^Editorials& Comments
Time For Judging Mr, Reagan
I A week after Ronald Reagan’s
landslide presidential victory on
November, 13 we said in this
column that it was too early to
start judging Reagan. We said
that first, Reagan had appointed
an acceptable number of blacks
and other minorities while he
was serving as Governor of
California. Secondly, we said it
was useless for blacks to specu
late on what Reagan might do or
not do for minorities. Thirdly, we
noted that history shows that
once in the White House and
facing the realities of the office
of the presidency, conservatives
tend to shift to a more moderate
position on most issues.
Sadly, we must admit that
President Reagan has not fit the
Stereotype of shifting to a more
moderate position. More signifi
cantly, President Reagan’ s sue-—
.cess in.getting his massive tax
and budget cuts approved, his _
- substantial weakening of many
-deserving social programs, his
commitment to big bucks
defense spending, and now the
neutron bomb has, according to
knowledgeable pollsters and
politicians, given Reagan a
Stronger personal and political
consensus than any president
since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s
“New Deal” liberalism solidified
the Democratic Party in the
mid-1930s.
However, in spite of Reagan’s
presumed large popularity with
the voters, there is emerging
some concerns, if not out right
discontent with some of his
.inflexible policy positions. For
example, many of the Presi
dent’s own top advisors - Budget
Director David Stockman and
Treasury Secretary Donald
Regan to name a few - want
defense spending plans cut to
allow for keeping a pledge to
balance the budget within three
years.
Furthermore, a bipartisan
group of 16 Congressional con
servatives and liberals from
both parties has begun to ex
press concerns that when the full
impact of the social' program
cuts is felt many people will
begin to ask why can’t defense
spending be cut too? There are
those who fear too much social
program cuts may return us to
the tension, frustrations and
riots of the 1960s.
Neutron Bomb
Still others are upset that
Reagan’s commitment to the
neutron bomb will only add to the
arms race and move the world
closer to nuclear destruction.
Another high ranking Reagan
aid, Secretary of State Alexan
der Haig, has expressed oppo
sition to the radiation enhancing
neutron bomb.
The outcrys and dissatisfac
tion over these Reagan admin
istration policy declstonsarenot
limited to the shores of the
United States. Our so-called
European allies tear, as ao a I
growing number of Americans,
'■ that dafansp spending r^nnot fag,
adequately off-set by reduced
domestic programs. Further
more, with the assumption that
Americans will spend their tax
cut benefit in their struggle
against inflation rather than
save it, there will be inadequate
revenues to fully fund the
defense budget.
Thus, federal deficits financed
by borrowing will add to world
wide pressures on upward in
terest rates. This will accelerate
the ongoing decline in invest
ment and employment as is
already occurring in Germany,
England and here in America. It
has been a factor in the recent
British urban riots and neces
sary defense spending cuts by
the Western European allies.
Domestic Issues
Now that President Reagan
has stated his position on taxes,
the budget, domestic issues and
defense spending and therefore
committed himself on a major
part of an as yet not fully defined
foreign policy, it is time for the
American people to pull their
heads out of the sand and begin
judging Reagan on the merits of
his performance.
The day of being influenced by
the charm, personality, Holly
wood image, dynamic speaking
and political rhetoric of Mr.
Reagan is long past. The elderly
and the poor have begun to fell
the sting of the Reagan policies,
thus, with fewer public resources
to meet their needs they have
begun to ask - Has America
misjudged Mr. Reagan? Many
others, both inside the admin
istration and Mr. Average
American are beginning to ask
if Ronald Reagan is the new Jim
Jones?
The issues of interest rates,
jobs, human social needs, nu
clear danger and a livable en
vironment are basic to civilized
society as we know it and expect.
It is therefore time for the
American voter to take stock,
assess the issues and direction of
the Reagan administration and
begin thinking about the
elections of 1982 and 1984.
We make these observations
out of a growing concern over an
administration that is hell-bent
oh curbing inflation^ balancing
the budget and preserving the
peace by preparing for war even
if the latter destroys us in the
process.
Let us not forget that we have
h^d other Presidents who rode
oh a crest of high popular sup
port. Too often, as has happened
while the voters have been glori
fying and looking at a President,
events and conditions affecting
their daily lives have declined by
the actions and policies of the
man they are admiring. In our
Judging these tatter eondi tions
are beginning to rear their ugly
heads.
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First Slop On African Tour
Reports From Zimbabwe
By Gus Savage
Member of Congress
August 5th; and I am re
porting from Salisbury,
Zimbabwe, in the southern
part of Africa. Since it is
the winter season here, the
temperature is only about
60 degrees.
I’m staying in an up-to
date, 18-story hotel, the
Monomatapa, named after
the feared black 15th cen
tury paramount chief of
this area.
- Tomorrow morning I am
going to meet with Prime
Minister Robert Mugabe,
and Friday afternoon I will
leave for Johannesburg,
South Africa.
I was picked up at my
house in Washington, D.C.,
by a U.S. Air Force man,
yesterday, at 6:30 p.m. He
drove me to Andrews Air
Force Base where we took
off in an Airforce version
of the Boeing 707.
On board were six other
members of Congress, in
cluding two other Blacks:
Shirley Chisholm of New
York, and Ge&ge Crockett
of Detroit. Also, accom
panying us were 10 staff
members of the House
committee on f oreign
Affairs, four Army escort
officers, a medical officer,
plus an Air Force crew.
The first leg of our jour
ney, crossing the Atlantic
Ocean, took almost eight
hours. We landed in Dakar,
Senegal, the western most
tip of Africa, to refuel.
Incidentally, about four
miles off the coast of Dakar
is the Island of Goree, the
concentration point for the
African slave trade of the
17th and 18th centuries.
It took another eight
hours to fly the-4,350 miles
southeast to Zimbabwe.
I read during most of
these 16 hours, to improve
my understanding of what I
am about to experience, in
a three-week official fact
finding mission to seven
nations in the west, south
Gus Savage
and east parts of the
Motherland.
I am taking this trip
instead of a vacation be
cause I need to learn, first
hand, more about what
America is doing in Africa,
as contrasted with what it
should be doing here.
After all, the Reagan ad
ministration seems £o be
favoring the fascist South
African regime, while
opposing the black libera
tion struggle in Angola and
Namibia. '•••
[no matter now much
tougher our government is
about to make it for us in
America, we must not
overlook the even greater
pain it may be preparing
to inflict upon our African
brothers and sisters.
Now, let me become
more specific about the
country where I am: Zim
babwe, an area which
boasted a thriving econo
my as long ago as the 9th
century.
Until Blacks won a fair
election in April 1980, end
ing 92 years of white-settler
rule, Zimbabwe was known
as Rhodesia, so named in
1888 for the racist British
adventurer Cecil Rhodes.
Last year’s election, of
course, was imposed on the
white tyrants by decades of
violent, black revolution
ary struggle in which Mu
gabe played a leading role.
—Of Zimhahwe.'ahefty_l3,4
billion gross national pro
duct in 1979, reportedly 25
percent was manufactur
ing, twice as much as agri
cultural. Only eight per
cent was mining, mainly
gold, though mining ac
counted for more than 60
percent of Zimbabwe’s ex
port earnings. And Zim
babwe has two-thirds of the
world’s known reserves of
metallurgical grade
chromite.
Its-infrastructure is mo
dem, with excellent intern
al transportation and elec
trical power networks. Its
beautiful capital, Salis
bury, a commercial center
of some 650,000 residents,
reminds me of Miami,
Florida.
Only about 240,000, or
three percent, of Zimba
bwe’s 7.2 million popula
tion is white. That is 28
Blacks to every, one white.
Yet, that tiny minority
still greatly influences this
Ration’s government, owns
the best half of all the land,
and controls the country’s
highly developed and di
versified economic power
and rich natural resources.
However, if its newly es
tablished black democratic
political control is sus
tained, as seems likely, this
maldistribution of econo
mic power surely will be
corrected. This appears
certain even if Mugabe’s
professed gradualism and
non-alignment do not prove
to be the'wisest course for
Zimbabwean Blacks, the
majority of whom have not
finished elementary
school.
Indeed, as a Marxist,
Mugabe’s own commit
ment to Pan-African social
ism should further insure
the necessary corrections,
especially when one adds to
this the fact that he was
held in detention by the
former Rhodesian rulers
for 10 of his 56 years.
_1 will be reporting next
week from Cane Town,
South Africa.
—*g^mm »y Gerald C. Horne, ESQ.
Affirmative
'
Action
Time To Play Hardball!
The lingering sli ike in major league
baseball and the opening of the new football
season dramatize for all to see the paltry
percentage of Blacks in front office jobs.
Many are familiar with the sight of Reggie
Jackson knocking the ball out of the park
but how many know that Yankee Stadium is
a veritable white oasis of employment in the
midst of the teeming Black and Latino
South Bronx, which has one of the highest
unemployment rates in the country? Many
are familiar with the whirling dervish 1
dunks of Dr. J. but how many Blacks hold
high management positions in the Philadel
phia 76ers organization?
Racism m professional sports has had a
long and raveled history. Until Jackie
Robinson broke the barrier of Jim Crow in
baseball in 1947, the sport was as lily-white
as the ball. Talented super-stars like
Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Jay “Cool
Papa" Bell were relegated to eking out a
living in the poverty-stricken “Negro
leagues.” It should never be forgotten that
what ended the racial bar in baseball was
not the benevolence or new-found vision of
the greedy team owners but the determined
protest of Black fans led by Paul Robeson
and the changing international situation in
which the U.S. found it difficult to compete
for “hearts and minds” in the Third World
when people of color here were so heavily
discriminated against.
Today, Black athletes account for more
than 70 percent of the players in the
National Basketball Association, 55 percent
of the players in the National Football
League and some of the highest salaries in
major league baseball. Even in the National
Hockey League there are two Black players
active. Professional tennis has seen the
flowering of a number of Black female
players, e.g., Leslie Allen.
Yet, the charge by Ed Garvey, executive
director of the National Football League
Players Association, that the NFL itself is
“a monument to racism,” could just as
easily be applied to professional sports
generally.
Still, it is quite easy to see why this charge
was leveled at the NFL. First of all, there
* are no Black general managenuor head
coaches. A recent; study conducted by
sociologist Jomils Braddock II of Johns
Hopkins University shows that flagrant
institutionalized racism continues to exis^
against former players who are Black, in
terms of coaching jobs.
The study, covering the 20 years of 1960
through 1979 showed that 329 former NFL
players had been promoted to the coaching
ranks-261 assistants and 68 head coaches. Of
that total of 329, only 20 were Black, all in
assistant jobs.
Garvey has noted that although there has
been a growth in the number of assistant
coaching jobs over the last seven years, the
proportion of Black assistants had not
grown. The study pointed out that one of
every 20 retired white NFL players can look
forward to becoming an assistant coach,
while the figure for Blacks was one in 100.
Professor Braddock projected that in the
two decade period studied, 10 Blacks could
have expected head coaching positions and
92 could have expected assistant jobs. Yet,
there were no head coaching jobs and a
meager 20 assistants.
What is the NFL hiearchy saying? Do
. Jhfiy_maintain that Blacks are good enough
to play the game and not good enough to
coach it?
t rom Capitol HiU
Royal Wedding Took Precedence Over Important News?
Alfred* L. Madison
Special To The Post
Recently, Represent
ative Parren Mitchell wa:
asked about the Black Cau
cus' accomplishments, an<
he began to enumerati
them. One reason the Cau
cus works are not known i:
because of bias whit<
media reporting, an«
racism of politicians. Th«
losers in these actions an
the American people of al
ethnicity. If the press ha<
given equally Wide cover
age to the Black Caucus
budget which was entirely
different from both the
Reagan and Democratic
budgets which had only a
high powered microscopic
difference, the American
people would have had an
opportunity to make a real
choice. Losers! American
people.
We all remember the
wide criticism and forced
resignation of Andy Young,
as U.N. Ambassador over
his talking with PLO mem
bers and the criticism of
other Black leaders who
\went to the Mid-East,
talked with PLO leaders,
returned and emphasised
that no peaceful settlement
♦
Alfreds L. Madison
could be accomplished
without at least a PLO
dialoque. These criticisms
were given wide coverage
by the white media. Now, it
was revealed recently, that
the U.S. administration has
been contacting the PLO
through other sources, and
Hugh Sidey of TIME
magazine said, that there
must be talks with the PLO
in order to bring about a
peaceful settlement be
tween the Israelis and Pa
lestinians. He stated that
the Palestinians must be
given an independent
homeland. Why didn't
Hugh Sidey voice that
same sentiment at the
time Blacks expressed it?
These are two of the many
reasons why the United
States needs Blacks in key
positions where they can
impact on issues.
The television stations
spent millions of dollars
and long hours of reporting
on the wedding of Prince
Charles and Princess
Diana. Of course, the top
TV people were dispatched
to England and, as Max
Robinson said, “Blacks
don't hold those positions."
Carl Rowan said much Im
portant news that was not
necessary for the thorough
familiarization to the Ame
rican people was ignored.
This was just the marriage
of royalty whose only ac
claim to their lofty position
is that the Prince was bom
to a long line monarchical
family, who can attest to
nothing that they have done
to improve the conditions
of humanity. They live
lavishly off the immense
taxation of the people of
their country, enjoy pomp
and glory, and wander
around the world looking
for more lavishness, glory
and honor
The television commenf
ators commented on just
how beautiful the bride
looked. All brides look
beautiful. They said that
one could see romance be
tween the couple. All cou
ples give a romantic ap
pearance at their wedding.
There were comments on
the couple's many expens
ive gifts. Why do they need
gifts? What are they going
to do with them? Certainly
they already had more
than they can use, and they
can well afford to buy
anything they desire. It
would certainly have seen
more of a gesture of love
for their country’s citizens
if they had done as a
Erominent, black, retired,
ig league football player
and his bride, a black
woman lawyer who printed
on their invitations "In
lieu of gifts, make con
tributions to charity.”
Some commentators said
the wedding was a much
needed "shot in the arm,”
for England’s morale be
cause of the recent strife
and mounting opposition to
Prime Minister Thatcher’s
economic policies, which
certainly bear a close re
semblance to the Reagan
omics of our own country.
Inflation in England is 11.3
percent, and unemployment
11.8 percent.
Commentators said the
wedding coverage made
the viewers very happy.
Those who are living very
well, as well as our media
people who covered the
wedding made up the hap
py crowd, but what about
those who have no jobs, and
can scarcely eke out a
sparse existence, those
who suffered racism at the
hands of HA English go
vernment, the youthful
frustrated jobless rioters
and the Irish Catholics?
Does the press expect the
living conditions of the poor
people of England and the
United States to improve
by having, perhaps, a vi
carious television experi
ence? TV could have con
tributed more justifiably to
the English people if it had
given equally extensive
coverage showing just how.
the jobless in England are
existing and showing how
England discriminates
against Blacks and other
ethnic groups. It could
nave served the American
public better If it had more
*
fully informed the Amerj^
can public about the /yfl
ministration's sending HM
tian aliens to federal priflf
when no other aliaos^Hl
are not criminals
been sent to prison. Ii
of interviewing the
and Princess, a
contribution could'
been made if the preas
talked with Black l<
who could have ti
let the people know
gan’s broken cam pa
promise not to set i
rights back. The pt
deserves to know the
truth of how block gi
control to the states,
attitude towards but
opposition of affirms
actions, holdout on V4
Rights stand; all perf
ate discrimination an
justice. The preas is
gated to tell how disc
ination exists in the es
five and legislative bris
es. if it wants to right
inform Americans.