Newspaper Page Text
Blacks And Whites
Differ On Amount
Os Racial Progress
Page 1
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Volume 10 Number 48
Murder Os Black In Mobile Protested As A
Lynching
....BIRMINGHAM, ALA.--
The Southern Organizing
Committee for Economic
and Social Justice (SOC)
labelled the March 21
murder of Michael Donald
in Mobile, Ala., a “lyn
cing" and said it proved
anew that “a resurgence
of racism has reached crisis
proportions in this coun
try.”
“Our national clock
moved back recently in
Mobile to the 19205,” SOC
said, “and if concerned
citizens, white as well as
Black, do not organize
quickly to reverse the
trend, we will find our-'
selves back in the 1870 s.”
The body of Michael
Donald, a 19-year old Black
man, was found in the
early morning of March 21,
hanging from a tree near a
Mobile apartment complex.
He had been beaten and
strangled. Three young
white men have been
arrested and charged with
murder in the case. Police
have stressed the fact that
Donald was apparently
dead before he was hanged
in a noose from the tree.
"It doesn’t really
matter whether this young
man died before or after he
was hanged,” SOC said.
“This was clearly a lyn
ching in the traditional
sense. Murder, in
timidation, and terror
against Blacks and-other
Third World people have
been increasing daily
Blacks And Whites Disagree On Racial Progress
A majority of white
Americans feel that the
racial problems dividing the
country for so long have
largely disappeared. Blacks,
however, believe that much
more must be done before
the two races can be
considered trul equal in
today’s society, according
to an ABC News-
Washington Post Poll
released recently.
The poll covered major
areas of racial relations in
America including
discrimination, prejudice,
education, violence, religion
and marriage and family
life. Responding to
questions on an agree
disagree basis, more than
60 percent of the Blacks
queried believe that they
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throughout out our country
for the last few years. Now
with the return of the lynch
rope, we have taken a
qualitatively new and tragic
step backward into
darkness.”
SOC is a Southwide
interracial network of ac
tivists working in Southern
communities for the goals
stated in its name,
economic and social justice.
Its headquarters are here in
Birmingham, and its co
chairpersons are the Rev.
Ben Chavis of North
Carolina and Anne Braden
of Kentucky.
The organization said it
was especially concerned
because most of the
national news media have
not given adequate at
tention to the Mobile event.
"Does our press un
derstand the manner in
which lynching shaped in
the history of this country
for so many years?” SOC
asked. “Between the end of
Reconstruction in 1876 and
the 19605, there were
more than 5,000 recorded
lynchings of Blacks in our
nation.
“The first sign of a
return to this pattern
should have produced
banner headlines across the
country. Perhaps some
people feel that if we
ignore such a happening it
will go away. The opposite
is true. This nation must
face the truth about the
direction in which it is
are discriminated against
by the police; 64 percent
that Black problems are
only recognized by the
government after de
monstrations and violence;
and more than half feel
they are discriminated
against in attaining skilled
labor and managerial jobs
and wages as well as
housing. Almost three out
of four Blacks feel that they
are not achieving equality
because whites don't want
them to.
The sharp division
between Black and white
attitudes is clearly
illustrated in the con
trasting beliefs concerning
the string of murders in
Atlanta: 57 percent of the
whites say the crimes are
the work of isolated
Hosea Williams
Lashes Legislators
For Defeat Os
Minority Set Aside
Page 2
headed, so it can dig up
the root of the evil that
produces such a tragedy.”
"The root cause is the
fact that racism has become
respectable again in the
United States," the
crganization said. “National
leaders attack affirmative
action and school
desegregation and imply
that Blacks and other
people of color are to blame
for the country’s economic
problems. Racist
stereotypes have gained
new credibility, and
powerful forces seek to turn
back the gains Blacks made
through the civil-rights
movement.
"In Mobile itself,
Blacks have been barred
from effective participation
in the political process by
city-wide instead of district
voting. When they
challenged that in a
lawsuit, they were rebuffed
by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Meantime, the Ku Klux
Klan operates paramilitary
training camps in Alabama,
unchallenged by the
government.”
All of this, SOC said,
creates an atmosphere in
which racist violence has
grown. “The end result of
racism is always murder
and genocide," the
organization declared. “In a
society where racism has
become socially acceptable
again, it is inevitable that
lynching will also become
socially acceptable.”
criminals acting on their
own; an identical per
centage of Blacks feel the
incidents are part of a
conspiracy of some group
against Blacks.
Many whites feel the
country's racial problems
have almost been solved
and that further progress
will only come from Blacks
themselves. Blacks, on the
other hand, expressed
feelings of despair and fear
that economic and social
pressures continue to hold
them back.
Blacks and whites do
agree. however, that
sweeping changes in
America's racial relations
have occurred in the last 20
years; in 1964 some 72
percent of Americans
described their own neigh-
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SOC called on citizens
both Black and white to
unite to deal with the
situation. “There must be
swift action at all gover
nment levels to halt the
racist violence,” the
organization said. “But also
there must be a massive
new campaign to destroy
the racist myths that
divided our country. Also
persons who have helped
perpetuate those myths, or
have sat silent as they have
spread, must bear part of
the responsibility for that
body found hanging in the
tree in Mobile recently.
SOC noted that the fact
that three men have been
arrested in the case does
not necessarily mean there
will be convictions.
"We are aware of the
pattern of acquittals, or
token sentences, in such
cases,” the organization
explained. "There is a
tendency to say juries often
won’t convict.” But usually
what juries do depend on
how the prosecution
presents a case.
“We are asking our
friends to communicate'
with Mayor Gary
Greenough, City Hall,
Mobile, Ala., and Alabama
State Attorney-General
Charles Graddick, Mon
tgomery, Ala, letting them
know that the world will be
watching this case and that
this nation demands serious
and aggressive
prosecution,” SOC said.
borhood as “all white,”
while only 42 percent make
that claim today. Sixty
percent of Blacks feel the
quality of their lives has
gotten better in the last
decade, and that positive
feeling spans age,
education and income
demographic groups.
Moreover, the poll's
findings that younger
Blacks are more positive
about themselves and that
younger whites are more
sympathetic to racial
problems is, perhaps, the
most hopeful finding for the
future.
ABC News and the
Washington Post in
terviewed 1,872 Black and
white Americans from
February 26, 1981 to March
6. 1981.
Ten Percent Os
Children Born In
1979 Are Dead
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II
EASTER GOODlES—Youngtten involved in the local
lack & Illi Organization are shown presenting their
“Pre-Easter” basket oi goods to Herman Harris, for the
residents of the Nancy Cobb House. The house b
sponsored by the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center and
is primarily used by patients and families with Sickle
Cell Anemia.
Urban League Sponsors Minority Coalition
In its continuing efforts
to foster strong coalitions
between Blacks and other
minorities so that together
they can more effectively
address problems of mutual
concern, the National Urban
League, through its
Enhancing Citizen Par
ticipation Project, recently
convened a two day con
ference at its headquarters
in New York City.
A prevailing theme
throughout the conference,
attended by some 50 Black,
Hispanic and Asian com
munity leaders was that the
American economic,
political and social system
has consistently restricted
the participation of
minorities and has failed to
NAACP Provides Birmingham Relief
The National
Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) in
response to the shutdown
in Birmingham, Alabama's
mass transit service is
providing financial
assistance to help the
thousands of stranded
communters unable to find
alternative means of
transportation.
NAACP Executive
Director Benjamin L. Hooks
who approved the release
of funds last week said
“contributions from the
community and other
sources have not come to
the aid of these transit
riders. placing undue
hardship on those who rely
on public transportation in
order to earn a living.”
The Birmingham-
J efferson County transit
System suspended their
operations at the end of
last month after the
Alabama state legislature
failed to pass an additional
tax to subsidize the ailing
transit system.
The NAACP con
tribution will be placed in a
trust fund to aid in the
purchase of gas and oil for
the newly-created
Emergency Volunteer
Transit system, according
to W.C. Patton, Director of
the NAACP Emergency
Relief Fund Project. Area
churches in response io an
appeal from Mayor Richard
Less than 75 percent advertising
be responsive to their
needs. Citing evidence that
the 80's have already seen
a further erosion of the
minority community's status
in America, a consensus
was reached that increased
community action through
minority coalition efforts
could help stop this erosion
and ensure the increased
participation of minorities
in society's mainstream.
Funded by the
Community Services
Administration and in its
second year, ECCP is a
demonstration project
designed to help improve
communication and foster
greater understanding and
cooperation between Blacks,
Hispanics and other
volunteer transit system to
provide free transportation
Patton said, but he in
dicated the volunteer en
terprise is plagued by the
lack of monies for fuel.
The pool of vans and
buses donated by churches
and private individuals can
service several thousand
riders per day. Patton
believes “the failure of the
legislature to approve the
tax that would provide
adequate and permanent
Ten Percent Os Children
Born In 1979 Are Dead
Ten percent of the 122
million children bom in
1979 are now dead, ac
cording to the World
Report on children
published by the Latin
American regional office of
UNESCO. Most of these
children come from families
in abject poverty.
Thirty percent of the
children born in 1979 will
be dead before age five:
only ten percent will ever
see a health worker or be
vaccinated against disease;
and half will remain
iliterate.
I
According to projec- ,
lions made co current i
economic trends and
nrCitieai nnlicies. the
NAACP Provides
Relief For Crisis
In Birmingham
Page 1
....The family-oriented Jack & Jill Organization b a
nationally incorporated group that encourages total famfly
involvement. Youngsters learn at an early age to be
more civic minded, and the importance of sharing and
caring for others.
....Mrs. Norma W. Deliey is president of the local
chapter.
minority groups. It operates
in Dallas, San Diego,
Phoenix. Stamford. CT.,
Providence, R.1., and
Waukegon, IL.
These goals are being
accomplished through local
and national coalition ef
forts, the development of
information and resource
networks between local
community groups, and the
development of strategies
hr the resolution of key
issues identified by the
local minority com
munities.
Among the themes
explored through workshops
al the conference were
"Political Realities of
Minority Coalitions;"
"Media Treatment of
funding for the transit
system may have racial
overtones. The transit
shutdown severely impacts
on the Black community
which accounts for at least
90 percent of the transit
ridership.
Patton also said “there
are no indications that
immediate relief is in.
sight.”
The NAACP
Emergency Relief Fund
Project was established 15
number of people in abject i
poverty will increase by the t
year 2000. The world’s |
economic inequality will be i
even greater 20 years from ,
now. Those living in the I
poorer areas of Southeast <
Asia and Africa will be i
worse off. I
UNICEF pointed out i
that the growing number of
children between ages 6 <
and 11 make it nearly >
impassible for developing
countries to provide
education even to the i
fourth grade. Yet literacy is i
a necessary investment ,
since persons with even
four years of education are <
far more productive than i
these who are iliterate.
.The amount of money
UNICEF raflmatCT to he
25C
Minorities“ Interminority
and Mass Media:"
"Variations in Patterns of
Racism and Sexism
Affecting Different Minority
Groups;’’ and
“Institutionalized Racism.
Modern Racism and Sexism
Affirmative Action
Problems.”
Serving as workshop
panelists from the Black.
Hispanic and Asian com
munities were state and
local administrators, heads
of community action
agencies and specialists in
lhehareas of education,
sociology, the media,
criminal justice and
economics. The panelists
Continued on Page 6
years ago and over the past
year assisted flood victims
in Jackson, Mississippi,
New Orleans, Louisiana and
Prichard, Alabama and
provided financial
assistance to the city of
Miami following the urban
riots last summer. The
project also donated funds
to the families of eight
children who were killed in
a gas explosion that ripped
through a public school in
Atlanta last spring.
necessary to do away with
the worse effects of abject
poverty between now and
the year 2000 is ap
proximately SI 2 to S2O
billion annually. Changes in
distribution are also
necessary since only half cf
the current aid is going to
the poorest countries.
As the report points
out, this equals what the
world's nations spend every
three weeks on armaments.
In its general con
clusion UNICEF expresses
its desire to work with all
governments to prove that
the present trends can be
changed, to foster progress
in the poorest countries,
and to eradicate the worse
effect! of mass poverty ”y