ClOr!,lL' tCOIftMU
Foley, Walton Win Hollow Victory
a disruptive force that he s consis
tently underminded Liz Hair’s lead
ership to the point of causing her
ouster from the chairmanship, and
drawing Bob Walton into some
idiotic debates that have no rele
vance to the Commission’s respon
sibilities. And with all this, Booe has
the gall to boast that “there isn’t a
gavel big enough” to prevent him
from speaking and expressing his
' views on any issue.
While we don’t think Mrs. Hair is
completely blameless for these de
velopments, we do believe she has
been a capable and committed
public servant who deserved to have
been treated with the dignity and
honor she has earned.
we Deueve, too, tnat Peter Foley
is capable but will face a greater
challenge than did Liz Hair because
his chairmanship is due in part to
the same disruptive force - Bill Booe
- that led to Mrs. Hair’s difficulties
and ouster. As for Bob Walton, he
and Booe will continue their usual
rounds of irrelevant dialogue while
the needs of the county go unmet.
Finally, we deeply regret the
emergence of a new chairman that
has undoubtedly served to only
further divide the Board, which can
only lead to diminished service for
the citizenry.
Let us hope therefore, that a new
sense of maturity and togetherness
will emerge as we move to the
future. For the Commission to do
less would be to unjustly deny good
government to the residents of
. Mecklenburg County.
The High Price Of Equality
/vs uidi-Ks continue me pursuit ot
fairness and equality they are con
stantly reminded that in addition to
the years of rejection and denial of
the past they must bear the burden
of changing the system during the
present and possibly the future.
Black Charlotteans were made
painfully aware of this high price of
equality last week when the Char
lotte-Mecklenburg School System
revealed their latest pupil assign
ment plan that will reportedly affect
only 5,250 (6.5 percent) of the
system’s nearly 80,000 students. Un
fortunately, and in spite of the
efforts of an apparently concerned
pupil assignment planning staff,
more black children than white will
be bused greater distances if the
plan is approved by the school board
in January.
School officials told the school
board last week that under current
desegregation guidelines they have
little choice but to bus blacks,
primarily elementary schools, from
concentrated black residential areas
to schools with higher white percen
tages.
School superintendent Dr. Jay
Robinson noted that one of the plan’s
major weaknesses is that black
l1”"'
children bear a disproportionate
share of the busing burden. We must
hastily add however that this is
simply the continuation of an old
problem because a 1973 pupil assign
ment study noted quite clearly that
elementary school black children
“are bearing the dominant burden of
assignment change and time of
transportation, both in hours and
years.”
This major inequity in pupil as
signments, Dr. Robinson added, is
due largely to the high concentration:
of housing for blacks - 93 percent of!
all blacks in Mecklenburg County
live on only nine percent of the
county’s geographic land mass.
This, of course, is the result of many
years of residential segregation, yet
as such housing patterns change and
begin to ease the busing problem for
black vouth. another emerges.
The new problem relates to the
fact that black neighborhoods can
nearly guarantee black City Council
representation. As such neighbor
hoods disappear, in part to accomo
date the school problem, black
political power losses may be the
new high price or cost for one kind of
equality.
* I'M MORE ENCOURAGED TODAY
THAN I HAVE BEEN IN A LONG
TIMEPQ. HAMIL TON SAID HIS
ENCOURAGEMENT DID NOT COME
FROM THEENUGHTMENT OF
WHITE PEOPLE, BUT FROM THE
DETERMINATION OF BLACK
PEOPLE TO DO FOR THEMSELVES*
k Oti.CHARlSS K HAMIL TOH
:
•• ■ A V_
Black’s Destiny In Own Hands_
r
Welfare Needs Reforming
By Rep. Harold Ford
Special To The Post
Almost everyone agrees the
present welfare system is in
need of reform. Benefits tc
the needy are inadequate, in
equitable and in many cases
non-existent. The Federal
government spends over $17
billion on three welfare assist
ance programs: Aid to Fami
lies with Dependent Children
(AFDC), $6.4 billion; Supple
mental Security Income
(SSI), $5.7 billion; and Food
Stamps $5.0 billion.
These programs benefit 30
million people, although 40
million are eligible for assist
ance from one of the prog
rams. The present welfare
system must be reformed to
eliminate the disincentives to
work, but even more import
antly to maintain the integrity
of the family.
On September 12, President
Carter’s welfare reform pro
posal was introduced in Con
gress as H.R. 9030 and S.2084.
The Welfare Reform Subco
mmittee is holding hearings
on the bill and we hope the
expert witnesses will provide
some answers to some very
difficult questions concerning
the proposal. However, beca
use of the complexities of the
issues in question, it is imper
ative that the general public
provides input into the legisla
tive process.
To deal with the bureaucra
tic tangle and make welfare
more responsive to the needs
of the poor, President Carter
has proposed a consolidated
program. This would elimi
nate the need for over 40
different programs and the
requirement for recipients to
enroll in more than one-The
proposed plan will merge
AFDC, SSI, and Food Stamps
into a single cash assistance
program.
A two-tiered benefit struc
ture will be established; those
in the upper tier will not be
expected to work and will be
comprised of the blind, aged,
single parent families (with
children under 7, or between 7
and 13, if day care is not
available), and two-parent fa
milies with young children
provided one parent in incap
acited.
Those in the lower tier will
be expected to work and will
be comprised of two-parent
families with children, one-pa
rent families with children
older than 14, single persons,
and childless families.
The job program is expected
to end or lessen the chronic
welfare cycle and place work
ers in the mainstream of the
economy. The proposal calls
for over 1.4 million jobs to be
created and annual employ
ment for two million people.
To encourage workers to seek
jobs in the private sector, a
total minimum income of 20
percent above the 1981 poverty
line will be guaranteed.
If a job in the private
market cannot be found, a
federally subsidized job will
be provided with a total mini
mum income of 13 percent
above the poverty line. As a
general rule under this pro
gram, a person who can and
does work would always be
better off than a person who
chooses not to work.
While I believe the Presi
dent's program is a step in the
right direction, I am still
studying the proposal. I parti
* cipated in a public hearing in
West Memphis, Arkansas, No
vember 17 to discuss the bill
and its many problems which
must be brought to the atten
tion of the Welfare Reform
Subcommittee during the Con
gressional hearings.
A number of other public.
hearings have been slated
throughout the country by the
Subcommittee.
As the Subcommittee comes
to you - the public - to
conduct hearings the next two
months, I strongly recom
mend that many Americans
who are, directly or indirectly
affected to testify and point
out additional problems and
solutions that will improve the
pending proposals.
Statement Issued
By Rev. GtavisiA v
On behalf of all of the
members of the Wilmington
Ten, I am issuing this public
statement in support of the
Charlotte to Raleigh “Wil
mington Ten Freedom Mar
ch” led by the Rev. James
Barnett and Concerned Minis
ters, December 10-17,1977.
I am hopeful that with citi
zen support and participation
in the “March” Governor Ja
mes Hunt will once again be
made aware of the broad
statewide interest, as well as
the national and international,
in calling for an immediate
“pardon of innocence” and
freedom for all of the Wil
m in ton Ten.
The continued imprison
ment of the Wilmington Ten
glaringly stands out to the
entire world as a mockery
of justice and as an oppressive
affront of human dignity and
freedom.
I am praying that Governor
Hunt will let The Wilmington
Ten be home for Christmas.
We shall overcome!
——aJBy Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
TO
BE
*
EQUAL
Vernon E. Jordan Jr.' I
Race And The Issues
William F. Buckley, Jr., is a resourceful, witty
spokesman for the kind of conservative thinking
that went out with the demise of Louis XIV, but
he represents his views with such grace and
charm that even the victims of his verbal
muggings tend to forgive him.
At least I do. Last month I joined Buckley on
his “Firing Line” television broadcast where he
discussed, at great length and with considerable
fuzziness, issues related to social changes
needed by our society.
Or at least, we tried to. Such conversation^
with Mr. Buckley tend to get swallowed in a
philosophical haze of opaque verbiage. And so
there were digressions into the applicability of
an Eighteenth Century sage’s quaint ideas about
who should vote, and other matters bearing
tenuous relation to the reality of American life at
the end of the Twentieth Century.
Pleasant as our talk was, Mr. Buckley followed
it up with a syndicated newspaper article
piquantly entitled, “Who Does Vernon Jordan
Lead?” The article hewed closedly to the point
Mr. Buckley valiantly tried to make during our
inll.
I>VIV T WVU MUA.
Stripped to its bare bones, his point seems to be
that since the demands black leadership is
making are related less to old fashioned civil
rights issues and are for jobs, national health
insurance and other apparently non-racial i
tems, then they are not “black issues” at all.
Rather, it furthers the interest of what he ihinU
is state omnipotence, socialization, and inflation.
That’s heady stuff, as is his claim that, absent
a Jim Crow society, “race politics should be
discouraged” and that the issues black leaders
advance are not of racial importance. Further,
he suggests the black community is as divided as
the white community in such matters.
From his vantage point in a sheltered ivory
tower Mr. Buckley presumes to advance the
notion that ^blacka should reject the. positions
...taken by wcfiufltf all national and local"black
organizations ana black elected representatives.
And he remains possessed of the quaint notion
that a people disproportionately unemployed,
disproportionately ill-housed, disproportionately
subjected to inferior health care, has no group
stake in issues of employment, housing and
IIVHIWIl
The black disadvantage in our society is due to
racial discrimination and racial judgments, It
is no accident of blind neutral market forces that
black levels of income, education and other
social indices are markedly lower than those of
their white counterparts.
Mr. Buckley, and too many others, would have
us believe that getting the right to sit on a bus
should have ended, for once and for all, the
struggle for civil rights. He would have us
believe that blacks as a group have no legitimate
interest - as blacks - in issues other than
breaking the barriers of formal, legalized
segregation.
Consider employment. Black jobless rates are;
double those for whites; among young people!
^hey’re even worse. The crippling effects of
joblessness pervade the entire black community.!
Black representation in most professions is aW
about two percent.
THE CHARLOTTE POST
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m
' . I
All About F. L C. A.
oyueraidO. Johnson
EDITOK'S NOTE: This is the
final of a two part series on the
F.I.C A.
The Government can t con
trol when people die, nor can
they control how many people
get hurt on the job. Since the
individual life spans have in
creased drastically, the num
ber of people eligible for re
tirement has increased. Lay
offs are indirectly controlled
by the Government, but it, too,
has many uncontrollable va
riables influencing it. Conse
ntly, the pay outs from the
si Insurance Program
have no ceilings, no limits.
How then can a program be
managed when the managers
can not control the program.
On the other side of the coin
the contributions have a limit.
The amount of money coming
into the program can never be
more than the number of
employed people in industry
times the percentage of the
tax times two. Thus the pro
gram is destined for failure.
The Government tries to
cure the problem by increas
ing the tax percentage. But
this is only a temporary cure
at beat. It can be seen from the
above statistics that increas
ing the rate does not solve the
problem. This is why the
Government has had to in
crease the rate so often.
Moreover, the tax increase
aggravates the national eco
nomy. A business contribution
to FICA is an amount equal to
the total amount of the em
ployees contribution. This
means that if a business has 10
employees, each paying $10.00
a week in FICA, then the
business must pay $100.00 a
as its contribution to FICA (10
x $10.00). This $100.00 is apart
from the employees contribu
tion. To increase FICA is a
heavy burden for a business to
pay. The increase has to be
multiplied by the number of
employees to get the total coet
a business will have to pay.
Because of the increased
coet of businesses the increas
ed tax has the effect of driving
up unemployment But if it
drives up unemployment, then
you are adding more people to
the list of beneficiaries of the
Social Insurance Program.
Moroever, you are forcing
contributions to the program
to become beneficiaries. The
refore the Increase in the tax
has been nullified.
Also, many businesses will
pass the Increased cost brou
ght sbout by the increased tax
directly to the consumer. Thus
prices will rise and inflation
will soar. Hence the increased
tax will hit the employee (who
is the consumer) directly with
higher deductions from his
pay and indirectly with higher
prices for the products he
consumes.
To increase the tax a detri
mental move made by Com
gress
The problem with the pro
gram is that it is under Gov
ernment control. Instead of
being an Insurance Program
it is a welfare program The
money vou Day into the pro
gram now is used to keep the
program functioning now and
it does not guarantee you
anything in the future. More
over, there is no relationship
between what you contribute
and you receive from the
program.
If it is supposed to be an
Insurance Program then let it
be an Insurance Program.
Turn the administration of the
program over to private insu
rance firms. Then let people
decide what benefits they wou
ld like to participate in. Don’t
take my money and tell me
what you are going to do with
it. Develop the program a
round the people making the
contributions.
Just ask yourself why is it
this program is failing and
private insurance firms are
doing well. In closing I would
like to say that even the people
receiving benefits dislike the
program They complain that
the amount of the benefit
checks is insufficient. Con
gress will agree with this most
of the time and increase the
amount of the checks. But
when you are talking about
nearly 40,000 people receiving
checks, even a minimal in
crease in the amount of the
checks results in a substantial
amount of money.
The burden for paying this
falls on the shoulders of the
working people. The idea of
Social Insurance is concep
tually o.k. but the current
program is inefficient, coun
ter productive, and expensive.
I think it is unfair for the
government to continuously
Ux us for programs that need
revamping.
Gold Bowl Mania
The Gold Bowl turned out to
be a spectacular affair. The
football game was very good
and the press was treated
royally. The event, overall,
was good.
It did have its major draw
backs, however. The major
drawback was the location of
the game. City Stadium in
Richmond holds spproximate
ly 20,000 people with parking
facilities for about 5,000 of the
20,000. The field is made out of
cheap astro turf that was as
hard as cement.
Once the game was over I
saw l policeman trying to
direct nearly »,000 vehicles
away from the stadium It
took nearly an hour to get
away from the stadium. More
over, the stadium traffic has
to filter in with the city traffic
at one of the Boulevards.:
There was no policeman to
direct traffic at this point. It
took me and many others
almost as long to get back to
the hotel from the stadium as ■
it did to watch the whole
game.
Furthermore, Richmond is •
an oversized dead town. There -
is nothing to do once the main
event is over.
I will agree that Richmond
is probably the central loca
tion for MEAC, CIAA schools
and will, also agree that hotel
accommodations in Richmond
are more than adequate. How
ever, I for one would like to;
see the event moved to ano
ther location. Atlanta or Char
lotte would be ideal locations .
The first year the Gold Bowl
wm held it drew 6,000 fans.
This year it drew over 14,000
fans. That’s a 60 percent in
crease in 1 year. If this trend
holds, then City Stadium in
Richmond could not hold the
expected turn out for next
year's game.
The Gold Bowl has the po- '.
tontial of becoming a big
drawing card for the two
conferences and it will take
ProP«r planning now to make
it a reality.
By Hoyle H. Martin Sr.
Post Executive Editor
The statement that “politics mak
es strange bedfellows” was quite
evident in the ouster of Liz Hair as
Chairperson of the Mecklenburg
Board of County Commissioners on
Monday.
While it is customary and tradi
tional for the highest vote-getter to
be elected chairperson of the Com
mission, there have been a number
of exceptions to this practice. In
fact, Mrs. Hair did herself, in 1974,
support the election of W.T. Harris
as chairman while she was the
leading vote-getter. Why then, it
might be asked in Commissioner
Bob Walton’s own words, are “edito
rial writers and reporters...busy,”
just as we are, commenting on this
latest change in the county govern
ments chairmanship?
we are commenting Decause of
our concerns about a reportedly sex
biased statement by Commissioner
Walton to the effect that Mrs. Hair
“is a strong woman, but she’s still a
woman;” conflicting statements by
Foley and Walton about a deal to get
for themselves the chairmanship
and vice chairmanship of the Com
mission; and Walton’s alleged char
ge that Mrs. Hair constantly usurp
ed the role of the Commission and in
effect he and Foley left it to Booe to
offer the justifiable criticisms.
As if this isn’t enough, we’re
concerned, too, about how a suppos
edly intelligent group of commis
sioners has let Booe become such