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So You Think You've Got It Made!
by Hoyle H. Martin, Sr.
Poet Editorial Writer
In 1963, the little known newly
elected governor of Alabama seized
a share of the national political spot
light when he said in his inaugural
address, "Segregation now! Segre
gation tomorrow! Segregation for
- ever! "
In demonstrating support for his
words six months later, the governor
literally stood in the school house
door to block two black students
from entering the University of
Alabama.
Now 18 years later, and after an
unprecedented three terms as gov
ernor and four presidental cam
paigns rooted in racist rhetoric,
Governor George Wallace says, "I
will admit and can understand now
that the things that the federal
government forced upon us, such as
doing away with segregated eating
places...has turned out for the best."
Before you are lulled into thinking
that the Civil Rights, Equal Opport
unity and Voting Eights Acts of the
past 14 years,* and the change in
thinking that George Wallace's
words represent, mean that blacks
have it made and the struggle for
justice and equality is no longer
necessary, you are sadly mistaken.
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood
Marshall reminded us that the quest
for justice and equality is a continu
ing process when he told a Howard
University audience recently, "We
have not got it made. In fact, while
society in general has come a long
way from where it used to be, the
gaps between blacks and whites
have widened."
Justice Marshall's words are evi
denced in actions taken by the high
tribunal on which he sits. We are
referring here to the Supreme
Court's vague decision in the Allan
Bakke alleged "reverse discriminat
ion" case and their decision to
review a similar case wherein a
white man successfully sued his
employer for selecting blacks with
less seniority for a training pro
gram.
Vernon E. Jordan too has remind
ed us that we don't have it made. He
said recently that a "new threat" to
Affirmative Action programs comes
from a new definition of the term
"minority" that substantially
deludes the special help blacks have
in the past received from the public
sector.
These observations should be
enough to remind us that the quest
for justice and equality is an on-go
ing process. Thus, the gains blacks
have made can be easily lost if we
are lulled into a false sense of
security in the belief that we've got
it made. The struggle for your rights
and my rights continues. Join our
daily army for equality.
The Need To Be Responsible
Literally millions of words have
been written to describe America's
greatest tragedy, the so-called
Jones ville mass suicide in which
over 900 members of the Peoples
[Temple religious cult drank Kool
Aid laced with cyanide at the com
mand oftheir leader, "Father" Jim
Jones. "
ironically, wnile the People's
Temple leadership was primarily
white, much of its philosophical
foundation and about 75 percent of
its membership is or was black.
Jones had studied the theological
views and practices oÇ the late
Father Divine and other blaclf mini
ster-evangelists before founding the
Peoples Temple.
A confirmed supporter of social
ism, and" racial equality, Jones
believed that the communal. Jife,
which was being practiced and
expanded throughout his Temple's
establishments was an attempt to
carry out the mandates of the New
Testament. He relied heavily upon
the Book of Acts 2:4*46 to explain
his underlying beliefs. Tliese verses
read, "And all that believed were
together, and had all things com
mon; and sold their possessions and
goods, and parted them to all men,
as every man had need. And they,
continuing daily with one accord
; in the tempTe, and breaking bread
from house Jo house, did eat their
'meat with gladness and singleness
of heart..."
In practice, for one female mem
ber in San Francisco, this resulted in
giving her $1,000 salary per month
as a programmer to the Temple in
exchange for a shared room, meals,
and a $2 weekly allowance. Further
more, if additional clothings were
needed or extra lunch money to treat
a prospective temple member, such
funds had to be requested a week
early.
In addition, Jones apparently used
this passage of scripture to justify
public beatjrtgs.'oê Téniple members
for the slightest infraction erf rules;
the confiscating of all personal
property including real estate and
social security checks; the required
signing of documents such as stating
you'd molested your own children to
show your loyalty to Jones <(the
documents were then used as black
mall to birol· the signer the
Temple) ; the relinquishing of autho
rity over your own children; spying
and reporting on others ; and requir
ing all members to do anything
Jones told them to do, including
pm/Ήη» guirirfp HHIIb, the killinfl of
others and actual suicide.
The Peoples Temple and Germany
of the 1930s each represent people
who did not want to assume a
responsibility for their own actions
nor make any decisions for them
selves, thus the emergence of para
noid leaders, unpredictable conse
quences and the loss of personal
freedom.
I ItVTime The Black Community Did Something About It!
Social Security Benefits
First Five Months Of Disability
People.who apply for social
security disability benefits are
often surprised and disappoin
ted when they .are told there is
' a 5*month^waiting period be
fore disability benefits can
begin. "It shouldn't take 5
months to tell if I'm disabled,"
is a typic5T reaction.
Inmost cases it doesn't take
that long to make the medical
vocational determination of
disability. Rather, the 5
month waiting period reflects
the purpose of the social secu
—rity disability program which
is to insure workers and their
families against the loss of
income caused by a long term
Deriod of disability.
UNDER SOCIAL security,
disability means inability to
do any -substantial work be
cause of a physical or mental
impalHf^tfMfcui Xqç
at least a year or will result in
death. This is different from
some other programs, like
veterans benefits, that pay for
partial disabilities, or from
some State-administered pro
, grams that provide for tempo
rary disabilities.
Most people who become ill
or suffer disabling conditions
—recover m less than 5 months.
Others who may take a little
longer have a condition that is
unlikely to last a year and is
therefore not a long-term dis
ability.
People who suffer short
term disabling conditions
often rely on personal inoome
and resources such as private
insurance or savings to tide
them over. Such State admini
stered programs as workers'
compensation insurance and
unemployment insurance as
well as veterans benefits may
also be available.
WHEN A person's condition
is so severe as to extend
beyond the protection provid
ed by such programs, then
social security disability in
surance can be most helpful.
Most people who receive soc
ial security disability benefits
continue to do so for the rest of
their lives, or until the benefits
shift to retirement benefits at
age 65. People who do attempt
to return to work in spite of
their condition are permitted
a trial work period up to 9
months to enable them to
determine if they can perform
substantial gainful work on a ι
regular basis.
The waiting period is mea
sured from the onset of the
disability, not from the date of
the application, so that in _
many casas à person who
applies for benefits after the
5-month waiting period only
has to wait the time it takes to
jargceee his or her claim.
\Jrâ*oactive benefits may be
|ώία for up to 12 months
preceding the month you
apply. . ,·,··<!
However, it la important
that you file for disability*)
benefits as soon as you realize
that your disability is expect
ed to last 12 months or longer
so benefits can start with the
6th full month of disability.
MORE THAN 4.9 million
workers and their dependents"
are currently receiving disabi
lity benefits at the rate of $1.1
billion a month. The average
disability benefit for a single
worker is $285; the average
for a disabled worker and
family is Κββ. _■
People who don't have
enough credit for work under
social security to get disability
benefits and who have limited
income and resources may
qualify for benefits under the
supplemental security income
program, which provides pay
ments to the needy, aged, blind
and disabled. SSI is also run
by the Social Security Admini
stration and the medical eligi
bility requirements are the
same. However, there is no
' 5-mohth Waiting period, since
SSI payments are made on the
basis of need rather than,
credit for work under social
security and it is assumed that
the payments are needed
immediately. Thus, a person
ι in need may qualify for, SSI",
disability payments while
waiting for his or her social
security claim to be complet
ed. SSI payments cannot be
made -before the month of
application.
If you feel you need more
information about social secu
rity or SSI disability pay
ments, call or stop by the
office. The telephone number
klMKL
Gty Council
i \
Meeds Your Help
,'Dtiting the month of Decem
(jbier, the Charlotte City Council
will be meeting the following
postions:
Audi tori uni-Coliseuin-Civic
Authority-Nominations to fill
the unexpired term of Ann
Thomas will be made at the
fity Cminril moating on Mnn
day, December 18. Ms. Thom
as resigned after being elected
to the Mecklenburg County
Board of Commissioners.
The term will expire April
25, 1978.
.. Civil Service Board-Nomi
Btfc— tu fill 11» unexpired—
' term of Mary Rogers Watts
will be made at the City
Council meeting on Monday,
• January 8, 1979. Ms. Watts
resigned due to moving out
side the City limits. The term
will expire May IS, 1979.
Persons and organizations
with recommendations for
these appointments should
contact any member of the
Charlotte City Council.
: By Vernon Ε. Jordan, Jr.
•· TO
BE
EQUAL
*v. tffllft
federal Budget A Battleground
lf;The Administration is sending strong signals
mat the next budget will be an "austerity"
budget, φί#ι deep cuts all across the board.
Wffi gl' across the board. Military
.sporting will go up. Some federal operations win
be held to an increase roughly comparable with
inflation.
., But the axe is being sharpened to slash federal
job and housing programs.
When you consider the enormous waste in
some federal spending programs-shoveling out
huge sums of money to affluent suburbs and
mile-wide tax loopholes and tax subsidies that
benefit the rich-cutting social programs is
outrageous. _
If sacrifices are demanded to restrain inflat
ion, they should not be borne by the poorert
among us. And that's who would take it on tHf
chin if the rumors coming out of Washington are
accurate.
Poor people depend on federal job creation
programs and subsidized housing. They need
the health, income maintenance and training
programs government provides.
And those programs aren't just frills, icing on
the cake. No, they have become essential for
survival. Cut those programs and you cut the few
strands left on the inadequate safety net our
society places beneath the poor. Cuts in thoee
programs would deliver a fatal blow to many
people's lives and hopes.
χι me government is serious about trimming
federal spending, those programs should be the
last to be cut, not the first. Other targets are far
more inviting, and would not result in worsening
the already desperate situation many people
find themselves in.
A Brookings Institution study found that the
Pentagon's civilian payroll includes an estimat
ed billion dollars of waste in unnecessary
personnel pnd in inflated salaries.
Some analysts suggest military spending could
be cut drastically with no loss in defense
firepower. Whatever the merits of such analy
ses, most people agree that the defense estab
lishment could be leaner and still retain its
effectiveness. *4
tWèbt
signed a bill raising pensions for non-wounded
veterans, an act that will add billions to the
budget over the next few years.
And while the Administration works on cutting
social expenditures that aid the cities, it is
planning a multi-billion dollar civil defense
program. No one suggests such a program
would be effective in case of nuclear attack. But
by going through the expensive motions of
Trinnnmg a givil dtfenni* program wn'rg gypoosed
to be convincing the Russians that we're tough.
Another bloated budget area can be found in
the pork barrel projects favored by the very
Congressmen who yell loudest about cutting
urban programs. The President acted boldly last
summer when he vetoed a rivers and dams bill,
but billions are still spent on those non-prtortty
projects that benefit relatively few people.
Another popular pork barrel federal program
is the continuing massive amount spent on
highway construction, something that ought to
be a state responsibility now that the interstate
highway system is in place.
Revenue sharing monies are not targeted and
are given to every local government whether it
needs the aid or not.
THE CHARLOTTE POST
"THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER"
Established 1918
Published Every Thursday
By The Charlotte Poet Publishing Co., Inc.
1524 West Blvd.Charlotte. N.C. 2820β
Telephones (704)37(HM96-376-0497
Circulation, 9,915
60 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS SERVICE
BILL JOHNSON...Editor Publisher
BERNARD REEVES...General Manager
SHIRLEY HARVEY...Advertising Director
HENRY ALAKSA... Business Manager
Second Class Postage No. 965500 Paid At
Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3,1878
Member National Newspaper Publishers
Association
North Carolina Black Publishers Association
t — ' 4. ·
Deadline for all news copy and photos is 5 p.m. .
ι Monday. All photos and copy submitted becomes
the property of the POST, and will not be returned.
National Advertising
Representative
Amalgamated Publishers, Inc.
45 W. 5th Suite 1403 2400 S. Michigan Ave.
New York, N Y. 10036 Chicago, 111. 60616
(212) 489-1220 Calumet 5-0200
Our New Day Begun
The Choice: Jobs Or Inflation Fights
by Beqjamin L. Hook·
Special To The Poet
As the debate continue· over
President Carter's intensified
fight to hold inflation to a
seven percent rate next y*ar,
the question that confronts the
nation is not whether there
will be a recession In. 1979 but
how severe it will be. However
slight the economic slump, Η
seems certain that national
unemployment will be delibe
rately pushed up by more than
a full percentage from the
current 5.8 to β percent range.
For blacks, who hold a
disproportionate share of
marginal and low-income
jobs, and whose jobless rate
has been twice the national
average since World War II,
the prospects are for a wors
ening economic condition.
In pushing for the recent
passage of the Humphrey
Hawkins Full Employment
Bill, civil righto leaders and
the Congressional Black Cau
cus were hoping te hold the
nation to a moral commitment
to keep the jobless rate at a
level low enough to ensure
that minorities would find
jobs. The underlying belief
wss that the basic cause of
inflation is not full employ
ment.
Indeed, in our jncressingly
complex economy and society,
Benjamin L Hooks
' NAACP executive director
v) many other factor· are
involved that full employment
should be the last reason that
is given. Yet the news media
and many national economists
reflcxively use the job rate
level as their favorite whip
ping boy when they begin
looking for reasons behind the
wage-price spiral.
' Without adoubt, inflation
hurt· everyone. But it especi
ally hurts the poor, the mld
dle-class and those with fixed
incomes and pensions
Inflation also makes people
mean, vicious and selfish. It
draws them inward. People
worry about, can I eat? Can
I buy a second cart Can I send
my children to school or coll
ege?
Inflation, as we have seen in
recent months, makes people
conservative. They vote down
school taxes, even though it
hurts their children. They vote
for California's Proposition 13
type restriction on state and
local budgets because they
feel property taxes are rising
much too fast and too high.
They become selfish and stop
worrying about the underpri
vileged, especially the black
child down the street.
As a minority, black people
are the draftees of the inflat
ion fight. Poor people do not
make the decision to put a
voluntary ceiling on wages. If
they are lucky enough to have
a job, inflation will be making
it even more difficult for them
to survive.
Faced with whether or not
they should fight inflation or
continue the push for jobs,
therefore, the choice seems
academic. The survival of
blacks reste on whether they
can find a job, a livelihood
that protects them from the
humiliation of the unemploy
ment line and the peyrholngi
cal damage of welfare.
Blacks must therefore be
alarmed over the prospects of
s deliberately created econo
mic slump next year. For
blacks to benefit, the national
growth rate must be above
four percent. Yet, national
economic leaders are now
predicting that the economy
will grow no taster Uian be
tween two and a half and three
percent in 197#. Mr Carter
predicts three percent But,
we have our doubts about that
expressed optimism.
Furthermore, there are con
certed efforts to cut by more
than half the federal budget
deficit. This action will further
restrict the amount of funds
available for federal pro
grama.
Given these alternatives, it
will be up to black voters to
decide which is more Ιπιραφ
ant-the administration's
inflation fight or a healthy,
national economic · program
that will provide a job for
every American who is willing
and able to work.
JNo Votes, Then No Jobs
Watergate bas run out.
Wind· of change will brti« a
cold winter for Black Ameri
cana. Political changea on
both coaeta have been damag
ing to Black American leader
ship. Bigots in the ballot box
Mew not only two existing
black political leaders from
office, Lt Governor Mervyn
Dymally in California and
U.S. Senator Edward Brooks
in Massachusetts, but put cap
ital punishment in first place.
Governor Edmund G.
(Jerry) Brown's margin of
victory was the largest num
erical gap In the history of
contested gubenatorial races
in California. The lovable little
governor got 1,830,MO votes
Capital punishment code
name death penalty produced
4.3S2.SM votes a mandate for
maiming Black* American
male political prisoner· in
jail
While the first and only
Black American Associate
Justice of the California State
Supreme Court appointed by
Governor Brown did not as
protocol dictate· campaign,
be nevertheless received
75,000 fewer confirmation
vote· than the hated and haun
ted similarly appelated Chief
Justice Ro*e Byrd.
Racism and wander ran a
closet campaign against even
Mayor Chartes Evers in Miss
iaeippi. Evers finished trailing
third for U.S. Senate seat in a
state nearly half black.
The Lord helps thoee who
help themselves In the 197·
election, only two out of five
Black Americans of voting
age went to the polls. This
November was one of the
lowest voter turnouts in hist
ory, about 37 percent for the
nation which was even lower
than the 38.5 percent recorded
in 1974 in the midst of the
Watergate inspired diarrhea.
American Enterprise Insti
tute, a conservative think
tank, Election· Research Can
ter, reveal· that the U.8. is
second from the bottom of
eight western countries when
compering the latest nation
ejections tun» out of voter*.
While this is ironic for white
America with Its higher edu
cational level than both Black
America and most foreign
nations, it's tragic for Black
Americana.