Newspaper Page Text
Man dies
of stabbing
Christmas Eve
Page 2
Vol. 9 No. 33
Augustans analyze what 7Os meant
and what the 80s hold for blacks
‘No new
no new issues raised'"
By Fannie Flono
Blacks were in a “holding
pattern” in the 70s, said
Georgene Hatcher-Seabrook,
president of the Augusta area
NAACP.
“The decade was lost and
there is no base to build on in
the 80s.”
Ms. Seabrook said there was
little progress for blacks in the
Augusta area.
“There were no new leaders
and no new issues raised,” she
said.
“We made minimal progress.
“Sure, our economic
situation changed, but it gave
us a false sense of value. We
became more concerned about
material things”
In the 70s, the little man
was forgotten, Ms. Seabrook
said. Blacks who made it did
not “reach back” to help the
little man, she said.
“We’re not going to make it
unless we all amalgamate and
are brought together - the
college graduate, the wino, the
unwed mother.
The 1970 s has seen a failure
on the part of black women,
Ms. Seabrook said.
“One of the things black
women failed to do was step
forward and take an active
6 0ur traditional allies
are no longer with us’
Blacks will be trying a more
sophisticated approach to
attain equal opportunity in the
next decade, said Charles
Walker, director of the
Augusta-Richmond County
Human Relations Commission.
But the gains blacks made in
the 1970 s “petered off’ in
1975. “We’re now on a
downslide, progressing at a
decreasing rate.”
Walker predicts the 1980 s
will be the decade of
“activisits.”
Many people will be more
actively pursuing equal rights,
he said.
“One of the unfortunate
tragedies of the 1970 s is that
many activists were engulfed in
the system and sucked up,”
Walker said.
Those people who had been
marching and picketing were
given jobs within the system
and thus were taken out of
activism.
But in the last few years,
there has been a “great deal of
insensitivity” to the plight of
blacks in the Augusta area and
the country in general.
“Our traditional allies are
no longer with us,” Walker
said.
Easterners, Jews, women,
scholars, the people who
marched with blacks are now
saying “enough is enough,”
Walker said.
Many like the women’s
groups are now more
concerned about their own
causes.
In the future, there will be
only limited input from these
groups, he said.
The Bakke case was a
“stumbling block” to black
pursuance of equql
Augusta Nma-itettjan
P.O. Box 953
leadership role,” she said.
Black women have always
been a “pillar of strength for
the black community, but they
have dropped the ball.”
Black women now no longer
have any control over their
families and because of their
efforts to compete in the
world, black women have
become inwardly frustrated,
Ms. Seabrook said.
Black women can still be
strong family leaders and
successful business women, she
said. “Look at me. I still have
good communication with my
children.”
“If I gave up, I would be
lost, too. I don't think you can
compromise.”
The NAACP has been an
organization to champion the
cause of the little man, she
said.
She envisions the NAACP as
an organization for all people.
“It strengthens our nation as
a whole. We cannot survive as
long as we’re fighting each
other. The NAACP’s purpose
has never changed.”
Blacks relaxed in the 70s
and did not support the
NAACP like it had before, Ms.
Seabrook said.
Part of that was due to the
urban renewal effort.
opportunity, Walker said. That
case, presented before the U.S.
Supreme Court, said that race
could be a factor in affirmative
action programs, but it also
said that reverse discrimination
can exist.
Walker said that the (Brian)
Weber case said more for
blacks. The case recognized
that special consideration can
be given to minorities in job
programs to counteract past
discrimination.
In the past, blacks were just
concerned about getting a job,
Walker said.
Now they want
advancement, “to move
upward and to a higher salary,”
Walker said.
That’s why 75 percent of
the complaints the Human
Relations Commission gets
now are about employment
discrimination.
When the HRC got started
after the 1970 riot, most of the
complaints were about police
brutality, Walker said.
“Now it’s less than one
percent. Then it was nothing
for a private citizen to get
beaten by the police,” he said.
In that respect, Walker said
there has been some success.
“There has been some
responsiveness to at least deal
with the problems.
“The level of alleged police
brutality has decreased.”
But Walker said the HRC has
not accomplished its goal. “It
has been very instrumental in
increasing the level of
awareness during the 19705.
Blacks and whites are talking.
If I can say there has been any
effect of the Commission it
would be increased
communication and
John Connally says
quotas are
‘evil practices’
Page 3
&
Georgene Seabrook
“It split up the black
community.
“Our roots were wrenched
from us. Urban renewal came
in taking our roots. If you
reflect back on the 70s at least
we could identify with each
other.”
Ms. Seabrook said the 70s
also saw our schools taken
away.
“The powers to be here
undercut us.”
The civil rights activist said
blacks must understand that
“we still have to make
sacrifices. Martin Luther King’s
and Medgar Evers’' death did
See “SEABROOK”
Page 4
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Charles Walker
enforcement against
employment discrimination.”
But Walker said there can be
no true change in the social
climate unless the political
system is changed.
“We cannot have a strong
economic system unless we
have a strong political system.”
In the early 19705, blacks
made tremendous gains in
politics, he said.
But in the latter part of the
’7os, blacks became less visible.
Employment discrimination
became more noticeable and
“real action in affirmative
action came to a halt,” Walker
said.
But Augusta is no worse
than any other city in the
country, Walker said. “People
have come to the point where
they take a second look and
the pie is only so big. If we
want to have political
influence, we will have to do it
ourselves.”
But Walker said the ’7os
See “WALKER”
Page 4
January 5,1980
’The decade of the ’7os
was lost...after the 60s’
Atty. John H. Ruffin Jr. said
he is only guardedly optimistic
that the 1980 s will be better
for blacks than the past
decade.
And the 1970 s left very
little accomplished, he said.
“Tlie decade of the 70s was
lost in terms of what we
anticipated after the 605,”
Ruffin said.
“Those persons who were
traditionally our allies turned
their attention to other
matters. Civil rights was not a
point of emphasis.”
Ruffin, well-known for
his activism, was in the thick of
the civil rights battle in the 60s
and tlie 70s. One of the suits
he filed was the school
desegregation suit against the
Richmond County school
system.
“That was a radical move on
the part of those black
patents,” Ruffin said of the
decision to sue the local school
system. “They did not think in
terms of what they would lose,
but what they would gain. I
felt vety privileged to be with
them.”
But Ruffin noted that even
that was an indication of the
nature of the Augusta
community. “Augusta is a very
closed community. We’re
always playing catch-up. We've
never initiated a movement.”
The death of Martin Luther
King may have been one cause
of the shift of emphasis from
civil rights, Ruffin said.
“The death of Martin Luther
King left us without a national
spiritual leader. A national
spiritual leader has always been
a rallying point for us. The
death of King left a void that
‘Prejudice is as strong
as it always was ’
Economic growth for blacks
in the Central Savannah River
Area in the 1970 s has been
“nothing to write home
about,” according to Harvey
Johnson, director of the CSRA
Business League.
“Prejudice is as strong as it
always was,” Harvey Johnson
said.
The CSRA Business League
was established in 1970 to
“champion the cause of
minorities,” Johnson said.
It began as the Augusta
Businessmen’s Association, and
there have been some
accomplishments by the
League, he said.
But Johnson said minority
businesses are still in trouble.
They don’t have the
financial clout of larger
businesses and are many times
passed over when contracts are
given because the minority
businesses have difficulty
getting bonded.
“We have gotten some
bonded. But I don’t think,
based on the work in the
Augusta-CSRA area, that we
have scratched the surface.”
The small businesses also
have problems borrowing from
banks, Johnson said.
Part of the problem is
racism, Johnson said. “There
Gunman held
in Horne’s
hold up
Page 2
has not been filled to this
day.”
Ruffin said King had away
of “pricking the conscience” of
people.
“That was a great measure
of his success.”
That sort of prodding was
needed in the 19705, but
nobody was around to do it,
Ruffin said.
“Across the board, blacks
are worse off now,” Ruffin
said.
But that assessment is based
on the standard used, he said.
“Some people use the
standard of where we were in
comparison to where we are,
rather than the standard of
where we should be. I prefer to
use the standard of where we
should be. Obviously we’ve not
come far enough.
“And there are some things
you cannot measure. For
instance, attitudes. I think
we’ve come full circle in
respect to attitudes. The Klan
has resurfaced and young
people are among the
members.”
In the ’7os, the black
community was “media
blitzed,” Ruffin said. “The
print media played up the civil
rights law. The electronic
media began to portray life for
blacks on television.”
Blacks began to identify
with these TV images, Ruffin
said. “Even though the way TV
portrayed life was not realistic.
People are always influenced
by what the media says.”
Blacks were also taken in by
symbolism, Ruffin said.
Taking an episode from his
own life as an example, Ruffin
said that many people thought
are many cities ahead of us (in
providing funds and resources
for small businesses).”
“But some of it is our fault
as black people,” Johnson said
of the economic situation in
the Augusta area.
“We’ve become complacent
with what we have. The
balance of economic power is
not tilted in our favor. We need
persons in key positions, more
in financial areas, more in
elected and appointed
positions.”
Johnson said that until there
is more representation in key
policy making decision areas,
“we won’t progress as fast.”
There is a lot of opportunity in
Augusta, he said. The shopping
malls in Augusta are examples.
There are very few black
businesses in the malls, he said.
“In fact, I know of only one.”
Despite the problems,
Johnson remains “optimistic,”
he said.
“I feel good about the 80s.
This is a growth area for the
business league,” he said.
Johnson feels that the
community needs more
institutions to push for
economic parity.
The business league,
organized before the 1970 riots
in Augusta, was organized to
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■Kfr ' 1 : I
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John H. Ruffin Jr.
he should have gotten a federal
judgeship because of what it
stood for.
“That was the wrong reason.
Some of them should have
stopped to assess where I could
be more effectively used. We
cannot afford to have our
efforts diffused by
symbolism.”
The 1970 s saw many of the
leaders of the 60s absorbed
into the corporate structure,
Ruffin said. “These leaders
became the token black. We
were left somewhat leaderless.”
Ruffin noted with the
“possible exception of police
brutality,” many of the
problems blacks faced at the
beginning of the 70s will
continue to be problems in the
’Bos. Even police brutality
exists in a subtler form,mostly
falling on the poor, whites and
blacks, he said. Discrmination
in employment, education and
communications still exists.
In the next decade, blacks
should try to improve the
See “RUFFIN”
Page 4
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Harvey Johnson
provide a forum for people to
vent their feelings about
business problems in this area,
he said.
Those kinds of forums,
“plenty of them,” are still
needed. The business league is
a good program, Johnson said.
Since the league was
established more than $6.9
million in approved loans for
new ventures and expansion
programs have been processed.
Johnson, a former Columbia
County school teacher and
Georgia Railroad Bank Co.
employe, became director of
the CSRA Business League in
1970, the year it was
established.
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Atlanta newspapers
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" R Page 2
‘Masses of blacks have
hardly progressed at all
Former Richmond County
Commission chairman Ed
Mclntyre whose political career
kicked off in the decade of the
70s sees the next decade as
holding a big promise for
blacks in Augusta and the rest
of the country.
But blacks should be ready
to meet the new challenge well
prepared, he said.
“Jobs will be far more
available in the 1980 s. To a
larger degree, race will not be a
factor,” he said.
The demand for jobs will be
good, but blacks will need the
education to seize on these
opportunities, Mclntyre said.
Mclntyre, whose own political
star seemed to fall at the close
of tire decade with his defeat
for a county commission seat,
said black students must look
into the occupations where
jobs will be plentiful.
A greater number of blacks
are majoring in the sciences
and math, he said of college
students.
Teachers and high school
counselors must do their part
in preparing students to be
what the recmiters are looking
for.
Progress for the leadership in
middle class blacks in the 70s
was good, Mclntyre said. “The
middle class is doing fairly
well. But the masses haven’t
done well since 1879.
‘‘Economically we
progressed in the same
proportions as others in other
parts of the country. But
basically, I don’t think the
masses of blacks have
progressed at all.”
Mclntyre said the
opportunity was not made
available for progress in many
areas.
“To some degree it was
because of problems in
educational opportunities and
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Edward Mclntyre
lack of skills,” he said.
A sluggish economy and
inflation have also been
factors.
But racism has also been
involved, Mclntyre said.
There are still problems to
be solved, he said, especially
with the resurfacing of the Ku
Klux Klan.
But the former county
commissioner doesn’t see
Augusta as having any unique
problems.
“Overall the situation in
Augusta is no better and no
worse than in any other city,”
he said.
The next decade promises to
be better for everybody, and
blacks will reap their share,
Mclntyre said.
It’s promising for many
reasons, mainly because the
economy is expected to take a
healthy turn, he said.
“In the 80s, if we can roll up
our sleeves and meet needs of
the next 10 years, the future
looks bright.”
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