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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
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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.