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Clinton charms city!
B Less than 24 hours
after delivering his
state-of-the-union
address, President Bill
Clinton comes to
Augusta to push his
education agenda.
By Rhonda Jones
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
On Wednesday, Feb. 5, many
Augusta reporters wound up hud
dling in a motley bunch with out
of-town media representatives at
theside entrance to Augusta State
University’s athletic complex, blue
card flapping on strings around
their necks and periodically leap
ing over their shoulders with the
breeze.
On the curb above, (the complex
is nestled in a man-made crater)
several satellite vans waited in a
line like some science-fiction ver
sion of the Indian warriors who
always appeared in the hills in old
Westerns. The side of one said 11
NEWS SKYLINK.
Unsmiling Secret Service men
were everywhere -- in front of
doors, against walls, roaming the.
lawn. Some accompanied dogs. All
seemed tense, Taut. Waiting with
trancelike calm among the milling
and chattering reporters. Every
now and then, a French horn or a
trumpet gleamed against the mass
of black cameras and dark suits,
screaming into the eye.
ASU president, Dr. William
Bloodworth, seemed positively
giddy at the prospect of “his” school
hosting President Clinton. Asked
what the visit would mean to the
university, he replied, “It means
great visibility. ... Millions of other
peoplein the nation will know who
we are, what we are and what our
nameis.” He spoke of school pride
for students, for faculty and staff,
and for the many alumni that have
passed through its doors. Like this
See CLINTON, page 3
Museum of African-American History
New museum will present
largest black exhibit in nation
DETROIT
When the new Museum of African American History
opens its doors to the world, it will present the largest
exhibition ever created in this nation on African-Ameri
can people contained in its core exhibition gallery
which covers 16,000 square feet.
Borrowing widely from some of the nation’s leading
archival collections as well as our own, our core exhibi
tion will reflect a 400-year survey of our legacy and
heritage. Specifically, Detroit’s history will be interwo
ven in this ongoing story. Some of the artifacts included
in the core exhibit are Mae Jemison’s NASA flight suit,
a replica of Dr. King’s Birmingham jailhouse door, a
ballot box used by-then-considered colored people, and
many more artifacts which help to tell the story of
‘African Americans in this nation.
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PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON greets adoring Augustans following a speech on behaif of the nation’s students at
the Augusta State University athletic complex on Wednesday. Photo by Charles Jones
Jury slams Simpson
B O.J. Simpson found
guilty in civil trial and is
ordered to pay $8.5 million
in compensatory damages.
By Linda Deutsch
AP SPECIAL Correspondent
SANTA MONICA, Calif.
A civil jury found O.J. Simpson liable
Tuesday for the slashing deaths of his
ex-wife and her friend, a moral victory
for grieving relatives who felt the foot-
Since 1994, a group of specialist and generalist schol
ars in the fields of history, the arts, religion, sociology,
politics and other areas have been working hard on the
development of the context and content of our core
exhibition. This process
has involved searching for
historical information
spanning a 600-year his
tory of African and Ameri
can people, matching
available collections ma
terial with historical evi
dence to produce an exhi
bition. Among the com-
See MUSEUM, 6A
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See Page 1B [ -
ball great got away with murder.
The jury ordered Simpson to pay $8.5
million in compensatory damages and
will return Thursday to hear arguments
on whether to award millions more in
punitive damages.
“Thank God for some justice for Ron
and Nicole,” said Fred Goldman, the
aggrieved father who doggedly pursued
Simpson to civil court after denouncing
hisacquittal. “Thisis all we ever wanted.
We have it.”
As the verdict was read, Simpson re
mained seated and stoic, staring straight
ahead.
The grand open
ing ofthe Museum
of African Ameri
can Historywill be
April 1997 in De
troit, Michigan.
BTN (1]
Across the courtroom, a whoop of joy
went up from the relatives of Nicole
Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
“Yes!” screamed sister Kim Goldman,
in contrast to the way she sobbed openly
when Simpson was acquitted of murder
16 months ago.
“This is justice!” cried Denise Brown,
sister of Nicole Brown Simpson.
Louis Brown, who sat stone still as the
verdict was announced, stood and smiled
afterward. “I want to get outside and
scream.”
See JURY, page 2A
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Above: Early 20th century Igbo Okorshia mask
ing costume from Nigeria. Used io
ancestors during ritual dances. prosen
Left: Aerial view of the museum and site in the
- of Detr ." m‘m.
...,... berly Camp, president of the
Mu of African American History
I;R.—;;;ENNEBERGER ' { BULKRATE
i U.S. POSTAGE
GEORGIA NEWSPAPER ‘ PAID
UNIVERSITY OF GA
ATHENS GA 30602 712;31»3 Akl A, A
Black History
Month Guide
See Page 1B
When We Were Kings
~ Docudrama gives true story of
the “Rumble in the Jungle”
See Page 1B
EDUCATION
Race quotas
favored by
educators
B Enrollment fixed by race has
been a fixture in Augusta’s magnet
schools for nearly two decades and
local educators have no intention of
changing the rules.
By Frederick Benjamin Sr.
and Tawana Lee
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff
Writers g
AUGUSTA
Despite a political cli
mate that promotes an al
most hysterical reaction
from the mere mention of
the word quota
— especially in
aracial sense —
many Rich
mond County
educators are
quite comfort
able with the
termanditsuse.
For well over a
decade
Augusta’s mag
net schoolshave
used racial quo
tas. Notonlyare
there few com-
plaints about the use of
strict racial quotas for en
rollment in the system’s
marquee programs, school
officials vow to continue
their use.
The magnet school con
cept came about in an era
when desegregation rem
edies were sweeping
across the south. In the
19705, Richmond County,
like most other southern
school districts, was or
dered by the federal courts
to make efforts to inte
grate its schools. A key
part of the Richmond
County plan to promote
Former county
worker hopeful
[ James Perkins
is looking toward
elected officials
for relief, now
that details of his
ill-fated transfer
are public.
By Rhonda Jones
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Amid the rash of buck
passing and confusion,
one administrator has of
fered to help ex-county
employee James Perkins
find out about getting his
job back. Mr. Perkins had
worked nearly 24 years
with the Recreation and
Parks department before
being promoted and trans
ferred to Fleet Manage
ment, which was priva
tized six months later with
Ryder MLS. i
According to Mr.
Perkins, Commissioner
Henry Brigham took an
interest in him after see
ing the previous week’s
report on his situation in
Augusta Focus. Mr.
Perkinssaid he went with
integration was the cre
ation of magnet schools
— schools with a highly
specialized course of in
struction and a select
faculty. While many
white parents left the
system, opting for pri
vate schools rather than
have their children sit
The only way
to attract white
students to the inner
city, where the mag
net schools are lo
cated, was to offer
something better
than could be found
in the neighborhood
schools.
next to black children or
be taught by black teach
ers, others took advan
tage of magnet concept.
The only way to attract
white students to the
inner city, where the
magnet schools are lo
cated, was to offer some
thing better than could
be found in their neigh
borhood schools.
By maintaining strict
racial balance (as close
to 50-50 white-black at
tendance as possible),
the system could show
See QUOTAS, page 3A
Is - Z
| - |
PERKINS: “l can
sleep at night for the
first time in two
years ...”
Mr. Brigham to his of
fice, where the commis
sioner told him he would
“look into it” for him.
Mr. Perkins said that,
though Mr. Brigham
didn’t make a commit
ment to him, he did at
tempt to reach Wajter
Hornsby, the assistant
county administrator,
who has held that posi
tion since before the
privatization took place.
Mr. Brigham was not
able to reach Mr.
Hornsby by phone, but
Mr. Perkins plans tostay
in touch with the com-
See PERKINS, page 3A