Newspaper Page Text
The Augusta News-Review, November 22,1972
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WILL THE CURRENT CROP OF PRISONERS TURN THEIR
INCARCERATIONS INTO PLUSH “COUNTRY CLUBS?” THE
LAMENTED ATTICA IMNATES WERE DUMB. THE SMART
CONS ARE GAINING THEIR GOALS THROUGH THE
FEDERAL COURTS. BLACK MUSLIMS PLAYED A KEY
ROLE IN GOING INTO COURTS OF LAW.
Within one hundred years the men behind bars have inveigled
themselves from a legal status of slaves to activist amateur
lawyers. In 1871, a court in Virginia ruled that prison inmates
were “slaves of the states.” But in 1972, prisoners are suing, with
considerable success, for steak and wine at meals -- specifically,
for Harveys Bristol Cream Sherry.
( RIGHTS TO PROTECT - NOT TO ABUSE )
In a brief period the concept of prisoners rights have made a
180 degree turn in favor of convicted inmates. Inhuman
treatments within confinement brought on these radical changes.
Tough prison wardens put some “Black Muslims” prisoners
through some notorious “Devil Island” tactics, because of the
method of their worship services. One of these wardens was Paul
Pegelow, superintendent of the U.S. Reformatory at Lorton,
Virginia.
He locked 40 of these controversial Muslims in solitary
confinement for 90 days. They had no beds, and were fed only a
slice of bread and water three times a day. They were denied all
religious rights. But two of the Muslims had studied a bit of
criminal law while in prison, and filed suit, with the help of a
young white law student. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Fourth Circuit, in a decision hailed as reversing the tradition of
non-interference with prison administrations, ruled in 1961 that
prisons couldn’t deny Muslim convicts a reasonable chance to
practice their religion.
These contentious Muslims broke the dam, and prisoners all
over the nation began filing more and more suits. In the past year,
they have flooded the courts with what one judge calls a “tidal
wave” of prison litigation.
Soon afterward in a similar case in New York, Judge Kaufman,
of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, ruled that
you could no more punish a man by denying him winter clothing,
soap, toilet paper and a means of disposing of California gangster,
won’a SIIO,OOO judgement on the facts that negligence by
officials at the Federal Prison in Atlanta had permitted another
prisoner to beat him severely. The race to the courts by prisoners
was on.
So Muslims hold their religious rites, and prisoners at hundreds
of penal institutions exchange uncensored correspondence with
almost anyone they choose, and they read books aryl
that once would have been censored. Few people have spoken out;
against these humane changes. Most of the late changes have
come in very recent year. As recently an 1952, a federal court
held: “It is not the function of the courts to superintend the
treatment and discipline of prisoners in penitentiaries’’ - and
much of the change should be credited to (or blamed on) those
pesky Black Muslims.
(MANY PENAL RIGHTS HAVE BEEN WON)
While some decisions have removed serious restrictions on
freedom of speech and religion, or have wiped out scandalous
conditions of filth, malnutrition or abuse. A Federal Judge
recently ordered wide changes in the health care provided by
Alabama prisons. Many of the suits seem that a Missouri prisoner
who sincerely believes in Jesus Christ, and must be allowed to
write a letter to the Pope, uncensored. There has developed
behind prison’s bars, a new religion, the “Church of the New
Song,” and are demanding $16,000 a year for its ministers, the
same pay the prison chaplain gets.
(THE POWER OF THE PENAL CHURCH)
While every one is not eligible to be a minister, they ordain
them at will, and the Church of the New Song is spreading to
other prisons. There are also prisoners who are suing for steak and
wine at mealtime. The Song Church is asserting that partaking of
this fabulous gourmet is a fundamental tenet of its faith. They
not only want wine for their liturgy annd meals, but want the
best-Harveys Bristol Cream.
(PLAYBOY MAGAZINE - THE BIBLE)
Some inmates in an Eastern Prison are suing for the right to
worship the centerfolds of Playboy magazine. All of this is a far
cry from the “slaves of the state” theory of 1871, and from the
1952 ruling that the treatment and discipline of convicts was no
business of the courts. That ruling was handed down by the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a case filed by Robert
Stroud the “Birdman of Alcatraz,” who had sought equipment to
further his widely praised research with birds.
SYMPATHETIC TOWARD PRISONERS, BUT JUDGES ARE
LOYAL TO THE PENAL ADMINISTRATORS.
Judges still don’t like to lean too heavily on prison
administrators even when ruling against them. A federal district
court in New York, for example, agreed that a prisoner who had
been kept in solitary confinement because of his radical politics
had a right to collect damages, but the court excused all the
defendants from responsibility except for one prison official who
had died before the case got to court. So, no money.
EVEN WITH RELUCTANT JUDGES, PRISONERS ARE
GETTING A BETTER DEAL.
Judicially imposed changes have been implemented so slowly
that many judges last year said they were granting convicted
criminals probation because there was no decent prison to send
them to. What may be the most important prisoner’ rights case of
1972 arose when officals at the Wisconsin State Prison routinely
read the mail of an inmate, Juan Morales, and detected strong
hints that Morales and his sister-in-law were having an affair. They
struck this girl from his mailing list, in fear it would incite more
trouble. Morales carried it to the court.
Federal Judge James Doyle, ruled that the state can’t deprive a
prisoner of any civilian rights unless it can show a compelling
government interest in this differential treatment. “He held there
was no justification for intercepting Morales’ correspondence.
BLACK POWER
is in the voting box this year.
Page 2
Institutionalized white racism is a very broad subject that can
only be dealt with briefly in this column. A summary and
additional insights into this critical problem were promised last
week and therefore it is hereby rendered. The more one studies
this subject the more one gets “freaked out” by it’s dimensions.
The definition of white racism that was printed in last week’s
column was correct except for one word. Racism is the belief of
one ethnic group that it is superior to another or other ethnic
groups - and not economic groups as has printed in the previous
column.
White racism comes in two basic forms - Overt and Covert. It is
both individual and institutional and is a basic fabric of our
American society. It is practiced by individual whites against
individual Blacks and by the larger White community against the
Black community. Blacks have been and are systematically
victimized by whites in general who represent the American
majority ethnic group.
The basic problems of Blacks are white problems in that whites
control the resources and means for Black progress. White experts
on the problems of Blacks blame those problems on Blacks rather
than the white system that created and maintains the problems.
The failures of Blacks are blamed on Blacks rather that the white
racist system that controls the destiny of Blacks. For example, the
welfare problems of Blacks are tied directly to the economic
institution of this society since “free enterprise” exist only for
the poor with socialism being granted the rich and super-rich
whites.
Black people have been historically excluded from the free
enterprise system in a very negative fashion. The Black consumer
has been “ripped-off’ by white financial institutions who
maintain “white" and “Black” financial dealing resulting in
Blacks paying more for less in terms of “creature comforts.”
White loan companies and ghetto stores have gotton rich by
exploiting the powerless Black consumer. White banks have been
slow to loan money to Black individuals and businesses since they
are regarded as poor credit risks. The label of “poor credit risk”
does not take into consideration the economic plight, of Black
Americans since financial assistance is granted only when white
standards are met and exceeded.
A great deal of attention should be given to the subeducation of
Black children and the miseducation of white children. White
oriented IQ tests, ability grouping, and teacher attitudes all serve
to oppress Black school children. Lowered teacher expectations
of Black children by racist white teachers lead to poorer actual
academic performance by those Black children. For example, the
majority of tests that Blacks have to take for school and
i employment requirements are designed ±>y whites for whites and
generally administered by whites.
The miseducation of white children is so tragic that it staggers
the imagination. American history has generally excluded or left
Blacks out of the text books except when sterotypes are
presented. White children are educated to believe in such garbage
as “the white man’s burden” and “manifest destiny.” In other
words, white children are taught overtly and covertly, directly
and indirectly, that non-whites are the white man’s responsibility
to educate and “civilize” into white and European culture that is
supposed to be superior. Further, white Americans believe that it
is their “manifested destiny” to be superior to and control the
rest of the world. Any child would be a fool to believe that
Columbus discovered America with the Indian America (native)
standing on the banks of the sea watching him go through his
discovering “ego trip.”
Non-American and especially African cultures have often been
shown to be highly developed and moralistic cultures. Present day
American history does not adequately deal with the genocide if
(l)native Indian Americans and the development of white racism
in this country. Much of what has passed for American history is
basically super patriotic racist propaganda. Black heroes of
American history have been largely overlooked unless they were
safe heroes like Booker T. Washington and George Washington
Carver. Great Black leaders like W.E.B. Dubois and Malcolm X
have never been included in those racist text books. And,
incidentially, Dick and Jane were always the white characters of
our first grade texts with neither of the two having any Black kids
or children to join them in play activities.
The administration of “justice”to Blacks has been and is racist
“to the bone.” Policemen are like “occupation troops” in Black
communities with them (the police) brutalizing and killing Blacks
at will. Blacks killing Blacks are given “light” if any prison
sentences since the larger white community does not value the
Eves of Blacks. Drugs are permitted widespread usage in the Black
community until whites join in the “slow death.” Whites control
the structures of justice and they feel free to exercise their
radical, cultural, and economic biases against Blacks in legal and
judicial systems.
There is a critical need to reorder the representation of Bh cks
in all levels of government to insure due consideration of
problems peculiar to Blacks. The denial of the right to vote by
Blacks in the South has kept many racist white politician in
office. It is no wonder that president Richard “Tricky Dick”
Nixon sought to weaken in the 1965 voting rights bill recently.
Blacks will defeat those white politicians who are strongly racist
in their political behavior if adequate power is given the Black
electorate.
White Christian behavior in America has been historically racist
and used to oppress Blacks from slavery days to the present. The
average white minister who takes an unpopular stand on race had
I Speaking |
I CcS K From I
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By
jH Roosevelt (keen, Jr.
THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY
Mallory K. Millender Editor and Publisher
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' LETTERS TO EDITOR
Editor
Augusta News-Review
Augusta, Georgia
Dear Editor:
Let me take this opportunity
and medium to express my
sincere thanks to you for
keeping me informed of the
happenings in Augusta through
your publication. I have
witnessed the quality of the
Augusta News-Review over the
past several months and am
really impressed by the
progress that is being made in
the reporting and coverage. I
look forward to each Monday
when your paper arrives at my
desk. It receives first priority
over mountains of work and
the Washington Post.
Things seem to be happening
in Augusta. The activities of
the newly • created Human
Relations Council are of
particular interest and it is my
hope that the new mayor will
demonstrate the kind of
leadership that is necessary to
move Augusta to the forefront
of the nation in concern over
human rights and dignity. The
potential is there. Indeed, it
has always been there.
Os significant interest also is
the election of Dr. Justine
Washington to the Richmond
County Board of Education.
Unfortunately, one of the
anomalies that exists in our
society is the unwritten policy
that prohibits professional
educators from assuming
better keep the motor running in his car as he leaves his church or
social club. Blacks were taught religion not as a means of
salvation, but more as a tool of social control. The Indian
American resisted all efforts to christanize him and this helped to
lead to his oppression and virtual genocide.
The killing of Black students at Southern University in Baton
Rogue, Louisiana is just one more example of efforts to
exterminate Blacks. White policemen across the country are eager
to use their federally funded arsenals of weapons on Black
citizens who are regarded as militant or “out of their place.” We
can expect more such killing of Black citizens as Blacks contunie
to seek liberation from white racism and oppression. The killing
of six Black men in the Augusta civil disorder of 1970 has never
been fully explained or dealt with by Black or white leaders. This
is also true of the killing of Black students at Jackson State
College in Mississippi.
This writer could write on continuously about the many
. dimensions of this problem. There is a critical need for sensible
Blacks and whites to begin to deal honestly with the problem of
white institutionalized and individual racism. This country had
just elected a president in a landslide (or mudslide) manner who
did not bother to even personally campaign in Black
communities. Blacks who supported his re-election are generally
high income Blacks who will be pleased with the political crumbs
of a certain number of Black political appointments while the
masses of Black people’s problems grow worse in this rich and
affluent country.
It is not enough for Blacks to use rhetoric for Black power
programs will be more beneficial. By Black power this writer
means strength in Black unity and organization to deal with white
racism on a forthright basis without “selling out” or being
co-opted. Whites must support the gaining of meaningful Black
power by letting Blacks control their own destiny. All five basic
institutions of this society must be examined critically and
honestly if progress will be achieved. The family, political,
economic, educational, and religious institutions must be
restructered and completely “overhauled” if this issue is to be
handled short of violent revolution.
Liberation, then peace
9 *
Brethren, Like, Where ore y& collard greens ■
ft .IfLrLfrn;
You Need j—. The NAACP
The NAACP \/ Need You
Join
Today
AUGUSTA BRANCH NAACP
1223 Gwinnett Street
Augusta, Georgia 30901
I wish to become a member and enclose $
I enclose $ as a contribution.
NAME
ADDRESS
CITY, STATE, ZIP-
Annual Membership $4.00, $6.00, SIO.OO, $25.00 and up. Youth
Membership (under 17) $1.00;(17 to 21) $2.00. Life Membership
$5.00. Memberships of $6.00 and up include a year's subscription
to The Crisis Magazine at $2.00
responsible policy making
positions on local and state
boards. It seems to me that
their input is vitally necessary
and important, particularly at a
time when we are grappling
with issues that could well
decide the fate of public school
education. It is heartening to
notice that the electorate of
Richmond County is becoming
aware of this fact.
As you are aware, my
immediate professional
concern is with the
strengthening of Black colleges.
The present picture in
Washington does not appear
encouraging. Indeed, the
outlook for higher education in
general is not immediately
promising. However, the
situation for Black colleges is
compounded given the past
poor track record they have
enjoyed in receiving support
from federal and private
sources. President Pitts is
providing excellent leadership
at Paine College and needs the
support of the entire Augusta
community to move the
institution into the mainstream
of American higher education.
The need has never been more
apparent in the history of the
college.
Keep up the good work.
Sincerely
Leonard E. Dawson
Associate Director
Moton College Service Bureau
2001 S. Street, N.W. Suite 601
Washington, D.C.
TO BE
EQUAL / MMO
-—/►
By I ►
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. >/ b
ZUMWALT SETS NAVY ON COURSE
by
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Chief of Naval Operations, put it on
the line to an unprecedented assemblage of top Navy brass
recently. Spurred by simmering racial unrest that reached its peak
with the dock-side sit-down of 129 sailors from the Aircraft
Carrier Constellation, the Navy’s chief said, in effect, that the
service’s officers would have to “shape up or ship out.”
All of the services, to a greater or lesser degree, are trying to
implement equal opportunity programs. The Navy, which was
one of the slower of the armed forces to integrate back in the
early 1950’5, has especially come a long way. Under Admiral
Zumwalt’s direction, huge steps were taken to make the Navy
first, instead of last.
In a series of what became known as “Z-grams” the Admiral
established realistic programs to attract minorities to the Navy,
make re-enlistments and living conditions attractive for them, and
directly attack discrimination in a service arm characterized by
predominately Southern-white officers.
Recent incidents, capped by the Constellation affair, made
Admiral Zumwalt reach the conclusion that those orders of his
simply weren’t being enforced. So he and Navy Secretary John H.
Warner brought together 80 or 90 Navy admirals and
commanders and Marine Corps generals for what can only be
termed a “roasting.”
Admiral Zumwalt’s remarks have been made public by the
Navy, and they ought to be required reading not only for Defense
Department officials and armed service officials, but also for
every government official and businessman who thinks he’s on
top of the racial situation in his office or business.
The Admiral began by pinpointing the destructive impact of
self-deception, the kind that results when paper regulations are
put forth, but not enforced. He clearly identified the reason for
the Navy’s current racial dilemma -- “the failure of commands to
implement those programs and with a whole heart.”
After running down a list of various ways in which his previous
directives had been sabotaged by lower-level officers, he
announced a seven-point program to end racial discrimination and
said compliance would be checked out by the Inspector General’s
office. It was pretty clear to all who heard him that an officer’s
future in the Navy will now be tied to how well he performs on
the equal opportunity front, as well as in his other professional
duties.
Anyone who condones discriminatory practices or who violates
“either the spirit or the letter” of the new Navy policy Was put
on notice that action would be taken against him. “Equal means
exactly that, Equal,” said the Admiral. And he emphasized that
what he was advocating was not a break with Navy traditions, but
a return to what he called “our oldest and most proven tradition,
command by leadership.” ■ • -
I believe Admiral Zumwalt’s session with these top officers
rates more than just a footnote in some textbook of the future
about how the Navy was fully integrated; it deserves to be
followed and copied by business leaders and officials at all levels
of government.
There too, nice sounding orders are neatly set out in staff
memoranda and in speeches by company presidents, only to be
ignored or resisted by others farther down the line. “The old man
can’t mean it,” is the most common response. More energy, time
and money is spent in trying to avoid implementing those
statements of policy than to comply with them.
The time has come for across-the-board implementation of all
equal opportunity programs, private and public. Company
presidents, government officials, union leaders, and others ought
to take a leaf from Admiral Zumwalt’s book, call their top staffs
together, and lay it on the line -- shape up or ship out.
fc SUBSCRIBE
E TODAY
Bp the news-re view
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