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• € tutorial*' -. . . _ living The Work Ethic One of the more visihle social issues in America that is believed to reflect the differing political philosophies'of so-called conservatives and liberals is in the coocept of “workfare.” Workfare’s official name is Community Work Experience Pfogram (CWEP). Its basic objective is to get people off welfare and into permanent full time jobs. It uses as an incentive for people to work a threat to cut the individual’s welfare benefits if they don’t Work. CWEP was started in six North Carolina counties as a pilot project in 1981. A year later the General Assembly offered all counties CWEP as an option with an incentive by the state’s commitment to assume half of a county’s pfogram cost. With eight additional counties having started their'own programs and six others expected to start in July, 1986, Governor Jim Martin hopes to have CWEP opera tional in half the state’s 100 counties by July, 1987. aiaie oniciais report mat at lhj reci pients in CWEP participating counties must work at assigned community service jobs a maximum of SO hours a month. At the same time the people are' given training in job searching skills. The'only people exempt from the program are those'over 60 years old, disabled'or caring for children under three years'of age. Some apparently liberal critics have argued that CWEP is spreading too fast across the state without adequate study'of its long term effect. They say, too, that it’s unfair to force people into community service work simply because they are poor. We don’t agree with this point'of view. Anyone living 'off public. taxes should certainly be expected and encouraged to _ give something back to the community that supports him'or her. Workfare programs, by whatever name they have, have hot had much success because of the long-standing polarization between liberals’ and conservatives’ view points about what workfare is'or should be. Significantly, this polarization has given way to strong bipartisan support for the highly acclaimed Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) welfare reform pro gram in California. GAIN is said to be void'of the. cha racteristics'of what is generally associated with the concept of “workfare.” GAIN seeks to help welfare recipients, find per manent full time jobs before any communi ty service work is required and before any job training is instituted. GAIN advocates claim that community service jobs are often make-work that offer little incentive or pride to the welfare recipient worker. They suggest also that quite often jobs more suitable to people’s needs can be found and thus save the cost'of job training. me Mate of California has had relatively good success with the GAIN Program and therefore might be a model for the nation. GAIN, workfare and similar work oriented programs for welfare recipients all have the"objective'of encouraging people to become self-sufficient. However, as in so many other areas of American life, we seem to have forgotten to instill, or at least educate people, about the values that underly the activities involved. For example, the “work ethic’’ is certainly something that needs to be in the indi vidual’s sef of values if he or she is expected to retain a job'on some kind'of permanent basis. . The poor workmanship in many Ameri can products, the indifferent attitudes'of many Workers toward their employers and . likewise the employers toward the Workers appears to indicate a need to revive the spirit of the Work ethic at all levels "of American society. Then, too, if we expect welfare recipients to have a positive atti tude toward work, the people and super visors around them certainly need to be endowed with the spirit and commitment to the Work ethic. - *S\.: v •••: - * * TV *• i-l-. South African Chaos The brutal and inhumane tactics'of the white-ruled government against the black and mixed races of people in South Africa has been condemned by Americans and many "other nations. Yet, one "of t»# unanswered questions,'one that few people are willing to discuss, is Bow well and with what degree of unity will blades govern South Africa? Secondly, Bow will they treat white people? These questions are an issue'of concern for a number'of reasons. First,'one white South African said, “We whites have got to . maintain power because the blacks will treat us just as we’ve treated them if they rule the nation.” Secondly , andof even greater concern, is the fear of possible internal conflict between South African blacks primarily along tribal lines. Fierce tribal fighting between the Zulus, the country’s largest tribe with'over five million people, and the Pandos. This tribal conflict has been used by the white-ruled government to justify its f argument thaf only fhey can and should rule the South African nation., nent cause a concern about what the future may hold for South Africa. White South African racial policies have been designed to divide and rule the 85 percent Made and mixed race population that civil war is bound to occur. Again as we look at South Africa we must Idok at what is happening elsewhere in black-ruled African nations. . •* : • • • » For example, the forced, inhumane expulsion of two million blacks from the urban areas in South Africa is being done elsewhere on the African continent by black rulers. These actions and acts'of political Im prisonment, public flogging and torture are hot uncommon in many'of the black-ruled nations'of Africa. "1 *■. “While the rising incidence of crime has been a source of embarrassment to many black leaders, far too many have remained ambivalent toward the problem. Perhaps through fear of providing comfort to racists masquerad ing behind a mask of law and order. I recognize these risks. But I also recognize an even greater risk. That blacks themselves may confuse the right of blade people to protest their unsatisfactory condition in the United States with the opportunity for criminals to prey on exposed citizens.” _ Dr. Andrew E. Brimmer ' A Challenge To Black Leadership Have Women la Working World? By Sabrina Johnson Special To The Post Have women really made progress in the “working” world? Yes and ho. It is true that more women have gone into the workforce in the last 15 years and are heading households in record num bers and are making more money. The facts, and statis tics . are encouraging, especially since it is believed that today’s women have more 'options than their mothers and grandmothers. On the hot so sunny side, women have moved up in the erioughJMfeny are still segre gated into lower paying posi tions. Women are still in the majority In the fields of elementary school teachers, clerks, nurses, secretaries and typists. In 1965 the average wage for men was M06 per week. During the same period it was $277 per week for women, who earned $.68 for every dollar men earned.. Politically women are un derrepresented. Only two seats in the U.S. Senate and 25 seats in the House are held by women, and'only 15 per cent'of state legislators are The revolution continues; a revolution fought not with bullets but with words. The purpose is to change atti tudes toward Women and attitudes are changing. Slow ly the discrimination against women is being stamped out. With this in mind there is reason to celebrate: adult females are do longer “girls.” Help wanted adver tisements are no longer se gregated by sex. Today, women are firefighters, police officers, carpenters, and a host of other so-called male-dominated professions. There is less sex-role Stereo typing than in the past. In Seneca Falls, NY, in . 1948 when the Women’s Rights Convention was held, a woman had no property rights. She, her children, and the clothes on her back; belonged to her husband. In Maryland, until the late 1930s, a man could divorce his wife for being unchaste prior to marriage. A husband could collect his wife’s wages in Georgia, Vermont, and Virginia. The state consti tutions in Oklahoma and Arizona prohibited women from holding high public, . office. Looking at these * aspects women have come a * long way. Unfortunately some peo ple would still deny women full participation in society. These “people” insist that women belong'in the home - thus turning back the clock to the father knows best days. Consequently, they blame social ills on women’s fight for equality. They want a return of the days' when a woman’s place was in the home and she had no affair to concern herself with 'other than cooking, cleaning, rear ing and having children. With all that, what more could a woman want? Homemaking is an option today; but hot the only option, nor should it be. Thus the fight for equality: goes'on. Although the fight for equality, equal pay and fair hiring practices are real issues, the irtost pressing one seems to be the fight of breaking away from second class citizenship. Meaning women’s rights became minority rights. Women and minorities historically have .■ been kept in the background doing the gfound work to make others look gdod. • — There were a select few who made their way to the closed agenda, got in and made an impact - but the fight was io difficult that for periods "of time no one followed. The gfound breaking for Women centers itself a found Seneca •: Falls, N.Y., and later With Susan B. Anthony. For minorities, particularly blacks, it centered itself around the" official freeing of the slaves but truly rnani tested itself during the 1930s thfough the 1960s with the civil rights demands and: Acts, Society must realize and! understand that no man or < woman is better than an other because of sex" or race or religion. . " ; THE CHARLOTTE POST North Carolina’s Fastest Growing Weekly 704-37S-0496 "Tiie People'* Newspaper” 107 Years Of Continuous Service Bill Johnson Editor. Pah. Bernard Reeves Gea. Mgr. Fran Farrer-Bradley Adv. Mgr. Dannette Gaither Office Mgr. Published Every Thursday by The Charlotte Poet Publishing Company. Inc. Main Office: 1531 S. Camden Road Charlotte, S.C. 20203 Second Clan Postage Paid at Charlotte Member. National Newspaper Publishers’ Association North Carolina Black Publishers Association National Advertising Representative: Amalgamated Publishers, Inc One Year Subscription Rate One Year -117.7( Payable In Advance I SPS No. MUSS POSTMASTER Send Change at address to: Charlotte Post 1531S. Camden Rd. Charlotte. N.C. 2*203 ■ •. ’ , ■ - ■ ,. " f' T1 .rv .;i»- • ft* ; '■7'L-7 Black Sod By Sherman N. Miller * Special To The Post * . I have experienced diffi culty convincing some blacks that they are juft another American ethnic people. These ill-natured blades usually argue that their skin color precludes them from peer acceptance in Main stream America. When I recount these ill-fated dis cussions, I feel disquiet!tude because these recalcitrant blacks’ actions suggest that black America desires cultural segregation. In a conversation with National Republican Com mittee Chairman Prank Farenkopf, I came to realize the impact of blacks’ cultural isolation. 1 asked him to comment on black America being viewed as a distinct voter segment. ”1 think we have made a mistake in the past by doing that,” replied Farenkopf. “I think the way we have to, as A Party, grow in the black community, is, in effect, to convince a majority' of black voters in this Country that what is good for all Ameri cans is alio gdod for those in the black community. Mak ing particular promises to one area or segment'of*our 'Society, that is what the Sherman Democrats have been known to do” I have overheard blacks doubting the Republican Party’s sincerity in its effort to attract them. Farenkopf burned my ears with a dis course which attempted to legitimize the Republican Party’s efforts to attract blacks. $ ^1 think, what we have to do. is make (It) clear, as a Party, that we want blacks. We want them involved in our Party. We want them ftot only for their votes. We want them to become lead ers in our Party. We want them to run fofafflseand get elected as black Republi cans.” Farenkopf did admit to a shortcoming in the Republi can Party’s inability to Com municate with blacks. He contends that they intend to do a better Job Communicat ing in the future. "I don’t think we have been very gdod spokesmen for our own cause. At the same time ;> I think that, perhaps because of a history" over the last 50 years of blacks being told that Republicans don't care about them and don’t want them, perhaps there have been Some closed ears in the black community. We are going to try to speak a little stronger, a little clearer with a more pointed message and we hope that message will be heard." . Although Farenkopf’s comments bounded very promising, I felt he Would hot make significant progress" on , re-enfranchising black America In the Republican Party without a serious reconciliation effort with the traditional black leadership. I queried him" on the Repu blican Party’s efforts to bridge their chasm with the traditional black leaders. “The President and Vice President Continually, during this administration, have reached out to the leadership"of the black Com munity. * ?; »• , "The President, this ad ministration, and this Party are willing to meet and work with traditional black lead ers.^There is ho war. I think in Dallas sbowed my Com mitment, certainly as a Party leader, to do every thing I can to broaden that base.” t * V • iwBB ■ a||C §A "I don't assuming a position _ teadaraMp or pae^ - * - "* rulturml PjifLt » * .. -
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 20, 1986, edition 1
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