Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Oct. 15, 1981, edition 1 / Page 2
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Editorials & Comments Private-Public Balance Corporate Social Responsibility? The National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity, cre ated during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, notes in its final report recently that there are 25 million Americans who are poor and another 30 million who would easily qualify as poor if they suddenly became jobless, ill or lost their residency to a fire. These are the Americans that President Reagan promised in his election campaign to place a “safety net” under to assure the continuance of basic, es sential human services. How ever, what has and is happening is that as many as 20 percent of these poor and near poor Ameri cans will loose all or a major portion of their human service benefits. f urthermore, the major federal support agents to as sist the poor such as the Com munity Services Administration was closed on October 1, CSA administered 900 locally ope-, rated community-action pro grams and was the conservative successor to the more radical Office of Economic Opportunity. OEO created Job Corps, Legal Aid Services, Head Start, Foster Grandparents and Upward Bound, to name a few programs. ine termination of CSA and other socially oriented federal agencies was a part of the Reagan Administration’s plan to cut deeper into social programs even if it resulted in punching holes in the so-called “safety net.” To appease the outcries of the poor, Reagan backed away from his commitment to get the bur den of the government off the backs of American business by encouraging and promoting vo lunteerism or corporate social responsibility. President Reagan said recent ly: “The truth fy,. we’ve let government take .aMway many things we once considered really ours to do voluntarily out of the goodness of our hearts and a sense of community pride and neighborliness.” Buck-Passkig Game Recognizing the buck-passing game the Reagan Administra tion is playing on both the cor porate community and the poor. Patricia Harris, HUD Secretary in the Carter presidency, warned that the President had created a “climate in which the anger and frustration of the (inadequately served) public would be directed against business leadership.” She added that Mr. Reagan is among those who apparently assume that because of their good fortune, private sector cor porations *must be prepared to solve the nation’s social ills. In conclusion, Mrs. Harris said: “If business accepts such a burden as a fair price for greater * I freedom from taxation and over-* sight, it better determine whe ther it has a bureacracy ade quate enough to process appli cations and fend off attacks from disappointed supplicants, includ ing employees.” Kenneth N. Dayton, an execu tive officer with a Minneapolis retailing firm that is one of the nation’s leading corporate con tributors, told a group of execu tives in San Francisco recently: “If we ignore all the signs of what’s expected of us - expected by both government and by the people - then we could wake up one day and find ourselves facing a more hostile govern ment than ever before.” Social Problems Dayton added, “...and this is significant, business contribu tions toward solving the nation’s social problems cannot make up for all the losses instituted by the Reagan Administration budget cuts.” The Reagan Administration’s buck-passing begins as Mrs Mrs. Harris and Mr. Dayton both have indicated, when the cor porate community is expected to stretch beyond their skill and abilities - they’re not social workers - to solve many nearly unsolvable social problems. What the nation needs is a proper balance between cor porate-social responsibility or volunteerism and public pro grams aimed at gradually re ducing and eliminating social economic problems. For exam ple, in the 1960s the “Great Society” programs sought to attack many of the nation’s social problems with an all-out War on Poverty. Nevertheless, with an ir)adequ4ta contribution fronV the private sector trauma tic riots errupted that threatened the stability of American cities. These riots did not cease until the corporate-social responsibi lity programs - volunteerism - were instituted to complement the government’s efforts. Central to attacking social ills is for President Reagan and other public officials as well as corporate executives, to fully understand that volunteerism has its limitations, it can only be effective in certain areas for certain services, and that there are some things it cannot do at all. Mr. Keagan needs to recognize these limitations while further recognizing both the extent of the legal responsibility of govern ment and the moral responsi bility of the private sector to work together toward improving the quafiTy~or iire of all of ottr citizens. THE CHARLOTTE POST Second Class Postage No. 965500 “THE PEOPLE’S NEWSPAPER’’ Established 1918 Published Every Thursday by The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. Subscription Rate $15.60 per year Send All 3579’s'io: 1524 West Blvd., Charlotte, N.C. 28208 Telephone (704)376-0496 Circulation 7,151 104 Years o/ continuous Service 1 Bill Johnson Bernard Reeves Fran Farrer Dannette Gaither Editor, Publisher General Manager Advertising Director Office Manager Second Class Postage No. 965500 Paid At Charlotte, North Carolina Cnder 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 Avc. Chicago, III. kokik 1 nlumct .'1-0200 w. tr.th St.. Suite i i»:i New York. New York. KNCtti *212) M9-1220 SOMETHING BLACKS CAN PO FOR THEMSfLVES..,ffE6ISTER | OVER 15MILLION BLACKS ARE ELI GIBLE TO VOTE IN THE NOVEMBER. . ELECTION. (BUT THEY MUST REGISTER) THE FOLLOWING COMMUNITY ORGAN IZATIONS CAN DO THE JOB: Tony Brown's Journal Nationally Syndicated Commercial Television Series Tony Brown I Blacks Facine Major Health Crisis Give Ralph A. Johnson credit for spreading the word. "Black Americans are truly facing a major health crisis in this' coun try today. Not only are we losing our doctors, hos pitals, and other health care systems in the com munities, but we are losing something much more im portant, and we don't even know it!" Johnson says on his fact sheet handout. "I distribute my fact sheet to the community to help get this information out to the people. We as black Ame ricans are losing our health at an unbelievable rate.” He's r^ht. The health of this racily identifiable tl percent of our American society is bad and getting worse. Take a look at some data from Johnson's hand out: -One in every four black emales over the age of 28 s estimated to have high >lood pressure -Death rates for blacks is 47 percent higher than for whites. -Black women have a death rate 58 percent high er than white women. "Black males have a death rate 45 percent high er than white males. - Blacks were found to be deficient in vitamins A and C, calcium and other nu trients. -High blood pressure is the number one killer of black Americans. And these statistics are joined by more ominous Facts. The infant mortality rate for black children is 65 percent higher than for *hite infants and life ex pectancy at btrth—for—o Plack is six years less than lor a white. And the cancer mortality rate among blacks prior to the early 1950s was lower than for whites. Today the reverse is true. Ralph Johnson, who fre quently co-authors articles with Patricia Reed in BLACK COLLEGIAN ma gazine, says there is a solution. "By learning about our bodies, our health and diets, we can reverse these statistics. These facts are not ac ceptable. Our goal is to educate and help black Americans regain their health." He proposes to begin this process by getting his mes sage ou^, He wants inter-* ested parties to write him at 146 Wallace Street, Kreefort, New York 11520 or call at 516-62J-0919. "I can't stress the im portance in getting this information out to the pu blic. Not only is the ques tion of health and diet the problem, but the control of food has a great social, "political and economic ef feet on our people. Not only is food our greatest re source. but whoever con trols the growing, produc ing, and marketing, and sources, also controls the people. And our people are continually being brain washed about food and eat ing. "As President JViyerere said in a speech to his nation, which can be used in this country concerning our people. "If Tanzania is to give its children the heritage of health as well as freedom, the people must change Their attitude towards food. They must learn from each oiner and from the world about the kinds of foodstuffs which make man healthy. We have said on many occasions that the three enemies are poverty, ignorance and disease. By learning about better diet and using his knowledge, we shall be reducing our ignorance, overcoming many of our diseases, and getting ourselves in a much better position to over come our poverty. We shall be building up the nation's most important asset, that is, ourselves as human beings." Johnson joins other re searchers in drawing a relation between diet and IQ. |"The body and brain. • when nourished with pro per foods, vitamins, min erals, enzymes, proteins, etc., to meet their' indi vidual specific needs, will function at their optimum. Soul food, which includes "unwanted parts of hogs such as tails, ears, sto machs and chitterlin's’ (intestines)" contain large amounts of fat, salt and non-nutritious starches along with junk food and should be replaced, John son says, with the foods the African ancestors ate: fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans (pint os, lentils, split-pea, black eyed peas, navy beans) nuts and seeds. Don't become another poor-health statistic. Write this man who wants to take the danger off of your plate. ."Tony Brown’s Journ al. Ihe television series, is shown every Sunday, on AUVIA -'UV... t liaiinel :l, at 11 ;:io p.m. By Gerald C. Horne, ESQ. —^ Affirmative ‘ Action | Blacks And Television That television is no longer considered a cultural cornucopia is far from being news. Many have railed at parents for using it as a babysitter and as substitute for interaction with their children. But blacks in particular should be leary of the ‘‘boob tube” because it is no longer an exaggeration to say that TV is a ticking time bomb sitting in the living room. The educational value of prime-time shows on the major network is virtually nil. A recent survey in California confirms this truism by showing that the more a student watches television, the worse he-she does in school. Wilson Riles, the black educator who serves as California Schools Superin tendent, has said that no matter how much homework the students did, how intelligent they were or how much money their parents earned, the relationship between television and test scores was practically identical. ‘‘The verbal dialogue that goes on in many of those programs is of very low quality and the educational value would be nil,” said Riles. Not only do these TV shows have no educational value, but often they are plain offensive. “Sex sells” seems to be the main theme of TV producers as they shamelessly pander to the prurient interest. Buxon lasses in wet T-shirts are on the air more frequently than commercials and “jiggle” shows have joined “sit-coms” as a discrete TV category. What effect this has on the spiralling rate ol sexual assault and rape one can only speculate, as the networks hid sancti moniously behind the not too steady shield of the First Amendment to justify their crass exploitation. But the effect these TV shows have on the exploding rate of teenage pregnancy is now coming clear. Approximately 1 million teenage girls become pregnant each year with 600,000 births resulting-30 percent of these outside marriage. All too often, because of the nature of this society, these births are not celebrated but deemed tragedies, as girls must frequently drop out of school, take a job and curtail educational advance. Now recent studies demonstrate the effect of certain television shows on this group. They tend to watch more TV than those who do not become pregnant and tend to identify more with “romantic” portray als. These data suggest that TV viewing habits and TV programs content influence adolescent sexuality and a pilot study undertaken by the Southeast Educational Development Laboratory is expected to confirm this. The black community should be doubly outraged about television. Not only does the content ol the shows have a devastating negative impact on black society but thus is done more often than not without hiring black performers and technical crews. In other words, soap operas which have portrayed eargerly veneral disease, abor tion, “surrogate mothering,” nuns falling in love, child abuse, etc., have been extra ordinarily hesitant about tackling the num ber one social problem” in this country - racism. The visitor to this country who watched daytime TV would not know this proble, existed and would know even less about the fight-back against it. Social-science researchers have paid more and more attention to the issue of television apartheid. From Capitol Hill Black Caucus Asks All Groups. Xo Join In Leadership ”y itiii ena i„ Madison Secial To 1 he Post For the eleventh con secutive year, blacks from all across the United States came to Washington to at tend the annual Congres sional Black Caucus week end. While there was some entertainment and social affairs, the emphasis was on the plan that the Caucus has set forth, not only for minority and poor Ameri cans. but one that will make America the compas sionate, humanitarian world leader it is capable of being. William Raspberry, who is certainly one of the top most columnists in the country, just a week before the Caucus weekend, stated that during these annual affairs, too much money is spent in social izing. instead of taking that money, combining it and setting up black business es Now theres nothing wrong with interposing some social activities be tween periods of. work There are no annual ga^ therings of any group where some time and money are not spent for meeting, greeting and re creating with old and new 4 Alfreds I,. Madison friends I'm sure Raspber ry has covered some poli tical conventions, where some expensive entertain ment is going on just about 24 hours a day, irrespective of the country's bad eco nomic conditions. This* Eleventh Caucus weekend, seemed to have imbedded in the hearts and minds of the large crowd, that they received a plan of action for returning to their respective locales to imple ment, that will turn the Reagan and Congressional obstacles into stepping stones of progress Mayor Maynard Jackson said, "I'm returning to At lanta filled with enthUsi asm now that we have a plan of action that will make life-better for every one '' Mayor Henry Marsh of Richmond, Virginia, said, "ThO inspiration I've received here has injected newblood into my veins that will give me increased stamina to overcome the obstacles I'm facing as a black mayor of the Capital of the Old Confederacy.” Charles Pierce, Represent ative of R. J Reynolds Company of Winston Salem, said that he'll re turn with a message to Reynolds that they must do more business with blacks A lady from Represent ative Stan Parris' District in Virginia, said, "Some of us Virginias have already targeted every Capitol Hill Virginian for defeat the next time around Representative Parren Mitchell, in addressing the audience said the Reagan ideas are immoral and wrong - that we are faced with juvenile crime, not because of government po licy, but from the lack of government action to pro vide jobs, decent housing and protection from ex ploitation of landlords. Representative Harold Ford said the Reagan plan is designed for a few and -that the Congressional^ Black Caucus has a mis sion to bring all aspects of black America together, lie stated, "We must bring together the somebodies and the nobodies, the un dertakers and the under writers, the long hairs, short hairs and the no hairs -- all must talk black, act black and stay black.” Congressman Walter F'auntroy, Chairman of the Congressional Black Cau cus electrified the audience with his keynote address. Me stated that the Caucus is not only talking that talk but that they are ready to walk that walk with its constructive alternative budget that would give the American people a ba lanced budget now, two billion dollars more in tax relief now, a strong na tional defense now, jobs and private business de velopment now He gave a message to four different groups: I» F'auntroy served no tice on both Democrats and Republicans concerning their conduct in the 97th Congress He said the De mocratic candidates can no longer expect a blind loyal ty from blacks, who have on the record voted against those^ interests and aban doned some of the basic principles for which the Party stands. The Republi cans, he said, cannot ex pect to attract black voters away from the Democrats with idle rhetoric Faun troy stated that some con gressional Democrats and Republicans who have fairly large constituencies of blacks are being tar geted for the 1982 election. 2) To white America, blacks are not the enemy and busing is not the issue, said Fauntroy. He im plored white American to join in a coalition of mutual respect for implementation of the Caucus Alternative budget •P Fauntroy told corpor ate America that the Pre sident and Congress are di recting blacks to jobs in the private sector "We re not against that." he said, However, he state that the private sector has often given blacks full-time jobs for part-time pay. Faun troy said that blacks have been denied merited pro motions while forcing them to train white bosses for • upward mobility. "The pri vate economy has denied us access to training when we-had-the potential to contribute and a place at the top when we had the obvious experience and ca pacity to lead." Fauntroy emphasized to corpora tions that they need blacks and blacks need them if they want to revitalize American economy by be ing able to compete in the • world market. To black Americans he gave the following: (1) To defend against assaults on policies that have improved the quality of life for black Americans (2) We must take the offense by shaping and im plementing policies that will improve the quality of life for people throughout our nation and our world. < 3) We must reach out in coalition with other minor ities whose interest in a strong and working Ameri ca coincides with ours.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Oct. 15, 1981, edition 1
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