Letters To The Post j Legislators: Make Others Clean Up ; Dear Editor I Recently in Raleigh, The House • of Representatives discussed and t voted on a very important piece of ‘ legislation that would require re • 8P°nsible parties to monitor, con • tain, clean-up and record on the I Property deed their Hazardous > Waste Dumps. With some degree • of responsible concensus, the legis • lature gave Horace Bill #134 a fa • vorable recommendation and it is ■ closer to becoming law in North ' Carolina. As a responsible citizen of North . Carolina, I realize the importance of this law. In 1986 similar legisla 1 tion faced the General Assembly only to die in a Senate committee Without a vote! I fear the political \ motives which discourage legisla • tors to pass laws such as the one being mentioned. I believe one should be responsible for whatev er he does in society, especially the responsibility of cleaning up dan gerous Hazardous Waste Dumps. The last General Assembly of N. C. failed to insure a clean environ ment from Hazardous Wastes and Hazardous Substances. Today in 1987, the legislature has another and perhaps the last chance to cor rect the past injustice made in fa vor of industry and against the people and environment of North Carolina. Laws such as H B #134 are long overdue and in some cas es, too late to save the environ ment and its most precious re sources, the soil and water. Of course, by now, the Ameri can people are about tired of hear ing about the failing environment, but just wait; you haven't seen anything yet! The ecological Toxic Time Bomb is about to really ex plode. As a professional scientist in the field of Earth Science, I con stantly deal with clients who for some reason want to have their soil and water decontaminated from Hazardous Waste or desire to know how far and how fast the contaminated ground water is ap proaching a potable water source. I have some advise to all North Carolinians; there are two choices to be made today. The people of N. C. can pay the cost of pollution be fore it happens or after the fact. 'Hie latter choice allows for the po tential for significant ground wa ter contamination. Whether it be a private well or a multi-million dol lar water resource, the result is the same, an unusable resource. In reality, these choices rre once again left to our legislators. The research is in; there is no more time for study. More discussion on this will surely render much of the place I like callin' home useless. Sincerely, David A. Brentlinger I Election Of Sadoff Means Trouble For Education And Schools .Dear Editor: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg jBoard of Education is the ^'employer" of all 8,000 employees ;in the system, including the super intendent. They often do not func tion as such, but we employees need a body that is in touch with our day to day problems and are willing to face problems without regard for political and personal rewards and favors. In anticipation of Peter Relic's arrival, we all looked forward, op timistically, to a much needed fresh face, fresh start, and fresh approach from the sweep-under the-carpet reactionary and politi cally responsive "rule" of Jay Ro binson. Robinson managed to wrap the media around his finger while accomplishing very little ex cept publicity for himself at the ex pense of the system's operation. BtftMitfr-o^tfmism for chihge was diluted recently as word passed among us that Harvey SadofF, an appointed Board mem ber who has yet to be elected by voters, would become the Director of Instruction and Curriculum for the system. It appears to be a gross irregularity for a Board member to be given a job such as this after voting "yes" for Relic as new su perintendent and while currently remaining on the Board as Relic's boss and others involved in choos ing someone for this high level po sition. Can anyone expect fairness in a situation such as this? Why was the application deadline extended for him? Mr. Relic needs to build his team on the strength of his own personality and skill. If Mr. SadofT wanted a job, he should have re signed, and thus avoided the ap pearance of impropriety, arm twisting and "back stabbing," which has often plagued the sys tem's hiring. Mr. SadofT has already racked up an unprecedented record for influencing political hiring. With less than a year in his appointed slot on the Board, he influenced getting a personal friend, Allen Queen, hired a principal without having to go through the strenu ous interview and hiring process established by the administration and the Board. He also successful ly influenced the creation of a po sition for his brother in the career development program which also was not advertised so that others could apply. Many loyal, efficient employees have to stand in line for years for such promotions: Now, for Mr. SadofT to put himself above other employees, under scores what is generally felt about the Board and the highly placed administration "support for sup port and a favor for a favor" with out regard for the integrity of the Board, the administration and the system. Mr. Relic does not need to doom his administration by having a team that few respect because of the unethical, special favor, back stabbing manner that they have achieved their high positions. Mr. Relic would feel compelled to sup port the man who hired him and was to become his boss. SadofT is an opportunist who has demon strated little regard for the morale of employees. Employees know of his heavy handed influence as a new Board member. We are doomed at the hands of such an individual as a part of this current administration who created the mess" and ill will among us. Dr. Relic would do well to clean house of the current staff which has demonstrated a disregard for what is ethical and just. The strong opposition leveled against Bob Hanes in his bid for the top slot should be a strong indication that there is trouble in the Educa tion Center and schools, which ul timately hurts our children and abuses our tax dollars. We don't need for this to continue. The media needs to apply the same thoroughness and persis tence to Board actions, as applied to Jim Bakker and PTL. Taxpay ers and voters deserve to know about the patronage system and unfairness at work with out" tax dollars. The media has taken an active role in school matters by in fluencing the superintendent se lections, by endorsing school board candidates, and by support ing programs and individuals. Do you follow the performance of the Board candidates on the real prob lems of education and of employ ees and report this to readers who trust your reporting and endorse ments? There needs to be more ac countability to have the kind of system we project ourselves as be ing. The Board and the adminis tration need to be responsible in their actions for their benefit and that of the system. Sincerely, C. Reid WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND? \ I Let Us Hear Your Comments, Ideas, & Opinions. Just Write: •-LETTERS TO THE POST_• P.O. BOX 30144 • CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA • 28230 ----' Black Colleges Graduate Seven Out Of Ten Students Overall, only 20 percent of all black college students attend a predominantly black college, but more than 50 percent of today's black graduates are produced by these 114 schools. Conversely, while 80 percent go to white colleges, less than 50 per cent of the black college graduates come from those 3,200 schools. About seven out of 10 blacks at white colleges never graduate. The exact opposite is true at black colleges; seven out of 10 graduate - including a very high percentage of athletes. Finishing college lends to jobs. On that basis, black colleg es create employment. In the South, black colleges award 80 percent of all college de grees earned by blacks even though black schools there have only 43 percent of the black col lege enrollment. And the fact that black colleges have this special ability to gradu ate disadvantaged students does n< *■ mean a sacrifice of academic achievement. A recent study com paring the graduate school perfor mance of 210 blacks with degrees Tong Broom's I CommBntariB&| from black colleges with 140 black graduates from white colleges found that black colleges turned out students whose grades in ad vanced-degree programs matched those of blacks who were graduates of white universities." But more important, 75 percent of all blacks with advanced de grees from white universities re ceived their undergraduate de grees from black colleges. The 114 black colleges repre sent only five percent of all four year colleges, yet they control in excess of 270,000 or about 20 per A cent of all black students and have' almost a million living alumni.* They are Afro-America's biggest bridge to success and the founda-! tion of the black middle class. More than 80 percent of nil black college graduates finished one of these institutions. That includes 85 percent of black lawyers; 85 percent of a!! black physicians; 75 percent of nil black Ph.D.'s; 75 percent of a!! black officers in the American armed services; over 50 percent < ‘ the country's black executive*; 85 percent of all black federal judges including Thurgood Marsha;'; arid the vast majority of all black s-t ondary teachers in the country. More importantly, these ,*ac cesses of black institutions are a< complished primarily with stu dents from deprived and disad vantaged backgrounds. Tony Brown's Journal TV ser ies can lie seen on public televi; am Sunday on Channel 42 at 5 p.ni. 1 can also be seen on Channel 5s, Saturday, 1:30 p.m. pleast consul: listings. What Price Morality? The President has taken leader ship in expressing a particular line of thought on the question of pre venting the spread of the deadly disease known as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). His leadership supports the moral ity position, and the teaching of this position in the nations schools, with the emphasis on ab stinence until marriage. On this, the President gets my unqualified support because I think that regardless of the social reality, one must always advocate the best moral code. In addition, I sincerely hope that Mr. Reagan has a thorough success in this ef fort, which I define as a rebirth of morality in future generations of the entire people of the nation in all matters. For this level of suc cess, the President could be forgiv en much, for creating an atmos By Abu Hhhhu-u phere for the proliferation of ra cism, for campaigns of disinfor mation, misinformation, lying, and even incompetence. I would go so far as to forgive the bombing of Libya, his Grenada invasion, the Nicaragua policy, and every other reprehensive policy and act of his administration, with the ex ception of involvement in dealing in drugs, the suspicion r now hangs over hi,-. ad’ tion. The reason for this i of kindness is simr/.e, fi r erations of Americans, ’ a, ! . the correct niu’a! ch. ■ . a guarantee that a man o' R , Reagan's quality u ,.uiui way to filter out candid. s • in. don't have good character. There doesn t seen; to •><• w to do that now. N'nbo.ic , , party has rosponsib bty f. - n ing the character . tr.di-' .s. Nobody speaks out on i-. • It is all whispers and run - !• too personal, too private Jt • to the candidates' op; .n. -•• raise the question P i* ir u ) a primary election an .tt ak character of an upp.m.. viewed as "nega: ve' < ing. It taints the OP.i' v\ ‘ • i K the charges almost a- m u hurts the accused Even though there is .. qualify or reject'candidate on the character issue, :r . - from Hart's problems Hard as the task may be p parties that want to win e < have to find u way to ke< (y . ■ nomination from going •, cami dates whose character v. ■ ,i the scrutiny of a persist, t rep. -i er for the Miami lleia.d Let me know what ,nu hr* Write me in care of this paper .a a Box 37283, Charlotte, N'C ; .7 Time For Blacks To Break With Democratic Party special 10 inaron by Dr. Lenora Fulani Recently I had the opportunity to tour a series of Southern black colleges across the state of Missis sippi, speaking with hundreds of students about the 1988 presiden tial election and the role that black students in particular need to play in shaping a new political move ment for social changs in this country. I spoke with them about the debate currently underway in the Rainbow movement over which direction the black commu nity needs to take in the presiden tial election • following a route solely inside the Democratic Par ty or building an independent path to empowerment. In March, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution ran a aeries of ar ticles covering the public com mentary on tha potential run in 1988 by Jesse Jackson for tbs Democratic Party presidential nomination. According to the At lanta paper, some Mack leaders are arguing that Jackson's 1988 campaign muat run along prag matic and not idealistic lines. Urg ing Jackaon to tone down the mes sage of tha militant and broad so cial vision which was the center piece of his 1984 campaign that garnered close to three and a half million votes, black establishment figures are counseling Jackson that he must stick dose to the cen ter in order to strengthen his chances of winning. Those Rain bow leaders who are encouraging Jackson to run a campaign which would continue to fire the hopes and aspirations of millions of Afri can Americans in the 1988 Demo cratic Primary, are charged by elements of the black and white liberal establishment with being ni h a juouiiBi.it onu "impractical.'' Tha Atlanta Journal articla quotas a 1084 Jackson sup portar as typify ing tha mood of tha black com munity: "I lova Jassa Jackson. nui i m eure ne ■ 11 can't win. And I don't have time to waste with somebody who can't win. I don't want any more Re publicans in the White House." It's true that the mood of the black community is that if Jesse is to run, we need somethfng more than a re-run of 1984. And it's also clear that Jackson and the African American community have more to gain by running a campaign based on the Rainbow social vi sion. But I would go one step fur ther. I think that it is the black ©8 tablishment which is impractical an idealistic, because it is basically telling us that if we only "act right," then the Democratic Party will give us a fair deal. As a national leader of the inde pendent black-led New Alliance Party, I have a plan to get a fair deal for the African American community. It is a powerful plan and it is a plan whieh is profound ly practical. The New Alliance Party plans to run a black candi date for President in 1988 on an independent ticket in all 60 states and the District of Columbia. I have urged Rev. Jackson to par ticipate in this plan by running a bold Democratic Party campaign and then throwing the support of the Rainbow movement behind the independent black candidacy after the Democratic National Convention that will be held in At lanta in July, 1988. Anyone who thinks that Jack ■on can capture the Democratic nomination by toning down the demand for economic and politi cal justice for African Americans and the Rainbow is the impracti cal idealist. The Democratic Party will not give the nod to Jackson no matter how much he tries to cater to the establishment. He's too black and he's too progressive. We need a movement that is militant and strong, that is rele vant and that impacts, but won't sacrifice our principles or our peo ple. When I ran for Governor of New York States on the New Alli ance Party ticket in 1986, the only black, the only woman and the only progressive on the ballot against three white, well-financed males, the corporate media, along with the Democrats and Republi cans, called on me to repudiate Minister Louis Farrakhan as a condition of allowing me to partic ipate in the official gubernatorial debates. I refused to repudiate Minister Farrakhan, for while I have some differences with him on a host of issues, I respect him as a militant and independent black leader, and I unconditionally in sist upon the right of black Ameri ca to choose its own leaders and not be told by white Americn whom we should and shouldn't follow. Twenty-five thousand voted for me as an independent, the highest number of vote for a progressive independent in New York State in over 30 years. Those votes were very signifi cant. What that shows, I believe, is that the time is right for the black community to lead the way in breaking with the white, corpo rate-owned Democratic Party. If a .__ Mark independent candidate ru . . fur the Presidency and polls sever al million votes on that indepen dent ticket, then we will have esta Mished a national black led third party in this country In 1 9‘>2, that third party could move forward, in n position to win tens of millions of votes, and determine the out come of the presidential rnce and perhaps even win it. A black led, independent third party with that kind of clout could mean that American politics would he com- • _, pletely transformed. DEMOCRACY ™ APARTHIED in South Africa. There Is Only 1 One Solution Your Support of The Freedom Fighters Will Hasten the Day o* Victory for Democracy One man - One vote Give as it the absence of Liberty there diminishes all of us. in truth, it does. Enclosed is my check/M O for $___as contribution lo the Freedom F.ghters in the Soulh African struagi* # for One man - One vote Send Contribution to: Democracy Vs Apartheid Committee P O Box 844 Adeipht Station Brooklyn. Naw York 11238 j ^ v * * • u*