Newspaper Page Text
January 23-29, 2003
VOL. 22 No. 1094
FIFTY CENTS
50 OOOCOEOGOEOONOCOOOGOONOES
Forrest to
defend title in
televised hout
£
World welterweight champ
Vernon Forrest will defend his
title against Ricardo Mayorga
on Saturday, Jan. 25 on HBO
Sports. Photo courtesy of HBO
Sports
HBO Sports, the “Network of
Champions,” kicks off its 31st
year of boxing with a com
pelling twin bill of live action
when World Championship
Boxing: Vernon Forrest us.
Ricardo Mayorga and Joel
Casamayor vs. Nate Campbell
airs live Saturday, January 25,
2003 (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)
from the Pechanga Resort and
Casino in Temecula, Cal.
In his last bout, the 147-
pound world welterweight
champion Forrest (35-0, 26
KOs), out of Augusta, Ga.,
defeated superstar Shane
Mosley for the second time. He
faces another significant chal
lenge this time in the person of
fellow world title holder Ricar
do Mayorga of Nicaragua (23-3-
1, 21 KOs), who scored a big
victory .over Andrew “Six
Heads” Lewis in March 2002.
Forrest, a budding superstar,
was named “fighter of the
year” in 2002 by many publica
tions, and expectations are
high for him in 2003.
..Jn _the opener, it’s_a. com
pelling lightweight matchup as
former super featherweight
champion Joel Casamayor (28-
1-0, 18 KOs) faces undefeated
rising contender Nate Camp
bell (23-0-0, 21 KOs) in a 10-
round fight. Photo courtesy of
HBO Sports
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- Slave descendants
to file lawsuit
- (AP) Two descendants of
- Texas slaves announced Mon
- day that they will file a lawsuit
- against J.P. Morgan Chase,
- West Point Stevens and Union
- Pacific, accusing them of aiding
and abetting the institution of
- slavery. ’
- Ina Hurdle Daniels McGee,
- 69, and Julie Mae Wyatt-Kervin,
. 99, both direct descendants of
-~ slaves; are named as plaintiffs
- ishe it oI
. \MgGee .and her attorneys
~ announced the lawsuit on the
. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday,
- immediately following a march
commemorating the slain civil
I “Thcha)rm e tg:ta (these
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* ney Robert Notzon, a lead attor
niey in the case. “They ran their
Augusta Focus
Walker, Mcintyre announce
black history book project
By Theresa Minor
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
: AUGUSTA
The Walker Group and the
Augusta African-American
Historic Committee are join
ing forces to correct an over
sight in many of the history
books about Augusta. The
two groups are collaborating
to publish a history book that
chronicles the contributions of
local African-Americans.
Walker Group CEQ, Charles
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Augustans turned out despite chilly weather to honor the birthday of
Martin Luther King Jr. on Saturday, January 18, 2003. See details and
‘more photos on page 4A. Photo by Theresa Minor
Black political leader blasts GOP tokenism
Chairman of Black Caucus declines committee chairmanship in Republican led senate.
By Theresa Minor
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
The head of Georgia’s
Legislative Black Caucus
says thanks but no thanks
to the chairmanship of a
senate committee.
Sen. Ed Harbison (D-
Columbus) resigned as the
chairman of the Interstate
Cooperation Committee,
just days after the GOP
What would Dr. King do?
Speakers differ on affirmative action debate at various MLK tributes
By Theresa Minor
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
A pair of fiery speeches
set the tone for Augusta’s
observance of the Martin
Luther King, Jr. holiday.
However, the messages
were mixed, particularly
on the issue of affirmative
action.
Both the annual MLK
Memorial Program and the
NAACP’s Freedom Fund
Banquet featured speakers
who agreed that America
remains a racially polarized
nation — far from being
the color blind society envi
sioned by the late civil
rights leader. That’s where
the similarities end.
A packed house of about
2,000 people turned out at
Mt. Calvary Baptist
Church to hear Chaplain
Steven Craft, a nationally
renowned inspirational
speaker from Jefferson
City, Missouri, who ruled
out political fixes to any of
the country’s problems
including race.
“It is my belief that we
W. Walker, made the
announcement stating his
company would underwrite
the cost to research the publi
cation with a $15,000 grant to
the historic committee. '
“The story will never be told
until we take the pen our
selves,” said Walker. “We must
pave the way and paint the
picture for those who will fol
low us to show that African-
Americans have contributed
See BLACK HISTORY, 3A
controlled senate stripped
seven African Americans
of their committee chair
manships. Attempts to
reach Harbison were not
successful. However, vet
eran legislator, Sen. Vin
cent Fort (D-Fulton) says
Harbison’s rejection of the
committee seat is an out
come of the frustration
being felt among black
lawmakers.
“Republicans talk a lot
about outreach. It’s really
will never solve these prob
lems of racism, hatred,
division, discord, war, strife
or any such thing as long as
we’re looking for legal, eco
nomic or political solutions
to these problems. Because
the root, the root of all
strife and confusion, is
spiritual,” admonished
Craft to a mostly receptive
crowd.
And though he never
specifically referred to the
debate over affirmative
action that is now playing
out nationally, Craft sug
gested the federal policy
intended to promote diver
sity by using race as a fac
tor in education and busi
ness is a disservice to
King’s legacy. f
“Racism is racism. Dis
crimination is discrimina
tion. It makes no differ
ence who is the discrimi
nater and the discrimina
tee. Dr. King was about
equality for all. That’s
what a level playing field
is,” said Craft. ‘
His political sentiment
mirrors that of President
Bush who recently
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Charles W. Walker, CEO, The Walker Group (R) and former Augusta
mayor Ed Mcintyre announce Black History text collaboration. -
not outreach. It’s
tokenism. If this is the
republican party’s idea of
outreach they need to go
back and take a crash
course,” ‘said Fort.
Harbison’s refusal to
accept the committee
chair leaves only one
African-American head of
a senate committee
remaining, Sen. Regina
Thomas (D-Savannah).
Thomas leads the State
Institutions and Property
& % . .
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O I L eIR .
Rev. Charles White delivers a fiery keynote -
address at the NAACP’s Freedom Fund Banquet.
Photo by Theresa Minor
announced his administra
tion’s plan to challenge
affirmative action as
unconstitutional. But
Craft’s’ views could not
have been more opposite
from those of Rev. Charles
L. White, NAACP South
east Region. V director.
White delivered the
keynote address at the
annual freedom fund ban
quet held at Trinity CME
Masters protest
ordinance stalls
By Shun Norris
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Augusta-Richmond County
commissioners shot down an
ordinance change that would
have given protestors the
right to appeal if a petition
for a public demonstration is
denied.
The decision to keep the
current ordinance comes
only a few months before a
threatened protest at the
annual Masters Golf Tourna
ment held at the Augusta
National Golf Club. The golf
club has grabbed national
headlines for refusing to
admit women. Martha Burk
of the National Council of
Women’s Organizations and
Jesse Jackson along with his
Committee, not consid
ered to be a major player
as far as committees go.
Fort says based on their
actions so soon into the
legislative session, many
black lawmakers feel
republicans are position
ing themselves for an all
out assault on programs
and policies that impact
blacks in Georgia. In par
ticular, Fort believes the
state’s predatory lending
Church, punctuating his
speech with a phrase from
King’s mountain top
speech: “We’ve got some
difficult days ahead.”
“Without fear of account
ability they (politicians) get
up and quote Martin
Luther King. President
Bush quoted Dr. King to
support his attack on affir
mative action,” said White
in a passionate address.
PRSRT STD
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PAID
AUGUSTA GA
PERMIT NO 302
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
have both vowed to organize
a demonstration to protest
the all-male policy.
Under the existing law, a
permit to demonstrate must
be obtained from the Rich
mond County Sheriff’s office
before protesting on public
property. The new ordinance
proposal would have taken
the permitting process a step
farther. It specified time
restrictions for securing a
permit, 30 days in advance,
while also requiring the
Sheriff to respond within 10
days. Another change would
require the Sheriff to give
fair and reasonable reasons
for denying a request in a
judicial hearing. Currently if
someone is denied the right
See PROTEST 3A
law that penalizes abusive
lending practices and the
hate crime bill are vulner
able in the current politi
cal environment.
“On those programs and
policies that are most
important to the African-
American community
they will clearly not get
the attention they had
before. We (black law
makers) are not going to
have the same leverage,”
said Fort.
“The devil is a liar. Dr.
King did dream of a day
when people are judged by
the content of their charac
ter and not the color of
their skin. But I’m here to
tell you President. Bush,
that day has not arrived.”
White continued saying
that affirmative action ris
ing to the top of Bush’s
political agenda is directly
related to the poor econo
my.
“It’s not by accident that
affirmative action is a topic
of conversation. Every
body’s going through hard
times. You want to know
who’s going to get it first?
All y’all who get those affir
mative action jobs and
don’t want to act like it.
The last hired. The first
fired,” he stated.
White says that organiza
tions like the NAACP and a
“new breed of leadership
that understends the lan
guage of the boardroom
and the rib joint” will be
crucial to African Ameri
cans in a politically hostile
administration.