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Uity Region
Translportation service for
disabled facing financial crisis
By THERESA MINOR
Augusta Focus Staff Writer
Karen Ellis was first diag
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Photo by Theresa Minor
Karen Ellis is assisted on to a waiting Star Specialty Transportation Service van. Its
driver has been working without pay for months.
NAACP renews focus on
education next year
By EMMA RITCH
Associated Press Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)
— The South Carolina
NAACP has announced an
increased campaign to pro
mote equal funding among
the state’s schools.
The National Association
for the Advancement of
Colored People’s effort
commemorates the 50th
anniversary of the U.S.
Supreme Court decision
that ended segregation in
schools.
Clarendon County was
the site for the Briggs v.
Elliott case, one of the five
lawsuits that led to the
Brown v. Board of Educa
tion decision.
James Gallman, president
of the South Carofi)na State
Conference of the NAACP,
called for a change in the
way resources are allocated
Civil rights pioneer John Lewis’ dream will become a reality
By. Hazel Trice Edney
N¥\IPA Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
— The cruelties of slavery, the
progress made during the
Reconstruction Era, the
euphoria of the Harlem
Renaissance, the horrors of the
Ku Klux Klan, the humiliation
of Jim Crow, the violent pain
of the Civil Rights Movement,
the uncertainty of the new mil
lennium: The dream of Rep.
John Lewis (D-Ga.) — himself,
living history — was to see it all
told under one roof.
Now that H.R. 3491 has
been passed by both the House
and Senate and is expected to
be signed soon by President
George W. Bush, Lewis’ dream
will likely become reality in the
form of the National Museum
of African American History
and Culture in the nation’s cap
ital.
“This museum, in my esti
mation, will have a healing and
cleansing affect on the very
psyche of all Americans,” Lewis
says of his 15-year effort. “I
hope this S will help
sis (MS) in 1990. The dis
ease worsened progressively
and now she’s wEeelchair
bound. While Ellis has come
to terms with her disease, she
among school districts.
“We certainly don’t want
to diminish the progress
that has been made, burt at
the same time we are
appalled that we are still so
far behind,” Gallman said.
“As we look at ... low
income families and these
school districts where a
large majority of these are
African Amcricans, we find
that the lack of funding has
tremendously hampereg the
opportunities to create
equal opportunities for all
children.
William Gaither, a mem
ber of the executive board
of the state NAACP, said
education is the most
important issue facing the
civil rights group next year.
“Education is nos of¥cred
to all of our children in an
equitable fashion,” Gaither
said. “If you're from a poor
county and your schoolp dis
lead to a building of a sense of
reconciliation in spite of all of
the progress that we've made.
“And in spite of the distance
we've come — from the days of
slavery to the period of rigid
segregation and racial discrimi
nation through the period of
lynching and the whole share
croppers existence, the migra
tion from the South to the
North — in spite of all of that,
in this modern-day Civil
Rights Movement, where we
see unbelievable changes,
there’s still a lot of pain and
hurt in America and we still
need to get it out of the psy
che.”
Lewis should know.
As the 25-year-old chairman
of the Student Non-violent
Coordinating ~ Committee
(SNCC), he suffered a frac
tured skull from a state troop
er's blows to his head on
“Bloody Sunday” March 7,
1965, while trying to cross the
Edmund Pettis Bridge on the
first leg of the Selma to Mont
gomery, Ala., march. The
youngest person to speak at the
1963 March on Washington,
AUGUSTA FOCUS
continues to fight for a qual
ity of life she Eecame accus
tomed to during her career as
a journalist for the military —
an unfettered, mobile life.
trict is' poor, you don't get
the same funding as 516
more affluent areas get.”
Gallman said the state’s
method of funding creates
an achievement gap. The
NAACP plans to ask legisla
tors to appropriate equal
funds for scho&)districts, he
said.
The NAACPs 2004
activities include the
announcement of an educa
tion essay contest’s winners,
tributes to the descendants
of those involved in the suit
and equity hearings to spot
light progress anc? needfs) in
the state’s education system.
The first commemorative
event, on Jan. 17, will be
held in Summerton’s Liber
ty African Methodist Epis
copal Church, where the
Rev. Joseph A. Dalaine was
pastor and had led local cit
-Izens in the Briggs v. Elliott
case, Gaither salgg.
Lewis was arrested 40 times in
connection with civil rights
protests.
“I don't want us to focus on
one segment of African-Ameri
can history over or against
another,” he explains. “I've
always felt that our history had
not been told. And I wanted to
be a part of an effort to get it
done.”
The bill authorizes the muse
um to be established as part of
the Smithsonian Institution, a
federal agency. The Smithson
ian Board of Regents is charged
with selecting a museum site
on or near the National Mall
within a year and completion
of the project is expected to
take an additional two or three
years.
The bill provides sl7 million
for planning and sls million
more for educational pro
grams, grants and scholarships
related to African-American
life, art, history, and culture for
fiscal year 2004.
An additional S2OO million
in private money will be need
ed to complete the project.
That amount will be matched
“I traveled a lot from one
military base to another. |
loved it,” she recounts.
MS curtailed her world
travel and now economic
hard times are threatenin
her ability to get aroun§
locally. El?i’s is one of more
than 300 people who count
on Star Speciai)ty Transporta
tion Service to get around.
The two year oEj company
makes about 196 trips a
month to transport people
with disabilities — from sim
ple errands to important
appointments — 24 Eours a
dgy, seven days a week. Star
Specialty Transportation is
operating at a deficit after
grant funding dried up this
year. Ellis, wfio is also a vol
unteer dispatcher for the
company, worries about
what a loss of this service
would mean to those who
have come to count on it.
“Even though we are in
wheelchairs, we still like
doing things. I can’t put it
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Photo by H. Dunbar.
These Christmas cuties braved the cold, wet weather to take part in Augusta’s
annual Christmas Parade. There were dozens of hand waving beauties, bands and
floats to thrill the crowd of onlookers who lined Broad Street on Sunday, Dec. 14.
dollar-for-dollar by the federal
government.
There are many Black histo
ry museums around the nation,
among them the noted Charles
H. Wright Museum of African-
American History in Detroit.
The Reginald F. Lewis Muse
um of African-American His
tory and Culture is scheduled
to open in Baltimore next
December.
But of all the museums
stretching from Capitol Hill
past the White House, none
tell the story of the Civil Rights
Movement. Even with John
Lewis stature as a civil rights
icon, it was not easy getting
federal legislation authorizing
the museum passed. He has
introduced the bill every ses
sion since 1988. Usually, the
bill wouldn't make it out of
committee or if it did, it would
fail in both houses. In 1992, it
was passed by the Senate, but
not by the House. In 1994, it
was passed in the House, but
not in the Senate.
Working closely with former
Rep. J. C. Waus (R-Okla.),
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.)
into words. It would be dev
astating to all of us if the
company folded. I would not
be aglc to do something as
simple as going to the gro
cery store — being able to go
to the movies,” E%lis said.
The company has had to
suspend service once before.
Its director, Judith Winters
worst fear is that it might
happen again. As someone
who is also wheelchair
bound, she is determined to
keep the company on the
road.
“I have a dream. I want to
set the people free from pris
ons not of their own making.
Free to go where they want
to and cfo what they want,”
Winters says of her determi
nation to save Star Specialty
Transportation.
She admits to surviving
“hand to mouth, month to
month,” approaching com
panies, organizations and
individuals for financial
assistance. The non-profit
Beginning to look a lot like Christmas
and Senators Christopher
Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sam
Brownback (R-Kan.), Lewis
got both chambers to pass the
measure this session.
“There will be many tears
shed at this museum,” says
Brownback, the Senate’s chief
sponsor of the bill. “Tears of
sorrow and triumph, tears that
cleanse the soul and heal the
wounds, tears that transcend
race, creed, and color.”
Lewis’ contributions to
America have transcended race,
creed and color.
“It has been a long, hard, and
tedious journey,” he said in his
speech last month on the
House floor before the bill
finally passed 409-9. “When
we began this journey, I often
said that we must pace our
selves for the long haul. And
we must keep the faith... And
now the many supporters of
the African-American Museum
can and will finally see the
fruits of their labor.”
Voting against the bill in the
House were: Todd Akin (R-
Mo.), Howard Coble (R-
N.C.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz), Sam
December 18, 2003
company is behind in payroll
and ‘f)uely costs are mounting.
The service charges their
clients only $1 per round
trip. Comparable service is
about S4O just for pick up
plus a dollar a mile. g)tar Spe
cialty Transportation’s mod
erate fee was set because so
many of the riders are on
fixec{ income. The company
survives on the rcmaind{:r of
a $15,000 county grant, pri
vate donations anc?r the will
ingness of its drivers to work
without drawing a paycheck
for months.
“I don’t know how much
longer we can operate like
that,” Winters ssucs)e
The organization is count
ing on a holiday miracle to
see it through the end of the
year. It is soliciting public
support. Contributions are
tax deductible. For more
information, contact Judith
Winters at (706) 738-3212
or email her at judithaw
insl @aol.com.
Johnson (R-Texas), Walter B.
Jones (R-N.C.), Ron Paul (R-
Texas), James E Sensenbrenner
(R-Wis.), Nick Smith (R-
Mich.) and Charles H. Taylor
(R-N.C)).
The Senate bill, S. 1157, had
passed by unanimous consent
last June. With Senate Majori
ty Leader Bill Frist, a member
of the Smithsonian Board of
Regents, supporting the bill,
Bush is expected to sign it into
law.
To Lewis, this is about more
than building a Black museum.
“For too long, African-
Americans struggled in the
shadows of America,” Lewis
told Congress. “... It is the
story of tfic great individuals,
such as Harriett Tubman,
George Washington Carver,
Frederick Douglass and W.E.B.
Du Bois. But, it is also the
story of hundreds, thousands
and millions of ordinary men,
women and children struggling
to survive in a land where they
were denied the fundamental
rights, dignity and respect that
belong to all human beings.
This is the story we must tclff'
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