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April 18, 1990, Page 7
NATIONAL FORUM
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Endorses Census 1990
In a move designed to encourage its
mem bership participation in Census
1990, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
has issued a Call to Action to all its
chapters across the country to become
actively involved in the census process.
The 1990 Census is the full count of
every person living in the entire United
States on Census Day, April 1,1990. It
also counts every housing unit in the
country.
This count determines Congressional
representation as well as the allocation
o f billion o f dollars o f Federal, State
and Local funds for many programs,
including health, welfare, housing and
education. It is the foundation for eco­
nomic planning at every level: many
businesses use the census statistics for
research, advertising and marketing.
“ Aside from its fundamental value,
Census 1990 will create more than
300,000 temporary jobs across the
country,” said Carter W omack, N a­
tional President o f Phi Beta Sigma Fra­
ternity, Inc. “ Census jobs are open to
qualified applicants 18 years o f age and
over. W e are encouraging our m em ­
bers to apply for census jobs in areas
where they are currently living,” he
added.
From April through June 1990, the
bureau will need census takers to visit
households whose occupants did not
fill out and mail back their census by
Census Day, April 1, 1990. A wide
variety of other types of temporary census
jobs will be available in the spring and
early summer.
“ W hen the Census Bureau began
taking the census 200 years ago, Afri-
can Americans were counted as three-
fifths (3/5) o f a person. This procedure
resulted in the gross undcrcounting of
our people,” W omack commented. It
was not until 1870 after the Em ancipa­
tion Proclamation that A frican-A m eri­
cans were counted as whole individu­
als. It is for this and other reasons that
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. is urg-
Carter Womack
ing its members to participate in the
upcoming Census. The 1990 Census
has become a ‘ * bread and butter issue ’ ’
for African Americans living in the
United States.
M arvin Cheatham , National Direc­
tor o f Social Action for Phi Beta Sigma
Fraternity, Inc., said “ the census, which
takes the pulse o f America, is also used
to help national, regional, and local
organizations with assessing the social
and economic progress ot population
groups. It also helps program goals and
policies and provides population counts
needed to apportion seats in the U.S.
House o f Representatives.”
In April o f 1980, the last census
count, an estim ated 3.2 m illion people
were not counted. More than 50% of
those not counted, an estim ated 1.7
million, were African Americans. “ W e
m ust begin this census day to eliminate
apathy and fear as reasons why we do
not participate in the census,” W om ­
ack further added. “ W e will benefit
immensely by becoming an integral
part o f a process that measures fair
share in America. Since one o f the
most undercounted group is African-
A merican males between the ages o f 35
and 54, we m ust strive to com bat that
dilem m a.”
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., an
organization know n for its social action
programs, was founded at Howard
University in W ashington, D.C. on
January 9. 1914. The three founders,
Hon. A. Langston Taylor, Hon. L e­
onard F. Morse, and Hon. Charles L.
Brown organized a greek letter frater­
nity that truly exem plified the ideals of
Brotherhood, Scholarship, and Serv­
ice.
Today, 76 years later, its m em ber­
ship which consists o f 90,000 colle­
giate, business and professional men
continues to preserve the founders deep
conviction and the fraternity’s motto of
“ Culture for Service and Service for
H um anity.”
Black Medical Schools Form Consortium for AIDS Rsearch $1.2
Million Program to Address AIDS Crisis Minority Communities
Drew University to Study AIDS Prevention
Los A ngeles- Minorities, primarily A f­
rican American and Hispanic, now
constitute 45 percent o f reported U.S.
incidence of AIDS since 1981, and AIDS
will becom e a ‘ ‘ghetto disease’ ’ by the
year 2000, say som e medical research­
ers. A program launched by the C har­
les R. Drew University of M edicine and
Science in Los A ngeles, in cooperation
with six other predominantly Black health
professions schools, will address the
problem in a $1.2 m illion-funded re ­
search and prevention effort. The AIDS
Consortium Center was planned and
organized by the Association o f M inor­
ity H ealth P ro fe ssio n s S c h o o ls
(AM HPS). The Consortium is funded
by a grant from the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, U.S.
D epartment of Health and Human
Resources.
Four different areas o f AIDS re ­
search will be headquartered at differ­
ent m edical schools across the nation:
Epidemiology and Prevention at Drew
University; Drug Developm ent at Flor­
ida A & M University; Clinical trials at
M eharry M edical College in Nashville,
Tennessee; and A nimal M odels at
Tuskegee School o f Veterinary Medi-
cine in Alabama. The Consortium is
headed by Rudolph E. Jackson, J.D.,
Professor and Acting Chairm an of the
Department of Pedidatrics at Morehouse
School o f Medicine in Atlanta, G eor­
gia. O ther schools involved in the
AIDS Consortium Center are Xavier
University in New Orleans and Texas
Southern University in Houston.
“ AIDS is rapidly becoming less a
disease o f white, gay men as it has been
perceived in the U.S.,” say Perry Brown,
Dr. PH., Assistant Professor at Drew
University Department of O bstetrics/
Gynecolgy, and Coordinator of the AIDS
Epidemiology and Prevention Program.
“ W e are seeing a rising increase of
reported AIDS cases among minorities,
particularly Blacks and H ispanics.”
Though Blacks comprise only 12
percntof the total U.S. population, more
than twice that number, some 27 per­
cent, o f AIDS cases have been diag­
nosed in the Black community. His­
panics comprise less than 8 percent of
the U.S. population, but account for
approxim ately 15 percent o f the AIDS
cases. Asian and Nativc-American com­
m unities are also affected by the HIV
infection, but not as severely.
Minority woman and children are
markedly over-represented among per­
sons with AIDS. O f all AIDS cases
reported to date among adult women,
approxim ately 52 percent are Black, 20
percent are Hispanic and 26 percent are
white. About 26 percent of chidlren
under the age of 13 who have AIDS are
from the minority com m unity, 52 per­
cent Black and 23 percent Hispanic.
There are also significant differences
in the prospects for survival o f minority
AIDS patients, says Dr. Brown. He
reports and estim ated mean survival
rate for African Americans following
an AIDS diagnosis is approximately 6
to 8 months, com pared with 18 to 24
months for W hites. In explanation, Dr.
Brown cites evidence that minorities
seek medical care later than their white
counterparts, and thus are more suscep­
tible to the effects o f severe infections
that com m only strike the resistance-
weakended systems of AIDS patience.
The AIDS Consortium Center will
coordinate efforts among the partici­
pating medical schools to develop more
effecive, targetted strategies for AIDS
education, prevention and treatment.
University of Chicago’s School of Business Awards
Phillip Morris Company
G eorge R. Lewis, Vice President
and Treasurer, Philip Morris C om pa­
nies Inc., accepts an Appreciation Award
from the Black MBA Association, U ni­
versity o f C hicago’s G raduate School
o f Business. The presentation followed
his recent keynote speech to the Du-
Sable Business Conference’s dinner at
the M arriott Hotel.
M aking the presentation are, from
left, Karen M itchell, Conference Vice
Chairperson and Leslie Brow n-Fran­
klin, Conference Chairperson. Speak­
ing on the topic, “ Corporate A merica
and the Black Community: A nA gncda
for the Future,”
Lewis told the business students that
talented, hard-working minority junior
executives would do well in major busi­
ness corporations in the future.
He based his rem arks on a com bina­
tion o f actions by some corporations,
the large numbers o f minorities sched­
uled to go into the workforce and in the
increasing importance o f the Black com ­
m unity’s purchasing power.
N ew A lliance P arty
Dr. Fulani, New Alliance Party, Raise $12,000
for Reverend Sharpton’s Trial Costs
New Alliance Party chairperson Dr.
Lenora Fulani raised more than $12,000
on Saturday evening for the legal de­
fense o f the Reverend A1 Sharpton,
who is currently on trial for fraud in a
case brought by New York State A ttor­
ney General Robert Adams. The money,
which was raised at a party held at the
Castillo Cultural Center, will be used to
defray the $600 a day cost of trial
transcripts. The 67-count indictment
against Reverend Sharpton is widely
viewed in the Black community as a re­
prisal for his uncompromising defense
o f Tawana Brawley in the face o f the
Attorney G eneral’s insistence that the
young woman had lied about being
raped and brutalized by a gang o f six
white men, including police officers.
“ I ’m thrilled about the money we
raised, and that people who support our
youth are participating in the fight to
defend those independent Black lead­
ers who are standing up for them , ” said
Dr. Fulani, who plans to run for gover­
nor of New York this year. Reverend
Sharpton, the president of the United
African M ovement, is a leading mem­
ber of the coalition which has come
together behind Dr. Fulani’s campaign
for youth and democracy.
Among those who made contribu­
tions on Saturday were representative
of the W ashington, DC-based Rainbow
Lobby .which advocates for democracy
in this country and abroad; the Interna­
tional Peoples’ Law Institution; the Cas­
tillo Cultural Center; the East Side In­
stitute for Social Therapy and Research;
and Dr. Fred Newman, the leader o f the
left tendency which gave birth to those
independent institutions as well as the
New Alliance Party. Dr. Newman,
“ the poorest and most radical m illion­
aire in the country,” made a $5,000
contribution on behalf o f the poor and
working people and their middle class
allies who, he said, have supported the
grassroots organizations he has helped
to build over the last 20 years.
Form er Brooklyn State Senator
Vander Beatty, whose 1979 Recall Cam­
paign was a forerunner o f the New
Alliance Party-led Dump Koch m ove­
ment; Leola M addox, the wife o f attor­
ney Alton M addox, who is defending
Reverend Sharpton in his current trial
and is also a target o f Mr. A bram s’ legal
vendetta; civil rights attorney Stephen
G. James; and the actor and monol-
oguist John Patterson were also pres­
ent.
People who wish to contribute to
Reverend Sharpton’s defense fund can
send checks or money orders, made
payable to the United African M ove­
ment Defense Fund. Contributions
should be sent in care ot Dr. Lenora
Fulani, New Alliance Party 2032 Fifth
Avenue, New York, New York, 10035.
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