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September 21, 1995 AUGUSTA FOCUS
Richardson to be honored
for 71 years’ service
rs. Josephine Allen Richardson
M will be honored with a salute on
Sunday, Sept. 24, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
at the Union Baptist Church, on the corner
of Green and 11th Street, Augusta, Ga.
This public tribute is being sponsored by
the Augusta Black His
tory Committee
(ABHC), the Union Bap
tist Church and the Au
gusta Alpha Kappa Al
pha sorority, being also
undergirded by some 10
other groups with which
she has worked closely
over her outstanding 71-
year volunteer and em-
ployment career.
As Mrs. Richardson is a tad short of 90
years and is just recovering from serious
illness, the church ceremony will be stream
lined to one hour. Community groups and
friends have several appreciation options
for presenting some type of citation or
letter of commendation, or to speak very
briefly.
Mrs. Mamie C. Dunn, head of the local
AKAs, announces her group will sponsor a
short, informal reception at 5:30 p.m. with
in the lower area of Tabernacle Baptist
Church. This will also be open to the pub
lic, and will be followed by a major AKA
reunion and special salute to Soror
Josephine. She has been a member of the
AKA movement for over seven decades, is
a Life Member, was a local cofounder, local
president, and regional leader.
The AKA president observed that, at the
conclusion of the reception ceremonies,
attendees who elect to purchase their sup
per at BL’s restaurant might choose to
leave their autos parked at the church and
walk the two short blocks to the restau
rant.
Mrs. Richardson has given superb edu
cational career service and active volun
teer leadership to a broad variety of orga
nizations and betterment programs since
1924, all of which has greatly advanced the
Greater Augusta Area.
Senator Charles W. Walker praised her,
observing that she was among the key
educator-volunteers who helped him orga
nize the Focus in 1981, and lauding her as
“agreat and eminent Augustan.” The Union
Baptist Church family saluted her 80-year
membership as “priceless.”
Josephine Allen Richardson is a gradu
ate of the old Atlanta University (social
work)in 1929, and was employed the same
year as a program director forthe YWCA at
Chattanooga. Her character-building youth
program turned into family economic sur
vival activities as the Great Depression
progressed into the mid-19305.
She later returned to Georgia and taught
at Statesboro. Our honored received a call
from the Lucy C. Laney nationally ac
claimed Haines Institute to teach. In this
long-time position she counseled and taught
thousands of teen-agers.
World War II brought Mrs. Richardson
and her husband, Dr. C. M. Richardson, to
Walterboro-Colleton County, S.C., where
he was school principal and executive di
rector of the USO. She aided him, serving
as a teacher and senior USO hostess.
The Walterboro Air Base was an impor
tant last site for pilots getting their last
advanced training before departing for
European WWII combat. The Richardsons
recount the special counseling and moral
support given to elements of the Tuskegee
Airmen. Many felt that these extra servic
es helped the “first of their kind black
warriors” meet success in aerial combat,
thus aiding the U.S. national defense ef
fort.
Since 1981
A Walker Group Publication
1143 Laney Walker Blvd.
Augusta, GA 30901
724-7855
"As Mrs. Richardson is a tad
short of 90 years and is just re
covering from serious illness, the
church ceremony will be
streamlined to one hour,” notes
J. Philip Waring. "Community -
groups and friends have several
appreciation options for present
ing some type of citation or
letter of commendation, or to
speak very briefly.”
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J.A. Richardson
After the war the Richardsons moved to
Paine College in Augusta for an almost
three-decade duty stint.
She was both registrar and director of
admissions. Dr. C.A. Richardson was aca
demic vice president and laterinterim pres
ident before his retirement and passing in
the late 19705.
Mrs. Richardson is credited with estab
lishing a modern and highly up-to-date
registrar’s office operation.
She also helped spearhead the securing
of an important federal summer grant for
youth, which helped upgrade both educa
tion, fitness and character-building for
hundreds of teen-agers.
As the civil rights scene approached in
the early '6os, she joined the NAACP and
worked on: voter registration with the
League of Women Voters, served on its
television program and helped manage an
election voting center during this era. She
has been along-time member of the Augus
ta Links and has helped it advance its
various cultural programs.
She was requested by the Sand Hills
Neighborhood Association to do a study of
the nearby cemetery, which was organized
by neighbors in 1906 — during her own
birth period. Mrs. Richardson responded
by researching and publishing a complete
history of this burial place.
The well-being of the inner city lies with
in her feelings. As an officer and task force
leader of the Augusta Women'’s Civic Club,
she enabled a project to secure an ample
supply of shoes, warm clothing and more
for a large segment of needy children. This
constituted itself as a model.
Mrs. Richardson’s interest in the alumni
of Haines Institute — where she graduated
with honors in 1926, and which accepted
her suggestion of holding reunions every
two years — has paid off handsomely.
Her interest in literary, historic and cur
rent affairs is well-known. Back in the
1960 s she was invited to join the
Philomathic Club, an intellectual society
devoted to research and academic publica
tion. In this setting all members are re
quired to do fact-finding and publish a
research paper from time to time.
She is also listed in Who’s Who, Marquis
Edition: American Women in Administra
tive Positions.
Mrs. Richardson has remained active
over the past 10 years in the Atlanta Uni
versity Alumni Association, giving service
and leadership on the local and regional
levels. And she has also received recogni
tion from them. She has served effectively
on the Richmond County Historical Pres
ervation Commission under the late Mar
garet Twiggs.
Her daughter, Wilhemenia Brodie, is a
retired librarian; her granddaughter
Michelle Vareen is an Atlanta ceramics
engineer, and granddaughter Lisa Brodie
is alocal school teacher. She also has three
small great-grandsons.
Editorial
Charles W. Walker
Publisher
Frederick Benjamin
Managing Editor
Dot T. Ealy
Marketing Director
Rhonda Jones
Copy Editor
Rhonda Y. Maree
Reporter
Jimmy Carter
Distribution
Derick Wells
Art Director
Sheila Jones
Account Representative
Regina Floyd
Account Representative
Lillian Wan
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Canadian government
repression must be stopped
ast week, I was con-
I tacted by Kahn-Tineta
Horn, a Native Cana
dian and President of the
Canadian Alliance in Soli
darity with Native Peoples
(CASNP). She informed me
of several confrontations that
are currently taking place
between Canadian policeand
Native peoples. On June
24th, a standoff had begun
in British Columbia, Cana
da, between traditionalist
members of the Shuswap
Nation and the Royal Cana
dian Mounted Police. Cur
rently, over 200 armed
Mounties, armed with M-16s
and 9mm automatic pistols
have cordoned off a 5,200
Square-Kilometer section
surrounding the Shuswap
and are preparing for an
armed assault, | o
In a separate incident, the
most recent being September
7, three members of the
PotawatamiNationin Ontario
were shot by the Ontario Pro
vincial Police at Ipperwash
Provincial Park, located on the
St. Clair River. One man,
Dudley George, was killed.
Both disputes center
around land rights. In Brit
ish Columbia, at the request
of a white rancher, the gov
ernment has attempted to
evictthe Shuswap from their
sacred Sundance lands, on
which the Shuswap have
worshipped for centuries.
The Government is treating
them astrespassersand com
mon criminals. The Shuswap
maintain that they never
ceded theirland tothe Cana
dian Government, and there-
Children are our future
f Jesse Jackson is right
I and the true measure of a
nationis how we treat our
children and our elderly, then
recent statistics on U.S. chil
dren show that we don’t mea
sure up well at all. In a nation
of great resources and great
wealth, children in the United
States are poorer than chil
dren in other Western, indus
trialized countries. Amidst
great wealth our children suf
fer in great poverty.
The Luxembourg Income
Study was recently released
which showed that only in Is
rael and Ireland, two nations
which have been caught up in
war, are poor children worse
off than our poor children.
Indeed, the United States has
the most prosperous children
inthe world, while also having
nearly the poorest.
The study measures the
annual incomes of the poorest
families, including govern
ment benefits like food stamps
and tax credits. But the study
does not include free govern
ment services, like free medi
calandchild careservicesavail
able in many European coun
tries, which would probably
push the U.S. even lower on
the list.
In British Columbia, at the request of a
white rancher,” says Dr. Lenora Fulani,
"the government has attempted to evict
the Shuswap from their sacred Sundance
lands, on which the Shuswap have wor
shipped for centuries. The government is
treating them as trespassers and common
criminals. The Shuswap maintain that they
never ceded their land to the Canadian
Government, and therefore the govern
ment has no legal jurisdiction.”
fore the government has no
legaljurisdiction. Theywant
the matter tobe settled by an
impartial third party.
The land at Ipperwash,
which was usurped from the
Potawatami by the Canadi
an Armed Forces during the
Second World War, was sup
posed to have been returned,
but instead was turned into
anational park. Last month,
Potawatami men, women
and, children stormed the
gates of the park to reclaim
their land.
Such conflictisnothingnew.
The history of both the Cana
dian and United States gov
ernments is that of constant
disregard for native peoples,
and their land rights. When
formal agreements and trea
ties are made, they are almost
always violated.
One new feature of this
current situation is that the
Canadian Government and
Canadian media are trying
tolabel the Native peoples as
“Maverick Cultists” and “Ter
rorists.” It is part of a recent
The Community Childhood Hunger Identifi
cation Project has found that 13 million poor
children under age 12 are hungry or at risk
of hunger,” notes Bernice Powell Jackson.
“Thirteen million hungry children in a nation
of great wealth, in a nation that proposes to
give tax money back to the rich.”
Thesefigurescome atatime
when 22 percent of American
childrenlivein poverty. These
figures come at a time when
the government is about to
dismantle food stamps, cut
back tax credits for the poor
and cut both child care and
welfare benefits for single
mothers.
As T write this, debate on
welfare reform is swirling
around in the Senate, where
Senator Dole is still trying to
get enough votes to pass his
reform, whichreflectsthe Con
tract with America’s positions.
Meanwhile, others, including
Senators Dodd, Kennedy,
Hatch and Breaux, are intro
ducing amendments to put
back into the budget child care
funds, and to eliminate some
of the most dangerous provi
sions of the Dole Bill. Still
pattern in which small reli
gions, non-mainstream po
litical groups, and other anti
establishment organizations
that oppose the policies of
their governments are given
the“Cult”label. Inthe 19505,
the term “Communist” was
used to demonize opponents
ofthe U.S. Government. Now
that the cold waris over, new
labels are being used to de
humanize dissidents.
Here in the United
States—a country founded
by religious mavericks—the
term “Cult,” an unscientific
and politically loaded term,
isbeingused totar and feath
er the very people and orga
nizations that our Constitu
tion is supposed to protect
from persecution. Such
demonization creates an en
vironment where the viola
tionof constitutional rights—
be they Canadian or United
States Constitutional
rights—becomes possible, if
not probable. Witness the
outcome in Waco, Texas,
where the labeling of the
other Senators are introduc
ingamendments which would
further punish poor women
and children, such as includ
ing foster care and adoption
assistance programs in the
sweeping cuts.
But where in the Congres
sional debate is the voice of
poor women? Where are the
voicesand faces ofthechildren
who will be most impacted by
these cuts? Where is the voice
of reason which reminds the
nation that we are all mea
sured not by the strength of
how much we are able to cut
the budget or cut taxes for the
wealthy, but by how we treat
the most vulnerable?
The Community Childhood
Hunger Identification Project
has found that 13 million poor
childrenunderage 12arehun
gry or at risk of hunger. Thir-
Branch Davidians as a cult
influenced and justified the
tactics used against them.
According to the Canadi
anAlliancein Solidarity with
Native Peoples, the atmo
sphere in Canada is very
tense. There is growing out
rage atthegovernment’s use
offorce rather than diploma
cy. At CASNP’s request, I
sent letterstothe Prime Min
ister of Canada, Jean
Chretien;the Premier of Brit
ish Columbia, Michael
Harcourt; and British Co
lumbia’s Attorney General,
Ujjal Dommanj, urgingthem
to restrain the Royal Cana
dian Mounted Police and to
desist in their campaign to
demonize the Shuswap. But
much more support is need
ed. The situation in British
Columbia is still dangerous,
and international pressure
is critical to help avert a
bloodbath. Please phone, or
fax letters of protest to:
B Premier Michael
Harcourt - (604) 387-0087
FAX
B Attorney General
Dossanj - (604) 387-0087
FAX
B Prime Minister Jean
Chretien - (613) 941-6900
FAX
B RCMP Squad at 100
Mile House - (604) 395-
3605 PHONE
B CASNAP (416) 972-1573
PHONE / (416) 972-6232
FAX
teen million hungry children
in a nation of great wealth, in
a nation that proposes to give
tax money back to the rich.
The Department of Agricul
ture recently estimated that
hadfood stamp programsbeen
block granted as proposed, $43
billion in benefits toneedy peo
ple would have been lost and
that states would have been
forced to eliminate 17 million
people—half of them chil
dren—fromthefood stamppro
gram.
As a child growing up in the
Nation’s Capital, I vividly re
member President Lyndon
Johnsoncallingthisnationinto
aWaron Poverty. Iremember
his challenge that we as a na
tion must do better so that no
child would be hungry, so that
every child would have a bed
and an opportunity to learn.
How have we lost that com
mitment and that compassiorz:
in only a generation? If oul§
children are cur future, are wé
as a nation saying there is no
place for poor children and,
likethebiblical Isaac, theymust
be sacrificed? Or, if poor chil
dren are to be part of our fu
ture, how can we sacrifice the
future of our nation by not
providing child care and food?