Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Jan. 10, 1985, edition 1 / Page 2
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The Vigilante: Hero Or Villain? Americans love a hero, almost any kind of a hero, because they symbolize individual • effort, individual achievement, courage or bravery, all characteristics of individual-._ ism and the competitive spirit In the nation’s larger cities, where crime is rampant and many people live in constant fear for their personal safety, hero wor ship is one way to help people overcome or at least temporarily forget their fearS. The athlete, the fireman who rescues a child from a burning building, the enter tainer who contributes money to a worthy - v cause, the priest who prevents an insane person from taking his life, the person who demonstrates honesty by returning a large sum of lost money, these are all hero types. However, the greatest American heroes, magnified by fictional television and movies are those who prevent a crime in some heroic fashion. V The hero worship mentality took a big leap forward recently when New York City residents applauded its latest hero - a subway passenger who shot four youths who wane harassing him and attempting to rob him using screwdrivers with sharp points as weapons of intimidation. One of the youths was shot in the spine and will never be able to walk again. . 'V'A . v : In a most unusual occurrence, the hero gunman helped two women to find other seats on the train after falling to the floor to avoid the gun Are. He also calmly told the train conductor what had happened and quietly walked off the train and the scene of the shooting. - For the 3.4 million New Yorkers who must ride the subway daily, about half of the city’s population, there is a full aware- ' ;• ness that the subway’s long walking tunnels are often used as hiding places for mug- ^ *-;gers, rapists and robbers. For example, : from January through November in 1984 there were 5,458 robberies or attempted robberies and eight homicides in the New York subway system. Widespread know J ledge of these facts and big media co verage of many of these crimes cause many subway riders to live in daily fear for their lives upon entering the subway. It was out of this background that New Yorkers applauded the shooting of the four 18 and 19 year old youths. Thomas RCppetto, president of the Citizens’ Crime Commission of New York, probably best summarized the feelings of many New Yorkers When he said, “People are fed up with being victimized by criminals. I think the sentiment is that the fellow probably did wrong but should not be punished severe ly.” At the other end of the debate, a Manhattan subway rider said, “I certainly don’t think he (the gunman) should be convicted of any crime at all. If I had a gun, I’d have done the same thing.” New York Mayor Ed Koch, Police Com missioner Ben Ward and Gov. Mario Cuomo quickly denounced vigilante justice. Koch then mobilized an extra 1,300 police men in a search for the gunman whom some had compared to a movie called “Death Wish" which portrays a similar modern day vigilante. Undoubtedly the sympathy expressed for the gunman, the offers of money to defend him in court, and offers to post bail money led Bernhard Goetz, a 37 year old, self-employed engineer, to turn .himself into the authorities as the pro fessed gunman. Goetz had been mugged four years earlier on the subway. t Ironically, Goetz refused all offers of financial assistance. Ironically, too. lnany New Yorkers wonder why the mayor mobil ized 1,300 policement to hunt down a man who sought to protect himself but the same force was not there to protect subway riders from the very thing that Mr. Goetz was defending himself against. Ironically a'lsp is the fact that Mr. Goetz’s self-defense and its wide publicity may have a deterrent effect on criminal acts at least for a while, if so, it will have accomplished something that the police apparently have not been able to do. j||ocal Government; Best Choice ? ! Local government - city and county - is the people’s best choice for the effective and best decision makers in the use of their tax dollars, according to a survey on govern ments and taxes released by the Advisory Commission on Intergovemment Relations. A Gallup poll conducted for ACIR in May, 1984, revealed that local government gets a . 35 percent preference rating, compared to 27 percent for state government and 24 ^ percent for the federal government. An other 14 percent of those surveyed gave no opinion. The approval rating for local govern ment’s. use of taxpayers’ dollars is the highest since ACIR began its annual sur vey in 1972. ]; It Significantly, in past years, and to some * extent today, many people, especially minorities, would be concerned about this shift because it has been only by the force of federal law and the regulations attached to V many federally funded programs that minorities and poor communities have received a fair share of the benefits of such programs. Furthermore, at all levels of government, there remains a need to reassess the na tion’s tax policies to better assure a more equitable taxing policy. Interestingly, too, ■j those people in the population, usually the poor, who too often don’t vote don’t have an impact and influence upon the tax-use decision makers. Voting will best assure how our taxes are used. The Charlotte Post North Carolina’s Fastest Growing Weekly 704-376-0496 “The People’s Newspaper’ ..1 ■'* 1111 106 Years Of Continuous Service Bill Johnson Editor, Pub. Bernatd Reeves Gen. Mgr. Fran Bradley Adv. Mgr. Dannette Gaither Of. Mgr. ____________________ Published Every Thursday By The Charlotte Post . Publishing Company. Inc. Main Office: 1531S. Camden Road Charlotte, N.C. 28203 Second Class Postage Paid at Charlotte Member, National Newspaper Publishers’ Association North Carolina Black Publishers Association One Year Subscription Rate One Year $17.78 Payable In Advance i—fc... - i From Capitol Hill Administrative Blacks Left Holding “The Bag” The press has recently reported statements made by Clarence Pen dleton, Chairman of the Civil Right* Commission, Steven Rhodes, Assist ant to Vice President Bush, and Clarence Thomas, Chairman, of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). These SMS criticized -Macks for voicing their opposition to Mr. Reagan’s assault on cfvij rights, and now they are spewing out their venom on blacks because of the “Free Africa Move ment” protest. t Both chairmen strongly de nounced black leaden for not hy ing to work with the President. Black leaders and all civil rights groups have tried, unsuccessfully, to work with the Administration on enforcing civil rights mandates of both the Congress and the courts, while Mr. Reagan has been work ing diligently to overturn these civil rights gains. Both Pendleton and Thomas are supporting the Administration’s po sition against busing. In most cases busing has worked well Kvamtfey are Norfolk, Vs., where busing has worked marvelously for more than a decade, but the Administration is attempting to upset the system and return it to resegregstion of schools The people in Charlotte, N.C., told the President that he was wrag in denouncing busing for integration in their city, because since busing their schools have improved. Thomas said, “What Mack lead ers have successfully done is they have essentially disenfranchised blacks ' Thomas is painting blacks as an unintelligent group of people who don’t realize their deplorable plight unless someone else tellt them. Eddie Willi*ms, President of ' ' Alfreds L. Madison F *; the Joint Center for Political Stu dies, stated In die Washington Post that statistics gathered by the Gallop Poll showed that "like many white leaders, black leaders in fact seem to be following mere than leading." The Washington Post article said these three Reagan appointments sense s lack of attention to on going budget and tax deHberAtlons ssusiSsai. Strattons. Do they fed that blacks can work on domestic policies at one time and foreign pplciee at an other’ Why can’t they simultane ously work on both st the dime period? What about whites who voice opinions and take a stand on both policies at the same time? they haven't spoken out against the whites who are taking pert in the demonstrations, even IhctarfingtOB aervatlve congressmen dfco have a very strongly worded letter against South Africa's apartheid, even including consideration of sanc tions against South Africa and also stating that Mr. Reagan’s construc tive engagement policy is not working. These three blacks have been advocating the President's ■ •' f * . V BLACK POWER IS TO HAVE ANY RELEVANCE SORBLACN /HEN AND WOKEN IN THE STREET IT MUST BE TRANSLATED INTO DOLLARS AND CENTS* ^ **hoo*a*ka*az*« . .saDrlirs(column, “Scope,” will retunrto this space next week. Black dues-paying mem bers of predominantly white religious denominations should pay careful attention to what their money supports at the international level. The present anti-apartheid . protest in South Africa, in spired by Nobel Peace Prise winner Bishop Desmond Tutu is yet ahother sign to blacks that corporate Ame rica is linked tightly to the continuing' oppression of ‘ theit; people in that country. many large wnire religious bodies are still investing in corporations with ties, direct ly or indirectly, to a system which denies blacks both civil and human rights. Recognizing the right of members to know where their money goes, the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ (UCC) recently released a report from its Social Re sponsibility in Investments Office, outlining the actions taken by its national boards to attack apartheid at the corporate level. As a reinforcement for the report and as a guide to individuals, local churches Sabrina and regional conferences of the denomination, the re search included the findings of the board’s survey of the 24 largest international U.S. banks’ lending policies to South Africa. Purpose of the survey was to identify fi nancial institutions that de posit funds and maintain accounts with that racist go vernment and thereby di*->/ courage investments in the of fenders Results of the survey were helpful to people and insti tutions strongly opposing apartheid. The majority of the banks stated that their policies prohibit lending - money to the public sector in South Africa and these re strictions will continue until the country changes its ra ' t ’ /'SHHKtfmaaBi Georgetown l University's (a white majority) basketball team as questioning^^ composition of the tegm for havlngf basketball players or not having (Aayers comparable to the proportionate of black students in the university Witneaaee and members of the committee proved Uk ridiculousness of that compari son. Players are selected on their ability to play basketball. Thomas also stated that an employer may be found In non-compliance if he does not have engineers proportionate to the black community, even though Mack engineers cannot be found. The committee showed that has never been ueed against an employ sr, if non-qualifled minorities are the only blacks available. He stated that affirmative action should con sist of outreach efforts rather than numerical goals and timetables Mr. Hawkins took strong issue with that view. He questioned just how he could determine whether or not an » employer is in compliance if there are no goals and Uaetablea. Hawk ins said that every corporation in the country has goals. The Commission ‘ Chairman is against the use of race consciousness. Yet in the EEOC coodltotion agreement between General and Agricultural Imple ment Workers of America and Aaro- ’ apace provided for explicit race conscious and aex-concious reme dies. The agreement requires that those chosen for apprenticeship' * openings make up 1S.9 percent mi norities and 12.0 percent women. The hearing showed that the EEOC Chairman has changed Ha policies or is considering changing them Barry Goldstein of Education and Legal Defense Fund showed that Thomas misinterpreted the Griggs ciae. He need Griggs as being too reliant on statistics Gokktein stated that under. Griggs’ use of a statistical disparity establishes a prima facie cape, the burden •hifU to the employer to show the success in the selection procedure A test or an educational requirement actually predicta success on the job Thomas told a reporter that the Stotts’ csss modified the Orig£ decision. Goldstein said that Stotts' whether s certain pattern bf coo duct constituted a violation of Title "« •howlng of i intent Stotts concerned a Court’s power to modify a consent decree In J-.,w3Sa. ***<■*«
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Jan. 10, 1985, edition 1
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