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I Editorials & Comments Casting The First Stone? Amid the praises heaped on the late Senator Fred Alexander before, during and since his funeral, politics has been brew ing over his replacement in the May 6 Democratic Primary. A coalition of nine black organ izations headed by the Black Political Caucus has been maneuvering to get a black stand-in candidate to complete Alexander's term. Furthermore, the coalition is pushing to have the stand-in candidate named to fill Alexander's place on the November ballot if the name "Alexander" can draw enough votes in the primary to run for one of the four senate seats. While state law is unclear on the question of a deceased can didate involving a slate of candi dates, as opposed to a two-person race, the hlark orvalitinn hoc proceeded to endorse Rowe Mot ley to fill Alexander's seat. Fur thermore, at the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party's an nual convention on Saturday, a resolution was introduced and passed recommending Motley. In response to these develop ments, the Mecklenburg-Cabar rus State Senatorial District Executive Committee selected Motley to fill Alexander's senate seat. Ironically, but not to anyone's surprise, Reginald Hawkins and attorney Charles Bell made a last-minute effort to get the committee to delay their déci sion until "they could find a better candidate." Ironically, too, Hawkins and Bell had the audacity to suggest that the black community was opposed to Motley's selection. Motley's Past? Hawkins reportedly told the committee, "It's a Chappaquid dick for the Democrats in Meck lenburg County. They can rush into it if they want to. It's going to hurt the party." In this re mark Hawkins obviously was referring to Motley's past real estate business that ended up in a bankruptcy court in 1976. Fur thermore, an FBI investigation of allegation that Motley had misused federal monies was closed and he was "cleared" of all wrong-doing" in 1977. In responding to newsmen's questions about Hawkins' re marks, Motley said his financial problems were a "dead issue. I've proven myself as a leader here in North Carolina and in Washington." Hawkins' and Bell's contention that the black community had not been consulted and that "It was just jammed down the throat of the black community," does not fit with the facts. Obviously, no formal poll or vote was taken to determine support for Motley, but the endorsement of nine black organizations re presenting a cross section of the community and a vote of support by the County Democratic Party certainly represents community supDort. Questionable Past? While Hawkins was arguing that he was "compelled to speak out against this kind of situa tion," he seems to have forgotten his own questionable past. We are referring, of course, to Haw kins' problems with the Catawba Presbytery which claims he was not properly chosen to be pastor of the H.O. Graham Metropoli tan Presbyterian Church. It is also a fact that Hawkins was accused some years ago of over charging on dental care for children from low income fa milies. With such a background, what right does Hawkins have to talk about a "Chappaguiddick:" Furthermore, as a minister, Hawkins has obviously forgot ten, if he ever knew, the words of Jesus in John 8:7 where He says, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone..." Thus, it would appear to us that Hawkins needs to look his own past before he criticizes others. Lastly, it is past time for so-called black leaders to stop suggesting that they represent the view point of the black community. Hawkins and Bell have demonstrated that they don't represent the views of anyone but themselves. Vote "Alexander" on May 6 in support of Rowe Motley. Housing Situation There is a drama going on in the United States today. The drama is concerned with dreams. While many people have realized their drams for a better life, others remain in a state of hopelessness because of discrimination based on sex, race, age, handicap, or national origin. One dream that most Ameri cans have is decent housing at prices and rents they can afford. For some the dream has become a reality; for too many others it has been a dream deferred. Each year, the U.S. Commis sion on Civil Rights offers a kind of yardstick on the nation's progress. The commission, in its report to the President and Congress, surveyed housing and found a mixed picture during The commission found that minorities, female family heads and other low income families spent disproportionately large amounts of their low income on deteriorating and overcrowded housing. As prices of buying or building single-family homes continue to rise, more and more families have no choice except to rent. A family's range of housing choic es to rent is even further restrict ed by the continuation of capri cious discrimination by land lords against families with chil dren. You Can Prevent It.. This Is What We Can Do Now. As I See It Armageddon Now? By Gerald Ο. Johnson Poet Columnist The very religious people I know constantly talk of Armageddon is upon us. They frequently parallel the current events of today with the writings in Reve lations. Moreover, they constantly talk about the new order where good rules over evil. Well, not to take these things lightly, I looked into it myself. I read the Book of Revelations (Twice) and I read other publications to enlighten myself on this matter. Let me be the first to say that I've never been so confused in all my life. However, I have formu lated an opinion on the subject. Confusion has never stopped me before. I think we are witnessing Armageddon now. How ever, it is not the end of the world scenario preached by the religious of the mouth, if not of the heart. We are witnessing a re ordering of the world caused by a series of re lated events. The reorder ing is causing the conflicts that we read about daily in our news media. As the new order attempts to sup plant the (rid, it is met with resistance from thoee with power in the old order. We are witnessing the end of the Industrial age and all forms associated with it. We don't have the energy supply to support the industrial age any long er. Unfortunately, people of power will not accept this fact because their power is based on the in Gerald Ο. Johnson dus trial age. Hence, Arma geddon. * To get an understanding of what is taking place, it is necessary to understand how the industrial revolu tionary supplanted the agricultural age. Prior to becoming in dustrialized, the entire world was agriculturally based. The main energy supply was muscles and simple tools. Man muscles, animal muscles and the wheel and pulley. People farmed for their own live lihood. As populations grew the demand on the agricul tural age grew to a point where it strained the era. Then came the discovery of foesil fuels as an energy supply. Inventions and me thods for doing things sprang up everywhere (te lephone, postal service, railrood, steam engine). Hence, the birth of the Industrial Revolution. But, lephone, postal service, railrood, steam engine. Hence, the birth of the industrial revolution. But, worldwide as the industrial I revolution took root wars broke out. Even in the U.S. the Civil War was fought and it was not fought to free the slaves (sorry all of you Lincoln lovers). The wars were a direct consequence of the people in power resisted the change. The Civil War was a fight over the control of this country. Would the agricultural Sourn De dominated by the rapidly industrializing North. The rest is history. The same type of wars were fought in Japan, 'USSR, France, Germany and other industrialized nations for the reason. 1 would speculate that religious proponents would have concluded then that they were witnessing Ar mageddon. Indeed, they were. They were witness ing the end of a major era in history, but not the end of the world. Similarly, today we are witnessing the end of a major era. The industrial age is being supplanted by a new era. .The demand on nature's non-renewable energy supply. Fossil fuels have strained the indus trial age. Consequently, we are witnessing the resist ance of the new era re placing the old. The new era brings with it a new order, a new power structure, a shifting of power, and new leaders. So, in reality, it is an Armageddon of sorts. One that is currently in pro gress. One that you'd bet ter Drenar#» fnr BE EQUAL I —" —-I Testing Under Fire One of the most pathetic American tfes is the naive faith of test results. We give tests for almost everything under the sun, most especially for entrance to colleges, graduate schools, and jobs. And we think the results of those tests actually predict behavior in the real world. So college exams are believed to predict how students will do in school, and job tests supposedly measure how well people will perform on the job. Actually, all those tests measure is how well people take tests. Framing and producing tests is a time consuming, expensive business, and so is scoring them. But if a test is of the short-answer variety, it can be scored by a computer. ου must tc2>u> jusi measure iiuw well people take multiple-choice tests. People in control of school admissions or hiring often seek security in the misleading accuracy of numerical results. And large portions of the public confuse test scores with "merit." Tests are also a good indicator of class background. There's a link between high scores on college entrance exams and high family income. Middle class kids are exposed to tests earlier, trained to take them, and given expensive coaching on how to perform well on them. Minority youngsters or students from poor families don't have that background, and tend to score lower. The result is often to deny access to higher education to young people who would otherwise succeed in their careers. Although the fallibility of tests is widely admitted, excessive reliance is often placed on them. Testing is a useful tool for discovering gaps in knowledge, but it cannot be taken as a valid predictor of future success or be confused with some objective standard of merit. Some medical schools have found, for example, that black students who do poorly on Written exams do superior clinical work. Minority law students who score ]pw on law aptitude tests are often superior in class room work and in the practice of law. m The fact is that tests serve one purpose - to screen people out. Whatever the scarce commodity in question - places in a school or a valued job - the tests serve to narrow down the applicants to the favored few. In the process, many people from poor families and many minorities lose out, even though they might otherwise have doije well in the school or the job. Once we recognize that testing is, at best, a screening method of questionable value, we can de-emphasize the reliance placed on testing and break the link with supposed merit Merit should mean good performance - in the school or on the job. It shouldn't be confused with test results that wrongly purport to predict future good performance. The testing syndrome is one of the last refuges of the opponents to affirmative action. So long as the myth persists that standardized tests accurately predict future performance, and alternative evaluative methods are not explored, minorities and poor DeODle will be denied nnnnrtiinit.ftn THE CHARLOTTE POST Second Class Postage No. 965500 "THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER" Established 1918 Published Every Thursday by The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. 1524 West Blvd.-Charlotte, N.C. 28208 Telephone (704)376-0496 Circulation - 9,200 62 Y ears Of Continuous Service BILL J0HN80N...Editor, Publisher BERNARD REEVES...General Manager Second Class Postage No. 965500 Paid At I 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 photoes is 5 p.m Monday. All photos and copy submitted become the property of the POST, and will not be returned. National Advertising Respresentative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. 43 W. Sth 81., Suit* U*3 24M 8. Michigan Ave New York, N.Y. IMM Chic»*·, III. «MU <212) 4*»-122· Calumet 5^0200 1 From. The White House Carter Scuttles Human Rights Where Haitians Are Concern**! Alfred· L. Madia on Special To The Poat President Carter has just announced asylum for 3,500 Cuban refugees and, of course, he has increased the Southern Asian refugee quota, but the Haitian re fugees have not been ac corded that same treat ment. Senator Richard Stone of Florida, In a letter on March 17 called the Presi dent's attention to the plight of 810,000 Haitian refugees who have fled the oppression of President for life, Jean Claude Duvalier, regime. These are Ame rica's boat people. Just a few days ago the landing of many of theae boat people in Florida was shown on television. They showed the same strong desire to flea ι oppression as Asian boat people do. Senator Stone called Mr. Carter's attention to the dangerous risk these people took in traveling 800 miles, in flimsy sailboats, to escape horrible Haitian treatment. Many who started drowned on the way. Theae refugees' plea .<7. Alfreda L. Madison for American asylum has gone unheeded, while the administration hides be hind the excuse that the Southeast Asians are politi cal refugees; those fleeing a government because of fear of being punished for any opposition to treatment by the government offi cials. Senator Stone pointed out to Mr. Carter convincing evidence showing Haitian refugees would face per secution and even death if they are returned to their homeland. These facts were given in the federal court, and before the Inter American Commission of Human Rights of the Or ganization of American Stàtes; and evidence that these are indeed political refugees was given cre dence by the recent censor ship law applicable to Hai tian and foreign Journalists and the violent disruption by Haitian Human Rights League. The League's pre sident and a U.S. Embassy official were severly injured. Mr. Stone informed the President that Attorney General Civiletti heard tes timony from Florida of ficials, civic leaders and refugees regarding human rights conditions in Haiti. He stated that evidence from these sources and Amnesty International re ports give credence to rea sons why these Haitians should be granted political asylum or refugee status. Although the number of Haitian refugees is rela tively small, humane and equal treatment should be accorded them; which is the fundamental principle of our laws and national t conscience. There is a class action suit brought by the Haitian Refugee Center, which has brought charges against the Haitian refugee pro cessing procedures. Senator Stone has em phasized very strongly that he does not buy the State Department's explanation that everything is fine and lovely in Haiti. He stated that blacks are particular ly concerned over the fact that the administration does not give Haitian re fugees the same treatment accorded Asian refugees. Big U.S. businesses, which are friends of Presi dent Duvalier make huge profits off cheap Haitian labor This is not entirely unlike our Shah Pahlavi and Somoza relationship. If President Carter to sin cerely committed to hu man right* it is encumbent upon him to give equal •tatus to the Haitian Ρβ°Ρ·« Hi* present actions certainly give impetus to the belief that his human righto policy is tainted with color. Do You Know A Soeeial Oiilri? Do you know a special child? - a child with a special gift, a child with a special need, or a child with a permanent or tem porary disability? "Child Find" will hold a screening clinic on Satur day, April 26 to help parents find the special gifts and needs of their pre-school children ages 4-6. The screening will take place at the Metro Center, 700 East Second St., across from the Board of Edu cation. Appointments for the free clinic should be made In advance -by calling 372-8620, ext. 350. Those without appointments may come at 2 p.m. and will be seen as space la available. One parent or adult mwt accompany the child The purpose of the Child Find screening clinic is to identify children that have special needs and require special help. This could be a gifted child who Is not working up to his or her potential. Or it could be a child with learning pro blems that need to be iden tified and corrected. According to Child Find coordinator Carolyn Ma this, "We will teat each child in 7 areas and com pare their development to others of the same age. We will report the findings to the parent and m^kft sug /. gestions for things they can do at home to helpA* child, or make referral*™ otner professional ser vices." The 7 screening stations will be dental, vision, hear- 1 ing, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, concepts and communications. Forty volunteers from Johnson C. Smith Univers ity will help with the screening clinic on Satur day. i— , - "".I'M , rss ... « ΓΓ. M CM#» ··**· ι «T*
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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April 24, 1980, edition 1
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