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The Augusta News-Review - (USPS 887 820) - May 19, 1979 -
'Olfye
Mallory K. Millender • • • Editor-Publisher
J. Philip Waring Vice President for Research and Development
Paul D. Walker Special Assistant to the Publisher
Frank Bowman Acting Advertising Manager
Mrs. Brenda Hamilton Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Mary Gordon Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Geneva Y. Gibson Church Coordinator
Ms. Barbara Gordonßurke County Correspondent
Mrs. Clara West McDuffie County Correspondent
David DupreeSports Editor
Mrs. Ileen Buchanan Fashion & Beauty Editor
Roosevelt Green Columnist
A] i r byColumnist
Mrs. Marian Waring Columnist
Michael Can Chief Photographer
Sterling Wimberly Photographer
Roscoe Williams Photographer
We cannot be responsible for unsolicited photos, manuscripts and other materials.
Mailing Address
Box 953 - Augusta, Ga. - Phone 722-4555
Second Class Postage Paid Augusta Ga. 30903
AMAUIAMAWb
I PUBUBNOM, INC. IbJAmMr
Our new day begun
JMt / -Mr* 44
■NhI
Recent article in Jet Magazine and the
Washington Post have tended to cast a
pall over the approaching 25th
anniversary of the Brown vs Board of
Education victory on May 17 which
ended the judicial sanction of separate
but equal school facilities.
Tire articles have focused on purported
conflicts between the parent NAACP and
its now totally independent and separate
offspring, the NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, Inc.
From its incorporation in 1939 until
its separation from the NAACP in 1958,
the Inc. Fund served as the civil rights
department of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People
under the direction of Special Counsel
Thurgood Marshall. The Fund had been
created to receive tax deductible
contributions as well as to launch a
concerted legal drive against segregation.
Because the fears that the federal
government would revoke this special tax
status due to its aggresive civil rights
stance, the Inc. Fund was completely
divorced from the NAACP. But despite
the fact that both organizations have
gone their separate ways over the past 22
years, many people still regard the Inc.
Fund as the NAACP’s legal department.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
IN any event, the NAACP will proceed
to commemorate this landmark victory as
it has done over the years by special
proclamations and other ceremonies. We
have called on local units to present
scrolls or proclamations to legislatures in
every state.
At the same time, the National Board
of Directors will meet from May 16-18 in
Columbia, S.C., which featured in one of
the cases that led to the decision. There
also, on the 17th, the NAACP will have a
special banquet.
The BROWN victory indisputably was
Uy * *
I
Harrisburg, Pennsylvannia is now
humorously referred to in certain
quarters as “Radiation City.” This is
because of the Uuee Mile Island scandal,
commonly referred to as a nuclear
accident.
My family and I as well as thousands of
others in the Harrisburg area feared for
our lives in the shadows of radiation
damage. No one seems to know how
much radiation is too much with some
clowns even talking about normal levels.
Thousands fled Harrisburg to cities
such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and
Washington, D.C. Some do not plan to
ever again live in close proximity to the
nuclear reactors running while so-called
experts appear as Daffy Ducks.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is
virtually powerless to regulate safety on
the part of the rip-off electric utility
monoplies. It is clear that the big electric
power companies place profits above
people in their mad dash to build reactors
all over the United States.
The “China Syndrome” movie is most
worthy of viewing for understanding the
anything-goes attitude of the big public
utility companies. The American
consumer is simnlj a tool to be lied to
and misled about the dangers of the
present state of nuclear energy. I highly
recommended the movie even though it is
virtually lily-white in every aspect.
Nuclear energy is going to be a part of
NAACP
celebrates Brown
By Benjamin Hooks
masterminded by the NAACP under the
leadership of its Special Counsel,
Thurgood Marshall. The chronicle of this
victory in the 1954 NAACP Annual
Report states:
“In the history of the United States,
and certainly in the history of the
American Negro, the decision was and
will continue to be of utmost
significance: it put the law of the land
unequivocally on the side of hunan
rights. For that legal victory the
Association, and all Americans, owe a
tremendous debt of gratitude to the
many dedicated lawyers, living and dead,
who over the years fought without
compromise for unabridged Negro
citizenship rights. Among them were such
men as the late Moorfield Story, Charles
H. Houston, Arthur Gargield Hays, and
Leon Ranson. The list of the living must
include, among many others, Arthur B.
Spingarn, Thurgood Marshall, William H.
Hastie, Robert L. Carter, and Loren
Miller.”
Arthur Spingarn, then president of the
NAACP, was dean of the Association’s
lawyers. Hastie, Carter and Miller were
principal BROWN strategists with
Marshall.
In calling for an end to “separate but
equal facilities” “with all deliberate
speed,” the U.S. Supreme Court under
the guidance of Chief Justice Earl Warren
had expressed an optimism that has been
frustrated at almost every turn. Without a
doubt, progress has been made in civil
rights and race relations since then.
But black Americans must measure
their progress by the distance that they
yet must cover to achieve their goal of
equal social and economic opportunity
and justice. And that distance is indeed
great. So by commemorating the BROWN
decision, the NAACP is seeking to
recommit the nation to these just ends.
Speaking Out
3 Mile Island
accident a scandal
By Roosevelt Green Jr.
our future regardless of the craziness
demonstrated by all who lied about about
the Three Mile Island Scandal. This is true
because the American public is extremely
wasteful in its use of human as well as
natural resources. Strong national and
individual stewardship is needed if we are
going to curb the use of nuclear energy.
Much research and a commitment to
public safety is needed in this area.
It is probably advisable for the
government to take over the operation of
nuclear power facilities. The utilities
could then purchase their needs from a
people before profit regulatory agency.
Who knows how the Three Mile Island
fiasco will end? President James Earl
Carter made a quick trip to our area in
the company of his wife. A local white
woman remarked that she would have felt
better if the president and his wife had
spent the night in the area rather than
just breezing through.
Meanwhile, the true story about the
nuclear scare in the greater Harrisburg
Middletown area has probably not been
told. Time will tell us how great the
damage was and continues to be. It just
seems so unfair that blacks and whites
continue to suffer at the hands of the
public utility and rip-off oil companies.
HARAMBEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Page 4
BLACKS 1 DESTINY IN OWN HANDS....
FLIGHT OF CAPITAL. THE MAKING OF GHETTOS...
X i . ■ ■ ■
- <6 IL-6M
The nation is now observing the 25th
anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s
Brown vs Board of Education decision.
Yes, May 17 is a magic date which
changed the course of race relations in
America. Yet, I’ve talked to a number of
young people who knew little about it
and apparently cared less. (How can we
constructively change this attitude?)
In 1954 and again in 1964 “Going
Places” produced features on this subject
in the former Augusta Weekly Review
and other papers around the nation. This
year we are using May 17, to kick off a
first of its kind local survey on race
relations.
The current May edition of Ebony
magaxine contains several features with
results of a massive survey involving
4,500 black elected officials. Answers to
a series of questions explained their
attitudes on what has happened since the
May, 1954 decision. Please don’t it.
The Atlanta Constitution will release a
special section to its May 16 edition on
race relations. Already on the newsstands
in the May 14 issue of the U.S. News and
World Report with an exclusive on
“Blacks in America” (You’d best read
this very carefully, however). The New
York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post
and others are scheduled for special
features during May.
In black communities around the
nation scores of NNPA-affiliated papers
will come through with the black
prespective. There will be pictures,
features, case histories, interviews, etc.
which will reach into the very nub of the
problem.
In our survey we’ll use the entire
month starting from May 17 to start and
complete the project. More on it later.
The NAACP is our greatest civil rights
organization. The Urban League
Movement is the greatest community
service-race relations agency in the
nation. We need both.
The greatest day in NAACP history
was May 17, 1979. Twenty-five years
later this month the association is
celebrating over the entire nation. Ben
Fboks and Conpany, however, are not
slow to point out that despite the Brown
decision and numerous federal civil rights
laws passed by the Congress, we still have
a long, long way to go.
LOCAL OBSERVANCE MAY 17
In Augusta the local branch will join
up with 1700 others at noon time on May
17. They will present proclamations to
city and state officials around the nation
Dear Editor:
I enjoy the paper very much. I haven’t
missed a copy since you started it. Keep
up the good work.
I wish you could carry the radio
Dear Editor:
You and the News-Review staff have
done a beautiful job with your support of
Augusta Mini Theatre. The general
concern and publicizing our performances
have been second to none.
Thanks to you and Mr. Philip Waring
Going places
Appreciates paper
Appreciates coverage
Civil Rights
survey planned
By Phil Waring
having to do with NAACP concerns and
interests.
We are happy, that Mrs.
Georgene Hatcher Seabrook, local
president, has been able to secure Rev.
Harding Dunlap from the national
headquarters staff in New York to speak
at our May 17 program scheduled for
7:30 p.m. at Tabernacle Baptist Church.
Please come out and be a part of history.
DINNER IN COLUMBIA
The national board of the NAACP
along with Attorney Margaret Bush
Wilson and Dr. Benjamin Hooks, will
participate in a national dinner
observance in Columbia, S.C. on May 17.
You’ll remember all of the violence and
pain our people suffered when they
brought a suit to desegregate schools in
Clarenden County, S.C.? Many people
around today never heard of Clarenden
County.
A courageous NAACP leader, Rev.
Delaine, had to leave his A.M.E. church
and head out of state because of
bombings, threats, gun fire. Others stayed
on to carry on the fight. There are many,
many public records on these happenings.
Oh, if some of the young people of today
would just get up and read. This is real
black history and helps tell us where we
came from, and highlights the courage of
our leaders in the South just 25 years ago.
REV. HINTON TO BE HONORED
I am elated to know that the national
NAACP dinner at Columbia, S.C. will
honor the late Rev. James Hinton, Sr. He
was for many years chairman of the
South Carolina Conference of Branches.
A man of iron will and courage. He was
shot at, bombed and threatened on scores
of occasions but never stopped. A top
officer of Pilgrim Life Insurance
Company, he moved about both South
Carolina and Georgia. He was abducted
from his residence right here in Augusta
back in the late 40s because of civil rights
activities. He’ll be the subject of a
“Blacks Who Helped Build Augusta”
feature later during the summer.
Yes, the man who also helped our civil
rights base included Rev. James Hinton,
Sr., Rev. M.J. Sherard (pastor of
Thankful Baptist Church and local
NAACP president), Attorney Austin
Walden of Atlanta, John McCray and
Rev. DeLaine of South Carolina and our
own Dr. Charles Gomillion of Tuskeegee,
Ala. More later!
programs. Think about it, and see what
you can do.
Mrs. Alma White
1833 Cooney Circle
the News-Review readers are quite
familiar with the Mini Theatre.
Tyrone J. Butler
Founder/Executive Director
Augusta Mini Theatre
Walking with dignity
Bishop Desmond Tutu,
secretary-general of the South African
Council of Churches, is one of the few
black leaders in South Africa not yet
banned or imprisoned. The black bishop
is one of the government’s hardest critics,
he also believes that nonviolence is a
practical way to bring majority rule to his
divisive country.
There is still time for a peaceful
solution to the racial problems of South
Africa. Bishop Tutu says: “There is still
an outside chance-just an outside
chance-that we may be able to turn the
tide, and prevent violence, but I sat this
with a wavering certainty as each day
passes.”
THE MAN OF THE CLOTH SPEAKS OUT
Bishop Tutu says he still would reject
the homelands policy because itj
reinforces ethnic divisions. “We will not'
accept the Balkanization of South
Africa,” he declares. So long as the
government continues “influx control”,
measures that limit the number of blacks
moving into urban areas, he adds, the
homelands will continue to serve as
human reservoirs of cheap labor, hiding
the problem of black poverty and serving
as a “dumping ground” for “superfluous
appendages” of the South African
economy, (those too old or poorly
trained to work). Some South African
whites, including government officials
talk just like some whites did, before the
Dr. Martin Luther King movement proved
them unequivocally wrong, but they
argue that blacks are really happier with a
simpler, closer-to-nature existence in the
homelands. They contend that the
hontlands protect the tribal life-style
that is a vital part of the African Heritage.
AGAINST EVERYTHING SOUTH
AFRICA STANDS FOR, BASICALLY
Bishop Desmonf Tutu is
Secretary-General of the SOuth African
Council of Churches stands solid as the
famed “Rock of Gibraltar” against his
country’s myriad security laws. After a
brief period outside the country as the
Angelican Bishop of neighboring Lesotho,
this veteran black activists returned to
Johannesburg in 1978. Since then, Bishop
Tutu has re-emerged as a consistently
vociferous critic of the ruling National
Party and its policy of “apartheid.” He
appeares to have won a substantial black
following in the process. But he spares no
criticism of opposition parties as well,
arguing that other power sharing plans,
such as “graduated franchise” for blacks
■
Just as minorities question the
sincerity of corporate concern with urban
problems, a corporate leader has come
forth with a new plan to solve the critical
problem of youth unemployment.
He’s David Mahoney, Chairman and
Chief Executive Officers of Norton
Simon, Inc., one of America’s largest
companies. In a recent speech he called
on business leaders to make a special
effort to create jobs for disadvantaged
youngsters.
Mr. Mahoney said: “Wher’s what I
propose as a workable plan; if the 1,000
largest industrial corporations in the
United States, and the 50 largest banks
and retailers each were to hire only ten
disadvantaged youths for every thousand
employees they have, this could open up
200,000 jobs.”
And he adds: “That’s enough to fill
New York’s Shea Stadium three times,
and enough to open the doors to about
half the presently unemployed minority
youths.”
Mr. Mahoney announced that his
company, NSI, was committing itself to
hiring 250 youth, above the one percent
of the company workforce which is the
plan’s target.
This plan strikes me as meeting the
major criteria for constructive corporate
action - it addresses a crucial problem, it
is well within the private sector’s
capabilities, and it reflects purely private
initiatives.
There can be no question that minority
youth unemployment is a crucial
problem. The government admits that
nearly forty percent of black youth are
unemployed, about two and a half times
the figure for white youth. And those
figures are understated. If you count
youngsters who have dropped out of the
labor force because they couldn’t find
work, the true figure jumps to over 60
percent.
The human face of those figures can be
South Africa’s
black nemesis
By Al Irby
are unacceptable. Only full majority rule,
he argues, will satisfy the demands and
aspirations of South African black
people.
SCARES DAY-LIGHTS OUT OF SOUTH
AFRICAN WHITES <
This uncompromising stance has some
whites scared as hell. They regard Bishop
Tutu as a threatening menace to their
racist arrogance. In fact the pugnaceous
churchman is a diminutive figure, his face
framed by gold wire-rimmed spectacles, a
gold cross hangs around his neck. And
contrary to some racial black activists, he
insists that nonviolence is still a practical
strategy to win political rights for blacks.
His office in the Braamfontein district
of Johannesburg is furnished simply. In a
manner that is only half-joking, he directs
visitors’ attention to a small sign on a
bookcase along one wall. It reads: “This
room is bugged.” In a low, even voice,
punctuated occassionally by quiet sighs.
Bishop Tutu chastises the South African
government for intransigence in dealing
with black leaders seeking a peaceful
resolution of his country’s racial
conflicts. The courageous little bishop
made this statement; “All the black
leadership which i« still talking about a
peaceful solution is beginning to suffer
from an erosian of credibility. Unless we
get some significent ‘give’ we are going to
be hard put, to channel black frustrations
toward peaceful solutions.”
WHITES ARE DULL OF MORAL
APPREHENSION
Many white South Africans, the Bishop
argues, have too often become dulled to
the moral issues surrounding treatment of
blacks in South Arrica. They have
accepted arrests, detentions, brutality,
and even death of prisoners with little
moral outrage. Many of these criminal
acts are committed in the name of
“enforcing the law.” “Now, something
that is ‘legal’ is ipso facto right.
That is one of the most horrible things
that has happened in this country.”
According to the South African Institute
of Race Relations, 132 prisoners died
while awaiting trial in 1977, the latest
year for which figures are available. This
does not include those arrested under
various phony security laws, who are not
always afforded a ghost of a trial. Bishop
Tutu argues that there is religious
justification that blacks will someday
govern South Africa. And we are in this
with God; because God is on the side of
the oppressed.
To be equal
Corporations
challenged to
hire youth
By Vernon Jordan
seen whenever a limited number of
summer jobs are announced. Thousands
of ghetto youngsters jam the streets long
before the office doors are opened,
hoping to be one of the few lucky ones to
land a job.
Hundreds and thousands of black
youth are being deprived of a chance to
work, to acquire skills and experience
that will lift them out of poverty and
prepare them for productive lives.
Mr. Mahoney’s plan is easily
accomplished. By creating youth jobs
equal to one percent of their work force,
corporations would be making a
maximum contribution to their
responsibility to create jobs at a
minimum cost to their operations.
The new employees would add well
under one percent a figure
easily absorbed at a tflHof record
profits. And employers whirparticipate in
this plan would be better able to compete
in the future, for they would be hiring
and training young people in skills
essential to their business.
Much depends on how corporations
fulfill their hiring objectives. If they just
throw kids on the payroll and give them
make-work jobs, they’ll be programming
for failure. But if they make every effort
to provide the youngsters with support
services and skill training, and track them
onto job experiences leading to skilled
jobs, they’ll be insuring the program’s
success.
Businesses everywhere are complaining
that they can’t find enough skilled
craftsmen and trained workers. The
market for those jobs is tight and wages
are rising. By tapping the enormous pool
bf disadvantaged young people ‘and
training them, the labor shortage for
some kinds of jobs would end.
Mr. Mahoney’s plan represents a major
challenge and opportunity to the
corporate community. Their response to
it should be positive.