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THEE FE T ) _fif*f‘ g i BBSS oo S 1 - .. 0 et o EE T W TTS 0 e 2 Kk r— : RTRS e o - \fi’ I W e o s - BT G a - i PN rangoponms 92 ._‘ < AR m——— DB G 2 " F {;g;w‘; T cw :‘. ,am«- 3 SRR B 7 R IO . RE R M g ) 2 A B what is = .. : e ;’1"‘“ 5 OO L 3 Le } e bMj £ 3 5 i LR 3 s R e | 7 A matter of racism? “If Dr. Washington # e was pot competent, At : how did she become - i one of the four final- ; o ists? That woman did s = y - not impress me as E ¢ ho woulll & ST UCRUTR LTI S PR .o put on to try to get e » . job. She just told it . e like it was.” g{; ‘ — Kingsley Riley, ;. Richmond County Wg School Board . member. i B Black school board members do the right thing. By Frederick Benjamin Sr. ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION AUGUSTA The 5-5 deadlock last week over selecting Richmond County’s new school superintendent underscores with crystal clarity the sad conse quences of racial enmity fueled by right-wing conservatives in the Augusta media. Uncowed by the blatantly racist attacks against a highly qualified candidate, Dr. Hattie Washington of Maryland, the five black mem bers of the Richmond County School Board held the line, stuck together and, overnight, became heroes in the black community. With sickening regularity the latent xenopho bia that exists in this community is amplified in the Augusta Chronicle editorial pages under the guise of “conservative” analysis. On September 14, the day that the trustees were to decide on a : See SUPERINTENDENT, page 3 EE I e ;zfié :"«,_‘ ’ 7 Johnnie Jackson: “The negative things about Dr. Washington were based on a distortion of facts. If you check the woman'’s record and have heard her interviews a dummy could have concluded that the woman was very superior. ” B e s e ;2; BLocal News ' Z...x o o 5 0523 ;::3 I . i SMowear o b SEWERNRL s 22 WA Cloer Lokt instiid 9 Bi S i, 10 = WBlack College Sports .................. 12 0 MRS oot St it 13 ff WBUSMess . ;... ik g 14 élChurch WNews oAoit vl e WCHlcntar. ........... ... mEe 19 WClassifieds ...l . 90923 & . . S v — TR T i ;};@,(",)fi%/gt f*‘-’),(.{%’éfzf‘;iil;x . RGe A G A s Gl ah M e : L a %"“ N Wellga o N S R ok o“« e s Lol “’?"v’* van . i S W e L e R i ik e R it s v ie :{ 557 4&:«//« (%’% i iR e P e L "é""*f"?‘" s 2e S ik i R A o GG i Lo e . el ,A&%fié“f" f 2t /{f%g<;'fo,’i{’;’,-,{,.i,<§f 7 '?7 i et T G wvd‘}zwdfiéf :o el . 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Is black candidate for school superintendent considered too black and too strong for Augusta? ol course! n [ = Candidate not giving up “Think about the message being sent to the children.” | e e e By Frederick Benjamin Sr. AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer ' ‘ AUGUSTA When Dr. Hattie Washington learned that the school board was deadlocked 5-5 between her and an other candidate she didn’t think much of it. g “It was a little surprising,” she said from her home in Maryland. “I thought it was a little coincidental that all of the black members voted for nje and all of the white members s Y AN y i Adna Stein: “The only reason Kenneth Echols said that she [Dr. Washington] was a clone of Jocelyn Elders is because he knew it would scare white folks to death.” Locals seek to hoost march By Rhonda Y. Maree AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer AUGUSTA Don’t be surprised to see cler gymen and representatives of the Nation of Islam when visit ing popular local night spots. But they’re not there for the music and drinks. The Million Man March on Washington scheduled for Oct. 16 has pulled community lead ers away from traditional set tings in an effort torecruit black men for the historical event. Called by Nation of Islam Your local newspaper sponsored by your local grocer. voted against. I just assumed that they didn’t know the correct infor mation. Then I said maybe the oth ercandidate had better credentials. Maybe I was just naive.” But when she learned that the day before the vote one of the school board members went on a public broadcast to say she was the worst candidate and had never taught a day in the classroom and the edito rial writer from the daily newspa- See CANDIDATE, page 2 TN . L e oA ’ 1 b A | BN * ‘x Andrew Jefferson: “She is very very articulate. She won’t sway to the whims of certain interest groups. That is one of the reasons why they don’t want her. We saw her as someone who had the total package.” leader Louis Farrakhan, the marchisintended to unite black men and promote responsibili ty among them. “There’sthe question of where are all the black men,” said Terence Dicks, Augusta branch National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo ple second vice president. “Let’s face it. A lot of those that aren’t in prison or in the graveyard are in night clubs. They have a nice little social life, and that’s where they are,” he said. With this in mind, Mr. Dicks, | a Dr. Washington: “I’'m used to doing twice as much to get halfthe oppor tunity.” ‘ ; '“:f»;.ézfifl:,. # ’ " - 2B Y.N. Myers: “They wanted a white male. Mr. Thomas Richie was that white male. He and Washington were the top two. No question about it. When he wouldn’t come for the money, they tried to get number three — Mr. Smith.” the Rev. Larry Friar, Harold X and other march organizers have been going to night clubs to pass out literature and speak to par ty-goers. “We’re not trying to interrupt anybody’s good time,” Mr. Dicks said. “They go there to escape the issues, but they need to know what time it is.” On a recent recruiting effort, Mr. Dicks said some men at the club accepted the hand-outs and showed interest, but noone com mitted to the march because See MARCH, page 2 MR. 808 HENNEBERGER gy GEORGIA NEWSPAPER WWYERBTTY 004 BULK RATE [ ATHE| s, : : 5 bwo o | el ; : S NO. 302 : G AUGUSTA, GA . , Andrea — 8 Arceneaux to give ’ keynote address. See Business ‘ Focus, p. 14. Merger ok jump-starts candidates B The waiting has ended for those ready to . enter the fight for seats in the new government. By Rhonda Y. Maree AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer AUGUSTA With the U.S. Justice Department’s nod of ap proval last Friday on con solidation of Augusta and Richmond County, six Au gusta City Council mem bers are due refunds for their slßl qualification fee for seats that will no long er exist after Dec. 31. But for those who still want a seat in the new government, qualifying will cost much more, and winning will be much hard er. On Nov. 7, voters will go to the polls to decide who will head the new govern THE MEETING —— ... along racial lines! B School board attempts to take care of unfinished business. By Rhonda Jones AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer AUGUSTA “I'm not so sure I'd want to be a superintendent for this board,” Richmond County School Board Pres ident Kenneth Echols ad mitted in the dark parking lot after last Thursday’s conference room skirmish. He shook his head. “If the 10 of us can’t work togeth er, I would hope we could get 10 more board mem bers.” Mr. Echols was one of the four white trustees who “picked up their marbles” and tried to go home when the meeting turned into a snarling free-for-all of name-calling and innuen do. After the board bulleted through the committee dis cussions in a rare half hour, Trustee Jeff Annis planted his elbows on the table and moved that Ttem 14, the last on the agenda, be taken care of first. Head ed “unfinished business,” it was the task of appoint ment. Not considering new comers, many of the 22 county and city incumbents, including Mayor Charles A. DeVaney, will battle among themselves over 11 seats. Based on Richmond County Board of Education Districts, here’s how the competition stands: District 1: Willie Mays, Colis Ivey, Margaret Armstrong, James Tarver, Lee Beard, C.S. Hamilton and J.R. Hatney. District 2: Freddie Handy and Kathleen Beasley. District 3: Lee Neel, Travers Paine, Gerald Woods, William Calhoun and Carolyn Usry. District 4: Moses Todd. District 5: Henry Brigham, Melvin Ford and See MERGER, page 2 RAR PR R R e . e MR Voters okay 1% sales tax ing the next Richmond County Superintendent of Schools. Vice President Andrew Jefferson, who sits next to Mr. Annis and frequently whispers back and forth with him during meetings, seconded the motion. It passed quickly and unani mously. Mr. Annis then nominat ed Dr. William Edward 4 ™ Kenneth Echols, Rich mond County School Board President: “I’'m not so sure I’d want to be a superintendent for this board.” Smith Jr., to be voted “yes” or “no” by each member. Mr. Jefferson sat up. “We already agreed,” he said, to a roll-call vote. He was re ferring to a “substitute mo tion” of his, wherein each trustee would vote on a fa- See MEETING, page 9