_EDITORIALS &COMM~ TS
The Challenge .Of Change
In his address as the keynote speaker to
the recently concluded 27th annual SCLC
convention in Charlotte, The Rev. Joseph
Lowery said blacks have made civil rights
gains but cautioned that they still face
roadblocks to equality. “Everything has
changed, but nothing has changed." This
seemingly paradoxical statement is, in reali
ty, a truism which unfortunately is not well
known and is even less understood.
The paradox has been recently demon
strated here in our own city where some
blacks have expressed a degree of dis
appointment-the Mayor Harvey Gantt has
not fulfilled their expectations for visible
changes in more housing, quicker improve
ments in neighborhood development and
faster economic change resulting in more
jobs for blacks.
What some people, especially blacks, are
apparently not aware of is that during
Mayor Gantt's eight months in office two
50-unit City-financed housing projects have
been occupied by low income families, at
least half a dozen new single houses are
under construction with low interest loans
available to the buyers, many owner
occupied houses have benefited by low-.
, interest home improvement City loans, and
* similar low interest loans have ^enabled
ftiany middle income families to purchase
homes in the Fourth Ward and Third Ward
..Jttighboilioods. . _-x-.--. ... __ ...
' r urtnermore, with some assistance from
Mayor Gantt, the General Tire and Rub
ber Co. gave full-time jobs to 25 jobless
people, the Marriott City Center motel
employed 45 people, and the City has '
surpassed last year 176 summer job place
ments as it moves toward a goal of 300 for
1984. In addition, Mayor Gantt has asked
* the 130 companies of the Arrowood As
sociation in the southern part of the county
to help provide jobs for the unemployed in.
exchange for improved public transit ser
vice.
While all this and more are being done by
the mayor to help improve the quality of life
for Charlotteans, it is certainly expected
that blacks would benefit by such gains just
as whites would. It is a fact, well known by
Mayor Gantt, and should be well known by
the black community, that he was elected to
serve and represent the interest of all
Charlotteans. In this representing-allrfhe
pfeqple role, we believe Mayor Gantt has
nevertheless attempted to be sensitive to
the needs and wants of Macks.
First Black Mayor
We are reminded that after Carl B. Stokes
was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967,
becoming the first black mayor of a major
American city, he made a visit to Charlotte
to address a religious group. In responding
to a Post interview question Mr. Stokes
said, “too many black voters assume that
once a black mayor is elected all then*
problems are over and all they have to do is
sit back and wait for swift and rapid
change.” This “black-Moses-mayor men
tality” is totally inconsistent with the dy- -
namics of the American political system. '
Black mayors or other chief elected execu
tive officers are not powers unto them
selves. For example, Mayor Gantt’s power
is limited primarily to presiding at City
Council meetings, voting on issues only to
break tie votes, making committee ap
pointments and signing legal documents.
A Charlotte Observer story states elo
quently that "Eight months after Gantt
took office December 5, community leaders
say he has used the mayor’s limited power
to accomplish much of (his) agenda with a
contagious enthusiasm, a deft grasp of
issues, sometimes stubborn determination
_ and quiet persuasion. A key, many say, is
consensus.” Therefore, the Mayor has not
unlimited power, and if he did, to use such
power to benefit one group, one race, one
issue in disproportion to others would be an
abuse of power.
Councilmember Herb Spaugh Jr., Who at
one point considered challenging Gantt in a
Democratic Party primary, undoubtedly
paid Mayor Gantt the highest of compli
ments when he was quoted in the same
Charlotte Observer article as saying, “He’s
done a better job than I expected him to do.
I think he's been more of a moderate than
I thought he could be. He really will try to
get two sides together. And the guy’s a man
- of principle and he shows that.” ... .
We must hastily add, however, that black
mayors or other similarly elected officials
need not be apologetic nor shy away from
promoting causes or the interests of blacks
or other minorities among their consti
tuencies. They should nevertheless be sen
sitive to the broader community needs in
order to assure a balanced approach to
serving all areas of the community.
Black Involvement
Returning to Rev. Lowery’s paradoxical
statement we need to note too that many
_ blacks throughout the nation are somewhat
disillusioned about what black elected
officials have been able to accomplish, yet
they remain optimistic about black involve
ment in politics and what can be accom
plished in the future.
The optimism undoubtedly arises from
the accomplishments mayors like HarVey
Gant,, Maynard Jackson (former mayor of
Atlanta), Coleman Young. (Detroit).
Thomas Bradley (Los Angeles) and Ernest
Morial (flew Orleans) to name a few.
The disillusionment arises from the reali
ty that the people who hold power in
America, who just happen to be white, are
not going to voluntarily give it up to blacks
or other minority groups. This, however, is
not a question of black versus white but
rather a question of simply who are the
power leaders.
It is for this reason that blacks or other
civic-minded groups can ill afford to
assume that an elected black mayor is
necessarily a super politician who can get
his way on *ny issue at any time. If people
don’t continue to vote and seek to elect
candidates - black, white and others -
generally supportive, the mayor’s policies
and programs he cannot be successful in
responding to any kind of community need
or want.
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BLACKS WHO THROUGH THEIR SLAVE LABOR
BUILT THIS COUNTRY, SHOULD NOW UNITE TO
.REBUILD OUR COMMUNITIES FOR THEMSELVES,
Teaching Reaching Crisis Levels? ^
The cost of education may
be going up but the quality of
education is reaching crisis
levels. This is due to the fact
that the “least academically
able” become teachers
unless far more is done to
increase the professionals’
status and pay.
The United States is facing
severe teaching shortages by
the year 1988 unless exten
sive steps are taken to pro
fessionalize the field. A
report done by the Rand
Corporation (based in Santa
Monica, California) recom
mends that teacher starting
salaries start at $20,000 a
year and reach career goals
of $50,000. At the present,
starting salaries range
aroirnd $13,000 - lower than
starting for almost any other
job requiring a bachelor’s
degree.
Teacher salaries have
dropped 15 percent between'
1971 and 1981.
Also in the Rand Report, a
growing list of more than one
dozen educational reform
proposals issued since Pre
sident Reagan’s National
Commission on Excellence in
Education warned 16 months
ago of a “rising tide of
mediocrity” in U.S. public
schools.
Aside from increasing
starting and ending salaries,
the Rand report calls for:
Sabrina
1. Improving working con
ditions by allowing para
professionals to assume non
teaching duties;
2. Requiring teacher in
ternships before tenure is
granted;
3. Establishing a career
ladder allowing experienced
teachers to assume respon
sibility for supervising new
teachers and developing
programs; and
4. Offering recruitment in
centives such as scholarships
and forgiveable loans for
academically talented col
lege students to enter the
teaching field.
According to the report, ii
these and other steps are
not taken then the least
academically able students
will become the tenured
teaching force for the next
two generations of American
school children.
It was cited by the Na
tional Education Association
(NEA) that of those teachers
From Capitol Hill
Rights Act Changes And Challenges Assessments
By Alfreds L. Madison
Special To The Post
After years of boycotts, sit-ins,
imprisonment, water hoses, police
dogs, bombings and killings, the 1984
Civil Rights act was passed. Blacks
became filled with hope and
expectations of becoming fully
integrated into American life -
enjoying all the privileges, equality
and rights of full American citizen
ship. Twenty years have passed
since passage of the Act, and while
all blatant segregated signs have
been outlawed, subtle discrimina
tory segregating methods are used
and are even being initiated by the
Reagan Administration through its
influence on the courts.
The—Joint -Center for- Political
Studies held a National Conference
on Assessing Change and Challenge
of the 1964 Civil Righto Act.
The enactment of the legislation
twenty years ago had as Its goals,
the elimination of discrimination in
public accommodations, education,
employment and the achievement of
equality of the races in all aspects of
American life.
Dr. John Hope Franklin, the
author of several books and an
outstanding historian, gave
revealing facto about the historical
and ethos depth in this country,
which inhibits implementation of the
1984 Act goals. He emphasized that
there has never been any intention to
treat Blacks as equals. When
whites were fighting against taxa
tion without representation, Patrick
Henry, George Washington and
Thomas Jefferson, great advocates
of the injustice of taxation Imposed
by England as tyranny, they felt
that even free Blacks during those
Colonial days, should remain
Alfred* L. Madison
victims of taxation tyranny. Citizens
of the District of Columbia which is
70 percent Black are victimized by
those seme tyrannical taxation
feelings today.
Dr. Franklin said the Bill of Rights
did not guarantee equality for
Blacks. The Reconstruction Amend
ments really laid the foundation for
states to deprive Blacks of what few
civil righto they did have. During
that period economic, political and
social status of Blacks deteriorated
to the point where a Chief Justice
said, “Blacks had no righto that
whites had to respect.”
In 1875 Congress passed a Civil
Righto Act against discrimination of
Blacks in public places and public
accommodations, but there was no
attempt at enforcement. This Act
was struck down by the Supreme •
Court in 1883. • Even when the
Supreme Court rendered its
separate but equal decision, no
official in the country attempted
enforcement.
Dr., Franklin said no element in
American society has suffered the
deprivation, huii«.'iation, scorn and
debasement as ha/e American
Blacks, between the destruction of
the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and 1945.
In 1948, Blacks began to achieve
some desegregated victories.
Congress passed the 1964 Civil
Rights Act. This was a modest
achievement. It gave rise to the
Voting Rights Act, creation of an
independent Civil Rights
Commission, which has been robbed
of its independence by President
Reagan and instead it has become
his mouthpiece. The Equal
Employment Opportunity
Commission created optimism but it
was soon learned that it could not
break the log-jam of discrimination
against Blacks.
Dr. Franklin said decisions
affecting Blacks are made in board
rooms of corporations, banks and
fashionable chibs, where Blacks are
absent. He ended by saying that
until this country attains equality for
all its citizens, human rights denials
we aim at other countries must be
regarded as hypocritical.
Pollster Lou Harris gave
revealing figures which throw light
on the Reagan Administration’s
distorted statistics The Administra
tion said hunger claims are
improvable Through Harris’ poll, 33
percent whites thought the hunger
problem in America is very serious
and 63 percent of Blacks felt the
same way. When asked if they felt
hunger had risen during the Reagan
Administration, 56 percent whites
answered in the affirmative, while
83 percent Blacks responded
affirmatively. Those who feel that
the rich get richer and the poor get
poorer have constantly risen
throughout the country as a whole
from 29 percent in 1966 to 62 percent
in 1963.
Lou Harris through his statistical
poll taking and analysis stated
‘‘Blacks sensed correctly that the
white community doesn’t know what
it’s like to be Black in America in the
mid-80’s. Fifty-seven percent of
Blacks said they are worse off under
Reagan, 53 percent whites saw no
change, 17 percent whites thought
they were worse off, while 25
percent whites felt Blacks were
better off.
Gunner Myrdai said years ago
that whites find it difficult to accept
integration, while they abhor being
cast as a bigot. As an example, Lou
Harris cited statistics about Jesse
Jackson's Presidential candidacy.
He found that 53-41 percent of the
whites say, ‘ he is an attractive,
forceful personality and a real
leader “ By 5v«r»hetming ma
jority whites *4-10 percent agreed, in
good vote, he got in the primaries,
he’s sending a message to the whites
that the black vote can no longer be
ignored. The views of 73-21 percent
whites is “more than other can-'
didates, Jackson speaks for mi
norities - blacks and others who have
been hardest hit snd have been left
out of the process. .
Harris asked, “Do you favor or
oppose federal laws requiring af
firmative action programs for
women and minorities in employ
ment and education, provided there
is no rigid quotes?” The affirma
tive reply was 87 percent to 17
percent negative. This was an across
the board response. When the voters
were told that President Reagan
does not like affirmative action
programs, 41 percent said they will
vote against him because of that.
Since that comes to 27 percent of the
entire electorate, Harris suggests
that affirmative action could be
made a real campaign issue. ,
polled - 10 percent in 1971
regretted career choices and
in 1981 40 percent regretted
the choice. What happened?
Basically speaking and re
alistically speaking, teach
ers have left and are
leaving the system for higher
paying jobs, better working
conditions and more pres
tige.
In the past it was taken for
granted that the teachers
supply would be adequate -
wrong. Today no longer is a
group of women and men
willing and wanting to go
into the field. The seduction
no longer exists.
A price tag cannot be put
on the proposed reforms.
The cost of the reforms may
and can be off set by
cutting back on the layers of
bureaucracy that stagnate
some school districts.
State efforts designed to
increase educational \ stan
dards may cause more pro
blems than lessening them.
-
Many states believe ffiat IMP
creasing student and teacher
competency-testing and suf
fer course requirements will
help - who knows - for some
yes and others no.
A surplus of teachers from
the last decade has turned to
a shortage this decade; •
especially in the fields of
\. - • . - i
math, chemistry, data pro
cessing, bilingual education,
special education, earth sci
ence, biology and English.
Nine percent of 200.000 math
and science teachers have
left the profession between
1982-83; 30 percent are not
fully qualified to teach these
subjects and 40 percent of the
remaining few are due to
retire by 1994. This is the
primary reason why school
officials in the states of Geor
gia and Texas are going
abroad - mainly to Germany
•to recruit qualified teach
ers who are willing to be
dedicated professionals:
The slogan of the United
Negro College Fund reads
■ “The mind is a terrible thing
to waste.” Well, the fact of
the matter is that It does not
wait for age 18 to begin
wasting * the success or
failure of that mind begins at
day one and is to be enhanced
by education. As parents and
graduates it is our respon
sibility to perk up the
standards and demand excel
lence in education - so what
are you waiting for? Get out
there and become intelli
gently involved.