Newspaper Page Text
Laney grad’s bid for
championship halted
by nation’s top team
Page 8
VOLB, No. 45
Black ministers
protest rapes
and assaults
The Augusta Minister’s
Conference said last week it
planned to go before the city
council Monday to urge
increased police patrols and
more street lights in the Twigg
Street area, the site of a rash of
rapes during the past six weeks.
An advanced copy of the
text of the presentation
follows:
We, the Augusta Baptist
Minister’s Conference, an
interdenominational coalition
of black ministers, would like
express our sincere concern
anJl consternation relative to
the recent wave of assaults
and/or rapes in one section of
the black community.
As ministers of the Gospel,
we must empathize with the
SCLC seeks
investigation of
Marshal Service
. ATL ANT A--So uthe rn
Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC) president
Dr. Joseph E. Lowery has
called upon U.S. Atty. Gen.
Griffin Bell to investigate
charges of “racism and
tyranny” in the U.S. Marshal
Service. He also alerted Pres.
Carter and the EEOC to
alledged problems within the
190-year-old law enforcement
agency whose members
function as officers of the
federal courts and agents of the
Dept, of Justice.
At a press conference at
SCLC national headquarters in
Atlanta, Dr. Lowery said he
has received complaints from
both black and white deputy
marshals about discriminatory
treatment of minority officers,
punitive transfers, favoritism in
promotions, and
unprofessional conduct by
superior officers.
“We particularly want Atty.
Gen. Bell to investigate
possible abuses in the Marshal’s
Northern District of Georgia,”
Dr. Lowery said. “But we are
also protesting their racial
posture in the entire
Southeastern United States.”
The SCLC president said
that the Marshal for North
Georgia, Ronald E. Angel,
figured prominently in
complaints from that area.
Deputies say they have
blatantly racist statements
de by Marshal Angel, as well
as by other superior officers in
the district.
(Deputy marshals are hired
under civil service competitive
examinations, while marshals
are political appointments of
the President with the advice
and consent of the Senate.
Marshal Angel is a Carter
appointee.)
A racial breakdown obtained
by SCLC of the Marshal
Service’s Southeastern region
Register and vote
Augusta Nma-Sruim
physical and mental anguish of
the victims of this assailant; we
must emphasize the fear that
has engulfed our community
because of this assailant.
We, therefore, cognizant of
tire promise of lighting at some
time in the distant future,
demand that street lighting be
installed in this area forthwith.
We also strongly recommend
that patrolling of the area in
question be accelerated.
We suggest that a conscious
effort be made to bring peace
and security to the “lower
income areas” of our fair city.
It is our hope and our prayer
that these suggestions be
heeded, and that they be
immediately brought to
fruition.
indicates that of the 62
deputies in Georgia, five are
black, with none serving in a
management position. Ratios
of whites to blacks in the other
states are: Alabana 44:6,
Florida 96:2; Kentucky 40:0,
Louisians 78:3, Mississippi
29:1, North Carolina 42:1,
South Carolina 20:5, and
Tennessee 33:3;
Os the 138 Southeastern
officers in management, only
five are black. One of those is
in Alabama, another in
Tennessee, and the other three
are in South Carolina.
In addition to unfair
promotional procedures and
duty assignments, Dr. Lowery
said the black deputies also
complained of verbal abuse,
harassment and unequal
punishment for infractions. He
said that white deputies also
found themselves the targets of
discriminatory treatment when
they supported black officers’
rights or attempted to “blow
the whistle” on improper
conduct they witnessed within
the Service.
“The deputies attribute
many of their problems to the
‘ole boy” system and to poor
management,” said Dr.
Lowery. “There is a definite
resistance of independent
investigations from the
‘outside.’ ”
Dr. Lowery characterized
most of the complaints as men
“sincerely interested in
encouraging equal opportunity
and professionalism” within
the US. Marshal Service,”
noting that most had already
tried to channel their
grievances through their EEO
counselors, the chain of
command civil service
commission, their congressmen
and senators, and/or the
American Federation of
Government Employees Union.
Savannah blacks
launch selective
buying campaign
Page 1
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CHIC BABY - Little Alvinctris LaKatherine Midgette is held by her godmother,
Alfa Anderson, recording star of the pop group Chic. The baby was blessed at a
ceremony Sunday at Antioch Baptist Church. (See photo page 5)
Savannah blacks launch
selective buying campaign
With all the talk of green on
St. Patrick’s Day, it’s no
wonder the Black Summit
Coordinating Committee chose
Saturday as the day to kick-off
a much talked about Selective
Buying Campaign called “A
Black and Green Movement.”
Summit coordinator Otis
Johnson, a professor at
Savannah State College, says
the committee selected
Saturday as the beginning of
the campaign because on St.
Patrick’s Day everyone will
have the color green on their
minds and this would be a
good time to emphasize a new
News analysis
The shifting images of Huey Newton
EDITOR’S NOTE: With
Huey Newton-former
embodiment of black rage in
America-currently on trial for
the murder of a black
prostitude, Joel Dreyfuss looks
back at the evolution of the
images and realities of the
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The kick-off rally was held
Saturday at St. Phillip
Monumental AME Church. At
the rally a list of businesses in
the Savannah community will
be developed and persons
attending will be allowed to
provide their input as to what
merchants should be
patronized by the members of
the Black community. The
choice of which stores are
chosen will be based on a
specific set of criteria. The
criteria includes whether the
stores’ employment ratio is at
black movement of the 1960 s
By Joel Dreyfuss
Pacific News Service
(Joel Dreyfuss, former staff
reporter for the Washington
Post and New York Post, is a
SCLC seeks
investigation of
U.S. Marshal Service
Page 1
March 24,1979
least 30 percent black, the
SeOFts’ use of black owned
media as a means of
advertising, the stores’
utilization of Carver State
Bank for banking services and
whether the stores’ make
donations to black charitable
causes.
“We’re not telling people
where or where not to shop,”
says Johnson. “We just want to
let the black community know
which merchants are trying to
See “CAMPAIGN”
Pa tie 5
contributing editor of PNS. A
frequent contributor to Black
Enterprise, Mr. Drey fuss is
co-author with Charles
and 70s. In a follow-up series
next week, Pamela Douglas
looks ahead at where black
politics is moving as we enter
Mclntyre eyeing
mayor's race and
State Legislature
Former two-term County
Commissioner Edward M.
Mclntyre has been out of
office for just three months.
Already he misses it, and has
said on several occasions that
he liked the title
“commissioner” before his
name. But he has indicated
that he also likes the titles:
state representative, state
senator, and Mayor of Augusta.
Mclntyre lives in the county
and is not eligible to run for
mayor. The South Augusta
area he lives in does not have a
sufficient number of black
voters to mount a campaign lor
the state house or the state
senate.
Asked how he expected to
overcome these osstacles,
Mclntyre said, “People move
everyday.”
But he insists that he has no
plans to move “right now.”
Mclntyre, who was narrowly
defeated in his bid for a third
term on the County
Commission by Bill Iliers in
August, would likely face
opposition from the Rev. C.S.
Hamilton if he elects to run for
mayor. Hamilton polled 29.9
percent of the vote in the
the 1980 s, drawing on
interviews and research in
Atlanta, Watts and Harlem.
Both writers are black.
Lawrence of The Bakke Case:
The Politics of Inequality
(Harcourt. Brace, Jovanovich;
Spring, 1979.)
OAKLAND, CA. - Seated
on the edge of a table inside
the Oakland, California school
run by the Black Panther
Party, Huey Newton struggles
to evaluate his past. But to the
listener, the images of Newton
keep getting in the way. There
is that classic poster of Huey
enthroned in a majestic wicker
chair, wearing a black leather
jacket and paramilitary beret,
holding a rifle and spear. Then
there is the most recent image
of Huey in a fashionable
double-breasted suit, satin
shirt, tie and wide-brimmed
hat.
Those two versions of the
former embodiment of black
rage, a decade apart, mark the
transformations of our society:
from 1960 s revolution to the
disco of escape today; from
black militancy to the 1970 s
hustle to make the middle
class.
In the case of the Black
Panther Party, one suspects
they also mark the beginning
and the end, but one thing has
not changed.
“I’m still an optimist,” Huey
maintains, as he considers all
the years spent in prison, on
the streets, in courtrooms and
confrontations, and in exile.
Now as then, Newton would
uucy newton:
Changing images
trying to survive
Pagel
Less than 75% Advertising
mayoral election in September.
“1 am not running for
mayor,” Mclntyre said, “but
I’m not closing the door to any
of the four.”
Elaborating on his position,
he said, “1 do plan to run for
public office again. What 1 run
for will depend on the people
of Richmond County and the
kind of support I can get. If I
feel at the time an office is
available people won’t support
me. I won’t run.”
Mclntyre said he would
measure his support by the
number of calls he received
saying, “We need you in this
position.”
“I’ve had hundreds of calls
already saying they would like
to see me run again or for
something else.”
When Mclntyre runs again
he may well have to be voted
on by members of a single
district for the first time. He
has traditionally opposed
district voting.
At-large voting in Richmond
County has been challenged in
Federal Court and Mclntyre
predicts that the plaintiffs will
win.
Defending his opposition to
seem to have little reason for
optimism.
Currently on trial for the
1974 murder of an Oakland
prostitute, Newton, one senses,
will 1 remain a prisoner of the
times that created him,
whatever the jury decides. His
era began with confrontations
and court-room appearances. It
is ending now a decade later in
a replay of another time: Huey
Newton in court room
confrontations. But where the
Panters once refused to pay
bail on the grounds it was
“ransom” to the white man,
Newton now is free, having
posted an estimated SI3O,OCX)
bond. Though he once
preached justice through
revolution, Newton voluntarily
returned from exile in Cuba in
1977 to place his fate in the
hands of a California court.
Now, as back then, his
lawyers say both the five-year
old murder charge and newer
allegations against Newton are
the results of years of efforts
by law enforcement agencies to
destroy the Black Panther
Party. But with J. Edgar
Hoover and Richard Nixon,
respectively, dead and gone,
COINTELPRO exposes seem as
dated as freedom rides.
Last July, NEW TIMES
magazine, itself a doomed
descendant of the New Left,
linked Newton with acts of
“arson”, extortion, beatings
and even murder.” “There
appears to be no political
explanation for it,” the
magazine concluded. “The
Party is no longer under siege
by the police and this is not
25*
district voting, Mclntyre said.
“I’ve never lived under district
voting, and 1 don't have an
appreciation for what we’ll get
out of it. I’ve been told by
political scientists that ward
politics are not best for tire
community.
“But when the community
is not willing - through at large
voting - to have adequate
representation, black and
white, then you are forced to go
to district voting to insure
proper representation. That is
the case in Richmond
County.”
Asa non-elected official he said
his working hours are now
shorter; he doesn’t have the
“day-to-day pressure”
experienced by elected
officials, and he gets to spend a
little more time with his family
on weekends. He says he is
now flooded with requests for
him to serve on boards of
directors.
When he answers questions,
like most politicians, he tends
to make a speech. But when
asked if he misses being an
elected official, he said, “Yes.”
self-defense.” It was more than
epitaph for Newton’s
credibility with whites.
With the probably fatal
damage already inflicted on the
Panters -- both by themselves
and others - it seemed an
appropriate obiturary for 60s
radicalism of all colors that a
dying white liberal publication
soon to be replaced by a
magazine on jogging, would use
police sources and blind quotes
to pound the mast nail into the
coffin of black militancy.
Dressed in conservative
slacks, a loose shirt and
conventional loafers, Newton,
accompanied by his wife
Gwen, watches with pleasure as
a group of four-to-six year olds
present Erika Huggins, a long
time activist and teacher at the
Panther school, with birthday
cards. The children, not even
bom when Newton first made
the evening news, ooh and aah
as Huggins displays a Seiko
watch students and staff have
given her.
Newton cannot let the
opportunity pass.
“Do we look like hoods or
thugs?” the man on trial for
murdering a prostitute asks
with a disarming grin.
Even the Panthers’ harshest
critics admit the Oakland
Community School is a real
center of learning, discipline,
See “HUEY”
Page 2