Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / April 23, 1981, edition 1 / Page 2
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Editorials & Comments .. * A Question ()f Power Vote “No” On At-Large Council “The powers of ordinary men are circumscribed by the every day world in which they live, yet even in these rounds of job, family and neighborhood they often seem driven by forces they can neither understand nor govern. Great changes are be At yond their control, but affect their conduct and outlook none theless.” These are the words of the late eminent sociologist C. Wright Mills as stated in his book, “The Power Elite.” What Dr. Mills is saying is that people in mass society from the local community to the legisla tive bodies of Congress often “feel that they are without pur pose in an epoch in which they are without power.” Until District Representation became a reality in 1977, many Charlotteans also felt that they, too, were driven by forces they 'could neither understand nor govern and therefore sensed that they were “without power.” The absence of power was a reality reflected in a City Council that had for years been composed of and dominated by one section of the City - Southeast Charlotte. Thus, the April 28 Special Election petition proposing re turning City Council to a seven member, at-large governing body is not a black versus white vote issue. It is, however, an issue that will determine who will have power - political at least -- in our City for the next two years. It is an issue that reminds us that those who have power will defend their desire to keep it while others seek to at least to share it. Thus the real issue involved in the April 28 Election centers on whether po litical power will at least in part be equally shared by all sectors of our city or will one and the same area - southeast Charlotte - recapture power through an at large Council by their ability to afford the higher financial cost of at-large political campaigns. It appears quite evident that the number of “NO” vote signs appearing in all sectors of the City except the. southeast indi cates a strong desire to retain the shared political power that district representation provides. It provides Mr. Average Citizen with a greater voice in his go vernment either as a candidate for office or as a voter for a candidate who is more respons ible to the elecorate and more aware of their concerns. A “NO” vote on April 28 will contribute to continuing the pre sent 7 district and 4 at-large make-up of City Council which has given us good government. Vote “NO” in order to retain our district representation sys tem. You need good government, help let it continue. Vote For Charlotte Bonds In recent weeks we have ex pressed support for the City’s $53.9 million general obligation bond for a variety of municipal project needs and desires. While the nine ballot questions cover a wide range of improvements and land purchases, we recognize ' that in spite of the City’s com mitment to use 11 cents of the 90.5 cents property tax-rate to pay for such bonds, tWefe are voters who will support some but not all o the bond proposals. It is for this reason that we are listing the bond proposals in what we believe should be a priority order. -Transit Facilities - $4 million. Purchase 50 new buses and provide City’s share of funding for a new Operations Center and Transit Garage. -Street Improvements - $14.2 million. For the construction of a Transit Mall stretching along Tryon Street from Stonewall Street on the South to Eighth Street on the north and on Trade Street near the Square. -Water and Sewer Improve ments - $10.6 million. For im provements in the Utility De partment including a 12 million gallon storage tank and 13.5 miles of new water mains to serve residential homes and businesses. Also five miles of new sewer mains. -Parks and Recreational Facilities - $1.2 million. For a public plaza or park to be built on the Square. Parking Facilities - $8 million. To purchase land in the 200 block of North Tryon Street and for the construction of a 1,200-space Parking Garage. . Land Acquisition - $4 million. To purchase land and complete planning for a multipurpose Coli seum. . .Land Acquisition - $1.5 million. To purchase land in the 200 block of North Tryon Street for a Performing Arts Center. -Museum Expansion - $10.4 mil lion. For an. addition to the Mint Museum involving the building of 68,000 square feet of exhibit gallaries, educational and ad ministrative areas. We hope that you win vote “FOR” some if not all of thesfe bond items to make a “good” Charlotte a “better” Charlotte. Vote “FOR” the bond issues. Blacks’ Destiny In Own Hands blaming the police FOP THE ILL- TREATMENT OF BLACK JUVENILES DOESN'T STOP THEM FROM KILLING I OLD MEN AND WOMEN. SI T TING AROUND DOING NOTHING WON'T sHELP EITHER. Telling It Like It Really Is Definition Of A Free Society "My definition of a fre< society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.” —Adlai Stevenson The above quote from the late Adlai Stevenson sort of suggests, in view of recent events, that this is not - at least in Mr. Stevenson's opinion-a free society. The senseless attempt on Ron ald Reagan's life was a mirror we were forced to hold up to ourselves. v Americans did not like, or believe, the image they saw. “How could this hap pen again? In this day and age? In our country? I thought this kind of thing ended with the attempt on Gerald Ford’s life." These were the reactions of Americans. They ad dress a tremendous ignor ance and delusion about ourselves. i nave said so many times in the past (and have been heavily assailed for so saying) that we are a vio lent people who do not know the range, depth and force of our primitive feel ings. "Why ought it not happen here? Prior to the murder of John F. Kennedy, the pre ceding three of four presi dents had suffered assas sination attempts. And after the assassination of JFK, there’ve been two more attempts, and now, three. In most of the so-called backward nations, the chiefs of state walk around virtually unguarded. In this day and age? This is the age of the most fe rocious war the planet has ever known. This is the day of the most bloody dictatorships, the gas ovens, the concen tration camps, the bomb ing of Hiroshima and Na gaski by a “peace-loving” nation. This js the age of Ameriean-style slavery im posed on Americans by other Americans who claim to believe in “justice.” The age of extermination of the Black Panthers, the day of killings of 43 human ■ begins in Attica prison at the hands of troopers and prison guards who shot down prisoners and even the hostages they were sup posed to be rescuing, in their bloodlust. This is the age when the danger we all face is that the smashing of the atom by man will be followed by the smashing of man by the atom. Whose face is that in the mirror? In OUR country? Why not, with our staggering homocide rate, our casual and callous attitude toward our own automobile fatali ties, our shocking preval ence of firearms, our fron tier-like relish for cohibat and conflict, our contempt for courts, our cynicism about thd'1 effectiveness of orderly process,’ our cow boy cultivation of the -"macho” image of our selves. Why not here? Here, where our media makes heroes of deadbeat gang sters? Where the media turns mass murderers and assassins into instant cele brities? If anyone doubts this, consider the many in stances of Americans who yell "JUMP!" to those at tempting suicide from high buildings. Those weren’t foreign spies yelling "jump.” Or hark back to the suc cessful attempt on JFK’s life. And if any doubt re mains, recall the cry of applause that went up from the crowd of Americans gathered outside the Dallas jail when it was learned that the presumed assassin of the president had been shot down in cold blood himself. That reaction was, to me, more appalling and more revealing than anything that has occurred since, in this elongated American nightmare of violence, baseball and apple pie. Here was a man not known for sure-at the time-to be the killer. He had not con fessed, not been brought to trial, not defended and sen tenced. And he was killed while in the very hands of the police. But the crowd out side joyously shouted its approval of this bestial. . stupid and irrational act. Was this not frightening? It disgusted me.And it also disclosed the profound fail ure of our society to instill in its citizens any real sense of civilization, any idea of the real meaning of law and justice. + + + This is what has turned ourcountry into little better than a jungle. If this dreadful attempt to make an unpopular man unsafe causes us to see ourselves more pearly, forces us to re-exunine our feelings, make# us determined to purge the violence within each of us and all of us, it will not have been in vain. Whose face is that in the mirror? Sorry but I m not of that breed of animal that feels compelled to sit before the typewriter or go before the microphones and speak of my compassion for Rea ga, who is after all, a human being. I don’t feel a need to reassure people about my own humanity. And I hpard a whole boatload of hypocritical, phony utterances from peo ple who ought to know that we know better. So I took to the streets, where I knew I might not like or agree with what I would hear, but I knew I would hear some thing based in sincerity. How soon we forget. Why are so many expressing surprise? Even if Dick Gre gory had not predicted Reagan was going to be shot, we had past experi ence to learn from. And there’s one thing about experience; it’s the only teacher that gives us the test and the lesson at the same time. 1 hope we have all learned from it, but I doubt it These days, too many children are afraid of the dark, and too many adults are afraid of the light ——— By Gerald C. Horne, ESQ 11 1 1 ■ Affirmative Action - t* Atlanta And The Ultra-Right The Atlanta child killings have been etched and burned into the collective consciousness of the entire country. The green ribbons, the marches, the telegrams and letters all forced theTTight-fisted, heart less Reagan Administration to release $1.5 million to spur the investigation. At the same time the Atlanta murders, the Buffalo murders, the New York City slashings, the Salt Lake City slayings and —the lynchiiigs in Mobile and Pickens, Miss., cannot be separated from the kind of poisonous political atmosphere that would allow an ex-Nazi and the son of a right-wing oilman to attempt an assassination of the President. In Atlanta, for example, Earl Shinhoster (executive director of the southeast region of the NAACP) has protested the circula tion of a letter by racists that has called for “Open Season” in hunting down blacks. Black women employees of Hertz Rent-A Car in Atlanta have received similarly menacing letters threatening them with bodily harm if they don’t resign. A similar letter was circulated by a deputy sheriff in Okaloosa County, Florida, following a suc cessful discrimination suit by the NAACP against near by Eglin Air Force. Once again, racists are trying to rally poor and unemployed whites by telling them that their plight would be better if affirm ative action didn’t allegedly “discriminate” ... against them. ___— - - Some have theorized that the Atlanta children could only be attracted by police or other “authority figures.” Please notethat the Ku Klux Klan is actively seeking to recruit white policemen in the Atlanta area. A recent NBC documentary featured a Klan leader who bragged that the KKK has several members on the Atlanta police force. bmnhoster has spoken of an incident involving U.S. marshals at the Richard Russell Federal Building in Atlanta. On January 21, the day after Reagan’s unauguration, several white marshals en tered the marshals’ office and approached black marshals. One of them presented a piece of paper bearing the Maltese Cross Emblem of the KKK to the black man. Just outside of Atlanta is the headquart ers of the National State’s Right Party, headed by the notorious racist J. B. Stoner. Stoner, who is presently free, on appeal from a 10 year conviction fSf^etting off an explosive charge dangerously near an in habited dwelling,” (i.e., a black church) has been stepping up recruiting activities lately. The Congressman from that area is Larry McDonald, an old friend of apartheid South Africa and a long-time member of the John Birch Society. Also in this motley congressional district is Lockheed Air craft, one of the Pentagon’s biggest con tractors and a staunch foe of spending for food stamps, mass transit and people’s needs. One known Klansman in the area is Allan Wayne Roberts, who has been out of prison since 1976. He was convicted and served a ten year term in Mississippi for con spiracy to violate the civil rights of Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney, the mur dered freedom fighters. On October 6 he was arrested outside Atlanta at an air strip waiting for the arrival of a plan load of marijuana and other illicit drugs. It is suspected that the KKK is financing much of its activity through the drug trade. 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 West Blvd., Charlotte, N.C. 28208 Telephone (704)376-0496 _ Circulation 9.200 _ 62 Years of Continuous Service — ■ ' i a—■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ " < • Bill Johnson...Editor, Publisher Bernard Reeves...General Manager Fran Farrer...Advertising Director Wayne Long...Circulation Manager Dannette Gaither...Office 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 gndjviHnotbej-eturned. National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publisher*. Inc. 2400 S. Michigan Ave. 45 W. 45th St.. Suite 1493 Chicago. III. 60616 ^ New York. N.Y. 10036 Calumet 5-0200 ( 212 ) 489-1220 ®■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■^ r* ' • • • From Capitol HiU Congressional Hack Caucus Do Not Get Good Coverage Alfreds I,. Madison I was stopped by one of the white Capitol Hill guards, who said, "Why is it that the televisions and big newspapers haven't carried the Congressional Black Caucus budget? The television only said a few words about it and the the papers had a very short article on it; that's the only budget that really makes any sense." This guard also said that he listens every year to the account of th» Caucus workshops and the speeches that are made at their annual affair and the news media don’t aive that good of coverage He said that what the Cau cus is doing and saying is more important to This country than anything else that's done on Capitol Hill. Kon Nichols, the Black Caucus press secretary, re ceived a letter from a white USA Communications em ployee in Detroit, who stated, "Black Caucus, you are the only group with insight and guts to chal lenge the direction our country is going ..in ser vice of usury, money and t Alfrrda L. Madison war. nease scream louaer. we are with you." A few days ago Repre sentatives Fauntroy and Rangel testified before the Senate Budget Qommitee. They presented the Cau cus' Constructive Alter-, native Budget. ,that has been offered to \he Ameri can people^.. In his testimony Mr. Fauntroy stated that the Congressional Black Cau cus, over the years, has been seeking to have the nation ajaress the basic problems^hat confront us; the kinds of problems Pre sident Reagan has indi cated that he wants tp address through his re covery plan. “However.” said Fauntroy, “the Cau cus differs with certain as pects and provisions of the Reagan plan ." He stated that the Caucus plan, like the President's addresses problems of balancing the budget, reducing inflation, stimulating the creation of jobs and reducing the tax burden Their alternative plan does all of these things in a much better way than the President's. Congressman Fauntroy emphasized very strongly that they believe the Ad ministration's solution, which cuts government spending, government re gulations is inflationary, that it will increase unem ployment and place more people on the federal dole He also told the committee (hat the Caucus takes ex ceptions to the President's policy that foreign pro blems lends themselves to military solutions The Caycus views them as social, economic and poli tical. Representative Rangel made it very clear that while the President had < presented a budget, that constitutionally, the final budget responsibility re sides in both Houses of Congress Hangel also stated that the Administra tion’s shifting the social programs to state and local governments, with a reduc tion in federal funds for them, without any guide lines will be of little help to the aged and poor. Senator Armstrong who was chairing the commit tee during these hearings said to the Black Caucus witnesses. ”1 could not help but be impressed with the scope and detail of the recommendations that you have presented I do net know the extent of the staff that is available to the Black Caucus but I have some idea of what the mag nitude is of wrestling with the budget document." He also stated that the Caucus instead of generalizing and going off into a rhetorical never-never land, has really put the numbers on paper and applied them to specific budget functions Mr Armstrong asked the Caucus members to ex plain how $1,5 billion can be - t picked for lood stamps out of the three martini lunch, and that being a member of the Senate Finance Com mittee he might become interested in sponsoring le gislation along that line Mr. Kangel responded by saying a tremendous amount of revenue would be gained if the type of business deductions under the present law was dis allowed; that a 50 percent cap should be put on the allowance He stated that the other budget acts as though there is no con nection between the track that deals with tax pack ages and the budget cut track. The Caucus cannot see how anyone can look with askance at a 43 cent lunch and overlook the revenue shortfalls as a result of the three martini business deductions The Caucus also ex plained to the committee that since the Congression al Budget Office has said that balancing the budget would save only two-tenths of one percent, that the budget balancing ploy is more psychological than substantive. ♦ Senator Domenici said that the Black Caucus had done what President Rea gan asked those to do who did not agree with his plan and that was to come for ward with an alternative. The Senator said he has seen no other alternative budget. He told Represent atives Fauntroy and Ran gel that while their propo sals will not be passed in their entirety, but that some parts of it will cer tainly have an impact on the budget process. Here, again the white news media carried no thing about this particular phase of the Budget com mittee hearing. The bias ness of the white press is unfair to whites by not giving them the highly valuable contribution being made by Blacks.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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April 23, 1981, edition 1
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