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Why I Started the AmericUSumter Observer Newspaper This month, the AmericUSumter Observer (ASO) Newspaper turns 10 years old. ASO was established out of the necessity to report balance and objective coverage of Sumter's minority citizens. The Americus Times Recorder Newspaper, the main newspaper for Sumter County's citizens, lacked balance news coverage to its readers about Sumter's minority citizens. In addition, I saw how Times Recorder used certain tactics to quiet voices of dissent against their paper. Rather the Times Recorder's coverage involved black leaders, elections, voting rights and crimes-the coverage was always reported negatively than when it does coverage of white citizens on the same subjects. Sumter's minorities were usually reported as corrupt, stupid, and overly exaggerated regardless of the circumstances. Specifically, I started ASO when a sad, unfortunate killing of an elderly black woman happened and the Times Recorder used a sensational heading to depict the killing. Another reason I started the ASO was the way Beth Alston, editor at Times Recorder, tried to "put me in my place" for questioning her insensitive headline by writing an intimidating article on me. Fourteen years ago, as the new elected NAACP president, I complained to the Americus Times Recorder Newspaper about their headline of the killing of the elderly woman by her psychotic husband. The Times Recorder's insensitive headline "Cornbread Murder," was an affront to me and the black citizens in Sumter. The dead woman's husband allegedly killed her for burning some cornbread. Instead of viewing this killing as a tragedy, some people in the community laughed at this tragedy because of the "humorous" racist headline by Beth Alston, Times Recorder's editor who wrote the article. Today, Beth Alston is still the editor trying to make her Times Recorder's readers laugh at minorities with her headlines. Nothing has changed at The Americus Times Recorder, with Beth Alston still as its editor: The Times Recorder still maintains its racist reporting of minorities. After my complaint to Times about its choice of a heading for such a tragedy, I received a letter from Daryl Henning, publisher at that time. Publisher Henning's justification for the shameful heading Alston used is that Police Chief Charlie Whitehead coined the killing of this elderly woman the "cornbread murder." After I registered a complaint as president of the NAACP on behalf of the Black community, my objective was completed. But, a few days later, Beth Alston, having the all the facts and the results of her story, came out with a headline on me declaring that I had been sued by Bobby Balkcom, wife of a patient of mine. Mrs. Balkcom's husband died after hitting his head from a fall he received after falling from his hospital bed. The case was several years old and dropped; I was exonerated of Mr. Balkcom's death. There was no malpractice on my part. Apparently, Alston used her familiar tactic of trying to quiet a dissenting voice against her and the Times Recorder. She went into her bag of tricks to punish an 'uppity' black-who happens to be a medical doctor and the new NAACP president-for complaining about her callous headline she used to describe the killing of an elderly black woman. Alston's article about my being sued infuriated me since she never reported of other black and white doctors in Sumter County who were successfully sued. I have never been successfully sued, and Alston knew this fact Another black person in Sumter County at time felt that Beth Alston's attack on me was racist and wrong. James L. Bryant, Jr., then a very young high school student, wrote an editorial in the Times Recorder condemning the actions of Beth Alston. Bryant told Alston that she had attacked a Black doctor and NAACP president but she has never attacked a White doctor in this manner. I met with the young firebrand of an activist at the time and told this young man how I plan to response to a racist bully like Beth Alston. I will start my own newspaper. I plan to get a copy of Bryant's editorial and publish it in the ASO. The AmericUSumter Observer was born largely in part because of Beth Alston, editor at the Americus Times Recorder. And, today, Bryant Jr., now sits on ASO's editorial board and is an NAACP board member. Behind every successful venture, key people were involved. Reverend Fer-Rell Malone, the former pastor of Bethesda Baptist Church here in Americus, was key player to help establish the AmericUSumter Observer. As a member of Rev. Malone's church, he and I shared many interests, especially an interest to give our black community accurate news of what is happening in Sumter County. First, Rev Malone called Barbara Gordon, the publisher of the Metro Courier newspaper in Augusta, Ga., for guidance in setting up a newspaper. We designed ASO, including the paper's mission statement, after Mrs. Gordon's newspaper. My readers and I will always be indebted to Mrs. Gordon for holding our hands in the infancy phase of the ASO. Thank you Barbara Gordon, publisher of Metro Courier in Augusta, GA. Second, Rev. Malone recruited Millard Ives, one of the greatest paginators [one who lays out a newspaper] in the United States, to layout the first paper. (Ives continues to freelance with us.) Our first newspaper rolled off of the press February, 1997. This issue featured stories on Black History, and this first issue was dedicated to the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Now, the format of the paper deals with local, national, religious, entertainment, education, and health news. The AmericUSumter Observer is distributed in Sumter, Marion, Schley, Dougherty, Lee, Terrell, and Crisp counties, and to some readers in other states. Other individuals who played key roles in the initial phase of ASO were Teresa Obryant the paper's first secretary, and Wallace Patterson, the paper's first distributor, both of Americus. See our anniversary page for more present and former persons who have worked with the Observer.
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Dr. King and the Garbage Workers of Americus by Elizabeth Dede In the last speech Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave on April 3, 1968, he spoke before a gathering of organized garbage workers in Memphis, Tennessee. His words were prophetic. He said, “I have been to the mountaintop, and I have seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but mine eyes have seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord.” What was that Glory? In the peaceful marches for equality and
dignity that preceded Dr. King’s speech, the garbage workers of
Memphis held signs that read, “I Am a Man.” They asked to be treated
as such, with good pay, safe working conditions, and respect. Here in Americus, Georgia, I sadly watched as the garbage workers
toiled on January 15, 2007, the actual birthday of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., and the day designated by the Federal Government as a
holiday to celebrate his birth and life. When I am out and see the garbage workers toiling, I try to wave and thank them, to give them honor, and to honor Dr. King. Americus, Georgia, one of the cradles of the Civil Rights Movement, a place visited by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is still so far behind in the journey towards justice. Next year, and on into the future, let us give the garbage workers a day off with overtime pay on the King Holiday. Let us honor the garbage workers in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Let us honor Dr. King. Let us usher in the Beloved Community.
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2007 Ministry of Agriculture Conference: "Fighting poisons in our home and food" by Ridgely Muhammad, Ph.D On Saturday, January 20th a stream of out of town cars flowed into the little village of Bronwood, GA to attend our Annual Ministry of Agriculture Conference. We say in the Nation of Islam that Allah (God) promised us "money, good homes and friendships in all walks of life". Well in the Ministry of Agriculture we are always in need of money. Sister Anne Muhammad through her magnificent home making skills has turned the double wide mobile home at Muhammad Farms into a great home. Now, in the spirit of the Millions More Movement a "friend" has loaned their recently purchased property consisting of a large house and 12 acres of land about 4 miles from Muhammad Farms in Bronwood for use by the Ministry of Agriculture where our conference was held. We needed all of that large house and a good portion of their yard to accommodate the 27 cities represented at the conference. Inside the Ministry of Agriculture House three workshops were held starting with an overview of the Ministry of Agriculture presented by Dr. Ridgely A. Mu’min. He emphasized the portion of the ministry’s mission of producing enough food to provide at least one meal per day to the 40 million or more Black people in America. To accomplish such a large task would require at least 6 million acres of land. Muhammad Farms in Georgia consists of 1600 acres. The land still owned by Black farmers is estimated at around 3 million acres. Therefore we must still purchase another 3 million acres of land to accomplish the mission of the Ministry of Agriculture. Even the land still owned by Black farmers is not being productively utilized because of low commodity prices and their exclusion from the high end produce market. To this end the Ministry of Agriculture is promoting the development of cooperatively owned super markets to be established in our urban centers to not only provide a market for the products from Black farmers, but get "real" unpolluted food to our nutritionally starving people in the cities. Setting up at least one super market in each of the cities with a large Black population may sound monumental and farfetched except that the Ministry of Agriculture has laid out and begun to implement a simple strategy. The ministry has promoted the development of 14 food buying clubs
across the country. The food buying clubs start out with at least 10
members who pool a portion of their food buying money and purchase
produce from Muhammad Farms, other Black farmers in their area or
their local farmers market. This produce consists of 6 to 7
different vegetables and 3 to 4 fruits that are repackaged and
distributed among the group or club. The next step is to incorporate
under the structure of a "consumer cooperative" after they have
secured at least 50 loyal and consistent members in their
association or buying club. When the number of members grows to a
consistent 500 families, the cooperative is then ready to get a
permanent physical location and set up a cooperatively owned super
market. Reports were then presented from four of the buying clubs on their strategies for success. Bro. Ridgely X presented from Greensboro, NC, Bro. Frank Muhammad from the Raleigh/Durham, NC area, Bro. Earl Muhammad from Macon, GA and Bro. Gerald Muhammad from Vicksburg/Jackson, Miss. Each of the presenters emphasized that they have broadened their base to include customers outside of the registered members of the Nation of Islam and have reached out very successfully to the Local Organizing Committees of the Millions More Movement. They feel that this broadened customer base will ensure their faster growth to the goal of a cooperatively owned super market. Next on the agenda was a dynamite presentation from Sister Minister Ava Muhammad, a National Spokesperson for the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, on "Making the home safe". The audience was shocked to know that the same chemical companies that produced weapons in World War II got together after the war and developed a strategy to use their chemical production capacity and excess chemicals for the production of home cleaning products. Minister Ava informed the group that the FDA has publicly admitted that of the almost 75,000 chemicals registered with them, less than 20% have been tested for toxicity. Women were the targets for these knew home cleaning products and soaps through a mass advertising campaign that included the development of afternoon "soap operas". Now our households are hooked on "poisons" that are not even necessary to clean our clothes, homes and bodies. Minster Ava emphasized the need for each of us, especially our sisters, to become "scientists" so that we can protect our families from the poisons of wicked and greedy so-called scientists. The conference then moved to the backyard for a real-time demonstration of how to set up your "urban garden" using three different strategies. Bro. Earl Muhammad demonstrated how to set up a raised bed garden along with a simple irrigation system. Bro. Frank Muhammad demonstrated how to set up your porch or window garden using 4 different sized containers. And Bro. Gerald Muhammad demonstrated how to set up a miniature greenhouse that would expand your growing season, especially for those living in the colder northern climates. The demonstrators emphasized the need for good record keeping to document the progress of their garden and to record any anomalies that would be helpful planning and operating their garden for the next season. The Ministry of Agriculture has produced a "Muhammad Farms Calendar" for 2007 that includes pictures of Muhammad Farms, Black history dates, crop harvesting dates and space for the recording of your garden activities on a day to day basis. These calendars will be available during the Saviours' Day Weekend in Detroit, Mich. in February of 2007 along with a DVD of the garden demonstrations and the workshop on the food buying clubs. Also included on the DVDs will be a tour of Muhammad Farms which the caravan of conference participants took. On this tour the participants were given a comparison of techniques demonstrated for their gardens and techniques used on our 1600 acre or 1300 football fields operation. The conference was capped off by a fine dinner from the "Muhammad
Farms Kitchen" prepared by Sister Anne Muhammad and Sister Brenda X
using some of the fall produce from Muhammad Farms. The participants
applauded the workshops, the demonstrations, the tour and the food.
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by Mathis "Matt" Wright, Jr. As I listened and observed the many events celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday locally and nationally, I realized how much we have progressed and how much we have digressed. Dr. King recognized the way to succeed was through non-violence and unity for all mankind. Somewhere in this struggle we lost all mankind and began focusing primarily on race. We have to recondition ourselves, our children, relatives, friends and enemies to focus on all people, no matter what race, creed or color, remembering all poor people are struggling to survive the economic disaster the country is experiencing, even though our political leaders are denying this. I ask, "How many of us are truly better off personally today than we were five or ten years ago?" How many of us used to have a decent paying job, but plants have either closed, downsized, outsourced, or whatever else CEO's of company's have decided to do, encouraging job eliminations for the average poor worker. Do you know "downsizing and outsourcing" are not found in the Webster's II New College Dictionary, (1999) Edition? (I did see Soul Food though). What is a CEO anyway, other than an individual who is grossly over paid? My point is that our government has allowed Big Businesses and their CEO's to destroy the "American Dreams" through their dirty pool tactics. I wonder how is it that our government can say there may not be money for Social Security in the foreseeable future and yet have billions of dollars to spend in foreign wars? How is it that the majority of taxpayers, both Democrats and Republicans want out of Iraq and the President still insists on a surge in troops? I wonder how is it that our government can say there is no money for Health Care or show little concern for the victims of Hurricane Katrina who are still displaced almost two years later? There is something very wrong with being able to send millions of dollars to foreign countries for earthquakes, tsunami relief and right here at home, our citizens are suffering. I wonder how is it that our government can say there is no money for the homeless and the hungry? Many of these people were not always in this state. Big Businesses are making sure there will be no place for the average worker, and America's government is allowing this to happen right before our eyes. If we don't unite, the government has resources to change this country into two statuses or two class societies: The Rich and the Poor. No more Middle class, which once was the "Back Bone" of America. Which category do you think we will be in? Perhaps the next agenda will be to destroy all of the poor people! What if I told you we have the power to make a change, would you believe me? Yes, poor and middle class people, we have the power. The government and the wealthy are trying to keep us fooled!! They want to keep us thinking we are helpless and can't do anything about our situation. But, we can. It's very simple. Our elected officials work for us and they are supposed to represent what we the voters want. They are voted in to represent the concerns of their constituency. The elected individual should not carry out his or her own agendas, but that of the voters. The elected person is only "one" of all of us who voted and put them into office, to watch out for our best interest and not just their own. Do you realize that we have a WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION? We can use this weapon to change the face of Democracy and the officials who have forgotten us. This WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION is our vote. YES, it's that simple, but POWERFUL ACT of "VOTING!!" This weapon will not blow up innocent people, tearing off limbs, maiming and killing. We need to encourage more poor people to run for public office. We need to use our weapon of mass destruction and vote out rich politicians who have decided poor people don't matter any more. Our government and large business CEO's have brainwashed us into believing that computers, the Internet, Robots and new technology in general would reduce cost, increase productivity, and create new jobs. But for whom? All of the above happened, but none of it helped the poor people. Just look around, we are struggling, working two or more mediocre jobs to make ends meet. The government and big business CEO's want us to believe when they send jobs to third world countries, it not only will benefit those countries but America too. How so? If there is a beneficial plan, why isn't it implemented? If they are talking about technical jobs, why are only individuals from select groups benefiting? Georgia Tech for instance is a prestigious school but it only has an overall minority student body of 15%. This percentage includes all minority students not just African Americans. I am sure that every elected official have not lost all of their moral values, and I imagine many of them start out to do the right thing, but succumb to the many corrupt politicians who surround them. This is why our WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION must be used and used in each election. If an individual is elected into a position and forget the people who put them there then our weapon should be used to vote them out at the next available election. We must unite in our churches. Another blinder the government has over our eyes is that church and state are separate. If this is true, why are our laws based primarily on the Ten Commandments?? Thou shall not steal, kill, commit adultery, bare false witness and so on? Why do we place our hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth, etc….? Our pastors must help organize Voter Registrations, assuring that their members are eligible to vote and encourage them to be willing to help take it a step further by assisting in teaching the members the concept of absentee ballots, and early voting. The Weapon of absentee voting is very strong and powerful when used correctly. Plainly put, we need more poor people elected into public office. People who know what it is to struggle just to make ends meet. People who know what it is to have to choose between getting your medicine filled, gas for your automobile, paying your utilities or food for your family? I don't believe that most of our elected officials have ever had to make any of these choices! Some of you might say we can't step up and do this because you don't have enough education or formal training or experience, people skills and so on. In contrast, maybe our present elected officials have too many of these qualifications because our country is in a Big Mess! The average poor person will have a very hard time making it a bigger mess. We must unite to make a change. We are the majority not the minority. CEO's, TV News Commentators, most Professional Athletes, Bankers and others are grossly over paid, while poor people and their families suffer. It's amazing how the United States of America sent money, food and other aid to Tsunami victims, mud slide victims, earthquake victims, all over the world and could not delegate aid in a timely manner to people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after Hurricane Katrina almost two years ago, the majority of whom are still waiting today to get back home. It's time to make a change and remind our elected official who they work for and that we are paying them with our hard earned money! Even President Bush when he conducted his last campaign he said "what mattered most was that he wanted to win not only the electoral votes, but the popular vote as well." President Bush did receive over 51% of the popular vote. Recently President Bush was interviewed on 60 Minutes and he was asked if his low approval rating bothered him along with the fact that most Americans disagreed with the direction in which he had the country headed? Mr. Bush replied "no, not really." My point is this, how "self-serving" most of our elected officials are! We must unite and use our WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION! OUR VOTE! It's FREE, it's LEGAL, it's YOURS, it's the only thing poor people have that elected officials truly understand and respect. We poor people have been brainwashed into believing our vote doesn't count!! That's not the case and we need to band together, use our WEAPON and make MASS changes.
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Dear Americus Times Recorder, by James L. Bryant, Jr. This is an open letter to your entire staff which I gladly welcome any public rebuttal from your newspaper to be printed in the next issue of the Americus Sumter Observer. With so much unreported news to cover in our community, why do you feel the necessity to continuously print articles about me in your headlines? I recently did a search of my name in your online newspaper archives and the results showed that my name has appeared in your newspaper over 100 times in the last year and a half! To the best of my knowledge, that is more than any other person in Americus or Sumter County including the Mayor, Chairman of the County Commission, and School Superintendent. If I were a betting man, my name probably appeared in your newspaper more than George Bush, who is the worst President in the history of the USA! How about that for notoriety? While I am honored that your staff considers me newsworthy due to my political activism, there are other “newsworthy” people that if you have the guts to print the news about them as headlines, their articles will sell just as quickly as the ones about me and the newspaper racks will be empty before lunchtime. Here a just a few recommendations to help you out: 1. Paul Farr: What happened to the ex county attorney? Don’t you think the public would like to know why the county commission fired him all of a sudden? Doesn’t the public deserve to know why his law firm kicked him out? Surely this would be more newsworthy than your paper continuously calling the Attorney General, District Attorney, GBI, FBI, and Homeland Security to “update” the public on whether or not I committed a misdemeanor crime for supposedly “assisting” a few old ladies mail sealed absentee ballots. Why don’t you call the County Commissioners, Judge Barnes, and the Crisler family in Albany to inquire about what really happened with Paul Farr? And while you at it, call the State Bar of Georgia and ask them can a lawyer get disbarred for taking money from clients and not filing a lawsuit. Then call the DA and ask her how many years in prison can a person get for stealing a million dollars? 2. Patel: Why no headlines along with him pictured in an orange suit for assaulting a 13 year old child? Who is more of a risk and danger to your children: Craig Walker who works at a US Government facility or Mr. Patel from India where its legal to cut people’s hands off for stealing? Who deserved to be criticized in the newspaper more: Deacon Craig Walker who freely gives to many churches and organizations or Mr. Patel who probably doesn’t go to church and probably doesn’t give any organizations financial support other than the ones on the government watch list. 3. David Seagraves and Sumter Regional Hospital: Why no headlines about the dire financial status of the hospital while the CEO and his top cohorts are raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year? Why no headlines about all the people who have complaints about poor healthcare from doctors at Sumter Regional? Who is more of a threat for a malpractice lawsuit: doctors on staff at SRH that are rumored to be alcoholics and drug addicts or Dr. Marshall who has never successfully been sued for malpractice and devotes a lot of his time, energy, and money to help the underprivileged in our community? In closing, these are just a few examples of bias reporting on behalf of your newspaper. The next time you decide to print me in your headlines don’t forget there are other stories that need to be reported on first, including some about your staff, but I will save those for later. Remember before you print, he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone!
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Apologizing for Slavery Isn’t Enough by George E. Curry A Virginia legislator created a stir recently when said Whites living today shouldn’t apologize for slavery. If subjugation of African-Americans had ended with slavery, that would be one thing. But the rancid stench of state-sponsored racism extended well into the 1960s. So, if there is to be an apology in Virginia or any other state, it should not be limited to slavery. Consider the following, taken from the National Park Service Web site, that I recount in some of my speeches: From the 1800s into the mid-1960s, there were Jim Crow laws mandating separation of the races. They were comprehensive, covering every imaginable circumstance such as toilet facilities, railroads, buses, education, the selling of wine and beer, restaurants, housing, parks, hospital entrances, prisons, textbooks, libraries, circus tickets, theaters, reform school, fishing, lunch counters, theaters, telephone booths, cemeteries, and, above all intermarriage [See excepts of Jim laws at: http://www.nps.gov/malu/documents/jim_crow_laws.htm] Let’s look at a few of them: North Carolina had a law that said: “Books shall not be interchangeable between the white and colored schools, but shall continue to be used by the race first using them.” Mississippi: “There shall be maintained by the governing
authorities of every hospital maintained by the state for treatment
of white and colored patients separate entrances for white and
colored patients and visitors, and such entrances shall be used by
the race only for which they are prepared.” So if you were mentally ill, you couldn’t be together in Georgia. Louisiana even kept blind people apart. Its law stated, “The board of trustees shall…maintain a separate building…on separate ground for the admission, care, instruction, and support of all blind persons of the colored or black race.” Blacks and Whites not only couldn’t interact on a normal basis while they were alive, they were even kept apart after they had died. A Georgia law stated, “The officer in charge shall not bury, or allow to be buried, any colored persons upon ground set apart or used for the burial of white persons.” These Jim Crow laws were rigorously enforced against children as well as adults. Not only could the Jim Crow laws not be violated, Southern customs were also enforced. In 1951 – three years before the Brown decision – Mark Ingram, a Black man in Yanceyville, N.C., was prosecuted for assault with intent to rape because, standing 70 feet away, he supposedly “undressed” a 17-year-old White girl with his eyes. That became known as reckless eyeballing [Randall Kennedy, Interracial Intimacies, p. 196 and Jack Greenberg, Crusaders in the Courts, P.101]. We all know about Emmett Till the 14-year-old boy who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a White woman. He was brutally beaten, shot in the head, and thrown into a river. In 1958, in Monroe, N.C., two Black boys – Fuzzy Simpson, age 7, and Hanover Thompson, age 9, were invited to join a group of five White children, including two girls. One of the girls remembered that she had played with Hanover when his mother worked as a maid in her family’s house. Overjoyed at being reunited with her old playmate, she kissed him on the cheek. That wasn’t quite the kiss of death but it was close. When the girl innocently told her mother, the two boys were arrested, and convicted of attempted rape. The Juvenile Court judge sentenced Fuzzy to 12 years in jail and Hanover to 14. Fortunately, there was a public outcry and President Eisenhower got the governor to intervene [Kennedy, P. 197-198]. What we collectively refer to as Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al produced three Brown decisions. The first one in 1954 outlawed “separate but equal” schools because they violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The second one, handed down on May 31, 1955, held that school must be desegregated “with all deliberate speed.” Of course, “all deliberate speed” ended up being almost no speed at all. The third Brown case was filed in U.S. District Court in Topeka on Nov. 19, 1979 by a group of parents, including Linda Brown, whose father was the lead plaintiff in the original case. They charged that Topeka still refused “to fully carry out” the 1954 court decision. An appeals court agreed with them, saying: “Topeka has not sufficiently countered the effects of both the momentum of its pre-Brown segregation and its subsequent acts in the 1960s.” That order was not lifted until 1999. Yes, there is plenty to apologize for, but it doesn’t stop with slavery.
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