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AN OPEN FORUM FOR PEOPLE WHO CARE LESS THAN 75% ADVERTISING
Vol. 6
'I Am One Os Them, I Am A Black Woman’
By Al Irby
In a voice quivering with
emotion and down-right anger
HUD-Secretary designate,
talented Patricia Roberts Harris
shot back at “devil’s advocate”
Senator William Proxmire, as
he hasseled her about her
ability to identify with the
underprivileged.
“Senator, I am one of them.
You do not seem to
understand who I am. I am a
Black woman, the daughter of
a dining car worker. I am a
Black woman who could not
buy a house eight years ago in
parts of the District of
Columbia.”
This fine lady is now a
member of a prestigious
Washington law firm and a
former Howard University Law
School professor and Dean. “I
started, not as a lawyer in a
prestigious law firm, but as a
Black woman who needed a
scholarship to go to a college.
If you think I have forgotten
that, you are dead wrong,”
stated Mrs. Harris.
A hushed silence fell upon
the great hearing room where
the Senate Banking Committee
was sitting on the confirmation
Chief Os Staff At V A Hospital
Selected For Conference
Dr. L.W. Marshall, Chief of
Staff, Lenwood Division,
Veterans Administration
Hospital, has been selected to
attend the Brookings
Institution Conference for
Senior Government Executives
on Public Policy Issues.
Twenty-three executives
employed in some nineteen
different federal government
agencies and departments will
participate in the conference.
Dr. Marshall is the only
representative of the Veterans
Administration included in this
Brookings Conference.
Education
Sunday At
Tabernacle
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Rev. Mr. Davis
The Tabernacle Baptist
Church will Celebrate
Education Sunday, January 23,
1977 at the eleven o’clock and
7:00 p.m. Worship Service.
The morning sermon will be
brought by the pastor. The
Reverend C.S. Hamilton. The
subject will be “when I go to
Spain.”
The deacons will lead the
evening service with the
Reverend Leroy Davis, Minister
of the Solid Rock Baptist
Church of Laurinburg, North
Carolina will be the guest
minister.
The Rev. Mr. Davis served as
Associate Minister at
Tabernacle. Mr. Davis is a
graduate of Paine College and
the Morehouse School of
Religion of the Interdeno
minational Theological Center
at Atlanta, Ga.
Everybody is invited to
attend.
P.O. Box 953
Patricia R. Harris
of President-elect Jimmy
Carter’s appointee. Under the
same chairman, Proxmire, the
committee had once before
confirmed a woman lawyer,
Carla Hill, without the sort of
interrogation that came from
Proxmire. Os course, Ms. Hili is
white.
“If my life has had any
meaning at all,” Mrs. Harris
continued, “it is that those
who start out as outcasts can
wind up as being part of the
system. Maybe others can
forget what it was like to be
excluded from the dining
rooms in this very building,
Senator, but I shall not
forget”
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DR. L.W. MARSHAL
Westside Students Visit
AC Biology Lab
A field trip taken by
members of a class at Westside
Elementary School to the
biology labs at Augusta College
produced a stack of thank you
letters to Dr. John B. Black of
the Biology Department
Excerpts from a few of the
more memorable ones:
“That was really fun even
though some of the things you
showed us made me sick...”
“My favorite place was the
snake place... I know all the
equipment costs a lot of
money. The place I didn’t like
the most was the Chemistry
Lab, it stunk to much and
there was nothing much in
there.”
“I loved the animals (snakes,
mice, rats and the alligator) but
it was a little smelly!”
"... I have never come to
your college before and I think
it is very nice. I especially like
the snakes but mainly the beige
one with darker spots. Also I
liked touching the other snake.
I have touched a dead black
moccison before but not too
Proxmire conceded later
that she was a “smash hit as a
witness” but he indicated
continued opposition to her
confirmation. “You are not of,
by and for the people,” said
the Senator. Mrs. Harris, a
Blacks To Push Against Vulgar "Hard Rock”
One of the nation’s leading
civil rights organizations,
Operation Push (People United
to Save Humanity), plans to
spearhead a drive against vulgar
pop songs with “suggestive”
lyrics, so called “hard sex
rock”.
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson,
national president of Operation
Push, told a group of national
newspaper reporters that this
campaign will include a series
of “media-ethnic conferences,”
plus jawboning of record
company executives, artists
and radio station managers.
Should efforts at voluntary
compliance to rid the airways
of “sexy songs” prove
ineffective, the country
long. But I don’t really like
you feeding that alligator those
poor little mice. We used to
have a little white mouse but
my mom made us give it
away...”
“... From what I saw I might
enter the college when I am old
enough. What 1 liked most was
where you kept the snake and
the snakes and also that
electro-cardiograph machine...”
“... I liked everything you had
but my favorite thing is with
your heart...” (electrocardi
ograph)
"... Thank you for letting
me come and see the Augusta
College Anatomy Lab. The
thing I liked the best was the,
well 1 really liked
everything...”
“I really enjoyed coming to
the Augusta College Anatomy
Lab. Thank you The thing 1
liked best was the horseshoe
crab. He was cute. It was
interesting . I couldn’t believe
it when she said it was 100
years old. That is really old.”
Augusta, Georgia
former Ambassador to
Luxembouig, said that the post
of secretary did not require a
housing specialist adept at
putting “bricks on bricks”.
What is needed was a policy
generalist capable of
preacher left the door open to
a selective boycott of several
offending records.
“We know that we must
prepare for direct action, like a
boycott, because if we don’t,”
Rev. Jackson said, “the
lyricists, the radio stations and
the record companies will not
assume the responsibility to do
it themselves.”
“Our children’s minds are so
adversely affected by this
prevailing radio ethic, which
we call sex without
responsibility”, said Rev.
Jackson of hits like “The More
You Do It,” “It’s All Right To
Make Love on the First Night,”
and “Shake Your Booty”, that
our responsibility as a
Christian-oriented movement
must be met by speaking out
against the people who are
putting these songs on the air
and into stores.”
Twenty years ago, it was the
Church, the schools and the
family who were most
influential in passing along
moral values io the children.
“Now these institutions have
been displaced by radio and
television,” he said.
“And while these
institutions have the power,
Special noticS
■ The News-Review Will ■
■ Not Be Published ■
■ Next Week January 278
■ Staff Will Be ■
■ On Vacation ■
Researchers Link Alcoholism During Pregnancy To Birth Defects
Suspicion that alcoholism
during pregnancy harms the
unborn child goes back a long
way. Surprisingly, evidence
linking alcoholism and birth
defects did not come to light
until about four years ago.
At a March of Dimes -
sponsored conference on birth
defects in 1973, we described
eight children who had come
to our attention because of
strikingly similar abnormalities.
In each case, we found that the
mother had been a heavy
drinker during pregnancy.
Since then we have
published studies of 41
children with a pattern of birth
defects apparently caused by
their mothers’ alcoholism. The
findings are not yet well
known outside of medical
circles, despite the fact that
alcoholism is a disorder of
epidemic proportions and its
effect on unborn babies
appears to be a serious public
health problem.
While the affected infants
are not exactly alike, they have
much in common. Almost all
the infants are underweight at
birth, have abnormally small
heads, and are retarded in
physical and mental
development.
SYMPTOMS
Most have poor
understanding the needs of the
people.
“I have background of
identifying the relevant,
organizing people, and
inspiring them,” she told the
Senators. The Senate’s only
J||wk ; H
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson
they have not assumed the
ethical responsibility which
goes along with that power.”
Noting recent statistics about
the rising number of
illegitimate births and
abortions in major American
cities, particularly in
Washington, D.C., Rev.
Jackson placed the major
blame for these figures on
coordination, narrow eye slits,
and underdevelopment of the
midface. Many of these
youngsters look more like each
other than like their parents or
siblings. About half have heart
defects and more than a
quarter have birthmarks and
joint defects.
This pattern of defects is
called ‘‘fetal alcohol
syndrome.” To date, there is
no evidence that these children
catch up with normal
youngsters mentally or
physically.
An obvious question is
whether this pattern occurs
only in children of the
alcoholic poor, and so might
result from malnourishment or
contaminants of cheap lequor.
The answer is no.
We have seen the pattern in
offspring of alcoholic mothers
of all socio-economic levels,
and conclude that the effects
are directly traced to alcohol
or its breakdown products in
the body. There is ample proof
that alcohol passes through the
placenta into the unbom
baby’s tissues. There have even
been reports of babies with
alcohol “on the breath” and
blook levels in the range of
medically defined intoxication.
Dr. Widukind Lenz of
Munster, West Germany, the
January 20, 1977 No. 40
Black member, Edward
Brooke, agreed with the
sophisticated lady as he said, “I
don’t think it is essential to
have specific experience in
housing.”
Outlining some of her views,
songs advocating “sex without
responsibility.”
“In my opinion, there is a
definite correlation between
between the two,” stated Rev.
Jackson. He also cited a study
of 1,000 unmarried pregnant
girls in a North Hollywood
high school by Jet Magazine.
The study found that more
than 90% of those girls said
they had engaged in sexual
conduct to the rhythms of
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These are participates in last week’s memorial service for Dr. King at Paine
Col lege-Gilbert Lambuth Chapel.
I'd Mdnty re was among the speakers. News-Review Staff Photo by Mike Carr
physician who first reported a
connection between birth
defects and thalidomide, has
called attention to a 1968
study by Dr. Pierre Lemoine of
127 children of chronic
alcoholics in Nantes, France,
who had the same pattern of
birth defects that we have
observed. Now that the pattern
is known, reports from other
Highlights Os 1976 Election Year
Growing Minority political
power was evidenced in the
election of 420 Blacks to
public office in the South in
1976, according to John Lewis,
Executive Director of the
non-partisan Voter Education
Project (VEP).
“This is another major step
toward an inter-racial
democracy in the South, but
the increase of Black elected
officials and the impact of the
Black vote in selecting a
President in 1976 should not
lead to the conclusion that the
voting rights battle have been
won,” stated Lewis.
“VEP research estimates
that only slightly over half of
the seven million Blacks of
voting age are registered,”
Mrs. Harris said the
“disequilibrium” in the
housing market made public
housing necessary and such a
need would continue for the
next decade. In addition, she
felt housing construction
songs with suggestive lyrics and
rhythms. Rather than placing
the blame on particular artists,
companies, or stations for this
crisis. Rev. Jackson said that
the finger instead should be
placed on today’s “climate”
which condones these tunes.
Presently, Operation Push is
meeting with station managers,
students, teachers, clergymen,
educators and parents to gather
ideas for combating this
doctors are accumulating.
FURTHER STUDIES
Research supported by The
National Foundation-March of
Dimes seeks answers to
questions about the number
and severity of alcohol-related
birth defects. We now know
what to look for in the way of
symptoms, and animal studies
are a step toward measuring
Lewis pointed out. “Os that
number, approximately 60 to
65 percent actually voted in
the national election in 1976.
This is an improvement over
previous years, but it means
that only 36 percent, or a little
more than one of every three
Blacks of voting age in the
South, actually voted. To have
meaningful representation in
government at all levels, we
must do better.”
The survey of Black election
results in 1976, compiled by J.
Stanley Alexander, VEP
research director, indicated
that 730 Black candidates
sought public office in 1976.
With 420 victories, Black
candidates were successful in
over half of their attempts to
should be used to stimulate the
economy. She said she would
see that HUD funds under the
Community Development Act
are used in such away as to
benefit the poor for whom
Congress intended them.
“competition for decadence”
on the airways.
Sometime in January,
Operation Push plans to call its
first media-ethics conference
(probably in Chicago) to
discuss the problem. At the
meeting, the first of six, will be
a few' hundred representatives
from the broadcasting,
recording and advertising
industries, the church, the
schools, plus educators and
psychologists.
the extend of the problem.
The soundest advice for any
woman who drinks very
regularly and heavily is to
avoid diildbearing. One who
thinks she is on a borderline
between alcoholism and just
drinking too much and too
often, should cut down sharply
on alcohol - particularly during
pregnancy.
win federal, state, municipal,
and county elections
throughout the 11 southern
states.
Alexander indicated that
229 of the 420 victories were
Black candidates who are
newcomers to the political
process. Highlights of the 1976
election year for Blacks
included increases in the
number of Blacks in two state
legislatures, Georgia and Texas,
and the re-election of the
South’s three Black members
of Congress. Those
Congressional members are
Andrew Young of Georgia,
Barbara Jordan of Texas, and
See “HIGHLIGHTS”
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