u
I ,
DETROIT - The reee
sassin tion of Dulcie Septem­
ber, African Nati,onal Congr
(ANC) repre entative to
France, the focus of diseus-
. on at a recent forum . ch fea­
tured the chief U 'ted N tions
repre entative for the ANC,
eo Mnum1ana, '
According to Mlu1m1ana, the
ANC office in Paris had notified
the French Ministry of the Inter­
ior about numerou death
threats against September,
however, the' French govern­
ment took no action geared
toward her protection.
·On the morning of March
29, omeone followed Septem-.
ber to her office, located near
the Gare du Nord in Paris, and
when she opened the door to the
ANC headquarters there, some­
one shot her five times, with two
bullets striking her in tJie he d,"
Mnumzan said.
"Ju t one day before the
South African Defense Force
Ja
oc
1988 mark the Diamond
Jubilee 75th AnIliversary for
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Appropri tely, "Diamonds in
the Rough" is the theme for the
Detroit Alumnae chapter' 53rd
annual J abberwoek presenta­
tion.
. The program will be held on
Sunday May 15, at the Masonic
Temple hich is located at SOO
Temple in Detroit.
According to this year's
chairperson, Melody
Armstrong, Jabberwock is an
"amateur talent showcase" that
utilizes resources ithin the
community in order to develop
area youth.
· Adopted by the sorority in
1925, and first held locally in
participated in the conference The Hartford 15 are all
pledged tbeir unconditional political activist in the Puerto
support to the ANC s the Rican independence movement
legitimate force fighting for na- wlao are charged with bank rob-
tionalliberation in South Africa. beries and criminal conspiracy
In ddition, representatives l by the federal governmen .
from trade uniQn and Student Mnumzana illustrated the Film h Ip kid
organizations traveUed to the significance of the assassination
conference at Arusha from in- in Paris of the ANC repre- pr vent viol nc
side South Africa, to give �p- sentative as signaJing a newwa�
dated reports on the situation of anti-ANC violence in tern
inside the country. Europe and North America.
"Such acts of defiance inter- Mnumzana stated that the
, naI1y and pledges of support in- FBI had notified the ANC
t�tional1y have placed apart- United Natio 'Mission in New
heid on notice that its days are York tha its members were
numbered," Mnnmzana said under threat of assassination by
The forum held at Local 600 the South African government
in Dear� jointly spon- hit-squads operating in the U.S.
sored by the American' Civil Recent move in -the U.S.
Liberties U nion �CLU), the Congr h targeted the ANC
National Lawyers Guild (NLG) for investigation in regard to al-
and the Political Rights Defense ledaed communist influence" in
Fund (PROF) also featured" the movement. The Swindall
Yvonne Melendez, a Puerto Amendment which under
Rican independence activist consideration by Congress
who spent 16 months incar- would restrict ANC repre-
cerated in Connecticut as a sentatives to traveling within the
defendant in the Hartford 15 I metropolitan N�w York ea.
Mnumzana, m respo to
Sigma T eta contin e the t ditil n
I terms of donatio of time and
resources from local b inesses.
"I thing because you're chair­
I person of the Jabberwoc com­
mittee you have to be more
money oriented, to a point. So,
I yes we do want to sell ads, we do
t to make money. But also, I
think we welcome people to add
to our youth. We'y, had a charm
clinic, and a hair clinic. This year
they had a "Color Me Beautiful"
type of thing here they found
out what color best accentuate
themselves. The e workshop
are for the contestan • ome-
I times, depending on the
\ parents' financial situation,
some of the girls might not be
able to take part in ctiviti like
[these. So I can see ho the co -
Ptunity could get involved with
that".
To critics, ho charge that
traditionally Black fraternities
and sororities favor partying. to
involvement in the community,
I �mstrong poin out that be­
ides ubstantial tributions
o organizatio s uch a the
African Amerj�an Museum,
Black United Fund, March of
. Dimes, 'AA P, Michigan
Cancer Fou dation, and
UNCF, by the hapter locally,
\ the orority ha supported
projects � e the construction of
Delta Maternity Wing at a
h pita] in Thib4 Kenya, the im­
plementation of voter registra­
�on and voter education cam­
paigns, and the sponsoring of
Social Action Seminar as well
a many other community
oriented programs.
(armed division of the apartheid
state) attacke a_ priv te
residence in the Botswana cap'­
tal of Gaboro e, destroyiDg the
home, killing four Ianocent
civilians, three of hom e
Bo ana nationals. None of the
people killed in the attac were,
ANC members," according to
Mnumzana. "Later that week, a
prominent anti- partheid exiled
attorney, Albie S cbs, criti­
cally wounded by an explosion
wired to his automobile in
Maputo, the capital of Mozam­
bique," he further pointed out.
The ANC vie these attacks
as ac of desperation by the
apartheid regime designed to
strike fear and intimidation into
it opponents, ccording to
Mnumzana,
He cited the recent interna­
tional solidarity conference held
in Arusha, Tanzania, hosted by
the ANC and the Chama Cha
Mapioduzi (GCM), the ruling
party of Tanzania. Representa­
tives from over 60 countries who
- Del
Detroit's Brewster center in I
1931, Jabberwock began an
idea to encourage the develop­
ment of amate talent in an
evening of entertainment. it is
also the Detroit chapter's major
fundrai er for scholarships for
Detroit are h· b chool tu­
dents.
As always, this year's Jabber­
woe will feature some of the
finest young amateur talent in
the Detroit area. s. Armstroug
says that' Jabberwock provides
an excellent opportunity to get
exposure.
"For young people that want
to be noticed, want to have a lit­
tie recognition - they can get it
at Jabberwock ... because we
have it at M nic Temple and
I
I
1500 seats are sold - usually its
. packed!!".
Among those scheduled to
perform are the orld
renowned Northwestern High
School J a7.7. Band, under the
direction of noted jazz-man
Ernie Ro ger , and the
I Windsor-Detroit Academy.
Dance Theatre, artistically
directed by Debra White-Hunt.
Mistress of Ceremonies for the
evening's festivities is Trudy
I Gallant-Stokes, producer of .
Detroit Blac Journal which airs
on wrvs channel 56 in Detroit.
In addition to the several
talented acts performing that
evening, there will al 0 be a
presentation of S10,000 in
scholarships to sever deserv-
1
ing s den. from Detroit area
high schools, The means by
I which mo t of the money is
raised for J abberwoc is by sell­
� of ds for the souvenir book­
let.
A high point during the eve-,
Ding will OCQII' t pr ta- ·
tion of the eight young ladies'
who have been competiDg lor
the title of Mi Jabberwock
1988. Since November, the con- I
testaats have been soliciting ads
from local businesses to raise
money for the Delta Sc olar­
ships. The contestant who raise
the most money for the sc olar-
ships will be crowned Miss J ab­
rwock.
Aside fro the fundraising
ork, Armst ong explain that
ntestants p rtake in other ac­
ivities that he feel that will
positively ffect the young
men·. ong also points
9ut that the contestants par­
ticipated in public ervice
project at the ew Detroit Nur -
• Home in troit.
"Our girls (contestants) al­
ys have to a public service
project. They ve the residents
in the nursing hom a party. A
�alentine' 0 y party ... What
they do i the talk to the resi­
dents. And th efore you have a
bonding of th old people with
the young pe Ie. And they're
doing a great j b with that. The
nursing hom . ector has en­
joyed it. They 0 ever _. a
month." t
The conte ants I 0 too
in what been described
bY Armstrong fun, cultural,
�deducatio
While she d
� fundr . . peel of Jab-
berwoek i of acern to her
c'airper on, m trong ay
she would also like to see
involvement in
these att cks on the ANC, called
for increased support, recogni­
tion and vigilance from the
people in the U.S. in regard to
the struggle in southern Africa.
, The Community Service
Unit of New Center Community
Mental Health Services, spon­
sored by Children'S Hospital of
Michi Department of Social
Work Services, present a
premiere showing of "Where
Have All The Children Gone?",
a twenty-eight (28) minute
violence prevention education
video program for teens, created
by Michael Hazelton, MSW and
Bill Steele, M�W, with a cast of
young people who demonstrate
how to prevent everyday con­
flicts from turning violent. A
New Center CMHS production.
. Tuesday, May 17 1988 t 2:00 .
p.m. at Children's Hospital of
Michigan-Auditorium.
Simply put.
Tickets for the May 5th
program may be p chased at
1 e door. For additional infor­
mation, cont ct Melody
Armstrong at 532-6995.