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Jwg 4, ludoock WQi, i nursoay, June i , is
: pettifless.The
DITOR1ALS COMMENT OPINION
WHY NOT? VIEWTHT
We Need A GoiRflonH
Eddie P. Rlchtrd&n
One only hi to obi&wVs thl $ack community
of Lubbofck and take inventory oj the
organlzatjQHs of any type imaglrfljkbri, Wtt
become crytffar clear that we at'' the rrroltt
organized people on the planet ea?th to have no
organization . H would be a sight lib Jjenofd ff.we
could see all ministers uriitjp' 'all sbcial
organizations get together, all civic organizations
rorne together, professional, educaflotiai ratid
others work and coperate together for the tijb.bd of
all of ur. 1 hen cofne together, under one Huge
umbrella, united working, cooperating for the
good of the total community, yve need tobaakup
these Httle crfrfiriii big'Vwtd little
ybu's because if Is destroying all of because of
petty and on ego trip. The. main problem in most
of these little groupi'dr clicks is there is no clout
or leadership otWNde the small circle, the true
losers in the wh6$'v$rous circll Is our tndst
precious asset - " "
adr youth.
B. M. 1: (Black Media, Inc.has aImostull4d 6ff
a miracle when It effectively gdt Yitfrii&tfonjtt
Black organzatipn presidents' and 'JllSers, 1. e.
Greek Letter, religious, c.-l- c, sorely tfifossional
and others, witrr branches, Idgaf&irta" oMplgrs .
acrors the natlbh united working for a common
goal. The. Assault-On--IIIJtdMri- fc ; rrpgifcm: is
salvaging and preserving our ydUth. Wflfi an
alarming rate over 44 of our youth 18 and over
cannot read over a third grade level. They are
functional illerates. It's sad but its true that is our
future. In, the very, near, futures weiWiJI bave a
vlsiable funMhlng TlR. r ftjptbnal and
local, going all ou as ah.agressor Asault-Pn-- r
Literacy Program. All our Iota! organisations,
with national affiliation,' Will be ehcotiraged and
or directed by heir national office or president to
participate. All organizations wil! be instructed,
because ttyis problem affects all of us if we do or
do not hara a national affiliation or .iot. This is
going to be the best effort of tho Black community
since the United Black Coalition which was the
most effective and powerful organization in the
Black community of Lubbock. This was the
dream of the late Dr. F. L. "Doc" Lovings when he
founded the United Political Action League
(UPAL). "Doc" was a moving force in the United
Black Coalition of Lubbock and wanted to sea
that kind of effort again through UPAL.
The A-O- -l program may be the force to point us
m tnerigmdifecidn ff'we ail becQmeinterested
task is too dreaMrvinri to rirfitari
w - - J - , , T
our spunysters trom having a life of idleness,
usefulness, deprivation, despair, unemployment
and arlmeH
Father's Day should be observed, especsally in
the Sack community. The Black male, the most
neglected species in Americi-wit- the detoriation
of th?famiiy in America. The Black fatner is at the
bottdn QfJIte totem pole in a lot of cases with the
help (rom.BlocTTmothers teachinq Black children
not to respect and programming them against
their lathers. Every movement in America hurts
and gushes the Black man down who already
stands last . L e R.A., Gay Rights, etc. All of
these efforts always competes with Black males,
even BlackJemales wto courts as two minorities
narqejy; BJeck, female, and even youth and
seniorpitizens. So let's give the old boy aibreak on
this Fathers Day and say "Happy Father's Day
and 'U"'loye you:" BeMJ will make his day and his
Whole life a lot brighter.
,' vc t"
Remember on JuneFisffi, whether you have a
back yard qur
organized effort. --
partieipate.-
hiw
- in an
Bliek pride, bacaus yoo
have the only ethnfiS holiday in America. We can
never any "Thank You" enough to ta&,aep AJ
Edwards who gets pells from all over America
with people reporting we do not hava a holiday in
our sta'e, but are observing June 19th because I
was born in Texas, usta live in Texus, have
relatives in Texas and pthers, Thanks Al. for
putting us on the map. To show our appreciation,
there, will probably be hundreds of busses in
Texas for tho Junoteenth Emancipation Seminar
and Workshop in Houalcn in 1983. And, get this, It
the birthday ot Al. We want to say
wiin
thankifp you white you live. After you die, Ai, we
knpw tib will ave a lot of diciple, but wa want to
give ycH5 your roses while you can still smell them.
Of foremost importance, please wear black arm
bahof ontril lift arm and pray aloud or silently
t&Srafe Orpsjtsing Thrse even if you
arilifttnf ,lrbackyard with bar-b-q- ut, at a
nslghers, or in an organized program, pause
a Homage. Please remember the thsmr.
Hon of Ui Art Prs Until All of Us Aim Ft I"
VVh4singTif tovlne of ui. sprruyone
rr,ust pay. This is especiaiiy for us who think vhs
have tinve.
Write the Justice Department about the
Fortru4m(ommim, wmZ
Conner, P. O, Is&lfiL fxlfL Texas mm.
3k
M ... ,DUS1 ."2
. home
u6ine55
in, lhe
Black
By Charles E. Belle sjaF
Small arid Medium Businesses In
Bad Shape
Myth of Middle Class Missing
HoraitipAlger may have had it in America. At
least fdRa-syel(,.Th-
e current
rate of failures tor
business, is equal to 83 per 10,000 bucinesses, the
highest since 1933, during the yat depression,
when the failure rate hit 100 per 10,000
according to Dun and Bradstreet, a leading
iiimiii, service. i.neytQijgnt
i"wrH4yt' isuw jpjiauauBoi are me eyes ana
Y'VUtt1 j wMMtesHi,1' 1 uuaiur?er ot small
nesses1. TheifiaureDTnav sosm femaif'sinro it
reflects only those companies that failed owning
money 10 creditors. Businesses tnat closed shop
after paying off all their debts are not in the D & B
death total. Too many of these small and medium
size businesses provide jobs for Black Americans
to assume a naive outlooK regarding thotr demise
Small businesses employ more people than
major manufacturers in. America. "Alas poor
Yorick, I knew him well."
A mistuided notion is that the, great
employment of minorities are in the trade union
movement. Too bad they are not card carrying
, Boley, Oklahoma Well, here we are again In
G3iolielom&town where we first saw the Jight of
da& several decades ago. It's good to be bacjK
again and after 73 years, Boley, said tc be
the.' lard ail-bla- ck est town in America is still
kicking and in many ways growing, believe it or
;
States Mayor Sam Wilcotts, Boley is today as
muoh a town of opportunity and challenge aa it
was 78 years ago. It has a modern water system
and a modern telephone system. There are 14
churches, an elementary school and a nigh
school.
The Bote, Progress, the town's fir4
newspaper, di4 much to sustain interest in tha
city's growth fnd prosperity. In 1911, tho town
was able to boast of a population of 4,000
residents. ThaJ has dwindled somewhat today but
there are several all-bla- ck communities
surrounding Boley, like Rusk, Chilesville, Sand
Creek, XL and others thjt contain a considerable
number of ble$k. homepwoftrs and others thai "
believe that "foley wilt never die" and perhaps
that is true.
. There is agrt opportunity for business places
in &o!y and so one Chamber of Commerce
aKicieJ put it: "if you are looking for a retirement
haven. Boley is the piece " In speaking to Mayor
Wilcotts, he reminded u thtf he believed that the
present national aninteir&iion m Washington
with Reagan as lear would not be forgetful of
the fact ihst ths black's and poor people would be
te NMf aiid some of the
projitta for ldta otv m ltwinc hoard wnutd
be lunde. Ha &&itl& ngh too.
UoAiiea, CaJHornli - Poiitlcr tldominate ,
. ABSHsma vPSaaL . . Ifa
enejfMiaL and dthaf
man im hiacma
educatiofid. auoooit
Aaaooiation npmbart wW
me'mbsV-- Maybe 'then the actions of all the
workersptfld get some results. Qi,ty 23 percent
of AmniGa'.s, toir,workfoice,( 45i,,uhionizecl.
Understarrtjablfi. mate and white 70 and 85
respective. Mscojd. Fifty-eig- ht percent of the"
agH.of 35. Biaok America is considerably younger
than1' white America and widening the' gap
everyday. , ;
All of this points to an extremely sad situation,
since on the surface there appears little hopejai
joining the mainstream of America. Sadder to
say, with the workings of the White House, the
lower-inoo-me groups are going to get more
company. Crash is a bad. word to use, indeed the
wrong one. Withering on the vine is more like the
action. Instead of everyone pulling together to
make the tree grow and sharing the fruits; there
will be aldt of planters and a few pickers. This vas
the plan all along-- groat many members of the
middle-incom- e (if not class) group of people in
America assumed Reagunomix means making it
and keeping Jt for the midde-cias- s. ?Not so,
,Middle-cias- s l.vingwill, become a dream?orice
aglain in the 1990$ The high unemployment cf
teen-ager- s' of all colors in America attest
at least the 1881 Iaval
of 15.S biinbn.
' Recant great quotes: "There is no record in
human history of the invention of an effective
weapon that was not eventually used. While
pondering that simple historical fact, please
consider as weft that the-- e are now 40,000 to
50,000 nuclear weapons in the world, with
explosive power exceedirnjK one million
Hiroshima bombs, "from Terry Herndon,
prominent educator.
More Qu&jea; "Today, SokOtel 'Security insures
&0 Americans
tmf!kf J
against due to raemant, disability,
easastrdphlc Hlnesa, or deslh. Without SnclaJ
fecurtly proteeUoa. fUt mi,tM every ten
Americans would faH Into tne category labeled
'poverty. AnoUw ffce out ol tmn Americans
WiW J iarW lajddomea below the
pevarty lint. Cbneurreilt ym the passage of
Social ecurlty ln193ittji ratt of poverty among
50
the aged has deoreaeed from percent In thl
30's to afi percent In 1972, to 14 percent In 197
"From Best Ysees publications.
lfNote) We apologize for missing a recent
column bellringers. We win make it up. After all,
when a feMow goes home, whet can you expect?
m
AAA
WcLPIA Ifvi
m
!S JOUANBOHD
Negative reaction
By juliiHt Hond
1 '
- '"I
Nothing seems to upset the pqpujuce inore Uian.tlie collec-
tion of devices generally kno$to as "afurinative action
to
'
designed bring more women and minorities into the
mainstream.
These include toils, quotas, aggressive r&roUment. race-conscioadmission
polices and a host of other remedies for
two centuries of sexual and raciaJdiscnminaUon.
These measures work. That's why they are so unpopular
among those who are accustomed to privilege and affirma-
tive discrimination,
'. It isn't necesstfry t6WfrctriJte the motives of the oppo-rien- ts
of affirmative action in order to discard their
which usually include the following:
argu-mont- s,
s Preferential tfpttnjhfc r the minority deans discrimination
against tne majority.
Merit, not class or color, should be the single standard
bv which academic rcdjeer. rewards are distributed.
Ra?e-coti)jiou- g reWetftcs Wtigmntizc bfneficiaries.
Numerical gods and quotas limit the aspirations of
previously disadvantaged groups.?
' 4 Quarantee ofiquaL acjs&:-ar.- t entrenched in tho
American dream; guarantees, of equal result v'olate that
'
dream..
Lf I
TJiesfe argumetiti fet'tjri a iau prenlise: that race and
sex discrimjnatiprt h'dS'fieh.bahished as effectively as
witch-burnin- g
in New Bngland and bla:cR-burni- in UiaSouth.
The U.S. Civil Rights Commission says differently.
"Discriminatory actions are not only pervasive, occurring
in every sector of society, but also cumulative, rrith effects
limited neither to the time nor the particular structural area
in which they occur," reports the commission. "This process
,
of discrimination, therefore, extends across generat-onsacross
organizations and across social structures in
cycles...
"Discrimination against women and minorities- - should be
viewed as an interlocking process involving the attitudes and
actions of individuals and the organizations and social structures
that guide individual behavior. That process, started
by past events, now routinely bestows privileges, favors and
advantages on white males, and imposes disadvantages and
penalties on minorities and women. Tiiis process,? afso
poverty ..Qhe fSBSQsuaTJia couhfrtf
astronomical number of afLrmacivection are'lete'tjtftlified
into the workforce under Reaannomic
Rgmembei 20 million youth between the ages of
15-1- 9 years of age will entering the workforce
over the baianqe of this decade. Do you believe
the present administration can create 20 million
more jobs, notto mention making up the existing
million currently unemployed all within eight
years? Sure you do. So much for middle-clas-s
dreams of vacations and retirement, just plan on
keepin' on truckin and ask the21-yeqr-o- ld house
guests to the dishes, after rll tray still eat in the
same he ise.
converge on ttje Convention Center here this
summer for NEA's 120.th annual meeting. This
year's theme will be TOitlcal Power for
Educational Excellence." NEA's higHes.t
making body will me$t Jtjjy :3-- 8f
iBellringer sources jn 6.r. report Jhat lisjLw
Scfne on 'the offensive to convince Corigre5tnftv
the D'idget process must made to work, in
to avoid another continuing resoiUUO
Such stop-ga- p It isn't surprising that advantaged complain about
efforts to end their advantage. For, thi group to, cpinplajn
about discrimination against itself is. as nonsensical as for
Caesar'!
measure- s- passed In lieu 0T
regular appropriations, bills-- hive sharply been
cfJiicedadu(sation spendlbg the past two years.
NEA Is pressing hard for ar. end to the budget
impasse, and an Inorease funding to
lion-keepe- rs the
io have ppmDljined that their beasts
me.6 berhe forced to eat too mdtWr&cmhsisnm
. . . , . . . f fj - z: - -
apsoro ".... do
hstuhe-benetioiarie- s tne young pebplev of
than those thejxw.Dlace. But merit has:nover been the simile
lest of college admissions or job promotions.
Merit was not the only standard when public colleges
be
were
accepting any white applicant with a high-scho- ol diploma
while rejecting blacks witn straight A s. So, why should merit
alone determine such rewards today?
10
The stigma argument has gained currency in the writings
ot a Hispanic intellectual who says that his bilingual education
separated him from his culture aftd his family A black
Reagan, appointee argues similarly that his affirmative-actio- n
do
education made him suspect in the eyes of his white
contemporaries.
The stigma of assisted success must be weighed against
the tigroa of failure in a society where race or ethnic heritage
determines life expectancy, median income and career.
Most of us, I assume, would choose to suffer the stigma of
achievement.
. Quotas have, been imppjei by the courts only as a last
resott, when all other methods of integratirig.tha.work place
dfe chdolroomha.fy0sfatled. WhenHvKite rejsisfnce to the
employment of blacks as poliop officer vaS .absolute; for
oxfirapl courts Imposed quotas until thB percentage 6f
black officers roughly equaled" the percentage of blacks in
be
the local population.
order
( Finally, no affirmative-actip- n plan guarantees equal
result. Bach plan quotas, preferential mring, aggressive
jiacruitntcnt only guarantees equality of access to jobs or
education.
That's whet the American dream is all about.
(NBTOPAPBR enterprise ASSN i
ft
"Qediiateii to Freemen, Justice and Equality" -
T. J. Patterson
Editor
Eddfe P. Rkbardson Manajlitf Editor
Jeff Joiner Distribution Manager
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