Editorials & Comments Williams: Guilty Or Scapegoat? After two years of fear and frustration, and an eight-week trial, a jury of eight blacks and four whites took only 124 hours to find Wayne B. Williams guilty of killing two of Atlanta’s 28 missing and murdered black youth. t While insisting he was inno : cent, Williams was immediately ; sentenced to two consecutive life .* terms bv Superior Court Judge : Clarence Cooper. Ironically, : under Georgia state law, I Williams will be eligible for a • parole review in just seven . years. ; Ironically, too, is the antici . pated lingering fear and psycho • logical scars that the lengthy • ordeal is leaving on the city o£__ • Atlanta. These concerns un • doubtedly will be aided by the • belief of some that a killer is still • free, that Williams may be on the ; streets in just seven years, and | the doubts of others as to • whether Wayne Williams is guilty at all. Each of these is a real pos sibility because the decision to close the books on 24 of the other cases is not satisfying the pareino ui wmc ui the victims that they will know who is actually responsible for the death of their children. Further more, the haste with which Atlanta police authorities closed the books on the other cases has caused some to question whether Williams i* guilty. or whether he’s being used to ease the pres~ sure to find and convict some one. This latter point becomes increasingly significant by the tact that the prosecution was allowed to introduce evidence about 10 of the other murders to show a pattern of behavior bv Williams. Finally, within an hour of the guilty verdict, polyester-cotton shirts were on sale for $4.25. The shirts carried the message, “This T-shirt made with fibers from the Wayne Williams trial, Fulton Co. Courthouse, Atlanta, 1981-82.” This commercial exploitation seems a fitting end - if it is the end - to a strange ordeal with many unanswered questions about our criminal justice system and how it works. Dr. Wheeler: A Very Committed Person ~t>r. -Raymond Wheeler, na tionally known health and nutrl ■ tion expert and civil rights act ;* ivist, died on February 18 of an *: apparent heart attack. On the day of his death, the 62 year-old Wheeler had spent four hours in a meeting with attorney Julius Chambers talking about a strategy to stop Congress from cutting the food stamp and school lunch programs. Further more, when death took Wheeler later that same day he was preparing to attend a dinner to honor the late Fred Alexander, a black state senator and city Council member;—•_____ Attorney Chambers echoed the sentiments of many when he said Wheeler’s death “is a great loss for the city and for the county. He was a very committed per son to improving human needs and opportunities in every area one could work in - making sure . the poor would be able to eat and obtain housing accommodations, making sure blacks were able to obtain opportunities in housing and education.” Dr. Wheeler worked on the Southern Regional Council, a bi-racial civil rights organiz — ation. He was one of the founders of MOTION, TNC., and he worked closely with former governor Terry Sanford on a poverty program that became a model for of the country. Among his other tireless ef forts, Dr. Wheeler investigated health and medical care among black children in Mississippi and reported to a U.S. Senate —Su6committee -m 4967 . oa. ex? treme poverty and starvation; His work is credited with helping to bring hunger to the attention of many national leaders in Washington. Mayor Pro Tern Harvey Gantt said Dr. Raymond Wheeler “was a friend and a man who cared.” In effect, whether you knew him or not, Dr. Raymond Wheeler, a native of Farmville, N.C., was a friend of blacks and the poor. Even in death he showed this by telling his wife that upon his death he’d prefer that friends send memorials to the Southern “R^onal -€ouncilr-75--Marietta St., N.W., Atlanta, Ga. 30303, or to the N.C. Civil Liberties Union, P. O. Box 3094, Greensboro, N.C. Glass House And Stones Organizations purporting to cure all the ills of a society or known to mankind must be extra careful in their behavior lest they appear to be no more than extensions of-like personalities, i.e., the “Congressional Club.” Revelations lately regarding the questionable spending habits of this group of like-passioned individuals sound similar to the many other disclosures which appear weekly in government settings, unions and from time to time in industry. The answers the “Club” gives ftrthequestiens generated by the revelations sound awfully simi lar to the familiar and classic responses to which we have become accustomed. Hue charlotte post Second Class Postage No. 965500 "THE PEOPl^’SNEWSPAPER’’ Established 1918 Published Every Thursday by Thfe Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. Subscription Rate f 16.60 per year Send All 3579’slo: 1524 West Blvd., Charlotte, N.C. 28208 Telephone (704)376-0496 Circulation 7,151 104 Years of continuous Service" —«ll Johnson __ Editor. Publisher Bernard Reeves General Manager Fran Farrer Advertising Director Dannette GaitherOffice Manager Second Class Postage No. 965500 Paid At Charlotte. North Carolina -- Cnder the Act of March 3,1878 -Member. National Newspaper Publishers’ Association North Carolina Black Publishers Association Deadline for all news copy and photos is 5 p.m. Monday. All photos and copy submitted become the property of The Post and will not be returned. National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. 2,00 S. .Michigan Avr w i.Uh St.. Suite I m ( hicago. III. tiotiis New York. New York, ioo:t<> ‘nlumet .Y«2M <2I2> IWM22* Affirmative Action By AHrfH»LMiiillt(m Special To The Post The Bupartisan Congres sional Forum on Equal Employment Opportunity and--Affirmative Action^, which is another brainchild of Representative August us Hawkins, author of Hawkins-Humphrey Full Employment Balanced Growth Act and Chairman of House Employment Op portunities Committee held its meeting lb a packed room of diversified ethnic people who exhibited an intense interest in the con miuunce 01 me national support base rEEm af firmative action which was the objective of the forum The forum was a united commitment of Hispanics. Blacks, Indians, women, handicapped and elderly to affirmative action The meeting focused on preservation and imple mentation and imple mentation of affirmative action methods for accom plishing fair and equal em ployment for women and minorities against the Rea gan onslaught of all civil rights measures which in clude fair job practices The meeting .emphasized the onslaught forms taken Alfreds L. Madison by the Administration; civil rights appointments. Justice Department inten tion to overturn the Weber <*^****00- which allows management and labor to s«t up voluntary methods for prohibiting employ ment discriminations Representative Fauntroy spoke of the timeliness of the forum because minor ities are facing a serious challenge to their full citi zenship rights He stated that this challenge is born of a scapegoat psychology The lack of a clear under standing of the economic transition and economic prpblems has led to a scapegoat response that re flects itself in anti-minority feeling directed at minor BLACK BOOT-STRAPS I I 79000000,000,00. ( StVBNTVNINE ULLIM POL LAPS monter&LAiHAHEMA 1979). 'BLACK RETICENCE TO SEIZE INITIATIVE TO ORGANIZE THEIR COMMUNITIES ISA MAJOR FACTOR AND AN IMPORT ANT FACTOR CCNTRh BUTINO TO OUR COMMUNITIES UNDER! DEVELOPMENT" DEAN DOUGLAS C. GLASGOW DEAN -HOWARD UNIVERSITY^ Tony Brown’s Comments Call For New Malcolm Trial “By His deeds, He shall be known.” That statement so elo quently descibes Brother -Preston Wilcox, Convener. ‘ ‘ Brother’ ’^iicoxTasThe^ professional educator likes - to boTeferred. to, is now rallying ‘attention toga's" usual-the underdog. Always a fighter against racial injustice and un changed over the years in his commitment to the Black community, he is now, in his quest for the truth, opening up the old Malcolm X slaying to a new investigation. Both my television senes and a recent “60 Minutes" segment have presented enough on-the-air evidence to reopen the case. But a Black community ground swell is needed to reopen the case and in vestigate the new revela tions rtiSdcfay—Talmadgo. Hayer, the only person to confess to killing Malcolm X. When Hayer, now Muja hid Abdul Halim and serv ing a life sentence, gave me the first television inter view, he explained that Norman Butler and Thomas Johnson, also serving life sentences, were not members of his assassin squad. “My two co-defendants, ' Norman Butler and Thomas Johnson, have al ways maintained their in - nocence in the case, and that even during the trial, I had stated myself that they were not involved in the killing of Malcolm X.” The five alleged co assassins were named by Hayer-and in Peter Gold -man^_ book. “The Death and Life of Malcolm X^ as the actual planners and co-conspirators. This new information has not, how ever, been sufficient to move a New York court to reopen the case. And now AFRAM Asso ciates, Inc.. Brother Wil cox’s Harlem based "service — and- resource, center at 68-72 East 131st Street, NY 10037 , 212-281 ' OOOQ^has- held- its -first, sym posium on this issue with”' Mike Wallace, Peter Gold man, Osman Shah of the American Muslim Mission and Adayemi Bandele, a radio personality, as par ticipants. A brilliant researcher, Wilcox points to inform ation, that if true, would mean that Butler and John son are innocent. • they were not present at the Audubom Ballroom on February 25,1965 when the assassination occurred. They were less than ade quately represented by their lawyers and they 'Were-determined-to-be-ia-—. nocent of any charges by one of the admitted killers, Talmadge Hayer, during the trial and in a letter to Governor Hugh Carey on January 18, 1982," Wilcox declares. In the aformentioned letter to Gov. Carey, Hayer stated: “I stated that these two men are innocent of the charges of killing Malcolm -JUJ-bai£e_aHi»mitted affi davits to the courts naming those who are co-conspirat ors in the killing of Mal colm X. However, my ef forts have been of no avail." AFRAM, as a service to subscribers, makes all of these docu ments available. In a letter to Leo Levy of New York’s Division of Parole, Wilcox explained, of the wrongful conviction of two defendants in a fair trial demonstrating that justice can be manipulated From Capii to .confuse truth with fiction.” There are other extenu ating circumstances. In a 12-year investigation of this -tssuei-X-stilljwonderabout France’s refusal to allow Malcolm’s plane to land there..The Muslims did not have that TclridiSfintertHK tional power. And who was the “thin lipped, olive-skinned man with slanted eyes” who followed Malcolm in Africa and Europe and fits the description of the mysteri ous second man allegedly arrested at the scene of the crime? Was there a second man arrested at the scene of the crime as the early editions of the New York papers said? If so-and he dis appeared while in the cus tody of the police-was -tlLere jjovernment compli city in tfie'murdSr?.— Hayer s admission has created some new ques tions and placed others in a new context. If he is tell ing the truth, the implica tions are frightening. It means that the Muslims were so* infiltrated that many of those in the Nation of Islam were government infiltrators who could com mjt_cnmes and destroy the M usl imFsImllltaneeasly or individuals who could pro fit from crime in the name of their alleged faith. In short, the Muslim or ganization was exploited. And, if so, Butler and Johnson could have been also. "Tony Brown's Journal," the television series, can be seen on ^public^•^le^vision on also be seen on Channel 58, Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Please consult listings. tolHiU *ByHev. John PerHiw^ Walk Your Talk Biblical Basis For Power Last week I talked about power and how it should be used. We need to find out how to obtain it, and utilize it in a way that it does not corrupt the person who has it. This power must, also, not be detrimental to the community. 1 am discovering this is an awesome situation. The reason we have so much poverty, death and broken homes is becaup? we do not know how to creatively use power. In the beginning God gave Man vast amounts of power. But then, Man disobeyed God. Man relinquished most of his power to Satan. Through man’s disobeience - his sin - he has come under the dominion of a power other than God’s. Because Man is dominated by satanic power, the power men have is tainted. Every desire of Man is selfishly motivated. The apostle John refers to this as “... the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life...” And we exercise our power within the contest of that lust. So we have hunger, death, racism and murder in our life.. The issue is how can power be used in a way which benefits man instead of destroy ing him? For the Christian, the Word of God is his guide book and Christ is his perfect example. In the beginning of Christ’s min istry, He stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. ” (Luke 4:18). AnblntedT^rries-the idea of-a--power_that is given by God. But what does Christ do With His power? Does He use it for exploitation? The scripture says He pro claimed release of captives, gave sight to the blind, freed the downtrodden and proclaimed the favorable year of the Lord - an era of economic justice. Christ did not use His power to bolster Himself. Jesus is our example of how power should be used in a creative manner. Even after His capture by oppressive Roman guards? and subsequent torture death of crucifixion, Christ still displayed His power by rising from the dead, showing His power even over death.. Even though Christ is no longer in tlA flesh on earth, He is able to empower Christians to carry on His work after the -Ascension^. He ...tells the first Christians “...you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Ideally, when the Christian is under the power of God, the decisions he makes will be for the good of humanity. The power that Christ gives the Christian enables him to channel and focus the power he wields in the world for good. For example, I recently attended a conference of a coalition of religious broadcasters. I did not realize how much political power evangelists wielded until I analyzed the Christian television and radio media and the vast financial resources they have. They have power for sure, but how will they use it? Christ, our example, has the power of life and death. The scripture goes as far to say that all things hold together because of Him. With this much power, surely He can give individual help to everyone of us in both our minute and monumental decisions. ResponseS~to this column may be sent to Walk Your Talk, 1655 St. Charles Street Jackson JS 39209. Methods Facing Serious Challenge Hies at an levels of Aroerican.life. Jack Greenberg oT NAACP Legal Defense said there is a fundamental rea son for affirmative action He illuded to the fact that before the Brown decision. Washington was more se gregated than apartheid Johannesberg. South Africa. He stated that af firmative action is neces sary to eradicate discrim ination and in the eradicat ing process, there must be some numerical standards and goals He gave just ification for affirmative action; compensation to vicTTtns for pest—discrim ination, best known device for bringing together a na tion divided by racism and it makes enforcement pos sible and workable. Green berg criticized the merit system as really being somehwat of a farce since selection in jobs and uni versities have often includ ed family connections Representative Patricia Shroeder spoke of the Go vernment RIF on women and minorities, as being dismissed because they are last hired and last pro moted. so the lack ot seniority is enforced in tneir dismissal. She slated that slashed budgets, low ering reporting tevels, and changed functions are the clearest indication of this Administration’s lack of in terest in EEO. The President of Equit able Life Insurance said that corporate America has the inescapable im perative responsibility to make jobs equally avail able for all people He stated that it is good busi • ness practice for corpora tions to aid in providing a system where all people can enjoy equal educa tion, advocacy, entrepre nual and employment op portunities He emphasized that women and minorities must advocate strongly their causes Eleanor Holmes IWinn said women and min«u iiie> have suffered from stereo typed perceptions all pen pie can’t work. Vietnam veterans were not pre pared for jobs, women b> work done in the home She related some unhealthy af firmative action percep tions The average person doesn't know what affirm ative action is. some people are for it. because some others are against it, and national leaders speak out against it without full knowledge* ef what - it la all. about. She gave the exam ple of President Reagan’s lack of knowledge of the Weber ease She criticised William Bradford Rey nolds for his emphasis on time tables and quotas as reasons for opposition to affirmative action. Mrs. Holmes said that affirm ative action techniques art legal in application wi h is derived from Title II passed by the Conf. Affirmative actioi ->• quires difersified re la ment. She says th. •». correct the system ,. Court of Law is not en r.fitt The simple concept e -nat women and minoi - n-s -h*ve—been exclude1 hut now they must bTIncIi .Ted— Vllma Martinez «.t the Mexican American . i <-gal Defense gave critici-ms of Senator Hatch's a • nd ment SJ41, which r: ikes illegal any law that n. .kes distinction on accom - of race, color or nation,. <>ri gin, which sounds ' i.c a repeal of the 14th nn.-nd ment AJ41 requir- vic tims to prove intent t< *—' discriminate. It prohibits private industry from adopting voluntary affirm -ativeaction programs Joseph Dela Cruz, l’rcsi dent of the National t'on gress of American Indians. sa«l._20 ^percent of the Indians on reserval mns^re unemployed He spnkFof how the Reagan Adminis tration has banished the hope that the Indian Self determination Act of i*«71 gave them This meeting ck-orK cm phasized that the lt» Administration has ign .rod the advantages and Amo may be affirmative #