Page 6A - THE CHARLOTTC POST - Thursday. Fdaruary 2, 1989
Charlotte
Gerald O. Johnson, Publisher Robert L. Johnson, Co-Publisher
Jalyne Strong, Editor
Editorials
Cooperation Brings Progress
BY HOYLE H. MARTIN
Editorial Writer
While the so-called black revolution of the
1960s has resulted In a degree of economic,
political and social gains for some black
and other minorities, the struggle for jus
tice and equal opportunity is far from over.
This has been clearly coiiflrmed by at least
three reliable sources. First, in March of
1988 a group of people thoroughly knowl
edgeable about racial and urban affairs is
sues, met to evaluate the goals achievement
level of the 1968 National Advisory Com
mission On Civil Disorder. The study
group, some of whom had worked on the
Commission report, said that while consid
erable progress in race relations had been
made America continued to be two nations,
one black and ohe white, separate and une
qual. The root causes of this problem, the
group concluded, are "quiet riots" in the
form of unemployment, poverty, housing
and school segregation. 'These quiet ri
ots...not noticeable to outsiders...are more
destructive to human life than the violence
of 20 years. "
Secondly, a recent NAACP Legal Defense
and Education Fund financed poll shows
that whites disagree with black views in
that the criminal justice system is biased
against them.
Lastly, the Urban League's "State of Black
America 1989" report states that the George
Bush "administration will follow an ad
ministration which presided over eight
years of stagnation and retrogression in
the economic status of black Americans."
The report thus "focuses on the broad di
mensions of inequality."
It was for this and similar reasons that we
concluded our editorial last week by saying
that, as we approach Black Histoiy Month
we need not pause long to applaud our
achievements, but rather we need to be de
veloping values and strategies to overcome
hopefully the last great wall of resistance to
a truly great equal and just society.
Therefore, on this day, February 2, 1989,
we must begin anew to mount an assault
upon the forces of racism from private indi
viduals to corporations to unjust laws.
However, it appears to come Increasingly
clear that black progress over these past 20
years has been only marginally successful
because a major Ingredient has been miss
ing. That is, we as a black people have been
so preoccupied justifiably, with fighting for
equal opportunity laws and seeking gov
ernment programs, that we have done com
paratively little in the way of building eco
nomic power bases around, over and in
spite of racism and discrimination with the
resources that we already have.
For example, past and some on-going dis
crimination against black construction
contractors has limited their efforts In
raising bonding insurance money, thus
preventing them from competing for major
construction contract jobs which could
mean more jobs for black workers.
While we may be over simplifying the
point, it seems to us that if all black owned
financial institutions, banks. Insurance
companies, credit unions, etc...across the
nation would establish a national pool of
$100 to $250 million or more, minority
contractors could secure the bonding and
compete for bigger jobs and more minority
businesses could be assisted and or newly
developed.
Furthermore, if black churches would set
aside two to three percent of their annual
budgets or encourage their members to con
tribute a weekly dollar amount for invest
ment in black economic developments in
their local communities, many minority
businesses could expand, others could be de
veloped and thousands of jobs created.
Such Investments in black business and
communities, with a return on Investments
to the churches, would make a substantial
contribution to reducing poverty, jobless
ness and crime in black neighborhoods.
For such an effort to become workable and
truly successful, black civil rights leaders,
educators, politicians, preachers and jour
nalists would all need to make a strong
commitment to the concept of free-
enterprise minority economic develop
ment. It would need to be preached and
taught through an understanding of and an
interest in economic values of self-interest
and the work ethic all leading to a new be
ginning in the idea of self-determination. A
high profile marketing /educating cam
paign such as was initiated to sell the
American people on the Individual Retire
ment Account (IRA) concept may be needed.
Ideally, a truly successful economic revi
talization effort of this nature should be
built around a black owned and operated
national bank with its basic deposits accu
mulated from a $1.00 per week per person or
$52.00 per year per person from at least 65
percent of the nation’s black civilian labor
force, that is, 8,255,000 workers (1986
data). Over a ten year period the deposited
funds would have exceeded $4.2 billion .
Seventy percent of the funds should be used
for direct investments in black owned busi
nesses and black communities. Low inter
est loan rates to the minority borrowers
should be based on the borrowers' level of
affordability and the number of potential
jobs the loan would make available. The re
maining 30 percent of the loan funds
should be placed in a high yield Interest in- ,
vestment to assure a fair return on the in
vestment of the bank's depositors and to
offset the bank's below market interest
rate loans to its borrowers.
With this kind of economic development,
blacks can through their own commit
ments and actions in self-investments as
sure that the next 20 years will not find
them still jobless, in poverty, caught up in
crime or spaced out on drugs. This would
truly raise the joy of a Black History
Month of celebration. Bankers, educators,
preachers, journalists, economists and fel
low black Americans, is this worth a tr5t?
Black Mortgage Crisis Can Be Solved
Reports about the failure of the nation's
Savings and Loan associations leaves us
with mixed emotions because their prob
lems stem from stories of mismanagement,
corruption and locally-based economic re
cessions in some areas of the nation. Like
wise, we have mixed emotions to learn that
white racism is not believed to be a deter
rent to such home mortgage loans in the
Charlotte area. In either case, the results
are the same in that blacks are being denied
loans from the S&L's. According to area
black realtors, the local problem arises
from poor credit histories of the potential
borrowers.
The POST's page 1 feature story last week
reports, John Ramadan, president of ERA
Reality as saying many mortgage appli
cants are turned down because of past cred
it deficiencies, such as frequent late pay
ments or repossessions. J. C. Cousar of
Cousar Reality said candidly, "It's getting to
the point where blacks have to hav’e perfect
credit to get a loan." Cousar's key point,
"perfect credit" implies covert racism in the
sense that black people are expected to be
more perfect or better qualified than the
typical white person to get the same ser
vice.
This Is a typical race relations problem
requiring effort on the part of people on
both sides of the color coin to "clean up
their acts" for everyone's benefit. Let's do
our part and be more responsible about how
we manage our finances. It Is only in this
way that we can strongly oppose the racist
attitudes thrown toward us. In other words,
one wrong does not justify another. Pay
your bills on time or don't make any.
Let’s Table Our Search For Villains.
There's another point about guUt. The way we kept it alive in the 1950s and 1960s was
by demonstrating how pitiful we were. We made the case with great bravery, great cou
rage, great restraint that nothing would change for us until white people changed. For
tunately, a lot of white people changed. But the whites were not the only ones who heard
us talk about how pitiful and helpless we were. Our children heard it and one result is
that too many of them became convinced that it was useless for them to try.
We did It then and we're still doing It. By blaming everything that goes wrong in our
community on white people, we lead our children into believing that somebody else is
in total control of their fate. We have to put people back in control of their lives. It's
time we table our search for villains and start figuring out how to change our situation
for the better.
William Raspberry, Washington Post columnist, in remarks delivered before the Herman Sweatt
Symposium on Civil Rights (University of Texas, Austin), .^rll 10, 1987,
Charlotte's Power P57ramid
At a recent Civic Index meet
ing the question was asked:
"How do you distinguish be
tween power and leadership?" I
didn't hear a good answer to the
question, so I left the meeting
pondering: 'What is the differ
ence between power and leader
ship?" Finally, I convinced my
self of the distinction.
Power is the ability to get
things done, whereas, leader
ship is to have Influence on
what gets done. Power is posi
tional. Leadership is charis
matic. People in authoritative
positions wield a lot of power,
but don't necessarily have to be
true leaders.
There are people of power that
aren't true leaders, and most
true leaders aren't people of
power. Chief Executive Officers
(CEOs) of major corporations
are in positions of power, but
there is no corollary between
becoming a CEO and leadership.
Martin Luther King, on the oth
er hand, could be classified as a
true leader, but he had very
little power. He was
able to accomplish a
lot by influencing
people of power.
1 concocted the
"Power Pyramid" to
demonstrate the dis
tinction between
power and leader
ship. By taking our
loc^ community and
dividing it into three
institutional sectors;
business, govern
ment, and non
profit, the flow of
power can be demon
strated. It must be understood
that all sectors may have both
people of power, as well as lead
ers.
The sector wielding the most
power in our community is its
business sector. The business
sector has the financial and
people resources to put behind
projects it deems important. If
enough major corporations in a
city feel strongly about some
thing, it will be very difficult to
keep it from happening. Leader
ship is not as critical in this
sector for two reasons: 1) the
sphere to be Influenced is small,
and 2) there exists the authority
to manipulate resources.
The government would be the
next most powerful sector.
Though, like the business sec
tor, it has availability of re
sources, the resources are under
close scrutiny by the other t sec
tors. Moreover, the resources
aren't as discretionary in this
sector as in the business sector.
Resources are appropriated to a
Power Pyramid
great extent based on pre-set
mandates from all sectors.
Leadership is more critical in
this sector because appropria
tions are budgeted based on the
ability of elected government
officials to influence each other
as well as to influence members
of the other sectors. Moreover,
some semblance of leadership is
required just to become an elect
ed member of this sector.
The non-profit sector is the
base of the power P5ramld. This
sector Includes, non-profit hu
man services, neighborhood
groups, churches, and the like..
This sector has little or no power, -
because resources are not readily
available. In order for this sector
to accomplish major objectives, -
it must rely on tapping the other;
two sectors for needed resources.
Hence, the ability to Influence
others is critical for this sector.-
It is this sector where true lead-,
ers are bom. The closest this sec-^
tor ever comes to power is when-
it utilizes influencing weapons! ...
against the other two sectors.
The major influencing weapon-
against the government sector Is
the vote. The major influencing
weapon against the business sec
tor is the boycott.
Charlotte has been fortunate in,. -
that these sectors currently, .
have a good working relation- • •
ship. The local business commu-. ■
nlty has been very careful to . .
wield its power for the basic good
of the community. Government
for the most part has been very
sensitive in attempting to bal-'
ance the needs of the communi- ^
ty. All of the sectors
in this city have a
genuine Interest for
the quality of life in ‘
the city.
But the delicately. .
balanced working
relationship be
tween the three sec
tors is not guaran
teed in the future.
The rapid growth
Charlotte is expert-:
enclng will continue
to attract new busi
nesses. The new
businesses will con
tinue to attract more people.
Eventually, the key players rep
resenting the three sectors will
change.
As this change gradually un
folds, preserving the well being
of the community as opposed to
gratifying individuals, will be- ;
come more difficult to manage. ■
This, to me, is Charlotte's great
est challenge.
A giant step to preserving the '
quality of life is to keep the lines
of communication open between •->'
the various sectors.
■V
o
Neglect Won’t Make Nation Kinder
Guest Editorial
By Cong. Augustus Hawkins
As Ronald Reagan rode out
into the sunset last week, he left
behind a budget that was of the
same vintage of prior years.
More money for the military and
less for children and families.
In the last eight years he has
run up the biggest budget defi
cits in history, leaving behind a
fiscal mess that will undoubted
ly pit one good program against
another.
While we were in the final days
of the Reagan administration, I
would normally ignore these
funding requests. But I am con
cerned that the incoming ad
ministration may go along with
some of these figures. Including
program cuts in education and
the painful reductions in child
nutrition.
The Reagan budget is so ab
surd In tenhs of its deep cuts in
"people" programs it sets up the
possible scenario of a "bad cop,
good cop" routine. If Bush asks
for a few Increases in some edu
cation, housing and health pro
grams he will appear to be a
welcomed Improvement to his
predecessor. But the problems
in education and urban Ameri
ca are too significant to simply
throw scraps at them.
For example, cost effective
federal programs are now
reaching levels far below their
eligible populations:
• Head Start, a super pre
school program for poor chil
dren, reaches less than 18 per
cent of the eligible population:
• Chapter 1, a math and read
ing programs for low achievers,
reaches less than 50 percent of
the children who need these
services:
•The Women, Infants and Chil
dren (WIC) nutritional assis
tance program is available to
only 50 percent; and
• Medicaid, a health services
program, only covers half of the
poor population.
These programs are not bud
get busters, and in fact repre
sent a long-term return to the
U.S. Treasury. For every $1 in
vested in the prenatal part of
WIC returns $3 in short-term
hospital costs; for every $1 in
vested in prenatal care for Me
dicaid recipients $2 is saved in
the infants' first year; and for
every $ 1 Invested in Head Start,
$4.75 is saved through lower
costs of special education, pub
lic assistance, and crime.
I would urge the new President
to take a different approach and
Increase significantly (not mar
ginally) spending for cost-
effective programs. This would
assure him bipartisan congres
sional support and give him a
boost along the way in achiev
ing his desire to be the
"education President."
The Congress will fashion its
own budget, which will be con
siderably fairer and more equi
table than the one submitted by
the outgoing President. Un
doubtedly, the new President
will need time to fashion his
agenda and spending priorities.
The Congress will meet the new
administration with a coopera
tive spirit. But this time around
we cannot let our nation suffer
from neglect and indifference.
We are desperately seeking a
"kinder and gentler" society.