The Courier-Journal du lieu suivant : Louisville, Kentucky • Page 57

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1985 3 runs I Leadership Louisville class audits the city, lists assets, liabilities and 'opportunities' VitiW 4. St 9, i Janensch executive editor It Courier-Journal III StaH Photoi Louisville's quality of life, in terms of such things as sports, was named as a city asset. The listed liabilities included gaps in public service, such as airline service. Shown are Louisville Redbirds action in August and the return of John Jaeger and his family from Hawaii to a newly opened terminal at Standiford Field in July. program has put me more closely in touch with the community's needs and potential.

In the years since then, I have helped put on several "Media Days" and was a discussion leader at the Shakertown retreat. To stimulate their thinking, the participants heard from three Louisville leaders with different perspectives. Gordon Davidson, managing partner of the Wyatt Tarrant Combs law firm and chairman-elect of the Louisville Chamber, represented Louisville's business and legal establishment. He said Louisville and Jefferson County desperately need unity and continuity in government. It's ridiculous that a mayor of Louisville cannot succeed himself but must leave office "just when he's found the men's room," Davidson said.

Nelle Horlander, Kentucky director of the Communications Workers of America and a long-time resident of Okolona, said the residents of south and southwest Jefferson County have been unfairly labeled as "negative." "If people seem to be against everything, maybe it's because they aren't part of anything," she said. Louisville's greatest need, she said, is simply jobs. Maurice Sweeney, employee-relations representative for First Kentucky National Corp. and a former president of the Louisville NAACP, warned that a rigid class system that persists even today is dangerous to our health. Blacks are Louisville's "forgotten people," he said, adding that even black professionals are "an underutilized resource." After smaller group sessions with the three speakers and among themselves, the retreatants reassembled to list the community's strengths and weaknesses.

Louisville is a wonderful place in which to live. But the community is distressingly divided into hostile factions. Working together, area leaders should polish Louisville's image. That is the consensus that emerged from several hours of discussions among the 44 members of the new Leadership Louisville class. The participants gathered in Shaker-town Sept.

19-20 to get to know one another and to draw up an informal balance sheet of Louisville's assets and liabilities. Affiliated with the Louisville Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Louisville was set up in 1979 to familiarize current and potential community leaders with Louisville's problems and resources. From September to May, the participants spend one day each month immersed in a subject, such as the economy, education, human services and the news media. Some 250 men and women including business executives, labor-union officials, lawyers, educators, neighborhood activists and civic volunteers have survived this leadership boot camp. As a graduate of the first class, I feel the cause, they said, the newspapers emphasize what's wrong with Louisville and ignore what's right.

Several participants said what seemed to be problems in education and labor-management relations were really mispercep-tions created by the Louisville newspapers. I disagree. In my opinion, the newspapers would have been derelict had they failed to report the facts about what were academic and administrative deficiencies in the public schools and what was a record rate of work stoppages due to strikes. But I was at Shakertown to guide a discussion, not control it. I found the experience to be enlightening, enjoyable and Among the assets named: Central location; manageable size; quality of life in terms of affordable housing, the arts, sports and recreation; the medical-health industry; downtown development; utilities; and the spirit of the people.

Among the liabilities listed: Divisions along geographic, economic, class and race lines; a lingering image as "strike an inferiority complex among the residents; outmoded government structures; gaps in public service (such as airline service and countywide sewers); air pollution (not as bad as it once was but still a problem); and, perhaps the most important, a flat economy. The issue of education provoked a point ed exchange. A business entrepreneur who moved to Louisville three years ago called the Jefferson County public schools a liability. Two participants with close ties to the school system insisted that the schools now are an asset. We compromised by putting schools in the category of "opportunities." Among other opportunities named by the class were a public-relations campaign aimed at both the outside world and the area's residents to improve Louisville's image and a community caucus to bring together Louisvillians with conflicting priorities.

Louisville's news media, specifically The Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times, were described by some as a "liability" be- A renewed commitment to equality for all Kentuckians is needed If SiiiF'' fa rJ r'fiTnw mi held accountable if accountability is demonstrated within state government. The next governor must promote fair, sanitary, low-cost housing through the Kentucky Housing Corporation. More blacks should be on its board and in salaried positions within the agency, and more mortgage money should be made available in the black community. It is ironic that although one of our black state representatives, Mae Street Kidd, wrote the bill to establish the Kentucky Housing Corporation, blacks have not truly benefited from it. The human condition, especially as it relates to blacks, must improve.

John E. Jacob, president of the National Urban League, stated in the spring edition of The Delta Journal, "You cannot do economic development without doing some human development. Poor people don't do economic development." Some of our state's most pressing problems (for blacks and whites) are child malnutrition, teen-age pregnancies, high illiteracy and female-headed households. Our state government must influence and render meaningful services for the improvement of these conditions and any others that have a disparate effect upon the quality of human life. The next governor must promote these programs and services.

Finally, the next governor is requested to lend support toward building inner-city power for urban change by influencing the mobilization of the black community through a coalition of appropriate, governor-appointed committees that will be directly accountable to him or her. Some areas of concern that should be embraced in this way are economic self-help programs, organization of grass-root neighborhood action groups, assistance to black elected officials, job opportunities, quality of education provided by public schools, consumer education and protection, low- to moderate-income housing and equitable, cost-effective health-delivery programs for the poor and the general population. If the full electorate and government officials move together in a spirit of renewed commitment, we can with dignity and hope assure all Kentuckians positive stands on equality as it relates to affirmative action in employment, education, health, economic development and all areas that improve the quality of life. appear to be no safety nets that protect the health psyche of the Afro-American from institutional racism, poverty, high unemployment and a stagnant economy." Kentucky's state government can do much to improve its record in helping blacks obtain employment. In the state personnel office, there must be a special effort to root out any inefficient, prejudiced employees who fail to give all job candidates equal consideration.

There also must be a special effort to identify openings in state-government positions and to ensure broad public awareness of them so that interested individuals in the black community can identify and recommend persons qualified to hold them. It is important that the gubernatorial candidates, who are beginning to gear up for their 1987 campaigns, make positive commitments toward placing blacks at all levels of state government, including the Cabinet, boards of directors, college and university boards of trustees and advisory, administrative and supervisory positions as well as clerks and secretaries. The next governor of Kentucky can do much to promote and enforce affirmative action and to boost economic development by establishing effective minority-vendor procurement programs. Enactment of industrywide, set-aside programs should be supported and economic parity should be boosted by requiring that a fair share of state purchases of goods and services be made from minority-owned businesses. The next governor should influence the corporate community through a special coalition committee that would be concerned with more jobs for blacks especially in senior management and on boards of directors and the expansion and strengthening of the black business community through increased business with major Kentucky corporations.

The need to deposit more funds from government sources in the black bank located in Louisville should be stressed. He or she should support and influence the development of a strong and independent economic base in black communities in western Louisville and throughout the state. Many small businesses are needed which can hire unemployed and underemployed black youth so they won't feel the need to tear down existing establishments that fail to offer them jobs. The corporate community can be Maudine R. Cooper of the National Urban League stated, "Accepted studies show that for the overall population, every 1 percent rise in the unemployment rate carries with it: a 2 percent increase in cardiovascular deaths; a 2 percent increase in the mortality rate; a 5 to 6 percent increase in homicides; a 5 percent increase in incarcerations; a 3 to 4 percent increase in first-time admissions to mental hospitals." These are staggering figures for the overall population.

And, since the unemployment rate for blacks is nearly double that of whites, blacks will continue to suffer much worse from economic problems. This is especially true for young blacks. They represent 20 percent of the black unemployment rate 50 to 51 percent of blacks aged 18 to 25 are unemployed. This represents a large underclass of disillusioned, illiterate, hostile youngsters who are ready, with little or no apparent provocation, to tear down anything or anyone representing "The System" that oppresses them, their mothers and their fathers. As a result, a disproportionate number of blacks are in penal institutions because of hopelessness stemming from poor education, inadequate housing, no jobs and, worse, no motivation to do the things that will help them obtain these things because of bad experiences with "The System." This fire of dehumanization is fueled by a system of "temporary" public assistance that has proved to be permanent, thereby keeping the poor in poverty for generations.

The hostility exhibited by many young blacks is directly attributable to energy and misplaced aggressiveness. They must be channeled into more acceptable, productive social behavior through appropriate motivational institutions within the community, that is, the family, church and school, with strong support from the public and private sectors. It is well known that the financial cost for an individual in such programs is less than the expense of maintaining a prison inmate. The further cost of joblessness among blacks was made clear in a discussion of the mental health of blacks in the National Urban League's report "The State of Black America 1983." Dr. Alvin Poussaint, a Harvard medical professor who is black, wrote, "Black Americans are at a high risk for maladaptation, behavioral disabilities and mental illness throughout their life cycles.

There The writer is a Louisville pediatrician and social activist. A version of this report was presented to then Lt. Gov. Martha Layne Collins on July 6, 1983, after she had won the Democratic gubernatorial primary. By GRACE M.

JAMES Special to Tht Courlar-Journal Though blacks in Kentucky make up only 7 percent of the state's total population, they are, "abused and ravaged by the hydra-headed monsters of high unemployment, poor education, endemic slum housing, higher death rates, earlier deaths, higher infant mortality rates and pervasive hopelessness." This quote was used by Mona H. Bailey, president of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, in the organization's official publication, The Delta Jour- nal, to describe the plight of black Miamians. But the statement applies equally to blacks in Kentucky and throughout the nation. This does not mean that blacks are not better off economically than they were 20 years ago; it simply means that blacks have a long way to go in obtaining parity in education, economic development, employment and other areas that may improve the quality of life. Mrs.

Bailey also said, "a well-educated, healthy, safe and employed citizenry," is our nation's best de- fense. This holds true for the state of Kentucky also, and black Kentuckians have a chance to do some- "thing about it. In education, the public schools must be monitored "to ensure that our black students are preparing themselves for the jobs of this tech- nological age by increasing the math, science and computer-literacy courses that they are taking," Mrs. Bailey stated. Black Kentuckians must insist on a return to the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic for the sake of all children.

And, for the sake of equality, more blacks must be appointed to the State Board of Education and other bod- ies, especially the textbook-selection committee, to ensure that books are chosen that depict blacks' contribution to the growth and development of this country. In employment, Kentucky's state government must encourage the private sector to pick up the mantle of job training and employment of qualified blacks. It is cheaper to provide jobs with pay than to persist in doling out public assistance. That holds true for all able-bodied Ken- tuckians, regardless of race. Welfare is bondage, and no Kentuckian StaH Photo by Kolth WIMiami The state "must encourage the private sector to pick up the mantle of job training and employment of qualified blacks." 1964 Civil Rights Act, and to look at the differences and advantages that white women have advantages that they cannot share with (black) women, and in many cases would not share even If they could." Within the quagmire of minorities and women, it is usually the white woman who gets the prize job or position.

When the black woman gets a job, it is usually because she fills two quotas for minorities: black and female. More blacks need to be hired on the basis of qualifications as well as on the basis of race, sex or "quota system," because it is economically and morally just and right. Further, economic instability has a direct effect on the quality of life of black Kentuckians. is free until all Kentuckians are free. In assessing equal rights for all Kentuckians, special attention should be paid to the contrasting treatment of black women and white women.

It is well-documented that corporate America has im-' proved its image by bringing more white women into the board room and into managerial positions than blacks women or men. Dr. Roberta Mosley, a black social psychologist, stated at a Washington, D.C., conference for black female managers, "I think lt would be more productive (in trying to assess the problem of equal rights) to look at what white women share with other members of the 'protected classes' under Title VII of the A sack of groceries, a $25 check and a college tradition continues feebly, he told me a story. During his undergraduate days, said French, he, too, was always short of money. Once when his situation was desperate, one of his teachers took him aside and forced $25 on him.

Not a loan, but a gift, part of a continuing tradition. The teacher told French not to worry about paying him back. Someday, he prophesized, French would repay the $25 by passing it along to another needy student. So it became my turn to carry on the tradition. I don't know if the story French told me was true, but it made it easier to accept his charity.

I have always believed the story because it is the sort of story I like to believe. I suppose life would have been easier back then if I had had a discretionary income of $234 per month. But I would not trade that sack of groceries and that $25 check for it. 0ll Timti Htrald I considered no one over 30 capable of human understanding. Without sneering, French lent me his personal copies of such tedious tomes as "Clarissa." The books were cluttered with marginal notes, which were as fascinating as they were distracting.

The semester continued. I was subsisting on cheap and filling food: beans, popcorn and more beans. No pizza and beer that semester. Gradually, the months began to take their toll. I began feeling rather list-, less.

And, I found, I was beginning to look as bad as I felt. One night came a knock at my door. There was the tweedy French, wearing, as usual, a silly Ben Hogan cap. In one hand he had a sack of groceries. In the other hand, a check for $25.

He proffered his gifts, saying that my appearance proved I was not eating properly. He uttered some homily about feeding the body as well as the mind. When I protested socialism, but we didn't mind. That was too theoretical for us to worry about. Nobody kept score, but I suspect we all broke about even in our borrowing and lending.

For some reason, one particular semester was financially disastrous for everyone. I forget what happened, but I ran out of money immediately and my friends never got any. That was the semester I couldn't afford books, the semester that reinforced forever the lesson about investing in friends. The only faculty member who was aware of my situation was an English teacher named French, who taught a course on the 18th-century novel. French learned of my financial plight when I went to his office one day, quite embarrassed, and admitted I could not afford to buy copies of the novels we were allegedly studying, nor could I find them in the library.

He was sympathetic, which surprised me because I was at the stage where The author is a Dallas Times Herald staff writer: By STEVE KNICKMEYER In the midst of the recent back-to-school mania, I ran across a statistic that astonished me. A recent survey by Campus Voice magazine indicates college students have an average discretionary income of $234 per month. What is the average college kid doing with $234 a month to spend as he pleases? Considering today's prices, that may not sound like much. But I wish I'd had it when I was at college. When I was attending the University of Oklahoma in the 1960s, I had little discretion and less income.

I survived on scholarships and government loans. I got all my loot at the beginning of a semester. I would stick it in a bank, pay tuition, buy a few books, pay a little rent, eat a few meals, drink a few beers, watch the bank balance dwindle. Some semesters it dwindled more quickly than others, but it always ran out before I had anything else to deposit. I learned many things at college, but my most important lesson was: Invest in your friends and you will eventually be repaid.

I picked up a lot of tabs early in each semester. My cohorts and I spent most of our time lounging around pizza parlors, try-ing to drink all the beer In existence. Most of my. friends received monthly stipends from their parents, which disappeared quickly. So I would buy them beer and gasoline and other necessities until my money ran out.

That usually took two months, leaving me another couple of months to survive without money. Although I was broke, I had built up a lot of good will. So each time one of my friends scored some cash, I could count on a pizza and a beer. I suppose the whole process smacked of.