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No monies Bethlehem Center Ruffin a' || Pendleton burns
for to celebrate Alpha P
‘Sugar Ditch’ 72ndanniversary Foundei oO rs
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VOLUME 14 NUMBER 28
White House lifts gay’s
WASHINGTON (UPI)—A
Black stenographer who “made no
secret I was gay” contends the
White House violated his rights by
stripping him of his clearance and
branding him a “security risk.”
Killian Brumfield Swift, 31, who
acknowledges he is
homosexual,held a White House
pass for nearly two years while
working for Koba Associated,
Inc., a monority-owned business
that has a contract to transcribe
presidential speeches and press
briefings, and another company
that preceded it.
On Jan. 2, 1984, he was infor
med he was no longer eligible for a
White House security pass but was
not told why. Swift’s lawyer, Har
vey Friedman said.
The White House and Justice
Department have refused to com
men on grounds that a lawsuit
could be filed.
“I made no secret I was gay,”
said Swift, who previously worked
for the Geological Survey and
graduated summa cum laude from
Federal University of the District
of Columbis.
Friedman said Koba was forced
to fire Swift because the White
House imformed Koba he was a
“security risk.”
“It’s fundamental law that an
individual should be notified of
charges by the government,”
Friedman said. “We want to
know, if there is a procedure for
such dismissals.”
Otherwise, Friedman said, Swift
may sue.
Friedman said Koba is willing to
hire Swift back “if he gets his
Pendleton raps Black leaders
WASHINGTON—The chair
man of the U.S. Commissiosn on
Civil Rights, Clarence Pendleton
Jr. has been a vocal critic of
established civil rights remedies
such as quotas and busing—and of
the movement’s leadership.
Last week, he steppped up his
war of words, accusing Black
leaders, including the Rev. Jesse
Jackson; Vernon Jordan, former
president of the National Urban
League; and Benjamin Hooks,
president of the NAACP, of
guiding Blacks to a “political
Jonestown.”
“Open the gates and let us out,”
he told a business gourp in Akron,
Ohio. “We refuse to be led into
another political Jonestown as we
were led during the presidential
campaign. No more Kool-Aid
Jesse, Vernon and Ben. We want
to be free.”
Hooks was “appalled” that
Pendleton “would resort to such
shameless behavior, seemingly to
score political points with those
who appointed him to the position
he now holds.”
Pendleton said at a press con
ference last week that he refuses to
shy away from an issue if asked for
his opinion. With that, he lashed
out at the issue of compatable wor
th, which would address sex
discrimination by ordering equal
pay for jobs requiring equal skills.
He called it “the looniest idea since
Looney Tunes.”
Pendleton has been embroiled in
a series of controversies since being
named head of the fact-finding
civil rights agency in 1983.
Most recently, it was revealed
that he was the third Reagan ap
pointee who also served on the
Stye Augusta News-Heute A
White House pass back.”
Swift said at first he thought of
accepting his dismissal, but “after
a lot of soul searching” and no job
available, “I thought maybe
there’s more to this.”
He said he did not have top
security clearance, which would
have given him acces to classified
documents, nor did other
stenographers in the firm.
He said he has “never been
arrested for anything,” has one
traffic violation and said in the
early 1970 s he suffered about with
depression.
In a letter to White House coun
sel Fred Fielding, Friedman said he
obtained a copy of Swift’s file with
the Secret Service and said the
security agency “entertains no
concern for the safety of the
president for his family, and has
no reason to believe that Mr. Swift
poses a security risk.”
He said the White House
statement that Swift is a “security
risk” has made it “virtually im
possible for him to answer
prospective employers’ questions
of why he left his last position.
“And he is at a total loss to ex
plain or refute the label the White
House has chosen to attach to
him,” Friedman said. “It is a
label which he will not be able to
shed for the rest of his life.”
A Justice Department official,
who asked not to be identified,
denied Swift was labeled a
“security risk.”
But he declined to explain why
his pass was lifted, saying “we
don’t believe people have a right to
a pass to the White House. We’re
board of a bank that allowed at
torney General designate Edwin
Meese 111 to fall 15 months in
arrears on his mortgate.
In 1975, Pendleton began a
stormy tenure as president of the
San Diego Urban League—a bran
ch of the national social service
organization.
A Gannett News Service in
vestigation in 1982 revealed that
Pendleton permitted the San Diego
Urban League to be used as a front
for two white businessmen who
PENDLETON
s a
B HOOKS
not going to provide any reasons. ’
The official declined to donfirm
or deny that Swift’s homosexuality
had anything to do with the
vocation of his pass. “Our
position is that it is a discretionary
matter” as to who works in the
White House, he said.
Friedman said Swift’s mother,
Charlie Killisn Swift, wrote to first
lade Nancy Reagan and afterward
received a letter from the White
House, dated Feb. 3, 1984, saying
the White House “does not believe
that my client is a ‘national
security risk’.”
This information leads me to
draw some ugly conclusions.
Friedman said in his letter to
Fielding, “I note that Mr. Swift
was the only Black employee of
Koba traveling with the president.
It does not appear that any of the
white Koba employees suffered
summary revocation of their
passes.”
“Are contracts with minority
owned firms acceptable to this
administration so long as no
minorities are actually sent to work
in the White House?”
Friedman said if the White
House informs Swift why his pass
was revoked and provides a
statement “explaining why those
facts raided legitimate security
concerns” then litigation may be
avoided.
Friedman said the matter is now
being handled by Paul Blanken
stein, special litigation counsel in
the Justice Department’s Civil
Division.
Friedman said Blankenstein
“made it clear that Killian would
JORDAN
posed as minority-owned firms
and qualified for special preferen
ce in bidding for government con
tracts.
When he left that post, Pen
dleton wrote himself checks for
unused vacation time, totaling
$10,600. The Urban League sued
for fraud, and recently settled out
of court, with Pendleton repaying
about $6,000. Pendleton also runs
a development and investment
form besides his part-time com
missionjob.
Decembers, 1984
pass
not gel his White House pass
back,” saying “that’s not
negotiable.”
Friedman said the government
attorney indicated Swift “may be
free to work in other parts of the
government, but not the White
House.”
Blankestein, contracted by
United Press International,
refused to discuss the allegations
on grounds “it’s a matter of poten
tial litigation and inappropriate to
discuss it at this point.”
White is a Black
is a white?
NEW ORLEANS—A
lawyer for a woman trying to
change her birth certificate’s race
designation from Black to white
argued today that state standards
were meaningless inthe 1980 s and
should be changed.
Brian Begue told a panel of the
Xh Louisiana Circuit Court of
Appeal that Susie Guillory Phipps
should be allowed to change the
birth certificate in “these
enlightened times.”
Begue and state attorneys agreed
Louisiana’s standards for deter
mining race were ambituous,
requiring that anyone with l-32nd
Black ancestry was considered
Black. Begue added that the stan
dards were “insensitive, unscien
tific, born in slavery and fostered
in Jim Crow.”
Health Department lawyer Jack
Westholz said Phipps has no
evidence that she is white. Her
church and school records list her
as Black, and her elderly relatives
testified at an earlier trial the
family had always been considered
Black.
In rebuttal, Begue pulled out a
leatherbound photo album and
marched in front of the judgtes’
bench showing them pictures of
the fair-skinned family.
“I mean, look at these people!”
he said. “They were victims of
the times. People were getting lyn
ched out in the country for trying
to pass as white, They had no
choice.”
The woman has been trying to
change her race designation for
three years.
Phipps must repeat her
arguments because one of three
judges on the panel residned
before an opinion could be issued
this year. To change her birth cer
tificate, Phipps is required by law
to show she was mistakenly listed
as Black.
A trial judge ruled against her
last year.
Before the latest round of
arguments before the 4th Circuit,
Westholz said it’s easier to register
a sex change with the state than to
change one’s official race.
In 1970, the Louisiana
Legislature passed a law that said
anyone with l-32nd “Black
blood”—or a Black great-great
great grandmother—would be
considered Black.
The statute was intended to get
around an older law that required
a Black designation for “any
traceable amount of African
heritage,” Westholz said ,
however, the new statute caused
Less than 75 percent Advertising
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Army Spec. 4 Ricky A. Walker prepares a personnel ac
tion request. He is personnel management specialist
assigned with U.S. Garrison, Camp Kinser, Okinawa,
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Augustan assumes big
responsibility overseas
OKINAWA, Japan—Living on
an island, communicating with
people who speak a different
language, driving on the left hand
side of the road and eating with
chop sticks are just a few of the
daily adjustments soldiers like
Spec. 4 Rickey A. Walker face
during a tour of duty on Okinawa.
The son of Paul D. Walker,
2311 Shadowood Drive, and Effiel
Parker, 2347 Dublinde, both of
Augusta, Walker says Okinawa is
a pleasant assignment with its
assorted cultural personalities.
“The Okinawan people are often
times friendly yet somewhat shy
and reserved,” he said. “My wife,
Greta, and I like to shop in the
open markets for fresh vegetables
and at the sidewalk sales.
“Okinawa has some of the
worlds most beautiful beaches and
if a person enjoys snorkeling this is
one of the best reefs in the
Pacific.”
Because of Okinawa’s strategic
location it is often called the
Keystone of the Pacific. American
soldiers have been stationed on
Okinawa since 1945 and the island
was the site of the last major battie
of World War 11. Since then the
Army’s mission here has changed
from combat to support and ad
ministrative units. And although
it’s the smallest of the American
services represented her, soldiers
problems, too.
“That stupid statute has since
ben repealed. That’s one good
thing” about the Phipps case, he
said.
Phipps said she did not know
until she applied for a passport in
1977 that her birth certificate listed
her as Black.
The French midwife who
delivered her knew by word of
mouth the family had a Black an
cestor, a slave named Margarita,
and designated baby Susie as
“colored,” she said.
At that time, Westholz said, the
parish had a “three-cast
like Walker still play an important
part in the military operations on
the island.
Walker is assigned to U.S. Army
Garrison, Camp Kinser, the senior
Army organization on the island.
Its mission includes providing
quarters, training and military
justice for military people on the
island. The Garrison also stocks
operational stocks and operates a
bulk petroleum storage and
distribution system in support of
all Department of Defense ac
tivities.
“As a personnel management
specialist my job consists of inter
viewing, screening and researching
applications and requests for per
sonnel actions,” Walker ex
plained. “This job is related to the
civilian occupational skill of
business and administration
manager.
“It’s essential for me to pay at
tention to detail when determining
a soldier’s future job assignment.
And guiding a soldier through his
career field properly is rewarding
for both of us.”
Walker, a graduate of Forest
Brook High School, Houston,
Texas, says he enjoys playing chess
and spending time at home with
friends listening to jazz music.
He and his wife, Greta, have a
son, Rickey, age 1.
society—Black, what we’ll call
‘real whites’ and those unfortunate
people in between. She came into
this world in between.
Phipps’ and her sibling went
through church and school listed
as Blacks. But later generations
were recorded as white, and Phip
ps’ parents were designated white
an their death certificates in 1967,
according to testimony.
Louisiana still asks for a racial
designation on a birth certificate
but accepts “whatever the parents
say,” Westholz said. The race is
kept confidential and used only for
federal census data, he said.
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