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News-Review, August 19,1971 -
THE NEWS-REVIEW
i PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY
i S3O Gwinnett Street - Augusta, Georgia
Mallory K. Millender Editor and Publisher
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Human Relations Commission
Deserves Community Support
At this week’s race relations seminar at Augusta College where
the topic was “The Role of Local Government in Improving
Community Relations,” the mayor was asked why he did not
make regular tours through the black community so as to be
better acquainted with the problems of blacks and to develop
healthier attitudes between the mayor’s office and the Black
citizenry as New York’s mayor Lindsay often does.
Mayor Beckum replied that if Lindsay took better care of
garbage collection in New York City he would be a better mayor.
This response by the mayor was not a novel one. For, similarly,
when our school officials visit our public schools they are usually
more concerned with how much paper is on the floor than they
are with the schools academic programs.
Positive human relations is our greatest protection from social
unrest - not bigger guns or more police.
More guns and police also call for higher taxes and accomplish
nothing. Positive human relations cost nothing and help to create
an atmosphere wherein individuals can develop to their full
potential and live at peace with each other.
It is unfortunate that some of our leaders seem to place more
value on clean floors and clean streets than they place on clean
hearts and clean minds.
Let us hope that the new Human Relations Commission will
have the courage to take the aggressive leadership role that has
been so long missing in our community.
The Commission, without subpoena power, will be weak, of
course. However, it is up to the well meaning citizens of
Augusta-Richmond County to see that the Commission gets the
community support that it so desperately needs and so richly
deserves.
GUEST EDITORIALS
Divide And Rule
Every day one can hear and read about "lazy Negroes
who will not work, etc.". What are the facts? Billions
of dollars are spent by the Federal government from tax
funds for construction. Yet, Black citizens, many of
whom are veterans who risked their lives for this
Republic, are unable to get either training or jobs in the
construction and building fields. The News-Review
presents a special series of feature articles on this
subject.
P.I.C. NEWS
By Stephen Clapp, Staff Writer
The Labor Department’s minority hir
ing plan to integrate the building trades
unions have produced few new black con
struction workers. In fact, whether in
Washington or Philadelphia, Chicago or
New York, Buffalo or San Francisco, min
ority hiring plans fail to come to grips with
most unions’ calculated policy of exclud
ing outsiders and discriminating against
blacks.
What the hiring plans have done is
increase animosity between blacks and the
labor movement, which has been used to
political advantage by mayors and gover
nors. Some critics believe this is what the
Nixon Administration intended all along.
Bayord Rustin, director of the A. Philip
Randolph Institute, recently called the
Philadelphia Plan “part and parcel of a
general Republican attack on labor” that
includes embarrassing the unions and or
ganizing public pressure against them
“The advantages to the Republicans
from this kind of strategy should be ob
vious,” he states. “Nixon supports his
friends among the corporate elite and hurts
his enemies in the unions. He also gains a
convenient cover for his anti-Negro policies
in the South, and above all, he weakens his
political opposition by aggravating the dif
ference between its two strongest and most
progressive forces—the labor movement
and the civil rights movement.”
As evidence of this thesis, there is Geo.
Meany, president of the AFL-CIO, describ
ing the Philadelphia Plan as “a concoction
of a bureaucrat’s imagination” while Her
bert Hill, national labor director of the
NAACP denounces “racist hard hats (who)
arc the potential street fighters of Amer
ican fascism . . . acting with the support of
both Nixon and Meany.”
There are, of course, valid reasons for
attacking discrimination in the building
trades. Racial imbalance in the building
trades is dramatic, and well-documented.
Figures compiled by the Labor Department
in 1967 showed that nation-wide there were
only 61 black asbestos workers, or roughly
one per cent of union membership. There
were 33 black elevator constructors, 92 black
sheet metal workers and 177 black lathers.
In the laborer category, by contrast, blacks
had 81,457 members, or roughly 30 per cent
of union membership.
Moreover, construction is a fast-grow
ing industry that receives millions of fed
eral dollars. Labor economists estimate that
the industry will require a minimum of
800,000 additional workers over the next
decade. Wages in the industry are high-,
and construction should provide new job
opportunities at good pay for large num-
Page 2
Walking .
WITH KgfM
DIGNITY
by ijL jjByLB
AI IRBY
(UNION LEADER’S GREED AND AVARICE ARE DRIVING
INDUSTRY AND ORGANIZED LABOR OUT OF BUSINESS)
American labor leaders are forcing entire segments of industry
and their unions into idleness and bankruptcy. By demanding
higher wages at every round of negotiation, they are pricing
themselves out of the labor market. Foreign competition and
mechanization are putting American workers into a production
squeeze. Labor leaders must take a long hard look at the
economic facts of life or organized labor as we know it today is
doomed.
The latest steel contract is a prime corroboration of my
contention. The big price rise is the first result of a huge jump in
wages. The labor peace reached recently will come at a high price
to the economy and the hard-pressed steel industry, even to the
steelworkers themselves.
The big steel people lost no time in raising prices and passing it
on to the consumers. The price boost is the largest ever made in
one move. The price of steel was upped 8% on all steel products.
These inflated prices will be passed on to cars, appliances, and
many other items. There are more serious ramifications, than
higher prices; there are economic pressures that probably will
force reshaping of the entire industry, if it is to survive.
It is the consensus of a commission composed of top flight
economists, steel officials, financial analysts, and a group of
conservative union members that the price rise inflicted
dangerous psychological damage to the already creeping
economic recovery. Mill executives fear a terrific slump and a
ruinous drop in profits.
John L. Lewis, the old tiger of the harassed mining industry,
caused many industries to transfer to other fuel energy, by his
bully-boy tactics, and left coal-mining almost bankrupt.
Experience is a crazy teacher for the labor leaders in America.
Now, the steelmakers are considering closing down some old
mills, and phasing out of the least-profitable lines, also merging
some of the smaller companies to Cut over-head expense, thus
more men will be laid off. More Steelmen are thinking seriously
of moving mills over-seas, where wages are low.
(THE STEEL INDUSTRY IS GOING TO BE BRUTAL TO
GREEDY LABOR TO OFF SET THE 1971 WAGE HIKE)
A long-reach reduction will be coming from these various
moves by the steel industry. One top official made this taut
statement: “You will see one hell of a reduction in manpower
over a period of time.” These predictions are based on the hard
economics of this troubled industry.
The industry’s chief negotiator, R. Heath Larry of the U.S.
Steel, estimates that the current hike cost for hourly employees
was up 15% for the first year of the three year pact, at a cost of
650 million dollars. The first year cost of the present contract
would exceed the total 1970 profits of all the major steelmakers
combined. That’s the reason that many furnaces that were
banked in preparation for a strike will be practically dead for the
next 10 to 12 weeks.
As a result many thousands of steelworkers will not begin
drawing the newly-fattened paychecks for a long time. The
bers of unemployed or underemployed black
workers.
To maintain job security and high
wages, craft unions in recent years have
developed elaborate apprenticeship pro
grams to limit the number of persons avail
able to work. It can take longer to become
a hardhat than it takes to become a doctor
or lawyer. Even though most white con
str-.ictii-n workers have never gone through
an apprenticeship program—some have
never even completed primary school
many unions now require candidates to
undergo four-or five-year apprenticeship
programs before joining the union as
journeymen.
Official AFL-CIO policy is non
discriminatory, but various local unions have
adopted procedures that present oppor
tunities for discrimination. Blacks are often
subjected to a more extensive training pro
cess than their white counterparts. Some
apprenticeship programs only exclude
minority candidates; others practice nepo
tism. Still other apprenticeship committees
Employ inappropriate or purely subjective
tests. A graduate of a Washington, D.C.
training program recently took the elevator
constructors’ apprenticeship test. He was
asked complex questions on air flow and
ventilation. “None of us could have passed
that test,” his instructor reported. Yet there
is no way to determine whether white
applicants were given the same examination.
The elevator constructors union in Washing
ton has 128 members, of whom 6 are black.
When young blacks and Puerto Ricans
taught by the Workers Defense League in
New York City scored in the top 10 per cent
of candidates for sheet-metal apprenticeship
openings in 1965, the local unions threw out
the results. The Workers Defense League had
to take the union to court to get the
applicants accepted.
“The whole setup is designed to discourage
black interest,” says Clifford Alexander,
former head of the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission. “You try to con
vince some black kids to go into a six-month
preapprenticeship program, then four years
of apprenticeship. It’s ridiculous. That kid is
either going to go to college or sign on as a
laborer.”
Part 2 Next Week
KNOW YOUR
BLACK HISTORY
by Larry Thompson
Years before the American Revolution took place, a Black man
named Crispus Attucks made his dash for freedom. Attucks,
escaped from his master in Framingham, Massachussetts,
September 30, 1750, just twenty years before he was killed in
what is known as the “Boston Massacre”.
Crispus Attucks, the first martyr of the American Revolution,
was born around 1723 into slavery in Massachussetts. After’
escaping in 1750, he found work on the sea as a sailor. At the
time of the American Revolution Attucks was forty-seven years
old.
The “Boston Massacre” of 1770 was significant because it was
the first time the colonists openly showed their resentment and
hostility to England’s oppressive taxation laws. The Massacre
should be significant for another reason also it pointed out the
ironic flight of the Americans struggling to free themselves from
England’s oppression, while they were at the same time guilty of
being oppressors of the Black race. Yet it was a Black man, who
led these citizens in their attack against the British soldiers, at the
risk of his own fife.
Attucks was the first of 5 victims on that day. His fame was
spread by the public funeral held for him days later, after a public
procession from Faneuil Hall, where his body had lain in state.
He and the other Blacks who participated in the “Boston
Massacre” played an important role in starting the War, and
Blacks played an equally important role in fighting the
Revolutionary War. Thousands of Blacks flocked to the lines with
hopes of gaining their freedom.
Blacks served at Lexington and Concord. Lemuel Haynes,
Samuel Craft, Pomp Blackman, Peter Salem, are only a few who
were present there.
At Breed’s Hill, usually referred to as the Battle of Bunker Hill,
the British were attacking wave after wave, when Peter Salem, the
hero of the day, shot Major Pitcairni, the British Commander, who I
had urged the British troops onward by shouting, “The day is ■
ours.” ■
Prince Hall, the Black man who established the first Black B
masonic Hall in America, also fought bravely at the Battle of B
Bunker Hill. Others fought in that Battle: Pomp Fisk, Cuff B
industry has ordered its section foremen to convey to the workers H
words to this effect: “Look pals, we gave you the raise, now we E
gotta shut down those old obsolete mills to pay for it.” Some I
industry men see a repeat of the cut-back of the early 1960’s I
when steel demands slumped after the 116 day strike in 1959. II
Labor won these outrageous wage boosts, but since the national B.
repercussion it’s running scared. £|
In Youngstown, U.S. Steel temporarily closed its 2700-man I
Ohio works, due to lagging orders; USW local officials were so B
upset that they pulled political strings all the way to Washington. K
Responding to their frantic appeal, their Congressman contacted B
Rep. Wilbur Mills, head of the house Ways and Means Committee, B
who persuaded U.S. Steel chairman to promise that the closing II
would be only temporary. A chilling threat to the unions is the H
possibility that American Steelworkers will establish mills abroad. IS
Labor’s greed for exorbitant demand in wages without a I’:
relative hike in production was the paramount reason for the B|
companies to seek to move their mills outside the United States. B
Armco Steel Corp, is far along on its building of a huge mill in E
Australia. S
USW with its 1.2 million members had better obey the simple B
economic law of life or many thousands of these innocent, but H
honest, workers will be on dole. ™
I WjOT AUGUSTA’S PIONEER I
I Ww ALL BLACK programmed!
I ™ RADIO STATION I
THERE’S LOTS OF TALK GOING AROUND ABOUT COOKIES
MR with black outsides and white insides...and radio
EES STATIONS DOING GREAT THINGS FOR YOU...
LET US GIVE YOU A FEW FACTS...WTHB RADIO HAS
EH TAKEN MONEY OUT OF THE WHITE BUSINESSES AND
THROUGH ITS BLACK PERSONEL RETURNED OVER
UT BBT $250,000.00 INTO THE BLACK COMMUNITY. WHTB
THROUGH IT’S HAPPY CLUB AND BUCK BUCKET
CONTESTS HAS DISTRIBUTED MORE THAN $4,000.00
bMMM THROUGHOUT THE BLACK COMMUNITY. WTHB HAS JUST
MB MH CARRIED A BUS LOAD OF YOUR CHILDREN TO ATLANTA tS
MR RH FOR A “BRAVES” BASEBALL GAME. WTHB RADIO HAS
ACTUALLY DONE THESE THINGS. WE DON’T TRY TO FOOL
TMOgßfc. YOU. WHAT HAS ANY OTHER RADIO STATION DONE FOR
YOU EXCEPT TALK? NOW IF YOU ADD IT ALL UP...YOU
WILL SEE THAT IT COMES TO LOTS OF DOLLARS AND NO
NON-SENSE.
■ I MONDAY THRU FRIDAY - LISTEN TO ALL THESE FAVORITES PLAYING ALL THE HITS .... Bf
ALLYN LEE - SUNNY SOUL - MISS SOUL - HOWARD WADE
Hayes, Salem Poor, and many, many more. The two Salems, Peter
Salem and Salem Poor, distinguished themselves by performing
“above and beyond the call of duty.” Poor was cited by fourteen
officers for his conduct, bravery and galantry as a soldier.
The Blacks served in nearly every capacity in the American
Revolution. Black seamen, soldiers and pilots distinguished
themselves in the Navy. One such man was Caesar Terront, who
was pilot of the Virginia vessel, the “Patriot” and was cited for
his bravery in action. Another was Captain Mark Starlin, the only
Black captain in the history of Virginia. Starlin fought gallantly
in this war for American freedom, making bold, daring raids on
the British ships, only to be reclaimed as a slave after the war and
died as a slave.
There were Black undercover agents and spies. Two of the
better known Black spies were Pompey and James Armistead.
Pompey gained vital information by pretending to be ignorant. In
1799, he learned the British password in this manner, and thus
played a significant role in the capture of Stony Point Fort in
New York in 1799.
Armistead, a Black man from Virginia, was instrumental in the
trapping of Gen. Cornwallis. General Lafayette sent him to
Cornwallis’ camp to obtain vital information of the battle plans
and strategy. Armistead proved to be so successful as a spy that
Cornwallis hired him to spy on Lafayette. So Armistead was free
to move in and out of the two camps as he pleased, carrying vital
information to Lafayette and false reports to Cornwallis.
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