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The Augusta News-Review October 23,1982
The Augusta News-Review (usps 887 820)
Mallory K. Millender Editor Publisher
Paul Walker Assistant to the Publisher
Barbara Gordon Advertising Dir/Gen. Manager
Wanda Johnson Administrative Assistant
Alfredia Rodd Sales Representative
Yvonne Day Reporter
Rev. R.E. Donaldsonßeligion Editor
Mrs. Geneva Y. Gibson Church Coordinator
Charles Beale Jenkins County Correspondent
Mrs. Fannie Johnson Aiken County Correspondent
Mrs. Clara West McDuffie County Correspondent
Mrs. Ileen Buchanan Fashion & Beauty Editor
Roosevelt Green Columnist
Al IrbyColumnist
Mrs. Marian Waring Columnist
Philip Waring Columnist
Marva Stewart Columnist
Wilbert Allen Columnist
Carl McCoyEditorial Cartoonist
David DupreeSports Editor
Robert Caldwell Sports Editor
Olando HamlettPhotographer
Roscoe Williams Photographer
Mailing Address
80x2123
Augusta, Ga. 30903-2123
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PUBLISHERS. INC. Nat ioMl Advertising Representative ■■
Voice From The Wilderness
A in ’t my sister
by Marva Stewart
Hey black woman! You! That’s
right, the one over there who’s
nagging that man.
Let the man
alone. Hey sister,
for the following |ggE, w
reading moments,
shut up, listen,
and find out why W,
you should LOVE
and APPRECIATE
that black man:
If there has ever been another suf
fering servant, it has truly been the
poor maligned black American male.
From all sides and all angles, he’s
caught pure hell.
He’s caught it from those who
viewed him as an animal and a slave,
from those who knew better but op
pressed him anyway, and from those
black females who consciously or un
consciously adapted the enemy’s
mentality and inflicted
psychologically ego-deflating
punishment on the brother.
For those who see the black brother
as an animal and a slave, no amount
of logic and evidence will ever con
vince them otherwise. For one, these
folk are so blindly ruled by prejudice
that it would take the Second Coming
to convince them otherwise.
For another, these folk are afraid
that the supermacho myths about
black men are really true. To these
blind folk, I take pleasure in repor
ting that those myths are all true. My
black brother is definitely an excellent
lover. Not only that, I rate him ten
plus in all areas. For those who would
like to believe that the black man
abandoned his wife and ten children,
for the sake of argument let’s say he
did leave her. But she’s still smiling.
For those who deliberately op
pressed the black man, here are
several thoughts. The black male
knows through racial adversity, op
pression, and emasculinity that he
cannot afford to “let his guard
down.” Even if he seems to work at
the tortoise pace in an effort to keep
up with the rabbit oppresser, please
remember that in the end the tortoise
won.
The world system is transitory.
That which corrupts will, like Rome,
crumble and the black man will be
there to devise a new and fair world
system. Not wishful thinking on the
black brother’s part, but a fact.
For those black sisters who con
stantly belittle and downplay the im
portance of the black man, please
remember that when vou do this you
are aiding and abetting an evil and
oppressive system. You then become
From page 1
people
The charges Rev. Jackson and
Operation make—the crux of their
economic justice movement—is that
Anheuser-Busch does not come close
to doing 15 or 22 percent of its trade
with black people, or in the black
community. One of PUSH’S most
impressive fact deal with Anheuser-
Busch’s wholesale distributors, mere
are 950 of them; only one is blacks
Mayor Ford is joined on the
Anheuser-Busch negotiation team by
Rev. Jackson, himselt; the Rev.
B.W. Smith of Buffalo, chairman of
PUSH’S National Selective Patronage
Council; Congressman Walter Faun-
PUSH-Budweiser
Page 4
an agent and arm of the oppressor.
Exaggerations! By no means. Any
time a sister thwarts a black brother’s
progress, she’s a tool of the system.
How does she do this? Let me count
the ways:
For one, when she perpetuates the
myth that black men abandoned the
movement and his women during
the time for struggle, this ain’t com
pletely so. If the man wasn’t
VISIBLE it was not his doing. Let’s
remember lynching, bombings, forced
black male unemployment and
similar situations that apparently
rendered him helpless and invisible.
Some brothers helped their families
and friends from afar. Remember
everytime you utter this myth, you
make that black man feel very, very
uncomfortable.
Another way is the many times
some black women publicly and at
the expense of the black man’s pride,
echo the fact that they have top notch
jobs. Did you ever think that the
MAN gave you that job to halt the
advancement of the black man?
Think about it. The serpent got to
Adam through Eve.
The most damaging way is the way
black women unfairly nag black men
and unjustly compare them to other
men. Before the poor black man can
open the door or cook dinner, you
berate his manhood.
One reason brothers don’t do as
much as they can is that sisters are
going to find fault with them anyway.
For one, black women ought to
stroke their men’s egos and let them
know that they appreciate them in
spite of the false image the enemy has
tried to create.
Sisters, when you look at your
black man, examine him closely. See
his hidden pain. Realize that he has
undergone a lot for YOU. Appreciate
his many years of struggle and
sacrifice.
If he rejects you for other women,
is he rejecting you because when he
wants love he gets yells? Or when he
wants understanding, he gets
criticism? Or when he wants to feel
like a natural man, you make him feel
like a natural boy?
Sisters, our most precious com
modity is the black man. Treat him
like an African King. Give him love,
respect, and ego-strokes from time to
time. The black man is our lion, our
Zeus, our hope. Sisters, ask what you
can do to help a brother, not hinder
him.
What can a black man become?
With a sister’s support, he can go
from the scrawniest under-developed
ego to the super-supra macho king
that he deserves to be.
troy, chairman of the Congressional
Black Congress; Maryland State
Senator Clarence Mitchell, chairman
of the National Conference of Black
State Legislators; Mayor Richard
Hatcher of Gary, Indiana; Ms. Addie
Wyatt, international vice-president of
the United Food and Commerical
Workers Unit; the Rev. Garnett
Hennings, president of PUSH St.
Louis; The Rev. George E. Riddick,
PUSH vice-president-at-large; and
The Rev. Willie Barrow, PUSH
special assistant to the president.
“By refusing to meet,” Rev.
Jackson said, “August Busch 111 has,
in effect, rejected this body of
distinguished Americans.”
don’t think of it as
being UNEMPLOYED...
THINK OF IT AS BEING
ON VACATION/
/ ' _
A- 4-( BLACK RESOURCES INC.
To Be Equal
Black voting power
by John E. Jacob
The black vote has been described
as a “sleeping giant” whenever elec
are the tOpiC
of discussion. It’s I
time for that
sleeping giant to W
wake ■
There is no task
of greater im-1
mediate impor- fw
tance for the jhgfl
black community
than the job of getting every eligible
voter registered and voting. That is
especially important in 1982 for a
number of reasons.
First, a strong black voter turnout
in this November’s elections will send
a powerful message to leaders of both
parties that they’ll have to adjust
their policies to attract black voters in
1984. That crucial Presidential race
effectively begins the day after this
year’s election.
Second, the stakes are high in 1982.
Every member of the House of
Representatives, a third of the Senate
and many governor’s offices are on
the block.
Third, this year’s vote is being seen
as an indication of America’s accep
tance of current policies of both par
ties. Observers will be reading the
results for signs of the political costs
of high unemployment, rising pover
ty and shrinking government.
The black vote takes on greater im
portance as the media and the
politicians scan it for signs of apathy
or activism.
Fourth, new coalitions are
Walking With Dignity
South Africa and Zambia talk
by Al Irby
Talks between South Africa and
Zambia are expected to produce more
symbolism than
substance.
BUT EVEN I
TALK IS GOOD:
So, the mere I
opening of a top- mm» *
level dialogue I
between a black I
African “fron- ’ .
tline” state and
the white minority
government of South Africa—the fir
st since 1975—is seen as potentially
important in southern Africa. For
South African Prime Minister Pieter
W. Botha the meeting at the South
African Botswana border offers a
welcome opportunity to step into the
role of statesman amid mountain
domestic political problems.
BOTHA MAY SUFFER FOR
THIS: A pending plan for “power
sharing” with “nonwhites” has
created a right-wing backlash against
Mr. Botha’s government. Besides
boosting his standing at home, Mr.
Botha’s meeting with Zambian
President Kenneth Kaunda may
provide South Africa a chance to
demonstrate that it seeks to play a
emerging between blacks, other
minorities, women and labor. The
black influence on those coalitions
directly depends on demonstrating
power at the polls.
Finally, whatever the election
results, the policy cards are in for
reshuffling. Big decisions are waiting
to be made—on future budgets, the
fate of domestic programs, New
Federalism, social security, and
others. The bigger the black vote, the
better chance blacks have of being at
the table when the cards are cut.
The stumbling block to higher
levels of black voter participation has
always been apathy due to feelings of
powerlessness and the realities of
poverty. Many people feel their vote
doesn’t count, and many others are
simply too busy with the daily
struggle to survive to participate in
the electoral process.
But powerlessness and poverty are
the reasons why all eligible black
people should register and vote. A
large black vote means political
power, along with the opportunity to
do something about changing policies
that lead to poverty and unem
ployment.
A recent study by the Joint Center
for Political Studies shows that
blacks make up twenty percent or
more of the population of 86
congressional districts. That means
high black voter turnout can deter
mine the outcome of those races.
Sixty of those districts are in the
South, the cradle of the New Right.
In twenty of those districts, the Joint
Center finds that the current
constructive role in the subcontinent,
contrary to repeated charges by
neighboring black states that it is a
source of deliberate instability.
“South Africa sincerely desires to
get away from the image that it is
trying to destabilize its neighbors,”
John Barratt of the South African
Institute of International Affairs
says. Analysts say such a display
would be particularly welcomed by
the United States as a sign that its
“constructive engagement” policy
toward Pretoria is paying dividends.
For President Kaunda, who an
swered the invitation, the talks, the
exercise could reassert a new leader
ship role in southern Africa—a role
analysts agree has slipped in recent
years.
A FRONT-LINE APPROACH:
Diplomatic sources in Lusaka say Mr.
Kaunda is sincere in accepting the
chance for a meeting to address what
he described as “potentially ex
plosive” developments in southern
Africa. The most “explosive”
development at the moment may be
the border war in Namibia
(Southwest Africa).
President Kaunda could be looking
to play a more active role in that
representatives have voting records
opposed to the sentiments of the
majority of black people. In many
other districts, the incumbents’
records demonstrate varying degrees
of indifference to black interests.
Congressmen—and local officials
too—can ignore black interests
because the black voter turnout in their
districts is so low they can win
without black votes.
It’s up to black voters to teach
them that this view is mistaken. If a
few representatives from districts
with significant numbers of black
voters lose their jobs this November,
it could have a very healthy effect on
the thinking of their colleagues.
But it is not enough simply to talk
about the importance of the black
vote. Each and every black person
has a responsibility for maximizing
that vote and the power that flows
from it.
We can begin at home, by making
voter registration and voting a family
project. And just as every adult has to
take his or her citizenship respon
sibilities seriously, so too should each
parent make sure that the family’s
young people are taught the impor
tance of voting. Less than 40 percent
of black youth 18 to 24 register, so we
will never have enough political clout
unless we get those young people to
the polls.
There’s a lot more that can be done
and is being done by black com
munities to increase the black vote,
and all blacks should take part in
those efforts.
issue. Indeed, President Kaunda
recently met with Sam Nujoma,
leader of (SWAPO), the South West
Africa People’s Organization—me
black nationalist group fighting
South Africa for Namibian indepen
dence. SWAPO maintains some bases
in Zambia, and that government has
accused South Africa of cross-border
incursions. “Zambia is deeply con
cerned with the instability in Namibia
and Angola, and they see the
situation worsening,” says Richard
Cornwell of the Africa Institue.
Mr. Cornwell is the leading black
member of the Institue. Recently
back from a trip to Zambia, Mr.
Cornwell says the Zambian economy
is on a downward spiral due to low
copper prices. The nation’s economic
woes are worsened by Angolan
refugees displaced by on-going
fighting between the Angolan gover
nment and Jonas Savimbi’s National
Union for the Total Independence of
Angola (UNITA). This group is
backed and financed by South
Africa. From Zambia’s point of view,
South Africa directly influences the
situation in Angola by its alleged
support of UNITA and its military
excursions after SWAPO troops.
Going Places
Street changes
would honor
Georgians
by Philip Waring
The recently released guide book
on how to redevelop Augusta,
suggested among other courses, that
citizens give imput on Augusta’s rich
historical back
ground.
Our Augusta 9
Black
Committee (ABHQ A
wishes to submit al
recommendation to
the mayor and
city council. This W
move would change the name of Pine
Street to “R.A. Dent Street”,
Magnolia Street to “Lewis Newman
Street” and 12th Street to “Dr. Mar
tin Luther King Jr. Street.”
We feel this would show that
Augusta is big, broad and understan
ds its rich historical legacy. The
tremendous news coverage both at his
recent funeral ceremonies as well as
last spring’s farewell program
establishes the late State Rep. R.A.
“Papa” Dent as one of the great
public servants of this era.
Earlier this year at his January 4th
inauguration, Mayor Edward Mcln
tyre praised former mayor Lewis
Newman as “one whose outstanding
and faithful service and leadership
during his three administrations
helped bring Augusta forward to new
heights as a growing and progressive
city.” Incidentally, Magnolia Street is
a beautiful street adjacent to the for
mer Uptown U.S. Veteran’s Ad
ministration facility off Wrightsboro
Road and Daniel Airport.
The late Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. is the only Nobel Award recipient
from the state of Georgia. Further
more his portrait has been hung in the
capitol building in Atlanta. His
statute is being place among those of
other prominent Americans in the
federal capitol building in
Washington, D.C. Hundreds of
streets, schools, parks, museums,
hospitals, etc. have been officially
named for Dr. King throughout
America. He was the recipient of
more than 100 honorary degrees from
American colleges and universities.
He was awarded the Spingarm
Medal by the NAACP. In Macon,
earlier this year, at Mercer University
all seven candidates for governor,
both Democratic and Republican,
publicly praised Dr. King and hoped
for a Martin Luther King Holiday.
Just recently in Augusta both Rep.
Joe Frank Harris and his opponent
Senator Bell said that they’d plug for
a holiday in his name. Dr. King
visited and spoke in Augusta during
the 19605, and also attended
Morehouse with Augustans, so why
not memoralize him like other cities,
states and the federal government?
How good it would be for Taber
nacle Baptist Church (where Mr.
Dent was a member for over 65 years)
to sponsor the name change for him?
And why not historic Springfield
Baptist Church (where Morehouse
had its beginning) and the current
Augusta Morehouse College Alumni
to do the same for Dr. King) Or is this
all too rich for the blood?
I am sure that there are many ser
vice clubs, religious and civic groups
who would examine and push for
ward as well deserved honor for
mayor Lewis “Pop” Newman.
Past History Brought Up To Date
One of the accomplishments at the
recent NAACP Georgia State Con
ference here in Augusta was the
presentation of the first Alline Green
Award to a distinguished educator,
Mrs. Viola Elam. This award will be
financed each year by Ms. Green’s
niece, Mrs. Christine Dent Timmons,
who is also a long-time teacher and
church leader.
Our Augusta Black History Com
mittee completed the research on Ms.
Green’s leadership with the NAACP
during the 19505, and it was accepted
by the local branch. Another bit of
historical research was approved:
That Lucy Craft Laney, was the prin
cipal co-founder of the branch in
1917, and hence its “Mother.” We
have therefore utilized the Green and
Laney cases to bring legendary past
Augusta Black History up to date for
use in the 1980 s. And thanks to all
who assisted us in digging out this in
formation.