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Rep. Walter Fauntroy
Minority Student
organization to hold
King memorial service
The Miniority Student Affairs
Organization of the University of
South Carolina —Aiken will spon
sor a memorial service honoring
the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
on Jan. 13 at 4 p.m. in the campust
auditorium. Keynote speaker for
the occasion will be Rep. Walter E.
Fauntroy.
Fauntroy is the first person to
represent the District of Columbia
in 100 years. He is a member of
the Congressional Black Caucus,
heading the Braintrust on Voter
Participation and Network
Development.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ap
pointed him director of the
Washington Bureau of the
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. He was D.C. Coor
dinator for the historic March on
Washington Jobs and Freedom in
1963.
The Minority Student Affairs
Organization is composed of 60
The Minority Student Affairs
Organization was formed 7 years
ago by Black students to address
their needs and concerns at the in
stitution. Projects undertaken by
the organization during the past
year have been: Alcohol
Awareness Week, the organization
won 2nd place in the poster
display.; Workshop of test taking
skills; and performance by the
Gospel Choir at various functions.
Several members of the
organization attended the S.C.
Black Student Convention held
Nov. 30-Dec. 1.
Upcoming programs planned
are: Philys Walker, Feb. 2 in a
one-man show depicting 9 Black
leaders, and a Talent and Fashion
Show to be held Feb. 15.
Officer for the organization are:
Keith Brown, chairperson, An
thony Williams, vice chajr;
treasurer Bessie Stapleton, Vicky
Simmons , assistant treasurer;
Ceaser Gorman, parlimentarian.
Plans announced for
Dr. King's birthday
ATLANTA —The Martin
Luther King Jr. Center for Non
violent Social Change today un
veiled plans for a 6-day program
commemorating Dr. King’s birth
day. The program, which begins
on Jan. 10 and continues through
the 15th, will focus on the theme,
“Ending the Violence of Poverty
and World Hunger Through
Creative Nonviolent Action.”
“The King Center is deeply con
cerned about the issue of hunger in
America and throughout the
world,” explained Coretta Scott
King, President of The King Cen
ter, in announcing the birthday
program. “We began planning
around the theme long before the
crisis in Ethiopia became the front
page news that it is today and this
concern will be addressed
throughout King Week 85 in
meaningful and substantive
ways.” Mrs. King said that many
ot me traditional King Week ac
tivities will focus on the alleviation
of hunger and poverty.
The Cultural Night program and
reception, on the 15th at 7:30 p.m.
will feature internationally ac
claimed soprano soloist, Juan
dalyn Abernathy, at the Freedom
Hall Auditorium
The birthday observance is the
seventeenth annual program spon
sored by The King Center.
Although Dr. King’s birthday will
not be a legal holiday until 1986,
the 1985 observance will be the
most widely celebrated to dats. In
addition to the national holiday,
25 states and most major cities
have enacted legal holidays in
honor of Dr. King, who would have
oeen 56 on Jan. 15. For more in
formation about scheduled events
call the King Center at (404) 524-
1956.
Homicide: A leading Black killer
Homicide is the leading cause ot
death in Black males between the
ages of 15 and 29.
More than one out of every 40
Black people in the U.S. will be
murdered, yet very little has been
done about preventing this
problem.
For decades the burden of
homicide prevention has been
placed on the shoulders of the
criminal justice system. They have
characterized the problem fairly
well but have contributed little else
to preventing our people from
being murdered.
They have attempted to reform
murderers by placing them in
“correctional” institutions rather
than penal institutions.
This experiment has failed
miserably. Gun control laws, even
if adopted may be ineffective
because there is no way of
recovering the large number of
guns already in the population.
Their attempts to deter crime by
executing criminals have likewise
been ineffective. It has gotten to
the point where the justice system
has just about given up.
The federal Bureau of In
vestigation says that “murder is
largely a societal problem beyond
the scope of the law enforcement
community.” It’s time to take
another look at homicide.
To illustrate a typical murder,
let me relate to you the story of a
young Black teenager I talked to in
prison in Maryland.
He said, “Me and some guys
were playing basketball one day
and this man said I fouled him but
1 didn’t. Well anyway, we started
arguing and arguing. My friend
had a gun so I reached over and
grabbed it and shot the man, but
he didn’t act hurt. He just kept
arguing. In fact, my friend took
his gun back and shot him again.
He just walked away. He didn’t
act hurt. We told him to go to a
hospital but he didn’t. Two days
later I heard he was dead.”
When he told me this story I was
quite surprised because this inmate
was so young and acted so reser
ved. He was not what I pictured a
murderer would be like. But then
again his story was not what I ex
pected of a typical murder. But it
is.
Homicide is 6 times more com
mon in Blacks than Whites. In
1980 the rate of homicide was 66.6
per 100,000 Black males (which is
high for healthy young people-the
suicide rate, by comparison is 10.3
per 100,000).
Blacks most often kill Blacks.
About half the victims are between
15 and 29 years old. 77 percent are
male.
About 70 percent of people are
murdered by relatives or acquain
tances. More than half are mur
dered during an argument.
We remember him as a
“drum
major
for
justice.”
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The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wanted to be
remembered as a “drum major for justice.” He is so remem
bered. And he, by his life’s example, still leads us towards
justice. Towards the fulfillment of his dream. Today we honor
Dr. King and his memory. Today, and
for all tomorrows, we are committed to
helping fulfill his dream. vJ
1985 Adolph ooors Company Golden Colorado 80401 Hr. wer ,>1 fine Quality Beers Srrve 1873
Firearms are the murder weapons
in 67 percent of homicides.
The circumstances surrounding
the homicide which this inmate
related to me fits in with the
majority of homicides as described
by each of the categories above.
It is, therefore, an all too typical
homicide. In the classic study of
homicide which was done by
Marvin Wolfgang in the 1940 s and
50s he states: “Homicide is a
dynamic relationship between two
or more persons caught up in a life
drama where they operate in a
direct interaction relationship.”
Homicide requires the direct
participation of two people in an
encounter where one becomes a
victim and the other a killer. The
real tragedy is that this crime,
which no one wanted to happen
would not have happened if things
were a little different.
If the handgun was not so easily
available a murder may have been
avoided. This may have happened
if the gun was too inconvenient to
carry (e.g. was locked, had a time
delay, was difficult to aim, load or
fire) or if it could not be acquired
in the first place.
If the handgun did not cause so
much injury to the victim hemight
not have died. If the bullets were
designed to deliver a physical blow
to the outside of the body rather
than penetrating so deeply; or if
they were designed to temporarily
The Augusta News - Review January 12,1984
paralyze or render the victim un
conscious with drugs they would
be “effective” without causing so
much physical injury and again
might avoid unwanted homicide.
If the perpetrator had used a dif
ferent weapon or hand-to-hand
conbat, there may have been no
fatalities.
If these basketball players had
decided to try to resolve the con
flict in another manner, murder
may have been avoided. They
could have kept the conflict on a
verbal level. They could have
sought an arbitrator. They could
have resolved it by voting. They
could have given in.
They could have declared the
conflict a draw and restarted play
at a point before the conflict oc
curred. They could have decided it
by a quick test of chance of skill.
They could have left it unresolved
and discontinued the game. Any
of these conflict resolution
methods would have been
preferable to the chosen one.
In addition, homicide may have
been avoided if the victim had got
ten adequate and timely medical
treatment. There is an implicit
lack of awareness on the part of
the victim about when it is ap
propriate to seek medical care.
There is also an apparent lack of
awareness by all the participants
concerning the destructiveness of
guns. In my case, it is clear that
homicide was not the intended
outcome like this occurs all too (
frequently and can be prevented.
In conclusion, homicide is a
major problem in the United
States, especially among Black
men. We know a lot about cir
cumstances in which homicides oc
cur but have not been successful in
preventing homicides from oc
curring.
Two approaches, deterrence and
gun control, have dominated
current and past thinking about
strategies for preventing homicide.
It is time to take a fresh look at
prevention from a sociological and
public health viewpoint in addition
to using law-enforcement and
criminal justice skills needed to
overcome this problem.
We are at a point when it might
be useful to design and test new
models of violence prevention at
tempting to optimize social con
ditions through education
programs focus on a) conflict and
stress management; b) basic inter
personal relations; c) methods of
self-defense, and d) self-control.
We might also look into e)
designing less harmful am
munition, f) designing structurally
safe buildings, g) setting up
domestic crisis-intervention ser
vices and h) teaching appropriate
use of medical care.
Additional basic research is
needed to further delineate the
causes of homicide to help develop
other preventive strategies.
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