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The Voice Of The Block Community'
Volume 13, Number 43
Thursday, March 24, 1988
Price: 50 Cents
Reagan Expected To Fight Minimum Wage Raise
By Chester Higgins Sr.
NNPA News Writer
By a voice vote, the 35-member
House Labor and Education
Committee passed a bill that
will raise the minimum wage
from the present $3.50, In in
cremental stages, to a maximum
of $5.05 an hour by the year
1991. However, Committee
Chairman Augustus Hawkins, a
25-year Hill veteran, declared,
"this is no panacea. It won't get
the 15 million — one million
Blacks — out of poverty. It will
merely keep them from starving
to death."
He predicted full House pas
sage of the bill after a Mid-April
session. He also predicted Sen
ate passage of a similar meas
ure and that the two branches of
Congress will iron out differenc
es in a Joint conference and
send the bill to President Ro
nald Reagtm for passage.
Reagan, however, has threa
tened to veto the measure and
Cong. Hawkins during a lengthy
interview with the NNPA In his
Capitol Hill offices in the Ray-
bum Building, worried that "it is
not at all certain that we have
the votes to override him."
Congress does have the votes to
override Reagan's recent veto of
the Civil Rights Restoration Act,
he said. This bill was passed
overwhelmingly by congress
and is designed to undo much of
the adverse effects of the Su
preme Court's 1984 decision In
the Grove City College (Pa.) v.
Bell decision. This decision nar
rowed the scope of the historic
civil rights bills so drastically
(hat civil rights leaders have
been chafing under the restric
tions ever since. (Grove City
simply permits divisions within
an institution that are not re
ceiving federal funds to discrim
inate with impunity).
Hawkins' committee is almost
equally divided between Demo
crats and Republicans-- 23
Democrats; 22 Republicans. "So
we have a tight battle on every
issue," he said. "We simply can
not afford to lose over three or
four Democrats on any issue or
it is doomed."
He said a powerful U.S. Cham
ber of Commerce lobby is op
posed to raising minimum wag
es. "And when you have a
President in the White House
who also opposes it, it is diffi
cult to get a lot of Republicans
to buck him."
Minimum hourly wages have
not been raised since 1981. In
the interim, the cost of living has
shot up 30 per cent, eroding
basic wages by a similar 30 per
cent. This has been due to infla
tion, Hawkins points out.
In another incident, Hawkins
assailed a reported statement
by Bruce M. Carnes, a deputy
undersecretary for planning,
budget and evaluation of the
Dept, of Education. Carnes was
quoted in the Wall Street Jour
nal criticizing student bodies of
Black colleges as perhaps con
taining "a high level of thieves" in
student loan defaults.
Hawkins asserted that Carnes'
racist remarks should warrant
his dismissal if he refused to re
sign, adding Carnes should also
apologize to all Black students
"he has so outrageously offend
ed" and that Carnes' remark "is
repulsive to me personally and
an affront all to college students
in this nation."
GrifBn Supports Mid- Point Schools Concept
By Heib White
Post Staff Writer
Arthur Griffin has gone back
to the future with proposals for
Mecklenburg County schools.
And this Ume, he feels the pub
lic is ready.
Griffin, a candidate for the
county school board and an ear
ly proponent of mid-point
schools between white and black
communities, said It's Ironic
that others are just beginning to
embrace the idea today.
"At the time, no one was inter
ested," he said. 'Today, it's a pop
ular word."
Griffin, who spoke at a Friday
press conference at McDonald's
cafeteria, called for a closer ex
amination of school curriculum
and pupil assignment.
He noted that this year's
school board election is the
most Important since 1972.
That year, pupil assignment was
the hot topic. In 1988, pupil as
signment is joined by concerns
over what students learn at the
end of the bus ride.
"In addition to busing, there
will be the issue of quality of ed
ucation," Griffin said. "For 1988,
that will be an equally impor
tant issue. Busing isn't the only
issue and it's not the most im
portant issue. I think we need to
focus on Improving the quality
of education."
This year's kindergarten class,
which will graduate high school
in the year 2000, is Important to
the future of local education,
Griffin says. This election will
UNC-CH Doubles Efforts
To Find Black Faculty
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — The
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill appears ready to en
roll more black students this
fall, but the university must re
double its efforts to attract black
faculty, Chancellor Christopher
Fordham said Friday.
Fordham cited statistics that
showed the number of black fa
culty had dropped from 50 pro
fessors in 1984 to 48 in 1987. He
said UNC-Chapel Hill still com
pared well with other schools in
its number of black faculty.
"But we don't have as many as
we ought to have," he said during
an address at a regular meeting
of the UNC-Chapel Hill Faculty
Council. He urged search com
mittees looking for new profes
sors to consider more black can
didates.
Fordham said after the meet
ing that he had discussed these
matters Thursday with a black
student leader who had said ear
lier that UNC-Chapel Hill ad
ministrators were not doing
enough for black students.
Kenneth M. Perry, president of
the Black Student Movement,
had said that if UNC-Chapel Hill
leaders didn't respond to him by
Friday, then he would call a
meeting of students to discuss
Implementing a plan that would
show administrators the frus
tration black students felt.
Perry told reporters Tuesday
that he was upset that no admin
istrators had contacted him af
ter he held a news conference
March 1. At that time he cited
statistics that indicated a small
er percentage of black students
are graduating than whites.
Fordham told the News and Ob-
setver of Raleigh Friday that he
had discussed with Perry the ad
ministration's efforts to im
prove the graduation rate. "I
didn't want him to believe no
one cared," Fordham said.
Almost all of this year's black
freslimen had returned to UNC-
Chapel Hill this spring --- an
improvement over past years,
Fordham said.
In basic subjects rather than re
sults of the California Achieve
ment Test
"It's something that's absolute
ly necessary," he said. "We had
4,500 students retained last
year, but we had no curriculum
strategy to help them Improve. A
competency-based curriculum
win help us get where we want to
be in academic excellence."
As for the busing controversy,
Griffin again mentioned a past
proposal--freezlng the number
See GRIFFIN on page 2A
Griffin
determine the type of education
they will receive.
"It's mind-boggling to think
that we hold their future in our
hands," he said.
Griffin outlined several re
forms for the school system, in
cluding a comprehensive com
puter curriculum for K-12 and a
competency-based course of
study.
Noting that 220 kindergarten
ers were retained last year for
unsatisfactory progress, Griffin
said a competency-based curric
ulum could spot students' trou
ble areas where remedial help
could improve their grades.
Griffin's proposal would call
for students to be promoted
based on their mastery of skills
Cosby Makes Second
Donation To Shaw U.
RALEIGH (AP) -—Entertainer
Bill Cosby has made a second fi
nancial commitment to Shaw
University and the money will
be used for construction, the
university's president says.
“He made a commitment to
me," said Talbert Shaw, who be
came president in November
during troubled economic times
at the school. "In two years
something veiy dramatic will
take place at Shaw University,
and the city will be very proud of
it."
Shaw would not give details
Thursday of the new donation
from Cosby, who gave the school
$325,000 in December.
In an Interview with The News
& Observer of Raleigh, Shaw
said he met with Cosby in Man
hattan last week and that the
two had agreed to meet again be
fore revealing details of the en
tertainer's gift, possibly in about
a month.
In a speech to the Greater Ra
leigh Chamber of Commerce,
Shaw said the donation was evi
dence of the school's mounting
Vi'
Cosby
stability and credibility 18
months after a financial crisis
threatened to close the doors of
the nation's oldest predomi
nantly black university.
Today the university is in a
seven-year, $40-mlllion fund
drive, and is debt-free except for
normal bond obligations for
dormitories. Shaw said.
II
Pholo By Calvin Fergueon Jr.
The comer of Baxter and Baldwin streets in the Cherry community
recently received directions on how to avoid an accident thanks to
the work of Bill Simpson and Maurice Grant, employees of the
Transportation Department of the City of Charlotte.
Rev. Lee Will Receive Humanitarian Award
Special To The Post
The first annual Lem Long Jr.
Humanitarian Awards Banquet
will be held Friday, April 8, 7
p.m.. at McDonald's Cafeteria,
Beatties Ford
Rd,
Many of
North Caroli
na's most dis-
linguished cit
izens gathered
last year to
honor Dr. Lem
Long Jr., one
of Charlotte's
finest black
businessmen
with a record
Long
of ^'ver 30 years of successful en
trepreneurship and serv'ice to
others. Because of the over
whelming support, it was deter
mined that this event would be
an annual affair.
Each year someone in the
Charlotte community is recog
nized and receives the Ixm I-ong
Jr. Humanitarian Award for his
or her contribution and efforts
towards improving the quality
of life of the citizens of the Char
lotte community.
Rev. Dr. William I.ee Jr., pastor
of Silver Mount Baptist Church,
Pine\'ille, NC, is the 1988 honor-
ee. A native of Charlotte, Dr. Lee
is known among his collegues
and the community as a "true
humanitarian."
His quest for seiving others is
broad in scope, reaching far be
yond the walls of the church
into the lives of the homeless,
the lives of young ministers, the
hopeless and the lives of those
who had the desire to further
their education but had no fi
nancial means to do so.
Dr. Lee's leadership and ser-
helping to mold and shape the
lives of many.
To celebrate this occasion, a
souvenir journal will be pub
lished. Persons interested in be
ing a Patron, Sponsor or Bene
factor in the brochure and those
interested in obtaining tickets
may call 394-1111 or 377-0242.
I’rocceds will benefit several of i
Dr. Lee's favorite causes: The
Aiiila Stroud Foundation, The
Charlotte Housing Authority
Scholarship Fund and the Unit
ed Negro College Fund.
The public is invited to attend.
Rev. Lee
vice to rnanldnd has louct.ed the
faljiic of the community as well
as the state of North Carolina,
Southeast Is Nation's " Stroke Belt"
Blacks Seek Equitable IredeU Elections
S'l'ATESVlLLE, N.C. (/tP) —
The chairman of the Iredell
County Board of Commissioners
has agreed to meet with black
community leaders to discuss
the possibility of changing how
county commissioners are elect
ed.
Lany S. Hedrick, the board's
chairman, agreed to the meeting
Tuesday after repeated requests
from Willie M. Williams, a black
community activist and a mem
ber of the Statesville City Coun
cil.
"We want to get this thing
moving again," Williams told
the Board of Commissioners.
"It seems to be moving so slow."
A study for the commissioner
last year said that the county
could be divided into nine voting
districts.
Williams said that a system of
voting by districts would be
more equitable than the at-large
sy.stem now used.
No blacks have been elected to
the seven-member board of com
missioners under the at-large
system.
Hedrick, the only board mem
ber who spoke in response to
Williams' request, said that a
nine-member board would be
too large to function well.
However, he said that he is
willing to discuss a district sys
tem with Williams.
"It's not something that is go
ing to be prolonged or put off,"
Hedrick said.
BY ERICA JOHNSTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RALEIGH (/U’) --- Backed by a
$1.5 million grant from the Na
tional Institutes of Health, re-
searcliers are interviewing
about 2,000 Pitt County black
adults in an effort to piece to
gether factors that lead to hyper
tension and the sicknesses it
can trigger.
"There is something about so-
cio economic status tliat is very
strongly related to risks for hy-
[tertension," said Sherman
James, a professor of epidemiol
ogy at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Pilt
County is developing at a fairly
last ptice. It is a place where we
can probably find the socio
economic diversity among the
black population that we need to
understand what it is about pov
erty ... that speaks to the ques
tion of hypertension in the
black community."
James, who is the project's
principal investigator, said the
Coastal Plain regions of North
Carolina, South Carolina and
Georgia form the "stroke belt,"
with the highest death rates
from stroke in the country.
The study focuses on blacks be
cause they are far more likely
than whites to have high blood
pressure, said James, who is the
project's principal investigator.
Inside This Week
Rep. William Gray
will speak at JCSU
....2A
Editorials
...6A
Supply i.s low on well-educated
black males.
Lifestyles
...8A
Church News
..10A
Harris Heads Women's
at Mt. Moriah.
Day
Entertainment
....1 B
Sports
Tyson to keep IBF Title.
...8B
Classifieds
..14B