Lake many others, we have observed with
heightened interest since Martin Luther
King’s birthday a week ago on January 15
the tributes and recognition of this out
standing American. As a man who chal
lenged injustice, who halted the evils of
overt racism, who shattered the walls of
segregation, who awakened a nation to the
realism of its commitment to “...freedom
and justice for all,” and who rewrote
America’s moral agenda, Dr. Martin
Luther King has set the stage for America
to achieve its potential as a democratic
society with true equal opportunity for all..
In King’s own words, “In a real sense,
America is essentially a dream, a dream as
yet unfilled.” Thus, for Martin Luther
King’s annual birthday celebration to have
any meaning, and for any appreciation we
- care to offer In his memory, we must be
aware and committed, individually and
collectively, to the continuing struggle to
- uproot injustice and racism in any form, in
any manner and in any place. To do less
would be to suggest that Martin Luther
King gave his life for a never to be filled
dream.
Paradoxes In The Struggle
UJ _ _ _j
In response to an American news re
porter's question about conflict between
tribes in South Africa and their impact upon
the anti-apartheid movement, Bishop
Desmond Tutu offered a short course in
American history.
Paraphrased,-Tutu said, “Any disunityJs
deplorable. In your own country (United
States), toon after the Revolutionary War
you had* civil war. Furthermore, during
the civil rights movement, there came a
time when some said that Martin Luther
King’smovement was an anachronism. We
are obviously distressed that there are any
fighting factions in our nrt&st. The go
vernment policy at Bantus tans is pre
cisely ;to us that old play of divide and rule.
• J . . ,
The remarkable thing is that we arc as
united as we are.”
This statement should clearly remind us
of the difficulties is creating unity to oppose
even a , common enemy when you are
committed to freedom and democracy. It is
for this reason that one of America’s
Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, said,
“Democracy has in it the seeds of its own
defeat,” Thus, each of us who cherish
freedom must learn to exercise democratic
restraint - that is - be able to compro
mise some of our beliefs in the broader
interest of unity with others with a general
ly equally strong commitment to freedom,
democracy and equality..
'
shortly after our celebration of the birth of
Christ because Jesus Christ gave us a gift
for guiding our lives through the troubled
waters of our human existence. Jesus said,
“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God...and all
these things shall be added unto you.”
(Matt. 6:33)
A happy Christian or God-loving person is
a person who is practicing the principle of
first things first. A discouraged, trouble
prone and disorganized person is one who
dues not follow the put first things first rule.
Thus, God says to put Him first in our
% “ will be
S§j t P**»dr ar
ffl .fwtthtH*,
H it a rule to
A Valuable-Religion
Rewritten Prom
The Carolinian
The thought on the bottom of the church
bulletin which read,'“A religion that does
nothing, gives nothing, costs nothing, and
suffers nothing, is worth nothing,” cap
sulizes the unfortunate and unrealized po
tential within our community.
These four prerequisites, doing, giving,
costing and suffering, are the basis of an
effective and responsive practice of reli
gion. - if ■ ' 5 .• ; *'«■ .
Churches are mare than plentiful in our
midst. •
With ministers, we are well supplied.
Choirs richly abound.
But doing, giving, costing and suffering
are mud* too scarce.
Doing is to a major extent limited , to
worship services. *
Giving may be the experience of the
membership at Christmas. : : V t?
Costing is the pain of rising early for
morning services.
Suffering appears solely as a biblical
philosophy.
y THE CHARLOTTE POST
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By Sherman N. Miller
r tfiSL' Sp®®*®* To The Post
"l Recently, I had a conversa
tion with Richard Pryor, a
Wilmington, DE, city coun
cilman, who revealed to me
that the Catholic Social
Services Incorporated of
Wilmington, had placed their
insurance with a foreign
company because their pre
miums were doubled.
Pryor's comments left me
wondering if the stories of
I quantum rises in insurance
rates foretell that Americans
shall find themselves betting
their lives, health, and pro
v perty against foreign econo
mic prosperity. V
I called upon David N.
Levinson, Insurance Com
missioner of the State of
Delaware, to offer me some
guidance! Levinson painted a
bleak picture for some com
mercial, professional and go
vernmental groups seeking
liability insurance.
"Some rates have not gone
up 100 percent. Some rates
have gone up 1,000 percent! ”
proclaims Levinson.
I asked Levinson what
prompted these rapid pre
mium escalations.
"Because insurance com
panies engaged - starting hi
*78 - in a practice called
Cash Flow Underwriting,"
replied Levinson. "What
they did was say, ‘Look,
forget about having to pay
claims - Unit’s years down
the pike. WO can now earn 18
to 20 percent interest on our
money. Get those premium
dollars * in here. Cut the
' - price! Cut the price!’”
He continued, “While
many people are criticizing
the insurance industry for
doing this, I don’t. Be
cause if they hadn’t dropped
their premiums when in
terest rates were real high,
everybody Would have been'
screaming: ‘Look at the
earnings they are getting on
these tremendous returns on
invested Income/”
Levinson believes that
solvency of, the insurance
companies is paramount if
people want protection when
the need arises.
“There is one thing worse
than an Insurance premium
MR S.ROSA PARKS' “
WHO REFUSED TO V*'
OtV« UP HER BUS SCAT'
—
IF! CAN DO MY DUTY AS A
A CHRISTIAN OUGHT. IF I J
CAN BRING SALVATION TO A 9
WOULD ONC&UROU6HT IF I Jf
CAN SPREAD THE MESSAGE fl
ASTHE MASTER TAUSHT. £
THEN MY LIVING WILL NOT 1
BE IN 1/AINjD LIKE FOR M
SOME ROPY TO SAY THAT 3
BAY, THAT MARTIN LUTHER M
KING JR. TRIED TO LOVE M
SOMEBODY.” m
Dr. Martin Luther King’s Non-Violent
Protest Raised Conscience Levels
For the first time in its
history, the United States
celebrated a holiday honor
ing a black person' - Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Not
only was a man celebrated,
but the principles and
(breams he believed to be
inherent rights tor all men
and women were celebrated.
Dr. King was oftentimes
referred to as a Dreamer. He
was. His dreams told him
that there was something far
better than what he was
seeing in the life styles of
bjackg in Americav^Hjs
one^ra«fkand not all. Hte
dream was not only of the
improvement in the quality
of life for black men and
women but for all men and
women. ’ , -7v *
The King tactics of non
violent protest raised the
conscience levels of this na
tion arid the world. The boy
cotts, marches and sit-ins
strongly voiced that Ameri
ca could no longer exist as it
had if it were to continue. His
tactics demanded an intelli
gent reason why blades and
whites were to be separate -
Sabrina
of qouitee, that was and is no
intelligent reason, just the
insecurities of a small popu
lation.
Blacks in America, with
King, realized that separate
was not equal. Parents had to ;
deal , with the fact that
“colored” schools did not
receive the new textbooks
with updated information in
them, mothers and fathers
had to give lame excuses as
to why the family could not
eat or drink anywhere they
so desired. Along with the
segregation there was no
segregation in accepting
“colored” money. Shopkeep
that is too high," contends
Levinson. “And that is an
. InicMMwe premium that is
too low, that is not
actuarially sound, and will
not permit the company to
pay the claim when it comes
due." •
Nevertheless, I was dis
turbed when Levinson de
clared: “You can’t get
environmental insurance.’’;
It seemed to me that
Levinson had pointed out an
\ ideal point of attack for
foreign insurance com
" panjtas. I asked him, “Are we
opening the doors for fo
reign companies to grab a
significant portion of Ame
rica’s insurance market?’’
“How do you know that
Mituchuml of Hong Kong is
going to pay you when you
have an accident?’’ avers
Levinson. “Aetna, you can
get your hands on. You can
get hold of their assets...
Mituchumi may not have any
assets and if he doei, It may
be a hotel in downtown
nwiB ivong.
Reminded Levinson^that
companies"*now And they
have got reinsurance all over
the world. Half of those re
insurance companies all over
the world are gone! Are
broke! You can’t find them!
They never existed! The
other half of them look like
they are good. One of them is
literally the Mainland China
insurance company. It is .
hard to deal with Peking to
/ collect a few bucks.” . bi
I raised the issue of long
term economic damage to,
America if we significantly
increased our exports of in
' |tt(a)»premiumsr%b.-\ :
I' felt that Lavinsorf* at
tempted to evade the issye.
“You can buy your insurance
.in an AmericMu company
which can turn around and
invest it in foreign real
estate or you could buy your
insurance from a foreign
company that dould turn
around - and invest in
America.” ‘
I challenged him to offer
evidence that concrete
actions were under way to
impede this potential foreign
threafcJV; >/
“We just passed a law here
in Delaware thpt re
* quires foreign reinsurance; to
keep their money freserves)
here in the Urifted States,”
says Levinson. ,“l am not
real sure the foreign ne
. insurers knew it;” *
nil—,: • ^
ers and merchants profited
immensely from the people
not allowed to break bread at
the same table.
i
He was a dreamer, a
dreamer who befiefred and
knew segregated living was
not the answer. If the money
of the black man is impor
tant, then so are the rights
guaranteed to alj men.
Seperatism was undermin
ing the basic principled upon
which this nation was built.
There was a great deal of
disturbance leading up to
King’s lactics.
King war called a com
munist because he did not
accept “white as rifht”:
White not being right iShot a
concept found in the hand
book of communism. The
concept of no man being
more right than another is
addressed several times in
the Bible.
. ' f
The “Drum Major for
Justice,” as King is often
referred as, said to America
that all must move ahead,
command and demand - not
a select few. King said, “We
are caught in an inescapable
network of morality, tied in a
single garment of destiny,
what affects one directly,1
affects all indirectly.” What
he was pointing out is that all
must pull out of the net
work of stagnation and move
into the mainstream to mqiro
a difference personally and
collectively as a group. No
one group can lead and the
outers follow. Everyone
must strive to do something
at which he can make a
difference. #, ’
different causes • * 7
foe national holiday
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ana ms 1011 owcrs foutfnt
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