u
J
5-11, 92
•
•
•
,
d, 7, died while
River 0 H lth
• Born J mes C. Booker, Jr., at
: Provident Hospital, he w the onof
noted Jet Mag zine journ Ii t
: Simeon Booker.
: An 11- tar football player and
• honor tudent in W hington, D.C.,
: where he grew up, he attended Cor­
: nell University but quit after becom­
: ing di enchanted with the
: contradiction of living the "Ivy
• Leag "life and witn ing th suf­
: fering of his people in the streets of
• America.
After a few years of furthering his
• education on his own by delving into
political science and history,
Muhammad returned to Howard
University and then to American
University .
AACP
_ Editor: The following is repre­
, sented from The Michigan Mobi­
lizer, newsletter of the NAACP. It is
a report called "Post Convention
Bulletin"
, By BETTY THOMAS GILKEY ,
1 StIr. CIY/reB•on, Pre .. " Publicity.
Rodney Coleman of General
Motors Corporation delivered a
-soul-stirring, thought-provoking
message, at the 55th Annual Awards
. Luncheon, which cautioned against
"scapegoating our plight in
. America. " Here are some of his
I mo t profound remarks:
-When our government reneged
on its "40 acres and a mule" promise,
Blacks fought to ensure their sur­
vival and progress. In the face of
'·incredible adversity and oppression,
. they marched on despite the insen­
itivity of the courts, the congress,
and presidents.
B fore completin hi t di , h
m rried hi wif, Zenobi , on
D mb r 14, 197 .
Muhammad join d the tion of
I I m Iter aring I cture by Min­
i � rLoui F rrakh nin1 7.
He quickly r to th po ition of
Captain of th Fruit of 11m in
Wa hington, D.C., then on to
Chicago in 1982 to j t with the
admini tration 0 th budding n tion
of Islam nd with th publication of
the Final Call ew paper.
In 19 4, he w· promoted to
Edltor-In-Chiet, and al 0 served as
pre relations for Mini ter Farrak­
han and w n i tant mini ter at
Mo que Maryam in Chicago.
During hi tenure, Muhammad
traveled to four continents and 20
countrie and has interviewed head
of state and revolutionary leaders.
A recipient of the 1991 John B.
Ru swurm Editorial Excellence
Award and vice award ,Muhammad
also hosted a Chica 0 Acce s Cable
Television Show, "What' Going
On."
Muhammad i urvived by his
wife, Zenobia: ix children Akmal,
Cre cent, Luqman, Amira, Zainab
and Farrakhan; his father, Simeon
peaker
-I know that I would not now be
an executive with GM or have had
any of the careers I've had if it were
not for all those who struggled for
equal opportunity in America before
meor you!
- We should honor our ancestors
with a renewed commitment to the
ideals by which they devoted their
lives. It's time for us to concede that
we're not doing all we should to en­
sure our collective well-being and
survival. It's time to bring it out of
the history books and into our lives.
-If left to me, I'd call a
moratorium on excuses and issue a
challenge, especially to Black
Americans, to et aside our alibi . If
we it here and let a president, a
governor, a mayor, a lukewarm con­
gress, and retrogressive Supreme
Court or anybody stop us, we should
be ashamed!
-If we allow a third of Black
America to wallow in poverty, allow
v
Min. bdul W Ii Muh mm d
Booker.Jr.; mother, Thelma Booker;
brother, Simeon III: iter There a
BOOker-Bryant; nephew, Simeon IV
and nieces, Rita and Helen Bryant.
I
•
aCI
m,.
young Black men to keep being
gunned down at alarming rates and
watch our people become lave to
the drug trade, hi lory will embarra
us. .
-If we, in our plit-level homes
with our college degree, our
BMWs, our PhDs and our frater­
nities and sorori ties, allow the so­
called Black undercla s to Ianguish,
history will record us as the first
generation that left Black America
worse off than we found it.
-We are not poor people, but too
many of us are poor in our vision,
poor in our wi llingness to pull
together, poor in our outlook, poor in
approach, and poor in elf-e teem.
-This year, Black American
will earn clo e t 3 billi n, which
equals the 9th richest nation in the
free world .
We're 12% of the population, and
it's been said that we buy 18% of the
orange juice, 20% of the rice, 96% of
. '
Black writers'conference set for Kalamazoo
By DANNY COOKS
Co"e."on den t
An au-day Black Writers Con­
ference is cheduled for the last
Tue day of July 1992 in Kalamazoo,
according to one of the conference
organizers, Dr. G. Wyatt. Sydnor.
"Black writers and potential Black
writers from throughout the' Great
Lakes States and beyond need to in­
terface and network, to do what they
do in an environment that's supper-
tative." She added, "Obviously,
we're talking about the first of an
annual event."
Features of the conference in­
clude three workshop covering
de ktop publishing of new papers
and newsletters, understanding the
business of writing and the use of the
proper tools to get the job done: ell­
ing ware in'th marketplace of
ideas. A managing editor of Ebony
Magazine i cheduled to give a
keynote presentation.
A buffet lucheon and entertain­
ment by orne of Michigan'
renowned poets are additional attrac­
tions. The conference, ponsored by
the Michigan Citizen and
Kalamazoo's Black Arts & Cultural
Center (BACC), will be held at
BACC, 225 Parson , Kalamazoo.
Sydnor, Fund Raiser for BACC, aid
she hope the co t of the conference
can be kept below $50.00 per person ..
•
conomic
th Florsheim hoe .and 12%ofnew
cares. About 56% of us own our own
homes, Blacks between ages 12 and
24 buy about 50% of all movie tick­
ets, and we drink 20% of the Scotch
whiskey.
-If you took Blacks out of
America, Wall Street would collapse
last week.
We're not poor. We'r a cultural
economic market.
-Every ther ethnic group and
racial group turn their money over
in their neighborhood from 5 to 12
times before it leave their hands.
TIley pend their money in a 360
degree angle-m a circle.
In the Black community, we turn
ourmoneyoverwith one another less
·3
and
than once. We p nd it in a 1 0
degree angle-directly away from
ourselve .
-There is no way you can pend
95% of your money with omeone
else and blame them for lOO� of
your problem. The only color of
fr edom in America i green!
-To have a movement and a
mindset exclusively for civil rights
guarantee you a econd-rate tatus
forever. We in our community do
not like to address our condition
from the standpoint of economics
when every matter in America, in the
world, is derived from an economic
concern.
-No civil rights bill, no white
people, not �11 the white people in th
world, can liberate us.
. .
-Our students finish at the bdt-
tom of the international te in math
and science. We are trying to com­
pete against Japan with a work for�
that cannot even find Japan on I.a
map!
-It i our responsibility to
demand the highe t ethical and per­
Iorman e tandard of every Black
politican, business owner, educator,
corporate executive, entertainer,
sports figure and young person, no
matter what the situation or ob tac!,.
Nothing should stand in the way of
being absolutely the very best, �t
even racism. A
-To overcome also means WI:,
must finally begin to believe that "all
Black ain't beautiful...and white
ain't right,"
.'
Budget cut strikes two blows .
. By NANCY DONNELLY
Captial New. Service
LA SI G-Michiganwillsuf­
fer two trike in one blow with the
elimination of a job-training pro­
gram for welfare recipients that
provided rvices for state fi h and
wildlife management and recre­
ational facilities.
The Michigan Civilian Con-
rvation Corp w a program
designed even years ago as a take­
off on job-training camps in ti­
tuted during the Great Depression
of the 1930 _
Under the MCCC program,
corps members participated in such
projects as tree planting and ero-
ion control, building trail bridge
and maintaining trails at tate par ,
and constructing state park handi­
cap access facilitie , visitor use
facilitie and camp it . Th Y
were all paid for with D partment
of Natural R ources funds elimi­
nated last month from the fiscal
year 1992 budget by Gov. John
Engl r. .
"We're disappointed to ee the
MCCC go," aid Hank Zurburg,
istant chief of tate parks for the
DNR. IIBut we'll make adjust­
rnents."
ZURBURG AID ome im­
mediately noticeable problem for
Michigan's 96 t t park will
fewer public information ervice
and deer ed peed 0 perati ns,
but long -term probl m will be
different.
"Some things won't be readily
noticeabl .Iike fewer n w bridges
over cree or n w t ire n t
being built," hid. "AI' ,when
thing like tho e get worn out, th y
won't be replaced. II
Six thousand people participat d
in the MCCC' re idential or non­
r id ntial program through pt.
3D, and nearly 70 percent of th
cOJP member have not r turn d to
w Ifare after the av rage ix-m nth
tay .
Tbeprogram provided much mor
. than just aid for Michigan' tate
parks, aid Steve Shcpich Hous
fiscal anaJy t for the DNR and agri­
cultural budget.
IIThi w an educational pro-
gram providing on -on-on int r c­
tion and learning about th nviron­
ment," he aid. "Many corp m rn­
ber went on to get th ir (high chool
equivalencydipl m ) rt c rnrnu­
nity colleges.
It poke f r itself. II
Th ct pr hibits tates from using
fed ral funding to replace tate
funds air ady committed to ser­
vice programs,
Theref re, additional federal­
funding f r tate rvice program r :
could be 10 t if tate funding levels.'
ar n t maintain d. .•
The MCCC was eliminated for.
a f w re ons, including the fact (
that it wa funded as a DNR pro­
gram, not und r the Department ot':
Lab r, and bocau of Michigan's"
,il �
fi cal problems.
"EVERYTHING' BEEN a
product of the fi cal cri i ." said.
Engl r Pre S cretary John:
Truscott. "It' certainly a worth­
while program, but w Ire in a diffi-"
cultfi cal year. We tried to treat all "
program equally. II �,:
Truscott aid the governor in-",
tends to wrap th MCCC and other :
m ney f r th tat. Rev nu 'from rvic program up into one job­
th Departm nt of ial erviccs' training pr gram under the De-
avings due to MCCC enr IIment partm nt of Labor, but Shepich".
rather than DSS paymen ,D aid 0 far nobody has een any- II
ings due to program enr lie thing don: Truscott expressed "
welfare. incomet paid byf rrn r unc rtainty.
corp members in th work f rcc and "Maybe (the Departm ntofLa-
timatedMCCCworkvalu thr ugh bor) h n't tart d yet," Truscott'
Sept. 30� 1991, equal 117.6 mil- aid. "
lion in ben fits f th tat. That" Rep. Tom Alley, D- We t '
more than tripl th total tat appr - Branch, chairman of the House"
priati n of 37.4 milli n f r th Committ n on rvation, Rec-
c rp . ration and Envir nrnent, mourned .
Futherm r , th th I fth MCC .but h didn'tr
th \ pr gram r due
Michigan t r iv m r f d ral
funding for icc program . Th
N ti n landCommunity ic Act
of 1990 provid fund to tal
thr ugh a modified bl k grant pro­
c t tabli h d ch I-b and
full-tim y uth