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The Augusta News-Review - Janury 20, 1979 -
Stye Augusta 'Nefoß-JReViefo
Mallory K. Millender 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 Green Columnist
Al IrbyColumnist
Marian Waring Columnist
Michael Carr Chief Photographer
Sterling WimberlyPhotographer
Roscoe Williams Photographer
We cannot be responsible for unsolicited photos, manuscripts and other materials.
Mailing Addren
Box 953 - Augusta, Ga. - Phone 722-4555
Second Class Postage Paid Augusta, Ga. 30903 IvM&M
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Well done
> f Dr. Richardson !
The community is still reeling from the
passing of retired Paine College Vice
President C.M. Richardson. He was a man
of sterling qualities, discipline and high
professional standards.
At the beginning of the 19705, Paine
College faced crisis twice when without a
president. On one of these occasions, Dr.
Richardson actually helped save much of
the college’s creditability, image and
future when he oped the need for a black
president. Please note the January 6
News- Review editorial.
So as to enlighten many young people
of today with some of the past serious
internal problems facing the institution,
may I share an editorial written in the
News-Review during 1972 by its
Editor-publisher Mallory K. Millender. He
is a graduate and longtime teacher there.
Roth he and Dr. Richardson have given
the greatest parts of their professional
careers in teaching, hard work and
helping build the college.
Now let’s read some past Paine College
history:
- A PAIN(E)FUL EXPERIENCE
Unfortunately, for many of its
graduates, Paine College has been a source
of embarrassment and humiliation.
In spite of the fact that many Paineites
would like to love, honor and feel proud
of their school, they can’t because their
wounds are too deep. Many Paineites feel
that they have been misused, abused, and
dehumanized by the institution that they
hoped would provide them with the
strength and the know-how to become
Somebody, but instead, the College
painfully and forcefully reinforced that
lifelong, haunting feeling of being
nobody.
Many Paineites have been made to feel
unwelcome when they dared to return to
tire campus.
Meeting new acquaintances from other
colleges who wanted to discuss their
respective schools posed particular
problems for the Paineite. Inevitably
questions would be raised like “What frat
are you in? How many pieces do you
have in your band? What kind of record
did your football team have last year 9
How is your Business Department? How
is your Music Departmen?
Blacks in American civilization
Rosa Parks:
* " catalyst of a
movement
On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery,
Alabama, the stage was set for the
beginning of a movement that would have
both national and international results.
The necessary ingredients for this human
experiment included one fatigued
seamstress who had been simply fed up
with a dehumanizing system of
regimented human relations; an archaic
system of racial segregation designed to
protect what few remnants of human
bondage that could still be retained in the
land of liberty; and finally a bus that
carried both black people and
whites-maids, housewives, yardmen and
businessmen-but in racially segregated
seating areas.
Born February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee,
Alabama to Mr. and Mrs. James
McCauley, Rosa Parks grew up in an
extended family consisting of her mother,
a younger brother, and her maternal
grandparents. Her grandparents had been
slaves prior to the American Civil War.
Going places
By Phil Waring
Whereas these questions cause infinite
anguish, they are not the major causes of
frustration. The most painful part was the
dehumanizing attitudes of faculty and
administration toward students.
Social life was often limited to doing
“the Billy,” playing cards, dominoes or
Chinese checkers. Then there was the
missionary thing -- the good white
missionaries teaching black students to be
good Negroes. Many Paineites will not
articulate these sentiments publicly, but
privately, they pour out their resentment
over Paine College’s history of white
domination.
Every Paineite has his own story of
personal humiliation. A local principal
tells of his graduation from Paine College,
only to have the president of the college
urge him to accept a job as the janitor of
a local company for sl3 a wekk.
These are allegedly true stories of
Paineites and their experiences with our
college. So we cannot be surprised when
some Paineites resent being asked to
support their college. We understand their
bitter, anguished feelings. But we would
remind them that Paine College, more
than any other source, has been , is, and
will be the source of leadership of black
Augusta. Reportedly, more than half of
Richmond County’s school teachers are
Paineites, ninety percent of local black
principals are Paineites; that the world’s
most successful blacl novelist is a
Paineite, and that the influence of Paine
College is felt by every citizen in the
CSRA.
The College has undergone radical
changes over the last several years. One
has but to walk on the campus to see the
progress. But the progress that has been
made is not the main concern. This is our
college. The main concern is the progress
that must be made if Paine College is to
become what we want it to be and what
it must be if it is to prepare the students
that will take their rightful places in the
moral, spiritual, economic and academic
leadership of this nation.
Our past and our present have been
bitter. We are bitter. But it is only when
we use our bitterness to build and make
better that we do justice to ourselves and
our children who will follow us.
By Howard James Jones
Her grandfather told Rosa and her
brother stories of how in Alabama (as was
true for all of America and the world)
elements in the community were set on
keeping black peole IN THEIR PLACE.
However, the old man appears to have
been a defiant individual.
At eleven years of age, Rosa was sent
away to Montgomery to attend a private
school with an integrated faculty. Before
finishing high school, she was married to
Raymond Parks, a barber. Around 1943,
she joined the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People.
Often she had been troubled by the
patterns of racial restrictions black people
were confronted with in Alabama. But on
December 1, 1955, she was simply one
human being who was just tired-tired of
being told where to sit! tired of being
denied economic and social opportunities
because she was black! tired of staying IN
HER PLACE! tired of being denied her
human rights! So when ordered to get up
Page 4
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MISMATCH
Walking with dignity -
| Rhodesia’s
merry-go-round
Black Rhodesians, including some
former members of the guerrila forces
that were waging war against the
transitional government of Prime Minister
lan Smith are now helping the interim
regime against the guerrillas. In one tribal
area, that of Maranda in southwestern
Rhodesia, a young former guerrilla named
Lloyd commands 139 black auxiliaries,
while in Msana, less than an hour’s drive
from Salisbury in northeastern Rhodesia,
Comrade Max is in charge of between 400
and 500, Both Max and Lloyd claim they
will support the majority-rule government
that is scheduled to emerge in Zimbabwe
(as Rhodesia is to be called) next April,
after the country’s first one-man,
one-vote elections.
SUPPORTERS OF THE BISHOP
Comrade Max is a loyal supporter of
Bishop Abel Muzorewa, one of the three
black leaders in the interim government,
while Comrade Lloyd, trained in Uganda,
says he stopped fighting the Rhodesian
forces after a meeting with the Rev.
Neabaningi Sithole, another membe; of
the transitional government. These two
former guerrillas say they will accept the
result of the elections even if their leaders
are defeated. White officials in the
Maranda area say the situation has
improved in recent months because of the
activities of the black auxiliaries. They
have won back some of the trust of the
people. They have re-opened cattle dips
closed by the guerrillas, and are now
protecting schools and clinics against
attacks by the Patriotic Front guerrillas
HALF OF TRIBES SUPPORT SMITH
A white rancher living near the
Maranda area points out that prior to the
arrival of the auxiliaries he had lost some
3,000 head of cattle, but now the
situation is much better. Jim Latham, a
Rhodesian Government liaison officer,
says that while the system of auxiliaries
is “not perfect”, it is a hopeful
development. “We know their feelings”,
he added, but at least the auxiliaries are
committed against the externally
based-guerrillas. In 27 of Rhodesia’s 52
tribal trust lands (black-reservations),
similar work is now being done by black
supporters of the Salisbury regime in an
effort to restore law and order in the face
of guerrilla onslaughts.
PRIVATE ARMIES
What have become known as the
“private armies” of Bishop and the Rev.
Sithole are policing the African areas in
liaison with the regular Rhodesian
and give her seat to a white man, she
refused and was arrested. On several
fronts, it was decided that something had
to be done.
So, on December 5, 1955 it was done.
A historic meeting was called at the
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. The
recently called pastor of this church was
Martin Luther King, Jr. From here on,
the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott
became history and ushered in the
Second American Reconstruction Era.
By Al Irby
security forces. Meanwhile, more than
2,000 former guerrilla supporters of
Patriotic Front co-leaders Joshua Nkomo
and Robert Mugabe have changed sides,
according to white Rhodesian military
officials. These irregulars or auxiliaries, as
the Rhodesians call them, are not paid,
but are provided with food and
equipment to defend themselves against
the guerrilla attacks.
MARANDA IS A HOT BED OF
MILITARY ACTIVITIES
In Maranda at present, no less than
four groups of armed men are now
operating the regular Rhodesian forces,
the black auxiliaries (in this case loyal to
the Rev. Mr. Sithole), and two groups of
external guerrillas. The latter include
ZIPRA (Zimbabwe People’s
Revolutionary Army) guerrillas loyal to
Joshua Nkomo and ZANLA (Zimbabwe
African National Liberation Army)
guerrillas of Robert Mugabe. The ZANLA
men are bent on destroying what they
obviously regard as a great threat to their
position - the Sithole “army”. The
ZIPRA men attack all and sundry,
including their so-called allies in the
Patriotic Front, tire ZANLA fighters. The
Rhodesian security forces and the
auxiliaries are combined in their fight
against the Patriotic Front guerrillas from
either camp. The transitional government
recently took newsmen to see the
auxiliaries because of criticism inside
Rhodesia of the behavior of the so-called
private armies. Officials insist that the
auxiliaries are not feudal-style private
armies loyal only to individual party
leaders.
THE CHOICE IS
YOURS.
Howd you like to handle a
radio, drive a big rig or build
a bridge? If you have 16 hours a
month, the Army Reserve has
a wide selection of career fields
for women and men alike. Call
your local unit and ask about
the part-time jobs open in your
area. The number's listed in the
white pages under "U.S.
Government?
\ J /|R
THE ARMY RESERVE.
PART OF WHAT YOU EARN
IS PRIDE
Our now day begun
HF Columbia’s black
Mkp journalists search
By Benjamin Hooka , ■ —
In these days, when so much of
America is turning conservative and many
universities and businesses are looking for
ways to backtrack on their responsibility
to opening up educational and job
opportunities for minorities, a recent plea
from the Columbia University Graduate
School of Journalism arouses a
considerable measure of hope. It makes
us realize that the spirit of meanness has
not possessed everyone. Some people and
institutiona like Columbia J-School are
still ahead with their commitment to
affirmative action programs despite the
adverse climate.
In a letter to its minority group
alumnae, Fergus M. Bordewich,
Columbia's admissions coordinator,
forthrightly states, “We need your advice
and help in our continuing effort to
attract minority students to the Graduate
School of Journalism.” He readily
acknowledges the obvious, which is that:
“Blacks, Hispanics and Asians continue to
be seriously underrepresented in
journalism, a profession with special
responsibilities for covering the full
diversity of American experience." He
notes, however, that “minority applicants
to the school have sharply declined.”
Almost the entire loss,” he says, “has
occurred among blacks.”
Columbia is therefore turning to its
graduates as a primary recruitment
resource. Also, the journalism school has
begun holding a series of “minority
journalism days.” The first of these
forums was held in Boston in October.
Others are planned for Norfolk, Va.,
Atlanta, and Baton Rouge, La. “We see
this effort as an ongoing program for a
number of years to create a large pool of
minority journalists,” Mr. Bordewich
explains.
Founded in 1912 by the famous
Joseph Pulitzer, a noted godfather of
professional journalism, the Columbia
University Graduate School of
Journalism’s reputation for excellence
and thorough preparation has never
To be equal
1979—year
crisis ?
By Vernon E. Jordan ■■ l
1979 may well be a year of crisis for
blacks and minorities. The
Adrrinistration is practicing economic
brinkmanship. One small miscalculation
and we could be plunged into a major
recession.
For blacks, recession is almost assured.
The black economy is already in a
depressed state. Anything less than steady
economic growth means fewer job
opportunities available for blacks, in
other words, recession
And planning for slower growth is
tricky. No one has ever been able to put
the brakes on the economy without
having it spin out of control into a
full-scale recession. If that happens, black
people and poor people will be in a true
crisis.
So it is hard to look ahead to the
coming year with much optimism. It’s
even harder when 1 remember last year’s
issues. Last January I identified, among
others, three major issues that would bear
watching.
They included the effect of passage of
the Humphrey-Hawkins Bill on creating
jobs, the nature of the planned urban
policy, and the outlook for welfare
reform. Here we are a year later and
Humphrey Hawkins won’t effect the
Administration’s planned slowdown, the
urban policy has been all but shelved, and
welfare reform is dead. In a matter of
months, last year’s burning issues have
disappeared.
In their place are a far grimmer set of
issues. Where' we were once discussing the
impact of new steps to combat
unemployment, urban decay and
joblessness, we now must wonder just
how bad things will get in 1979. Forget
about new measures and inititatives. Just
holding on to the present very bad
situation is the dominant theme.
The first clue as to what 1979 will
bring will be found in the
Administration’s budget proposals. For
weeks Washington has been occupied
with speculation about how deeply
domestic programs will be cut.
Instead of dealing with increased
waned. Its unflagging dedication to
quality and to promoting the ideals of the
profession has enabled it to maintain its
reputation as the leading journalism
school in the nation.
In keeping with this tradition, the
school since the 60s has been aggressively
recruiting minority applicants for its
regular graduate program. Its expansion
of opportunities to include minorities
preceded the Report of the National
Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders,
which sharply criticized the news media
for its very poor coverage of black
communities and activities.
The U.S. Riot Commission, which
issued the report in 1968, found that.
“By failing to portray the Negro as a
matter of routine and in the context of
the total society, the news media have,
we believe, contributed to the
black-white schism in this country,” The
token hiring of a black reporter or editor,
it said, “is no longer enough.”
Despite the effort that a few
publications made subsequently to
employ minority newspeople, it
continues to be a national disgrace that
the news media’s affirmative hiring
policies are still in the dark ages. Mr.
Bordewich estimates that throughout the
media, minorities represent about three
percent of the total newspeople. The
print media is especially backward, having
only about one percent minority
reporters and editors.
To the journalism school’s credit,
however, as much as 25 percent of its
admissions have been minorities, the
majority of whom have been black. This
is the program that the school wishes to
continue. “There is no inclination around
the school to be bulldozed by Bakke,”
Mr. Bordewich said of court challenges to
affirmative action.
Columbia Journalism School is
therefore looking for admission
candidates with bachelor’s degrees who
have promising writing abilities and
appropriate intellectual depth, especially
in the liberal arts.
employment opportunities, officials are
trying to decide how many public service
jobs should be scrapped. Those jobs are
needed desperately by the poor and the
long-term unemployed. They should be
increased, not cut back. But cuts are in
store.
The lid being clamped on the federal
budget probably won’t be impartial in its
effects. Urban and social programs will
take a beating, while defense and other
sectors hold their own or even gain.
That could be a signal to states and
cities too. Cutbacks in programs that
benefit poor people offer politicians
rewards. They can pose as
inflation-fighters, holding down taxes
while slashing away at job and training
programs, schools, low income housing,
and health programs, and other activities
essential to the poor.
One major issue in 1979 will be
whether the private sector renews its
commitment to affirmative action. The
New Negativism gripping the nation has
made affirmative action one of its major
targets, and the Bakke decision
encouraged some to think the pressure is
off on broadening minority
opportunities.
The most enlightened elements in the
private sector are working hard to include
blacks and other minorities, but others
may try to take advantage of the national
ambiguity and evade their responsibilities.
And affirmative action becomes harder to
achieve in recession conditions when
opportunities shrink for all races.
1979 has some hidden issues too, the
kind of concerns that don’t make
headlines but often have the greatest
long-term impact. One such issue is black
voter education and registration. A broad
national effort to involve minorities in
the democratic process is essential.
A second hidden issue is the 1980
census, whicji will be framed and set in
place in the coming year. Without a
foolproof means of avoiding the
traditional undercount of blacks,
minority communities will once again be
shortchanged in important federal and
local programs.