The Augusta news-review. (Augusta, Ga.) 1972-1985, July 04, 1981, Image 1

The Augusta news-review., July 04, 1981, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextHatchet Job Being Done On Charles Walker, HRC Page 1 Volume 11 Number 15 In Edgefield Jesse Jackson Parts The ‘Red Sea’ Adds 100 To Voters List By Barbara Gordon .... EDGEFIELD, S.C.- - The Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of Operation PUSH, came to the hometown of Sen. Strom Thurman Sunday, parted “the Red Sea” and led a hundred unregistered voters to the land of the registered. Jackson climaxed a prayer vigil, four-miles march from Strom Thur mond High School to the county court house, and a rally by having the “sea” of two thousand people make a wide path through which he called for every unregistered voter in the crowd to make his way to the platform. When approximately 100 people came Jackson had local Black leaders to “lead these people across the Red Sea” to the other side of the square where deputy registrars were waiting for them. The cheering crowd clapped as the unregistered make their way. Jackson said he would not use bad language with his mother, Mrs. Helen Jackson, present, but he told persons in the crowd who declined to register to vote they “should be put exit of the church, should have bad luck for the rest of the year; should have a flat tire on a rainy night alone--right near Strom Thurmond High School.” Jackson has promised to make South Carolina, and particularly Edgefield, the focal point of the movement to get the 1965 Voting Rights Act ex tended. Thurmond, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has Closing Arguments Heard Black Employee Allegedly Struck Retarded, White Gracewood Patient Closing arguments were heard last week in a case at Gracewood State Hospital in which a dismissed Black employee is accused of pusing the head of a white, 34-year-oid mentally retarded patient against a window sill opening a wound. Mrs. Sandra Berry, a health service technician at Gracewood, said the patient, Jayne (state law prohibits use of her real name), was cursing and "calling employees out of their names.*' She said Jayne looked at Mrs. Mildred W. Martin, picked a handfuls of straw and thew it in Mrs. Martin's direction. 1 Mrs. Berry, who is Black, said Mrs. Martin asked Jayne who she was throwing at and "pushed Jayne’s head into the window sill. Jayne started screaming: ‘She hit me. She hat me.’ "iShe put her hand to ner haad and that’s when I noticed) -there was blood. Augusta News-Beu said he will oppose ex tension of the Act unless it applies to all states. “We are not here to take anything from whites,” Jackson said, but we aren't going to let them take anything from us. We don't want to dominate, we want to participate and our right to vote is negotiable,” Jackson declared. Edgefield is the only county in South Carolina with a majority Black population that has no Black elected officials. During the Reconstruction period, however, all of the elected officials in Edgefield County were Black. “What is great about this rally,” Jackson said, is that the chains have fallen from a lot of people's minds. You can be out of slavery, but if slavery is not out of you, nothing will happen.” "They told you we can’t be councilmen, that we can’t be senators and clerks of court and the masters of our fate, and many of us believe it.” Jackson called on the people of Edgefield to “get your spirit right; get your mind right." “It's one thing,” he said, “to be hungry. It’s another thing not to have an appetite. It's one thing not to have a job, but it's worse to lose the will to work. It’s one thing to make a baby, it’s another thing to raise a baby. Get your mind right.” We can’t just be concerned, he continued, about the state house and the court house. Something and I took her into the nurse's station," Mrs. Berry testified. Nurse Lillie Green said she signed a statement indicating that Jayne had fallen while throwing at employees. She said she based her report on what she was told by Mrs. Martin. Mrs. Christine B. Johnson, lead nurse, said she made her report believing "the truth was being said. And if the truth was not being said Mrs. Berry would have indicated so at that time." Mrs. Berry testified that when she heard that Jayne had fallen she said, "Fm not going to lie. She didn't fall. She was walking, fussing and cursing and I believe she was talking to me, but I ignored her. “She (Mrs. Martin) asked her who she was talking to. Jayne grabbed a handful of straw at her. She pushed her into the brick wall. Asked by Black Dismissed Allegedly Struck Gracewood Patient Page 1 I HLj PUSH President Jesse Jackson hoists hand of EdgefleM Democratic Party Chairman T.C. McCain, then leads crown in familiar chant: “I am somebody!** '"~t 1 ' wMb wQO i jUM®! flw? “'"W * mm? must happen in your house and my house. “Wherever God is, power is. Wherever God is, trugh is. Wherever God is, miracles are. % you may be in slums, b>.;, the slums state attorney Field Yow if it was a deliberate act on the part of Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Berry replied. "Yes.” "Mrs. Martin said you're not going to lie on me. She said if you lie on me. Til bust you in the mouth. Then she twisted Jayne's arm." Mrs. Martin, who was dismissed April 16 for the incident which occurred in March, denied Mrs. Berry's charges. She said that Jayne was at the window banging with her fists and said she had something to tell Mrs. Johnson. "Mrs Green said, ‘Get this girl away from this window Fm trying to give medicine.’ “I reached for Jayne and she cursed. I reached at her again and she reached at my hand to bite it. I grabbed her jaws. She started cursing again. I started to walk away. Another girl shouted: ‘Watch out, Mrs. Martin.' "I walked away. Jayne started screaming, hollering don’t have to be in you. Jesus was born in a slum, but he rose above his circumstances. Dr. King taught us that it is better to walk in dignity than to ride in shame. and cursing. She said I had knocked her on the ground. I said don't tell no lies on me. Mrs. Martin denied twisting Jayne’s arm and pushing her. x ”1 o < Vi M' v-* M.M. SCOTT HOUSING PROJECT DEDICATJON--Famly members of the late M.M. Scott hear tributes at dedication of the M.M. Scott Homing Project on Laney* Walker Boulevard. Last Class Os Paine High School Holds Reunion Page 3 July 4,1981 Jackson said Blacks should not be treated like step-children. "We aren’t foreigners, we’re originals. When the Irish got here, we were here. When the Italians got here, we were She said she saw Jayne sitting on the ground but did not know how she got there. Mrs. Green denied asking Mrs. Martin to get Jayne away from the here. We didn’t come as immigrants looking for a thrill. We came as slaves against our will. “We haven't changed our citizenship, we have changed our minds." window. The hearing officer will make a decision on Mrs. Martin's appeal of her dismissal. Either party can appeal to the Merit System. He was praised for his efforts to get better housing for the poor. From left are his widow, Mrs. Mamie E. Scott; daughter, Joan Ruff and son. Martrice M. Scott, Jr. Less than 75 percent Advertising Joan Harrell Leaves Channel 6 For Job In Florence Page 2 McCain Comes Home For Rally T.C. McCain, chairman of the Edgefield County Democratic Party, came home from doctoral studies at Ohio State University Sunday to help press for extension of the Voting Rights Act. “I want Sen. Strom Thurmond to know that in his home town we need the Voting Rights Act. I want the U.S. Senate to know that we need the Voting Rights Act,” he said. McCain, a professor at Paine College, said when Strom Thurmond High School was integraged, the school board tried to keep the symbols of segregation. Although the student body was 65 percent Black the first year, he said the Confederate flag was engraved on the graduation invitations and the class rings. The school ad minsitration kept the rebel flag as the school’s symbol. “Blacks complained but the school board resolved that all traditions would remain. We had to go to court to lay aside the badges of slavery." McCain said that Blacks in Edgefield often refuse to register because they don’t want to serve on jury duty. "When you’re in trouble you’re going to want to see some of your sister and brothers on that jury." McCain won a seat from his district on the Hatchet Job Editorial Duimg recent weeks, Augusta has been seen its news media and particularly its news papers at their journalistics worst. Journalism is the pursuit of counterveiling truths, with no ax to grind. The Augusta daily newspapers in particular have been trying to bring the Human Relations Commission to a grinding halt and to bring down the proverbial ax on Executive Director Charles Walker's head. The media create the reality of the masses. Reality is what the media say it is. And if the media refuse to tell you that something happened, for all practical purposes it didn’t happen. Everyone who attended last week’s Human Relations Commission Meeting understands that. Commissoner Ed Dunbar’s courage and eloquent statements were generally ignored by the press. Dunbar, whois white, said “the impression is being given that finances have been handled “willy nilly. We have been audited an on our own initiative. We have an outstanding chairman. We’ve had outstanding chairmen and we have an outstanding executive director. He (Walker) has earned every dime he’s been paid... Further defending the commission, Dunbar continued, "I want somebody to tell me of a body where Blacks and whites get together on a regular basis and talk about race relations and diffuse problems before they start. Some of our actions have headed off violence. “If our people want racial bigotry, racial prejudice, oppression and disharmony, then tell the county commission and we'll all go home... "I want the public to know that members of the HRC have given quite a few hours to discrimination hearings. We often give two to five hours of our work day and are not even paid for car fare. You are getting a great deal for very little money. “We don’t want any money, but we’re being tarred and made to look like a bogey man...simply because maybe some people do not wish us well and have . worked rather assiduously at tarnishing the image of this commission... “Those who wish us ill are making a tragic mistake and will be doing the community a great disservice.” When the meeting was over, Dunbar went over to Margaret Twiggs, who writes a political column in the Continued On Page 2 25C County Council in 1974 and 1976, but was denied a seat because of he at large voting system. wF pfifex ™ T.C. McCain "We have enough Blacks in Edgefield County to control an election at large, but we’ve got to register and vote.” There has not been a Black on the Edgefield County Council since Reconstruction. McCain said that in Johnston, S.C. raw sewage runs down the streets. “You mean to tell me that there are people on the County Council with Black people’s interest at heart? Some people enjoy the all white county council. You better enjoy it now, because this is your last all-white county council,” he concluded.