By A. U· . ,Sr.
NNPA NewsServic«
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The Secretary of the Smith­
sonian Institution, Robert Mc­
Cormick Adams, . scheduled
to be the principal witness at an
April 19 congressional hearing
into the Institution�s minority
employment practices. An ear­
lier hearing into the museum's
racial attitudes held March
14.
The Government Activities
and Transportation ubcommit­
tee of the House Committee 011
GoYemment Operatiees i 00 -
cerned ith the "virtual ex­
c ion of minorities in high­
level cultural d artistic, weD
as administrative po · tiODS at
the Smitbsmiln,· Rep. Cardiss
Collins (D-IL), subcommittee
chair, declared. "
·Our nation' museum, the
Smith onian i the orld'
largest museum complex with
20 major facilities,· cludiDg the
world famous Air and Space
Museum, the ational Museum
of National History, the Nation­
al Museum of American His­
tory, the Hirsbbom MuseUm of
I
Brew
e
Tenant defeat
eviction bid
By EaI or not Jones should be dis- hearing. She stated -that she did
Conespondent placed. On that date, after wait- not want to be filmed by media
"Nitpicking of no avail,· ingapproximatlyone hour to be cameras. Although no T.V.
said Brewster/Douglass row- heard, Jones was informed that cameras wer present, she COD-
house tenant Corrine Jones, � was out of town, tinued to decline.
who won the first round of the Jones said she ould notbe Jones automatically won the
battle to remain in her home of put oft' by excuses, would not case by default and will, there-
16 years, after�ivinganevi� leave, and insisted on being lore allowed to remain in her
tion notice for allegedly break- " heard all the same. She said she home. Board of Tenant Affairs
ing certain lease had the support of many friends Chai rson Deidra Green said
Jones said on March 6 and organizations in her midst Jon wouldbenotifiedmymail
Bre ter/Dougla manager and was oonfident of victory. . as to the verdict of the oommit-
Martha Woods served her with As the hearing convened, tee, within seven to ten says.
an eviction notice and then at- Jones and supporters entered Jones said she believes she .
temptedtojustifytheevictionby the meeting chambers, but being harassed for having par-
ying Jones a1lowed squatters Woods, representing Lewis, ticipated in the organization
to raide in her unit and litter refused to participate in the "The Short Eod of the Stick·
her &oot laWD.
JODes said the people were H
members of the WaYDe County
U· olthe Ho leas who had
come to use her tclephoac after
being forcefully removed &om a
Bre ter un it during a
'Takeover· of vacant housiDg on
February 22.
Jon says she immediately
contacted City Council Mem­
ber � Mahaffey, Home­
less Restituition Advocate
Maureen Taylor, National Wel­
fare Rights President Marian
Kramer, United Community
Housing Coalition (UCHe) At­
torney Marilyn Mullane, as weU
as members of the media.
J ones said Mahaffey told
Department Public of Housing
Director Tom Lewis it was un­
lawful for him to evict a tenant
for sum trivialities. Jones said in
view of this information, Lewis,
instead of dismissing the inci­
dent, turned the task over to the
Board of Tenant Affairs.
Lewis scheduled a hearing
on Wednesday March 29 at 2211
Orleans to determine whether
Sculpture Garden, and the Na­
tional Museum of African Art,"
she said.
Collins wants Adams to ex­
pi in why throughout the
Institutio 's I42-year history,
there has been only one
minority assistant secretary, and
why, although 38 per cent of the
Institutions's employees are
minorities, none of its seven as­
sistant ecretaries is from a
minority goup and of 15 bureau
directors, only two are Crom a
minority group.
'The same minority under­
representation extend to
auators and researchers as weD
to the Smithsonian Board of
Directors and its many oommit­
tees, and councils, " Collins said
Given the Smith onian's
"homogeneous power structure,
. it is perhaps not surprising that
minority intere t have been
lighted in Museum exhibits,
displa)'5 and other activity," she
said "Recently, for example, the
Smitsonian, until this subcom­
mittee forced to intervene,
planned to evict fiYe poor Black
families from- a 2,600 -acre
under-�Joped tract of land
. "
The group strongly opposed the
1987 plans to demolish 1,037
three and four bedroom units, in
order to build 250 one and two
bedroom units on the Brewster
site.
JOD said the homeless are
not asking for new units, merely
to have the old ones refur­
bished. She said there are many
people who earn minimum
wage and are not able to pay the
$400 to $500 requested for
monthly rents e1sewbere.
, Jones said if funds to save e
I whales can be raised," why can't
people r� funds to save the
bomeJeas.·
ap
OV� minimum wage
WASHINGTON, DC
. Just befoer the Easter holiday
recess, the House of Represen­
tatiYes passed a bill ina-easing
the minimum wage &om its cur­
rent $335 an hour to S3.8S in
October, this year; $4.2S,in Oc­
tober 1, 1990, and S4.s5 in Oc­
tober 1, 1991.
The balloting was pret�
much along party lines, 248 to
171 with 22 Republicans voting
yes and 24 Democrats casting a
no vote.
The bill sailed through the
House after passing by a 22-13
party line vote, the Education
and Labor Committee, chaired
by powerful California
Democrat Rep. Augustus Ha
kins, who was not aU that happy
with this Easter Bunny litter,
grunting that it "is a modest ad­
justment in the minimum wage
and long overdue,"
that it had acquired near
Chesapeake Bay for reasearch.
In reversing the decision, the
Smithsonian acknowleged that
it had been 'culturally ignorant'
and 'insensitive' to the families
involved, nearly all of whom had
lived on the land for decades."
Other examples of "cultural­
Iy ignorant" or 'insensitive' ac­
tions by the Smithsonian,' she
said, included:
. - The sale earlier this year
of the Frederick Douglass
house in Washington, D.C., "the
last piece of Black real estate on
Capitol Hill, " to a private party.
"Were that a the former home of
Betsy R or even John Wilkes
Booth, would the Smithsonian
have acted imilarly? I doubt it, "
she said
- Failure of the Hirshhom
Museum to hold a major exhibit
of an frican American artist,
although one is no finally
scheduled for next year.
- The second rate treat­
ment accorded the
Smithsonian" Anacostia
Museum (located in a poor area
of Washington, D.C.) which is
dedicated to the achievements
The Americaa people, both of $335. The House biD sets a
Demoaats and Republicans 6O-day sub-minimum training­
overwhelmiogly favor a mini- wage periOd. Bush will buy this,
mum w ge increase. I urge insiders believe, and the bill,
President Bush to reconsider after a joint meeting of bothe
the hard line he seems to have Houses of congress, will likely .
adopted in p edging a veto of be trimmed to suit the Presi­
this bill. The working poor have dent
waited more than eight years for Although obviously not rom­
a cost of living ina-ease and pJetely satisfied, Ha kins too a
should not be locked into a life realistic view and said: "11lis in­
of poverty because of political crease will help restore lost
differences," Hawkins said buying power of millions of
Hawkins pumped for a $5.05 American's working poor and
an hour bill last year, lowered once again make the minimum
his sights a bit to $4.65 earlier wage a living wage. There is D()
this year, and compromised by evidence that minimum wage in­
accepting the final $4.55 maxi- creases are destructive to
mum by year 1991. economy. The fact is that when-
Feeling on Capitol Hill is that ever the minimum wage has
the Senate will come up with a risen, he continued, "history
minimum wage bill that will shows noemployment and busi­
more nearly reflect what presi- ness disruption. H.R. 2Z (bill)
dent Bush wants: a $4.25 mini- as a pproved, is a b lanced
mum wage over a three year . measure t at addresses busi­
period and a six-month sub- ness concerns and also provides
minimum, training period wage economic justice to minimum
wage earners."
and history of area Blacks. Col­
lins said this museum, however,
is "forced to operate in virtual
limbo and in temporary,
cramped space that is inacces­
sible to all but the very deter-
mined.· "
But of all the prejudicial sins
charged to the Smith oai .,
that of the sale of the Doublass
home to a commer� buyer is
the most incendiary.
The Museum of African Art
was located in the Douglass
home until the Smithsonian ac­
qured the museum and housed
it in spacious Smith onian
quarters. Sale of the Douglass
home was necessary, the Smith­
sonian said, to pay for the ron­
struction of new housing for the
African Museum. "
Locked in a bitter dispute for
more" that two years with the
Capitol Hill. Restoration
Society, the Frederick Douglass
Memorial and Historical As­
sociation and other groups, the
National Associati6n for 110me
Care, a private lobbying group,
promised faithfully that it would
create a shrine to Douglass and
make it available to the public.
,
Sale of
Frederick
Do gla
home to
private party
dra s fire
ehearlnq to-probe bias at nation's mus m
Derrick Humph ies, a
founder of American VISions
which publishes a m . of
the sam name located in the
Douglass Capito Hill home, has
been served with an eviction
notice. The Douglass home ·
ctualIy two adjacent homes on
Capitol Hlll, located at 316-318
A Street N.E. The e town
houses were bought by
Douglass, June 22, 1871. He
lived there through 1871.
Home Care paid $2.25 mi1-
lion for the hom which in­
cluded five other adjacent town
houses. Before the sale, Cong.
Louis Stokes (D-OH), of the
House Appropriations Com­
mittee, urged the Smithsonian
not to sell to a commercial inter­
est The Smithsonian ignored
him.
\ I
3