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EDITORIALS & COMMENTS ' ' _ • • Reagan is Not The Answer Rewritten From Hie Carolina Times According to news reports last week, about 30 so-called black leaders met in the Atlanta air port to discuss development of a national strategy to defeat Pre sident Ronald Reagan in 1984. An effort to develop a national political strategy for black America appears commend able on its face, but we think black people can fall iffto a rather naive trap if this strategy is palmed off as a panacea. Reagan is not the problem in black America. Defeating Rea gan in 1964 will not be the answer. . We do not contend, however, that Reagan is a good Presi dent. We think that by and large he has not served this country well. Though much of what he says about domestic spending is somewhat correct, his views of international policy, and his ap proach to developing fiscal re sponsibility are somewhat parochial. * Bbt these problems of the Rea gan Administration affect black America to the same extent that they affect all Americans.' The special' problems that ; blacks have as a people grow not from Reagan but from the ndfional mood that he repre sents. Economist Andrew Brimmer put ids finger on the pulse of the matter ini a' 1981 colunin in “Black Enterprise Magazine” when be wrote: “A fundamental revolution in favor of a conservative econo mid policy is far advanced in this country, and it will have a significantly adverse effect on blacks... unfortunately, neither the black community nor its leadership is' equipped td cope with the new challenges that are emerging. To dosd will require a new strategy ahd a set of organ izational techniques completely 'c&fferent from those onWhich the 4 Civil Rights Movement was built ...the black community and its liberal allies have virtually no capacity to mount a campaign to counter the conservative thrust.” 3 Major Points We agree on all of Brimmer's three major points: They ate: +America:' is turning con servative, which does not neces sarily mean anti-black.' + Black leadership, the cur rent drop, is Unequipped to cope with the new challenges. * + To successfuUy navigate the choppy waters of this new wave, bldck people rriust develop new strategies. In this same column, Brimmer began hammering away at a part ot tne answer black people in this country heed. He said: “...Those dedicated to black advancement how need both new skills and a new approach. Black leaders must learn their way around the private sector of the economy. They must bdild a network of contacts with chief executives of corporations. They must gain access to the board rooms of industrial firms, banks and other financial institutions. In general, successful leadership in the years ahead will require a mastery of the facts and figures of the marketplace.” Though Brimmer stopped short of the obvious conclusion, It is clear to us that black Ame rica’s current crop of “leaders” is ill-equipped to either develop or implement the new strategy that' is needed. This deficiency is not a question of intelligence, or commitment, but rather a matter of viewpoint. _ Current Leaders Our currenY leaders, de veloped in the put of oppression, and crowned during the height of “peaceful" resistance," are simply not “bottom-line" think ers. Most of them; apparently, do not clearly understand the Ame rican economy, and' therefore, would be the wrong people to send into this new phase' of the struggle for equal opportunity in America.' The new challenges and people with the following views': + The ability to see Us as black people, a group of Americans wtih an unequaled track record of commitment arid dedication to this country, rather than just a minority. In its pure form, the word minority refers to a "minor entity.” - + The willingness and the skill to marshal our resources, both financial arid human, into' a thriving economy, rather than!' always bargaining on the basis of our consumer habits. Invest ment, not consumerism, is the cornerstone of the American - economy. H-^The ability to encourage educational systems, particular ly black institutions, to renew an emphasis on entrepreneurial at titudes, father than always training people to climb onto the bottom rung of the corporate ladder and cling there for dear life. - Thus, our conclusion is that the meeting last week in Atlanta, in large measure, was a gathering of the old guard, mostly out of tune arid therefore out of strip with whkt’s happening in Ameri ca. Consequently it will be' very difficult, if not impossible, for them to lead us into the main stream. THE CHARLOTTE POST “THE PEOPLE’S NEWSPAPER” Established 1918 Published Every Thursday by The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Ine. Subscription Rate 117.68 Per Year Second Class Postage No. 965500 Postmaster Send 3579’s To: 1531 Camden Rd., Charlotte. N.C. 28203 Telephone: 704-376-6496 Circulation 10,433 104 Years of Continuous Service Bill Johnson Editor. Publisher Bernard Reeves General Manager Fran Farrer Advertising Director Dannette Gaither Office Manager Second Class Postage No. 965560 Paid at Charlotte, North Carolina 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 5p.m. Monday. All photos and copy submitted become the property of The Post A_and will not be returned. National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, lac. 45 *•** St.. Suit* 14*3 CMeaga. III. SMM New York. New Ywk I MM CtSamet H»l212-4**-122* v 2$ * . Wanted^. JOB &tfou *7* \ Oev U«K»r We Need Work To Feel “Useful” Dear Sir: If one were to ask me what my profession is or has been, I would have to reply, “Teaching.” This answer is baaed on two factors. First, I was trained in this area and secondly, I have spent more years doing this than any other task. At some point in each of our lives we are faced with, however suttle, the ques tion, “What am I about," or phrased differently, “How, Complete' is my life or' where do I fit in the scheme of things?” ; As surely as we need food, clothes, shelter, a source in which to believe, we need work to feet use ful, productive, and ip us have a goal for efcch'day. Without the latter, we would find ourselves in a state of existence, and eventually in a rut from which it would be difficult to puliourselvee. I have had experience in many areas of the “work or Job arena.” From where I sit now has to be one of the most gratifying as well as satisfying experiences. ' As a member of the black community, looking in I heard, felt, yes, and in ignorance, let my concept of The Charlotte Peat be tainted. From this side of the desk, 1 see and can feel the love, dedication, strength, warmth and perseverance of a man with a Very reel cause. One who has a driv ing force that inspires his staff to feel the need to want to give its best He pulls forth, with quiet mannerisms, working as a comrade rather than a “boas,” to always give ultimate quality without - unnecessary fear of duress. My first experience to work in a completely black setting, as it were, from the Board of Directors to the •elf-trained and manually skilled laborer, god to khow and share in the Joy of knowing that “all people are important, reganSeas of their stations in life” and that each individual talent is a rung in the ladder that aids in the climb of seif fulfillment. We do not need “whips cracked, voices raised, dic tatorial authority, to pro duce.” Only a thin thread running through each en tity, of humanism, and we can be successful. “The voice of the>blapk community,” the motto of The Charlotte Pest, truly a community in itself, from where you, the reader, sits may be a different experi ence. But I, a staff mem ber, enjoy and rejoice FROM THIS SIDE OF THE DESK. J.B. Demos Something On Your Mnd? “Something On Your Mind” is the name of a column devoted to you - the reader - so you may share your thoughts with others. Letters featured in this column must include your signature and addeas, both of which may or may not ba used per request. Some subjects that may be of special interest to vou are: Proposal 48, How You Plan To Back a Black Man For President in 1K4, Police, Revolution, etc. All letters are subject to editing for grammer, libel ous content and when necessary, brevity. Address to: Editor, The Charlotte Foot. P. O. Box 30144, Charlotte, N.C. 28230. F%$^**&* w*y To Deal With Fnt'Offenden £ AUtl, Mary became a first offender. Her Social Security “‘'clMfciiMM .lata. Her "didn't ^i*vte itmjmooey to pay for the medicine that gave her relief. She shoplifted them and was caught. Luckily for Mary, her offense occurred in a com munity that has a Com munity Service Restitution program. She didn’t go to jail. Her prosecution was deferred while the Com munity Service Restitution program worked out ah appropriate punishment program for her. Mary was assigned to help the local Council on Aging. Her task was to call a woman about her age everyday to make sure the woman was all right Mary could even make the calls from home. At the end of a year in which Mary fulfilled the terms of her tasks and had no farther troubles with the law, her case was dis missed. She has no crimin al record. Plus, Mary found ' a new friend in the woman she called everyday. According to Heman R. Clark, secretary of the N.C. Department of Crime Con trol and Public Safety, North Carolina needs to look more and more to community service restitu tion programs to deal with first offenders and non violent criminals. “lUght now there are about 17,000 inmates in our prison,” he said. “It was designed to hold only 14,800. About 74 percent of the new entry inmates every year are there for nonviolent crimes. It costs the citizens of this state about $8,000 a year to house an inmate in prison. It is neither economically, morally or socially accept able to continue to put nonviolent, first offenders in prison. “The Community Ser vice Restitution program offers this state a positive, constructive way to deal with first offenders to re direct them from lives of crime to that of productive, “The nfembeis of the General Assembly have re cognized this, and in the last session appropriated $500,000 to expand the community service restitu tion program currently operating in the state. There were eight in exist ence then;"we now have 18, and we should hafo $5 by July of this year,” Clark said. Ms. Alma Nesbitt, Com munity Service Specialist lor the Governor's Crime Commission that oversees the funding of the pro grams, said, “Mary’s case is not typical of the cases our programs deal with, but it is a good illustra tion of how they work. “These programs deal mostly with first offenders between the ages of 8-20. We’re trying to get to the “This Is put of the dsal the court makes with the offenders to get into the program. They may be ordered to work in a com munity service organiza tion, Such as Mary did with the Council on Aging, or be ordered to directly com pensate the victim of their crimes for his losses. We get nothing, however, if we send them to prison,” Ms. Neebittsaid. Clark said, “Community Service Restitution pro grams work. The estab lished programs show a recidivism rate of only_ about two percent Tbefft programs are turning our young people away from a life of crime and to ward a productive life We need more of them and Black Executives What does the young black executive on the way up the corporate ladder need? What are the pro blems and pitfalls be must face gnd avoid? Join the Business De partment of WSSU and the East Winston Branch Li brary on Wednesday, April 20, at 7 p.m. for “Black Executives Climbing The Corporate Ladder.” For more information, call 727-2208. Seminar On April 7, 7-0 p.m. WomanReach will offer a seminar callad “I was. I am, I will be” facilitated by Patrida Heard, MSW. For more information, call 334-3614 weekdays 10 -4 p.m. from Capitol Hm Meese Finds It’s Not Fnsy To Defend Hie President’s Actions By Alfreds L. Madison ' Special To The Post While it’s not easy to meet, individually. With the White House top brass, ths reporter succeeded in get ting an interview with White House Counsel Edwin Meese. Q. Around two years ago, Thomas Sowell and a few , other black people set up a black organization. Sowell said he’d received money from corporations and that you were a member at the board. Is that organization still going and what was its purpose? Meese: There was a meeting not an organiza tion as such. I was on the board of sponsors, the In stitute of Contemporary Studies. I had to leave the board of directors when I came here. It provided a conference, primarily, for black people which pro vided an opportunity to critique governmental pro grams and the way in which they were affecting the ability of black people to improve their economic situation. And from that has come an organization led by black people, f won’t say an organisation in the sense of a dues paying type group but a group of people who meet periodically. I know they met here in the Washii* ton area about a year ago. • • e 'Vs 0 Alfred* So there has been periodic meetings since that time. Q. The Washington Poet •aid that you addressed the group and you said the President shared their views Walter Williams said, there, if the police can’t handle crime, we should establish vigilantes and alternatives to public schools? Meese: What t said was the President shared their views in that no group can look to the federal govern ment for everything. The best assistance to any group comes from econo mic expansion and econo mic growth. Those were the kinds of views I was speaking of when I said the President shared their views. Q. So the President is not for alternatives to public schools? Meese: The President has been very supportive of puDiic scnoou when be has talked about alternatives, they’ve been complimen tary alternatives, not sup plementary alternatives. Not to exclude public schools, that's why he’s felt that tuition tax credits for those parents who are sending theta- children to private schools is impor tant because if we didn’t have private schools there would be such a load on the public schools, they couldn’t handle It. / Q. NEA, AFT and min orities are against tuition tax credit. They say it takes money from public schools. They say lew in come parents can’t bene fit from it because they don’t pay income tax, or a very little, and that pri vate schools don’t have Title I programs that are special for the disadvan taged Then, too, these pa rents will have to buy books and they won’t get free lunch. Mease: This is not takta^ any money away from public schools. Public schools still receive money, their programs still stand on their own merits, and not related to tuition tax credits. This is not a sub stitution. Tuition tax credit is in addition to money provided for public schools This is to help those who want to send their children to private schools. Many private schools do take children who are not in the affluent group. Church related private schools do a lot of that. You’re right, they do have to be paying tax to get the benefit of that. I think this is a step in right direction, we feel It may not be the'total answer, but a parent will have to determine what school is beat for his or her child and it may be the public school la best. I have a brother with a severe physical handicap who went all the way through the public school because they had types of facilities that were best for him. We had a boy who was having reading and writing pro blems and we took him out for one year and put him in a church school where we paid tuition, thoy had a smaller class site. When he caught up we put him back in the public school This permits parents a greater range of choices, regard less of thotr financial conditions Q. Clarence Pendleton is the President of the Con servative Coalition, which Is connected with the Heritage Foundation and being the Chairman of the Ctvil Rights Commission, isn’t there a conflict in views of these two organ izat Ions’ IHeme: 1 don’t know how conservative this Mack or ganization.. is because I don’t know what the total composition of the group is I don’t even know if FW dleton is still President. Since he’* become chair man of thetommisskm, but if there is any conflict, I’m sure he’s resolved that by not continuing in any out side activities that would conflict with his responsi bilities as chairman of the commission, but there cer tainly Is no conflict In having conservative views as an individual, aad being Chairman of Civil Rights Commission because indi vidua I freedom and Indi vidual Justice are the high est of conservative values Q. President Reagan has strayed from the custom of all Ms predecessors who appointed members to the Civil Righto Commission when vacancies occurred, with the exceptionjof Nihon who removed Father Hea burgh and replaced him with Arthur Fleming. Black people see this as the President shaping the Commission in his coneer vative image Mease: The Praldtot to carrying out the law These people serve at the plea sure of the President. That allows him to appoint peo ple. Ha is submitting now names and he will have *
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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