Newspaper Page Text
The Augusta News-Review - August 29, 1981
The Augusta News-Review
Mallory K. MillenderEditor-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 JohnsonAikwCounty Correspondent
Mrs. Clara West McDuffie County Corresponsent
David DupreeSports Editor
Mrs. Been Buchanan Fashion & Beauty Editor
Roosevelt Green Columnist
Al IrbyColumnist
Mrs. Marian Waring Columnist
Philip Waring Columnist
Grady Abrams Editorial Cartoonist, Columnist
Roscoe Williams Photographer
Mailing Address
Box 953 (USPS 887 820)- Augusta, Ga.
Phone (404) 722-4555
Second Class Postage Paid Augusta, Ga. 30903
Published Weekly
AMALGAMATED jflk
PUBLISHERS, INC.
Natkmai AdrertMag RtprcßeatatWe
The Coca Cola
Settlement
NNPA Editorial
As Blacks across the country were preparing to
engage in their first mass activity in protest of inequities
in the marketplace, Operation PUSH and Coca Cda
Company announced a “moral conenant’’ in which Coke
will channel over 30 million to Black business and the
Black community.
We applaud the leadership initiative taken by the
Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of Operation PUSH, in
pressing Coke officials to the wall, until they
reconsidered and abandoned their previously adamant
position of not moving beyond what they were presently
doing. And that was not acceptable to PUSH officials
v. h<r had been in negotiations with Coke for several
months.
The settlement was more than a victory for Black
leadership, but it produce a “mini miracle” in bringing
together the scattered civil rights family of the late Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. For years, there has not been the
best of communications among those who were chief
lieutenants of Dr. King. i,.
However, in the Coke setjjpment, the Rev. Jesse
Jackson was in regular touch WitK Mrs. Cotetta Scott
King, widow of the slain civil rights leader, the Rev.
Joseph Lowery, president of Dr. King’s organization, the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Andrew
Young, and others. At the press conference announcing
the settlement were Mr. King. Rev. Lowery, Hosea
Wiliams, Andrew Young, Mayor Maynard Jackson, the
Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., Jesse Hill, Herman Russell
and many others. This was a "wonderful reunion
fellowship,” in the words of Mrs. King.
So. if Dr. King were looking through the heavenly
clouds on the historic setting in his hometown of Atlanta,
we ate certain he was overjoyed and proud of those who
are following in his footsteps to make real that dream he
had of a better life for all Black America.
We also salute Coca Cda officials for coming to
their good senses and giving us “a clear indication on
the part of a major American company that business can
listen and respond to presidential and congressional
actions for tax cut relief to business, and also to the
message and the promise that the free enterprise system
can do more to develop opportunity for all elements of
society,” in the words of Coca Cola president Donald R.
Keough.
Going Places
By Philip Waring
Thrust For Fairness
As you read this
the Georgia State General
Assembly will be deep and
heavy into legislative
matters including
reappcrtionment. The latter
will have to do with the
very lives and opportunities
for Black Georgians ten
years to come.
As aforementioned two
weeks ago in this column,
Rep. R.A. Etent and some
of his constituents were
not pleased with the initial
remapping plan for
Richmond County,
requested a change, and
this was made. With almost
40 percent Blacks, the
situation called for a second
majority Black legislative
district. Is there anything
unfair about this?
The Atlanta
Constitution and Journal
have highlighted a series
of news stories and feature
articles cm the political and
race situation in the
General Assembly. As
examples: (1) An important
state-wide Black leaders
meeting in Atlanta for
planning on these matters.
Senator J ulian Bond, Mayor
Maynard Jackson,
Savannah representatives
Al Scott and Bobby Hill
along with Atlanta's Grace
Hamilton called for the
rearrangement of the Fifth
Congressional District
•mtn*; Atlanta. Pull* ana
Page 4
Dekalb counties which
would be majority Black,
thus insuring a Black
congress-person. Georgia
now has 1,465,457 persons
of color, or a 26.9
percentage of our people.
The state has ten
congressmen. Is it not fair
that at least one should be
Black?
A CALL FOR
BASIC FAIRNESS
Others at the
week-end political planning
committee called for: (2)
expansion of state senate
seats from the current two
out of 56, and for more
representation than the
present 21 out of 180. Is
this not fair?
The meeting which was
called by the Georgia
Association of Black Elected
Officials, the Voter
Education Project and
NAACP. It pointed out
inequalities in overall
representation of Blacks in
state governance. Examples
include: (3) While Blacks
comprise a majority of 20 of
Georgia’s 159 counties, only
21 of the 577 county
commissioners are Black.
There are none in
Richmond County with its
almost 40 percent minority
population. Continuing,
Gerri Thompson of the
Voter Education Project
nek! that only (even of the
BE QUIET,
WHOEVER
YOU ARE/
Tony Brown’s Journal
Black Colleges Await Second
Annual Black College Day
Black College Day 'Bl,
the second annual march
and rally will take place on
Monday, September 28,
1981 in the 16 states under
the gun of so-called
desegregation (assimilation)
orders or Justice
Department lawsuits, which
force the Black public
colleges to become white
and the white colleges to
remain white.
Anticipating the new
conservative emphasis of
President Ronald Reagan’s
“federalism,” the return erf
greater spending power to
the states, The Project 'Bl
Coalition For Black
Colleges, sponsor of the
highly successful Black
College Day ‘BO in
Washington, D.C. last year,
will focus on statewide
Speaking Out
By Roosevelt Green
ABC-TV News
anchorman, Max Robinson
is a good role model for the
youth of America
especially African-American
youth. He is a courageous
African-American journalist
who recently spoke out
against the racism in the
national news media.
Robinson was able to
retain his job as a result of
African-Americans and
whites rallying to his aid.
Otherwise he would have
been fired for “telling it
like it is.” America has
great difficulty accepting
Blacks who are outspoken
about oppressive and
discriminatory practices.
Even worse, some Blacks
have the same trouble with
non-Uncle Tom Blacks.
It is to this brave
man's credit that he did not
do as many Blacks that are
“first” or “pioneers” in
achievements in the
state's 515 municipalities
are non-white. She
observed that only eight of
Georgia’s 691 judgeships
are filled by Blacks, four of
whom have been elected
and four appointed.
Several observers of
the current state legislative
debates indicate that
wntwmtl* to Hwreifo tty
organization in the 16
states where the greatest
peril to the public Black
colleges exist: Alabama,
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Kentucky, Louisiana,
Maryland, Mississippi,
North Carolina, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, Tennessee,
Texas and Virginia.
Much of the opposition
to Black colleges comes
from a few of the
presidents of these schools
who are either out of step
with the times or political
opportunists whose major
survival tool is
demagoguery.
The presidents of Fisk
and Tennessee State, for
example, are “bridges to
the past.” Andrew
Billingsley, the beleaguered
predominately white
“mainstream” of America.
A number of African-
Americans woul d have
kept quite and fergotteen
the plight of their race.
Robinson, who appears
on the ABC-TV “World
News Tonight” Program,
boldly states what he
regards as his
accountability to Blacks and
his profession. He claims
that racism in the media is
“unconscious” behavior. I
disagreed!
The three national TV
networks deliberately
overlook African-Americans
and other minority groups.
Aside from the typical
“rightness of whiteness”
and other forms of
institutionalized racism and
prejudice. there is the
economic factors to be
considered.
TV “specials” and the
mindless clowning of
status and opportunities for
Blacks have been met with
opposition, excuse and cold
bias. The NAACP is being
asked by the citizens to
take as many cases to the
federal courts and utilize
the Voting Rights Act as
possible to bring about
some meas' -of fairness
and testlee S •
president at Morgan State
in Maryland, confessed to
an absolute fabrication in
the August 1981 edition of
Essence magazine when he
wrote that "several strong
allies” in the struggle to
save Black colleges includes
“the NAACP’s Legal
Defense Fund.” The very
problem affecting his own
school, as well as all public
Black colleges, stems from
Jack Greenberg’s obdurate
NAACP Legal Defense
Fund.
Although the Reagan
Administration has sent
mixed signals on their
integration plans previously
adopted by the Carter
Administration, to bring a
majority white faculty and
student body to Black
campuses, it has beenc
onsistent in its efforts to
carry out then-candidate
Ronald Reagan’s promise to
give Black colleges a larger
share of the total federal
higher education budget.
African-Americans on “The
Jefferson” and “Good
Times” represent about all
the majority of white
American will tolerate.
However, do not forget
athletes and musicians. It is
tragic to realize the only
images many whites have
of Blacks come in some
form of demeaning
entertainment.
Since schodl
desegration efforts have
failed for many reasons,
with racism being primary,
the larger white majority is
“disadvantaged” and
“cuturally deprived” by
being limited to a single
racial group. They are
going to have great
difficulty adjusting to
various American minority
groups, and, to the fact
that whites are a minority
in the rest of the world.
Max Robinson needs
ongoing support and
encouragement. It goes
without saying that there is
a critical need for other
Blacks or African-
Americans to remember
their race and work toward
the elimination of foolish
BLACK ELDERS TO
BE HONORED
On Sunday,
September 27, at 3:30 p.m.
he second induction of
‘Distinguished Living
Augusta Black Elders” will
>e programmed. The scene
s at St. Mary’s Episcopal
Zhurch and sponsorhip by
dhe AHtuitg Wlae* Hhbwv
II ■ -
But while an early ,
i reading indicates that the
Reagan policies of
funding to Blade
colleges and a policy of-
- support for the •
continued existence of ?
Black institutions of higher '
learning are compatible .
with the basic interest of
Black people, another
philosophical belief of the
Reagan Administration can,
and probably will, cause
conflict. That policy is
federalism.
This transfer of power
back to the states will
make the state governors,
legislatures and boards of
higher education the
overseers of a new
plantation system.
Next Week: What the
Black College Battleground
Is.
....TONY BROWN’S
JOURN AL The television J
series, is shown every
Sunday, on WRDW-TV-12
at 12:30 p.m.
racial barriers.
Without going into a
long explanation at this
time, the words of a Black
friend of mine merit our
reflection. He says that
Blacks need to focus on -
“interaction” rather than
integration as the needed
racial goal. It is more
important for us to S
“interact” in cirdes of
progress and power than to.
get "hung-up” on social
relationships.
Four of 65 news
correspondents at ABC are
Black. NBC and CBS have’;
only eight each, sadly to ;>•
say. A minimum of twenty
Black correspondents on
each network staff.
interacting with white
colleagues is better than
tolerating “integration” we/,
now observe. To so many,;,
whites “integration” is just
another term for Imited
“penetration.”
We have had enough
penetration and the need •
now is for interaction.
. Twenty can interact
better than integrated four.?
Keep up the good wdrk,
Max Robinson. -T
MMiMKMaaaMHBawMMMiMaa '
Committee.
- S
SPECIAL DAY
ON SEPT. 17
We heard good . vibes i ‘
from the community On the/,
nationwide plan to “Read Ais
Black Newspaper on $
September 17.” Be sure to */,
put this on your calendar
4 >.W
Affirmative Action:
Land And Capital
By Gerald Horne, Esq.
Land and capital is
what this country is based
on and it just so happens
that this is what Blacks
have little of.
1, “Reaganomics” is not
‘.expected to help this
■ situation and. according to
most observers, will
probably worsen it.
A look at statistics and
■ recent developments among
Black business is quite
sobering. The spirallying
interest rates that have
enriched the big banks
have choked off many a
business, as they have not
been able to obtain the
loans so desperately needed
, to grow or survive. Many of
the top 100 Black
businesses listed by Black
Enterprise magazine are
automobile dealerships and
‘■it just so happens that
-■ these have been a primary
of the periolous
economic times.
There has been another
"ironic” problem faced by
Black business. With the
i breaking down of the
barriers of segregation, the
once “captive” market that
Black business had enjoyed
has begun to disappear.
Black insurance companies
; and manufacturers of
beauty care products have
found that their white
counterparts have gone
aggressively after the Black
rharket. For example,
Revlon and Avon has gone
after the Black consumer
with abandon in the last
few years, not without
"success. But Johnson
‘Products, the only black
; controlled company whose
stock is traded on public
stock exchanges, failed
when it tried to reach the
larger white market with a
new male frangrance called
“Black Tie" because
< retailers relegated the
product to the “ethnic”
sections of their stores.
Johnson was forced to
withdraw the product from
the market and absorb the
significant loss.
The statistics are even
less heartening. The share
.of the nation’s gross
Walking With Dignity
By Al Irby
South Africa Out
To Destroy SWAPO
Freedom Frighten
.... Search and destroy
tactics are being used
against Namibia's freedom
fighters. The border war in
northern Namibia has
intensified dramatically.
South African forces have
mounted an intensive
campaign against South
West Africa Peoples’
Organization, (SWAPO),
; and now say they will not
istop until they have
. smashed that organization's
armed forces.
Rather Fight
Than Talk
....The sudden surge of
seek and destroy
operations comes at a time
of relafively muted
diplomatic activity to try to
find an internationally
acceptable political
settlement for Namibia. But
there are indications that
; there is growing impatience*
inside the territory with the
. present lack of progress.
Certain political leaders in
Cape Town are calling on
South Africa to hand over
more power at once to the
Namibian Council of
Ministers, a body that came
into being as a result of
multiracial elections in the
territory organized by South
Africa in 1978, but not
recognized ad valid outside
' Namibia or South Africa.
Armed Force
PUnning New Drive
' ... .One group at least has
publicly called for full
independence of Namibia
from South Africa before
the end of the year. A
South African- appointed
administratcr-general is the
.highest authority in the
jterritory Fore?,. South
.African Maj. Gen. Charles
.Lloyd, indicated that the
' 15-'year-old border war*
appeared to be entering a
-new phase. He said that his
fforce?.. had recently
rundertaken “ah intensive
study" of the methods that
had he«fl tmed BfShwt
national product accounted
for by Black-owned
businesses, about two
tenths of one percent, has
not changed in a
generation, Most analysts
agree that despite all the
hoopla given to “Black
Capitalism,” Black business
has actually lost ground in
the past decade.
There has been some
“growth" in certain
statistical areas but it pales
in comparison to business
growth overall. Thus, the
average sales revenue of all
business in the United
States in 1977 was
$278,352. up 41.6 percent
from $196,563 in 1972. But
for Black business, average
sales revenues amounted to
$37,392 in 1977, up 26.7
percent from $29,499 in
1972. Moreover, both the
average work force and
average gross receipts of
Black business have shrunk
precipitously during this
period.
Philadelphia, a city
with one of the largest
Black populations in the
country. presents an
interesting case study of
the decline of Black
business. In a fascinating
series of articles done by
reporter Kendall Wilson for
the Black-owned
Philadelphia THbunc. a
dire picture emerges.
Though accounting for 40-
50 percent of the city's
population. Blacks control a
meager 16 percent of the
city’s 28,000 companies.
Less than -xrcent of the
Black firms receiving Small
Business Administration
(SBA) “start-up" mpney in
1971 are doing business
today.
But what is said about
Philadelphia could just as
easily be said about New
York. Norfolk, North
Carolina, Georgia,
Mississippi, Minneapolis,
Portland, Chicago or any
other area of this country.
The plight of Black
business is a national
calamity that requires a
national solution.
SWAPO freedom fighters,
and had decided to make
certain "adjustments.”
He dedined to say
what these were, except
that “our cooperation with
the Air Force is
outstanding, and our
coordination with the local
police is very good.” Now
the aim of the so-called
security forces is to end the
war and to bring peace.
But the good general is
talking through his hat,
because there will never be
any real peace until the.
Namibians are free.
The best way to do this
is to destroy SWAPO farces
inside the territory, to
pursue them if they flee,
and to wipe them out in
their bases. “We shall
continued in this way until
SWAPO’s military power is
smashed.” One thing the
South African military man
forgot, and that is the
“spirit to be free,”
Namibian freedom fighters
will continue to fight until
they are free. One
interpretation of South
Africa's present military
tactics is that it intends to
establish a buffer zone
north of the Namibia-
Angola border. General
Lloyd has said, “We are
not allowing SWAPO to
establish bases within
striking distance of
Namibia.”
. \ Forces Claim
BigGfe.
.. . Has it been confirmed
that Cd. John Angula, the
chief of artillery for
SWAPO on its northern
front has been captured?
Colonel Angula is also chief
of reconnaissance for the
northern front; it would be
a great set-back for
SWAPO if the report is
true. Apart from claiming
to have inflicted heavy
losses on SWAPO, the
South African forces believe
they have scored a
psychdcgiml and political
Mtwiiw a* waft