Co
By Ted Jon
Special to'Midipn Cilit.en
WASHINGTON, D.C.
chances are great that the
retirement of three members
of the Congres ional Black
Caucus (CBC) will lead to
the election in ovembee of
three Black women to the
United State House of Rep­
resentatives.
The retiring Congressmen,
all Democrats, are Augustu
"Gus" Hawkin of California,
the de n of the CSC and the
quiet chairman of the power­
ful House Education and
Labor Committee; Geroge W.
Crockett. Jr. of Michigan. the
senior black on the House
Foreign Affairs committee
nd the canny ch irman of its
Subcommittee on We tern
Hemisphere Aff ir • and
Walter Faum ro y, the
delegate and inexorable
tate hood advoc te from the
Di trier of Col umbi .
. Ha kin. t 83, the oldest
member of the caucu • and
Crockett, ju t two year be­
hind t 81. felt it wa time to
clo e out their legi lative c­
tivity nd pur ue other inter­
e t . Fauntroy left a safe cat
in an attempt to capture the
De rn c . tic nomination for
May r f the District. He r n
out of the money.
WORK. G TO replace
these honor ble gentlemen
arc three women. all politi­
cally a t ute , quite
opinionated, r ther out­
spoken on crucial issue, and
e perienced in the wa,s and
Continued from Pel
locally or from the tate
legisl ture, she said.
While the set amount of
doll r com i ng from ta te
funding does not increase
with inflation. the l ibrarics
have to count on millage to
bail them out.
. Federal money is' u 'ed
strictly for special projects
nd only I t for a year. never
to pyper onnel to man the
Iibr ries she aid.
However, o'n Oct. 16,
Rudy Haas, a self-proclaimed
intere ted library patron.
ked commi sion member
to con ider opening the main
branch library on Sunday
from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m .. if the
ov. 6.millage propo al pas­
e :
Haa al'o propo ed that to
h' ve the library open on Sun­
day p rhap it could clo e it
door one day during the
wee.
e
o
gre
means of government.
They are hoping to in­
crease to four the female rep­
resentatives in the
24-member caucus, joining
with Cardiss Collins of il­
linois, the only Black woman
in the House.
The women who have cap­
tured the Democratic
nominations for the Congre -
ional eats in their Di trict
are California As-
semblywoman M xine
Waters, long considered the
heir apparent to Hawkin '
Reign: Detroit City Council­
woman Barbara Ro e Col­
lin • the choice of yor
Coleman Young. nd Eleanor
Holme Norton. a profes or
at Georgetown Univer ity
Law School and a former
ch irwoman of the U.S.
Equal Employment Oppor­
tunity Commission (EEOC).
"It's going to be interc t­
ing to see how they interact
with the old boy network."
exclaimed one Capitol Hill
observer. "Cardi s played a
mean game of poker and that
helped. A lot ofclout i leav­
ing the hill with the retire­
ment of those three."
Asked how she fell about
the probable addition, Rep­
re entative Collins .. who wa
elected to the Hou e in 1973.
exclaimed': "Halal ujah! It'
about time. It" wonderful."
TH I>EJ»ARTI G Con-
gres men were honored at a
lavish. black tie rec ption and
dinner. held at the national
Gallery of Art and attended
by 5.00 invited gue t . The af'-
e
OCTOBER 21.27, 199
poised 0
•
10
a
ea
and Balanced Growth Act
and for the creation of the
U.S. Equal Employment Op­
portunity Commi ion.
A non-voting member in
the Hou e, Fauntroy quickly
re orted to hi civil right ac­
tivism nd hi Bapti t mini -
try to obtain a me ningCul
role for himself in the Con­
gress and the caucus.
A the Di trict's fir t
elected representative, joi n­
ing the House in April, 1971.
Fauntroy already had a vital
i sue to push, statehood for
the District of Columbia. He
worked hard to get Congress
to adopt the Home Rule
Charter, a 1973 law which
ga e the Di trict the right to
elect a Mayor and a City
Council. A CBC funding
member, he rved a it
chairman from 1981 to 1983.
Hi Congressional career
wa al 0 marked hy hi work
in creating a national net-
P GE3
fir, given hy the tru tee of
the Gallery. was among the
m ny tributes paid to them
during the recent Twenti th
Annual Legislative Weekend
of the Congres ional Black
Caucu Foundation..
Congre man Ron Del­
l urns , the CBC chairman.
described the three a ex­
traordinary per ons who had
made outstanding contribu­
tion to th caucus.
"I came in with Walter.
He's alway been an eloqu nt
spokesman for the human
digni t y of people," the
California Dc m oc r a t o b­
·erved.
I "Gu, you JU!\t gut better
and more rad ical as you got
older. And Gc o r g e t s a
wonderful brother who wa
ju t a powerful an advocate
for justice and truth in the
Hou e a 'he wa on the
bench. "
Hawkins, a founder and
the senior member of the
caucu • was elected to the
L·lbrary budget woes House rn 1962. becoming
California' fir t Black mern-
He ex p la ine d tuue nts , ber in Congress and the only
high school and college, who one at that rime] form any
do not have time to work on Wes�rn state.
resear h paper or project . A rather .calm and di:.pa��
during the week can not fit 10� te man, he beca.me
everything into Fridays and chairman of the. Ed�catlon
S d d th . no al- and L bor Committee In 1984
atur ays an ere IS -
. . and wa in trumental,
ternauve to the main branch. th h h' t' t' I
. roug I nego ra Ing ty c,
he explained:. . . in obtaining the enactment of
Infor�allon �hlch I many law that addre sed the
housed In the .maln �ranch economic and social need of
' .. "t be 10 nd In the
Just can � u . America's minorities.
other , even In metropolitan
Detroit. he �aid.· II�. In:ST known as the
Haas aid the Sunday 1
p.m. to 5 p.m. hours will co-author of the Humphrey-
work, like it did prior to 1979 Hawkin Full Employment
when the population on th t
one d y wa ometimes two­
third more than a week day.
Saying he under tand
Haas' point, Curit s id he
nd the other commi ion
member will con. ider nd
inve ligate hi ugge tion .
"It doe n't mean we ob­
ject, but what do we trade
off?" she asked.
a
work or upporter in 14
congre ional district where
Black voter provided the
margin of victory for those
elected to Congres .
He oft n reminded hi
hite COlleagues that "if we
can't talk to you on the floor.
we' 11 t 1 � ", j' ,., '.' i n you r
home di trict where the vote
really count."
\ "
CONGRE MA Croc-
et entered Congre in 198
after along and di tingui hcd
career a' a lawyer and judge.
Often referred to a "Judge."
Crockett was elected to fill
th Michigan Congre sional
seat left vacant by the resig­
nation of Charles Diggs.
At the same time, he wa
elected for the full two-year
re rm in the 97th Congres .
Like hi proddece s o r ,
Crockett erved on the Hou e
Foreign Aff irs Committee
and worked vigorou Iy to ob­
tain more U.S. aid for the
African nation outh of th
Sahara.
The senior Black m mher
on the committe, he con­
tinually as ailed the State
Department for it failure to
r cr ui t and prom te Black
�oreign ervi e officer and
for its policy f "c n tru rive
en Jagementtt with the hire
apartheid regime or South
Africa.
Race, Place and Risk: Black
homicide in Urban America
For a hort time earlier
t h i. yea rAm e ric a n cit i e· .
uch a New York and
Wa .ningron. D.C., were in
. the headline bee use of their
high murder rate .. While at­
tention has 'witched to other'
topic', the twi n problems of
violence and death in
American citie continue.
'The problem is particular­
I y acute in the Black ur an
communities where murder
has hecome one of the mo t
likely c'uses of death for
Black men between 15 and 30
year of age, according to
Pa ula McClai n, a profes or
of public affair at Arizona
St te University. She is the
co-author of"R ce, Place and
Risk: Black Homicide in
Urban Americ ."
The book is the outgrowth
of more than a decade of re-
earch by McClain and her
partner, Harold Ro e of the
Univer i t y of Wi c o ns in­
Milwaukee.
"M()�t earlicr tudics look­
ing at homicide r te. in urban
envirunment concentrated
on homicide mong white
and only looked at Black a
an aside." he ay . "In' addi­
tion, the typical tudy only'
like at one city for a very
hort period of time. w at
we have done is to examine
the Black homicide rate in ix
major urban area' over a
peri d of 25 years."
'I'll � .• X ITH:S i n-
eluded in the study are Allan­
t a , Detroit, Hou.ton, Lo
Angeles. Pittsburgh and S1.
Louis.
Their research 'how' the
impact or both individual and
environmental inn�ence on
Black homicide. While the
re earch deals primarily Y'ith
Black-on- BI ck homicide. it
illu irate the ff ct of the
environment and the
economy on incre as ng the
likelihood of victimization.
The two also found that
there are two ba ic type f
homicides within the Blac
community.
The rlr� t t ype I� ic rmed
"delen�lve/trat.!itlOnal" he­
cau e the victim is mo t like­
ly to he a family member or
omeon clo e to the ki lie r.
The ccond type i called
"materiali tic aggre ion."
where a person kill for gain.
Thi type of murder I 0 in­
clude the random killing
where omeone i. trying to
even a score or grievance
with another group.