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Mallory K. MillertderEditor-Publisher
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Rev. RE Donaldsoi Religion Editor
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Mrs. Clara WestMcDuffie County Correspondent
Mrs. Been Buchanan Fashion & Beauty Editor
Linda Starks Andrews C: J . Jit
Roosevelt Green Columnist
Aj Eby.Columnist
Philip Waring'•Columnist
Marva Stewart Columnist
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Merry
Christmas
View from Capitol Hill
Vehicles to mobilize unity
by Gus Savage
Another strategy for Black
liberation and advancement calls
for mobilizing the political,
economic, religious and cultural
resources of
the Black
community in
a concentrated
assault to
secure full and
equitable em
ployment.
Proponents ofi
this approach'
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I
believe that a Bia k America with
decent jobs at decent pay would be
able to solve most of its problems,
including those of destruction of
the Black family, Black on Black
crime, and increasing polarization
of the races caused by the need to
constantly push for strong affir
mative action programs.
The supporters of full em
ployment realize that such a
program is easier presented than
implemented. They, are of the
opinion that attainment of such a
goal will require radical depar
ture from the present way of doing
things; that complexities not im
industrial, high-tech societies make
it improbable (if not impossible)
for marketplace forces to bring
about the changes they envision.
For this reason, they urge
creation of government-sponsored
public corporations to revitalize
keystone industries strenuous ap
plication of tough government
regulations to make public utilities
less profit oriented and more resp
nsive to people, and creative
management of the entire
economy. Additionally, they are
not afraid to say government
should be the employer of first and
last resort first, while the
reforms are being put into place
and, last, to guarantee em
ployment for those who fall
through the reform cracks.
“In an economy favorable to the
philosophy of Reagan and his
friends,” a proponent of such a
full employment solution said to
me the other day, “industry is
managed to secure maximum
profits. Under the system we are
talking about, industry would be
managed to redistribute the wealth
and to secure full employment.
Given all the uncertainties in
today’s complex societies, such a
management process is sorely
needed and, contrary to popular
belief, it need no stifle initiative.”
Full employment advocates are
mindful of the problems inherent
in their proposals. First, to initiate
the plan, current thinking about
the role of government would have
to be reversed in the minds of most
Americans, inchiding many Black
Americans. Second, the problem
of revitalizing basic industries is in
ternational in scope and can only
be solved in conjunction with other
foreign policy issues.
And third, rapid, continued ad
vances in technology make it im
perative that American workers
educate themselves to utilize the
technology for the common good.
Work weeks would have to be
shortened. Pay scales would have
to be more comparable. In short,
they argue, we must learn that
“caring and sharing” are
becoming practical necessities for
the peoples of the world.
Last week and this week I have
discussed just three of the
programs that are being prominen
tly mentioned as forming the
basics of a possible Black agenda.
Admittedly, if Black America did
unite around an agenda, neither of
the strategies discussed above
might be the priority, or priorities,
agreed upon, but could be a syn
thesis of these and others. Butthat
is not the immediate problem. The
immediate problem involves
reaching an agreement on how the
priorities will be arrived at, and the
vehicle for carrying out the
program once it is agreed upon.
In his controversial novel, The
Negotiations, Herman Cromwell
Gilbert, my close friend of nearly
30 years and my former Chief of
Staff, has come up with some fic
tional inventions that might prove
valuable in the world of reality.
The Negotiations, published in
1983, depicts an attempt by Black
Americans in 1987 “to negotiate
with the United States for the
creation of a separate and in
dependent state...for American
citizens of African descent.” The
organization conducted these
negotiations in the novel is the
Black American Council, an um
brella group established in 1985 to
develop agendas and establish
prioritites for Black America
following the devastation of the
first Reagan administration.
“Os all the strategies explored
and priorities proposed in The
Negotiations, Gilbert told me
recently, the one thing I believe
that could be helpful to us today
would be the creation of an
organization similar to the Black
American Council. The occasional
getting together of Black leader
ship under the present loose
arrangements is not sufficient for
our advancement in the climate of
despair that has followed in the
wake of Reagan’s landslide reelec
tion.”
In Gilbert’s opinion, if Black
leadership united around “a few
significant” priorities and came up
with “imaginative” programs to
effectuate these priorities, such ac
tion would have a “magical
psychological effect” on Black and
white America. He envisions sup
port for such bold strokes from
Blacks and most white
“philosophical allies” and “at
least grudging respect” from the
rest of white America. He just
might be right.
Priorities set by such a group
might not be as militant as some of
us would want, nor as moderate as
other leaders might desire. But
considering the signals sent by
Black voters in recent I
am satisfied such an organization
would lead us in a consistently
more progressive direction that
wnere we are now heading it,
indeed, we can be considered as
heading in any direction at all.
There is one major problem,
however. How can we get the
leaders of the existing Black
organizations and interest groups
to sit down and discuss the for
mation of such an organization?
In Gilbert’s novel, a Chief
Negotiator was computer selected
to lead discussions with the white
power structure. This might be a
good place to start in our own in
ternal negotiations.
Are there any volunteers to have
your profiles placed in the data
bank?
* >W,
Black Resources isiC
o© o 8
Walking With Dignity
Exercising religion and politics
by Al Irby
Our nation in 1984 did not just
discover the tension in human af
fairs between the free individual
11l |
exercise of
religion and
the collective
power of
government.
Mankind’s history
has continually
recorded the
conflict that
arises out of confusing religious
and state authority.
Babylonia’s King Nebuchadnez
zar tried to suppress the captive
Hebrews’ faith in their God, sub
jecting them to the “fiery furnace”
for refusing to bow down to his
idol; their survival from the ordeal
was but one triumph of inspired
religious conscience over the at
tempted tyranny of the state.
Crusades, inquiaitions, and wars
have shown the potency of
religious fervor in secular affairs.
Martin Luther’s immortal
“Here I stand; I can do no other”
expressed the assertion of the in
dividual’s right to worship in a
fellowship of belief. Out of this
Coviction came the Reformation
and the precedent for Christian
denominational pluralism. The
very settling of America by the
Pilgrims grew out of the Pursuit of
religious freedom.
The First Amendent of the Con
stitiution, proposed by Congress
and ratified by the states, clearly
prohibited government intrusion
upon religious practice and protec
ted the expression of nonreligious
Going Places
Can Reagan set Blacks back 20 years ?
by Philip Waring
Plaudits and salutes are coming
in from around the region and
nation on the Atlanta Con-
stitution’s recent
editorial on
how the
Reagan ad
ministration is
attempting to
set back twenty
years of civil
rights progress.
The editorial states in part: Top
officials of both the Equal Em
ployment Opportunity Com
mission and the U.S. Commission
On Civil Rights made it clear last
week that one of their priorities
during the next four years would
be not to enforce the federal
guidelines on discrimination in
employment, but - in a classic case
of fixing what is not broken - to
overhaul them.
conviction. The entire brief amen
dment reads: “Congress shall
make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press; or the
right of people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of
grievances.”
This is not a suggestion this is an
irreligious nation. Far from it.
The sense of purpose that
Americans have felt since the
nation’s founding and still feel
today-that the United States has a
special mission to fulfil in
mankind’s progress toward more
democratic and enlightened gover
nment —is akin to religious convic
tion. It is not to any, either, that
religion has “no place” in gover
nment. Religious values should in
spire the public and its elected and
appointed officials to the most
moral, compassionate, and wise
decisions possible.
Again, history shows, as in the
case of Joseph in Egypt, when he
was taken from prison to the
palace, and his interpretation of
the king’s dream and ad
ministration of the kingdom saved
the entire region from famine, that
individual spiritual enlightenment
can prove the very best preparation
for public service. It is because of
the relevance of religion to public
life that distinctions between
religion and government must be
closely drawn. There is a danger
of trivializing religious beliefs in
pursuit of partisan ends.
In political campaigns, as at
present, candidates appeal to
If they have their way, it will
soon be much more difficult for
women and minorities to prove
discrimination.
In proposing last week to scrap
or deemphasize “statiscal”
evidence as an initial of possible
discrimination, in favor of actual
damage claims by individuals, the
EEOC threatens to undo the
work of four previous ad
ministrations, two of them
Republican. (From L.B. Johnson,
R. Nixon, G. Ford and Jimmy
Carter). Continuing, the editorial
states: It could do so as much as a
nod to Congress, only a court
challenge could prevent it. But the
fact that it could even consider
such a move betrays a deep-seated
ignorance of its own purpose: to
provide a remediation for decades
of discrimination.
Thus, Civil Rights Commission
Staff director Linda Chavez’s
The Augusta News - Review December 22,1984
public subgroups to suggest the
politicians are “one of them,” un
der the guise of promised support
on religion-related issues. It works
the other way, too. Church leaders
use their ecclesiastical status and
presumed community authority to
influence party platforms and to
lean on politicians for support of
church positions, as if they can
deliver votes.
In this election, two of the ob
viously courted religious groups
are the fundamentalist Christians
and Roman Catholic voters; they
are regarded as crucial to
Republican prospects in the South,
the southern portions of the Mid
west, and the Northeast. The main
issues highlighted by the GOP for
political appeal are an abortion
amendment, prayer in school, and
tuition tax credits for private and
parochial schools.
Other issues breaching the chur
ch-state line have included the ad
ministration’s appointment of an
ambassador to the Vatican. In
response, Democrats have attem
pted to appeal to these same
groups by emphasizing ethic
“family” values, the work ethic,
patroitism.
Mass populations have been
subjugated and even destroyed for
reasons of religious identity.
Recognition of the rights of in-,,
dividual conscience and the protec
tion of religious pluralism are too
vital to American society to risk
tampering with them. In the long
view, upholding the separation of
‘church and state’ far outweighs
any advantage sought by playing
to religion-related issues of the
moment.
complaint that the existing
guidelines put pressure on em
ployers “to eliminate valid tests in
favor of quota selection” totally
ignores checks and balances
already written in the rules: that
procedures having an adverse im
pact on women and minorities are
not illegal if they can be justified
on the basis of “business
necessity”, and the government
will not sue employers with “fair” ‘
minority—recruitment programs
regardless of statistical evidence, a
provision written under President
Carter’s administration.
And Civil Rights Commission
chairman Clarence Pendleton’s
suggestion that federal judges be
asked to remove personnel direc
tors of discrimittory companies as
redress for proven discrimination
would not only make scapegoats of
middle management employees, in
See Reagan Page 7
To Be Equal
A season of
caring
by John E. Jacob
Christnas is a time when we
must transcend the pettiness and
selfishness that characterize so
much of our
lives to give
ourselves over
to caring and
sharing.
It is a season
in which the
gift-giving and
material con-
* fIMLU
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'-Wy- 1
siderations should
not be allowed to obscure the
deeper spiritual meaning of the
holiday above all its message of
brotherhood, peace, and goodwill.
This Christmas especially, we
must reach out to the world’s op
pressed and its hungry, in a spirit
of caring.
The terrible sufferings in the
famine-stricken regions of Africa
should be uppermost on our min
ds. Certainly the holiday gift
budgets of the season should be
supplemented with gifts to relieve
the hunger of millions of people
who are starving to death while
others gather round their Christ
mas trees.
Bonds of caring should also be
forged with those suffering racial
oppression in South Africa, where
another Christmas finds the rulers
of the apartheid system filling their
prisons with black protestors and
tightening the screws of their
vicious racism.
And here at home, Americans
must overcome their selfish rush to
get more and more, and replace it
with the caring desire to share and
to help others.
The Christmas spirit has never
been “I’ve got mine;” it has
always been directed to helping
others and caring about the family
of citizens that makes up the
nation we call home.
And that means a concern for
the millions whose Christmas
tables will not be groaning with
rich foods; the millions whose
Christmas will be hungry and
lonely. For Christmas comes at
the end of the month, when
welfare funds and food stamps run
low and people must scrape and
skimp instead of feasting as the
more fortunate do.
And for many of the poor,
Christmas will not mean a family
gathering but a soup line and a bed
at a shelter. For the homeless,
Christmas adds an extra touch of
the bitterness that is their year
round lot.
Christmas is childrens’ favorite
holiday, but this is the time to
recall that for millions of children
this Christmas, there will be no gif
ts packages under the tree—for
many there will not even be a tree.
Abut a fifth of all children are
poor; nearly half of all Black
children live in poverty. They are
our future, and the quality of our
future Christmases will depend on
how our sociey meets their needs
for health, education, and work
opportunities.
Will the spirit of caring extend
to those children? Will the
Christmas celebrations in the cen
ters of power in our land include
thoughts of how they are faring
and how their lives may be
brightened with opportunity.
People can’t just pay lip-service
to the moral and spiritual
teachings we celebrate, and then go
back to a selfish rush of
callousness that ignores the
millions on the margins of our
society. Instead, we need to make
brotherhood and caring part of
our daily lives regardless of our
station in life.
That means, for those in power,
to temper their policies and extend
opportunities to those in need.
And for those of us who are poor,
it means recapturing the sense of
community and brotherhood that
will help create the tools with
which poverty may be overcome.
And it means hope, too. For
this is the season of hope, the
season in which we renew our
spirits and find the faith to make ;
ourselves above the often grim
realities of today to aspire to a bet
ter tomorrow.
It is by committing ourselves to
act right and to do right that we
can help build a society that truly
demonstrates its commitment to
the season’s spirit of “peace on
earth and goodwill to all
mankind.”
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THE UNCF
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