Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / July 16, 1987, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
I Bill Johnson, Publisher I ssai-ssrAisgssv^sj j,,h“"' c“p"bu‘h" Fran Farrer-Bradley. Advertising J_ _Published Every Thursday Jackson’s Sense Of Reality in our editorial, "Jesse Jackson's Real ism on June 25, we noted how most white journalists apparently want to make Jackson the real Invisible Man.” That is, invisible in the sense that as a nation far too many white people continue to ignore the needs, concerns and interests of minority people. We noted too that Jesse Jackson is the latest nationally prominent black personality to receive the invisible man treatment in that the white media and many national Demo cratic Party leaders refuse to acknowledge him as the logical and natural frontrunner in the presidential race. The media spends more time talking about why Jackson is ig nored than about the substance of what he has to say. Now comes reports that the Democratic Party bigwigs are puzzled by Jesse Jackson's presumed indecision about announcing his candidacy for the party's nomination for the presidency. After what we would agree was a steady-but-lackluster performance in a July 2 debate with the five expected Democratic presidential candidates on William Buck ley s Firing Line” television show, Jack son told reporters that he still had not made a final decision on seeking the presidency. Jackson said that he would make his final decision by Labor Day, the first Monday in September. More significantly, Jackson said, "This (seeking the presidency) is not the only way we’re willing to serve.” Thus as white news reporters continue to ignore what Jackson has to say, they missed the fuller meaning of this statement. In looking be yond the headlines we found in Jackson's first book, "Straight From The Heart," the meaning of his statement on willingness to serve. t In the editor's introduction it say* that Jesse Jackson's approach to social change in volves at a minimum three steps. First, whai he calls "rejected people,” must change their minds about themselves and "recognize that they are important ("I am somebody") rather than impotent." Secondly, through self discipline rejected people must develop what ever powers and resources they have. Third ly, they must use this power to "gain leverage to bring about changes," and the punchline, "while rejected people rarely have a majority of the political or economic power in a partic ular situation, they frequently have enough to determine where the balance of power will lie." Jackson's cautionary note about his candi dacy for the presidency is reflected in anoth er statement in his book. In a quote from a 1983 speech, Rev. Jackson says, "It is better that we lose a political race and keep our self respect,than to win the race and lose our soul." Undoubtedly, Jackson's point is in the reality that to survive in the game of politics the player must develop and live with the art of compromise. Jackson rightfully believes that compromise can, and too often does, lead to abandoning the individual's basic beliefs and values and may lose his soul. It is quite' evident that we have finally secured a copy of . Jackson's book "Straight From The Heart." We said in our earlier editorial that upon reading this book we would have more to say about Jesse Jackson because "his views will have a significant impact upon the next Pres ident, no matter who wins." In this regard, what we are attempting to say is that Jackson's perceived indecision about his candidacy is, in reality, a reflec tion of the two points that we have drawn from his book. In summary, and to repeat, being able to influence the fringes of political and economic power while maintaining self respect and therefore aiding "rejected peo ple” may be better achieved Outside of the White House than in. As promised, we wjll be drawing points from Jackson's book from time to time to help keep in clear perspective the meaning of po litical events leading to the two national po litical conventions in 1988. Council Loses A Winner City Council member Minette Trosch’s July 2 announcement that she will not seek reelection as an at-large Republican repre sents a mqjor loss of a dedicated public ser vant As a district then an at-large Council person, Mrs. Trosch has always been availa ble and interested in laboring to respond pos itively and objectively to the needs and con cerns of the voters. In listening carefully to the concerns of west side residents, Mrs. Trosch fought to stop efforts to extend LaSalle Street thrdugh the University Park community to 1-85 to ac commodate truck traffic from the industrial parks along North Graham Street. , * In announcing her retirement from public office, Mrs. Trosch uttered words that reflect the commitment to serve that she has demon strated and an insight to the future directions of Charlotte that many others would do well to listen to. She said that our "accelerated growth has potential pitfalls: loss of a sense of communi ty...declining emphasis on human values and growing emphasis on the glamorous trappings of a world-class city. This un doubtedly refers in part to international com mercial air traffic, NBA basketball, foreign sister city , relationships and more national corporate headquarters in Charlotte. While not necessarily opposing these developments, we see Mrs. Trosch running up the caution flag to say that we should proceed with a clear perspective on where are are going. "Gimmicks," she says, "and promotions to become just like any other big city will leave Charlotte featureless and futureless" at the cost of our "human city" quality. As we bid farewell to Mrs. Trosch as a good and faithful public servant, we can best show our appreciation by heeding her words of wis dom to keep Charlotte a "human city." •SEFIKO c-jr RlcTfe |sl ^ CITIES THAT H^r SUMMER 1 OblcL. Ter I, OTtrpies eHcvrHAT * /.PE^ Nc &BDER ^fF KU/ THAN we vvtvr- IHeH/IFAH'tWiH^ Wfe ARE ^/^■cr cTFF. FACT * I,THERE ARE S62i Mc*?E.'SLAc.iA£ Tip AT LlVlNd, IhJ F^vErtY THAN XT VA4 1K1 I <7^7 ANP FTcTectep Mumpers Fpr7 THe Year vill. &e a L<?t i h^rcsE unless ve act Let's TUL>L igUReeUfcs. TSgpTHER.^ ^ercRE it's -fa? Late./ " Minority Teacher Shortage Becoming A Crisis The National Education Associa tion (NEA) recently completed its 125th annual meeting. A segment of the meeting dealt with the de clines in minority teachers while minority student enrollment steadi ly increases. In a five year period covering 1981 to 1986, the percent age of Black teachers declined nearly a percentage point from 7.8 percent to 6.9 percent. ■The NEA further reported that by 1990 more than 30 percent of all students in public school systems will be minority students. Mean while, only five percent of the teacher population will be minori ties. Mary Hatwood Futrell, President of the NEA, explains, "this trend toward fewer and fewer minority teachers threatens to deny minority students the positive role models they need to succeed in school". • While the percentage of minority teachers has been declining since 1971, the percentage of white teach ers has been edging upward. The NEA report discloses that cutbacks in federal financial aid as one key reason for the decline in the number of minority teachers in edu cation. Fewer and fewer minorities are entering college, thereby, reduc ing the number of potential minori ty candidates entering the field of education. To understand the magnitude of this problem, consider that a large percentage of minority children come from non-conventional house holds. The family relationship will not be like that of the Huxtables. You will find a large percentage of single family households. You will find a large percentage of households where the parents are loo busy trying to make ends meet roith Gerald John ion L 6b | As. I $ee It I that they don't have time to partici pate in their child's educational pro cess. You will find a large percentage of poor people who can not obtain transportation to get to their child's school activities because the school is across town. You will find households where parents are intimidated by the edu cational process and are ashame or afraid to participate in their child's educational endeavors. All these reasons justify jf^hy strong minority role models are so vitally needed in the public school systems. Moreover, the sensitivity to mi nority concerns is of utmost impor tance. Recent incidents that have occurred locally help demonstrate the point. The Derek Barnes' situation at McClintock Junior High School is one that appears lo be an insensi tivity to minority concerns, Derek was denied membership in the school's honor society. The yearbook incident at Olympic where offensive photos and cutlines were used to depict Black students ' at Olympic, is even a more glaring example of minority concerns. As the minority teacher popula tion shrinks and the minority stu dent population increases, problems of this nature will exacerbate. Black students' concerns and problems will not get dealt with properly: The primary reason is the lack of sensitivity to the needs erf the mi nority student. Obviously, more minority teach ers in education will help give stu dents role models to emulate. Moreover, it will help non minori ty teachers understand the Black perspective of situations that will occur. But, the problem of getting more minority teachers in the school system is long term. Even if programs were developed today to stimulate getting minorities into education. It would take five or more yeas to see the results. How ever, now is the time to initiate such actions. i A more short term action that could realize some results is to make all non minority teachers take minority sensitivity training. Al> teachers should understand the back grounds of the various ethnic groups they will have to deal with. Understanding the background helps one understand the problems they may have to confront. More impor tantly. it will help teachers under stand how to deal effectively with those problems. Tlie need for a pro gram of this nature has manifested itself with the aforementioned inci dences. Ij aT"'' Also, we need younger, more in novative principals in our schools. These guys sitting around for retire ment and/or area superintendent po sitions are actually doing the school system more harm than good. The old way of doing things may have been good for the old days, but can retard progress for the nowadays. The community must act today td guarantee our children a tomorrow. Blacks Positive Contributions To U.S. Discussions about the impor tance of Black History in the eco nomic mainstream are usually un der-girded by altruism. Yet, this parochial view may be obviating a significant source of revenue for tourism in many states. * «« • —. ^ _ In the early 70a at a Western North Carolina plantation country club, I was given a tour which in cluded a stop at the well preserved grave sites of some black slaves. I became enchanted by the spirits of my black forefathers crying out with Joy because one of their sons was walking with the sen of a for mer slave owner. In reassessing this experience from a business prospectus, I see that my tour guide really pointed out the main stream market value in preserving Black History. The African Meth odist Episcopal Church recently went a step farther and highlight ed the value In states identifying and preserving their black histori cal sites. Harmon Carey, Presi dent of the Afro-American Histori cal Society of Delaware, says that approximately 1000 A.M.E. Church members, largely from the Northeastern United States, visited the Delaware Plantation where their founder Bishop Richard Al len was a slave. This was a bicen tennial tribute of the A.M.E. church. This simple tribute makes this former Delaware plantation a must visit place for A.M.E. tourists ■asking the roots of their church. It also helped the Delaware civic leadership recognise the impor MilW i | By 8herman Miller I tone* in researching the history of Delaware's black community. Delaware is also the birthplace of the black AUMP Methodist Church. Further, Delawarean John Dickinson (a signer of the UJ9. Constitution) freed his slaves and later paid them fair free men wages. Fortunately, Delaware has seen the wisdom in reconstructing the slave quarters at Dickinson's Mansion. artifacts in their possession, anyth ing they can share-We are open to their being actively involved in all aspects of our efforts." Clearly, Black History will rap idly evolve into big business. Eco nomic is the driving force of this Great Nation, therefore, the Amer ican History books of 2025 will stress the positive contributions of black Americans in building the United States of America. Carey says that Black Delawa reans hope to build a Black Histor ical museum. Chattanooga, Ten nessee s Afro-American Heritage Council might offer' Delaware some guidance sine they have been collecting artifacts and they are well underway with their ef forts to construct a major mu seum. 1 did feel like I waus going through a time warp whilst walk ing through Chattanooga's current tiny black museum. ■ '’SV ' t'j; Thus, the issue becomes, "How do black Americans ignite this Black History fervor throughout the nation?" Carey says, "The (National) Black Congressional Caucus has a National Black Roundtable. They met about two months ago and one of the recom mendations I made attending that conference was that The Roundta ble support the establishment of Black Historical Societies or or* ganitations in every State of the Union. U. 8. Congressman Walter Faun troy is going to take it to the Board because he thought it was an excellent idea." I once had a White Virginia chap lend me the bill of sale for a slave gftl which had been in his family since 1842. This document made it dear to me that any serious effort to find arti facts on Black American History must include all races of people. "Though we are concerned with Black History we don't consider this to be a black effort," pro claimed Carey. (We include) white people and any other ethnic groups who have information or
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 16, 1987, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75