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S.C. holds civil rights hostage:
It ain’t over ‘til it’s over
overnor Jim Hodges of
South Carolina spent ap
proximately four minutes
and thirtysecondsdeclaring that the
“debate over the flag” was over. He
addressed the state on Public Televi
sionon May 23, 2000, and signed the
farce of a compromise that puts the
confederate flag in an even more
prominent place- into law. He can'’t
expect the NAACP or their support
erstobe dooped by this ploy. Asifthe
farce of a compromise wasn't insult
ing enough Governor Hodges added
insult to injury by unilaterally de
claring that the “debate” was over.
Doesn’therealize thatacompromise
was never reached between the two
parties? The NAACP made it clear
from the inception of this alleged
compromise bill that they could not
and would not support the bill.
Governor Hodges wants to limit
this debate to the “flag” issue. We
have proclaimed throughout this
struggle that this is larger than a
symbol of racism. This debate is
about racism and her legacy that
lingers in South Carolina’s politics
and culture.
Governor Hodges declares that it
is over. I beg to differ with the
honorable Governor of South Caro
lina. It ain’tover till it’s over. Whom
does he think heis, he can’t dismiss
the NAACP and the grievances of
milliohs of freedom loving Ameri
cans who were not party to the uni
lateral action by the South Carolina
legislature? Governor Hodges, you
can’t dismiss us. Those days are
wver. Maybe the Governor is still
‘hinking of the good old days when
African Americans wereinvited into
aroom, told when to speak, what to
say, when to be quiet, and dismissed
ittheordersofmaster. Wellwedon’t
serve master anymore. We are free
Raci
-rom page 8A
nost banks largely ignored African-
Americanneighborhoods,even those
vith above average incomes, forcing
nany blacks to depend on “high cost
ndoftenabusivelenders.” Thestudy
eviewed nearly 240,000 home loan
ipplications made in New York City
n 1998. The survey showed that
\frican American are denied loan
pplicationsbybanks atalmost twice
he rate of whites, even when they
lad the identical incomes. The ac
ual rejection rate was 21.6 percent
or African Americans, compared to
nly 11.4 percent for whites. But
/hat’s even more shocking is that
ven African Americans earning
10re than $60,000 annually have a
igher rejection rate (20 percent)
han whites who earn less than
40,000 (17 percent).
In order to buy homes, the major
iyofblack New Yorkers areforced to
urn toso-called “subprime lenders,”
nancial firms that loan mortgage
10ney at exorbitantly high interest
ates. Such companiesroutinelyforce
:ns of thousands of homeowners
ito bankruptcy and foreclosure.
'hosé subprime companies provide
aly nine percent of all mortgage
»ans in white areas in New York; in
lack neighborhoods, it is 55 percent
fall home loans.
When you ask New York’s banks
nd savings and loan associations
bouttheseunequalracial outcomes,
ley insist that nobody’s to blame.
hey argue that the differences may
e due to the fact that many black
ave different credit histories and
Iss money saved in the bank, than
‘hite applicants who have the same
icomes. But this pony “explana
on” only blames the victims. The
black l
in the cils
By The Rev. Dr. o
Ralph C. Watkins 44
and we are not on a South Carolina
plantation. Actually we aretryingto
free South Carolina from a planta
tion mentality.
Governor Hodges'’s actions prove
the point the NAACP has been try
ing to get him and his cronies to see
throughthisentirestruggle, “change
your ways.” Racism and all of its
lingering manifestations must be
eradicated. Ragism holds both the
racist and the victim of racism in
bondage. If Governor Hodges really
wanted it to be over, he would have
taken a page from the book of some of
the courageous leaders, black and
white, who preceded him in our his
torywhotook a stand against racism
and bigotry. It takes courage to look
at wrong in a politically charged en
vironmentand knowthatifyoustand
up for what is right it may cost you
your political career. Leaders who
face this challenge with courage and
dotherightthingarelaterrespected.
Career politicians do what is politi
cally expedient, and not what is nec
essarily right.
Governor Hodges has failed again
to provide leadership. Well in the
words of my neighborhood, “It ain’t
over, till it’s over, and it ain’t over!”
Did Governor Hodges really think
he could come on television and dis
miss us like that?
Dr. Watkins is a sociology profes
sor at Augusta State University an
can be reached at (706) 737-1735 or
email: rwatkins@aug.edu.
bad credit millions of African Ameri
cans households have comes in part
from sufferinghigherunemployment
rates, and from being paid on aver
age only sixty cents for every dollar
thanwhitesreceive. Blacksaccumu
lateless capital becausewearetradi
tionally the last hired and the first
fired; and because for centuries we
were locked out from buying homes
orbusinessesinmanyneighborhoods
byredliningtactics ofbanks and real
estate firms. The signs reading
“white” and “colored” may havebeen
taken down, but in the financial
markets, race rules. Even Senator
Schumer described the situation in
these words: “As far as New York’s
lending institutions are concerned,
blacks and whites may as well be
living on different planets.”
What all the evidence points to is
the necessity for the black freedom
movement to refocus its objectives
away from “opportunity”and “repre
sentation,” but toward the disman
tling of structural racism, brick by
brick. In other words, our basic
problem cannot be cured simply by
increasing the number of black loan
officers at banks, or by trainingmore
black doctors or pharmacists. The
problem isn’t “representation,” it’s
about “inequality” and “power.” We
need to foster new approaches and
strategies designed to enhance the
capacities of black and Latino com
munity based organizations to chal
lenge structural racism, in all of its
many destructive manifestations.
Dr. Manning Marableis Professor
of History and Political Science, and
the Director of the Institute for Re
searchin African-American Studies,
Columbia University. “Along the
Color Line” is distributed free of
charge to over 325 publications
throughout the U.S. and interna
tionally. Dr. Marable’s column is
alsoavailableonthe Internetatwww. -
manningmarable.net.
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TO BE EQUAL Guest Column By James Reed
Summer jobs for teens
merica is facing a crisis of
enormous proportions as
the summer approaches.
Thatloomingcrisisisthe
lack of a federally funded sum
mer jobs program for the children
of poor families.
Last summer about 500,000 of
these young teens across the coun
try were employed under the pro
gram.
Now, because Congress failed
to appropriate specific funds for a
program this year, that number
is likely to drop by at least 50
percent.
Think of it: 250,000 or more
adolescents who have been count
ingon the stipend these jobsbring
left adrift.
What will they do?
Lest anyone think they’ll get
picked up by the low-wage service
businesses like Mom-and-Pop gro
cery stores, the teens targeted by
the Summer Youth Employment
Program are 14 and 15 years old.
Generally, theylack even themost
rudimentary job skills, because
for most this would have been
their first job.
In fact, the program, first be
gun in 1964, is more than just a
jobs program.
It’s a youth-development pro
gram because it provides educa
tional and job-training services
that helpyoungpeople from strait
ened circumstances get a sense of
the skills and the self-discipline
that are the fundamental require
ments of the world of work — of
the.world that hopefully will be
their future.
It will be a terrible blow, a dan
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A Closer Look
gerous act of neglect, to deprive
them of this.
The crisis in summer jobs for
poor youth looms because Con
gress which until now had funded
the program separately, merged
it into the year-round federal
youth program under the
Workforce Investment Act oof 1998
(WIA).
The problem is that, as with
most new federal legislation, Con
gress didn’t allocate enough
money to WIA to support the ac
tivities it was charged with un
dertaking. Ifthere wasn’t enough
federal money available to sup
porttherange of year-round youth
programs, it was certainly pre
dictable that the summer-jobs ef
fort would get caught in the
crunch.
And that’s what has happened.
The Clinton Administration re
cently asked Congress for S4O
million in supplemental funds for
low-income youth for fifty cities.
But, frankly, that’sa meredropin
the bucket compared to the need.
Such social-service groups as
the Catholic Charities, the
Children’s Defense Fund, Girls
Inc, the National Puerto Rican
Forum, and the National Youth
Employment Coalition; such
church groups asthe United Meth
odist Church, and Presbyterian
Church (USA), and such political
associations as the National As
sociation of Counties, the National
League of Cities, and the U.S.
Conference of Mayors have all
urged Congress to provide SSOO
million in Fiscal Year 2000 emer
gency supplemental appropria-
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AUGUSTA FOCUS
tions for the program.
TheNational Urban League has
also added its voice to this call, in
part because many Urban League
affiliates are amongthelocal com
munity groups which have oper
ated the summer jobs program
themselves as well as been con
duits through which teens are
placed at other nonprofit organi
zations or with small and large
businesses.
Most of these organizations now
will have no funds to help young
people looking for summer work
work that is desperately needed.
While it’s true that unemploy
ment rates across the country,
including those for young black
men and women have dropped to
record lows, black youth in many
areas continue to suffer unem
ployment rates above 20 percent.
Dennis Walcott, head of the
Urban League affiliate in New
York City, bluntly said he expects
a 60-percent drop in youth ser
vices for the summer.
Last year, 80,000 teens across
the city applied for summer jobs.
This year, only 15,000 jobs are
available.
In Birmingham, Ala., Elaine S.
Jackson, executive director of the
Birmingham Urban League, says
that the coalition of organizations
which annually sponsor the sum
merjobs program —which includes
the city school system — is strug
gling to raise the $650,000 they
need to fund the 125 jobs they
offered teens last year.
One of the Urban League’s
midwestern affiliateshas 30 years
MAY 25, 2000
experience with the program. It
typically provides over 200 youth
with summer jobs and training, ,
and is also the pipeline for youth~
for 41 other non-profit agencies.
They’ve been informed that no
funds will be available this year -
to serve 14-15 year olds during
the summer. ; '
In fact, more than half of our .
115 affiliates in 35 states and the
District of Columbia indicated
their communities’ summer-jobs
programs have been significantly
cut or completely eliminated at
present. :
Leisa Richardson, president of
the Urban League of Flint (Mich.),
said that, “We send mixed mes
sages to our youth when we place
a heavy emphasis on Welfare-to-
Work and School-to-Work train
ing programs but reduce or elimi
nate employment opportunities
that lay the foundation for work
maturity skills at the time in their
lives when young people are most
impressionable. We force them to
dewelop other activities that will
occupy their summer hours which’
in some cases aren’t as positive as
the opportunities summer em
ployment provides.”
What'’s needed now is for Con
gress to show real leadership and
fund the summer-jobs program at
the dollar level that will keep it a
viable activity for America’s poor
teens.
They, and we, deserve no less.
James Reed is director of the
Workforce Investment Develop
ment Program of the National
Urban League.
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