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The Augusta News-Review - Jan. 24,1981 -
(Augusta
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Mallory K. Millender Editor-Publisher
Paul D. Walker Special Assistant to the Publisher
Ms. Fannie Flono .. News-Editor
Rev. R.E. Donaldson ... .Religion Editor
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Harvey Sales Representative
Mrs. Rhonda Brown Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Mary Gordon Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Geneva Y. Gibson Church Coordinator
Mrs. Fannie Johnson Aiken County Correspondent
Mrs. Clara West McDuffie County Correspondent
David Dupree Sports Editor
Mrs. Deen Buchanan Fashion & Beauty Editor
Roosevelt Green .Columnist
Al Irby.Columnist
Mrs. Marian Waring Columnist
Philip Waring. Columnist
Grady Abrams Editorial Cartoonist, Columnist
Roscoe Williams Photographer
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Given the enormous problems
facing the nation, President Reagan
may be strongly tempeted to let the
plight of minorities and the poor take a
back seat to reviving up the stagnant
economy and shoring up our
international position.
In effect, that would be a revival of
the old “benign neglect” approach of
the early Nixon years. That approach
was based on the supposition that
blacks had made great progress and no
longer needed special governmental
efforts.
A new benign neglect approach
would probably be based on a different
belief -- that by solving the nation’s
economic dilemmas the
Administration would at the same time
solve the economic problems of blacks.
Therefore, no special efforts need to be
considered.
The new benign neglect approach
would be as mistaken as the old. In
both instances, the neglect would not
have a benign effect at all. Rather, it
would inevitably lead to a deterioration
of conditions for poor people while
impeding solutions to problems of
inflation and unemployment.
One reason for this is that the free
market approach favored by the
Administration would -- even if it turns
the economy around in the long run --
have serious negative short-term
effects on the poor.
Low income families, for example,
feel the brunt of inflation in sharply
rising food and energy costs that take a
greater part of their budgets than
better-off households, which spend
greater parts of their income on non
essentials.
That means the poor depend on
government props like food stamps,
minimumwages, and unemployment
benefits. Few of the poor actually get
such assistance, just as few actually
get welfare. But their availability is
important for many low income
families.
If such income support
were cut sharply or even, as some
advocate, abandoned, those families
would be in desperate straits. Even if,
in the name of fighting inflation,
eligibility standards are stiffened or
public jobs programs cut, many inner
city families would be shoved over the
brink.
Alabama Death Penalty
Opposed By SCLC Leaders
Montgomery, Ala.-
The recent action of the
Supreme court of the
State of Alabama
affirming the death
penalty is disappointing
and disconcerting. We
condemn capital
punishment. It is cruel
and inhuman by nature;
irreversible in
implementing; and
discriminates against the
poor and non-white in
administration.
The legalized
sanction of the killing of a
Jwman being as a means
resolving social
problems sets an
Page 4
To be equal
Reagan Should
Resist Benign
Neglect
By Vernon E. Jordan
Theorists may claim that
ultimately the lower federal spending
and other measures will pay off in
private sector job creation and lower
inflation, but the reality is that the poor
will suffer terribly until that happy day
arrives.
Further, there is little reason to
believe that many poor people, who
lack skills and other credentials sought
by private employers, will share in the
revived economy. Without federally
assisted job training and job creation
programs, millions of people will not be
absorbed into the mainstream of our
economy.
Now that is not something people
want to hear right now, in the heady
flush of a new team in Washington
spreading a new gospel. But it is a fact
the new team must learn early in the
game. It is all too easy to say
government spending is out of control,
blame social welfare programs for it,
and then slam on the brakes.
But the only way, and it cannot be
stressed too strongly - the only way--
to limit federal social programs is to
implement full employment with jobs
for all who want to work. Those jobs
should be productive, real jobs
preferably in the private sector.
And that inevitably means some
form of federal spending or, more
accurately, federal investment in
developing our nation’s human
resources. Whether through direct
employment and training programs,
federal subsidies, or through federal
regulations on hiring the long-term
unemployed, the federal role is
essential and inescapable.
To suppose that simply
unshackling the private sector is going
to create jobs for all is a myth. The
federal government will still have to
shape its tax and regulatory policies in
away that encourages job creation
where it is most needed, and not, as at
present, in away that drains jobs from
our industrial heartlands to other
regions or other countries.
A new policy of benign neglect is an
invitation to further erosion of our
cities, greater racial tensions in our
society, and, ultimately, damage our
nation’s ability to restore the economy
and America’s place in the world.
example of violence that
has deadly
reverberations
throughout our imperiled
civilization. The survival
of the world is sorely
threatened by violence,
and unless we put an end
to violence, violence will
put an end to us. The
death penalty denies the
sacredness of human life,
while offering no proven
deterrence to crime.
We find especially
disappointing, the opinion
of Justice Adams that we
must no longer fear
racial discrimination in
the imposition of the
death penalty. We
strongly refute such an
assertion. While we find it
somewhat painful to
repudiate the opinion of
one we love and respect
and who has attained a
high office he deserves,
nevertheless, our
responsibility to
conscience, and our
calling as advocates of
the poor and as lovers of
justice demand that we
cry out against that
which denies the moral
imperatives of our faith
and ignores the lessons of
history.
The indisputable fact
Crime A Pressing Problem In Black Communit
ARE WE GOING TO SIT AND LET BLACK COM
MUNITIES CRUMBLE AROUND US? GRASSROOTS,
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS, MUST EMERGE TO
FORGE A UNITED EFFORT AGAINST CRIME, NARCOTICS
TRAFFICKING, BLIGHT AND DECAY. ,
Most, 1
l3Ww
“The African Dream: Martin R.
Delany and the Emergence of Pan-
African Thought,” is a very powerful
book by Dr. Cyril E. Griffith. The book,
published by the Pennsylvania State
University Press in 1975, is invaluable
in presenting a clear picture of a period
in African-American (Black) History.
Knowing that many blacks are like
myself in sharing a hunger for
knowledge of our heritage and people,
it seems useful to call attention to this
well written and scholarly book of an
able black history scholar. This book
was the doctoral dissertation of Dr.
Griffith who received his Ph.D. in
history from Michigan State
University, it is an easy reading work
that I could not put aside until I had
finished reading from cover to cover.
Martin Delany is regarded by
many scholars as the father of Black
Nationalism. He was born in
Charleston, West Virginia on May 6,
1812 and died in 1885. He was very
definitely not the kind of “safe” Black
leaders that most white Americans
would praise and promote. Dr. Griffith
describes how Delany, as a result of
incidents with white racists, developed
a Back to Africa movement in the 19th
century, and how that movement
eventually failed. Martin Delany’s life
influenced. “The crucial 19th century
events in his own country-- the
Abolition Movement (of slavery), the
Civil War and Reconstruction,” says
Dr. Griffith.
Permit me to share several
interesting things I read in the book.
Delany was an early believer in Black
self-determination, urged Blacks not to
become so comfortable with the
Christian religion that they should fail
to deal with their social problems, and
he fought with white and Black
abolition of slavery leaders since he
taught Blacks should struggle
primarily for themselves.
He co-edited the North Star, a
Black owned pro-abolition newspaper
with Frederick Douglass. He consulted
with that great anti-slavery white
leader, John Brown over the common
struggle. From 1840 until he died he
was ahead of his time in his work and
thought in advancing Black
nationalism and Pan-Africism.
He had a great love for Africa, the
Motherland and worked with the idea
of building powerful modem states in
Africa with Blacks in this country and
Africa living in Africa. Such an
undertaking would therefore cause
white men to respect Black men, or so
he thought.
is that in Alabama the
decision to seek the death
penalty in criminal cases
is still (as always) an all
white decision. The
district attorneys who
make the decision, in all
38 judicial circuits in
alabama are white* The
indisputable fact is that
while Blacks comprise
approximately 25 percent
Speaking out
The African Dream
By Roosevelt Green, Jr.
Delany was denied entry to the
Berkshire Medical School in Pittsfield
Massachussett because he wanted to
practice medicine in America. The
school would only accept those blacks,
sponsored by a white colonization
society and who would then practice
medicine in Africa. He was asked to
leave the Harvard University Medical
School after one term as a result of
protests by the majority of white
medical students.
He rejected white American and
European notions that blacks
contributed nothing to civilization.
Delany pointed out that civilization
began in Africa with Blacks being the
original men. Blacks were builders of
ancient Egypt with its great culture
and white civiliations stole many of
those contributions. Black Africans
were the most humane people and gave
to the world the noble belief in
humanism.
Students of African history today
also know that the early Greek and
Roman civilizations stole significant
achievements of Black Africans and
claimed them for their own less
developed cultures. I join Delany in the
belief that once blacks learn the truth
about our history we will not need to
feel inferior to whites. We do not need
propaganada but the truth which will
help us set ourselves free. Knowledge
is indeed power for blacks as well as
whites who are mostly ignorant of the
black past.
A final note on an issue of
importance undoubtedly needs to be
stated. These are those who want to
claim the thinking and action of the late
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
due primarily to his study of Mohandus
K. Ghandi and white philosopphers and
theologians. King’s thinking and
actions flowed from a black protest
tradition of black ministers and leaders
like Delany.
How well do you as a black person
really know your wonderful history?
Do you know about other Pan-African
leaders such as Paul Cuffe, Edward
Wilmont Blyden, Alexander Crumwell
and Henry McNeal Turner. A
predominately Black high school in
Atlanta was named in honor and
respect for Turner.
I hope I have stirred your desire to
read good Black history books by such
black scholars as Dr. Griffith. I accept
more readily Black history books
written by blacks in most cases. Was
Martin R. Delany right about the value
of Blacks knowing their history?
of the population, 60
percent of the inmates on
death row are Black. The
indisputable fact is that
the presiding officer in
each case to be tried
under the death penalty
structure in Alabama,
will be white- Every
circuit judge who tries
criminal cases in
Alabama is white. (And
always has been). There
is only one circuit judge
in Alabama who is Black
and he tries only cases
related to domestic
affairs.
In virtually every
case in Alabama
involving a black
defendant (and a white
alleged victim), the
district attorney
Walking With Dignity
Struggle of The Black Press
Two senior black
journalists have been
banned as black paper
owners fight to regain
printing licenses. Black
journalism in white-ruled
South Africa is receiving
hard knocks, as many
small blacks papers are
doing in America. The
country’s biggest daily
newspaper for blacksis
likely to be off the streets
for at least three months
as a result of a Supreme
Court ruling on its
“license to print.” And
two senior black
journalists, one of them
the head of the National
Trade Union for black
journalists and others
news media workers,
have received banning
orders that restrict them
to various limited areas
and forbid them even to
enter newspaper offices.
HARASSING BLACK
NEWSPEOPLE
....The newspaper
affected mostly is the
Post Transvaal, which
succeeded the world
newspaper, the daily the
government banned
outright in October 1977.
The editor of the World,
Percy Qoboza, was jailed
for several months
without trial of any kind.
Mr. Qoboza now is editor
of Post Transvaal, which
circulates mainly in
Soweto, the giant black
residential township near
Johannesburg, South
Africa’s largest city.
Post Transvaal has
been off the streets for
more than two months
because of a strike by
black journalists who
demanded better pay and
working conditions. But it
seemed everything was
over a few days past. The
owners of the paper, the
giant Argus Printing and
Publishing Company, and
respresentatives of the
strikers finally settled on
various compromises,
and the journalists went
back to work.
Move To Destroy Black
Press
... .Then the government
stepped in, Secruity
Police served a warrant
on Qoboza, telling him
that Post Transvaal had
forfeited its right to
publish because its
government registration
certificate had lapsed.
That, in turn, was
because the paper had
not been published for
more than 60 /'ays during
the strike.
The government said
it would be necessary for
the paper to reapply for a
registration certificate.
By law this process must
take at least 30 days from
the time application is
made and could drag on
for much longer. The
“strikes” the available"
Blacks from jury service.
When Tommie Lee
Hines was tried rece-itly
in Birmingham (where
Mr. Adams was Hines’
attorney), the DA used
every single challenge
afforded him by law to
“strike” blacks from the
jury. As a result, only one
black juror served on the
case in spite of the fact
that one of three
residents in the
community is black.
The total lack of
Black district attorneys
and criminal court
judges, and the pattern of
racial discrimination in
this state soundly refute
any claim that justice is
now color blind in
Alabama. We applaud the
appointment of Mr.
Adams to the Supreme
Subscribe
To Augusta-Review
Al Irby
Argus Company
immediately went to the
Supreme Court
attempting to have the
government warrant
declared null and void
and to have the
registration certificate
restored. It pointed out in
its pleading that the Post
Transvaal had printed
two token issues during
the strike period which
were sent to various state
libraries and other
ins tutu tions.
Black Press Acted
Courageously
... .But the judge ruled
Dec. 29 that this was not
sufficient. So the Argus
Company has had to
reapply for registration.
It also has applied to the
Minister of Internal
Affairs J. Chris Heunis
had to intervene to
restore the paper’s
registration license
immediately, without
insisting on the whole
long bureaucratic
process. But it seems
unlikely that Mr. Heunis
will do this.
Indeed, many believe
some members of the
government are
delighted at this
opportunity to discipline
the Post Transvaal,
which consistently is
highly critical of
government policy and
which some government
supporters consider
“inflammatory.”
Two other
newspapers, all part of
the Post family, have
been affected the same
way as the Post
Transvaal. They are the
weekly Sunday Post and
another local Soweto
paper, the Sowetan.
It could cost the
Argus Company a
substantial amount to get
them all registered
again. If, for example,
the government decides
that any of the papers
might “at any time,”
among other things,
express views or convey
any information that
might be calculated to
“endanger the security of
the state...or the
maintenance of public
order,” it is entitled to
levy a deposit of up to
$15,000. And if the
government later decides
to close any of the
newspapers down, it
simply keeps the money.
The black journalists
who have been banned
are Zwelakhe Sisulu,
head of the black media
workers’ union and news
editor of the Sunday Post
and Murimuthu
Subramoney, who has
been a correspondent in
South ca Africa for the
British Broadcasting
Corporation.
Court of Alabama as a
step in the right direction,
but stand in stout denial
that this one step in the
right direction wipes out
all the inequities of
history or closes the gap
existing between justice
and injustice for black
and poor people in this
state. The criminal
justice system in
Alabama remains
repressive for black and
poor people*
We support the Black
elected officials in the
state how have
consistently opposed the
death penalty. Capital
punishment is still for
people who have no
capital. The affirmation
of the death penalty is a
step backward in man’s
journey toward human
ness and justices