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The Augusta News-Review November 6,1982 The Augusta News-Review (usps 887 820) Mallory K. MillenderEditor 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. Donaldson Religion Editor Mrs. Geneva Y. Gibson Church Coordinator Charles Beale Jenkins County Correspondent Mrs. Fannie Johnson Aiken County Correspondent Mrs. Clara WestMcDuffie County Correspondent Mrs. Been Buchanan Fashion & Beauty Editor Roosevelt Green'• Columnist A] i r byColumnist Mrs. Marian Waring Columnist Philip Waring Columnist Marva Stewart Columnist Wilbert Allen Columnist Carl McCoyEditorial Cartoonist David Dupree Sports Editor Robert Caldwell Sports Editor Olando Hamlett Photographer Roscoe Williams Photographer Mailing Address Box 2123 Augusta, Ga. 30903-2123 Second Class Postage Paid AMALGAMATED Published Weekly Jfc"j PUBLISHERS, INC. National Advertising Representative Reagan owes explanation (From the Atlanta Constitution) The U.S. Civil Rights Commission, the agency charged with protecting the basic constitutional rights of American citizens, has asked President Reagan and the Justice Department for “clarification” of administration policies. Has there been a realignment of priorities? CRC chief Clarence Pendleton wants to know. Other minority advocates have not been so polite, blasting the White House for “gutting” 20 years of progress in the area of civil rights. So, far Reagan’s only response has been to dismiss the criticism as “baloney,” and attack the policies of his predecessors. But his record in office does suggest a disturbing tendency to reject, “reinterpret” and retreat from the unambiguous policies of Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter. During Reagan s first 33 months in office, his administration has: • Fired Arhtur Fleming, the respec ted and conscientious Republican who had chaired the Civil Rights Commission since 1974. • Delayed testimony on, and then given only lukewarm support to, ex tension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. • Canceled an administrative rule denying tax exemptions to private schools that discriminate. • Nominated a patently unqualified man, who had himself been employed only sporadically, to head the Equal Employment Opportunity Com mission. • Ordered a “regulatory relief review of enforcement of laws requiring equal opportunity in education. • Ruled that “intent” (notoriously unprovable) rather than results should be used to show whether school segregation is deliberate. • Reinterpreted laws that prohibit discrimination in any federally finan ced programs or activities, so as to View From Capitol Hill U.S. complicity in Lebanon by Gus Savage In response to the massacre of more than 1,000 defenseless Palestinians in the refugee camps at Sabra and Chatila, on the outskirts of Beirut, President Reagan ordered U.S. troops to return to Beirut, with French and Italian peacekeeping soldiers, to en courage the Israeli army to withdraw. According to generally accepted reports, Israelis invaded the West sec tion of this capital city of Lebanon, contrary to its agreement which secured the witnarawal of Flu for ces, and with Cabinet approval per mitted Israeli equipped and trained “Lebanese militiamen” to travel the some 35 miles from the Lebanese- Israeli border and enter the camps with knowledge of their intent for a murderous rampage which lasted more than 36 hours. According to a Los Angeles Times report, Israeli soldiers “ringed the camps with armour and sealed off all escape routes. The uninformed (Lebanese) militiamen wore Israeli free those receiving “indirect” U.S. aid from compliance with provisions of the Civil Rights Act. * Maintained that judges should not remedy proven discrimination by buying, numerical goals and timetables or continuing review. * Asked a court to stop mandatory busing in St. Louis. ’ Switched sides in a Washington state case, telling the Supreme Court that the federal government no longer believed that a state anti-busing law was unconstitutional. * Declined to pursue a cross-district school busing case in Houston. * Attempted to overthrow a school desegregation busing plan in Baton Rouge, La. * Approved a school desegregation plan for Chicago that it had rejected a month earlier as incomplete. • Eliminated what it called “quota requirements” in a Carter ad ministration consent agreement on federal hiring pracitces. * Left the post of director of the Labor Department Women’s Bureau vacant for months, because it couldn’t find a qualified female executive who would oppose the Equal Rights Amendment. * Killed a federal ban on hair and dress codes that have been used by some schools tq discourage attendan ce by blacks. * Proposed to strip the Education Department of all civil rights enfor cement powers and ban the Justice Department from seeking to impose racial quotas on colleges accused of discrimination. This list is by no means complete, but you get the idea. A clarification from President Reagan is not merely advisable. It’s long overdue. The American people want to know whether these shifts were instigated by their president—or by a bureaucracy left leaderless and out of control, in which case Reagan has an obligation to take control and restore order. helmets, were armed with Israeli guns and were taking orders from the Israelis... Entire families were slain... Mothers died clutching their babies... All men appeared to be shot in the back... Israeli soldiers stationed less than 100 yards away did not respond to the sound of constant gunfire or the sight of truck loads of bodies being taken away from the camps.” The assassinated Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel and Israeli Defense Mininster Ariel Sharon had previously indicated their intent to “eliminate” the remaining PLO supporters. An on-the scene UPI report moaned, “Some looked no older than 6 or 7... They were murdered... Everyone who was in the camp when the killers moved through was simply mowed down... in civilian clothes... They were victims of pure hatred.” This is one time that I substantially agree with the Reagan Ad ministration’s reaction. However, it should have been taken as part of a United Nations force in order to reduce its risks, to increase its stability, and in respect for existing 2ast-West world differences. Indeed, our government should see Capitol Hill page 5 • jHBk MH W'-rl’l Page 4 WILL YOU TEACH ME HOM) TO "GET DOWN"? BRANDOIJ. JR. | n—RESOURCES INC. To Be Equal_ Which way for the economy? by John E. Jacob The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul A. Volcker, recently Eli announced a shift in the Fed’s policy that many believe means an end to the tight money policy that has strangled the economy. The Fed can loosen the strings now, Volcker said, because the back of inflation has been broken. I suspect there is another reason. The tight money noose may have helped cut the inflation rate but it has also inflicted such terrible damage on the economy that policymakers decided to change course before disaster overwhelms us. Everyone knows how bad inflation is; there has been no way to escape the sermons on its evils for years. It is true that inflation was ruining the economy and eroding working people’s incomes. And it is true that a large part of our current problems can be traced to the high inflation rates of the 1970 s and early 1980 s. But sometimes the medicine is more dangerous than the disease. That’s certainly the case with the tight money medicine. The prescription of high unemployment for an inflation ridden economy promises a different kind of illness, not a cure. Exchanging double-digit unem ployment for double-digit inflation is no bargain. In fact, it is even worse for the economy. Walking With Dignity Attorney opposes Bob Jones University by Al Irby The United States Supreme Court, which has shown itself in recent years to be as liberal on First Amendment questions as it is conservative on criminal issues, opened its 1982-83 term last month. The already crowded argu mentative scheduled which faces the justices with a batch of tough ones. It will contain a large number of cases in two areas of the law, providing the court ample opportunity to continue or reverse its recent trends. Over the last dozen years, the Burger court has enlarged the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, a free press, and freedom of religion in a number of different directions. The First Amendment guarantee of freedom of expression now includes a candidate’s right to spend freely to win election, the right of citizens and newsmen to attend criminal trials, etc. An unusual pair of cases that in terest blacks and other minorities leads the list of First Amendment issues before the court this term. On Tuesday Oct. 12, the court heard arguments in Bob Jones Inflation could have been curbed without throwing us into a Depression. It may have taken longer, but the cost would have been more manageable. For one thing, the costs could have been spread more equitably. Since everyone was hurt by inflation, everyone would have been asked to make sacrifices. By choosing the high unem ployment route out of inflation, the burdens weren’t shared. They were concentrated among certain sectors of the economy. Industries like housing and autos were put through the cruncher. Worse, it was the most vulnerable individuals and families—minorities, unskilled workers, young people—who paid the highest price. They were singled out for high unem ployment while others reaped the benefits of lower inflation. Construction workers and blue collar workers had double-digit unemployment long before more af fluent occupations felt the pinch. And black joblessness was in the double-digit range for many years without anyone showing much con cern. And whatever harm inflation caused the total economy, high unemployment means over S3OO billion a year is lost in goods and ser vices that might otherwise have been produced. That’s quite a bill, and it will be paid far into the future since we have shrunk our economic base by that University v. United States and Gold sboro Christian Schools v. United States. Os course the latter statements are glaring misnomers, because the Justice Department is on the side of these two schools. The High Court went outside and hired a top-notch black attorney to argue the invisible government’s side. These schools argue that by denying them tax-exempt status, which most schools enjoy, the gover nment has unconstitutionally penalized them for following their religious beliefs. Both schools discriminate against blacks, arguing that this policy is dictated by their religious beliefs. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) based its denial of tax-favored status on this policy, which runs counter to the national policy disfavoring such discrimination. The Reagan administration abandoned the IRS, stating that unless Congress authorized the IRS to deny tax exempt status for these cases the IRS was not authorized to refuse it to otherwise qualified schools. Since the Reagan administration would no longer defend the IRS policy, the justices took the unusual step in appointing a nongovernment lawyer to argue the IRS case. Black William T. Coleman, for- amount. The lost jobs, lost oppor tunities, and our weakened position in foreign markets amount to a per manent wound inflicted by a mistaken policy. Now, with lower interest rates, there is some hope for recovery. But that recovery will be short-lived and feeble unless we develop a full employment economy. And that means a Universal Em ployment and Training system that gives everyone a real job and real skills training opportunities. We have to face the fact that many jobs lost in the last decade will never come back—they are victims of technological change. We have to concentrate on creating the jobs of the future and giving people the skills to hold them. And that won’t happen through reliance on the free market or pushing for balanced budgets by cutting human resource investments. The way to balance the budget is to put people to work. By ending unem ployment eleven million people move off the unemployment rolls and onto the tax rolls. So while the inflation-fighters beat a retreat over a road littered with casualties from their tight-money policy, the next phase will be crucial. All signs point to a feeble economic recovery, when what Americans and a recession-ridden world need is a strong, sustained period of growth. And the way to inaugurate that is through a job and training system that gets people working and producing again. ■ merly transportation secretary m the I Ford cabinet and one of the nation’s i leading attorneys, will argue that the : justices should uphold as appropriate ’ the IRS denial of tax-exempt status to t these schools. To do otherwise, he i wrote in his brief to the High Court, • “would be utterly inconsistent with federal law and fundamental national r policy condemning racial discrimination in public and private ’ education.” r Coleman’s legal expertise made a . favorable impression upon many of . the justices. Justice Powell pushed Coleman for I clear guidelines. “Could the IRS make the same determination with respect to sex discrimination?” he * asked. “That would be more dis -1 ficult,” Coleman replied, adding, ' that he abhorred gender bias. 1 “Why?” persisted Powell. “We 1 didn’t fight a civil war over sex discrimination, snapped Coleman. 1 This was just an example of Attorney Coleman’s acumen. Coleman urged ’ the justices to go beyond the language 1 of the law to find its actual meaning. He argued that in writing the tax code, Congress had adopted the ; traditional view of charitable trusts, that has existed since 17th-century England, namely that all recognized charities must advance the common good of all people. Going Places New black Senators by Philip Waring The elections earlier this week highlights thrust of the quarterly meeting of the| Georgia Associa-! tion of Blackl Elected Officials! (GABEO) sched-i uled for Macon’sl Hilton Hotel this! weekend. Let’s* hope we’ll have \'W lr & &it on hand at least two new state senators—former Rep. Al Scott of Savannah and former Rep. David Scott of the Atlanta area —to join in with Senators Julian Bond and Horace Tate. This would be the largest delegation within that 56-member body since Reconstruction. May I ask black history buffs what happened to our black senators and state represen tatives in Georgia all at once during the late 1868 era? Redistricting has helped somewhat, but not enough. Thanks to the late and beloved Rep. R.A. Dent, we now have our second legislative district, and will be sending two of our own up to Atlanta in 1983. GABEO is composed of a fine cor ps of men and women who have to put aside their business, professional and civic duties to serve as elective or appointed public officials. Their in terest is enriching good governance in Georgia, with a special target on achieving long overdue fairness and equal opportunities on many fronts for black Georgians. As an example records of the U.S. Census reveal that there are some 29 rural Georgia counties with majority black populations but containing a very small handful of black county commissioners. Case histories show that many real barriers still exist. So there’s still need for GABEO, NAACP, ACUL, Voter Education Project, federal courts, SCLC, and white people of good will. Paine at its zenith While I’ve witnessed and par ticipated in numerous academic con vocations, graduations and formal programs, few can rival the year-long 1981-82 Paine Centennial. Although there were five major weekend programs during this period, it all en ded with the tremendous inauguration of Dr. William H. Harris. And what a ceremony. “Pomp and Circumstance’’ was at its zenith with representatives from some 60 different institutions, in cluding Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Hampton, Clark, and Morehouse, present in colorful academic garb. “A Celebration for Black Colleges’’ was the title of the inauguration section. Scholarly scien tist, Dr. Homer Nash, told of the need for minority experts in the physical sciences. Dr. Christopher Edley, head of the UNCF, in his ex cellent “Springboard for the Future of Black Colleges”, reported how these institutions had greatly suc ceeded despite critics and numerous barriers. They were able to provide remidial training and then graduate students who were able to subsequently enter top flight graduate schools and various professions. He praised the accomplishments made at Paine College. Bishop Joseph Coles chronicled the role given by Bishop Lucius Holsey and the CME church 100 years ago. Former president E.C. Calhoun then presented Dr. Harris to trustee chair Dr. Dan Collins for induction. This was a most moving ceremony which had the 1,200 present standing in warm ovation. Dr. Harris accep ted, and challenged all present to assist in moving Paine to greater heights. He described the long and close bond between Paine College and Augusta-Richmond County. He fur ther highlighted the college trained hundreds’ of graduates now serving as local educators, ministers, and in other careers. He has some solid projections for the 1980 s. Many different persons served on various sectors of the Centennial committee. May I just mention two? One is the Rev. Luther Neal, trustee, honor graduate, retired Richmond public school teacher, former pastor of Trinity CME Church and now an eminent presiding elder for the Augusta district of the CME Church. He’s helped link the past and present. The other is a person Dr. Julius Scott, describe Charles Bellman as “one of the most efficient professional heads of any Chamber of Commerce in this nation.” He calls Bellman “a true see Going Places page 6