The Grapevine Magazine · Grapevine, July-August 1975

Title

eng Grapevine, July-August 1975

Relation

eng Grapevine Magazine

Date

eng 1975-07

Format

eng PDF, 32 pages

Identifier

eng SCMS_gvmz_00045

extracted text

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Grapevine

The Challenging

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MAGAZINE
GRAPEVINE MAGAZINE

Ever-Changing

Fresno, Calif.
1012 S. Trinity
Phone: 486-0273
or 233-1346

World Of Work

Vol. 7

No.4

JULY-AUGUST

Table of Contents

FRANK J. JOHNSON
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

One of the primary purposes of education is to prepare the
young to live a productive and rewarding life. Far too many people, particularly young people, feel our schools are failing in this
essential mission.
In typical schools throughout the country young students complain that curriculums are dull and irrevelant, that their education
is not opening pathways to a fulfilling adulthood.
Substantial numbers of students score below their grade level
in basic skills; high dropout rates, absenteeism, academic failure,
drug abuse, vandalism, and assaults on administrators, teacher,
and pupils signal their discontent.
It is a rare high school that equips all of its students to make
the choice upon graduation of entering the iob market with a
saleable skill or of continuing their education. Too often the
graduate has neither option, let alone the opportunity to select
one or the other.
California Superintendent of Public Instruction Or. Wilson Riles
speaking on rising dropout rates in the state said: "Fifty years
ago a student leaving high school before graduation experienced.
no unusual difficulties.
"When a student mastered the rudiments of reading, writing
and computing he was in fact expected to quit school and go to
work. A strong back rather than skill and education is what was
needed to handle most jobs then available. So irrelevant was the
concept, the 'school dropout' hadn't been invented. But technological change has so revolutionized the job market today that a
person without skills is doomed to a lifetime of frustrations and
failure. My advice to young people is that they owe it to themselves to complete their high school education. Acquire firm saleable skills. It's a matter of survival."
-Reprint Sacramento Observer
Grapevine

4

CLEO JOHNSON
ADVERTISING EDITOR

JERRY C. JOHNSON
Bakersfield

DI RECTOR OF CIRCULATION

MATIIE MEYERS
Staff Writer

World of Work ........................................ 4
Education ............................................... 6
Children's Literature ................................ 9
Child ren Literature .................................. 9
Black Progress ................ ....................... 10
Appointment .......................................... 11
Black Country .... ..................................... 12

PHOTOGRAPHERS:
EARL BRADLEY
CAL HAMILTON

Former Fresnan ................. ....................... 13
Rev. Ike ........................... ............ ... ........ 14
Blacks Chased Out of Town ............... ... 16
George Washington Carve r . .. ..... ....... 18

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Poetry ............ . ................. ...... .. . ......... 22
Black Police Association ................ ~ .. 23
Unfair IQ Tests .................................... 24
Pondexte r Brothers .............. ................. 26
Model of the Month ................... ........... 30

publication.

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!D Copyright 1975
by Grapevine Magazine

Photo Credits:

Fresno Bee, Pp. 6, 14, 16, 26, 27
Califomia, P. 11
Earl Bradley, P. 30

5

Grapevine

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CALIFORNIA'S LARGEST
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Kindergarten tecicher Earl Meyers Jr. welcomes students.

EDUCATION
Earl Meyers Jr. is one of three male kindergarten teachers in the
Fresno Unified School District. Meyers taught third and fourth grades
prior to taking the kindergarten assignment last year and said he likes
kindergarten the best.
Meyers said that besides working on reading and mathematics, he
stresses character building. "I teach my students just like they are my
own children," he said. "I teach them values and how to be nice to
people - it's not just reading and writing. "
He teaches at the Franklin School in West Fresno.
6
Grapevine

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Grapevine

! the ~J:rt•:::c:,! Assoc . for the Education of Young Children

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE and story telli ng techniques is the subject of a
Fresno City College class, taught bv Po ppy Bontemps Booker, daughter
of famed author Arna Bontemps. The class is being taught at Fresno
High School and Panda's Environme ntal Day Care School at night. Mrs.
Booker is the wife of Dr. Wade Booker, a Fresno physician.
9

Grapevine

Both!~ains And lack Of Progress
FptJIJqcks During Early 1970's
';:;::,

:-;:c;:·

:::;;;::<

...,

Black Americans have made progress in education and election to
public office during the first half of the 1970's, but their progress in
income and employment has been impeded by a variety of social and
economic factors, according to a major report released recently by the
Bureau of Census, U. S. Department of Commerce.
The report, eighth in an annual series on the characteristics of blacks
in America focuses on recent trends (1970-74) and includes some data
as current as 1975.
A 56 percent increase in black college enrollment between 1970 and
1974 highlighted black gains in education, according to the report.
White college enrollment increased only 15 percent over the same
period.

Black political gains during the 1970's were "impressive," the report
says. Between March 1971 and May 1975, the number of blacks holding public office increased by 88 percent to a total of 3,503. Black
officials newly elected in 1974 include one member of Congress, two
lieutenant governors, and 40 other state legislators and executives. The
number of black mayors increased sharply from 81 in 1971 to 135 in
1975.
The black unemployment rate in 1974 was about twice the white
rate, the same relationship that has generally prevailed since the Korean
War, according to the report. Further, the unemployment rate for black
teenagers reached 39 .8 percent for the first quarter of 1975 compared
to 18.0 percent for white teenagers. While for women the black rate
was 1 .7 times the white race.
Median income in 1974 was estimated at $7,800 for black families
and $13,400 for white families.
About the same proportion of blacks and whites were victims of
crime in 1973, according to the new data included in the report. However, the 1973 survey did show that a much larger proportion of blacks
t~an of whites were victims of violent crimes - 47 per 1,000 population for blacks compared to 32 for whites.
• In 1973, about 43 percent of black households lived in homes
they owned or were buying compared to 67 percent of white households.
• About the same number of blacks were serving in the Armed
Forces in 1974 as in 1970. However, because the size of the Armed
Forces decreased substantially over that period, blacks were 14 percent
of Armed Forces personnel in 1974 but only 10 perecent in 1970.
• The proportion of black children living with both par~nts has d eclined. Those not living with both parents usually were cared for by at
least one parent or by a family member, generally the grandparent.
• A survey of local jails showed that blacks constituted 42 percent
of the jail population as of mid-1972 . Among inmates sentenced a nd
not appealing their cases, the average sentence was longer for bla cks
than for whites for all crimes of violence.
10
Grapevine

Ra ymond Hunter Jr. has been appointed to the Fresno Redevelopment Agency Board. He replaces Catholic Bishop Roger Mahony who
wa~ selected by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. to head the new California
Ag ricultural Labor Relations Board .
Hunter is the owner of Parkers of Fresno, Inc., a downtown mall pipe
and to bacco shop.

A HERITAGE oi
• STRENGTH

UARJI.RTEE

• SECURITY

SAVINGS
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• EXPERIE.NCE

IO A N

A !:,-'!,O (" JA T I ON

5 Offices in Fresno

Main O ffi ce: 1177 Fult on Mall. Ph o ne 268-811 1
Bla ckstone a nd As hl an
Cedar a nd S hi elds
S ha w a nd S ixth
West Shaw and Van Ness Exte nsion

11

Grapevine

Black Country Has Highest literacy
In The World
ing, the foundations of educatio n
in Barbados were laid by the philanthropic efforts of private individuals and by the humanitaria n
interest of the churches. Most of
the existing Government grammor
schools are old endowments originally intended for the education
of white children at a time w hen
Negro slavery existed in the island. The elementary schools grew
out of the modest attempts by the
Anglican, Moravian and Method ist churches to give a smatttering
of Christian education to the slaves
in the period preceding emancipa tion. These efforts were intensified
in the post-emancipation period,
By Mattie B. Meyers
that is after 1834, and the setting
No dropout problem. No dis- up of little schools in close proxcipline problem . High motiv~tion imity to the church became a comand a burning desi re for achieve- mon featu re of ecclesiastically acment. There is such a place. Bar- tivity in those days. Though the
bados - a gloriously beautiful is- State gradually took into its ~~n
land lying between the Carribean hands the financing and adm inisand Atlantic Ocean, populated tration of education, there has repredominantly by Blacks, descen- ma ined a close association w ith
dants of African slaves, boasts the the churches as far as education is
highest literacy in the world. Their concerned .
In touring the schools, I took
literacy is 98.8 o/o with the 1.2 %
accoun't ing for mostly the very old . particularly that in all of them,
This island, with its tall, ma- there was stress on moral educajesticly swaying coconut and tion and self-sufficiency. Every
breadfruit trees, along the sandy school has a ga rden tended by
white beaches, is ruled by Blacks the students, as we ll as, every
who take immense pride in thei_r home has a garden tended by the
African and English bockgrounds. fam ily. I inquired about specia l
l had the opportunity of inter- education and Mr. Ro ll ins stated,
viewing Mr. · Matthew Rollins, "The United Natk>ns report has
Chief of the Ministry of Education stated that based on our populawho graciously had Mr. Braith- tion (around 250,000) we sho uld
waite, .another Minister of Educa- have about 20 blind students, but
tion to give me an extens(ve tour we don 't. I think it must be the
of the island and its educational good water here on th is island
that prevents bl indness. That is
facilities .
"The people had no where to something that seems to co me on
go and they hod to use their later. We do have a dea f schoo l.
heads. " Mr. Rollins began by say· But most hand icapped ch ild re n a re
12
Grapevine

FORMER FRESNAN
also a singer and drummer with
Jimmy Sandoval, Hillard Streets,
William Penn, Andy Sanchez, John
Shilow, Leonard Wyatt and David
Huerta.
Today Mr. Andrews is on the
staff of the Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner office in Los Angeles.
It is headed by the noted pathologist and personality, Dr. Thomas
T. Noguchi . In this function with
the Coroner, Andrews looks into
and investigates all deaths without the presence of a licensed
physician-within 20 days. He also investigates murders, suicides,
accidents, therapeutic misadventures and sudden infant deaths.
He was involved with the victims
of the Charles Manson case, the
S.L.A. and the· Joe E. Lewis death.
When Mr. Andrews is not busy
at his work, which he thoroughly
enjoys, he is busy with extra curricular activities such as working
out at Jack Lalanne, boating, jet
skiing, movies, horseback riding,
viewing plays and musicals, and
last but certainly not the least
having dinner by the beach with
a precious specie of the feminine
gender.

Eldridge Andrews

Eldridge Andrews of South Pasadena , County of Los Angeles, better known to Fresnans as "Chubby," g raduated from Edison High
in 1958 and later studied at Fresno C. C. and Pepperdine College
in L. A. In his High School days,
we recall his velvet toned voice
singing in such groups as, The
Marvels and The Corvettes. He was

Black Country (con't)
integrated into the regular school. "
Ba rbados schooling is compulsory from ages 5_'] 4. The educational system is administered by
the Barbados Ministry of Educa tion and an advisory Board . Edu cation i_n a ll Government schools
is free and the Barbados Government pa.ys the fees of all Barbad iasn who attend the West Indies
Unive rsity.
Th e ch ief resourse of Barbados
is tourism which encompasses a
wide spectruin, of needs and services. Manufacturing of textiles
and ccmputer pa rts and the pro-

duction and retmmg of some oil
adds to its ability to support its
people. Agriculture, with sugar
cane the predominant crop, allows
for practically everyone to work,
'along with · the production of tobacco.
As I toured the Island, I never
saw anyone dirty, the houses are
mostly small and very clean . I saw
la rge numbers of children who
were happy and always clean .
Everyone is a producer and every one has a garden. These are a
proud and self-sufficient peop le .

13

Grapevine

Rev. Ike
"What You See Is What You Get"
By CHARLES WRIGHT
The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter lit a new kind of fire and threw
out the brimstone as the keynote speaker for the California, Hawaii
Lodge of the Prince Hall Masons.
Dr. Eikerenkoetter, better known as Rev. Ike, the controversial preacher who has stirred the religious world with his promises of pie in the
sky with ice cream, told the 5,000 convention goers if they want a
better place in life, they must see themselves as already there.
" 'What you see is what you get' - that is a vry simple comic
line, but it contains one of the greatest cosmic truths," he said.
Much of Rev. Ike's talk dealt with money and ways to get it, a topic
he is not prone to avoid.
"Money and I have a good relationship I love it," he said.
"Money has never come between me and the Lord, but I love the Lord
a lot better now that I have money."
He said the way for an individual to get more money is to "see
yourself with more money, see yourself opening your secret safe at
home."
"And those of you who do not have a secret safe at home should
install one for the new money," he declared.
Although it has brought him much controversy, Rev. Ike's statements
about money are his way of bringing to an everyday level a higher
truth, that an individual is always becoming that which he believes
himself to be.
"If you believe that the infinite is within you, is working within you,
then nothing can stop you," Rev. Ike said.
"You will get to where you want to go if you look like you are
already there."
Calling it the power of positive vision, Rev. Ike said much of an
individual's fate is controlled by his subconscious mind.
He said this is why he believes the best time fot a person to pract:ce
the power of positive vision is just before he goes to sleep.
"More happens to you and for you and your fate while you are
asleep than while you are awake," he said.
Rev. Ike said thinking about positive things just before going to
sleep puts them info the mind while sleeping, a time the unconscious
mind is most active.
"If you want to achieve a particular good, see yourself as the one
who already is being, doing, having the good which you desire," he
said. "Never see yourself as struggling to your goal; never concern
yourself with the mechanics, but see yourself as already celebrating
at your goal."
~e also lashed out at welfare programs and government housing
pro1ects.
. He said poverty exists because "we are continually grinding the
idea of poverty" into the minds of poor people.
"Welfare has its place, but let's not make it a resting place," he
Grapevine
14

Rev. Ike

t

said . "Welfare, particularly for the black community, is just a modern
system of slavery.
" We need to stop social programs that are simply giveaways, that
do not teach people a better awareness of themselves."
Referring to the federal housing programs, he said he predicted
they would fail before they even began.
" You cannot give a man anything better until he has a better idea
of himself," he said. "If you do, he will tear it up, he will destroy it."
He sai~ th: individual is the first unit of society, and no "political
panaceas will work unless they change a person's image of himself.
"Too often we overlook where change must begin within the
heart of an individual."
"You must transmit to people that good is within themselves _
that you must live up to the divinity that is within you," he declared.

15

Grapevine

Blacks Chased Ou Of Taft By Racists
'California Citizens'
upset

'More Action'
planned

The 13 black residents of this
small community in the desolate,
parched oil fields of the San Joaqiun Valley were virtually run out
of town by whites.
A local newspaper editor decries the incident as reminiscent of
the days in the early 1900s when
all black people were required to
leave Taft by sundown. But at
least one member of the small
group of mostly
unemployed
whites who chased the blacks
away predicts violence if they try
to return.
"What happened here is a sickening reminder of our earlier days
when a local faction of the Ku
Klux Klan tried to force this city to
accept its version of justice," editor Dennis McCall wrote in a Daily
Midway Driller editorial.
The 13 blacks were all football
players at Taft Junior Cotlege.
They were resented because they
were recruited from outside the
area and replaced local athletes
on the team, said Rick Riddick, 22,
a local oil worker. He said they
also received an unfair number of
campus jobs and study grants.
"If they (the Black athletes
ccme back) . . . somebody is going to get killed," says Doug Henry, 22.
Henry was wounded in the neck
by a shotgun blast May 25 when,
according to witnesses, he and
several carloads of young white
men chased three black athletes
through town, surrounded them
and started to fight.

and order prevail.
3. The President of the college
should file criminal action against
the attackers on behalf of the students.
4 . The Police Chief, Walter McKee, should resign.
5. Governor Brown should appoint an investigating committee,
and report its findings to the people of California.
6. The F.B.I. should investigate
the violations of the students civil

Grapevine

16

rights.

Rep. Ronald Dellums
"Concerned"

One of the blacks, Joe
W.
Rhone, 21, a linebacker recruited
from Fort Wayne, Ind., used
a
shotgun as a club to ward off his
attackers. The gun fired accidentally and shot Henry.
Rhone was arrested but ,charges
were dropped later, the district attorney 's office saying he had acted in self-defense.
A few hours after the shooting
incident, about 40 youths invaded
the junior college campus, threatening to kill all blacks. Two of the
athletes ran from the campus and
police placed the others in jail for
" protective custody."
They were
later escorted to Bakersfield,
40
miles away, and have not returned.
Two days later, McCall
was

Benny Tapscott
"Heading Committee"

beaten up by Riddick. Witnesses
said Riddick called McCall a "nigger lover" for printing a frontpage story about the shooting.
Last
month
Riddick pleaded
guilty to the assault and was fined $250.
Rhone and Riddick have been
the only _persons arrested. Police
Chief Walter McKee says the incident has been blown out of proportion.
In an Oakland press conference
recently, the Bay Area Committee
to Boycott Taft issued a list of demands calling for:
l. A boycott of all intercollegiate
athletic contests of any sort.
2. No blacks should attend Taft
Jr. College until a thorough investigation has been made and law

7. A thorough investigation by
the U. S. Justice Department.
8. No federal money be released to the Taft area for oil development projects.
"The police department evidently cannot maintain law and order
down there," said McClymond
High School basketball coach Ben
Tapscott, who is head, 19 the committee. "We feel a lot of situations
that happened could have been
avoided.
"We're concerned with what's
happened down there . . . There
is statewide concern,
Tapscott
said, adding that the statement
has been made that if black students return to school in the fall
"someone will get killed."
An aide for Rep. Ronald V.
Dellums, D-Berkeley, said the congressman has taken an ·a ctive
concern in the situation and would
push for a curtailment of federal
aid to Taft if no progress is made.
This was also one of the demands
made by the committee.

17

Grapevine

The world had paid little heed
There alighted from a train in
Washington one morning, an eld- when a baby boy was born in
erly qentleman.
His form was Civil War days in the slave quarstooped, his face kind and gen- ters. of Moses Carver, on a Mistle. He wore a simple cloth cap on souri plantation, but when he
his head, carried a home-made died, many years later, the whole
box under his arm, and seemed a world did him honor, because of
bit bewildered by the hurrying the wonderful things he had done
crowds of people. Porters were for all the world.
George Washington Carver did
rushing up and down the station
platform, peering into this car and not have any birthday celebrations,
that, and seemed to be looking for he wasn't sure just when he
for someone. The little old man was born, although he thought it
managed to stop one of them long must have been in the year 1864.
enough to ask some questions, but He didn't know who his father
the redcap didn't have time.
was, and he didn't remember his
"Sorry, pop," he said, "I don't mother. When he was just a baby,
have· time to give you any direc- slave raiders took him and his
tions now. We're trying to find a mother from their master's home
big scientist that's coming in on at Diamond Grove, Missouri, into
this train from away down in Al- Arkansas. A rescue party went in
abama."
search of them, but when they
The bent old man was the great caught up with the raiders, the
scientist, George Washington Car- mother had been sold, and they
ver, and the porter has perhaps could not locate her. They did
often regretted that he didn't have some bargaining with the raiding
time that morning to help him. Dr. party, and traded a race horse,
Carver was on his way to the valued at about $300 for the baHouse of Representatives. The by.
United States Government had inThe child grew up frail and
vited him there to tell of his work sickly, and so Moses Carver let
of research and experiment with him do light work about the house,
the peanut.
such as sewing, cooking, washing
There were a number of other clothes, etc. I suppose that as a
men appearing at that same time, boy he didn't exactly like to do
and each speaker was to have five this kind of work; but when he got
minutes. As Dr. Carver proceeded older he was glad that he had
to open up his box containing his learned to work, for he had to
exhibits before the men of the make a living for himself.
House of Representatives, some
From childhood he had · loved
one rudely shouted, "Hurry up, nature and had a yearning for
old man!"
knowledge. When his tasks in the
But he did not stop his speech house were done, he often wanin five minutes. The congressmen dered into the woods and fields,
were deeply interested. For forty- learning what he could about the
five minutes he talked softly, re"v- birds, the trees, flowers, and other
erently, of the wonders which God plants. At home there was only
had stored in this common, hum- one book which he could use. It &.
ble plant.
was a blue-backed speller, and he -r
Grapevine
18

George Washington Carver studied the secrets of humble plants.
19

Grapevine

(con't) The Boy Who Was Traded for a Horse
practically memorized it. The Carvers couldn't send him to school,
but he determined to go even if
it meant hardship for him. Fortunately there was a school near
by, to which he could go. He
worked at any task he could find,
and slept in barns and haylofts until he had finished the course in
the simple, one-room school.
When he wanted to go to high
school, the lessons he had learnea
in the Carver home proved useful.
He paid a great deal of his expenses by laundering clothes for
people in the neighborhood.
When he finished high school,
he wrote to the Iowa University
and made arrangements to enter
there; but when he arrived at the
school, he was refused entrance
because he was a Negro. He was
not discouraged, but immediately
started a small laundry, where he
worked early and late. Thus he
earned and saved his money until
he had enough to enter Simpson
College at Indianola, Iowa. Here
he spent three years, and then
four years at Iowa State Agricultural College, paying all his way
by
house cleaning, scrubbing
floors, and washing clothes.
His industry and his genius with
plants and soils won the admiration of the board of the school,
and he was given a place on the
faculty.
At that time Booker T.
Washington was looking for a man
of ability and vision to come to
Tuskegee Institute t9 help better
th e condition of the Southern Negro . Feeling he could be of service
to h ·is peop Ie, George Washington
Carver readily responded to the
call_
litt~rrivin~ at Tuske_gee, he found
k e quipment with which to
wor · Many men would have been
Grapevine

20

disgusted and discouraged, but
not Carver. He believed in the
"start where you are, and
use
what you have" formula,, declaring that would bring success anywhere.
"The Bible, " he often said, "is
as important to me as the laboratory." One of his favorite texts
was, " I can do all things through
Christ which ::;trengtheneth
me."
Philippians 4: 13. Another was:
"In all the ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy paths."
Proverbs 3,6.
With love for his fellow men,
and trust in God, he began to
"make bricks without straw"
at
Tuskegee. He lived simply,
but
sincerely.
He found there a sixteen-acre,
sandy, unfertile farm. They had
no laboratory. Much of his equipment he made. An empty ink bottie and a wick made an alcohol
lamp. A heavy kitchen cup became
a mortar, and a flat piece of iron
a pulverizer. Beakers were made
from bottles found in the school
garbage dump. His skillful hands
fashioned equipment from scraps
of rubber, wire and metal; and
soon he had a simple laboratory
to begin his experiments.
People told him that he could
not grow anything on that sandy
soil. But it was the only soil he
had, and, following a life motto,
he started with that. The students
were set to work with baskets and
buckets; carrying muck and leaf
mould from the woods to enrich
the sandy, impoverished ·soil. Soon
he was growing two crops of
sweet potatoes a year and raising
a bale of cooton to an acre, where
poor Alabama formers had been
existing on their barren farms. Be- ll
fore he arrived, this land
had .,-

\
George Washington Carver

shown a loss of sixteen dollars an
acre each year, but under his scientific care it showed a gain.
When he began his work at
Tuskegee, there were few vegetable gardens in the district, and
the farmers had no chickens, cows,
or bees. Because of an unblanaced
diet, pellagra was everywhere. But
he changed that situation. Today
practically every family for miles
around has its vegetable garden,
cows, and chickens. With a balanced diet, pellagra disappeared.
Cotton had been the one crop
of the South. Dr. Carver urged the
farmers to plant sweet potatoes
and peanuts, and then set himself
to the task of finding a market for
them. From the peanuts he made
more than 300 usef_ul articles., among them oi!s, flour, candy, milk,
face powder, floor covering, soap,
vinegar, molasses, etc. From the
clay soil he made paving brick,
pottery, inks, and many other useful articles.
He wove beautiful
mats from the swamp cattails,
and table scarfs from empty feed

bags, coloring them with the
bright clay dyes. He used stalks of
cane and corn for insulating material. From sunflower stalks and
the wild hibiscus he manufactured
paper. He just couldn't stand to
see anything go to waste.
Any information he gathered,
he passed on to the farmers free.
Not once did he sell a patent or
charge for help or information.
His ambition was to give rather
than to get. When urged to charge
for his services he once said, "God
didn't charge for His work in making peanuts grow, and I wouldn't
charge for mine."
In a horse and buggy he carried exhibits to the farmers. He
printed pamphlets and distributed
them widely. He became an expert dietitian and cook, and passed on his recipes to the farmers'
wives. One pamphlet was entitled,
"One Hundred and Five Different
Ways to' Prepare the Peanut for
the Table." . There were recipes for
soup, roast, cheese, patties, pie
crust, and many other things.
He published a bulletin, "Noture 's Garden for Victory and
Peace," and in the introduction he
quoted that well-known text from
the Bible, "Behold I have given
you every herb; ... to you it sha!I
be for meat." Genesis 1:29. In it
he listed many grasses, weeds,
and wild flowers which, he declared, were good for food.
Naturally,
his fame spread
abroad and thousands went to
Tuskeg;e to see him. Imagine th~ir
surprise when they found him
wearing an old weatherbeaten
cap and a well-worn, frayed, gray
sweater.
Thomas Edison tried to get him
to come to work with him, but the
offer of $50,000 a year was no
temptation. He preferred to st~y
in his simple bachelor quarters In
the dormitory at Tuskegee. Med-

21

Grapevine

Black Police Officers Form Association

(con't) The Boy Who Was Traded for a Horse
als and awards came to him for
his outstanding service to mankind. Greatness was literally forced upon him, but he remained
humble, gentle, and a sincere
Christian, giving God the golry for
all that he had been able to accomplish.
When asked one time how he
was able to do so much, he said,
"I have made it a rule to get up
every morning a i' four. I go into
the woods, and there I gather
specimens, and study the great
lessons that nature is eager to
teach us. Alone in the woods each
morning I best hear and understand God's plans for me."
He was only following in the
footsteps of the Master, of whom
it is said, " He rose long before
day and spent much time along
with nature and God."

"The beauty of his Iife," said a
noted educator, "is that he does
not desire publicity, but carries on
in a modest fashion, giving God
all the glory for what he has accomplished. It is refreshing
in
these days to find a man so thoroughly scientfic, and at the same
time so spiritual."
Few men started life more humbly than did George Washington
Carver; few died more honored;
few crowded more into a
life's
span than he did . When the radio
flashed to the world the news of
his death, millions felt that a
friend and benefactor had gone.
He left the world a better place,
and his influence shall ever live.
From Journeys into Storyland,
Southern Publishing Asso., Nashville, Tenn.

HELP ME MAINTAIN

You must realize these are all
parts of the capitalistic game:

I

God?
Jehovah?
Supreme being?
What ever be your name;
Give me the strength and faith
and remind me to pray.
Ardeesjay
(Robert Dean Semien Johnson)

Grapevine

22

0

Ray Williams

Paul White

The Black Peace Officers AssoTo act as a mechanism to Reciation of Fresno is an organiza- cruit minority Police and Probation
tion that is on the move. BPOAF Officers on a local and national
is only a year old but its members scale; and,
haven·t been sitting around waitTo work toward a police reform
ing for change.
in order to eliminate police corRay Williams the president of ruption, brutality and racial disthe BPOAF, Jack Kelley and Bob crimination.
Mitchell formed the local organiza Williams stated the BPOAF is
tion, after attending the National working closely with such organi
Black Police Association Conven- zations as the NAACP, Black Sotion in Los Angeles a year ago.
cial Workers, Black Educators, Na Williams
stated the BPOAF tional Council of Negro Women,
membership is composed of City, Black Political Council, West FresCounty, State and Federal Law En- no Ministerial Alliance, City and
forcement personnel.
County Affirmative Action ComSome of the organizations ob- missions and any other person or
jectives are:
body who is concerned for Job
To improve the relationship be- Opportunities, adequate housing,
tween Police Departments as in- Political Representation, good postitutions and the Black Communi- lice protection a'nd giving direction to young people, especially in
ty;
To evaluate the effects of poli- West Fresno where the need is so
cies and programs within the crim- great.
Elected Officers are: Ray Willinal justice system on the Black
Iiams, President; Paul White, Vice
Community;
To establish a free and rapid President; Joyce McClendon, Secflow of information through a Na- retary; Chuck Ballard, Treasurer;
L. H. McDaniel, Information Offition~ Communications Network;
To increase and enhance Black cer; Kirkus Burks, Sgt. of Arms;
Police and Probation Officers per- Bob Mitchell, Historian; Al Ward,
formance through shared experi- Chaplain; and Ray Brown, Regiona I Treasurer.
ences and education;
Grapevine
23

GRAVES LIQUOR STORE
School District. The annou ncement
was made by Frank Johnson, Dis•
trict Superintendent.
Mrs. Hodge, a doctora l candidate at the University of Southern
Ca lifornia was formerly e mployed
by the Fresno Unified School Dis•
t rict where she served as a 5th
g rade teacher, a reading specialist, and a curriculum coo rdinator.
Her most recent employment ex•
perience was with the State De·
pa rtment of Education w here she
was employed as a reg ional di·
rector of the Right to Read Pro·
g ram.
After rece iving the doctoral degree in education from U.S.C.,
Mrs. Hodge plans to w rite textbooks on the process of teaching
readnig.
Jacqueline G. Hodge

Jacequeline G. Hodge has been
appointed the new Director of
Curriculum and State and Federal
Programs for the Fresno Colony

Mrs. Hodge is married to
Charles R. Hodge,, director of t,he
West Fresno Clinical Laboratory.
She and her husband reside on a
farm in Southwest Fresno a nd are
the parents of five children.

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25

Grapevine

THE PONDEXTER BROTHERS

Clifton Pondexter

What has happened to Roscoe
and Clifton Pondexter, Fresno's
basketball superstars?
Well as most readers remember
a year ago Roscoe, 22, signed a
professional
basketball contract
with the Virgina Squire for what
we believed to be a large sum of
money. But to the surprise of
many, including Roscoe, he was
cut from the team on the Jost day
of practice for what was called
personal reasons. The whole episode is one in which Roscoe reGrapevine

luctantly but sometimes bitterly
discusses.
In fact what had happened was,
Roscoe, young and inexperienced
at such things, had signed a contract that failed to provide him
with the money and security that
he had been promised. He had
followed poor dvice.
To make a long story short last
year Roscoe, 6'7", restlessly sat
out the entire basketball season
waiting for this year to roll around
so that he could try out for anoth-

26

Roscoe Pondexter

er team. Meanwhile, he and his
brother Clifton had been keeping
in shape by playing in a special
pro league in Los Angeles.
As it is with those who have the
will and determination, Roscoe
has gained from his unfortunate
experience, and moved on to better things . Today, after his lon g
wait, Roscoe is a member of the
San Diego Sail professional basketball team. Bill Musselmon the
coach of the Sails said that R~scoe
has looked good in practice. Roscoe said that he is pleased with
his new contract and believes that
he will be a starter for the team.
Fortunately, Clifton, 20, Roscoe's
younger brother, who last year
signed a half million dol lar contract with the Chicago Bulls professional team has had better luck.
His contract has been for real and
he has been pleased. Although
Clifton has had a misfortune himself, it has been of another kind.
He also had to sit out all of last
season's games because during
the off season last year Clifton suffered a bone fracture in his leg
and had to have surgery.
Clifton, 6 '9 " , has been running
and working out with weights since
the surgery to get strength back
into his fractured leg. He stated
that he should be playing at full
strength when the season opens
and that he will be fighting for a
spot on the starting team.
When asked what has he learned about pro basketball Clifton
stated, "I have learned that professional basketball is a business
and not a game." When asked
about what he was doing with all
that money, Clifton said, "I have
put most of it into the bank but
have invested some of it into various business ventures including an
oil well in Texas."
So as you can see the Pondexter brothers are doing well.
27

Grapevine

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