Augusta focus. ([Augusta, Ga.]) 198?-current, December 17, 1998, Page 8A, Image 8

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Newspaper Page Text8A DECEMBER 17, 1998 WHOREALLYWON THE ELECTION? By Michael Mars ReflectionsonNov. 3rd, ‘9B nce the votes were counted on November 3rd, it became apparent to both the win ners and losers that the re sults of this election turned, in large part, on the substantial turn out of African-American voters. Democrats, both in Ga. and across the nation, breathed a sigh of relief while Republicans, both in Ga. and across the nation, wondered what had hit them. It now appears that nationally the votes of African-Americans make up 28 percent of the total population and they accounted for over 20 percent of the total votes cast on November 3rd. It is also rather interesting to note that ac cording to the U.S. Bureau of the Census 68 percent of all eligible whitecitizensareregistered tovote and 65 percent of all eligible Afri can-Americans are registered to vote. There is no doubt that there was a strong showing of voters from the African-American com munities across the U.S. and Ga. However, the substantial presence of African-American votes in this recent election is entirely consis tent with the percentages of Afri can-American voters who are reg istered to vote. No doubt, the meaning of the election will be debated for many months to come but many political soothsayers argue that the unusu ally large turnout of African-Ameri can voters reflects their support for President Clinton. In Ga., a number of editorials have concluded that the large African-American vote was in response to the thinly veiled racism in Republican politi cal ads denouncing affirmative ac tion. However, I suspect that Afri can-American voters were con cerned with such mattersaseduca tion, unemployment and underem ployment, crime, Social &tﬁ%’ and the proper stewardship of our' environment. Those who would attribute lesser interests to Afri can-American voters do all of us a disservice. For the most part, the losers in this year’s election were the candidates and the party which failed to address those issues in a meaningful and respectful way. Voters — all voters — in this elec tion were not merely rallying around a president, they were as serting their right to be heard on important issues which were not being addressed. Democrats and Republicans alike would do well to remember that fact. It is also true that this election was substantially impacted by a renewed surge of African-Ameri can voters and there is no debate ahout the fact that asaresult of the sizable turnout of African-Ameri can voters across the south, par ticularly in S.C., Ga. and Ala., the Democratic party held onto or was returned to power. Candidatesand incumbents who were defeated will surely assesstheir lossesin light of the growth of African-American votes. While politicians ponder the les sons and pundits put their spin on theresultsofthe elections of 1998, the rest of us should take a mo ment to remember who really won this election. I believe that the greatest triumph of this election belongs to those individuals who madethe ultimate sacrifice of their livesduringthe revolutionary days of the 1960 s to insure that all RugustaFOCUS Since 1981 A Walker Group Publication 1143 Laney-Walker Blvd. Augusta Focus is the fastest growing newspaper from Georgia’s second largest city. Call the Focus’ marketing department ~ at (706) 724-7867 to arrange your ads. AUGUSTA FOCUS Americans have the right to politi cal power. As politicians claimed victory or placed blame, I wonder whether they remembered Jimmie Lee Jackson and Viola Liuzzo? Did they stop for a moment to consider the work of Medgar Evers or the courage of Vernon Dahmer? Did they pause to give thanks to An drew Goodman, James Chaney or Michael Schwerner? Did the win nersin Ala., Ga. and S.C. acknowl edge their debt to Cynthia Wesley, Carol Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, and Denise McNair, four little girls who were killed while worshipping their God on a Sun day morningin Birmingham, Ala.? Every politician who will occupy anofficeafterJanuary 1,1999a5a result of the votes on November 3rd, 1998 should remember that the power of African-American vot ers was, and is, the result of a struggle for which many men and women gave their bodies, fortunes, and sometimes even their lives. Martyrs of the civil rights move ments died not just for the right to vote, but for a recognition of the dignity of being counted. These men, women and children too, lost their livesso that thisnation would respect the votes of every member of our society. Perhaps the losers of this election will remind all poli ticians that failure to give dignity to the vote of any American will someday result in defeat. Every Democrat elected to office this year, especially those in Ga., should pause and remember that therightful empowerment of Afri can-American voters is the direct result of the sacrifices of those unnamed souls who, in the name of equal votingrights, marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, A.L. only tobe beaten, tear gassed and jailed. Every democrat ‘elected to office in G.A. this year ‘should be reminded that his or her position of leadership came as a result of those countless unnamed and unknown souls who struggled to force this nation to open the elective process toall citizens. When the ballot box is made available to all citizens, the miracle of democ racy will always prevail over exclu sivity and wealth. Ilike to think that election night festivities of Democrats were a small chorus compared to the cel ebration taking place on that mys tical mountain-top occupied by Dr. King and other activists who de manded the passage of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was martyred, in large part, be cause he demanded that this na tion of ours make good on its prom ises of equal rights and equal ac cess to the ballot box. All of those who were martyred for attempting toempower not just African-Ameri cans, but all citizens of conscience, must be rejoicing. We should re member them and the sacrifices they made. The recent election is not somuch about the defeat of the Republicans as it is about the dig nity of the vote. We should honor those who died so the sons and daughters, grandsons and grand daughters and all of the descen dants of slaves, field hands and share-croppers. would have their votes counted and respected with the same weight and dignity af forded to all citizens. Charles W. Walker Publisher Frederick Benjamin Managing Editor Dot T. Ealy Marketing Director . Lillian Wan Copy Editor Sammy Daniels Production Assistant Vonda Butler Account Representative Tonya Evans Office Manager Opinion T ) it 2 LooT W AE R mvé%geg ,///;/%," -~ ResT7e. ‘\(@‘\g\\m % AULSTA r 7 N ? ““Nsﬁu‘fﬁ#%’ W éy/;/ ‘ i“"’!&” '. %/2) / /’/ﬁ’ /W~ 4 Q | ‘ ‘» /A V%ﬂ .‘l’ ‘ﬁ' /& » @ T B DS /‘%JF;-‘—_-{“ =2, <@ /] X 2 ) i | 57 So 2 &(T N TO BE EQUAL By Hugh. B. Price, president National Urban League Lilly gift supports economic growth or morethantwoyearsweat the National Urban League and a host of African-Ameri can civic, social and profes sional organizations have been building the framework of our na tional educational initiative, the Campaign for African-American Achievement. We formally ,an nounced it last spring. Now, we'vereceived an enormous vote of confidence. A $25-million grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. tohelp usstitch theideas of the Campaigndeepintotheheartsand minds of students and parents in black communities across the coun try. The five-year grant from the Indianapolis-based philanthropy, is thelargestin the 88-year history of the National Urban League. The motivation for the Campaign —the ideabehind our efforts —is quite simple. It is that we must inspire as many African-American young sters as possible to pursue aca demic achievement. They cannot afford to fail, and we — not only Black America, but America as a whole — cannot afford to let them fail. We adults must warn them that, in today’s ever more competitive world, scholastic failure willdoom CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL, By Bernice Powell Jackson Kwame Ture, another fallen warrior herehave been a few giants in The struggle for human rights and Kwame Ture was one of those giants. When we lost Kwame Ture to prostate cancer recently, we lost acharismatic, articulate brilliant warrior in the struggle for the rights of black people the world over. Many remember Ture, whowas once known as Stokely Carmichael, as the originator of the phrase “black power.” Many remember him as a fearless sol dier in the battle for civil rights, first as head of the Student Non violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and then as prime minis ter of the Black Panther Party. Many remember him as one dedi cated to the pan-African vision, which ultimately caused him to move to Guinea in West Africa and to change his name to honor two of his heroes, Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sekou Toure. I remember him as the hand There’s still time for a gift of knowledge. Give someone you care 52 issues of the award-winning Augusta Focus for only o $lB this season! Call (706) 724-7867. them toaharsh life on the margins of society. But we must alsointroduce them to the joy academic achievement brings to the self-confidence and sense of purpose it bestows and sharpens. It's our responsibility to help them unlock the power of their intellects.; , .11 ;Lo Our partnersin the Campaign - — 18civig, social and professional organizations, including the eight denominations of the Congress of National Black Churches -- know that the education of our youth, of all America’s children, is our most important responsibility. So does the Lilly Endowment. That’s the real meaning of their grant. It is a gift, not to the National Urban League, but to these hun dreds of thousands of children in schools and communities in every part of the nation. It is a gesture which reinforces the words Gen. Colin L. Powell (ret.)spoke tothe twodozen induct ees of the Washington, D.C. affili ate of the Campaign’s honor soci ety, the Thurgood Marshall Achiev ers Society, at its inaugural cer emonies last April. There, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff charged some, outspoken voice of young blacks who had become disillu sioned with the slow progress of the non-violent civil rights orga nizations and fed up with what we now would call internalized racism, or the fact that blacks often allowed white Americans to take charge of our organizations. “We want control of the institu tions of the communities where we live and we want to stop the exploitation of nonwhite people of the world,” he said in one inter view. Rev. Jesse Jackson, who vis ited with Ture three times dur ing the last week of his life, said, “He was one of our generation who was determined to give his life to transforming America and Africa ... He was committed to ending racial apartheid in our country. He helped tobring those walls down.” Rev. Jackson also said that Ture died at peace with himself, adding that he wanted to spend his last days in Africa. The young Stckely Carmichael was a fiery leader in the early the students to take hold of the responsibility their elders were handing to them. “We didn’t work this hard. We didn’t come thisfar,” hesaid, hold ing the student’s rapt gaze. “We didn’t pile generation upon genera tion of achievement to fail now. Adﬁg??%fﬂ“?ﬂh@ﬂ waﬁltj youto get. I&fax&ms or the asking. It’s yours for the dreaming. But it will only come if you’re willing to work forit.” That’s the message the Lilly En dowment giftisbeamingout across the land, too. These words aren’t just rhetoric. The Lilly Endowment gift will fur therthe detailed work sonecessary to solidly grounding the program. Nearly half the funds will be dis tributed among 20 of the Urban League’s so-called ‘pacesetter af filiates,’ which havealready pledged to devote considerable resources and effort to pushing the Cam paign in their communities. These funds will help them es tablish or expand chapters of the Thurgood Marshall Achievers So cietyin their areas,aswell astrain and support parents and parents’ councils in techniques of improv ing their children’s academic per- days of the student civil rights movement. He joined the early Freedom Rides, bus trips which were designed tochallenge racial segregation on public transporta tion, and was arrested dozens of times. He said he lost count after 32 arrests, including being held inthe notorious Parchman prison in Alabama. He worked as a field organizer for SNCC’s voter regis tration campaign, where they registered 2,600 blacks in Lowndes County, Alabama, one of the most dangerous countiesin the nation for those doing voter registration work. In 1966 Carmichael was elected national chairman of SNCC and it was shortly thereafter that he coined the phrase “black power” which was beautiful music to many young African-American'’s ears, but which was misunder stood and misused by many oth ers. The term “raised the con sciousness of people, but it fright ened a lot of people,” said John Lewis, who preceded Carmichael as chairman of SNCC. formance. We've long argued that helping more parents help their own chil dren dobetterin school isessential toraising the quality of education in black communities as a whole. A second part of it involves, if youll pardon the expression — .showing students the money: $lO ‘million will be devoted to college ‘'scholarships for members of the Thurgood Marshall Achievers So ciety. Two hundred a year will be awarded, for up to SIO,OOO each. Among the myriad wonderful images of Thurgood Marshall Achievers Society dayin Washing ton last April was the moment when a dozen or so members of the local chapter lota Phi Theta frater nity, which had sponsored several ofthe honorees, leapt to their feet, beaming with pride when their students werecalled toreceive their certificates. They, and the sponsors of other students,in Washington and across the country, had given these stu dents the gift of their time, their experience, their inspiration, and their devotion to their welfare. Now I know that the Lilly En dowment was standing there in spirit with all of us, and beaming with pride as well. In 1968, Carmichael left SNCC for the Black Panthers, but left them the next year, citing his opposition to their commitment towork with radical white Ameri-: cans because he believed that such alliances led to “complete. subversion of the blacks by the whites.” It was then that he moved to Guinea, to continue his . work in a different venue. | . A self-proclaimed socialist, Ture . traveled the world lifting up black . power and condemning the evils . of capitalism. He married South, African signer and activist Miriam Makeba, working against : apartheid in Africa and in: America. ! Kwame Ture neverbacked down - and never compromised in his - total devotion to his people. Even while sick with cancer, his speeches did not lose their fiery | tone or their brilliant critique of , racism and economic injustice. ; Kwame Ture was a warrior for |, justice. The world will miss his | voice, but we treasure his legacy.

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Augusta focus. ([Augusta, Ga.]) 198?-current, December 17, 1998, Page 8A, Image 8