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The Augusta News-Review - October 31, 1978-
Wfye (Augusta
Mallory K. MUlender Editor-Publisher
J. Philip Waring Vice President for Research and Development
Paul D Walker Special Assistant to the Publisher
Robert L. Darby?: ?..Advertising Manager
Mrs. Brenda Hamilton Administrative Assistant
Mary Gordon Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Geneva Y. Gibson Church Coordinator
Ms. Barbara Gordonßurke County Correspondent
Mrs. Clara WestMcDuffie County Correspondent
Roosevelt GreenCo umms
Al Irby-Columnist
Columnist
Marian Waring
Michael Carr Chief Photographer
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President Carter,
don’t let us down
NNPA Editorial
Black leaders in Charleston, S.C., and
Memphis, Tenn., are gravely concerned
over the economic impact of a pending
decision by President Jimmy Carter on
U.S. trade with racist South Africa.
The decision involves U.S. trade with
South Africa and illustrates dramatically
how exploitation of Blacks there is
hurting Blacks here.
At issue is the importation into this
country of a strategic material called high
carbon ferrochromium (HCP), a basic
ingredient in the making of stainless steel.
HCP imports are now flooding the
country from South Africa, actually
exceeding in quantity total U.S.
production.
As a result, the U.S. HCP industry is
operating at only 50 percent of capacity
and over 30 percent of the work force,
mostly Blacks, has been laid off. In other
words, Black American labor is losing
jobs because of Black slave labor in South
Africa.
Last week. Black leaders in Charleston
met and decided to mobilize a campaign
to influence President Carter to act
favorably on the U.S. International Trade
Commission request for relief for U.S.
producers of chrome. In Memphis, Rep.
Harold Ford met with plant
To bo equal
“Olympic j ail”
WOS|jl!!s a mistake
Relatively few Americans are aware
that, under the guise of building housing
for athletes participating in the 1980
Olympic Winter Games, the U.S. is
building a prison.
Construction is under way on the
prison right now, but it is not too late to
change the intended use of the facility.
The athletes will be there for a few
weeks, but after they leave plans call for
their rooms to be converted to cells that
will hold poor, largely minority offenders
from inner cities.
In itself, this is a mockery of the
Olympic Spirit. Just think what our
reaction would be if Russia planned a
similar conversion of Olympic facilities.
Here’s another instance in which our
verbal backing for human rights is
contradicted by actual practice.
Not only is that prison the wrong
facility in the wrong place at the wrong
time, but it is in violation of the U.S.
Bureau of Prison’s own guidelines. The
origin of the prison lies in Congress’
mandate that any facilities built for the
Olympic games be converted to other use.
It has been suggested that the Lake
Placid, N.Y. facility could serve as a
permanent training site for athletes.
But that idea gave way to another one
- turn it into a prison. There are two
. major reasons for this. First, the region
around Lake Placid is economically
distressed, and a permanent prison would
open up well-paying jobs for prison
guards and other workers while boosting
the town’s economy.
Second, the Bureau of Prisons has been
looking for places to build new prisons as
part of a huge new prison-building
program that’s sweeping the nation. The
shrill cries about rising crime -- actually
the crime rates are beginning to slow
down - has resulted in new prison
facilities.
The Prison Bureau admits that most of
the inmates will come from big cities in
the northeast -- New York, Boston,
Philadelphia and others. And it also
admits that its own regulations stipulate
that prisons be built near major
population centers to enable family visits
and to utilize nearby supportive services.
Located more than 300 miles from
major cities and serviced by only one bus
a day from the city, the Lake Placid site
him from Congressman Parren Mitchell of
Maryland, Chairman of the Congressional
Black Caucus. Mitchell said: “If you
reject (the ITC recommendation) the
South Africans will undoubtedly
interpret your decision as a signal -a
signal that, despite our government’s
noble rhetoric, we will do nothing - not
even follow a forceful, cogent and
well-documented recommendation of a
Federal Agency - that cuts against the
grain. This is a signal we must not and
cannot afford to - send to them.”
Mr. President, Blacks all across the
country will be watching your actions on
this matter. Don’t let us down,
representatives and sent a strong letter to
President Carter urging his support for
the ITC recommendation.
The President can remedy this
situation very easily. All he has to do is
follow the recommendation of the
International Trade Commission which is
now on his desk. That recommendation
tells the President quite simply, the U.S.
HCP industry will go under unless he
takes some action to hold down HCP
imports.
However, this is the second such
recommendation by the 11C in less than a
year. What is at stake was bluntly put
before the President in a recent letter to
By Vernon E. Jordan
effectively means inmates will be cut off
from their loved ones.
In addition, a large portion of the
inmate population is expected to be
Black and Hispanic while the local
population and the guards drawn from
the region will be rural whites. This
introduces a racial factor that has resulted
in earlier prison tragedies - friction
between guards and inmates who don’t
understand each other and the inevitable
' surfacing of racism.
The Olympic prison is just the tip of
the iceberg - visible because of the
Olympic connection and the gross
violation of a federal agency’s own rules.
But the problem is nationwide.
Politically-inspired calls for getting tough
with offenders have led to longer
sentences and the adoption of
determinate sentencing.
These have Increased the numbers of
people in prison, resulting in massive
overcrowding of existing facilities.
Authorities are building prisons as fast as
they can, although the best that can be
said about prisons is that they make it
easier for youthful offenders to learn
illegal trades.
The cost of this vast network of
schools for crime is enormous. About 500
new or expanded facilities are being
planned. The tab will be $4 billion. With
all the calls for budget-cutting and slicing
social services, there’s been little outcry
over the mind-boggling sum required to
warehouse poor people in penitentiaries.
It costs as much to build a prison cell
as it does to build an apartment. It costs
more to keep someone in prison than it
does to send him to Harvard. Putting
down prison costs into better housing and
education would reduce crime a lot more
than locking people up would.
Proportionately, we’ve got more
people under lock and key in the U.S.
than anywhere in the Western world,
outside of South Africa. Except for a
minority of inmates who are violent and
thus dangerous to themselves and to
others, offenders can be better 4 handled
by a variety of methods other than
incarceration. The sooner we get off our
prison-building mania and start dealing
with the causes of crime, the better off
we’ll be.
Page 4
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KARATE CHOP
a.
There are now new attitudes, hopes
and planning resulting from three recent
local elections. Above all, there is new
talk and review in the Black community
about race and politics.
This came first after the August 8
primaries. There still remains much
bitterness and sadness about it. Blacks
resented the big mysterious white slush
fund that came out of nowhere to chop
down able Commissioner Ed Mclntyre in
the apex of his brilliant career. With tire
huge Black population, we find no
representation on the County
Commission.
Next came the school bond issue
referendum. There are varying opinions
about its defeat. So many of its objectives
were timely and useful for our children.
Lots of citizens voiced disappointment on
how it was handled. Others resented the
solid intransigence against the request
that 25 percent of the contracts go to
minority contractors by the CSRA
Business League. These programs are now
in operation in Atlanta, Savannah,
Macon, Columbus and other Souther
cities. Why not Augusta?
THE MAYORAL RACE
Suppose we now look at the mayoralty
situation. It’s agreed that Dr. C.S.
Hamilton ran a unique campaign despite
few resources. His twenty odd years of
top service and leadership came into play
with Blacks and a number of whites. Prior
to the election many scoffed at his ability
to gain more than a thousand or so votes.
When he came through with almost 3,000
votes this marked a new day for race and
politics here. Even both daily papers
admitted that it was now possible for a
Black to become mayor. Rev. Hamilton
has subsequently said his achievement
marked the decline for the voter leagues
and also the strength of Black city
councilpersons.
AT-LARGE VS DISTRICT VOTING
Prior to the Waynesboro-Burke County
Federal Court decision outlawing at-large
voting, most of the local Black elected
officials favored the at-large plan. This
has now changed. First, there is a Black
group on the brink of filing a suit to
outlaw at-large voting here. Rev. C.S,
Hamilton has changed and is now a
solidly in favor of district voting. At a
recent meeting of the Ad Hoc Citizens
Committee all members present,
including elected officials, unanimously
voted for the district system.
During the recent elections Rev.
Hamilton also pointed to the need for
more Black representation on city boards
and commission, to straighten out the
police and fire department situationsand
also the paucity of key administrative
Says Dozier’s views backward
Dear Editor:
The president of the Board of
Education of Richmond County, William
L. Dozier, called the USDA Breakfast
Program socialistic and a deliberate
Going places
New attitudes
follows elections
By Phil Waring
Letter to the editor
officials in city government.
SO LONG RAITH METCALFE
I first met Ralph during the late 50s
when I headed the Springfield, 111. Urban
League. During this period he was a
leader on the Chicago City Council. And
later became President Pro Temp and
right hand aide to Mayor Richard Daly.
When Congressman Bill Dawson passed
away in 1970 Ralph succeeded him as
Congressman. Ralph had a continuing
disagreement with Mayor Daly on the
matter of police brutality. He pointed out
that many cities had resolved this by
in-service human relations training. Mr.
Daly did not buy this. During the
mid-1970s two Black dentists were pulled
from their automobiles and beaten to a
“fair thee well” by Chicago policemen.
When Mayor Daly failed to act,
Congressman Metcalfe joined in with the
NAACP, Urban League, Operation Push
and many churches in public protest.
When Ralph was up for re-election Mr.
Daly picked a young man from his staff
to oppose the 1932 and 1936 Olympic
gold medal track champion. As the
Chicago Democratic Machine was the
largest and best oiled in the nation, there
were predictions that Ralph would lose.
There was a split in the Black community
with 80 percent going with the
Congressman who became the first and
only person to buck the Daly machine
and win. You read of Mayor Daly’s
vindictiveness against Black ministers who
backed Ralph. The city plumbers and
electricians came to their churches and
day care centers for “inspections” and
you know their findings.
So long Ralph. Your many
achievements in sports, civic work and
government deserve the Springarm
Award. What about it Chicago and friends
of Ralph?
MEET THE CANDIDATES FORUM
You are invited to attend a “Meet and
Question the Candidates” public forum
scheduled for Monday, Oct. 30 at the St.
Mary’s Parish Hall. This 7:30 p.m.
meeting will feature Nov. 7 candidates for
school board, city commission and the
Georgia legislature. It is sponsored by the
Augusta Citizens Ad Hoc Committee (a
Black caucus group).
LANEY-WALKER REVITALIZATION
Persons who live, work or have
interests in the Laney-Walker Blvd,
neighborhood are invited to come
together to organize on Tuesday, Oct. 31
at 7:30 p.m. at the Pilgrim Civic Center.
More on this in our next column. Further
information may be secured from L.B.
Wallace, William Brown, James E. Carter
111, Ed Mclntyre or this writer.
attempted to destroy the family unit
system. The board president’s ideas are
See “DOZIER’S VIEWS”
Page 5
Walking with dignity
Zambia hurting
it®
Just as Rhodesia’s lan Smith was
reaching out to millions of white
Americans during his current U.S. visit,
his cause has been helped by Zambia, s
reopening of its border. And Mr. Smith’s
own government claims that it is putting
an end to all racial discrimination.
Meanwhile, South Africa has again
rejected the West’s plan for Nambia free
election. Zambia’s decision to reopen its
border with Rhodesia may well
strengthen Rhodesian Prime Minister lan
Smith’s hand at a crucial stage in the
guerrilla war.
WHAT WILL NKOMO DO NOW?
The news about Zambia could just be a
coup for Black newspapers in the United
States. Observers around the world are
asking whether tiny Zambia is tired of
this bloody guerrilla encounter. Zambia is
the base for Joshau Nkomo’s unit of the
so-called Patriotic Front. The other
faction operates out of Mozambique.
Although Mr. Kaunda insists that his
decision will not affect Zambia’s support
for the guerrillas. But how can that be? It
is this concern that prompted Tanzanian
President Nyerere to make a vain attempt
to persuade Zambian President Kaunda to
rescind his decision.
FRONT-LINE ALLIANCE IS FUEDING
Mr. Nyerere believes it is dangerous for
Zambia to place a sizeable part of its
trade in the hands of an adversary they
have all pledged to destroy. Certainly the
disagreement has put new strains on the
shaky front-line gentlemen. This alliance
comprising Zambia, Tanzania,
Mozambique, Botswana, and Angola,
which could ultimately influence the
course of the whole Rhodesian struggle.
Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, who
flew to Lusaka with Mozambique
President Samora Machel for a weekend
meeting with Mr. Kuanda, even suggested
an emergency airlift of urgently needed
goods into Zambia. And he offered to
speed up the flow of Zambian imports
and exports through the Tanzanian port
of Dar es Salaam, which is badly clogged
with shipments.
FORCING ZAMBIA TO YIELD
But President Kuanda, according to
aides, said the offer came too late and
that Zambia’s economy would collapse
unless it gained access to ports in
southern Africa. Landlocked Zambia
seems to have had little choice. The
immediate reason for Dr. Kuanda’s
decision was the need to bring in more
than 100,000 tons of fertilizer urgently
needed for the coming season’s maize
crop. Maize (or corn) is Zambia’s staple
food and without the fertilizer, now in
southern African ports, the country could
face a catastrophic food shortage next
year.
BLOCK GUERRILLA STRATEGY
If Zambia hadn’t opened the border
now it would have had to do so next year
The Metcalfe legacy
By Congressman John Conyers
Ralph Metcalfe was a good and
honorable man who served the citizens of
Chicago and the nation with distinction,
eighteen years as a Chicago
Committeeman and Aiderman and eight
years as Member of Congress from
Illinois’ First District. He leaves behind
him a legacy of supreme courage, both
physical and political, which millions of
citizens will never forget.
Ralph had two careers which
reinforced and strengthened one another.
In the first part of his adult life he won
fame as a great athlete, a national
intercollegiate champion in sprinting
during the early 19305, a silver and
bronze medal winner at the 1932 World
Olympics in Los Angeles, and at the
Berlin Olympics in 1936 a gold medal
winner in the 400-meter relay and silver
medal winner in the 100-meter, finishing
second to the legendary Jesse Owens.
Following upon his military service in
World War 11, he devoted himself to the
advancement of Black Americans and to
the education and physical development
of youth. To this end he created the
Ralph H. Metcalfe Youth Foundation,
which has supported over the years
numerous athletic, educational and
cultural programs. He was a source of
inspiration to millions of young people.
Ralph devoted his second career to
public service, starting as director of
Chicago’s Department of Civil-Rights, and
later as a leading figure on the City
Council. In 1969 he became the council’s
president pro tempore, and a year later
won the Cook County Democratic Party’s
nomination for, and election to.
Congress.
Inescapably, in every public figure’s
life the question arises: what did he or
she stand for? What did he or she leave
behind? It would have been entirely
appropriate and adequate if Ralph
Metcalfe’s legacy revolved solely around
his athletic accomplishments and
community service. To an extent, of
course, it does. But to the millions whom
By Al Irby
to bring in relief supplies of maize;
President Kuanda’s chief economic
advisor, Dr. Dominic Mulaishe made that
clear to a group of newsmen in London.
The transportation problems, however, go
far beyond the need to bring in fertilizer
for this year’s crop. Ever since Rhodesia
unilaterally declared its independence
from Britain in 1965, Zambia has been
beset by transportation problems that at
various times have resulted in emergency
airlifts and massive and costly rerouting
exercises. When the Rhodesian border
was finally closed in 1973, sealing
Zambia’s oldest and best trade routes,
President Kuanda was counting on
alternative routes through Angola and via
the about to be completed Tazara
Railway linking Zambia with the port of
Dar es Salaam.
But the Benguels line was closed in
1975 as a result of the Angolan war and
the Chinese built Tazara Railroad has
been something of a disappointment So
too has the port of Dar es Salaam.
TRANSPORTATION HEADACHES
As a result of operational problems on
the railroad and congestion at the port a
serious backlog of both imports and
exports has steadily built up. Earlier this
month when the Zambia Cabinet
anguished over the reopening of the
Rhodesian frontier, more than 75,000
tons of copper, worth over SIOO million,
was stockpiled at the mines. The mining
companies, which provides more than 90
percent of Zambia’s foreign exchange
earnings, already are seriously strapped
for cash as a result of low international
copper prices. The transportation
problems have exacerbated the situation
forcing the mining companies to borrow
heavily and even threatening the closure
of many of the mines.
ADDRESSED CLASS AT AC
This columnist spoke to a Political
Science class at Augusta College on the
subject “Is this generation of America
any less void of spiritual values than its
predecessors?” 1 told this group of young
people I didn’t think it was, because past
generations were heaped in hypocrisy anc :
deviousness. The cliche concerning the
favor of the “Founding Fathers” was a
super myth; they were as carnal-minded
as the adherents of the so-called “Bible
Belt” in the South.
I stressed the fact that this doesn’t
mean that our generation is “Simon
Pure”, but at least we are free of
intellectual and spiritual ostentation
Some hope was held out to the attentive
class. The emerging of women and Blacks
into key positions in our society give
discernment of hope. Since men have
made such a quandary of every aspect of
life, we are obviously headed in the right
direction for a better world.
he represented, he will be remembered
and revered for something more than
even his physical courage. He will be
remembered most for his political
courage, following in a great tradition of
struggle in behalf of equality and justice
set a half-century earlier in Chicago by
Debs and Darrow.
During the early 1970 s the City ol
Chicago was overrun by police brutality.
No one in the highest reaches of the
political establishment addressed the
issue. There was uniform and unanimous
silence at City Hall. At first, Ralph
Metcalfe sought to bring the issue before
the leadership. As a reasonable man, his
first course of action was an attempt to
solve the police problem from within. He
could not, however, elicit a response. As
more and more citizens became
victimized by police behavior, Ralph
concluded he could no longer work
effectively within the leadership and the
party. His integrity demanded that he
speak out as forcefully as he could on the
issue that most affected the citizens
whom he represented. The political
establishment, that once favored him,
turned against him in full fury.
For a long time Ralph Metcalfe stood
alone aginst the most powerful political
machine in the nation. Every attempt was
made to silence him, but he persevered in
his conviction and his courage. He won
re-election in the subsequent years, but
he had paid a considerable price. His
health suffered. Life-long friendships
were disrupted. He was made the object
of constant attack. Nevertheless, he went
on to serve in Congress with great
dedication and effectiveness. He was a
leader in the fields of consumer
protection and health care. Against great
odds, Ralph had summoned up the same
courage that earlier had won him the
admiration of the world for his athletic
achievements. In the end, Ralph stood his
ground, a moderate and reasonable man
up against an immoderate and
unreasonable political system. His stand
in Chicago was his finest hour, for which
he will always be remembered