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Page 4A - THE CHARLOTTE POST - Tliursday, June 15, 1989 ®()e Cljarlotte Bosit Gerald O. Johnson, Publisher Robert L. Johnson, Co-Publisher Jalyne Strong, Editor Editorials Three Rs and Racial Balance Fatherhood And Responsibility By HOYLE H. MARTIN Editorial Writer In Matthew, the first book of the New Tes tament Bible, chapter 6 beginning with verse 9, Jesus, the Great One, Is teaching about prayer. He says, "Our Father, which art In heaven. Hollowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as It Is In heaven!Then Jesus adds, "Give us this day our dally bread." The question has been asked by theologians and la3mien alike, why did Jesus suddenly move from an emphasis on the realm and majestic of God the Father to such an earthly subject as bread? The answer to this question Is that any thing touched, embraced or mentioned by Jesus or God the Father taken on the char acteristic of being within God's realm and is therefore blessed. On the other hand, we mortal souls tend to compartmentalize things as sacred or secular, if anything. With this understanding, we should not wonder why Jesus Included food In this the worldwide known "Lord's Prayer." It is Important to remind us, too, that food Is mentioned In the "Lord's Prayer" because God placed Adam In the Garden of Eden and "...commanded (him) sajdng, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of It..." (Gen. 2:16, 17). Thus, God had supplied Adam with all of the life- sustaining needs without even having work for them. God then created Eve so that Adam would not be alone In the beauti ful garden. However, Adam and Eve diso beyed God and ate fruit from the forbidden tree of knowledge. As punishment for this, God took Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden and placed them In an area where they had to work on dusty, dry ground by the sweat of their bodies to grow food to eat. Thus, It Is written that modern-day man must work to provide for his and his fami ly's needs. Unfortunately and tragically. In far too many black households there Is no father or other responsible male to help earn money for bread and other essentials of life. Tragically, too, as we approach a day of recognition for fathers, "Father's Day," niany youth, particularly those just reach ing the age to verbalize, are asking, "where is my daddj^" The lack of an answer to that question Is a tragic reality In many black households and Is thus changing the tradi tional meaning of a family - a father, mother, and children - In black communi ties. As we approach this Father's Day celebra tion, we can only hope that some absentee fathers will reassess their family situa tions by realizing that they have responsi bilities to their families, to themselves, and to the Almighty God who made them. While the fathers to whom this editorial is mostly directed toward will probably never read It, we can only hope that at least through some means they may sense the deep meaning of the following excerpts from the poem, "It's So Nice to Have a Dad Around the House" by Helen Steiner Rice. It reads: "Dads are special people. No home should be without. For every family will agree they're so nice to have about. ... And they're very necessary in every family plan... Dad reaches out his hand. And you can always count on htm To help and understand - And whde we do not praise Dad as often as we should. We love him.... (And) it's only fair to emphasize his Importance and his worth - for If there were no loving Dads, This would be a loveless earth." Thus, If you know an absentee father, please read this poem excerpt to him. It just might make a difference in a family where a small child asks,"Where Is my daddy?" Does an integrated school sys tem really work? Yes and no. The problem with a system like the Charlotte Mecklenburg school system is integration ap pears to beiheend to a means ni stead of a means to an end. U api^ears to me that some years ago people felt It was the right thing to do. However, today no one seems to remember why. But, because the system has re ceived national recognition, no one really likes to question It. But, if the system was so great, why do we have to have minority achievement. Minority achieve ment Is a step towards Internal ly segregating a supposedly In tegrated system. By setting lower standards for minorities implies lower expectations. Consequently, minorities con tinue to score lower. What is worse, everybody has a million and one excuses why It's okay. A higher percentage of minority children come from single fami ly homes. A higher percentage of minority children come from poorer environment. Minorities have limited exposure to the world around them. The list goes on. The problem with this is it per petuates under achievement. It helps make people feel okay about the plight of minority children. Since we can categor ize the problem, we feel better about It. Unfortunately, it with Gerald Johnson As I See It doesn't cause action to be taken to correct the problem. Think of it this way. If you were flying In a plane, would you want the pilot to be a top flight air man, or a minority achiever. The standards for a pilot's license doesn't change because of the color of the plloi's skin. Why then should we accept lower standards for anything we at tempt. Achievement should be based on certain criteria. That criteria shouldn't fluctuate for any reason. The send a message of inferiority to our kids when we accept programs like minority achievement. It says to them they can't compete with their white counterparts. Under a true Integrated sys tem, all children woiffd compete under the same guidelines. Set the standards high and make them reach. Along with the failure of pro grams like minority achieve-; ment, the system basically falls for other reasons. Integration^ causes the system to become re,-i actionary rather than proaC.-: tionary. Integration supercedes education as the top agenda item for administrators and offlc, dais, alike. The politics of per-? ceptlon supercedes reasoning based on reality. A lot of poor decisions have been made fori the sake of integration Instead of education. The best example I can think of Is the rigid racial balance quotas we use for busing. 1 can think of situations where an all black class can be helpful in the educational process. Children with who have been handU capped by environmantal con* ditions could be grouped togetbr er for learning purposes, tt would be arguable that unique approaches for reaching certain children with similar backt grounds may lead to classes that are aU black. So be it. ‘' Our focus going into the nine ties has to be what is best fbi' the education of our kids. We can not afford to let arguments about inlegiatlon distort the pur pose of schools. Remember, a lot of us got the majority of our education from a predominantly black environ ment. For all practical purposes', we didn't turn out so bad. Congressional Democrats In Retreat Affirmative Action Under Attack The shadow of Ronald Reagan is, as we have noted before, lingering dangerously over the hard fought civil rights gains of the past 20 years. In particularly, last Mon day a 5-4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court expanded the right of white men to chal lenge court-approved affirmative action plans for the specific benefit of racial mi norities and women. In the case In question, the Supreme Court reopened a 1974 Birmingham, Ala., case wherein a group of blacks sued over job bias In the fire department. The case was even tually resolved by the disputing parties and a federal judge issued a consent decree in 1981 approving the agreement. A year later, seven white firefighters challenged the pro motion plan in the agreement. While their suit was dismissed, the case was reinstated in 1987. In Monday's action, the high court's majority said that seven white men who were not participants In the original case and agreement had a right to file suit against it as a form of reverse discrimina tion. The majority vote by the high court came from the Chief Justice Rehnquist and Jus tices Byron 'White, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Sealla and Anthony Kennedy. The last three so named are Reagan appointees. The minority vote, that Is, against thS pre vailing court decision were Justices Harry Blackman, John Paul Stevens, Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan. The broad-based ruling by the 5-4 conser vative majority may have a major impact on affirmative action rulings of the past, and In the words of Justice Stevens, author of the minority view, open "a never-ending stream of litigation and potential liabili ty." As stated clearly by the Associated Press, this "was the third time this year that the court's conservative majority, which solid ified under former President Ronald Rea gan, has moved to the right in major civil rights cases;" therefore, we minority people everywhere must be prepared to continue the never-ending struggle for full equality. Obsessed With Image From 'TJont Become OlMeaMd With editorial in the New Pittsbmjh Courier, March 18. 1989. ...Many black folks and organizations are concerned about the crises facing our community. But some don t fight the negative reality as hard as they fight the overkill media coverage of that reality. It is a case of flip-flopped priorities. When public officials. Institutions, or the media are guilty of "calling us names," we rise up with emotion and commitment. And well we should. It s ugly, painful and detrimental to hear a public figure utter a racial slur, or to see a company sell products with anti-black stereotypes...But the reality of violence, drugs and economic underdevelopment Is a much worse hell than the media and other name-calling that afflict us...We must sp>end as much time dealing with the direct killers of our community. All the marches, protests and let ter writing are great reducers of Image violence. Unless we employ them In the "other battle," they do little to address the underlying cancer..." Oh, how the mighty have fal len! At least that is what happened In the House of Representatives during the past few weeks. Just when we thought he would live forever, Claude Pepper died. Speaker Jim Wiight and Majori ty Whip Tony Coehlo resigned under pressure. All of a sudden the core of the Democratic leadership was gone. 'Why did It happen? What did we learn? These are questions that many commentators have raised and tried to answer dur ing the past few weeks. Honestly, I don't know the an swers any better than you do. But, since I got to know all three of them when they came to North Carolina to help my con gressional campaign several years ago, I want to think about what they taught us---and what their departures mean. These three men, and the power they gained, before los ing it last week tell us much about what makes Congress work---and what is right and wrong about that great institu tion. Each of them drew power from different sources. Wright from his great skills in traditional politics, Coehlo from his In credible fundraising talents and Pepper from his unmatched ability to mobilize senior citi zens Into the nation's largest special Interest group. I confess that I was awed by each of them. I look back with amazement at the way Jim Wright dealt with my request that he help me push my propo sals for radical reform of the campaign finance laws to re strict the role of Political Action Committees. You would not have expected Jim Wright, one of the largest recipients of PAC money, to be receptive. But he D.G. Martin One-On-One was careful not to criticize untU he had listened carefully. And then he said, as if 1 had persu aded him, "You are right,"thlngs have got to change!'we are going to have to do something." Wright had gained my loyalty by giving my ideas respect. But he had promised me nothing else. At the same time, he had sized up. He knew what 1 want ed, and had a good idea of what I would give up to get It. Some time down the road, he might have brokered a deal "that would have helped everybody and not hurt anybody too much." Wright could have . been a great speaker because he had the skill to broker the programs and passions of hundreds of members of Congress-—and get everybody something. Some of us don't like that brokering pro cess. It' compromises princi ples. It smells bad. But It Is also the essence of the practical workings of a de mocracy. When there are people with the skills of Jim Wright in power, the legislative process works. When such people are not In power, the process might smell better, but It often doesn't work. Some people say that the absence of a Jim Wright type person is what Is wrong with the North Carolina legislature this year. If Jim Wright was a listener’" Tony Coehlo was a talker. HiS" strength was persuasion. He was a salesman, and he made J no apologies for trying to talk": people into doing what he want^” ed them to do. 'WTien he turned-'-> that talent to fundraising, he’- ralsed millions of dollars for'' democratic congressmen and'' candidates. Coehlo recognized the parti,,, nershlp between big money and; pwlltics, and exploited It for all It was worth. He told big money that It could not get along with out politicians. He told politi cians that they could not get along without big money. Then he brought them together, and” by giving them each other gained great power for himself. Coehlo is leaving Congress',? but the lessons he taught and'^ the marriages that he made re^ ‘ fraln. Claude Pepper had a different" kind of power. Not a broker of'; different Interests like Jim* Wright or a big money raiser' like Coehlo, Pepper's power' came from his ability to mobl-j^ llze senior citizens. When- Wright and Coehlo came to'’ North Carolina, small polite’’ groups of Insiders came to see"' them. 'When Pepper came, mobs ~ of senior citizens gathered to" shout their approval and tovicH," the man. Wright could give you a part In"* the process once you got to" Congress. Coehlo could get yoff" money to run the campaign. But only Pepper could deliver what really counted. He could get you' the votes. " So Claude Pepper was a won derful reminder that democracy still can work. 'When a lot ofj little people band together to^ make a change, they still have^^ more power than all of Jim Wright's political skills ando Tony Coehlo's big money. WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND? Let us hear your comments, ideas and opinions. Write to: Letters To The Post P.O. Box 30144 Charlotte, N.C. 28230 Please include name, address i and phone number. We edit letters for clarity and grammar. Corporate America's Needs Will Fuel The Education Of Minority Students The United States of America has failed to educate Its black and Hispanic children: ergo the nation now finds Itself at a com petitive disadvantage In the world marketplace. National civil rights organizations at tempted to prevent this re source crisis through radical programs like "Affirmation Ac tion" and "Busing." These Ideas were merely tainted by the me dia as forced integration or ad vancement through mediocrity. Nevertheless, Affirmative Ac tion Is now finding credibility In multinational corporations. Global market forces demand that these multinational corpo rations learn to use their global human resources to remain competitive In today's world marketplace. Thus corporate affirmative a,''tion committees are now pontificating the Im portance of differences in peo ple. Yet the question to be ad dressed in both multinational and domestic corporations to day is, "How does one get minor ities and women fully integrated into the economic main stream?" William Raspberry, a black syndicated columnist for the Washington Post, touched on some recent research about the development stages that blacks and women undergo during their assimilation Into the eco nomic mainstream. His com ments were made at a lecture sponsored by the Affirmative Action Committee of the Du pont Company. Raspberry labelled the first stage "naivete." Naivete was at tributed only to children. He called the second stage "acceptance." In this stage blacks and women accept their subordinate roles while white males are thrust Into dominant Miller Says By Sherman Miller leadership positions. In the third stage, "resistance," blacks and women recognize their lowly lot in life and be come resistant. They appear hostile and overly sensitive. Then comes^a "redefinition" where blacks and women move beyond their haughty manner ism. The final stage of blacks, and women's corporate evolution is "bridge building." This is where their metamorphosis is com pleted and they are now corpo rate clones. Blacks and women then seek ways to work within the system. As I listened to Raspberry speak, I guesstimated that it takes blacks roughly 15 years to evolve unassisted through his five developmental stages. I then challenged Raspberry to tell how corporations can speed up the black cultivation pro cess. He responded that he had only found the research report the previous night. The disturbing fact about the research reported above is that some professional blacks never advance through all the stages. I am reminded of a high profile stage 3 friend, in his fifties, who was discharged from a multina tional corporation. I know many other black people who will never mature into the eco nomic mainstream. Since Raspberry could not of fer us any ways to speed up the black cultivation process, I shall offer some of my own. First, management must view minority talent as a corporate resource. I chatted with Edgar S. Woolard, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Du pont Company, after Raspber ry's lecture. 'Woolard left the im pression that Dupont is firmly committed to harnessing the full potential of its multiracial work-force. I think corporate America must make people development a part of the performance rating system for all managers. If a manager is not developing his people of all races and sexes, then this person's performance rating should' suffer. Professional black Americans should be expected to become mentors for young blacks enter-’ ing into corporate America.''’ Corporate America should also;," make this minority mentor ef fort an unwritten expectation.'" for advancement. Harvey Clark of WCAU TV. a'" CBS affiliate In Philadelphia, ” Pennsylvania, aired a report, in’" his weekly news show on the Granville Institute of New Jer sey which CBS should run na-','' tlonally. The Granville Institute"^ develops black children beyond Raspberry's haughty-eyed stage 3 which wUl enhance their up-;.;" ward mobility potential. I cun excited over this oppor tunity for blacks to take the fl-”" nal steps In corporate Integra-,,,., tion. Furthermore, I am also - happy that the black communl-’* ty finally has a clear goal on which to focus Its upward mo-, billty efforts. Will corporate hu- ■ man resource needs obviate the, civil rights organizations by the year 2000?
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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June 15, 1989, edition 1
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