trong one.
Publl h d each
Sund yby
New Day Enterprise
12541 Second Street
P.O. Box 03560
Highland Park, MI 48203
(313) 869-0033
FAX (313) 869-0430
BENTON HARBOR
BUREAU
175 Main Street
Benton Harbor, M149022
(616) 927-1527
FAX (313) 927-2023
Publish r:
Charles D. Kelly
Editor:
Teresa Kelly
Managing Editor:
Wanda F. Roquemore
Office A i tant:
Catherine R. Kelly
Contributor :
Bernice Brown
Salama Gordon
Mary Golliday
Allison Jones
Ftodean Riggs
LeahSamuef
Nathaniel Scott
Ron Seigel
Carofyn Warfield
Vera White
Production Manager:
Kascene Barks
Prod ctlon:
Kai Andrich
Anita Iroha
Account executive:
Earlene Tolliver
Marketing Executlv
Alvin Clemons
-
I D I Dthtth
April march ignaled much
high r vi ibility for bortion rights
in th 1 2 election. While the
Suprem Court eem poi d to
overturn the landmar Roe v. W de
ruling which guaranteed women'
righ to a legal abortion, many
federal re trictions already deny
many women of color that
y
Con i woman orton said
be wa not daunted by the
predominantly white crowd.
"1 know that Bla wom n are
pro choice," h tated during an
interview at the march.
than white women to re ort to
dangerous illegal bortion that
often led to death or rio health
complications. early all women
who obtained legal abortions were
wealthy, white, patien who could
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and that he wanted me on his slate.
I also knew that other members of
the Carey slate were reformers
fighting for the same thing I was-a
union for the rank and file.
LN: How do you answer people
who say Carey picked you as. a to�en
to run on his slate and help him wm?
lli: Carey did not elect me;
union members did-people who
know me and what I stand for.
I was the top vote-getter in tbJ
Central Conference, and 1 didn't get
thb e votes on Carey's coattails. I
am qualified.
Carey picked me because I'm
hones t and I want a real rank and file
union.
LN: What did this election teach
you?
Ellis: I learned first hand about
problems facing Teamster members
outside of trucking-nurses,
clericals, and airline workers.
Mos t of all, I was told that the
union was not representing workers.
Important Calls
LN: The campaign was volatile.
Can you tell us about that?
Ellis: There are a lot of problems
with mob ties. I've had treats on my
life and on my family. So did Ron
Carey. I still get them. A Local 705
readily available, the Center will
have a hand in increasing recogni­
tion of the Orangeburg Massacre
as a major incident of the civil
rights era.
"The central problem is lack of
access to resources. The average
teacher has no idea how to find
such materials, and our Center can
assist them in locating teaching
material," aid Dr William Ferris,
director of the Center. "The Oran­
geburg tape is one of several audio,
video and printed resource
materials offered by the Center.
The radio docudrama on the
Orangeburg Massacre captured
the Gold Medal for the b t history
program and the Silver Medal for
th be t ocial is ues program in
the prestigious international radio
program competi tion of The New
York Fe tivals. It was the only
program produced by an inde­
pendent studio among the nearly
1,800 other radio programs
entered from around the world.
Beacham; Orangeburg cript
follows the tragic cene of con­
frontation between Black
demonstrator and the South
Carolina highway patrol docu­
mented in Bass and Nelson's book.
) According to the official report
business agent threatened my life.
On February .1, 1991, when I was
nominated as convention delegate,
they beat up my entire slate at the
local union hall. I've had six sets of
tires slashed and my car torched.
The upport of my fa:nily and
belief in what I'm doing is what has
seen me through. Now when I get a
threatening phone call, we'll joke
about it. My son will say, "Dad, you
just got an important phone call."
LN: Can there be an effective
Black caucus within the Teamsters?
Ellis: Yes. Formerly, the Black
caucus was used as a springboard for
better positions for its members. It
was not open to rank and file
Teamsters.
It did not educate or help in
building rank and file �warene�s and
activism. It was a dictatorship. It
cannot go back to that.
LN: What does the Carey victory
mean to be top dQg-the leadership
or the membership. This election
exposed the en�re labor n:t0vement
to reform.
LN: How do you feel about
TDU?
. Ellis: TDUers are pioneers,
taking on issues. They have have my
same style of fighting. TDU was on
the right track all the time.
/
adio rama tells
Orangeburg M'a acre
of the incident, the crowd was riot­
ing.
. PATROLMEN FIRED into
the crowd of demonstrators killing
three and wounding 27.
However, Bass and Nelson
reported that most of the
demonstrators were shot in the
back and in the soles of their feet
and that none of the Black
demonstrators had a weapon. The
media, which knew few details of
the incident, largely went along
with Sough Carolina government
officials 'version.
tiThe Orangeburg Massacre"
tape can be purchased for $20 (PI us
6 percent sales tax for Mis issippi
re idents). Friends of the Center
members get a 10 percent dis­
count.
There is a $2.50 handling
charge for the first tape and $1.50
for each additional tape ordered.
Orders accompanied with pay­
ment should be ent to The Center.
for the Study of Southern Culture,
The University of Mi si ippi,
University, MS 38677.
Call (601) 232-5993 for further
information.
BY MAKING THE recording
When the history .books reach
back and write TDU, I want my
name there. I want my grandkids to
know that this is what the whole
election was about-reform.
By MARY HOLLENS
Rttprintfld from ubor Notfls
Leroy Ellis, newly electe� vice
president of the Inter national
Brotherhood of Teamsters, is the
first African American el�cted by the
union's members. Whtle no one
knows for sure, some estimate that
there are as many a 400,000
African-Americans in the Teamsters.
Born in Greenwood; Mis is ippi;
Ellis luis bun a Teamster for 17
year . Mo t recently, he worked for
Roadway Express and was a member
of IBT Local 705.
Ellis is a fighter, and not only for
reform in the Teamsters union. He is
a former sparring partner for
Muhammed Ali and a two-time
Chicago Golden Gloves champ.
He recently spoke with labor
Notes about the Teamsters, Ron
Carey, his own election and . the
Teamsters for a Democratic Union.
child -reaeh
, (chIld - rech) n.
LN: When and why were you
approached. to join the Ron Carey
slate?
Ellis: I was in Indianapolis when
Carey approached me about running
on his slate. He said he'd followed
what I had been doing within my
own local, how I was fired beca e
of my work to help the rank and file,
UNIVERSITY, MISS. - The
University of Mississippi's Center
for the Study of Southern Culture
is distributing an award-winning
radio documentary that will help
en ure a heretofore obs�ure
tragedy's proper place in the
record of the civil rights era.
The Center is serving as dis­
tributor of "The Orangeburg Mas­
sacre," a highly praised docudrama
of the February 1968 clash be­
tween Black demonstrators and
white South Carolina highway
patrolmen based on a book about
the incident by Ole Miss Professor
of Journalism Jack Bass and Jack
Nelon, then both Sough Carolina
journalists. It is available for pur­
cha e through the Center at 20 per
tape.
The confrontation re ulted in
the death of tree Black students.
Twenty-seven other were
wounded.
Major actors -- including
David Carradine, Blair Under­
wood and James Whitmore -
gave dramatic performances in the
program, which aired on American
Public Radio on the event's 23rd
anniversary .
"
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