Newspaper Page Text
Violent crimes
are committed
by strangers
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Volume 12 Number 7
CHICAGO—In an exclusive inter
view with the Chicago Defender, Rev.
Jesse Jackson, president of Operation
PUSH, said that he plans to step
down within the next three to five
years to devote more time to writing,
to the church and to his family.
Although he says his work is
“noble and rewarding,” he says it’s
tiring.
He said this two days before a
“Grande Reception” is being held in
honor of Rev. Jackson’s 10 years as
president of PUSH.
Sponsored by the PUSH Foun
dation, comedian Bill Cosby and a
host of stars will pay their respects to
Rev. Jackson. PUSH officials hope
the affair, which will be held at the
Ambassador West Hotel will raise
$500,000 to help keep the
organization going.
Rev. Jackson said, “I have been
under a great deal of public pressure
for the past 20 years. My spirit is
great, but it’s time to step down.”
Rev. Jackson’s schedule is tight,
with speaking engagements across the
country being scheduled often for the
same days. He said he also does a
considerable amount of his work
while he’s flying.
Songwriter honors
Dr. Martin L. King
with nursery rhyme
Yesterday’s youngsters and today’s
tots are used to nursery rhymes with
make-believe heroes. The pictures in
children’s books usually show Jack
Sprat, Little Miss Muffett and their
friends as white.
Tomorrow’s pre-schoolers will
grow up chanting the story of “a
Georgia boy named Martin Luther
King,” if a Macon songwriter has his
way.
The fact that King was black and a
real person, unlike most nursery
rhyme characters, is precisely what
prompted Billy Young, founder of
the Martin Luther King Jr. Youth
and Adult Club, to compose a
musical poem for children about
King’s life.
“(Young children) can sing the
lyrics and not necessarily know what
they mean, but they will have subcon
sciously the story of Martin in their
hearts,” Young said. “They will
become curious about who they are
singing about. They will not grow up
with an early bias and can look at the
true picture of him.
“Here I sit at 41, and 1 can’t recall
having heard a rhyme about a black
individual,” he added.
Young recently recorded two ver
sions of his rhyme. One, with a quick
beat and hand-clapping, is for
children to sing along with. The
other, slower and accompanied by
organ music, is a spiritual.
Both versions made their public
debut on the 14th anniversary of
King’s assassination.
Young said he is negotiating to
have a record made of the tune. Once
he has the record, he plans to start
working on his goal: having the
rhyme taught in local schools, day
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Rev. Jesse Jackson
Asked if anybody else could take
his place, Rev. Jackson said, “We
have many Black talented men to
assume my role, but they would
assume it their way: their style would
be different but the substance would
be the same.”
To some, Rev. Jackson is a father
image; others think of him as a coun
try preacher. Others see him as an ac-
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Billy Young
care centers and Sunday schools. It
the rhyme becomes popular in
Macon, he hopes it could spread to
other cities.
The adults who have heard the
rhyme have approved, Young said.
Even better, the pre-schoolers to
whom he has sung the tune have
“responded immediately.”
Young said he has been writing and
performing songs for more than 20
years and has had about 65 songs
published. However, this is his first
musical nursery rhyme. Though the
target audience is different, the theme
is in keeping with other songs he has
written, songs about poverty, sickle
cell anemia and the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.
“I have to relate to life and the
issues facing us,” he said.
Black families
live below
poeverty level
Page 3
tivist. He said, “I’m many things to
many people, but I try to bring credit
to my race. I feel a keen sense of
responsibility to my people.”
Many people have walked across
the stage at PUSH, and they
vary—from former Vice President
Walter Mondale to Mayor Byrne to
members of the Congressional Black
Caucus to foreign dignitaries. Rev.
Jackson said that there were many
who thought they didn’t need PUSH
because they felt they were exempt.
“We need each other more today
than ever before. The class variations
among Blacks are deceptive. It gives
us the impression that we are in
dependent of each other. We have
Sugar Ray Leonard says boxing
establishment is against him
Welterweight boxing champion
Sugar Ray Leonard said in a Playboy
Interview that resentment from the
boxing establishment probably cost
him the decision in his first title fight
with Roberto Duran.
Leonard, who went on to defeat
Duran in a rematch in New Orleans in
November 1980, believes he should
have won the first Leonard-Duran
bout in Montreal in June 1980.
“Champions don’t lose close
fights, but that doesn’t seem to apply
to me,” Leonard says. “If Roberto
Duran had been the champion in our
first fight and we’d switched places,
he would have maintained his title; I
didn’t.”
According to Leonard, certain
members of the boxing heirarchy
want him to lose because he won’t
give promoters exclusive options on
his fights. He says that a young, low
income fighter “can wind up signing
his life away,” due to pressure from
promoters and managers.
“People in boxing don’t like to
hear me talk like that, and I think
HAWAIAN LUAU—Jack
and Jill, Inc. had its annual
luau at the Julian Smith
Casino.
Mrs. Norma Delley is
president of the local chapter.
Mrs. Mildred Kendrick is
chairperson of the Fund
Raising Committee.
Other committee members
are Betty Beard, Gloria
Cisrow, Majorie Evans, Betty
Walker, Eleanor Prince, Janet
Guyden, Arminta Frye, and
Juanita Mclntyre.
Songwriter nonui»
Dr. Martin. King
with nursery rhyme
Page 1
May 15, 1982
had the light-skinned class, the
fraternity class, the advanced degree
and straight hair classes. But whether
you have a PhD or no degree,
whether you work are on welfare,
all Blacks got out of slavery on the
same day.
“Many believed they didn’t need a
civil rights movement because at
given points of their lives they were
doing well in their class. But the class
limitation hit them square in the face
in spite of their merits, integrity and
their character, and they found they
still needed the Black masses.
“Today there are hospitals strikes,
teachers fired unjustly downtown,
and now they come to PUSH because
they’ve tried to get back at me for it,”
says the 25-year-old Olympic gold
medal winner.
Leonard says that following his vic
tory over Tommy Hearns last year, a
reporter asked one of the fight judges
why he had awarded high scores to
Hearns in the rounds that Leonard
had won convincingly. According to
the reporter, the judge replied,
“What’s the matter, is the little brat
complaining?”
“That tells me something,”
Leonard says. “I’ve got to go in there
and do a job early.”
Leonard says the first Duran fight
was the only time he has lost his com
posure during his professional career.
“I kind of lost perspective on the
fight,” Leonard says. “Some mem
bers of the press were saying 1
couldn’t take a punch, others were
saying that I couldn’t really deliver a
punch, and I just didn’t do what I
meant to do against Duran. 1 let it
become a macho thing...
“Duran always disturbs me,”
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Less than 75 percent Advertising
we get results. We provide an alter
native platform for Blacks’ positions.
According to Rev. Jackson, PUSH
is a “church in action, a social action
ministry where, through its Saturday
morning broadcast, its message is
heard over 500 radio stations. ”
Rev. Jackson said, “PUSH must
survive because the need is there and
getting stronger every day. If you
don’t think you need PUSH, just
keep living.”
Last year, PUSH voluntarily
decided to terminate its financial
relationship with the U.S. Gover
nment in terms of its Department of
Education grant for PUSH-EXCEL.
PUSH officials say they grew tired of
Leonard says. “He’s a bad man.
Duran thinks he owns the world and
that when he puts his foot down,
everything should come to a halt. The
guy is just weird”
Leonard says he does not believe
Duran retired from their second bout
because of stomach cramps. “1 think
Duran quit because he didn’t want me
to knock him out. He was frustrated
and being humiliated, and as the
rounds went on, I was getting closer
and closer to knocking him out.”
Leonard, who was honored as
Fighter of the Year by the New York
Boxing Writers Association on April
23, plans to fight four times a year.
His upcoming opponents, Terry Staf
ford (Buffalo, May 14) and Bruce
Finch, are suitable fighters, he says.
He wants his next title defenses to be
against lightweight champion Alexis
Arguello and WBC junior welter
weight champion Aaron Pryor.
“I’d love to get Pryor in the ring,”
Leonard says. “He’s tough, but his
mouth is heavier than his punches.”
*v.mer Augustan
to coach
at Idaho State
Page 3
various leaks and innuendos to the
press that they claim were made by
the government. Joe Gardner, vice
president for programs and
operations of PUSH, says many
times the Washington Post would get
information of audits to be conduc
ted on PUSH before PUSH knew
about it.
The PUSH-EXCEL 1981-82 grant
for $656,664 ended Feb. 8, 1982.
Gardner said, “Since we serve the
Black community, we feel they
should be our primary source of con
tributions. We don’t intend to rely on
the government for funding, not
when we are fighting for Black issues.
Our people will support our cause.”
Leonard is also pursuing mid
dleweight champion Marvin Hagler.
“I’d fight him only if he’d come
down to 154 pounds, and I think
that’s a fair compromise, because I’d
be meeting him halfway....So far he’s
said n0....1f it comes off, it’ll be one
of the biggest fights in history.”
Leonard does not think Muham
mad Ali has become a tragic figure.
“I still look at Ali as a great man and
a great champion. I think he’s a nice,
warm man, but he’s so sensitive to the
sport and to his own boxing accom
plishments that he wants to go a little
further,” Leonard says.
“Everybody probably has his own
goal going in his own fantasy world,
and 1 don’t know that Ali can achieve
his own fantasy, but in any case, I
just wish him luck,” Leonard says.
“Some may say that Ali’s on his last
legs, but he’s given us so much ex
citement over the years that if he wan
ts to do something he thinks he can
still do well, I think we owe him that
much respect.”
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