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.
