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Making America safe in 1995
Restoring moral values at the grassroots level is the only way to stem the wave of rising crime
By Bernard Blake
The Way To Happiness Foundation
tisnoaccident that America
I is besieged by increasingly
high levels of violent crime
— at least, this is what a new
network of organizations claims.
“The violence and crime which
fills our streets is the direct re
sult of an almost complete loss of
moral values,” said Glen Horton,
Vice-President of the Way To
Happiness Foundation. “Too of
ten, our children have been
taught that moral values are
something which they have to
work out for themselves. This is
like saying to students who are
often struggling just to read well,
“Forget about any textbooks on
math or chemistry. You should
work out these subjects for your
self.’ It is ludicrous.”
Atatime when citizens in most
states are hoping that increases
in police manpower and stiffer
prison sentencing will do some
thing to curtail the increasing
Aracistconspiracy toremoveJudge
Dorothy Vaughn from the bench
Behind the attempt to railroad a sitting black judge is movement to deny
African-American represenation on the bench all across the state of Georgia
Rep. Tyrone Brooks
President, G.A.8.E.0.
In 1988 Dorothy Vaughn ran
for and was elected to the
position of Judge of the State
Court of Fulton County. Judge
Vaughn had the nervetodosome
thing that had never been done
before — challenge and defeat a
sitting judge. All judges in Geor
gia are appointed by the Gover
nor. Very few lawyers have the
guts to challenge a judge for his
position. During the last elec
tion, only one sitting judge in
Fulton County drew opposition.
The opposition was supported
and funded by all White attor
neys. Dorothy Vaughn invaded
the most cherished “GOOD OLE
BOY” institution in the nation,
the Judiciary. After her victory,
Judge Vaughn walked into an
impossible situation. Robert
Cochran, the clerk of the State
Court of Fulton County, made
life impossible, as far as admin
istration of the Court goes. Dor
othy Vaughn, a Black female,
had defeated Judge Bruner, a
White male, and it became obvi
ous that she would never last in
that position.
Dorothy Vaughn served a first
term, under the most adverse
conditions, with professionalism
and dignity. She functioned most
of the time without a court clerk
Beware the Newt year of solutions
Forget the government; we must raise dollars from our own communities for our own youths
By Bernice Powell Jackson
Civil Rights Journal
ewt Gingrich’s term as
N Speaker of the House of
Representatives is offto a
frightening start. His call for the
use of orphanages to reduce the
welfare rolls should be a wake-up
call and a call to action for each
and every one of us. His plan gives
new meaning to the old joke about
the person who shows up on your
doorstep and says, “I'm from the
government and I'm here to help
you.”
Mr. Gingrich has proposed al
lowing states to end payments to
unmarried mothers under 21 and
to then use those funds for a
“boarding school or a group home”
where children of jobless mothers
might be placed. He then sug
gested that Mrs. Clinton, whohad
criticized this plan as “unbeliev
able and absurd,” watch Boys
Town, the sentimental movie of
nearly six decades ago.
Mr. Gingrich is by nomeansthe
only person advocating this “put
them away” mentality. This sum
mer we watched the sad case of
11-year-old Robert Sandifer un
fold in Chicago, when he killed a
levels of violent crime, The Way
To Happiness Foundation has
launched a national Making
America Safe Again campaign
which, organizers say, will do far
more to curtail crime than in
creased law enforcement will
ever accomplish.
“Most criminals don't believe
they will get caught, at least not
until they are well along in a life
of crime,” said Horton. “So it
doesn’t matter what sentencing
a criminal faces if apprehended.
Further more, criminals sen
tenced to prison for minor of
fenses usually come out of prison
well-schooled criminals with con
nections that propel them into
continuing criminal activities.”
“The only answer to making
America safe again is an effec
tive campaign to restore moral
values at the grassroots, com
munity level,” said Horton.
All this might just be rhetoric
ifthe Making America Safe Again
campaign did not have a unique
weaponinits arsenal —The Way
To Happiness booklet written by
or legal assistant, because the
clerk of the court either did not
assign personnel in a timely
manner, or assigned incompe
tent people to her court. With a
back log of 300 cases left over
from Judge Bruner and no staff
tomovethe cases,Judge Vaughn
worked late intothe nightand on
weekends in order to get her court
in some order. Although she was
extremely frustrated, and con
fided in friends that she might
not run for re-election, she later
qualified and ran an excellent
campaign, finishing with 70 per
cent of the vote. The citizens of
Fulton County chose Dorothy
Vaughn to be their State Court
Judge on two occasions, giving
her a mandate of their votes.
White lawyers, who have re
sented Judge Vaughn and how
she donned the robe from the
very beginning, have now re
sorted to the last straw. They
filed charges with the all-White
Judicial Qualifications Commis
sion (one token black) and they
hope to accomplish what they
could not accomplish before with
the voters of Fulton County. A
multitude of charges have been
piled on, in the hope that at least
some of the charges will eventu
ally stick. Regardless of the out
come of the case, Judge Vaughn
will be hurt and will have under
gone tremendous expense.
teenage girl and then was killed
himself by other teens. The Chi
cago district attorney suggested
that there were other children,
even as young as eight, who were
involved in violence and that the
problem is that we have no way to
lock them up at that age. Locking
up eight-year-olds is not the solu
tion. Neither is sending the chil
dren of jobless single mothers to
orphanages. Putting people out of
sight is not going to put them out
of mind. The lives of our children
are too important for such politi
cal rhetoric and partisan politics.
The lives of our children are too
important to leave them to the
government. Remember that fa
mous line, “Ask not what your
country can do for you, but what
you can do for your country.” We
must re-create that attitude in
our communities. National Urban
League President Hugh Price has
been advocating a fund whereby
those who have can give SSOO or
SI,OOO a year to save our youth.
William Belton, a prisonerin Sing-
Sing, has written me suggesting
that every African American —
young or old, wealthy or poor,
even those in prison — should
give to a fund for our youth. We
Closer Look
best-selling American author and
humanitarian, L. Ron Hubbard.
Described as “a common-sense
guide to better living,” the book
let contains what possibly is the
most complete and workable non
religious moral code ever devised.
It is written to make sense to
people.
“We aren't saying that people
are going to refind their moral
values because someone else says
they should,” explained Horton.
“This is something that people
have to reach for and decide on
their own. But people reading
The Way To Happiness booklet
are presented important moral
values insuch a way they can see
it is in their own best interest to
follow such a moral code. And
they canseethatitisalsointheir
own best interests to help othar
people around them also adopt
clear moral values.”
A growing number of Way To
The Way to Happiness Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt
foundation under 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
These charges reek of sexism
and racism and must not be con
doned by the citizens of Fulton
County. The strength of the Ju
diciary hasbeen, and always will
be, due tothe fact that judges are
not subject to the dictates of the
lawyers who practice before the
courts. Judges serve citizens
and not lawyers. If one studies
the credentials and backgrounds
of the petitioners, one will con
clude that most of them are ei
ther medical malpracticeor DUI
defense lawyers.
The one strength of Judge
Vaughn’s court is that, if you are
a second- or third-time DUI de
fendant, a domestic abuser, or
commit a crime with the use of a
firearm, you are in trouble (to
the consternation of the defense
attorney). A case can be made
that we need more judges who
understand that the citizenry is
fed up with crime and the Judi
cial System that has become a
revolving door.
It is not by accident that an
other African-American Judge,
Josephine Holmes Cook of Fulton
County Superior Court, suffered
and was harassed in a similar
fashion a year ago.
Rep. Tyrone Brooks, of Atlanta, Ga., is a lifelong Human Rights Activist;
State Chairperson, Coalition Vote '94; and President of the Georgia Associa
tion of Black Elected Officials.
must raise dollars from our own
communities for our own youths.
But thelives of our children are
too important for the government
not to provide funds as well. Many
of the problems our youth faces
today revolve around the scarcity
of jobs in our communities. Our
government has yet to develop a
comprehensive strategy for deal
ing with the enormous changes in
the job market over the past de
cade, as we transform from an
industrial economy into a service
and information economy. The
large-scale reduction of blue-col
lar unskilled jobs has had enor
mous impact on communities of
color. Putting people towork clean
ing up parks and flipping ham
burgers is not a long-term solu
tion for supporting families.
Families need other kinds of
support as well -— from govern
ment and from people. The chil
dren involved in the violence or
facing neglect or abuse are chil
dren of families in crisis. They are
children offamilies whodon’t know
how to be families. We need pro
grams to help. We need people in
our communities to help.
The lives of our children are too
important for us all not to be in
Happiness Chapters across the
country are being established to
distribute the booklet in their
local communities. Horton said
that by actual experience, get
ting the booklet into circulation
inacommunity can produce quite
a noticeable effect.
Who can start a Way To Happi
ness chapter? Anyone who is con
cerned about the high levels of
crime and violence and who
wants to do something effective
to make America safe again.
“Now we have a weapon for the
good guys,” said Horton. “But it
will only go as far as communi
ties across America use it.”
For more information about the
“Making America Safe” cam
paign — or the national “Making
America Safe!” youth essay con
test— and a free copy of The Way
To Happiness booklet call 800-
255-7906, or write 6324 Sunset
Blvd., L.A. CA, 90028.
A federal lawsuit is pending
relative tothe all-White judiciary
in Georgia. Black judges are hard
tocome by, and Tyrone Brooks et
al. are dedicated to the goal that
African-Americans reflect the
population in Georgia’s judicial
system. We cannot allow Dor
othy Vaughn to become the sac
rificial lamb for the White
lawyers who are the plaintiffs in
these charges. This caseis larger
than one Black judge vs. White
lawyers. The big picture involves
the challenge to the 11th Con
gressional District, the fact that
Reconstructionin 1994 isat hand,
and the gains as a result of the
Civil Rights Movement are be
ing systematically dismantled,
one step at a time.
The Brooks Settlement is on
Appeal before the Federal 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals. The
Georgia Association of Black
Elected Officials (GABEO)
will fully support Judge Vaughn
and continue our work to chal
lenge and change the Judicial
Branch of Georgia’s Government.
We have come too far to stop. We
will fight this battle until we
realize a new, inclusive system
of justicein our state and nation.
volved, directly and personally.
That’'s what Kent and Carmen
Amos did in Washington, D.C.
nearly 15 years ago. They started
inviting the children of their com
munity into their own home at
night for dinner and conversation
and study sessions. Their num
bers grew to 20 or 25 a night, and
inten years their extended family
grew to 100 young people. Thirty
five have already graduated from
college and another 28 are attend
ing college.
That extended family concept
has grown into the Urban Family
Institute, organized by the Amoses
tofacilitate safe environments for
every child, to change the process
that creates and perpetuates de
structive behavior and to provide
aframework for community-wide
nurturing.
Extending the family. That’s
whatour grandmothersand great
grandmothers did before us. That’s
what wecan doagain. That’s what
government needs to help com
munities find waystodo. Orphan
ages and prisons for children are
not the answer — extending the
family is. We must keep our chil
dren in our sight and in our minds
all the time.
AUGUSTA FOCUS January 5, 1995
IN THE WORKPLACE
Minority firms
not used enough
AUSTIN
(AP) Companies owned by mi
norities and women are being
denied the opportunity to do
business with the state, accord
ing to a new study.
The State of Texas Disparity
Study — a yearlong, $1 million
effort — analyzed which histori
cally under-utilized businesses,
or HUBs, have been able to ob
tain state business.
The benefits of the state’s HUB
program haven’t been evenly dis
tributed, with most increases go
ingtobusinesses owned by Anglo
women and Asians, the report
said.
“The results of the study sug
gest that the Legislature and
state agencies need to take deci
sive steps that will address the
problem of discrimination in a
comprehensive and constructive
way,” state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-
Houston, said Thursday.
Minority business advocates
seek greater state utilization
BALTIMORE
(AP) Minority groups plan to
pressure the state to boost their
share of state contracts to 25
percent following a study that
shows minority firms receive
about 10 percent of state busi
ness.
The amount minority firms
receive is below their represen
tationinvariousindustries, said
Arnold Jolivet, president of the
Maryland Minority Contractors
Association.
The study found that minor
ity-owned businesses received
as little as 26 percent of the
money they would have been
expected to receive, given their
availability in the marketplace.
Researchers at National Eco
nomic Research Associates in
Cambridge, Mass., examined
Minority Business Enterprise
data provided by state agencies
for July 1, 1990, through Dec.
31, 1993, and found that distri
bution of contracts varied widely
by race and sex.
For example, black construc
tion firms received 65.3 percent
of their expected construction
dollars while white women
owned firms received 99.7 per
cent of theirs.
By contrast, in architectural
services, white women-owned
firms received 34.6 percent of
their expected dollars while
Asian and Indian-owned firms
received 218.3 percent of theirs.
Luwanda Jenkins, director of
the Governor’s Office of Minor
ity Affairs, said that Maryland
has a large number of black
businesses per capita that it
helps with financing programs
like the Maryland Small Busi
ness Development Financing
Authority.
“Theoretically that would sug
gest that Maryland would rank
high in utilization of minority
w
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The report was done by Na
tional Economic Research Asso
ciates (NERA), an international
consulting firm that was hired
by the state
comptroller’s
office and
worked with
four Texas
minority
businesses
In
KD E L
with expertise indisparity stud
ies.
The team reviewed sls billion
worth of goods and services pur
chased by state government
from 1989 to 1993.
“This report takes a fair and
balanced look at all the impor
tant factors regarding state pur
chases in Texas and presents
the facts in a comprehensive,
credible and sophisticated re
port,” Comptroller John Sharp
said.
businesses,” Jenkins said. “Un
fortunately, that’s not the case.
We clearly could be doing more.”
The study, which cost $556,427,
has been
distrib
uted to
legisla
tive leaQ:
i
Maryland
ers as a likely basis for hearings
onthe effectiveness ofthe state’s
minority business procurement
program. The program is due to
end June 30.
Researchers looked at four cat
egories of state procurement:
construction; architectural and
engineering services; commodi
ties; and other services.
The geographic area encom
passed by the study includes
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Vir
ginia and Delaware and Wash
ington, D.C., because that is
where the state spends most of
its procurement funds, accord
ing to the authors of the study.
The study recommends that
each procurement area tailorits
goals to match availability of
minority business enterprises,
rather than have a flat 10 per
cent goal for all minority pro
curement contracts.
The study also found that
many state agencies do not doa
good job of monitoring minority
contracts and recommended that
enforcement efforts be strength
ened.
The study was required by .
the legislature in 1989, follow
ing a Supreme Court decision
striking down the minority busi
ness set-aside program in Rich
mond, Va. The Supreme Court
said states and municipalities
could adopt race-based prefer
ence programs only if the gov
ernment could demonstratethat
race-conscious remedies are nar
rowly tailored to remedy racial
discrimination.
9