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THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1M3
-Salem (Chronicle
"Power concedes nothing without a struggle." ? Frederick Douglass
VOL XIX, No. 43
Medicine Woman
Double Dutch
Local hospital employee named Public
Health Nuree of the Year .
Youths to travel overseas to introduce
new techniques of Jumping rope .
Long Ignored , Black Hair-Care Now Lures White Firms
. . .
A Does $67M sale of Johnson Products signal beginning of end for black-owned cosmetic firms?
NEW YORK ? Does the sale of Chicago-based
Johnson Products Inc. signal the beginning of oblivion
end of training, employment and supplier opportunities
for blacks in that industry?
Questions about the ftiture of black-owned cos
metics and hair-care companies were iaised by the sale
of Johnson Products to Ivax Corp., a white-owned con
glomerate. Ivax is paying an estimated $67 million in
the deal announced last week.
The purchase gives Ivax, which already owns
theJFkxLRobeiis line of black cosmetics, a stronger
presence in a burgeoning industry. Retail sales of eth
nic hair-care, skin-care and cosmetics products grew 6
percent in 1992, creating a $547 million market,
according to Packaged Facts Inc., a New York-based
research Aim.
"Growth in the market is inevitable.
said
Pacts president David A. Weiss. "It's all in the census
data.*'
Twenty years ago, corporate America pretty
much ignored this niche. Now, Weiss warned, Slack
companies may lose out" if white-owned firms swal
low them up and try to knock out smaller rivals.
Lafayette Jones, president of Segmented Mar
keting Services Inc. (SMSI) of Winston-Salem, said
the Johnson Products deal could be a harbinger of
more sales of black-owned personal products firms.
44 As more players come to the table with differ
ent kinds of resources and deep pockets, it makes it
more difficult for African-American companies to play
the game," Jones said.
"Consolidation of the ethnic hair-care category
is inevitable. . . Jones said. "The handwriting is on
the wall: Consolidate or perish."
PkaM* tte page A3
Black Group
<
States Plans
3y RICHARD L. WILLIAMS ? :
?x! DAVID L DILLARD
Chroniclt Suff Writer*
A group of local African Americans who recently
visited Louisville, Ky. on a exploration said they were
impressed with some aspects of the city, but were dis
turbed by the low number of blacks present for panel
discussions.
. Black presenters were represented on two of the
four panel discussions ? race relations and education.
No were part of the preisntations on economic
iiii I iiiijiaiini jBgant "*"*
I ?, - T - ?
Please stt page A13
* 4>
0) Art MUUgan were a part of a delegation that recently visited Louisville.
Cops Threaten
Hunt Witness
Ex-con recants testimony
By DAVID L IXLLARD
Chronicle Suff Writer
A witness who could spell the
difference between freedom and
continued imprisonment for Darryl
Eugene Hunt said he lied under
oath this week becausc of death
threats moments before he was to
testify.
Blair (Willis) Reynolds
recanted that testimony a day later
and said although he fell Hunt was
innocent, he didn't tell anyone
about information he had because
he had been threatened by two
police officers before Hunt's second
trial in 1990.
He said he did not know who
made the threatening call on Mon
day.
Pitas* see page A3
" ' ??? ? p7 /
Volunteers Help Lives through Gift ofXjiving
At 31, squad ages gracefully
By MARK R. MOSS
Chronicle Staff Writer
The 25 men and women who
occupy a small, wood-frame, sin
glc-story house on Diggs Boule
vard are a rare breed.
They spend many hours of
the day away from their families
volunteering help to strangers who
mayhave suffered a heart attack
or who may have been hurt in a
car wreck or who may have fallen
in a freak accident and couldn't
These dedicated men and
women make up the' Southeast
Winston Resque Squad.
"I don't have any money to
give the black community," said
Pleas e see page A3
Capt. Billy Glenn, who for more
than 20 years has been a volun
teer. "But by volunteering, this is
my way of giving back something
I can afford."
Melvin Stowe and a fei
other altruistic African Americans
founded the then-Air King Rescue
Squad in 1962 out of a house in
the heart of East Winston. Since
then they have worked to provide
service to thousands of residents.
"Our goal," said squad Chief
George Crawford, "is to fulfill
of helping the community."
To help cany out that goal, the
rescue squad is looking for a new
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Community News M
Editorials A10
Entertainment CI
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Religion C6
Sports Bl
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Member* of ike Southeast Winston Rescue Squad on Diggs Boulevard .
Ex- Worker Files Discrimination Suit against Integon
? When Clemmons woman's loyalty to company ended, so did her job
By MARK R. MOSS
Cknmidt Sttff Writer
During her 21 years at Integon Life Insurance Co.,
Alfreda Robinson said she tried to play the role that
America has set fovth for blacks in the corporate world.
She lunched mostly with her white colleagues and
often discussed the work habits of black co-workers
with her white superiors. She carried herself the way
"theyw expected her to act and even lived in the "right"
community.
But all of those acts of endearment did not keep the
company from firing her, she said, and she has taken
legal action together job back.
Robinson in February filed a discrimination lawsuit
against her long-time employer and immediate supervi
sor, Nancy Maloney. She is suing for reinstatement to
her job and compensation for the pain the loss of her job
has caused her.
They have really mined my corporate career, w said
Robinson, 47. "My retirement, my benefits. . . . They
ruined my life over bull. Fm not the most marketable
person around."
Mary Beth Yates, an Integon spokesman, refused to
comment on the suit, saying, "it is our policy not to
comment on litigation."
Robinson was fired from her $25,000-a-year job in
February after being out of work for four months. She
said she took the time off due to stress.
Robinson, a loquacious, energetic woman, said in a
recent interview inside her spacious home in Oemmons
West that her ordeal began March 1992. She alleges that
Nancy Maloney, manager of commission accounting
and the other defendant in the lawsuit, had confided in
her that Maloney was determined to get rid of the black
members of the staff. Robinson was lead commission
analyst, a position just below Maloney's. They were
"good friends/ she said, and Maloney would often talk
to her about the other black employees.
"She considered me different She felt comfortable
talking to me about the other black employees," Robin
son said. They used to talk to me like I was white."
Of the 30 employees on staff, 10 were black. By
the time Robinson had left Integon, Maloney had gotten
rid of all but one, Robinson alleged.
Robinson said she got on the wrong side of Mal
oney when Maloney wanted to get rid of one black
woman in particular. When the personnel department
called Robinson to ask her about the woman's abilities
PUau Sit page A3
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