CAREER GUIDE
1989
Special Section/ Page 1C
Inside The
Alliance
I Charles Rogers Exhibits
^ In Cleveland County
Page 13B
Charlotte BosJt
Vol. 14, No. 32 Thursday, February 2,1989
THE AWARD-WINNING "VOICE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY"
50 Cents
m
Photo/LaNEY
Bond
Bond Bashes Former
President's Policies
From Staff Report*
Former Georgia Senator
and iongtime civil rights ac
tivist Julian Bond criticized
the Reagan Administration
and predicted better treat
ment for blacks from Presi
dent George Bush, during a
lecture he gave at Johnson
C. Smith University Sun
day.
Bond spoke before a large
crowd in Smith's Biddle Au
ditorium. The program was
sponsored by die JCSU Ly
ceum Committee.
Bond also spoke at the
University of North Caroli
na at Charlotte earlier Sun
day.
At Smith, Bond said al
though Reagan's tenure had
produced some positives for
blacks and minorities over
all, despite progress, in a
very real way we find our
condition unchanged." Bond
also expressed concern over
the continued disparities
that exists between black
and white America.
Bond said Reagan lashed
out at minority leaders like
Jesse Jackson and never
stood on the same ground as
blacks.
"Before leaving office.
President Reagan could not
resist blaming the messen
ger for the message," Bond
pointed out. "His gratuitous
attacks on Rev. Jesse Jack-
son and Dr. Benjamin
Hooks say more about him
than about them: more
about the Inability of this
amiable incompetent to face
the damage his eight years
in office have dealt."
Professing that he is some
what hopehil that President
Bush and his administra
tion will be more open and
sensitive toward blacks.
Bond said, "As for President
Bush, it would be hard for
him to be as low as Presi
dent Reagan.
"If he just shows up in of
fice every day and stays at
work eight hours, he's better
than I resident Reagan," he
said, facetiously.
In a more serious vein.
Bond added, "1 do think the
next four years will be better
than the last eight have
been.
"I'm not saying these will
be the greatest four years of
our lives, I Just think he's
(Bush) a different person —
cut out of a different cloth,"
Bond cited "two hopeful
signs" of the Bush Adminis
tration as being the renten-
tlon of Richard Thornburg
as Attorney General,
"ending eight years of right-
wing idealogues and moral
midgets," and the acceptance
of the resignation of Wil
liam Bradford Reynolds.
Bond depicted Reynolds as
the point man for the Rea
gan Administration's assu-
^t on civil rights.
Further into his lecture.
Bond analyzed the 1988
presidential campaign and
denoted that both Dukakis
and Bush were guilty of
skirting the real Issues. Nei
ther painted a true picture.
Bond claimed.
"When the presidential
campaign formally began,
both George Bush and Mi
chael Dukakis saw an
America too many Ameri
cans never see. For both
these men, America was a
land of happy families and
successful suburbs: where
every child waves an Ameri
can flag: where everyday is
the Fourth of July.
"But there was and is an
other America, at least, an
other side of America nei
ther candidate dared to
show or tell." It is this other
side of America that must be
noticed and dealt with. Bond
concluded.
Black Progress Slowed In 1988
As Economic Gulf Widens
By HERB WHITE
Post staff Writer
The state of black America is
about the same in 1989 as it was
a year ago, with no progress
made in erasing economic dif
ferences between blacks and
whites, said a National Urban
League report.
"The State of Black America
1989", written by nine experts in
diverse areas ranging from eco
nomics to drug abuse, was re
leased last week at a news con
ference headed by Urban League
President John Jacob.
The panel concluded the Rea
gan years were not kind to
blacks in general, wrote David
Swinton, Dean of Jackson State
University's School of Business.
"In fact racial inequality in
American economic life actually
Increased by many of the stan
dard indicators," he wrote.
Black Americans face several
pressing issues as the decade
winds down, wrote Robert Hill, a
research consultant. After mak
ing social and economic
progress in the 1960s, the pen
dulum is turning back on blacks,
with more families living in pov
erty than in 1969 (30 percent to
28), but also an unemployment
rate of 12 percent compared to
six 20 years ago.
"Such severe economic insta
bility led to family instability.
While black unemployment
soared from six percent to 20
percent between 1969 and 1983 ,
due to four back-to-back reces
sions, the proportion of female
headed black families Jumped
from 28 percent to 42 percent,"
Hill wrote.
Other Issues of concern to
blacks Hill mentioned were:
• Out-of-wedlock births. Al
though the rates of births to sin
gle black mothers decreased in
the 70s and 80s while rising
among whites, black girls are
four times more likely to have
babies out-of-wedlock. Over half
of all black births are to single
mothers, compared to 13 per
cent for whites.
• Shortages of affordable hous
ing. About 500,000 low-income
units disappear each year, con
tributing to the surge in home
lessness among families.
• Shrinking of the black middle
class. The proportion of middle-
income ($25,000 and over) black
families grew from 33 percent to
See PROGRESS On Page 2A
Last weekend's warm weather afforded a couple of
volunteers the opportunity to get a head start on
refurbishing the Afro-American Cultural Center's
shotgun houses. Once renovated, the honsta-wtiT
I Sti«g^"|{
artUtnl'Hote'i
the pni^t bjr i
Black Teachers In Short Supply
WINSTON-SALEM (AP) —
More blacks need to become
teachers, and black groups must
lead the way in recruiting them,
say two col
lege educa
tors.
"Education
understood
in its broad
est sense is
the enduring
bridge to so
cial improve
ment," said
Caroline L.
Lattlmore,
dean of mi
nority af-
McCiean
fairs and academics at Duke.
She said she believes blacks
are falling behind other groups
economically and black teach
ers are essential to change the
situation.
Ms. Lattlmore and Mable P.
McLean, a former president of
Barber-Scotia College in Con
cord, spoke Saturday, January
28, at the Benton Convention
Center to about 450 women at
tending the annual founders'
day celebration of the Alpha
a a Alpha Sorority, a mostly
group.
The number of blacks going
into teaching is declining, and
those who already are teachers
Black Mortgage Rejections
To Be Studied By Thrifts
CHARLOTTE (AP) — A North
Carolina League of Savings and
Loans official says his organiza
tion will review a study which
found that mortgage applica
tions by blacks are more than
two times as likely to be rejected
as those of white applicants.
The study by the Atlanta Jour
nal and Constitution also said
savings institutions in the
Charlotte metropolitan area are
more than three times as likely
to turn down blacks for mort
gage bans as whites.
"I've been here 11 years, and
I've never heard any such in
quiry on the part of an individu
al or an organized group," said
Thad Woodard, president of the
N.C. League of Savings and
Loans. If discrimination were
widespread, "I would have ex
pected a hue and cry would have
been heard. We haven't heard a
whimper."
are leaving the profession, Ms.
McLean said. At the same time,
she said, the percentage of
blacks in the public schools is
increasing.
It's Important for blacks to be
teachers, she said, because they
furnish role models for black
children and also for white chil
dren who see blacks in strong
roles. Black teachers also have
insights into being black in
America that they can offer to
students, she said.
There are a variety of reasons
for the decline in the numbers of
black teachers, she said, includ
ing non-competitive salaries
and increasing opportunities for
blacks in other professions.
One way to get more blacks
into teaching is to start recruit
ing earlier and talking about the
non monetary rewards the pro
fession offers, she said.
'There are satisfactions you
get from teaching that machines
will never give you," Ms. McLean
said.
Hate Crimes On The Rise
Charlotte savings institution
executives said they couldn't di
rectly refute the statistics of the
study, which was based on 10
million loan applications from
eveiy U.S. savings and loan. But
they said they believed blacks'
poorer economic status, rather
than lingering racism, is re
sponsible for the disparity in
loan rejections.
'We don't give any regard to
ethnic background," said Joe
King, president of Home Federal
Savings & Loan of Charlotte.
"It's financial ability to pay.
That's It."
Lenoir Keesler, president of
Mutual Savings & Loan of Char
lotte, said: "This institution
grew based on treating people
fairly. We may have more black
customers than most institu
tions. I would hope others (S&Ls)
have the same feeling we do -—
though maybe not as much."
RALEIGH (AP) — The number
of "hate crimes" climbed in
North Carolina in 1988, and
watchdog groups say racial inci
dents have been rising steadily
during the past four years.
Mab M. ^grest of North Caro
linians Against Racist and Re
ligious Violence said the Dur
ham organization had recorded
53 alleged crimes involving big
otry in the state last year.
"These Include attacks against
blacks, native Americans, Jews,
homosexuals and white advo
cates or activists," she SEild.
Incidents have been reported
across the state:
On April 29, three hooded
men wearing white sheets and
brandishing a gun shouted ra
cial slurs and chased four black
Winston-Salem youths.
In Fayetteville, on July 13,
vandals painted racial slurs and
"KKK" on the property of a black
church.
In Gastonia on Aug. 5, a
burned cross was placed on the
hatchback of a black teenager's
car outside his home in a mostly
white neighborhood.
And North Carolina NAACP
offices received hundreds of ha
rassing telephone calls - some
times as many as 25 in one day -
between February and July.
The number of reported hate
crimes ■was up from 1987, when
there were 48, said Pat Clark of
the Southern Poverty Law Cen
ter in Montgomery, Ala. There
were 40 reported in 1986 and 31
in 1985, she said. Not all hate
crimes might be Included, how
ever, because there is no state
wide reporting system.
In a report released last week,
the Anti-Defamation League of
B'nal B'rlth said anti-Semitic
incidents nationwide had
reached their highest levels in
five years.
Five anti-Semitic incidents oc
curred in North Carolina in
1988, after none in 1987, the re
port said.
lliree of the 1988 incidents oc
curred in Rocky Mount. Ms. Se-
grest said.
District Voting Helps And Huris Black Candidates
By HERB WHITE
Post Staff Writer
District representation has se:
cured black political input in
Mecklenburg County, but blacks
may find running at-large more
difficult, says the county's elec
tions supervisor.
Bill Culp, Mecklenburg's Elec
tions Supervisor, said district
representation has given black
voters better representation, but
it has also limited the chances
of blacks winning at-large cam
paigns. Most seats on Charlotte
City Council and the Mecklen
burg County Commissioners are
district-based. All Seats of the
N.C. House and Senate are de
cided in district races. The
county school board is elected
at-large.
"We have had a major shift in
black politics with the rise of
district representation," he said.
"We have reached the point
where we have the guarantee of
black representation on certain
boards, but that also means it
will be harder for blacks to win
at-large."
Fred Alexander, Harvey Gantt,
Bob Walton, Elihue Alexander
and Betty Miller are the only
blacks to win at-large elections
in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, ac
cording to board of elections
records.
To win in predominantly black
districts in the future, candi
dates will have to run against
competitors, Culp said. As the
electorate becomes more so
phisticated, the notion of an en
tire district backing one candi
date will change.
See BLACK On Page 2A
Black History Special
Who were the pioneers
of black politics In Char
lotte?
See page 6B
Inside This Week
Editorials
,Pg. 6A
Obituaries
...Pg.
3B
Entertainment....
..Pg. 9A
Sports
...Pg.
SB
Lifestyles
,Pg. 1B
Classifieds
..Pg.
12B
Church News...
...,Pg.3B
The Alliance..
13B
Subscribe to
the Charlotte Post, call 376-0496.