Forum
Marshall, Ashe 'Much .For Themselves;
But Did More For The Black Community
The nation's recent loss of Thurgood Mar
shall and Arthur Ashe requires a strong and
immediate focus on the careers and impacts of
these two conspicuously successful, very dif
ferent but similar black heroes.
Marshall and Ashe were different in that
they followed"
different paths to
the summits of
their chosen
fields. They were
similar in that
they "broke new
ground" to estab
lish valuable
in St Louis, Mo., at whose home Ashe stayed
while in high school to be coached by Hudlin.
EDUCATION: Marshall had intended to
study dentistry, according to his mothers
wishes. She pawned her wedding dress and
wedding rings to help him pay expenses at
MINORITY REPORT
By JAMES E. ALSBROOK, Ph.D.
new vistas from which black men and women
caa look and new "horizons of tomorrow" and
plot courses to seemingly remote ahd formerly
unattainable dreams.
Marshall chartered an ideal path for black
professionals. Ashe chartered an ideal path for
black athletes. Both are excellent role models
for parents, teachers, mentors and youngsters
seeking pathways to success in today's mud
dled, murky and dangerous circumstances.
Marshall and Ashe, like most blacks,
came from working-class homes. Both sets of
parents had high hopes for their children,
encouraging them constantly to ^ee and reach
for better things and higher goals. Two other
factors, however, enter the upward mobility
picture. They are MENTORS, including social
support individuals or groups, and COLLEGE
EDUCATION.
PARENTS:" Marshall's mother was an
elementary school teacher in Baltimore. MD.,
and his father was a pullman car waiter until
he became a steward at a .white, segregated
yatch club on Chesapeake Bay. Both had
steady, middle-class jobs. Ashe's mother was a
home maker and his father was a city play
ground guardian and caretaker in Richmond,
Va. Later, Ashe's father opened his own land
scaping business. Marshall and Ashe had
strong parental supervision in loving, hope
filled environments.
MENTORS: Marshall's father was also
his mentor. "He taught me how to argue, chal
lenged my logic on every point, even when we
were discussing the weather," Marshall said.
"My father turned me into a lawyer without
.ever telling me what he want me to be."
Ashe's mentors were Dr. Walter Johnson
of Lynchburg. Va., (Althea Gibson's former
tqafcher), and Richard Hudlin. a tennis official
Lincoln U. of Pennsylvania. But he was so "
successful on the debating team that he
changed to pre-law. Then he went to the
Howard U. School of Law and graduated in
1933 with high honors. Meanwhile, he worked
as a busboy, waiter and grocery clerk to get
college money.
Ashe improved as a tennis player while in
St. Louis and became the fifth-ranked junior
tennis player in the nation. He accepted a ten
nis scholarship at UCLA where his techniques
were polished by coaches including Pancho
Ganzalez, the professional champion whom
Ashe defeated later. Ashe continued to
improve and in 1965 was ranked third in world
competition.
SUCCESS: Marshall became a civil rights
lawyer and his career is well-known. He joined
the NAACP and rose to chief counsel when
Charles Houston resigned. His landmark 1954
desegregation victory precipitated a landslide '
of legal consequences that transformed the
public policies and traditions throughout the
nation. He has received numerous distinctions,
citations, and degrees.
Ashe became increasingly dominant in
tennis competition as a member of the U.S.
Davis Cup team, winner of the U.S. Amatuer *
title in 1968, the Australian Open in 1970,
French Open Doubles in 1972, World Cham
pion Singles in 1975 and Wimbledon Singles
in 1970. He has received many distinctions,
citations, and degrees.
Marshall and Ashe did very well for them
selves, but they have done more for others.
They have provided black students, parents,
educators and mentors with priceless exam
ples. road maps and role models showing how
to reach what had been considered unreachable
dreams.
Clinton's Strategy Toward Angola
There are millions of sisters and brothers
in Africa who are waiting to see if President
Clinton wilPmove expeditiously to change
twelve years of counterproductive American
foreign policy toward Africa. Nowhere on the
continent of Ainca is this more critical today
than in the Republic of Angola. The tragic
reality is that the people of Angola have had
their suffering prolonged an exasperated as a
direct conse
quence of the vio
lent and aggres
sive military
intervention by
the United States
and the racist
regime"ttf South
Africa through -
thej?upport of the
into a new era of peace and economic develop
ment. UNITA has reignited civil war only
because they lost at the ballot box. How can
the United States justify supporting right-wing
antidemocratic forces in Angola? How can the.
United Nations allow Savimbi to openly
expose his contempt for the U.N. monitored
elections by opting for arv escalation of war in
southern Africa?
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
By BENJAMIN F. CHAVIS, JR.
? terrorist activities of Jonas SavimbiV-UNITA
rigbt-wing forces.
During the last five years we have written
extensively on the "proxy war" in Angola and
how most Americans even to this day, still are
not aware of the fact that our tax dollars have
been used in the past by the Reagan-Bush ide
ologues to sponsor massive death and destruc
tion inside and African nation that has done
everything it could possibly do to make friends
with the United States. Although Angola has
consistently provided the United States with
oil and other natural resources since gaining
independence from Portugal in 1975. the
United States has refused to give full diplo
matic recognition to Angola. It is as if the
United States wants to ultimately control both
the people and the natural resources of this
African nation by the violent overthrow of the
legitimate government of the Republic of
Angola. Now that their is a new administration
in Washington, it is time for the United States
to repent for its past sins and misdeeds in
southern Africa in general and in Angola in
particular. We appeal to President Clinton and
to Secretary of State Warren Christopher to
grant immediate full diplomatic recognition to
Angola and to refrain from giving further sup
port to Jonas Savimbi and UNITA. The past
foreign policy of the United States toward
Angola was immoral and illegal in terms of
international law. The African-American com
munity in the United States cannot condone
any thought of continuing the hideous policies
of Reagan and BUsh toward Africa. Since the
September 1992 "free and fair" elections in
which the ruling part, the MPLA. won the
democratic right to lead the natiort^f Angola
? It has now been revealed that since the
elections last September there have been more
than 10,000 persons killed and over 1 million
displaced because of the UNITA's war against
the people of Angola. The blood of innocent
Angolan women and children stains the carpet
on the floor of the White House. President
Clinton must act with dispatch to remove this
stain and construct a "productive and moral"
foreign policy on Angola. During our last visit
to Angola a few months ago, we witnessed
thousands of Angolans express their desire for
a lasting peace. The United States was one of
the nations that demanded Angola have demo
cratic elections. Now in the wake of the elec
tions.it is the historic climate of American and
South Africa's interventionism that sands as
the obstacle to a lasting peace. Secretary of
State Christopher needs to clean out all of the
"skeletons in the close to the State Depart
ment." The situation in Angola is urgent once
again. We need to let the members of this ses
sion of the U.S. congress know that the public *
at large is gravely concern^ about Angola and
other parts of Africa. There should be Con
gressional hearings on the resumption of war
in Angola with the use of U.S. weapons and
materials which have been stockpiled by
UNTTA prior to the elections. n Especially the
Congressional Black Caucus should call for
immediate action by the Clinton Administra
tions this issue. Yet the bottom line is until
there is a massive groundswell of protest from
communities who care across the nation, then
the situation will only become more
deplorable. President Clinton: "Angola cries
for help and in the name of justice and democ
racy, we demand that you act now!"
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