Apartheid. USA 1988

June 10, 1987:

Chief of Police, Reuben M Greenberg (43) of Charleston, South Carolina is black and practices the Orthodox Jewish faith of his grandfather, while his hard-nosed approach to law enforcement makes him stand out in his field. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation the felony rate in Charleston has declined steadily in the five years in which the energetic and articulate Chief has headed his force. His philosophy is uncomplicated: ‘Once we get a crime report, we are already too late because then we have a victim. Eliminate victims and you eliminate arrests. That is simple. People will tell you, cops have no effect on the homicide rate,’ Chief Greenberg said. He continued, ‘Cops can have a tremendous effect on domestic homicide. Obviously, we can't be on the spot before every convenience store murder, but we have a chance to make a difference whenever we get a call about a family argument. We arrest the guy every time there's any evidence of violence. That way we don't wait until you have a victim, and we make one trip instead of ten. It's effective and it's constitutional. Seventy-six percent of those arrested in 1985 were unemployed. Now that tells me two things: the ones we appre-

[p. 84]

hended are probably like the ones we didn't catch, and coming up with more jobs is not, contrary to popular belief, a major way of eliminating armed robbery. Most of those guys were just trying to supplement their income.’

Next, Chief Greenberg set up an elite Flying Squad and Tactical Squad of which the members are under 30 years old and in excellent physical condition. ‘They are the least likely to shoot,’ said the Chief. ‘They walk the streets in the city's high crime district, stopping to talk to known offenders and to investigate anything suspicious.’ The Squads also set up situations to catch, on film, offenders who rise to bait. A bicycle for instance, or a woman's purse on the floor of a locked automobile. ‘About 80 percent of the crimes are committed by the same 250 or so people,’ said Chief Greenberg. ‘We know them virtually by name.’ Chief Greenberg is popular, even among the city's blacks.^111. In a report to the Wall Street Journal Joseph Perkins pointed to financial woes and other problems of black colleges in the US Some 50 black colleges are beset by severe fiscal and administrative problems. ‘Several of these schools have fallen on such hard times,’ wrote Mr Perkins, ‘that some black educators privately question whether it might not be better if they were permitted to die and their students transferred to more viable black institutions.’ Black colleges are operating in a highly competitive, contracting market. There are not enough black students to support the country's more than one hundred private and public black colleges as they are currently configured. The irony is that the contraction of the market was precipitated by the civil-rights movement. As white colleges began to integrate in the 1960's, black colleges began to lose enrollment. Today, more than 80 percent of black college students are enrolled in predominantly white institutions. Moreover, white schools usually attract the most promising black students and the most talented black athletes. This

111. The New York Times, a special report

[p. 85]

leaves black colleges with students who often lack adequate preparation for college and need remedial instruction.

A reconfiguration of black colleges might have already taken place were it not for the generous federal and state subsidies these institutions have received. Indeed, in a speech to black college presidents last fall, President Reagan boasted that federal funding of black colleges has increased to 629 million dollars in 1985 from 545 million in 1981. State funding brings total annual subsidies to black colleges to almost 1 billion.^112.

112. The New York Times, from a report in the Wall Street Journal