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No monies Bethlehem Center Ruffin a' || Pendleton burns for to celebrate Alpha P ‘Sugar Ditch’ 72ndanniversary Foundei oO rs Page 3 Page 6 Page 3 11 I Tagel 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 BrT a ■Br x W 7~ 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, Janan./ll S 4rmv Phntn hv StaH Snt RarvTnmnvacHl 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. 30C