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The Augusta News-Review - February 9, 1978
Walking with dignity
•j
Sometimes the position of moderate
Blacks in South Africa and Rhodesia
presents a horrendous dichotomy; and
South Africa’s Zulu chief, Gatsha
Buthelezi, is certainly no exception.
Mild-mannered and highly educated,
Chief Buthelezi is caught between his
tribal and national interests. He is
hereditary chief of the Buthelezi tribe
and leader of the entire Zulu homeland in
the northern portion of South Africa. As
such, his sentiments are with four million
Zulus and their problems.
He must, for example, consider the
plight of a Zulu woman starving in a hut
near his home. But there is another
Gatsha Buthelezi, an educated, moderate
man who wants to see apartheid ended
for Black people of all tribes, not just his
own. He is a man who also considers
questions such as the impact of
international economic sanctions against
white-ruled South Africa as a whole. In
an interview with a group of Black
Americans in the Zulu tribal capital in the
remote mountains of Natal Province,
Chief Buthelezi made these points:
♦HE SUPPORTS THE CONCEPT OF
one man - one vote. He is still gropine for
a nonviolent solution to South Africa s
racial problem, although he expects
unrest to hit Durban and its area in the
relatively near future.
He favors conciliation with South
Africa’s whites, even though this
conceivable could lose him the support of
radical Black youths. He believes support
sanctions against South Africa, provided
they are not ineffectual like those
imposed against Rhodesia. Even so, he
sees difficulties. With many Black leaders
now silenced by arrest or banning, Chief
Buthelezi’s voice is particularly important
in articulating Black thinking today.
The learned Chief told the whites in
1976 that “it was high time they broke
the law” as whites did in the United
States during the civil rights campaign of
the 19605. “There are many things that
are against the law that Africans have to
do. Living with their families in fact is
against the law, in many cases in the
cities. With the whites it was high times,
especially those involved in the church,
that they also declare themselves.” Asked
it he really thought this would ever
happen, he said, “Well, if it doesn’t then
God help this country, because I think
that the only thing that can reduce the
scale of a race holocaust would be the
involvement of even a few white liberals.”
Chief Buthelezi says there is a role for
whites in South Africa even as there was
in the United States during the civil rights
movement. And yet the South African
government has often harassed the chief
for his outspokenness and because he
Dentistry and you
4
There are two common misconceptions
that often put parents on the wrong road
to good dental health for their children:
the first wrong idea is that primary or
“baby teeth” won’t have to be cared for
because they will be replaced by
permanent teeth, and the other is that
babies are bom completely toothless.
The newborn smiles - they usually
reveal a whole mouthful of bare, pink
gums. Yet under those gums are baby’s
first teeth which began development
during pregnancy. Some of those unseen
teeth are nearly complete at birth.
Occasionally, a baby will be bom with
a tooth showing, but most babies begin
teething between the sixth and eighth
month after birth. The informed parent
can ease the baby through the teething
process, which can take up to two years
for primary teeth.
Most often, the baby’s first teeth to
push up through the gums by a. process
called “eruption” are the center two
lower front teeth. Next are the upper two
central teeth often called milk teeth,
these early front teeth have tiny points
on their edges. They must be staggered in
position, so parents need not worry that
the front teeth are coming in crooked.
Clinically, the eruption process usually
follows this pattern for primary teeth:
four front teeth or central incisors
followed in several months by four lateral
incisors adjacent to them; then a space to
skipped and the four first molars erupt at
around one year of age; at 16 to 18
months the four cuspids or eye teeth fill
the skipped spaces; at age 20 to 24
months die four second molars erupt. All
primary teeth should be erupted by age
Page 4
A South African
‘Zulu chief
speaks out
By Al Irby
refuses to accept the government version
of independence for the Zulu homeland.
“The South African government by their
political stupidity eliminate possibilities.
So it (history) will take its own
momentum, and what comes out of the
washing will not be what you or I or they
had reckoned for,” Chief Buthelezi said.
But referring to the Nov. 30th election
(when the incumbent National Party won
an overwhelming victory at the polls), he
said, “I was quite shaken. I expected it to
happen, but not to that extent.”
The chief agreed that confrontation
was coming, but he said that they (the
white government and its supporters)
sincerely believe that within their limited
parameters, within the limits of their
intellects, that what they are doing is
CHIEF BUTHELEZI, THE ZULU LEADER
IS EMERGING AS THE
“BLACK VOICE” IN SOUTH AFRICA
As many Black spokesmen are jailed,
Chief Buthelezi continues to speak out
loud and clear. The,biggest mass rally in
nearly two years has been held peacefully
in the bolatile Black township of Soweto
near Johannesburg. This political
gathering of about 15,000 Blacks to hear
Zulu Chief Catsha Buthelezi on Jan. 29
was as orderly as a Soweto church
gathering. The only police in evidence
were watching the Jabulani Stadium with
binoculars from the roof of a nearby
police station.
One significant result of the rally is
that it showed exactly where Chief
Buthelezi’s power with Blacks lies - with
the tribal Zulu and with the middle-aged,
middle-class urban Black, and not with
the urban youth whom some regard as
they key to the future. Those youth are
again in the limelight a few weeks ago
with the reopening of Soweto schools.
This does not mean Chief Buthelezi, who
is well-known in all of Africa is not
considered a threat to the white South
African government; but they better had
believe he most surely is.
But his threat remains primarily in the
province of Natal where 6 million Zulus
live. And the threat is because Chief
Buthelezi is a nuisance to the racist
government since he opposed apartheid
vociferously although non violently,
meanwhile working within the apartheid
system. The rally proved the fact that the
Zulu Chief is fast becoming the national
spokesman for all Blacks in South Africa,
especially now that most of the accepted
leaders have been silenced or murdered.
Many Black activists in Soweto claim
Chief Buthelezi is an opportunist who
dared not come into the township until
Blacks who opposed his nonviolent jive
were in jail.
Teething
By Dr. W.J. Walker
2Vi to 3 years.
The first permanent teeth can erupt as
early as five years of age but usually
appear at about age 6. Hence, they are
often called the “six-year molars.”
Teething, a natural process, can afford
varying degrees of discomfort to babies.
It may be accompanied by swollen gums.
The baby may also drool considerably
and be sleepless and irritable. Any of
these symptoms, however, may be
associated with health problems other
than natural teething.
The baby, at this stage, has a driving
need to chew. Relief can be obtained
through a safe chewing object -a hard
cracker, cooled plastic teething ring or
hard, non-toxic coated toy. The gums
may be rubbed with a mild medication
recommended by your dentist or by the
baby’s pediatrician. The rubbing often
relieves the soreness as much as the
medication.
Each child has his own teething pattern
which is influenced by heredity. Girls
often begin teething slightly earlier than
boys.
After five or six years of age, the
primary teeth will begin to loosen and fall
out, to be replaced by permanent teeth.
Once the child reaches this stage, all
future dental care must be based on this
simple premise: every tooth in the mouth
is necessary.
Primary teeth are more important than
most parents realize, if primary teeth are
diseased, permanent teeth can be
affected. Those primary teeth are also all
a baby has for chewing his food, the first
step in the digestive process and teeth
play a role in phonics and, therefore,
!bhnhi
-: I . I
Last week the three Atlanta daily
papers and its two NN PA weeklies
featured the forthcoming Thursday,
February 16 dedication of a new
monument to Black legislators who
served from 1868 to 1870.
The monument executed by Atlanta
sculptor John Thomas Riddle Jr. was
commissioned by members of the Georgia
Black Legislative Caucus during the 1975
session of the Georgia Assembly as part
of that group’s Bicentennial program.
Rep. David Scott of the Caucus points
out that the 33 Blacks served
immediately following the Civil War but
were unfairly expelled “because of
color.” The Rev. William J. White
represented the Augusta area among the
30 House members. He was this city’s
only representative until the
history-making election of State Rep.
Richard Dent during the mid-sixties.
Rev. White was one of the
co-founding board members of such
institutions as Haines and Walker Baptist
Institutes, Paine College, Morehouse
College (which started in Augusta in
Springfield Baptist Church) and other
organizations. One of Augusta’s top
educators for over 50 years, he organized
NAACP: Hold onto the land
By Kenyon C. Burke
Every once in a while a news item
appears that sheds new light on the
uniqueness of racism in America and how
it specifically impacts Blacks in their
struggle toward freedom and equality.
The continuing loss of Black-owned
lands in the southern part of the United
States falls into that category. U.S.
Department of Commerce statistics reveal
that after the Civil War, when it became
possible for Black Americans to own
land, they obtained more than 15 million
acres of farm land in 14 southern states.
This figure peaked in 1910. From there
on, it’s been down hill all the way; for
Black Americans lost ownership of 10
million acres of farm land between
1910-70. Today they own less than 6
million acres. If this rate of land loss is
allowed to continue unabated it is
possible that in two generations Black
Americans could become a landless
people.
The reason for this tremendous loss of
land ownership is deeply interwined in
our history that included a mass exodus
of Blacks from rural areas to urban
centers both in the north and south,
along with ignorance, fear and willful acts
of discrimination. It is significant that in
the late 1800 s more than 80 percent of
Black Americans lived in the rural south
while today less than 18 percent are
similarly located.
It’s not surprising that this tragic loss
good speech.
Even parents of the few babies bom
with teeth should hesitate to have a tooth
removed (unless it is loose and could fall
out and choke the infant) simply because
the tooth cuts into the baby’s tongue or
mother’s nipple when feeding. The
missing tooth would create a space that
adjacent teeth would try to fill.
Any primary tooth that is lost
prematurely due to accident, disease or
decay should be replaced by a space
maintainer. Likewise, lost permanent
teeth should be replaced by a bridge or
other appropriate dental work.
Going places
New monument
to honor Black
Georgia Law Makers
By Philip Waring
and pastored Harmony Baptist Church
and was editor of the out-spoken Georgia
Baptist weekly newspaper. He passed in
1913.
LET’S GO TO ATLANTA
ON FEB. 16
Black Heritage Commission Chairman
James E. Carter 111 said that Augusta
should send a delegation up to the
dedication. This writer would surely agree
for several reasons inc uding: (1)
American Black History Week is in
February, (2) Augusta owes it to the
memory of Rev. White, (3) This trip
would be educational and informative in
the best sense of civic awareness, (4) It
would keep Augusta in mid-stream of
historic activities, and (5) A pilgrimage
would indicate and hopefully engender
more political and civic awareness.
The dedication will be at 11 a.m. on
the capital grounds at the comer of
Capital Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. Drive.
Let’s hope that many individuals and
groups, especially from historic Harmony
Baptist Church founded by Rev. White
almost one hundred years ago. Contact
me at the News-Review for more
information please.
occured when one considers the stark
disadvantaged status of most of those
early Black landowners. Most of them
were small farmers, poor and unlettered.
With the introduction of modem
technology many gave up their land
because they could not compete with
growing heavily mechanized farming
combines.
Their lack of knowledge, fears, racial
prejudices and racist practices on the part
of federal, state and local government
agencies prevented them from taking part
in several governmental programs created
especially to help small farmers.
It should come as no surprise that
many Black folks were cheated out of
their lands by speculators, loan sharks,
and large farmers. Many lost their land
due to poverty, non-payment of taxes,
abandoment of farm land.
Regretably, even today, there are many
hundreds of thousands of Black
Americans residing in northern cities who
own southern land but are unaware of
their obligations to pay taxes or the
increasing value of their properties.
It was therefore heartwarming to see
that the NAACP has launched a special
effort to help Blacks hold on to their
lands and thereby preserving a basic
economic resource. The NAACP’s Project
Rural, funded by a seed grant from the
Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, is
designed to provide very practical kinds
of services needed in rural Black
communities to turn this trend of
ownership loss around.
Working with other interested groups
such as the Black Economic Research
Center, the Emergency Land Fund, the
Federation of Southern Cooperative, they
are developing educational materials and
involving counselors, technical services of
geologists and lawyers in this important
rescue operation.
Our hats are off to the NAACP for
taking up the important struggle for the
retention of Black land ownership. The
message is clear here as it is in the old
blues refrain, “God Bless the Child that
Has His Own.”
The Administration’s response to high
unemployment is a mixture of rhetoric
and action, with the words being stronger
than the deeds. Despite high-sounding
talk about the need for full employment,
some recent Administration actions are
bound to worsen the job picture for
Blacks and other minorities.
In his State of the Union Address, the
President spoke clear and loud in favor of
full employment. “Job opportunity -- the
chance to earn a decent living - is also a
basic human right which we cannot and
will not ignore,” he said.
It’s good to have that kind of ringing
declaration. I’ve often said that jobs are a
fundamental human right and while
there’s been dissent about that concept,
it’s good to have the President of the
United States enunciate it in no uncertain
terms.
What then, are we to make of the
various elements in the tax message and
the budget he sent to Congress just days
after the State of the Union speech?
Sadly, they contain some features that
are bound to hurt the unemployed.
The Administration is proposing a
freeze on public service employment
slots. It wants to keep them at the
750,000 level, although well over ten
times that number are out of work today.
Public service employment programs
are the fastest and cheapest way to get
people to work. The Congressional
Budget Office estimates the net cost of a
job in the public service program after
two years is less than $3,500. The net
cost of jobs generated by stimulative tax
cuts is in the $20,000 range.
In other words, it takes less money to
create more jobs through the public
service route. So what does the
Administration propose? A whopping
$25 billion tax cut and a freeze on public
service jobs!
The tax proposal contains a sleeper
that could drive unemployment rates
higher for already distressed regions. It
wants to extend the investment tax credit
to new construction.
Industry already gets tax benefits from
investments in new machinery, even
where that results in less need for
workers. Now it will get tax benefits for
Worse than Bakke
Even while the UJS. Supreme Court
ponders the Allan Bakke challenge to the
asmissions policies of the University of
California Medical School, the signs are
clear that Blacks face an ever graver
threat in other developing cases.
Leading opponents of such affirmative
action programs as that at Davis program
had attempted to mute the extent of
their invidious challenge by maintaining
that they opposed only “quotas” but
supported the principle to provide more
jobs and educational opportunities to
minorities.
The contradictions were clear to the
NAACP and its supporters. But many
former civil righta allies continued their
skillful confusion of “quotas”, which
limits, with affirmative action programs
that set goals but no cutoff points.
Partly as a result of the Bakke
challenge and the resulting furor over
special university admission programs for
minorities, white males are challenging
affirmative action programs on every
front.
Case No. 1- The permanent injunction
that US. District Court Judge A. Andrew
Hauk issued' last November against the
requirement that 10 percent of work
under the four billion dillars 1977 Public
Works Act be set aside for minorities
could severly disrupt efforts at Black
economic development. Judge Hauk ruled
in Los Angeles that the prtvision
represented “reverse discrimination.”
Case No. 2 - A white worker in
Louisiana has won decisions in two
federal courts that an on-the-job
minority program in his factory was
unconstitutional. The employee, Brian F.
Weber, sued both his employer, Kaiser
Aluminum Company, and the United
Steel Workers Union, and the Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his
claim.
Mallory K. Millender Editor-Publishei
Frank Bowman General & Advertising Manager '
Mary Gordon Circulation
Mailing Address
Box 953 - Augusta, Ga. - Phono 722-4555
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To be equal
Rhetoric and
action on jobs
By Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
building new plants. On the surface that
sounds all right. Encouraging industry to
expand creates more jobs.
But many industries with old plants in
the East and Midwest are already moving
to other regions, resulting in job losses in
older cities. Now, with federal incentives
to build sparkling, efficient new plants,
there may be a rush to accelerate
abandoment of their old plants and move
to the sunbelt.
How does this square with the effort to
cut unemployment? It doesn’t. If the
Administration is really concerned with
balanced economic growth, with
revitalizing the cities, and with cutting
high Black unemployment, then it should
limit the investment tax credit to new or
rehabilitated plants in central cities or in
high unemployment areas.
The budget for fiscal year 1979 does
include some helpful items - expanded
youth job programs and joint efforts with
the private sector to hire and train the
jobless.
But whatever good results from them is
like?y to be wiped out by downgrading
public service jobs and offering incentives
to industry to abandon the cities. It is a
contradictory set of policy proposals,
working at cross-purposes.
This is a far cry from the kind of
coordinated national effort we need to
create jobs. Public and private initiatives
and tax incentives have to mesh to wdrk
toward the same ends.
Meanwhile, the urban policy statement
is still in preparation for unveiling this
Spring. From the way the tax and budget
proposals look, a sound urban policy has
already been dynamited. The big tax cut
means an estimated budget deficit of oyer
S6O billion so any new urban andljob
programs will meet resistance on fiscal
grounds alone.
My suggestion is to scrap the tax cut,
tie investment credits to job-producing
initiatives in high unemployment areas,
order a reviw of all federal proposals to
ensure they don’t have a negative effect
on jobs for minorities, greatly increase
public service jobs, and put the general
revenue sharing funds - almost $7 billion
- into urban revitalization programs in
distressed cities.
By Benjamin L. Hooks
If the decision is appealed and the
Supreme Court refuses to review it, the
ban against such on-the-job training
programs will be will be established in
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi and Texas.
Case No. 3 - This is a challenge by
three labor unions to upset an agreement
between the American Telephone and
Telegraph Company and the Federal
Government that attempts to compensate
Black and women workers for past
discrimination.
The unions are the Communication
Workers of America, the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and
the Alliance of Independent Telephone
They have attacked a consent decree
under which the telephone company
agreed to increase hiring and promotion
of women and Blacks despite union
seniority contracts.
The Third Circuit has upheld this
decree. But the unions might appeal to
the U.S. Supreme Court.
These serious developments must be
watched carefully. White workers are
maintaining that they should not be held
responsible for the effects of past racism.
They certainlly seek to continue plucking
the juicy economic fruits from the racist
tree, but they do not want to be held
responsible for the suffering of society $
underclass victims.
Now that the results of such past
actions have effectively handicapped
Blacks in their struggle for better
opportunities in education and
employment, they would seek to
maintain die status quo, which benefits
them.
Only through continued vigilance and
the indomitable strengths that helped
Blacks survive centuries of oppression in
this land, however, can minorities attain
their goals of full economic and social
equality.