winne
let.
Jac on id he visited Hamlet
iden to" inspire them so they
can get better and not bitte !'
In the evening, hundred of
people jammed into the St. Stephen
AM.E. Zion church to hear Jackson.
He told them that Hamlet may come
to symbolize workers' righ in much
the same way that Birmingham, Al .,
stands for civil rights.
"God has a way of doing big
things in mall towns," he said.
Harold Miller, pastor of First
Baptist Church, said most Hamlet
residents welcomed Jackson's visit.
"He came at a good time," Miller
said. "We've got to get through this
thing, and he is a great inspiration.'
Relatives of those killed in the
fire agreed.
. "WE WANT TO get organized,
not only for Black but also for
whites," said Martin Quick, husband
of Mary Alice Quick. "These people
have been working in fear and they
died in fear.'
Ratliff, 19, whose 20-
. tar ��thia died in tbe
be didn't want the plant to
"I· e victims should get all
they can frOm the company because
they deserve it," he said. "It's not
, like we're glad this happened so that
. we can get money. I hope they close
the thing down."
Earlier Tuesday, Jackson met in
Charlotte with families of some of
those injured in the fire. "My con­
cern is that there are many other
plants with workers who are just as
exposed as these workers were in
Hamlet," Jackson told families of
victims being treated at Carolinas
Medical Center. "They could be
killed because of government
neglect" Jackson said "a kind of
conspiracy" contributed to the
deaths and injuries.
"Now is the time to draw a line in
the sand so that this will never hap­
pen again," he said.
"These people upstairs are sick
and injured through no faulJ of their
own. They were left unprotected,"
he said.
JACKSON VISITED SIX of
the eight workers being treated at the
Charlotte hospital Tuesday moming.
1\v_Q patients were released later in
the day. Reporters were not allowed
in the rooms.
Hospital spokesman Alan Taylor
said Jackson gave each patient a red
rose and chatted with them for a few
minutes. "Even the most seriously
ill of the patients could acknowledge
that he was there," Taylor said.
Albert Hatcher, 23, of Rockin­
gham, whose mother is in critical
condition with smoke inhalation and
second-degree bums, said Jackson's
visit could help change conditions.
"He could put on the pressure fOJ
people like the man who owns this
plant to see that things like this don't
happen again," said Hatcher, whose
mother was not visited by Jackson.
Hi mother worked in the
. processing area of the plant, where
the fire started, he said. "People y
he's lucky to be alive," he said. "It
wasn't luck; it was a miracle."
Workers in the South are paid the
lowest wages,.bave the worst health
insurance coverage and have the
lowest level of job safety, Jackson
said. Their working conditions are
"beneath the dignity of human
beings," he said.
nnu
I
o
U E PLOY ENT
Unemployment rat for both Bl c and whit averaged
at higher levels in Michigan than in the n lion a whole from
1971 to 1989 (year 0 th recent vailable data). But for
Blac , it . grimmer picture till. Th finding:
- Blac male unemployment in Michigan grew at a rate
bout triple that for white males.
- The gap in BI c -white male unemployment grew
twi fast in Michigan in the nation a whole.
-Th youthBI ck-white unemployment gap grew bout
eight time faster in Michigan than in the United State .
- Back female unemployment rose at 1.7 percent a year
on average in Michigan, while white female unemployment
declined by .7 percent
- Whito female unemployment declined at a slower rate
in Michigan than the nation as a whole.
-Th female Black-white unemployment gap grew about
one and one-half times more rapidly in Michigan than in the
United States.
BLACK-OWNED BUSINESS
In the area of Black-owned businesses, "The State ofBlac�
MiChigan: 1991" shows continued underrepresentation of
Black-owned businesses in Michigan and the nation as a
whole. When compared with the percentage of Blacks in the
population. Data cover 1982 to 1987 (year of the most recent
available information).
Among the 16 states with more than 2,000 Black-owned
firms with paid employees, Michigan ranks 15th, after
Califo� New Yor iDeis, Ohio and 10 outhem tate .
In 1987, the United States had a total of 140 firms with
l ck Michigan r. port·
tion ly per 10,
17 per 10 0 the B c popul tion in Ml'( �Ur.llln
Cl ified by ind try, bout 53 percent of 'chi
Bl c -owned firms in 1987 ere in rvi ,17 percent in
retai! and 6.5 percent ere in finance, insurance real
t teo Others were in wholesale de, manufacturing and
constru tion.
Other findi� on Bl c -0 cd b in
- In 1990, Blac were 13.9 percent of Michigan'
popul tion and 11.1 percent of the popul tion nationwide, but
they owned 2.1 percent of th Michigan firms with paid
employees compared with 2.0 percent in the nation (1987
ownership data).
- The countie with the largest number of Black-owned
firms with paid employees in 1987 were WaYne, Oakland,
Gene ee, Washtenaw, Kent and Ingham.
- Oakland and Ingham counties led the growth in the
number of Black-owned firms from 1982 to 1987. Oakland
led counties in average receipts per firm ($536,000), more
than three times the receipts in Wayne County.
- Southfield and Lansing led Michigan cities in the
growth of the number of Black-owned firms between 1982-
87. Southfield's growth rate was 140 percent, Lansing' w
118 percent .
- Black-owned firms have scarcely begun to enter the
U.S. mainstream. In 1987, the entire "Top 100" listed in
"Black Enterprise" had sale of $4.1 billion, approximately
the same sales recorded by a single firm, Scott Paper Co., as
listed iri the "Fortune 500."
LARGE BLACK-OWNED FIRMS
For Michigan' large Black-owned. businesse , there'
so�e good new .
The firms listed in "Bl ck Enterprise" in 1982 that con­
tinued to be listed in 1989 increased their sales in the seven­
year period by almost 20 percent annually, a respectable
growth rate in current dollars, as well in inflation-adjusted
dollars,
The "Top 31" Bl c -owned firms in Michigan in 1989,
listed in "Blae Enterprise" or in "Crain's 'Detroit B iness,"
bad combi of $831 million, a substantial increase
from 1987. .
PAST CO DATJO
The 1991 edition of "The State of BI c Michigan"
revie the range of topi ddressed in previo Y
analyzes are 0 continuing concern.
Since 1984, 28 utho from Michigan State Unive ity,
University of Michigan, Oakland University and )'DC Sta
University have presented anal of the 1 t t da on a
range of pressing societal problems.
Their tudi have co . tcully revealed deteriorating
condition among Michigan' Bl ck citize compared with
whites, resulting in a widening ocioeconomic p on
b i of race. Yet little or no legislative action ulted.
Recommendations presented in the earlier repo are
analyzed in thi year's "The State of Bl c Michigan" by
members of a think-tank assembled in 1990.
Resul of their wolk include upda recommendations,
by category, to "help dvance the State of Michigan on the
road to justice and equality." Categories include: civil rights,
crime, economic' ues, education, employment, family is­
sues, bealth and bousing ..
AUTHORS
Contributing authors for "The Slate of Black Micbipn:
1991 are:
- N. Charle Anderson, president and chief executive
officer of the Detroit Urban League, and cba.irperson of the
Michigan Council of Urban League Executives:
- Joe T. Darden, professor of geography and dean of
Urban AffiliIS Programs, Michigan State University;
- Augustin K.. Fosu, associate professor of economics,
Oakland University; and
- Karl D. Gregory, professor of economics aDd manage­
ment, Oakland UnivcIlity.
Editor is Frances S. Tbom, tam profclsor, Urban
Affairs Programs, Michigan State University.
Facing the challenge to make
Black males productive:
Male Acadel11ie
By Carolyn Warfield
COlftspond.",
where heads tart through second .
grade are taught.
Housed in Woodward School,
Clifford Watson runs the Malcolm X
Academy where Kindegarten
through 5th grade are offered.
The Garvey Academy, in the
annex of Marxhausen School
teaches grades 3 through 5.
One grade will be added annually
until the program expands to include
8th grade.
THERE A�E approximately
600 boys in the three facilities with
class offerings for youngsters of all
. The plan is to rellnk
the children with their
.. ancestral pa t
through empha Izlng
world study.
Multiculturl m I the
means by which
students can cultivate
bllllnguallsm and
geogr!lphy..
"Young man you are a member of
the Marcus Mosiah Garvey
Academy. This is the last day you
will chew gum in this building. Nor
are earrings and tails (a fad hairstyle)
allowed in this academic environ­
ment."
With those words, Harvey L.
Hambrick, headmaster of the Garvey
Academy, on Detroit'S eastside, ad­
dressed the young students enrolled
in one of Detroit's controversial all­
male academies.
An amicable but firm
man, he decried how
Black masculin oppres-
sion has made boys and
adult males vulnerable by
discrimination and pover-
ty. r
A trong, Black Mis­
sis ipi·.n patriarchy
taught .um how to accept
respo' asiblity for himself \
and others. "The men in
11' I family and neighbor­
, .ood taught me who I was
and what was expected of
me."
A CIVIL RIGHTS
aclivi tome 30 years
past in Laurel. Mississip-
pi. Hambrick recounts how he under-
tands clearly the motivations and
frustrations African-Americans face
from daily assaults on their psyches.
Especially how Eurocentric males
minimize Black males' personal and
mental construct through chastize­
ment and fear.
Hambrick taught in Missi ippi a
hort while before moving to Detroit
in the early 60' where he h dedi­
cated 25 years to the Detroit public
chools. Selected amid '248 state­
men of intere t, he was chosen to
implement one of Detroit's male
academies.
Ray Johnson is the principal of
Paul Robe on Academy located in
the b ment of Cooper Elementary
On September 9, 29 girls trans­
ferred to the academies.
"Marcu Garvey's Universal
Negro Improvement Association
and his work during the Harlem
Reni nee were mastermind plans
to get Blacks to become more bUlI­
nes minded. Garvey's name,
cleared of unjust charges in 1987,
should be a fundamental re on to
address the national urban crisis that
�as Black males endangered; in
commitment to helping them ac­
complish imProved scool tic per­
formance, to engender economic
renumeration and empowerment,"
Hambrick continued,
"AFTER
STUDYIN G various
academic perfor-
mance models rela­
tive to mascuUne
academic achieve­
ment, the task forte is
certain its approach is
sound. Once we
if this educational
design work. in
Detroit over the next
three years, we will
take the flndinp to
replicate it
throughout the dis­
trict. There is no
, doubt that Detroit can
become a model chool district with
team effort from parents, students
and teachers," Hambric said.
"The plan is to reUnk the children
with their alKUtral past ugh em­
p izing world tudy. Multicu1�
turism is the means by whicb
tuden can cultivate bilingualism
and geography. World geography
will demonstrate where the Blae
race has fit into the political
pectrum during p t centuries and
recent decades. Study of the world
will integrate and reOect a true hi.­
tory of all peopl enablihng today's
student to co-exist in an environmen
where all can work and live.":
WINNERS- Arthur Johnson � eated left), Vonnlta Johnson (standing)
and Tracy Mann (seated right), shown with Michael T. Monahan,
president of Manufacturers Nation Bank of Detroit, are the 199)
recipients of the Manufacturers Bank Minority Scholarships. The tbrve
Wayne State University tudents each received a one-year, $1,500
hoi rshlp to the University' School of Bu lne Admin tration and
recently completed their internship with the Bank.
Thoma'
ex-wife hie
from reporter
BOSTON (AP) Kathy
Grace Ambush, former
wife of Supreme Court
nominee Clarence Thomas
will not comment on her
former husband' nomina­
tion.
The two met while stu­
dents at Holy Cross Col­
lege in Worcester, and
were married there on June
5, 1971. They had a son,
Jamal. in 1973.
The couple separated in
1981. Their divorce was
finalized on July 16, 1984.
Thomas was granted cus­
tody of their son and later
remarried.
Mrs. Thomas, a Newton
resident, works at the pres­
tigious Milton Academy as
head of the M ssachusetts
Advanced Study Program.
achievement levels.
"Everybody was' thoroughly
screened: the teachers, tudents and
parents. Sixty days lapsed in gather­
ing my 16 member staff. After­
ward the teeners received 40 hours
normative culture training from the
Glen Mills Corporation plus 40
hours of African centered training.
They're all computer literate, multi­
talented and have chieved personal
growth and development."
A co-educational mandate im­
posed August 15 by the Federal Dis­
trict Court following a lawsuit filed
by a Detroit mother and her daug­
thers declared the all-male enroll­
ment unconstitutional. so the Bo8J'd
approved 136 for ferna! .