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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 1987)
• • ’ >4 December 30. 1987. Portland Oserver. Page 3 NATIONAL NEWS UPDATE Xerox's $5 Billion Man A Barry Rand, 43, has made his tory by becoming the first Black to become president of Xerox's $5 bil lion marketing operation, reports the January Ebony. "I am an overachiever. The keys to my success have been the legacy of the civil rights era, preparation, and performance,” explains Rand of his unusual upper-level corporate success. He is responsible for a work force of 33,000 that handles direct sales and service of Xerox products arid systems. Although Rand moves comfort ably in the corporate world, he readily acknowledges his roots in Washington, D.C.'s Black commu nity. "I've been able to deal with the Black world and the corporate world simultaneously. Obviously, roots are important, because they determine who you are and who you will be,” states Rand. IBM Employees Challenge South Africa Sales Seven IBMers, including the leaders of Black employee organizations, have sumitted a shareholder resolution calling on IBM to "end its de facto support for apartheid" by halting sales to South Africa. Although IBM sold its facilities in South Africa, it continues to sell computers there through a new company it helped establish before departing last March 1 The resolution charges that "IB M 's sales patterns fit and maintain the apartheid model of inequality and white supremacy." In a letter published in the Los Angeles Times on April 19, 1986, IBM management acknowledged that in South Africa "very few of our customers are Black." "By selling high-tech products almost exclusively to white customers in South Africa,” resolution author James Leas said, "IBM has fallen into an extreme model of apartheid inequality. IBM sales support one side in the racial conflict, the minority rulers." Leas is an IBM electronics engineer The resolution is being cosponsored by Ken Branch, head of the Nation al Black Workers Alliance of IBM Employees, a group of over 500 IBM em ployees- by Spencer Chambliss, head of People for Progress, a civic and social organization composed of Black IBM employees; and by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a coalition of church groups opposed to William Julius Wilson on the Underclass: An Analysis by Norman Hill Today, no other social problem has generated as much anguish, in ternal debate and controversy in the civil rights and political communi ties as the plight of the urban Black underclass. The terrible pathologies of the inner city — illegitimacy, fa mily dissolution, soaring rates of welfare dependency, teenage preg nancy, alcoholism and substance abuse, crime — have, over the last two decades, been attributed to a wide range of causes. They have been blamed on the welfare system, the breakdown of traditional values, the declining role of religion, the dislocation of rural Southern culture to the cities, and the persistence of racism. More pessimistic analysts posit a permanent "culture of po verty" informed by so-called ghetto values that have become so ingrain ed and internalized that they appear to defy conventional socio-econo mic solutions. William Julius Wilson, a professor at the University of Chicago and a Board Member of the A Philip Ran dolph Institute, offers another ex planation for the rapid social deter ioration in the inner cities since the 1960s. In a new and important book, "The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass and Public Policy," Prof. Wilson rejects many of the more frivolous expla nations, and places the blame for apartheid. Spencer Chambliss said "IBM sales to South Africa are the only reason I ever feel reluctant to say I work for IBM. This resolution is one way we can help the company change that policy." Ken Branch added, "It is extreme y embarrassing to admit that the corporation is still selling computers in Sout Africa Many religious and social leaders are rightfully asking that we boy cott companies doing business in South Africa. This causes a conflict in the minds of many employees, black and white, who otherwise like working for IBM. IBM must stop selling to South Africa IBM Stockholder Resolution on South Africa by James Leas In announcing the sale of its South African assets. IBM appeared to deal a blow to apartheid. But IBM told customers in South Africa that a full range of IBM products and services will continue to be available^ sales are about a quarter of a billion dollars, 0.5% of South Africa s : GNP Before "departing," IBM had advertised its efforts to work activey for change" and provide a "m odel" for equality. But IBM's real priority in South Africa was and is sales. IBM acknowledges that in a country wher the majority of people are Black, very few of our customers are, Black. The effects of apartheid keep Blacks out of the computer market. While no deliberately unfair, IBM's sales patterns fit and maintain the apartheid model of inequality and white supremacy. In defense of its South Africa policy, IBM cites its grant programs for Rlark education. In 1985, IBM quadrupled education grants to $15 million over five years (averaging $3 million per year). But this fund is less than 2 o of the company's sales - and even smaller than tax payments to the white min<The education grants have a self-serving aspect: showcasing Black edu c tio n gives IBM an easy response to persistent questions about whether technology sold almost exclusively to whites helps perpetuate white dom.na " ° n IBM can look to its own past for a more clear-cut model of corporate withdrawal: in 1977, when IBM pulled out of India after a dispute with the Indian government, the company provided generous severance settlements for employees and totally discontinued sales, service, parts, and supplies. Furthermore, Kodak fully departed from South Africa - selling assets and halting all shipments - with "minimal financial impact to the company. IBM has frequently called attention to its support for the Sullivan Pr.n oiples On June 3, 1987, Reverend Leon Sullivan changed his stance ca ¡nq for a "total United States embargo" on shipments to and from South Africa and for companies to withdraw and "end all business relationships there. Sullivan cited South Africa's "intransigence to fundamental change and condemned the growing repression and brutalization. He urge maxi mum non violent use of moral, corporate, and governmental force agains ,he inhumane system" and asked municipal, state, and other governmental bodies to limit purchases from companies continuing to operate in South A<nCCertain municipalities, such as Los Angeles, by law restrict purchases from IBM because of IBM’s continuing sales to South Africa. An im p or- ant competitor, which refuses to sell to South Africa, suffers no such restriction. Ma,or newspaper articles called IBM's departure a sham and a sheH name " We urge IBM to end sales to South Africa and to end its de a support for apartheid. In our view, this would serve the best interests o th e company the Black majority, and South Africa. RESOLVED shareholders request IBM to immediately stop all sales and services to South Africa, including all direct or indirect shipments o IBM computers, equipment, software, parts, supplies, and materials, until apartheid ends. PORTLAND OBSERVER “ The Eyes and Ears of the Community 288-0033 • .» »■: the precipitous rise of the urban underclass squarely on rapid sys temic and structural changes in the economy and their impact on the Black community. In his analysis, Prof. Wilson, while acknowledging the persis tence of racism as a factor hinder ing Black economic progress, draws a direct connection between the loss of millions of low- or semi skilled jobs in America's large urban manufacturing centers and the steep increase in joblessness among Black men, a trend that has had debilitating repercussions on Black family and community stability. As American cities, long a magnet for Black migration, moved from indus trial to post-industrial economies, and as labor intensive industries either left urban areas or adopted technological innovations that elimi nated jobs, there developed "a seri ous mismatch between the skills of inner-city Blacks and the opportu nities available to them." Prof. Wilson observes that between 1970 and 1984, "all the major Northern cities had consistent job losses in industries where employee educa tion averaged less than a high school degree, and consistent job growth in industries where workers on the average acquired some high er education." Citing the dramatic drop in the proportion of Black men who are employed, Prof. Wilson concludes "that the inability of Prof. Wilson resists solutions to Black men to support a family . . . is these and other problems that are the driving force behind the rise of race-specific, presumably because female-headed households. they have not worked in the past. Male joblessness, and its effect Interpreting the basic problem as on young mothers finding "m ar one of poverty and not race, he riageable" men capable of support insists on an agenda of full employ ing a family has led to children being ment and industrial/economic poli raised in single-parent, poverty- cies that will address the needs of stricken and often welfare depen this nation's disadvantaged, and a dent households. This develop fundamental shift in the govern ment, coupled with poor education, ment's approach to the underclass inadequate housing, declining ser that will require "the support and vices, and other factors, has spawn commitment of a broad constitu ed the type of pathologies that ra ency." vage inner city neighborhoods. It is a sound of rational approach, A bitter irony not lost on Prof. first posited by the late Bayard Ru- Wilson is that the situation in the stin over two decades ago. It was inner cities began to deteriorate Rustin who realized that after when "the most sweeping anti- Blacks achieved equality under law, discrimination legislation and pro the next phase of civil rights strug grams had been enacted and imple gle would entail forging broad- mented" and at a time when Blacks based coalitions of community, were capturing power in urban poli civic, labor, and religious groups tical machines. But the social mobi to press for economic equality and lity offered by the civil rights legis social justice. Given the political lation of the 1960s allowed upper climate at the time, Rustin's stra and middle-class Blacks to move tegy was rejected by many in the out of the ghettos into the newly movement. Prof. Wilson s insight integrated society, leaving behind ful and scholarly work on the eco the poor and ill-trained, who have nomic origins of the problem is an become increasingly alienated and invaluable starting point for reeval isolated from mainstream society. uating strategies too easily dismis Paradoxically, this new mobility was sed in the past and for formulating at least partly responsible for the solutions that will ease the suffering decline in inner city schools, hous and social isolation of what threa ing, and religious institutions. Black tens to be a permanent underclass. hotels, first-class restaurants, thea Normal Hill is President of the A Philip ter, and retail stores virtually dis Randolph Institute appeared along with their clientele. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: The Private Man The many facets of the private side of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are showcased in a special section, "The Intimate King," in the January Ebony. Ebony shows rare photographs ranging from Dr. King sharing a pri vate humorous moment with his wife Coretta Scott King, to his blowing out the candles on his 36th birthday cake. The January Ebony also features: "The Continuing Struggle For A National King Holiday," "Remem bering The Young King," and Ad vice For Getting What You Want In 1988." HUD Secretary Addresses White House Conference for a Drug-Free America Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Samuel R. Pierce, Jr., told a New York City confer ence on drug abuse December 16, 1987, that "by glamorizing or accep ting drugs in our society, we make a mockery of the loving support we offer our young." The conference was held at the Marriott Marquis. In addressing the White House Conference For A Drug Free Ameri ca, Secretary Pierce focused parti cular attention on the responsibility of adults in educating today's youth against the use of drugs. "I draw attention to the young because it is our responsibility to teach and train them. Youngsters welcome our attention. They can accept our high expectations if we let them know those expectations are founded in a commitment to nurture their growth and development. "They can be receptive to the guidance and discipline we offer if our commitment tells them we care, that we believe in them ," the HUD Secretary added. "But, all the gui dance we impart will ring hollow, if our actions defy that guidance CPB Offers Programs to African Nations The Corporation for Public Broad casting (CPB) will begin a new, two year, $150,000 project in Janu ary to export U.S. public television programs to Kenya and Zimbabwe. African broadcasters will be able to choose up to 100 hours of program ming from some 250 hours of per formance, documentary, and child ren’s programming and Annenberg CPB telecourses. Swaziland, Mau ritius, and the Seychelles are also interested in the project. The Conference, mandated by the Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1986, and established by President Rea gan's Executive Order No. 12595, on May 5, 1987, is authorized to review and assess all areas of the drug abuse crisis in the United States. A member of the National Drug Policy Board, Secretary Pierce has been at the forefront in involving his Department in the battle against drugs in public housing. Last May, HUD co-sponsored a National Con ference on Drug-Free Public Hous ing with the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment O ffi cials. The Conference proved so useful, the Department has subse quently held a series of five addi tional regional conferences. Kinny Shoes Hires Black Agency n y — Kinney Shoe Corporation has appointed Lockhart £t Pettus Advertising of New York to handle the company's advertising and community relations directed to the Black consumer market. Kinney Shoes, the nation's larg est retailer of footwear for men, women and children, has 1,547 loca tions across the United States. Of these, 224 are located in predomi nately Black areas. "Kinney Shoes is taking steps to directly reach the Black consumer and develop an effective community relations program," Joyce Wilkins, Special Market Manager at Kinney Shoe Corporation, said. Lockhard Et Pettus, one of the top four U.S. advertising agencies specializing in segmented marketing NEW YORK, Availability of Consumer's Resource Handbook as# & <• .'iVvtv.- * «TÍ ». *.>*• O # 1 * • V «.*♦ * • * f-"? *'»• . ■V' .*.7 ' JU... With them Is Dr. Gerald Deas, a general practitioner, who found Hudson in generally good health despite the excess pounds. Measurements taken by Gregory showed Hudson had lost several inches from his waist, chest, legs and arms and it was estimated that •« communications, will increase brand awareness and promote corporate goodwill in the Black consumer market on behalf of Kinney Shoes. Founded in 1977, Lockhart & Pet tus is headed by Keith Lockhart, president, and Ted Pettus, execu tive vice president. Other clients of the agency include Chrysler Mo tors Corporation, Pepsi-Cola U.S. A., Carson Products Company (makers of Dark Et Lovely), Centers for Dis ease Control, Con Edison and Wen dy’s International. Dick Gregory, seated, center, the comedian turned nutritionist, con fers with Walter Hudson, the 42 year old, Hempstead, Long Island, N Y. man who broke a scale set at 1,000 pounds, on his weight loss over recent weeks. he might have taken off close to two hundred pounds after eight weeks. Hudson stayed on the diet through Thanksgiving and plans to do the same through both the Christmas and New Years holidays. ¿•- l • The 1988 edition of the Con sumer's Resource Handbook pub lished by the United States Office of Consumer Affairs is now avail able, free of charge, to the public. The Handbook information on how to be a smart consumer includes how to get the most for your money and how to avoid purchasing pro blems while providing information on major sources of assistance in re solving consumer complaints. The Consumer Assistance Directory por tion of the Handbook lists contacts for private, state and federal pro grams. To request your free copy of the 1988 edition of the Consumer's Re source Handbook, write the follow ing: Robert C. Scalia, Director, Operational Support, 10SR, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Seattle Office, Re gion X, 1321 Second Avenue, Seat tle, Washington 98101. Losing Pounds and Inches Gregory is supervising Hudson's weight loss effort through the use of the Dick Gregory Slim Safe Baha mian Diet Plan, distributed by the com edian-nutritionist s Philadel phia, Pa., based marketing firm, Correction Connection. A ■ ■ Hudson, who has not left his home since he moved in 17 years ago, said he plans to visit the grave of his mother as soon as he looses enough weight to be able to travel outside again.