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The Augusta News-Review - August 12, 1976 -
Walking With Dignity
It Appears That bvalirby
The Path To Justice And Freedom,
In South Africa Leads Indubitably To The Grave
What are the young Blacks of South Africa up to by rioting
and dying in a crazy-quilt pattern that makes no sense to many
people who sympathize with their cause? Maybe they have
dedicated themselves to the dogma of that eminent American
patriot, Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death”.
Blacks continuely clash with police in Soweto and officials are
afraid that trouble will spread.
Last week a crowd of about 30,000 young Africans tried to
break through police barriers and march into white suburbs and
Johannesburg. An unconfirmed report stated three were killed
and at least 18 people were injured. White police officials said the
situation was “extremely dangerous”.
The latest flare-up comes exactly 50 days after the outbreak of
violence in Soweto during the so-called “language massacre” this
spring. At that time Black students and later other Africans
joined the youngsters in protest against the use of Afrikaans as a
medium of instruction in Black schools. One hundred seventy-six
students died in the riots and more than 1,000 were injured. Os
course some white observers said those figures could be doubled
twice over.
Hatred has runned rampant ever since. There have been
incidents of violence and arson from time to time, and many
students have stayed away from school, even though the
government has stopped forcing the use of the Afrikaan language.
The young Blacks prefer to use English for tfieir studies. They
reject Afrikaans as symbolic of the system of apartheid enforced
by theTuling Nationalist Party.
In an effort to calm the situation African township leaders
called a mass meeting last week with the approval of the Minister
of Justice Jimmy Kruger. They appealed to the students to return
to school. Various members of the Urban Bantu Council, which
has a limited control over Soweto’s civic affairs, appealed to the
parents and students: “Do not bum our school’s; no nation can
be without education.”
SOUTH AFRICA ALLOW FOR A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF
DISSENT
But they also took the opportunity to make fresh demands on
the government for Black trade unions, for equal pay, for equal
work, for all teachers regardless of color (Black teachers are
harassed more than white), for the scrapping of the plan to make
all Black citizens “home lands” like the Transkei that is to be
given independence soon. They also demand that the police be
kept away from the schools because they would “anger the older
students”.
Their appeals to the students seem to have been largely
ignored. The students claim the older men are “too soft” with the
government and “out of touch”.
The second phase of the Soweto’s riots started soon after
daylight on a Wednesday in Soweto and in a smaller township
"GOING PLACES”
By Philip Waring
Black Press In Finest Hour At
Howard Woods’ Funeral Ceremonies
\s you’ve probably heard, Howard B. Woods of St. Louis, one
of the county's top news publishers, died suddenly at the NUL
conference in Boston and was recently buried in his hometown.
Vernon Jordan pointed out that “Woods died with his boots
on. He was in the midst of a conference designed to bring about
equality of opportunity and expansion of jobs for minorities”...
Billy Rowe, NNPA executive, A. Murphy of the Afro-American
Newspapers; Garth Reeves, Miami; Ken Stanley, Louisville
Defender and many more were here... Louis Martin of the
Sengstacke Newspapers and 1 chatted about the life and times of
the late Lucius Harper (of Augusta) and long-time editor of the
Chicago Defender...
Woods was formally eulogized by Dr. Carlton Goodlett of San
Francisco and president of the NNPA and John Sengstacke and
Elder Statesman of the Black Press... Many of these men sent
hellos to Mallory Millender...
I am using Louis Martin’s excellent column as the base for
“Going Places”. Thanks Louis!
“Howard Woods just dropped dead here.” that was the voice of
Ethel Payne on the phone. She was attending the Urban League
convention in Boston and was going over some questions for one
of the speakers, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, when she first
got word.
The sixty-one year old journalist had a history of heart trouble
and perhaps the news should not have occasioned so much
surprise. Yet I was stunned anyway. Howard was a lively, electric
character who talked fast and you felt he was born with more
than his normal share of restlessness. He was witty and easy to
laugh with and sometimes told a joke or two on himself. You had
to like him for he would not have it any other way.
It was fitting that he spent his last few years as editor and
publisher of the St. Louis Sentinel, one of the Black weeklies in
the Missouri metropolis. Howard has worked over twenty years
ago as editor of the St. Louis Edition of the old nationally
circulated weekly, the Chicago Defender. He was also interested
in the broadcast media and maintained until the end of a TV talk
show in St. Louis.
He was a member of the school of Black journalism who felt
that the basic mission in life was to accelerate social change and
fight for social justice. He was on the firing line long before the
world ever heard of the civil rights revolution or of Martin Luther
NNPA GUEST EDITORIAL
Pursuing The Uncommitted Republican Delegate
An awesome amount of indescribable pressure alternating
techniques between the carrot-honey and Ute bullwhip-lash, is
being placed upon uncommittted delegates to the Republican
National Convention.
Between 115 and 125 uncommitteed delegates remain. A few
of these are Blacks, and pressure from both the Ford and the
Reagan camps have zeroed in on them. The two contenders and
their adherence give the impression that the uncommitted are
egotistical people who ought to be pampered, or who seek
personal commitments for their precious support.
It does not occur to Ford or Reagan that there are many
principled people who are uncommitted, even at this late date,
who have not yet been satisfied with the Regan psuedo liberal
conservative program or the Ford pseudo conservative liberal
program. Many of the uncommitted represent those few hardy
souk who were elected in congressional districts where the
Republican spirit of Lincoln, La Folette and Wilkey abounds;
these constituencies recognize that in the political tug of war
which will occur for the GOP Presidential nomination in Kansas
City, rebuffs chance for moving the Grand Ole’ Party away from
the rock ridges of ultra conservatism toward liberal demands of
the rip cm society is to hold firm to their demands for substantive
liberal party commitments in this hour of crises for Ford and
Regan, two politicians who have compromised liberal Republican
Page 4
called Alexandria, which is north of Johannesburg. Trams were
stoned, and young Africans were reported to be parading along
the railway lines carrying placards and giving the clenched fist
Black-power salute. One train stopped near Soweto and white
workers cowered inside with the blinds down as stones were
thrown at it.
20,000 STRONG AT SOWETO’S ORLANDO STADIUM
In the heart of Soweto Black students gathered at the
Stadium to protest the detention of various student-leaders in jail
since the “language riots”. The crowd grew, and about 30,000
people began to march toward the white suburbs a few miles
away. Armed police fired to head them off. Later in the morning,
all train service to Soweto was cancelled and bus services in the
area were disrupted.
People coming out of the township reported that shops were
being burned and that cars were being stoned to prevent people
from going into Johannesburg to work.
Police are on the alert for fear that violence might spread to
other areas in the Transvaal Province and other provinces.
Some white observers are wondering if the Soweto uprising is a
part of “Namibia” that is also having its trouble. Namibia is
administered by South Africa inspite a proclamation from the
United Nations telling South Africa to remove its troops out of
this emerging country.
The most prominent member of the white Afrikaner
community acknowledged in an interview that Namibia’s Black
nationalist movement, SWAPO, must somehow be involved if a
future government for the territory is to have a sound base.
SWAPO, the South-West African People’s Organization, is
excluded from the constitutional talks now in progress here and is
waging guerrilla war against South African troops on Namibia's
border with Angola. (Namibia is administered by South Africa in
violation of UN resolutions, and the UN has set a deadline of
Aug. 31 for South African withdrawal from the territory.)
Dirk Mudge, who was head of the white delegation to the
constitutional talks, made this statement: “We must talk to
SWAPO, if we are to get anywhere, but he indicated that talks
with SWAPO will not come off before the end of this year.”
The issue of whether to talk to SWAPO remains a prickly one.
Within the last two months a prominent member of South
Africa’s ruling Nationalist Party Gerhardt Totemeyer, was
expelled from the party for saying that the whites would have to
talk to SWAPO to prevent war in South Africa. Mr. Totemeyer is
a lecturer at Stellenbosch University.
(MAYBE I’M FUNNY THAT WAY)
Isn't it odd, that white politicians and their families only see fit
to visit Black Churches when they are seeking favors. Why can’t
they come sometime just to worship? Black Churches have always
been open to all people.
King. In his view, the newspaper was a vehicle for the movement
of the masses toward a greater measure of freedom and
opportunity. He worked at his craft that way.
Our paths crossed many times as journalists but it was in the
field of politics that I got to know something of his convictions
and philosophy. Through friends in the Missouri Democratic
Party, he had gotten to know Lyndon Johnson when he was still
a Senator from Texas. Howard held the view, which I shared, that
if Blacks ever got on their political feet and could vote freely in
the South, progress would be inevitable. So did LBJ. In the 1960
campaign with Kennedy and Johnson on the Democratic ticket.
Woods was a valuable ally.
In the 1964 campaign when LBJ took on Senator Barry
Goldwater, I asked Howard to handle the political messages for
Black radio and provide him with an office in the Democratic
National Committee. Finally, LBJ persuaded him to take the job
in the administration as Deputy Director of the U.S. Information
Service which was then headed by another LBJ journalistic
appointee, also Black, Carl Rowan. Woods tackled every job with
zest and enthusiasm.
When I first met him he would call whites “Mr. Charlie” as
those who came from Dixie would call them “crackers” and
“peckerwoods”. The designations freely used today cannot be
printed in a family newspaper.
One of the favorite devices that Howard employed to make a
point, and he was one of the most articulate men alive, often
involved an anecdote, reflecting the stupid actions of “Mr.
Charlie”. His stories were funny and pointed but hardly ever
malicious.
Howard was never really happy as a bureaucrat and he resigned
his USIA position in order to get back into the newspaper
business where there was greater freedom and far more fun.
Palace politics which the bureaucrats play is even more vicious
than professional poland the Daily Defender, he was able to
organize his own paper, which was his life-long ambition, in his
native St Louis.
Despite some bouts with illness, Howard made a constructive
contribution to his town and country as the editor and publisher
of the St. Louis Sentinel. For him, I am sure Gabriel is going to
open the gate as well as blow his horn.
principles to their shoe tops for the right to ride the elephant into
the White House.
The Black committed come from the liberal Republican
constituencies who recognize that the administrations of Richard
Nixon and Gerald Ford have literally been backing into the
future, programming rugged individualism while denying the cries
of the masses of unemployed, the ill-housed, the ill-educated, the
sick and the needy, and especially the very grave problem of
Black adolescents whose unemployment level is 40.5 per cent or
three times that of their white counter-parts.
For those courageous uncommitted Blacks, we urge them to
hold firm and demand that the Republican Party reject a
governmental agenda whose every act supports the acquisition of
economic wealth and political power for the rich and the greedy,
while lending nothing but the trickle down pablum from their
favored class prosperity to satisfy the hunger, the unemployment
aspirations, the need for housing and adequate medical care of
the masses and the needy.
These courageous Blacks and other uncommitted render a
service to the Republican Party greater than their knowing. Some
non-Republicans even believe that the fate of a viable two-party
system in the nation rests upon their seeming intransigent which
is ingrained in a cause rather than personal egotisim.
A.-.
irWTI
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Ki
Stop The Fear And Trembling In The Streets
BLACK COMMUNITIES
THAT CARE ABOUT THE \ z
BLACKFUTURE,SHOULD SaßwoE
HELP IMPOSE ORDER jL
where needed.
Al
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1 i
IF
Speaking Out By Roosevelt Green, Jr.
'Right To Life’
Movement Narrow-Minded
The so-called “Right to Life” movement appears to have been
one more example of narrow mindedness on the part of an
increasingly loud segment of the white populace. The zealpts of
this movement profess to value the life of developing fetuses and
are therefore anti-abortion except for a very few instances.
This movement is largely a white middle class women’s group
who seek a constitutional amendment to generally outlaw
abortion except in the case of rape or when the life of the mother
is threatened. Some commentators called this group of hypocrites
a “pro-life” movement
Before dealing with the blatant hypocrisy of this movement I
would like to cite two points to ponder. Firstly, medical and
social scientists are engaged in a big debate as to when a human
life actually begins.
Secondly, the Supreme Court has ruled that the decision on
abortion is largely or exclusively that of an expectant mother.
This raises questions of a constitutional and family nature that
can cause one to agree with the Supreme Court. It is the
expectant mother or pregnant woman who should bear the
ultimate decision making responsibility in consultation with her
physician.
Human life is sacred and invaluable. But who has the right to
legislate someone else’s physical and emotional stability. When
does a human life begin? Why is this such an emotional issue?
Why are the usual religious fanaticsand bigots joined together on
this issue? I do not have as many answers as 1 do questions
regarding this growing issue.
1 do know that it is sheer hypocrisy to profess love for a
so-called unborn child and yet express no concern about the
children that are already bom. Also, there should be equal
Benjamin
Uoohs
FCC
Commissioner
Despite Disadvantages
Black Children Learn
Last week I wrote about the CBS dramatic documentary film.
With All Deliberate Speed, which delineated the searing struggle
of two men - one Black, the other white - to end flagrant
segregation in the Clarendon County, S.C. schools.
We know that the Clarendon County, S.C. school system was
not unique. That is was a part of a seamless web of school
systems throughout the south, in many parts of the mid-and far
west and, indeed, in the north.
There was a saving grace. There were hundreds of dedicated
Black teachers in this nightmarish school system who believed the
children could learn and insisted they do just that. So, despite the
woefully shortened school “year” (in the south, especially in the
rural areas, the school “year” for Blacks began after all the crops
were harvested in late, late fall, and ended in the very early spring
at planting time) and the non-existing libraries or science
laboratories, Black children somehow learned.
Hundreds of thousands of young Blacks of that generation of
the 1940’s are the parents of today’s restless youngsters. These
Black folks came from the bowels of the southland, fleeing the
oneroom school shacks, the back-breaking labor from “kin to
can’t” (working from daybreak ’til dark) on the farms and
plantations.
The school system, despite its serious flaws, turned out
hundreds of thousands of self-sustaining, hardworking,
god-fearing citizens. And, I am just not talking about the
educated “talented 10th” - the doctors, lawyers, ministers,
teachers, engineers, accountants, social workers, and countless
other professional and trained technicians who also popped like
so many jacks-out-of-the-box from this execrable system.
I am talking about those at the bottom of the educational
ladder - the laborers, janitors, auto workers, members of huge
families - who were unable to scrape together more than a few
years of formal learning in the south’s school system.
Their “hands” were desperately needed in the field: the family
needed their meager earning power too badly for them to
“waste” time in school. These are the ones who went into the
foundries, the mill, married, bought homes, raised families and
/trj
concern about the life situation of all humans as well as the
“unborn.”
The “Riglit to Life” group has yet to express concern about
the evils of capital punishment, the poor and the hungry, and the
life situations of oppressed minority groups. The love for human
life should not be limited to one area.
The “Pro-life” people are obviously not upsey about the daily
murder of Blacks in South Africa. They are not upset about the
daily murder of Black citizens by white law enforcement agencies
and personnel. What about the malnourished in Mississippi, South
Carolina and other states? It w»uld be a step in fh.e .fight direction
if the pro-life people would join Dick Gregory and others who
care about the millions of hungry people in this world.
Current food stamp programs should be liberalized and
broadened to feed the hungry during this alleged Bicentennial
year. The unemployed and under-employed would welcome the
concern of right to lifers. Black and poor persons on the death
rows in prisons across this land also need assistance.
It is safe to assume that the pro-life hypocrites are also
anti-busing fanatics as well as prayer in the school jesters. An
interesting point is that the Supreme Court did not outlaw prayer
in general but prescribed prayers. The narrow minded religious
and other bigots always spread “more heat than light.”
Hopefully, this column will help some of us to more fully
evaluate one-issue zealots who always seem to be hypocrites
about the broader human social problems. The abortion question
should be an individual matter but adequate information and
knowledge as well as love and wisdom is needed to gain the right
perspective.
Harambee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sent their children off to college in the late 60's and early ’7o’s
so that they would be able to enjoy a better, richer life.
That generation is the salt of the earth. They are a people that
sprang from a long line of hard-working, non-educated folks
stretching back to the dim early days of chattel slavery. They
refused to be defeated. The dehumanizing experiences they
suffered would have diminished a lesser people, but they became
giants.
What of their off-spring -- the Black kids who are graduating
from high schools -- who concern PUSH’s Rev. Jesse Jackson so
much today? What of these youngsters, many of whom are
already gracing the college classrooms; many of whom are
restless, uncertain, rebellious and resentful, disdaining parental
and ancestral sacrifices, the long historic Black struggle for
equality, human dignity, and a better life?
Will these, the privileged products of enormously better
schools, the possessors of the accoutrements of the good life,
measure up in character, in spiritual beauty and strength of their
forebears who in the distant past were forbidden an education, or
those who are products of the one-room school shacks of the
painfully recent past?
For not only did they triump over adversity, raise families and
accumulate property, but the last generation was the backbone of
the revolutionary civil rights movements of the late 50 s and the
’6o’s that is transforming this country, putting the finishing
touches to “the dream deferred.”
The most precious resource of a people is its children. There is
a wise Far Eastern saying that goes, “An apple never falls far from
the tree that gave it life.” So maybe there is hope. Certainly the
verdict is not yet in. But the jury is out and time is short. (NNPA)
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