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Page6A - THE CHARLOTTE POST - lliursday, August 17,1989 Clje Charlotte ^osit Gerald O. Johnson, Publisher Robert L. Johnson, Co-Publisher Jalyne Strong, Editor EDITORIALS Drugs: The New Priority By HOYLE H. MARTIN Editorial Writer While serving as vice president in the Rea gan administration, George Bush directed a drug program that supposedly focused on preventing drugs from entering the conti nental United States. However, when the Quantity of drjigs flowing into the United States tripled and the market price fell by 50 percent In a five-year period — 1983 through 1985 — Bush's critics called the program a colossal failure. Now, as Presi dent, and in the shadow of his own failure. Bush has received a draft of a new drug plan from his own drug czar, William Bennett. The new strategy shifts its primary atten tion from prohibition to ways to cut de mand through education and the offer of treatment programs. ;The new drug program Includes increased rnilltary aid to stop foreign drug produc tion, Increased foreign aid of up to $400 million for Columbia, Bolivia and Peru where most of the illegal drugs are pro- c^ced, increased federal grants for prisons and local drug enforcement and treatment programs, the publishing of the names of drug users In local newspapers, and sending first-time drug offenders to boot camps. Congressional critics and others have al ready begun to find fault with the Bennett drug strategy just as they were critical of eaj-ller strategies because Mr. Bush has failed to provide the necessary finances to assure some degree of success. The point is, the war on drugs is still, from a federal gov ernment perspective, a war of rhetoric with little action. However, to strengthen his plan's chances for increased federal funding, Bennett has drawn on a Gallup poll which concludes that drug are so readily available that both adults and youth respondents declared drug abuse to be the nation's number one prob lem. "In the 50 years that the U. S. public has been asked to name the most important problem facing the nation, it is virtually unprecedented for any social issue to ap pear at the top of the list," said George Gall up. This was confirmed by results which show that: (a) 92 percent of adults and 88 percent of youth welcome tougher drug laws, (b) 75 percent of youth and 48 percent of adults are ready to volunteer time to drug prevention programs. However, before we get a distorted sense of the drug abuse crisis, let us understand that first and foremost the drug problem is an Russian Style Ethnic Violence About a year ago Russian premier Mikhail Gorbachev suggested that the way to end Atnerlcan racial unrest was to relocate all bjack people to a single state or region. In making such statement, Mr.Gorbachevhas copied a bad habit of our national govern ment, that is, sticking his nose into the do- nlestlc affairs of another naticm. The prac tice is doubly bad because the United States 1» usually involved in the same kind of mis conduct as is the nation of which they are bClng critical. Likewise, as Gorbachev seeks to give Amsrtca advice, his nation is experiencing racial and ethnic problems of their own. A rtceirt Knlght-Ridder report begins with tb,ese words, "The cycle of ethnic-related vl- oknce that has raced through the Soviet or ganism like an infectious virus was bom in this capital of Kazakhstan 2-1/2 years ago." The Soviet Union is made up of over 100 ethnic groups, or nationalities as they are called, living in 15 Soviet republics. Over 250 people living in eight of these republics have been killed in acts of ethnic violence during the past 2-1/2 years. The conflicts have become so intense and complicated that the Communist Party Central Committee is planning to hold a meeting on nationalist issues. However, the seriousness of the conflicts themselves has made the meeting planner uncertain about when, where and how to structure the meet ing. Thus, the Russians too, need to get their racial-ethnic act together before they sug gest to the United States what it should do about racial and ethnic conflict. Lucas Didn't Have The E^xperience By BENJAMIN HOOKS NAACP Executive Director From the start, we p>olnted out that William Lucas was highly qualified for a number of posi tions in the administration but he was not a good choice for the pKJsltion of Assistant U.S. Attor ney General for Civil Rights. The Senate Judiciary Committee was right in rejecting his nomi nation and is to be commended for preventing his appointment. We remain puzzled as to why At torney General Thornburgh per sisted in pushing this nomina tion. thereby embarrassing both the administration and the nominee himself. They both de served better treatment. We remain convinced that Mr. Lucas is qualified for many posi tions in the administration and we would certainly urge that his services not be lost. Mr. Thornburgh now has an opportunity to makie amends by recommending an appointee who is not only experienced In the area of civil rights law, but who represents the repeatedly expressed basic philosophy of the Bush administration which is pledged to protect and defend civil rights laws and the concept of afllnnatlve action. The New Civil Disobedience economic problem. Therefore, any mean ingful effort to curb drug abuse in America must include efforts to eliminate the so- called free enterprise profit motive in it. This won't be easy, especially where you have youth as young as 7, 8 and 9 years of age llvmg in environment of hopeless pov erty and using their drug sales to support and be masters over their parents and older brothers and sisters. Even for teenager a minimum wage job In a fast food chain is no match for a $3,000 per week income from drug sales. Thus, everything else aside, there is a very powerful economic in centive for poor people to sell drugs. Syndicated columnist Anthony Lewis wrote so eloquently, "...a drug policy that mattered would have to offer Idds an alter native life, an alternative hope. But to deal with the problem in such realistic terms would be costly — and politically difficult. Most politicians are afraid to urge spending for the poor or for drug users. Leadership could (or should) do something about our national hypocrisy on drugs. Let us hope that the new Bennett strategy will get the necessary finances it needs to have at least some hope of making at least a dent in the national drug crisis. Undoubtedly, few people would disagree with what we have said thus far. Therefore, the question arises as to what are we will ing to do In our own homes, communities, churches, schools and social organizations to help mount an attack on drug abuse, what are we willing to do about altering the values that too many young people have that focus on instant gratification. Last week In our editorial on "Help For Black Men" we noted the efforts and contri butions of First Friday, Inc., Focus On Lead ership, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church's "Alternative Friday Night Out" for youth and Vivian Williams' leadership training program for black teenagers. Be yond these fine efforts, beyond Mayor My- rick's drug awareness marches and beyond reading and hearing the rhetoric of mini sters, newspaper writers and television commentators, what are you as an Individ ual doing to help end the drug crisis in America before it consumes us all? The drug war Is the greatest threat to the safety qnd security of the American people. Total vic tory over this enemy can only be achieved if every adult free of drugs takes some active role hi this the greatest challenge to nation al survival. We are well aware of how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used the tactic of civil disobedience as an effective means of challenging the racism of American society Dr. King taught that It was im moral to be obedient to racial discrimination and other forms of racial injustice. Thus, African Americans as well as others were encouraged to participate in nonviolent civil disobedience. Now, in South Africa, there ap pears to be a growing use of the tactic of civil disobedience to challenge openly the apartheid regime. j There are some historians who hiake a comparison between the civil rights movement of the 1960s in the United States and the anti-apartheid movement of ■the 1980s in South Africa. There are some similarities, but there are vastly more dissimilarities. Dr. King and the civil rights movement leaders were able to appeal to the Judicial system for support and they were able to appeal to the Congress of the Unl|;ed States for legislative so cial change. j This, is not the case in South Africa today. Apartheid, that is raclkm, is the law of the land in South Africa. Apartheid is the Judicial and legislative frame work for the present government of South Afiica. African Ameri cans were and remain a quantit ative minority in the United States, while black South Afri cans are a quantitative majority in South Africa. The point here is that if a quantitative minority of persons can work and struggle to change the United States' past policies |Of racial segregation, then there is a great likelihood that a quan titative majority of persons can work and struggle to change the present policies of racial segre gation in South Africa. But, a word of caution is ap propriate in this analogy. Apart- held in South Africa is unprece dented in human history because of its totality of brutali ty, inhumanity and wanton dis regard of aU standards of moral ity. It is a mistake for Americans to translate as a carbon copy of the experience of the 1960s in the USA onto the dreadful dra ma continuing to unfold in ra cist South Africa. The good news is that our sis ters and brothers in South Afri ca are waging a struggle against apartheid on many fronts utiliz ing many different strategies. The recent news from Johan nesburg that black South Afri cans are now routinely con fronting the aU white health and hospital care systems of South Afiica with forms of civil disobe dience is another indication of the expansion of the anti- apartheid campaign within South Africa. Jay Naidoo, general secretary of the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions, stated, "This is Just another beginning of our defiance campaign. This cam paign will be taken to every cor ner and every section of society until apartheid is unworkable." Of course, we are aware of the courage and determination of South Africans struggling to dis mantle apartheid and this should serve to encourage those of us in the United States to do whatever we can to assist. Thus, we believe that In partic ular one additional act of soli darity herewith the struggle in South Africa should be the med ical community here to openly support this latest strategy against racist health care in South Afiica. We recall that the first successful heart trans plant surgery took place in South Afiica. We also recall the recipient of the black South Af rican heart was a white South African. Today, black South Afri cans still systematically are de nied access to full health care. We all should be outraged and in particular the medical commu nity and health care industry in^ the United states needs to confronted about its general IT lence to the genocide of apar"? held. Botha Blew Chance To Help S. Africa By DANIEL MOROLEN Special To The Post The South African racist re gime wants ANC leader Nelson Mandela to renounce violence as a price for his release. No one disagrees with the idea of re nouncing violence. But the enig ma is Botha's making it a farci cal' condition for Mandela's release. Mandela understands the wickedness of violence, which he has always fought with vim amd verve. But Botha should understand that violence in South Afiica stems from apartheid, not from Mandela or ANC. Apartheid tor ments Africans in many ways and ANC's abhorrence of it is both genuine and meaningful. Therefore, Botha's regime must accept guilt for inflicting the su preme violence of apartheid on Africans. It's easy for Botha to end violence in South Afiica, but instead he chooses to embrace it Now, President Botha and Na tionalist Party Leader F. W. de Klerk won't end South Africa's violence me;rely by asking Man dela to j"reiiounce" it. Violence can. only be eradicated by up rooting apartheid. But all Afii- kanisr dictators love apartheid, and refuse to blame it for the turmoil in South Afiica. and, in stead of ending apartheid the racist dictators attack Mandela and his ANC. The oppressed masses of Africans abhor aprart- heid because It hurtsthem most with its inhumanity and brutali ty- But to Afrikaners, apartheid is a boon that gives them power, freedom, wealth, security and privileges. Even F. W. de Klerk's invitation to ANC to go to the negotiations table is suspect to all Africans. In one breath de Klerk promises Africans to end white domination but proceeds to reject majority rule outright! What an illogical contradiction! Yet, majority rule is the only an swer to South Africa's vexing i:a- clal dilemma. Besldes, Africans see the vio lence of apartheid as the root cause of the bitter antagonisms, conflicts and violence that are prevalent in today's South Afri ca. Apartheid is the African peo ple's Golgotha that enslaves the entire Black Race of the world. It would be wise of Botha to re gard apartheid as the root cause of the violence, and demolish it. He could start by renouncing it, and then proceed to make the country free, non-raclal demo cratic society. But Botha's suc cessor, de Klerk, already rejects the concept of majority i^e, and favors apartheid. Botha exits from the presiden cy a few days hence, after squandering his chance to save South Africa. Now, it is Mandela and ANC who stand to democra tize South Afiica and turn it into a land of liberty, equality and nonviolence. Paying For Savings And Loans Errors D.G. Martin . One-On-One "Why should I have to pay for their mistakes?" That is the question that you are going to ask when you un derstand a little more atout the so-called savings and loan bail out Then, when you realize how much you are going to have to pay, you are going to hit the cell ing. It is not going to be pleasant when you finally wake up and realize what happened to you. This bailout became law earli er this month when President , Bush signed a 700-page bill passed by Congress Just before it began its August vacation. Some view its passage as a triumph for the President. Elven if you don't go that far -- and I don't — you have to give him credit for facing up to a terrible problem that had no popular or inexpensive solutions. What is the problem? It is hard to explain to North Carolinians. Most of us Just have not seen any problem. It doesn't seem so bad here. Nobody has lost their life savings at a savings and loan. There has been no panic. Because of good management and a good economy, most North Carolina savings and loans have operated in the black. Those that got into trou ble usually found strong part ners to buy them out. Where is the crisis then. Look arotmd the rest of the country. Especially the Southwest, and most especially Texas. Boom and bust economies, shoddy management, speculative in vestments, insider dealing, and lax government regulation led to mass failures — and a potential loss to depositors of hundreds of billions of dollars, which the government is picking up. Why did it happen? In short. It happened because you and I went to sleep at the switch. And because we sent people to Washington who were more in terested in raising campaign coiitiibutlons from some mem bers of the savings and loan in dustry than in protecting consu mers and the integrity of the S&Ls. These senators and con gressmen would rather pander to us by trying to stir us up about flag burners (Has any body burned one in your neigh borhood latel}!?) or getting paked people off artists' Cemvas- es (Have you been offended late ly in an art gallery?) or other such threats to our way of life. If you and I are asleep, and if our representatives are busy en tertaining and pandering to us rather th^ watchdog out for our real interests, then we should not be surprised when we take a real whipping like the bailout. How much is it going to cost us? Estimates vary, but at least $150 billion. That doesn't mean anything, does it? We are used to the government spending bil lions of dollars. But it is going to cost you big down the road. If you are an average taxpayer, your share is about $1900. That is what you are going to pay somehow, someday in extra taxes. You didn't know that, did you? You've been sleep ing again. What are you going to do about It? You can complain, like a guest on a TV talk show who said, "I should not have to pay to ball out the S&Ls Just because the government didn't do its Job. The government should pay, not me." We are like that, too. We Just can't seem to remember that we are the government, and we pay for its mistakes. Always do. So what are we to do? This time we have to pay up. But next time, let's stay awake. And let's remember who let us down when we go to the polls. ^cond Silent March On Washington Comes At A Time When It's Needed By JAMES WILLIAMS Special To The Poet On Saturday, August 26, Wash ington, DC, ^1 witness an his toric event — the second Silent March of the NAACP. The first, held 72 years ago in New York City, brought to the nation's at tention the plight of black Americans reeling under the im pact of lynchlngs, segregated public facilities, housing and schools. And in the South, the vote was denied to them. They were discriminated against wherever they turned. and very little If any meaning went with the phrase "equed pro tection under the law." Race ri ots were still commonplace and they occurred in a number of cit ies - Waco, Texas, Memphis, Tennessee, and East St. Louis, Illinois. Today, race riots have been all but forgotten and discrimina tion and segregation, while still in existence, no longer are sup ported by laws. The racial climate In this country has undergone a tre mendous and a positive change since 1917, but we should not be lulled into complacency and fall into the trap of believing that because we have come this far, we cannot go back. This very real possibility lies behind the NAACP's decision to have a silent march in the na tion's capital. It is rightfully concerned that four recent neg ative decisions by a majority of the Supreme Court - the legacy of Ronald Reagan — threatened the progress of black Americans have made. The march is meant to call the nation’s attention to 'The racial chmate in this country has un dergone a tremendous and a positive change since 1917, but we should not be lulled into complacency." James Williams this concern and to prod Con gress into taking legislative ac tion to reverse the court's deci sions. As NAACP Executive Director Benjamin Hooks said recently: "The present Supreme Court is more dangerous to the legiti mate hopes and aspirations of black preople in this nation than any Bull Conner with a fire house; than any Jim Clark with a billy club; more dangerous than any Ross Barnett standing in the schoolhouse door saying. They shall not pass.'" Lest this concern be thought to be overstated, the French as usual have an apt phrase, "Plus ca change, C'est la meme chose." The more things change, the more they stay the same. As in 1917, we face the danger of having our Just concerns ig nored, unless we bring them forcefully to the forefront. The Silent March of 1989 is one way of doing that. If you go to Wash ington on Saturday, August 26, you should.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Aug. 17, 1989, edition 1
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