?
She's Seen It AH
Mary Haywood Blackburn has
seen it all in her 96 years.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, i992
FAIR GRAND OPENING SEE PAGE A2,
PAGES THIS WEEK
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Jackee' Day
Aldermen nameFriday, Oct. 23 as
Jackee' Day to honor Local Lady.
? PAGE A10
Winston-Salem Chronicle
75 cents "The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly" VOL. XIX, No. 8
Mississippi Workers Boycott Furniture Market
MH9|
ood Furniture Employees Launch Nationwide Campaign
Mississippi Furniture workers urge furniture Buyers to Boycott Hood
Products at International Furniture Market Exhibit in High Point,
last weekend during International Home Furniture Market showcase.
By TRAVIS MITCHELL
ChroniclS Staff Writer
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Mississippi furniture workers
crashed High Point's furniture mar
ket in protest of poor working con
ditions.
More than 15 protesters,
employed by Hood Furniture Co.,
spent six hours stealing part of the
International Home Furnishing Cen
ter's spotlight, as they distributed
literature, talking to bfcyer after
buyer.
And urging buyers to listen
after they made a grueling 14-hour
trip by van to the Piedrftont last
weekend.
"We work in an old plant," said
29-year-old Gregory Jenkins.
"Water conditions are bad, facilities
are dilapidated. We have rats and
stray cats, dry-rotted strings holding
light fixtures in the ceiling, and dust
so bad that it sometimes bums sores
in your nose. You can't even put
your lunch down because of
roaches."
While workers were outside
trying to push the boycott, their boss
Robert F. Weber a Thomasville
native, was inside trying taVH buy
ers on his products. Whe^ informed
about his workers' protest, Weber
responded, "We have beoMn nego
tiations for some time. We are still
apart on some items and we have
already made several- concessions."
"Mostly all whites make more
than blacks," said John Jefferson, a
sprayer. "You don't have any whites
working on the assembly
lines. There are people who have
been there since 1983 still making
$4.50 an hour. Their idea of appre
ciation is to give us each a box of
chicken and a Coca-Cola. People
are coming to work hungry and
can't buy lunch because they don't
pay enough. They want to hire peo
ple who don't have much education
or have criminal records so that they
can exploit them."
"We are asking customers to
refrain from buying products that
Hood produces because if they con
tinue to make money, they will
never respond to our needs," said
Willie Rudd, president of the Inter
national Union of Electronic Electri
cal Salaried Machine & Furniture
Workers (U1E).
Rudd has been organizing
workers in Mississippi. They voted
in 1989 for union representation
undeHtJET
Please See Page A2
ON THE
AVANT-GARDE
I5Y I \\<; M\ K I
Were It Not For Us
If It wasn't for Black folks, a whole lot of white
folks in this country ? especially here in North Car
olina ? wouldn't know how to vote come Nov. 3.
Every election year, it is quite common to hear
white politicians complain that Blacks always vote in
blocks; implying of course that Blacks are spineless
creatures unable to think for themselves; always
putting their special interest before that of the coun
try; entering the voting booth as if they were in a
trance, hopelessly controlled by the ghosts of dead
"demon -cratic spirits" ? the party of Roosevelt.
On the other hand, white voters are presented as
being far more sophisticated; they are people who
enjoy studying the issues, one by one. The white man
and his woman evaluate the so-called options facing
him and his family. A wise man, he gives great con
sideration to issues such as character and judgment,
and looks carefully at the candidate's past and his
service to his country.
In the end. the white man will vote even for an
Indian if in his judgment, he knows it is best for his
country. American democracy at its best.
The truth of course is that Black folks ain't the
only ones voting in blocks: white folks is doing it
too, and been doing it for a whole lot longer ? A
fact white politicians know all too well.
Anyone who has studied southern politics will
tell y?u that the key to winning a majority of the
white vote is to convince them that your opponent's
plan will do more for Negroes than yours will.
It is that simple.
All that talk about studying the issues, or having
to take the time to explain the implications of certain
fiscal and social proposals, forget it. White folks
don't have time for that. As far as they are con
cerned. studying the real issu6$ is beneath them; ijf'is
a task for those who clean their homes and rear tiieir
children. Studying the issues is strictly the business
of Negroes. /
The way they figure it, once the NAACP and all
the other civil rights organizations have sorted
through the issues, searched the candidates records,
etc., then present their findings to the masses of bla^k
folks, then and only then will the white folks know
who to vote for and who NOT to vote for. Thus the
white man relies upon the work of the NAACP to
make up his mind, and in the process saves him from
a needless waste of time, worry and finance.
For years the southern white politician's strategy
has always been hinged on the three promises: 1 ) Put
the Negro in jail and keep him there; 2) Take care of
the old confederate veterans, and; 3) Protect the
virtue of white womanhood.
Now that Or Reb has finally died, and white
women have been acting up talking about liberation,
hollering about white men "not getting it," the only
song left for the white politician to sing, nowaday is
the one about "poor old darkey" and how he is steal
ing white folks blind. Yes, once again, it will be left
up to us colored folks to show white fol^the right
way to vote come election day. f
Unlike in the past when politicians would just
holler out and call each other nigger lover, today they
have to be far more sophiusticated. Instead of using
nasty names, you simply imply that your opponent is
"opposed to any kind of get off of workfare pro
gram." The message to white folks of course is that
there are "niggers somewhere out there who are
stealing food stamps and then going off and buying
gold chains and boom boxes and then laughing
Please see page A IS
Woman Files Legal Suit
Against Health Agency
? Mother Sues Forsyth-Stokes Mental
Health Agency for $10 Million Dollars
By TRAVIS MITCHELL done to Lynn/*
Chronicle Staff Writer Canty said.
The mother of a 23-year-old
mentally handicapped woman who
charged Michael Ray White with
rape is suing Forsyth -Stokes Area
Mental Health, Developmental
Disabilities and Substance Abuse
Authority (FSMH) for negligence.
White plead guilty. to two
counts of second degree sexual
assault last week and was sen
tenced to 41/2 years.
Carolyn Canty, is seeking an
estimated S10 million in damages
on behalf of her daughter, Char
lotte Lynn. _
She filed the lawsuit in
Forsyth County Superior Court on
Sept. 13, 1992, which listed Raven
Ridge Group Home, Area Board of
Forsyth-Stokes Mental Health,
Ronald W. Morton, LaQuietta A.
Davis, Bruce L. Halverson and
Michael White as defendants.
"No amount of money in the
world will pay for the injustice
mmm*. ?
#" 4* '* ' ' : ???'
In January 1991, Canty placed
her daughter in the Raven Ridge
Home for developmentally dis
abled adults in Kernersville.
"I got sick in October of 1990
and realized that the thing that I
was most worried about was
Lynn," she sai<t. "After that I
thought that she needed to know
how to take care of herself."
The lawsuit lists Davis,
Halverson and Morton as neglect
ing to investigate Canty' s charge
that White fondled her daughter's
breasts in February 1991.
Davis is former residential
services director for the facility,
Halverson is a supervisor, while
Morton is area director.
Further, the suit mentions
Morton's failure to recognize
White's "dismissal or resignation"
from the Su-Lynn Residential
Home in Guilford County. The suit
indicates White's departure
Please see page A2
Asking A Personal Question
Audience member Marisa Hall , right , poses a question to the candidates during the last presi
dential debate in Richmond , Va. Hall asked the candidates how they were personally affected
by the federal budget deficit. President Bush had problems understanding her question .
UNCF Holds First Annual Award's Banquet
During the gala , Maya Angelou , Jacket , Paii/ Fulton and Joe Dudley Sr. take time to pose
with the ROTC cadets from St. Augustine College and Shaw University.
Tribute to Angelou, Dudley, Fulton's
Efforts to Enhance Community Growth
By NATALIE GODWIN
Chronicle Staff Writer
There hasn't been a better time
in history that the importance of the
United Negro College Fund's work
has been as great as it is today. In
the future, educated African-Ameri
cans will play a critical role in the
effort to keep America competitive
and strong.
Founded in 1944. the United
Negro College Fund is comprised of
41 private historically black colleges
and universities. Each year the
UNCF sponsors national fundraisers
to support about 50,CKX) students.
On last Saturday, the Ben
ton Convention Center held the
inaugural Maya Angelou Tribute for
Achievement and Scholarship. Joe
Dudley Sr., Paul Fulton and Peabo
Bryson were special guests for the
evening.
The Maya Angelou Achieve
ment Award is named after Dr.
Maya Angelou who helped found
the "Friends of UNCF." She also
accepted the appointment of the
North Carolina UNCF Special Gifts
Chairperson. The award pays tribute
to North Carolinians who have dis
played leadership toward the growth
and development of the minority
community.
Dudley is the owner and
founder of Dudley Products, a
multi-million dollar hair care and
Please see page A2
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