Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / April 30, 1987, edition 1 / Page 3
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How Black Writers Spread White Racism • By the time you read this col* Mmn, and article by me will have appeared on the editorial pages of wie Washington Post or will ap* , pear there very soon. i Obviously, you can read my re sponse to a column by Rudolph A. fyatt Jr. on black businesses and understand that I vehemently dis agree with what appears to be an emerging party line in the Post, j It is ironic that the largest paper ik a city with an over-70 percent black population would be so op posed to a self-help approach to economic development by the in cjgenous population. il must admit that it is unfair and jrnalistically inaccurate to ac se the newspaper management efid ownership per se. But I am compelled to admit that I have i|>ver detected any desegregation, integration or other items on the traditional civil rights agenda, why a spate of articles - by Black writers - attacking buying from either blacks? ! On March 27, Rudolph Pyatt teemed saddened by the fact that Buy Freedom seals are "on the c»or8 and windows" of "a grow ing list of converts in the Washing 4 !* Tong Bro urn's Commantariaa ton area." He characterized me as a quasi religious nut for heading a cam paign that "is based on 'faith in God and sound economics.'" I am guilty as charged. My ''odd mixture is based on the same faith that prints "In God We Trust" on America's currency, the only currency in the world to do so. Moreover, 20 million of 30 million African-Americans belong to a church. Pyatt may have trouble recon ciling faith in God with sound eco nomics and church with state, but among African-Americans, church is stats. Ai)d my reasoning is that if blacks ever understand that God did not plan poverty for us, but has given us $200 billion to change our condition, we'll buy our freedom. After tar brushing me with "evangelical rhetoric," a not too subtle association with the current evangelical scandals, the writer concluded that as worthy as our goals are, the leaders of Buy Free dom will have to move away from "loyalty to race." It is, after all, the failure of black-owned firms to improve their marketing and bookkeeping and work at "inventory control, purchasing, advertising, etc," that causes their failure. In other words, neither racism nor the black community's own refusal to buy from other blacks is a major problem. Black incompe tence is. Pyatt distorted the meaning of the Buy Freedom campaign to ir rationally stand against sound management principles in his rush to indict us for "loyalty to race." His "color-blind" theory per ceived "loyalty to race" as mischie vous, but never once cited the bur Letters Lo Lhe (Post | School Based Clinic Viable Option • L>ear Mr. Johnson: s I want to commend you on your most timely and thoughtful edito rial on School Baaed Health Clin ics. I agree that school based clinics lare not the total answer as adoles cent pregnancy is a complex prob lem and requires a comprehensive varied approach. But you are cor rect-it is a very viable option which should not be discarded be cause of emotionalism or sensa tionalism. If there is another public hear ing for the Adolescent Health Task Force, I hope you will come and speak out and encourage others to do the same. The Task-Force needs to hear from both sides of every is sue and particularly from parents. Sincerely, Barbara Ziegler Executive Director Meek. Co. On Adolescent Preg nancy Thanks For Waste Station Coverage Dear Editor Your April issue of The Char lotte Poet ran stories on the efforts of the Westside Coalition Against the Garbage Plant. The purpose of this letter'is twofold: first, the Coa lition wishes to thank you for the fine coverage you gave our ef fects; and, second, we wish to commend the reportorial skills of Ms. Jalyne Strong. The Coalition has been fighting this battle for approximately one year now. Not only have we had to struggle with an insensitive County Commission intent upon adding yet another blight to the many that our community has had to suffer over the years, but we have also had to struggle to get the media coverage so necessary to winning the kind of battle we are having to wage. Ms. Strong and The Charlotte Post have done the Westside Coalition specifically and the community in general a great service by helping to close this media void. The message went out loud and clear that we can and must take on the prover bial "city halls" when we feel abused; and perhaps most impor tantly people got the message that the battle is long and hard; that we need many soldiers, and that we are steadily seeking new recruits. So again, thank you for your fine service to our community, and please commend Ms. Strong for being first willing to listen, and then being thorough in her report. Sincerely, Leroy Pop Miller, Chairperson Westside Coalition Against the Garbage Plant Thievery Is The "Low” Life Dear Editor: To know is to understand. The nature of a person who conscious ly enters the home of another and ngnoves personal property is pa thetic and despicable. One who Will force his way into the private space of a fellow human being needs prayer. I have prayed for the individuals who violated the sanctity of my home Thursday evening. I pray to know their iden tities. I pray to have the opportuni ty to describe to them how dis turbed my invalid mother was upon discovering the violation to our home. Whether they care is not the issue. That they hear about the experiences of others after their treacherous act and under stand the trauma caused when an unknown thief has touched the most personal of possessions are issues. Despite their level of intelli gence, they can comprehend that just as I have always worked two jobs to acquire MGA, NEC, JVC, and other items they stole, so could they find employment, and so they should. AJmost weekly someone is needed to mow lawns, wash cars, etc. Who are enjoying my hard earned possessions-whether the stealers .or the purchasers of stolen property-they shall also share in my pain, for what goes around does return. Beyond that, I pray that they find the inner peace they certainly lack. Breaking emblems off cars, stealing microwaves, C.D. players, TVs, etc., represents the ’low" life. Life's too short to choose a low path. When it is time to die, to account for behavior, and to pay for decisions and deeds while living, I pray that these thieves have repented and have been for-’ given. I encourage the use of dead bolts, security systems and win dow studs to discourage break-ins. I encourage neighbors to care enough about each other to heed barking dogs and to notice appar ent four-tnp robberies. We ought to be our brother's keeper enough to send a message to would-be robbers. Regarding Thursday, I am thankful that no one was injured and that I was not at home to shoot the intruders. We could not replace the life. Thanks to Dee, Don, Jesse, Holly, Bruce, Laura and others who came and called to assist and support me. They knew and understood. Evelyn Dove Assist. City Attorney Owner, Positive Concepts I B ...SPgAK(N<5 OF HOSTAGESil den of white racism. No one ever said that some black businesses don't need "technical support and training," as do some non-black businesses. But Buy Freedom says that no matter how efficient a black entre preneur is at "inventory control, purchasing, advertising and site selection,” there are systematic burdens that relate to race. The black entrepreneur rides the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, the most successful econom ic boycott ever conducted in Amer ica is the boycott that blacks have conducted of blacks in business. Blacks spend almost 95 percent of their income with non-black firms or professionals. On the other hand, racism shuts the black entrepreneur out of the general market and venture capi tal sources. Racial prejudices ren der target markets unreceptive to black entrepreneurs and creates imperfections in the free-market system. These are systematic factors that are much larger than the indi vidual entrepreneur; they consti tute burdens that render the per fect market imperfect. Pyatt* assault on black econom ic development was almost identi cal to what another black at the Post wrote on December 28 of last year. Pyatt picked up the baton of Courtland Milloy who seemed ter rified at the "catchy idea" of "buy freedom" also. Rather than buying from blacks, it would be better to train blacks for business; blacks simply cannot provide a "quality service," Milloy wrote. Like Pyatt, he also assumes that black incompetence is the is sue - not racism or self-hatred. The totality of Milloy's research seemed to be a paper by William Bradford, chairman of the finance department at the University of Maryland. So Milloy passed on the to public “what Bradford called a simple lack of business knowl edge" and what I call rabid and specious racism. So Milloy picked up this gospel of racism from the man (white, I assume) in Maryland and Pyatt picked up the same racist virus from Milloy and both used it to club the black community of Washington into self-doubt. Bradford, Milloy and Pyatt know that I'm only advocating what the current wave of Asian, Cuban, Haitian and African immi grants are doing and what the ear ly waves of European immigrants have already done. No one can deny that by spending 80 percent of their income with each other and turning a dollar over from five to 12 times among themselves, they create their own economic base. With their own Buy Freedom networks, it didn't take these groups the "light years" that Pyatt foresees for blacks. Why would this formula work for the Koreans, Jews, Italians, Greeks and Mor mons and not for blacks? Maybe Pyatt knows something that I don't. Rudolph Pyatt and Courtland Milloy should know that when blacks fought to get black writers at the Post, they didn't fight for black agents or white racism. lony Brown's Journal TV series can be seen on public televi sion Sunday on Channel 42 at 5 p.m. It can also be seen on Channel 58 Saturday, 1:30 p.m. Please con sult listings. In Search Of Leadership Towards The New Direction Now that the case for our strug gle has been taken by us to the United Nations, our next move is to begin to give more meaningful definition to the language we use to define our struggle. When we say liberation, we shouldn't mean simple things such as less police brutality, or safe neighborhoods, or more and better jobs, but we must define the words of our struggle so that they mean the same thing to us as they do to the world community whose attention we seek to capture and hold. In the recent past decades, when Africans demanded "freedom now," they meant that the demand was for indepen dence, territory, sovereignty, and reparations. And we will have no hope of commanding theirs, or anyone else's support to our cause unless and until we mean the same things. Leaders who will ac cept jol»s, law and order, pro grams, and other intemediary gains as the prize of our struggle, are no longer adequate, and should only be accorded the re spect due their limited vision. All of these gains are beneficial, and we should take them when we can, but they are not the goal, and must no longer suffice, and any leadership which attempts to ap pease us or sell out our struggle for such short-sighted gains will thereby reveal their betrayal. One other way in which poor quality local leadership reveals itself is in their failure to recognize and re spect our national class leaders. Criticism works best in this re gard when it serves to strengthen our weak links, and it is my sin By Abu Hassan cere desire that it may serve this end here. Some of our leaders who are of questionable metal may in the end prove quite worthy of the mantle, with the aid of a little encourage ment here, or a little discourage ment there. So, we perhaps should not be too quick to condemn, but we must never be slow to give constructive criticism, for it is not only our right and duty, but it is a way to encourage their finest qualities. But in the final analysis, our struggle and cause being par amount, the interest of no individ ual should outweigh the interest of us all, and therefore we have an obligation to seek the very best men and women from our ranks for our champions. One rule of thumb for this selec tion is to examine closely the ones who are attacked most vehemen tly by our enemies, the govern ment and the press. Another rule that is helpful is to observe which philosophy we follow in the time of supreme crisis; what do we do when our backs are to the wall? And a final criteria is which lead ership is the most respected by free men and nations. I will not here apply these criteria to anyone in particular, but rather let it be food for thought for the moment. However, we must begin to think along these lines now if we are to know how to channel our support now and in the future. And it is this thought, support, that brings me to my parting suggestion. t.ach and every one of us should belong to an organization. Freely choose the organization which best suits your conscious, but join some organization and support it with your time, energy, ambition, and money. In this way, you will be sharing the burden of our struggle, and will assist and assure the ultimate victory of our cause. In truth, it is us, the people, who are the leadership of our struggle, and those at our fore front are but symbols of our own qualities and purpose. In conclusion, the real search for leadership towards the new di rection begins with introspection, a look within ourselves. We must summon from our hearts and minds the vision, resolve, and cou rage necessary to win. Holding On To What We've Got I m a fan of Richard Dortch, the successor to Jim and Tammy Bak ker as the host of the PTL Club TV program. Almost every night I watch the PTL channel on our cable system to hear his report from Heritage Village. Itris always the same message - over and over again. "We are in trouble and we need you to help us." The gimmicks are a little bit dif ferent each time. Some times it is partnerships on sale for the lowest price ever. For a gift of $900 you get free vacations at Heritage Vil lage for the rest of your life. Other times you can get your name on a wall at Heritage Village for $100. Always , there is the intense emergency request for more mon ey. That is the center of the pro gram. Why watch? Uortch does not have the cha risma of Jim Bakker. When Bakker asked for money, there was irresi stable exuberance and excitement. He was building kingdoms on earth and offering us a part of it - or rallying the good in us to fight the devil. He was comfortable there behind the TV screen asking for money. He seemed to live there. By contrast, Dortch looks un easy and halting. Although his pleas for money are just as desper ate and just as intense as Bakker's, it is different. He is plodding, seri ous, tenacious-like a rent collector, like a rent collector who will get thrown out if his own house if we don’t pay the rent. Why watch? There is something special D. G. martin One On One about him. How can I explain it? Dortch is like the ambitious crew members who is selected to re place the deserting captain of a damaged ship--so ready to be in command that he does not mind that his ship is sinking. He is pre pared to go down with the ship and stay in charge until it hits the bottom of the sea-- if he can play the captain's role all the way through. Why watch--if the outcome is inevitable? The outcome for Dortch and PTL is not certain. Maybe he can pull it out. Maybe there will be a miracle. Maybe Jim and Tammy will come back. Maybe there will be a change. Maybe. But that is not why I watch. I watch because there is something of all of us in Richard Dortch. All of us struggle to reach a goal and to be in charge or in control of something. Then, when we reach our goal, everything in our charge flies out of control. I watch Richard Dortch because his struggle with an out-of-control PTL is like our own tenacious struggles to hold on to what we have got. Deep down inside we have got to hope that somehow Dortch pulls it off If he can beat the devil at PTL, maybe we can win the battle to get on top of our own lives. Let me know what you think. Write me in care of this paper or at Box 37283, Charlotte, NC 28237. DEMOCRACY ™ APARTHIED In South Africa, There Is Only One Solution .•. wacLSVKP°n 0,.The ^feed°m Fighters Will Hasten the Day of Victory for Democracy, One man - One vote Give as if the absence of liberty there diminishes all of us. in truth, it does. Enclosed is my check/M 0 (or $ Send Contribution to Democracy Vs Apartheid Committee P O Box 644 Adeiphi Station Brooklyn. New York 11238
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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April 30, 1987, edition 1
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