Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 7, No. 43
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PHOTOGRAPHER IKE SUTTON enjoys a snuggle
■A ilh Los Angeles resident Minnie Riperton after being
named winner of the Marion B. Campfield Youth
Journalism Excellence Award for his inspiration to
teenagers in America. Sutton, who is chief photographer
for Johnson Publishing Company, has shot pictures of
virtually every Black celebrity in the world of show
business. 'His photographs provide a definitive visual
history of Black people in the Arts and his contribution
to the enlightenment of people throughout the world
has been enormous,” said James V. Bailey, vice
chairman of Afro-American Achievers, sponsor of the
award. Ms. Riperton, no’ed for her multi-octave range,
is spokesperson for the American Cancer Society.
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$$ Beauty
of the
1 Week
“Live each day to the
, - fullest. Tomorrow is never for
sure." is die advice of this
'week’s beauty, Gail Denise
- Bush.
- A graduate of Aiken High
BIU vE Schook where she was
MIO— Homecoming queen. Gail also
graduated from the University
. of South Carolina where she
Bi earned a bachelor's degree in
criminal justice and was the
second Black Homecoming
Jjtgw ; «-g. queen.
, She is employed at the
/ |Aiken County Courthouse
J *-' v \ < where she helps to rehabilitate
« B Ki . ~Jg juvenile delinquents.
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Photo by Mike Carr
Gale Bush
Augusta Nnus-Keupui
P.O. Box 953.
By Mallory K. Millender
Dr. Ralph David Abernathy
said this week he was offered
$3,000 not to protest the NBC
TV film “King.” He said that
others sold out.
Some people got money,
Abernathy said in a telephone
interview. “When large sums of
money are promised some
people sell out,” he said. “I
believe contributions have been
made to individuals and
organizations. I believe money
is behind this. 1 hope they find
more comfort than Judas with
his 30 pieces of silver.”
Abernathy said neither he
nor any of the executive staff
of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference was
consulted during the making of
the film. “SCLC was totally
left out and had no
involvement in the film,” he saic
Violence nearly erupted
when SCLC protested an
advance copy of the script,
(hot provided bv NBC) he said.
“Hosea Williams” SCLC
executive director, “me and
Rev. C.T. Vivian, (former
SCLC director of chapters and
affiliates) asked the film’s
writer and producer Abby
Mann to make changes in the
script.
“Abby Mann wanted to
attack Rev. Vivian with
violence and had to be
restrained.”
At that point Abernathy
said he was told by a person
“high in the production of the
film” “they are going to get
you something to help with
your campaign debt.”
Abernathy was a candidate
for the Fif fl ' Congressional
District seat formerly held by
Abernathy says Blacks
sold out on ‘King’ film
U.N. Ambassador Andrew
Young.
The man offered him 53.000
to sign a document forfeiting
his right to protest or question
the film. Abernathy said he
passed the document to his
lawyer.
DIED IN HIS ARMS
Abernathy said his
detractors have said he is angry
because he was largely left out
of the film.
Abernathy said he wants to
see history recorded accurately
and he plans to write a book
on King himself.
Recalling his unique role,
Abernathy said, “I called the
meeting that started the
(Montgomery) boycott. I am
the only one who has attended
every meeting, who has not
missed a meeting or a march or
d a demonstration or conference
of significance since then.
Every time Dr. King went to
jail I went with him.
“If you had your house
bombed, your church
dynamited, if you were his
closest friend and most trusted
adviser and had to watch him
die in your arms and they
(NBC) left you out, you would
be damned mad, too.”
SCLC OFFICIALS
LEFT OUT
Other top SCLC officials
were also left out of the film.
“Where was Wyatt T. Walker?
Where was Jesse Jackson?
i Where was Hosea Williams?
; They don’t anpear in the film
at all,” Abernathy said.
He said the film portrayed
Dr. King as weak and indecisive
having to rely on a Black and a
white man from New York
(Bayard Rustin and Stanley
Black youths have no hope
except to rob, rape and steal
By J. Philip Waring
ATLANTA-State Rep.
Bobby Hill said Thursday that
Black Georgia young people
are basically without hope.
“They cannot win. They have
no hope except to rob, rape
and steal,” he said.
Hill made the comments
during his “The State of the
State of Black Georgians”
address delivered Thursday
before the State General
Assembly at the dedication of
a statue honoring 33 Black
Georgia legislator’s in Atlanta.
He said Black adults cannot
work or help their loved ones.
“Because of unfair rules, we
cannot compete with our white
counterparts,” he said.
Black Georgians have made
progress in politics, Hill said,
noting that there are more
Blacks in the Georgia
legislature than in any other
state. Georgia ranks third in
Blacks who hold county and
state offices. But, he
cautioned, “in power, we are
bad off.”
Hill said Georgia has over 30
state institutions of higher
learning. Blacks control only
three of these.
In the professional class, Hill
said Blacks have fewer doctors
and lawyers than we had 10
years ago based on population
percentage.
When it comes to crime “we
are the first to be attacked and
the last to be reimbursed,” he
said.
“The news media apparently
thinks that Blacks are
concerned with the race
problem since they only report
our racial disputes. We are
concerned with the total living
experience. We are ignored
when we positively pursue
other concerns.”
February 23,1978
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Dr. Ralph D. Abernathy
Levenson) for direction, and
having flirted with violence as a
defensive tool.
“To my knowledge, Dr.
King never owned a gun. He
was totally committed to
nonviolence. He was the most
peaceful warrior of the 20the
century.”
Abernathy said he was
equally disturbed at the
portrayal of the Rev. A.D.
King, the civil rights leader’s
Hill called the state merit
system a “joke, a farce, and a
vehicle to protect the friends
of those in power.”
In the area of housing, Hill
said we have seen few instances
where the housing industry
leans affirmatively toward
insurance that Blacks would
build and live in a better home.
But Black Georgians are on
the move, he said warning that
“We will not be satisfied until
we have at least 30 per cent of
everything which exists in this
state.”
“In years to come white
Georgia’s power brokers can
expect more not less
affirmative activity from
Blacks in Georgia.”
He called for a wholesale
effort to place more Black
faces throughout the
courthouses of this state from
judges to jurors, and fewer
janitors.
“In the executive branch of
government which employs
some 45,000 people, Blacks are
for the most part locked out.
And where a few Blacks have
slipped in, they are frozen into
the lowest paid, and most
irresponsible jobs. Some moves
are afoot to end this.” He
commended Gov. George
Busbee for taking a bold step,
to correct this.
Hill said when he sits in the
legislature with the other 22
Blacks there is “an
uncomfortable feeling” in each
of us. “We still see our
proposals looked upon by our
white colleagues with great
suspicion.
Black legislators are still
unable to explain to Black
voters why the legislature
refuses year after year to honor
Georgia’s only Nobel Peace
Less Than 75% Advertising
brother.
“A. D.’s portrayal was very,
very poor. I feel for this widow
and children. He was not that
kind of person.
“It is most tragic that Black
people would let anyone other
than a Black person who
knows that Black experience
write the history of the
greatest movement in the
country since the Revolution,”
he said.
Prize winner Dr. Martin Luther
King with a holiday.
Hill condemned Blacks as
Julian Bond lashes
‘reverse discrimination’
State Sen. Julian Bond said
in Augusta Friday night that
there is no such thing as
“reverse discrimination.”
This country has had a 200
year quota system, he said,
“reverse everything for the
male and the pale.”
The 200-year racial quota,
he said, guarantees that the
white male will hold a
monopoly on good jobs and
the good life that country has
to offer.
He spoke at the Augusta
College where the Black
Student Union climaxed its
Black History Week.
Bond said that affirmative
action programs represent a
“reversal of discrimination”
aimed at social equality.
In spite of the progress of
Black people, Bond said the
condition of Blacks remains
unchanged. “By every statistic
our relative condition has
gotten worse,” he said. “It’s
like climbing a molasses
mountain in snow shoes” while
everyone else passes by on a ski
lift.
“The large American
underclass waits for its own
Declaration of Independence,”
he said.
Bond said that what began
as the civil rights movement
has become a political
movement. And now the battle
lines must shift to winning the
King film cruel
(Official SCLC statement)
We find the film “KING” inaccurate to the point of
cruelty and painfully disappointing in its utter failure to
show the inner strength and power so characteristic of Martin
Luther King Jr. Dr. King was a man of powerful faith and
persistent hope. His personality was radiant and that radiance
was reflected in the firmness of his committment to the
struggle. The Dr. King we knew and worked with was not so
crippled with inner turmoil, doubt and confusion (as
depicted in the film) that he was rendered weak, easily and
constantly depressed, and almost totally dependent on others
for strength. He was, in real life, resolutely devoted to
non-violence and thoroughly convinced of the rightness and
ultimate triumph of the cause.
Further, we deplore the deliberate, distortion of facts,
which are dramatic in reality. We especially condemn the
cruel treatment of many courageous Blacks whose
contributions and sacrifices deserve respect rather than
ridicule. Some were totally ignored, while others were made
to appear void of dignity. We consider this cruel to them and
their families.
We, therefore, consider this film on the whole a negative
force in the interpretation of Black history. The integrity of
our history must be preserved. We will immediately call for a
national Martin Luther King Jr. summit. From this summit,
which will include all of the major personalities that
surrounded and worked with Dr. King, we will develop two
major task forces. One to concentrate on reviving an
authentic, nonviolent movement throughout this country
and another that will give priority to developing the
necessary financial resources and the best technical resources
available to produce a documentary that portrays the true
life and works of Martin Luther King Jr. and his movement.
I have conferred with our Board chairman, Congressman
Walter Fauntroy, Dr. Ralph David Abernathy and our
historian, Dr. Lawrence Reddick of Harvard University. I
shall meet with technicians and others on the West Coast
within the next few days to set this process in motion.
often “our own worst
enemies,” He said Blacks are
often too playful about serious
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Julian Bond
education, 4) Free and
adequate health care, and 5)
Effective control of
monopolies.
business, have not registered to
vote, and have not made
wholesome friendships.
economic battle.
He said our goals should be:
1) Redistribution of income, 2)
Negative income tax, 3) Life
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