Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Ed Mclntyre Willie Mays Snubbed, Bia... spends weekend challenges women form in Augusta candidates lobbying group to re-group Page 1 Page 1 Page 3 Page 6 VOLUME 14 NUMBER 20 Two sleeping giants by Bishop John Hurst Adams We may be living in an era when these two giants are awakening to their potential and being charged by each other. The Black church’s direct or indirect access to a majority of Black people, its well trained leadership, its rich history of being on the frontier of social change, and its resoruce of church person/politicians fit it to make a large contribution as Blacks are in creasingly reaching for answers to the question of justice and equality through the political process. The interest of Blacks in politics has been fermenting and growing over the years since the Civil Rights movement and the passage of the Voting Rights Act. As the two giants awaken and converge around the goals of liberty and justice for all, at center stage are many church persons who are politicians, and politicians who are church persons—including one » who recently saught the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. Sleeping giant is an appropriate description of both the Black chur ch and the possibilities in politics for Blacks. The positive and dramatic changes these giants can effect in political, economics, and social life can happen with only modest increases in Black voter registration and participation and an even more modest collective use of the economic and human resources of the Black church. There is, however, a potential for conflict between these giants as they awaken to their opportunity in the eighties. But conflict bet ween church leaders and a new class of politicians over the first allegiance of the same constituency and over whose turf is whose must be avoided by conversation, cooperation, and attention to the larger agenda of justice for all. 1 want to enhance these remarks with a definition of the Black church and a definition of politics. ZTie Black church is the people of African descent who gather in the name of Jesus Christ in local, regional, and national fellowships to worship, organize, and work to move life on earth toward the spiritual and ethical ideal of the Kingdom of God, whre love is the motive and justice tempered by mercy is the means. These fellowships seek to: 1) con tinue the life and work of Jesus; 2) serve as agents of the liberating ac tivity of God in the world; 3) develop collective institutional power on behalf of personhood through service and change; 4) carry the ethic of love and justice. The Black church includes the historic and culturally created Black denominations, sects, and movements as well as those Black fellowships that are part of predominantly white denominations. The mission of the church is expressed through every type of human en deavor: from music and poetry to property management, from educational enterprises here in > America to overseas work, from honoring traditions to organizing volunteers. Politics is collective action to participate in and influence the governance over one’s life. This collective action includes: 1) shaping public policy; 2) influen cing the outcome of elections; 3) helping to define issues and the rules of governance. The actions are performed through structures and functions that in many ways parallel those of Augusta Newa-IRwteuj The Black church and Black politics the church: organizing a con stituency is not unlike calling a congregation; education is a prime concern in both spheres; service is a basic function of each. Most im portant, both the Black church and Black political activism seek to enlarge the possible. The Black church represents the first sustained protest of, and alternative to, racism in America. It was the first institutional affir mative of the full worth and dignity of Americans of African descent. The savior became the liberator. “Heaven” and “the next world” became “out of slavery” and “in freedom’s land.” The spirituals are freedom songs as well as religious witness. The founding fathers and mothers of the Black church were creative and exceptional theologians without benefit of theological education. The Black church initially ad dressed the issues of Black sanity and survival. Excluded fromt he On Black issues Mays challenges mayoral hopefuls Second Ward City Councilman Willie Mays Tuesday challenged the announced mayoral candidates Mayor Pro Tem Charles DeVaney and City Councilwoman Inez Wylds to address the “legitimate concerns” of the Black com munity, while still holding out the possibility that ne may still enter the race. Mays said that his decision to run is largely dependent upon their responses, “but not entirely.” “If their responses are negative, I hope this will send a signal to Blacks who may be supporting one or the other that our true interests are not of their concern,” he said. Asked if he would run if their responses were positive, he told the News-Review after his noon news conference, “After consulting with my supporters I may consider it. But for the sake of the old addage ‘the lesser of two evils,’ I would never lead my people down any path in which the end would be blocked by a snake.” Mays callled on the candidates to make public their views on a number of issues including: •Ward Voting: “This city is over 50 percent Black and both of them live in a ward that is 60 per cent Black in registered voters and even more than that in population. Both of them have opposed ward voting whereas the overwhelming majority of the Blacks in the city and county support ward voting. “They have constantly used city money to defend the city’s position maintaining at-large voting. •Annexation: “Both have dragged their feet and opposed an nexing predominantly Black areas into the city while not opposing annexing predominantly white areas such as The Hill and West Augusta. •Lack of soundly supported af firmative action program: “There is no one running for mayor with a strong backbone commitment to stand behind affirmative action.” •Inner City Schools: “We’re doing $217 million plus in planned downtown and riverfront white society, the Black church developed its own society. Programmed for self-hatred and disunity, it developed its own community of love, cooperation, and self-respect. Prohibited from participation in social, economic, and political life, it built and all inclusive institution that provided for social life, economic necessities, and political par ticipation. The Black church became, for enslaved, oppressed, and segregated Blacks, an alter native society that said yes to them when the white society said not. The Black church became political party, social club, strategy and planning meeting, a place to be somebody, a community inside the community, the rebuilder of hope, home base for freedom movement, leadership develop ment program, -promoter of education and economic develop ment, and the advocate of a philosophy of self-help. Hiram Rhoades Revels, Jeremiah development, supposedly to be the first step in reviving a decaying city. But we see no spark on behalf of the candidates to prompt the city council to encourage our superintendent and board of education to see the need to parallel our rebuilding with a fer vent interest in keeping open inner city schools and possibly going beyond and even building new ones. Anticipating the argument that the school system has nothing to do with city government, Mays said that “all city bodies are made up of elected people who can get almost any good thing done if they commit themselves to doing so.” Mays also asked the candidates to go on record agreeing to appoint a Black to replace them in their First Ward council seat. No Black has ever been elected in the first Ward although that ward is more than 60 percent Black. The topics listed by Mays and responses by the two candidates are: ♦ls the successful candidate will appoint a Black to fill the unex pired term in the Ist Ward, which he said is about 60 percent Black. DeVaney: “Certainly it’s going to be open to anyone, but I’m not automatically going to exclude 40 percent of a community’s population any more than I’m automatically going to exclude 60 percent.” Mrs. Wylds: “I would certainly appoint someone that was qualified and representative of the area.” •Annexation of predominately Black areas into the city. “You look at each case carefully,” DeVaney said, adding that council’s “initial reaction has always been the financial impact” of an annexation proposal. Any annexation, regardless of Black or white areas, must meet U.S.Justice Department approval, Mrs. Wylds said. ♦The ward voting suit pending against the city. DeVaney and Mrs Wylds said See DeVaney, page 2 September 15,1984 Haralson, Richard Harvey Cain, Adam Clayton Powell, Walter Fauntroy, William Gray, Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson. The names out of the past and present per sonalize the long tradition of Black church activists in politics. Beyond these are the thousands of Black clergy and lay people who are deeply involved and greatly in fluential in local politics. There are a number of reasons why me Biacx churcn taxes sucn a large role in politics. First, the Black church has never really ac cepted the frequently pronounced dichotomies between the spiritual and material, between the temple ?jid the spiritthat occupies ti, bet ween the political and the theological, between the life of faith and life of the world, between church and state. Second, the government alone has the resources and the authority to enable us to fulfill our mandate: o feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick, and free Run, Willie, run! Three years ago, many Blacks were saying that Ed Mclntyre couldn’t be elec ted mayor. Frankly, while we hoped that he’d win, we didn’t expect him to win either. Now many Blacks are saying the same thing about Willie Mays. There is only one thing that is certain. He can’t win unless Black people upport him and vote for him. Mays’ name is a household word. Forty seven percent of the registered voters are Black. People know him and his family. All that they need to know is that he’s running. Those people who want to vote for him will. He doesn’t need to spend a lot of money. Mclntyre in Augusta Former Augusta Mayor Edward M. Mclntyre spent the past weekend in Augusta. He was released Friday from Eglin Air Force Base Prison where he is serving a five-year sentence following his April conviction on conspiracy and extortion charges. Mclntyre returned to Augusta to attend the funeral of his 96-year old grandfather, Anderson Frazier, at Good Shepherd Baptist Church Saturday afternoon. Mclntyre, who arrived in Augusta Friday evening spent the weekend at home with his family. According to Thomas Burts, director of Augustans for Progress Less than 75 percent Advertising the captives. Its powers must be used if we are to keep faith with the nature and purpose of the church. Without the continuing pressure of spiritual, moral force, government functions such as levying and spending taxes, enac ting and enforcing laws, and even educating our children become in strumetns of bondage. Third, we have tried many strategies and solutions other than political involvement with only limited results. Racism has not gone, and justice has not arrived. It is time to try political solutions to political problems and exonomic solutions to economic problems. At the heart of the Black church is the task of redemption. The theology of redemption applies to both individuals and institutions. Just as we respond to the neds and hopes of individuals, we must redeem the structures and systems that oppress and limit the oppor tunity for individuals to be fully and truly human. When political Editorial Assuredly, some Blacks don’t want Mays to run—and definitely don’t want him to win. That in cludes some elected of ficials who aspire to that office themselves. We would raise the question, If not Willie, then who? If not now, when? It is shameful to see of fices come open and not a single Black make a bid for theoffice. And then when a Black does offer, other Blacks feel that they mustoppose him or her. It is time that we remove the shackles from our minds. Slavery is an abomination. But an even greater abomination is that slavery which we im pose upon ourselves. Run, Willie, run! —an off-shoot of Augustans for Mclntyre(campaign workers), said Mclntyre talked about how much he missed the area, how much he had learned from his experience, and how the experience had taught him who his real friends were. He said the former mayor was “looking real good,” having lost 25 pounds and wants to get down to about 160 pounds. He said Mclntyre was accom panied by a law enforcement ex cort, whose expenses the former mayor had to pay. There are no bars on the win dows at the prison and no armed guards, Burts added. systems set priorities that upgrade destruction and death and downgrade development and life, the theology of redemption must speak and act. When the political system employs its powers to reverse and sabotage equal rights, civil rights, and human justice, the theology of redemption must speak and act. The system must be redeemed and made more humane and just and equitable. Despite growing adversity and erosion in recent years, the Black church remains the strongest and biggest institution Black people have. It has the people; it has the organization; it has the talent; it has the resources; it has the history, and increasingly, it has the leadership. This means that the Black church has an enormous obligation to Black people to exer cise a redemptive influence on the political process which greately determines their lives. —Persons and institutions that oppress and deny personhood have to be changed or replaced; —Policies that are unfair, un just, and preferential must be redrafted to be fair, just and equitable; —Governments ought not to be selected by less than one-third of the eligible voters: that is no man date. —The vision of America that should be must be clearly stated, people must be organized to sup port it; and people who share it must be elected. We must proceed to make this the land of the free and the home of the brave. The current president was elec ted by only 28 percent of the eligible voters in this nation, and he won because of the folk who stayed home. The Black church seeks to change this because more Black people stayed home than any other group. A change of 20 percent in the turnout of Black voters would have yielded different results, and the Black church proposed that we together get that 20 to 25 percent additional Black voters registered. Why not 2 million more in 84? The Black church is about using what is to perform its mission in the world —including the world of politics. We plan to use increased political participation to leverage a more just and equitable society. We will work to elect the best and create accountability to Black folk Trickle-down will become rise-up. We demand governance that is truly of all the people, by all the people, and for all the people. The Black church should be an institution and instrument of em powerment, liberation, and com munity for those ignored and ex cluded by historic institutions and instruments of power, freedom, and justice. In that way, we will succeed in enlarging the possible. Dr. Lawrence Jones, Dean of Howard University’s Divinity School, and eminent scholar on the Black Church, refers to the Black Church as “a sleeping giant, a battery waiting to be hooked up to an engine powerful enough to call all of its energy. ” Dr. Diane Pinderhuges, assistant professor of bovemment at Dar tmouth College, and adjunct fellow of the Joint Center for Political Studies, entitles and article written for the Urban League’s State oj Black America, 1984 “The Black Vote The Sleeping Giant.” 30C