p
This Week in
Black History
The BI c
ichi n I
problem; one t t need to be
ddre ed ith the arne u to
the A CP' "record etting
it-down dinner" brou ht out
from "everybody ho w
nybody," pril 28.
The Dep rtment of Soci 1
Service (OSS) record in Lan -
ing indic te lh t more than 50
percent of the t ie: children
ho need fo ter parent I or
adoptive c re are Black, who e
e range from inC nt to 17
ye .
Henry Hof tra, a progr m
peciali t ith the DSS in Lan -
ing Id, a of December of
1990, the late t tati tic avail-
ble, th t t re wide there were
2,088 children who had not been
adopted. And of that figure,
1,044 were Black.
Hof tr pointed out that the
figure could be some what mi -
leading becau e a number of the
children were in the "pipeline,"
which mean that orne form of
fo ter or adoptive care had been
initiated.
But the grim facts remain:
Black children con titute better
than 50 percent of the adoptive
and fo ter p rental need in
Michig n.
THE NUMBERS for Wayne'
County also reflect a better than
50 percent ratio.
In December of ·1990 Wayne
County had 900 children "in the
pipeline" The breakdown was:
707, Black; 189, white; two,
Hispanic; and two, others which
included Asian and Native
American.
State and local agencies
agree: "There is a very definite
need for Blacks to adopt and to
become foster parents."
There are a number of agen­
cie and individual citizens
:'wOlking 10 meet the need for
l,.doptiv ... and fo teT. e.
Eddie L. Robinson, is typical
of the many foster parents who
open their hearts and homes to
children. She is a foster parent
for two children: Ernest, 19
months and Elexies three
months.
Robinson has been a foster
parent for even-and-a-half.
years and estimates that she has
cared for 75 to 100 children.
"Every time someone adopts
a kid (I am caring for) it hurts,"
Gov rnor'
h m de m tter wor
ill continue to do wh t "God
revealed" to her. And that w
to "be fo ter p rent."
Robin on i. divorce with
two adult children, on 6 nd
, bu ine
. live. born.
What i the capital city
01 Sierra Leone?
AY 13, 1914 - Jo
Lo I (J 0 p Lo I B r­
ro), the 'Brown
Bomber', boxin ch m­
pion, a born.
Which lamed Black
composer died almost im­
mediately alter his 1 DOth
birthdtzy?
MAY 14, 1888 -
Sl very boli hed in
Br zil. 1897 - Idney Be-
e et, xoponi t, wa
born.
Nearly half of all Black
• Americans belong to which
two protestant religious
• grops?
MAY 15, 1866 -
, George Henry Wanton,
awarded the Congre sional
# Med 1 of Honor, wa born.
1944 - Norma • Wade,
new paperwo man, wa
· born.
What are Atlanta Life
and North Carolina
Mutual?
MAY 16, 1840 - Jame
M. Turner, politici n, was
born. 1979 - A. Philip
Randolph, labor leader
nd civil rights pioneer,
died.
Which former us presi­
dent probably had known
Black ancestors?
MAY 17, 1954 -
- Supreme Court declared
segregation unconstitu­
tional in Brown VI. Bo r.cl
of Education. 1875 -
Jockey Olive ';-Ij Ii
aboard Aristede , won the
first Kentucky Derby.
1970· - Hank Aaron
belted hi 3,OOOth hit.
1930 - Wilfred C. Rick,
attorney, was born.
Which famous Civil War
personality signed patents
for one or more slave in­
ventors?
MAY 18, 1896 - In
Plessy vs. Ferguson,
Supreme Court uphold the
doctrine of "separate but
equal" education and
public accommodations, in
effect upholding segrega­
tion. 1912 - George
Leon-Paul Weaver, assis- .
tant secretary of labor for
At 12, he was a pro titute. At
14, he was a mother. At 15, he
got picked up .oliciling and
went to the youth home; her
baby was taken aw y from her
and put in fo ter care. Li a
turned 16 while he wa in the
youth home but he felt like he
had been living forever. Sixteen
is old when you live like Li a."
One Church, One Child of
Michigan lnc., an organization
who e aim i to "have at lea t
one Black family or individual
per church, to become foster or
adoptive parent to at lea tone
Black child," works to keep
"Lis 's" plight from becoming a
reali ty.
.. during their fi cal year.
One Church, One Child ay
you may qualify for fo ter c re
if you are 20-year -old, ingle
married, divorced or widowed,
have a rea onable secure in­
come, have. ufficient home
space and are in rea on ble good
he lth.
For adoption purposes, male
or female who are at least 20-
year -old, work out ide the
home and i a renter or live in an
apartment, may qualify.
Families with children resid­
ing in the home. may al 0
qualify, One Church, One Child
said.
"You m y po Ibly be a
brid e over troubled w ter ,"
says One Church, One Child,
which list three phone numbers:
1-800-632-4180, 'and Executive
Director Yvonne Golden at
(517) 372-0184 in Lan ing or
the Detroit's office Whlc\ Is
(313) 972-1340. , ,
"It' a damn shame," the in­
terviewee said. That Black
don't understand that our
children are "the life-blood of
our exi tance."
parents."
The number of ervicc agen­
cie that Wayne County con­
tract with varie ; it depend on
what day and with whom you are
speaking with. But popular
opinion places the number be­
tween 11 and 20. And Homes
For Black Children. 2340 W.
. Calvert (313) 869-2316, was the
only one that handles Black and
bi-racial children.
The importance of foster and
adoptive care cannot be tressed
to strongly, an anonymou inter­
views said. "We need to keep
kids off the treet and we also
don't need to warehouse them."
Rita Montgomery Grezlik,
president of the Michigan A -
ociation of Children' Alliance
tressed that point in a recent
tatement:
It I'd like to tell your readers
about Lisa. Li a i very old.
Like most people, she started'
getting old a long time ago. At
11, Lisa was out on the streets.
rummaging through garbage
dumpster for her daily meals.
a daughter 28. She' also has two
adult grandchildren, ages 18 and
14.
The children he i caring for
are called" crack babie ." They
are the offsprings of a mother
addicted to crack cocaine.
Marie Riley, a social worker
with Home For Black Children,
one of a number of e rvice
agencies the Wayne County
Department of Social Services
contracts with, aid, "The nurn­
ber of children needing adoption
is going up and has been ince
the crack epidemic began." .
"Crack banic ,It fatl under th
heading: "Children with pecial
needs," a category including
children who 'are HIV infected,
have emotional and phy ical
problems. "
"Children with special
'needs," their brother and sisters
and teenagers are the mo t dif­
ficult to place in foster care.
Muriel Ambers, adoption
coordinator for Wayne County's
Department of Social Services
said, "We need more Black
THE ORGANIZATIO 'S
goal is two fold. First, it
"strives to make churches and
religious groups throughout the
tate aware that children still
need temporary and permanent
homes," and second, it "strive
(to make) at least 250 presenta­
tions to churches and religious
groups ... in Calhoun, Genesse,
Ingham, Kalamazoo, Kent, Mus­
kegon, Oakland, Saginaw,
Washtenaw and Wayne Counties
Civil Rights Department steadily decreasing cas.eloact
plaints, 38 percent of the total -- Most complaint (33 per ..
filed: Allegations of ex dis- cent) are filed by individuals be­
crimination accounted for 316 tween the age of 30-39.
complaints, (12 percent); fol- - Discharge i the most com­
lowed by age, 216 (8.1); physi- mon complaint in employment
cal handicap, 192 (7.2); national (44.2 percent), followed by un ..
origin, 89 (3.3); and retaliation, fair working conditions (17.5). :
63 (2.4). - Refu al to rent wa the
The Department al 0 accepts most common complaint filed in
complaints ba ed on arrest housing (45 percent). Unfair
record, color, height, marital terms followed at 25 percent. :
tatus, religion, weight and the - Under law enforcement;
various combinations. These 28 percent or 43 complaint al­
factors make up the remaining lege phy ical and verbal abuse.
1,006 new complaints filed in - Mos t education com-
fiscal 1991. plaints allege disciplinary ex-
Other complaint highlights pulsion.
include: - Refu al of ervice c-
- The Detroit office ac- counted for 75 percent of com­
ce pted 65 percent of all new plaints filed again t place of
complaints filed, followed by public accommodation, uch a
Lansing (6.7 percent), Orand retail trade. Under public er-
Rapid (6:6), Flint (5.7), vice, the majority of complaints
Saginaw (5.3). Battle Creek were filed against tate agencies
(2.8), Benton Harbor (�.7) and and municipalitie .
Muskegon (2.0).
Since 1988, the case load has
decreased by 1,304 complaints.
The average time to proces s a
case has also decreased from
14.6 month in 199i) to 12.1
months in 1991.
- Castillo aid, "We have only
70 investigators to handle an
average of 6,000 new com­
plaints each year. It's important
for the public to know that we
have reduced our staff, closed
three offices and are still
making every effort to provide
the most effective and efficient
services possible."
in awards of $2.4 million to 642
claimants. Adjustments favor­
ing claimants accounted for 22
percent of the total cases closed.
First half statistics also
revealed the Department ac­
cepted 2,677 new complaints,
wi th 2,455 or 91 percent alleg­
ing discrimination in employ­
ment. Places of public
accommodation are second ac­
counting for 6� complaints (2.5
percent); housing, 64 (2.4); law
enforcement, 43 (1.6); educa­
tion, 30 (1.1) and places of
public service, 17 (.6). '
Blacks filed a total of 1,517
complaints (61 percent); Whites
filed 816 complaints (33 per­
cent); Hispanics, 92 (3.7); Na­
tive American, 14 (.6); and
Asians, 5 (.2). Women filed
more than 53 percent of all new
complaints.
Claimants cited race as a dis­
criminatory factor in 1,011 com-
The Michigan Department of
Civil Rights has resolved more
complaints than it received
during the fir t half of fiscal
1991.
"We are doing what we set out
to do," said Civil Rights Direc­
tor John Roy Castillo. "We are
continuing to reduce the active
case load which makes it pos­
sible to handle new complaints
more efficiently."
The Department's E force­
ment Bureau resolved a total of
2,897 complaints from October
1, 1990, to March 31, 1991. The
total case load has been reduced
to 5,672 or 194 fewer com-
'plaints than reported in fiscal
1990.
CIVIL RIGHTS efforts to
resolve complaints during the
first half of fiscal 1991 resulted
A. Philip Randolph
• ·International Affairs, was
.. born. 1946 - Reagle
Jackson,. baseball player,
was born.
.
••
ANSWERS TO aLACK
HISTORY QUESTIONS
1
M.l. King scholar hips awarded
12th - Freetown is the
capital of Sierra Leone.
13th - Eubie Blake.
14th - Baptist and
Methodists.
15t - Large Black.­
owned in urance com­
panies.
16th Warren
Gamaliel Harding. Hi
family was ometimes
referred to a8 "the Nigger
Harding ." ,
17th - Jefferson Davis.
18th -- J mes J. Brad­
dock in 1937. The contract
'had a clause which read
. 'that Braddock would be
paid a pecified urn from
future Loui pur e In the
event of defeat.
. ,
Committee for Black Graduates.
The committee is affiliated with
the Alumni Association at U-M.
ANN ARBOR-Fifty high
chool seniors have been
elected to receive the Martin
Luther King Scholarship at The
University of Michigan. .
Chosen by the U-M Reunion
Committee for Black Graduates,
they will receive the non-renew­
able merit award of $1,000
each if they enroll in the U-M at
Ann Arbor in the fall of 1991.
The 301 applicants submitted
two letters of recommendation
and an essay de cribing their
"views, values and commitment
to human right which either
para 11 e I or re fte ct jhe
philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr."
The cholar hip i supported
by funds rai ed by the Reunion
Detroit; Robin Meriweather;
Romulu ; Candace Mile, Ber­
rlen Sprln I; II. MOIs,
Detroit; Brandon Nichols,
Detroit; Mychelle Overton,
Pa w Paw; Annltrece Ra I �
YpSilanti; Erin Smith, Detroit;·
Amena t tunl, Grand
Rapid; Cherlo U sery�
Detroit; Joy Wa hlnato ,Mid.
land; Monica Williams, Mt.:
Morrl nd Danlelle Wln.to ':
Romulu .
THO E MICHIGAN tu-
dent elected and their home
town are:
Deldre Alford, W. Bloom­
field; Nn emeka Am n se,
Detroit; Mark Ardayflo,
outhrte ld, Tracee Child,
Detroit; Tabor Con tanten­
nl , Detroit; T mlk C�rry,
outhfleld; Michelle Edward,
Detroit; Ar n 0 eu, Gr nd
R pld ; Kent y Garvin, Pon­
ti c; Michelle G kill, Detroit;
Alethea Gordon, E st L n -
In ; Ayana Hlhton, Detroit;
Kimberly Jame, Grand.
R pld ; L kel ha Matbe
Linda D. Bernar:d, Executive Director, W yne County
Nelabbor ood Leaal ervlce applaud Governor Dou I Wilder
durlna his reee t vi It to Detroit. Governor Wilder tbe
N.A.A.C.P. reedo und Din er' keynote peaker on prll 28,
1991. An tl at d 10,0 I dlvldual ere In attendance.