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GOING PLACES By J. Philip Waring
Pilgrim Life stands high
The following memorial
column by the late J. Philip
Waring was first published
for Augusta Focus on Mayl6,
1985. We are republishing it
so that Mr. Waring's
admirerers can reminisce
and those who missed his
columns can get a glimpse of
recent black history.
One of the delightful tasks dur
ing the past ten years is to record
for our Augusta readers informa
tion on Black Enterprise
magazine’s “100 top black busi
nesses.” Actually it is divided into
four parts eachyear. And theyare:
(1) The 100 top business firms, (2)
banks, (3) savings and loan units,
and (4) insurance companies, 47
banks, and 35 savings and loan
associations.
My first interest, however, is
Pilgrim Health and Life Insurance
company, a firm warmly and
closely identified with Augusta for
several good reasons. We are glad
to note that Pilgrim still stands
among the “Big Ten” with assets
of 16 million plus is one of the
largest of its kind in the South
east. You will recall that just three
years ago Pilgrim was selected by
Black Enterprise as its “insurance
company of the year.” There was
Teach AIDS prevention
f someone came into your
neighborhood, threatening to
kill your children, wouldn’t
you move heaven and earth to
protect them? Wouldn’t you
do whatever it took to keep them
safe?
Unfortunately, the killer is in
your neighborhood. Its name is
AIDS.
This is not somebody else’s prob
lem—we areall living withit. Afri
can Americans bear a dispropor
tionate brunt of this deadly epi
demic, and the tragic reality is our
children are no exception. Half of
all people newly indicted by HIV,
the virus that causes AIDS, are
under 25; one in four are teenag
ers. And of those young people, six
in 10 are Black and Latino. Of the
teenage girls infected, a shocking
eight in 10 are Black and Latino.
In some communities of color,
onein every 30 young men, ages 18
and 19, is already HIV infected.
And AIDS does not discriminate
by gender; more than half of in
fected Black teenagers are female.
But AIDS is about much more
than numbers, it is about the
simple truth that our children and
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an excellent photo of CEO S.W.
Walker II and a story of how Pil
grim had overcome and moved up
despite a negative national down
turn in the economy. On the na
tional level the Johnson Publish
ing of Chicago with $l3B million
and Motown Entertainment In
dustries of Los Angeles with $137
million were one and two.
Now may we look at our state of
Georgia which stood very high in
black business. In the insurance
field Atlanta Life still was number
two with 118 million in assets, up
from 116 million in 1983, states
Jesse Hill. J. Owen Funderurg has
successfully reorganized and ad
vanced Black banks both in North
Carolina and St. Louis. He is rec
ognized as one of the most astute
in the banking field. Then there’s
Fletcher Coombs’ Mutual Federal
Savings and Loan Association, or
ganized in 1921, and standing in
the ninth slot in its section, has
assets of 32 million and deposits of
29 million. Now may we move down
to Savannah to my friend Bob
James and his Carver State Bank.
Bob also has branch banking and
gives splendid service to Savan
nah. Carver has assets of 21 mil
lion and ranks with companies in
Atlanta. M & M Products and
Bronner Brothers stand at 45
youth are in serious danger. And
until we expand our AIDS preven
tion efforts, how can any of us rest
easily?
Fortunately, there are some
promisingdevelopments. Therate
of HIV transmission from moth
ers to infants declined 43 percent
last year. And the arrival of prom
ising new drugs has brought new
hope to those people currently liv
ing with the virus.
But good drugs don’t by them
selves save people’s lives. If we
can’t even immunize all the chil
dren in our major cities, how can
we hope to bring the expensive 40
pills-a-day, everyday AIDS drug
regimen to everyone who needs it
—particularly in low-income com
munities?
A cureis still far off the horizon,
and we can’t allow the hope of
tomorrow to stop us from protect
ingour children today. Nor can we
allow fear or homophobia to color
our perception of the disease that
isstealingso many of our children’s
dreams. AlDSisan equal opportu
nity threat, and AIDS prevention
is a mission that demands our full
attention and action now.
96, 9’@ \2
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TOMIJOYNER
million and 14 million respectively
in 1984 sales. Thacker Construc
tion Co. in the Atlanta based auto
firms who made the list and Gour
met Food Services, Inc. ranked
69th with sales of sl4 million.
But Atlanta’s H.J. Russell’s Con
struction Company which stands
very tall with $lO5 million in rev
enue up from $95 million in 1983.
Note, however, that Pilgrim and
Carver Bank are the only two out
of Atlanta on any of the four ros
ters.
Millender project movingon
A quick report shows that the
Have a Happy,
Healthy and
Prosperous
New Year!
Time and time again, our
churches, our extended families,
and informal kinship has been
there to meet our community’s
needs. Now it is time for those
same institutions to take up the
AIDS prevention banner. Anditis
time for Black parentsto fight that
same fight on behalf of our chil
dren.
If you're a parent, start by edu
catingyourself. Get the facts about
AIDS from your doctor or from a
local clinic or AIDS organization.
Then educate your children. Tell
them what you know ... and listen
carefully to what they tell you and
to what they wish they could.
Remind your child that AIDS
isn’t someone else’s problem. No
one thinks they’re going to get
AIDS. Seventeen-year-old An
gelica found out she was HIV posi
tive when she went to get prenatal
care in the latter months of her
pregnancy. Ask 16-year-old Jesse
who had been taught by society
that he did not deserve to live be
cause heisgay. Or ask 18-year-old
Earl who got AIDS when he could
not find a job to help support his
Augusta Black Community is mov
ing forward to support the Mallory
Millender Community Project. As
an example, we hear that historic
Antioch Baptist Church is shap
ing up a SI,OOO donation. Monies
came in during the Paine College
commencement weekend. Dr.C.S.
Hamilton indicated that Taber
nacle will not forget Millender.
Our CME churches arebusy. More
on this next week.
This article was originally
printed on May 16, 1985 in Au
gusta Focus
family and turned to drugs to ease
the pain.
The choices our young people
make now will profoundly affect
their chances of becoming healthy,
responsible and productive adults.
That’s why it’s so important for
them to have the guidance and
support of caring adults in their
families, their schools, their
churches, and their communities.
Young people who feel good about
themselves will make good choices.
Young people who believe in their
future will do everything they can
to make sure they have a future.
So it may just be that, in the end,
the most important protection you
can give your children is a strong
sense of their own God-given value
and potential.
Marian Wright Edelman is presi
dentofthe Children’s Defense Fund
which coordinates the Black Com
munity Caucus for Children
(BCCC), whose mission is to leave
no child behind and to answer ev
erychildafair, safe, moral startin
life. For more information about
the BCCC call 202-628-8787.
96.9 The Touch
presents
Magic Mornings
Monday - Friday
6am -10 am
with
Tom Joyner
&
Mechelle Jordan
Letter
Retain Bell South as local provider
Asretired Bell South employees,
we would like to thank commis
sioners Willie Mays, Henry
Brigham, Moses Todd, Ulmer
Bridges andJ. B. Powell for voting
to retain Bell South as the local
phone service provider for the city.
Weattended the meeting and were
very grateful for statements made
by the commissioners, especially
Mr. Todd, concerning what
Bell South employees have meant
and continue to mean to our com
munity.
We hope one more commissioner
will vote on December 30 to com
plete the six votes required to
award the contract. The company
that was so good to us and encour
aged us to be good to our commu
Amistad missing down South
LAFAYETTE, La.
(AP) Filmmaker Steven
Spielberg wanted to tell the world
the little-known story of an 1839
uprising by African captives on a
Spanish slave ship in the recently
released movie, Amistad.
But for now, the movie-going
publicin some southern cities, like
Lafayette, have been shut out of
seeing the epic. The movie, which
opened in 350 theaters nationwide,
has very limited distribution
through the South.
Amistad did not open in
Lafayette and is not scheduled to
arrive until Jan. 16 when it will
runin an exclusive engagement at
the Ambassador 10 Theater more
than a month after the film was
first released.
Currently, it is playing in just
three theaters in Louisiana — one
in Baton Rouge and two in New
Orleans.
The rest of the South does not
fare much better.
Amistad opened in Birmingham,
Ala., and Atlanta but not in Ar
kansas, Mississippi or South Caro
lina.
In all, the movie opened in 19
cities the company considers “the
South,” a Dreamworks SKG
spokesman told The Daily Adver
tiser after the newspaper asked
about its relative southern ab
\sence. Ten of those cities are in
Texas and Florida.
“We’re talking about our his
ory here and it is an absolute
disgrace we are not being given
the opportunity to see this film
now,” said Bernard Broussard of
the Lafayette chapter of the
NAACP.
Dreamworks spokesman Donald
Harrisdefended the company’sde
cision to open in limited release.
By Christmas,Amistad was show
ing on 700 screens nationwide.
“And when we hit 700 theaters,
the representation for the South
will be on par with all areas of the
AUGUSTA FOCUS
JANUARY 1, 1998
nity is the best telephone company
in the nation and the $324,000
savings they have offered the city
with nochange in the services cur
rently provided is more than fair.
The total tax revenue the city re
ceives from Bell South includes over
$3 million annually in direct prop
erty and sales taxes, business li
cense fees, and indirect taxes from
employees and retired employees
of Bell South and related contrac
tors.
Commissioners can go to sleep
at night knowing the city remains
in the hands of the same stewards
who have seen our community
through world wars and natural
disasters since 1879.
Rosalyn B. Sapp
country,” Harris said. “We are not
trying to keep this movie from
anybody, we are just tryingto build
anaudience. Youdo that with plat
form releases so you can get word
of mouth going and create an en
thusiasm for the film.”
John Bess, a Lafayette resident,
doesn’t buy that argument.
“That just doesn’t ring true to
me at all,” he said. “You have
Spielberg and a great episode in
history. It’s a movie everyone is
talkingabout already. I think there
is a more patrician take on this
whole thing.
“I'think thereis a feelingamong
distributors and movie theaters
that the publicshouldn’t be stirred
up by the racial issues in this film.
... The distributors fear the Afri
can-American population will be
aroused by this movie and they
fear the white moviegoer will be
afraid to go because of possible
violence. Or even worse, they are
afraid the white population won’t
go to a ‘black’ movie.”
Theatre managers in Lafayette
said they’re frequently asked about
Amistad.
“Everybody is calling or coming
in and they are angry,” said Jim
Denman of the Carmike Theatres.
“I don’t know why Dreamworks
wanted to handle it this way, but
there definitely seems to be a lot of
interest in it here.”
Broussard said he was insulted
at any suggestion that moviegoers
will need to be enticed to see the
movie.
“Weknow who Steven Spielberg
is. We know when a movie is a
possible Academy Award winner.
We understand when it is on the
cover of Newsweek and Oprah
Winfrey has an entire show about
it,” he said. “Do they know what it
saystomeasan African-American
that they think I can’t recognize
the importance of this film with
out other people talking about it?”
.
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