Newspaper Page Text
Voting:
The New
Black Power
Page 1
Volume 13 Number 34
Augustans think sheriff should resign
by Cathy Clark
A majority of a random sam
pling of downtown shoppers and
merchants believe that Sheriff
J.B. Dykes should resign from of
fice. He pleaded guilty to two
counts of obstruction of justice
Tuesday.
The sheriff pleaded guilty to having
fired his secretary, Gail Gracyzk,
and stating that he might kill
deputy Freddie Sanders because the
two cooperated with the FBI in the
investigation of the sheriff in a
ticket-fixing scheme in which he
said he accepted $3,000 in bribes.
When asked to voice their opinion
on the sheriff’s future, many
Downtown restrooms proposal draws fire
With the majority disagreeing on
location and safety, city council on
Monday decided to table a
proposal to construct public
restrooms in the downtown area.
The proposal coming from the
Community Development Com
mittee recommends hiring a local
architect to develop plans for
restrooms at 9th and Ellis streets.
Proponents of the plan argue
that these facilities would attract
shoppers to the downtown area
and would aid in revitalizing that
Vi
' JHV M
Jesse Jackson
By Paul Delaney,
assistant national editor
of the New York Times.
Second part of series
The Cleveland of the 1960’s that
Si irah Short Austin, executive
di i rector of the Greater Cleveland
R oundtable and former executive
vi ce president of the National Ur
b; in Coalition, remembers was a
ciity trying to live up to its motto,
“'Best Location in the Nation.”
T that was when she was a student at
C ase-Western Reserve University.
Cleveland’s shaded boulevards and
qmiet side streets attracted
thousands of Blacks, who left the
S< >uth to work in the city’s steel
m ills and automobile plants. The
ciity, considered progressive by
m any, in 1966 was the first of its
siiite to elect a Black man as mayor:
Ci irl Stokes.
Yet since then, many sections of
Cleveland have come to resemble a
battleground. The city’s pock
marked streets, deteriorating
downtown and neighborhoods,
ard acute racial tensions in the
ea rly 1970’s earned it a notoriety
that made it the butt of urban
jol res rivaling W.C. Fields’s about
Ph iladelphia. So embattled was
Stokes with both his Black and
, wi lite cbnstituents, much of it his
Augusta Neuw-Hteutm
people refused to identify them
selves.
One merchant summed up the
feelings of many customers and
workers in her shop. “He should
be fired, not given the priviledge of
resigning. If he can fix one traffic
ticket why not fix all of them?”
Leon Austin, proprietor of
Leon’s Desota Club at 1132 9th
St., said, “I feel he should resign.
He was given the job by his power
ful friends, lost his friends and
should suffer the consequences.
It’s in his favor to resign.”
A Broad street patron commen
ted, “You have to start at home
area.
Councilman Willie Mays says he
is in favor of the plans for the
restrooms; however, he suggests the
city examine the possibility of con
structing the restrooms on Broad
street instead. He said, “l*m con
cerned about the security and the
locations with it being unsafe for
police cars, the area would also be
unsafe for downtown shoppers.”
Councilman Mays was referring to
a statement made earlier that off
duty patrol cars would be unsafe
Calls for rule changes
Jesse Jackson says Democrats discriminate
WASHINGTON The Rev.
Jesse Jackson and his key advisers
said today that they had drafted an
“action plan” to change
Democratic party rules that he
considers unfair to Blacks in selec
ting delegates to the Presidential
nominating convention.
Part of the plan would change
the Democratic National Commit
tee’s delegate-selection
arrangements for primaries in
states that have large Black
populations.
The plan also includes a threat
own fault, that he did not seek re
election.
The Greater Cleveland Roun
dtable, which Mrs. Austin heads,
is a coalition of civic, religious,
minority, labor and business
leaders seeking solutions, with
some success, to the city’s myriad
problems. Redevelopment is
taking place in some downtown
areas. Racial tension has been
lessened.
Blacks in Cleveland and
elsewhere have developed a
sophisticated political strength.
Today there are Black mayors of
Chicago, Los Angeles and
Philadelphia, the nation’s second
third-fourth-largest cities, respec
tively. Recently. Blacks have won
mayoral campaigns in Flint,
Mich., and Charlotte, N.C. In
Boston this month, Melvin H.
King became the first Black in the
city’s history to reach the final
stage in the mayoral election. Ap
proximately 240 Blacks are mayors
throughout the country; 350
Blacks have been elected to state
legislatures, and altogether, more
than 5,400 Blacks hold elec-
Black athletes
warned against
false values
Page 8
Voting: The New Black Power
I*l
J.B. Dykes
parked in that area.
Mclntyre quickly pointed out
that the police units would be left
unattended when the downtown
area was closed as opposed to the
restrooms being opened only
during business hours.
More location opposition came
when Margaret Armstrong, coun
cilwoman elect entered the
chambers. She agreed that the 9th
and Ellis street location would be
hazardous for the senior citizens,
citing instances in her family where
to challenge the seating of
delegates to the 1984 Democratic
National Committee if the party
does not take steps to remedy
delegate rules that Mr. Jackson
considers racially discriminatory,
according to Florence Tate, Mr.
Jackson’s press secretary.
Mr. Jackson said in an interview
today that he would probably
present a policy paper containing
his demands for changes in the
party rules to Charles T. Manatt,
the Democratic national chairman,
in a joint tour of the South last
ted office. In Cleveland, 10 of the
21-member City Council are
Blacks, including the president,
George L. Forbes.
“In the continuing struggle to
enter fully into the mainstream,”
says Mrs. Austin, “it is in the
arena of politics that Blacks find
the leadership and power that are
denied them in the economic
area.”
Jesse Jackson is riding the crest
of this wave of Black political ac
tivity. The message of his can
didacy and of the voter
registration drive generally is clear
pnd urgent: Get rid of Reagan. In
the process, Blacks hope to help
return the Senate to Democratic
control, strengthen the Democratic
majority in the House, elect more
Blacks as mayors, judges and state
legislators, and support white
liberals and moderates.
The high point prior to this
year’s elections was the 1976 elec
tion of Jimmy Carter. Nearly 85
percent of the Black vote went to
Carter, and Blacks took credit for
providing the margin of victory.
Carter acknowledged the pivotal
role played by Blacks, and showed
Downtown
restroom idea
draws fire £
Pa g el g
December 10,1983
and clean up the corruption. If
others see where wrongdoings
would put their jobs in jeopardy,
then they, too, would walk a
straight and narrow path. Let’s
clean up Augusta, and ask the
sheriff to resigin. If you can’t trust
the sheriff, then who can you
trust?”
James A. Webb, a retired
minister in Augusta said, “I know
the anti-christ is at work, I don’t
know if he is actually guilty, I liked
him in the beginning, but if he is
guilty he should resign.”
Edward Coy an Augusta native
stated, “He is an elected official,
supposedly serving the public and
representing the people. Here he is,
muggings have occurred in that
area. Mrs. Armstron added, “I
live in the downtown area and feel
that the merchants should allow
the use of their facilities to their
costumers.”
"Councilwoman Inez Wylds
believes the city would make a
mistake should it approve the
project. The funds should be “re
allocated into another project,”
she said. She said, “The city can-
see Pagel
Monday and Tuesday by Mr.
Jackson and three other candidates
for the Democratic Presidential
nomination.
The Democratic National
Committee had planned the tour to
be a demonstration of party unity,
but Mr. Jackson’s move seemed to
dash that plan.
The move also appeared to mark
Mr. Jackson’s rejection of private
appeals to him from party officials
and campaign advisers to former
Vice President Walter F. Mondale
that he use his campaign simply to
his appreciation by appointments
to his Administration and the
judiciary.
Mrs. Austin points out that
Black political activity did not
begin with Jackson, and she is
echoed by others, including Eddie
N. Williams, president of the Joint
Center for Political Studies.
Seeking political power, Williams
says, was a natural consequence of
the civil-rights movement. Fueling
that is the discontent of many
Blacks who have not fared as well
as expected economically.
“The election of conservatives
changed the Government,”
Williams says. “Their agenda was
to reduce Government par
ticipation, fight inflation and not
to enforce rights laws. That plus
the recession shut off the flow to
economic empowerment. Blacks
reacted by turning more to politics.
With major victories in numerous
places, the attitude became, “We
can do it,’ or as Jesse Jackson said,
‘lt’s our time.’
“Blacks believe tney have the
numbers. They were being ignored
and felt their backs were against
Jesse Jackson:
Democrats
«’"ruminate
5 IsTn
USTa, y
10 J
Less than 75 percent Advertising
not being fair to the people by
doing what he was hired to enfor
ce.” Coy went on to say, “People
just cannot continue to have faith
in him because of what he has
done.”
Emmanuel Fagamo, an Augusta
resident, said, “It’s not a matter of
opinion but the law. He should be
removed by the government unless
he does decide to resign. ”
Freda Smith of Sardis, Ga.,
said, “He should have known bet
ter. Yes. He should resign.” South
Carolinian Steve Bedenbaugh
agreed, saying, “He should resign
and help save face a little. The
charges are self explanatory. He
does not have much choice.”
/ Or*
Margaret Armstrong
spur voter registration, rather than
as a broad challenge to the racial
policies of the Democratic Party.
A Behind-the-Scenes Problem
Mr. Manatt and other party of
ficials have long held the position
that they would not change the
rules endorsed in 1982 by the
national committee for anyone.
While Mr. Jackson’s challenge ap
peared unlikely to bring about an
immediate change in that policy, it
brings into the open a behind-the
scenes problem for the chairman.
the wall. Therefore, they felt they
had to come out and vote and be
politically active. The alternative
was to throw bricks.”
To fire up the troops, Black
leaders are pounding away at the
fact that President Reagan’s
margins of victory in New York,
Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana,
Tennessee, South Carolina, North
Carolina, Arkansas, Massachuset
ts, Kentucky and Virginia were less
than the number of unregistered
Blacks in each state. In New York,
for example, Reagan beat Jimmy
Carter by 165,459 votes. If the ap
proximately 900,000 unregistered
Blacks in New York had registered
and voted, the outcome probably
would have been different.
Many Blacks believe the
recognition of their growing voting
strength has already produced a
change in both the Democratic and
Republican parties. The recent bill
to make the birthday of Martin
Luther King Jr. a national holiday,
for example, drew the support of
both conservative Democrats and
Republicans in Congress—and
Some people feel there is more
to the situation than has been
made public. And through plea
bargaining, the identities of others
involved may never be known.
Others support the sheriff. An
Augusta business executive said,
“I find this to be an unfortunate
situation. I, too, would have fired
my secretary had she divulged in
formation of that nature.”
Still another said, “Nixon can
do it, then why not the sheriff?
You are rewarded for doing big
things, so the bigger the sin the
more forgiving the public.”
And finally, one spirited mer
chant said, “I can trust him. You
see, I was one of those people who
had their tickets torn up.”
t-. ■ $ -■ i
ww *’
NIP' 1 *
Willie Mays
Party officials said that the real
but unacknowledged reason that
Mr. Manatt has fought to prevent
lowa and New Hampshire from
changing the dates of their 1984
caucuses and primary, the first in
the nation, was the fear of a
challenge such as this one by Mr.
Jackson.
The Democratic national chair
man was said to fear that any
changes in the campaign calendar
would open the door for Mr.
Jackson to mount a much broader
see Jesse Jackson, page 3
passed. Such conservative
Republicans as Senator Strom
Thurmond of South Carolina, a
former segregationist whose 1957
filibuster against civil-rights
legislation was the longest in
history, have begun openly to
court Black voters.
The emergence of the Black vote
as a formidable power seems all
the more significant after two
losses last year: Los Angeles’s
Mayor Tom Bradley in the Caifor
nia Governor’s race and Mississip
pi’s State Senator Robert Clark in
a Congressional contest. Bradley
lost by fewer than 50,000 votes.
The pall cast over Blacks by those
defeats has been replaced by a
determination to work harder.
Harold Washington’s upset victory
in Chicago this year and sub
sequent mayoral victories had a
rejuvenating effect and have con
tributed to the current optimism
and the candidacy of Jackson, a
key backer of Chicago’s new
Mayor.
One of the most effective
registration efforts under way is in
see Black Power, page 3
30C