Can we test
Black teachers
and keep them?
VOLUME 14 NUMBER 41
Selma: 5-day march back into histroy begins
SELMA, ALA. —Under a blue
sky unmarred by the smell of tear
gas, and on a day devoid of racial
tension, more than 3,000 marchers
set out Sunday afternoon on a
five-day journey back into history.
Led by some of the country’s
most prominent civil rights ac
tivists, they marched from the
historic Brown’s Chapel AME
Church, down Martin Luther King
Jr. Street and turned right on
Water Avenue.
A left on Broad Street, on the
edge of this south-central Alabama
town, brought them to the foot of
the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the
huge steel and concrete structure
where the nation’s attention was
riveted on March 7, 1965, when it
served as a backdrop for what
became known as “Bloody Sun
day.”
At the crest of the bridge,
leaders of the march, including the
Rev. Jesse Jackson and Atlanta
City Councilman John Lewis,
knelt and prayed before resuming
the trek to Montgomery, singing
“We Shall Overcome.”
The Southern Christian Leader
ship Conference is sponsoring this
re-creation of the 1965 Selma-to-
Montgomery march to com
memorate one of the most vividly
recalled symbols of the civil rights
movement.
On Sunday, the first leg of the
trek was conducted without in
cident, and marchers were escorted
by Alabama state troopers who
Savannah NAA CP backs annulled vote
SAVANNAH—The president of
the Savannah chapter of the
NAACP responded defiantly last
week to a ruling by the groups
national board voiding the election
of local officers in Savannah in
December.
In a prepared statement, Curtis
V. Cooper, who was re-elected to a
fourth, two-year term as president
of the Savannah chapter on Dec. 9,
acknowledged receiving notice that
the election was null and void. But
he contended the election “was in
accordance with the constitution
and bylaws for branches of the
NAACP.”
Cooper predicted the actions of
officers and members of the chap
ter in conducting the election will
be “completely vindicated.” He
said he will call a meeting of the
30-member executive board “to
consider this matter and develop
an appropriate rely to the national
Jim Brown: ‘l’m not an athlete I’m a man’
The telephone rang in Jim
Brown’s home in the Hollywood
Hills. On the second or third ring,
he said: “Hello.”
The caller identified himself.
They made small talk. And then
the caller asked: “What in hell is
going on NOW?”
Jim chuckled. “I like the way
vou put it,” he told the caller.
Then, he said: “I didn’t rape
that woman!”
On the testimony of an uniden
tified, 33-year-old woman, Jim
had been arrested in his home,
handcuffed, taken to jail, accused
of rape and sexual battery, and
held until he made $17,500 bail.
Jim said. “This must have been
the fastest arrest in history.” On
the morning after the charge was
made by the woman, Jim went out
of his house to pick up a
newspaper and, he said, was con
fronted by 10 policemen.
Jim wanted to know why they
were there at his home. They.
Page 1
Augusta ■NeuiH-Hteuttiu
showed them courtesy, rather than
the clubs and bullwhips of two
decades ago.
The day’s activities were
seasoned with oratory from many
civil rights leaders, most of whom
participated in the 1965 march to
the state Capitol, 47 miles away in
office.”
The controversy centers on as
many as 300 new membes who
registered directly throught he New
York headquarters during the
months before the election.
Cooper barred the new members
from participating as candidates or
as voters. Because they did not
submit their applications to the
branch office, he reasoned, they
are members-at-large only and
ineligible to participate in local
proceedings.
Printed on the cards issued to
the new members by the New York
office, however, is the notice,
“You are affiliated with branch
unit No. 5231.” the Savannah
branch of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People.
Esther Garrison, who led the
membership drive, says she sent
registration forms directly tothe
allegedly said they suspected that
there was marijuana in his place.
But, actually, they had other
reasons for being present; as men
tioned. In addition to Brown, his
house guest. Carol Moses —“a
very beautiful young lady”—was
arrested on similar charges. Her
bail was set at $ 1,000.
At the same time of this writing,
according to a police source, the
Los Angeles district attorney was
to decide whether or not formal
charges would be lodged against
Brown and Moses.
As it usually does, Jim Brown’s
latest brush with the law made
banner-headlines here and national
news on , network television
and uncounted radio stations.
“I think I’m the last of the
revolutionaries from the 605,”
Brown told Phyllis George-Brovm
during an interview on ABC-TV’s
“Good Morning America.”
“When my back is broken, it’ll all
be over.”
Phil Waring
is recipient of the
Jefferson Award
Page 1
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MARCHERS GATHER AT HISTORIC BROWN’S CHAPEL A.M.E. CHURCH
BEFORE 5-DAY JOURNEY BACK IN HISTORY.
Montgomery.
Before the marchers set out
Sunday, Lewis told them of the fir
st of the three attempts to reach
Montogmery that occurred on
March 7, 1965. He recalled
Alabama trooper Maj. John
Cloud’s order to disperse within
New York office to avoid lengthy
delays caused by the local chapter.
“They were paying membership
fees to the branch and not getting
cards back,” Mrs. Garrison said.
The 250 to 300 new members Mrs.
Garrison helped register nearly
doubled the chapter membership,
which had dwindled during the
past several years to about 400, she
said.
Besides the delays in processing
memberships, Mrs. Garrison said
members were disgruntled that the
NAACP chapter was holding
fewer meetings and failing to
respond to requests for interven
tion in civil rights matters.
Mrs. Garrison said the Feb. 16
action by the national board was
prompted by scores of letters and
telegrams protesting the election
and by a formal complaint she
filed within 10 days after the elec
tion.
“This woman is 33 years old, and
I’m not even interested in 33-year
old women.” Jim is 48.
More seriously, he said he
believed a scientific test would
prove that he is innocent —“if, ”
he said, “the police reveal the fin
dings.”
But, in his talk with Phyllis
George-Brown, Jim was not
critical of the police. “I think,” he
said, “the police did the best job
they could under the circumstan
ces.” What puzzled him, though,
Jim said, was the fact that the
story had, as mentioned, become
so big in the media.
Phyllis George-Brown, a former
star on “The NFL Today” show
which preceeds Sunday National
Football League games, explained
that he is a famous athlete, a
celebrity, and, that being the case,
whatever he does makes news.
I am a man—not an athlete,”
Jim Brown said. “I am law
abiding. I’m forward. I speak my
See Jim Brown, Page 4
Abdul-Jabbar
is hooked wif
paternity sui
Page 6
March 9,1985
three minutes. And when the mar
chers refused, he gave the com
mand: “Troopers advance.”
“We shed blood on the Edmund
Pettus Bridge for the Voting
Rights Act, and we must not forget
it,” Lewis said Sunday. “There
may be interruptions, there may be
Among the dissidents was Prince
Johnson Jr., a new member who
had intended to run for president
of the chapter but was disqualified
by Cooper, Mrs. Garrison said.
Although national officials of
the group declined to discuss the
controversy, they confirmed that a
new election will be scheduled.
“We have ordered a new elec
tion,” said William Penn,
NAACP director of branch and
field services. “Someone will be
designated soon to preside over
(it).”
Jefferson Award presented to
distinguished Augustan
J. Philip Waring, chairman of
the Augusta Black History Com
mitttee and columnist for The
Augusta News-Review, has been
selected as a winner of the Jeffer
son Award for outstanding public
service.
The award is presented annually
by WRDW TV-12.
Waring was an executive for the
National Urban League for 40
years, serving in Florida, New
York, Conneticut, and Missouri.
He has been recognized for out
standing contributions to civil
rights, communications and Black
history.
A native Augustan, he has often
been called the dean of Black
Augusta communicators. His
weekly column, “Going Places,”
appeared in the Weekly Review
Tom 1947-1970, and in The
Augusta News- Review from its in
ception in 1971 to the present.
His award-winning series,
“Blacks Who Helped Build
Augusta,” was carried in more
than 40 issues of The News-Review
and helped to revitalize interest in
local Black history in the mid-70s.
Waring was a leader in helping
to get the first public library
Less than 75 percent Advertising
some setbacks. But we will not
turn back, we will never turn back.
We’re marching because we want
to pass the torch on to the next
generation. As we march across
the Edmund Pettus Bridge, it will
be a new day.”
Jackson, who called Selma a
Local attorney prepares
legal battle for
widow of Frankie Lymon
An Augusta attorney said he
plans to show that Emira Lymon is
the rightful widow of 1950 s teen
age idol Frankie Lymon and that
another woman claiming to be
Lymon’s widow made false
statements.
William McCraken told The
News-Review that the woman,
Elizabeth Waters Phillips, filed an
affadavit stating that she and the
singer lived in common-law in
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J. Philip Waring
program for Blacks started in the
mid-30s, and also helped secure
equalization of teacher salaries and
facilities through efforts of the
Community Forum.
It was he who first proposed
changing Gwinnett Street to
Laney-Walker Boulevard. He
organized a two-day Black summit
conference and a seminar on
Black-on-Black crime in 1979. Last
year, he exhibited an Augusta
Black History display, which he
developed, at the World’s Fair in
New Orleans.
Ventriloquist
Willie Tyler
“sacred place,” told the cheering
crowd that “20 years ago, we
decided to put our lives on the line
and to put our nation on a new
direction. We stand here today
because of unfinished business.”
Jackson and others urged that
the march be considered as tran
scending traditional racial
arguments and extending to social
and economic concerns worldwide.
“Twenty years ago, we marche
to Montgomery. We cannot stop in
Montgomery. We’ve go to go on to
Washington,” Jackson said, as
well as Nicaragua, the Middle
East, Ethiopia nd other strife-torn
areas.
Sunday’s march marked the first
day of what is scheduled to be a
five-day hike, which will end with
a rally Thursday evening on the
Statehouse steps in Montgomery.
Only 300 marchers are expected
to resume the walk Mondav. com
pared with the estimated 8,000 to,
10,000 who participated 20 years
ago. Instead of spending their
nights in muddy fields, the mar
chers now will be bused to nearby
churches and colleges at the end of
each leg, where they will be pro
vided food and shelter.
Sunday’s event began with
breakfast at 8 a.m. at a Black
social club downtown and con
cluded 6!4 miles out in the coun
try.
“We’ve come here today
because we have one more river to
cross,” said Joseph Lowery,
executive director of the SCLC.
“We’re just not looking back.”
Philadelphia, New York and
Virginia.
“Our position is that it was a
fraudulent marriage. Virginia does
not recognize common-law
marriage. New York does not
recognize common-law,” he said.
“We’re going to show that she
made false statements to the court.
We’ll show that they never lived in
Pennsylvania and that the
allegations are false.”
Emira, a Richmond County
school teacher, met Lymon when
he was a soldier stationed at Fort
Gordon. They were married in
June of 1967.
She is seeking compensation for
all monies due and owed to Lymon
from 1968 to the present, as the
rightful heir to “Why Do Fools
Fall in Love,” which Lymon wrote
when he was 13. The song has
produced more than $1 million in
royalties since Diana Ross recor
ded it in 1981.
McCraken said that Frankie
Lymon and Associates hired a ser
vice company, Broadcast Music,
Inc. to monitor royalties from the
use of Lymon’s material. “When
the song was redone by Diana Ross
that company collected sums in the
six figures. The Teenagers got ab
solutely nothing.” There is a lawsuit
pending in the Southern District of
New York and Emira is the plain
tiff. “Every woman in the country
then claimed to be married to him.
“Everytime that it seems that
we’re going to get this thing
straightened out for collecting the
money, another woman throws a
nut into this thing. We’re going to
have to fight it all the way.”
Zola Taylor, former singer for
the Platters, also is reported to
have married Lymon, in 1965 in
Las Vagas.
