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The Augusta News Review February 11,1983 Mallory K. MillenderEditor-Publisher Paul Walker Assistant to the Publisher Wanda Johnson General Manager/Advertising bir. 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 Irby.Columnist Philip Waring Columnist Marva Stewart Columnist George Bailey....,Sports Writer Carl McCoyEditorial Cartoonist Olando Hamlett Photographer Roscoe Williams Photographer "THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW (yjSPStVI 820) is publishe* weekly for sll per year in the county and sl2 per year out of th< county. Second-class postage paid at Augusta, Ga. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 77f£ AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW, P.0.80x 2123, Augusta, Ga. 30903-2123." AMALGAMATED National AtortMac Rctnaeataifre PUBLISHERS, INC. * Walking With Dignity ‘7i/g of war’ cools by Al Irby Many kind thanks to those who wrote and phoned me during the past weeks, when illness! prevented the' writing of my column. Going Places, never theless, is now on board again as it now enters its 37th year of Nh I publication-the oldest and longest continuously published Black journalistic project of its kind here. We also appreciate support and comments given by readers both in the Augusta area and around the nation where it may have been featured. One of its series, Black Who Helped Build Augusta, won a significant award for the News- Review while opening up new in terest in Black History during the Bicentennial era. Salutes to both the News-Review and the County Courier on their recent public affairs program which featured candidates running for sheriff of Richmond County. In the five states around the nation where I’ve had Urban League assignments, I’ve noticed that of ten the daily media did not give adequate coverage to public forums featuring issues affecting Blacks. The recent N-R and C-C forum was professionally presen ted and proved itself a service to the Black Community. Let’s hope that the two news organs will be able to do it again before the final February 21 sheriff’s run-off elec tions. My salute to Dr. Ike Washington and the others who will be honored at the forthcoming Paine College Athletic Hall of Fame program. Dr. Ike, who has served Augusta well, was a four letter athlete and was also known as “Five yard Ike.” He also was recently honored by Letter from the editor Displeased with newscast Editor’s note: this letter was written to WJBF TV Channel 6 with a copy to the News-Review. Dear Sir: On the 6:00 and 11:00 edition of “NEWS WATCH 6,” on 26 January 1984, there was a report of a manhunt for two Black men who allegedly robbed a man with a knife within the CSRA. Please provide me with the reason for stating that the suspects were Black. I understand the need to state the persons color if the report was providing a full descrip tion of the suspects for public safety, but just to say that they were black is to degrade and humiliate the black members of the community and is misrepresen tation of blacks. If a news report must provide the public with the color of the Black criminal, the white criminal should be provided with equal respect! It’s very hard to believe that WJBF-TV is still holding on to the malevolent ideas of yester day. But by insuring that the public Jcnows when a black com mits a crime forces the community to believe so. Is it the goal of WJBF-TV to portray to the public that only Page 4 the city of Augusta for nine years of faithful service on its city coun cil. In December, it was erronously stated that the Augusta Black History Commitee (ABHC) spearheaded the placing of the por trait of Dr. Lucy Craft Laney at the state capitol whereas credit should go to Dr. Washington. He was able to accomplish this based on his contacts and still valid influence as a past president of the state Black teachers association, working with Governor Jimmy Carter. This was several years prior to the birth of the ABHC. May this correction now set the record straight. Real history was made last mon th when the Rev. Jesse Jackson qualified to secure matching federal funds in his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination. It was required that he raise at least $5,000 in small amounts of less than $250 in at least 20 states to qualify. At this writing, however, he has raised over $600,000 mostly from church groups. Jesse said recently: ‘‘Win, lose or draw, my being in the race will mean a major elevation of Blacks in the American political scene". When Jesse appears on television, he of ten high-lights seldom mentioned issues and problems facing Blacks, other minorities and women. Jesse has often stated that he wants to see “thousands of Blacks offering for public office on the local, state and national levels.” This, therefore, moves us on to the Augusta-Richmond County sector where we must address several issues including getting a Black on a five-man, lilly-white county commission, and other matters. This is nationl Black History Month and I shall examine the many rich contributions of the NAACP locally and nationally as part of this observance. The NAACP also observes its 75 an niversary this year. Have you paid your membership dues? Blacks commit violent crimes within our community or is it their objective to promote more hatred and animosity among the members of our community? Isn’t there enough hostility in our community without the pubic receiving training from the news media or do you feel that we need to hate each other more? WJBF-TV is to serve all the members of the CSRA community and everyone should be provided with unbiased reporting of the news. Each individual should receive equal respect inspite of their color, economical status, or their religious beliefs. Without the support of the community mem bers there won’t be any WJBF-TV. Hopefully this problem will be brought to the attention of management and a meaningful solution for the good of the com munity will be made by your organization. I eagerly await your reply and the philosphy of WJBF-TV on this issue. Sincerely, DENNIS WILLIAMS SPS, US ARMY P.O. Box 647 Eisenhower Medical Center Fort Gordon, GA 30905 €1 H EH, HEH! 90 YOU CAN'T SUCC ESS! jo BLACK RESOURCES INC. To Be Equal Reversing civil rights by John Jacob The Justice Department has a new partner in its campaign to to reverse civil rights gains, I and that par tner is none other than the I agency created ‘I by Congress to i | be the nation’s BSP watchdog over civil rights progress—the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The compromise that extended the life of the Commission also loaded its membership with sup porters of the Administration’s an ti-busing, anti-affirmative action line. The newly reconstituted Com mission began its new lease on life by issuing a denunciation of “quotas,” as if that was today’s biggest civil rights worry. By doing so, the Commission further mud died the waters, perpetuating public confusion over quotas and numerical goals and timetables. Quotas are one small tool in the affirmative action arsenal. They are not mandated by any law and are only ordered by courts as a remedy for gross violations of equal opportunities, and oc- Going Places Praises political forum by Phil Waring Chicago’s ongoing battle bet ween its mayor bent on reform and a City Council majority bent I on keeping I patronage and Flp * the status quo J intact is at last Ij easing, on oc- casion, into a working truce. M The reason: strict necessity. Both sides find they have a stake in forward motion. The most important example to date in the eight month-old administration of Mayor Harold Washington is the City Council’s passage a few weeks ago of a compromise $1.9 billion budget for 1984. Though Chicago taxpayers will have to shoulder the burden of S9B billion in new taxes to help pay for it, both mayor and council had to give up cherished spending priorities. Mayor Washington, calling it a “tortuous” give and take ex- cassionally, by private voluntary agreements, again, to correct gross discrepencies in opportunities. The Commission also killed some planned studies about the ef fect of budget cuts on the minority poor, demonstrating its lack of concern for the disproportionate impact such cuts have had on minorities. This is a very legitimate civil rights issue the Commission should be concerned about. Such concerns are at the core of the Commission’s responsibility to in vestigate government policies and to assess their impact on equal op portunities. By abdicating its legal respon sibility to serve as a protector of civil rights and as an advocate of equal opportunity, the Com mission in effect joins in an unholy alliance with the Justice Depar tment, which has similarly shirked its responsibilities. In fact, the Department has become one of the most visible foes of actions designed to enhance civil rights. While the Commission was sounding off against “quotas,” the Supreme Court was handing the Justice Department a slap in the face by throwing out its pleas for a review of an affirmative ac tion plan adopted by the City of Detroit. perience that no one should have to live through, pronounced it a “magnificent first.” Major op position architect Edward Burke, chairman of the council’s finance committee, called it an example of “true democracy.” Things were far easier, he admitted, in the “old days” (of boss-mayor Richard J. Daley), when aidermen took their instructions” from the mayor. Indeed, the political fireworks coming from City Hall these days are such a departure from the rub ber-stamp activity of years past the Democratic infighting sounds so partisan that a few Chicagoans have begun to speak longingly of the need for a more bipartisan ap proch to city government. They forget that there are no Republicans in sight. Certainly most aidermen are working harder than in the past. Information is more widely available, and discussions are livelier, “i think it’s good to see a legislative body acting like one,” says Elinor Elam, a Chicago While the Commission was sounding off against “quotas.” the Supreme Court was handing the Justice Department a slap in the face by throwing out its pleas for a review of an affirmative ac tion plan adopted by the City of Detroit. Detroit’s police force used to be a paradise of discrimination —few Blacks were allowed entry to the force and fewer still could hope for promotion to officer ranks. To remedy this, the city adopted an affirmative action plan in which promotions to the rank of lietuenant would be made on the basis of one Black appointee for every white until such time as the police force better reflected the racial composition of the people it was supposed to serve. No one was promoted who was not qualified—but the Ad ministration decided to use this as a test case of so-called quotas. In fact, as lower courts pointed out, the Detroit system was con stitutional, it did seek to remedy past discrimination, it did not stigmatize whites, and it did serve an important, overriding pur pose—all standards by which the Supreme Court has deemed such affirmative action agreements con stitutional. League of Women Voters vice president who sits in on City Council committee meetings. I’ve heard people speaking out on this budget whose voices I’ve never heard before. We talk about this horrible opposition, but we’re just not used to the council questioning anything. I think it’s healthy.” but a most difficult area may lie ahead: council approval of mayoral ap poinments to leadership posts of patronage-heavy agencies such as the Chicago Park District. The mayor will try to rally public opinion behind him, but” com promise will be very difficult,” says Mr. Leon Despres, City Council parliamentarian. Mayor Washington continues to insist that Edward R. Vrdolyak, leader of the 29-member City Council majority, must step down as leader of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee. The mayor will make a bold effort in the March 20 primary to oust the adamant Mr. Vrdolyak. The Mayor Comments Black leaders recognized Continuing our focus on distinguished Black Americans, I’d like to tell you . about a person; r who really saw; | people more clearly than! most of us in | ,965 - Edith Spur-, lock Sampson A distinguished herself as an attorney and as the second Black Woman elected to the bench in the United states as a circuit court judge. Mrs. Sampson attended the New York School of Social Work and the School of Social Service Ad ministration at the University of Chicago. She received an LLB from John Marshall Law School and an LLM degree from Loyola University. In 1950, President Truman ap pointed Mrs. Sampson to the United States delegation to the United Nations. She later became a member of the United States Citizens Committee for NATO. Judge Sampson delivered s speech in 1965 to the graduating class of North Central College (Ill.) in which she offered the graduates a multiple choice test. The question she proposed to them was as follows: “What do you do with your college education now that you have it—and now that it is beginning to become obsolete even as we sit here?” She gave them a choice of five possible answers. It would be well worth your time to seek out a copy of her speech and read the five choices she offered them, for she showed some real insight in those choices. Actually, the choices she gave them are not limited to college: graduates but apply to us all as we: decide how we are going to live out our lives. Each of us has to answer to ourself about our choice. Some of us chose number five. As Judge Sampson said, it has not: been a comfortable choice. It has demanded thought and action. It has prodded us with the recognition that there is still so much more to learn and even more than that to understand. It has made us restless in knowing that no matter how much we do, there’s still so much more left to be done. From The Wilderness Remembering a legacy by Marva Stewart black History Month should be a time for remembering. It should be a time for recalling a time when Black people were aril not always shackled men tally, and sub jected to the evil will of <-wHF others. Let us remember Africa, the source of our strength and character. Let us remember our homeland where our ancestors were kings and queens, and ruled their own destiny. Black History Month should be a time for mourning the endless days when Black people were born slaves, lived the lives of slaves, and died slaves. Let us mourn the bloody waters, the bloody tears, and the bloody bodies. Let us remember that Blacks were snatched from the Motherland, packed indignantly in death ships, and then chained and auctioned off into a lifeless eter nity of slavery. Black History Month should be a time to honor and memorialize those brave soldiers who dared to shout to the world that Black people were not only human beings, but intelligent and dignified beings as well. Let us not forget the work of Frederick, Martin, Marcus, Malcolm, Sojourner, Harriet, Roy, and the many others who worked so that the masses could have a better life. Let us not forget the many organizations such as the NAACP, SCLC, and P.U.S.H that demonstrated that when Black people unite, mountains move. Black History Month should be a time for celebrating and com memorating the contributions of the Black genii and talented ones who caused non-believers to realize that those of the darker race could be scientists, writers, lawyers, ar tists, businessmen, designers, astronauts, etc. Let us not forget see History page 8