Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / March 26, 1987, edition 1 / Page 2
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Black Institution In Crisis In I960, at the urging of the Oblate Sisters, a Catholic Order of black nuns based in the Baltimore, Maryland, area, the Bishop of North Carolina authorised the construction of Our Lady of Consolation Catholic Elemen tary School. As might be expected, in those days of segregation, the echool was esta blished to serve black Catholics and others in the black community. Many black Charlotteans and a few whites, too, reoeived their initial, formal education at Our Lady over these past 31 years. Now, foeed with unconfirmed reports that for the 1 past five years the school has operated on bor rowed money from the Catholic Diocese of •Charlotte, there is growin^concem about the fixture of this landmark black institution. The problem arises from a Catholic Dio oese of Charlotte report that they can no long er afford to provide a subsidy to the school when there is no foreseeable way that the debt can be repaid. Furthermore, Our Lady of Consolation Parish laeks surplus fiinds to aid and assist the school. In November, 1966, ' ;H^BteBe Announced plans to eliminate the is beginning with I sever. Our Lady’s was led to believe were the result of Rments in those grades. While not happy with the decision, the Association, nevertheless, accepted it graceAiUy. It was therefore with a degree of •hock and dismay that the Association learned last week, for the first time, that grades fourth through sixth would also be eliminated next year. Hearing also for the first Urns, was that the debt owed by the school to the Diocese was the primary reason for eliminating these addi tional grades. This latter issue has been par ticularly upsetting to those close to Our Lady of Consolation School because no prior notice or information had been provided by the Dio cese to the school’s administration, the Home-School Association, or anyone also connected with the school. The Diocese has suggested that students in or advancing to those grades to be cut should transfor to the Assumption School on Bast In dependence Blvd. Some Association mem bers view both moves as a first step toward closing another school in the black commu nity. If you have concerns about this issue, con tact Mr. Reginald Dixon, vice president, Our Lady of Consolation Home-School Associa tion, through the school to help keep Our Lady a viable educational entity in our communi ty. Action Retreat Sg In a New York Times article, Robert Tattle, director of Presidential Personnel in the Reagan administration, is quoted as say ing, "This administration is opposed to the numbers game $n any way, shape or form. It would be demeaning to people who comp into the government to say there was any kind of Quota. It would be an insult to every woman and minority." Mr. Tuttle's statement was an attempt to defond the Reagan administra tion's record in the hiring of blacks person nel in senior level positions. Data from the Office of Personnel Manage ment (OPM) shows that the number of black personnel in senior level positions declined from 44-in 1980 to Only 20 in 1986. 8enior level positions are defined by OPM to include Cab inet officers, their deputies and assistant sec retaries involved in implementing adminis tration policies. The 44 positions held by blades in l#80in the last Jimmy Carter year represented 9.5% of all sv&h positions but to day they only hold 20, or 4.5%. White House staff have noted that there were two criteria for selecting presidential appointees - "competence and commitment to the President and his policies." Previous Democratic Party administrations have used similar criteria. However, Carter's sensitiv ity to the racism that lingers in America in fluenced him to have an affirmative action program. In commenting on this declining repre sentation of the nation's largest minority group at the highest levels of the federal gov ernment, some Republicans claim that the problem is "ideological" in that Reagan and his top brass simply don't trust blacks or women. While this is undoubtedly true, Francis Guess, a black Republican on the U.8. Civil Rights Commission, gives proba bly the most accurate answer to the question when he said, "Moderate black Republicans (conservatives are too few in number) don’t want to be associated with the administration awitlinow viewed within the black immu nity. It is viewed as hostile to the hodes, de sires, and aspirations of blacks," and we agree. Jim's God Of Materialism Jim Banker's resignation from his posi- f tion as the powerful and extravagant leader of PTL • "Praise the Lord" should have come as no surprise to anyone. Extravagant in his .Resumptions about what he claims God had 'planned for his life were evident by his equally extravagant love of materialism. This emphasis on materialism was the core of the dream that consumed Jim and Tammy Bakker. In his quest of the god of materialism, Jim and Tammy Bakker ig nored the teachings of the one they claimed as their Savior, Jesus Christ, who said, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal." THE CHARLOTTE POST St && 87*3498 I - "Dm People's Newspaper" 108 Years Of Continuous Bssvioe •-Published-' Evety Thursday By The Charlotte Post Publishing Company Main Office: Chailotte, NC 28208 Second CUua Portage PeidatCtalotte N I * I Alexander Responds As President of ths Chariot te Mecklenburg County Branch of ths NAACP during ths past (bur yuan; I fslt that is Is my responsi bility to reply to ths allegations and innuendo contained in ths re* marks of individuals used as sources for The Charlotte Post ser ies On the local chapter. It is sad that ouch a small percentage of the membership of the Charlotte branch by saying negative things, while claiming to be doing so "for the good of the organisation" has been able to receive more oolumn inches than the NAACP* sponsor ship of • two bus loads of anti-hate group-d#mon«trators to the Motor ic Cummlng, Oeorgia, inarch; our position on the death of Maurice Kendal] at the hands of security guaror, our opposition to KJsn and other haU group activity in Char lotte; our sponsorship of the Meck lenburg County leg of the NAACP■ cross country "March tor Human Dignity;" or our posi tion on the constitutional rights of Bob Walton. All of these things are mere important to the community than the desire of individuals frus trated by their lack of support within the local NAACP, to rewrite history. It is long past time to set the record straight. THE BRANCH ELECTION In a letter received by the na tional office on Deoember 90,19M, Paul Recard raised several ques tion* concerning the conduct of the December election. A flail reply to Ms allegations was filed with the national office on January IS, 1M7. In that reply I requested that the national office rule on two con stitutional questions in reference to Ms complaint: 1) Was the com plaint timely filed? 2) Did the com plaint have the necessary number of -rignptures of branch members lUUy AlmtaiuUr Ji>. ” In order for it to be considered? Daring the week of January 16, Oeneal Frasier called and request ed a conference with ms. She indi cated that she wanted to discuss something important in reference to the election. At our conference Oeneal asked hoW vice presidents were selected by the nominating committee? Oeneal eaid that she should have been selected as Vice President over those elected be cause she waa obviously the boot choice. Her qualifications for the position worn so outstanding, that it was practically Impossible for the committee not to have selected her. A few days later 1 received a lat ter dated January 16, which re hashed much of our earlier con versation and alleged that tha nominating committee had not acted In this beet Interest of the branch by producing a slate of of ficers that did not include her as a vies praeidant. (NOTE: Tha com mittee did include her on the elate for a saat on the executive commit tee.) Since her latter simply restat ed her earlier position, I did not re ply to it Nor did I ahare it with tha branch, thinking it to be a personal communication. See Kelly On Page 8A Education for Black Ameri cans or shall I say the lack thereof has reached a state of crisis. Less and less of our Black youngsters are getting the academic preparation to become successful partici pants in our society. Here are some alarming facts about the education of Black Amer ica nationally: 1. More than 40% of Black students in predominantly Black urban school districts will drop out of school. 2. Poor students are four times more likely to drop out of school than students from more affluent backgrounds. 3. The number of Black students repeating grades during the period from 1977 to 1983 rose from 23.8% to 30.8%. 4. Black high schools stu dents are twice as likely to be 1 grade level behind in school and three times as likely to be three grade levels as compared to white stu dents. 5. More than half of all Black youth without an high school diploma are unem ployed. Locally the Charlotte Meck lenburg School System has its own alarming statistics: L Only 504 Black students are enrolled among the 7,469 students enrolled in the Aca demically gifted program. 2. More than 50% of all students enrolled as emotion ally handicapped are Black. 3. More than 66% of all students enrolled as mentally handicapaed are black. < ^jgjortthan ^ stu. dents said to be learning dis abled are Black. 5. 25% of enrolled Black ninth graders will drop out of school before graduation. These statistics point out that a large proportion of Black youth are destined to become' welfare statistics. As our soci ety continues to become more technologically advanced, ed ucation becomes increasingly more important. With govern ment funds being drastically cut back, fewer programs are available to help the already behind Black youth to catch up. It would be easy to start pointing fingers and try and place the blame somewhere. But this would not help the situation. The key point here is to recognize that a serious problem does exist and to be gin to mobilize the community to attack the problem. To this end, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Urban League has created a Task Force to combat this alarming situa tion. As part of the National V T 1 f l «i i _• • Wiuoii league s cuuiauun in itiatiYC Project, the local chap ter will put into action a five year campaign that can make a difference in the future of our community. To guarantee the success of the local campaign, Mrs. Barbara Davis was cho sen chairperson of the task force. The task force will look at ways to assist in helping our youth get the proper tools, guidance, and motivation to nave a chance of making it in today's educational environ ment. However, the task force is only acting as a spear head for this effort. The suc cess of the campaign will re quire the entire community's involvement. Every aspect of our community has to be mo bilized to give a concentrated effort at saving our kids. Adult involvement will be the key. If we as adults show a genuine interest in the welfare of our kids, then our kids will respond. This means that we must give academics a high billing ust as we do athletics. We must go back to the extended family approach to dealing with our kids. An adult should show up at parent teacher conferences.to let the teachers know that as a com munity we are interested in our kids’ welfare, even if we aren't the parents. We must educate the parents to the im« xwtance of their involvement with the schools and their rids' education. Our kids must begin to get the message that a test score is just as important to us as a game score. This means that we must show up in numbers for parent-teacher conferences as we do for football and bas ketball games. 1 This effort will be a tremen dous responsibility on out community. But I can think of no responsibility of greater importance than saving our kids. Our future as a commu nity depends on it. I personal ly believe that our future as a nation depends on it. Hence, when the task force solicits your help, volunteer whatever service you can provide. Do it for our kids’ sake. By Sherman N. little Special To The Pest The numerous dead citrus trees visible for miles while driving along Florida’s Turnpike north of Orlando is a dis quieting experience. Few farmers are seen replac ing them. Are they mere relics of a bygone epoch of prosperity on Ameri ca's farms? I began to appreciate tho plight of the Ameri can family fanner from a young Nebraska couple. The husband had said that fellows his age (27 years old) who bought farms were forced into bankruptcy because of the high prices for farm equipment and/or land coupled with a collapse ot the farm market. This chap works as an em Sloyee on a major farm 5,000 plus acres). High mental stress was etched on this young man's face as he re vealed his father's plight in the midst of the cur rent economic crisis in America's farms. He said his father now runs a little carpentry busi ness where he does con tract work for the farm ers. Since these farmers have no money to. pur chase his services, this small carpentry busi ness has fallen on dire * •traits. According to this lad, his father is in a quan dary because he is in his 60s with no other skills. This young chap says he tries to help his father when ever he can. I felt sorry for this young fel low because he seemed to age five years just talk ing about his father's trials and tribulations. My sorrow later turned to anger as I recounted the solace I had gotten admiring the huge corn fields while driving across Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. 1 had also gotten a false sense of farm prosperity from the site of small oil well pumps, which looked like giant grasshoppers, dotting the farm land on drives from Texarkana, Arkansas, to Shreveport, Louisiana. The farmer is one of America's greatest as sets. We must not take foolhardy chances with America’s future food supply by ignoring our family farmers during their times of crisis. Is food rationing portended for our grandchildren because we sit idle or only make token ges tures while our family forms disintegrate? There are those who will argue that we have subsidized our farmers too long. These same people might contend that government manip ulation of farm prices has created this current crisis on the farm. I say to these people that gov ernment and business must work together for the common prosperity of America. i . • ■•jVKy’ '?• : • ry• • Furthermore, if we can exploit creative meant to find money for aid to the Nicaraguan Contras, surely can stop the eco nomic carnage on Amer ica's family farms. If wfc can bail out large corpo rations, why cannot we help America's family farmers? Are not farm jobs important enough to preserve?
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 26, 1987, edition 1
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