Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / May 19, 1983, edition 1 / Page 2
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EDITORIALS & COMMENTS ■ I Education And Priorities Last week we joined the choir of publications responding to an commenting on the latest report on the presumed crisis in Ameri can education. We said the report was not unlike" others prepared over the past 20 years and we discussed some of the broader and possible less vialblfe issues that affect the quality of education Such as the level of parental apathy, misplaced priorities such as in the role and place of school athletics, the relatively low priority that public education is given by legislative bodies and many tax payers. One further specific example will help to illustrate our point about misplaced priorities. Be cause of alleged recruiting vio lations'in the competitive strug gle' to maintain a strong na tionally ranked football team, Clemson University president Bill Acherly has begun taking steps to reorganize the institu tion’s athletic department and to hive more direct control over its affairs.' Instead of being encour aged in his efforts, the university . board of trustees has reportedly been so critical of the presi dent’s plans that he has begun to seek employment elsewhere. Yet, it is Without question long past time to have begun to take some positive and meaningful * steps to' reverse the'downward . trend id the quality of our public school secondary education. What we are saying is that there are some corrective thtngB that school Systems can begin to do now beyond talking to abate the educational crisis. First and - foremost our public schools should'reverse the trend that - shows that the percentage of classroom time devoted to sci ence, math and English has been less and less over the past two decades when compared to driver education, the fine arts, physical education and home economics." ... Secondly, we strongly support and applaud a policy in the Los Angeles school system that has required over 6,000 high school students to discontinue partici pating in school sports and other activities because they have failed a class or do not have at leats a “C” average in their academic studies. Reportedly, nearly 20 percent of the students participating in extracurricular activities had to drop them for academic reasons. We think this is a positive step forward getting our educational priorities in order. * Yet there is much more to do, higher pay for better teachers, curriculums to meet today’s labor market demands, in creased - responsibility by parents who should be required to visit their children’s schools more frequently, and a renewed national' commitment to the values of education from the nation’s president down to the custodians in the small schools scattered throughout our many rural communities. Finally, black people-elected officials,' ministers,' civil rights and community leaders, parents and students-must maintain a growing awareness that in the final analysis education is the primary solution to the problems involved in better job opportun ities, housing and political and social justice, and for overcom ing most of the' denials brack citizens are confronted with. We must never forget that a “mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Symbols And Traditions One of the reasons for the crisis in American Education referred to above is the fre quency with which issues arise that affect policies and attitudes in the educational community without directly involving aca demic programs except that th£y detract from the concentra tion Accessary for the pursuit of academic excellence. Fin*'example, two of the na tion's universities are in the midst of somewhat controversial issues that are a part of the more negative aspect of hiinian history. The "Swastika,” has been the name and symbol of the \ New Mexico State' University yearbook since chosen by the studeAf body in 1907. Gov. Toney ~~ Anaya has recommended that the university students discard this symbol and name because Adolph'Hitler made the swastika the symbol of the Third Reich under which over six million Jewish people were killed during World War II. At the University of Missis sippi, black cheerleaders have announced that they will qever wave the'rebel flag, and along with other demands, have asked the school president to discontin ue the use of the rebel flag in any officials activities involving the University. Obviously, the black students view the rebel flag as a symbol of the oppression and slavery that black Americans endured in the 19th century. THE CHARLOTTE POST "THE PEOPLE'S NEWSPAPER" Established 1918 Published Every Thursday by The Charlotte Poet Publishing Co.. Inc. Subscription Rate f 17.68 Per Year Second Class Postage No. 965500 Postmaster Bend 3579s To: 1531 Camden Rd., Charlotte N.C. 28283 Telephone: 794-379-0496 Circulation 11,023 _105 Years of Continuous Service Bin Johnson Bernard Reeves Fran Farrer Dannette Gaither Editor. Publisher General Manager Advertising Director Office Manager Second Class Postage No. MUM Paid at Charlotte, North Carolina Under the Act of March 3,1878 Member, National Newspaper Publishers' Association North Carolina Black Publishers Association Deadline far all news copy and photos Is S 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. MW 8. Michigan Are. « W 450. 81., 8nHe MSS .Chicago. ID. WSlf New York, New York ISOM Cetamet MM 2IS-4W-122e -- ~~ * — -- — BLACK BUSINESS MEN AND POLITICIANS suburbia SHOULD Bem THE TORE FRONT Of LONG - KAN&PlANNmFORtriSCMy THROUGH ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CLOUT THAT ETHNIC GROUPS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MOVE UP THROUGH SOCIETY. , gk MICHIGAN CmONKLE , FB _ Do Blacks Possess power To Unite? Dear Sir: Does the black commun ity possess the power to unite, or is this power eternally divisive? There is potential for unity in our community, but it lacks the necessary channeling and is largely dormant. The responsibili ty for arousing this sleep ing giant rest, to a great extent, with our black min isters. The church reaches more people on a weekly basis than any other black organization in our com munity. Instead of isolated pockets of individualism, we need to understand that the power of unity is in numbers. Our forefathers fought the evils of bondage and racism through the black church. The enemy has changed its mask, but the evil conditions basical ly remain the same. The power and strength of se veral churches waging se parate battles are incom parable to the strength and Dower of several churches united solidly together. United we stand; divided we fall! It is time that the black ministers in our com munity realize the full ex tent of their power, which is measured by the breadth of their influence. Forming a cohesive unit has histor ically been a failing of the black community, a situa tion that is not necessarily inherent. However, the re cent Chicago mayoral elec tion illustrated that black citizens can pull together, and that the war is not over ! It is a must that we Homer W. Fennell Jr. remember this as we ap proach the upcoming local, state and national elec f tions. Now, it is imperative that our churches unite, along with all other organizations comprised of black mem bership. It is outrageous that the black community is not supporting a viable and necessary organization such as the NAACP. How quickly we have forgotten that the NAACP has been responsible for winning many of the battles in our continous struggle for free dom. It is still fighting valiantly. Yet, the organ ization has been struggling locally to acquire 2,000 new members during the past three months, without much success. We are thankful for those of you, who bold NAACP member ships, and especially the two to six ministers who are in attendance at monthly branch meetings. You are demonstrating the beginnings of unity, which we so desperately need to achieve. Is your minister an active member of the NAACP? In fact, are you an active member of the NAACP? You may send your membership to the NAACP, 112 North Irwin Avenue, Charlotte, N.C. 28206. The next branch meeting will be held May 29, 1963 at Walls Memorial AME Zion Church, 2722 Bancroft Street, Charlotte, N.C. We, as black citizens, are living in very difficult times, and we must unite in order to maximize our strength and positively ef fect our future. Who can better unify black people than our own ministers. However, black ministers in the Charlotte Mecklenburg area are not as effective a force in the community as we need them to be. The time has come for us to demand the type of leadership we so desperately need and seek at this juncture. A day of unity is pro posed, where hand in hand, we stand together in our community, with participa tion by ministers and then congregations, plus all other black organizations, to exemplify our power and unity. We need our min isters united in leadership. The time has come to de monstrate your commit ment to community in volvement. For further information regarding your participa tion in this event write: Achievers Unlimited, P. 0. Box 32052, Charlotte, N.C. 28232. By Homer W. Fennell Jr. p==WITH SABRINA JOHNSONS==S n iv r/innuu uuaoi Decline Of Coheave Force mi G m The black family in today’s climate is readilv decreasing! Socioeconomic forces havepilri individual and his family. *Slay'er$ The Depression, and now the recession have taken drastic toils bn all families especially minority (black) families. ^ Slavery divided the family unit through selling of spouse and child to other slave owners. The lines of communication were abruptly cut and names not carried on. During the era of The Depression men and women left homes in hopes of finding work. Oftentimes these people were never seen or heard from again. The recession bears a story far different from the others. * The on set of the recession has produced an enormous crop of opportunists. Op portunists who feel that their families are liabilities rather than assets. Cohesiveness for the opportunist represents a form of past values: never stopping to think that some of these values transcend time. This has no bearing on today’s society. Families across the country are feeling the pinch of the opportunity. Holiday and family gatherings are seeing fewer and fewer participants. The central family unit is being spread across the country and in some cases abroad because of job promo tions and possible opportunities. The political establishment is suffering as much as the family unit. For a time past ▲ politicians could almost count on sdmeone within the family becoming active in the arena once he retires. Now there is a trend of the younger family members to move , away and divise their own ideologies. Opportunists can almost be classified as Gypsies because of their frequent mobility arid lack of roots. Gypsies because of their cut-throat code of ethics-“Everything goes my way or no way at all,” The get all you can attitude is a major cause of the decline of the cohesive force called family. Gypsies, opportunists or whatever one may call them - the people are leaving their family units. The family that could be most beneficial in one’s success or helping' one back up when he has fallen. For projection purposes: If all opportunists in any given family would come back into the family force, work together in a given community and come together as a community - where would our society be? From Capitol Hitt Reagan’s Affirmative Actions Accomodate Foundation By Alfreds L. Madison Special To The Post It is Impossible for Pre sident Reagan to reconcile his rhetorical dedication to civil rights with his efforts to completely eradicate every single civil rights gain. The Administration is trying to cloud its bold steps with non-sensical ex planations. The Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has Just released its new regulations. The paperwork threshold has been changed, under the claim of lessening paper work for contractors, which the agency terms as burdensome. It says con tractors, supposedly re main under the non-dis criminatory phases of af firmative action. Repre sentative Augustus Haw kins labelled as shear folly for the Administration to make such strong com plaints over the paper work, at the same time letting contractors off the hook without filing an af firmative action program. Employers with 90 em ployees and a 190,000 con tract who are required to file a written affirmative action program will be ex cluded under the new ruling. The present ruling requires proof that a con tractors is in compliance with the nofl-discrlmin atory rule before being . awarded a contract has Alfred* L. Madison been eliminated. OFCCP’s new rule does riot allow class-action suits; only in dividuals, who can prove that they have been dis criminated against are al lowed that privilege. The new ruling relies on the good will of contrac tors to cease discrimin atory practices. Contrac tors will monitor them selves and make reports to OFCCP. Representative Hawkins, Chairman of the Employ ment Opportunities Sub committee of the House Education and Labor Com mittee held hearings on OFCCP’s new ruling. Mr. Hawkins stated that Executive Order 11246 re quires all contractors and subcontractors seeking fe deral contracts agree in their contracts that they will not discriminate in em ployment practices be cause of race, color, re ligion, sex or national ori gin, and they are required to take affirmative action to promote equal employ ment opportunities. There are more than 300, 000 employers doing busi ness with the federal go vernment, employing mill ions of people with con tracts totaling $100 billion. “Yet,” says Hawkins, “the OFCCP has a regretable history of non-enforce ment, while some signifi cant improvement and en forcement gains occurred between 1970-60, much re mains to be done. The last two years, witnessed what appears to be efforts to undermine gains minor ities and women have achieved, and to destroy the tools which have made those limited gains pos sibte.” NAACP Legal Defense Fund which has testified on numerous occasions on Title VII stated that it is important for Congress to take action to prevent this Administration from elim inating the last vestiges for enforcement of fair em ployment practices. LDF related many cases which attest to the Court's up holding mandates of Title VII and the Reagan Ad ministration’s intense ef forts to have the Court reverse their affirmative action decisions. International Union of Electrical, Radio and Ma chine Workers said OFCCP * new regulations, if*put into effect, will seriously weaken affirma tive action. It will be tan tamount to the Administra tion’s licensing employers to discriminate against women and minorities The Union emphasized that more affirmative action enforcement is needed, in stead it has opted for sig nificant curtailment of the program, for reliance on self-monitoring by contrac tors, which will certainly be viewed by employers as a clear message to re treat in equal employment areas. The Union witness announced that the Inter nation Electrical Union vigorously opposes all new OFCCP’s new regulations. Leadership Conference on. Civil Rights, the um brella Civil Rights organ ization, says the new OFCCP affirmative action changes affect large num bers of workers and threat en gains women and minor ities have made in equal employment opportunity. U S. Civil Rights Com mission has constantly stated that discriminatory hiring practices were the primary cause of the dis proportionately high per centage of unemployed and underemployed women and minorities. United Latin American League said the Reagan Administration is signifi cantly withdrawing from effective affirmative action enforcement. Changes offered by the Ad ministration clearly bene fit private industry which severely undercuts the in tent of affirmative action. Reagan’s action is weding greater animosity between private industry, minor ities and women. Clareqpe Thoman, Chair man of EEOC related that EEOC is the lead agency for coordinating all regu lations, directives and po licies of Executive agen cies that relate to equal employment opportunities While the agency had not met with OFCCP In chang ing the regulations, it has relayed certain objections to the labor organisation Thomas stated that he recommended that OFCCP modify its rules to avoid contractors’ compliance with its affirmative action obligations but could still be in violation of Title VII. Affirmative action to the Reagan Administration*, eliminates enforcement of all anti-discriminatory Mr ing practices for a "good faith” effort. The conserve Uve Heritage Foundation is calling for all the civil rights reversals. It highly recommended that "The Administration make civil rights a top priority and attack hundreds of existing affirmative action agree ments designed to remedy discrimination." Mr. Rea- . gan is cooperating with the Foundation, whole heart edly. Cancer’s Mysteries Continued from Page 1 well," Shingleton said. • Another field that ia ra pidly developing is that of biological response modi fiers - using naturally oc curring substance, some times in purified states, to elicit a response from the body. Improvements In cancer treatment include the dis covery that a combination of chemotherapy and ra diation can be more ef fective in controlling some forms of the disease than either of the therapies in dividually. Medical re searchers are also optimis tic that hyperthermia, or heat treatment, when com bined with other therapies has potential ‘"There are positive steps one can take to avoid cancer, and theae include giving up cigarette*, avoid ing excessive exposure to sunlight and being dwane of environmental concerns, such as asbestos and car cinogenic chemicals i. , T li
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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May 19, 1983, edition 1
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