Augusta focus. ([Augusta, Ga.) 198?-current, January 26, 1995, Image 8

Augusta focus., January 26, 1995, Page 8, Image 8

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Newspaper Page Text8 January 26, 1995 |F MUPPETSBERORETHECUTS AFTER Nl =)0 l“f‘m ?‘ :] VN =0 ; — ‘]Eg*;-\\g < 6 MR. RoaeßS SLUM b TO BE EQUAL o . Beware of new social order t would be a terrible mistake for the I national debate over the direction of social policy to be influenced by the controversial book The Bell Curve, by Charles Murray and the late Richard Herrnstein. That’s because, while the authors wrestle with genuinely worrisome issues such as rising income inequality and so cial dysfunction, they also make reckless use of “scientific” data, takeillogical leaps in reasoning, and make deeply flawed ideologically-based policy recommenda tionsthat are unsupported by their analy sis. . What has propelled The Bell Curve into the public’s consciousness is the empha sis the authors place on ethnic differ encesinintelligencetest results. Whether inadvertently or intentionally, they aid and comfort racist attitudes about the alleged inferiority of African Americans. Despite the authors’ protestations about the innocence of their motives, and de spite the disclaimer buried deep within their text acknowledging that 1Q differ ences within races are greater than those among races, the book widens the racial breach in our society at the very time when we need to strengthen our common bonds. There is little dispute that African Americans score lower on standardized intelligence tests than whites. But the authors claim that the difference is sub stantially genetically-based and thus, by implication, unalterable and unimprovable, has been widely chal lenged by experts in the field. Respected geneticists argue that envi ronment matters enormously, and they are borne out by the fact that many ethnic groups, now cited as having high IQs, scored low on those tests in the years when they were predominately poor and working class. The authors’ pessimism lends support to those who see education as a means of sorting youngsters according to false ge netictheories aboutthe likelihood of their having bright or bleak futures. But in our society, which has always held to the ethos that our people are perennially improvable and upwardly LETTERS TR Criticism of NAACP is costly Dear Editor: When an unsupported assertion is laid at our doorstep by the majority community in this country, our leaders, our organizations, and yes even our press, “muster the troops” and rise to the occasion. What is the appro priate response when those false assump tions and negative remarks, that have no basis in fact, comes from our own communi ty? : Change is overdue in the way all civil rights organizations continue in the strug gle. The struggle today is mainly an eco nomic one, building on the political strug gles, human rights struggles, and civil rights struggles of years past. The January 11, 1995 editorial of the Metro Courier referred to the NAACP. Quotes from that article, such as, “In. order to keep the money flowing from white corporate America, the NAACP must do their bidding,” and “Current lead ership of the NAACP has clearly fallen victim to the interest of big-monied friends,” AUGUSTA FOCUS Hugh B. Price warns national policy makers against taking too seriously the conclusions offered by the authors of The Bell Curve. Black youth have proven that they can excel in the class room when provided with the right intellectual stimulation. mobile, the driving purpose of education should be to develop all children to be come effective adults. Despite rising poverty and income in equality, many of the children the au thors dismiss as unimprovable have made impressive gains in educational attainment and in test scores in recent years. The authors concentrate solely on lIQ differences and dismiss the good news that the gap between blacks and whites on Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT), used for college admissions, has narrowed noticeably. Since the gain is attributable largely to rising scores by those toward the bottom, this means more black students are becoming eligible for college and will thus be better equipped for the competi tive labor market ahead. This outcome should be encouraged. But if the authors’ thesis of genetic de terminism is accepted, policy-makers may be influenced to decide that noth ing can be done to help folk who suppos edly cannot keep up cognitively. In fact, the authors contradict them selves by observing that truly effective interventions that raise IQs exist, but they are too expensive. Logic would suggest that we follow up on those interventions and do every thing we can to assure that all of our people have the abilities needed to be comeself-reliant providers and law-abid ing citizens. Public policy should focus on acceler ating that progress, not stifling it under the cloak of disreputable genetic theo ries. are an example of good intentions going awry. The fact of the matter is that we should be proud of, not only the oldest civil rights organization in America, but by far the most “grass-roots” supported of all our organizations. In 1993, according to Nelson Riverslll, Southeastern Director, the NAACP budget was approximately $9 million of that. Only $1.2 million came from corporate sponsors and foundations (including African-American corporations and foundations). That leaves $7.8 mil lion (86.7 percent) coming from member ship dues and the fund-raising efforts of local branches around the country. Yes, the struggle continues. Let’s not compound the struggle for equality with struggles amongst ourselves. It’s counter productive and costly. Join the NAACP: be part of the solution. Add to the voices, don’t subtract from them. THomas O. Edwards, Jr. Editorial Events around town and nation «J.'s case begins O As we sit at our TV setsgluedtotheO.J. Simpson murdertrial, a new prosecution attorney comes intoview, Heis Christopher Darden, said to be one of the most skilled Afro-American attorneys on the West Coast. His voice was moderate, skilled, and low-pitched as he built his case against O.J. Simpson as “a wife beater who must possess ‘total con trol.” Watch this case. Trouble with changed bus schedule We recently witnessed a number of persons talking intently together. They were expressing deep con cern and disappointment over changes in Augusta Public Transit’s late evening bus service. One CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL Political war cost innocent lives t’s “open season on chil- I dren,” says DeWayne Wickham, USA Today columnist. “Not since sla very have our children faced greater threats, from inside or outside our community, to their safety, well-being and futures,” says Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children’s Defense Fund. It’sasifour children, like the children of Bosnia or Chechnya, are under siege and trapped in the political crossfire. Those are strong words. But they are aroused by the steamroller tactics now be ing employed in Washing ton by Republican Congres sional leaders, with a few Democrats helping them out. They are aroused by a so-called Contract with America and a so-called Balanced Budget Amend ment. They are aroused because I am frightened for our children and our com munities. Let’slook at the Balanced Budget Amendment now being debated in Washing ton. A balanced budget is good — those who balance their own checkbook know that. A balanced budget amendment is another thing, however. It sounds good — requiring the gov ernment to balance its own checkbook by the year 2002, which is far enough away to make it seem painless. ; Stay Focused eR S A A L R %‘3 o SR g g S G S R ?,~..<;,:.°.;:,. SRR R R g“’%“h“”””"%‘a TN }M“@“ T G u!fft’“/t’g&é@%‘ oßg@Lo By i T4Y gy 4 LT, T Pp e s3D L A > € @ S i ¢ B s . A & 0.0 08 B g » o G . Vi J. Philip Waring takes us around the nation and back again as the O.J. Simpson trial begins amidst more pressing concerns closer to home. elderly man said, “They did not cut any ofthe day sched ules, which they could have done, and leave a partial cut in the evenings so that those of us could retain our present late get-off-from work schedules.” Another said, “This cut of late evening schedules will result in many of us proba bly losing our jobs.” Still a third person said this mat ter was of deep concern, in quired whether anyone cared, and wondered if any group out there could help. “What can be done?” in quired two others. Bernice P. Jackson demonstrates how the Balanced Budget Amendment now being touted by Republicans in Congress is a prescription for catastrophe for the na tion’s most vulnurable citizens — its children. Americans of good will must fight this GOP offensive with swift, decisive civic warfare in the form of calls and letter writing. Butifdefense spending and Social Security are not touched and taxes are not raised when we are forced tobalance the budget, then itisestimated thatall other government programs will face a 30 percent cut in funds. If veterans’ benefits are also exempted, then all other government pro grams will face an approxi mate 40 percent cut in funds. And if military and civil service pensions are added to the exemptions list, all other government programs will face a 50 per cent cut in funds. Such cuts would impact the most vulnerable — our children. Proven programs like Head Start and feed ing programs for women and infant children would be jeopardized. The medi cal safety net for our nation’s poorest children would also be snatched away by Medicaid cuts and cuts in newly-provided im munization programs. A Walker Group Publication Established 1981 1143 Laney-Walker Blvd. Augusta, GA 30901 Being honest cost Elders her job All of us know how Dr. Joycelyn Elders answers a TV reporter, giving her hon est and professional belief, for which she was asked to resign. The courageous Sur geon General said that we Americans do not pay ade quateattentiontothe grave and widespread problems of teen-age pregnancy, in fant care, juvenile crime, drugs, mental health, be havior in our schools, in fant health problems, and teen-age sexual issues. “Because of adult laxity What most Americans do not realize is that not only the poor will be adversely impacted by the Balanced Budget Amendment. Such drastic cost-cutting would be necessary so that such things as mortgaged inter est deductions for federal incometax wouldbein jeop ardy since they would be a source of some SSO billion in new revenues. College education would also be adversely impacted as dol lars would have to be dras tically cut. Oneofthe most frighten ing things about the Con tract with America and its Balanced Budget Amend mentisthelightning speed whichthe Republican lead ership is trying to enact it. It almost seems that they don’t want to give the American public time to examine the legislation and decide whether or not they really favor it. But there is a way to stop this train. We can write nigustafF OCUS Charles W. Walker, CEO and Publisher Frederick J. Benjamin, Sr. Editor-in-Chief Dot Ealy, Director of Marketing Sheila Jones, Accouni Representative Rhonda Jones, Copy Editor, Reporter Rhonda Y. Maree, Reporter Derick Wells, Art Director Joseph L. Smith, Layout/Graphics, Distribution Emma Russ, Layout / Graphics Jimmy Carter, Photographer, Distribution Xavier Jones, Distribution Faye Davis, Office Manager and failure to act, America is plunging toward future disaster. Asa physician who has observed this tragedy, | must speak out with solid facts and figures, even though what I say is so of ten disbelieved and scoffed at. Regardless what some political figures and the media thinks about my speaking out on true but important matters” Dr. El ders said. I heard Dr. Elders speak I'had the pleasure of meet ing her and hearing the warm applause accorded her commencement address at Harvard University when I went up to Boston last year on the Dr. Yerby trip. Dr. Elders is now back at the medical school, in the University of Arkansas. God bless! our Senators and tell them we oppose the Balanced Budget Amendment. Whether they are Republi can or Democrat they need to hear from you. We can get our neighbors, members of our church or mosque, our sorority or fraternity, our card club or bowling league to write our Sena tors and let them know we support our children and programs that help them. School children can write letters. The elderly can write letters. Prisoners can write letters. Even if they only say, “I am against the Contract with America and the Balanced Budget Amendment,” that will tell them you did not vote for the Contract. We also can call the of fices of our Senators and we can even ask to meet with them or their staff. Every Senator and Congressperson has an of fice back home. They’re our offices and our elected rep resentatives and they have a duty to listen to us. Our children are our fu ture. We cannot afford to sacrifice them on the altar of a balanced budget. Do something about it. Do it now. Note: Write to your Sena tors at the U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510.