Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Nov. 20, 1980, edition 1 / Page 2
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I Editorials & Comments Not Guilty By Reason Of Hate? Undoubtedly, most people, black and white, were shocked by the all-white Guilford County jury’s acquittal of four Ku Klux Klan members and two Nazis of first-degree murder in the shoot ing of five Communist Worker Party (CWP) members in Greensboro on November 3,1979. In response to a CWP an nouncement of a “death to the Klan” rally at a low-income housing project a nine-car Klan caravan arrived on the scene. The jury heard eyewitness testi mony of the violence including evidence that the first two shots came from the auto caravan. The CWP demonstrators shot back leading to a shooting ex change of 39 bullets fired within one minute and 18 seconds. Since jury foreman Octavio Manduley said that in arriving at their verdict, “We looked at only the facts and evidence in the case.” We wonder how five CWP members were killed without anyone being found guilty of anything. On the other hand, it is easy to understand how the not guilty verdict was decided. Most Americans probably hate and deplore everything that the Klan, the Nazis and the CWP represent and believe in. How ever, in this part of the country, the CWP is probably hated con siderably more than the Klan and the Nazis because it is an interracial organization with ar rogant political views committed to the demise of the American political and economic system. It was in fact, we believe, the deep political differences be tween the groups, the rather bizarre behavior of the Greens boro police on the day of the shooting, the alleged sympathy for the Klan by some on the prosecutor’s team, the refusal of the CWP members to testify at the trial, and racism Dure and simple that led to the not guilty verdict. In refusing to testify, the CWP members hoped to further their own charge that the trial was a “sham” and sought a martyr’s role. To that extent, the question might be asked, did the CWP applaud the verdict so they could enhance their martyr role? Finally, we all know that the Klan and the Nazis are anti black organizations. What some of us need to know also is that while we deplore the murder of the five CWP members, we also deplore any attempt by the CWP to exploit low income black people for political or other reasons. No Planning, No Park! U7/V -- -1 II_A._ _ _ ■ - »* v HIV VV/I1LV1 IIVU Li let l auuic* thing for less than cool heads, rational thinking and construc tive planning has overtaken the Park Bond Advisory Committee. We are, of course, referring to last week’s committee meeting where tempers flared in a dis cussion of the possible develop ment of a now-closed Statesville Road landfill as a park. The committee, created to find ways to spend $9.7 million in park bond money, approved by the voters in 1978, had in their plans the spending of approxi mately $850,000 for the develop ment of the Statesville Road dump site as a community park , similar to Freedom Park. How ever, after two years of opera tion within a highly inflationary economy and thus higher costs for other park projects, there remains only $437,100 left for the proposed Statesville park site. It would appear that the very fact of inflation should have led to more prudent management of ■ the bond funds so that nearly half of the allocation to the Statesville site would not have been used for : other park projects. Further more, the committee’s apparent failure to hold the $850,000 in reserve until engineering reports were available to determine the feasibility of using the site for a community park is the crux of the problem. We hope the committee can achieve a level of maturity that will allow for placing the entire issue in perspective and getting on with the business of finding anothe^nori^uitabl^it^iUh^ same gcuciai area ior a COm munity park. We hope, too, that the committee would not rule out, in chairman Jim Matthews’ words, “taking piddling amounts of money” from other park projects to help make the States ville project a reality. After all, the short fall the committee has was created in part by “taking piddling amounts of money” from the Statesville site budget to aid in the development of other parks. Voice Of Hack Community Over the past six years we -’ have worked diligently to pro diice the best newspaper any where. We are indeed very proud of the progress we have made and we are optimistic about the future as a viable institution that will continue to serve the people of our community. , We, therefore, take this op portunity to remind our reader ship that the Post in no way 1 intends to deviate from the high journalistic principles we have ; set for ourselves in serving the people of this city. We have been around long enough to know that the press is not important without the sup-' ? port of the people, especially our people. As we move towards another year, and many more after that, we will need your understanding, your support, your cooperation - and most of all - your help in assuring your friends and neighbors that the Post will continue to be the voice of the Black community. "Blacks Have Alwaysj Been Concerned About Crime, But Hesitated^jj To Crusade Because 1 Of The Negative 1 Meaning Of Crime In The Street And | Law And Order," L Said Andrew Barrett Executive Director \g Of The Chicogo ^ NAA.C.P." ' () "But The Situation^ Is So Bod Now ’ That Action Is -A The Only , V Thing Left" j|l The Black Community Can And Will (Overcome). In Defense Of The Black Press! By Charles M. Smith Special To The Post Editor’s Note: This ar ticle was originally pub lished in the “New York Amsterdam News.” It is being distributed by the Black-Jewish Information Center in the behalf that a strong Black press is an essential instrument of in tergroup understanding in America. “I still don’t think that there is a future for a young person working in a pre dominantely Black me dium. Let’s face it, twenty years from now EBONY magazine could be out of business. Or if it’s not out of business, it could be some thing that would not give you the benefits, the re wards for your abilities that you would get if you went to a larger publication or one that was better in tegrated. Why work for EBONY when you can work for TIME, NEWS WEEK, or the WASHING TON, POST?” (Stanley Robertson, executive pro ducer, Universal Pictures Television, PLAYERS ma gazine interview, Dec., 1978, pp. 29-30.) Although Mr. Robertson has the right to speak his mind, I think he should be reminded (daily, if neces sary) that his attitude to ward the Black press does more harm than good. His statement would lead any young Black consider ing a career in journal ism to think that unless he is employed by TIME or the WASHINGTON POST, his career will be going nowhere. The fact that this state ment comes from an ex perienced journalist and television executive. adds weight to it in the mind of a young Black. (Interesting ly, Mr. Robertson writes a column called “L.A. Con fidential” for the Loe An geles SENTINEL, a Black weekly.) FRINGE BENEFITS True, the salaries and fringe benefits at a pre aominanteiy white- paper are more attractive than anything a Black paper can offer. But this will change when a financially-strong Black press is developed. That will only happen when the Black press is given strong community support. Bring ing in a cadre of dedicated young journalists will help immeasurably to arouse this support. The increase in young blood will bring it new ideas and new approaches that will stimulate the con tent of the Black press. (To quote Joseph Nazel, a Black writer, “the Black press is angry because it is not receiving the commun ity support it so desper ately needs." He also writes that this happened because “integration into the pages of the white press usurped much of the sta ture of the Black press,” resulting in the loss of reporters, readership, and advertising revenue.) This damage to the sta ture of the Black press will not be rectified if Blacks n*e mr. no Denson, who have ’’made it,” continual ly play down the import ance of the Black press. This is not to say we should discourage anybody from going to the other side, either. We need them there also (Blacks make up approxi mately 4 percent of the working press). But we shouldn’t cut off our noses to spite our faces. The white-controlled metropoli tan dailies cannot and will not give the Black com munity overall coverage. And we should not expect them to. That is why the Black press is so important to the people and the events that would otherwise go unnoticed or received scant coverage. HISTORICAL REASON Mr. Robertson’s state ment also ignores the hi storical reason for the existence of the Black press today and in the past. It was the racial attitude of whites. (The 19th and 20th centuries saw the emer gence of numerous news papers and magazines ca tering to a Black audience. By 1910, there were 288 Black newspapers with a combined circulation of half a million.) In the words of the late Black journalist-author Roi Ottley, “Feeling among Negroes was negative to the white dailies. They felt those organs could not be trusted to tell the truth about the Negro.” Al though the white press to day is not as hostile to Blacks as it once was, there still is a need to “let the people know the true state of things.” The Black press can do this better than the white press because the Black press has a stake in the community. This does not mean that the Black press is perfect. There are a few Black papers that are using un ethical methods to attract Writes Bob Reynard in PLAYERS magazine, ’“Many small community newspapers are doing an excellent job. Others, how ever, seem intent on giving the Black community the shaft. Shrill editorials, mis leading headlines and the stance that ‘if it’s Black, it’s right,' do not service the Black community.” But despite these short comings, the truth still re mains - we need the Black press as much today as did our forefathers in their day. That’s why it is foolish for the Black community to allow its support of the Black press to decline any further. Porcelain Enamel Porcelain enamel was originally used as an art form. Though Cleopatra wore porcelain enamel jewelry, she had no idea that today’s homemaker would enjoy the benefits of this material in cookware and other kitchen and laundry appliances. Affirmative Action The Reagan Presidency By Gerald S. Horne, Esq. Special To The Post Fragmentary election returns indicate that Ronald Wilson Reagan will be replac ing James Earl Carter as President. Carter, appropriately enough the only incumbent since Herbert Hoover in 1932 not to be re-elected suffered a stunning defeat. Already the Monday morning quarter backs are detecting a non-existent “swing to the right” and an increase in reaction and conservatism but this baldly overstates the case. Yes, the National Conservative Poli tical Action Committee was not unsuccess ful in replacing a number of liberal Demo cratic Senators with conservative clones in Indiana, Iowa, Idaho, South Dakota and elsewhere. Yes, the Republicans will have a majority in the Senate for the first time in a quarter of a century. But as a number of post-election analyses have noted, the vote represented more of an “anti-Carter” than “pro-Reagan” or “pro-reaction” vote. Look at the results in the nation’s largest state and number one trend-setter, California, where liberal Democratic Senator Alan Cranston survived a challenge from organ ized conservatives; or Connecticut where Chris Dodd smashed the Senate hopes of James Buckley, brother of the Godfathtt* of Conservatism - William F. Buckley; or Arizona, where at this writing it appears that in a close vote Barry Goldwater himself has been rejected by the electorate; or Missouri where conservatism was de feated in the Senate race. But in retrospect it was not difficult to predict that Carter would be whipped. His main issue against Reagan was the so-called “war and peace” issue. “Would you want ‘Ray-gun’s’ finger on the nuclear button” and all that. But, Carter was the man who pulled support away from SALT II, tried to build the nonsensical MX missile, issued the notorious Directive 59 which has heightened materially the threat of war, pressured Western Europe to accept missilesnhejrdidn’t Want, broke his 1976 campaign promise to cut the Pentagon’s budget by $5-7 billion, and kept the nefarious Brzezinski at his side. Unfor tunately — for Carter — many voters remembered 1964 when Johnson painted Goldwater as a hawk, himself as a man of peace, then was elected and tried to bomb Vietnam back to the Stone Age. As folks in the street might say, voters were not going to goTor that “okey-dokey” again. u/horo Haac fVt«0 111_ -—~ *VMTV Hit UltllA community, one of the few cognizant constituencies that voted overwhelmingly for Carter? Indeed, urged on by such leaders as Coretta Scott King, Jesse Jack son, Andrew Young, Joseph Lowery of SCLC, John Johnson (publisher of EBONY JET), most of the Congressional Black Caucus, etc., in numerous Black precincts the vote for Carter was 100 percent. In fact, those Blacks who advocated voting for a third-party protest candidate; e.g., ecolo gist Barry Commoner or activist Angela Davis were told they were “throwing their vote away.” Now in retrospect it seems those who voted for Carter may have thrown their votes away. For (1) not only did their man lose, but (2) they remain trapped on board a sinking Democratic Party ship. President-Elect Reagan AND the Democrats would pay more attention to politically independent Blacks rather than those who act as if in any given election there is no choice but to vote Democratic. t rom Capitol Hill -- - ~ ™rauc Today’s Reaction Resembles Reconstruction Davs? THE CHARLOTTE POST Second Class Postage No. 965500 “THE PEOPLE'S NEWSPAPER " Established 1918 Published Every Thursday by The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. 1524 Went Rlvd., Charlotte, N.C. 28208 Telephone (704)378-0496 Circulation 9,200 62 Years of Continuous Service Bill Johnson...Editor, Publisher Bernard Reeves...General Manager Second Class Postage No. 96550 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. 2100 S. Michigan Ave. 45 W. 45th St., Suite 1493 Chicago, III. 80616 New York, N Y. 10038 Calumet 5-0200_ (212) 489-1220 Alfreds L. Madison Special To The Post The Reagan victory and defeat of many liberal senators and House mem bers do not paint a very bright picture for the fu ture of minorities and the poor. The right-wing con servative and Christian or ganizations and congres sional conservative mem bers seem highly elated over their election results. Some of these conserva tive organizations have al ready announced their tar get list for the next elec tion This is a scare tac tic, hoping to frighten moderate congressmen in to toeing their ultra-con servative mark. Senator Metzenbaura says, "I’ve been on the Nixon Enemies List and this is the second list I’ve been on. It’s an honor to be in such select bi-partisan company as Senators Prox mire, Stafford, Jackson, Weicker and Kennedy. It's an honor to be among those who have fought for the consumer and for people oriented issues. I don’t in tend to allow myself to be - »» mwui tuir sidering any alternatives to Supreme Court ordered busing for integration which seeks to rid minor ities of separate inequities in schools, several anti busing amendments are al ready awaiting Senate passage. This conservative move ment is strong for the death penalty, which has always operated largely for execu tion of blacks. Senator Strom Thurmond, the will be Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has stated that he favors the death penalty - that when he was a judge in South Carolina he sent four peo ple the the electric chair. A call to his office to find If these victims were black or white received a response of, “I don’t know.’’ The Senator was Judge from 1938-46. This was a period of high racism in all of the Southern states. It is hard to believe that any of them were white. There is an upsurge of the Ku Klux Klan. There is documented evidence that there are Klan military training camps, Klan youth training camps and that the Klan has infiltrated the law enforcement agencies and the military. There is great advocacy for a return to state control which is only “states’ rights.” This will give states the privilege of returning to many of the old discriminatory prac tices of the pre-civil rights period. Notwithstanding this trend of a move back to injustices for minorities, these same people are high on the list of advocates for putting prayers back into the schools. The senate champion for school pray ers is Jesse Helms. I imagine Jesse Helms was in school, along with me at the time the school day began with prayer. I was walking to a two-room poorly built and poorly equipped neighborhood school with books bought by my parents, while the white children with free textbooks were riding a bus to fine, well equipped con solidated schools. They would yell as they passed, “black nigger” and we would yell back “poor white cracker." Then we all went to our respected schools and said prayers. All the time I was hoping that the bus would turn over and I can imagine the white children were rejoic ing over the fact that they rode - passing us walking to our bad school. I wonder what Jesse and his prayer advocates will pray about in the schools? Does Helms and his group think school prayers will make them feel that blacks deserve justice and equal rights, something from every indi cation, they’ve shown no inclination to do? Blacks are determined that civil rights gains will not be set back by these conservatives. The move ment to combat them has already begun. Jesse Jackson, Cardiss Collins and representatives of the National Bar Asso ciation held a press con ference to slate their goals. They must create a civii rights coalition of blacks, brown and women; testify as hearings; keep basic issues before the public; and legally protect our gains. In 1982 435 congres sional and 86 senate seats will be considered by the coalition and to increase voter registration along with boycotts of businesses that are Insensitive of black needs. Police To Aucftn IJnrfcamed Articles An auction of unclaimed articles from the Charlotte Police Property Bureau is scheduled for Saturday, November 29, at 10 a.m behind the Board of Elect ions Office, 710 E. Fourth Street. Among the many items to be auctioned are type writers, tools, TV seta, radios, tape players, CB radios, fog lamps, golf balls, car wax, a bowling ball and case, guitar, fish . ing equipment, watches, ' combat shoes and 99 bi cycles. ___ Alfreds L. Madison diverted Irom the main Job at hand. It’s a sad com mentary on the state of politics when some of these fringe organizations have the arrogance to threaten reprisals against Presi dent-elect Reagan and his running mate within hours after they had been elected by an overwhelming majority." These groups are causing the United States to revert to many similarities of the Reconstruction period. The conservatives in congress are chipping away the civil
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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