The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1228200
B-8 Wednesday, April 1, 2020 The Press-Dispatch OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg It has been a difficult week for the United States and the whole world. I have never encountered anything like what's happening at this time of our lives. I have never spoken to anyone who is not upset, worried, or anxious about what's going on. And the bad thing is, there is so much to be confronted with, so ma- ny challenges, so many changes in our lifestyle, and we still don't know if more is coming, or when we will see the end of this. When confronted with these stresses and difficulties, we have to be careful about what we say, how we treat ourselves and others, how we help and care for one another. We hope to weather these storms and have a return to nor- malcy soon. This is a time when we turn to things that comfort hu- manity – prayers, charity, love, kindness, respect, sacrifice and whatever it takes to lift all of us up. There is no room for hate, un- justified anger, greed, inconsid- eration, disrespect or uncaring attitude. We are very grateful for all the sacrifices ev- eryone is providing, from the leaders of our government, re- gardless of their polit- ical affiliations, to the scientists, health care workers, first respond- ers, law enforcement, people in the service industries, food industry, caregivers, main- tenance people, educators and so many more. • • • In reading and researching some helpful behavioral coping mechanisms during times of great challenges, there are several that I find useful. First, in the histo- ry of mankind, events like world- wide pandemics, wars, and natu- ral disasters take place, and hu- man beings undergo suffering. But it seems periods of recovery always do take place. That gives us hope. At this time, we should continue to be reminded of our bless- ings, but we should al- so accept the suffer- ings, because both are undeniable facts of life. We should ramp up our virtues of love, caring and consideration. There is no room for despair or hopelessness. This is when we are called upon to be brave, strong and be of faith. If we lose hope, we'll lose a lot or all. I think the world has been on a fast treadmill mode that hurts ev- eryone. We have lost the ability to slow down and reflect. Now we are given the chance, whether we like My Point of View By Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Difficult week Minority View By Walter E. Williams Progressive cities and black education Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 A recent report by Chris Stew- art has shed new light on some of the educational problems faced by black youth. The report is titled "The Secret Shame: How Amer- ica's Most Progressive Cities Be- tray Their Commitment to Educa- tional Opportunity for All." Stew- art is a self-described liberal and CEO of Brightbeam, a nonprof- it network of education activists who want to hold progressive po- litical leaders accountable. The report asks, "So how do we explain outstandingly poor edu- cational results for minority chil- dren in San Francisco — which al- so happens to be one of the wealth- iest cities in the country? " "The Secret Shame" reports that pro- gressive cities, on average, have black/white achievement gaps in math and reading that are 15 and 13 percentage points higher than in conservative cities. For exam- ple, in San Francisco, 70 percent of white students are proficient in math; for black students it's 12 per- cent — a 58 -point gap. In Washing- ton, D.C., 83 percent of white stu- dents scored proficient in reading compared to 23 percent of black students — a 60 -point gap. Yet, three of the 12 conserva- tive cities researchers looked at — Virginia Beach, Anaheim and Fort Worth — have effectively closed or even erased the gap in at least one of the aca- demic categories stud- ied, achieving a gap of zero or one. "The po- litically conservative Oklahoma City has even turned the tables on our typical think- ing about race-based gaps," says Stewart. Black students in Oklahoma City even have higher high school graduation rates than white students. Had the "Secret Shame" study analyzed other cities, it would have found that educational outcomes for most black youngsters is a na- tional disgrace. As of 2016, in Phil- adelphia, only 19 percent of eighth- graders scored proficient in math, and 16 percent were proficient in reading. In Detroit, only 4 percent of its eighth-graders scored profi- cient in math, and 7 percent were proficient in reading. In 2016, in 13 of Baltimore's 39 high schools, not a single student scored profi- cient on the state's math exam. In six other high schools, only 1 per- cent tested proficient in math. On- ly 15 percent of Baltimore students passed the state's English test. National Assessment of Educa- tion Progress tests (al- so called the Nation's Report Card) give fur- ther testament to the tragedy. In Philadel- phia, 47 percent of its students scored be- low basic in math and 42 percent scored be- low basic in reading. In Baltimore, it was, re- spectively, 59 percent and 49 per- cent. In Detroit, 73 percent scored below basic in math and 56 percent in reading. Below basic means that a student is unable to demonstrate even partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for profi- cient work at his or her grade level. Then there's gross fraud prac- ticed by the education establish- ment. High school graduation rates for black students range from a high of 84 percent in Texas to a low of 57 percent in Nevada and Or- egon. However, according to ACT data, the percentage of black stu- dents judged to be college-ready in English, math, reading and science ranges from 17 percent in Massachusetts to only 3 per- Pursuit of the Cure By Star Parker Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Lent a time of resistance Allow me to break away from the Coronavirus and refocus up- on Lent and the coming Passion Of The Christ. The Cold War is a distant memory. Gone are the days of resisting the "Godless communists who wish to enslave the world." That was exactly its goal. Look no further than North Korea today and you will find the vestiges of communism crushing the people. Much press has been focused on the question "Is America drift- ing left toward socialism? " What our young people fail to realize is socialism as practiced by Europe has not produced the wanted re- sults, just more government con- trol. In addition, socialism is com- munism "lite." Few Americans have bothered to read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago that exposed the system of prisons in the Soviet Union and how the communist ap- paratus crushed and demoralized the people. It is estimated more than 18 million people were im- prisoned in the gulags, and more than a million died, [that number does not include the labor camps] Solzhenitsyn was a believer in Marxism and the Soviet System. However, he became entangled in its death grip when in a letter to a relative he "lightheartedly" be- smirched Premiere Stalin [Febru- ary 1945]. The next eight years of deprivation at the hands of a sadis- tic system wrung any and all alle- giance to Marxism out of him. Solzhenitsyn realized socialism was bankrupt. It had at its founda- tion death. It had no soul and could not lead the people to a workers paradise. It crushed and murdered and what it did not crush it wrung the essence of life out of the peo- ple. Richard and Sabrina Wurm- brand was a couple who suffered at the hands of the Romanian Com- munists. Richard spent 14 years five as political prisoners. Rich- ard's was crime-preaching Christ. The communists were experts at extracting confessions and reedu- cating those who ran afoul of the system. They practiced torture and deprivation up to the point of death, revived the victim, then the beatings continued. Christianity was an enemy of the state and it had to be eradicated. Pastor Wurmbrand after his first release from a seven-year stint in prison delivered a sermon at the University of Cluj and told the audience he concluded tribu- lation, adversity, and torture [or the threat of] produced four cat- egories of ministers. First, there were those who were passive and gave the author- ities the information they wanted on other Christians willingly. The next category was those men and women who enthusias- tically reported on Christian ac- tivities for rewards and relished in their complicity [remember Wurmbrand said they were Chris- tian ministers]. The third category included those who broke under torture and informed upon their fellow Chris- tians. Wurmbrand had much com- passion for these men and wom- en for they suffered not only at the hands of the state, but also at the hands of their conscience and souls. The fourth category were those who refused to inform on fellow Christians and faced prison, pro- longed torture, sickness, and death. As I pondered his statement, I could not see myself in the first two categories, but could I stand the slow and relentless torture the communists perfected? Could you? Where are you in the faith? The church under communism recognized what Paul told the Church at Ephesus, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spir- itual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Any discussion of America turn- ing left toward communism should send shockwaves through the Church. It has stood the test, but the wreckage that is left behind po- litically, economically, and cultur- Early international media re- porting on the outbreak of the CO- VID-19 coronavirus in South Ko- rea was both alarming and alarm- ist. News coverage emphasized that, outside of China, South Korea had the highest number of coro- navirus cases, which led 170 oth- er countries to impose travel entry bans on South Koreans. But, after new cases peaked in late February, the number of sick people is now decreasing and the number of recovered patients is rising. There's now an outpouring of ac- claim for South Korea's strategy, which enabled it to be one of the few countries to "flatten the curve" of new cases. Seoul was able to accomplish it without imposing China's draco- nian social measures or declar- ing widespread quarantines, trav- el bans, or business closures, as in other countries. South Korea was rightly praised for its well-organized and aggres- sive mitigation efforts. Seoul im- plemented rapid and extensive testing, combined with high-tech moni- toring and public no- tifications to identi- fy and contain new cases. But while South Korea's testing pro- gram has become the global gold stan- dard, it comes at a potential cost in civ- il liberties that other nations may not seek (or be able) to emulate. Shortly after the initial discov- ery of the virus, South Korea im- plemented a "TRUST" strategy— an acronym for "Transparency, Ro- bust screening and quarantine, Unique but universally applicable testing, Strict control, and Treat- ment." Characteristics of Seoul's ap- proach included quickly imple- menting widespread testing, hav- ing the national leadership provide strong direction, relying on inno- vative interaction with businesses that reduced government red tape, and executing exten- sive and intrusive per- sonal monitoring. The first cases of COVID-19 in South Korea and the U.S. were both detected on Jan. 20, but Seoul re- sponded more quickly. Just one week after the country's first case was diagnosed, South Korean officials met with repre- sentatives from 20 medical com- panies to request they immediate- ly develop COVID-19 test kits for mass production. One week after that meeting, South Korea's equivalent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began approving com- panies' diagnostic tests with oth- ers soon following. Within two weeks, South Korea was produc- ing 100,000 kits per day. Early in the pandemic, South Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 I quoted Maj. Gen. George S. Patton in my column last week: "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan exe- cuted next week." I'm repeating it because it is so relevant to the coronavirus crisis. No one thinks the stimulus bill the Senate is trying to pass, which Democrats have sabotaged, is a perfect plan. There is some- thing in it for everyone to criti- cize. But when the house is burn- ing down, the job is to put the fire out as quickly as possible. A mo- ment delay to look for a better way to do it can result in absolute de- struction. As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put it: "This is not a political opportunity. It's a national emergency." Even calling this a stimulus bill is a misnomer. It is more accurate to call this a bridge loan to ourselves. Anyone who has operated a busi- ness understands that a bridge loan makes it possible for you to cross a valley between a difficult situation you are in, providing an opportunity to work through dif- ficulties so you can get to the oth- er side and once again function in a healthy way. The assumption of a bridge loan is that you are, at the core, OK. Once you get through the storm, you will be OK again. Bridge loans are not given to businesses that are deemed fail- ing to begin with. Before this health crisis hit, our economy was strong. Our country is fundamentally strong. But we've taken an unusual and hard phys- ical blow. This is not like other economic crises, where the collapse was the result of some major flaw in our ex- isting institutions or the way we are managing our affairs. This crisis is the result of shut- ting down our economy because of an immediate health threat. Economies function as buyers and sellers meet in the market- place. If you tell buyers and sell- ers they are prohibited from show- ing up in the marketplace, every- thing will collapse. This is where we are. We need financing so business- es, particularly small businesses, can get to the other side, so that when we stop this scourge, hope- fully sooner rather than later, they will not be wiped out, and will be able to get going again and pick up where they were before. We also need to provide cash flow to individuals so those whose livelihood is cut off or limited can pay their bills and make it to the other side. This is what this legislation is about. Period. It's hard to believe that as we try to throw a lifeline to our econ- omy, House Speaker Nancy Pelo- si, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and their Democrats want to condition it on signing off on their left-wing agenda: the Green New Deal; tests on gender, race and ethnicity for business; government dictates on how busi- nesses manage their financial af- fairs and how much they pay their executives. Sen. Elizabeth War- ren, who has never run a busi- ness or met a payroll, wants to force minimum wage when com- panies are shedding their work- force in order to stay afloat. It's like telling a patient on life support that he must sign off on gender-neutral restrooms before we agree to connect his ventilator. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who called this bill a "crony capi- talist slush fund," recently helped kill the deal that would have brought a new Amazon headquar- ters to New York — the same Am- azon that is now adding 100,000 new workers. I don't like companies turning to Washington as the first reaction to a crisis. But it's Democrats who have played a central role in creat- ing the welfare-state culture that has debilitated the nation. But this isn't time for this dis- Heritage Viewpoint By Bruce Klingner Lessons from South Korea Democrats blackmail a nation in crisis