Newspaper Page Text
8A
MARCH 30, 2000
A debt of gratitude
hen one
takes into
: account all
of the recent bashing
of Senate Majority
Leader Charles W.
Walker emanating
from the Augusta
Chronicle editorial
pages lately, one
would have thought
that Senator Walker
came home from the
General Assembly
with nothing more
than a string fastened
te an old shoe.
One would have
thought that he hadn’t been able
to deliver on his announced in
tention of trying to attract S3O
million to the county.
Well, the money has been put
into the final budget for Augusta
and much of it will be circulating
in the local economy as early as
next month.
Before the beginning of the 2000
session, Senator Walker told Au
gustans that he was going to At
lanta to request a S3O million de
velopment package from Gover
nor Roy Barnes. The beneficia
ries of this effort included a wide
array of organizations that hap
pen to be centers of talent, ser
2000 Final Budget Listing for Augusta
Augusta Ballet
$20,000
Augusta Mini Theatre $40,000
Augusta State University
Science Building $18,000,000
CSRA Economic Opportunity Authority $40,000
CSRA Transitional Center $40,000
Delta House Inc., Lucy Craft Laney
Museum $20,000
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority,
Youth Leadership Training Program $16,000
Eastview Recreation Center $75,000
Lucy Craft Laney High School SB,OOO
MCG Life Helicopter $250,000
National Legacy Foundation $150,000
Fort Discovery ; $1,500,000
Richmond Development Authority $10,000,000
Safe Communities Coalition of Augusta $20,000
Southside Tutorial Program $32,000
Total Monies: $30,211,000
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Senate Majority Leader Charles W. Walker
vice, commerge, and education.
The beneficiaries were also to in
clude those desperately in need of
affordable housing, and those
neighborhoods in need of serious
investment.
All of that is about to happen.
We agree with local business
man Bernie Silverstein who said
toagatheringofbankers and com
munity leaders recently, “Au
gusta-Richmond County owes
Senator Walker a debt of grati
tude.”
Below are the items that have
been approved for Augusta-Rich
mond County.
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TO BE EQUAL By Hugh B. Price
The census: Count us in
ecisions are being made
which can make your com
munity a better place to
live.
How? Census 2000.
The U.S. Census Bureau has
made extraordinary efforts to
make sure everyone knows the
census count takes place this year.
Itsfirst ever paid advertising cam
paign even included an ad during
the Super Bowl.
One major reason for this is the
“traditional” undercount in the
past of African Americans, Na
tive Americans, Hispanic Ameri
cans and Asian and Pacific Is
lander Americans, an undercount
that has always been significantly
greater than for white Americans.
For example, during the last™
census in 1990, the bureau's
counters missed 8.4 million
people. In addition, they counted
another 4.4 million people either
twice or in the wrong neighbor
hood of residence.
Most of the 8.4 million people
who were missed were African
Americans in inner cities, His
panic Americans in California,
Texas, and New Mexico, and Na
tive Americans on Indian reser
vations in the West.
Most ofthe 4.4 million who were
counted twice were college stu
dents and affluent whites who
owned more than one home.
Since the census count is used
to, among many other things, ap
GUEST COMMENTARY By Olati Johnson, Esq.
Black Supreme Court clerks:
From an insider’s perspective
n my second day as a clerk
on the Supreme Court, the
(African-American)
woman who came in to adjust my
phone lines all but gasped when
she saw me. | was offended for a
moment then I realized she had
just met the other black clerk.
“Yes,” she said to me, “I don't
remember the last time I have
seen so many black clerks.”
“Many” that year, meant two
out of 37 clerks. Three years be
fore we clerked, there had been
three African-American clerks —
the most there has ever been at
onetime. The following year there
were none, prompting the NAACP
and other groups to call for in
creased hiring of clerks of color.
Only 19 African Americans have
ever clerked on the Supreme
Court. Four justices currently
sittingon the Supreme Court have
portion political districts and dis
tribute federal funds, under
counting or over-counting people
in particular areas can have a
significant impact on political
party fortunes in state legisla
tures and the Congressitself. And
it can also determine how much
federal aid a locality does or does
not get.
Congress and the Clinton Ad
ministration have waged a leng
fight over how to correct this prob
lem. The conclusion of an inde
pendent panel of experts in sta
tistics was that the problem had
two parts.
The first part of the problem,
they concluded, can be corrected
by public education and better
“putreach. Hence, the Census Bu
reau ad blitz, an effort that nu
merous civic, civil rights and so
cial service organizations, includ
ing the National Urban League,
are aiding at the grassroots level
But, the other part of the prob
lem has to do with how the Cen
susisdesigned. Tosolve this prob
lem, the nation’s best statistical
experts all agree the Census must
use the “sampling” approach —
that is, intensively study some
small areas to estimate who 1s
missed too often, and who is
counted too often, and thus, be
able to set adjustments for the
national undercount and
overcount problem.
Unfortunately, some states are
never had a black clerk and only
two sitting justices (Steven and
Breyer) have ever had more than
one black clerk.
Whyshould we care” The dearth
of Supreme Court clerks of color
is hardly the most significant is
sue facing African Americans, or
even African Americans in the
legal profession. Yet, that the
Supreme Court, the body charged
with deciding some of the
country’s most critical issues —
and usually without possibility of
alteration of their decisions by
purportedly democratic institu
tions such as Congress — should
hire primarily white males is dis
turbing because clerks play an
important role in the judicial sys
tem. To be sure, a clerk is not
primarily responsible for deter
mining the outcome of a case —
that is the role of the judge. And
bent on using the less accurate
raw “head count” data rather than
the more accurate corrected data
todecide how todraw school board
district lines, city council wards,
and state legislative districts.
There are a host of states con
sidering such legislation -— among
them, Virginia, Michigan, Mis
sourt, and Pennsylvania.
But using this latter method
can produce serious shortfalls in
both “dollar” and “human” terms.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors
estimates that Los Angeles lost
out on $l2O million in state and
federal money because of the
“undercount and overcount” prob
lem of the 1990 Census. Chicago
lost $lB4 million
That lost aid weighs most
heavily on the most defenseless of
Americans — poor children, who
make up the majority of the mem
bers of poor families. Children
constituted 52 percent of the 1990
national census undercount.
That percentage is even worse
in particular cities. In Detroit, for
example, children made up 62
percent of the undercount. The
17,470 children missed then were
enough to fill 36 Detroit public
schools.
So, we all must do something
that's very easy: fill in our census
form. Make sure to count those in
our homes that will otherwise go
uncounted.
recent books and articles that have
suggested that Supreme Court
clerks have too much influence in
deciding cases do not comport with
my own experience. At the same
time, because most judges simply
cannot read or consider every
thing that plays a role in deter
mining the outcome of a case, the
clerk acts as a filter, narrowing
and presenting the relevant is
sues to the judge. Furthermore,
the discussions that take place
between judge and clerk about
the substantive merits of a case
often inform the judge's ultimate
decision. Judges choose their
clerks in large part because they
perceive that the clerk’s academic
and professional qualifications as
well as their personal background
will enhance the decision-making
process. It hardly risks essential
ism to observe that a clerk’s racial
But we also urge citizens to in
sist that their states use accurate
data to draw school board district
lines, and city council wards and
state and federal legislative dis
tricts.
Finally, this census lets respon
dents check more than one box
denoting one's race
As usual, there's been criticism
from some who declare that if
we're blind to color, the continu
ing impact of past racism and the
continuing acts of racism will dis
appear on their own
That more than simphstic. It's
simpleminded, to say the least
The racial checkoffs on the census
forms are there to help the fed
eral government monitor impor
tant Civil Rights protections —
like the Voting Rights Act
America’s race line 1s not a true
biological line. But it is a real one
in political and social terms. We
need accurate data to know
whether discrimination is fading,
and in what areas the problems
continue.
So, check the one box that best
explains your life experiences. As
James Baldwin, the great essay
ist and voice of the Civil Rights
Movement, once said, his race
wasn't an Issue to him — but it
certainly was to others.
Make sure your voice counts
Take the census.
Hugh B Prices president of the
National Urban League
experiences — just like their gen
der and economic background —
will inform what she brings to a
case. | remember while clerking
pointing out issues in a case that
my colleagues might not, in my
absence, have even considered.
Providing African Americans
access to judicaial clerkships is
important also because of the ben
efits of a clerkship to a lawyer's
case. A clerkship with any court
provides unparalleled exposure
for law graduates to the operation
of the courts and to a breadth of
legal issues, all of which hones a
lawyer's advocacy skills. As a
resuit, clerkships often lead to
prestigious positions in the public
and private sector. Most signifi
cantly perhaps, clerkships — in
particular Supreme Court
See LAW CLERK, page 9A |