RALEIGH, N.C., THURSDAY, JULY 25,1991 VOL. 50, NO. 70 N.C. 's Semi-Weekly DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST SINGLE COPY IN RALEIGH £.90 ELSEWHERE 300 Study Shows Black Women With AIDS Are Rising See Page 9 Laodicea United Church Qf Christ Gears For Women's Meet SeePage 14 Black Caucus Says No To Clarence Thomas Rick Yes To Black Community BY JOHN W. FLEMING CoatrikutlH Writer AtAaiRils The National Weekly Edition of the “Washington Post”, July 15, mu, carried a perceptive cartoon. It showed President Bush presenting Judge Clarence Thomas to the public as his nominee for the seat on the United States Supreme Court vacated with the retirement of Judge Thurgood Marshall. The cartoon has the President saying, “You want a minority on the court? We’re talking about a real minority here! How many black rightwingers do you think there are?" It is not the black that should con cern us, but the rightwinger. In too many instances it has been a code word for “no progress for African American people.” I say “Bravo" to the Black Caucus of the United States Congress for showing the courage to take a stand against the confirmation of Clarence Thomas as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. It is high time for African-Americans to stop supporting blacks for positions solely on the basis of adding color to the scheme of things. There are several things about Clarence Thomas tht should disturb the black community. (1) The Self-Made Man Delusion—I call it a delusion because it is false. There is no such animal as a self made man. From the story of Adam, who was provided a perfect environment by God, down to the present time man has lived, moved, and had his being in relationships; family, peers, church, school, work, etc. And all. of those relationships have contributed to his development. Clarence Thomas, laboring under the delusion of the self-made man image, owes much to his grandfather who took him on as a youngster, and to the nuns who were responsible for guiding his educational pursuits. In turn, they had help form others. No one can pull himself up by his own bootstraps. That is especially true if one has no boots. What this delusion has done in the case of Mr. Thomas has been to instill in him the idea, “I made it. You can make it too.’’ That philosophy has caused him to sour on government programs designed to help people help themselves. What he forgets to take into consideration is that years of slavery followed by years of segregation and lately by a period of ghettoization have destroyed the faith of some African-Americans in the system, have broken the spirit of some, and have so handicapped others as to make them almost useless in the (See CLARENCE THOMAS, P. 2) PRESENTING RESOLUTIONS—Fourteen Tap Tams (ram tha RaMgh chapter, six Ladies, two Lards and two parents recently attended the 27th annual Syn/Lad National Convention at Tap Ladies of Distinction, Inc. In SL Louis, Mr TIM grsap travntad by chart*r*d Ins. in phtta:T*p T**n David* Haywoad, first plsct winner In tbs spnsksrs toamanmnt tar Arts IV. prmnttng rssotations rspart at tbs convention. Candidates File For Fall Elections Holland Vs. Webster Race Seen As Hot! from CAROLINIAN Mali RoforU Candidates for the Wake Board of Education, Raleigh City Council and Cary Town Council began filing early this week for the fall elections with three African-Americans vying for seats on the school board. Harriet Bryant Webster, retired educator, filed for District 4 in Southeast Raleigh which is presently represented by Dr. Charles V. Holland, a two-term incumbent seeking reelection this fall. Dr. Khalif D. Ramadan filed for the District 3 seat in North Raleigh. The seat is held by Henry C. Knight, who has announced he will not run for reelection. Ramadan, 40, is an educational consultant who lost a bid for the District 4 seat in 1967. Ms. Webster, 64, said having served the system as a teacher, classroom management specialist and administrator for 31 years, said she feels "strongly I have a service to render to the cltiaens of Wake County.” Her knowledge of the schools and the desire to serve are two favorable assets, according to those planning to work in her campaign. Ms. Webster said she will "be an advocate for children; be accessible to parents and educators and will have time to serve on the Board of Education. HttlAAttU On July, 28, Friends of Harriet Webster will sponsor a meet the candidate program at St. Augustine’s College from 5-7 p.m. Dr. Holland said he plans for a vigorous election campaign that will focus on the Importance of position and not on his opponent. “I am working hard to make sure my district has equal representation. Presently I am soliciting support to have a new high school in Southeast Raleigh,” he said. During his six-year tenure on the board, Holland has served as vice chairman of the school board, chairman of the policy committee, the finance committee and facilities committee. Dr. Ramadan currently serves as an educational consultant for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Shaw University, and the Wake County Social Services Adoption/Footer Care Department. He has also served as a board member for the N.C. Council on Educating Black Children, Education Committee Chair of the Raleigh Wake Citizens Assocaitlon and president of the Concerned Citizens for Educational Equity. First day election filing also Included; Raleigh City Council, Mary Watson Nooe, District B; and Ron Campbell,,District E; Wake Board of ms. Education, Wray M. Stephens, Districts; Carey Town Council; Koka E. Booth, Mayor Richard V. Burton, District B; Ron L. Carr, District B; Tom W. Hemrick, District B, and M. Regina McLaurin, At-Large. Attorney Ron Campbell launched a challenge for the District E seat representing West Raleigh. Four term incumbent Mary C. Cates is expected to seek re-election in that district. “I am running because of a different pholosophy between me and the incumbent,” said Mr. Campbell, who ran unsuccessfully in 1961 for an at-large seat on the council. “I am much more of a person who wants to build. I want to make the capital improvements that need to be done.” He said he favored a referendum on a bond issue to raise the money to build a children's museum and a Raleigh museum to preserve the city's heritage. He also said he favored providing Raleigh police with better communications equipment. Campbell, who frequently rides a (See CANDIDATES, P. 2* GAO Says Blacks, Women Face Bias In Federal Job Training Program Serious issue Of inequities WASHINGTON, DC. (AP)—Blacks and women face serious inequities in a $4.6 billion job training program that was a cor nerstone of Dan Quayle’s vice presidential campaign, congressional investigators conclude. The General Accounting Office, in a report released recently, found that women in the program were more likely than men to receive training for lower-paid jobs. And whites were more likely to receive classroom and on-the-job training—while blacks had a greater chance of only obtaining job search assistance, said the GAO, an in vestigative arm of Congress. A Labor Department official disputed some of the findings. Lawrence H. Thompson, of the GAO’s Human Resources Division, tee on employment and housing. unemployment rate of the 1962 reces sion. When George Bush picked Quayle as his running mate, he cited Quayle’s co-sponsorship of the law as a major achievement. The program is a partnership because the federal government finances the assistance—spending $4.6 billion this fiscal year—but does not run it. The money is given to governors, who in turn disburse the funds around their states. Private industry coun cils actually run the program at the local level, to ensure that par ticipants are trained for jobs available in a particular area. The partnership currently serves 932,000 people, including 424,000 youth and 506,000 adults. Services include training on the job and in the classroom, job search assistance, job placement, eWirf care and aid in finding housing. Quayle’s spokesman, David C. Beckwith, said Ids office would have But Robert T. Jones, assistant secretary of Labor for employment “Unfortunately, one of the vice president's biggest resume items is apparently becoming a quagmire of prejudice and injustice,’* said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who ordered the study as chairman of the full Government Operations Committee. ‘ Unfortunately, one of the vice president’s biggest resume items is apparently becoming a quagmire of prejudice and injustice," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who ordered the study as chairman of the full Government Operations Committee. The GAO said, however, that it did not find any violation of anti discrimination laws. The study found problems were caused by factors such as private contractors in the program steering minorities and women into lower paid Jobs; discrimination by some employers that hired participants; and selections made by program par ticipants, who chose training for lower-paid Jobs that were stereotyped by race and sex. The Job Training Partnership Act that established the program was sponsored in 1982 by Quayle, then a Republican senator from Indiana, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. During the vice presidential cam paign, Quayle often cited ac complishments of the partnership, which was approved during the high and training, said in prepared testimony that his agency disagrees with the GAO conclusions. He said there is no evidence of “overt or systematic discrimination.’’ The program’s record “on advancing the employability of disadvantaged youth and adults, including minorities and women, has been un precedented,” he added. According to Jones, the 13 percent wage differential between men and women at the time of placement is “significantly better than the approx imately 37 percent differential that exists between men and women generally in the labor market.” For blacks, Jones said, “The hourly wage at placement wee quite close—18.43 for black adults, $8.53 for Hispenic adults and $8.80 for white adults.” The picture presented by the GAO was much different. “We found that on average the percent of blacks pro vided only Job search assistance was 14 percentage points higher than the (See JOB BIAS, P.3) ^tsssssssssr BY CHARLES E. BELLE NNPA Nf»» Hrrvkr “Neither a borrower nor a lender be," said WUl Shakespeare. From the looks of the nation’s lenders, the in dividual should be more than bemus ed by the Bard's words. We should practice it if we cherish our privacy. Putting infqppttion on a emit card application, and indeed today even making a credit card purchase puts your personal business in the streets. Some of us may not, however, get such an exalted status as many lenders have stopped issuing credit cards or even making loans based on bad reporting by credit bureaus and not by an individual's real credit risk. The i s economy is indicating that it may liave ImHomed out back in M;i\. Iwl reveals very little in the way of rebound. It it likely to be late October before the statistical facts are In to state an end to the economic decline. The damage has, however, already been done to both business' and individual’s credits. There has already been a record number of business and Individual bankrupt cies. Bankruptcies in New England were up so bad at 80 percent that one bank cut off credit to 7,800 car dholders—half of whom were current on their obligations. Other banks have refused credit based on faulty credit profiles from even the big three U.S. credit bureaus. But that is not the only bad news. No one who has a credit card or calls about an account at discount broker Charles Schwab k Co. is fully aware that these companies are sell ing a list including their name. Na tional card iaauara have been renting their lists at about II per account. A “never leave home without it” com pany would not stoop so low aa to rent its liat. However, target marketing in « joint venturee baaed on your actual purchaaea la permitted. Perhaps you thought it waa juat by chance they choee to otter you a deal on item* you frequently purchase. Your right to privacy and the pur suit of profit are pitted against each other and the only thing between you is a piece of plastic. InEurope, there is already a ban against uses of such databases as those controlled by U S. banks and other financial and govern mental institutions. Information can now be stored cheaply on every in dividual and sold if it is not made il legal.