European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 04, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes Friday. October 4, 1985 James Reston Reagan s remarks again coming Back of haunt him Parks ident aka is casual pub Lic remarks and Cen some of his carefully edited speeches ire causing him trouble again As he Ines Iti Deal with the control of world Trade and nuclear . Lor example just be to re his meeting with the new Sniel foreign minister. Uard a she Aronade. Lie stumbled into an awkward and unnecessary Lapple Over who s ahead in the of Offen Sive nuclear weapons at the he said the other m a nationally televised news Confer ence. I have to the i United Stales is still Well behind the soviet i Nion in liter ally every kind of Oloc naive weapon both and in the strategic Wear but the president s own experts on the balance of nuclear Power now planning for his Summit meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev of the soviet Union in Geneva in november Don t agree w Ith this sweeping statement. Partly True they say. Partly untrue b it not helpful to anybody except maybe Gorbachev. . Sam m in d-ga., just Back from Moscow has been supporting the president s defense budget including the Star wars program in outer space. He remarked on David Brinkley s to show a few Days after his return that in was important for the president to know where our weaknesses arc. But also to know be fore the Summit meeting where we Are stronger. The Nunn said needs to sit Down with the joint chiefs and learn about our submarines about our aircraft carriers about our tactical air about our cruise missiles about our bombers and other in Short Nunn suggested even if the president s estimate of the nuclear bal Ance was Correct which it is not he insisted i think it would be a very poor Way to begin what is at Issue Here. Then and has been for a Long time is whether the Percsi Carl Rowan Dent is in control of the facts on the nuclear problem As Well As the deficit proo 1cm and the Trade problem. Another example the Republican leaders in Congress have been telling the White House for weeks that a Protection is firestorm was Bla ing on Capitol Hill against the Trade deficit which no presidential veto could put out. But Only at the last minute did the president Amend his plans to Deal with this problem according to the Wall Street journal no enemy of the administration chief of staff Donald Regan had to inter Vene to see that the president s Trade speech was rewritten to avoid a con i rotation not Only with the democrats but with the Republican leaders. These crises on foreign and Domestic policy have their uses. They compel the administration to define its policies before in runs into a serious conflict with con Gress or with the russians at the Summit on nuclear weapons and under the demo cratic system they must do so in Public. It s much easier for the new soviet for eign minister who did t even have the Good manners to attend the United nations general Assembly meeting to listen to Secretary Shuli s Appeal for an accommodation of differences. Shevardnadze was prob Ity confused. Poor Man. It May be hard for the rus sians to understand the meaning of the word United in any language except their own. What it for them is that everybody states the same policy in Al most the same words. So All he could say was that Reagan s Star wars would Lead to nuclear catastrophe whereas the soviet Union was for Star still there is a problem when the soviet foreign minister visits Washington for everybody says what he pleases which is hard to understand in Moscow. Blacks must fake action of end education disparity the school superintendents of a couple of Washington suburbs have known for years that Black pupils were lagging far behind whiles on standardized test scores. But they did t want to publicize these test ing gaps for fear of appearing to feed ammunition to that Ever present band of americans who insist that Blacks arc inherently inferior. The whole nation ought to be pleased that these educators have abandoned timidity and told the nation the truth about who is and is not being properly educated. And let me make it Clear that the Alexandria. A. And Prince George s county my. School systems to which i refer arc not unique. Most school systems in America arc graduating or suspending or otherwise forcing out Black youngsters who have not Learned Well enough How to read write court or express themselves verbally. That harsh truth is both a reflection of the sad social and economic condition of Black people and an indicator that the terrible Cycle of unpreparedness and dependency will go on for another generation and More. President Reagan was on television recently boasting about the decline in unemployment. I doubt that anyone told him that joblessness among Blacks is still a de pression level 14 percent or almost 2.3 times a great As for Whites. When you have this level of unemployment among Blacks when the median income of Black families is less than 56 percent of the income of while families when a Black child is 3 i times As Likely to grow up in a household with Only the Mother present there is just no Way that Black children arc going to achieve in school at the level of White children who have so Mary More advantages. But who is going to do anything meaningful about this imbalance of handicaps this disparity in educational we used to think that through head Start compensatory education and other Federal programs for deprived children the problem could be solved. But the Reagan administration has Laughl us inc bitter lesson that what one administration gives anole or can Lake away. Pan of inc sir Algy not just of Blacks bul of All genuinely concerned americans is to put Back into the White House and into leadership positions in the con Gress men and women who know that America will be the loser As Long As millions of her citizens arc ground up in this cruel Cycle of poverty poor education More poverty and hopelessness. But. As i said Al the annual dinner of the Nashville Tenn. Urban league recently some 30 million Black people have got to face the reality that government will never do enough not Al the Federal slate county or local level. Those suburbs of Washington now know what the problem is but Don t expect them to spend the extra Money needed for a solution. We Black people absolutely must take emergency actions to end this malaise where the civil rights movement is dead in the Walcer and first class cilia Enship drifts further and further from our grasp because our children arc not making the proper commitment to trained intelligence. Every Urban league chapter in America ought to sponsor an essay contest twice a year making in a Point of Honor or racial Pride for youngsters to be Able in write Well. Every a act Branch ought to sponsor Public speaking contests challenging youngsters to gel inc facts so they can Alk like or. Marlin King did or a Balc inc Way Jesse Jackson docs. Every Black teacher in the land whatever his or her Field of expertise ought to find a Way every week to quiz students on Public affairs thus pressuring Young sters to read newspapers and magazines and watch Tele vision news and Public affairs shows. Black churches played a Villa role in inc civil rights revolution of the 1960s. They can again in this Era of serious Challenge for Black youngsters. It would make u marvelous difference if every Black Church however Small instil Utcy a program of education help and inspiration. We need All these institutions and individuals saying Loblack teen agers even a wimp can get a girl preg Nant so this is no proof of manhood. A healthy teen Ager with the brain develop Cal of a 5-Ycar-old can have a baby so Hal is no proof of Joyce Kilmer became close to immortal by writ ing that poems Are made by fools like me. Bul Only god can make a we Musl make our Young peo ple understand Hal they will be up a tree for the rest of i hair lives if they become the fools who make babies when they ought to be making poems. There is a compelling need for us to try to curb the rage thai Wells up in our jobless rejected Young people so they do nol express in by going Oul and killing some one else who is Young Black and hopeless. This Musl include a crusade to end the easy Access to handguns and drugs by those who arc steeped in ignorance endanger. None of us in this soc icly of any race or level of wealth can go on Wilh inc child crippling situations Hal inc school of Alexandria and Prince George s county have now had inc courage w reveal. Nor can we Sil inactive watching Young people wreck i hair lives kill each of her spreading a curse of dependency drug abuse and violence across inc who Leol our soc icly
