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Page 3— EDITORIALS Spelman Spotlight Norrmh, ' I OUR VIEW Carter is Our Choice For the past few months, the American electorate has been showered with campaign gimmicks that have, more often than not, covered and evaded the real issues of this campaign But more im portant, these actions have made it impossible to know who the real choice for the president of the United States is. In light of this ambiguity, the Spotlight has decided, as a result of in vestigation, to endorse the candidate who by far is the “clear choice” for president, not on the basis of rhetoric or commercials, but on the “record” of that candidate and his response t to the needs and con cerns of the black community and the American people We hope by this endorsement, we can aid those members of our community, who are unclear of the stance of the choice candidate to make a decision President Jimmy Carter has done more for the black comminity than most of our past presidents. Look at what he has accomplished during his first four years as president Carter asked Congress not to cut this new youth employment initiative which called for an additional expenditure of $2 billion. That would bring to $6 billion the total allocation of funds for youth employment when he took office. ‘Carter has strengthened affirmative action programs in the public and private sector. All of the federal agencies were ordered to step up their affirmative action efforts. ‘The President has also reorganized the Office of Federal Con tract Compliance Programs, which is responsible for assuring that companies and institutions that have traditionally had less than 50 percent Black employees, significantly increase their hiring of minorities. ‘Minority business development received a major boost with the passage of Public Law 95-507. This law requires that all federal con tracts of $500,000 or more ($2 million for construction) include a plan for subcontracting with small and disadvantaged businesses. ‘President Carter set precedent by signing the local Public Works Act of 1977, which established a 10 percent set-aside for minority firms. Thus far, minority businesses have received about $600 billion, or 14 percent, of the $4 billion spent under the act. ‘In January of 1979, the President sent a memorandum to all federal agencies requesting that they increase grants and contract support to Black Colleges. In August 1980, Carter issued an executive order which strengthened his earlier memorandum and outlined specific steps for implementation and removed barriers to Black college participation. ‘As ultimate director of the federal agencies, Carter has appointed more Blacks to senior federal positions than any previous president. ‘Carter has attempted to strengthen our ties with Africa Not only has he been considerate of civil rights in the African continent, he issued economic sanctions against Rhodesia when Africans fought for their independence Carter supports the administration of Prime Minister Robert Mugabe of the new Zimbawe When we as the black electorate examine the interests, concerns and accomplishments of President Carter, it should be obvious that we have no choice between Reagan and Carter. When we recall the fact that Reagan denies continued periods of racist actions in this nation, it become further lucid that Carter is the candidate that will be sensitive to our concerns, and execute in our favor. Much of the information in this column came from “Our Choice is Carter,” an article by Ofield Dukes of Ofield Dukes and Associates Public Relations Firm of Washington, D.C. The article was sent by Jeffrey Cooper of the Carter-Mondale Re-election Committee Editorials in this column are written jointly by the editorin-chief ana ussockJte editor and reflect this paper's official position This Spotlight does welcome edi torials or letters from students or faculty or any interested person We maintian, however, the right to reject any copy I Vote Against Reagan By Vivian Fannings Soon the angry and discouraged black Americans will be heading into the 1980 election, unhappy with their choices for President. Many blacks are so dissatisfied that they are threatening to boycott the ballot box. Who could blame them with choice such as Ronald Reagan (who is too old, too conservative, and too trigger happy), (after all we are the first to go when the government yells war), Jimmy Carter (who is too incompetent, who promised us the world last election only to leave us in the ghettos where he found us), and everybody knows by now poor An derson doesn’t have a chance. Taking all this into consideration I decided to vote for the candidate who I considered would do the least damage. Instead of voting for a candidate I would vote against a candidate. Ronald Reagan won my vote for the candidate I choose to vote against. This vote was given to Ronald Reagan for his outstanding record in the area of equal rights for women, jobs and opportunities for minorities, his views on the economy, and his views on foreign policy. If you check into Reagan’s past you will see his voting record, and views are as con servative as Brooke Brothers suits. I’m not saying Carter's lecord is so outstanding either. His term has been one of crisis management, and he has shown us he does not make good, sound decisions under pressure. He has cut back on Federal operated programs, ur ban spending and he seem to have the wrong people working for him. I’m not satisfied with either of these two candidates, although 111 vote for Carter. It’s a case of choosing the least of two evils. We as black people need to come to grips with the reality of the elec tion. The cost of silence will be much greater than just the next four years with an extreme conservative. For blacks, Jews, and women it could be the shat tering of our very existence. Whether We Vote For, Beyond, or Against a Candidate — We Must Vote! By Craig M. Marberry If we have heard it once during the presidential campaigning, we have heard it a thousand times: the candidates do not offer the voters any real choices. This view has been so widely accepted that, ironically, the candidates are rarely measured by their qualifications or ability but rather by their standing in relation to the other candidates. The formula is all too familiar “Vote for candidate ‘A’ because candidate ‘B’ will be the cause of America’s end.” Or, “Vote for candidate ‘A’ because can didate *C’ can’t win.” Some voters wonder whether the days when a vote was a sign of con fidence have left us for good. Other voters wonder why they should even bother voting. And while serious at tention should be given to the current topsy-turvy method of measuring a presidential candidate’s capabilities, the latter question should never be in ques tion. The vote is our sacred right, it’s our privilege and obligation, it’s our power of persuasion, it’s our bread and but ter—it’s OURS. Listen to most conversations and you will hear something like this: “Carter may not be ‘The Man’ for the job, but Reagan definitely isn’t; but Anderson is better than Reagan, and possibly “The Man’ over Carter, but don’t vote for Regan.” We should never be persuaded into idleness by such ‘merry-go-round’ language. It does not matter whether you are voting for, against, around, beyond, un der, or through a candidate—come November 4,1980, the word is VOTE! A cast vote says “I care and I matter.” A wasted vote says the opposite. The vote is our collective voice, and if we do not speak, why should anyone listen?