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THE TRIBIINAT, AID
WEDNESDAY. AFRIL 14,1976
EDITORIALS . ,
*You’re A Part Of The Solution, Or You’re A Part Of The Problem
THE VIEWS OF TIE WIITEI’S UE MT UWtTS THOSE OF TIE PtPEI’S
The Last Black
Congressman
Tbit h the farewell ipeecli to tlie U.S. Congress froa
Congressman George H. White In 1901. White was th*
Ust Negro to serve in tlie House until Oscar De PriMt
was elected from Illinois In 1928.
Continued From Last Week
This evil peculiar to America, yes, to the United
States, must be met somehow, some day.
The other bill to which 1 wish to call attention is one
introduced by me to appropriate $1,000,000 to
reimburse depositors of the late Freedman’s Savings
and Trust Company.
A bill making appropriation for a similar purpose
passed the Senate in the first session of the Fiftieth
Congress, It was recommended by President
Cleveland, and was urged by the Comptroler of the
Currency, Mr. Trenholm in 1886. I can not press home
to your minds this matter more strongly than by
reproducing the report of the Committee on Banking
and Currency, made by Mr. Wilkins on the Senate Bill
above referred to, as follows:
In March, 1865, the Freedman’s Savings and Trust
Company was incorporated by the Congress of the
United States to meet the economic and commercial
necessities of 7,000,000 of colored people recently
emancipated.
Its incorporators, 50 in number, were named in the
act authorizing its erection, and embraced the names
of leading philanthropic citizens of the United States,
whose names, as was intended, commended the
institution to those inexperienced, simple-minded
people, who are today its principal creditors.
The Freedman’s Bank, as it is popularly called, was
designed originally to perform for this trustful people
the functions, as its name implies, of a savings bank,
and none other than those hithertofore held in slavery
or their descendants were to become its depositors.
Its purpose was (to quote the paragraph in the
original law) -
To receive on deposit such sums of money as may
BLACK COMMUNITY CONTROL.
WHOM?
TO BE EQUAL
by Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
ExscuUve Director of the N»tional Urban Uague
Do Prisons
Have A Future?
Many Minority Businessmen Lock
Sufficient Motivation to Succeed
The federal government is planning to
spend almost $50 million next year to
build new prisons. Add to this the
expected push for new state prisons to
relieve overcrowding and it looks like
prison-building will be the new growth
industry in the '70’s.
Instead of stumbling blindly into a
massive new prison-building program,
this ought to be the time when the nation
re-examines the hwole concept of prisons
and of sentencing convicted offenders.
After two hundred years of
prison-building we still don't know what
prisons are for. Are they to separate from
the general public dangerous criminals?
Are they supposed to be instruments of
rehabilitation? Are they effective tools in
fighting crime?
Too many minority believe in black capitalism,
businessmen lack sufficient “Black people ought to
motivation to succeed and are have the rjght to become
too easily discouraged if the capitalists, bijlt black capitalism
. . , r, , , r . . , r 8®^^ tough, says John H. presupposes that you're only
from time to time be offered therefor, by or in behalf of Johnson, editor and publisher going to sell to black people. If
persons hithertofore held in slavery in the United of the Johnson Publishing Co., 1 sold only to black people, I
which issued Ebony, Jet, wouldn’t have a very successful
Ebody Jr! and other black company Most of my
magazines. subscriptions and newsstand
“I don’t see, never did sec, sales are made to blacks, but
The evidence seems contradictory,
“more sentimental, more gome dangerous persons are kept
emotional and less businesslike streets, prisons house many more
than white organizations...We pg^^ons no more dangerous than you and
work with people we like a people unlikely to commit further
crimes whether they are locked up or not.
more than
States, or their descendants, and investing the same in
the stocks, bonds, and Treasury notes, or other
securities of the United States.
The distinction provided in the bill in favor of the
payment of “such persons in whole or in part of African
descent" rests upon the foregoing paragraph of the
original law, and no persons other than those named
have the right to make use of this institution in any
manner; neither have they the right to acquire by any
means any interest in its assets.
For four years after the organization of the
Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company the laws
seemed to have been honestly observed by its officers
and the provisions in its charter faithfully recognized.
Congress itself, however, seems to have been derelict
little bit
should.”
For young blacks in large
corporations, Johnson said
And the prison as an institution of
rehabilitation is a big bust. The kind of
and training necessary to
they should “fmd ways to get
their bosses to help them counseling
without admitting guilt convert prisons into rehabilitation centers
failure as an option,” Johnson 90% of my advertising is made ^jj^out feeling uncomtortable.’ almost never available.
The boss is not going to Even their effectiveness as a crime
promote you if in the process deterrent is a myth; it’s commonly agreed
said in an interview published to whites,
in the March-April issue of “So I don’t believe that we
“Harvard Business Review” ought to limit our sales to the
magazine. black commumity. I think a
I meet so many men who black businessman ought to he has to admit that he was
want to go into business and strive to be a businessman and
they can’t because the SBA to sell to any customers tliat
(Small Business will buy from him.”
Administration) won’t give The role of Ebony
them a loan. Now, if you truly magazine, he said is to “aoply
that prisons often serve as crime schools
that make it more difficult for young
the years that he offenders to break with their past.
“If blacks had the
motivation, we would do some
to. And
succeed
the only way to
of these things. We would not learn the rules and to try as FaiUng that, if they punishment” that violates the Constitu-
give up our dream of going nearly as possible to play by ® and ordered minimum standards of
into business simply because a those rules.” conyany,^ then I^^think^they gp^ce, linen changes, food,
particular agency would not let
us have the money to do it....
“Most people don’t believe
success
they
want to go into business and the American culture to the
in its duty. One section of the original grant provided banks and they black experience, to bring them
that the books of the institution were to be open at all
times to inspection and examination of officers
appointed by Congress to conduct the same, yet it does
not appear that Congress ever appointed an officer for
this purpose, nor has an examination of the character
contemplated by Congress ever been made. The
officers of the bank were to give bonds. There is
nothing in the records to show that any bond was every
executed. Any proper examination would have
developed this fact, and probably great loss would have
been prevented thereby. In 1870 Congress changedor
amended the charter without the knowledge or consent
of those who had intrusted their savings to its custody.
This amendment embodied a radical change in the
investment of these deposits by providing that instead
of the safe, conservative, and prudent provision in the
original charter "that two-thirds of all the deposits
should be invested exclusively in Government ^
securities." the dangerous privilege of allowing the succeed.... though, and lashing out will
■ u, ti- . , , ir r ■ ■ not achieve it. You see, one
irresponsible officers to loan one-half of its assets m “Many of these things are disadvantage blacks have with
bonds and mortgages and other securities, invest in witnm our own power to do, anger and dealing with it is not
and improve real estate without inspection, without and so we can’t blame the knowing how to behave in a
examination, or responsibility on the Pfirt of its officers, system for everything. Anger business situation. Most don’t
The institution could only go on to a certain bankruptcy, and fear and failure get in the loiow, so they may respond
In May 1870, Congress amended the charter, and from inappropriately and get very
that dale began the speculative, dishonest transactions Johnson, one of the frustrated.”
upon the part of those controlling the institution until successful Johnson said he personally
resulting in ultimate suspension and failure, with . . entrepreneurs ( e also always tries not to let anger
j. , ... , „ , neads ttie Supreme I_Jie and emotions intcrrprf* with
consequent disastrous loss to this innocent and trustfu ino„rQn„» , emonons inieriere witn
, Insurance Company and logical decisions.
j u • u u Fashion Fair cosmetics, as well “I learned the rules of the
It IS contended by your committee that there was a as serving on the boards of „me ”
moral responsibility, at least, if not an equitable such corporate giants as always
responsibility, assumed by the Government when Twentieth Century Fox, them”
Congress changed the original charter of the company Greyhound, Bell & Howell and He conceded however that
wrong all
didn’t move you up. He’s got i c j ■ ■
° Ihe need for some basic decisions
to somehow feel that you did about the future of prisons have been
something that came to his ‘nade more urgent by the revelation that
many of these institutions are
to his
say no, and you try all the together. If we learned Wes
pits - overcrowded,
SBAs and governmental anything during the 1960s it promotion in the present.” dirty, and themselves crime-ridden
you""have" to tllk" bdi^idua" Te' '^yltem^'^r Tttle," Tore „ Tk""'" brutalize prisoners and staff
people into buying stock and responsive. We really can’t ^
making investments,” he said, change it, even il we wanted system work and to try to
persuade the people who could A federal judge in Alabama termed
the system is to system more that state’s prison life “cruel and unusual
is possible. So they get , / . , .
discouraged before they start. situation.
They think that all the cards
are stacked against them; and ,
many blacks think the white thmk you always have to keep
man’s not going to let him 8°"’ «
succeed...
company, then I think they
*;?. 7 ^ exercise and medical treatment.
He said that many young don t think we ought to say
blacks are stymied because that all big business is bad tu ■ j • j-
. / . , ■ , u I The judge was immediately set upon by
don t know how to smiply because a particular , ^
u * . » j hard liners, me udine the Governor who
company has not treated ^ .
“All of us would like to lash somebody fairly.” charged him with wanting to create “a
out sometimes,” he said. “1 For white companies, he hotel atmosphere . But what hotel has 4
suggested forming an “equal foot by 8 foot cells in which six grown
he said. '
easy, but
‘It wasn’t
I learned
as to the nature of its loans and investments, when it others),
failed to have the consent of the depositors, because of interview
which change most of its losses were incurred. This
ought to be regarded a very strong argument in favor of
this bill. Week
>..oclared
that he
in the
did
his own organization, like
n°t other black enterprises, was
opportunity auditing
committee’’ so that top
management committed to
equal opportunity
employment can monitor how
that policy is carried out on
lower echelons.
Johnson said that if he were
a young businessman just
starting out he would go “into
some phase of the franchise
food business. Fortunes are
being made every day because
people have to eat....Not only
have whites taken over fried
chicken, which black people
cook better, but they’ve also
now taken over ribs, which we
cook better too. I say, when
they take ribs, they’re going
too far!”
men are crammed without running water
or toilet facilities. What hotel throws
together violent men with the weak and
the sick in dormitories so crowded with
mattresses that you can’t cross from one
end of the room to the other?
These conditions are not only
shameful, they're unconstitutional and if
not corrected may lead to the closing of
the prisons. And Alabama is not unique;
similar conditions and overcrowding are
leading prison authorities to re-examine
the role of their institutions.
Along with court actions challenging
the constitutionality of such conditions,
the hard-line push for minimum
sentences and longer sentences means
either a massive national investment in
new prisons or changed thinking about
prisons.
Illustrating the dilemma prison officials
find themselves in is the action of a recent
meeting of southern correctional
authorities that backed more efficient
parole, release of non-dangerous inmates
and decriminalization of some offenses.
None of this may sit well with a public
that’s been deceived into thinking that
crime can be stopped by locking up a
significant portion of the population, but
taxpayers are going to have to make the
choice of paying higher taxes to build and
staff new prisons or putting a much
smaller amount of money into
community-based programs aimed at
rehabilitating offenders.
It’s finally beginning to dawn on people
that the financial and social costs of the
prison system are too much for society to
bear. If it stopped crime many would find
it acceptable but it doesn’t, so the search
for alternative means of dealing with
offenders must be accelerated.
There will always be violent and
dangerous persons whom society will
have to lock away. But these are a small
minority of those already suffering not
merely the loss of their freedom, but a
daily process of brutalization.
So before sinking hundreds of millions,
perhaps billions, into a failed system,
let’s experiment with new approaches tat
are both more effective and more
humane.
Tilings You Should Know
Post Office Box 921 Phone [9191 885-6S19J
High PQlnt,__N._C^ 2 7261
Published Every Wednesday',
by Triad .Publications, Inc.
'(Mailed Subscription Rate i$5.00 Per Year
ALBERT A. CAMPBELL, EDIIOK
DON L. BAILEY, GENERAL MANAGER
JEAN M. WHITE, SECRETARY
ROBERT MELVIN, CIRCULATION MANAGER
Second Class Postase Paid at High Point, N.C.
Supreme Court Continues To Help
The U.S. Supreme Court decided this week that
employees seeking jobs or upgrading may gain seniority
by such application even though they may be turned down
by the employer.
This ruling recognizes security rights, but insists that it
must not be used as a blockage against sex and race.
No doubt this may penalize some employers who have
been powerless to do otherwise; it makes some employers
who have collaborated in maintaining this system which
the court has held unconstitutional, change their policy.
Maybe some rough spots will be encountered as time
goes on, but they will eventually, like all just
pronouncements, people will have learned to live with.
No doubt there would be those who contend that this
opinion violates a person’s rights but. if it does, it
balances the denial of opportunity of a person for reasons
not his fault.
BURNft...
. . -Of ALEXANDRIA, W.,-THIS RUNAWAY
SLAVE WAS ARRESTED IN BOSTON ON
251854. THAT WEEK THE US^ATT^. REFUSED
AN ABOLITION,STOFFERTO BUYHIS FREEDOM;TO UPHOLDTTHE
FUSmvE SL.VE LAW- BURNS«STR,eo,-ANDLOSJ-ON
2japRES.P!EBCE CALLEO UP22 MILITARY,.5»,.ReG,^ARrn.l£RV,
1500 DRAGOONS.MARINES,B^eous,ETC,TO (SUARD HW.
HIS SLAVE PRICE WAS0NLY$l200,SunHES0VERWENTSre(r
OVER $40,000. TO RETURN Hnvi JO SLAVERY /