■ Cbitorialg ■
The “ Of Freedom
Historians tell us that Thomas Jefferson
once said, “Democracy has in it the seeds of
its own defeat.” Undoubtedly, It is difficult
for most people to accept Mr. Jefferson’s
viewpoint, much less see the reality of it.
Nevertheless, there Is much that goes on
around us day after day that provides the
proof of Jefferson’s words. Stated bluntly, .
individual freedom, the very foundation of
our free and democratic society, is itself a
primary reason for the chips and cracks in
our democratic foundation.
Let’s look at a few examples to illustrate
our point in the paradox erf a free society.
With The Charlotte News joining the grave
yard of 26 other afternoon newspapers on -p
November l, we will have one less free and
independent editorial voice among the free
press. This 97-year old voice from within
the free press will be silenced; hot by any
actofan oppressive government, but rather
by the individual choices of thousands of
citizens to not subscribe to, or read, the
NewsJV'v -Ip-1 . vW
Secondly, while there has arisen a “buy
American” drive with songs, slogans, ;
T-shirts, and sponsored radio campaigns by
such firntt as Coca-Cola, Blue Cross-Blue
Shield, First Union National Bank, Harris
Teeter Supermarkets, and Anheuser-Busch^ :
Inc., to name a few, all begun initially to aid
the textile industry, it is again individual
choices by individually discriminating con
sumers Who too often choose not to buy
American. After all, in £ society that
supposedly thrives on the competitive
spirit, hew can you expect the individual to
purchase an American-made automobile or "
wearing apparel if similar imported pro
ducts are available at lowo* prices and
often of superior quality?
Tony Brown spoke in Charlotte recently to
area black business people and community
leaders oh the theme “Buy Freedom”
Economic Development Plan. Mr. Brown
placed considerable emphasis on the need
for black people to “recycle,” that is, to
spend more of their money with black
businesses in order to keep the money in
black neighborhoods. Again, individual
choice, preference, needs and wants often
led blacks to spend their money elsewhere.
In the case of the black consumer is the fact
too that with 95 percent of all black
, owned businesses being small operations,
with sole proprietorships, many of the
desired consumer products are not sold by
black merchants or firms.
«’ 4 •</
Lastly, the Reagan administration went
to great lengths to break up the telephone
communication monopoly by AT&T to pre
sumably create competition and greater
freedom of choice in this industry. How
ever, consumers are now being told that
they must choose one of three or four long
distance service companies or the govern
ment will assign them a Company. Thus,
while the government has alleged that it is
expanding consumer freedom it is at the
-t same time seeking to dictate to consumers
who don’t do what government says.
Our bottom line is that when something is
suggested for the collective good of an
industry, business, community or what
ever, if,what is being asked is inconsistent
with the individuals’ wants, in most cases
the individuals’ desires will prevail. Taken
to its ultimate extreme, if all our young men
refused to accept military duty in time of
war, we might just lose whatever freedoms
we have left, if any.
r» MSA on oiacK ana minority
flealth, created by forajfer health secreta» i
Margaret Heckler, sakl In their findings
that minorities suffer higher rates of
cancer, heart disease, and diabetes than do
white people. The federal study attributed
what it called the “health gap” in large
to education, or the lack of it, and ,
have to dp more k^^^nmSlSSy'to
inform minority Americans about (lie ^con
nection between personal behavior and
these life-threatening conditions.” • ;. '
The task force was created in 1984 to
examine health differences between black
and other minority groups and whites and to
offer recommendations on how to reduce
the disparities in health between the groups.
The task force’s study covered over 40
nmjor disease categories among blacks,
Hispanics, and American Indians in order
to identify factors that relate to the various
illnesses.
Minority group, peoples are believed to
generally have poorer health rates than
whites because of economic induced fac
tors. For example, poor black people are
_
more inclined to defer for a longer period of
time seeing a doctor about an illness for
reasons of cost than will even poor whites.
Not unexpectedly, the task force's study
found that one of the biggest gaps between
blacks and whites is murder. The murder
rate for black males, ages 25 to 34, is 7.6
times greater than for white males of the
same age group,- The study noted too that
I* amm-der
1 ,0^Wa<
each other for the most trivial of reasons -
gambling, fighting, drinking, etc.
The study found also that blacks have the
highest overall cancer rates - 25 percent
higher among black males than white ma)es
while black females have a four per dent
higher rate than white females. Undoubted
ly, these higher rates are related to black
people’s heavy consumption of animal fat,
especially pork, very heavy smoking and
possibly drinking.
If we as black people put as much effort
into correcting these at least in part
behavior induced illnesses as we do efforts
to stop capital punishment of blacks, we
might see not only better health but an
overall better quality of life.
»
W# An Proceeding Faster, r
And Better, Xnd Mon Oom
plately With Our Own Destruc
tion Ilian Any Force Outside
Us Could Do. Has Done.
Abortion Is Hot, Emotional Issue
Abortion is a hot, emo
tional issue for the 1980s. The
protests for and against
make that known. National
opinion polls show that more
people favor abortion than
those who oppose it, but the
anti-abortion groups are
making more noise and
gaining more strength than
ever before. When the ruling
came down in 1973, no one
... knew what to expect from the
statistics. Since that date 12
years ago, 17 million abor
tions have been legally per
formed * including the esti- \
mated 1*8 million this year, f
The 1973 ruling brought, *
tion out <rf the “
back^Ueyways
women undergoing
tion procedure.
Some argue that abortion
is simply another birth con
trol method - a procedure
undergone without thought to.
the possible medical or emo
tional complications. Those
who counsel, advise and give
medical care to women un
dergoing or considering
abortion, do have a respon
sibility to provide adequate
care and handling. Women
and girls who have abortions
do not go into the clinics
blindly. They are aware of
complications medica|ly apd
THE CHARLOTTE POST
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Miller Say*:
Roles For Mental Health Professionals
ny snerman ix. Miner
fecial To The Post
Should mental illness be
viewed like other organic
sicknesses that may recur
due to lack pf adequate tech
nology to eradicate them?
Many people view mental
illness as a skeleton best left
in the closet. 1 haye seen
people attempt to label sane
people “crazy” merely be
cause they sought preventive
mental health treatment.
However, these sorts of ill
natured presuppositions har
bored against anyone seek
ing mental health care sug
gest that the#e exists some
very serious misunderstand
ings on what the mental
health profession accom
plishes.
i asked a person, who is
both a psychiatry professor
at a Michigan medical-school
and an active practitioner at
Lafayette Clinic in Detroit,
Mi., to offer some guidance
on the mental health pro
fession Beth Ann Brooke,
M.D., sees three key roles for
mental health professionals.
She asserts, "l) provide
treatment of acutely and
chronically mentally ill, 2)
educate other physicians to
recognize mental illness and
treat it if they are capable
and interested, and 3) edu
#
/••* N 1*1 A,'* J; A
■ i i V
1
wmw uie population at large
in the mode of primary pre
vention.”
America is currently in the
“Age of Quality” so Dr.
Brooke was encouraged to
address the issue of quality
mental health treatment. She
averred, “Some foreign born
psychiatrists, who are not
well acultured, have diffi
culty effectively treating
their patients because they
do not understand the nuanc
es, «- ( e.g., grammar,
custom*....).”
Dr. Brooke seized upon tttis
opportunity to touch on a
growing trend in medicine
that is radically reshaping
this profession. She de
clared, “1 don’t think you
should have to practice de
fensive medicine! The
system ha* forced many
competent physicians to do
so.”
I felt compelled to chal
lenge Dr. Brooke on the
subject of cures in mental
illness. I asked her, "Do you
have a cure?”
She retorted, “Sure! But
we don't for everyone, and
many of the major mental
illesses either recur or
progress despite very ade
quate currently available
treatment."
Dr. Brooke went on to point
out that many people are
regularly treated for depres
sion with medication.
However, the real issue
that begs for an answer Is,
“Dp mental disorders have a
biological root?" I posed this
question to noted psychology
professor Lawrence Cohen of
the University of Delaware’s
Psychology Department.
Professor Cohen said,
“Some disorders have bio
logical roots - certainly
schizophrenia, manic
depressive disorders... those
disorders are best treated
through medication."
• • . . a m. . - -
nc uununuea, "inere are
other disorders, such as anx
iety and depression that are
probably caused in part by
biological factors but re
search evidence is not clef1
as to, how important a role
biology plays.”
When queried to give a
model that the general public
could use to view mental
illness, professor Cohen sees
depression “paore like the
flu.” That is, a person can
have a bout with depression
and receive treatment and it
recurs.
It appears that there is no
clear-cut answer to whether
* mental illness is organic. I
guess we will have to be
patient and let the scientists
continue to unravel the puz
zle of the workings of the
human mind.
Very few women and girls
seek abot$on as a method of
birth control ^ It is their
wternative. The pro-life sup- b
porters are viewing the
single, finds herself in a
situation of, unwanted preg- ’
nancy - what is she to do? A
13-year-old girl, barely away
from bring- a baby, jfinds
herself in a situation of un
wanted pregnancy - what is r
she to do? A woman or girl is J
raped, becomes pregnant - i
what is she to do? A woman ’r
will risk death if she con
tinues a pregnancy - what is
these women
i
... and economic well
being. v
History has too often al
lowed women and girls to die
unjustly under the hands of
charlatans and fruitless
home remedies. They suf
fered and died unjustly.
The social implications of
unwed pregnant women
pushed many to choose be
tween suicide, metal coat
hangers, or lye. Can Ameri
ca face this horror once
again?