Racial Discrimination Georgia

The membership policies of the exclusive Augusta National Golf Club will not be an issue when the International Olympic Committee decides whether to include golf in the 1996 Atlanta Games, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said. "I don't know what the conditions are in this club," Samaranch said, "but we cannot set conditions to be members of a club." Augusta National, home of the Masters championship, was all-white until September of 1990, when one black was admitted.

Noting with hope new evidence that Southern whites will vote for black candidates, the Supreme Court refused again Thursday to allow state lawmakers or federal civil rights officials to draw oddly shaped majority-black electoral districts. Georgia can have a black-majority district only in Atlanta, the high court ruled, not the three black-majority districts that were drawn after the 1990 census.

Noting with hope new evidence that Southern whites will vote for black candidates, the Supreme Court refused again Thursday to allow state lawmakers or federal civil rights officials to draw oddly shaped majority-black electoral districts. Georgia can have a black-majority district only in Atlanta, the high court ruled, not the three black-majority districts that were drawn after the 1990 census.

The membership policies of the exclusive Augusta National Golf Club will not be an issue when the International Olympic Committee decides whether to include golf in the 1996 Atlanta Games, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said. "I don't know what the conditions are in this club," Samaranch said, "but we cannot set conditions to be members of a club." Augusta National, home of the Masters championship, was all-white until September of 1990, when one black was admitted.

The Legislature on Wednesday approved an early presidential primary date that makes Georgia's the first Southern election of the campaign. Gov. Zell Miller signed the measure after the House voted its approval. He said it would be forwarded immediately to the U.S. Justice Department. Under the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department must review any change in Georgia election law for racial discrimination.

The U.S. Supreme Court made correct decisions in two Georgia cases last week that involved issues of race. In one, racial politics loomed in the background; in the other, questions of racial fairness were very much front and center. A divided court limited the power of communities to require permits for parades and rallies as an unlawful impediment to free speech. The Forsyth County, Ga.