The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1284470
A-8 Wednesday, September 2, 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 Race for the Cure By Star Parker Points to Ponder By Rev. Ford Bond BLM suppresses the truth about poverty As so much despair has gripped our nation during this difficult time, I decided to go into our nation's most distressed communities with a mes- sage of hope and truth. I have been working on policy is- sues dealing with race and pover- ty through my organization, Urban- CURE, for 25 years. We purchased billboard space in hard-hit cities across the nation and posted a short, time-tested message that strikes at the heart of what drives poverty. The billboards show a picture of a young black man or young black woman and say: "Tired of Poverty? Finish school. Take any job. Get mar- ried. Save and invest. Give back to your neighborhood." The billboard then refers to Prov- erbs 10 :4, which says, "A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich." This is a message delivered with care and love. It's a message I know is true. It is so true that it produced an im- mediate reaction from Black Lives Matter, which contacted the bill- board company, Clear Channel Out- door, demanding that the billboards be taken down. Claims from Black Lives Matter — laced, of course, with profanity — that our message is racist, inac- curate and self-hating are a crude distortion of reality. I know the accuracy of our mes- sage from my experience in life. I was once a young woman with dis- dain for the "establishment," living off welfare and going nowhere. Then two Christian businessmen straightened me out. Their message and guidance saved my life. Aside from my personal expe- rience and my daily learning as a Christian, I also know the truth of this message from years of poli- cy work that has been going on in Washington. The impact of the "success se- quence" on poverty is well docu- mented. Brookings Institution scholars Ron Haskins and Isabell Sawhill pub- lished their findings in their book, "Creating an Opportunity Society," in which they report that those who follow three steps — finish high school, get a full-time job and get married before having children — face a 2 % chance of being poor. Brad Wilcox and Wendy Wang of the American Enterprise Institute followed on this work, showing that among millennials — ages 28 -35 — there was a 53% incidence of pov- erty among those who did not fol- low these steps and a 3% incidence among those who did. But regardless of whether or not you want to believe me or agree with me, what about freedom of expres- sion? What about the inherent impor- tance of keeping dialogue open and free in our nation, with a goal of reaching truth? How can shutting down communication serve anyone's interests? Shutting down dialogue, shut- ting down free and open exchange of ideas, is exactly what Black Lives Matter wants. It said as much in a Facebook post to the billboard ven- dor that read, "At the end of the day, messaging and narrative control is priceless." Unfortunately, Clear Channel Out- door responded to the intimidation of Black Lives Matter and took down UrbanCURE's billboards, saying, "We strive to respect a wide variety of viewpoints on diversity and racial sensitivity." But can shutting down a power- ful and truthful message because Black Lives Matter doesn't like it re- flect respect for "a wide variety of viewpoints"? The nation's shock after the ter- rible murder of George Floyd at the hands of a policeman was justifiable. But the pushback unfortunately put wind in the sails of Black Lives Mat- ter. The question is: What does Amer- ica, and what do black Americans, Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Hope in Christ Something is antagonizing the na- tions of the world and the masses are in turmoil across the globe. Daily we are fed a visual diet of unrest though the various forms of media. Unrest is not necessarily evil or sinister; unrest means a sense of peace and stability is either threat- ened or lacking. However it seems apparent that much of the unrest is being fueled by the evil intent of those who foster fear and death. Evil is part of the tragedy of hu- manity and I suspect it will not abate anytime soon. It is noteworthy that all cul- tures across time, whether primi- tive or advanced, recognize there is something called "evil," and there is a segment of a population that will not "play nice." This means all tribes, cultures, and nations have laws [norms] that must be observed or severe penalties will be applied to transgressors. Observing nature, there is an or- der that is tranquil and sublime; yet few species exists that are not pred- ators to a weaker order, and also will strike out violently to those within. The story of Cain and Able sets the stage for understanding evil and the suffering it causes. This story has its origins in that of Adam and Eve, whose story begins with tranquility, and ends in banishment. Cain and Able are the recipients of the conse- quences of the sins of their parents because their parents chose sin. Cain and Able is about sibling ri- valry with God as the reward. Cain killed his brother Able because he was mad at God. The story in mul- tilayered, but we find elements of pride, jealousy, and hatred; this leaves an intriguing question "Why did Cain strike out at his brother when God was the focus? " Another question that lingers is "What was Cain's intent in harming his broth- er? " No one taught Cain to hate, neither was it instilled within him to strike out at God. He did this on his own. Something was lying semi-dormant just below the surface of self-control. This is similar to a parent realizing for the first time their child has lied, or they watched their child strike out in anger. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Church at Rome wrote about the on- going war that he found within him- self; he wanted to do good but the evil intent of his carnal nature compelled him to strike out with evil. People worldwide are protesting, some peaceful [the good], and some with evil intent [the bad]. Mahatmas Gandhi and Dr, ML King demonstrat- ed that in our era change can come about without promoting evil and vi- olence. The evil we have witnessed recently with riots and threats to life is the overcoming of good by the evil of the heart. The Church has taught that God created all things good; therefore, evil and sin are not necessary [or part of creation]. Evil is the manifes- tation of sin, and sin is the manifesta- tion of self-will and choice. Evil promotes suffering, but not all suffering is evil. Natural suffering such as illness and even the vicious- ness among the animal and natural world is a result of the "fall of man." Creation became corrupt. To Christians, moral suffering is the result of sin and is recognized as evil. John in his epistle identifies sin the result of the lust; in like fashion Buddhism considers suffering being caused by desiring "things" you can- not have. Countless authors have written in some form "In the best possible world, most people would choose the good." What is glaring at us from that statement is the reality of 'most' does not mean everyone. This tension creates an axiom that "this is not the best possible world because people are capable of doing harm to others." Therefore, since this is not the best possible world, it is marred by evil because of personal choice. We can discuss the issue, "Is there a 'spiritual component' that encour- ages good or evil," but where the dis- cussion will end up is the ability to choose or "free will." Evil persists because humanity has the ability to choose to do harm. And regardless why this is, the an- swer remains "because he/she can I generally avoid writing on sub- jects that touch on sensitive matters like religion and politics. This past few weeks has been a time when I had to watch programs that will affect the course of our na- tion. Yes, I'm referring to the content of the conventions of the two parties that are gearing up for the November election. I listen carefully to the for- mat, the contents, the rhetoric, the visions and the promises of those who want to govern us — ourselves, our kids, our grandkids, and the next generations. I felt I needed to be enlightened so that I can participate in the vot- ing process well informed and able to make a reasonably intelligent choice. When I listen to all the candidates and their supporters, I feel like all of them want to be sincere, to be able to help make our Nation a better place to live in and thrive and prosper. For after all, is it not that we — I mean ev- ery one of us without exception- want to live in a place where we can pro- vide for our necessities, have a roof over our head, have good jobs, have good health care, have peace and or- der, have things that make life worth living. In the light of what I see and hear whenever I watch and read the news, it seems like there's so much conflict and turmoil and anger in the many places of our coun- try and other na- tions as well. I won- der how we have come to arrive at this sad situation. I certainly don't have all the answers to these questions that my mind wants to seek. So, I will continue my effort to ed- ucate myself about what is true, what is right, what is sound, and what is common sense, and what seems to be promising. Because I owe it to my- self, my family, my community and this country I chose to live in. I will tie in my decisions to what the Sa- cred Book that has existed for cen- turies tell, since it has stood the test of time. Also, I will pay attention to learn the lessons of history, and the fruits of human governing. This is getting deep, and rightly so, but for now I will take a pause as I restock my journey of search. • • • As I have reached the sev- enth decade of my life and a little beyond, I'm constantly reminiscing and comparing my experiences as a young boy, then a young teenager, then my early and later adult life, and now my senior years. I try to think I should feel like when I was in my 30s and 40s, but truthfully, what I think does not match what my body says. I used to be fast and quick to decide and felt like there's no need to linger on and wait. Now, I need to weigh out things more carefully, sometimes more slowly, and sometimes tell myself, "Nah, no need to undertake that proj- ect." I tend to listen more and talk less, be more considerate and be pa- tient, and treasure every moment. I try to not be quick to judge unless I have the facts and am quite sure. You see, when I see young kids such as when we baby sit, I am fascinated by My Point of View By Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Politics, religion and aging Heritage Viewpoint By David Ditch Postal efficiency plan distorted by politics Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has faced withering criticism over the last several weeks, with many public figures falsely accusing him of jailable offenses and sabotage of the U.S. Postal Service. Many of the false charges stem from a good-faith initiative to im- prove efficiency and reduce the Post- al Service's chronic financial losses, which unfortunately was not prop- erly communicated to Congress or the general public. As a result, poli- ticians and activists have opportunis- tically twisted the issue into a sensa- tional conspiracy theory. This situation came to a head over a span of four days, and two congres- sional hearings have helped sort out fact from fiction. On Friday, Aug. 21, the Senate Homeland Security and Govern- ment A ffairs Committee held a vir- tual hearing with DeJoy to discuss postal operations. The next day, the House passed a bill that would pro- vide an unnecessary $25 billion bail- out to the Postal Service and block a number of cost-saving measures. On Monday, Aug. 24, the House Com- mittee on Oversight and Reform held a long and often con- tentious in-person hearing with De- Joy, oddly enough taking place after the legislative ac- tion rather than be- fore. Setting aside far- fetched accusations and partisan talking points, there was an import- ant downward trend for Congress to investigate: a reduction in key Postal Service performance metrics start- ing in late June. While the Postal Service has fallen well short of its goals for on-time de- livery for the last several years, the recent drop was steep, and during a time of the year when mail volume is typically low. There are two major factors be- hind the recent drop in on-time de- livery. The first factor: the Postal Service—along with the rest of the nation—was struck by the nationwide increase in COVID-19 infections start- ing in mid-June. Thousands of postal workers have been infected or had to perform a two-week quarantine over the last few months, resulting in far less Postal Service per- sonnel available to sort and deliver causing serious problems a given day's mail volume. During his testimony, DeJoy men- tioned that the Philadelphia area alone has at times been short hun- dreds of postal delivery drivers. This would necessarily reduce on-time performance. The second factor had to do with an initiative (now suspended) start- ed by DeJoy to change how the Post- Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Minority View By Walter E. Williams Institutional racism Institutional racism and system- ic racism are terms bandied about these days without much clarity. Be- ing 84 years of age, I have seen and lived through what might be called institutional racism or systemic racism. Both operate under the as- sumption that one race is superior to another. It involves the practice of treating a person or group of people differently based on their race. Ne- groes, as we proudly called ourselves back then, were denied entry to ho- tels, restaurants and other establish- ments all over the nation, including the north. Certain jobs were entire- ly off-limits to Negroes. What school a child attended was determined by his race. In motion pictures, Ne- groes were portrayed as being un- intelligent, such as the roles played by Stepin Fetchit and Mantan Mo- reland in the Charlie Chan movies. Fortunately, those aspects of racism are a part of our history. By the way, Fetchit, whose real name was Lin- coln Perry, was the first black actor to become a millionaire, and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and, in 1976, the Hollywood chapter of the NA ACP awarded Perry a Spe- cial NA ACP Image Award. Despite the na- tion's great achieve- ments in race re- lations, there re- mains institutional racism, namely the widespread prac- tice of treating a person or group of people differently based on their race. Most institu- tional racism is practiced by the na- tion's institutions of higher learning. Eric Dreiband, an assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, recent- ly wrote that Yale University "grants substantial, and often determinative, preferences based on race." The four-page letter said, "Yale's race discrimination imposes undue and unlawful penalties on racially-disfa- vored applicants, including in partic- ular Asian American and White ap- plicants." Yale University is by no means alone in the practice of institution- al racism. Last year, Asian students brought a discrim- ination lawsuit against Har- vard University and lost. The judge held that the plaintiffs could not prove that the low- er personal ratings assigned to Asian applicants are the re- sult of "animus" or ill-motivat- ed racial hostility towards Asian Americans by Harvard admissions officials. Howev- er, no one offered an explanation as to why Asian American applicants were deemed to have, on average, poorer personal qualities than white applicants. An explanation may be that Asian students party less, study more and get higher test scores than white students. In court filings, Students for Fair Admissions argued that the Univer- sity of North Carolina's admissions practices are unconstitutional. Their brief stated: "UNC's use of race is the opposite of individualized; UNC HOPE RACISM POLITICS