The Augusta news-review. (Augusta, Ga.) 1972-1985, March 16, 1985, Image 4

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Newspaper Page TextThe Augusta News-Review March 16,1985 Mallory K. Millender Editor-Publisher Paul Walker Assistant to the Publisher Georgene Hatcher-Seabrook ; .General Manager Rev. R.E. Donaidsoißeligion Editor Mrs. Geneva Y. Gibson Church Coordinator Charles Beale Jenkins County Correspondent Mrs. Fannie Johnson Aiken County Corresponded Mrs. Clara WestMcDuffie County Correspondent Mrs. Been Buchanan Fashion A Beautv Editor Linda Starks-Andrews Reporter Roosevelt Green Columnist Al IrbyColumnist Philip Waring. Columnist Marva Stewart Columnist George Bailey....,Sports Writer Carl McCoy Editorial Cartoonist Otando Hamlett Photographer Rosqoe Williams.... Photographer "THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW (USPSB.B7B2O) is published weekly for sll per year in the county and sl2 per year out of the county. Second-class postage paid at Augusta,GA POST MASTER: Send address changes to THE AUGUSTA NEWS REVIEW, P.O. Box 2123, Augusta, GA 30903-2121. "(404) 722-4555 AMALGAMATED National Advertising Representative fUBLISffiyS;!NC. _ A. Walking With Dignity By Al Irby If the courts let the air out of busing, will school desegregation go flat? The United States may be coming to the end of the line on *^"** e I mandated sc hool busing for desegregation purposes. Many school districts have cases moving through the courts to rid themselves of -long-imposed mandated transpor tation plans. States like California have already passed initiatives to limit busing requirements. And the Reagan administration —which had, until recently, merely bucked lawsuits that would expand busing programs—recently went a step further, urging that court-ordered Going Places, By Philip Waring The American Black Press has been with us since 1827. Its role is that of an ed ucator-inform- > er, advocate and ' * courageous ,J i spokesman. i ■’f ‘r In a society juT often embodi ed with unfair- fl| ’•T ness and inequality, its work and leadership is most important everywhere. Your News-Review (N-R) has worked dilegantly and eourageously since March 1971 in meeting aforementioned objec tives, never missing pulication of a weekly issue. We feel that its View From Capitol Hill enjfy j n t 0 the status quo By Gus Savage A few mornings ago, I watched Bryant Gumbel interview Bill Cosby on the Today Show. The occasion was the rise of The Cosby Show to the number one rated television show in the nation in terms of viewing audience. The producer, NBC, long known for producing top rated quality programs that seldom draw large audiences, quite naturally was justifiably proud of the achievement and was rolling out the red carpet for Cosby. In the interview, it was evident that Gumbel and Cosby felt good about each other—two Black men By Sherman N. Miller As the Black leadership’s acrid rhetoric electrifies the Black com munity with disdain for the present administration’s policies, I get the distinct impression that they believe President Ronald Reagan is a Frankenstein monster. It is dif ficult for me to imagine that any American President can be so diabolical. I feel that this sort of caustic dialogue can only exacer bate the current wide gap between The White House and Black America. However, the real question that begs for an answer is, “Can Black America hope to share in America’s economic bounty if the traditional Black civil rights leadership has no access to the President of the United States?” Recently President Ronald Reagan held a meeting with an Page 4 busing be ended in elementary schools that have met their legal desegregation obligatons. Busing has never been politically popular. In some places, such as Boston, it has been a highly volatile issue that divided neigh borhoods and spurred bitter con troversy. In other cities, including Charlotte, N.C., busing was carried out peaceably and has worked relatively well. But even many of those who have reservations about specific school transportation plans admit that busing has generally accom plished what it was intended to do; desegregate the nation’s schools. The basic questions now are: If court-ordered busing is abolished, will school districts resegregate themselves? Or with the memory of busing still uppermost, will they continue to maintain racial balan- A job well done!!! publication during a very critical period of the 70s and half of the 80s has been important in serving the Augusta Black Community. Black Media is greatly needed now and for the rest of the cen tury. Laudable is the fact that the N-R. “Lent a technical hand” on several occasions to both Charles Walker and his Augusta Focus and Barbara Gordon and her County Courier during their founding year. It should be noted that the N-R. won a national award when the NNPA (National Newspaper Publishers Association) selected sitting on top m the highly com petitive white world of television news and entertainment. They felt good. Why, then, did I have mixed feelings about the in terview and the show that spawned it? I admit that, in a lot of ways, The Cosby Show is an entirely wholesome entertainment vehicle. It is free of the buffoonery of the Jeffersons; possesses little of the lack of realism of Benson; is not burdened by the anti-Black family implications of Different Strokes; and is unaffected by the mam myisms inherent in Gimme a Break. Who ’s listening to Black leadership? unrenown group of Blacks. The purpose of this meeting remains a mystery to some of the traditional Black leadership. Mr. Benjamin Hooks, Executive Director of the N.A.A.C.P., commented during a recent Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. remembrance program at the University of Delaware that he did not know who these Blacks were or what they discussed with President Reagan. Mr. Hooks’ comments hint that a very serious leadership crisis presently exists in the Black community. As Mr. Hooks continued, my first thoughts were that he would attribute Mr. Reagan’s perceived insensitivity to Black American problems to Presidential racism. On the contrary, Mr. Hooks repeated that Mr. Reagan is not a racist though he did not offer a Open door to mass resegregation ce—using state plans and volun tary programs to achieve a racial mix in the nation’s classrooms? Resegregation would be unfor tunate. It would tend to confrim the worst fears of minorities and civil rights leaders that there is today retrenchment from the social gains of minorities during the 1950 s and 60s. And further, it would indicate to some that gover nment is leading at least de facto approval to racial bias. On the other hand, a voluntary commit ment to continued school in tegration by both government and individuals could be an important next step in obliterating prejudice and ending even lawful facets of separation of racial and ethnic groups. A case to watch is now in the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Ap peal in Virginia. It could end up in Malory Millender’s editorial on the care of his son in 1982. and my “Blacks who Helped Build Augusta” won a key local award at the West Augusta Rotory Club’s annual communications awards project in 1977. These were “fir sts” for any Black paper in the CSRA. Mallory Millender, foun ded the paper on a shoe string, has worked very hard and unselfishly in keeping it going. On several oc casions students from the Colum bia University Graduate School of Journalism (where Millender received his training) used the paper for intern experience. There has always been a close and cooperative relationship with the Then why am 1 not an jnabashed fan of the show? A friend of mine insists that the show does not “represent” Black people. While I agree in part, I realize that one cannot expect American Black-oriented television shows to represent Black people when white shows do not represent white people. The Cosby Show comes as close to being representative of American Blacks as Dallas does in reflecting the thoughts and actions of average American whites. In fact, I suppose somewhere in real life there is a Black male doc tor married to a Black female lawyer and they live with their four good banner for the President. However, Mr. Hooks did provide the audience with his model' of a President when he referred to for mer President Jimmy Carter as “My President.” . If Mr. Reagan is not a racist, then the Black leadership’s inability to work with him must be viewed as classic proof of the proverbial folklore, “You cannot teach an old dog new tricks.” This recalcitrant stance by the ultra liberal Black leadership may be just the opportunity the new Black conservatives need to rise to power. Since the Black leadership’s philosophy is too ultra-liberally skewed to be in synchronization with current mainstream American thingking, I woundered if the Black community is ready to THEY'VE DEREGULATED EVERYTHING ELSE.,.\NMY CAM'T THEY DEREGULATE POVERTY? RESOURCES IMe the U.S. Supreme Court, and if it does, the landmark 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision outlawing school desegregation might be significantly modified. In the appellate action, civil rights groups, on behalf of Black school children in Norfolk, Va., are challenging a U.S. district court ruling that abolished a long stan ding court-ordered busing plan there. The lower court held that this school system, which is 60 per cent Black, has complied with desegregation orders for more than 13 years—and that it was time to lift the yoke of a mandated tran sportation plan. The U.S. Justice Department has filed a legal brief that supports the shelving of the busing requirementt. in it, assistant attor ney general William Bradford Reynolds lays out the Reagan ad- Black Church, Civil Rights units, neighborhood associations, leaders in education, business and civic organizations. The overall layout of the paper has been warmly complimented on many fronts. Governors, mayors, congressmen and other political leaders have complimented it on anniversary dates, etc. Let’s give a vote of appreciation to Millender again for his hard work and devotion in maintaining a service for the community. And also tot he present hard working general manager for the past half year, Mrs. Georgene Hatcher- Seabrook. And let’s not forget scores of persons who have served or five children in a tension-filled yet somehow relaxed environment, free from things like money worries and a shortage of love. Additionally, due to the natural mannerisms and skilled acting of the cast, the show has a decidely Black flavor. Then why am 1 not applauding with both hands? Even as I write this column, I am certain in the minds of too many Americans —both Black and white—that all Black folks can make it in this society if only they tried. As a consequence, those who harbor this feeling are of the mind set that Blacks who fail to make it are not worthy of sympathy, nor follow a Moderate Black Republican. Mr. Hooks felt that Black Republicans like former U.S. Senator Edward Brooke were people to be trusted, but he had only scorn for Black conservatives like Dr. Walter Williams. Nonetheless, Mr. Hooks says that he strongly supports these Black conservatives’ constitutional rights to espouse the conservative doc trine. One might argue that Reverend Jesse Jackson is the undisputed leader of the Black community but whites tell me they do not respond positively to his efforts. When I challenged some of these whites to give me a model of a Black person they could respect, Mayor W. Wilson Goode of Philadelphia, PA’s name often poured forth. Mr. Goode is seen as a competent ministration’s official stance. In short: (1) School districts that have met their legal obligation to desegrate should be allowed to go it alone without further court scrutiny, and (2) authority for running public school should be returned to local officials. An end of busing would help reestablish inner-city neigh borhood schools and encoruage parental involvment in them, the Justice Department asserts. Eliminating such cross-town tran sportation of minorities would also end white flight to suburban public schools and private institutions, government lawyers insist. Civil libertarians, on the other hand—including the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union— believe the elimination of busing would open the door to mass resegregation. during the past 14 years. Then there’s Al Irby who got on board with me shortly after the'paper’s 1971 birth. This marks my 50th year in Black Communications, in cluding service as an independent, volunteer columnist with the Augusta Weekly-Review, 1947-70, and the New-Review, 1971 until May all of us resolve to jive our support to the Black Media of America. Thanks to those who have read ‘Going Places” over the years. Xnd may we ask for your support n my forthcoming “Blacks Who Jelped Build Augusta, A Resource Jandbook.” GOOD LUCK! deserving of support. So even as I commend Bryant Gumbel and Bill Cosby, I realize that their having made it is, at best, symbolic of token Black entry into the status quo. Their status is, by no stretch of the imagination, reflective of a geniune opening of the doors of opportunity to the tfast mass of Blacks. We must constantly keep on pushing to close the gap between the haves and have-nots. When this is accomplished, programs like The Cosby Show can be watched with enjoyment and without guilt, free of the nagging feeling that Black and poor people are being had... man who happens to be Black. If we combine the feelings of Mr. Hooks and some of the whites with whom I have spoken, it ap pears that a moderate Black Republican might step forward and evolve into the true link bet ween Black America and the Reagan Administration. I believe the Republican Party will make every effort to enhance the evolution of new National Black Republican leadership because they can ill-afford to have blocks of voters voting overwhelmingly against them in 1986. President Reagan’s coat-tails were short in 1984, so to maintain control of the U.S. Senate The Republican Party has a need to caputre a significant percentage of the Black vote. A sense of urgency for National Black Republican leadership was Tax credits diversion for rich By John E. Jacob School vouchers and tuition tax credits are being promoted as alternatives to the public school system for low-income families and minorities ill-served by many urban school districts. But to go that path is to reject a more viable alternative —making the public schools work better for the children in our inner cities and rural poverty areas. That’s a lot harder to do, but it is a necessity since the overwhelming majority of Blacks attend public schools and will do so in the future. Anything that weakens the system of public education weakens Black prospects and weakens American pluralism. Tuition tax credits would under mine the system of public education upon which Black people, like minorities before them, depend. A major claim for tuition tax credits is that they would allow more Black people to send their children to private schools. That’s arguable. Most Black families could not afford to do so even with tax credits. The typical Black family earns less than the government’s estimate of a no-frills, lower living standard budget. Half of all Black children are in one-parent households. There is no way those families could find room in their budgets to afford the costs of most private schools. Tuition tax credits would not address the problem of access. Their prime effect would be to help whites afford segregation academies and encouraged white flight from public schools. Tax credits would also en courage the skimming process whereby some of the better studen ts would shift to private schools, leaving the public ones with higher percentages of problem pupils and wjthout the public support needed to educate those children. Fairness is an issue here as well. How can we justify federal tax subsidies, the vast majority of which would go to the affluent, at a time of disastrous federal deficits and declining federal support for public education? A tax credit that gives parents of children in private schools a bigger subsidy than federal per-pupil payments to public school systems is indefensible from any stan dpoint. It is especially unfair since federal aid to schools with large numbers of disadvantaged children have been cut drastically. These compensatory education programs have been credited with the recent rise of Black performance on stan dardized tests, and amount to an important investment in our nation’s future. Tuition tax credtis would also be a powerful symbolic declaration of no-confidence in the system of public educaton that would severely weaken one of the few American institutions that bind us toghether. They would favor private advan tage over public gain, encouraging the selfishness and lack of caring that already is a serious national flaw. Nor would such credits solve any perceived problem. If public education isn’t as good as it should be the problem won’t be solved by making private schools more at tractive but by making public schools better. The real issue in education should be to ensure that the children of the poor get quality education that prepares them for the demanding world in which they must function as independent, responsible citizens. Tuition tax credits are a diversion, that will not further that goal. etched indelibly in my mind as I listened to Mr. Hooks mutter that he was not invited to the Presiden tial Inauguration Ceremonies. He reminisced about being at many other inaugurations. Yet he seemed to lament not receiving an invitation to the second term Regan-Bush Inauguration. On the other hand, Reverend Jesse Jackson led a purported Rainbow Coalition Counter Inauguration Demonstration to get his agenda heard by the Reagan Ad ministration. I was glad to see that See Leadership Page 6