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EDITORIAL AND OPINION/tTte Ctarljttt ^t
Thursday, March 9, 2006
®l)c Cljarlotte
I he Voice of the Black Community
1531 Camden Hoad Charhtte, NC. 2H2()3
(ierald (). Johnson CHVPUBI.ISHER
Robert /- Johnson C'0-Pi;B[,ISHER/CiHNEaAl. manager
Herbert I. White lajnoR in c hief
OPINION
CIMand
Ciniloiie
good for
oaGhodior
Tournament will grow here,
and so will our reputation
Last week after much anticipation and preparation, the CIAA
rolled into tlie Queen dty It was by all accounts a huge success.
Just to be able to get a first hand account of the activities, I
decided to camp out downtown.
Tliere were thousands of black folk mulling
around, aiul it was very exciting. A very fHendly
gathering of well-intentioned people ready to
have a good time, spend money, and not be has
sled
I was very proud of my dty Police officers were
everywhere TTieir presence reassured the secu
rity of tlie partidpants. But what was even moi'e
impressive was how they greeted and treated
everyone. As the week was coming to an end and
they were beginning to show fatigue, they did not
waver fixim being very polite and cordial Hats
off to the men and women in blue for a job well
done Then the dty awarded the CIAA $1 million dollars in
scholarship fiuids Now that is real dass. It took us sixty years
to get this thing and it looks like we want it to take that long to
get rid of it Hats off to the CIAA planning conunission and to the
CIAA.
Charlotte Bobcats Arena was a great venue to house the tour
nament I have followed this tournament to Norfolk, Hampton,
and Richmond in Virginia to Greensboro, Winston Salem, and
Raleigh in North Carolina. None of tlie previous arenas come
close to providing the amenities Bobcats Arena offers. Great lux
ury suites, state of the art scoreboard, state of the art media
facilities, great visibility fitim anywheie in the arena, and much
more Moreover, the high tech arena facilitated the gaiues play
ing well on television.
One of the biggest pluses Charlotte has over the previous dties
hosting the event is the ability to acconmiodate a lai'ge amount
of people within a dose proximity of the main event venues. This
was also one of the biggest fears. What’s goiuia happen when we
concentrate this many black folk within blocks of each other?
Well, what happened as many of us CIAA veterans predicted.
Nothing, Yes. there were occasional traffic issiies. Yes, parking
was a pain as it always is But no miyor inddences occurred.
Downtown Crowds were huge well into the eariy morning hours.
But not even a fist-fight broke out that I am aware of
As great as tlie event was there were some things that needed
fine-tuning Tliere are entirely too many activities. If you con
sider the games (yes, the real reason for the tournament) starts
at 1pm and ends after 11pm everyday except Satiirday then
there isnt much time fca- anything else Several excellent activi
ties take (^ace after llpm, but iifter playing host to fiiends and
clients all day at the games, who has the energy to do anything
else? My suggestion would be to move the Saturday finals to
afternoon games starting at 1 p ra. 'Hiis would fiee Saturday
evening for other activities before my bedtime
Finally, a note to restaurateurs ac^ust your hours to accom
modate the CIAA partidpants 'Hie games go fiom 1 p m. to 11
p m, each night Other activities are going on pricr to the game
and after the game The Idggest opportimity to make money
during this event is fiom midni^t to 5 a m Hie menu sliould
be Is^akfast food I do not know about ev’erybody. but black folk
who are up this late and drinking alcoholic beverages will want
to eat. but not heavy food Breakfast menus with plenty of coffee
wcaks well If you don't believe me. just ask the good folk at
Mert 8 and the Coffee Cup.
OtJiAlJ) O. JOHNSON M publisher of The Post.
As I See It
Gf^rald O.
Johnson
PHOTOCUHTIS WISON
Thousands of visitors flocked to Charlotte last week for the
CIAA basketball tournament at Bobcats Arena arxl related
activities.
New Orleans’ impoverished recovery
Six months after Hurricane
Katrina, some public offidals
in New Orleans are waving a
“Keep Out” sign in fiont of
some of its
poorest resi
dents, In
many
instances, the
culprits are
black. If some
of the state
ments made
by New
— Orleans City
President OUver
African-
Gborge E.
Curry
Council
Thomas, an
American, had been uttered
by a White person, he or she
would have been lambasted
as a racist.
“We don’t need soap opera
watchers right now,” Oliver
said, “We’re going to taig;et
the people who are going to
work. It’s not that I’m fed up,
but that at some point there
has to be a whole new level of
motivation, and people have
got to stop blaming the gov
ernment for something they
ought to do.”
He added, “Hiere has been
a lot of pampering, and at
some point, you have to say,
“No, no, no, no,”
Instead of saying no to
Oliver’s callousness, the
council president was
applauded by fellow council
members Jacquelyn Brechtel
Clarkson and Renee Gill
Pratt.
TTiomas’ rant was a slap in
the face of not only the resi
dents, but to other communi
ties that unselfishly
embraced evacuees fiom New
Orieans.
An editorial in the Houston
Chronicle, published under
the headline, “No Welcome
Home,” observed; “Thomas
and other New Orleans lead
ers may characterize their
stance as tou^ love, but to
Houstonians who indiscrimi
nately opened their homes,
churches and pocketbooks to
Katrina evacuees, the com
ments sound heartless. When
people were in need, Houston
and Harris County relief
agencies did not screen appli
cants for their wage-earning
potential before delivering
medical care, shelter, and
counseling to the victims.”
The editorial concluded, ‘It
seems that some of the
designers of the future New
Orieans want to discourage
poor and disadvantaged resi
dents fiom returning.”
The Housing Authority of
New Orleans, already in fed
eral receivership, is actively
extending what it calls “work
ing preference” to public
housing residents hoping to
return.
“Part of the overall process
is asking about people’s will
ingness to work,” Nadine
Jarmon, the federal receiver,
told the New Orieans Times-
Picayune. ‘Tf someone says,
‘Well, my income qualifies me
for public housing and I want
to come home,’ but they don’t
express a willingness to woik,
or they don’t have a training
background, or they weren’t
woridng before Katrina, then
you’re making a decision to
pass over those people.”
But is that right?
As Houston City
Councilman M. J. Khan told
the Houston Chronicle, “A
city is a combination of all
kinds of people. We cannot
pick and choose who will live
in a dty”
But that’s exactly what
New Orleans is trying to do.
While dty offidals ponder
ways to exdude many of the
poor, there is a different kind
of discrimination going on in
the housing market.
A report titled, “Recovering
States? The Gulf Coast Six
Months After the Storms,” by
Oxfam America notes:
“Hurricane Katrina and Rita
left in their path a massive
housing crisis. More than
300,000 houses were
destroyed, which is over 10
times the number destroyed
in the next-most destructive
US hurricane, Hurricane
Andrew. At least 1,850,000
housing units were damaged.
“In heavily impacted areas
of Louisiana, approximately
112,340 households were
without insurance. Of the
50,000 owners in Mississippi
who received flood damage to
their homes, some 35,000 had
no flood insurance.”
The report by Oxfam, inter
national human rights orga
nization, states that
Mississippi and Louisiana
have been awarded more
than $11 billion in emergency
Community Development
Block Grant funds and
President Bush has request
ed an additional $4.2 billion
to rebuild housing in the
region.
“The parameters for assis
tance, however, end up
excluding people with the
fewest resources to recover on
their own: renters and low-
est-income homeowners.”
Approximately 45 percent
of the 300,000 destroyed
homes were occupied by
renters, the report said. In
some black pockets, such as
the Gulfport and Moss
Point/Pascagoula sections of
Mississippi, more than 60
percent of the residents were
renters.
And they are ecpected to
have an even harder time
rebuilding.
Rather than further penal
ize renters, the report ui^ed;
“Increase homeownership
opportunities for renters,
thereby allowing them to
build equity, by using federal
rebuilding funds to provide
homebuyer counseling,
access to non-predatory mort
gage financing, and connec
tions to nonprofit housing
developers with a stated mis
sion and track record of build
ing affordable sin^e-family
housing.”
GEORGE E. CURRY is editor-
in-chief ofthe NNPA News Service
and BlackPresiUSAeom. He
appears on National Public Radio
as part of “News and Notes with
Ed Gordon. ” To contact Curry, go
to his Web site, ww’w.georgecur-
rxrom.
Hooray for Baltimore’s progressiveness
a
Yes, I have become a
Baltimore cheerleader. No,
not a cheerleader for its
sports teams, but a cheer
leader for Baltimore's dedi
cated. enlightened, and
strong black men and women
determined to be positive
cheuige agents for economic
empowerment Several of the
brothers and sisters to whom
I am referring were in atten
dance at the annual black
history event produced by
Louis Fields, jaesident of the
African
American
Tourism
Council of
Maryland.
I was hon
ored to be
selected to
speak at the
banquet
which, by the
way, was held
at a black owned facility
called Hie Forum, owned and
operated by none other than
black business icon,
Raymond Haysbert Sr. for
mer owner of Parks Sausage
and fellow Cincinnati native.
Talk about proud; that's
exactly what I felt to be on
the same dais with Brother
Haysbert and to have him cri
tique my message of econom
ic en^werment. as well as to
be speaking to Black people
about Hack business while
eiyoying food prepared by
Black caterers all taking
place inside a beautiful
Sherman
Miller
Black-owned banquet hall.
The event not only recog
nized black history, it also
honored and celebrated
another brother who died “on
his way to fi'eedom,” Robert
L. Clay, Baltimore busine^-
man, an uncompromising,
fiontline fighter for black con
tractors in Baltimore and the
entire state of Maryland. The
program book stated, “Robert
Clay's example shows that a
black man can be successful
without selling out.” That’s
my kind of brother, whose
personality and smile
reminded me so much of Ken
Bridges.
In addition, the black histo
ry event made history by cel
ebrating the formation of the
Baltimca^ Black Chamber of
Commerce, a much-needed
entity in a city comprising a
65 percent Hack population
Like I said. Hooray for
Baltimore! Brothers and sis
ters there are making the
right moves. It’s only a start,
but it’s the start that’s neces
sary to achieve their goal of
Hack businesses moving for
ward together in 2006 and
beyond.
I have stressed for years the
importance of viable,
unapHogetic, and unwaver
ing Hack diambers of corn-
more — not mincaity cham
bers posing as Hack cham
bers. Frcxu the lodks of things
in Baltimore, and with the
help of those in attendance
and other Baltimore black
folks, both business owners
and individuals, the
Chamber can be all it should
and must be, and it can lead
the way to economic empow
erment.
My emphasis has also been
on tourism and the myriad of
opportunities offered in that
industry, and how critically
important it is for black peo
ple to take advantage of the
millions of dollars we spend
on tourism each year. In that
regard, Brother Louis FiHds
is ahead of the curve, but he
needs partnerships and siq>
port firm black Baltimore in
orda* to leverage more oppor
tunities for his company and
to open the door for more peo-
I^e to access tourism, conven
tion, and conference busi
ness. Why should we contin
ue to spend our money and
get very little in return?
I know the prc^;ress will not
be pervasive, but wherever
we find victfxies for ourselves
we must seize them; we are
so far behind.
One interesting thing I
pointed out in my speech was
the fact that Baltimcae city's
population is more than 60
percent black, thus Hack peo
ple are the m^ority not
minority Then I posed a
rhetorical question; Why
then are you allowing your
selves to be played by
“Minority Business
Enterprise” pograms and 15
percent - 25 percent mincaity
set-aside prc^rams?
It seems to me the 15 per
cent-25 percent should be set
aside for white people and the
other ethnic groups that
reside in Baltimore since they
are the “minority” group.
Hey, that’s only fair, and it’s
the ri^t thing to do. After all,
black people are some of the
fairest, most considerate peo
ple on earth, especially when
it comes to accommodating
everyone else.
^A^th what Baltimore has
going for it, a Rowing and
rich history which, by the
way, was recounted by
Brother Louis Diggs, prolific
author and chronicler of
black history in Baltimore,
the city’s excellent reputation
as a tourist destination, great
food, majority black pecula
tion, and all the conscious
ness that resides there,
Baltimore’s potential is virtu
ally unlimited.
Hianks Baltimore I plan to
be back on May 6, with Earl
TVent, author of “Challenge to
the Black Church,” and
Pastor Jonathan Weaver,
founder of the Collective
Banking Group, and other
panelists. In the meantime,
“No Tricks in 2006” and, as
Nathan Hare says, “Let’s
Boycott Prisons!”
JAiiES E. CUNGMAN. a pro
fessor at the University of
Cincinnati, is former editor of the
Cincinnati Herald and founder of
the Greater Cincinnati African
American Chamber of
Commerce.