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The Augusta News-Review October 20,1984
Caucus comes of age
The Congressional Black
Caucus (CBC) has come of age.
according to the October issue of
Black Enterprise Magazine.
With members of the House of
Representatives from 20 states plus
a non-voting representative from
the District of Columbia, the CBC,
formed in 1970, has become a
powerful voting bloc on the
national political scene that is
beginning to have a major impact
on key legislation, according to a
feature report by Black Enterprise
editors David Ruffin and Frank
Dexter Brown. Yet the CBC is
rarely mentioned in the nation’s
press or on the evening news, they
lament.
“After years of working to get
our forces on the right committees,
we’re now seeing the results,” says
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.)
Also critical is the “swing vote”
the CBC represents as one of the
most cohesive voting blocs in the
House. The CBC provided the
margin of victory in the
Emergency Housing Assistance
Act, the International Recovery
and Financial Stability Act, a bill
to prohibit covert assistance to
Nicaraguan rebels, and legislation
on the education of immigrant
children.
“If you didn’t have the Black
Caucus you wouldn’t have
legislation such as the anti-apar
theid ammendment to the Inter
national Monetary Fund bill”, Jim
Morrell, research director for the
Center for International Policy,
told Black Enterprise.
The CBC has also become adept
at the kind of political “horse
trading” so crucial to coalition
politics. In addition to under
taking protracted lobbying com
mittee, on the floor, and behind
closed doors, the CBC has cemen
ted its ties with other minority
caucused, Ruffin and Brown
Kappas rap Pendleton
“Clarence Pendleton, Jr.,
Chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights
Commission, recently complained
to President Reagan because the
President met privately with
Blacks inhis adminsitration’’, ac
cording to Robert Gordon, Grand
Polemarch of Kappa Alpha Psi
Fraternity, Inc.
“Mr. Pendleton has also com
plained about the government set
ting aside a certain percentage of
government contracts for minority
vendors,” noted Grand Polemarch
Gordon.
“The President’s meeting with
Blacks in his administration is not
only beneficial for the President,
but necessarfy for the President to
better understand Black
Americans despite Mr. Pen
dleton’s assertion hat he will never
knowingly attend any meeting the
President or his administration
convenes exclusively for Blacks,”
said Grand Polemarch Gordon.
Government set aside programs
are absolutely necessary to
memedy the many years of refusal
of government contracts for
minority vendors.
“Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity,
Inc. urges President Reagan to
remove Mr. Pendleton, as a mem
ber of the United States Civil
Rights Commission and replace
him with a person who at least
believes in the fundamental pur
pose of the Commission,” said
Who
ami?
from page 4
teach pride in ourselves and in our
race.
According to Dr. Akbar, “if we
begin to direct our children’s atten
tion to strong images like them
selves, they will grow in self
respect. We must honor and exalt
our own heroes, and those heroes
must be people who have done the
most to dignify us as a people...”
We knew this was the route to
self-respect when we struggled to
cope with the former Jim Crow
laws and segregated schools which
exist in de facto form today.
A major predicament that deters
the urgent need for AOIP is that so
much of our preciously-limited
leadership has simply lost their
sense of direction in their zeal “to
just happen to be Black,” and
forget the overwhelming intent of
past and present policies and prac
tices to demean us.
Page 6
report. Says Representative Pat
Schroeder (D-Coio.), co-chair of
the Women’s Caucus, “The three
chairpersons of the women’s
Black, and Hispanic caucuses have
been sewn together around issues
of equal concern, such as hunger,
the feminization of poverty, the
extension of the Voting Rights Act
and the reauthorization of the
Civil Rights Commission.”
Outside the halls of Scongress
the CBC has beefed up its ties to
the Black community and
developed an important network
of “braintrusts” of community
leaders who meet regularly to give
input to CBC members or who can
galvanize grassroots lobbying ef
forts. The Black Voter’s Par
ticipation Network of Rep. Walter
Fauntroy and the Minority
Business Enterprise Braintrust of
Rep. Parren Mitchell are two key
examples.
“Mitchell’s success in getting
minority business set-aside
legislation passed has resulted in
billions of dollars in federal
procurement business for minority
firms”, report Ruffin and Brown.
The CBC has also had a major
impact on employment. Rep.
Agustus Hawkins, a congressman
since 1962, has been the leader in
this effort. But he admits there is
still much more work to be done
“to prevent us from getting back
to where we started in the 1920’5.
Hoping to expand its member
ship in future elections, the
Congressional Black Caucus is
taking the lead in redistricting in
Southern states with Black
representatives and in challenging
dual primaries, according to Black
Enterprise.
“Our time has come,” says
Conyers, “our time is now. It’s
time to move. The only way these
things are going to change is to
confront them today.”
Grand Polemarch Gordon.
The fraternity has adopted a
resolution in response to Mr. Pen
delton’s actions which will be for
warded to the President, the
Congressional Black Caucus,
Clarence Pendleton and other
national organizations.
ROTC
announces
T.W. Josey High School and the
Georgia 64th AFJROTC Cadet
Squadron will have its cadet of
ficer commissioning and
promotion of other cadets of the
AFJROTC Squadron on Oct. 25,
at 7:30 p.m. in the school
cafeteria.
Mr. Jack Patrick, Director of
Augusta Area Technical School,
will be the speaker.
Parents, school officials and the
public are invisted to attend.
Wilkins
receives
Achievement
Medal
Spec. 4 Terry D. Wilkins, son of
James E. and Mary N. Wilkins of
914 11th Ave., Augusta, has been
decorated with the Army
Achievement Medal at Fort Sill,
Okla.
The Acheivement Medal is
awarded to soldiers for accom
plishment, meritorious service or
acts of courage.
Wilkins is a cannon crewman
with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Field
Artillery.
He a 1980 graduate of Butler
High School.
For
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ATHLETES FOR UNCF United States Olympic Goald (Lakers) and hockey (Kings) teams. Buss is the national
Medalist Edwin Moses (second from left) and NBA All-Star chairman of the 1984 Parade of Stars. From left are
Jamaal Wilkes of the Los Angeles Lakers (right) were among Christopher Edley, UNCF president; Moses, a graduate of
the entertainment and sports celebrities at the 1984 “Lou Morehouse College (a UNCF school); television personality
Rawls Parade of Stars’’ kick-off party at the Beverly Hills Byron Allen, who served as master of ceremonies; Fred
home of Dr. Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles basketball Kuhlmann, vice chairman of the board of Anheuser-Busch
Companies; and Wilkes.
Help , H 2333
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