Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / June 18, 1987, edition 1 / Page 2
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gfritotiate S&arlotte *ost JMUWlhi . ;._ . Bin Johnson. PuMIsher Emeritus SsS '£5r»vS«i£'i«LJ5 Jo>m*~ c-p*u*i" v*1^: •.£¥• “rs**-* , . ’T/^ rr.^V.rr.r-Br.dl.T, AdT.rU.ta* U^S*!*,** 0*““'' °““ M“*«~ On Writing And Writers Over the past few months, journalists have had much to say about writing and writ ers, no doubt including themselves. Shortly before his death, syndicated columnist Syd ney Harris wrote that a writer loses his audi ence when he flexes his ego' Harris used Herman Wouk's recent novel, Idside, Out side, to illustrate his point "Wouk (in his book) seems to take himself and his career far more seriously than he takes his work," Harris wrote. "This is largely an autobio graphical novel, the most dangerous kind to wnte." Harris concludes by saying in the book, Wouk flexes his ego on his connec tions with the (Richard) Nixon White House. Charlotte Observer columnist James Olsen sought recently to remind us of something that most of us already know, textbook pub lishers are only interested in sales and prof its, not values. Olsen notes that publishers don't want controversy... (thus) guarantees historical amnesia for our children... If text books are biased, it's in the direction of pleas ing everyone and making everyone depicted look good," which doesn't usually reflect real life situations. Olsen writes that our textbooks avoid any "sign of poverty, violence, social discord, family conflict, crime... or anything that ,might generate the least bit of controversy." To have Buch would offend some groups and possibly result in lost sales. Karen Smythers, a graduating senior at Charlotte's Indepen dence High School and an Observer editorial intern, reminds us adults to not blame books for teenagers' mistakes. In a well written ar ticle, she concludes, "Give us (high school students) a strong background so that even controversial books can provide an academic springboard for reflection on moral choic es." Finally, Washington Post columnist Wil liam Raspberry takas a qua from Ray |*eter Clark s new book, Rree.To Write, to focus our attention on another aspect or deterrent to good writing. Raspberry tells us quite truth fully that children are given the impression that writing is a form of punishment because teachers highlight "in flaming red ink" everything that’s negative or incorrect. The results," Raspberry adds, is ’’children no longer feel free to write," but rather seek only to please the teacher in very superficial ways. Ask Right Questions These three perspectives on writing each shows a serious flaw in the work of so-called professional writers. Wouk sought to make himself the centerpiece of his writing. The textbook publishers seek to avoid controversy for the presumed assumption of satisfying everyone. Yet, young Karen Smythers said without the opportunity for "reflection on mo ral choices" we cannot grow intellectually. Such publishers need to heed Karen's point. Likewise, they should watch Ted Koppel's Nightline television show to observe how he skillfully makes thought-provoking state ments and asks the right questions to draw opposing view responses from his guests; This often results in controversy and con flict, but it helps the viewer/Hstener to do his own independent thinking and to draw his/ her own conclusions. This is what textbooks are supposed to do. Then, too, the manner in which we inhibit our young people's interest and freedom to write can make bright, alert minds dull and, subsequently, produce a generation of equal ly dull, uninspired writers. We journalists tend sometimes to make these same kinds of non-productive mis takes. A case in point is how many newspa per writers have fried to ignore Jesse Jackson as a serious and important presidential can didate. As the Observer's Jerry Shinn wrote candidly last month that with "Gary Hart's withdrawal from the presidential campaign the Democrats must confront an embarrass ing truth: They don't take Jesse Jackson ser iously as a presidential candidate...because they don't think a black man can win the presidency in 1988." % i __* Journalists, like the textbook publishers, apparently want to accommodate the Demo crats by ignoring Jackson. Again, ^tiinn candidly wrote, "If Jesse Jackson were white, all the media focus would have turned to him when Hart dropped qut." Is it racism by the Democrats and or the media or both that might possibly deny the voters the opportunity to maybe vote for or against Jesse Jackson? Furthermore, it's one thing to not believe Jackson can win the Democratic Party nomi nate much less be elected. But its sheer stupidity to ignore and not listen to what Jesse Jackson has to say. Ted Koppel is quoted in Newsweek as saying, "I listen. Most people don't. Something interesting comes .along and - whooosh! ~ it goes right} past them.” It is . for this reason that Newpdrehklsays tlat "Koppjil is on a roll - ma^ngTeadlinsJ 4 shaping issues." t 1 Two writers who apparently listen intently to Jesse Jackson are syndicated columnist Joseph Sobran and David Broder, author and Washington Post reporter. Sobran says bluntly, Jackson has star quality, he knows how to use it (therefore), he could tear the (Democratic) party to shreds if there is a con certed attempt to so shut him out of the ticket” Even more to the point, Broder is one of the few white writers to attempt to really listen to what Jackson has to say. Broder m one of the few to admit that "With the change in Jackson's status, we must change the way we report him (and not ignore him)...We have paid too little attention to what Jackson is actually saying. Ultimate ly, like all the other contenders, he will (or should) be judged by his personal qualities and his record, as well as his ideas." Broder listened, as many others both white and black have failed to do, when Jackson says that the crucial American experience was not the Revolutionary War or the Consti tution of New Deal. It was slavery. Thus, "the crucial test,” in Broder's words, "of our current values and policies, he (Jackson) as serts repeatedly, lies in dealing with the heri tage of slavery - discrimination and ra cism." Next week: Jesse Jackson's beliefs. Defects Of The Constitution He is like the old toldtof Who has fought many a war and ie now coming back for one more, neces sary battle. Such is the image of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, a man who, in the sun set of hie years, has shown that plain, outspoken courage is not just the purview of the young. Hie Reagan Administration had hoped to use the Constitution's bi centennial to enshrine and there fore to stagnate that document. Hie Constitution, thus deified, was to become yet another tool in Rea gan's attempt to illegitimate the Progressive gains made before Reagan took office. But this was not to be. Justice Marshal], the lone African American on the highest bench in the land, saw to that. While President Reagan and his cohort, former Chief Justice Warren Burger, praised the Con stitution as a perfect document and its framers as "giants," Thur good Marshall brought a little real ity to the situation. In a recent speech Justice Mar •hall noted that he did not "find the wisdom, foresight and sense of justice exhibited by the Framers particularly profound. "To the contrary." he added, "the govern ment they devised waa defective from the start... When contempo rary Americans cite The Constitu tion, they invoke a concept that is vastly different from what the Framers barely began to construct two centuries ago." One of the de fects to which Marshall was refer ring waa the matter of slavery, a subject which Reagan carefully omits in his speeches. And so he must. For by discussing the im perfections of the Constitution. Reagan would also have to admit that a strict interpretation of the Constitution would put African Americans back in chains. Aa Jus tice Marshall reminds us, "Moral Principles against slavery, for those who had them w#r# com pro mised." One of th* reasons this country has never been fully exorcised of its racism is that ft never truly ad mitted th* racist underpinning upon which this country was built. You cannot repair a wrong until you have admitted it. By reveal ing the flaws in the lofty, yet im perfect, Constitution, Justice Mar shall has validated the continuing struggle for change that will make that document truly democratic As he himself notes, the credit for progressive change in this country "...does not belong to the Framers. It belongs to those who refused to acquiesce in outdated notion* of liberty.' 'justice.' and 'equality.' and who strived to batter them...[T]he true miracle was not the birth of the Constitution, but its life, a life nurtured through two turbulent centuries of our own malting." Justice Marshall has reminded us that the rights of the oppressed should never be sacrificed for the so-called greater good of main tmninK order or political cohesion. This country has yet to repent for slavery and until it does, we will continue to reap harvest after har vest of racial turmoil. We salute Thuigood Marshall for hia valiant continued efforts to wards the cause of Justice for all People. ' AKlP ( lW yUj LlU« B"// , UalttY X e*rr tic? Rfc&peeT sL?»jb aT AL.L, Minority Affairs Office Cut Not Political? The County Commissioners spent last week blowing the smoke from their six shooters as the budget-fight at the 'O.K. County of Mecklen burg building’ reached its fi nal stages. As usual the Com missioners and the County manager walk away un scathed. They holstered their sharpened pencils and slowly walked away from the battle scene. Left bleeding in the streets were those programs that were not fortunate enough to know when to fight and when to run. Most lie bleeding, helplessly, awaiting their tiny One program that was being guttled for was the Minority •uWH^ty Affairs Office was vulnerable because it was a way for the Commissioners to get back at one of their own - cowboy Bob. Cowboy Bob has always been the black sheep of the Commissioners, and some say they were out to get him. They say ole Bob can contin ue to ride wit’em, but he ain't gonna get no real bullets. They are gonna see to it thats he only shoot blanks. The Minority Affairs office was one of cowboy Bob's side-kicks. Cowboy Bob was instrumental in getting the program started. Cowboy Bob tried to help save the Mi nority Affairs office, by turn ing his weapon on the rest of the gang. But Bob's weapon only shot blanks. Minority Affairs was gunned down. As I sit here in my ole rock er, observing the goings on of with OmU M I See It this ole town, the gunfight leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. The fight was unfair. ,The Minority Affairs office was not armed. The Commissioners said the purpose of the office was Suestionable and the office uplicated the efforts of other > offices. Thi^' point 1 can't argue. But the sane statement can be said about most Coun ty offices. 'Hie Commissioners further said that the Minority Affairs office duplicated the work of the Community Relations Committee and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Women's Com mission. This statement implies that there is duplication of effort between the Women's Com mission and the Community Relations Committee. If this is the case, then consolidating all of these functions into one office would be appropriate. The Commissioners were quoted as saying 'the mission of the office was vague and thedd details of its work sketchy'. I find tfiis statement hard to believe. I serve on County Boards (hat oversee various county offices. I have yet to find one with a clear missions statement. Government spending is subject very near and dear to; my heart. Fiscal responsibility; is often preached, but rarely; practiced by governing bod-: ies. Therefore, I am for any: cutbacks that are responsible: and not political. : The cutting of the Minority: Affairs office appears to be political. Again, the reasons for cutting it could easily ap ply to several dozen offices V that did not get cut. Moreover, an office operat ing on a shoestring budget can only yield shoestring re sults. What were the expecta tions of this office, anyway? If in fact the Commissioners, were acting out of fiscal re sponsibility and were not po litically motivated, then ctft' out all the waste. It is difficult for me to see fiscal responsi bility as the objective when the approved budget ends up higher than the proposed bud get. Fiscal responsibility could not have been the order of business when programs got cut, but commissioners salar ies got raised. It would have been more ap- - propriatc to appoint a citizens committee to review the Mi nority Affairs office. The committee could have re viewed the good the office" had done, the potential good the office could do, and if there was any benefit in main taining the office. The approached used to rid us of the Minority Affairs of fice has the Black community arming itself for the next gun fight. They are calling it showdown at the polls'. Prosperity Belongs To HistoryMakers Paring down America's corpo rate employment roles is forcing a re definition of productivity. It is rapidly evolving into a measure of an individual's smart work and its timeliness in gaining market ad vantage in our global marketplace. Thus, to remain competitive in the late 1980s and the early 2990s, American business persons will have to take the office on the road. Yet some businessmen must overcome ego-blindness to reap the benefits of America's modern technology. For example, typing one's own reports on a computer does not imply that one is a secre tary. Typing skills offer the oppor tunity to personally tailor one's re ports and studies or use electronic mail and databases. But tha real iaaue ia, "How doe* on* taka the office on tha road?" Borne people uae telephone mee aage ayatema, but laptop comput er* are the beat long-term way to tranamit information from the road. Electronic reporta poaeaa* comparable reaped to the prover bial hard-copy. Navartheleaa, laptop computer* ahould have: •A acreen that ia readable in poor lighting condition* each a* airport waiting loungea, on air plane*, and in hotel room*. ‘The MilW By 8hemuun Miller capacity to run on an internal bat tery with a minimum of rix hours' battery Ufa. 'Weight under eight pounds to avoid becoming a bur den during long walks in mqjor airports. 'ISM compatibility, with 640 Kilo-bytes of Random Access Memory or greater, to run your fa vorite desktop programs. 'An in ternal modem (1200 baud mini mum) to quickly send messages el ectronically. 'At least one (loppy disk drive to avoid the lose of data from the computer's Jamming. 'Small snough site to fit on air plane serving trays to permit work while airborne. i Even though you have a laptop computer that meets the abova re quirements, you can still pull your hair out trying to get a hotel room telephone to cooperate. Here are •ome tips to insure that you ^-mirs your corporations mainframe computer •Alert the hotel registrars that ♦wU ,* laptop computer so they will place you in a room with » telephone configured to handle electronic communication. A Holi day Inn registrar in Decatur. AL. apprised me that they had special telephone lines in some rooms for tr“V,1Ur* with comput frl-™* **! * w*leomed relisf irom a near fiasco at 1 a m u . McCook, NE, hotel where I was •currying to find a telephone to franemit some very important you *P*Ci*1 TOOm* •*»*. y«* Mould request to use a tele phone that has a dedicated outside he; i.e., one that does not require you to dial 9 to make an outside cwl. If your modern dials auto matically. call direct (bill your ”»«) or call an BOO numti. If America is to baat th« tltion in tha world markatplac* tha laptop computer must provida tha m^TT* 0nuA***<Ud,1<>n ^cra whila uV* tH* r‘*ht info*™*tion not tn.w hirtory makara and ,n thoaa content to raminiaca
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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June 18, 1987, edition 1
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