Newspaper Page Text
Vol. XXXII, No. I
September-October, 1978
Atlanta, Georgia
Earl G. Graves, publisher of Black Enterprise
magazine, has said that only a small percentage of
blacks are better off today than 10 years ago.
Last Year’s Deficit
Cripples New SGA
by Adele Newson
Each year Spelman students pay
$30.00 ($ 15.00 per semester) for the
student activity fee. According to
the Spelman College Bulletin 1977-
79, “This covers activities such as
student publications, dances,
plays, contributions to good
causes, etc. The governing body of
the Spelman Student Government
Association (SSGA) makes alloca
tions to the above-mentioned
activities.”
For the academic year 1977-78
student enrollment totalled 1,276
students. Multiply this number by
$30.00 and you will find that the
SSGA had $38,280 with which to
run its affairs. Yet, last year the
SSGA incurred a deficit of $7,000.
According to Mr. Robert D.
Flanigan, Spelman’s business
manager, “The deficit is primarily
due to the Lonnie Liston Smith
concert which was held at the Civic
Center. The function was reported
to be an SSGA student sponsored,
student supported, Founders Day
activity, designed to raise money to
expand activity this year and to
denote money to the college
administration to be used on pro
jects mutually agreed upon.”
The Civic Center could have
accommodated 4,600 students. If
80 percent of the seats had been
filled, there would have been a
profit of $10,000. Yet, it was a per
sonal observation of Flanigan’s
that 300 people were in attendance.
Last year’s deficit was carried
over to this year’s SSGA adminis-
continued on page 7
Publisher Graves Calls Blacks’
Economic Progress An Illusion
by Avy D. Long
“When we note that blacks com
prise nearly 21 percent of the total
population of the Southeast, yet
own a mere 7 percent of all the
businesses here, we are gain struck
by what is the illusion of progress
for blacks.” These remarks were
made by Earl G. Graves, publisher
of Black Enterprise Magazine,
during his keynote address on Sep
tember 7, at Morris Brown’s Stu
dent Center. Graves was speaking
to the members of the Southeast
Association of Minority Manufac
turers (SEAMM) who held a trade
show at Morris Brown on Sep
tember 7-9.
Graves said that only a small
percent of black Americans are
better off today than 10 years ago.
The following evidence was cited
by Graves as proof of his conten
tion that the progress of blacks is
an illusion:
•Black median income hovered
just under $6,000 a year between
1969 and 1976. White median
income grew from $9,794 to more
than $10,000 during the same time.
•The actual number of lower
middle class black families has
decreased from 23 percent of the
population in 1969 to 20 percent
today.
•The number of black families
which have to get by with less than
$5,000 a year grew by 27 percent
between 1969 and 1976.
These figures are what the Bakke
decision, Proposition 13, and the
big shift to the right in this country
are all about, Graves said. The
Supreme Court made possible two
outcomes by upholding Bakke’s
claim of reverse discrimination.
“The first is a gold mine for law
yers who will spend years analyz
ing the decision and filing
countless lawsuits based upon their
interpretations. The second and
most harmful outcome will be
when government officials and
businesses, who have resented the
extra efforts they’ve been making
toward equal opportunity, will
abandon these efforts using the
Bakke decision as a socially accep
table excuse.”
In principle, Graves believes that
applying private sector resources
to government bureaucracies
could result in savings without
affecting services.
“But in practice,” he said, “I fear
that the cuts in government spend
ing which must follow cuts in taxes
may come at the expense of our
people and our businesses. We
must make sure that cuts in
government spending do not come
at the expense of black businesses
or on the backs of what too many
Americans are willing to accept as
a permanent black underclass.”
In spite of this illusion of pro
gress, there is some good news for
black industries. Graves mentioned
the following cases:
•Black business receipts are up
15.6 percent over last year—from
$775 million in 1976 to $896 mil
lion in 1977.
•Some blacks in leadership posi
tions have traveled light years from
the days when our ancestors did
not even own themselves.
•Both the $4 billion public
works program for public projects
such as schools, parks, highways
and firehouses and the $1.8 billion
t-
program to build rails in the
Northeast corridor, have pledged
certain percentages to minority
businesses.
•The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) has relaxed
rules which once made it very hard
for minorities to buy radio stations
and is giving current station
owners a deferral of their capital
gains tax if they sell to minorities.
Graves cited the automobile
industry as a classic example of the
the illusion of progress and the
practice of black dollars travelling
down a one way street.
“Of the 26,235 dealerships of the
top four automakers, only 72 are
black owned—despite the fact that
blacks represent a very large seg
ment of the auto buying public,” he
said. “Commerce should be a two-
way street in which dollars spent by
our community are returned and
recycled within the community.”
Graves suggested that it is time
to revise a custom of the sixties
which calls for effectively utilizing
black numbers and dollars.
“We must refuse to deposit our
money in banks that do not give
business to minority companies.
We must not give business to com
panies which do not hire minorities
in management positions.”
Graves said that the struggle is
not only for future gains but also to
keep the gains achieved in the past
decade. He cited this quote made
by Frederick Douglass years ago,
“If there is no struggle, there is no
progress. Those who profess to
favor freedom and yet deprecate
agitation are men who want crops
without plowing up the ground.
They want rain without thunder
and lightening. They want the
ocean without the awful roar of its
many waters. Power concedes
nothing without a demand. It
never will...men may not get all
they pay for in this world, but they
must certainly pay for all they get.”
SPOTLIGHT **
INSIDE THIS ISSUE ,
A New Face on the Yard 2
The Spelman of 30 Years Ago 4,
Freshmen Analysis 4
Ailey Auditions at Spelman 6
Goals for Black Theatre 7