4A
EDITORIALS/ The Charlotte Post
August 8,1996
Cljadotte ^oiSt
Published weekly by the Charlotte Post Publishing Co.
1531 Camden Road Charlotte, N.C. 28203
Gerald O. Johnson
CEO/PUBLISHER
Robert Johnson
CO-PUBLISHER/
GENERAL MANAGER
Herbert L. White
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Business robs sports of fiin
As the NAACP turns:
Enough is enough, Post
By David Howard
SPECIAL TO THE POST
He said, she said. Then she. said he said, and then he said she said.
When does the story end? I feel that it is high time for someone to
stand tall and question the coverage given the NAACP by The
Charlotte Post.
For the last several years, the coverage has bordered that of a writ
ing for a daily soap opera, and a bad soap opera at that. I feel that the
general public and the readers of the Post have to wonder is this
space could be better utilized to cover something positive in the
African American community. Every day, African Americans in
Charlotte are achieving great things and reaching new heights in the
community and business world. However, the one newspaper that is
supposed to be the voice of “Charlotte’s Black community” continues
to badmouth and degrade one of the most historical institutes in
America. Well, as a black Charlottean and a NAACPer, I think it is
high time that we question and demand the respect of the newspaper
and the writers that claim to be “Our Voice.”
Over time, God has blessed the world with families that produce
effective, dedicated leaders. This is definitely the case with the
Alexander family. From Z. Aexander Sr. to his sons Fred Aexander
and Kelly M. Aexander Sr., to his grandsons Kelly M. Alexander Jr.
and Alfred L. Alexander, and their mother Margaret A. Aexander,
this family dedicated its time, energy and resources to helping the
African American communities in Charlotte, throughout North
Carolina and across America. The commitment of this faimily to the
NAACP deserves more that the penny-ante, nit-picking reporting
they receive from The Post. It would seem that any African
American in Charlotte that has attended public school; became a
public elected official; stayed in one of the nice hotels in downtown;
has maintained a job or received a contract because of an NAACP
Fair Share Agreement (NationsBank, BB&T, Flagstar, Food Lion,
the Carolina Panthers); or has climbed the corporate ladder to suc
cess, would be eternally grateful to these “community architects,” if
you will, that assisted in the labor to build these bridges.
Whatever the case, let’s talk fiction and facts. It is fiction to believe
that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Branch of the NAACP is
closing, however, the Aug. 1 issue of The Post included a cartoon that
depicted Alexander's Funeral Home with a “closed” sign on the door.
This followed a story about the closing of the North Carolina NAACP
Charlotte office (which was nothing more than a desk in an office).
However, this is not what this cartoon said to the pubhc. This has led
to people calling to see why the local branch office is closing when in
fact it is not. This cartoon is also unfair to the owners of Alexander's
Funeral Home, Chmlotte's oldest minority owned business. For over
40 years, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP and the North Carolina
NAACP have maintained offices (or rather office space) in
Alexander's Funeral Home free of charge?
Fiction: Kelly M. Alexander, Jr. has done something wrong.
Fact: Kelly M. Alexander Jr. has been accused of things that don’t
make logical sense. Case in point: he has been accused of opening and
maintaining a sole signature checking account, and for pa3dng bills
out of this same accoimt with checks he co-signed with the former
treasurer. In this case, how can 1 signature plus 1 signature equal a
sole signature account? The answer is, it doesn’t, so how can the
accusation be true?
Fiction: The audit of the NAACP accounts for January 1996 to
March 1996 has been held up because of new findings.
Fact: By any other name, this would be called a lie. Any CPA,
accountant, bookkeeper, can teU you that an audit on two checking
accounts for only a three month period, should take no more than one
or two days at the very most. To date, it has been almost three
months, and the audit still is not done. Even vmder the worst condi
tions, the audit should have been done long ago. Is this justice or poli
tics at its very worst?
Fiction: Computer records and office records are missing.
Fact: I challenge anyone that says this is true to name the computer
office or files that are missing. It is not possible. For one thing, this is
not true. And second, how can someone that never worked in an office
say that something is missing from the office? It sounds hke someone
is trying to make smoke where there is no fire.
I challenge the black community to make The Post more accovmt-
able for its reporting. A story is only half true when it’s one-sided. 'The
policy of The Post, and any other newspaper should be to report fair,
well researched, dependable, insightful, resourcefiil, inspirational sto
ries. I challenge the Post to live up to its written standard and up to
its slogan as the “Voice of the Black Community.”
DAVID HOWARD of Charlotte is a former part-time N.C. NAACP
staffer.
GERALD O. JOHNSON
.4s /
See It
Used to be that I was an avid
sports fan. I would actually plan
my schedule aroimd being able
to sit down in front of a televi
sion set just to watch football,
my favorite sport.
Basketball was equally as bad,
especially at the college level.
Baseball? Well, I personally
think the strike was the best
thing that ever happened to it.
Unfortunately it got lifted and
they are playing again, I guess.
But something has gone terri
bly wrong. I can not sit through
an entire game anymore. I find
myself getting quite bored
before halftime. I used to love
to go to Charlotte Hornets
games. But that has even lost
its glamour for me.
Part of this new-found indif
ference can be attributed to my
just getting older. But most of
it is due to the games becom
ing more of a business and less
of a sport. Don’t get me wrong.
I think athletes, just like the
rest of us, deserve to make
whatever the market will bear.
But the dynamics of players
getting top doUar has a ripple
effect which ultimately leads
to fan indifference.
Television, which creates the
huge cash flow for owners of
sport franchises, is where this
all starts. Top players see aU of
this cash flowing and rightful
ly want their fair shme. Free
agency gives them the right to
seek what they think is their
fair share from the highest
bidder. The highest bidder
then wants us, the fans, to help
pay for this high bid by increas
ing the ticket prices and
demanding new coliseums to
build sky boxes.
All of this is perfectly legal.
More importantly, it is perfectly
sound business practice from aU
parties involved. But for me
that's the problem.
When I sit in front of a tube to
watch a game, I would prefer
that the statistics of the players
and the teams be the news of
the game. However, in today’s
environment, players’ salaries,
strikes, and coaches’ firings all
take headlines over the game.
The geune itself seems to be the
least important thing about
sports today.
As a fan, I gave my allegiance
to teams who mirrored a per
sonality trait that I admired.
The teams' personality was
made up of the chemistry
among the players. When the
chemistries of two teams would
be in opposition, you would have
a rivalry. 'This is what made the
games. Who can forget the
Lakers-Celtics clashes, or the
Cowboys and Redskins? What
about the Bad Boys of Detroit,
or the Purple People Eaters of
the Minnesota Vikings? We
have lost this team chemistry in
today’s environment. I am not
interested in watching Michael
Jordan or ShaquiUe O’Neal play
just because they are good. The
games, the teams, the rivalry,
these are the things that make
sport a spectator event. Sports
have replaced fan interest with
corporate sponsorships. As a
result I have replaced sports
with other meaningful activi
ties.
Yes, Virginia there is fife after
sports.
Peace.
GERALD O. JOHNSON is
publisher of The Post.
SciWisbH/WnoW
-®NwDeDWri!iei«
15 IN FAT eviDeNffi
Find the good in life and praise it
Bernice P.
Jackson
I recently received a letter
from Rodney Slater, administra
tor of the Federal Highway
Administration, who wrote of
visiting the grave of Alex Hedey,
the author of Roots. Mr. Slater
recalled that on Alex Haley’s
tombstone are the words, “Find
the good and praise it.”
It’s been a difficult summer
already and we’re only at the
beginning. Churches burning
across this land. More Supreme
Court decisions are setting back
voting rights for African
Americans in the South and
affirmative action for students
in Texas.
But there have also been some
good things which have hap
pened and we need to praise
them. There have been some
moments when human decency
and love won out. We must cele
brate those signs of hope in
order to go on.
There were few reports about
her. NBC Evening News did a
focus on her, but I didn’t see or
hear or read other mentions of
Keisha Thomas. But Keisha
Thomas is an example of the
good.
Maybe you saw a few seconds
of footage on television news
showing a scuffle between
Michigan Klansmen and anti-
Klan marchers a few weeks ago.
It happened in Ann Arbor and
the marchers soon were battling
on the streets. And when the
anti-Klan marchers began to
pummel and kick a man who
had tripped and fallen in the
melee and who was dressed in a
Confederate T-shirt, Keisha
Thomas, an 18-year-old African
American woman, threw herself
over him to stop the crowd. “He
was just a man,” was all Keisha
could say, in explaining why she
protected him. He didn't deserve
to beaten for his beliefs, even
those she disagreed strongly
with, she implied.
The picture of this young
woman called to mind a similar
picture of Archbishop Desmond
Tutu a few yeeu^ ago throwing
himself over a man believed to
be an informer by an angry
crowd of South Africans. It was
only Bishop Tutu’s action which
stopped this man from being
killed
I doubt whether the Ann
Arbor crowd would have killed
this Klan supporter, but they
certainly could have done great
injury to him. My prayer is that
this man will be changed by
that day and come to see
African Americans in a new
light and that he will never
again wear a shirt with a
Confederate flag on it.
The other sign of hope grows
out of the church fires stiU being
started across this land.
Thousands, perhaps tens of
thousands, of Americans have
been touched by these heinous
crimes. Dollars have poured into
the National Council of
Churches, more than 1,000 have
indicated their desire to join
work camps and many of us
have been deluged with
requests to develop relation
ships with the burned churches.
Some local churches have taken
this as an opportimity to open
discussion between the races in
their communities and to join in
projects at home.
Perhaps we will now begin the
hard work, the difficult dialogue
about race in this nation which
we must do if we are to survive
in the 21st century. That is my
prayer and my hope
BERNICE POWELL JACK-
SON is executive director of the
Commission for Racial Justice
in Cleveland.
The power of love vs. love of power in General Assembly
DG
Martin
“We can do better than that.”
It was the last full day of a
long legislative season in
Raleigh.
And the good feelings that
floated across the surface of cor
dial good-byes concealed some of
the poisoned memories of parti
sanship, conflict, and unre
solved differences of opinions
that lurked inside the minds of
r some of our legislators.
^ Yet when state Rep. Jack
f! Himt completed his “We Can Do
Better Than That” speech the
members of the House of
Representative rose all together
to give him a long and warm
roxmd of applause.
Rep. Hunt is leaving the legis
lature this year. Unless he is
called back for a special session,
he has probably pressed the
button that electronically
records legislative votes for his
last time.
Jack Hunt first came to the
legislature 24 years ago. During
his career he served in powerful
positions, including chair of the
Rules Committee and Speaker
Pro Tern - and gained the
respect of every legislator for his
integrity, civility and sense of
fair play.
When he rose to speak earher
this month, everyone listened.
He saluted all his colleagues
by praising the process of repre
sentative government and
assuring them that it has
worked well for North Carolina.
His fellow legislators, under
attack from many other comer,
were grateful for Rep. Hunt’s
support for their institution and
for them.
He then moved toward the
things he really wanted to say.
He reminded his colleagues the
democratic basis of their power
- that it comes, not from them,
but from the people who elect
them.
Quoting Harry Emerson
Fosdick, he said, “Democracy is
based on the conviction that
there are extraordinary possibil
ities in ordinary people.”
Then he moved to share some
of his concerns about the legisla
ture and the legislators.
1. The quality of civility
among legislators. He mourned
the breakdown of civil debate.
2. Time to reflect. Legislators
are so busy with routine chores
related to the legislative busi
ness that they have too little
time to reflect.
3. Over-reliance on lobbyists.
Without criticizing lobbyists, he
complained about legislators
asking lobb5rrsts to explain bills
before legislative committees.
(Many legislators, including
Hunt, think that any member
who sponsors a bill should be
able to explain it to others -
without help from lobbyists. If
he can’t explain. Jack Hunt
would say, he shouldn’t sponsor
it).
4. One-upsmanship. Too much
one-upsmanship, says Hunt, is
a waste of time and energy.
“Just thirik how much we would
accomplish if we channeled this
energy in a positive manner.”
5. Single issues. So many peo
ple make judgments on the
basis of a single issue. As a
result the legislature give too
much attention to such matter.
6. Out-doing each other. “We
try,” he said, “to ‘out-tax-cut’
each other. We tiy to ‘out-harsh-
est-sentence’ each other. And we
try to ‘out-religion’ each other.
When religion controls govern
ment, democracy disappears.
When government controls reli
gion, religious freedom perishes.
“Deeds of love, not political
platforms, identify Christians.”
7. Pushing to expand services
and lower taxes - at the same
time.
Perhaps Himt’s strongest con
cern was expressed to his col
leagues who, at the same time,
vote for more government ser
vices and less taxes.
8. Personal relations. He
shared his worry that legisla
tors don’t get to know each
other on a personal basis. He
urged his colleagues to have a
retreat for two or three days just
to get to know each other better
- without political speeches.
9. Partisanship. “We think too
much about what we cem do to
the other party and not enough
about what we can do for the
people.
“We can do better than that,”
Rep. Hunt said again and again.
And his colleagues nodded their
agreement.
The important thing to
remember, he said, is that the
“power of love” is much more
important than the “love of
power.”
Good words for our legislators
- and for all of us.
D. G. MARTIN is vice presi
dent of public affairs for the
University of North Carolina
system. He can be reached at
(919) 962-7096 or e-mail
dgmartin^a. unc.edu