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TOE TRIBUNAL AID
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARy 19, 1975
FouVe A Part Of The Solution^ Or YouWe A Part Of The Problem
THE
POINTER
by Albert A. Campbeili
Last week, THE TRIBUNAL AID
newspaper held a telephone interview with
Reginald Bryant of the “Black Perspective On
the News” program originating out of
Philadelphia.
In talking to Reginald, we discovered that
so much of our impetus on Black involvement
is sometimes considered by other ethnic
groups of this country in various ways.
Contrary to common thinking, Black
involvement is not considered by them as
radical participation. Likewise, there is a
general feeling among others that Blacks are
totally and completely united in their efforts
and struggles toward equal opportunities.
This is excellent, but for those Blacks who
are not completely involved, there should a
word of encouragement. Along with that kind
of thinking, Reggie also explained that Black
newspapers, or newspeople, are often
accepted by persons being interviewed. He
strongly stressed that the time has passed
when a Black can show his face and say, “I
represent the Black community” and get
some undeserved respect.
His point was that Blacks should prepare
themselves for the task they plan to
undertake.
My question to him was, “Do Black
newspeople get standard answers from
political personalities?” His answer, “If the
Black is well informed on the subject and has a
good knowledge of the person being
interviewed, not only does he get a candid
answer but often he will get even more than
anticipated. However, it depends, primarily,
on the quality of the Black newsperson.”
Asking him further about what Black
newspapers could do for the betterment of, or
to encourage, improve, aid, help, or whatever,
his news program which is televised on
W-UNC, Channel 4 and Channel 26. He said
that our responsibility is to provide a wider
coverage of news and be more willing to take a
stand on issues, be they controversial or
admirable.
Black newspapers, in his opinion, play a
very vital role in disseminating information to
the Black community that would otherwise not
be.
Looking at the national, political scene, I
asked his opinion of Black improvement,
politically, and any national rising Black
elected officials,.
Presidentially Bryant said, that Julian Bond
appears at this point, not only to be strong,
but favorable to whites as well.
In the House of Representatives,
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan epitomizes
sound and efficient thinking which lends a
credibility in the House that no other Black
has offered.
Of course, he said, there must be more
participation throughout the nation beginning
at the local level from all Black citizens. The
time has passed when the major political
parties will provide assurance of envolvement
for Blacks, i.e., quota systems.
With these thoughts in mind, it now
becomes apparent, that the burden of
advancement rest solely on the shoulders of
the recipients.
If we want improvements like any other
attainment we will have to turn our palms
down instead of up and work for these things
we deserve and want.
THE TRIBUNAL AID I
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>c35>qooooooooooeBaoaooooiBoj i
Thoughts while fleeing Washington for a
brief vacation:
My old home state, Tennessee, sure knows
how to stay in the limelight. Just when people
are about to forget the “monkey trials” the
cops in Cumberland Gap, Tenn., arrest almost
100 people from three states for watching two
roosters fight.
But the federal government embarrasses
me even more. I’ve long argued the right of
government to make manufacturers produce
pajamas that won’t burst into deadly flames if
a child winks at the radiator. I’ve applauded
governmental safeguards against TV sets that
throw out radiation which turns living rooms
into miniature Hiroshimas. But can I really be
reading that the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission wants to ban mail-in
coupons and other advertising on matchbook
covers?
Yes, it seems people tear off the covers, and
about 9,000 of them get burned every year
striking matches when the whole matchbook
■catches fire.
Now the Safety Commission wants matches
that burn only 15 seconds instead of the
present 30? Even though I’m constantly
cursing matches that burn up to my knuckles
before I find what I’m looking for.
It all strikes me as a case of consumer prote
tion gone made, just as that nonsense of being
unable to start your car unless seat belts were
fastened was a case of Big Brother pushing a
laudable effort at auto safety to a ridiculous
extreme.
It also leaves me thinking that some people
in that Consumer Product Safety Commission
Black Perspectives
are fighting hard to justify their jobs.
All of which remin4s me of my perplexity
when a rotten-egg smell from the catalytic
converter fills the compartment of my new car
when I pause at the red light.
The smell will go away. I’m told, but only
after this new device which is supposed to
stop filling the air with old, smog-like
pollutants now loads it with sulphates that
somebody claim are more dangerous than the
smog we’re getting rid of.
How come we have to pay a fortune for
cures before someone tells us the cure is more
dangerous than what ailed us?
Funny, how Oklahoma Congressman John
Jarman could be in Washington 24 years and I
never heard of him until he quit the
Democratic Party to join the Republican party.
I figured there must be something wrong with
me till I realized that I had heard nothing from
him since he joined the Republicans either.
^ ^ ^
Poor old Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr.!
Nothing but embarrassment since he moved
from White House Chief of Staff to
commander of U.S. and Allied troops in
Europe!
First he shells out $46.92 when it’s revealed
that an “overzealous” underling has had his
dog chauffeured 100 miles across Germany.
Then Haig forks out $91 to repay the Army for
shipping over some vodka and wine which
BY CARL I. ROWAN
were incorrectly labeled “glassware.
I’m all for “post-Watergate” morality. I’m
especially in favor of Army officers who know
when they’re doing something that is small in
cost but potentially big in embarrassment.
Yet, I recall that in my days in government
my inclination was to say, “—#& your
silly rules. Love me, love my dog! Want me,
ship my vodka!” And I’d have insisted,
successfully, on the right to have both hauled
to my destination.
Whatever happened to those glorious days
when every red-blooded boy knew every make
of car by its grill and every cigarette by its
slogan? There are so many versions of Chevy,
Plymouth and Ford these days that nobody
can keep track.
And remember when Old Gold urged you to
“treat yourself to a treat instead of a
treatment”? Or perhaps you were inclined to
“walk a mile for a Camel.” And unless you
really believed that “Chesterfields - they
satisfy” wasthe last word, it sort of broke your
heart when “Lucky Strike green” went to war.
Well it isn’t confusing enough that people
now are smoking “what’s up front” and
“spring mint”, but they’ve suddenly got to
choose between “Embra” and “Tramps” and
“More and only your ad agency knows what
else.
But one thing for sure. If we don’t
straighten out the economy, there’ll be a lot of
people rummaging in attics for those
roll-your-own machines that they used to stuff
with Bull Durham.
MONEY MADE IN
HAS TO BE PUT
THE BLACK COMMUNITY
BACK INTO THAT COf/MUNlTY
TO BE EQUAL
by Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
There’s very little to be said in
favor of people who are
outspokenly against desegregat
ing the schools except that they
are at least honest about it.
There’s no mistaking the
feelings of the people of South
Boston who hoot at and throw
rocks at black children bused into
their neighborhood. Nor is there
any mistake to be made about the
old-line last-ditch segregationists
who never heard of the 1960s and
cling to their racism.
But all of these people, however
mistaken they may be, however
vicious the result of their racism,
is, still say openly what’s on their
minds. That is something you can
deal with -- it’s all out in the open.
But there’s another kind of new
segregationist who’s made an
appearance. And this breed is
more subtle and sophisticated
than the old. He’ll pay lip service
to the ideal of integration. He’ll
even talk at length about what a
shame it is that schools are still
segregated.
And in an excess of dishonesty,
he’ll even condemn those who thro
rocks and act in such an ugly
manner. After all, why throw rocks
or drop your good manners when
the same results can be
accomplished in other ways.
What spurs me to these
comments is the most recent -- and
most blatant -- of the acts of what I
call the subtle segregationists.
The New York State Board of
Regent is the policy-making body
for the New York State school
system. It has the reputation of
being a liberal body that governs
one of the most progressive
systems in one of the most
progressive states. That reputa
tion is worthless today.
The reason is that the Regents
recently issued a new policy on
integration that, stripped of its
double-talk, means that it is
adopting the South’s old discredit
ed “massive resistance policy.”
New York Regents seem deter
mined to demonstrate, to their
shame, that there is more than one
way to stand in the schoolhouse
door.
Their policy statement is framed
in such a way as to gain support by
using code words. For example, it
starts out by saying that
“integration does not, by
definition, require that racial
quotas be used....” But waving
the red flag of quotas backfired.
The American Jewish Congress,
long opposed to racial quotas,
quickly condemned the Regents’
statement, declaring:
“We have difficulty understan
ding how the extent of integration
in a school district, and the
effectiveness of an integration
program, can be ascertained
without reference to numerical
progress in a school-by-school
basis.”
I’ve got the same difficulty, and
I suspect anyone who’s advanced
beyond the third grade could see
behind the Regents’ double-talk.
“Racial integration,” the Re
gents’ claim, does not “imply
quantitative balance in all
schools...”
What in the world does it imply
then? How can you have racial
integration without some sort of
numerically-fair distribution of
white and black pupils?
This statement of policy, which
will deal race relations in New
York a terrible setback, was
opposed by the state’s top
educational authorities, who were
about to launch a series of
integration orders to various cities
still operating segregated school
systems.
The statement is also bound to
trigger similar actions by other
state bodies elsewhere, which
must lead to confrontations
between state authorities and the
courts. This is because the
Regents and similarly-minded
authorities conveniently forget
that desegregation is not their’s to
grant or to withhold. It is a
constitutional right, one the
Supreme Court has promulgated
and upheld in numerous cases.
There is no doubt that once the
courts sink their teeth into the
Regents’ new policy, it will be torn
to shreds. But there is also very
little doubt that they have poured
oil on troubled waters and have
made an already difficult and
tense situation far worse. Instead
of helping to desegregate the
state’s schools on behalf of all its
children, the Regents have instead
provided them with a civics lesson
in how officials sworn to uphold
the law can try to evade it.
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