Newspaper Page Text
Department of
Justice viewed
as civil rights foe
Page 1
S1 " Augusta News-Ueuim
Volume 13 Number 9
‘Surplus teachers’ to be reassigned into non-certified areas
by Yvonne Day
Many Richmond County
educators including principals,
teachers and coaches are “surplus
personnel,” and must now teach in
areas in which they may not be cer
tified, according to Superintendent
JohnP. Strelec.
In three separate meetings on
Wednesday, Strelec told high
school, middle school and elemen
tary school personnel, “You are
not being rifted; you’re being
iransfered. You are not going to
lose your jobs and believe me,
Lowery ‘stirs up ’ Blacks
at mass meeting here
Dr. Joseph Lowery, national
president of SCLC, came to a mass
meeting at Mt. Calvary Baptist
Church Tuesday night to “stir up”
Blacks to register and vote. And if
he needed an example of the
power of the Black vote, Augusta
Mayor Edward M. Mclntyre
provided it.
Mclntyre entered the sanctuary
from the rear in the middle of
Lowery’s speech. Upon seeing the
mayor come in, the audience rose
and gave him a standing ovation.
When he came to the pulpit after
Lowery’s speech, he got another
standing ovation, and still another
after his own brief speech.
Lowery said that Black people
are the “new true” patriots of this
country. It was the Black voice and
conscience that called the nation
from slavery and an ungodly war
in Viet Nam.
“We love this nation so much
that we are not going to let it bathe
in the dirty water of discrimination
any longer.
“We must pull the plug at the
bottom of the tub and let the dirty
water out and turn on the fountain
of truth and justice, and let the
healing waters of liberty and equity
tlow down.”
J Justice Department
Old friend becomes new foe
WASHINGTON—Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
President Rev. Joseph E. Lowery
told Attorney General William
French Smith, in a closed meeting
here, that the Justice Department
is no longer considered the con
science of the nation.
1 Lowery said the Black com
•munity no longer perceives the
"Justice department as the guaran
tor of rights and the one depar
tment in the federal government
Cwe can turn to for protection.
I “We are witnessing a sad tran
sition,” he said, “an old friend
a new foe, a staunch ally
Emerging as a stubborn adversary.
’The Justice department has deser
ved the ship of advocacy and leaves
It'sinking in a sea of insidious in
sensitivity.”
« Lowery met with Smith for 35
Pninutes, and then separately for 45
Pninutes with Assistant Attorney
General William Bradford
Reynolds. After the meetings,
jd.owery said his concerns focused
[tn the non-enforcement of civil
Rights laws, the Reagan Ad-
Hunistration’s assault on affirmative
Potion and the desegregation process
Fi education, and voting rights
Violations.
k> Another priority on Lowery’s
PQenda was the escalating number
Pf Blacks and other minorities
Black church
opposes 15th St.
liquor license
Page 1
you’re lucky.”
The transfers represent an effort
to keep from firing 140 teachers
who might otherwise lose their
jobs due to the system’s budget
deficit.
As to where these more than 140
teachers will be placed, there is no
answer to that at present. “We’re
not going to have you be used like
a pawn. We (the central office) are
going to just place you all,” Strelec
said. “I’m sorry, but you have no
choice.”
Assistant Superintendent of Per-
- 'F
i Jh‘ ’1
'ACtk AB
Rev. Joseph Lowery
Lowery said that bumper
stickers that say “America: Love it
or leave it” are not patriotic. “We
love it so much that we won’t leave
it alone until it lives up to its noble
commitments of being the home of
the free and the home of the brave.
We’re going to love it until it stops
lying and embraces truth,”
Lowery said, adding, “That’s real
love.”
He called on Richmond Coun
tians to get stirred up to a new con-
killed and/or wounded by police
officials. Citing cases in Miami,
Montgomery . and Eufaula,
Alabama, he charged, “Everytime
an indictment is not brought
against police officials, con
tinuation of this kind of
brutalization is encouraged.” He
called for more aggressive
prosecution of other groups who
terrorize Blacks and minorities
(such as the KKK and NAZI
organization).
Reynolds has said he favors af
firmative action to recruit job ap
plicants from groups which have
been discriminated against and
Williams Memorial fights
15th Street liquor license
by Wanda Johnson
In spite of city council’s decision
to table a vote on the insurance of
a beer and liquor license on Fif
teenth Street, a neighborhood
church voiced its opposition to
license for Ren Ruts, 1602 Fifteen
th St.
Mrs. Margaret Armstrong, a
member of Williams Memorial
C.M.E. Church and head of the
Political Action Committee, said,
“There are too many licenses in
the neighborhood now.”
sonnel Dave Mack said that staff
reports based on seniority, cer
tification and racial composition
determine transfers within each
school.
Individual departmental tran
sfers were done with “the first
priority being seniority in the
county system,” Mack said.
The board’s financial problems
dictate that many teachers must
become more familiar with
background teaching areas, he
said. “If a teacher is not com
petent in his related areas, that’s
sciousness of the struggle. “Get up
off your seats of apathy. Stop sit
ting up whining about what you
haven’t got when you’re not using
what you have got.”
Lowery, who is heading up a
broad statewide coalition of
organizations seeking to register
the state’s 450,000 eligible but
unregistered Black voters, called
for total participation.
“This load is too heavy,” he
said, “for you to put it on a few of
us, and when we get over yonder,
you want to sit down and help en
joy the benefits of the struggle.”
He called on Blacks to stir up
their economic power and to sup
port Black institutions.
“Most of you in here haven’t
given anything to Paine College,
SCLC, the NAACP, PUSH and
too little to your church.”
He called for Black support of
Black businesses, and for white
businesses to reinvest in the Black
community. Citing a major food
chain with which SCLC has
reached agreement to reinvest in
the Black communities, he said,
“We told them, ‘Y’all got to in
clude us now or otherwise we are
going to have prayer meetings in
front of your cash registers.’ ”
back pay for specific victims of
discrimination.
However, he opposes quotas or
goals for either hiring or
promotion of members of a group
which has been discriminated
against, but who cannot show that
they specifically were victims of
discrimination.
Lowery said, “We are sharply at
odds on affirmative action, which
we feel is at the heart of efforts to
eliminate past inequities. You
can’t eliminate intentional
discrimination accidentally; you
have to be equally intentional in
removing the inequities.”
Mrs. Armstrong said establish
ments that sell alcoholic beverages
endanger the lives of the lives of
small children and adults that line
in Sunset Homes and other houses
in the community.
Mrs. Armstrong said, “you talk
about building Augusta back, who
wants to bring their children back
to neighborhoods where alcohol is
everywhere.
“If you as a council can’t bend
to the needs of the people, then let
the mayor run the city.”
Laney JROTC
completes it"
best year
Page 7
June 11,1983
their (school principals) problem,”
Mack said. “They (principals) will
have to make these adjustments,
and the teachers will have to bec
ome prepared,” he said.
Many members of this “transfer
pool” will be placed in teaching
areas that are not within their cer
tified areas. They will all be given a
probationary certificate allowing
them to teach during the 1983-84
school term.
After this nine-month period,
“You will be required to have ten
hours of credits toward cer-
- '• ? F'- . B
' F ■ J / | J
■
■ «& 11
V l iL l< 1 ,
• ▼ .W
T W
I A *
SEVENTH AVENUE RESIDENTS, armed with a petition, went before the Richmond
County Board of Commissioners Tuesday to request that their street be resurfaced.
Commission Chairman Bill Williams said that the matter is in the hands of the State
Department of Transportation, which will prioritize the list of approved streets.
Seventh Avenue is on the approved list, Williams said.
: - JgnKggHHH
DOLE SALUTES LENA HORNE—Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Hanford Dole
paid tribute to Lena Horne during a reception sponsored by the National Council of Negro
Women at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Calling Ms. Horne “a motivator,” Secretary Dole said, “As we move into the eighties, a
special sense of urgency compels women to participate in the pursuit of happiness and suc
cess.”
She also noted, with interest, that a woman was conducting the all-male orchestra perfor
ming in the show, “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music,” at the Warner Theatre prior to
the reception.
Dole, the first female secretary since the department was established, was sworn in early
this year as the eighth secretary of transportation.
Standing with Secretary Dole and Lena Horne is the NCNW’s top official, Dorothy
Height.
Black med-school
gets full
Less than 75 percent Advertising
tification in your new fields of
teaching, if you are going to con
tinue working in the field of
education,” Strelec told the
groups.
Strelec also advised high school
teachers to “get certified for
teaching in middle and elementary
schools.” He added, if you’re
staying in education, get all the
“aces” you can.
The single area within education
hardest hit is physical education.
Many coaches of high school spor
ts are being transfered and all will
find themselves teaching in their
minor fields or other related fields
of education.
Schools affected by the transfer
of P.E. teachers and coaches in
clude Laney (3), Glenn Hills (5),
Hephzibah (2), Richmond
Academy and Westside.
“My advice to P.E. teachers is
change your area of expertise. You
should take courses in math, scien
ce and language arts,” Strelec said.
“If you want to stay in cer
tification, you must take education
courses,” he said.
30c