Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Aug. 26, 1982, edition 1 / Page 2
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EDITORIALS & COMMENTS Question Of Maturity? .. Last week Los Angeles offici als and neighborhood organiza tions found it necessary to cancel an anniversary celebration in cautious remembrance of the Watt riots, and presumably what the riots led to in the way of eventual progress. Ironically, it was new riots on the first day of the celebration that led to the cancellation of the historic event. This incident and the original Watts riots, as well as those in Detroit, New York, Newark and other cities in the late 1960s, remind us of a pattern of intimi dation that has been allowed to develop in America. What we are referring to is the fact that too many public officials and civic leaders from the national to the local level are preoccupied with fears that high unemployment among black youth will mean riots in the streets if immediate steps to correct such situations are not implemented. Numerous steps have been taken by many federal and state agencies and local governments have placated black youth to avoid presumed riots. Meaningless jobs, pay for play and other schemes to avoid presumed riots have been offered. V ►' ’ * While it is certainly commend able for any efforts to find employment for youth, it is a bad omen to be motivated by a fear of riots, and at worse, to let the youth be aware of your fears and motives. » Such behavior establishes poor and distorted values in our youth and implants the belief that the threat of a riot will bring instant rewards. As distasteful as it may be, black youth must learn to adapt to unfortunate and hope fully short term situations just as the rest of us in the population have to do. All of us, youth and adults alike, must come to the realiza tion that any unfortunate situa tion, unemployment or otherwise requires a level of maturity that would lead to an eventual solu tion within the social order of our society. To do less would be to invite anarchy and to endanger the freedom of American institu tions and the rights of the indivi dual. Crime Rate Leveling Off? Data released by the Charlotte Police Department this week indicates that in the first six months of the year crime had increased by 17 percent. Howev er by the end of the seventh monthly, July, the increase was only 15 percent, the same as it was last year after 7 months. More significantly, the 15 per cent means that the crime in crease is increasing at a dimin ishing rate. This led Veronica Sorban, the police crime analyst, to conclude that “we’re not calling this a trend yet...but we’re pleased to see that overall, some categories seem to be leveling off.” This gleam of hope that the crime rate may be leveling off should be particularly pleasing news to the black community because of the relatively high incident of crime committed against bla ,k citizens and their property. On the other hand, it is cause for concern to read the series in The Charlotte News this week about the ravages of crime on the vast majority of law-abiding citizens, who happen to live in public housing. As the first of the series notes, “overcrowding, un employment and frustration.. combine to light the fuse of crime.” Yet, since all of us are potential victims of crime, it be hooves each of us to play some small role through the “Crime Stoppers Program”, “Neighbor hood Watch” and have a get-in volved attitude when we observe people violating the law. We don’t have to play the hero role but there are many ways we can help to prevent crime. It’s your city, your neighbor hood, your property and your family’s welfare; so, won’t you do your part to prevent crime? If you do “leveling off” might become a permanent and happy ring for all to hear. Do We Want Togetherness? The Gannett Company, the owner of 88 daily newspapers, 26 weekly newspapers and 20 radio and television stations is about to bring life yet another newspaper called USA Today with the first edition scheduled for September 15. Reportedly, the editorial in this first edition, expected to be a national newspaper deals with a movement of people of varying intellectual, social, economic and political backgrounds that might bring about a true unifi cation of the nation. A ranking ■' executive in the Gannett corpor ate structure has expressed sup port for the presumed editorial viewpoint by noting that he believes people are going to be less different in what they know, what they read, and what they observe and consequently they’ll be more alike. If that’s the direction of togetherness, separation will have to mean another Civil War. Togetherness is what we need but not what we have nor what we are moving toward. BLACKS DESTINY IN OWN HANDS.... Letters To The Editor Greatest Evil Of Man Stands Out Dear Mr. Johnson: When one considers the course of history and phi losophically views man's inhumanity to man. the greatest evil of man stands out. Slavery! God never intended for one of his creatures to enslave his Jellowman Philosophy is the search for truth. Maybe this search will bring forth the answer. Let’s hope! Due to the baser side of man there has always been an enslavement of the bodies of man In warfare the conqueror enslaved his captives. Oftentimes the slave was superior in in tellect and culture to his captor. Demetrius, the Athenian slave of the Roman gladiator who re moved Jesus Christ from the cross, was far superior to his master. Never in the history of mankind - except in one instance - has not only the body but also the mind, heart and soul of man been enslaved. This instance is a wanton enslavement of a black by his white captor. Only by recognizing the greed of man can this be understood Present day racism forces us to throw out the history of the previous 350 years regarding this breach of all rationale. An economic need - due to cotton - existed in the South for slave labor. Greed and lust prompted the enslavement of a fellow creature of God, but who had a different pigment ation of the skin It is difficult to understand this travesty of man. It appears that man experienced a complete aberration White men just wrenched the blacks from their home land Previous history has recorded the blacks were thought of as a primitive beast. With wantonness the white race enslaved the black And not in a humane manner. Horribly! The peaceful agrarian African black was trapped by his white captors and trans ported to a new land to serve the supposed econo mic need of their white captors. Here he was treat ed as chattel - a human being deprived of all dig nity. His mind was shackled. It was not re cognized that he had a soul. Deliberately by legisla tion he was deprived of the right of education; women folk were defiled. The white master felt the need to suppress the blacks whom he considered his inferior. A grave injustice is seared into the conscious of the white man As time pmgressed a strange paradox existed. It is difficult to reason that a man as gentle as Robert E. Lee owned slaves. My great grandfather owned 75 slaves The better side of man came to prevail. An anti coalition came into being.. Two divergent situations began to exist. There is a typical slave-owner who raped Chicken George’s mother and exploited the skills of his son. Then there came into being the bene volent master - the slave owner who loved his slaves. He granted manumission to his slaves In other in stances, the white man fell in love with a slave and would have taken her as his wife Never! Miscegena tion was prohibited. Final ly slavery ended with the division and rupture of the white race. The freed black, due to the fact that his every effort was thwarted, was freed as an illiterate rape Illiteracy gave waj^^ite racy due to the philan thropy of certain whites as the Biddle family from Phi ladelphia. These whites realized that the blacks' only hope was education. Thus such institutions as Johnson C. Smith at Char lotte came into existence. The solution to the blacks was because many had God-given talents in the crafts such as blacksmiths and leathermakers For the next 80 years it was an uphill battle for the blacks. Whites resisted all along the way. In 1898 the Supreme Court decreed the equal but separate rule of law. This case was re versed in 1954. In 1964, because of the Civil Rights Act, and in 1964 because of the Voting Rights Act, the black came into his own. From 1964 until 1982 is a relatively short period of time Many more healing years are needed. Witness the voting rights protest march from Selma, Alaba ma to Montgomery, Ala bama. Today the blacks excel in every facet of in tellect, culture and social graces They have de veloped a sense of pride of race, for which they worked and achieved on their own. The i-ace situation today is by no means settled. Both the blacks and white wear a facade. Would it not be better if each race be pure? A black minister writes, "Blacks and whites must forgive each other ” What a statement coming from a black! Richard T. Elmore 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 To: 1524 West Blvd., Charlotte, N.C.28208 Telephone (704-376-0496 -ySfttfrMyn.V?! 104 Years of Continuous Service Bill Johnson - Editor, Publisher Bernard Reeves General Manager EranFarrer Advertising Director —Uannette GaitherOffice Manager Second Class Postage No. 965500 Paid At Charlotte, North Carolina _Under the Act of March 3, 1878 Member, National Newspaper _Publishers’ Association _NortiKjarolina 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 he returned. National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers. Inc. 2400 s Michigan Ave lr, w ,:>lh ST Sujle M93 Chicago. Ill 60616 \pw York. New York 10036 Columet 5-0200 (212) IH0-I22O From Capitol hJl WALK YOUR TALK | Kev. Perkins Who Is The Greatest? My heart is burdened for our black children. Our future generation is being threatened. Juvenile courts are packed with our young people. Jobs for black young people are scarce and often nonexistent! The schools are in such a state of unrest that our children are not being prepared to take a meaningful role in society. And in Atlanta1 the precious quantity of life itself has * tragically been lost by 26 of our children. ^ Violence has even penetrated the Jackson public schools with one example being a student shooting an assistant principal. I am concerned about the conditions in the schools today. In order to see changes in the present educational system, we are going to have to take more responsibility both within the home and in the community. Families are going to have to provide an environment that includes love, care and discipline. Our children must be taught within the home a sense of discipline while they are young. We will have to take responsibility for the quality of education within the commun ity. Historically the black school teachers; nave been leaders in giving our children a sense of black identity and pride. Our teachers have a responsibility to instill proper values within our children. Mrs. Ineva Pittman is an example of a teacher Who is committed to her people and to the community through participation in the NAACP and the cooperative movement. As government budget cuts take place, we may have to rely less upon the public schools. I believe we will eventually need to develop alternative school systems. This will not be as a competitive system to the public schools, but it would give our teachers who will be out of work an opportunity to participate in a more creative educational system. People would have to take more respons ibility since they would be involved in the development of the school and its financial support. Our children need this kind off attention. It is time for us to begin to talk about how we can develop creative alter native school systems within our own community. Our young people and their development should be one of our greatest concerns. In Matthew 18 Jesus asked His disciples, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a child to come sit with them and said, “Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in( the kingdom of heaven.” He goes on to say that “whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.” Jesus tells us here that the attention we give our children and how we develop them determines our own greatness in the king dom of heaven.'He also identifies the key to being great in the kingdom of heaven as humility. Our children have an important place in our present and future society. We cannot afford to neglect our greatest hope. SBA Actions Greatest Economic Debacle Of All Times Ky Allred a L. Madison Special To The Post In commenting on today's United States economy with unemploy ment higher than its been in 41 years; more than 12 million unemployed, the greatest small business bankruptcy since World War II and with the halt of social economic progress of the poor, Representative Parren Mitchell calls it the greatest economic debacle of his life time He and several other congressmen called a press conference in which they explained now me Keagan Admin istration has changed Small Business Admin istration (SBA) regulations which will eliminate minor ity businesses from con sideration for lucrative federal contracts The Small Business Act was established in 1953 for the purpose of empowering SBA to contract and sub^ contract with federal agen cies. along with providing these contractors with business aid Under section 8(a) SBA is to give these contractors assistance which will enable them to overcome economic disadvantages < M.§. AIIMa I,. Madison through ownership This would be done by providing these businesses with con tracts and technical sup port that will aid them in becoming competitive businesses in a reasonable period of time Public l^w ■% 481 re quires S&A. acting under section 8fa> to negotiate individually, an anticipat ed date when the firm overcomes its economic disadvantage and will be ready to move out ol the 8'a) program Instead of following I,aw ‘(6 481, SBA has substituted its own re gulations which set a fixed time for all minority businesses to move out of the program As a result 400 businesses which have increased their productiv ity have been dropped from consideration for further federal contracts. It is alleged by SBA that their production is too large for receipt of government con tracts Congressman Mitchell said he refuses to accept such a rationale since Lockheed and Boeing, multi-million dollar corporations never gross too much business to be denied federal con tracts r requentiy testimony be fore congressional commit tees and debates on the floors of both Houses of Congress emphasize that small business provide the greatest number of jobs, since they are not as highly mechanized and special ized as big corporations Withholding of federal con tracts from the 23 minority businesses, threatening them with bankruptcy will result in the loss of 7.500 jobs Four people who are em ployees of these threatened minority businessmen re lated sad stories of their situations. Two of the women said they had learned skills since being employed by the firms, and t have received promotions Both are heads of families with children They were irsidespair because the threat of losing their jobs, leaves them with no where to go A third lady said her husband's job does not pro vide sufficient finance for their family and the loss of her job will certainly cause them to lose their home. Steve Monroe, a young man who is a nineteen year old and is paralized from the neck down, resulting from an accident when he was in eighth grade, is employed in a data proces sing rehab center Steve has been promoted to a supervisory position with a salary of $20,000 a year He is able to take care of himself and his life-in at tendant Bob Goldstein, vice president of the rehab center says SBA has in formed him that funds for this program will be cut off within six months Steve and other handicapped per sons in the program will be placed in some ill-provided institution and allowed to languish there, in an un happy state until death This will prove costly in self esteem of the indivi dual and there will be a financial cost to some agency or organization The government will lose financially by preventing these handicapped persons from continuing to be self supporting tax paying citizens President Reagan stress es the fact that he is a compassionate man Where is compassion when he cuts, very severely, funds from programs for these handicapped people? While it’s unusual for a President to observe com mittee hearings, these are unusual times and Mr. Reagan has already done some unusual things, such as. visiting a black family that has had cross burning in front of their house and visiting a pig farm, he could have shown more compassion for humanity if he had attended this press conference rather than 'riding in a coach, donned in a cowboy hat in Mon tana The congressmen stated that during this time of high unemployment, the Administration's rewriting of SBA laws shows just how far it is going in imple menting racism and burdening the poor The panel called for a pulling together of these affected groups to bring pressure on Congress to stop its hypo crisy and require SBA to fully implement congres sional mandates. While SBA calls deleting minority business from federal contracts a grad uation, the congressmen strongly stated that it's not a graduation but a "push out" and execution of min ority businesses The Ad ministration's actions are heralded as unfair, unde mocratic and barbaric, by the congressmen They said that SBA's actions are devastating to the large industrial cities A letter was sent to Pre sident Reagan urging him to intervene in the SBA's ignoring congressional mandates in its treatment of minorities_ Read The Charlotte Post Kach Wee It’s your best source of news about the people you know
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Aug. 26, 1982, edition 1
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