Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / March 13, 1986, edition 1 / Page 2
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€ tutorials What Are Our Hack Leaden Saying? The Post has problems understanding whaf our black leaders are saying, especial ly those in education, when they refer to the controversial Proposition 48, a new academic rule the NCAA put in effect recently. It was hot too long ago when these same leaders were yelling to the entire world that black youth were graduating from the major colleges and universities without the basic khowledge'of being able to read'or write their'own names. When the NCAA responded with Proposi tion 48, a firm rule to improve the academic progress of the student-athletes at these same schools, the leaders began shouting just as loudly that'our kids didn’t have the ability to maintain a 2.0 grade point average in the core subjects. Who do they think they’re kidding. If given the same drive that motivates them to become exceptional performers on the athletic fields, black youngsters could and would perform equally as well in the classrooms. It is'our belief that black kids are not inferior in the classrooms' or anywhere else and they will perform beyond expectation if encouraged to do so. Blade leaders need to stop telling black kids they cannot achieve. ; For example, if you start telling a kid that he’s ho good when lie’s young he will grow up and prove that you were telling the truth. At the same time, if you told the same kid that he was someone important andsftould work hard to become a contributing citizen, he will accomplish that aUo. That’s our belief. Reap A Bonanza The Poet finds it disappointing that some black leaders in education have the opinlon that Proposition 48 is a “blessing in disguise** for the Division II scfidols because these scfidols are not affected by the new rule. According to their beliefs, the small colleges, especially the predominant ly black schools, will reap a bonanza with the overflow' of youngsters with'outstanding athletic abilities and very low performance records in the classrooms. •, . Bob Moorman, the distinguished gentle man wfio rules the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association from the position'of commissioner, put this thdory to rest when he cautioned: “Division II scfidols are hot clearing Houses for the academically unprepared.” Moorman continued, “Some of these kids wfio can’t reacTor write, aren’t going to be able to get into'our scfidols, either. One thing you have to understand is that some'of the standards in'our scfidols may be higher than what these players have ha<f on the outside.’’ The shocking fact is that'our leaders in education are missing the boat by not looking seriously at the core of the pfoblem. Our. major pfoblem as black people is hot education as Some will have you believe. Rather the problems that are plaguing our race center on pride. It’s'one thing to attend a predominantly white College' or university in search'of a quality education. However, it if one does not feel good about himself and his race, he may find himself'or herself attending a predominantly white school just for the brag rights'or fraternizing with white people. Natlonally-famous correspondent Tony Brown says it best in his popular Column, “No movement will ever be successful among blacks unless it .first makes them feel good about being black. And no current program in this post-segregation era that is not. economic in its 'orientation will succeed.” Perhaps if they’d spend as much time in search' of a. solution to the problem as they do in publicizing it,'our kids would approach their college careers much better prepared for the challenge. Black people comprise a nation of tremendous wealth. Our history reveals us to be an intelligent and imaginative peo ple who have shown extreme courage, progress and productivity in breaking down the barriers of education as we achieved high levels in a variety of competitive areas. Set Higher Goals Yet blacks have difficult times in proving to blacks that they are capable'of. compet ing with any race'on any level. Blacks must be taught to set higher goals, and develop group progress. It’s time for black leaders to combine their resources and blend their voices in a mighty chorus for the single purpose'of gaining the right to control production and generate jobs for the people of their community. They cannot achieve that by telling'our youth or anyone else what they cannot do, Black leaders must teach unity in the Made 'community that will focus 'on mutual progress. And, at the same time, they must point out that voting as an expression'of unity,, delivers power to the powerless, plus the facf of heavy black ballot in itself spells we are a nation within a nation. « Black leaders should be reminded that we are a nation within a nation'of tremendous wealth and resources, lot in comparison with the Caucasian race, of course. Our history reveals us to be intelligent people who haye shown extreme Courage, progress and jjfepduciivity in hot yeilding to the fprces'of racism and repression. V Because we are a sports-loving people we have submitted to the thought that playing professional sports for large sums 'of monies is the quickest route to Solvency. In the meantime, we’ve disregarded the fact that even if our kids can overcome the more than 2,500 lo'one chance'of making it in the pros, they’ll need a good education just to survive. We therefore must commit ourselves to the task'of making sure that'our youth take education more seriously. We must see to it that they spend equal time in the study halls as they do'on the athletic fields. We must instill in them the importance .of making a. positive contribution to black history each day'of their lives. UNITE* COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP—NEEDED NOW ..LONG RaWgE PLANNING SHOliLO FIND BLACK BUSINESSES. PROFESSIONALS AND POLITIC AN8 TO THE. FOREFRONT OF PLANNING IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY. IT IS ONLY BY ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CLOUT THAT ETHNIC GROUPS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ADVANCE. 1! i By Sabrina Johnson Special To The Post Over a ioo years ago the mere idea'of flying seemed ridiculous. Today, flying is one of the most popular inodes'of transportation. Mbre (Americans fly to their destinations today than the ’506 and ’60s. The rapid growth in the industry has had an ipmerving effect'on the industry. Amid the hoopla Of this industry growth, airlines have gone under, /netted, changed direction, modified equip ment; fend /to add to the multifgnl&iibess,'President Reagan In His State of the Union Address spoke of a hypersonic jet that could fly from Washington to Tokyo in two Hours. Was Reagan dreaming again? The world has just recovered from the “shock”'of the Concordia flying from Washington or New York to London or Paris in some four hours seemed unrealistic. i Now they are telling the world that going to Tokyo from Washington can take less flying time than flying from Boston to Miami- No, Reagan is hot. dreaming again - the Pentagon and U.S. aerospace companies Sabrina ' have been Wording for several years toward making that vision a reality. The proposed aircraft has been dubbed with the name Orient Express, which would Soar through the atmosphere into space and back, flying at 25 times the speed of sound. A little tough'on the ears! This “dream machine” is so real that Reagan showed a model of the space plane to students at . Thomas Jefferson High , School for Science and Technology in Annandale, Virginia. The United States is hot the only nation with such ambi tious plans, to develop'new super fast commercial jets. The day following Reagan's State of the Union Address, the British announced that it would provide research funds for a space plane called HOTOL (Horizontal Takeoff and Landing). The speed would be just as the Orient Express’. France joined the bandwagon with an announcement by Aero spatiale, the statehowned aircraft company, to build a second generation 'of the Concorde so-called Son'of Concorde. It is expected to fly at 2.2 times the speed of Sound (about nine percent faster than its predecessor). The Son of Concorde will carry 200 passengers (dou ble the capacity 'of the original). Building the Orient Express will be'one'of the most aggressive , challenges the U.S. aerospace industry has run into since putting men'on the moon. Lockheed, Boeing and Rockwell have been working'on the concep tual designs for the plane. Hie plane would take off from a conventional runway and fly into 'orbit like a rocket. In addition, it could. launch satellites ~or shuttle passengers from coast to coast in 12 minutes. Hie ability of the plane, to per form as such would come as a result of a new kind'of engine that could perform both in the atmosphere and in space. Hie military has its sights on the development prima rily. Hie plane could carry star wars nuclear defense weapons into'orbit.. And it can be designed to compete with NASA’s space shuttle, lifting payloads into'orbit for about $100 a pound, com pared to the space shuttles’ fee of $2,000 a pound. Alio the Orient Express can be a viable option for Commercial carriers by Boosting travel and commerce be tween the United States and Pacific rim Countries. How much will it tost to fly the Orient Express? Wall Street aviation experts speculate the tost 'of a'one way ticket ffom New York to London being • $3,000 or $4,000. Compared Ip the tost of a seaf on the Contorde at a cost of $2,500 for the safne route. Within a five-year period, the government may spend as much as $600 million on space plane research. The leading U S. manufacturers of Commercial Jets - Boeing, Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas - are the tpp ton tenders fo construct the hypertonic plane. THE CHARLOTTE POST North Carolina’s Pattest Growing Weekly 704-376-0496 ‘‘The People'* Newspaper" 107 Years . Of Continuous Service Bill Johnson Editor, Pub. Bernard Reeves Geo. Mgr. Frau Farrer-Bradley Adv. Mgr. Dannette Gaither Office Mgr. Published Every Thursday by The Charlotte Poet Publishing Company. Inc. Main Office: 1M18. Camden Road ——-rk>n*'NC“?!!? Second Class Postage Paid at Charlotte AimcIiUm i North Carolina National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. One Year Seboertptlea Rate One Year -glT.Tf Payable In Advance uspgNo.MMae POSTMASTER Send Change of address to: Charlotte Poet 'IS318. Camden Rd. Charlotte. N.C. RM9 Afifler Says Dr. Rolark: “K It Is To Be It Is Up To Me” By Sherman N. Miller Special To The Post At ' the Bowie State College (Bowie, MD) Spring Convocation Celebration of Black History Month, I came to appreciate the importance of blacks deciding what pro grams are needed in the black community. The keynote address by Dr. Calvin Rolark, President of the United Black Fund .(Washington, DC), was cen tered around who has the ultimate responsibility for saving Black America. His speech, a borderline homily laden with anecdotes and rhymes, etched a Black American self reliance pic ture on the minds of his audience. Proclamations as, “The only savior'of black people will be black people” poured forth ffom him. Rolark was dot satisfied with merely making these proclama tions; he had the audience repeat them several times until it appeared they accepted his doctrine. As Rolark revealed the toils that his newspaper, The Washington Informer, under went to become the first United States of America weekly newspaper to spon ior a Spelling Bee, I knew his anecdotes were strategically Sherman interjected to encourage blacks to challenge the system to respond to their needs. Rolark pointed "out that Spelling Bees entou rage people to read more. His tomment had special significance because he says that recent reports reveal that approximately 50 percent of the Black Ame rican youth' over IS years'old are tonsidered functional illiterates who cannot read above the fourth grade level. Although Rolark was offering the community a map for progress, his job was made easier by the beautiful singing of the Bowie State College choir. 1 was very touched by the singing of Bowie student Audrey Mikel. I think she has a voice that belongs'on Broadway. Mikel possesses the rare talent that permits her to titillate the audience’s psyche whilst she projects an appearance of youthful innocence. After the convocation,' I asked Rolark about the goals of the United Blade Fund. He says there are two types of corporations, profit and nonprofit, in a capitalist society. Rolark contends that blacks have not yet mastered the Sophistication of buying slocks So they have very little to say about the running of the top 100 Ameri can Corporations. He thinks blacks must gain Control of their not-for-profit corpora tions So that significant black Community needs riot fully appreciated by mainstream American can be met. If we are to survive in this racist iociety, we must develop our not-for-profit institutions. We’ve got to focUr-mr-^our SILVER RIGHTS,’’ says Rolark. Rolark believes that black' Americans should emulate other American ethnic groups. He averred that B’nai Brith played a major foie in Jewish Americans’ upward mobility. As I listened to Rolark review iome of the programs that the United Fund under writes, I asked him to explain how his'organization avoided jurisdictional £on flicts with The United Way of the National Capitol Area. He says the two'organiza tions run joint annual fund raising drives and they prevent gfoupe from apply ing to Goth agencies at the same time. If groups want to set up a chapter'of the United Black Fund in their community, they can contact Dr. Calvin W. Rolark at United Black Fund, 1625 I St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006. Rolark ended our discus sion with 'one 'of. the many pfoverbs that dontlmlously poured out from him. He deemed it, “Ten words with 20 letters.” “IF IT IS TO BE IT IS UP TOME.” NBC Documentary Students from Irwin Avenue Open Elementary School will appear in an NBC documentary entitled "Taking Children Seriously." The one-hour program will be broadcast In Charlotte by WPCQ on Sunday, March lfl, at 1 p.m. Edwin Newman la the narrator.' An NBC crew visited Irwin Avenue in October and videotaped Interviews with a number of stu dents The documentary looks at how Americana are caring for cnwaren from UW viewpoint Of children. It emphasize# that children feel the need for someone to lizten to their views and to take them seriously
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 13, 1986, edition 1
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