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AN OPEN FORUM FOR PEOPLE WHO CARE
Volume 5
HRC Enters Boycott Issue Media Boycotts
Abernathy’s Nonvoilence Commitment
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HRC Chairman John Radeck reads affirmative action resolution.
Photo by Stan Raines
The Augusta Richmond
County Human Relations
Committee called on the city
and county governments to
stop “dragging their feet” and
institute and affirmative action
policy to increase the number
of minority and female
employes. This is the third year
in a row that HRC has made
the request; so far, city and
county governments have
taken no action.
The commission also heard a
report by “We Want Our
Share” Chairman, the Rev.
Michael McCoy.
The Rev. McCoy repeated
Z^6-191 6
Submitted by Mrs. Christine L. Gardner
THOUSANDS OF SERVICE MEN AIDED BY USO SERVICES
The USO (United Service Organization Inc.) has had an
interesting and illustrious experience on a local level in Augusta,
Georgia. It was established in this city August 22,1941 with Mr.
James Hull Sr. as the USO Council President. Mr. A.M. Carter was
a charter member of the Board at that time.
Four USO CLUBS WERE IN OPERATION DURING THE
EARLY PART OF World War 11. They were under specific
direction ofUSO Agencies. The National Catholic Community
Service operated at 1309 Green Street. A club for the Negro
servicemen was located in the Catholic recreation hall on
Gwinnett Street sunng the early 40’s. The staff and volunteers
who worked at that time gave their services in many ways at the
club, at Daniel Field and Camp Gordon. The National Travelers
Aid Association operated two lounges in the Union Station and
two information desks in the Bus Station on Reynolds Street.
The volunteers gave information concerning bus schedukes and
various other assistance.
During the early part of the 50’s the city of Augusta took on
the local responsibility for operating the servicemen center at Bell
Auditorium for white servicemen. Later they saw the need for a
branch center to serve a large number of Negro servicentn. A
wide-awake advisory board was organized. The late Mr. Earl
Pinkerton served as chairman of the board from 1951 to 1956.
Under his leadership many volunteers were secured, serviceme n
received free theater tickets, several families invited serviceme n to
their homes for dinner, lawn parties were held as well as many
other enjoyable activities. After Mr. Pinkerton’s death in 1956,
Rev. Leon Lowery who was pastoring the Tabernacle BajXist
Black Publishers To Sue
For Larger Share Os Ads
Expressing his resentment
that for too long Black
newspapers have been
grappling over the crumbs of
lucrative advertising contracts
while white publications divide
dices of the ad pie, Dr. Carlton
Goodlett, publisher of the San
Francisco Sun Reporter,
announced plans for the
National Newspaper Publishers
Assn, to sue in federal court
for a more equitable
arrangement.
Dr. Goodlett, speaking at
the committee’s demands for a
3-1 Black to white preferential
hiring policy, better
recreational facilities properly
maintained, advertisement in
Black owned media from
businesses with a substantial
Black clientele and the Wallace
Branch Library to remain open
on a permanent full time basis.
The chairman further stated
that Broad Street merchants
were presented a copy of the
demands in April and that the
demands for managerial jobs
does not mean a demand for
jobs like custodial supervisor
and parking lot manager. “At
Blacks Who Helped Build Augusta
the 35th annual NNPA
convention in San Francisco,
said the federal government
spends $5 million to $8 million
on legal advertising alone, with
only a trickle going to Black
publications.
In the private sector, Dr.
Goodlett, who was reelected as
president of the NNPA, noted
that of $1.54 billion spent by
the nation’s 10 largest
advertisers in 1972, less than
$500,000 went to Black
P. O. Box 953
least the assistant personnel
directors of the city and
county should be Black”, he
said.
In separate testimony,
Mallory Millender, assistant
professor at Paine College and
editor-publisher of the
News-Review reaffirmed the
committee’s policy to
nonviolence and charged that
the local news media had taken
Rev. Abernathy’s speech out of
contex by harping on a theme
of violence. Millender further
substantiated his charge by
playing back that part of a
taped speech given by
Part Nine
Church was elected chairman of the advisory board. The Club va s
still called the Servicemen Center.
Rev. Lowery also did a wonderful job. He helped to provide a
well rounded program for the servicemen and their families and
would see that refreshments were available each Sunday for the
vesper hour. Later, Rev. Lowery was called to pastor a church in
Tampa, Florida. Then Mr. A.M. Carter took over the
chairmanship and USO was reorganized. Mrs. Christine Gardner
elected by National USO to serve as director, went from the
servicemen center to the Ninth Street USO Club. Many volunteers
shared the responsibility of carrying on the program. Staff
members were Mrs. Gladys Biggers, Miss Louise Ross, Miss W.J.
Hibler, Mrs. Annie Dorsey, Miss Thomasenia Williams and Miss
Lavelle Diggs.
USO MOVED TO GWINNETT AT PINE STREETS
On the 15th of October 1963 the USO operating at 1212
Ninth Street moved to new and more desirable quarters at 1123
Gwinnett Street. At this point the national operating policy of
USO was the complete integration of the personnel served and
the staff. The policy has continued in all USO clubs.
During World War 11, the Korean conflict and the Vietnam war,
USO worked closely with the local community and the military
authorities to do a comprehensive job in providing programs and
services for the military and their dependents. The USO also
served on post with Red Cross, as well as, with the Army Special
Services. The working relationship with the community has
See BWHBA Page 4
newspapers.
Hitching onto Dr. Goodlett’s
attack, California Lt. Gov.
Mervyn Dymally, dflded, “This
type of economic racism is a
practice that needs to be
recognized, examined and
stopped.”
Dymally suggested an
investigation of the white press
by the Black press, with
emphasis on “the effect the
mass media has upon the plight
of Blacks in this country.’
Abernathy here in Augusta
where Abernathy stated, “We
are committed to nonviolence.”
Millender challenged the local
news media to print the truth
The media gave no coverage
to Abernathy’s statement on
nonviolence.
The HRC said it would work
to help find solutions that will
be satisfactory to all segments
of the community.
Man Shot To Death
on Eighth Street
After twice breaking up a
fight Saturday, an Augusta
man used his wife’s pistol to
kill one of the participants,
according to police reports.
Robert Brinson of 705 Fifth
St., went to 433 Watkins St.
where he got Mrs. Emma O.
Baldwin to go to Charlie’s Bar
Sheriff Acquitted
of Beating Charge
By Robert Lee Moore
In a court room case which
took on the trappings of a
A
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Mrs. Charles I. Williams, 3216 Tate Rd., enjoys Block
Party. Photo by Stan Raines
Augusta, Georgia
HRC Chairman John Radeck
also requested a copy of the
manifesto that is being
prepared by the Martin Luther
King Survival Coalition.
In a separate action, the
commission resolved that the
local governments voluntarily
adopt an affirmative action
program. The commission
recognized the city and county
government freeze on all
non-essential hiring but stated
on Ninth Street. There he got
into a fight with a Jerome
Smith. Mrs. Baldwin and her
husband, Joseph, broke up the
fight.
They all walked to the 1000
block of Eighth Street where
Brinson again jumped on
Smith. Baldwin broke up the
country preach-in where Andy
Griffin humility and
fingerwaving reprimands
presided, twelve jurors
acquitted the Sheriff of
Richmond County and two of
his deputies last Friday of any
wrong doing in beating up
Charles Mongol at the
Speakeasy Club on Bth Street,
September 26, 1974.
The jurors decision brought
an end to court proceedings
which would have been the
beginning of the political
downfall of the Sheriff if the
verdict had gone the other
way.
Sheriff Anderson’s counsel
contended that he acted as a
human being provoked by
Charles Mongol who went
looking for trouble. Mr.
Mongol was accused of inciting
the incident by writing a note
to the sheriff which made
reference to his wife not being
with him so that he could play
around. He was also accused of
threatening the Sheriff and his
two deputies by saying that he
would get Warren Martin, one
of the Sheriffs deputies to
beat him and his deputies up.
When this occurred, the Sheriff
James Brown/WRDW
Present Block Party
July 3, 1975
that the time has come for
those persons charged with the
responsibility of implementing
such a plan put forth positive
efforts.
In its resolution the
commission stated that it
apparently takes inference by
the Federal government before
any positive action can be
achieved, as evidenced by the
current situation with the
Augusta Police Department.
fight. But, according to
witnesses, Brinson picked up a
brick and came at Baldwin
with it.
Baldwin took a Colt .38
from his wife’s purse and shot
Brinson once in the temple. He
was charged with murder.
and his deputies reportedly
manhandled Mongol into the
lobby area of the club where
he was severely beaten.
Roy Harris, Mongol’s
attorney, stated that in all of
his years as an attorney he had
never prosecuted a police
official but felt that this case
warranted it. Harris admitted
that his client acted foolishly
in writing the note but
emphasized that the Sheriff is
the conservator of the peace in
Richmond County charged
with protecting people and not
beating them up. He further
stated that the issues involved
in the case were (1) Whether
the Sheriff and his men had the
right to beat up Charles
Mongol? and (2) How bad did
they beat him?
Hanis refened to the
Sheriffs deputies, Gene
Stalcup and Ed Goode, as two
fighting roosters who are going
to get into serious trouble if
they continue the way they are
going and requested that the
jury give him several hours
notice to get out of town if
they find the sheriff and his
men innocent of any wrong
doing.
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James Brown, the Godfather
of Soul, sponsored a block
party in the Southside Terrace
subdivision Sunday.
No. 15
Equal Opportuity
A Commitment
To White Superiority
Editorial
In light of Augusta’s daily newspapers criticism of
“We Want Our Share” for demanding preferential hiring
for Blacks, and of Federal Judge Anthony Alaimo, who
has asked the civil service commission to hire three
Blacks for every white until the racial composition of
the city population is reflected in the Department’s
employment ratio, we would like to share our thinking
on the subject.
America has always had preferential hiring, and the
preference went to white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants.
America has always had racial quotas, and. until
recently, our quota was zero. This is a matter of
historical record. Blacks have been denied, until
recently, everything from education to the right to vote.
Now all of a sudden -- after almost 400 years of
enslavement we are offered "equal opportunity and
we are suppose to be happy.
Are we suppose to be happy that we, who historically
have been denied, will have the same opportunity to
compete with whites who have been historically
favored?
We must first understand that the only thing equal
about equal opportunity is that it will guarantee that
Blacks who are 400 years behind the opportunities of
white America will remain 400 years behind.
If there is an auto race with two automobiles starting
at the same point, racing on the same road under the
same conditions, then it can be said that each car had an
equal opportunity to win.
But if one takes the same cars and starts them on the
same road with one car 400 miles behind the other, then
insist that they travel at the same (equal) speed, that
guarantees that the second car will stay 400 miles
behind.
With whites having a four hundred year head start,
equal opportunity only insures that we’ll stay four
hundred years behind. So the issue is clear. If we are
interested in the second car catching up, we have to
make sure that it travels at a considerably faster speed.
To insist on equal opportunity at this time in history is
to make a commitment to white superiority.
For equal opportunity to be equal, you have to start
off on an equal basis. You can’t let one team cheat tor
half the game, then play the rules in the second half
and say that the game was fair. The second team has to
have its share of privileged play. So what we need is not
equality, we need equity. How are Blacks to be repaid
for centuries of slavery and degradation? America’s
answer is that we won’t be. Any attempt that is made
closeto the economic gap between Blacks and whites is
called “reverse discrimination” which would make
whites appear to be “victims” of discrimination.
The point is real clear. Bigots are not saying, “We had
our half playing with advantages, now you take yours so
the game will be fair.” They are saying, “We’ve had our
share, and we’re not going to let you have a fair chance
to catch up.”
So this is a moral question. America, as wealthy as it
is, is not capable of paying Blacks for the suffering it has
caused us. But America must decide whether it is
interested in maintaining white superiority or correcting
centuries of injustice that the Black man has suffered in
America? The Black man needs ot be compensated in so
many, many w-ays. Preferential hiring is just one of
them.
Approximately 2,500
persons of all ages and walks of
life braved the scorching heat
to listen to the latest in soul
music as rendered by Bobby
“Cigarette” Jones and the Soul
Dimension.
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