JULY 6 -12,1986 THE CITIZEN
3
I TE A no AL BLACK WRITERS co FERE CE - ' Reach for ' Excellence", the theme at the
16th Annual Inte ional B Writer Conference founded by Alice G. Browning deceased 1985.
On photo at the Alice Brownin Awards B quet (left to right) Sterlin Plumpp, Unive 0ty. of Illinoi
profe , Jo n O. Killen, uthor of 'Youngblood", nominated for Pulitzer Prize for "And Then We
Hew t Thunder" and "The Cotillion" d Keynote S er at th A ard Banquet; Ada Phillip,
Column ° for the ChO Defender, and E B. Redmond, award innin Poet Laureate." (Photo by
Eta ° W inJton)
a i e umber Of Deaths
Feared In Sou h Africa
. Taylor
(LT S - After spending
weeks talking to all 'des in the
South African conflict, the' so­
called Eminent Persons Group
concluded a fe weeks ago that
the m . ority Black but white­
ruled nation could be facing
"the wor bloodbath since the
cond world ar. "
One member of that Com­
monwealth-appointed f ct­
finding body ent so far s to
r diet that the white minority
giro 'appears re dy to kill
tens of thou d perh ps hun­
dreds of thousands of Bl cks
in order to maintain its rule!'
Shortly after relea of the
findings by the minent Persons
Group, the government of South
frican President P.· . Botha
owed it resolve by announ­
cing hat one ne magazine
ch r cterized s n "Ironfi ed"
.
Black Caucus
plans Grand
Rapids meeting
S G - The �ichigan
Democr tic Black C ucus ha
heduled it June meetin for
aturday, June 28, at 12:00
noon at the idw y Motor
Lodge, The Hoffman Hou ,
e t 2 th Street Grand
Rapid.
Politics 1986 is the con­
tinuing agenda. Caucus chair,
State Senator David Holmes
, U As our host for thi
meeting, the Grand Rapdis rnem­
are hosting a pool party
r the meeting at the Midway.
meeting is expected to
from 12 to 3."
state-of-emergency giving police
and curity forces wide-ranging
powers to curb Black unrest.
In effect, the new ate-of­
emergency allows police any­
where in the country to 1)
shoot-to-kill anyone they feel
is causing trouble or demon­
strating ainst white minority
rule and 2) attempt to he ad­
off Blac unrest by allowing
the detention of anyone
they feel "might" po a threat
to the white minority govern­
ment.
Human rights ctivi esti-
m te that with their new power
the police managed to arrest
over 2,000 Blacks they vie ed
s le ders within less than 72
hours.
In addition, the new ate-
of-emergency policie virtually
end all effective news coverage
of the situation in South Africa.
ews organizations are now be­
ing censored by South African
authorities. Virtually the only
news which can now be reported
is that which is approved by the
government.
WHY THE STA TE-OF­
E ERGE CY?
The tated purpo of the
state-of-emergency was to pre­
vent anticipated unre t by
r dical young Blacks who h d
planned to celebrate the tenth
anniversary of the -called
Soweto riot of 1976.
In a real nse, the ebellion
in the rna sive Black township
of So eto near Johannesburg
marked the beginning of the
modern wave of radical Black
protest and demon trations
against the system of white
minority rule known formally
as apartheid.
However, it ppear that a
deeper reason for imposing a
state-of-emergency at this time
was growing feeling among
whites in general and the govern­
ment in particular that they
were losing control of the situat-
ion.
This feeling h d been ex­
pressed recently by increa d
activity from racist right-wing
whites who attac ed the Borha
government for its modest
reforms of the apartheid system
and charged that it should be
more ruthle in putting an end
to Blac unrest.
Finally, there is- clearly a
fear within the government
and whites as group that
Blacks will not be satisfied
with modest reforms. The
Black demand for the right to
vote in a country with a popula­
tion which is 70 per cent Black
in effect would bring an end to
white minority rule. "
That prospect simply scares
whites.
In fact, Botha cited a speech
by former U.S. Secretary of
State Henry issinger in justi­
fying the state-of-emergency.
In the speech Kissinger in
effect said that pro-U .S. right­
wing governments like South
Africa were often pushed too
hard to make concessions to
their oppressed populations.
Too many concessions, Botha
implied, could bring down his
government.
eanwhile, tho Black
leaders not arrested have gone
underground vowing a new stage
in their struggle against apar­
theid: An example of hat
may be ahead occurred shortly
after the state-of-emergency wa
announced when a car bomb
exploded in Durban illing two
,white ��men and injuring 15 t
NEWS BRIEFS _
- The
.. upreme
le sen Hive t the needs and
rights of Bla s if Pre "dent
Reagan'
approved.
chief justice arren Bur er to
retire next m nth ave Rea an
the opportunity to n minate
as ciate ju tice illiam Rehn­
quist to head the court and
federal appeals court iud e
Antonin Scalia to fill the va ant
po ttl n. B th Rehnquist and
Scalia are con rvative h
have consistently v ted ag inst
the expansi n f Ie al pr teet­
ion for Blac ,women. cnrru­
nal defendents and the news
media.
• ••
COURT ALLOWS SCHOOL
BUSI G DEMISE
ORFOLK VA - The U.S.
Supreme Court last wee
allowed the city of orfolk,
Virginia to abandon a school
busing program which had been
designed to integrate the city's
schools. The decisi n marked
the first time a school district
has been allowed to drop a
busing program. Lawyers for
the oity argued that the busing
program had led to "white
flight" from public hools and
that the system was in danger
of becoming mostly Black. The
court rejected petition by
22 Black parents which claimed
abandonment of the busing
program would lead to re­
segregation.
•••
REG APPROVAL RAT G:
HIGH WITH WHITES, LOW
WITH BLACKS
EW YORK NY - Accord­
ing to the latest Gallop Poll,
President Reagan s approval rat­
ing stands at an all time high
among white Americans but
remains low with Blacks. Over­
all, 72 per cent of whites polled
said they approved of the way
the president wa handling his
job while nearly 70 per cent
"of Blacks said they did not
approve. The poll also found
that women were slightly less
likely to approve of Reagan
than men and lower in orne
pe ple er le s I" eI t approve
than higher in me pe ple.
•••
LA R LLY,
, here were y u?" Durin
rally Klan member pa d
literature whi h id t here as
a Bla k plot to kill hite pe ple
and that wealthy m rican
Jews were attemptin t c ntr I
the world.
••
R LL Y GIST AP R-
THEID
W YORK. Y - P t
50,000 pe pIe attended an anti­
apartheid mar h and rally in
e Y r ity last weekend.
The rally came as the hite
minority government in uth
Africa was imp ing a har h
state-of-ernergen y gainst pro­
testing Bla k s in that racially
torn country. Carrying signs
which re d 'Free outh
Africa" and "End Apartheid
Forever" the cr wd heard
speeches from the Rev. Je
Jackson AACP President
Benjamin Hooks and actor­
activist Harry Belafonte. Vir­
tually all the speakers critf ized
the Reagan dmini tration f r
failing to impose sancti ns on
South Africa s white minority
government.
•••
INTEGRA TlO PL INTACT
LlTTL RO K, ARK -
The U.S. Supreme Court last
week let stand a lower c urt
ruling which forced a suburban
Little Rock ho I district to
change its boundaries in order
to "include rnor Bla k students
from the city. The cou rt al 0
left intact the I wer court ruling
which required the state bo d
of education to help pay for the
hool de gregation plan.
LMC board gives new
president high marks
BE TO lWP. - Dr. Anne
E. Mulder, Lake Michigan Col­
lege president received high
marks from the Board of Trus­
tees for her ork as the col­
lege's chief administrator during
her first year at LMC.
The evaluation document
u d in her appraisel wa dis­
tributed publicly at the June
24 Board meeting and her 'ore
in each of the document s
seven categ ries as publicly
revealed.
Chairman
to rve
mittee hich ill re mmend
t the B ard the alary and
fringe benefits Dr. ulder i to
receive for the fi al year beginn­
in July 1. Her al ry durin
her fir t a pre ident
LM as O.
The al
sal ry
ppr v d
admini tr -
ContJnu d on Pag 11