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-The Augusta N ews-Review-J an. 31, 1981
Augusta
(USPS 887 820>
Mallory K. Millender Editor-Publisher
Paul D. Walker Special Assistant to the Publisher
Ms. Fannie FlonoNews-Editor
Rev. R.E. Donaldson ... -Religion Editor
Ms. Maiye M. James Advertising Manager
Harvey Ha/rison Sales Representative
Mrs. Rhonda Brown Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Maty Gordon .Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Geneva Y. Gibson Church Coordinator
Mrs. Fannie Johnson Aiken County Correspondent
Mrs. Clara WestMcDuffie County Correspondent
David Dupree . Sports Editor
Mrs. Deen Buchanan Fashion & Beauty Editor
Roosevelt Green Columnist
Al IrbyColumnist
Mrs. Marian Waring Columnist
Philip Waring Columnist
Grady Abrams .'Editorial Cartoonist, Columnist
Roscoe Williams Photographer
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TO BE EQUAL
The New Regionalism
By Vernon E .J ordan
The ongoing war between the
states the Sunbelt vs. Snowbelt -- got
a boost several weeks ago when a draf
report of a Presidential Commission
leaked to the press with some
controversial suggestions abmut
shifting urban policies.
The report suggested that instead
of trying to stem the decline of older
industrial cities, the government ought
to assist people to leave them and look
for jobs and opportunities in the
Sunbelt.
Cities grow and decline, the report
implies, and you can't alter the
process. But the drafters of that report
overlook the reasons why cities grow
and decline, and a major reason is
federal policy.
After World War II the
government embarked on a number of
vast programs, ranging from road
building to subsidized home
mortgages, that encouraged the flow of
people and.jobs out of central cities.
So it is absurd to simply assume
that the decline of major industrial
cities is the unhampered result of
market forces alone. Nor can we
accept the assumption that because
some of the industries that are
economically important to older cities
are in decline, other industries cannot
take their place.
In a dynamic economy there ought
to be enough economic growth and new
job creation to satisfy the needs of
people in all regions. Growth in one
region should not mean decline in
another. The new regionalism pits one
region against the other, when we all
should be pulling together for our
m utual good.
It would be economically
disastrous to abandon our older cities.
Aside from the human misery such a
policy would engender, cities in the old
industrial belt represent a massive
investment in productive facilities and
in an economic infrastructure that no
society can afford towrite off.
While there is nothing inherently
wrong with policies that grant
assistance to people to help them get i
TONY BROWN’S JOURNAL
American men rank a disgraceful
13th in world health and American
women sixth. And these statistics could
largely result from economic conflicts
and self-serving interests--government
corruption.
“It represents one of the most
scandalous conflicts of interest in the
Federal Government,’’ said Sen.
William Proxmire (D.Wis), a longtime
advocate of good health. He was
referring to the relationship of the Food
and Nutrition Board and the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) and the
resulting FDA vitamin "standards”
regulations.
The Food and Nutrition Board, a
group of scientists and experts who
most recently gave us the controversial
cholesterol go-ahead, was established
as a part of the National Research
Council of the National Academy of
Sciences in 1940. It started issuing
dietary “standards’’ shortly
afterwards in 1943. The Board has also
admitted that its recommendations are
“value judgements,” which became
very clear when it recently downplayed
the impact of cholesterol on heart
disease.
But the Food and Drug
Administration seems to regard this
board as a safety bible. Although
'iMiac-ated by federal law to insure the
iafuy of the public, the FDA
established vitamin “standards” on
new start in regions where jobs may be
more plentiful, such policies do not
constitute an urban policy. And we
need an urban policy a lot more than
weneedam igration policy.
If we start with some basics -- that
existing industrial cities represent
many hundreds of billions of dollars of
dixed investment; that theynvontinue
to those millions of people who
constitute a skilled and willing
workforce, and that their decline is
temporary -- we can go a long way
toward developing rationaly policies.
Cities can be recycled and
economic decline can be replaced by
fresh growth. Policies that are
carefully designed and sharply
targeted can result in balanced growth
for all regions, and a more rational use
of national resources.
But it would be simplistic to
asuume that the Sunbelt’s growth
benefits all its inhabitants. The
region's new growth has largely
bypassed southern Blacks, as unguided
potential future growth may bypass
northern minorities.
A Southern Regional Council study
of racial economic differences in the
South recently found that little has
changed in the past thirty years. In
1950, black men in the region had an
income only 58 percent of that for white
men. But in 1975, the black median
income figure had dropped to 57
percent of the white male income
figure.
The study found that although
black family income rose from 56
percen* to 62 percent of white family
income -- that gain amounts to less than
a fourth of a percentage point each
year.
So those “rich" states are still
marked by black -- and white
poverty. Meanwhile, declining
industrial states are marked by mass
joblessness among minorities and
growing numbers of urban poor.
Blacks and poor people are getting
the lion’s share of economic decline
and are frozen out of new economic
growth. Contirnation of unbalanced
development and untargeted national
resources will just make that situation
worse.
admittedly nondangerous vitamin
amounts, based on Recommended
Daily Allowances (RDA’s) developed
by the Food and Nutrition Board. The
regulation of vitamins and minerals by
the federal government - in addition to
being a grave threattothe health of the
citizens -- may be a moral and legal
scandal.
Sen. Proxmire said, "The RDA
standard is established by the Food and
Nutrition Board..which is influenced,
dominated, and financed in part by the
food industry.. .It is the narrow
economic interest of the industry to
establish low official RDA's because
the lower the RDA's the more
nutritional their food products
appear." Proxmire wants to overturn
governmental restrictions on harmless
vitamin and mineral supplements such
as folic acid, a part of the “B” vitamin
com plex.
Folic acid has produced some quite
remarkable results. It is known to
lower blood cholesterol, reduce the
pain in sickle cell anemia cases, reduce
potentially damaging blood clotting,
improve circulation, all of which
reduce the chances our our number one
killer heart attacks -- along with
strokes and arteriosclerosis.
As remarkable as folic acid has
proven to be, it is the most common
vitamin deficiency in the United States.
And the FDA established RDA
Walking With Dignity
ARE CIVIL RIGHT ADVOCATES
LIVING IN PAST?
... .Blacks are still not absolutely satisfied with the
incoming Republicans: they seek access to and
asurances from the skipper. Mr. Reagan. The
President-elect offers an economic program that
blacks can live with, say a number of cisil rights
lea der s a ft er m eeting with the President-elect.
But a great number of blacks still feel they need
added assurance of "no backward steps" in fair
housing, job opportunities, and voting rights. And
they still are taking a wait-and-see attitudenon a
Reagan promises of access to the White House in
form ulating policy.
Civil rights leaders who opposed Mr. Reagan
almost unanimously offered him their cooperation
and cautious support as they presented him a list of
"key concern." They expressed interest in giving the
Republicans a chance to prove themselves. These
individuals stand in the middle as buffers between
the neo-conservative blacks symbolized by Dr.
Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institute. closely
identified with Reagan's economic views, and
concern Democrats, typified by Ronald Brown.
Brown resigned from a high post in the National
Urban League to campaign for Senator Edward
Kennedy <D> of Massachusetts in his unsuccessful
attempt to win the Democratic presidential
nomination.
THE NAACP'SCALM VOICE
.... More moderate in its approach than expected, a
Black Leadership Forum delegation, led by
Benjamin L. Hooks, offered Reagan the hand of
cooperation with these words : ‘‘J ob creation to bging
more blacks and other minorities into the work
force; increases in the number and size of minority
owned businesses; reinvigorated commercial
activity in predominantly minority com m unities--
these are objectives we believe we can achieve
together with a general policy of economic renewal.”
Mr Hooks, executive director of the NAACP also
had a good word for the GOP “enterprise zone”
proposal for inner city economic, revival,
unacceptable to black leaders in the past.
Hooks Continues To Speak
...."That policy would especially encourage
creation of the small businesses that generate most
of the private sector jobs,” he said. Emphasizing the
mood of forum members--including Vernon Jordan
of the National Urban League, the Rev. Jesse L.
J ackson of Operation Push, Dr. J oseph E. Lowery of
SCLC M. Carl Holman of the National Urban
Coalition, and Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr.
Martin Luther King J r. - Hooks cautioned: “Even as
we endorse some of the objectives you have
espoused, we recognize that we may not always
agree on the best m eansof achieving them .”
Full employment in compliance with the
Humphrey-Hawkins Act, maintenance of minimum
wages for all workers including youth, federal funds
for economic recovery, including public works and
the Comprehensive Educational and Training Act
(CETA) program. Civil-Rights- Extension of
affirmative action, including set-asides for minority
vendors, in all areas of spending federal funds;
extension of voter rights beyond the South, and
quality integrated education with Justice
Department implementation of all laws.
Blacks are listening and demanding
appointment of blacks to policymaking posts and
federal courts including the United States Supreme
Court, rebuilding of cities, support of majority rule
and end of apartheid in South Africa, and economic
support for third world nations. These black guys,
most all Democrats are not asking for much, why
didn't they support President Carter, like they
shouie, rather than nettling him his entire term.
Os course Mr. Reagan made no commitments
but he did promise that “someone high in the
administration” would be available to meet with
them. A more supportive view of the incoming GOP
administration was offered by black Dr. Thomas
Sowell who told a West Coast conference of black
business people that R eagan looks to the future while
most civil rights advocates “look tothe past.”
much needed vitamin will an even
more dangerously low level of
consumption. Although a “healthy”
adult needs a daily intake of from 2t05
mg. a day, the FDA’s is only 0.4 mg or
400 mcg., even though folic acid is safe
in almost any amounts in the body.
Considering that an elderly diabetic or
an atherosclerotic patient or a gout
prone arthritic needs from 40to80mg.,
it will take about 80pills a day at the 400
mcg. FDA regulated quantity.
Research has shown that high
doses of folic acid has reduced the
lesions of atherosclerosis, a
degeneration of the blood vessels
associated with fatty-cholesterol
plaque that leads to heart attack or
stroke. Although there is no known
toxicity from this vitamin, an
excessive intake can hide a 812
deficiency which could lead to brain
damage.
That danger was cited by the FDA
as the reason for banning the sale of
folic acid supplements stronger than
0.4 mg. without a doctor’s prescription.
One safeguard against this rare hazard
is to get a blood count and a 812 level
before using higher than re com m ended
doses of folic acid. Another method, to
go along with the former, is to use
combination tablets of folic acid and
812.
Although the threat of too much
icid leading to a hidden 812
\1 Irbv
American Men Rank
13th in Health
deficiency is real, so is the number one
killer, heart disease. Folic acid -- in
large enough amounts -- can fight
against it. But the RDA is "little more
than subjective, off-the-cuff---
prejudiced values,” according to Sen.
Proxmire.
He continues: “With low RDA’s the
food companies which advise the Food
and Nutrition Board can then print
tables on their food packages making
their products appear to contain a
higher level of nutrients than if higher
or optimum levels were established.
“The proposal to subject safe
vitamins and minerals to regulation as
drugs by the FDA if they are sold in
quantities of 150 percent or more of the
so-called RDA is a biased, unscientific,
and capricious standard. AT best the
RDA's are only a ‘recommended’
allowance at antediluvian levels
designed to prevent some terrible
disease. At worst they are based on the
conflicts of interest and self-serving
views of certain portions of the food
industry. Almost never are they
provided at levels to provide for
optimum health and nutrition.”
The Reagan Administration has a
philosophy that says that the American
people are overregulated by the central
government. We are. And our poor
health standing in the world
community may have a lot to do with
conflicts of interest and corruption.
THE Ml DM ISK”
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P-l RESOURCES INC C j > '^l—---
A ' ;
The January 21 editorial in the
Augusta Chronicle about the negative
roles or non-existence of blacks in
military action during World War II
has engendered alarm in the Augusta
Black Community. Many veterans of
that conflict, their relatives and
friends, have expressed dismay,
sshock and bitterness. Many have
already written the Chronicle in
protest. Blacks have always taken
their parvicipation in national defense
and military action in protection of this
Republic with great care and pride.
Now what did the Chronicle
actually say that caused this feeling of
insult and shock? First that paper
described a forthcoming television
docu-drama “Com-Tac 303." which
highlights a black combat fighter unit
during World War 11.
The Chronicle said “there is no
historical documentation that there
were any black American pilots in
combat during that conflict."
Continuing, the same Chronicle
editorial indicated that “Before the
Truman administration blacks were
segregated into the Quartermaster
Corps and supply units." Its third
contention was that the only time black
troops were sent to the front for
combat, they were routed in Italy by
German counter attacks.
These Chronicle assertions were
not only false, but apparently filled
with bias designed to again insult and
degrade black people. Now let’s look
into the facts, which are not only within
dockments of all kind, but known to
millions of Americans ‘hroughout our
nation. Just a minimal bit of research
or checking would have brought the
Chronicle editorial writers the truth
about blacks in the military.
Now let’s examine this matter.
First the entire world knows the saga of
the 99th Pursuit Squadron which fought
in Italy during 1943-45. It was later
expanded into a much larger unit, the
Going Pieces
Chronicleinsults Black
Service Personnel
By Philip Waring
famous 332 Fighter Group. S.B. Gandy,
now executive director at our local
Bethlehem Center, was with this group
in combat there. Our own Lt. Henry
Bohler was a combat pilot officer
there. Flight Cadet James C. Ramsey
crashed in 1945 in a plane accident.
This aerial combat group received the
Presidential Citation and many other
awards for combat bravery from the
American and British governments.
Yet, the Chronicle said that this brave
military unit of more than 5.1X16 brave
men never existed!
Blacks OUtsanding In Combat
....The Chronicle inferred that blacks
only engaged in combat with the
advent of the Truman administration.
(Mr. Truman succeeded President
Franklin Roosevelt in mid 1945 when
World War 11 was 90 percent
com pie ted).
Blacks have been engaged in
combat operations since the birth of
our Republic. They were in the War of
independence, War of 1812. and the
Civil War. The 9th and 10th U.S.
Calvary regiments opened up our West
during 1866-1895. The gallant 24th and
25th U.S. Infantry regiments were with
Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan Hill
during the Spanish American War.
Another reason black Augustans are so
touchy with the Chronicle’s grand
om mission is that Augustans Captain
J ohn Oliver, and Army Surgeon George
Stoney and Army Chaplain Rev. C.T.
Walker served in the Spanish
American War against our enemies.
The 369 U.S. Infantry regiment
fought in France during World War I,
winning the Croix de Guerre award for
outstanding combat bravery. In
addition, thousands of black troops
served in the engineers, artillery,
quartermasters, armored tank
batallions, U.S. Navy and other units
either directly in combat or within
combat zones. Hundreds of them won
awards and battle stars on their
cam paign ribbons.
(Incidentally we have pictures of
Dr. Robert Screen who was killed
serving in World War II and also
Flight Cadet James Ramsey. Our
Screen-Ramsey Post 505 of the
American legion was named for these
two Augustans killed in 1945). Any
information from News-Review
readers will be appreciated.
Letter To The Editor
DISLIKES MEDIC’S LANGUAGE
Dear Editor:
... .In response to Mar n E. Curry’s letter opposing
ihe let ter written by Dr. Roger M. Smith, I say Thank
You for doing something I had anticipated. I
neglected to speak firsthandedly against the
salacious terminology used by Dr. Smith,
nevertheless I agree with you in that the people of
Augusta should be astounded at his choice of words
when referring to Black people.
I personally abhor and express an extreme
dislike for anyone, literally speaking, who feels he
must resort to such language to communicate with
black people or people of color. Persons with such a
belief merely disassociate themselves from their
daily walk of life, then step lower to a calibre of
associations they believe will understand their
philosophy.
I hope these rebuttals to Dr. Smith’s choice of
words will induce him to think twice before using
such garbage in the future, be it in the presence of
blacks, in the new media, or whatever. People of his
calibre should be above such use of words, and we
should attempt to educate those in our presence
when they resort to same.