University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 31, 1990 Page: 1 of 6
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Wednesday, January 31,1990
3lack press
ought facial
ntolerance
LW
Li
C
University Press
(CL
Serving Lamar and the community for 66 years
Vol. 66, No. 32
Elaine Butler
contributing writer
Winston Churchill had his “V” for
igtory sign, and American blacks
ad their “Double V” — victory on
he war front and victory on the
K>me front.
From its beginning, American
nilitary history has had an “on-
gain-off-again” paradoxical affair
rith blacks serving in its armed ser-
ies. It’s been stated the black
oldier has always carried on a two-
rbnt war: the first against
Lperica’s common enemy and the
tecond against racism.
It was World War n that finally
rfivided the jarring momentum
efessary to make it impossible for
he federal government and the
American people to ignore the race
ssue any longer.
Much of the impetus came from
he black print media —
ewspapers, magazines and jour-
als. Their headlines, articles and
tutorials exposed racial inequality
n every issue.
According to the magazine, “The
Insis,” July 1938 issue, there were
bout 343 black newspapers and
hagazines that served the black
lopulation throughout America. Of
hese, 124 newspapers claimed a
oint circulation of 1,026,787, and it is
stimated their readership was 6.25
nyiion people.
In World War I, the black press
ould report only on “Jim Crow”
■vents at home because they were
inable to send correspondents to
idVer the war front. However, World
N&r n saw black newsmen covering
iverseas in both the European and
'acific theaters.
Even before America became an
dual participant in the European
rdnt, the Pittsburgh Courier sent
Rogers to Ethiopia during the
talian invasion of that country. It
ras also the Courier that started the
Double V” campaign, urging conti-
nence of the struggle against
liacrimination even after the war
nded.
With its influence, this newspaper
nd a group of World War I black of-
icers formed the “Committee for
^rticipation of Negroes in the Na-
[qnal Defense” in 1938. It was one of
be many black organizations that
ohstantly sent reams of cor-
e?pondence to the War Department
nd to President Franklin D.
teosevelt.
•In the forefront of the magazines
was “The Crisis,” edited by Roy
’ilkins. Its articles and editorials
were hard-punching, no-word-
mincing, right-on-the-line con-
frenters such as the editorial in the
December 1940 issue: “...this is no
fight merely to wear a uniform. This
isfa struggle for status, a struggle to
t^ke democracy off a parchment
and give it life.”
Black editors like Carl Murphy,
.43. Young, Adam Clayton Powell
Jr. and C.A. Scott did not advocate
aiting patiently for long-overdue
ivil rights until after the war but in-
tead urged their black readers to
tfep “slugging for the kind of
avemment a democracy is suppos-
d to be.f’
The power of the black press and
its increasingly militant stand gave
the federal government some fitful
^Qbose beginners into the
print world ... used, without
hesitation, the newspaper as
a mighty instrument to ad-
vance their cause for full
freedom.
moments. In an attempt to keep its
top officials informed of the ad-
vocacies of the black press, the War
Department published a weekly
“Report of Trends in the Colored
Press.” In fact, pressure was
brought upon the White House and
the Justice Department from within
the government to prosecute black
publishers for sedition and hindering
the war effort.
There was also an attempt to keep
newsprint from the more militant
newspapers, but President
Ropsevelt refused to sanction any of
these actions. Still, black
newspapers were restricted from
military bases until 1943 when the
War Department finally called a
halt to this practice.
The hypocrisy that Americans
were willing to fight to free the world
of Nazi and Japanese oppression
while they overlooked the horror of
blacks being lynched in their own
democratic society was not lost on
the black press, and they did not
hesitate to point it out unabashedly.
In its December 1938 editorial,
“The Crisis” said, “They (blacks)
look around at the Americans who
can be moved to protest against
brutality in another land but who
cannot recognize and protest against
the same conditions within our own
borders.”
However, when war actually came
with the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor, the Courier’s “Double V”
campaign stirred the growing at-
titude among blacks that perhaps
this war could “prick the conscience
of white America.”
The paper editorially stated in its
Jdkary 10, 1942, edition, “What an
opportunity the crisis has been...for
one to persuade, embarrass, compel
and shame our government and our
nation... into a more enlightened at-
titude toward a tenth of its people.”
The black press came into being 36
years before Lincoln signed the
Emancipation Proclamation. Those
b^inners into the print world knew
J^^the heavy and the delicate
wPit they would carry with the
black population and therefore used,
without hesitation, the newspaper as
almighty instrument to advance
their cause for full freedom.
They took a chip at a time off the
concrete-imbedded prejudices that
blocked their road. The black press
found the chips were finally falling
faster and, after all, even concrete
can crack.
The military has come a long way
from the American Revolution and
the blacks who fought in it only to
find the freedom they were fighting
for did not apply to them. Although
still not completely free of racial
barriers, the armed forces are pro-
bably one of the most integrated
areas of American life today.
Special Olympics tournament
Photo by Jay Casey
Participants in the Texas Special Olympics
basketball tournament prepare for a game
Saturday in McDonald Gym. More than 200 han-
dicapped children took part in the tournament
held at Lamar. Members of the Beaumont Police
Department officiated at the games.
Hispanic group hosts fair
By Joan Harper
UP staff writer
The Hispanic Community for Pro-
gress sponsored its fourth annual
Southeast Texas Hispanic Educa-
tional Fair on Saturday at the Beau-
mont Civic Center.
Education, the military and in-
dustry had representatives on hand
to pass out literature and give infor-
mation about opportunities
available to young Hispanics in the
area.
The Beaumont Police Department
had Lt. M. Siebe and M.A. Earney
from the personnel unit available to
encourage anyone who might be con-
sidering a career in law enforce-
ment.
A new health service, P.A.L.M.
(Project AIDS - Land Manor), was
represented by project director
Richard Daigle and counselor Albert
Harrison.
The goals of P.A.L.M. are to make
war on AIDS by offering quality
education and counseling,
anonymous and confidential testing,
support and referral, and street
outreach to at-risk persons, Daigle
said.
“You don’t have to use your real
name to be tested,” Harrison said,
“and services are free.”
P.A.L.M. is a combination effort
of Land Manor, Texas Department
of Health and Texas Commission on
Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Informa-
tion can be obtained by calling
832-0710 or 832-0425.
Thomas Noyola, job developer
with the Beaumont State Center Job
Force Project H.I.R.E.(Handicap-
ped Industrialized Responsible
Employment), made information
available about the state facility,
which is under the authority of the
Texas Department of Mental Health
and Mental Retardation.
“For the employer, this means
half-price wages for full-time
employees,” Noyola said, “and for
the employee, they gain valuable
working experience and training at
the job-site.”
Head Start, a program with the
Beaumont Independent School
District, was represented by Hattie
Rubin, who has worked with the pro-
gram for 11 years.
“We received good news today:
Bush has allotted the Head Start pro-
gram additional funding,” Rubin
said. “We are reaching 380 children
now, and this means we can reach
more.”
The Ballet Folklorico de Beau-
mont, a culture awareness project of
the Hispanic Community for Pro-
gress, was a new addition to the fair,
said Robert Flores. The group is
sponsored by the City of Beaumont
and the Southeast Texas Art Coun-
cil. The dancers have performed at
Heritage Festival and Symphony of
Trees, and they will be dancing for
Cinco de Mayo at Riverfront Park,
Flores said.
For more information on any of
the services, opportunities, or the
Hispanic Community for Progress,
call 833-6592.
‘Big Three’ eye natural gas
By Walter Andrews
UPI Business Writer
NEW YORK (UPI) - Seven
million vechicles powered by
cleaner natural gas could be on the
road by the year 2000 if auto
manufacturers go along with pro-
posals made by the oil and gas in-
dustries, an industry representative
has said.
George Lawrence, president of the
American Gas Association, said “a
comprehensive presentation” was
made to the “Big Three” U.S. auto
makers last fall on the benefits of
natural gas for centrally refueled
fleets of vehicles such as buses and
taxis.
“There are significant follow-up
projects underway to capitalize on
these first-of-a-kind meetings,”
Lawrence said at a meeting of the
New York Society of Security
Analysts.
He said automakers could be
ready within 18 months to produce
and service centrally refueled
vehicles and natural gas could ex-
P|ct to capture two-thirds of the an-
nual 1.7 million-vehicle replacement
market—1 million vehicles annual-
ly-
Assuming a start in 1993, “my
prediction^would be 7 million
(natural gal) vehicles by the year
2000, something on that order,” the
industry executive said. “The fleet
market—that’s ours.”
Lawrence said natural gas
vehicles have been getting a boost
from concerns of environmentalists,
particularly in Califoma, about air
pollution by gasoline engines.
He also took the opportunity to
plug construction of a natural gas
pipeline from Canada through the
Northeast that is being fought by en-
vironmentalists.
Such a pipeline would have reduc-
ed the “anxious moments” Nor-
theast homeowners experienced as
the price of home heating oil
rocketed nearly 50 percent as a
result of the Christmas weekend
freeze that knocked out some
refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, he
said.
The northeastern states had their
coldest December in 70 years.
“Evm this historic December could
have been a piece of cake, instead of
a couple of anxious moments
because of the well freeze up in the
Gulf,” Lawrence said.
Robert Markowitz of American
Gas Marketing, a private company
in Silver Spring, Md., said the
wholesale pipeline price of natural
gas paid by distributors rose about
16 percent during the December
freeze but has since begun to fall
back.
Consumers using natural gas to
heat their homes were protected for
the time being from the temporary
“spike” since the price they pay is
regulated by state commissions,
Markowitz said.
Normally, the consumer price is
about double the wholesale price
paid by utilities and other
distributors, he said.
Program
to foster
changes
in area
By Wanda Henley
UP contributing writer
Nearly 300 people from Southeast
Texas attended a reception at the
Beaumont Civic Center Thursday to
show their support for a program
that is expected to improve human
relations in Southeast Texas.
Called “A World of Difference,”
this program encouraged ministers,
educators, civic leaders and others
to attend, to speak and to commit
themseives to changing and improv-
ing their community.
Among the guest speakers were
The Rev. Sinclair Oubre, president
of the Beaumont Ministerial
Alliance; Fred Waddell, superinten-
dent of the Region V Education Ser-
vice Center; Ben Rogers, civic
leader; and Ben Hansen, editor of
the Beaumont Enterprise and
master of ceremonies. Music was
provided by the Youth Choir from St.
Mary’s Catholic Parish in Port Ar-
thur.
This project is being introduced to
our community through a unique
partnership which includes the news
media and the education system.
“A World of Difference” will ap-
proach prejudice in two ways. The
four underwriters — Du Pont, St.
Elizabeth Hospital, Gulf States
Utilities, and Rogers Brothers — are
providing funds for the creation of a
guide on prejudice for any teacher in
Southeast Texas who is willing to
complete a six-hour training session
on ways to use it. Also, KBMT-
Channel 12 and the Beaumont Enter-
prise will offer direct education to
the public on ways prejudice affects
our communities.
In addition, the media will attempt
to encourage us to examine our at-
titudes toward our neighbors
through news coverage, editorial
comments, opinion polls, and public
service announcements.
The media partners and corporate
underwriters, in order to bridge
social and cultural gaps, will hold
special community events and ac-
tivities such as essays, posters and
oratory contests, along with special
awards and six different public
discussions throughout the year.
“A World of Difference”
originated in Boston in 1985 as an
idea to reduce racial and ethnic ten-
sion in the city. Besides Boston, 19
other cities have adopted this pro-
gram, and Ben Rogers and other
sponsors see no reason why it
shouldn’t come to Southeast Texas.
Rogers, who for a while has been
in the forefront of civil rights, feels
that if we are serious about living up
to the American dream, we must get
rid of all racial, ethnic and religious
prejudice.
“They hurt a community in every
way. They affect the quality of life,
deny opportunity and block
economic development,” Rogers
said.
Remarks were also made in
response to the demonstration in
Atlanta two weeks ago near the
tomb of slain civil rights leader Mar-
tin Luther King Jr., where four
white supremacists, along with 75
counter-demonstrators, protested
the federal holiday in King’s honor.
Councilman David Moore was pre-
sent to show his support for what he
See PROGRAM, page 2
^=2 Carter’s ‘Blue Man’ views region
Photo by Bhie Prowler
Keith Carter instructs Jo Ann Sladezyk, Beaumont freshman, in large-format camera techniques while Mike Mur-
phy, Silsbee senior, observes.
f
By David Barras
UP senior staff writer
“The Blue Man,” a book of
photographs by Keith Carter, co-
recipient of the Walles Chair in the
Visual and Performing Arts, is
scheduled to be released Feb. 10.
Carter’s book features 72 duo-tone
photographs taken in East Texas.
“I concentrated on 17 counties bet-
ween the Trinity River on the west
d the Sabine River on the east,”
rter said. “The ‘gumbo culture,’
here you have different ethnic
mixes and legends.”
“The Blue Man” is a follow-up to
Carter’s last book, “Uncertain to
Blue.”
“To me, ‘The Blue Man’ is a
logical extension. It is more per-
sonal because the photos came pure-
ly from my own choice,” Carter said
in a previous interview. “These are
pictures I personally wanted to
make.”
An abbreviated version of “The
Blue Man,” printed in Texas Mon-
An abbreviated version of “The Blue Man,” printed in
Texas Monthly magazine last October, recently won a Silver
Medal in a New York competition.
thly magazine last October, recently
won a Silver Medal in a New York
competition.
-> “The Blue Man” is divided into
four sections: portraits and struc-
tures, evangelicals, rural gardens
and animals.
Carter tries to capture the exotic
and unusual nature of East Texas.
“Deep East Texas is a sort of ex-
otic, magical and peculiar land,” he
said.
“I don’t look upon it as East Texas
culture; it’s universal. My pictures
aren’t about Texas. That’s just
where they take place,” Carter said.
“I try to connect people to their
families or where they live,” he
said.
Carter said that, unlike writers,
photographers can be labeled as
“regional” if they photograph their
native area.
“In photography, if you
photograph a certain place, it’s easy
to be stamped as regional,” he said.
Carter said this label doesn’t
bother him.
“The label isn’t something I find
unpleasant,” he said.
Carter will soon find another au-
dience for his photographs. The
Target department store chain has
given a grant to the Tyler Museum
of Art to purchase 50 of Carter’s
photos from “The Blue Man” for a
traveling exhibit.
“The Blue Man” will be officially
released Feb. 10 at Fotofest, an in-
ternational photography exhibition
in Houston.
ft
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Murley, Bryan. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 31, 1990, newspaper, January 31, 1990; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth499694/m1/1/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.