Newspaper Page Text
Jan Gaye Black child KenG " 11 Paine professor,
tells of life with white parents disa Wright,
with Marvin causes buzz Farakan at 49
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VOLUME 13 NUMBER 51
Bethlehem Association:
6 We won’t be intimidated 9
The Augusta City Council Mon
day threw out its $2.3 million
community development Block
Grant proposal rather than add
$25,000 for the Bethlehem Area
Community Association, which
has a 1981 discrimination suit pen
ding against the city. The suit ac
cuses the city of unfairness in
community development fund
allocation.
Funding for the agency had been
included in the original allocation
of community development funds
but was ommitted from the final
list April 2.
"The suit is not the matter of the
$25,000. The $25,000 is not the
matter of the suit,” said Mrs. Ad
die Powell, coordinator of the
agency. “We know we are eligible.
We also have rights that say if you
do not listen to me that I may
proceed to the judicial part of the
government that I may get an an
swer from them. As long as it (the
judicial branch) exists, you’ll never
get rid of your suits.”
Mrs. Powell said that lan
downers and developers have filed
suits against the city and no one
has questioned their eligibility.
Paine professor dies
William Wright, an assistant
professor at Paine College and a
News-Review stockholder died
April 14 in University Hospital. He
was 49.
Funeral Services will be held
April 21 at 4 p.m. at Solomon
Temple Baptist Church in
Vidalia/Smalley Funeral home is
in charge.
A native of Vidalia, Georgia, he
graduated from Paine College in
1957 and was a member of the
Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society.
He studied French at McGill
University in Canada and the
University of Paris. He received
the master’s degree at Duke
University where he had completed
his course work for the Ph. D. in
Jan Gaye tells
of life with Marvin
Los Angeles Sentinel
Jan Gaye, former wife of slain
singer Marvin Gaye, sat on the
couch in the South Bay area home
of her mother and talked about her
life and her relationship with the
singer.
Her eyes reddened from crying,
shone from time to time as she
talked about her life and times
with Marvin Gaye.
Inordinately pretty, with
freckles and dark red hair, the 28-
year old former Fairfax High
school student told of how she met
the famed singer when she was
only 17 years old.
“If there is such a thing as love
at first sight, that’s what happened
to us” she said.
She and Marvin Gaye were
married in the summer of 1977, af
ter first meeting him in 1973. They
divorced in 1981. The couple had
She Augusta Neuis-Hteutew
r f|
/
Margaret Armstrong
"Now when low-income people
decide that they want their Con
stitutional rights, then there is a
question. You must not forget that
we will not be intimidated with
$25,000 at your back. Our prin
ciples are much stronger than
that.”
Nevertheless, she said her agen
cy wanted to cooperate with the
city and wanted to settle the suit.
French. He was writing his disser
tation at the time of his death.
He joined the Paine faculty in
1961 and later became chairman of
the Division of Languages and
Literature.
He is survived by a daughter,
Mrs. Robin Mayweather, Miami,
Fla.; three grandchildren; three
brothers: Ben, Ralph and Teddy
Wright, Vidalia; two sisters: Mrs.
Blonde Eva Love, Vidalia; and
Mrs. Betty Ofodile, Nigeria; five
uncles: John Wright, Augusta; J.
T. Roberts, Frank Roberts and
Ray Roberts, Inkster, Mich.; two
aunts: Mrs. Mamie Coombs,
Detroit; Mrs. Everlene Clemons,
Sarasota, Fla.; and Mrs. Louise
Alexander, Inkster, Mich.
two children, Nona, 9 and
Frankie, 8.
Jan Gaye described their life
together. “He was a lot of fun. He
liked to play ‘mind games’ with
people. Sometimes it was great and
other times, not so great.”
She also denied vehemently the
charge that Gaye’s mother was
seeking $1 million to tell the story
of Marvin Gaye.
“I have talked with her exten
sively and she has not asked for
any money to tell any kind of story
and as a matter of fact, she is not
willing to talk about arty of it right
now. Later, that may be a different
story, but she has not asked for
any money for any kind of a story
and she has not authorized anyone
to speak for her.
“The story that appeared last
week is a lie,” said Jan Gaye.
She talked about the things she
"We now have to revise the set
tlement and we are willing to do
so,” she said.
"We are poor,” she added.
"We have nothing but shackles. It
isn’t the $25,000. It is a very basic
Constitutional issue here.”
Second Ward Council members
Willie Mays and Margaret Ar
mstrong led the fight to get the
funds put back into the budget.
Mrs. Armstrong’s motion was
defeated 9-6 and the entire matter
was sent back to committee.
Mayor Edward M. Mclntyre said
the deletion was made under the
advice of Community Develop
ment attorney C.B. Thurmond,
who said federal Health and Urban
Development officials told him it
would be improper to issue money
to the organization if it would be
used for litigation fees.
Thurmond said he felt the city
should determine how the agency'
would use the money and the fun
ding was perhaps premature. Mrs.
Powell has repeatedly insisted that
the money would be used only for
a program to train Bethlehem
neighborhood residents for em
ployment.
T
v
William Wright
and her late husband had done.
“We would go hiking and Marvin
loved to run and I would hike with
him and run with him. Sometimes,
when we lived in Hidden hills, he
would invite some of the guys up
and they would spend hours
playing basketball and he was
good,” she said.
The mother of his two children
told about the relationship bet
ween Marvin and his family.
“They loved him and he loved
them. There may have been some
strain between him and his father,
but I never thought it was anything
serious.
“He was especially close to his
mother. They had that special kind
of closeness, But I never saw
See I loved him page 3
April 21,1984
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Black child with white parents
causes stir among schoolmates
For much of the school year,
Sarah Greenstein went unnoticed
at Joseph Lamar Elementary
School where she is in the 3rd
grade. But in recent weeks she has
become the talk of the school.
Sarah is Black but her parents are
white.
The children at the predominan
tly Black school had so many
questions about Sarah that her
teacher suggested that her parents
come to the school and talk to the
students about Sarah’s uniqueness.
They talked with the students for
about 30 minutes. Sarah’s father,
Dr. Lewis J. Greenstein, associate
professor of history and Director
of Development at Paine College,
began the discussion.
“We came because we heard
that you have some questions
about our family. Susan (his wife
and Sarah’s mother) and I are
white and Sarah is Black. How do
two white parents have a Black
child?”
"She’s adopted,” a student an
swered. Dr. Susan Greenstein, a
Ken Gipson disavows
Jackson, Farakan slurs
NEW YORK—Kenneth A. Gib
son, Mayor of Newark, N.J. and
head of Jesse Jackson’s presiden
tial campaign in that state, has
repudiated the Rev. Jackson’s
defamatory remarks about Jews
and the comments made by the
Rev. Louis Farrakhan, a
spokesman for the Nation of
Islam.
In a letter to Nathan Perlmutter,
national director of the Anti-
Defamation League (ADL) of
B’nai B’rith, Gibson said he “em
phatically deplores the Jesse
Jackson insulting references to the
Jewish people” and that he finds it
“very, very frustrating...as a sup
porter of Jesse Jackson’s cam
paign to have to read and hear of
Less than 75 percent Advertising
SARAH with parents, Drs. Lewis and Susan Greenstein
professor of English at Paine
College and director the college’s
Honors Program, explained adop
tion and how they adopted Sarah.
"We adopted her as a newborn.
She came right home from the
hospital to our house. Her mommy
could not take care of her.” The
Greensteins are native New
Yorkers, but were living in
Philadelphia when Sarah was
born.
Question: Why did you pick
Sarah?
Answer: We got a telephone
call. We had been thinking about
adoption,” A person working at
an adoption gency knew that a
baby was to be born in a few days
an the mother wanted the baby
adopted right away.
Mrs. Greenstein explained that
Sarah’s birth mother was very
young and still in high school.
“We feel very lucky we received
tht telephone call. We feel that we
were picked. We were the lucky
ones and we love her very much.”
Question: Why does Sarah look
his insensitivities, ignorance or
possibly worse.”
Gibson wrote to Perlmutter af
ter reading a copy of a column by
the ADL leader on Jackson’s
“Hymie” reference to Jews which
appeared in USA Today March 1.
The column, which welcomed the
Rev. Jackson’s apology, called for
his “clear-cut censure” of remarks
made by the Rev. Louis Farrakhan
addressing a Chicago throng with
the Rev. Jackson at his side (“I say
to the Jewish people...if you harm
this brother, I warn you in the
name of Allah, this will be the last
one you do harm”).
Mayor Gibson told Perlmutter:
“I’m sure you realize that Black
people are able to think for them-
white?
Answer: In America the term
Black refers to people of many
colors. I am not the same color as
my wife. 1 am much more pink.
Sarah’s birth mother was white.
Question: What if she doesn’t
do what you say? If you don’t treat
her right, will her other parents get
her back?
Answer: If we mistreated her,
we would be like any other child
abusers. Her birth mother was told
only that she has new parents and
is happy. We don’t know each
other.”
The teacher, Mrs. Brenda Hat
cher, had to cut the questions off
so the children would not miss too
much of their classwork. Four
students still had their hands up
wanting to ask other questions.
The final hand that she recognized,
a girl seated on the far left side of
the classroom, turned out not to
have a question, but wanted to
make a comment. She observed,
“I think those are the kinds of
parents that Sarah should have,
and they are nice to her.”
selves and tne great majority ot us
do not subscribe to negative
ethnic, racial or religious referen
ces and speeches. Therefore, the
implied threats by Muslin Minister
Farrakhan do not represent the
thinking of myself or other Blacks
who know the difference between
righteousness and rhetoric.”
Gibson complimented Perlmut
ter for his “reasoned and reserved
response to these incidents,” and
said “I’m not sure I could be as
reserved in my response if I were in
your position.”
In a postscript to his letter,
Mayor Gibson told Mr. Perlmutter
that if he thought publication of
the letter “would be of any value,
please feel free to do so.”
30C