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The Augusta News-Review - September 9, 1976
Walking With Dignity
By AL IRBY
Arthur Ashe Speaks Out Courageously
Arthur Ashe and Adriano Panatta, two of the best tennis
players in the world, fell in staggering upsets in the United States
Open Tennis Championships. Ashe was complaining of physical
exhaustion before the matches started.
This column is not dedicated to this great tennis star’s rare
defeats; but we are interested in Ashe, the man. Mr. Ashe recently
displayed the type of grace and ease that has singled him out as
the No. 1 tennis player in the world when he addressed a group of
Boston University students about his rather controversial
involvement with South Africa. He also showed some of the
strength and determination that makes his tennis game so good
and his convictions so strong. That’s the spirit and premise this
column is concerned with - the world’s greatest gentleman and
tennis star.
Ashe, who has been to South Africa four times, started the
evening by asking the audience to challenge what he said if they
disagreed, stating “If 1 can’t defend what I feel, then I have to
change it.” He also asked those that agreed with him to let him
know. And he was both challenged and supported in what he
said. Ashe made it clear from the beginning that he considered
the situation in South Africa reprehensible. He went as far as to
say that he hated going to South Africa, for obvious reasons. But
he explained, “Isolation is not going to solve the problem.
Hence his visits to Sout h Africa. He then went on to describe in
detail “apartheid” as it exists in South Africa, how he applied
twice for a visa to that country, once in 1969 and once in 1970;
and how he was turned down both times.
Then in 1973 he was granted a visa by the new Minister of
Immigration, Dr. Piet Koornhof, a Rhodes Scholar, who is also
the Minister of Mines and the Minister of Sports.
Ashe went to Johannesburg ostensibly to play tennis in the
South African Open at Ellis Park. However, he stated up front
that there would be three conditions for his visit. First of all, he
would come and go as he pleased; secondly, he would not play
for segregated audiences, and finally, he would not visit the
country as an “honorary white”. The government of South Africa
agreed publicly and in writing to all three stipulations. Since then
he has gone three more times, each time accomplishing
something that he says maybe considered as “gilding the ghetto"
but something to improve the condition of Black South Africans.
For example, the signs in Ellis Park designating where
“Europeans” and “Non-Europeans” could sit have been
TO BE EQUAL
By Vernon E. Jordon Jr.
The Campaign And The Issues
This year’s presidential election campaign will be hard fought,
and both sides are beginning to sound the themes they II be
pushing between now and November.
Jimmy Carter has been quoted as suggesting the central issue
this year is “trust in government,” while President Ford appears
to be readying as his main theme, inflation and limiting
government.
Both miss the mark. The central issue this year should be
unemployment, a scourge that claims about 15 million victims
with no end in sight.
Those who point to the recovery from the depths of the
recession ignore the fact that the major economic indicator that
matters to most people-unemployment-is still at intolerably high
levels. And it is not likely to come down by much without a
sound federal policy of getting people back to work again.
I say “federal policy" because only the federal government has
the resources to deal with such an all-encompassing problem, and
also because this is a national issue demanding national solutions,
not piecemeal efforts by local jurisdictions of limited powers and
resources.
Some people favor a filter-down approach to creating jobs.
According to this theory the way to create jobs is to cut
corporate taxes drastically. That way profits will rise and business
will expand, thus creating more jobs.
It’s a theory that fails to understand the changes in our society;
what might have worked back in 1920 won’t work today. First,
this process of trickling or filtering down takes ages to finally
happen and along the way much of the resources will be drained
off. Industry is operating so far below capacity that it will take
years for capital expenditures and higher production to reach the
point where many new jobs will be created.
There’s no iron rule that says a corporate tax cut would result
in job-creating investment. A lot of it will be diverted to other
forms of investment - such as buying up other companies -and
into higher dividends for shareholders.
A MESSAGE OF STRUGGLE TO BLACK PEOPLE
DURING THE U.S. BICENTENNIAL
INTRODUCTION
The current economic, political, and social crisis in the United
States which is doing great harm to the masses of all people in
this society is placing an even heavier burden on Black and other
“affected class" people.* The greater impact of unemployment
and inflation, the failure of needed small Black businesses, forced
urban decay, cutbacks and elimination of programs of equitable
education opportunity and humane and productive social welfare,
violence with racists origins (as in Boston), and the failure of the
U.S. government to deal humanely and wquitably with these
issues leave Black and other “affected class” people with very
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Page 4
permanently removed.
YOUNG ARTHUR ASHE ASSERT HIS COURAGE
On his last visit, he arranged for five Black South African
students to come to the United States to study. And most
recently he has arranged with the United Negro College Fund to
do a benefit for them if e very Black college will accept one Black
South African student.
Many Blacks have been angered by Ashe’s insistence on going
to South Africa and playing tennis there. They feel he is doing
more harm than good, that he is on some sort of “ego trip ', and
that he is being used by a racist government feigning a liberal
posture. There were many people at the lecture that felt this way,
some were students from South Africa and other African nations.
Arthur doesn’t deny that he is being used, he simply feels that
he can beat them at their own game, and that more is
accomplished by persistently making his presence felt by ignoring
the situation or condemning it from a safe distance. He feels the
only alternative to bring about change is total war, which he
believes is out the question because South Africa is such a
formidable military power. But mainly Ashe would seem to be
against war because he is a non-violent man who believes that
change can come about through an even more powerful source
than guns. And this is ideas. Ashe encourages others to go to
South Africa as he has, to bring their resources, and help change
the situation there. He is not for gradual, that is, slow change, he
makes that very clear. He is simply in favor of effective and
permanent change.
Arthur Ashe is not in an uncommon position. He is a man who
is trying to use what power he has to call attention to wrong and
to bring about social change. And like all social revolutionaries,
he finds his greatest opposition among those he is fighting for.
Similar situations have occurred in the feminist movement, and in
ail political movements. Ashe made it clear that he believes that
any change, no matter how small, is better than no change at all.
The dam is not always broken by a tidal wave; sometimes it
can be pushed down by the smallest crack in the wall that
gradually and steadily grows larger and larger, allowing more and
more water to seep through. All Arthur Ashe is trying to be is a
crack in the wall of destable “apartheid”. Let us tell everybody
one thing, Arthur Ashe is “DYNOMITE” at home, on court, or
before a dais.
The private sector should be given incentives for direct
job-creation, not questionable across-the-board measures that
only might result in more jobs. And governmental public service
jobs ensure that jobs are available for all who want them as a
matter of right.
There are other issues of importance that should be in the
forefront of this campaign. The candidates should tell us what
they plan to do about extending quality health care and housing
and education to all Americans, regardless of their incomes.
The problems of the cities have to be brought front and center
in this campaign, too. It's not enough to extoll the virtues of
small towns and to indulge in nostalgia for days gone by. The
cities are in trouble, bad trouble, and their problems are spreading
to smaller towns and to suburbs as well.
It would be instructive for the candidates to walk through
some big city slums and talk to the people there, see how they
have to cope with poverty and brutalizing living conditions, and
observe at first hand how the blight of housing abandoment has
made some parts of major cities resemble the bombed-out shells
of a war-ravaged nation.
And we are at war today. True, for the first time in years we re
not involved in armed conflict abroad, but the war against
poverty and deprivation should not be halted by a truce broken
occasionally by outbursts not against the problems of the poor,
but against the poor themselves.
Both major candidates are believed to be compassonate men
who care about our nation. They have to translate private
compassion into public policies that demonstrate the kind of
caring leadership that will heal racial tensions. They have to lead
the struggle against the racism and poverty that should have no
place is so rich and favored a nation.
So the candidates stand poised at the start of a historic
campaign faced with the choice of subjecting us to endless
platitudes and rhetoric or presenting us with concrete proposals
to make our nation live up to its ideals and its potential.
little to celebrate during this U.S. Bicentennial.
Black and other affected people must rededicate themselves to
the continuing struggle for justice, equality and freedom -a
struggle which must be escalated for the good of all in America.
By dealing reasonable with the situation surrounding Black
people in America, one will have been able to deal with all the
core problems of America "in extremis". The term "imperialism”
refers to a system that subjugates the masses in favor of a select
few.
THE DECLARATION AGAINST IMPERIALISM is a
statement which focuses on the most important cause of the
problems facing Black people and most working people in this
society - imperialism. It expresses the continued commitment of
a growing number of Black people to participate in this struggle
against imperialism, for a new and better social order, helping to
find solutions through study and through struggle. This
Declaration was unanimously adopted by a meeting of more than
100 professors, students, workers, professionals, and activists
from eleven states, thirteen leading colleges and universities, and
several national Black organizations and publications in 1975.
The widespread disemination, study and discussion of the
Declaration Against Imperialism during this period of the July
4th Bicentennial observance has been endorsed by many
individuals and national organizations. This is necessary because
the real conditions of the vast majority of Black people - our
continued exploitation and oppression - are being glossed over or
ignored, just as the institution of slavery was left untouched when
the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were
adopted two hundred years ago.
WHAT CAN YOU DO? More than likely you are already doing
something. With the current crisis so severe, most of us should be
finding ways to fight back. Study the Declaration Against
Imperialism and urge others to study it. Organize group study
sessions. Discuss how the issues raised in the Declaration Against
Imperialism helps us to develop a clearer, more scientific analysis
and understanding of how imperialism is causing the problems of
Black people and most people in the United States, and oppressed
Cl
Do You Care....?
diik
W Y w.,
Bv Roosevelt Green, Jr.
Speaking Out
Black Heroes Selling Out
Their Integrity
One of the significant problems for Black youth is seeing their
heroes and heroines selling out their integrity as truly “Black"
persons. The lack of positive models on a national level is critical
for young Blacks.
1 want to be careful to point out that 1 am not mouthing the
garbage of some white social scientists that Black children do not
have enough male models to assist in alleged “Identity” struggles.
The truth is that even in homes where the father is absent, there
are still male relatives, friends and Black professionals such as
teachers for Black children to use as models. Black children
simply do not grow up in some kind of male "less” vacuum.
The absence of white middle socio-economic group fathers
from their home is rarely if ever studied. White businessmen,
executives, and other white collar workers are virtually absent
from their homes also as they spend long hours ninning after the
almighty dollar. Much has been written about lonely white wives
in suburbia who turn to alcoholism in the absence of their
ambitious husbands. What about the innocent white children who
grow up in that kind of situation in terms of “identity” struggles?
Such national Black personalities as musicians, athletes, actors
and actresses have moral obligation to relate in a positive
manner to Black youth. And that is the main point I want to make
in this column.
Black celebrities as well as other personages should not
prostitute their Black identities in exchange for dollars or silver
from the larger white society. These persons should never play
roles or assume political positions that they know are not in the
best interest of the local and national Black communities.
An example of identity prostitution is seen in the movie
entitled “Bingo Long and the Traveling All Stars." This movie
stars Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor.
James Earl Jones demonstrated good acting ability in the movie,
“The Great White Hope'.”
Jones has also narrated some powerful television
documentaries on the Black experience. Billy Dee Williams has
always played “Mickey Mouse" roles but he does possess good
talent. Richard Pryor is a great comedian with several other
talents that includes writing.
However the “Bingo Long" movie is another Sexploitation
people throughout the world. This scientific analysis should help
us to take better aim at the real cause of our growing problems.
But no analysis by itself will lead to justice, equality, and
freedom. Our STRUGGLE will!
*The federal government defines “affected class" persons as
one “who, by virtue of past discrimination, continue to suffer the
present effects of that discrimination”. The government OFCC
guidelines go on to say “an ‘affected class’ problem must be
remedied in order for a contractor to be in compliance."
A DECLARATION AGAINST IMPERIALISM
Adopted at the National Planning Conference
PULL THE COVERS OFF IMPERIALISM PROJECT
Fish University, Nashville, Tenn
January 11, 1975
Today the world is plunging headlong into crisis. The
prosperity and world domination of the USA is being challenged
and exposed as the center of an exploiting imperialist system.
Capitalist exploitation shaped the historical experience of Black
people during Euopean colonization and chattel slavery. Today
capitalism is in the imperialist stage of monopoly control by
international financial institutions and multinational
corporations. Consideration of both of these stages of capitalist
exploitation pinpoints the underlying target of the Black
liberation movement over the last century' of struggle. Once again
it is time for Black intellectuals to speak out - to raise our voices
in a rising chorus that lays bare the true character of U.S.
imperialism, and unites our work with the movement for Black
liberation.
Imperialism is a system that is based on intense economic
exploitation, national and racial oppression, and political
repression. One of the tools for maintaining imperialism is
cultural domination through control of education institutions and
mass media. The development of the world imperialist system has
led to a general crisis affecting all aspects of society, leaving no
nation, countrv, or people free of its destructive impact.
However, imperialism, though dangerous, is a dying system, for
where there is exploitation and oppression there is resistance and
struggle. People are fighting for economic security, overall
improvement of their living standards, freedom, justice, and
equality which ultimately requires a new social order. This is the
trend of world history, and Black people in the USA are no
exception. Countries want independence, nations want liberation
and people want revolution.
As the USA moves toward the Bicentennial Celebration of its
existence it is the historical responsibility of Black intellectuals to
prevent distortions, lies and deceptions by exposing U.S.
imperialism. Over 100 years ago (on July 4, 1852 in Rochester,
New York) Frederick Douglass set the pace when he cledrly
rip-off film. The film is supposed to depict the old Negro
National Baseball League but, in fact, it is a mess of poor acting,
poor plot and generally poor camera work. It shows the stars in
Uncle Tom roles that damage their positive, previously well
established “Black” imagery.
Further, the movie is a serious blow at the respectability of the
older Black baseball stars who were victims of powerful racial
segregation and discrimination in white baseball leagues. Those ’
Black stars were excellent players and were certainly not
clowning Uncle Toms.
Richard Pryor plays the only fairly acceptable role as a Black
person in the film. He is a gifted humorist who can easily
overshadow.other persons in a film experience.
I hope that James Earl Jones and Billy Dee Williams will not
continue their identity confusion by prostitution of their talent
in other films of this ilk. Williams stated in a national Black
magazine that there is a little of the “whore" in everybody.
Maybe there is still for him but such statements are certainly not
encouraging to that end.
Jones seems to prefer to think on a “color blind” level which is
totally unrealistic in a racist country like Amerikkka. He will no
doubt learn better in time since he is apparently an intelligent
person ''
1 hope Blacks will learn from viewing Bingo Long that such
films are a disservice to Blacks of African descent in this country. <■
Perhaps as Black people become more critical of their
entertainment. Black celebrities will know that bowing to white
racism is not acceptable.
It is always shocking to learn that Black heroes and heroines »
are not knowledgeable about the political and economic truths of |
our times. However, we must remember that the only reason
Blacks would produce such garbage as Bingo Long is because a
truly positive Black film is unacceptable to white Amerikkka.
The day will soon come when Uncle and Aunt 1 oms will retire 1
and receive social insecurity checks from a politically smart Black
populace. This is true even more so for political Uncle Toms like
those in Augusta and elsewhere.
Harambee!!!!!!!!!!!
exposed "the great sin and shame of America”:
What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I
answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days
of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is
the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham;
your boasted liberty an unholy license; your denunciation
of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liw&ty
and equality, hollow mockery ; your prayers and Hymns;
your sermons and thanksgiving, with all your religious
disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the
earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are
the people of these United States at this very hour.
The exposure ami defeat of the "revoltuif’ barbarity and
shamelesss hypocrisy" of I ..S'. imperialism in all its forms must be
adopted today us the main objective oj the historical task of
lilack intellectuals.
The economic crisis of the world capitalist system is
intensifying, and adds up to an all-sided attack on the living
standards of the people in the USA, especially the working class
and oppressed peoples - Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Chicaons, Asians,
and Native Americans. Our task is to expose the essence of this
crisis by demonstrating who benefits from imperialism and who is
exploited by imperialism - how and why, and how all the
reforms now under discussion have historically failed to be more
than short term measures that deal with symptoms of the !
economic crisis and not its fundamental cause. The current "i
ineffectiveness of these reforms, such as during the Great
Depression, characterized this problem.
One of the main manifestations of the world character of ■
imperialism is the striving of the U.S. ruling class for hegemony in J
every region of the world. The U.S. government and corporations
aided by the foundations, universities and mass media, hav®
extended to all comers of the globe so that the sun never sets o ||
U.S. imperialism. But just as when that description was applied t 3®
the British empire and was ended by the forces of national
liberation after WWII, so the forces of liberation and revolutioi®
are bringing down U.S. imperialism as demonstrated by the
victorious war won by the heroic Vietnamese people and the ?|
defeat of U.S.-backed Portuguese Colonialism in Africa. Our i
struggles in the USA have also been blows against imperialism,
like the struggle at Attica, the Oneita Textile strike and the
struggle at Wounded Knee. A key role of Black intellectuals,
literally located within the belly of U.S. monopoly capitalism, is
to turn the character of U.S. imperialism inside out, pulling off
the covers that conceal it, and attacking it on its ideological front.
As the Black liberation movement spreads and reflects the
revolutionary aspirations of the masses of Black people, there also
develops a great need for Black intellectuals to become politically
relevant. This is a crucial mandate for all students, teachers.
See “DECLARATION” on Page 6