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 #<V.»n
and that instead il is u-j :n«
"*~* llllAaAl In [|[|
credit and render gut'bss
all affirmative action
measures
~ConsIitUenil mast (jin' ■
sure their national rlpre
sentatives and the white
House through letters,
phone calls and face lojface
contact, if possible