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February 6, 1997 AUGUSTA FOCUS
Do the right
All former county worker James
Perkins wants to do is work. After
over 20 years as a county employ
ee, he deserves that right.
It is heartening to see that some
movement is being made on his
behalf. Commissioner Henry
Augusta can’t take too
many presidential visits
Despite Augusta’s past popularity
with a coupleof presidents, it hasbeen
some time since a sitting presence has
come to Augusta to do more than run
about the Augusta National swatting
golf balls.
President Bill Clinton’s Augusta vis
it was a refreshing bit of theatre, but
were not sure the Garden City can
take much more.
Congratulations go out to the hun
dreds of workers who labored to make
the event the success that it was.
True, there was a lot of grumbling
about the inconvenience — both from
those who attended the event and
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL By Bernice Powell Jackson
For black war heroes,
recognition finally
M aybeyou remember the scene from
the HBO movie about the
Tuskegee airmen — black World War 11
airmen, ready to die for their native land,
but having to ride in segregated railroad
cars while German prisoners
of war rode in the better
“white” cars. A real-life scene
about racism faced by Afri
can-American World War II
veterans took place at the
White House, nearly half a
century after the war ended.
Seven black World War II
veterans were awarded the
Medal of Honor by President
Clinton, who proclaimed,
“History has been made
whole today and our nation is bestowing
an honor on those who have longdeserved
it.” In 1993, in response to a request by
African-American veterans, the Depart
ment of the Army began an investigation
into why not even one African-American
veteran of World War II had received the
nation’s top honor for soldiers. Two Afri
can-American Korean War veterans and
20 Vietnam veterans had received the
medal and President George Bush had
awarded the medal to one black World
War I veteran who had been nominated
for the medal in 1918 but had never re
ceived it. Investigators found that a cli
mate of racism had prevented the ex
traordinary heroism of some African-
American soldiers from being recognized.
One awardee was Ruben Rivers whose
captain, David Williams, a white officer,
had worked diligently to make sure Riv
ers’ heroism was recognized. “This was
the toughest battle I ever had,” said Capt.
Williams, explaining, “The Germans — I
Charles W. Walker
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AugustalF OC i
. Managing Editor
Dot T. Ealy
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1143 Laney Walker Blvd. S
News Correspondent
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. :
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_ Lillian Wan
Brigham is to be commended for
his efforts — however slight — at
this point. The career of a valu
able civil servant lies in the bal
ance. Perhaps some other city com
missioners will offer to help as
well.
those on the sidelines caught in traffic
— but this town just hasn’t had that
much practice entertaining political
royalty.
While Augusta is very much on the
national and world map thanks to
James Brown and the Augusta Na
tional, Augusta State University cer
tainly got a well-deserved boost from
the Clinton visit.
So what if the Secret Service and
other White House flunkieswerearro
gant,demandingandabitcondescend-
ing, the president was congenial, witty
and always ready with the appropri
ate remark.
knew my enemy. But this time, racism,
it’s tougher to defeat.” When Staff Ser
geant Rivers’ tank was hit by a mine, he
refused to evacuate, taking command of
another tank and directing fire at the
“] was an
angry young
man. We were
all angry. But
we still had a
job to do and
we did it.”
—Lt. Vernon Baker
A third awardee was Vernon Baker, the
only awardee still living, who destroyed
four machine gun posts, killed nine Ger
mans and drew enemy fire to allow his
comrades to evacuate.
Those who argue that racism is a thing
of the past or that their ancestors were
not slaveholders deny the racism that
these African-American soldiers experi
enced and which denied them this nation’s
highest honor until thisyear. Theirony of
black soldiers giving their lives for the
nation which denied them human rights
is striking.
Lt. Baker, when asked what that felt
like, replied that it was “kind of rough”
risking his life while serving in a segre
gated unit. “I was an angry young man.
We were all angry. But we still had a job
to do and we did it.”
This nation had a job to do — recognize
these black heroes — and half a century
later, it finally did it.
Editorial
enemy for three days. He
was killed while defending
his company.
Another was First Lt.
John Fox, who died in Italy
in 1944 when he stayed be
hind to direct defensive fire
as his unit withdrew and
then insisted that all fire
power bedirected at his post
because it was the only way
to defeat the attacking Ger
mans.
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TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price
HBCUs succeed in drawing
“cream of the crop” of black students
When noted historian Carter G.
Woodson inaugurated Negro His
tory Week in 1926, he intended that it
become an occasion for thinking about the
facts, circumstances and meaning of Afri
can-American life in the United States.
Woodson acted for political as well as
intellectual reasons. In 1926, few whites —
whether in the South where segregation
was the law, or in the North and West
‘where it was the custom — believed that
‘ African Americans had madeor could make
‘any meaningful contribution to America.
Although what was once one week has
grown into a month-long observance of
| Black History Month, its fundamental pur
pose remains unchanged — and just as
‘necessary — today.
That was brought home to me recently
by the news that Howard University, the
historically black universityin the nation’s
Capitol, has enrolled in its first-year class
the largest number of winners of National
Achievement Scholarshipsofany collegein
the country.
The achievement program honors exem
plary black high-school students who take
challenging courses and rank in the top 10
percent of their high-school graduating
class. Howard outpaced Harvard, which
enrolled 69 scholars; Florida A&M Univer
sity, which enrolled 51; Yale, with 28; and
the University of Virginia, with 23, for the
top five spots in what has become a fierce
competition among institutions of higher
learning. Beneath them were such institu
tions as Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Duke,
‘Johns Hopkins and Georgia Tech. Signifi
‘cantly, five of the top 20 schools enrolling
this elite corps of students were histori
cally black colleges: Morehouse College
enrolled 18; Xavier University, 12, and
Spelman College, 12.
This is the first time in recent memory
This Way for Black Empowerment By Dr. Lenora Fulani
Some theories about conspiracy theories
he CIA crack-cocaine conspiracy,
as reported originally by the San
Jose Mercury News in California,
has been endlessly debated. The debate is
whether or not the CIA itself conspired to
put drugs into the Black community. No
one disputes that drugs are in the Black
community and have a disabling effect.
The controversy is whether or not it was
part of a CIA plot. Of course, if it was, that
would be bad enough. But this whole ob
session with whether or not there was a
conspiracy leaves the Black community
feeling very vulnerable. And this kind of
psychological impact, this fear that there
may have been a conspiracy can be as
disabling as any “conspiracy” itself. In
other words at the risk of seeming like a
conspiracy theorist, there is a conspiracy
to use conspiracies.
Iwasa guestonthe Rolanda show recently
to discuss this topic of conspiracies, and I
pointed out that they often have more to do
with affecting the way people think about
things than they have to do with proving or
disproving the truth about this or that inci
dent. I know about the phenomena very
intimately because I've been the target of just
Some predominantly
white institutions are
competing fiercely with
their historically black
counterparts for high
achieving black students.
that Howard has appeared on this presti
giouslist of schools, and that so many black
colleges and universities have been in the
top 20 schools. For that they must ac
knowledge the example Florida A&M has
set during the past decade in recruiting
National Achievement Scholars: the Talla
hassee, Fla. school has been in the top five
since 1989 and twice ranked first.
Dr. Janice Nicholson, Howard’s chief
undergraduate admissionsofficer, says that
its achievement was the result of “a very
concerted and comprehensive effort tomove
Howard into the first rank” of colleges and
universities, and thatitintendstobe at the
top of the list of National Achievement
Scholars from now on.
That declaration drew a laugh from
FAMU’sdirector of public relations, Eddie
Jackson, one that combined institutional
pride with the vision of the competition’s
larger significance.
“Tell Howard we welcome them to the
top of the ladder,” he said. “We’re disap
pointed that we’re not No.l this year, but
we're happy to see another historically
black school in that spot. But tell them, too,
that their success has got us charged up
even more. Watch out next fall!”
At one level, the meaning of this compe
tition can be put three ways:
1. Some historically black colleges and
universities are doing quite well compet
ing with their predominantly white and
these kinds of conspiracies. For example, the
Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'irth
andanorganizationcalled Political Research
Associates, funded by Democratic Party ac
tivists, have conspired to misinform the pub
licthat I am a part ofa cult. But the cult label
then becomes a way that people are led to
misunderstand who I am.
Believing in conspiracies is often talked
about as something “crazy” people do. But
while people may not like the word or the
“conspiracy” in particular, the conspiracy
to control and manipulate how people see
things is what goes on in Washington, DC
every day of the week.
High paid artists in government from
both major parties spend hours each day
“conspiring” to come up with a spin on
various events. When the presidential
candidates go into debate, their handlers
have already conspired to figure out what
they want the American people to believe
about what happened in the debate, wheth
er or not it really happened. Conspiracies
are not just about particular events. They
are about how people’s way of seeing and
thinking about the world are shaped.
The use of the word conspiracy is some
resource-rich counterparts for the top-per- .
forming black students. This, in fact, con-,
stitutes a return to their historic mission f
bringing together and educating a cross- ;.
section of Black America. u
2. Some predominantly white institu: .
tions are competing fiercely with their his- ~
torically black counterpartsfor high-achiev- .
ing black students. They are aware that, .
there is a broader and deeper strata of ~
talent among young Americans they need
to tap.
3. There are numerous young black boys—,
and girls who are following what the novel- '
ist Albert Murray has called the “indelible |
ancestral imperative to do something and '
become something and be somebody” and !
that the corpsof high-achievinghigh-school
students among them knows the range of
colleges offering a top-flight education in
clude a growing number of historically
black ones, too. ‘
All of America benefits from this either
way you look at it. .
But I think Howard’s breakthrough and |
the attention it has focused on the excel- -
lence of the young people they and the
other colleges areenrollinghasaparticular
resonance for what Carter G. Woodson had
in mind for the consideration of African-
American life.
On the one hand, it reminds us that
African-Americans have sought with a poi-‘
gnant determination throughout their ex
istence here to gain something of value
from their lives in America.
And, on the other hand, it underscores
Black America’s proud declaration that it
has contributed something of value to this
nation, however much that contribution
has been overlooked, and that it will con
tinue to do so. :
That indelible ancestral imperative goes"‘g
on. &
what arbitrary. For example, did the Re
publicans and Democrats reach a private
accommodation on how to respond to the
Newt Gingrich ethics violations? Yes. Was
the intent to punish Gingrich minimally
and preserve the bipartisan status quo in
government? Yes. Was that a conspiracy
or just politics as usual? |
If you only count the events where there’s
a“smoking gun” as conspiracies, forexample,
if you only count the CIA crack-cocaine con
troversy as a conspiracy if you have evidence
that three CIA agents sat in a room and
planned it, then you miss the fact that there
is a conspiracy to have people see things as
conspiracies as a way of making them vulner
ableandinsecureand fixated on tryingtofind |
the truth. But truth isn't the issue. The issue
is how people think and feel about things that
go on. The very distinguished Martiniquen
psychiatrist Frantz Fanon pointed out that
there is a particular understanding of the
world that oppressed people have by virtue of
their oppression. There is also a particular
mem
have been conspired against have and that is
very much a part of the Black experience in
America. '