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The Augusta News-Review - May 12, 1977 -
Walking With Dignity
By AL IRBY
Mrs. Indira Gandhi Fighting
For Her Political Life
Although a big question mark hangs over the political future of
Mrs. Indira Gandhi, as she was easily before her defeat the most
powerful woman in the world. But the attractive lady of the
sub-continent is not crying on anyone’s shoulder to retain her
position of power. She is fighting to hold on to the leadership of
her Congress Party. Fellow party members have already indicted
her beloved son Sanjay, and some of her key backers for the
resounding election defeat. The opposition made the abuse of the
emergency powers for the last 21 months of Mrs. Gandhi s rule
the key issue in the elections and secured a massive vote against
it.
HEAD IS BLOODY, BUT UNBOWED
Mrs. Gandhi is unrepentant and would not admit that either
she or the so-called caucus around her son and three former
Cabinet ministers, Bansi Lai (Defense), Vidya Charan Shukia
(information), and Om Mehta (Home Secretory) • was responsible
for the rout of the Congress Party. The latter group has become
to be known as India’s “gang of four.” The grand lady is not
running from responsibilities, she however, sensing the angry
mood of the party , tried to forestall attacks on herself or the
“caucus” at a post-election executive committee inquiry April
12-15. On the eve of the meetings the former prime minister
wrote to party chief Dev Kant Barooah accepting full
responsibility for the election defeat.
But this did not help matters. The caucus came in for a massive
indictment. Mr. Bansi Lai was expelled for six years and Mr.
Shukia reprimanded. But Sanjay Gandhi, who had already
disaffilated from the party and bowed out of politics after his
own decisive election defeat, and Mr. Metha, a junior functionary,
were let off the hook. The outcome of the executive meeting was
seen by political observers as a severe setback for Mrs. Gandhi and
an indictment of her leadership, even though her son largely
escaped recrimination. Nevertheless, Mrs. Gandhi evidently hopes
'GOING PLACES' ByniW
Next Project Is Economic Survey
Os Black Churches
We understand that last week’s Paine College ceremonies
was an excellent high point indeed. The Yerby visit added historic
meaning to this occasion.
Action from this column, however, will start on a delayed
“Economic survey of selected Augusta Black churches.” Objectives
are to indentify and feature some of the many churches which
have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in repair, renovations
and new equipment, etc. during the period 1965-1976.
The solid and devoted religious membership give willingly
towards their church physical upkeep. This has resulted in
Augusta having some of the most beautiful and attractive
churches found throughout the Southland.
Just one example is what is happening at stately Tabernacle
Baptist church under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Charles
Hamilton. Yearsago Dr. Carter Woodson,Father of Negro History,
described Tabernacle as “That Beautiful Protestant Cathedral On
Gwinnett St”. . . Its major restoration today should be of pride
and honor to all Augusta
There are, however, scores of other churches that have also
moved foward with ongoing upkeep and beautification. We want
to salute them because they too are “Helping To Build Augusta”.
This writer will direct the survey which will to be published in
the June 9 edition of your NEWS-REVIEW 1 am inviting Mrs.
Nellie Waring, long-time historian and officer of historic
Springfield Baptist church, and L. B. Wallace, business executive
and officer of St. Mary’s Church, to serve as special Survey
Consultants. I am also inviting Rev. Dr. Charles Hamilton to serve
as special advisor. Dr. Hamilton, as you know, is past Dean,
Morehouse College School of Religion and an authority on the
American Black church.
The survey will also show very clearly how much Black
Augustans are contributing to the enrichment and support of the
CSRA economy through expenditure of monies for physical
upkeep and improvement of churches. Again this will be another
”first-of-its-kind feature in you. NEWS-REVIEW
INTERVIEWED ALEX HALEY AT WASHINGTON
UNIVERSITY
This writer was privileged to interview world-famous author Alex
Haley on behalf of your NEW-REVIEW when he visited
Washington University here in St. Louis. A low-key and sincere
man, Mr. Haley is urging all Americans, especially Blacks, to start
research on their family roots...have family reunions...honor and
get information from the older members of the family....write
down facts on family background and share same with other
Beniamin
it
Hooks I
F< (
COBIMKMU WUNH
Minorities Decry Inequities
In Radio And TV
To own a broadcast property (radio or TV) in one of the top
50 markets in the US is to own a license, literally, “to make
money.” That observation; a truism in the industry where last
year the pre-tax profits of the network TV stations reached an
astonishing combined total of more than $430 million, did not
then nor does not now apply to stations owned by minorities.
For most of the nation’s 56 radio and three TV stations (two
in the Virgin Islands) owned by minorities are struggling to keep
heads above water. Many of them, angry and frustrated about this
state of affairs, attended a two-day Minorities' Broadcast Owners'
Conference sponsored by the Federal Communications
Commission in late April.
The fact that the conference is the first of its kind in the
history of FCC says something that is not entirely complimentary
about this agency and the general attitudes of the nation it
reflects.
Rene Anselmo, of Spanish Communications Corp, summed it
up: Minorities, he said, should be given “the same liberal
treatment given the original guys who got in this business ... It
was easy to get in the broadcast business (more than 20) years
ago” when TV and radio licenses in the big markets were being -
handed out like bubblegum cards.
But Blacks and other minorities were shut out from the
Page 4
to rally enough support to regain sole control of the party and
rehabilitate herself politically.
The battle now shifts to a meeting of the full party called for
mid-May. But the new government likely will hold Mrs. Gandhi
on a short leash, giving her critics ammunition for keeping her out
of the central role a second time. The three-week-old government
has decided on a wide ranging inquiry into the abuses and
excesses of Mrs. Gandhi’s emergency. Also proposed are inquiries
into political scandals involving Sanjay Gandhi's Maruti
automobile firm (alleged to have been granted political favors by
her government), the mysterious passing in police custody of a
former intelligence agent alleged to have imitated Mrs. Gandhi s
voice over the telephone to extract more than SI million from
the Bank of India six years ago, and corruption charges against
Mr. Bansi Lai.
When in office Mrs. Gandhi rejected all demands for probes
into these scandals, particularly the second, in which the question
that intrigues observers is how she could have happened to have
so much money that could be given away merely on a telephone
call. These probes, if they all materialize, seem certain to bring
her under a cloud of suspicion. Even if she decided to take the
drastic step of disowning her son, observers say, she would have
to clear herself before staking a new claim to leadership of the
party, much less of the country. Thus, these observers say, it
figures to be a long, slow haul for her.
The United Press International reported from New Delhi April
18 that new Government of India had seized the passports of
Sanjay Gandhi, Bansi Lai and one other man to prevent them
from leaving the country, pending an investigation into their
business dealings. The Foreign Office said all airports, seaports
and land-exit stations had been alerted to the action against Mr.
Gandhi. All investigations announced so far are to be headed by
former Supreme Court Justices.
family members...gather old Bibles and family scrapbooks and use
same in this process
PRAISED OUR BLACK FAMILY SELF-INVENTORY
During the crowded and fast moving press interview I was able
to show him our Black Family Self-Inventory forml was
thoroughly flattered when he praised it and said we need more
recording tools for the job ahead
Another item of excitment was the reunion of one of my
neighbors, Mrs. Thelma Wood (and her family) and Mr. Haley
who are blood realtives
READ BLACK PRESS ANALYSIS ON AMBASSADOR
ANDREW YOUNG
Please, please dear readers read the many fine evaluations on
Andy Young before making up your minds on him Just as
Carl Rowan said the daily media is “doing a job on Andy”
Note the statement by Jewish leaders in his support
DON’T SILENCE ANDREW YOUNG
In a telegram to President Carter, a prominent Jewish leader
has voiced hope that criticism of Andrew Young would not
“silence” the Black civil rights leader who now senes as U. S.
Ambassador to the United Nations.
“Our country needs him and what he stands for,’ said Rabbi
Alexander M. Schindler, chairman of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, in a message
to the White House.
As chairman of the conference of Presidents, Rabbi Schindler
heads an “umbrella group of 32 national Jewish secular and
religious organizations.
The text of his message follows:
“I am sending this message to express our strong support for
the honest and eloquent American you have chosen as your
country’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Young. Mr.
Young is that rarity, a man with the courage of his convictions, a
public servant speaking truth as he sees it, who dares to say the
emperor has no clothes.
“Andrew Young understands that the diplomatic box needs
rattling and that the practitioners of polite private diplomacy
have brought forth not peace but a balance of terror, not human
dignity but in far too many cases a license for oppression.
industry at that time. Many of us didn’t even know that we could
bid for licenses. We certainly had scant knowledge that if we were
awarded a licensee where in the world we would drum up the
kind of advertising that would keep us on the air and viable.
These were some of the questions yet raised when hundreds of
observers and spectators’’ joined the more than 100 minority
broadcast owners, “managers and officials and the leaders of
agencies - advertising and ratings - that do much to determine
ultimately whether a licensee lives or dies in the market, in the
two-day conference.
The role of the FCC was to determine 1.) what impediments, if
any, there are to minority entry to the broadcast injustry and 2.)
if such as are found, what to do about their elimination or
amelioration.
It was a stormy two-day set that was neverthless, professionally
organized and directed and carried through. Ms. Patricia Russell,
deputy chief of the Equal Employment Opportunity Industrial
Unit of FCC, was the organizer and efficient moderator
throughout.
Sharp questions and often, tempers, were raised concerning
rating and financing group practices that often make it difficult
for a minority to purchase a property in the first place and
virtually impossible to stay afloat once he is in the business in the
second instance.
Highly intelligent black owner-officials such as Ragan Henry,
of Broadcast Enterprises, Philadelphia, Pa.; Elliott Franks,
general manager WOIC-AM, Columbia, S.C.,;Skip Finley, general
manager, Sheridan Broadcasting and Anselmo articulated
grievances of minority owners.
Eugene Jackson, president, National Black (Radio) Network,
urged that a task force be set up to look into grievances aired at
the conference. Ms. Cathy Liggins, WHUR (Howard University)
one of the few Black women general managers of a radio station
in this country, assailed the bias of large advertising agencies.
Others deplored the practice of some “people acquiring a license
then sitting on it for years without going on the air.’’ Such a
practice keeps minorities from acquiring the unused property,
they point out.
Others criticized stations which buy audiences through
giveaways, etc., to up their ratings. Still others lamented the fact
that “all the good properties are gone. There are plenty of “dogs”
Needed Now .... An Aroused Black Community
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DRUNKENNESS OF POPE IS A FLATTERING ‘ X
DEVILA SWEET POISON, A PLEASANT SIN, \/ <
WHICH WHOSOEVER HATH, HATH NOTHINSEU; >
WHICH WHOSOEVER DOTH COMMIT, DOTH NOT , 1 W
COMTUT SIN, BUT HE HIMSELF IS WHOLLY SIN. I C
AUGUSTUS
TO BE EQUAL
By Vernon E. Jordon Jr.
Energy Program
May Hurt Poor
President Carter’s energy program represents the first serious
attempt to deal with a situation long labeled a crisis, yet largely
ignored by previous leaders. By making energy a major national
issue and by putting forth a set of hard-nosed proposals to deal
with energy needs, the President performs an important service
and demonstrates leadership.
The energy plan is a long, complicated proposal with
something for just about everyone, with the exception of one
major group. That’s right, once again the interests of poor people
have been largely ignored.
The poor haven’t been completely neglected. There’s a section
of the Administration's explanation of the effects of its proposal
that deals with low-income families. But in contrast to the
detailed nature of the rest of the plan, that section is vague and
sketchy, perhaps because the net result of the energy proposals
may be to make the poor poorer.
Despite rosy Administration predictions of minimal inflation
and some job-creation, most independent economists estimate
that the impact of the plan will be to add to the inflation rate and
slow the growth rate.
There is no question about the need to make sacrifices and
reduce reliance on high-priced, scarce energy resources. But the
real question is: who will make the sacrifices? The proposed
package of taxes and price hikes may mca.'’.r J . sacrifices will
be squeezed out of the poor. That’s the group that always is
asked to make sacrifices for the national good. If inflation is high,
unemployment is artificially induced to dampen it. If government
spending is too high, welfare and medical aid is cut.
So when I hear about the need for sacrifices I immediately
begin to get suspicious about just who will be the sacrificial lamb.
And as I read the prospects, it looks like the poor will get it in the
neck this time, too.
Price allocation of gasoline and energy is an inherently
inequitable means of distributinscarce resources. After all, the
more affluent families that currently use - and waste -
disproportionate amounts of energy resources won’t change their
habits drastically, but the poor will be priced completely out of
the market for essentials.
As it now stands, there’s nothing in the Administration’s plan
~ THE
o POWER
O the
<&GIDRY
By Dr. G.E.a. Toote
Coupons For The Poor
Congress must accept or reject President Carter s new food
stamp program. His initial step proposed for welfare reform is a
change in the federal food coupon program that would
alledgedly increase aid for those most in need, while reducing
aid for the “less needy.”
EFFECT
The effect upon the “less needy” is what makes congressional
support shakey. The food stamp program is universally agreed
to need change.
Almost one million persons now receive food stamps at a cost
on the market, and that’s all we (minorities) are able to get. For
when the good ones are up for sale we never know about them
until they are sold.
Jackson also urged that the federal government set up a “Black
Marshall Plan to help minorities get money from banks and
lending institutions.” Many things will flow from this conference.
Many of the grievances will be actively explored by a task force
which is indeed already in operation. A research contract will be
let to study some of the seamier charges and impediments and
bring back recommendations that we at the FCC might act on.
But the first thing Wiley (the conference was called by him)
and I will do is go to the Small Business Administration and
attempt to persuade it to change its hitherto inflexible policy of
not lending money to persons seeking to acquire broadcast
properties. We want to make inoperative the facetious tag line
that is the final seal of so many conferences: “After all is said and
done, more is said than done.”
to protect poor people who must use , to get to
work. The energy plan makes no provision for protecting
renters against fuel-price based rent hikes. It doesn’t even include
provision for a fuel stamp program for low-income families.
While it does include plans to expand the subsidy aid for
weatherization of the homes of low- income families, regulations
presently in effect are so restrictive that many won’t be heloed.
Also, the energy package is really a package -a set of separate
proposals, each of which needs some executive action or
legislation to bring to life. That means special interests can carve
up the pieces of the program in such away that they’re not hurt
by it. Once the dust settles from the political dealing, 1 doubt
that the sacrifices demanded will be shared equally.
In that vague section on assistance to low-income people, the
plan suggests that long-run protection from increased energy costs
will wait until reform of the welfare system. That’s a slim reed on
which to hand hopes. In effect, it says we’re going to raise your
cost of living right now, but don’t worry, someday there may be
welfare reform and that might help. And of course, that doesn t
begin to deal with the terrible problems facing people who earn
too much to get welfare assistance but not enough to live
decently.
Last week the Labor Department released figures that an urban
famfly of four needs over SIO,OOO just to survive on what it calls
“an austere budget” - basic Ih ing costs and no frills. It takes over
$16,000 to maintain a “moderate” living standard. What happens
to people earning less than those figures once gas, rent, food and
other energy-based prices increase?
The generous rebate system promised to blunt the effects of
tax and price hikes may not help much. Congress may dilute the
rebates, but even if they’re raised, they’re a once-a-year lump sum
that doesn’t help cope with daily price rises.
We’ve got to stop being a nation of energy junkies; other
countries maintain a comparable standard of living on half the
energy. But any sacrifices will have to be evenly spread, major
assistance to poor families will have to be built into the energy
program, and the plan must not worsen our economic and urban
problems.
of $5.5 billion annually to the federal government. Proposed as
an income supplement a decade ago, the program requires poor
persons to purchase at a discount coupons that can only be used
to buy food.
COSTS
The face value of the coupons depend on family size. Their
cost depend on family income. A four person household with
the maximum allowable monthly income of $553, pays 5142
for $166 worth of stamps.
Automatically eligible are families that receive welfare aid to
families with dependent children. This program is funded from
50 to 90 percent by the federal government, with the balance
paid by states or municipalities.
Also automatically eligible are poor people who are aged,
blind or disabled, who receive supplemental security income.
SAVE AUGUSTA SCLC
f THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW
'>■ Mallory K. Millender Editor-Publisher
:••• Frank Bowman General & Advertising Manager
Al IrbyNews Editor
Mary Gordon Circulation
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