Newspaper Page Text
The Augusta News-Review NOVEMBER 3,1984
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THE PRINCE OF THE MUSIC WORLD Con
troversy has surrounded Prince throughout much of his
career but with the success of his first movie, “Purple
Rain’’, he has firmly establichse himself as one of the
superstars of the music industry.
Endowment fund
supported by Prince
Marva Collins Westside
Preparatory School has announced
the creation of an endowment fund
to found a new Teacher Training
Institute.
The purpose of the Institute will
be to spread Collins’ teaching
methods, which have been
featured on 60 Minutes, the Phil
Donahue Show, ’ and on a TV
special called The Marva Collins
Story (with Cicely Tyson),
throughout the country.
Honorary Chairman and co
founder of the Endowment Fund is
rock star Prince. Prince con
tributed initial fundign for the
Westside Preparatory National
Teacher-Training Institute En
dowment Fund. His managers and
menjbers of his business team have
augmented that sum.
But a major source of revenue
for the Fund will be moneys raised
on Prince’s upcoming Purple Rain
Tour.
Prince and his managers,
Cavallo, Ruffalo & Fargnoli, have
been active supporters of Collins’
work for the last two years. On his
last tour, in 1982, Prince perfor
med an imprompt benefit in
Chicago which raised funds for
Westside Preparatory School.
At that time, he sat in on a day
of classes at the school and saw fir
st hand what makes Collins’
‘Bloods’ is special salute
to Black Vietnam veteran
Anyone between the age of 18'
and 26 has probably spent a lot of
time wondering what really hap
pened in Vietnam. At a time when
Vietnam vets are just beginning to
get some of their just due for ser
ving their country in an unjust and
unpopular war, Wallace Terry has
released his book “Bloods” in
which he attempts in some small
way to shed light on the Black •
veteran’s role in the South Asian
war.
Since my reading of the book it
has become a must read item on
my list of important books. In its
form, an oral history of Black
veterans, Wallace has presented a
collection of 20 individual accoun
ts by veterans of the guerrilla war.
The accounts serve as simple
dividers that make the book easy
to read and follow, one that I
found to be a “can’t put it down”
narrative.
However, for those who don’t
have the time or the patience to
read through the entire book at
one time, individualized chapters
allow the reader to come and go
back to the book at his leasure.
“Bloods” is successful because
it contains work on all the service
branches in the U.S. military
establishment. Following the ac
counts of the various vets gives the
reader a look at the Air Force,
Army, Marines and Navy.
The perspectives of a number of
ranks are also offered, lending a
sense of continuity that demon
strates that gut feelings and shared
experiences cut across all ranks of
hte services to find their Black
targets.
Sargeants, lieutenants and
privates all seem to express similar
experiences and thoughts about the
methods unique.
Prince saw a system of
education in operation that has
consistently turned kids formerly
labeled truants, retardees and
behavior problems into scholars, a
system that concentrates on
making children believe in them
selves and in hard work._
In 1974, Marva Collins founded
the Westside Preparatory Institute
with $5,000 from her Chicago
Teachers Pension Fund. The
school started with 18 students in
two rooms of Collins home.
Today, though the school has
never accepted a grant of govr
nment funds, it has over 200
students from more than half a
dozen states.
The purpose of the Teacher
Training Institute will be to spread
the Collins technique to tens of
thousands of students nationwide
by training up to 1,200 teachers
each year.
Explains Mrs. Collins, “In my
opinion, Prince’s involvement in
founding the Institute is a very fir
st. For the first time, a performer
is not just giving society a fish, but
is providing funds to teach
children how to fish for a lifetime.
Prince historically will be
remembered not only for being
great genius at performing, but for
making a permanent difference in
the lives of children.”
war; specifically the fact that race
was still a barrier, even out there
on the war front.
Inadvertently, prehaps unwit
tingly, Wallace puts to death the
myth that because they were in bat
tle, Blacks and whites were able to
find the cohesion that an in
stitutionalized racist nation was
unable to instill at home.
Sharing death and danger was
supposed to be a bonding element
of the war, but shared experiences
of Ku Klux Klaners, racist epithets, l
dirty jobs and disproportionate
frontline duty assignments for
Black soldiers demonstrated rather
than obscured the image of a
discriminatory and racist military.
The most profound account of
the book was the chapter that
chronicled the experiences of Sgt.
Robert L. Daniels of Chicago. In
Vietnam for more than 14 months,
Daniels lost his right hand,
received burns over 90 percent of
his body and spent two years in the
hospital undergoing operations
and skin grafts.
His tale was especially tragic and
dramatic because it depicted the
worst fears and fates of young men
going to war. His terror, with him,
by his own admission, every step
of the way during his toru near
Pleiku, drives home the positon
that all of the Bloods were in while
in Vietnam.
After making the sacrifice,
whether through fear or bravado,
the Black Vets returned home,
Daniels in particular, and rather
than being rewarded for their
deeds, were shuffled off to unem
ployment lines or disability clinics.
Wallace includes a chronological
calendar of major events during
the war and a glossary of terms,
Page 2
Blacks, whites
differ on
candidates
WASHINGTON Blacks and
whites differ —by wide' margins
on which candidate can best solve
the problems facing our country, a
USA TODAY poll reveals.
Blacks overwhelmingly say
Walter Mondale can do a better
job than Ronald Reagan at
promoting economic growth,
reducing unemployment, im
proving conditions for minorities
and reducing racial tensions in the
country.
Blacks also say Mondale can
better reduce the deficit.
Whites basically disagreed.
“The difference in answers has
to reflect the difference in
economic status between the Black
and white communities,” said Ron
Walters, a Black political scientist
at Howard University in
Washington. “Blacks feel Mon
dale can provide jobs. Whites
think just the opposite.
“Very few people think the elec
tion in the abstract. They think:
Am I better off today than four
years ago?” The answer is dif
ferent depending on your race.”
While Blacks of all ages feel
Mondale can do a better job, those
18 to 25 are least supportive.
Reagan has found his greatest sup
port this election year in voters un
der 25.
It’s “a comment on the two ad
ministrations,’’young voters have
seen, Walter says. “They remem
ber Iran.. .and that Carter got them
into that mess. Then they remem
ber he was defeated by a much
stronger man Reagan.”
More than 70 percent of Blacks
say Mondale could better control
the pollution of the environment.
“High levels of lead in the blood
of children in urban areas and
pollutants in the air have made
Blacks more aware,” Walters says.
Black voters overwhelmingly
prefer Democrat Walter Mondale,
a new USA TODAY Poll shows,
but the real issue is Ronald
Reagan.
According to the poll, a survey
of Black and white voters:
Black voters prefer Mondale 81-
12 percent with 7 percent undic
ded.
White voters prefer Reagan 67-
29 percent with 4 percent un
decided.
Overall voter totals show
Reagan leading 61-36 percent, with
3 percent undecided.
But among voters, Black and
white alike, Reagan is the key.
but both seem to have been in
cluded as an after thought.
Rather than weaving continuity
into the book the, fails to give the
reader a sense of time relative to
the individual stories. Each
soldier, in a sense, recounts his
service from a vacuum as Wallace
does not tie them together.
It might be best to read the
chronology first if the reader is
unacquainted with the Vietnam
War, as many of us are.
All in all, however, Wallace does
more than has ever been done
before to make real and terrifying l ,
the Black Vietnam experience,
while at the same time, again for
the first time, giving our brothers
the true image of heroes and
warriors that is denied by a society
which would prefer not to honor
their sacrifices.
* m
For
MOVIES
TITLES
and
SHOW
TIMES
Call:
722-4507
■
ADULTS ONLY
Black lawyers meet
to protect civil rights
The 59th annual meeting of the
National Bar Associastion, in New
Orleans, may prove to be one of its
most important in terms of helping
all Americans. The theme, “A
Collective Experience :Together,
We Will” and the distinguished
number of perceptive speakers
csan chart a constructive course
for Black Americans specifiscaslly
and all Americans generally to
have their civil rights strengthened.
For when the rigshts of Blacks are
assured in the U.S., the rights of ev
eryone else will be guaranteed.
And one of the best waqys to
protect the rights of Blacks is to
create a climate in which
prosperity can grow and be shared.
We encourage conventions and
r “VOTEDEMOCRAT”— “no”eMBE“r6”98””"“*i
GENERAL ELECTION
I ELECT Julia GLOVER |
I C'3 Board of Education Seat!
I District 4 I
i As your board member I will work: j
! W’r*T° kee P competent teachers in the classroom, j
1 ark? i
* For quality education for all children.
! I
i ‘ w To explore other means of financing to relieve i
taxpayers.
I I
! PUNCH NO. 144-PAGE 8
Retired teacher with 28 years classroom experience in Richmond
County school system. i
■ Paid for by The Candidate, Annie Blount, Campaign Chairman j
j COUNTY COMMISSION—B6TH DISTRICT-SEAT 2 I
• HERE’S WHY—
I OUTSTANDING IN J
I f \ .LEADERSHIP
| .COMMUNITY
I -STABILITY
‘Jesse Carroll will ek better facilities and meeting
> places for Senior Citizens.
BMb ‘Jesse Carroll will see that the people of South Richmond j
county receive their fair share of services from county gover- |
nment for their tax dollars, such as road paving and resur- |
facing, more neighborhood police protection, expansion of |
I* $ BWBBB water and sewer lines, recreation, and stopping the give- j
B v awayofthe University Hospital.
k ‘Jesse Carroll will fight to have an elected sheriff as the chief |
■ lb IwMBM law enforcement officer of_our county.
i ■BBK ; KBr vhßb Lot’s Eloct
I “A VOICE FOR SOUTH RICHMOND COUNTY” ■
| TUESDAY, HOV. 6 PUNCH 65
Paid Pol. Adv. bv.committee to elect Jesse Carroll. .Carol James. Chairman I
MIKE
EUBANKS
SOLICITOR
The best man for the job
on
* Assistant Solicitor of State Court since 1980.
KA • 2 years Assistant District Attorney, Augusta Circuit.
• 2 years Prosecutorial Training in Law School.
• 1975 Graduate University of Georgia Law School.
Y.- • Experienced Trial Lawyer in Private Practice.
ELECT EXPERIENCE, INTEGRITY, HONESTY
VOTE NOVEMBER 6 PAGE 4 PUNCH 61
p»M for by Committee to Elect Mike Eubeelu, Jecfc F. H-nri I*—, 1 *—, Chrfn—
seminars of this type. The week
long meeting may turn out to be a
landmark one. Its intense
discussions and resultant con
clusions on Blacks and politics,
economics, education, police
brutality, telecommunications,
etc., could prove to be a good
foundation on which to build our
future.
The NBA is the oldest and
largest Black Bar Association in
the United States. Many of the
men and women members have
fought long and hard to secure and
maintain rights for their fellow
citizens. Some of them have felt
the dual cut of racism in that they
were first discriminated against as
Blacks and then, after receiving
their degrees, were forced by
economic circumstances to pursue
employment in a field (usually an
unskilled one) other than law.
There simply wasn’t enough
money in the possession of most
Black people needing attorneys for
the lawyers to make a decent living
at their profession.
Also for most of these lawyers,
getting cases from white clients
was impossibility. Therefire, being
a Black lawyer was as difficult as
being a Black person trying to pur
sue just about any other
profession. That is why many of
these courageous men and women
emphathize with the downtrodden
-they’ve been there.