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Augusta News-Review - September 19, 19Ri
T»- gusta News-Review
Mallory K. Millender..Editor-Publisher
Paul D. Walker... Special Assistant to the Publisher
Barbara Gordon .Advertising Manager
Rev. R.E. Donaldsonr Religion Editor
Harvey Harrison Circulation Manager
Mrs. Rhonda Brown Sales Representative
Mrs. Mary Gordon Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Geneva Y. Gibson Church Coordinator
Mrs. Fannie JohnsonAißWCounty Correspondent
Mrs. Clara W«tMcDuffie County Corresponsent
David DupreeJports Editor
Mrs. Been Buchanan Fashion A 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
PUBLISHERS, INC.
UaenMMattn
Roy Wilkins
We join the nation in mourning the
death of civil right leader Roy Wilkins. His
death marks the end of an era. He was the
last of the giants of the hey-day of the civil
rights movement.
Os all the eulogies we’ve read, it was
Wilkins’ wife who best summarized
Wilkin’s distinguishing qualities. She was
not commenting on his death, but on what
originally attracted her to him when she met
and married him in 1929. In an 1977
interview with the News-Review, she
recalled: “His quick mind really stimulated
me. And he had a kind of self-assurance that
I liked.’’ The she added emphatically, “He
was a gentleman.”
The quality she believes endeared him
to so many people was a sincerity which
“shines through everything he does.”
“He has a self-effacement that people
admire and a humility that few people,
have, who have reached where he has
reached.”
Where he has reached was evidenced by
the people who attended his funeral
including Vice President Bush, former Vice
President Mondale, Senator Kennedy and a
host of others of that level, a fair tribute to a
man who never held a political office.
He was often controversial as a result
of his upbringing where all of his friends
were white and his views did not always sit
well with many Blacks.
But he felt that his different perspective
did not limit his ability to lead the Black
masses.
He said: “I don’t see that anything has
hurt my leadership except my on personal
limitations. It isn’t that I identified with
Black people or that I identified with white
people. It’s what you do about it.” And
what Roy Wilkins did about it leaves the
world in his debt.”
Jack Greenberg
NAACP Counsel
I had the privilege of
working with Roy Wilkins
from 1949 until he retired.
This was the period during
which legally imposed racial
segregation in the United
States was being
dismantled, exposing other
often more difficult
problems. During all of this
time, Roy Wilkins* ’■lost
Dr. Joseph E. Lowery
President, SCLC
.... Some careers are long
without distinction and
some are distinctive without
longevity. Roy Wilkins had
both. He was a statesman,
a scholar and a servant. He
fought a good fight in the
toughest of battles. He
fought for human dignity,
and he possessed a
personal sense of dignity
that separate him from the
crowd. The struggle for
Civil Rights was enriched
bv Rov Wilkins' astuteness
Page 4
conspicuous quality was
rationality. He had a broad
vision which understood the
complexities of American
life and the means of
accommodating them.
He was generous,
friendly, constructive and
thoroughly decent. His life
and work embodied his
vision of what America
should become.
and scholarship and his
graciousness which enabled
him to take criticism and
endure suffering without
bitterness and achieve
victories wiithout arrogance.
He was able to adjust to
changing times and
methodologies and manage
to maintain the respect of
the “Young Turks” -- those
more activist than he. He
was a giant and he made
his own footprints in the
sands of the Civil Rights
Movement
I wonder .jA
WHY BLACKS
DON'T TRUST \
JAE!
WU A
seseoPOES INC. —~”
Aftofttive Action
The Need For Black Police
With each passing day,
the crying need for more
Black police officers in
urban areas becomes more
apparent. Those who
witnessed on national TV
news the astounding sight
of white police officer and
hard-hats battling tooth and
nail unemployed Black
construction workers who
were protesting the failure
to uphold affirmative action
regulations at a mid-town
Manhattan building site are
aware of this need.
The thousands who
have been rallying in
Milwaukee protesting the
death of an unjustly
accused Black suspect at
the hands of white police
officers are aware of the
need. Those who recall the
brutal slaying of Black
business executive Arthur
McDuffie at the hands of
white police, which sparked
a massive conflagration in
Miami, are aware of this
need.
Those who are
subjected to the crudities
and indignities of the
swaggering, foul-mouthed,
itchy-fingered racists that
too often populate this
nation’s police forces, are
all too aware of this need.
Black police officers have
proven to the be more
human, mere sensitive and
less likely to resolve
disputes by dint of armed
force.
As in so many other
fields, the Reagan
Administration’s actions
will not alleviate this
problem but will worsen it.
Because of his “New
Federalism” policies, which
will reduce federal aid
virtually 37 percent to
localities, many cities will
use this as an excuse to
lay-off city employees in
massive numbers.
Black police officers
who were the last to be
hired, are marked to the
first fired, if traditional
seniority rules are followed.
When the U.S. Conference
of Mayors sent queries to
100 cities about the
probable effects of the
federal cuts, representatives
of 68 said they planned to
cut essential services and
representatives of 58 said
they would lay-off workers.
Another city survey by
Congress’ J oint Economic
Committee alleged that
more than one-half were
already operating “in the
red.” The committee
warned: “The Federal
Government many have to
develop a policy for dealing
with municipal default on
other than an hoc basis.”
Os course, if the city
MISTRUST
administrations would
collect uncollected taxes
from big real estate owners
and uncollected sales taxes
from big retailers, there
would be no fiscal crisis but
the fact is that most mayors
will use the specter of
Reaganomics to put Black
city employees on the
unemployment rolls.
Tliese lay-offs are
expected to spell doom for
all those Black police
officers hired as a result of
affirmative action thrust,
but this does not have to
be the case. For just as
affirmative action is needed
for those entering the
police force, it is needed
equally for those exiting
from the force. Boston has
just shown the nation what
this means. Black and
Latino police officers and
firefighters filed a class
action suit alleging that
they were bearing the brunt
of lay-offs because they
were disproportionately
among those recently hired;
lay-offs according to
seniority would have made
affirmative action a hollow
deception. Judge Andrew
A. Caffrey argeed and
ruled that Blacks and
Latinos must continue to
make up 14.7 percent erf
the city’s Fire Department
and 11.7 percent of the
Police Department. These
figures represent the
percentages that existed
July 6 when Mayor Kevin
White initiated a series of
lay-offs. Judge Caffrey also
ordered the city to maintain
separate seniority lists for
whites and “minorities” to
guide future reductions.
Such agreements have
been lauded by affirmative
acton advocates but
denounced by certain white
officers. Indeed, the recent
spate erf police killings and
brutality complaints is seen
by some as a form of “pay
back" to the Black
community by these racists.
In any case, it is clear
'that this kind of opposition
has been a major stumbling
block to increasing the
number of Black officers.
For example, in 1978 the
Orlando, Florida branch of
Operation PUSH, along
with a number of other
predominantly Black groups
filed a complaint with the
Federal Office of Revenue
Sharing, attempting to hold
up the disbursement erf
millions of dollars in funds
because of the city’s
terrible record in hiring
i Blacks.
This spurred the city
administration to try to get
their act together and they
installed, belatedly, an
affirmative action plan,
which-if followed-will be a
step forward.
One would think that
all would rejoice over
justice finally reaching this
bastion of Southern racism
and reaction. But, also, this
would be too much like
right, as the old folks used
to say.
The Orlando
Professional Firefighters
Union, Local 1365, has filed
a federal law suit
challenging the plan, saying
the goals result in “reverse
discrimination toward white
firefighters.
These predominantly
white unions do not
recognize that the major
lesson of the air
controllers’s strike is that
all public sector employees
are under the gun and will
need all the allies they can
get to beat back the
oncoming wage-slashing
and union-busting drive.
Alienating the Black
community by such
regressive tactics plays
right into the hands of
“divide and conquer”
advocates.
Yet, the events in
Orlando illustrate just what
affirmative action advocates
are up against in trying to
increase the number of
Black police officers.
Another Florida city,
Daytona Beach, brings
further evidence of the
rampant racism affliciting
city administrations. A
recent report has
charged that the city
fathers have used "defacto
segregated- job ladders,
invalid selection techniques,
supervisor stereotypes
about (Blacks) and Civil
Service hiring and
promotional techniques that
stress artifical requirements
placing a premimiumon
paper credentials”- all this
and more was used just to
avoid hiring Blacks.
Thus, resistance to
hiring Black police officers
will stiffen as the disastrous
effects to Reaganomics
become clear. Not only will
this harm the effort to
obtain more Black officers
but it will also weaken the
effort to retain Blacks
already on the force.
A recent report in New
York City predicts that the
economic pressures being
felt by police officers could
lead to greater corruption
in the city’s police force.
Not only will Reaganomics
mean smaller pay checks
which will drive officers
from the force -but it will
also open up officers to
charges of corruption.
An example from the
City of Brotherly Love-
Philadelphia- provides an
example of what may
happen if what is going on
in New York is a national
trend. John Green,
president-elect of the
Guardian Civic League, has
stated: “We’ve noted that
there have been a lot of
Black police officers going
before the trial board
Aboard of Inquiry) and
we’re in the process of
trying to determine a
pattern and maybe a
reason.” Basically, Green
has questioned whether
Black officers were being
brought up on trivial and
questionable charges, in an
attempt to purge Blacks
from the force.
Black students in pu
blic schools are suspended
and expelled mere. Black
professional athletes receive
mere fines. With charges of
police corruption expected
to increase, expect more
Black officers to be
bounced from the ranks for
this and other
sometimes questionable
reasons. Green has averred,
“Thereis a definite
concerted effort on the part
of white supervisors to take
Black police officers before
the Review Board.” Similar
charges have been made in
other cities.
Many Blacks who,
as a result of affirmative
action law suits, have
begun to enter the police
academies that are the
training ground for future
officers, have been
complaining of harassment
and petty indignities aimed
at them in an attempt to
get them to drop out.
Apparently, this is under
investigation in the corps of
New York State Troopers
but it is an issue that
merits national scrutiny.
N.0.8.L.E., the
National Organization of
Black Law Enforcement
Executives, has raised the
issue of increasing Black
officers but more insistent
voices need to join theirs.
Especially is this so when
Reaganomics expects to
cut a prodigious swath
through the already
dwindling ranks of Black
officers. Like so many
others presently under
siege, Black police officers
should consider joining the
NAACP, AFL-CIO and
hundreds of thousands of
others expected to descend
on Washington on
September 19th to let the
President know directly just
what folks think about his
jelly-bean budget. In any
event, it is no secret that
increasing the number of
Black officers is a matter of
life and death.
Walking With Dignity
(UNREST MOUNTING IN
TROUBLED ZAIRE)
Consider Zaire, a
country the size of the
United States east of the
Mississippi. It has 26
million people. Three
quarters of them subsist on
an annual incane of less
than SIOO. Two-thirds of
them are illiterate. Its
president, Mobutu Sese
Seko, who has ruled the
country fa 16 years,
millionaire many times
over. This is the very thing
why I can’t ever get
enthusiastic over the
achievement of Blacks,
because they don’t care a
good-damn about the
teeming masses. The
masses of Blacks in Africa
were just as well off under
Colonial whites, as they are
under conniving so-called
Black leaders. That is
almost true of Blacks in the
United States.
MOBUTU-TYE
LOVED BY WHITES
.... The reason is his
country’s raw materials,
and its better to handle one
“Uncle Smart” than a
nation of altruistic
progressive. The reason is
raw materials fa sure;
backward Zaire is rich in
them. It has, for example,
the world’s largest known
reserves of cobalt (about 30
percent of the world’s
total), as well as huge
quantities of other
resources essential to
modern industry and
defense including zinc,
manganese, and copper.
Zaire is also the
wald's largest producer erf
industrial diamonds. Next
month when French
President Francois
Mitterrand visits the United
States for the first time
since unseating Valery
Giscard d’Estaing, Zaire
will be discussed, you
better believe it.
WITHOUT HELP FROM
THE WEST, MOBUTU
WOULD BE GONE
.... President Reagan
will want to know what
action France will take, this
time around, if a face from
without tries to kick
Mobutu out. Three years
ago that very thing
happened. On that
occasion, the West joined
hands to counter the attack
Business In The Black
Reagan Helps Rich
Get Richer-Americans
Run Abroad With Money
By Dr. Charles E. Belle
According to Peat,
Marwick, Mitchell & Co.,
the accounting firm, money
saved in taxes will be 28
times greater for the rich,
($200,000 per year income
bracket) than the average
household ($20,000), in
1981.
The central question is
can America benefit from
this new tax bill? Billions of
dollars may well be freed
from the tax man, but
taken where is the
disquieting question. Out
of the country may be the
answer!
All U.S. savings and
loans have been losing
deposits daily to money
market funds in recent
years. Money market funds
are open- end diversified
investment companies
whose objectives are
current high income and
preservation of principal.
Putting money into
them by individuals is
diverting funds from
savings and loans
associations who normally
lend to people to buy U.S.
constructed homes.
Mortgage money is long
term thus unsuitable for
money market fund
portfolios, invested mostly
in high quality, short-term
money market instruments,
like corporation 1.0.U.’5.
For example. General
Motors’ Motor Company
borrows from such money
market funds using an
instrument called
commerical paper for a
lower than bank interst rate
at a set number of dates
(18 percent for 29 days).
GM has enormous
overseas, as well as,
domestic operations.
By Al Irby
French transportation,
backed by military aid from
Belgium and sl3 million in
equipment supplied by the
United States. Moroccan
troops were flew into Zaire
in a matter of hours to
repel the invasion by so
called Marxist guerrillas
based in neighboring
Angola. Without Western
help, Mobutu might have
become an ex-dictator, and
Zaire’s masses could be no
worse off.
AFRICA AWAITS
MITTERAND VIEWS
.... At next month’s
Franco-American summit,
President Mitterand will tell
President Reagan that this
time, France’s response
may not suit the United
States. Under Mitterrand,
France favors, at least in
theory, staying cool and
allowing African and other
third-world countries to
work out their own answers
to their many problems.
Not so with the “hard
boiled’’ Reagan
administration, which
appears eager to lend a
helping hand any time
anywhere, especially if the
problems take the form of
foreign intervention. France
sees the third world in a
different light.
Last month, for
instance, Jean-Pierre Cot,
the minister fa African
affairs, ended a swing
through Africa arguing
that the continent’s
vulnerability is rooted in
economic backwardness and
not in the threat of
political destabilization. The
answer is to send more
development aid.
For his part, President
Reagan is ready to send
some aid, especially to help
Zaire, but many countries
in Black Africa are shying
away from the Reagan
administration, accusing it
of leaning too far to the
racist-ruled South Africa.
Meanwhile, Mobutu’s
enemies multiply. The
latest is famer prime
minister Nguza Karl-I-
Bond, who fled Zaire last
month while still holding
his post. He received exile
in Belgium. Mr. Ngu2a said
that he plans to overthrow
Mobutu, and that his
following in the Army is
large.
General Motors not
only does a great deal of its
business overseas, 28
percent of 1980 sales, but
plans an increase according
to its chairman Roger Smith
when he spoke earlier this
year at the Commonwealth
Club in San Francisco.
Frequently money
market funds will have as
much as 60 percent of their
portfolio investments in
commerical paper, loaning
to companies rather than
U.S. home owners.
Government statistics
are still not available on
how much of the portfolio
investments in money
market funds are being
covertly funneled off to
foreign subsidiaries of U.S.
corporations.
Indeed, the new tax
bill plays to this foreign
business development of
overseas not domestic job
creation. Consider for
instance, individuals
working abroad will be
entirely free of federal
taxes on the first $75,000 of
income in 1982 with
further $5,000 increments
in subsequent years all the
way up to a maximum erf
$95,000.
It will take more than
American patriotism to stop
individuals and institutions
from taking the highest
profit investment with their
new tax savings in order to
stop this flushing out of
U.S. funds in the near
future.
The arguments about
royalties and dividends
returning in future years,
unfortunately sounds too
similar to colonialist
exploitation-but that’s yet
another new question.