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edfiiiij t couchij | Paradox In Black-On-Black Crime . By HOYLE H. MARTIN SR. Poet Editorial Writer The propensity to commit violent acts was not a cultural trait of the thousands of indentured servants and slaves brought to America from Africa. In fact, studies show clearly that violence and crime in general is something the blacks learned after arriving in America. Of greater significance, however, is the fact that black Americans have undoubted ly been the greatest victims of crime. As reported by the National Crime Survey of 1975 (the latest national data) per thousand people in the population, blacks - who com prise only 11 percent of the population -were victimized by a ratio of nearly 2 to 1 when compared with whites. The data shows per one thousand - Victim* Black Whit* Motor vehicle theft 26.8 18.5 Burglary 128.8 87.0 Murder (per IUU victims) 47.0 51.0 Sexual Assault \2 0.9 Personal Larceny 21.2 8.4 “Given the right set of circumstances, any person can become a crime victim,” says Bard and Sangrey in their recent publication, ‘The Crime Victim’s Book.” They contend further that since we have a value system that says people generally get what they deserve or, rather, deserve what they get and that crime victims are thus dif ferent from others - people who are not vic tims. Bard and Sangrey conclude, “labeling the crime victim different - a loser, a sucker, a mark - is only a small step away from blaming the victim for being involved in the crime at all.” Blacks are considered “losers” because of the impact that institutionalized racism has upon every aspect of their lives and they are “suckers” because of their continued acceptance of the lifestyles that racism im poses on them. These labels are partly justified by the failure of blacks to (1) accept openly and candidly the fact that most crimes against blacks are committed by blacks, (2) stop be ing sympathetic to blacks who' rob old peo ple and once imprisoned shout tbayVe - political prisoners, (3) stop accepting pover ty and racism as a justification for criminal acts and (4) confront and deal with the paradoxical question of being dispropor tionately victimized on one hand and being treated primarily as a victim with the ac companying stigmas of being inferior. In analyzing these four points it must be noted that while blacks are victimized in disproportionate numbers, they also com mit a disproportionate number of the crimes that create the most fear. This may be in part one means for blacks to release the anger and hatred that James Baldwin refers to when he says, "To be a Negro in , this country and to be (racially) conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” :• Nevertheless, the percentage of crimes committed by blacks is rarely mentioned by liberal whites for fear of offending law abiding blacks and blacks don’t talk about it for fear of reinforcing the attitudes of racial bigots or the latter’s prejudices of whites victimized by blacks. ,Political Prisoners 1 Secondly, UN Ambassador Andrew Young’s statement a few months ago that there were many black political prisoners in : the United States met with considerable ob • jcction because of the over-generalization nature of his comment. Thus, blacks must stop protecting and supporting those blacks who rip-off the community and then cry “I’m a political prisoner" when jailed. , The “Loser” Image | Thirdly, blacks must resist any effort to condone black crime. In fact, if urban liv ing, unemployment, poor education, inade quate housing and poor health are making blacks “losers," crime simply compounds the "loser" image and further assures the reality. Blacks are only victims of the “loser" characteristics if they accept them and avoid the challenges that may offer a better life. Engaging in acts of crime is the surest way to confirm a "loser" status and acceptance that 1 can’t make the system work for me as an individual. Last, and probably the most significant of our four points centers on the hard reali ty that blacks are disproportionately vic timized (usually by other blacks), yet if we look to the larger - mostly white - society for pity and sympathy, there may be a tendency for whites to conclude that this further justifies their own feelings of superiority. Washington Post columnist William Raspberry has written, ‘There is no surer expression of superiority than to treat peo ple primarily as victims. There is no more crippling an attitude than to think of yourself primarily as a victim." He adds, “victimism (teaches black youth) to see themselves not as intelligent beings with the capacity to shape their own destinies but as victims of a racism they can’t do anything about...” Such a situation evokes a sense of “pity the poor weak, inferior blacks” on the part of most whites and a sense of renewed rage by blacks vented by more crime usually against other blacks. Thus, it is past time for black people to rise up against those who would victimize their communities and begin to show that they don’t support the over-killed phrase “...a nigger ainH s_" theory that too many at least subconsciously accept. It’s your life, your child, your home, your community, your state and your na tion and it’s your crime problem. Control the latter or we won’t for very long have (he fotnjer,, l>! ’ *sr*ri%r nntf- •* •Mixes And 1_iation ReprintedFrom The AFL-CIONews National debate over the terms of President Carter’s proposed 1980 “austerity” national budget is justi fiably focused on attempts to cut programs vital to the well-being of American economic and social life. There is danger, however, that the intensity and urgency of this debate will tend to move attention from a basic injustice of federal economic policy-the fact that American wor kers and their families now pay considerably more than their fair share of the federal tax burden. The President's proposals attack the vitality of federal programs that directly affect workers. He would cut back social security benefits on which most workers depend. He would hold down efforts to fulfill the promise of the Occupational Safety & Health act. He would trim job producing programs and weaken the federal supports for a whole series of carefully constructed social endea vors. UNeJApECYMZNT FRUSTRATION INDIFFERENCE SAD NOUS!NO i Add D Fuel For “Black Rage” Another Side Of The Coin? by Dr. M aggie I ,amh N icholson Special to the Post •lay Komnson. CMS Superin tendent. was talking recently about firing teachers poor grades ana broken homes, there is another side of the min. Under this system, some teachers are so busy applying the segregated rules they forget that the most important thing is the child. Maybe the teacher was a product of the desegrega tion system that Charlotte has been laboring under for the past eight or ten yenrs. This avstem is also one of the rea sons for the had grades. So why fire the teacher for something that the system is to blame for? The broken homes that he wants to place the blame on also ore not always the blame. My child was reared in a broken home and she graduated in the lop ten of her class before she was sixteen. I also know many other students who did the snme thing and I told Mr. Robinson that when he told this to a ministers' conference over a year ago. Rut he insisted that the broken homes were one of the main reasons for school failure. Why not say some hmkpn hnmpn9 Under this system, children nre getting run over, partly because the drivers are tired from sitting in school so long, then having that long drive to make with children that ure also tired, dejected and dis gruntled. I also see some relief from the gns prices. It costs $7.(KM) per dnv to cross bus. Of course, there are some counties that love their children and want to save their taxpayers some mo ney. so they integrate their schools. This enormous amount of money could help upgrade the schools and build the needed ones. Then a lot of students could come hack to Cuhlic schools. I for one. would enefit since it costs money that could go towards helping children's parents. It is surpris ing to learn that so many people do not know that Char lotte is not integrated. Char lotte is only desegregated. Neighborhood schools ore inte grated schools if everyone in a geographical nren is allowed to attend the school that they are nenrest. When there nre two schools in the same neighbor hood. and certain people go to one school and the others go to another school, then that is > 1 / • Dr.Nicholson seureiinted school. Thnt is whut we had here in Charlotte before deseurcuatinn bepan. I feel that 1 Charlotte needs to urow up und stand on her feet to see to it that all her children >tet a chance at an education withunt intimida tion. Sometimes I think that Mr. Robinson is closely related to a broken home or a child abused one orhewould not take the stand that he does. In a local newspaper some time nun. it stated that there were 191 classes with all hlack . students and over 200 with all white students. That's carryinit them from one side of town to the other all in the name of deseureuation. To integrate u/nnfH Hm numu tuitk o 11 ihu segregation among the races as fnr as school is concerned. This system is prejudiced against all students that are not ethnic white or ethnic hinck. Maybe vou will throw this article aside, button up your lips, stop up vour ears and close your eyes ns hns been done since this evil started in our system by cross busing. All the system hns to do is to integrate, then McMillan's l.aw-Rulex will not he needed any longer unless the system should err down the way. What will it be Charlotte, high gas, cross busing, illiterate children or better integrated local schools? Parents are a very important ingredient in their children’s learning, whether the parent enn rend or not. f was assigned (volunteer) to a teacher who hns what it takes to he n great teacher. All of his students are noxious to !earp; thev ncem to love him nnd he shows that he hns his students' interest at heart. I hope to say mire iiihiui mm (treat humanit trinn in the near future. There are HO.000 persona in Hharlntte-Mecklenhurg that ain’t read. Do you want this lumber to continue to in :rease? Ed Williams in his iotes and comments, "How !3an You Help Schools." said that our children need all of us. It's our fault thnt the students :an not read. But with the proper system the child and/or the conditions will he at fault. When students are recognised is students rather than a aetire intod race of names with race inua on them, then all of us will »ee n difference for the better. I 'nn’t blame a student for refus ing to k<> to n school that has been tainted ns inferior. A person on the bottom who slants to net to the top doesn't rtced thnt kind of tax hanirinit r»n his hack. The next thins we must remember is U*qt to into- , urnte the schooli does not mean thut the hearts are integrated, ho don't iro there tookinii for thnt: just think of the equal opportunity. Treat everyone as vou would like to he treated. Get vour education! ■ mi iirii.r nMum tn uic wit server, January 10. that He "wns disappointed in our re sults and that Charlotte should set the pace (for the state), not follow it. Well, Phil, what you don't know is that many coun ties right here in N.C. have nlrendy integrated and can tell vou without going nut of the state on the taxpayers money to be told how. They are already in the lend since the early sixties. They have transportation but not cross busing. Yes, Charlotte is a pacesetter hut not for the benefit of all her student* which is her most valuable asset. They are the ones who are going tn correct today's failures. We need more people like Phyllis Falcone who will speak out. It will fall on deaf ears for n while, hut if others ' continue to pound on their heads, then maybe the plugs will he knocked out of the ears of the superintendent and the chairman and nil others who continue to hold our children hack. I.isn l/evit. Associated Press, admit* that "one teacher finds poor render* enn achieve if they get support." Yes. Phil, you got the big title, what an* you going to do with It? 7 VERNON L. l.:;i nil • 4* • ,/ I 0 •* J 7 • EQUAL Protecting The Urban Environment Coalition-building has always been a prime strategy of the civil rights movement, and it is important, in this age of growing concern about the environment, that a work ing coalition be achieved with environmentalists. A key step in building that coalition was made early in April at a national conference on the urban environment, aptly called City Care. The conference was co-sponsored by a number of federal agencies, the National U^pn League, the Sierra Club and the Urban Enrivonment Conference and Foundation. The meeting’s sponsors symbolized the growing con cern of black groups for environmentally-caused health hazards among minorities, the shifting focus of en vironmentalists to urban problems, and the government’s continuing interest in protecting the environment. The new negativist mood of the nation demands that groups working for constructive change join in creative coalition efforts. Otherwise all would be swamped by reactionary trends. But coalition also means that the part ners understand each other’s priorities. For blacks, relegated to the margins of our society, the priority has to be jobs. That’s why so few blacks have evidenced sympathy for proposals to limit growth. Sup porters of slow and no growth theories claim that the real issue isn’t economic growth — making the pie bigger — but how the wealth we have is distributed. But Mack people know that our best, perhaps only, chance to achieve economic parity lies through expanding the national economy and getting a bigger slice of that growth. In a no-growth economy, the white majority isn't going to give up part of its share so that minorities can en- / joy economic equality. / So a major challenge to this emerging coalition lies \f devising policies of environmentally sound economc growth. Advocates of solar energy have met th^ challenge by demonstrating how widespread use of solara* energy could create many jobs for the urban poor who lack skills. /\nmncr arcs ui wuupcrauun wuuiu uc in me rcguuuuiy sphere. Cries for ending federal regulatory efforts nearly always center around the very agencies responsible for cleaning up our air and water and making workplaces safer. Black people have a stake in this. 'Black neighborhoods are most affected by pollution while black workers are often locked into the most hazardous jobs that are most liable to result in health and safety risks. And environmental concerns have to be defined broad ly. Too many, people think of the environment, in purely phnfcpl terms. But the!Menvironriientn efHdman>Mtags refers to all exterrial factors affecting people — eCbWdftiic and social, as well as physical. So an effective coalition around the urban environm<£ has to be concerned with eradicating rats, with improving housing conditions, and with creating jobs. Poverty is itself a major cause of the degradation of the black environment. Unemployment is related to higher in cidence of health problems. Slum living contributes to in creased hazards assumed by the poor. A recent study found that children who do poorly in school may have learning disabilities related to high lead content in their bodies, lead that comes from auto ex hausts end polluted air lead that is more frequently found in poverty neighborhoods. The nuclear incident at the Three Mile Island plant was in progress while this urban environment conference was under way. It provided a frightening example of the im portance of environmental concerns to poor people. By throwing the future of nuclear energy into question, the incident made energy an issue of immediate concern. The Administration promptly mot'ed to deregulate oil prices, something that will hit the poor hardest. Poor people use less energy but spend more of their in comes for it. Although the energy crisis has been around so long it’s getting gray in the beard, no plan has ever been devised to shield the poor from the spiraling cost of energy. Here's an example of an issue this emerging coalition can run with. It can come up with proposals to defend the Interests of poor people in energy matters, and ftght to get them passed. White Politicians Successfully Divide, Rule Poor People Jeffrey Matthew "The more things change the more they remain the aam«." Two days after the victorious charter change defeat. I wrote the following for a daily news paper in a commentary on the mayoral elections: Black indi viduals who either enjoy social acceptance or who are per ceived aa being powerful among Black votere have them eelvee mimicked the art or science, if you will of planta tion politics and thus exploit the artiflcical divisions among Black voters. Simply put. white politicians are still able to successfully divide and rule poor people for a few pieces of silver. I am a student of psy chology in the courtroom, and I constantly tell my colleagues that a judge or jury will respond to an attorney based on who or what the judge or jury perceives you to be. My white colleagues know thia game very we|l, since they have practiced this princi ple for centuries; that's what imperialism was all about. 30 last May, during a fund-raiser this writer sponsored for Con gressman Gray, the media appointed leading white candi date: William J. Oraen, inched his way through 700 gyrating disco bodies, mouthing his famous melody that a Black mayoral candidate could not win in Philadelphia, so do the next obvious — support me. Mr. Green has repeated thia slogan so often that your common criminals, gin rummy commu nity activists and just plain ordinary folk are the only ones who don't believe it. I'd be damned, hut the so-called Black power brokers have gone lock, stock and barrel for this veiled racist statement. It is racist, because it pretends to put a Wonder Woman lasso on reason, but shifts the blame to those 'other people.' It pro claims one of two or more qualified candidates as a shoo in by default I REFUSE to buy that, and no other statement has similar ly aroused my indignation the last six months. It is my convic tion that Blacks must believe in themselves politically and be have like winners; that white commentators cannot set our agenda and control our ambi tions. Black political achieve ment throughout the history of this country has never come when Blacks were ready. In fact, all the Black mayors of large cities were elected before their own constituencies were as politicised as Black voters are now in Philadelphia. Black mayoral candidates have al ways had to go out there and grab the bull by its two horns. So long as Black youth unem ployment is 60 percent, so long as the average Black family earns 59 percent of what white families earn, so long as Blacks are last hired and first fired. Blacks will never be "ready.” Practical politics is some times worth examination. But right now in Philadelphia Blacks are at the crossroads of pulling off the most stunning stroke of independence no other large city has experienced. It is therefore absolutely ridiculous for Black leaders in Philadelphia to bargain at this time with white candidates like Oreen for Important city iobs. The Philadelphia Home Rule Charter vesta considerable power in the mayor of this city wno tne mayor doe# not ap point he selects somebody to appoint that other person. It is what we call a "strong mayor" form of government. Right thinking Black people should therefore be directing their energies at electing either a qualified Black mayor or some one in whom there’s proven trust and whose word is his bond, not an individual who • • • • * . put* a snnnKing vioiat to ahame and do«a a dla appearing act whenever you need nim. LET ME tell theBlack power hrokera a short story about a smooth-talking, good-looking liberal white farmer named Tom Watson who called him self a populist — loosely inter preted to mean, "for the com mon folk." Tom felt the little farmers were getting shafted by tha government, §o he put tomUAr a coalition of Blacke and whitaa in a foot-atomping, heU-raiain* movement, oopa good of* Georgia When°the white farmer* got what they wanted, tha Blacka could not Joined the aatabliehment. That waa two oanturiaa ago, and today soma independent Black leaders and thousands of little people don’t want history to repeat ltMif. <*on't misunderstand mr. if a reliable, trueth worthy whlu candidate who is mom qualified than a Black candi date to govern this city aek. Blacks to support him or her. we should pause and consider. June Approaching t or Compliance Wfth Maternity Law * North Carolina employer* are facing an April 29 deadline for compliance with a new federal law passed last October requiring that they liberalise their maternity benefits for female employees and spouses of male employees alike. The Pregnancy Discrimina tion Act, Public Law 98-565, an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, was signed into law by President Carter on October 31, 1978. The basic principle of this law is that women affected by pregnancy and related condi tion* must be treated the same as other employees or sppli cants op the basis of their ability or (inability to work The same principle applies in the area of fringe benefit*. such as disability benefits, sick leave policy and health insurance for com pa idee aad other organizations hiring If or more employees. The new law is generating many ques tions from employers and employees throughout the state. Employers have until April 29 to bring into compliance any fringe benefit or insurance program. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, the state’s largest provider of employee health cars coverage, has under taken a special program to assist its more than 6,000 affected groups in upgrading their benefits to comply with the new law. Specifically, the law says that maternity benefits for employees must conform to the fallowing guideUaas: -Maternity must bo trentod as any othar nnniUtlmi This and type of benefits are offer od by the employer for other conditions must also bo offer ad for maternity. In addition, these boaofUs most bo offered tosinglewomonemployees as -If there are no wattii* periods for other preexisting conditions, there can be no waiting period tar maternity benefita. However, maternity can bo treated in the earns maimer as othar pre-existing conditions. This means that if an -tnploynr'a health cart profciam requires a waiting period before benefits era available for preexisting eon -1 ditions, the seme waiting period can apply to maternity care. -Employers will not be required to pay for elective or therapeutic abortion* except where the continued preg nancy would soda^er the life o# the mother; or except where medical complication* have arisen from an abortion. TOE CHARLOTTE POST "THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER" Established 1918 Published Every Thursday By The Charlotte Poet Publishing Co., Inc. :• 1524 West Blvd.-Charlotte, N.C. 28208 : ( Telephones (704)376-0496-378-0497 Circulation, 9,915 60 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS SERVICE BILL JOHNSON...Editor Publisher BERNARD REEVES...General Manager ; ( SHIRLEY HARVEY...Advertising Director Second Class Postage No. 965500 Paid At Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3,1878 > I |J i Member National Newspaper Publishers Association i P'-► - . North Carolina Black Publishers Association i* ' I ' ! Deadline for ail news copy and photor is 5 p m. >' Monday. All photos and copy submitted becomes the property of the POST, and will not be returned. k . 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 .. ■■■■ i
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April 26, 1979, edition 1
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