nap, Crack, Pop.
VOL. IX NO.21
USER VING THE
help for
urban ills?
Page 4
STATE'S AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY"
APRIL 19 - 25,1987
c
•
MUS GO
branch of the
con ider pril 26
ill again prote t
u egon hronicle ew-
pap r for publi hing art or
that negatively portray
frican- meri an .
I ju t ant the editor to
top the e raci t thing that are
being put in the pap r ,' aid
Bill Gill, pre ident of the local
AACP chapter.
The Sunday, arch 22 edi-
tion of the Chronicle publi h­
ed a drawing by taff artist
David . Porter howing a
big-eyed nervous "Blac"
oman tanding at a chec -
out counter to purchase a bo
of 12 condoms.
On the oppo ite side of the
counter is a tall, miling white
man, a pharmaci t, fingering a
cash register.
The illustration accom-
panies a Lo ngeles Times
feature tory about how-
AIDS, among other reasons,
has increased public awareness
and ales of condoms.
The ne t day after th p per
hit the street, so did local
ministers and AACP
members.
They called a local television
new station March 23 and an­
nounced a picket demonstra-
p 0 est
tion for 11:30 a.m. in front of
the daily paper.
The Chronicle reported,
that day and the next, reason
for the picket line.
"The only thing we were
trying to do wa draw atten­
tion to the fact that there wa a
problem,' aid Re. John
Shyne, Sr., a local AA P
board member. "You read ar­
ticle a ociated AIDS and
di ea e with black . Thi ju t
feeds tereotypes."
A Chronicle editor told the
•
racrs
of
us
ego
Michigan Citizen in a phone
interview last week that there
was no intentions of negatively
depicting African-Americans.
He, nevertheless, asked that
the Citizen not publish his
name.
One week after the drawing
appeared, the Chronicle
published an editorial by
Editor George Arwady, March
29, titled "Racial Imagery
Very Sensitive."
The editor aid he did not
dai v
cle raci t, becau e:
I) the dra ing a not the
fir t time African- meri an
were in the paper
2) pa t illu tration ha e not
demon trated a pattern of r-
traying Afri an- meri an
negatively.
everthele , Ar ady aid
. he understand hy offen e
was taken and apologize .
The artist was quoted:
'Perhap it i wrong to u e a
blac oman in this ca e, but
for me the skin color is not the
issue, so if it be a mista e it i
an unintentional one."
Gill, a city commissioner,
aid he does not buy hat they
said.
"It (negative artwork of
African-Americans in the
Chronicle) has happened
before, and I don't thin it has
changed. '
panding Blac
Caucus sho
s po
er in Congres
y Larry A. Still
ASHI GTO , A-
The expanding Congre ional
Blac C ucus i not' only flexing
its increasing po er under the
dership of ne chairman,
Rep. ervyn L. 'Dymally (D­
Calif.), but the 23 member
body in the U.S. Hou of
Represent tive i eking ne
influence in the 120 other
congre ional districts ith over
20 percent African American
voters.
, e are goin to maintain
chec Ii t on 0 the mem­
bers vote on i ues affecting our
people" Dymally declared in
announcin a ne CBC agenda.
The CBC will also introduce its
budget plan for America this
wee.
Meeting with newsmen in
the ational Democratic Club
on Capitol Hill, the veteran
California legislator, school tea­
cher from Trinidad, and for­
mer est coast lieutenant gover­
nor, outlined an aggressive
program for CBC members to
rve their predominantly
African-American constituent
through five full committee
chairmanships, 18 subcommittee
leadership roles and t 0 select
committee po .
The top congres ional posit­
ions provide unprecedented
Blac empowerment as Rep.
Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) takes
over the Select Committee on
Intelligence and the Subcom­
mittee on Program and Budget
uthorization and Rep. William
Gray (D-Pa.) heads the full
powerful House Budget Com­
mittee. Rep. Augu us Haw­
kins, (D-Calif.), the olde CBC
member in niority.: quietly
keeps the vigor of the late Rep.
Adam Clayton Powell chair­
man of the Education and
Labor Committee.
Other ranking member
ccording to niority are
Democratic Rep John Con-
yers (Mich.), Ronald Dellum
(Calif.), Charle Rangel (NV) ,
Walter Fauntroy (DC), Cardi
Collins (Ill), Harld Ford (Tenn ,
Julian Dixon (Calif. ickey
Leland (Texas), George Crockett
ich.), Gu Sav e (Ill.), 'or
Owens (NY), Alan Wheat an-
sas City, Mo. Charles Hayes
(Ill., and "Freshmen" M e
Espy (Miss. Floyd Flake Y).
John Lewis (Ga.) and Kweisi
tume ( d.) Congressman Dy·
mally is chairman of the Sub­
committees on Judiciary and
Education and Census and
Population.
The CBC priorities for the
ne 100th ion of Congre
this year will be education
legislation, welfare reform and a
new equal housing initiative,
Dymally said as the Black
members ek to work with
coalitions of Hispanic and
Jewish members. The Blac
Caucus is also considering 37
white as ciate members in
Continued on P ,e 16
