit. Did you know that k
has been proven by several
independent associationa that
no two people will fill out theft
tax return exactly the same*
The results included pooplf
from the 1RS. Some reporter*
took receipt stubs to severe
tax agencies, including thé
1RS, to have their forms fillefi
out Using the exact sam£
data in each case, they didnjt
get any two forms filled out
similarly. That is strange? IV.