Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Dec. 18, 1980, edition 1 / Page 2
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Editorials & Comments Mandate Needed To End Black Fears Ronald Reagan’s presidential victory has been hailed by some as a mandate for change. What form that change should take is being heatedly debated through out the nation, especially by journalists and intellectuals. Since much of that change will have a significant impact upon Black Americans, an element of the electorate that gave Reagan few votes, and considering the apparent conservative drift of the new national leaders, Blacks have expressed some fears for the future. Vernon Jordan, head of the National Urban League, con firmed this fear when he said on national television recently, “There is an unusual amount of hysteria in the Black commun ity.” In an apparent attempt to ease the fears, Jordan also said he would not pre-judge Presi dent-elect Reagan but would wait and see who his cabinet appointees are and the policies they will pursue. In an unrelated comment, but one that could also less Black fears, was made by Assistant Attorney General Drew S. Days III, the federal government’s top civil rights enforcer. He said, “I don’t think fhoro’e rtninn fn Ka n fAfnl back,” from the progress we’ve made in civil rights by the Reagan administration. , In gpite of these wild reas suring comments and the fact < that getrnig hysterical won’t * change anything, there are cir r cumstances that justify at least deep concern about the future by Black Americans. For example, despite gains in recent years, many middle-class Black families need two or three in comes to maintain their stand ard of living and they sense a growing resurgence of racial bias in employment. Aiid Blacks, especially lower income young people, who are being hardest hit by inflation, now face the pros pect of a lowered minimum wage under one proposed Reagan plan. In addition, the unresolved murders of Black citizens in Atlanta and adults in Buffalo, the freeing of the Klan-Nazi killers in Greensboro, Sen. Thurmond’s mounting attacks on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the strong possibility that Reagan will pack the Supreme Court with conserv atives are truly reasons for Blacks to be concerned about their future. Nevertheless, for..Blacks to become engulfed in a mood of “hysteria” is and can be more destructive than anything Pre sident-elect Reagan and his ad ministration may do through • policy formation. Mood Of Hysteria We as Blacks need first to understand that to embrace the. mood of hysteria is to abandon the idea of hope, and without hope Blacks will not even gather 11 Uie courage to plan with their traditional supporters to count eract negative policies and pro grams. Hope should begin with the understanding that historically new administrations are never able to implement as much as they say in their political rhe toric. The reason for this reality is that the federal bureaucracy can and does prevent some change and secondly, the hard reality of applied politics of getting even many of those who supported the candidate’s view in a broader philosophical sense to support actioii in a policy sense. For example, many who supported Reagan’s view on cutting government spending will not support (in N.C.; any efforts to reduce tobacco price support programs). In fact it is the threat of such reduction that will cause Sen. Helms to change his thinking about cutting the food stamp program by 40 per cent. These observations are simply to say that there is hope that Blacks don’t face total dispair and that they need to use their energies to encourage and assist those elected officials who support programs that affect Black welfare. Fringe Croups Other reasons for hope are that many conservative leaders are beginning to develop a hard line against the ultra-right wing con servative Moral Majority fringe groups that supported Reagan’s presidency efforts and Mr. Reagan himself has resisted efforts of such groups to force him to follow their desires. This is evident by Mr. Reagan’s in dependent hand in the specula tion about cabinet appointments. A final reason for hope is that Mr. Reagan recognizes that he has one of the very few oppor tunities Republicans have had since the 1930s to rprove or demonstrate his party’s coi'nmit ment to Blacks. To fail in this regard will be to alienate Black support for the Republican party for another 100 years. Therefore, Blacks need to help President-elect Reagan shape his mandate by strategically offering him the challenge to adequately respond to the needs of Blacks to demonstrate a Re publican party worthy of Black support. This can be done and now is the time to do it. Thus, Blacks need .to be plan ning now a strategy to challenge Mr. Reagan to show why they and other minorities should sup port his party now and in the future. Nixon and Ford didn’t do it, he must, or continue to loose elections because of ignoring a major part of the electorate. The bottom line is this: any mandate for change to end Black fears and to continue the pro gress Blacks have made must begin with Blacks. — "1 i 99 'EVERY TIMEJ.SEEA Mf SWASTIKA,#* HEAR OF /f •:!■• A CROSS BURNfNG* # I REMEMBER THAT Y0UN6 9 MAN.IT TOOK THE MAP 'S NESS OF MILLIONS TO PUT HIM THERE". BETH FALLON NXPAILY NEWS *THE VIOLENT RE - BIRTH of the klan:.. WAYNE KINO N.Y. TIMES f BLACKSHAl/E BEEN AWAKENEP. In Boycott Case NAACP Suffers Setback The Mississippi Supreme Court has dealt the Nation al Association for the Ad vancement of Colored Peo ple another staggering blow in the 14-year struggle to resolve the Port Gibson case. In a 31-page opinion, the Mississippi Supreme Court found the NAACP liable for conspiring to organize and support an illegal boycott against twelve merchants in Port Gibson, Mississippi. Their opinion was based on the Common Law of Miss issippi. Charles Carter, Asso ciate General Counsel for the NAACP, expressed utter disappointment with the court’s adverse deci sion, and stated' “the As sociation will appeal di IT C - * ~ —• — — w— Court. We are certain that the court’s ruling on liabi lity would not hold up when compared with the hard, solid facts of the case. We cannot accept the high court’s decision on liability and will persist in our defense against these charges in order to circum vent the potentially damag ing effect of these findings on our civil rights activities in the future." The State Supreme Court also found the $1.2 million damage judgment render ed by the Chancery Court excessive and remanded it to the lower court for fur ther proceedings. The Mississippi Supreme Court did, however, dis miss the case against Mississippi Action for Pro gress, the Poverty Head Start Program in Mississ ippi and thirty-seven indi vidual defendants cited in the original lawsuit. The original suit grew out of a 1966 boycott in volving Black citizens whc Benjamin L. Hooks NAACP Executive Dir. were protesting racial dis crimination in Claiborne County, Mississippi. The Port Gibson merchants in 1969 sued the National and local NAACP, the Mississ ippi Action for Progress and 129 private citizens, claiming in their lawsuit that the leaders of the boycott conspired to create an illegal monopoly for Black businesses. The Chancery Court of Hinds County ruled in favor of the white merchants three years later. NAACP Executive Direc lor Benjamin l.. hooks, said he was "both sadden ed and extremely disap pointed upon reveiwing the evidence and testimony the high court allowed during the court proceedings. But we must continue our struggle to the next level - the U.S. Supreme Court - in order to achieve justice not only for ourselves but for other civil rights groups and individuals striving to eliminate racial discrimin ation in this country." Another local NAACP of ficial, Southeast Regional Director Earl Shinhoster, said “The outcome of this decision is yet another piece of evidence confirm ing the growing conserv ative attitudes permeating this country with respect to the rights of Blacks and other minorities. The Ku Klux Klan can shoot citi zens in the streets and the courts find them not guilty; Black women in Chattanoo ga, Tenn., can be shot and maimed and the courts set the perpetrators free; and an insurance executive in Miami can be beaten to death by city police of ficials and the courts find them not guilty-yet Black citizens in Mississippi are brought before the bar and made to pay an even great er price than any of these defendants did in attempt ing mayhem.” ESC Recovers $114,111.83 In Overpayments RALEIGH - The North Carolina Employment Se curity Commission he-, covered $114,111.83 in un: emplpyment insurance overpayments during No vember according to fi gures released by the com mission’s anti-fraud unit. The -unit investigated 164 'persons who have claimed or currently are claiming unemployment insurance benefits^ Of that number, 107, or’ 65 percent -Were found to have been over paid $49,238. The commis sion classified *72 of these cases, representing 127,429, as non-fcaud and 35, ■ re presenting $31,809, as fraud. , A claimant must be proven to have knowingly made a false statement on a claim for resulting over payments to be classified as fraud cases. ——By Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. t --. ^ EQUAL I p. I Open Season On Gvfl Righfc? The lame-duck Congress passed an amendment to an appropriations bill ban ning Justice Department participation in busing suits, signaling an open hunting season on civil rights laws. Not that this particular amendment is so novel; other restrictions have made ft through the Congress in the past. But this one would effectively take the executive branch out of toe business of remedying inconstitutional school segregation. It would even bar toe Justice Department from enforcing court busing orders, some thing toe courts will probably Tind un constitutional. Congress’ attempt to hand cuff busing is a direct interference with toe executive branch’s sworn duty to enforce toe laws of toe land. _ . Ironically, it came at a time that yet mother study was published documenting busing’s beneficial effects. Researches at Chtoolic University’s Center for National R)licy Review found that busing programs in metropolitan areas encouraged housing^ desegregation. ^ They noticed a decline in residential segregation patterns in cities with area wide desegregation . and concluded that ftirtoer integration of housing would ulti mately mean busing could be discontinued since toe schools would be integrated without it. The researchers found that when only toe ®nter city was subjected to busing orders, “white flight” to the suburbs was en courage. But when toe entire metro area was subject to desegregation, reluctant whites could not flee and the pattern was reversed. _ The lesson has been clear all along that busing and other, more often used means of cfesegregating schools, work when local aithorities and citizens’ groups pitch in to make it work: The long-term meaning of Cbngress’ action is that communities resist ing desegregation can expect to be re warded, while those who comply with the hw will have to struggle through on their own. But busing is only one of the civil rights measures threatened. Pressure is building h Congress to undercut federal affirmative action enforcement. Senator Strom Thur-. morid, the 1948 Dixiecraf candidate foi^ President and now slated to be the new Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Com rrittee, has said he wants to scuttle the . \bting Rights Act. A Legal aid for the poor is high on the Cbngressiohal hit list, too. Threats have been made to cut off all federal aid to cities fiat have rent control laws. And several Cbngressmen are having their staffs work ip constitutional amendments that would hiry busing, affirmative action, abortion, separation of church and state, and other rights and programs we too often take lor granted. Sometimes, as in busing, the attackers claim to speak for the majority. But they reveal a fundamental flaw in their argu ment - the essence of a democracy is p-otection of minority rights, not the un bridled trampling of those rights by an ntolerant majority. 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 Weal Blvd., Charlotte. N.C. 28208 Telephone (7*4)17*-04M • _ _( Imitation 9.200 62 Years of Continuous Service Bill Johnson...Eilitor. Publisher Bernard Reeves...General Manager Second Class Postage No. 96556 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. 24*0 8. Michigan Ave. 45 W. '.Jh 8t.. 6sM« 1408 Chicago. III.MMi* New York, N.Y. 1003* Catamet S-4o* (212) 480-122* A f From Capital Hill Nation Must Act Now Xo Avoid Racial Warfare? Aureal l. miauaa Special To The Post The House of Represent atives Judiciary Subcom mittee on Crime, chaired by Congressman John Con yers, held the first in a series of hearings on what appears to be criminal vio lence against minorities. Activities of violence-prone organizations and their members who have com mitted acts of violence against minorities will be examined by the com mittee. Causes and extent of racial violence will claim attention as well as the adequcy of local, state and federal taw enforce ment efforts. Conyers listed document ed disturbing trends in in tergroup violence and re cruit training and organ izational activities of hate groups and violence-prone organizations. These stu dies were documented by the Anti-Defamation League, National Educa tion Association, Commis sion on Civil Rights and other groups. These groups reported recruitment on broad-Navy Alfred* L. Madtsea vessels, at military install ations, where men in mili tary dress have been se curity guards at Klan ral lies, and official equipment has been used for printing Klan literature, Klan infil tration in penal institu tions, operating of youth camps, operation of para military and psychological warfare training camps, and recruitment of and dissemination of literature in high schools. Mr. Ted Gurr, Professor of Political Science at iNonnwesiem university, stated that the Ku Klux Klan, Nationalist Socialist Party and other extremist groups are anti-democra tic. They reject basic prin ciples of a democratic American society • they deny equality of treatment of opportunity to ethnic and religious groups, they op pose free expression of political and social opin ions and they are prepared in many instances to use violence. Mr. Gurr stated that he feels the prevalence of con servative views of the mini zation of government’s role in society and the economy, and greater reliance on private sector and market forces provide a climate more favorable to expres sion of extreme right-wing groups. Arthur Kinoy, Law Pro fessor at Rutgers, stated that if this exploding vio lence directed at Blacks and other minorities is not checked, the nation is etn barking upon a national crisis of untold dimensions. He emphasized that the Federal Reconstruction statutes whicn were strengthened in the 60s offer the Federal Govern ment an immediate two pronged strategy for avert ing this disaster. Mr. Kinoy stated that statutes 18 USC, 241. 242 and 245 were used after the murder of Schwerner, Cheney and Goodman in Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1984. Use of these statutes by the De partment of Justice, ob tained the indictment and conviction of the Klan murderers.', of theltlan murderers. Drew Days, Assistant At torney General of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department stated that he personally went to Buffalo, N.Y. to investigate the brutal murder of four Blacks. Days admitted that the trip caused him to be fearful for his life • that being Black he could have been murdered. Conyers and Drew Days had serious disagreements over the provisions of . Article 241, which states that when two or more persons conspire to physic ally assault or injure a person - his civil rights are violated. Even though wit nesses to two of the Buf falo shootings testified that the gunman was a white male, Days felt that no civil rights were violated. Con yers asked Days If a person has a civil right to stay alive and asked Days for other opinions on the issue besides his own. Days cited one other-an authority which is not widely known. Wilkinson, Imperial Klan wizard of Alabama had to be ejected from the hear ings because of constant interruption of the witness es. On the outside h« and Tex Moore, Grand Dragon of Tennessee Klan stated that the testimony before the committee was a bunch of lies. Wilkinson said that he was not allowed to be a witness. He stated that the '‘Republican platform could have been taken from ' Klan literatus*" • the Moral Majorit/and Christ ian right express Klan views. Wilkinson said that he did not like the idea of having blacks on the same plane with him in his trip to Washington, neither did he like talking to black report ers who questioned him. When he told one black reporter to shut up, another black reporter said, “Doo’t you tell her to shut up.” Wilkinson, realizing that there were a numbe^of black reporters, two bRck capitol guards, a white guard and some white re porters, he quickly apolo gized. Both Wilkinson and Moore stated that their religious training has been the purity of the white race and that God intends to keep the races separate. ! They stated that they have paramilitary training camps for protection of the American Constitution The K la ns men were re minded that they were late in trying to preserve the purity of the white race.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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