Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

The Augusta News-Review August 13,1983 Mallory K. MillenderEditor-Publisher Paul Walker Assistant to the Publisher Wanda Johnson General Manager/Advertising Dir. Diane CarswellCirculation Manager Yvonne Dayßeporter Rev. R.E. Donaldsonßeligion Editor Mrs. Geneva Y. Gibson Church Coordinator Charles Beale Jenkins County Correspondent Mrs. Fannie Johnson Aiken County Correspondent Mrs. Clara WestMcDuffie County Correspondent Mrs. Ileen Buchanan Fashion & Beauty Editor Wilbert Allen Columnist Roosevelt Green Columnist Al IrbyColumnist Philip Waring Columnist Marva Stewart Columnist George Bailey Sports Writer Carl McCoyEditorial Cartoonist Olando HamlettPhotographer Roscoe Williams Photographer "THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW (USPS 887 820) is published weekly for sll per year in the county and sl2 per year out of the county. Second-class postage paid at Augusta, Ga. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW, P.O. Box 2123, Augusta, Ga. 30903-2123.” AMALGAMATED National Advertising Representative PUBLISHERS, INC. Walking With Dignity Jesse and PUSH by Al Irby “Run, Jesse, run! Run, Jesse, run!” This chant floated through the air at the W Peachtree Plaza as Operation PUSH (People - United to Save SaL Humanity) held aWk ’*** its 12th Nation al convention in good old Atlan- B ta, Georgia.” Convention leaders, most of them preachers, were addressing issues such as education, international affairs, economics, and jobs with words that had religious overtones and political implications. They stir delegates into a fervor in behalf of a Jesse Jackson for President movement. But at convention workshops, grass-roots inner-city delegates, most under age 35, are concentrat ing on. bread-and-butter topics. These delegates are pleading: “Save our children. Educate our children. Return to prayer.” They are more interested in discussing youth problems, jobs and education than a presidential campaign. The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, national president of Operation PUSH and the Black leader who traveled internationally to promote the launching of a Black presiden tial candidate, has so far refrained from declaring his candidacy., At the keynote address in Atlan ta, the noted “Country Preacher” tempered his usual emotional style with statements of policy that are required of a national leader. He discussed “a vision of a new course, a new coalition and a new leader ship.” In the workshops, people were speaking out on topics closer to home. “The more education Black parents get, the less they do with their children. I don’t understand that,” shouted Ollie Anderson from Chicago. She interrupted Alvin F. Poussaint, noted Harvard Black psychiatrist, when he said that he advised unmarried teen-age mothers to have their babies, but give them up for adoption. “These girls usually don’t know how to take care of a baby, don’t have any money or job to support a baby,” he said. “They will not complete their high school Civil Rights Journal Method in 'madness 9 by Charles Cobb The idea of a Black presidential candidate has captured the attent ion of a large ' - fl| number of Blacks and whites within * J> ; the nation. Many Blacks ■ say the isn’t right and . many whites say it is sheer mad ness. But Dick Gregory has said that if God came to earth and tur ned out to be Black, a lot Black people would say the time is not right. And to the sophisticated Page 4 education.” Mrs. Anderson responded, “Let’s get down to business. Children don’t know what they’re doing. We should teach our girls about sex.” Statistics show that ap proximately 50 percent of all births to unwed girls under age 19 are to Blacks. Shirley Roulhac-Lumpkin of Miami, who had her first child out of wedlock, said, “My parents didn’t teach me anything about relations with boys. They knew I wouldn’t get in trouble.” She said she got married and had more children, and she has gone back to school with them. She and one of her daughters finished college together and are studying for a master’s degree. “A lot of parents still have the problem like my mother,” Mrs. Roulhac-Lumpkin added, tney don’t know what to tell their children. In my community, I get the health center to lead discuss ions and teach young people about each other.” She says that she works in a drug and alcohol abuse program. Mrs. Anderson also talked about prayer: “They took religion out of the schools. Why don’t we tell our own kids about prayer? Why don’t we open our churches on Saturday and teach our kids about right and wrong? Other people talked about getting Black churches more in volved in community problems. Preachers are key leaders in the top PUSH project for youth, PUSH-EXCEL. This project helps potential dropouts and trouble makers, encouraging them to stay in school. It has received federal, state and local funds to work with school systems in several cities. Black colleges were discussed in various meetings. Speakers en couraged parents to send their children to Black colleges, alumni to send their money to Black schools, and white educators to recognize these colleges as the source of many of the nation’s Black achievers. At a preconvention meeting, Black students were encouraged to participate in voter registration campaigns on the campuses and in the surrounding community. But outside of the workshops, the convention leadership con tinued to prime the pump for the charismatic Rev. Jesse Jackson as a candidate for president. politcial analyst there is a method to the so-called “madness.” The influence and power of any presidential candidate is much broader than what we may per ceive. All presidential candidates, once announced, have the duty and obligation to their supporters to have their name placed on as many state ballots as possible. This means that each candidate must organize a group of suppor ters in every state. This group then begins to organize the local elec torate around their particular can didate. Each of these groups then selects a number of candidates to see Candidate, page 3 WHEN I SUGGESTED MERIT PAY RAISES FOR TEACHERS | HAD NO IDEA THAT COULD ALSO BE APPLIED TO ZWMIW GOVERNMENT OFF ICIALS! ] rx L x ' ©was y) ■BEAtJDoN JR. BLACK RESOURCES IKC. To Be Equal Tax credits bad idea by John E. Jacob One of the strangest responses to the concern about the decline of America’s pub lie schools is S the renewed in- WK terest giving tax breaks to V parents o f M private school students. The Ad ministration is pushing a tuition tax credit plan. There is considerable support for it in Congress. And the Supreme Court recently approved a version of tax breaks for parents of schoolchildren. Previously, the Court struck down such state laws on the grounds that they violated the con stitutional ban on government in volvement in religion by sub sidizing parochial schools. In the Minnesota case recently decided by a 5-4 vote, the Court found that since the state offered a tax deduction for school-related expenses to all parents with schoolchildren, the state law passed the test of constitutionality. In effect, what the Court did was to show backers of a tuition tax credit how to recast their pet plan to meet constitutional objec tions. The key is to extend the credit to all parents, not just those with kids in private school. Os course, that’s just a legal fic tion. The expenses incurred by public school parents are minimal. Pencils, notebooks and gym shorts don’t add up to a fraction of the by Marian Eldelman Twenty years ago this summer, the largest assemblage of Americans ever to gather in the history of the civil rights struggle, marched through the streets of Washington. Twenty years ago, we rose and gave witness to our oneness of beliefs in Martin Luther King's dream of little Black boys and girls joining hands with little white boys and girls as brothers and sisters. Twenty years ago, Black people from all walks of life marched and boycotted and organized to claim our full measure of justice in this our American homeland. tuition payments for which private school parents would get a tax credit. The Court might still strike down a federal tuition tax credit—it would just take a change of mind by only one Justice. But that’s a slim hope now. Supporters of public education would be ad vised to try to ensure such legislation never gets past the Congress. For a tuition tax credit would be a body blow to public education. Its effect would be to drain tax dollars away from already finan cially undernourished public schools, where 90 percent of all American children are educated. Incredibly, the tuition tax credit is being sold as an idea to improve education. But in reality it is just another tax giveaway, expected to cost the Treasury some $3 billion by some estimates. And this sub sidy would take place while already inadequate federal aid to public education is slashed still further. By offering parents financial in centives to take their children out of the public schools, a tuition tax credit would subvert public education. Instead of helping to make public schools better, the government would undercut public support for the schools and further retard equal educational oppor tunity. In some places, a tuition tax credit would subsidize white flight from the public schools, leading to lessened public support for adequate school budgets. No one disputes the right of parents to send their children to Child watch Twenty years ago, I, like many of you, felt a great surge of hope, a heady belief that at last Black America, I, we, our folk, our children would once and for all break the shackles of oppression, poverty, inferior education, discrimination and unequal op portunities —felt that better time our old folk had sung about and prayed for indeed had come. And for the thousands of us who became middle class, moved through college and professional schools, and into jobs previously labelled “white only”, life did im prove measurably. But twenty years ago, forty per- private schools, but there is no valid reason for the Treasury to subsidize their choice. Instead, there are compelling reasons for the government to but tress the public school system. For that is where the future of American education will be played out, and that is where the over whelming majority of disadvan taged children will get their schooling. It is of overriding national im portance of those public schools to be sharply improved, and the various proposals now being talked about—merit pay for teachers, tuition tax credits, and even school prayer—would have either no impact on public education or a negative impact. Historically, the public schools have infused Americans with a common culture and values. Prac tically, they are the only source of potential quality education for disadvantaged children. They are one of the few remaining American institutions with at least the potential to bring together people of all races and classes. No one is satisfied with their current performance. The public schools need to be drastically im proved. And one important way to improve them is to allocate the resources they need, not to dangle tax breaks to encourage people to desert them. The schools need more money, more community involvement and more public support. Tuition tax credits would simply ensure that the alarming decline of public education is accelerated. cent of our people—our children, our future, our heritage —hadn’t been born. Today, the marches are memories for some, unknown to others. There is a whole generation of Black children and youth who have never been touched by King’s dream —our dream. In America today, millions of our children exist at the edge of our society—a voiceless, powerless minority. Their education, shelter, health, and well-being depend totally on the fairness and protec tion of others. There are 9.3 million Black see Children, page 3 Going Places Don’t merge our schools by Phil Waring Persons attending the recent an nual conference of the National Urban League (NUL) in New Orleans—more J, than 12,000 f were there— il really got in a ■ ( well-balanced 13L view of all kinds X of questions in- IJU volving American race relations and related subjects. As an example, Clarence Thomas, Savannah born and Har vard-law educated staff director of the federal EEOC, spoke out on how discrimination was now hurt ing women, Blacks and Hispanics, coupled with the need for more federal action to stem this. His counterpart, Bradford Reynolds, Justice Department director of civil rights, presented a vigorous defense of the Reagan Civil Rights programs saying “they were quite satisfactory.” Putting this entire matter out in front was Dr. Mary Francis Berry, former assistant secretary of HEW in the Carter administration. Dr. Berry, in a calm and well prepared presentation, ticked off the failures and negative charac teristics of the Reagan Civil Rights policies. One great feature of the NUL is its ability to present various points of view and different kinds of persons. While I was on the St. Mary’s church picnic in Savannah and did not hear it, I understand that Frank Thomas put together and moderated the program, “It’s This Way...Community Viewpoint” which dealt with the feasibility of a female or minority offering for president in 1984. It featured Pat Marcus of the League of Women Voters, Willie Mays of city council, Phil Kent, editorial writer for the Augusta Chronicle and Herald and Dr. Ralph Walker, Augusta College political science professor. This topic and related issues are being discussed all over the nation and we should be grateful to Frank for kicking it off in Augusta. There should be, however, many more local programs of this kind. Don’t Merge Our Black Colleges If you’ve kept up with the news, you will agree there’s quite an up roar in Georgia regarding inter gration of its higher educational system. The federal government has again told Georgia that it is not pleased on the matter of race and higher education. Continuing, the U.S. Depar tment of Education indicated that the state has done a poor job on the recruitment of students, staff and faculty, and there needs to be greater upgrading of the three long-time historically Black colleges. The NAACP stated that when the state moved to merge the three colleges into three nearby much younger white colleges, it is making the Black victims pay for crimes committed by others. The burden, states Dr. Elias Blake of Clark College in Atlanta, “has been on the poor performance of the university system in getting more students, staff and faculty. SCLC, in strong disagreement with Gov. Harris, pointed out that the three colleges have made much better strides than the other 30 predominately white colleges and universities, having white enrollment ranging from 13 per cent up to 17 percent plus as com pared with less than five percent for the others. The president oi Savannah State expressed surprise that the three Black institutions would have to pay the ultimatt price. Dr. Joe Lowery is urging al Georgia community institution: and organizations to contact th< governor’s office on this matter. Furthermore, declared th< NAACP, it is these three college that are graduating the overwhelm ing bulk of Black, college-trainei young people coming from th Georgia public higher education system. We understand that th Georgia Legislative Black Caucu and GABEO are steadfast in op position to the merging of the thre colleges. What do you think?