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Black districts under attack
B Supreme Court throws
out newly created majority
black district in Georgia
after 5-4 vote.
By Frederick J. Benjamin Sr.
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
The conservative Supreme Court scored a
victory for its ideological fellow travelers when
it struck down Georgia’s 11th District last Thurs
day. In a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that
the creation of the 11th District violated the
constitution because race was the sole factor
used in drawing the district. Justice Anthony
Kennedy, writing for the majority, ruled that
states may not use race as the primary criterion
in drawing congressional districts.
Just what the ruling means for the future is
still uncertain. Don Fowler, the national Demo
cratic Party chairman, said the court’s stand
depends on the position taken by Justice Sandra
Day O’Connor, widely regarded as the swing
vote in the 5-4 ruling.
“The court’s opinion is not clear to what extent
race is an acceptable factor,” Fowler said. “It’s
like the pornography cases of a couple of decades
ago, when they said they can’t define it, but they
know it when they see it.”
At this point it is still unclear whether a panel
of federal judges will redraw the districts or
whether a special session of the legislature will
be convened.
The Georgia state legislature created the dis
trict in such a manner as to ensure the election
of a black candidate. It did so under a mandate
from the U.S. Justice Department which stated
that majority-black districts must be drawn
wherever and whenever it was possible to do so.
Now, as a result of last week’s ruling, all such
districts face challenges.
“If this decision is applied in a literal way, you
can'’t escape the fact that in virtually all these
plans, race was the predominant factor,” said
Laughlin McDonald, an American Civil Liber
ties Union lawyer in Atlanta.
Selwyn Carter, director of voting rights pro
grams at the Southern Regional Council, said
race always was a prime consideration in the
more than 2,000 local and state redistricting
See 11th District, page 2
INSIDE
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FOR GOUDNESS DAKE
FOR SAINEORY sX MV
JULY 6 - 12, 1995 VOL. XIV NO. 707 |
FOCUS
Metro Augusta's Finest Weekly Newspaper
Reactions to the Supreme Court ruling
' ' mJoseph Lowery, president Southern
.wa . Christian Leadership Conference:
k& | | “Supreme Court Justice Clarence Tho
& = mas suffers from an identity crisis. He
;;' should be compared to Benedict
Arnold, Judas and Brutus.”
m President Bill Clinton: “The decision is a setback in
the struggle to ensure that all Americans participate
fully in the electoral process, and it threatens to under
mine the promise of the Voting Rights Act.”
Last ATM machine removed
from black business district
B First Union official
cites lack of usage,
sale of building as
reason for removal
of ATM last week.
By Rhonda Y. Maree
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
In January of last year, the
only bank on the developing
business corridor of Laney-
Walker Boulevard closed. Last
week, the only automatic teller
machine in the historic black
business district was removed.
But this is the beginning of
something better for the Laney-
Walker area, according to First
Union Bank officers.
Sam Schreiber, Augusta area
president of First Union Bank,
said a businessman recently
purchased the building located
on the corner of Laney-Walker
Boulevard and Pine Street.
RACE MATTERS
B
Black women vow to
oQg o @
mobilize in face of setbacks
The National Network for African-American Women and Law plans to
follow in the footsteps of other black women activist groups.
WASHINGTON POST
Washington
Trying to recapture the activ
ism of Sojourner Truth, Ida B.
Wells and other black female pi
oneers, a group of black female
lawyers has launched a national
organization designed to maxi
mize the political clout of Afri
can-American women.
Known as the National Net
work for African-American Wom
en and the Law, the embryonic
organization is pursuing an am
bitious ‘agenda that includes
forming a political action com
mittee, raising money to place
advertising on network televi
sion and exploring a boycott of
California, where a proposed
1996 ballot initiative threatens
to gut virtually all government
sponsored affirmative-action pro
grams.
Last week’s Supreme Court
ruling striking down the district
of a black congresswoman,
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THE LAST ATM MACHINE exited the Laney-Walker Bivd.
business corridor this past weekend. The First Union building
was sold and will house business offices. Photo by Jimmy Carter
The businessman, whose
name Mr. Schreiber would not
reveal, expects to create as
many as 25 jobs with his new
business.
Mr. Schreiber also declined
to disclose the type of business
Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.),
seemsonly to have fired up orga
nizers, who hope to harness the
anger of black women who are
worried about the erosion of 25
years of political gains. Since
1970, the ranks of black female
elected officials have jumped
from 140 to more than 2,100.
“It sharpens our focus on what
work we need to do,” said Bar
bara Arnwine, executive direc
tor of the Lawyers’ Committee
for Civil Rights Under Law and
the driving force behind the new
organization.
The organization is the out
growthofa recent Lawyers’ Com
mittee conference in Washing
ton that drew nearly 1,000 black
women from across the country.
Many of them expressed anger
at the tone of the welfare debate
on Capitol Hill, assaults on affir
mative action, violence that is
claiming the lives of their youth
and a host of other issues.
“People came out of this [con-
o ™ || Cynthia
' % McKinney,
~RF LI 1 Ith District
Rtk | Congress
@ | woman
“My job in the Congress
was to make democra
cy work and | was doing
that until now.”
W For more comments from
Ms. McKinney, See Page 9
that will occupy the building.
“The new potential owner will
renovate the building, and the
machine won’t be needed, but
See ATM MACHINE, page 3
ference] not feeling dejected, but
motivated to get politically in
volved,” said Arnwine. “We're
tapping into a whole group of
people that nobody is tapping
into.”
Eleanor Holmes Norton, the
District of Columbia’s delegate
toCongress, agreed thereis great
potential in organizing what she
called “new economically empow
ered black women” — young ac
countants, lawyers, doctors and
other professionals — “who need
to get a political voice.” Norton
said the conference was a sign of
encouragement, as was a recent
protest by black women in New
York against the celebration of
boxer Mike Tyson’s return from
prison after serving time for rap
ing a black woman.
The National Network for Af
rican-American Women and the
Law is hardly the first group to
try to galvanize black women. It
See BLACK WOMEN, page 3
WR. 808 uenueaenoen
BU
GEORG\A NEWSPAPER Us. :‘é :::g
UNVERSTY OF GA \ Y
3060 \‘ NO. 302
ATHENS GA 30602 12 ) AUGUSTA
Il I G o
National Campaign Targets
Affirmative Action Setbacks
Story Below
®
G.O.P. gains
¥
may be wiped
®
out In remap
B Rising Republican clout in state
may be compromised as Democrats
redraw Congressional district lines.
By Frederick J. Benjamin, Sr.
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
While the reaction to last week'’s historic 5-4 Supreme
Court decision declaring the 11th Congressional District
unconstitutional spanned the gamut from cynical resig
nation to outright horror among the nation’s civil rights
supporters, white Democrats in Georgia were whistling
a different tune.
Indeed, because of the decision, it is likely that the
Democratic-controlled General Assembly will be handed
the task of redrawing many of the district lines. If that
happens, you can be sure that the G.O.P. strongholds
will not be buttressed by a single sympathetic vote. In
fact, some political observers are predicting serious
tampering with newly redrawn Republican districts.
There has even been talk of eroding the district occupied
by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
“You need relatively minor adjustments to make
Democrats competitive in all 11 congressional districts,”
said Democratic Party Chairman John Blackmon. “Those
newly elected Republicans should not get too comfort
able in Washington.”
Indeed, it has often been argued that among the chief
beneficiaries of the creation of the majority-black dis
tricts has been the Republican Party. The reason is
based on the fact that blacks vote Democratic in the vast
majority of cases. When blacks were drawn from dis
tricts historically controlled by white Democrats, those
districts became hotly contested due to the removal of
black Democrats. The net gain of black Democratic
districts resulted in the net decrease of white Democrat
ic-controlled districts and the subsequent gain in Repub
lican-controlled districts.
Republican Party insiders are in no hurry to see a
wholesale challenge of majority-black districts. On the
flip side, white Democrats welcome the renewed scruti
ny of those districts.
Republican Party leaders, however, are wanting not to
appear skittish about the prospects of losing influence.
“The voters have made a real clear choice in the last
few years, and I don’t think they are going to tolerate an
attack on those choices,” said Republican Party Chair
man Rusty Paul.
Black buying
power expands
ATHENS, Ga.
(AP) The amount of mon
ey blacks have to spend is
growing faster than is that
of other U.S. groups, caus
ing retailers and advertis
ers to depend more than
ever on black consumers, a
University of Georgia study
says.
“To many businesses, the
ability to capture the black
spending can make the dif
ference between success
and failure,” said Jeffrey
M. Humphreys, the univer
sity’s director of economic
forecasting.
The study by the univer
sity’s Selig Center for Eco
nomic Growth predicts
black buying power will to
tal $406 billion this year
and reach $427 billion in
1996. It would be the first
time blacks’ disposable in
come has topped the S4OO
billion mark.
The study, released
Thursday, defines buying
power as total personal in
come after taxes. '
It says black buying pow
er will grow 40 percent from
1990, when it was $304 bil
lion, Lo 1996.
That exceeds the 35.2 per
cent increaseanticipated for
total U.S. buying power and
almost doubles the rate for
inflation during the period,
according to the study.
“I'm confident
that black buying
power is going to
continue growing
faster than non
black buying
power, probably
for a number of
decades.”
—Jeffrey M.Humphreys
UGA Selig Center
“I'm confident that black
buying poweris going to con
tinue growing faster than
non-black buying power,
probably for a number of
decades,” Humphreys said.
Black consumers are in
deed growinginimportance,
butthe study’snumbers may
See SPENDING, page 16