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The Augusta News-Review
Mallory K. Millender Editor-Publisher
Paul D. Walker Special Assistant to the Publisher
Barbara Gordon Sales Representative
Rev. R.E. Donaldsonßeligion Editor
Harvey Harrison Circulation Manager
Mrs. Rhonda Brown Sales Representative
Mrs. Mary Gordon Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Geneva Y. Gibson Church Coordinator
Mrs. Fannie Johnson Aiken County Correspondent
Mrs. Clara WestMcDuffie County Corresponsent
David DupreeSports Editor
Mrs. Ileen 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
Mailing Address
Box 953 (USPS 887 8201- Augusta, Ga.
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Going Places
Honors For Dr. Carter
By Phil Waring
Dr. James E. Carter
Jr. has entered his 51st
year of continuous dental
practice and civic work.
Now recovering from
serious surgery, it is time
that his Augusta hometown
honor him in some way.
We are asking the local
Omega Psi Phi fraternity to
form a broad civic group
such as “The Committee
To Honor Dr. Carter.”
Upon completion of his
dental training at Howard
University in 1930, he
immediately headed home
with his talented bride,
Marjorie. She is a
graduate pharmacist and
has been beside him with
strong support ever since.
His dental and civic work
have helped “Build
Augusta and Georgia.”
Always interested in
young people he was a
Scout Master and later
entered volunteer work with
the “Y”. In addition to
being chairman of the
Ninth Street YMCA, he
moved up to membership
on the YMCA Southern and
National Councils. He’s
been particularly active on
the local front serving on
the United Fund, Augusta-
Richmond County Library
and American Cancer
Society boards. Dr. Carter
was a pioneer in the United
Negro College Fund,
helping raise funds for
Paine College. He’s a
member of the NAACP,
and was inducted into the
Roster erf Dinstinguished
Living Black Augustans.
During this 51-year
dental career he has treated
thousands of Augustans
and gained considerable
professional recognition.
During the days of legal
segregation prior to the
Brown decision, he
arranged with the MCG for
special in-service
professional training for
Black dentists. He's the
only Augustan who has
served as presidents of
both the National Dental
Association and its coun
terpart, the Georgia Dental
Society. He was named
“Dentist of the Year” by
the latter group in 1980.
Dr. Carter is also a
member of the American
Dental Society and last year
was awarded a 50-year
plaque by the Georgia
Dental Association. The
latter group also named
him Honorary Dental
Fellow for professional
achievements.
He values closely his
membership in the Omega
Psi Phi Fraternity and holds
a 50-year service pin. Back
in the 1930 s wide publicity
was given his leadership in
revitalizing the local Omega
chapter helping to develop
it into one of the largest
and most effective in the
nation. Formerly the local
basileus, he was recently
honored by its Seventh
District regional group for
otw 30 yura aa Iti
Almost all of Dr.
Carter’s numerous and well
deserved professional
honors have been awarded
in cities outside Augusta. It
is our strong feeling that an
opportunity should now be
given the local Augusta
community to say “Thanks
Dr. Carter For Your Ser
vices.”
As this request comes
within a Greek-letter
organization’s civic duties
and responsibilities, we are
asking the local Omega
chapter through its
basileus, Mr. James
Walker, to start the ball
rolling. This would involve
getting a committee from
selected institutions and
organizations together to
plan some type of event.
These institutions and
organizations well might
be: 1) Thankful Baptist
Church, Rev. N.T. Young,
Pastor. Dr. Carter and his
late father
As this request comes
within a Greek letter
organization’s civic duties
and responsibilities, we are
asking the local Omega
Chapter through its
Basileus, Mr. James
Walker, to start the ball
rolling. This would involve
getting a committee from
selected institutions and
organizations together to
plan some type of event.
These institutions and
organizations well might
be: 1) Thankful Baptist
Church, Rev. N.T. Young,
Pastor. Dr. Carter and his
late father. Dr. J.E. Carter
Sr., have given over 1 (X)
years of service as deacons
and trustees at this historic
church; 2) Paine College,
Dr. Julius Scott. Dr. Carter
Sr., Augusta’s first Black
licensed dentist, was
educated here. A son, wife
and daughter-in-law are all
graduates. He's been a
patron for over 50 years; 3)
The Stoney Medical, Dental
and Pharmaceutical
Association, Dr. Joseph
Hobbs, Chair. The two
dentists have given over 75
years service here with
young Dr. Carter being a
past president (We realize
that this group gave a
plaque last year down at
Hilton Head); 4) The School
of Dentistry, Dr. Judson
Hickey; 5) The
Ambassadors Club, Mr.
John Barrington, secretary
also 6) Frontiers Inter
national, Charles Walker,
Pres, and the Evening
Optimist, P. Walker and 7)
Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity,
Dr. Ike Washington and the
Haines Institute Alumni,
Mrs. Rebecca Gray Zealey.
Dr. Carter has given
solid service and leadership
to the afoi ementioned
organizations over the
years. We would feel that
again civic duty and real
responsibility would go into
a joint snlute to him. What
If! f *
Wr wl Ji JMI
©RBI
BUKX RefCORCES IbiC.
Walking With Dignity
Mary Lou Williams
once described her beloved
Kansas City in the 20s as a
“heavenly city,” a place to
be enjoyed. The same could
be said of any place Mary
Lou Williams sat down to
play the piano, from
Kansas City to Harlem,
from 52nd Street to
Montparnasse in Paris.
A CELEBRANT OF JAZZ
Fa Mary Louts music
was a form of celebration,
almost from the moment
her momma held her up to
the keyboard at the teni r
age of three. Her life
spanned, like an octave, the
history of jazz during the
almost seven decades that
followed. As a terrified
young prodigy, she was
sternly instructed by the
first famous jazz pianist,
Jelly Roll Morton, on
exactly how to phrase his
composition. “The Pearls.”
When her ex
traordinary memory per-
mitted her to play back,
after one hearing, the
complete score fa a revue
by Fats Waller, that
composer, pianist, and bon
vivant picked up the skinny
teen-ager and tossed her in
the air. “roaring like a
crazy man.”
At the age of 16, she
played briefly with Duke
Ellington’s first band, the
To Be Equal
The Administration is
pushing its concept of a
"new federalism” with
vigor. Its centerpiece is
lumping the bulk of federal
social welfare programs into
block grants to the states.
This is justified on a
number of grounds. It is
alleged that state and local
officials are closer to the
problems, and are better
able to determine which
programs fit local needs,
and that they can deliver
those services more ef
ficiently.
That’s the official
justification, and it is
wrong.
The federal govern
ment got into the business
of providing social
programs because of two
realities. First, they are
necessary for the nation's
FOOD STAMP CUTS
An Exquisite Lady Os Jazz
Washingtonians. Mary Lou
knew and loved all the
pianists, as she loved jazz
itself. She listened to Pete
Johnson and Count Basie in
Kansas City when she was
playing out of there with
Andy Kirk and His Clouds
of J oy, and her recading of
her own composition, ‘Roll
Em” seems to distill the
sound of that time, that
place. As jazz accumulated
more subtle musical
resources, so did she.
When she played
“Humouresque,” she came
closer than anybody else to
Art Tatum, the first
modernist of the jazz piano.
“Art inspired me so
much,” she said of their
after-hours sessions, and
Tatum barowed a run a
two from Mary Lou as well.
These ‘ progressive
sounds” emerged in her
subsequent compositions,
like “Zodiac Suite,” and in
her jazz masses. Receptive
to new ideas, unfailingly
generous toward other
musicians, the swinging
lady changed as jazz
changed, as though she
was the persona of the jazz
piano’s next chaus. But
through it all she always
maintained her personal
voice. She even played
boogie-woogie- the jazz
Behind The Block Grants By E Jorda „. , t .
Second, the states either
did not or could not meet
those needs.
State and local
governments are closer to
th* people and the
problems. That is why most
federal programs are ac
tually run by those
governments. They apply
for inclusion in the
programs and administer
them under federal
guidelines.
Those guidelines help
keep the programs honest
and efficient in away they
would not be under local
control. Experience with
present block grant
programs that turn funds
over to states and cities for
fairly specific purposes but
with little federal oversight
demonstrates this.
A recent study by the
pianists’ straight-jacket-her
own way.
Listen to the syn
copation within the
prescribed eight to the bar
syncopation of her
‘Hesitation Boogie.” And
no matter how refined her
harmonies became, Mary
Lou always swung. Along
with everything else, she
had a little of the rent
party pianist in her, like
the famed James P.
Johnson, who was the
darling of Harlem, when I
was young and 7th Ave.
was my hangout. In her
early days she could ripple
and trill right to the
precipice of prettiness. In
her later days she could
strike those Deßussy-like
chords until the listener, at
least, almost lost the beat.
But then something
mischievous, something
that certainly was great
fun, would start to swagger
through the sentiment or
the neoclassicism.
LOVE WAS HER THEME
Mostly self-taught
Support The
Black Press
Office, the watchdog of
federal dollars, reports the
misuse of hundreds of
millions of dollars provided
under the Community
Development Block Grant
Program.
The aim of the
program is to revitalize
cities. But the report says
the money is spread so
thinly among so many
localities that major
problem areas get short
changed.
It reports too, that in
many cities housing
rehabilitation funds were
going for garages and sun
decks instead of upgrading
substandard housing for the
poor. In one city, 15
percent of federally-funded
rehab loans went to people
earning over $30,000.
So it is dear that the
, i -. ♦ f SI 'f
By Al Irby
herself, Mary Lou became a
superb teacher to others --
patient, enthusiastic, full of
knowledge and technique,
passing on everything she
had so intensely
assimilated. But she was
one of those artists who put
character first, and at the
heart of her teaching was
her homily: “You have to
love when you play.” This
lesson leaps and sings and
dances from the grooves of
every solo she left behind
her.
On the other hand, her
recording of “My Blue
Heaven” sounds a bit like
a particularly sophisticated
Erroll Garner, whom she
first knew when he was a
teen-ager in Pittsburgh,
going to school with her
niece. As if she was the
evolving Muse of jazz,
Mary Lou was at Minton's
in the 40s, listening to
Thelonius Monk play the
new thing called “Bop,”
and trying out chords
herself with the guitarist
Charlie Christian.
A CLASSICAL SWINGER
is that they invite local
misuse of federal funds.
The absence of federal
targeting and controls
results in costly abuse.
The real intent of block
grants is the dismantling of
social programs. The first
step is to lump them
together, giving states
discretion to determine how
much each program gets.
Since the block grants
amount to twenty-five
percent less than the total
of the separate programs,
that also means less
money.
[■hase swo comes when
state and local governments
divide up the pie. Since
there is less money to go
around, deserving causes
are pitted against each
other for available funds.
The best and meat
i t
The Auflu»t» N»wi-R»vl»w-July 4,1981 •
Journal
Is Reagan The Problem?
There are some things
in life that defy all logic.
For example, I fail to
understand why the Reagan
administration recently
announced that it would
give Jesse Jackson's PUSH-
Excel failed school program
an additional $825,000.
On three previous
occasions and reports,
independent evaluators
have said that the
sometimes civil rights
leader has failed to create
an effective program. The
technical reason given by
the president's spokesman
for handing over more of
the taxpayer’s money for
poor performance, at best,
leaves me ambivalent.
I cannot escape
wondering why Ronald
Reagan’s people have not
appointed Dr. Gloria Toote
to some prominent position.
Toote. you may remember,
was promoting Ronald
Reagan for president way
back in '76 when she
delivered a nominating
speech on his behalf at the
Republican National
Convention. Needless to
say, this did not make her
popular in the Black
community.
But when the dust had
settled. Jesse Jackson, who
frantically warned of a
racist warmonger called
Ronald Reagan, got the loot
and Toote got the wrong
end of the stick, makes you
wonder if there is any real
difference between white
folks called Democrats and
white folks called
Republicans - when it
comes to loyalty to Blacks.
Which leads me to
another question: Is Ronald
Reagan the real problem?
Blacks are largely of
the opinion that the
president is a racist. And
they are of this opinion
because of the Carter
campaign rhetoric. In many
Black minds, Reagan is a
racist because of his
conservative philosophy.
If we lived in a logical,
sane world, that would
certainly not qualify as
basis for racism. But in a
highly political world of
demagoguery, illogic
suffices. Let me continue:
Blacks are being deprived
of "the great gains" of the
60’s because of Reagan's
policies, the charlatans
preach.
But this summer alone
the so-called civil rights
leaders and progressive
Black civic leaders will
march thousands of Blacks
into conventions in Hilton,
Marriott and Hyatt Regency
hotels to unload millions of
dollars into the coffers of
the white establishment’s
“enemy” they gathered to
strategize against. The
excuse: “Reagan made me
do it!”
One New Yorker Black
liberal-leader who makes
mountains of verbiage
about human rights and
freedom of speech and
refers to Reagan as a
fascist tried to stop the
publishing of a column of
mine because it criticized
the policies of Jesse
Jackson. “Scratch a liberal
and you get a reactionary,”
they say. I say, you get a
fascist.
Patricia Harris and
Andy Young are, by all
mayors will have the hard
task of distributing funds
for worthy causes, knowing
there is not enough in the
pot to really meet their
And in many states
and cities, if not most, the
poor will be frozen out
altogether. Officials will
take advantage of their
freedom from control by
Washington to spend the
money on programs for
which Congress never
intended it to be used.
Politically powerful groups
will get money intended for
the poor and the powerless.
The next phase
inevitably will be reducing
Washington's grants to
states and cities for those
Congress won't
(i nil I ■ inismUMfisl r iwrw
Page 4
white establishment ac
counts, Black leaders. Both
owe their prominence to
other whites who have
made them prominent. Bah
are directors and suppaters
of the NAACP Legal •
Defense and Education
Fund (LDF) run by a white
man called Jack Greenberg.
The LDF is the momentum
behind the legal action that
results in Black colleges
being turned into white
colleges in the name of
desegregation.
While the establish
ment Blacks give lip service
to maintaining the very
Black colleges of which
they graduated, they give
money to the NAACP LDF,
the very organization whose
"liberal" policies reduce
the chances of their
children ever finishing
college. But Ronald Reagan
must somehow be
responsible, they argue.
While we march
against the KKK and the
Nazi Party and their white
supremacist ideas. we
suppat “Black leaders”
who argue that Black
children are mentally in
feria and must be bused to
sit next to the superior
white child fa a quality
education.
But because Reagan is
against busing, he’s a
racist, the same culprits
argue.
What is inescapably
clear is the fact that Blacks
are leaderless and those
who say they lead are
presenting no plan, no
alternatives and, most
seriously, no hope. The
same lack of leadership
created the bland political
situations of Blacks that
they now blame Ronald
Reagan fa.
The blame does nol lie
with Reagan, it belongs to
a community that allows
men and women with little
vision to pass as men and
women of knowledge. It
belongs to a Black com
munity whose resources are
used to support the white
liberal establishment and
individual white liberal
aspirations.
The president and all
of his men and women
cannot do fa Blacks what
Blacks must ultimately do
for themselves. Reliance on
any president or ad
ministration is futile as
politically naive.
Power fa Blacks will
not come from party loyalty
or loyalty to the bankrupt
policy of integration fa the
sake of being with white
people. It will come from
an adherence to power.
‘‘Power concedes
nothing without a
demand,’’ Frederick
Douglass reminded us.
More importantly he said,
“You may not get all you
pay for in life, but you will
certainly pay for all you
get.”
Put those two
reminders together and
you’ll find the solution to
the problems of Blacks.
President Ronald
Reagan is not the problem;
he’s a reminder of a reality
that is inescapable.
TONY BROWN’S
JOURNAL the television
series, is shown every
Sunday on WRDW-TV,
Channel 12 at 12:30 p.m.
for programs over whicn it
has no control and little
political credit. And part of
the drive for lower federal
taxes is to give states room
to raise theirs.
But faced with the
choice of raising taxes and
cutting programs, local
politicians will likely choose
the latter. And that will be
the end of many of the
programs we need to
provide basic social services
and public amenities.
That is why the shift
from targeted categorical
programs to block grants is
more than a bookkeeping
change. It represents a
fundamental change looking
to the dismal days of the
past when government
shirked Its responsibility to
t 1 ill.tr ttaari'.