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II "" ' ~~1l II Lena Horne Lions Club IOC * m Jabbar the‘Lady’ rejects professi ladylove is a legend Black members to be □amicii || io split? Page 6 Page 1 Page 1 11 Page 8 VOLUME 14 NUMBER 29 • * y ;■•„ ■ >< «. W a® 1 'UK •4P” "". ■■■■ fa K, «—•'. ■ Jfc nTMit- TMt I;/* HWO iFWßfcz < Am i c. 1 Iw! JU ' > ■ T WijL|®hllMrJiL, jJiiiPiMOff _BL-.^j'_' n mgggfe -£WOF . W| f I ';"“ f • ' W AM? 11 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.