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The Augusta News-Review February 18,1984 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 HamlettPhotographer Roscoe Williams Photographer “THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW (USPSBB7 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, f.Q. Box 2123, Augusta, Ga. 30903-2123.” AMALGAMATED NattoMl AtortWat Repraeatatfre PUBLISHERS. IMC. * Time to reflect Guest Column, by Chaplain A.C. Redd February is Black History Mon th. It is time to take pause and reflect upon our rich, varied and troubled past. It is time to remem ber past heroes and heroines such as Frederick Douglass, Sorjouner Truth, and Harriet Tubman. It is time we re-examine the events surrounding our enslavement as well as those that led to the abolishment of the institution. What about some of the tumultuous issues that have been a part of recent Black History? We have had to shake foundations rooted in riotous issues unchanged even with civil war and antebellum reconstruction. Today, we still need Frederick Douglass and the ‘‘deep well” pride of Booker T. Washington. We must remember those who marched like Martin Luther King, Jr. Those who wrote and preached like Malcolm X. Those who protested with Psalms like Rosa Parks. Those who march to a dif ferent drummer like Andrew Young and M-hammad Ali must also be remem oered. These people have been able to focus attention on Blacks in a nation where one has to shake foundations in order not to be ignored. The 60s and 70s saw the emergence of renewed racial pride. We marched on Washington, we also marched beyond the rise and decline of the Black Panther Party, and the Angela Davis trial. These same years saw us migrate The Mayor Comments by Edward M. Mclntyre Another outstanding Black American is Carl Thomas Rowan, a noted journalist, diplomat and author. Mr. Rowan served his country in the US Navy during World War II as a communications officer. He completed his undergraduate degree at Oberlin College and received his M.A. in journalism at the University of Minnesota. He wrote several books, one of which was Wait Till Next Year (1960), a biography of Jackie Robinson. In 1961, he became the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs under President Kennedy. He was appointed am bassador to Finland in 1963, making him the second Black to head an embassy in Europe. For a while he served as the Director of the United States Information Agency (UAIA). Speaking to the Maryland Teachers Association in October 1965, Mr. Rowan discussed the contemporary world and sought to The NAACP hasn’t forgotten! Don’t forget the NAACP! HELP US HELP OURSELVES. NAACP from the Northern cities to Southern towns. The rise of “The New South,” in Black-owned businesses and the Black middle class was hardly perceptible as we worked together. The tremendous impact of Alex Haley’s “Roots”sent some of us scurrying in search of our own pasts. The Superfly craze, Black ex ploitation movies, the “New Jazz: and our rediscovery of old greats like Fats Waller, Eubie Blake and Scott Joplin illustrates how our commitment to the past merges with our present and our present with our future. Yet, do not forget we are still struggling in a world that becomes more complicated by the hour. The celebration of Black History must be an on-going affair, a daily presence in our lives, to spur us on to greater achievements. The possibilities for our growth as a race are infinite; Miss America and 4 black astronauts. We can be confident that those who follow us four score and seven years from now will be able to look back on our times with wonder ment and pride at our accom plishments. OH FREEDOM! OH FREEDOM! Oh freedom, oh freedom! Oh freedom over me! And before I’d be a slave, I’ll be buried in my grave, And go home to my Lord And be free. Carl Rowan answer when it actually began. After several suggestions, Mr. Rowan stated that he felt July 16, 1945 was the beginning of our con temporary world. He selected that day because he said it was the first day in the history of mankind on which, at dawn, two suns rose over the horizon. One made by God and one made by man. The man-made sun was the full blaze of the atomic bomb whose testing launched us into the Atomic Age. He saw this not as a warning or threat, but as a challenge. The challenge: “Do we Americans, who brought to birth the Atomic Age, have the intellec tual, moral, and ideological resources necessary to be its beneficiaries-or merely its vic tims?” Rowan remarked that among the best defenses we have against a dangerous future is the values we instill within our children. It has been almost 20 years since he made that speech. How successful have we been? Page 4 JESSE?' I thought Vi TO VHT HE WAS, \ fg REGGIE' bI BLACK RESOURCES. IMC. Walking With Dignity by Al Irby South Africa naturally exonerates police, but shows need to protect retainees. What came to be seen as an important test case of human rights vs. the tough security j laws of South | Africa has en- ’ ded in a miscarriage of human justice that certainly will please the reactionary government. The celebrated case in question was a lengthy inquest into the cause of death of trade unionist Dr. Neil Aggett, who was found hanged in his cell earlier this year, while being detained by South African security police. A magistrate ruled Dec. 21 that Dr. Aggett committed suicide-a fact not contested by Aggett family and that the polcie had not driven the white young medical doctor to take his own life as his family had vigorous claimed. Still, if the verdict was not to the liking of critics of this anti-black country’s security practices, the inquest provided one of the most sweeping airings South Africa has Dear Editor: Thank you for publishing the ar ticle “Black leaders cautioned on criticism of Jackson.” I agree with Minister Farrakhan that Rev. Jackson’s campaign is “one of the most far-reaching and significant events of this century.” I am disappointed in the attitudes of some Black leaders toward his cadidacy, especially Atlanta’s Mayor Andrew Young. I have always tnougnt that ne understood the needs and concerns of Blacks, Hispanics and poor whites; and therefore, I find it dif ficult to believe that he is among those who profess that “now is not the time for a Black president.” I agree tht Ronald Reagan must be beat, but we need more than someone who can just beat Ronald Reagan. We need someone with a Open letter to Charles Walker, George Brown Dear Editor: This is an open letter to State Rep. Charles W. Walker and State Rep. George Brown. In remarks that have appeared in the paper concerning district-voting, as well as g within the city, South Africa always exonerates police MMt Disappointed in Andy Young een of what goes on in the hated detention cells, comparable to the French’s “despired Devil Island.” Lawyers representing the Aggett family were allowed to call a num ber of former security guards to testify, and they told horrible stories of torture and intimidation by security police interrogators. The allegations of maltreatment of prisoners has gained such credibility that South Africa’s minister of law and order, Louis LeGrange, recently drew up his country’s first code of conduct for how prisoners should be treated by police. Human-rights advocates were not satisfied with the new code but took some comfort in the gover nment’s tacit admission that security prisoners needed more protection. It took a popular young white medical man to make the brutal South African gover nment grudgingy admit that in justice in its penal institutions are horrendous. Dr. Aggett was the 46th security prisoner, but the first white, to die while in South African police custody. The young white medic had been detained for his in volvement with the outlawed black African National Congress. The inquest came down to the word of Letter to the Editor conscience, someone who will not let America forget the homeless, the jobless and the hungry, We need a man of God in the White House, a man who believes that all life is precious and sacred, not just the rich and powerful. I become afraid everytime I hear a “leader” say “now is not the time for a Black president.” If not now, when? Someone once said now was not the time for Black councilmen, mayors, state representatives...to end slavery. If we had waited until the right time, we wouldn’t have any Black elec ted officials. We would probably still be sharecropping. Minister Farrakhan said Rev. Jackson’s candidacy will stimulate and awaken the Black Church. It will also stimulate and awaken young Black children and adults some deals have been spoken of Any deals of any sort are not ac ceptable to the Blacks that I have talked to. Instead we will go to the courts, with the best lawyers available (as the Blacks iaßurke County and the security police vs. charges made by Dr. Aggett himself before his death that he had been tortured by the police. Os course this allegation of tor ture was supported by testimony of other prison detainees who described similar treatment during their incarcerations. Some of these prisoners actually saw Aggett while he was in prison and said his con dition deteriorated noticeably just before his death. Butt the Magistrate naturally granted more credibility to the testimony of the white security police, who always corroborated each other, than to the detainees, who were mostly Black, which he said contained contradictions. Os course the police denied mistreating Dr. Aggett. South Africa’s security laws allow for indefinite detention and deny security prisoners any rights to legal representation or even to visits by family members. The government is now in a position to point to the Aggett inquest as proof its security police are operating correctly-despite the growing number of prisoners who die while in their custody. Black prisoners continue to die enmasse in South Africa’s “Hell Holes” jails and detainees pens. who are watching this race closely and frowning at leaders who are not supportive. For the first time in the history of this country young Black children can begin to think about running for the President of the United States. They know they can run because Jesse is running! “Run, Jesse, Run” is what we should ALL be chanting, for to run is to win. He wins everytime someone registers to vote because of his candidacy. He wins everytime a five-year-old recognizes him on TV. He wins everytime he reminds America that the defense budget is not our only concern. The only time he loses is when a Black leader says “now is not the time.” Cecilia Johnson 2818 Nighthawk Dr. other counties in South Georgia have done), and let the county and city pay the price. And deal with the dealers at the polls when the time come. No deals at any price. Rev. Charlie Moore Crawford Baptist Church To Be Equal by John E. Jacob All the discussion about the Administration’s proposed 1935 'Mb ; I ■bbb t revolves around 1 the huge deficit, and the continuing defi cits of un precedented | size that are projected far into the future. There’s no question that such large deficits are going to spell trouble sooner or hrta. For the present, the helped fuel the recovery and will most likely keep it alive for some time. But the debate about the deficit is pre-emptihg the debate that ought to be taking place about the budget itself. A federal budget is supposed to be more than just an account book—it is the means through which the government meets the nation’s needs and sets priorities. Given the failure of this budget to meet national needs and to set reasonable national priorities, the debate ought to be shifted back to the essentials. If we do that—restructuring spending priorities and raising the revenues to meet them—the deficit will largely take care of itself. Although David Stockman, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, recently admitted in an interview that social programs had already been cut to the bone and that little remains to be cut, this budget aims to reduce appropriations for survival programs. For example, even though a presidential commission recently urged a rise in outlays of food programs, the budget would cut food stamps by S4OO million. It also wants to cut welfare by over S6OO million. So there’s about $1 million coming out of two basic programs that allow the poor people a bare survival existence. For all programs for the poor—that is, means-tested programs open only to those making less than the inadequate poverty-line level that actually measures extreme deprivation—the budget would cut almost $3 billion. Let’s not forget that this is on massive cuts made over the past three years—cuts that eliminated some vital programs such as public service jobs and crippled others, such as legal ser vices, while stripping surviving programs to the bone. So these fresh cuts can’t be seen in isolation—they are too often painted as “small” or “minor” but unconscionable after cuts that have already taken sllO billion out of food, welfare, job and other key programs over the past three years. They are even harder to swallow when the programs for the poor are about the only ones slated for cutting, and when the Pentagon is asking for $33 billion more than it got last year—an astounding 14.5 percent jump. In fact, the budget’s increase for military spending in 1985 is larger than the total spending for food, welfare and jobs programs. Now that suggests upside-down priorities. A bloated Pentagon is vacuuming in federal resources at an unprecedented rate, resulting in cuts elsewhere that harm the economy and increase the suf ferings of poor people. The MX missile is a good exam ple—the budget asks for $5 billion to buy 40 of them. Think about it—the Administration wants to spend more on a useless nuclear weapon than it will on all federal job training programs put together. The much-criticized B-l bomber is another. The Air Force wants $8.2 billion to buy 34 planes, or more than the total cost of the federal welfare program for the poorest of the poor. The increase in the budget for the B-l this year is $1.3 billion over 1984’s budget. That is more than the total cuts asked for in food, welfare and job programs. In ef fect, the hungry and the poor are asked to make up the increase in spending for the bomber. So let’s hear less about the monetary deficit in this budget and more about the moral deficit that occurs when federal priorities sabotage the vitality of the economy and the needs of its neediest.