Ending the Crayfish Syndrome; R. Reiland

THEFREEMAN IDEASON UBERTY Ending the "Crayfish Syndrome" by Ralph R. Reiland W hat are the chances for upward mo bility for a group of poor, black church people 96 percent on welfare-in rural Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation? What's their prospect for economic success if they don't get a dime from the Rockefellers or the Ford Foundation? What if they get no new anti-poverty programs, nothing from the Fortune 500, and nothing from the rich and famous African-American celebrities and athletes? That's the story of the Greater Christ Temple in Meridian, Mississippi, and they ended up owning 1,000 head of cattle, two motels, a gas station, three restaurants, two chicken farms, 4,000 acres of farmland, the Green Acres housing development, two su permarkets, a hog operation with 300 brood sows, a construction company, a 55-acre Holyland commune, a school, and two meat-processing plants.

"We stopped the Crayfish Syndrome it's when you put all the crayfish in a pail, and one starts out and all the others reach up and pull him down," says Bishop Luke Edwards, the pastor of the church. "We started by sellingpeanuts in the church, and buying wholesale food with the welfare money and sellingit in a smallgrocery store Mr. Reiland, Associate Professor of Economics - at Rohert Morris College, owns Amel's Restau rant in Pittsburgh and has been published in USA Today, Barron's, and Minorities & Women in Business. in the church. Now there's no welfare or food stamps. We're saving the federal gov ernment $300,000." Green Acres is the congregation's new 54-acre subdivision in Utaw, Alabama, with 132 homes being built for sale to the public. Heritage Construction, another business owned and operated by the congregation's members, supplies the heavy equip ment-I8 wheelers, backhoes, dump trucks. The church also acquired two motels this year in Alabama, the Westin Inns in Utaw and Livingston, and started chicken farms in Decator, Mississippi, and Gaines ville, Alabama.

"We haven't allowed anything to dimin ish our thinking or our efforts," says Ed wards. "Black people can be just as suc cessful as anyone else, but our leaders have allowed us to be entrapped by government handouts. I lived in those neighborhoods. Welfare broke up the families, put the father out of the home, and let another man lay up there all he wanted. Handouts robbed our people, robbed them of self-esteem and self-respect." Edwards doesn't preach the traditional bad news about a shrinking pie in racist America. "Racism is an excuse, a song. No, the playing field isn't even, but we make it even. We proved we can make it in Missis sippi and it's the poorest state in the nation, and Alabama isn't far behind. Think what we can do in New York or Chicago. Look at 124 ENDING THE "CRAYFISH SYNDROME" 125 the Cubans out in the ocean coming here. It is the land of opportunity. " The bottom line for Edwards is to focus more on opportunities than on obstacles, and it's producing more success than fail ure. If anyone of us were raising a handi capped child-and being black in America is still a handicap-the worst thing we could do is subject that child to a daily harangue about the things he could never accomplish, about what's impossible for him, about how life is unequal and unfair, about the stream of misunderstandings, obstacles, and prej udice that lie ahead for him. Few of us have levels of confidence and ambition tough enough not to be undone by that.

Edwards delivers the opposite message, and it's reinforced with no-nonsense school ing and a philosophy that doesn't sneer at hard work. On top of math and spelling, students at the congregation's Accelerated Christian Education school, K through 12, learn how to run a hog farm and operate restaurants. These ACE students regularly outscore the state schools, and the courts have 26 students enrolled this term for a straight dose of rehab. The school rules aren't complex: no smoking, no drinking, no drugs, no weapons, no three or four hours ofMTV a day, and no dating. And it's lights out at 8:30 p.m. No midnight basket ball. To those watching from the ground, a bird that' sout of formation is usually seen as misguided, a joke. We don't think that the whole rest of the flock mightbe offtrack. To the Ivy Leaguers now occupying the White House, a black bishop who doesn't look toward D.C. for salvation is out of step, some outdated combination of Ronald Rea gan, Clarence Thomas, and David Koresh.

The only African-Americans who currently qualify for White House dinner invitations are those who believe in biggergovernment, higher taxes, and more urban pork. What's working in Meridian, Mississippi, and Utaw, Alabama is less dependence on government and more respect for business. It is a prescription to reverse the deadly pathologies across America's inner cities. "There's no poor black neighborhoods," Edwards says. "Why would dope dealers be selling there? You've seen the money they're making. Those neighborhoods ar en't poor, they're just misled and misman aged. They can put money into opening stores, into creating jobs. They can do it." What's needed is more of the entrepreneur ship of Little Havana and less Aid for Dependent Children, more of the smallbusi ness capitalism of Koreatown, Little Italy, and Chinatown and fewer social engineers from HUD and EEOC. It's time to get the D.C. pipedreamers off center stage and unleash some black independence and entrepreneurship. D In search of good students Do you know college students who value liberty?

They will want to hear aboutauniqueopportunityto spend aweek exploring the classicalliberaltradition-thephilosophyof individualrights, the rule of law, the free market, free trade, and peace-with distinguished facultyand studentsfrom around the world. Participantsreceive freetuition,room, &board.Semi nars held at various universities duringthe summer. "I gaineda wealth of new informationabout the applicationof classicalliberaltheory in the real world." - Tina Wallace, MIT, seminarparticipant THEFREEMAN IDEASON LIBERTY The EducationalOctopus by Mark J. Perry Every politically controlled educational system will inculcate the doctrine of state supremacy sooner or later. ... Once that doctrine has been accepted, it becomes an almost superhuman task to break the stranglehold ofthe political power over the life of the citizen. It has had his body, property and mind in its clutches from infancy. An octopus would sooner release its prey.