Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Aug. 21, 1980, edition 1 / Page 2
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I Editorials & Comments Alternative For Presidential Choice Recently (July 17) we said in this column that considering the quality of the presidential can didates the American people face a tragedy of major pro portions. Manning Marable of THE AFRO AMERICAN echoed our sentiments when he wrote, “The democratic charade we call the American political system has reached the point of self destruc tion.” Marable continues, “The two party system, whose standard bearers in this year’s election of 1980...(have) ceased to offer any thing approaching fundamental alternatives for the American people.” Marable illustrates his point by pointing out that Alan Greenspon, former chairperson of the Council of Economic Ad visors under Gerald Ford, said in a seminar recently that both the Democrat and Republican are running on an identical economic platform - tax cut of $25 or $30 billion, largely favorable to big business. In short, as one reporter listen ed to Greenspon said, “it doesn’t make a great deal of difference whether Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Carter wins...in Novem ber.” Given these circumstances, and the powerlessness of the American people to find an alternative before November, how can the voters exercise the use of their vote in a con structive way? This is the question that is going to grow in significance as we move closer to the November elections. How then or what criteria should black Americans use for de ciding who to vote for? Worthwhile Issues We partly answered that ques tion on August 7 by suggesting that Jimmy Carter, inspite of his weaknesses, might appoint one or more Supreme Court justices of a little more liberal persua sion than would Ronald Reagan. This point is worthy of more detailed comment because it may he the only logical ana worthwhile issue upon which to cast our votes particularly by black people. The worthiness arises from the fact that the person elected to the presidency in November may have the opportunity to appoint four or five justices to the Supreme Court. The possibility of these ap pointments arise from the fact that justices William Brennan, Warren Berger, Thurgood Mar- - shall, Lewis Powell and Harry Blackmon are all over 70 years of age, and some of them are in poor health. President Carter has not had the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice, and if he Jails to get reelected he’ll be the first president in nearly 115 years not to have made such an appointment. On the otherhand. while ser ving as Governor of California, Ronald Reagan appointed a con servative to the state Supreme Court. Therefore, if elected pre sident he is likely to do the Same. In this regard, Reagan has told black groups that he would con sider appointing a black to the higher court. However, it is doubtful that he will be able to find a qualified black who repre sents the kind of conservative views Reagan would require of his appointees. The fact is, under a Reagan presidency, the present high court consisting of four Demo crats - White, Marshall, Brennan and Powell - and five Republi cans could possibly change in four years to eight largely con servative Republicans and one conservative Democrat, Justice Byron White. If reelected, Carter will pro bably appoint a black to replace the ailing Thurgood Marshall - the high court’s only black member - and also appoint the first woman. These and his other possible appointments will un doubtedly be liberals by com parison with possible Reagan appointees. Hade Perspective The significance of the ap pointments to the high court particularly from a black per spective, is that conservatives from both parties have historic ally opposed strong civil rights laws and equal opportunity affirmative action programs. The rather conservative shift or the present high court - in response to the conservative mood of the nation - has de monstrated this in the BAKKE and WEBER cases. Equally if not more important is the fact that the next series of appointees to the high court will undoubtedly serve through the year 2000 and in so doing will be making decisions that will have a far reaching affect on civil rights and related issues throughout most of the 21 cen tury. Therefore, a conservative court could retard (if not stop) the progress of blacks particu larly in the areas of civil rights and economic rights and op portunities. Thus, if there is little differ ence between the policies and platforms of Democrat and Re publican party candidates we will need to look for alternate justifications for deciding who to vote for. The possible U.S. Su preme Court appointees is one such alternative. In future weeks we will sug gest other alternatives for de ciding who to vote for in the presidential race in November. ' I As I See It Nation Going To Hell? n -. /I ■ a m a • ' m Post Columnist ..Everybody you talk to these days agrees on one thing; the nation is going to Hell. We have become weak, defenseless, spine less, gutless and insecure as a nation, they say. The talk continues with the Iranian and Pakistanian crisis, the recent Cuban crisis, our dependence on foreign oil, and many, many others being used as demonstrations to bring home the point. Well, it may be true that as a nation, we aren’t dictating world policy as before but so what? After all a 5 cent candy bar costs 20 cents today. Simply stated, today is a new day. What held true yesterday will not hold true today. However, descretion should not.be construed as weakness. The force to punish those who try to intimidate us is available. The reasons for not using it are probably numerous, but even I with such limited knowledge can easily see a few. One need only go back in history, some 10-15 years and put together a vivid picture of some of the reasons. The sixties brought us death. John and Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King were all assassinated in this de cade. The Vietnam war had escalated and the country was skidding into an eco nomic recession. The public was practically dumbfounded. Confusion and chaos were the state of the nation. It seemed as if the country had lost all sense of direction. The public conscious came to the forefront and demon strations demanding the end to the war were widespread. Well, the seventies came herald Johnson and the magic man “Ole Tricky Dick” and the boys put an end to the war; but not before it had taken its toll in lives and in morale. While the country was recouperating from all of this bad history, “Tricky D” had started some of his wizardry it; getting reelect ed. The oil embargo hit and more confusion manisfest ed itself. Gas lines and oil shortages caused a deep recession and morale again sank to a low. Eventually, all of this wizardry came to light and another downer for the country. Unfortun ately, while exposing "Tricky D,” the CIA and FBI were also exposed. The country would not tolerate such immoral con duct from officials entrust ed with the protection of our high moral standards. Nixon, CIA and FBI were black washed. Then the man with the smile and the integrity was annointed Pres. So you see, emotionally and spiritually, the country has been riding on a down- ' er for a long time. We as a country have been reacting to this down syndrome. President Carter was elect ed because of his integrity and because at the time this was what the country needed. We practically ; ignored his weaknesses as a politician and a leader and entrusted him with running the country. Now, in a critical situa tion, this man is doing just that, running the country. It would be callous to unnecessarily thrust us into a war that could be prevented. Those indivi duals desiring such force ful actions against a small country-such as Iran would be the first to protest when the first shipment of Ame rican casualties came home. Moreover, if we went over and stomped hell out of ’em, then we would be compelled to give ’em foreign aid for stomping hell out of ’em. Who needs it? Gastonia Is Seeking Part-Time Instructors The Gastonia Recreation Departmen i« < King part-time in i. for intermediate .d advanced gymnastic classes to be taught at Phillips Center beginning September 8. Must have solid back ground in tumbling, stunts uneven parallel bars, bal ance beam, etc. Prefer person at least 18 /ears of age. Involves after school and early evening hours. Interested persons should call Cynthia Byars at 864-3211, Ext. 297. Art Classes A class introducing child ren 6-12 years of age to the vorld of art is being form id at Roland Bradley Cen er. Sketching, hydrocal,. ceramics, pottery and ither activities will be in corporated in the 12-week class which will begin on Saturday, September 13, 0 a.m. -12 noon. Affirmative Action N ' Mailer Of Life & Health By Gerald C. Horne, Esq. . .Again and again, the issue of health care has been raised in this column. And for obvious reasons. Health care is ingerently a life and death matter. This especially holds true for the Black community, which - as in so many other areas - is continually underrepresented amongst health profes sionals and has the worst “state of health” in this land. The United States, generally speaking is way down the list in objective indices of health care. For example, the U.S. ranks 15th in infant mortality rates, behind Sinapore and the German Democratic Republic (East - Germany) among others. Needless to say if the infant mortality rate of Black America alone were measured, the ranking would fall far below such “underdeveloped” countries as Peru, Algeria, Trinidad, etc. The same nolds true for other objective indices; e.g. maternal mortality, life expectancy, inci dence of preventable diseases, death from preventable diseases and death from dis eases and death from diseases against which we have immunization. For example, the .ranks 19th in male life expectancy and 10th in maternal mortality. These gloomy statistics persist despite the fact that what this country spends on health care exceeds what all but four or five countries in the world produce as their total national product. This abomination shows no sign of abating. During the Depression of the 1930s $3 billion was spent on health care. In 1950, the figure was $12 billion. Today it stands at $180 billion, is rising faster than the rate of inflation and now stands as the third largest industry. A cursory tour of the health care topo graphy presents a sorry view. Increasingly, doctors - especially those serving Black communities - come from India, Phillipines and other Third World nations; i.e., those countries most in need of doctors are being subjected to a massive “brain drain.” Most of these doctors are working as “general' practitioners. Before World War II 80 per cent of all doctors fit this category - today, 80 percent of our 350,000 doctors are working as specialists. As in so many other areas, the fact that more money can be made as a specialist helps to explain their over-abun dance. 4.1___ —^ ui ug ^uiiipames, me most profitable major industry in this country in terms of the return on the capital investment and sales. These companies are spending $5,000 per prescribing physician each year to influence the pharmaceutical decisions of U.S. doctors. Not surprisingly, non pill-popping junkies - particularly among ^the elderly - are being produced ilaily. ""he use of valium has reached epidemic proportions. Doctors employ these drugs frequently because (? < it ta!:es less time to give a complaining patient pill and (2) of ten, the “ailment” steins from problems on the job, at home, with the kids, etc. and the doctor, who is ill-equipped for this responsibility, finds its easier to fork over tranquilizers. The number of unnecessary operations has zoomed. Again, the fact that a doctor makes more money by operating tMn not plays a major role in this process. In Britain where health care has been nationalized and taken over by the government, they have signifi cantly fewer operations, such as masec tomies. etc. From Capitol Hill Big Corporations Use Union Busting Schemes’ ' Alfreds L. Madison Special To The Post . .The J. P. Stevens Textile Company has succeeded in using tactics whch make a mockery out of our laws. From the beginning of the twentieth century, big corporations have been against labor unions. In the early days, corpora tions hired goons with bats and guns to beat employees and scabs were hired to replace the workers. Now, the days of the goons are passed and more sophisticated chacanery is used. The present union culprits wear Brooks’ Bro thers suits and carry brief cases with schemes for not certifying unions and deny ing employees' collective bargaining rights. These new corporation goons pass themselves off as employer consultants. Numerous consultant firms have been established to teach cor poration executives how to break incumbent unions and defeat union organ izing campaigns. The con sultants receive exorbitant fees for teaching manage ment employees how to Alfreda L. Madison by-pass the law, stretch, bend and even break the law at the same time breaking the union. Con sultants often hold semin ars in which they do not , even shield their intent to advocate disobedience to the law. Big corporations feel that it is less expensive to hire consultants, ignore the law and pay a small penalty if convicted, es pecially since this is tax deductible. J. P. Stevens, which operates in North Carolina, South Carolina and Geor gia has been adjudged over V twenty times in violation of the law. It has paid some employees back wages, and paid fines, but it has made no effort to adhere to the law. The Taft-Hartley law de clares that the policy of the United States be to en courage collectve bargain ing and to protect the work ers in efforts to achieve that result. While the law. at best is somewhat weak, the National Labor Rela tions Board has not been very vigorous in enforcing it. Since there are around thirty regional offices throughout the country, some regions have been less inclined to carry out Taft-Hartley than others. Some of the more liberal members of congress, realizing that the law need ed strengthening, proposed measures that put teeth into the h II This was pass by the House in the 95th > Congress but it was killed in the Senate by a month of filibuster. During this 96th Congress, various amend ments for strengthening Taft-Hartley have been up in committees. So it seems that Taft-Hartley will re main somewhat toothless for the time being. Of course the Labor Re lations Board does have the liberty to do more on its own than it really does, and if Congress really had the interest and ^tamm.. u> pass stronger labor laws, many of the big corpora tions' management would abolish their illegal abuse. Giant companies have a tremendous lobbying power on Capitol Hill and, of course, many of them have ways of making big contributions to congress men’s campaigns. So the poor laborers are helpless at the hands of big money, l abor unions are being d i ' rtified at an unprece dente<* r*t* because the Justice Department, Labor Department and National Labor Relations Board are not enforcing the law. Even though the present law is inadequate, it would serve as a deterent in many cases if strict enforcement were the rule and rM the ex ception. Muscular Dystrophy Telethone Set I n kAlntnrf (a .a — V i-** w UII annual Muscular Dystro phy Telethon, the Central Cardinal Region of the Sports Car Club of America will hold its Second Annual Muscular Dystrophy Auto cross Challenge at East land Mall, August 31. Autocross competition has, in recent years, be come very popular as a form of automotive recre ation due to its low cost and its accessability to the gen eral public. Basically, an autocross is an event invol ving a series of timed runs through a pylon-outlined course which has been set up in a parking lot of convenient size and loca- < tion. The courses are de- < t !>ignea to simulate road racing courses in minia ture, with left and right hand turns, as well as ess-bends and short straight aways. At most autocross events, speeds are quite low, rarely get ting above 38 mph. How ever, negotiating the turns without knocking over any pylons demands a certain skill, concentration and challenge, making the competition keen and excit ing. All cars run against C,.°ClC ^n,y’ and not against each other, as only ,ne car runs through the course at a time. Because of the stress on 'river skill, and not on equipment cost or com plexity, anyone is welcome to try their hand at auto crossing. Classes exist for every type of car and both men and women. Cars are grouped by performance capabilities, and positions are won while competing against cars of similar per formance. the Muscular Dystrophy Autocross Challenge will begin with registration at *'3Q a.m. on August 31. 4 WE MUST PREVENT OUR OWN CHILDREN FROM TURNING INTO JUNKIES WHO PREY ON THEIR OWN PEOPLE. WE CAN... -PREVENT THAT. Needed Now« United Community Leadership r~ i : inL uiAnu/1 il nisi Second Class Postage No. 965500 "THE PEOPLE’S NEWSPAPER” Established 1918 Published Every Thursday by The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. • 1524 West Blvd.-Charlotte, NC 28208 Telephone (704 ) 376-04% Circulation - 9,200 *_Years of Continuous Service BILL JOHNSON...Editor, Publisher _JjJj^^^^REEVES^GenerjdManagei^^^ 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 Deadline for all news copy and photos is 5 p.m Monday. All photos and copy submitted , become the property of the POST, and will not be returned. National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. 2400 S. Michigan Ave. 45 W 5th St., Suite 1403 Chicago. Ill 60616 New York, N Y. 10036 Calumet 5 0200 ( 212 ) 489-1220 I,
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