The Oklahoma Black Advocate

Editorial
THE POWER PAPER
By LUCIOUS CLARENCE CONWAY, JR.
"White people only want to see black people in TV shows that they can laugh at."
These were the words the Late Rev. Dr. William Venoid Banks told me. It was the
mid 1980's and I was selling air-time at the first black owned and operated TV
station in the nation - WGPR-TV 62. My question then was the same as now, "How d
o black people see and want to see themselves?" Thus, I throw my hat in the ring
of Black Newspaper Publishers after more than 30 years of civil and criminal le
gal battles I have fought pro se (representing myself) and more than a 98% winni
ng rate.
I came to Eagletown, McCurtain County, Oklahoma to probate my late grandmother,
Laura Moore Ayers' (the daughter of the children of slaves and possibly slaves t
hemselves) estate on October 15, 2009 one day following her death. In November o
f the same year I found myself being sued for the 23 acres at the end of Mudline
Road by Gary Kent, and his wife, Jane Huffman for portions of the land. I filed
counter-suit and demanded a jury trial. In late 2010 I was notified by a friend
of Gary Huffman, Attorney Dan Little, of Madill, Oklahoma, that he had allegedl
y purchased portions of the land from distant alleged nephews and nieces of my l
ate grandmother and he had given Huffman permission to use the land in violation
of a court order prohibiting Huffman from doing so.
While this was occurring my elder brother Paul A. Polk, had been injured on his
job at Pilgrim's Pride Chicken Plant in DeQueen, Arkansas in November of 2008 an
d almost lost the lower part of his left leg. Of course Pilgrims Pride fired him
while he was still receiving treatment for this injury their doctor said would
never heal and had discontinued all health and death benefits to him. Texas and
Arkansas workers compensation attorneys gave him less than exemplary representat
ion, not even trying to admit evidence in his favor in his workers compensation
claim before the Arkansas Workers Compensation Commission, even going so far as
insisting he accept a settlement of $7500.00 when the statute states if an emplo
yee is denied employment after injury on the job he is entitled to one-years pay
, less any workers compensation benefits received plus any benefits he would hav
e been entitled to had he been employed that year. Literally, telling him he mus
t take less than the more than $14,000.00 he was entitled to under statute.
As these five cases still fill my plate I am yet compelled to tell these stories
and yours that you may witness our victories and learn how we may help you win
those you have long fought.
The Oklahoma Black Advocate Newspaper is the only other black newspaper in the e
ntire state of Oklahoma in 2011. The need is clear. There are more than 300,000
blacks in Oklahoma according to the U.S. Census of 2010, and until now one paper
to serve them all. And, while the much respected Black Chronicle of Oklahoma Ci
ty does it's best , the news, views and issues of the Southeastern Region of Okl
ahoma with it's many black filled remote rural pockets go unseen, unheard and un
represented. Until Now! The Oklahoma Black Advocate Newspaper's motto is "...an
idea whose time has come." This is a partial quote from Victor Hugo which begins
, "There is nothing so powerful..."
A famous Latin quote says, "Knowledge is power." It is time to empower those who
have been left too far behind the Civil Rights Movement for far too long. The O
klahoma Black Advocate... pick up the power.