Augusta focus. ([Augusta, Ga.) 198?-current, March 21, 1996, Image 8

Augusta focus., March 21, 1996, Page 8, Image 8

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Newspaper Page Text8 March 21, 1996 AUGUSTA FOCUS Kent & company shutout in the battle of Atlanta Hip hip horay for the legisla tive delegation -- especially the Senate. By failing to pass the unnecessarily intrusive Coliseum Authority-and-School Board Leg islation a message was sent loud and clear to Mr. Phil Kent and Billy Morris that if the legisla tion is not right, it’s not going to fly. Period. By bringing up bogus concerns and hyping problems that don’t exist the daily newpapers hope to keep mess stirred up. Well, they have another year to fine-tune their mischief. The School-Board maneuver GOING PLACES By J. Philip Waring A brief look back rom time to time it is good to re- F view past happenings and evalu atecurrentactivities. And this goes for individuals, groups, institutions and community changes. These observations may include posi tives or negatives, and are informally expressed as this columnist’s opinions. Some of the things I liked most include that fine January Ist inaugural ceremo ny of the newly elected leaders, and their movement forward to attain unity and successful internal operations while work ing hard to clear away some of the unfor tunate and unsuccessful movements by the two old-form local bodies. In addition to the grand inaugural, the opening of BL’s Restaurant and induc tion of Dr. Mac Andrew Bowman after his election as chief of staff at the University Hospital were among the big and positive advances, despite many more problems to solve and barriers to hurdle. There were two major business confer ences designed to measure and improve the economy of the greater Augusta area. Among those involved were the Chamber of Commerce, UGA, Augusta College and the CSRA Business League. Other negative happenings were on the civil rights-political redistricting front. This included the loss of two con gressional seats —the Eleventh and Second District with U.S. Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas lending the deciding vote in the 5-4 split deci sion. And following that the majority Democrat controlling body in the 1995 General Assembly voted to take away two Senate and 11 House seats from minority-group status. Members of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials (GABEO) and allied groups including Senator Charles Walker and Tyrone Brooks ali charged that the Afro- American vote and franchise in Georgia was being devastated and that the clock was being turned back. Further negative findings, by a Rich mond County Grand Jury, pointed to the county garage situation and its records and past personnel activities. All of these activities may have caused some local embarrassment. Augusta expands its cultural front Television viewers saw several excel lent lectures on Augusta history by Dr. James E. Carter 111, who heads student nusustafF QO CUS Since 1981 A Walker Group Publication 1143 Laney Walker Blvd. was unorthodox, but refreshing in the way it took the right-wing crowd completely by surprise. The Chronicle launched a par ticularly disgusting attack against Mary Oglesby for going along with the Larke appoint ment to superintendent and the sweeping reorganization of the Board’s adminstrative positions. The newspaper’s chiding of Ms. Oglesby’s “rainbow coalition” was particularly obnoxious. What we need is more of this “rainbow coalition” stuff and less megalo mania on the part of Mr. Kent and company. activities at the Medical College of Geor gia. To a standing-room-only audience at the uptown Veterans Administration Medical Center, Dr. Leslie Pollard brought the house down with a thrilling Martin Luther King-kind of address ... then Dr. Edward J. Cashin gave his dedication at Springfield Baptist Church on his new book Old Springfield: Race and Religion in Augusta, Georgia. His simple talk gen erated many sincere “amens.” Dr. Lawrence Carter, Morehouse Col lege’s Martin Luther King Chapel dean, inspired a sense of pride and provided much information with his dynamic his torical sermon connecting old Morehouse officials and Springfield Baptist Church, which affected great parts of Afro-Amer ican history. On Feb. 8-9, the 15th anni versary of “The Conference of the Black Experience,” there were many salutes for Dr. Leslie Pollard and his loyal Paine associates. It was hailed as a first-class historical model in action for 15 continu ous years. The two-day program was con ducted during the 114th Paine College convocation. Dr. Cashinconducted a two-day confer ence on Feb. 29 and March 1 at Spring field and Augusta College. He brought in several out-of-town speakers and histori ans, all of whom had written about Au gusta. They gave reviews and reports, and answered questions. There was also a reception for them and local residents at the Augusta Genealogical Society. Another highlight of February was a major lecture given on The Life and Times of Dr. William Jefferson White by Mr. Bobby Donaldson at the Laney Museum of Black History. A native Augustan, he’s working onhis history doctorate at Emory University. Black history programs were also held by students separately at both Augusta College and Paine College. An announcement was made of Dr. Cashin’s June retirement. This comes after more than three decades of out standing academic service heading the Augusta College department of history and anthropology. In a later column, there will be more on his new job as director of a new center at Augusta College to help coordinate historians and others teaching research and writ ing about Augusta history. Charles W. Walker Publisher Frederick Benjamin Managing Editor Dot T. Ealy Marketing Director Rhonda Jones Copy Editor Phyllis: Evans Reporter Derick Wells Art Director Sheila Jones Office Manager Lillian Wan Layout Artist Editorial NEW VISIONS COMMENTARY By Michael Session BWC: empowering women he Black Women’s Center (BWC) lo- I catedinCleveland, Ohioisagrassroots organizationdeveloped toaddressthe social, political and economic problemschar acteristic of poor urban communities. The BWC also seeks to explore new and innova tiveapproaches for addressingissues facing urban America. The BWC seeks 'to initiate an agenda specifically related to black women and theirchildren and toorganize women forthe purpose of bettering conditions in the black community. It holds business development, health, education, housing and welfare as paramount. The purpose ofthe BWC istoeducate and expand the knowledge base of black women through education, research and social in teraction thatis culturally-based. The BWC seeks to educate black women with non partisaninformationabout voting, elections, and political participation, and hopes to develop and promote an agenda for black children and youth that is grassroots, in volving programs and services that contrib ute to their mental, physical, spiritual, so cial, cultural, medical and educational well being. CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL By Bernice Powell Jackson A call to Stand for Children his has been a tough year for our I nation’s poor children. Their wel fare has been teetering like a see saw on the edge of Congressional rhet oric and political expediency. Millions have almost lost their health care, their school lunches and food stamps and the much-needed dollars their unemployed or under-employed parents have re ceived. After several months of political games and stalled budget negotiations, nooneis quite sure yet what the Governor’s pro posed solutions to the welfare and Medic aid stalemates will actually mean for the poorest of the poor or whether those pro posals will actually be accepted by the Congress and the president. While Pres ident Clinton had seemed to hold theline against the harshest welfare and Medic aid “reforms,” both the president and Congress are under increasing pressure to solve the budget problems and get on THIS WAY FOR BLACK EMPOWERMENT By Dr. Lenora Fulani Is a Black party the best way to go independent? frican-American politics are in Aan upheaval. Why? Because the value of our traditional alliances and loyalties has seriously declined, along with oureconomicstatus and sense of community. If we’re going to improve our econom ic prospects and our community, we're going to have to improve our political prospects. The empowerment strategy — which evolved at the National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana in 1972 to elect more Black officials — succeeded in increasing our numbers in Congress and in state legislatures. But it failed to im prove the political and economic position of our community. The time has come to begin building alliances outside the Dem ocratic Party, where ourtraditional polit ical partners — white liberals in particu lar — have abandoned us. Needless to say, the Republican Party offers no alter natives, speculation about General Colin g 8 1 i : | | A AL | CIVITRN - q | TRy I, % (E W TIR 5 G _ ol I vilighe "“ Sl Vel TTWC < . J X }‘2 — "I NoT SURe ApodT His ANSERS, BUT 1 [oVe Ais QuesToNs.” Itisthe view ofthe BWC that a compre hensive approach put forth by black wom en themselves will have the greatest im pact in the black community. It makes the rhetorical point that those victimized by the plight of urban decay are the best qualified to bring about much-needed change. The BWC believes the answer to urban American problems must stem from within the communityitself. In this spirit,the BWC has launched programs and services to ad dress and impact urban problems such as hunger, homelessness, unemployment and underemployment, domestic violence and sexual harassment, drug abuse and gang violence. ~ BW(C-sponsored activities include an ed ucation commission that offers remedial education services and training programs for black women who are out of, in or re entering the workforce. The program offers integrated skill building to enhance their marketability and prepare them for busi ness. Computer literacy, writing, reading, math, communications, finance (business and personal) and creative arts programs are part of the training. with life as usual in Washington. Meanwhile, those who are concerned about children—about poor children and not-so-poor children — are taking our children’s future into their own hands and calling for a National Day of Commit ment to Children. This day, to be held on June 1, will be a day of family and com munity renewal, celebration and com mitment to our nation’s children — all of them. Called Stand for Children, it will be held in Washington, D.C. at the Lincoln Memorial, the site of the historic 1963 March on Washington. “This will not be a partisan or political day,”said Marian Wright Edelman, pres ident of the Children’s Defense Fund, but it will be “a day for all Americans to transcend our differences and affirm what unites us as a people: a sense of fairness, a loving desire to raise moral, healthy and educated children; a belief that in the richest and most powerful Powell becoming Bob Dole’s running mate notwithstanding. Our most viable option is to go independent. Some have argued that an indepen dent move by the African-American elec torate should be into an all-Black party. While I understand this sentiment and have supported efforts in that direction, I do not believe such a move ultimately enhances our political leverage. By our selves, we simply do not have the num bers, nationally or locally. Moreover, even if, in some local races, a Black party could win some elections, once in office elected officials have to partici pate in legislative coalitions with other groups, just as the Congressional Black Caucus must do. Taking elective office with the backing of a multi-constituen cy voter coalition already in hand strengthens the position of Black and Black-allied elected officials in the leg islative social policy-making process. The fundamental challenge for the The Black Women/Child Welfare Project (also called the Welfare Project) locates resources to provide clothing, shelter and nutritious food for needy black families in conjunction with the Hunger/Nutrition Task Force. The Women/Child Welfare Project also runs a thrift shop with clean, worn clothing. The project deals with community-coor dinated adoption, foster and guardian ship issues relating to black youth. The Black Women’s Business Develop ment Center(BWßDC)helps women pre pare to develop, maintain and expand a successful business operation based upon their interests. The idea here is that black-owned businesses will employ oth er black Americans. The BWBDC also provides a black youth apprenticeship program that helps provide young people valuable job experience with pay. Services offered by BWC deal with specif ic issues endemic to women such as domes tic/family violence and abuse, divorce, fam ily violence mediation, rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, family planning, life skills, relationships, careers and self-em ployment. nation on earth no child should be left behind.” This massive day of commitment for children and with children is also de signed to send a message to Congress and the president that the fundamental moral principle of doing no harm to children is a line which must not be crossed. It is designed as a day to hold ourselves and our elected leaders re sponsible for putting children first. ) This national day of commitment will be a day for parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, advocates, providers, edu- i cators and students to come to Wash ington and participate in this historic day. It is being sponsored by a number of national, state and local groups who | are hoping thousands of their members will participate. If you care about chil dren, then be prepared to take a stand . for them. Be prepared to come to Wash- . ington on June Ist. { African-American community in this ' election year is to establish that we can | come together with other forces in ways that make us a significant enough threat : to the status quo to give us some genu ine leverage. I believe the potential for such a new alliance lies with the popu- - list “white center,” otherwise known as the “Perot voter.” By going indepen dent, the Perot voting bloc has created a situation in which the powers-that-be are competing with all their might for them. We need to make ourselves equal- - ly sought-after. Moreover, if African- . Americans — as long-term left popu lists — were to join the white populists in creating a new pro-democracy elec- : toral coalition in an independent party, G we'd be part of a new plurality that i could win three-way elections at the national, state and local level and would : send new elected officials into office ' with a persuasive coalition already be hind them. .