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VOLUME 14 NUMBER 29
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Congressman returns after
viewing Ethiopian famine
Washington —Anguished
House members who spend five
days in drought-stricken Ethiopia
said Thursday they watched
children die of starvation before
their eyes at a mountain relief
camp in the African nation.
The bipartisan group urged
quick U.S. action to ease the
famine, and suggeted the political
differences between Washington
and Marxist Ethopia are in
significant compared to the human
tragedy.
“We came, we saw, and we
cried,” said Rep. Gary Ackerman,
D-N.Y., of a visit to the camp at
Korem, Ethopia.
“We saw children lying on stret
chers, covered with tattered sheets,
and moments later their lives were
snuffed out”, he told a news con
ference.
“We saw women wailing and
crying as they carried their children
Couple chased from all-white
neighborhood sues police
CHICAGO Civil rights
leaders want a steady federal in
vest’gtion of two separate attacks
in the last two weeks on Black
families who have moved into
predominantly white neigh
borhoods.
In the latest incident, a home in
a white South Side neighborhood
was firebombed after a Black
family moved into it.
A spokesman for the Chicago
Covenant, a group of religious and
community leaders, said the group
has petitioned Attorney General
William French Smith to quickly
begin a federal investigation of
both incidents.
Warren Sanders Sr. 55, whose
‘ familed moved into the singe
family home in the Southwest side,
said he was sitting in the kitchen
shortly after midnight when a
Molotov cocktail crashed Sanders’
wife, Ada, and son Warren Jr. ,
14, were asleep in their bedrooms
when the firebomb crashed
through the window, police said.
Sanders was slightly injured and
Stye Augusta Neuis-ileuteui
off to the mountains to be
buried,” Ackerman continued.
Yet, he said, starving children
smiled and joined - Rep. Mickey
Leland, D-Texas, leader of the
group in song and dance - even
though the American lawmakers
had no food or “magic words” to
give the 30,000 starving people at
the camp.
“It was something that we’ll
never, never forget.” Ackerman
said. “I will always remember the
smiles of the children.”
Ackerman was one of the eight
members of the House Select
Commission on Hunger who went
to Ethiopia and came back to urge
immediate and long-term aid to
that country and other African
nations where millions face star
vation.
Leland told of seing children
emaciated, barely more that
skeletons, and elderly people
the firebomb caused minor
damage to the house, although
authorities quickly extinguished
the blaze.
Sanders said his family had recei
-ved no threats since moving in
and had no idea he was moving in
to an area with racial tensions.
Sanders said he will not be for
ced out of his home.
“I’m going to stick to my
guns,” he said.
The Covenant has also offered a
$2,000 reward for information on
the Nov. 7 attack of Spencer Gof
fer and his family on the city’s
West Side.
In that incident, Goffer and his
family fled thier apartment in the
West Side neighborhood known as
“The Island” after a nearly six
hour brick and rock throwing
seige.
Goffer has filed a $1 million
damage suit against Chicago and
Cicero Police Departments, con
tending they did nothing to protect
him, his girlfriend and 8-year old
son during the melee.
begging for food he did not have to
give. “I’m not sure they’re still
alive”, he said.
“Never, ever, had I seen
anything like this”, Leland said.
“It was so difficult to take, that I
couldn’t help but wonder ‘why am
I here?”’.
Rep Marge Roukema, R-N.J.,
the ranking Republican member of
the group, noted Leland’s descrip
tions of starving people and said,
“We’re talking not only of an in
dividual-we’re talking of a nation.
While brqanding Ethiopia “a
Communist-Marxist gover
nment”. Roukema joined in
urging both government and
private aid and expressed con
fidence food supplies would be
fairly distributed.
Both Democratic and
Republican members noted the
lack of good U.S. Wethiopian
See Famine Page 5
A spokesman for the Dr. Martin
Luther King Coalition, a civil
rights group, said the group will
march into both neighborhoods to
protest the attacks.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson said he
believes racial tensions within the
city council may have heightened
city tensions and a group of
religious leaders offered a reward
for information on one of the at
tacks.
Jackson told reporters the attack
and a similar assult Nov. 7 in
another neighborhood of the city
were symptomatic of racial and
class polarizatior in the city.
One factor influencing the in
cidents was the. “constant sturggle
in the City Council”, he said.
Council members, divided
largely along racial lines, have
been at odds since the election of
Mayor Harold Washington as the
city’s first Black mayor in the
spring of 1983.
Jackson pledged to meet with
Washington and religious leaders
to discuss the issue.
December 15,1984
Augusta Lions Club refuses to
accept Black members
Six members of the Augusta
Lions Club, including the
president, recently resigned
because the organization refuses to
admit Black members.
Dr. Herbert Ashline, a
chemistry professor at Paine
College and Dr. Patrick Jackson, a
biology professor at the college,
sponsored the membership of two
of their Black coleagues—Dr.
Marion Furr, chairman of the
Division of Natural Sciences at
Paine, and Mallory K. Millender,
editor-publisher of The News-
Review and dean for Admissions,
Recruitment and Financial Aid at
Paine.
Ashline said the board of direc
tors of the Garden City Augusta
Lions Club turned down the ap
plications at its Nov. 27 meeting
Auto mishap
leaves librarian
in coma
0
mL
Brenda G. Johnson
Brenda G. Johnson, catalogue
librarian at Paine College, was left
in a coma when her automobile
turned over trying to avoid hitting
another car Dec. 4.
Miss Johnson, 32, of 1036 10th
Ave., was driving in the westbound
right lane of the Calhoun Ex
pressway near Washington Road
when another driver changed lanes
in front of her. Police are not sure
whether Miss Johnson’s car was
struck by the other car; the driver
fled the scene.
Apparently trying to avoid the
car, Miss Johnson’s car went off
the right side of the road and
See Auto mishap, Page 7
Harry James elected as Augusta
NAACP president
Attorney Harry James was elec
ted Tuesday night to a two-year
term as president of the local chap
ter of the NAACP.
A native of Savannah, James
said he “grew up in the NAACP,”
having been a member of the
Youth Council since he was eight
years old. He later served as
president of the Youth council,
and was the attorney for the
NAACP in Huntsville, Ala. from
1979-82 when he moved to
Augusta.
Since affiliating with the
Augusta Chapter, he has served as
chairman of the Fair Share Com
mittee and chairman of the legal
Redress Committee.
He is a graduate of Savannah
State College and George Washin
ton University Law School.
James said that he plans to add
Less than 75 percent Advertising
“because our two friends happen
to be Black.”
Ashline said that the criteria for
membership are that prospective
members be sponsored by a mem
ber of the club, that they be in
terested in becoming members,
and that they have a record of
community service.
Following normal procedure,
Ashline said, applications are
reviewed by an admissions com
mittee and are then sent to the
board of directors, which can ap
prove or disapprove them for
whatever reasons.
“And in this case the reason was
that the board consists of a bunch
of racists. That’s not-true of all
Lions Clubs, and it’s not true of all
Lions Clubs in the Augusta area,”
he added.
Will you let someone die?
Many churches and
other agencies are collec
ting money to buy food
for the starving millions
in Africa. We urge that
you give generously.
We literally have the
opportunity to save lives.
Conversely, we have the
opportunity to do
nothing, and let the
people die.
All of us can think of
reasons for not giving.
How do we know that the
money will be spent to
buy food for the star
ving? How do we know
that the money will not
be used up in ad
ministravtive costs? How
do we know that greedy
people who are not in
need will not simply keep
the food for themselves?
We don’t know that
any of these things won’t
happen. All that we do
know for sure is that if
we—each of us —do not
give, a lot of people are
■ <-h_
Harry James
two hundred new members by the
end of January, 1985. Ultimately
he wants to triple the chapter’s
membership.
He refused to state the current
membership and said that it is con
stantly changing. “We are finding
more and more people coming to
meetings wanting to become mem-
Ashline said that as a result of
the board’s refusal to admit Black
members, he, Jackson and four
other members, including the
president of the Garden City
Augusta Lions Club resigned.
Those members (he asked that they
not be identified) are in the process
of re-affiliating iwth other clubs in
the Augusta area which do not
restrict membership based on race,
Asheline said.
Asked if he was surprised by the
board’s action, Ashline said, “I
really was surprised by the
decision. I thought that some
would not be in favor, but that a
majority would be amenable, and
once the applicants were in and
working as Lions everyone would
agree on the merit of the applican-
Editorial
going to die.
It is true that this crisis
is hitting us right at
Christmas time, and that
we all have got to pay
“Sandy Cloff.” But as
much as anything else,
this famine is a world
wide test of faith.
Are we willing to waste
money on ourselves —we,
who as a nation, are
already too rich, too fat,
and too greedy? Are we
willing to spend our
money selfishly as we
usually do, allowing the
poor to suffer the
loneliness of poverty.
This year most of us
will allow the starving
quietly to disappear from
the face of the earth while
we celebrate the birth of
Christ, and at the same
time make a mockery out
of what it means to be a
Christian.
When the opportunity
comes to give, please give
generously.
bers,” he said, adding that the in
crease may be due to the conser
vative mood of the country.
James said that his primary
goals are to: Thrust the NAACP
into the forefront of civil rights ac
tion in Richmond County.
To have the Black community
feel that the NAACP is its voice.
To triple its membership, and to
be acceptable to all people in Rich
mond County.
James is married to the former
Linda Strong. They have two
children, James IV, and Brandi.
Other officers elected Tuesday
night were the Rev. Charlie
Moore, first vice president, Verma
Curtis, second vice Dr.
Lejeune Brown, third
president, Charles Williams,
secretary, Debra Williams,
assistant secretary, and Rosa
Springs, treasurer.