Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Sept. 12, 1985, edition 1 / Page 2
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€tutorials Mr e Issues"! 1 I k . _ ___ ___ ____ Last week ^resident Reagan insulted the people of North Carolina during a visit to speak on the campus of N.C. State Uni versity. Coming prepared to speak on his tax reform plan l«i even Sen. Jesse Helms to tell news reports, “With all due respect for my president,” support in North Caro lina for tax reform is “not strong.” The fact is, while the issue of foreign textile imports was uppermost in the minds of most North Carolinians, no mention of textiles was made except for a brief discussion between Gov. Jim Martin and Mr. Reagan enroute to Raleigh and when Martin introduced the President. While N.C. State University has the largest textile school in the nation, the President made no mention of a bill before Congress designed to protect the troubled American textile industry from the avalanche of inexpensive foreign imports. The only public comment on the issue came when Gov. Martin suggested when intro ducing the President that Reagan's tax plan be changed to give textiles a break on capital investments. N.C. textile officials were reportedly upset that Mr. Reagan ignored this issue of vital concern to the state and then refused a request to meet with them during his visit on the pretext of a crowded and limited schedule. The textile Industry has been in conflict with Mr. Reagan over his op position to legislation to place quotas on imported textiles and clothing. Gov. Martin, who was very supportive of the textile officials’ efforts to meet with the President, should be commended too for his two brief efforts to get some reaction from the President on the textile import ques tion. As if mesmerized by Mr. Reagan’s smile and ms smooth and articulate manner, tne students who joined the President at a private luncheon following his speech re portedly raised questions about South Afri ca, Central America, NASA funding cuts, but apparently not about textiles. So often when a President is planning a visit, the people at the center of toe visit get so preoccupied with leaving a positive and memorable impression that that contri - butes making the visit more of a social call and circus act than seizing toe opportunity to hear firsthand what toe President’s views are on the vital issue, especially as they affect the group visited. Thus, while Gov. Martin was trying in vain to get some positive reaction and sup port for the textile industry, N.C. State University officials and students were willingly duped by the President’s focus on an issue - tax reform - that even Sen. Helms had little support in North Caro lina. Mr. Reagan capitalized on the environ ment in Reynolds Coliseum and the 1983 N.C. State national champ basketball team’s underdog role to echo concerns about tax reform. The State pep band and cheerleaders added to the insult offered by Mr. Reagan in his ignoring of the real issue of concern in North Carolina - unrestricted textile imports. It is time that we put away such let’s please-the-President mentality and expect' him or other national figures who visit our state to address issues of concern to us and not exploit us for other political gain. This means, , too, that our state or institutional leaders must exhibit the courage that Gov. Martin used in trying to get the President’s attention focused on the textile question. Tax Reform Is A Major Concern During President Reagan’s visit to N.C. State University last week the students provided a pep rally of support for a tax revision proposal to help the President’s aim to allegedly “win one for America.” It appears quite evident that the 13,000 or so students in Reynolds Coliseum, who applauded the President’s 24-minute speech { 32 times, may not have really understood what they were applauding. They cheered for Mr. Reagan’s plan to raise standard ] deductions and to lower taxes on the poor and the rich. What to reality this glossed-over rhe toric means is a tax reform that will increase taxes on middle income families and reduce taxes on the very rich. It means too that selected local economies across the nation - textiles in North Carolina - could lose even more jobs in the years to come. The bottom line of the President’s so called tax reform (for whom?) proposal has turned up a major concern for Congress, that is, the tax plan is clearly biased toward affluent families and against middle income families. Under the President’s tax plan consumer purchases, such as second home, an auto mobile, appliances and furniture would be limited to $15,000 per year over and above a taxpayer’s net investment income, i.e., interest on bank deposits, bonds, stock dividends, etc. The point is a family with little or no net investment income would be placed in a new tax bracket allowing a combined deductible interest on such items as a car, second home and the like to be only $3,000. Likewise, affluent families would not, in comparison, feel the squeeze under the Reagan plan. Congressional critics are concerned that the President’s plan will hit middle income Americans too hard. N.C. State students, most of whom will be middle income persons upon graduation, need to . assess and analyze the Reagan tax plan before any more applause. Something On Your Mind? Do you have something to say? Then do so for everyone to read. The Charlotte Post, the only other voice in town, welcomes all letters on various subjects. Letters to the editor must include your signature and address, both of which may or may not be used per your request. Address letters to: Editor, The Charlotte Post, P. O. Box 30144, Charlotte, N.C. 28230. THE CHARLOTTE POST North Carolina’s Fastest Growing Weekly 704-376-0496 "The People's Newspaper" 107 Years 1 Of Continuous Service BUI Johnson Editor, Pah. Bernard Beeves Gen. Mgr. Fren Farrer-Bradley Adv. Mgr. Dannette Gaither Office Mgr. Published Every Thursday by The Charlotte Poet Publishing Company, Inc. Main Office: 1S31S. Camden Road Charlotte. N.C 2R203 Second darn Pontage Paid at Charlotte Member, National Newspaper Publishers' Association Nattottd Advertising • Representative: Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. One Year Subscription Rate One Year-617.76 Payable In Advance USP8 Nu. 966666 POSTMASTER Send Change of address In: Charlotte Poet INI S. Camden Rd. Charlotte, N.C. MM3 Point Of My Pen Rev. Jerry Falwell Is The Real “Phoney” By Elizabeth Hood Special To The Post ; The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s plea to white, born-again Christians in the U.S. to support the apartheid go vernment of South Africa comes as no surprise. Many have supported evil struc tures in the name of the Lord. Denouncing the Black Bishop Tutu as a phony and travel ing around the U.S. en couraging friends and busi ness people to continue in vesting in South Africa are modern abuses of religion. Mr. Falwell’s use of the cloak to cover the wrongs of racism is understandable. He does not want his people to suffer. White South Afri cans, caught in the grips of national unrest, unrelenting, violence* and critical eyes, feel much pain. The pain surging through South Africa, however, had to come. It was born from one people inflicting centur ies of abuse and neglect upon others. In the interest of his people’s "values” and econo mic position, Prime Min ister P. W. Botha insists upon the right to continue the oppression. By "values,” he means the culture imposed upon South Africa by its white colonialists - religion, Sherman "Miller Says" will resume next week. economic structures, educa tion, language, and general world view. Possession of European values allows Botha and his people to profess Christianity while exploiting blacks. They begin simply with the Para ble of the Talent, four million Whites expanding European technology to gain wealth, power, and control. Eliminating any competition from 24 million Blacks becomes the means of maintaining control. The process of wiping out competition from Blacks in South Africa is similar to that which the U.S. has employed. Isolate the masses from mainstream culture. Educate them poorly. Limit their access to high-paying jobs. Deny them the use of the ballot. Robbed of opportunities to compete as equals with Whites, Blacks in South Africa follow patterns set by others seeking liberation. They take to the streets, often in violent Civil disobedience. Their continuing struggle creates problems for the govern ment. Other nations refuse to invest in South African firms, effectively slowing down production and sales. Unemployment increases. The economy lags. Unrest discourages income from tourism. Prospective settlers look to more peaceful settings. Back in the U.S., Mr. Falwell, president of the Moral Majority, denounces Black liberation efforts in South Africa. He believes them to be immoral. Yet, his consciousness of right and wrong ignores P.W. Botha’s refusal to negotiate with Blacks a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Pardon for political prisoners is not on Falwell’s agenda. He evades both the Pass Laws and the> virtual exile of Blacks in their Homelands. Abject poverty in Black ghettos does not move him. The Biblical ' injunction to be one’s “brother’s keeper” does not apply to Blacks. Neither knowledge of the Bible nor the history of civil ization sways Jerry Falwell from his pro-apartheid connection. Revolutionary Whites become heros when they die for their rights. American White children learn to. glorify their ancestory who fought the British over the right to elect representatives to the British Parliament if they had to pay taxes. An American President justifies the use of atomic bombs at the end of World War II to frighten the Japanese into surrendering. Historians also accuse this country of setting off “the bomb” in 1945 in order to impress Russia of * its superior military power. Whites acting in behalf of their liberty, then, generate sympathy and admiration. Blacks opposing Whites in their demands for person hood, are going against God’s law requiring people to seek truth, peace and contentment. The chorus opposing Jerry Falwell’s position swells loudly. POUT/CAN BUSINESSMAN j&4 DOCTORS LAWYERS jm ARTISTS TEACHERS MINISTERS 'X-X- ■ WORKERS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS SOCIAL WORKERS ENGINEERING FRATERNAL GROUPS PLANNING FINANCE ARCHITECTURE COMPUTER SCIENCE ********* INSTITUTION ADMINISTRATION 0LACH rHEK> The Sure Way***. -rnimrrm n—~TTTm nMTrrTTnfcfTTiTrut^trrni Affirmative Action Carries Special Significance Twenty years ago this month, President Lyndon Johnson signed an order committing the federal go vernment of the U.S. to a policy called AFFIRMA TIVE ACTION. Affirmative action, the term, carries special signifi cance to blacks, His panics, females and anyone else who feels that race or sex has been the reason they were denied a job or promotion. The term assumes that employers in both the pri vate and government sec tors will disregard or erase , past patterns of discrimina tion in the job place. In re sponse to fills, minorities and women sometimes received preferential treatment. Affir mative action also has an other side - one of cases of reverse discrimination. They have occurred and are often times settled In federal courts. v With all its ills, affirmative action is needed at present, just as it was needed 20 years ago. But this time the federal government must ensure that it is enforced. Many employers complain of the time spent and the money used to change their habits of hiring -- the major opposition to affirmative Sabrina action. Meanwhile, other ma jor employers are willing to paytheprice. IBM, General Electric, AT&T, and Monsanto are totally committed to making affirmative action work. Hewlett Packard attri butes the onset of affirma tive action to the increase of its female employees to 42 percent and its minority em ployees to 18 percent. The Reagan Administra tion has devised a new executive order that would release federal contractors from the responsibility of . setting goals and meeting deadlines in minority and women hiring practices. If. the President chooses to exercise an ounce of com mon sense, he should kill the proposal. If the proposal is approved, it would gut af firmative action. It would destroy the remedy for cor recting the many wrongs of lifetimes and turn back the clock on justice in the job market. Affirmative action was forcing employers to do human resource planning and development better than 40 years ago; and it has been done for the benefit of all employees, regardless of race or sex. It has incor porated itself into indus trial jargon the concept of diversity - taking different cultures, melting them to gether and extracting the best each has to offer. If diversity can make America great, why not its business es? This diversity has in creased the learning of how valuable the different per spectives on getting the job done can be. Many believe affirmative action has lowered the job standards of many compan ies - when in actuality it has raised them for the benefit of employees and quality con trol. Some people voice their belief in voluntary compli ance Well, voluntary com pliance does not work. If it did Moses would have brought from the mountain ' 10 guidelines; instead he came down with the Ten Commandments. Americans observe the 55 MPH limit on highways and pay income taxes “volun tarily” knowing that if either is not done financial penalties will be inflicted. The same philosophy should be used for affirmative action. At present, affirma tive action works because there is a regulatory frame work supporting the words and provides a reprimand for those who cheat. Major critics of affirma tive action say they want decisions made on merit. Fine, but political appoint ments are the grandest form of an anti-merit system existing in America. If some one adheres to the hiring of an individual solely on quali fications and outstanding achievement, many political appointees would never have Jobs. Think about it, Indeed the speculation of a day will come when affirma tive action will not be needed, when employers will accept and respond to the fact that talent and potential, without regard to race or sex, are the key to insuring profit and stability. Un fortunately, that day has not come.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Sept. 12, 1985, edition 1
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