Newspaper Page Text
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September 28, 1995 AUGUSTA FOCUS
Redistricting, affirmative
action, school board woes
edistricting session attempted
Rto “turn back the clock”
People are talking about many
important and sundry matters as we go
into the cooler days of Autumn.
One of those issues is the timely televi
sion report to the people on what actually
happened in Atlanta at the redistricting
session, with the reviews being made by
Senator Charles Walker and Rep. Henry
Howard. It was an alive report on last
Sunday morning’s Parade of Quartets on
Channel 6 at 9:30 a.m.
They pointed out that their report would
probably have differed had some come out
from pundits in the daily media. One of the
real but unfortunate reasons that strong
forces attempted to “turn back the clock” is
that there surfaced an unexpected amount
of unfairness and negativity. It appeared
that lots of hands were out to kill off most
of our hard-earned Afro-American repre
sentation. And with over 1 million resi
dents of color, one-third of Georgia is Afro-
American. We must watch this situation
closely.
Public affirmative-action forum
Augusta Together, an interracial group,
will sponsor a special free and public edu
cational forum on affirmative action, on
Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 4 p.m., on the ground
floor auditorium at the University Hospi
tal. Turn left after going through the main
entrance. This valuable information pro
gram replaces the October noon luncheon.
Put it on your calendar.
New churches to be dedicated
The 200-year-old Old Storm Branch Bap
tist Church will have its new swank sanc
tuary, gymnasium, and youth development
center complex dedicated on Sunday, Oct.
1 at 3 p.m. This wonderful new complex
immediately west of the present structure
will eventually roll around $1 million. The
public is invited, states the Rev. N. Ervin,
pastor.
Look and listen for the announcement of
TO BE EQUAL
Cities define civilizations
hink of a civilization, a nation, even a
I state. What’s the next word that comes
almost instantly to mind?
Probably the name of its principal city or
major cities.
America — New York City, Chicago, L.A.,
.and Miami, of course. China — Beijing
England — London. Kenya — Nairobi.
Jamaica -Kingston. Louisiana — New Or
leans.
Jim Sleeper, author of The Closest of
Strangers, calls cities and their neighbor
hoods the “crucibles of civic culture.”
With their parks, festivals and museums,
they are endless sources of enlightenment or
therapeutic distraction, even for those of us
with modest means.
Vibrant, exciting cities boost the national
psyche, not to mention America’s tourism
rrelated balance of payments. Decaying and
dangerous cities depress us and scare off
tourists.
Cities are the scene where commerce, cul
iture, community institutions and commu
mnal experiences converge.
Earlier this summer, my wife and I at
itended a festival of African and Caribbean
music at Summerstage in New York City’s
Central Park.
Probably some 7,000 people were there
with us, of every complexion, culture and
clothing style imaginable, standing shoul
der to shoulder for three hours sharing both
.space and experience.
Ny (feyels
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"Another topic which won’t be
swept under the rug is the pain
and great embarrassment to the
Augusta area caused by half of
the Richmond County Board of
Education trustees abruptly
walking out of their official meet
ing when they could not get
their way on a new superinten
dent,” notes J. Philip Waring.
the public dedication of the beautiful ca
thedral-like United House of Prayer at
Wrightsboro Road and Mill St. It is being
called the most beautiful religious edifice
in Augusta.
Another topic which won’t be swept un
der the rug is the pain and great embar
rassment to the Augusta area caused by
half of the Richmond County Board of
Education trustees abruptly walking out
of their official meeting when they could
notget their way on a new superintendent.
In-depth news stories and interviews on
the front pages of both the 14-year-old
Augusta Focus and the 13-year-old Metro-
Courier, coupled with some other press, bit
into this incident.
It is alleged the walk-out was prompted
when it was discovered that a Black female
candidate, who placed highly among the
final four (out of over 40 applicants), might
be selected.
For some strange reason all the contents
of Dr. Hattie Washington’s very complete
resume were not brought forth. Suddenly
her credibility was attacked on radio and,
out of the blue, she was labeled a “quota
queen” and her name linked with someone
shedid not know — this was highlighted in
previous press accounts.
Let’s hope for more healing and under
standing.
Notes Hugh B. Price, "It
dawned on me during the con
cert that, given America’s evolv
ing demographics, it's in parks,
communities and cities like this
across the country where the
future of America will be sorted
out.”
m
It dawned on me during the concert that,
given America’s evolving demographics, it’s
in parks, communities and cities like this
across the country where the future of Amer
ica will be sorted out.
Despite the reversals they’ve suffered, cit
iesremain the hub of the American economy
and of American life.
Even suburbanites and suburban firms
stay inside the orbit of cities by choice.
They draw economic sustenance and cul
tural stimulation from them, unabletoimag
ine existing entirely out of touch with cities
and the urbanized suburbs that surround
them.
According to the Urban Institute, 8 out of
10 Americans live in metropolitan areas
with cities at the core. The U.S. metropoli
tan population actually grew between 1950
and 1990 to a total of 193 million Americans.
Cities are synonymous with civilization.
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
Editorial
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BY MARGULIES FOR THE RECORD, HACKENSACK, N.J.
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
@ ® & &
Choices and limits on choices
t’s hard to talk about. 1t
I brings about great emo
tion. There is little or
no agreement on it in the
African-American commu
nity or any other communi
ty for that matter. It’s the
question of whether a wom
an should have the right to
choose — a woman’s right
tochoose not tohave a baby.
The fact of the matter is
that many Americans donot
believe in abortion for them
selves. You might not know
it by reading the papers or
watching the evening news,
but most Americans believe
that a woman must have
the right to choose for her
self and that neither gov
ernment nor family, neither
the neighbors nor the
church have the right to
interfere in that woman’s
decision. Most Americans
believe that decision must
be between that woman and
her God.
Extremists in this emo
tional debate have already
killed, have already
bombed, have already
maimed and threatened.
Progress for all people
e should wonder if
W movie production
companies would
choose Aiken, Edgefield,
and surrounding counties
in the CSRA to film in if we
were still embroiled in dis
cussions about school inte
gration, district voting, and
the like. We should seri
ously doubt it. When we
move forward as a total
community, the focus we
haveis beneficial for every
one. Now that consolidation
is a moot point, Augusta-
Richmond County will
hopefully meet the same
fate.
Economic development is
sorely dependent upon the
political involvement of a
community. Our vote
counts for something more
than getting a candidate
elected. It is how we are
unified; it is the image that
we project. When one part
of that image is fuzzy be
causeitisnotclearorstrong
enough, then the commu
nity’s picture is definitely
not as sharp and in focus as
it should or could be. The
African-American contents
need to be adjusted. The
adjustment is apparently
still not complete, but it is
Look in the growing classified section of the
FOCUS for your next job!
R P e T e
Regarding abortion, Bernice Powell
Jackson says, "You might not know it by
reading the papers or watching the evening
news, but most Americans believe that a
woman must have the right to choose for
herself and that neither government nor
family, neither the neighbors nor the church
have the right to interfere in that woman’s
decision.”
Violence is a part of this
debate all over the country.
But no place has experi
enced more violence than
Pensacola, Florida.
Soitwasin Pensacolalast
week that the Religious
Coalition for Abortion
Rights held its national
meeting of religious women
and men who believe that
every woman must be free
to make decisions about
when to have children ac
cording to her own con
science and her own reli
gious beliefs, not those im
posed by others. They met
constantly under the pro
tective eye of the local po
Says Lawrence Harrisoen, "EConomic
development is sorely dependent upon the
political involvement of a community. Our
vote counts for something more than get
ting a candidate elected. It is how we are
unified; it is the image that we project.
When one part of that image is fuzzy be
cause it is not clear or strong enough, then
the community’s picture is definitely not as
sharp and in focus as it should or could be.”
much better than it used to
be. What was right in prin
ciple has proven to be right
in practicality.
It was a matter of making
formal that which was infor
mal from the time of our
American existence. Our sep
arate communities within
the total community were
“separate” in name only. Af
rican-Americans in the
South knew that well; we
knew it as we rode by com
munity schools to go to ours;
we knew it from paychecks
that originated outside ofour
neighborhoods, and we knew
it because in stores money
had no segregation. Our so
cial fabric was always a mix.
All we have to do is open our
minds as well as our eyes.
lice. They met knowingthat
they were in a hostile place.
- But they met to bring their
| support to the small group
. of people in Pensacola ded
tcated to providing compre
hensive reproductive health
services for women in that
city, including abortion ser
vices.
But the attempts to limit
choices of women, especial
ly tolimit the choices of poor
women, are not confined to
reproductive health issues.
While conservatives would
limit the right of a woman
to choose about abortion on
the one hand, on the other
hand conservatives in Con-
We will see and know the
truth. No mis-guided think
ing can blind us if we seek
truth. It can only set us free,
set all of us free.
South Africa did not de
stroy itself when it became
multi-cultural and multi
participatory. The fear-and
hate-mongers were wrong
there, and they are wrong
about the same in America.
We will be what we allow
ourselves to be. We cannot
afford to believe that we
can only fashion a whole
and right society on a local
level. Can thoughts of bud
get deficits and political phi
losophies really cloud our
belief in and our judgment
of our fellow humans so
much? It is the question we
gressincluded provisionsin
the welfare reform bills to
cut off additional funds if a
woman has additional chil
dren.
Still another proposed cut
would affect poor mothers’
choices about child care.
The original Republican
bills eliminated the child
care program funds for poor
mothers, thus forcing them
to choose either leaving
their children home alone
or with substandard and
dangerous child care. And
the new Medicaid provi
sions may well take away
poor mothers’ choices about
whether they can afford to
take sick children to the
doctor.
In still another attempt
to limit choices, Congress
has cut jobs training pro
grams and poor people will
find it difficult to locate the
very programs which they
need to get off of welfare.
Limiting choices of poor
women seems to be the
theme of many people in
power right now. It’s pretty
frightening.
need to ask ourselves as a
nation. Our history and
promise will indeed appear
pointless if we cannot give
the proper answer, and we
are running out of chances.
Perception, in most cas
es, does count for every
thing; however, we can nev
er stop there. In the past, a
different perception told us
that what looked right was
right. It was the wrong per
ception, not an American
perception. The fact that
some may still want to see
itdoes not changeits wrong
ness or make it acceptable.
The image we must have
now is in all colors, of all
kinds. It is the only image
we can have for the 21st
century. We should be about
the business of making im
age reality, for what will
save us will be in how we
see ourselves: the total hu
mankind, as a people, as a
nation.
History does not have to
be ancient to matter. Our
mistakes canalsoberecent.
It is in how we recognize
history, in how we correct
our mistakes. The same re
sult will occur locally or
even nationally. It will be
in how we better ourselves.