Posted 4/14/03 9:57 am ET

Groups discuss protest plans

Martha Burk, the chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations, speaks to reporters in Atlanta about her fight against Augusta National Golf Club's all-male membership. AP

By Heidi Coryell Williams and Brian Basinger
The Augusta Chronicle

Activists in the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition have promised to turn out in force Saturday to protest Augusta National Golf Club's all-male membership, but their leader, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, won't be among them.

In a teleconference Thursday morning, the Rev. Jackson detailed Rainbow/PUSH's plans for its demonstration in Augusta this weekend, saying "women of color are being projected in the leadership role" of their campaign to have a female inducted to Augusta National's membership.

Instead of the Rev. Jackson, Janice Mathis, an Atlanta lawyer and the vice president of Rainbow/PUSH, will lead the demonstration. She said Thursday that she hasn't ruled out getting arrested in order to get the group's point across.

Later Thursday afternoon, National Council of Women's Organizations Chairwoman Martha Burk held a news conference in Atlanta but provided far fewer details on her protest plans.

Ms. Burk said only that she still plans to protest and that her group is refocusing its energy on private companies whose CEOs are members of Augusta National.

"We turn now to concentrating on the stakeholders, those corporate CEOs who have power as members," Ms. Burk said from the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta.

She was joined by about two dozen supporters, including a few members of the Georgia House of Representatives and Martin Luther King III.

"If they believe the Augusta National is right to continue excluding women, we challenge them to hold a news conference and say so publicly," Ms. Burk said.

She stopped short of calling for an economic boycott of such household names as AT&T, Ford Motor, and Dairy Queen, all of which have CEOs on Augusta National's membership roster.

Both Ms. Burk and the Rev. Jackson have argued that although Augusta National is a private club, holding the Masters makes it a public entity because it is a widely watched sporting event.

Rainbow/PUSH officials said Thursday that congregations from churches in Atlanta, Savannah and several South Carolina cities are expected to come to Augusta to join the picket line.

After losing in federal court earlier this week and then losing a request for an emergency appeal before a panel of 11th Circuit judges, Ms. Burk's group has been approved to protest only at a 5.1-acre site on Washington Road, about a half-mile from the club's front gates.

Rainbow/PUSH, which was a part of that lawsuit, has gotten approval to protest in two locations: near the Surrey Center shopping plaza at Wheeler and Highland roads, and at the Washington Road site.

Ms. Mathis said about 100 of her group's protesters will demonstrate at any given time Saturday and will do so in shifts. The bulk of those protesters will be at the Highland Avenue location because it sees more Masters traffic, she said.

Although they aren't planning to be arrested, the Rev. Jackson said his protesters "are prepared to face arrest," adding that "Plan A" will be to demonstrate only in the designated locations while "Plan B" will be to place small groups of protesters near the front gates of the golf club - a move that could result in arrests.

"We are hoping it won't come to that," Ms. Mathis said. "Our intention is not to be arrested. Our intention is merely to be heard, and we intend to do that in a peaceful way."

Ms. Burk refused to provide details about numbers or a plan of action for her protesters. Attorneys representing her, however, have not ruled out that small groups of protesters could attempt to demonstrate closer to the club's front gates.

"Some people protest with signs, others protest with pocketbooks," Ms. Burk said. "Women are no fools."

 

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