Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Aug. 1, 1985, edition 1 / Page 2
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Cbitoriate ■ Context Of Celebrity Hero Worship The Ajmerican people historically are a nation of people who tend to admire famous people for nearly any and all reasons. Movie and television actors and actresses, ath letes, some politicians, university profes sors, clergymen, inventors, Nobel Peace Prize winners, writers, and, finally, even criminals. Significantly, and while not always for the best reasons, many such celebrities become role models and heroes and result in many people attempting to pattern their personal life after such people. In a strange way that parallels being naive or plain stupid, far too many Ameri cans even judge the value and concern for their health within the context of celebrity hero worship. If a celebrity is affected with a certain illness, only then is it viewed as something of social conversation and only then do we think seriously enough about it to visit a doctor to have the proper physical examination even when we may have had recurring. symptoms of the possible ill ness. A. recent New York Times article began with this statement: “Rock Hudson’s battle with AIDS has raised public awareness of the deadly disease in a way that educa tional campaigns have been unable to do. Since the actor’s illness was made public last week, AIDS crisis hot lines across the United States and abroad have been flooded with hundreds of calls wanting information on the illness.” Likewise, following the announcement that President Reagan had cancer, the American Cancer Institute reported receiving 2,500 telephone inquiries for information on rectal and colon cancer, whereas they usually receive only 10,000 calls in a full year. Significantly, too, since AIDS was initial ly identified with the activities of male homosexuals, people developed a paranoid fear of being viewed as a homosexual if they talked about it or let it be known that they had AIDS. Similarly, it has been socially acceptable to discuss lung and breast cancer and cancer of the leg even at the dinner table, but rectal and colon cancer have been taboo. In spite of these social influences on our attitudes, AIDS, for which doctors say there is no sure cure, has killed over 5,900 Americans in its relatively short history. Likewise again rectal and colon cancer is one of the more deadly forms of cancer if not treated early, which is unlikely to happen if we don’t talk about it and better educate ourselves about it. In like manner, it is a well known fact that black Americans suffer from a much higher rate of hypertension and high blood pressure, yet relatively few of us take the proper precautions, use the proper medi cations, or even visit a physician. Possibly, if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had died from hypertension and not an assassin’s bullet, black people might give ' more attention to this negative impact upon our health and life expectancy. Let your physical feelings and your common, good sense influence your needs for health education, physical examinations and medication, not your emotional and psychological involvement with some fa mous celebrity; your health and your life may depend upon it. Little Higher Education For The Poor Taking a cue from the United Negro College Fund. (UNCF), Americans have begun to realize that a human mind is truly a “terrible thing to waste.” Yet, sad to say, an American Council on Education (ACE) reports says “there’s no free ride for” low and middle income families who are sad dled with staggering debt in attempting to send their children to college even when tpition grants are available. The ACE report says a survey of 15,000 tuition and similarly aided recipients at public and private colleges and universities in 1983-84 revealed the following: -Low income families earning less than $15,000 yearly, pay fully half the cost of their children’s, education. -Middle income families, earning $15,000 to $35,000 annually, pay two-thirds the cost of their children’s education. ' The impact of this is better seen when it is known that even after grants are deducted, family education cost for each child in college range from $2,500 to $4,000 annuallv at public tax-supported colleges and uni versities and $4,000 to $7,000 at private institutions. Average annual cost is $5,000 at a public college and $8,000 - $10,000 at a private school. v The ACE researcher, Scott Miller, wrdte, “There^s a gap between parents' aspira tions (for their children) and their abilit/lo save. Only 17 percent of families with incomes below $10,000 could save for college - an average of $120 per year. With these rates, unless giving to the United Negro College Fund and similar college-university scholarship and grant programs, the minds of many minority . youth indeed will be wasted. As black Americans we must realize that the future of black America, indeed the survival of the black family, which is the foundation of black values, culture and history, is depen dent'' upon the advancement and development of black brain nower now. Yes, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Let’s not waste them, let’s educate them. THE CHARLOTTE POST North Carolina’s Fastest Growing Weekly , ' 704-376-0496 "The People’s Newspaper” ’" ' --— ■ ■■■■-■’ " 107 Years Of Continuous Service. Bill Johnson Editor. Pub. Bernard Reeves Gen. Mgr. Fran Farrer-Br adley Adv. Mgr. Dannette Gaither Office Mgr. Published Every Thursday by The Charlotte Peat Publishing Company. Inc. Main Office: 15318. Camden Road Charlotte. N.C 28203 Second Class Postage Paid at Charlotte Member, National Newspaper Publishers’ Association North Carolina Black Publishers National Advertising Representative: Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. One Year Subscription Rate One Year • 117.79 Payable In Advance DSPS No. 965500 POSTMASTER Send Change of address to: Charlotte Post 1531 8. Camden Rd. Charlotte. N.C. 28203 The Quality Life “Sweating” Suddenly Found To Be In Vogue D.. Aft._A _ By Ahmad Daniel* Special To The Post Frank Shorter’s marathon (26.2) victory in the 1971 Munich Olympic Games signaled the official begin, ning of the running boom in the United States. Many heretofore sedentary Indi viduals flocked to the tracks, roads, and bridle paths in droves in an attempt to pummel flabby bodies and even flabbier minds into some thing called shape. Sweating, a biological process long associated with citiiens of the lower working class, was suddenly found to be in vogue among the nobility. The two martini lunch, long a standard among business persons, was now being challenged by a health conscious group that would rather discuss that major account while running a few miles. Who would have believed a race that attracted only 126 runners in 1970 would, only eight years later, attract 12,000 eager competitors while several hundred thousand more urged them ever onward - that race, of course, is the New York City Marathon. When I last ran tlragh the Big Apple, there were in esKees of 19,000 runners! This number doss not include the utitoid number of unofficial runners or the thousand upon thousands of runners whoso applications had to be rejected so race officials could conduct the race In as safe a fashion as possible. Running has Indeed made its mark on America and the benefits accrued through running are nu merous However, research has shown that similar benefits can be attained through walking. ■ It was not too long ago walking was viewed to be the world’s moat popular (and only) mass transit system, byt not much more. In Ahmad ' today’s world of escalators, space shuttles, and subways, walking has suddenly emerged as a popular form of exercise. 1 personally enjoy seeing groups of blacks briskly walking along Beat ties Ford Road early in the morning. They always wave and ySH, “flood morning" as I run by dripping with hard earned sweat. Whether these men and women know it or not, regular walking can help them lose weight, give thorn' more energy and tone flabby n» des. It can assist in the prevention of heart disease, relieve the pain of angina, alleviate mental depression ^ and ease some of the pain of ar thritis as well as reverse some of the physical aspects of aging. Walkii« can increase the efficiency of your heart and lungs, keep you limber, heighten your awareness, and make you fed good about yourself (Who can say what bearing walk ing oc any aerobic exercise could have on black men, who are seven times more IJkdy to be murdgred UNITED COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP-NEEDED NOW! ./ME ME GOING TO SIT ON OUR HANOS AND LET BLACK COMMUNITIES CRUMBLE AROUNDUSf GRASSROOTS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS MUST EMERGE TO FORGE A UNITED EFFORT AGAINST CRIMENARCOTICS TRAFFICKING, BLIGHT, AND DECAt^ ^ Desgner Drugs Are “Crudal” Weapons , Designer drugs - they are cheap and easy to make with no laws restraining their pro duction. Is it possible that a law against designer drugs is a crucial weapon much needed to stop or slow the - mass poisonings? Victims of designer drugs suffer with legs and arms that are stiff and painful, some display demonic beha vior, others die. A deadly copy-cat drug that looks, smells, and feels like he roin has stricken hundreds of users with symptoms like those of Parkinson’s Disease. Oftentimes users of designer drugs die. The drug is called MPTP. The problems or onset of designer drugs came in the middle 60s with the advent of PCP (angel dust). It cropped up in Los Angeles and quick ly spread death and destruc tion throughout the United States. PCP caused almost demonic behavior in some users and killed others. That is the risk with de signer drugs. Hundreds of thousands may be as deadly as PCP or MPTP. What then must be done? Some suggest that laws in tended to control drugs have failed and laws pointing to that control of designer drugs will too fail. How ever, to maintain the sane Sabrina ness of society something must be done. Failing to provide a weapon in the crusade against designer drugs wodld put soeiety on « flight plan straight; for dis aster. Designer drugs are cheap and easy to make. Under ground chemists are now synthesizing potent, new and potentially hazardous drugs for abuse. These drugs have caused hundreds of deaths from overdose and irreversi ble brain damage in many other abusers.. Route that clandestine che mist move along is one be yond the law. Through a slight change of the chemical structure of a controlled sub stance - a new drug which produces the high, is not than white men, if indeed exercise assisted them in feeling better about themselves?) Books on other farms of physical conditioning make similar claims. But one thing is certain: the only exercise that will do you any good is the exercise you do. And walking is very easy. Walking, like naming, is on aero bic exercise, that is, to avoid a lot medical gibberish, they produce what Is called the “training effect” a strengthening of the body's heart •ung system. Many find running to be next to impossible while others think it. is boring or too time consuming. Of course, there are other ex ercise-physical activities you could do that are more fun and less strenuous (bowling, golf, basket hall, tennis, etc.), but these are not aerobic. An aerobic activity must elevate the hear^ rate to a certain level and be maintained for 30 minutes This activity should also be done s minimum of three times a Walking, and this is very impor tant. is s lifelong activity. (I am forced to digress here and admit that one of my major gripes with the school system is that it teaches our children group sports that will not be with them in their adult years. Net , only is this foolhardy, but It fails to raise the chllAen’s pulse for 30 minutes b it say wonder, there fore, creeping obesity is so rampant among today's youth?) Neither does walking require expensive equip ment because all you really need Is a moderately priced pair of runnii* shoes or shoes specifically mads for walking. I strongly urge you to stay away from discount stores that offer ■hoes from s table. You do not have to spend a fortune but you certatofy want to buy shoes that are not going to cause irritation, blisters, or calluses. In next weeks column, we will discuss, among other things, how to select a walking-running shop, your target heart rate, and staying with it. I hasten to add that you should first check with your doctor before starting any exercise program if you are over 40, are on any medication,' or have a history of heart pro blems. Editor's Note: Ahmad Daniels, ex ercise and wellness consultant for Alternative Livestyies, provides private and group seminars on ex ercise, nutrition, stress, and other health-related concerns. Critical Issues Critical issues facing the Char lotte-Meek! en burg Schools during the 198S-M school year will be among the major topics of disem sioo at the annual CMS Adminis trators’ Conference in Wilmington through August 2. Those issues in clude religion in the classroom, health education, teaching writing skills, the use of computers In Instruction and the introduction of dance and foreign language pro !■ grams in elementary schools The conference will be held at the ■University of North Carolina at Wilmington Principals and other administrators who attend will stay in dormitories and eat meals at the campus cafeteria. The conference it held each year prior to the opening of school. The first session begins Wednes day, July 31, at noen ahd will deal with critical Issues Thursday, Au guat 1, will be devoted to details of Career Development Program. unlawful. What is the pro fit? A basement entrepre • neur can make $2 million crop of designer heroin by buying $500 in chemicals. All that has to be done, if law officials make one variation illegal, is to again alter the molecular structure deeming these drugs beyond the law. Present drug laws require that restricted drugs be de scribed by their precise che mical structure. Fentanyl, a surgical anesthetic, is re stricted and can only be used by physicians with ucense to prescribe narcotics. The de rivatives of the drug produce the same effects. The slight chemical difference makes - entirely! Designer drugs are not sold as synthetics but under fancy names such as “China White” (designer name for heroin). An incredible challenge is present. Designer drugs can be made cheaply and easily and sold for large profits. They appear to be growing at an alarming rate, they are considered the drugs of abuse of the future. Aside from that, designer drugs are very hard to,detect and little is known about the side effects and biological effects of the use of such dmg* If new drug laws will not make the difference, what must be done? Is it a drug policy that reverses society’s puritanical, prohibitionist laws thus recognizing that drug abusers are human needed? Hie Harrison Act passed some 70 years ago defines drug use as a criminal pro blem and not one of public health. Speculatively speak ing, the government has driven drug abusers away from help and into a cri minal atmosphere where treatment carries a negative stigma to the status quo. In addition, designer drugs are impure. It may not be the drug itself that causes pro blems but the gases or che mical reaction that create the severe hazard to society Outlawing the various changes in structure may not be the answer: if it is, do we then outlaw New Coke, carob and aspirin? Some thing must be done. Hie abuse of designer drugs is a social problem and a go vernmental problem. Both must wage a super effort to combat the dilemma. If not, American adults and chil dren are leading the troops of the world to self destruc tion. What is occurring is mass poisoning like those of prohibition of 60 years past. Should restraints be lifted and the strong survive?
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Aug. 1, 1985, edition 1
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