_
Why A Black Mayor's Group?
In a recent news conference Mayor Harvey
Gantt and the Charlotte Convention and Visi
tors Bureau announced that the National
Conference of Black Mayors will hold their
14th Annual Conference in Charlotte on
April 12-17,1988. As a Post article noted last
week, the event will "bring hundreds of in
fluential leaders (and w* might add, both
black and white), thousands 4tf dollars and
national recognition to the City."
In spite of this, there have been a few rum
blings or criticisms. Two letters to The
Charlotte Observer appear to sum up these
negative feelings or impressions. One letter
expressed shock that these mayors voted to
hold their annual meetings only in those cit
ies with black mayors. He said "it looks like
discrimination is alive and well." ,
The other letter, written by a person who
states that he supported the NAACP, the Black
Political Caucus and UNCF, says that per
sons elected to represent ail of the people
should not be identifying themselves by the
color of their skin. He added that if white
mayors held such a meet there would be cries
of racism.
The facts of life are that Harvey Gantt is
repeatedly identified in the media as a black
mayor. Fortunately, with very positive eon
notations. Furthermore, much has been writ
ten and said in a positive way about Charlotte
as an All-American city because Harvey
Gantt has been elected twice by a city with a
majority white population. This fact alone
has given both die City of Charlotte and Mr.
Gantt recognition in The New York Times,
Ebony. Time, Newsweek and other national
and some foreign publications. This fact too,
has contributed at least indirectly to some of
the new business and industry moving to
Charlotte.
What needs to be understood too, la that
many of the black mayors who wjli visit
Charlotte were elected by cities with black
majority populations created in part by white
flight to the suburbs. Many of these cities, un
like Charlotte, have serious economic and so
cial problems and a low tax base as jobs and
industry too went to the suburbs. Thus, these
black mayors have a common bond — the
need to revitalize cities with problems created
partly by a new form of racism-white flight
Hopefully, Charlotte will be a showcase for
the black mayors and others on what a city
can achieve when it seeks progress for all of
its people as Harvey Gantt has so well illus
trated.
Unrecorded Constitutional Facts
' * *v» .• ~• i • . t ■ 1 V "J . •
As the Nation celebrated its independence
on July 4th, Yale University Press published
over 150 previously unknown and .unrecord
ed Constitutional Convention documents.
Among these were:
1. George -Washington's pessimistic
statement to Abraham Baldwin, a delegate
from Georgia, that 1 do not expect the Consti
tution to last for more than 20 years.”
2. Paradoxical to the philosophy under
which the Constitutional Convention was
convened, it was closed to the press and the
public. A secrecy rule that was passed on
May 29, 1787 was faithfully complied with.
JameB Madison, a delegate from Virginia,
defended the rule, according to the Yale Press
documents in a letter in which he said, "I
think the rule was a prudent one (because it
allowed us to) secure the requisite freedom of
discussion,. . .it will save both the conven
tion and the community from a thousand er
roneous and perhaps mischievous reports.”
3. In another dooiment dated June 2,1787,
the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of
Slavery gave strongly worded statement to is
President, Ben Franklin, to deliver to the
convention on the evils of the African a lave
trade and the need to stop it. The Society
found out at a meeting a month later that
Franklin had not presented the anti-slavery
statement to the Convention. His reason was
that he "thought it advisable to let them lie
over for the present."
4. Now in 1987, we are fortunate that by the
grace of Almighty God, the Constitution has
lasted not 20 years but 200 years. As we ob
serve the history of many other nations with
unstable government and internal chaos we
should be able to better appreciate the founda
tion value of the Constitution.
Secondly, for all the apparent need for se
crecy of the Constitutional Convention, such
a proposal by any level of government today
would simply be unthinkable and not tolerat*
ed no matter what the consequences. It is just
such an opposition to secrecy that has made
the Iran-Contra affair the hot news item that
it is. Significantly, the issue has magnified
by reports now that Oliver North, a key per
sonality in the Iran-Contra controversy,
helped draft a secret plan in 1984 to suspend
the Constitution and impose martial law in
ease of a national emergency.' Again, #e
can be; thankful that o^r system of ppenne**
- in government has revealed this alarming'
plan.
Lastly, Ben Franklin's decision to remain
silent on the slavery issue at the Convention
tarnishes his historic image. Well docu
mented in history is the fact that 25 of the 55
delegates to the. Convention were slave own
ers. Many of them, such as John Rutledge of
South Carolina, defended the institution of
slavery while Franklin said nothing.
A contemporary note that the State of Arizo
na might like to have kept secret is that the
National Basketball Association (NBA) is
reportedly moving its planned annual meet
ing from Scottsdale out of the state. Likewise,
since January of this year, Arizona has lost
30 conventions worth $11.7 million and may
loose another $12 million in convention busi
ness. The reason: the State's failure to pass
a bill to observe a legal holiday in honor of
the late Dr. Martin Luther King.
> \c£v#4'; *r • .
Another worthy note is in "Today". TV
show host Bryant Gumbel's GQ Magazine in
terview. He said, 'Td like to be involved in
baseball in some facet . .1 would like to be
commissioner." Considering the growing
discussion and apparent concern about black
opportunities, or the lack of them, in baseball
management • from a team field manager or
coach' to the CEO - Gumbel's statement He is
talented, articulate and knows the game.
Hopefully, Mr. Gumbel will be given consid
eration for an upper management position in
America's game, Major League Baseball.
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WORK!
A Reflection On The Year Past
The Charlotte Post's new di
rection program was intro
duced a tittle over a year ago.
It is with great pleasure, that I
say it has been quite success
Since its introduction, we
have been able to install six
computers in our production
and business areas.
We have placed 18 vendor
boxes in various locations
throughout the city with more
than 20 additional boxes antic
ipated before year end.
We have picked up major
store chains as vendors of the
newspaper, including such
stores as 7-11 and Eckerds
with Circle-K expected in the
very near future.
We have purchased a new
van.
We have strengthened our
organization by making some .
' ffe
We have completed a suc
cessful ABC audit which au
thenticates our circulation fig
ures and Our record keeping
procedures in our circulation
department
Our efforts have realized a
20 percent increase in gross
revenues over the same period
of last year.
Whewt We have done a lot
all for one very good reason.
We intend to provide you with
the best product and service
that is humanly possible.
, Why? Because you deserve
the very best and we intend to
see that you get it.
* Consequently, for the past
several weeks, we have been
running a reader survey. It is
our hope that you will take a
few minutes to fill this survey
-1
As Jl^ee It
out and return it to us.
The survey is intended to
give us a better feel for our
audience. This is very impor
tant to us because with all we
have done to improve our
product and service, it still is
not enough. We have future
plans to introduce new sec
tions to the paper. To be cer
tain that we introduce sections
that are pertinent to most of
you, we need to know who
most of you are. We need to
identify our targetmarket *
Hence the market survey is
intended to do just this, the
market survey can be found
on page 4b of this week's edi
tion of the Post.
Currently, we are investigat
ing die possibility of adding a
Travel and Leisure section
and a Fashion section. The
survey results will help us
identify if there is a current ap
dience far either section.
Because your input is so im
portant to us, we’ve extended
the survey deadline to August
30, 1987. We would like to
thank all of you who have re
turned your surveys. Your in
' put is currently being ana
lyzed. But we would like to
see a lot more before we start
making our plans.
We are also planning several
other things in the immediate
future.
We have started a new ser
vice, The Charlotte Post
Printing Service. This new di
vision of the company will
handle all of your printing
needs from business cards to
brochures and programs. We
will do church bulletins, me
nus, announcements, posters,
flyers, personalized station
S\ and whatever else you
ght need printed. We are
projecting this service to grow
quite rapidly, and within two
years to generate as much rev
enue as the newspaper. This
equates to more jobs for our
community and for our city.
A department manager will be
announced soon.
As far as the newspaper is
concerned, we are intending
to expand into surrounding
communities. Our near tmp
expansion is targeted for the
Monroe area.
Then we intend to make a
fifty mile radius sweep of the
Charlotte area.
We, here at the Charlotte
Post, feel that these are excit
ing times for both the City of
Charlotte and for the Charlotte
Post It is our hope that we all
will grow together.
Without a doubt, none of
our successes would have
been possible without the gra
cious support we have re
ceived from you, our readers
and advertisers. Your loyalty
and patience have been an in
spiration and an incentive to
our efforts.
We intend to be second best
to none. Our goal - number
one. With your support it will
be done.
Will It Be Socialism Tomorrow?
Nevada Governor Richard
Bryan has signed into law a hospi
tal coat containment Mil. The
Ohio Sonata has passed a Mil to
permit El. a Cross and Blue Shield
of Ohio to contract selectively
with Greater Cleveland hospitals,
Are we witnessing the evolution
of cost effective health cars deliv
ery or ara we merely observing
some politicians displaying their
ineptness at marketing?
Although Health Maintenance
Organisations (HMO) highly tout
their illness prevention virtues,
they have remained a mystery to
mo. Nsverthelese, I havs dis
cussed the HMO concept with a
vice president of a national hospi
tal management corporation.
This chap (who I shall call John
son) gavs me plenty of food for
thought
Johnson argued that HMOa'
are targeted at well-people. He la
belled them, "Yuppie health
plans." Hie comment caused cold
chills to run down my spine as I
pondered, Who will provtdo
health care for America's sick and
poor people?
Johnson broached the subject
of HMO actuarial soundness stat
ing that some of the pots of money
set aside for some Illness are insuf
ficient for real world conditions.
He asked. What does ona do if
there is an spidsmic and its pot of
money runs out?
Johnson Anther contended that
;_Mgjg 1
people ere showing up at some
HMO's and finding treatments
unavailable. 1 shuddered again
when he talked about the industry
battles ever the length of time for
in-house (hospital) care versus
outpatient ears.
i On the ether hand, there is a
move afoot to force employers to
provide medical insurance cover
age for their employees. This pro
gram resembles New Zealand’s
socialised medicine program.
Initially, this (bleed medical cov
erage concept was appealing to
me because I felt poor people
would not have to worry about
medical care. My enthusiasm was
quickly dampened when I re
called New Zealanders speaking
about their deathly wage tax and
the very low probability of any*
one becoming wealthy in their
country. Thus, I now find myself
worrying about high insurance
$■ , f . * >
premiums and/or exorbitant taxes
decimating American small busi
nesses who are the prime genera
tors of new jobs.
Yet, I have not seen a new coat
effective fall feature medical plan
that truly supplants the traditional
programs. I hold bttle hope of see
ing a near-term coat-effective fall
featured health care program be*
cause of the foolhardy actions of
politicians like Delaware's Insu
rance Commissioner. This chap
wants Delaware car owners to
have a sticker on their automobile
stating the expiration date of their
insurance policy.
This sticker plan will guarantee
a market for the insurance com
panies. But many poor people
have opted to drive without auto
mobile liability insurance because
premiums are too high to Justify
the benefits of insurance protec
tion. That is, poor families really
have nothing to lose.
Clearly, socialised medidne and
guaranteed automobile insurance
market concepts infer a lack of
business acumen on the part of
America's political leaders. 1 get
the distinct impression that our
political leaders are consulting
soothsayers with crystal balls to
address the crises in America's in
surance industry. Surely, farther
procrastination on solving Ameri
ca's health care delivery crisis will
forebode American socialism to
morrow.