t
I
I l
Wayne County Executive
Edward H: McNamara �ntly
announced the appointment of
Irma Clark as his Press
Secretary,
Clar had served as Informa
tion Services anager in the Of- ,
fice of the County ExecutNe for
the past year. A graduate of
Wayne State UMersity with a
Masters Degree in Communica
tion, Clar has been a OOUDty
employee for more than 21
years. She began a secaetary
in 1967, d . ce worked
her way through coUege and up
the ranks of county government
As Press Seaetary to 0 e of
the highest rankiag public offi-
. � the e, Oark will serve
Wayne County's plkcsper
son d manage aD of the Coun
ty EutaitNe' media re tioos.
Clark is pr bly the first
Black man to hold • posi
tion t in county government
anywhere in the state. She began
the ne ignment NoYember
14, and says looks forward to
the alle of s ch a respon-
sible and excitiag position.
A ;native Detroi er, CIar
the mother of two, a daughter,
Melanie, who· a fremman at
the University of Detroi and a
son, Anthony Parker, ho
earned an architectua1 degree
from Howard UniversitY in
1981.
In addition to a busy
schedule with the County, Clark
· finds time to be involved in a
number of community and
prof ionl activities. She ser
ves as public relations coor-
. I
na
aa.k
din tor for her church, West
Side Unity, and is active in the
International Association of
Business Communicator ,
Women in Communications
and OIl the Board of Directors
for the Tra\'elers Aid Society of
Detroit as. II as many other
charitable organizatio .
BH City 15
martet and sell the V· cent
Hotel. The te m is to get
together and come back to
report to the oommiscion.
- Appointed Bobby Jordan
and James Cronk as two of the
four needed on the Downtown
Development Authority Board
(DDA). Jordan resides and
works at the River Terrace
apartments. Cronk, is a proper
ty owner in downtown Benton
Harbor.
C
Mid s� - odd . the music, they had this to say,
TIle • Toppmg � �OD!h'S "we figure longevity depends on
R&.R record charts IS Midnight ho much you stay in the
Star's "Don't Rock The Boat", A groo , and that's what we try to
mixture of rap, rhythm and funk, -do - stay in the groove •
the suc:cess of the reco d se� M Knots Land
to remmd of the talent of � ing regular Larry Riley won
��-man (one woman), Cin- rave for her nightclub act.
�ti-b� ban� whose. goal Riley, best known for his perfor-
��:;rso�e:;;�� mance in. "A Soldiers Story", is
tb ( .... :,I ... ;".a... SO ) 'rb th also a singer. Backed by an
e� 1ftl� tar. WI e eight_po eee band, he did a fitting
musiC and the faces. It's � tribute to the' music of Louis
that � are ewcomers.1D c- Jordan. Riley was performing
tuahty, the group has been 0 -five days at the Hollywood
together 12 years. That's twelve . Cinegrill.
years, . th DO persoaael chan-
ges. Some stro e of ck, huh. __
Tbeirseaet? "We all come &om rK Mr. P ... : Now
I that the hoopla has died down 0
the �ame stock", said male abo the short-lived marriage
yocadiffe�t So w.abtson. � of Robin Givens and Mike
our rences, evc.,uvv., s Tyso Ia Ia . . th
what _1:1.. d thing , n, test specu bOn IS at
some 4UU.e, an ODe •
we found out' you'\'e got . GIYeDS has r.e <?UDced any set
t take care of your business If dement � an an attempt to
yo business ain't together you 5a\le her unage. Sources at the
won't. be together .. Th;y've Burban .Studios say e actress
been taking care of business has. rec:eived sa� full o� hate
ever since they struck big five mad Since pubh� sentiment
years ago with the release of "No started to grow agamst her.
Parking", which scored double S ort TOes: "A Different
platinum,· and ha\'e been 5Ome- World's· Jasmine Guy has been
what cons�teDt since. As far as selected by. Faces International
as one of the hot, f ces of
1989 ... Motown recording act
"The Boys II are ff to tour
Europe. .. 0 release date yet
on Janet Jackson's ne LP, b t
A&.M is hoping to have it
around the beginning of 1989 ...
Gospel/secular recording artist
Billy Preston has decided to put
his life story to paper. 0 word
yet on who will publish ... The
FBI has launched a full-scale in
vestigation into finding a man
I who is passing himself off as
R&B's Bootsy Collins.
T do" Da On
d to Big C • What
started out as a ODe-time perfor
mance at New York City's
Trump Plaza has turned into a
reunion tour that' sold out
through January of 1989. High
land Park's own Telma Hop
kins, 40, and Joyce Vincent Wil
son, 41, who make up Dawn,
couldn't be happiel1. It seems
. the trio have garnerd more in
, ter than ever and are con
I • dering three or four offers that
I range from Christmas specials
to sitcoms.
Today, ABC child care, a war
drup, lIIIMnal same day on
ite voter regi tration, DC
atehood, increased spending
Blac.k
Union
members
1
rank and "These
bureaucrats are not the
leaders," said Schermerhorn.
"The real leaders are in the
ranks, the ones organizing
rebellions from the bottom up
aDd empowering the Black rank
d file."
In order to challenge Black
officials 0 are ot respoosiYe,
id Valarie Childs, a repre
sentative for AFSCME, "We
m all become involved at the
grassroots level. And must
get our 1 ders to do same.
It's o ytosita the tab einyour
Gucci shoe and negotiate a
coDtr d. But it' time to chaage
into our iennis oes and hit the
treet, on the picket lines and in
demonstr tions."
After the panel, the con
ference broke into 12 kills
workshops, including How to
Win Local Unio E ections, the
Legal and Contractual Rights of
. Black Worker, Politics and
Black Workers, and Building
Coalitions.
There weree also many infor
mal discu sions about such
topics trategies for organiza
tion non-union ers into" -
"sociatio "around hop floor· -
ue and h d gotten them to
take collective act" on to in
vict�r· e . The eveatual
I
gbal of this organizing is to bring
these orken into the union
IDO'YeDJCnt
wo CAUtuS
One highlight of the con
ference the large number of
women present - half the par
ticipants. The two women's
workshops had lively discus-
io on i of concern to
them as Blacks, rkers, as
women and parents.
These omen decided to
form a women's caucus within
the &chlnge to continue these
djscnssioDs: They want to hold a
meeting or eeefereace for Black
ers in the near fu
ture.
A second panel dealt with
prob e that Black workers
face as they challenge union
leaders. Dele e Reid, president
of the Detroi Area American
Po' tal Workers Union
(APWU), told of having to face
death threats, fire bombings and
racial and sexual harassment on
her y to the local' presiden
cy. She ble to make it, e
said, in large part due to a net
work of Blac activists who
sho ed her the ropes and
helped her along. She en
couraged others to seek out that
and to contr ut� to it
The Black Rank and File Ex-
cIiaoge founded at the 1984
I
Labor Note conference as a
network to keep Black workers
across the country in different
industries and unions in touch
with each other.
At the Excbaoge's b iness
meeting on ovember 13, Ex
change members adopted by
laws and a regional structure in
the Midwest Theyako decided
to organize formal chapters -
in place of loose networ - in
York, Cllicago, Cleveland,
ilwaukee, Boston and New
Jersey, and to discuss setting up
a Southern region. (Detroit is
currently e only cifY that h
an active formal Exchange
chapter.)
The D national meeting of
the Exchange will take place at
the Labor Notes oonfereoce in
Detroit next pring.
"rm very pleased with the
conference,· SelwYn Roger
said "We were e to further
develop the networ that gre
out of the Labor otes con
ferences in 1984 and 1986, and
e were able to ina-ease the
senses of solidarity that we,
Black workers, feel toward one
othe .•
Labor Notes is a monthly
newsletter dedicated to "Putting :
the Movemml &de In 1M Labor
Movement," 7435 Michigan
Ave., Detroit, MI48210. PhoM:
3131842-6262.
,
. on educatioa, housing; health I � c
, care, the environment, and : Ideas. . .
. South African sanctioos are just I • There IS a more 00D&e�
some of the leg' lative programs w�g �d a more �essJVe
that will keep America stro. WIDf m the De�atic Party,
and make America better. but it ta.kestwowmgstoOy. The
These are commonground . ue is not for.o e . to COD
moral, humane and eeoeomic q�er or domm�te the oth�r
policies and programs that will wmg. but. t� build � wuty
benefit aU Americans. and a coalitio around things on
The reaso I tra\lelled IDOre I which we agree. -
miles (60,000), spo e to more The Jackson.. : .top
peop (750,000) visited more drugs fr�m oo� ID,. stop jobs
cities (70), appeared i more fr<?m go� ou ; ��t peop ;
states (30), conducted more reinvest m 0t!!" Ul&�tructur�;
events (205), and regi tered conduct. a foreign policy that IS
more voters han any other not fo�eagn to�ur.val andour
Democrat was because I laws IS a wmnmg mess ge.
believed we needed to shift the Choose Headstart, day care �d
focus from glitter to things fun- prenatal 'care on the &ont s de
dameritaL of life rather than jail care, wel
fare, despair and violence on the
backside of life is a sound mes-
sage for all Americans. .
Read my lips. These are not
wacky far-left notice . These
ideas are logical and coherent
These are ideas on how to keep
America strong and make
America better.
CALL TO
COMMO GROUND
. It's easier to label and to
name call, but it's more produc
tive to work together on a com
monground agenda. We must
not allow labels and stereotypes
to divert out attention f om
Sat.
7:3(;). a.m.