The AACC
Golden History:
Yields Sterling
Future
Special Section/ Page ID
Battered Women Speak Out
Lifestyles/ Page 7A
Mist Behavin* Comes To City
Entertainment/ Page IB
Inside The
Alliance
Elsie Grier Attends
Inauguration
Page 1C
Cprlotte
Vol.l4,No.32 Thursday, January 26,1989
THE AWARD-WINNING "VOICE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY"
so Cents
Securing Loans
By HERB WHITE
I^t Staff Writer
Charlotte's metropolitan area
ranks as one of the most diffi
cult for blacks to get home mort
gages, but It's due more to credit
history than racism, black real
tors say.
In an anlysls of 10 million
home loan applications across
the United States, The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution concluded
that savings and loans are more
likely to turn down blacks. The
rejection rates were derived
from analysis of race, sex and
marital status from 1983 to mid-
1988 at the nation's 3,100 sav
ings Institutions.
Of the 50 most populous met
ropolitan areas, Charlotte-Rock
Hill-Gastonia was seventh In
black-to-whlte mortgage rejec
tions, with blacks being 3.3
times as likely to be turned
down for loans.
John Ramadan, president of
ERA Ramadan Realty, said
many mortgage applications are
turned down because of past
credit deficiencies, such as fre
quent late payments or repos
session. Before clients apply for
loans, Ramadan said he person
ally researches their credit his
tory. Only those with proven his
tories of paying on time and no
defaults are represented by the
company.
"It's kind of hard to say, but for
every one that makes It, four
don't," he said. "It doesn't make
sense to do It any other way, be
cause If they're not going to be
approved. It's a waste of their
time."
Securing a mortgage Isn't easy,
Ramadan said, but It Is less dif
ficult when the client and realtor
each knows the applicant's
credit history before seeking a
loan.
"There are certain Ingredients
to get a loan approved," he said.
Ramadan
"A lot of times when people ap
ply for mortgages, the prelimi
nary work Is not done."
J.C. Cousar of Cousar Realty
agreed credit is the key to secur
ing a mortgage, especially for
blacks.
"It's getting to the point where
blacks have to have perfect
credit to get a loan," he said.
Redlining, the practice of re
fusing to lend money for pur
chases In predominantly sec
tions, Isn't pervasive In
Charlotte, Cousar said, but
some discrimination still exists.
"1 don't know of any redlining,
but It seems that In some cases
where loans were turned down,
they could've been approved," he
said.
Ramadan said persistence Is
Important In securing a mort
gage loan, adding that lenders
are thorough with credit histo
ries.
"When It comes to mortgages,
you have to be persistent," he
said. "If somebocfy Is giving you
$50,000 to $60,000, they’ll want
to know If you can pay back the
Black Community Will See
Building Boom In The
Near Future: Emory
J T
Cousar
loan."
Cousar, who said 95 percent of
his clientele Is black, said part
of the problem may be the
shrinking credit market, which
results In less money to lend, re
gardless of race. "I think they're
tightening up on credit as op
posed to a few years ago," he
said. Despite some complaints
from rejected applicants, Cou
sar said his clients generally get
loans.
"Most of the people I work with
get mortgages secured," he said.
Ramadan said his advanced
credit checks have resulted In a
98 percent acceptance rate for
his clients, said thorough re
search Is the key to approval.
"You have to document every
thing. If you've got a good case,
then you’ve got something to
fight with," he said. "It's not to
say some of It Isn't racially moti
vated. The racial thing will al
ways be a part of It. just like any
thing else. But If you've got a
good case, there's not a damn
thing they can do about It."
JSL
ByHERBWHITB
Port Staff Writer
The boom In housing and
business starts In Charlotte and
Mecklenburg County is likely to
accelerate to black nelgbor-
hoods, says the chairman of the
city-county planning commis
sion.
Frank Emory, chairman of the
Charlotte-
Mccklenburg
Planning
Commission,
said the explo
sive growth
throughout the
county Is go
ing In a clock
wise pattern,
starting with
the southeast
and moving to
the northeast.
Charlotte's Emory
westslde is a prime candidate
for new construction as well.
The 14-member commission
Is responsible for strategic
planning, zoning rules and com
munity development. Half of the
members are appointed by city
council, the rest by (he county
commission.
The uptown area Is already ex
panding, with new development
taking place In the hearl of
Charlotte's business district.
That growth, Emory said. Is
spreading to traditionally black
neighborhoods, as evidenced by
the Gateway Center on West
Trade St and the unveiling of
plans' to revitalize the Blddle-
vllle-Flve Points area around
Johnson C. Smith University.
"Black folks live where uptown
is going," he said. "Tire black
community should be con
cerned with what's going on
around West Trade street, where
the Gateway Center Is, West
Fifth Street, and Beatties Ford
Road. "If you' own a house there,
stay there."
As the availability of land de
creases In the outlying areas,
prices will likely Increase, forc
ing developers to look to the In
ner city for land, Emory said.
The areas most likely for devel
opment are connected to major
thoroughfares-—around Trade
and Interstate 77.,
"If current trends stay the
same, significant changes will
come from The Square to John
son C, Smith and skip over to
Sunset Road," he said.
The area between Smith and
Sunset Is less likely to change,
Emory said, because "Those are
as have lots of old, established
neighborhoods and absentee
owners" who rent homes to ten
ants.
Although many residents and
landowners don’t realize It, the
planning commission Impacts
everyone, Emory said. Blacks,
however, may be less aware be
cause the Ixwd doesn't have the
high profile of other bodies. Em
ory related how a board meeting
In southeast Charlotte resulted
In a packed house, but a meeting
at Smith didn't do so well.'There
were about eight people there,"
he said. Residents may be under
the Impression that government
will make decisions on its own,
regardless of what the citizenry
thinks.
"1 think there Is a feeling of a
See PLANNING On Page 2A
Bartech Inc., is one of the three companies that make up
Barfield Industries. Pictured (1-r) are John Barfield, presi
dent of Barfield Industries and Us son Jon Barfield, presi
dent of Bartech, tec.
Hooks Shrugs Off
Reagan’s Charges
Black-Owned Tech. Firm
Expands To Charlotte
By LORA VANDERHALL
Post Staff Writer
Bartech Inc., a full service en
gineering company which offers
a broad range of contract engi
neering and related technical
services to Industry, has ex
panded to the Charlotte area.
John Barfield, owner of Bar
tech Inc., has been recognized
as one of the leading black en
trepreneurs In the nation.
Barfield, who was a high
school dropout and son of Ala
bama sharecroppers, has prov
en what hard work and determi
nation can accomplish.
In 1975, Barfield started his
second janitorial business. Bar-
field Maintenance Company.
The opening of the second busi
ness, Bartech, stemmed from
Barfield Maintenance when
General Motors requested that
he help develop a group of mi
nority suppliers. In 1978, he
started' Barfield Manufacturing
Company, which produces auto
parts for GM, Ford and Chtysler.
Bartech In conjunction with
General Motors started a train
ing program designed to ad-
See BARTECH On Page 2A
By Chester A. Higgins Sr.
NNPA News Editor
Washington, DC - Benjeimln L.
Hooks, executive director of the
National Association For the
Advancement of Colored Peo
ple, shrugged off outgoing Presi
dent Ronald Reagan's barbed
and nasty little accusation that
black leaders were exaggerating
the plight of the black masses
while living grandly as heads of
their organizations.
The President made the re
marks on "60 Minutes," a CBS
program. He was questioned by
reporter Mike Wallace.
Hooks told NNPA. however, to
consider the source. "One who
does not understand the prob
lem certainly can't be expected
to supply solutions."
"If he were a sitting president,
I would be really concerned," he
added. "We of the NAACP are
working on real problems of our
people. Not on something Imag
ined."
Hooks and other traditional
black leaders have been highly
critical of Reagan during most
of his terms In office. They have
assailed his administration for
trying to give tax exempt status
to Bob Jones University, a
white, rigidly right-wing school
In South Carolina; for opposing
extension of the Civil Rights
Restoration Act, and for nomi
nating conservative Robert
Bork for the Supreme Court.
Reagan's gutting then realign
ing of the U.S. Chfil Rights Com
mission to become a rubber
stamp of his administration's
more Ideological positions have
been continuously assailed by
black leaders. The Reagan ad
ministration's draconian slash
es of educational funds that
helped many underprivileged
students attain higher educa
tion proves Reagan's hard
hearted Insensitivity to the
plight of the poor and down
trodden, they charge. His deter
mined attacks on affirmative
action, through former Assist
ant Attorney General For Civil
Rights William Biadfojd Re
ynolds, was a constant hair
shirt to black leaders.
Reagan's wit to the Bltburg,
Germany, cemetery where a
number of Nazi soldiers were
burled, and his opposition to
the King National Holiday were
all excoriated by civil rights
leaders. So was Reagan's
launching of his Initial presi
dential campaign In Philadel
phia. Miss., where the Reagan
address seemed tailored to ap
peal to the most backweu-d ten
dencies of that Infamous city
where a bloodthirsty Ku Klux
Klan had brutally murdered
three civil rights workers 17
years earlier.
Reagan responded vengefully.
During his entire two-term ten
ure of office, he never met with
the Congressional Black Cau
cus leadership nor with any
other black traditional leaders.
Hooks, a Baptist minister,
who told NNPA he hopes to
have a "much better relation
ship with the Bush administra
tion," Invoked a biblical saying
In reference to Ronald Reagan
on the eve of Reagan's depar
ture from office: "Thank God,
trouble doesn't last always." he
chuckled.
What s Behind Push For Name Change To 'African-American ?
By Chester A. Higgins Sr.
NNPA News Editor
WASHINGTON. D.C.-Afrlcan
American. Colored. Negro.
Black. We have come almost full
cycle. So If you are a Black
American, are your ready to
close the circle and call yourself
AfHcan American, once more?
Black Americans have been
called a lot of things during the
long course of their history
here. Many of these things were
very uncomplimentary and
some people, weary of It all. In
sist if you must refer to them,
call them American or. absent
that, just get their name right.
James Baldwin wrote a fa
mous book entitled "Nobody
Knows My Name", and Ralph El
lison penned another titled,
"The Invisible Man." Both went
to the crucial and bewildering
question of "Who am I?"— a
troubled quest for Black Ameri
cans lost, stolen, distorted and/
or misplaced identity and cultu
ral heritage.
A few weeks ago In Chicago
the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson along
with several other black lead
ers, Including Dr. Ramona Ede-
lln, president of the National
Urban Coalition, declared
Black Americans had now ma-
Jackson
tured to the point where they
should begin to call themselves
African Americans. He cites two
reasons why the need for
change Is urgent now. They are
historical/cultural and politi
cal
In Africa, recently to attend
African-American Institute, at
Lusaka, Zambia, Jackson as
serted: "There Is no cultural In
tegrity In skin color." He said
the African roots of American
culture are substantial "If we
are going to teach history.
Western civilization, we must
tell the truth."
"In our history books, there Is
a tremendous denial of the trag
ic truth of the slave trade. Peo
ple tend not to know, to wipe It
off. We are living descendants of
this massive dislocation of peo
ple.There Is a grand deletion in
our history as Americans, a
gaping hole In our culture. Oth
ers came to drop their chains:
we were Issued chains on arri
val.
"There Is such despair In our
children, so much dope, crime,
self-destruction, aimlessness.
They feel unimportant to them
selves. We must attempt to lift
our children by power of their
culture."
Politically, he became more
acutely aware of this need dur
ing the past election campaign
when he conducted a strong
drive for Democratic presiden
tial nomination. TV profiles of
the candidates traced them
back to the villages of their
forebears-Ronald Reagan's In
Ireland, George Bush's In Eng
land, and Michael Dukakis' In
Greece. Said Jackson, Ironlcsd-
ly: 'With me. It was just to South
Carolina, as though we started
there."
Politically, he also sees the
link to Africa as key to Ameri
ca's relations with the Third
World, which Is comprised of
"seven-eighths of the human
race." If blacks had this strong
cultural Identity with Africa,
they would have exerted a much
stronger Influence on America's
foreign policy In which, for ex
ample, more than $700 per citi
zen Is given each year to Israel
In foreign aid and, by contrast,
about $2 per jrear for every Afri
can In the Mother Country.
Also, President George Bush
would never have made his first
foreign policy move by declar
ing continued U.S. support to
Jonas Savlmbl, the Black knife
terrorist South Africa continues
to hold to the jugular of Angola
despite the so-called Cuban/
South African/Angolan agree
ment that ostensibly ends the
war In Angola, removes Cuban
troops and sets Namibia free.
When Reagan and Gorbachev
meet, they represent only one-
eighth of humanity," Jackson
says. He pointed out that It was
Dr. W.E.B. Dubois, a founder of
the NAACP, who helped give vi
sion to the founding, 70 years
ago of the African National
Congress." It Is the main moral
dilemma of our society's exis
tence, the number one threat—
this Inability of ours to come to
grips with the question of race,"
Jackson says.
Jackson might have added
that In early years (slave and
beyond to the Reconstruction
era) blacks called many of their
Institutions: African Methodist
Episcopal Church; African
Methodist Church, and had Af
rican American societies for al
most every social, religious and
cultural endeavor.
Many African leaders heartily
agree with Jackson. A poll In
Chicago shows more than half
the blacks favor calling them
selves African Americans.
Luc-Adolphus Tlao, of Burkl-
no Faso, formerly Southwest Af
rica, who Is the editor of that
country's only newspaper, Sld-
waya, was in this country visit
ing on Capitol Hill recently. Al
though he speaks six languages
-- five African dialects and
French - he speaks no English.
Through an Interpreter, howev
er, he told NNPA, "I think it Is
good the Black Americans now
call themselves African Ameri
cans."
Inside This Week
Editorials Pg. 4A
Entertainment Pg. 1B
Lifestyles Pg. 7a
Sports Pg. 7B
Church News Pg. SA
Classifieds Pg. 12B
Obituaries Pg.lOA
The Alliance Sec. C
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