Newspaper Page Text
Black school
trustees consider
neighborhood plan
Page 3
SI,E Augusta ■Nma-ffiteutm
Volume 13 Number 5
$2.3 million supplement
Funds could reduce deficit?
Miss Omega
Eula F. Chestnut, a
physical education
teacher at Wilkinson
Gardens Elementary
School, was recently
crowned “Miss Omega,
1983” at ceremonies held
at the annual Mardi Gras
dance of Psi Omega
chapter of Omega Psi Phi
Fraternity, Inc.
Janice D. Evans, a nur
sing student at Augusta
area Technical School,
was first runner-up.
League gives Mattingly,
Barnard low ratings
The League of Women Voters of
the United States last week
released its political accountability
ratings (PAR) for Senate and
House members based on their
voting records during the first and
second sessions of the 97th
Congress.
Ten Representatives and nine
senators had PAR ratings of 100
percent.
Four of Georgia’s represen
tatives scored more than 50 per
cent. Senators Sam Nunn and
Mack Mattingly scored 67 percent
and 25 percent, respectively.
Congressman D. Douglas Bar
nard scored a 30.
Members of Congress were rated
according to their votes on 12
selected issues of concern to the
League. These include voting
rights, social programs spending,
Epton, supporters responsible for racist campaign
By Mike Royko
(From the Chicago Sun Times)
As his campaign was ending,
Bernard Epton decided to place the
blame for the nastiness in this elec
tion on that favorite whipping boy
of second-rate politicians, “the
media.”
Epton can now add hypocrisy to
his other noticeable flaws.
There’s no question about it, this
has been the lowest, dirtiest
political campaign in Chicago sin
ce before most of us were born.
But who decided it should be
that way?
If you look at the record, 90 per
cent of the dirt came out of Epton,
his staff and some of his supporters.
The tone of the campaign was
set way back in the opening
minutes of the debate.
That’s when Epton decided that
his long-range strategy was not to
talk about specific issues concer
ning the future of this city and how
he would deal with them.
He went right for Harold
Washington’s throat by bringing
up Washington’s tax conviction
and waving around that bloated
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foreign aid, busing, food stamps,
education funding, environmental
funding, domestic content, hazar
dous waste, and resource conser
vation.
In announcing the new PAR
ratings, Pat Marcus, president of
the League of Women Voters of
the Augusta area said, “The
League takes political action to
achieve specific legislative goals.
The fact that the League takes
positions on issues in no way affec
ts its nonpartisanship; we neither
support or oppose political parties
or candidates. To lobby effec
tively, we need a clear measure of
where each member of Congress
stands on issues we consider
critical. PAR ratings provide us
with this important lobbying
tool.”
Ms. Marcus said that the League
rates each member of Congress
black book of Washington’s
alleged financial sins.
Epton was saying, in effect, that
the issue in this campaign was
going to be Washington himself.
After that, there was no way
that the campaign could be
anything but personal. And when
campaigns become personal, they
inevitably become dirty.
Hammering at Washington
became Epton’s strategy, and it
was clear to his supporters that
they should follow the leader.
So the “media,” as Epton
describes it, didn’t decide on the
tone of the campaign.
Epton did.
It wasn’t the “media” that
distributed racist campaign
literature all over the white areas
of this city that included such
things as a new city seal.
You might have seen the city
seal. It was especially popular in
Chicago’s police stations, wnere
Black cops shook their heads and
gritted their teeth.
Instead of Chicago, the seal
said: “Chicongo.” It featured a
pair of thick lips; a slice of water-
Barnard,
Mattingly get
low ratings
Page 1
George Brown,
A.K. Hasan
disagree
State Rep. George Brown said
this week that the Richmond
County Board of Education has a
$2.3 million state supplement that
could be used to reduce the projec
ted $6.8 million deficit, but the
money apparently will not be used
for that purpose.
Brown told the News-Review
that the school board has not
trimmed administrative fat, and
that he does not believe that it is
necessary to layoff a projected 140
teachers.
The $2.3 million state sup
plement can be used as a tax
rollback or for educational
in enrichment.
School board President A.K.
Hasan said the funds were an
ticipated and that the board has
received the supplement for several
see, Brown, Hasan, page 3
twice. In the first rating, PAR-one,
an absence or failure to announce
or pair is considered a negative fac
tor and negatively affects the
rating. In the second, Par-two, the
rating is based on actual votes cast
for or against the League’s
position.
“We use the dual rating system
because we realize that there may
be unavoidable and legitimate
reasons for a member’s failure to
vote,” she said.
“It is also necessary, because if
only the recorded votes were coun
ted, a legislator would score 100
percent merely by voting ‘with the
League’ on one issue and failing to
vote on any other issue.”
League members in more than
1200 state and local leagues across
the country determine positions af
ter studying the issues and
developing a national consensus.
melon described as “the
traditional staple of the new ethnic
order”; a slab of ribs, and a motto
that consisted of “Say what?”
which was described as a
traditional ethnic response to
almost every question.
Nor was it the “media” that
distributed an “application for
employment to Harold
Washington’s staff.”
The “application” contained
such questions as:
“Name of muva.”
“Marital Status: Common
law... Shacked up...”
“Place of Birth: Charity
Hospital... Cotton Patch... Back
A11ey...”
“How many words do you jive a
minute?”
“Check machines you can
operate: Crow bar? Pinball?
Straight razor? Record player?”
“Auto: Financed? Stolen? If
financed, repossession date?”
“How many children do you
have? First wife? Second wife?
Third wife? Neighbor’s wife?
Shack up?”
Then there was the handbill,
Epton said
responsible for
racist camp:
Page 1
May 14,1983
Black presidents Why not?
By Charles G. Adams
A sage once suggested that there
are two kinds of people in the
world: those who look at things as
they are and ask, “Why?” and
those who dream of things that
have never happened and ask,
“Why not?” The more I dream of
things that have never happened
and ask, “Why not?” The more I
dream of a Black presidential can
didate, the more I ask, “Why
not?”
According to a recent nation
wide poll, 77 percent of the elector
ate would vote for a Black
presidential candidate; 79 percent
would vote for a Jewish presiden
tial candidate; 68 percent would
vote for a woman presidential can
didate. Though my most astute
political consultants doubt the
authenticity of this poll, I contend
that the time has come for a
serious Black candidate for the
presidency.
It’s a copout to assume at the
outset that a Black candidate can’t
win the election. That has been
said about every Black person who
ever ran for anything. For a white
person to say the Blacks can’t win
is to deciare that white racism is
impervious and absolute. Such is
not the case.
There are pragmatic con
siderations and ethical persuasions
which can break through the
seemingly concrete wall of racist
exclusion. Did not Edward Brooke
become a Black U.S. Senator from
Massachusetts, running on the
Republican ticket? Whites must
come to terms with the
revitalization that the wall of
racism is not impregnable
Blacks who say that a Black
candidate can’t win are deceived
into believing that the can
didate has nothing to run on but
his or her race. Blacks have other
assets that make them attractive
contenders for high political of
fice. We have a history of suffering
which we have appropriated for
the general good. We have suf
fered bigotry too much to practice
it; we have withstood racist ex
clusion too long to mimic
systematic, categorical racist ex
clusion.
When we are elected to positions
of power, we share equally and
evenly with our White constituen-
found all over the North Side, that
asked these questions:
“Will the new fire commissioner
be Richard Pryor?”
“Will they put basketball hoops
on the Picasso?”
“Will Water Tower Place be
renamed Watermellon Place?”
“Will the CTA be renamed Soul
Train?”
The “media” didn’t pass that
trash around. Yet, Epton sounded
angrier when sputtering about
reporters who were trying to cover
the facts of the campaign than he
ever did when he talked about this
king of material.
I don’t recall Epton ever saying
that authors of the racist literature
should “go back to Russia,” as he
did to a reporter who asked him a
question he didn’t want to answer.
And it wasn’t the media who
handed out the raving handbill
that said:
“You, a white person, don’t
dare walk the streets or ride in the
downtown area. Your car will be
stoned. You will be robbed or
killed, white women will be raped.
Less than 75 percent Advertising
ts, extending the hand of frien
dship and cooperation. Our suf
fering, and the way we have
responded to it, has given us moral
authority to advocate fair play
openness and justice in political
conduct.
We are also an intelligent and
astute people. Coleman Young,
Maynard Jackson, and Thomas
Bradley are examples of keen,
quick human intelligence. Mayor
Coleman Young literally turned
Detroit around. Never before 1980
had a major political party chosen
Detroit for its national convention.
Never before 1981 had a mayor
convinced his constituents to tax
themselves deeply rather than to
fall into bankruptcy.
Mayor Jackson builded the
busiest, finest airport in America,
and insisted on fair ethnic and
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Dr. Charles Adams
racial participation on every level
of planning, construction, and
operation. Thomas Bradley suc
ceeds as mayor of Los Angeles not
because he is Black , but because
he is capable and intelligent.
So it is high time to contend for
the presidency because we are
capable. The wall of racism is not
made of concrete and the nation is
ready to rally behind the new,
refreshing politics that a Black
presidential candidate can inspire
and create.
Those who argue aginst a Black
candidate for president are saying
that Blacks have struggled too long
for the vote to waste it on a “sym
bolic candidacy.” Mayor Andrew
Young says that real politics is
With a Black police chief there will
be absolute chaos in the city.”
And there was the popular cam
paign button that showed only a
slice of watermelon with a Black
slash through it.
Those who called certain phone
numbers could get recorded
messages that talked about “spear
chuckers,” and Washington’s
plans for City Hall.
“Well, they gonna be lots of
changes. Harold done gonna make
it nicer to come down there, you
know. You’re gonna have a cut ’n
curl style salon, a barber shop, a
barbeque house, a roller disco and
show lounge in City Hall. You kin
come on down there and git
anythin’ you want and have a good
time.”
And T-shirts that said: “Vote
Right, Vote White.”
The “media” didn’t crank out
that stuff. And it wasn’t respon
sible for choosing Epton’s “Before
it’s too late,” slogan, which was
one of the more obvious racial
buzz-phrases I’ve ever heard.
The press in this city would have
Paine gets
$150,000
more effective than symbolic
politics or play politics. He says
that the best way to win real
benefits from the White House in
1984 is to commit early to a White
candidate’s campaign, stick by him
and eventually go with him to
Washington.
But that’s what we’ve been
doing all the time. Barbara Jordon
did it in 1976 but still she did not
become the first Black U.S. attor
ney general. Andrew Young did it
but still received only a minor,
symbolic role in the Carter ad
ministration and was even relieved
of that when the Jews pressed Car
ter to fire him because he dared to
talk with a representative of the
PLO. Black Democratic loyalists
have not been adequately and suf
ficiently rewarded for their loyalty.
Too often we have been exploited
and then discarded.
The present Democratic
Congressional leadership has not
taken seriously the national budget
submitted by the Congressional
Black Caucus. Also the
Democratic National Committee
bypassed Detroit, the largest
majority Black city that the seriously
invited the Democratic conven
tional tor 1984. It has also been
charged that the Democrats have
not placed sufficient emphasis on
voter registration drives. When are
we going to get tired of being
short-changed?
It is time to get serious about a
strong Black Democratic candidate
for President. Jesse Jackson says,
“The primaries are like the regular
season, and the Democratic Con
vention is like the Super Bowl. If
you go to the Super Bowl and have
not played in the regular season,
the best you can get is a ticket to sit
in the stands. You can’t get on the
field.” How true! If Blacks go to
San Francisco without having
fielded their own candidate during
the primary, the best we can hope
for is a chance to whisper and pass
notes behind the curtain. We will
not take a seat on the stage and
debate the great issues of the day.
Jesse Jackson is right in saying
that Blacks were in the “kitchen
cabinet” 50 years ago. And 50
years later we don’t have to remain
in the kitchen, peeping through the
cracks at the main proceedings.
see President, page 3
been content to cover the issues, if
Epton had decided that the cam
paign should be based on issues.
But he didn’t. He or his staff
decided that his only hope of win
ning was to make it a campaign
based on personal attack. And that
was what encouraged the dank
minds to take it a few steps further
to outright racism.
Os course, one can argue that
Epton didn’t have much choice.
What else did he have going for
himself? His charisma? His
Republican Party affiliation? His
grand plans for Chicago?
All he had was a target in
Washington, and hordes of
backers who were eager to join in.
So it’s a little late for Epton to
look for someone else to blame.
And he’s not very persuasive
when he says that, gee, gosh, he
can’t be responsible for what a lot
of other grungy-minded people
have said or done.
He should remember the old
saying:
“When you lie down with dogs,
you get up with fleas.”