Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Feb. 10, 1977, edition 1 / Page 2
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aiwii tconrnicnij" i Black Visibility By Hoyle H. Martin Sr. •'> Post Executive Editor “I am an invisible man...I am s man of substance, of flesh and bone i , fiber and liquids - and I might ever ? be said to possess a mind. I an invisible, understand, simply be cause people refuse to see me...] have been surrounded by mirrors 01 hard, distorting glass. When thej approach me they see only mj surroundings, themselves, or fig ments of their imagination - indeed everything and anything excepi me.” These words are from Ralph Ellison’s best seller novel of th« early 1950’s, INVISIBLE MAN. Thej are a personification of the nearlj five centuries of the black man’s experiences with whites in Africf and the United States. A decade later, Michael Hairing ton gave the contemporary invisible man form, shape and, at leasl temporary visibility, when he wrote “This book (THE OTHER AMERI CAN) is about the other American Here are the unskilled workers, the migrant farm workers, the aged, the minorities, and all the others whe live in the economic* underworld... The millions who...tend to become increasingly invisible. ’ ’ The historically invisible black man arises out of the myths, omis sions, distortions, and categorical lies that have filled the annals of £ most Western writings for over 450 :f] years. For example, until recently, -v the only visibility given the black £ man in America has been .through his arrival in 1619 as a slave and as one who was a satisfied, singing laughing, happy-go-lucky, hard working “boy” who loved his mast er’s way of life, that is, the myth of the loyal slave. That myth was necessary in order to justify that “peculiar instituation” - slavery - in 1 a nation that called itself the “land of the free.” What has been kept invisible through the years is that the slaves were not satisfied with their servile sub-human status. Blacks them selves contributed to this invisibility by attempting to blot out the painful memories and awareness of the atrocities of slavery. Yet, as William Raspberry has noted, blacks “need ed to be reminded that slaves did, against all odds and with occasional success, resist slavery.” The need to be reminded of their past, that is, to be visible, was, and is, necessary to the black man’s _sense of identity, pride in his ac complishments and hop® for the future. In spite of the guilt-ridden —resistence of whites, and the at tempts of some blacks to forget their painful past, persistent efforts have been made through the years by the observance of “Black History Week” to remind blacks and whites of a part of their past that is vital to understanding the present and sur viving through unproved race rela tions in the future. Alex Haley’s classic “novel for television,” “Roots,” was in many ways a visible recognition of the success of and continued need for an annual obser vance of the conditions and endea —vors of black Americans. Black visibility clarifies the present, gives meaning to the past and offers a sense of direction for the future. state Hires Few Blacks? i Reports by the North Carolina i ^Black Democratic Leadership Cau cus afad Carolina Community News Service (CCNS) indicate that Gov. Jim Hunt’s administration has em ployed relatively few blacks in policy making positions as of Febru ary 1. The Caucus has met with Gov. Hunt on two occasions to request implementation of an affirmative action hiring plan that would place at least 34 blacks in policy-making positions. However, no blacks have been appointed to the highly desired Advisory Budget Commission, and blacks held none of the 54 policy level jobs in the Department of Transportation and the Department of Human Resources. Reports by CCNS indicate further that even when blacks are hired they continue to get the lower paying jobs and the record shows a continued pattern of racial discrimination against blacks in state government employment practices. For example, in level No. 1 iobs with salary ranges of $25,000 and up, there are 480 whites and only eight blacks while level No. 7 jobs with salary ranges from $4,000 to $5,999 there are 481 whites and 600 r-. blacks. The only fairly optimistic aspects of the state’s employment of blacks is seen in the Attorney General’s Office. That office’s beginning im plementation of an affirmative ac tion plan includes 59 blacks (9.2 percent), including four lawyers, out of a staff of 635. In addition to the depressing em ployment record of blacks, there is an apparent indifferent attitude within the Hunt administration a bout jobs for blacks. For example, H.M. Michaux, a state representa tive and a member of the Caucus said, “The thing that distrubs me most is that we did not know that the Governor was not going to appoint a black (to the Advisory Budget Com mission) until we read it in the paper.” The record would appear to indi cate that blacks have received only minimal and token employment op portunities in the current state administration. If this is an example of Jim Hunt’s political rhetoric of “getting North Carolina moving again,” then blacks can look for little in the way of an improved ^JJualitjMDflife in the next four years. BLACK HISTORY "A RACE IS LIKE A MAN-UNTIL \ IT USES ITS OWN TALENTS, TAKES PRIDE IN ITS OWN HISTORY. and loves rrS own memories.: IT CAN NEVER FULFILL ITSELF COMPLETELY* JOHN W. VANtXRCOOK They Want To Know!!! J Achieving Is Believing How well children perform in school is determined by what they believe about them selves. The child who believes he is loved, gifted, bright and successful becomes all of those things. The child who believes he is despised, slow to learn, inferior and a failure fulfills every one of his beliefs. Beliefs are like the steering wheel of a car - they are the means by which we turn to ward our desired destination. If a person in Chicago wishes to arrive in Miami, he must steer the car in that direction in order to get there. It does not matter whether the car is a Rolls-Royce or a Volkswa gen, or whether his traveling companions are rich or poor, if the vehicle is headed north, then that is where it will arrive unless it is turned toward another direction. When a child believes that he cannot learn, he can no more become a high achiever than a car driving towards New York will arrive in Miami. If a child’s beliefs about himself are pointed in negative direc tions, that is where he will arrive. If his beliefs are direc ted toward positive ends he will get there. When children are given many opportunities to suc ceed, they begin to believe thev are successful. When they are placed in positions of superiority and inferiority, they begin to believe that they are superior or inferior:' When they are labelled with names which describe their menta lity as defective, handicapped, or inadequate, they begin to think of themselves as defec tive, handicapped and inade quate. How then, can we help child ren to believe that they can become successful in school when they are pointed toward failure? How can we make them believe they are created equal when they are assigned to inferior positions? How can we make children believe they are gifted, bright and intelli gent when they are labelled1 slow, deprived and disadvan taged? Children get their beliefs about themselves from the people around them. We, his teachers and his parents, form a mirror in which the child sees himself, and his beliefs about himself take shape ac cording to what we believe about him. If we would help the child to form beliefs which would steer him toward a positive destination, we must first examine our own beliefs - about the child, about hu man beings, and about the human mind. Our own set of beliefs concerning these things determine what we do, what we say, and how we act, and they eventually turn the child toward one chfeptioo, or another. If we believe thif* hirtnan beings were not created equal, and that some are really superior while others are in ferior, then we will do and say the things which will help children, conform to their as signed roles of superiority and inferiority. But it we believe that all men are indeed creat ed equal, we will treat all children as intelligent heinga who have their own special learning styles and their own gifts and talents. If we believe that the human intellect is limited in its capa city and that its potential can be measured, then we will accept such measurements as accurate and true. So will the child. But if we believe that the capability of the human intellect is as limitless as the universe, then we will reject the idea that one human being can determine the limits of another’s achievements, and we will encourage children to set their goals as high as their imagination can reach. And they will. In what direction do we want our children to go? In what direction are we steering them? What do we really believe about them? 11 TO BE EQUAL Vernon E. Jordan Jr. • Black History Month There’s a degree of excitement about this year’s observation of Black History Month missing from previous ones. One reason is the feeling that the country is —j about to do something - anything - about getting the economy moving again and helping ensure that black people are in the mainstream of future developments. After being frozen out for the past eight years, those expectations take Black History Month out of the vaccurif1 and make out past struggles more relevant to what is happen ing, and not merely to what ought to be happening. Another reason is the regional unity being < shaped today. We saw that symbolically por trayed at the Inauguration where a black chorus from the Atlanta University Center sang a Union marching song, “BattleHymn of the Republic” at the inauguration of a southerner, a former governor of Georgia. That was a heavy dose Of symbolism, os was— the dawn prayer at the Lincoln Memorial by Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., the very site where his son led the great March on Washington in 1963. Then, it was a protest march at a time when southern drinking fountains were still marked “white” and “colored.” Last month though, “Daddy” King’s sermon was part of the official inauguration ceremonies. That’s quite a change! Finally, black people received a strong boost to our search for our past in the popularity of Alex Haley’s book, “Roots,” and Uie television series based on it A decade ago we were fighting iw get « lutnuiui oi uiacK aciors into television ' commercials, and now a nationwide series reached millions of people with the story of the black experience in America. “Roots” and the search for the black past will be with us this month in school programs, community displays and talks, and other events. That’s as it should be because what we are is shaped by'iBgir past, just as our future is shaped by our-prtsKnt . 1 ins. tins That present has to be part of Black History Month, too. It’s too easy to pay respect to some bUick figures from the past to ignore the present situation of black people. How people live and work and hope is history too, perhaps more important history than the doings of statesmen and the dates of wars. Daily life and the way people cope with survival issues is basic to understanding who we are and what we are. Perhaps that’s why Alex Haley’s “Roots” has such a powerful hold on our imaginations, because we understand, through his words, how our ancestors coped with daily life and how they shaped their lives in a brutal, oppressive system. . We have to make sure our own great-grand children know of our own, personal ‘Roots’ too. They ought to know us, our dreams, our aspirations, our struggle to survive in the midst of poverty, unemployment, crime and despair. They shouldn’t have to search for it. Now is the time for black families to gather their own stories, the tales they’ve heard from their elders and the daily facts of their own lives and preserve them. They’re important - for us and for those wno come after us. So Black History Month is not just a celebra tion of the past, it should be an examination of trip nrPQPnt anH a n__ THE CHARLOTTE POST “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 ' Campbell.Advertising Director ■ ?ex .Circulation Manager _^rald_0:_John8on.Business Manager Second Class Postage Paid at Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3,1878 Member National Newspaper Publishers L _Association _North Carolina Black Publishers Association Deadline for all news copy and photos is 5 p m Monday. The Post is not responsible for any photos or news copies submitted for publication. National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. v 45 W. 5th Suite 1403 2400 S. Michigan Ave New York, N Y. 10036 Chicago, 111. 60616 (212) 489-1220 Calumet 5-0200 —~ r- a ucuiuduuii ui me iuiure. There Is Hope With President Jimmy Carter! uy ueraid U. Johnson President Carter is so down ' home it is frightening. He is just a plain man that I feel the ! Plain people can relate to. Since the majority of the people in America are plain, 1 we all can relate to him. Jimmy Carter has the mak ' ings to be a great President. You know folks, I haven't ' been this optimistic about the future of this country in a long ' time. I am really impressed with our new President, Jim my Carter and our new gover nor, Jim Hunt These Jlmmys look like thay want to get this country back on the right ' track to sanity Even during the Kennedy dynasty when plain folk got a fair deal something was miss ing The Kennedy's sympa (hired with plain folk but were not plain folk themselves This 1 left something to be desired in (my mind Rut old country Jimmy is just down home folk who 1 determined to do a good job. think he will succeed. Ole Jimmy Hunt is putting his foot down, also. He hai only been in office a littfc more than a month and alrea dy he has started the bal rolling on good legislation. am quite impressed with Um governor's reading skill test! for high school grads. Once w< find some teachers that cat read so the test can be admi nistered we will be all set. Meanwhile, this term maj break the old adage: "Wha politicians say and what the] do are two different things." The Good Points Of An Energ) Crisis! The more abundant a com modity is the more we take th« commodity for granted Tak« water for instance Water if an essential for life yet w( hardly ever consider its im portance because it is never any further away than an / Gerald 0. arm's reach. But consider California where the drought has caused the water depart ment to ration water Can vou imagine that? Now consider the water you waste Taking showers is far more consuming that bathing. Watering lawns is a waste. Washing cars is a waste The list goes op and on. The same situation holds true with energy. This country is about one-twentyfifth of the world in size but we use one-third of the world’s ener gy. This is ridiculous. Businesses waste energy likelt is an everlasting supply. Homes over use energy Though I don’t feel that crisis is one of supply today, I do know that natural resources are limited in supply. We can’t go on forever wasting energy. Therefore, the good thing about this crisis is it is teach ing us to get along with what is needed rather than what to wanted. The crisis is teaching us to be more thrifty with limited supplies. Unfortunately, pricing schemes used by utility com panies are not in favor of conserving energy. This, in my opinion is a necessity for long range energy conserva tion. No voluntary program will be adequate enough to save energy. Energy And The Schools The cold weather has caus ed a problem with schools , sUying open. With the ther mostats turned down the schools were getting cold. The gas problem has caused sev eral schools to dose for a few days. To avoid such occurrences from happening in the future and to conserve energy, why not close schools in the winter instead of the summer. _ This would alleviate several major problems now occurr ing in the system. Weather conditions that cause busing to be unsafe would be at a minimum. No more icy roads to be concerned with No more make up days because of schools closing due to weather conditions If the school schedule ran from March to December we could avoid many problems caused by the weather, espe dally the energy problem. As dumb as kids are these days leaving high school I am personally in favor of a twelve month school, year. But the energy situation may curtail my thinking in this direction. But if schools are to be closed for three months, make U»o»e three months in the winter. Eskimo Method One final thought on energy. Eskimos have solved the pro Mem of keeping warm by cuddling in the nude under a blanket. Obviously, they can’t use conventional methods be cause heat would melt the Igloo. But 1 think the Eskimos hsve got something there Unfortunately when I sug gested this at work the fe males complaining about be ing cold were suddlatf v O K I guess the Eskimos’ve eat something there. It really works.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Feb. 10, 1977, edition 1
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