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^ “Oiariotte’s Fastest Growing Community Weekly” black consumers
LOVELY NATALIE MITCHELL
~ Olympic High Sophomor*
V *
JNatalie Mitchell
L
Is Beauty Of Week
c. •• _ ‘
by SHERLEEN McKOY
Post Staff Writer
Our beauty for this week
is Natalie Mitchell, a
sophomore at Olympic High
School.
_ Natalie is uninvolved in
school activities, besides her
classes. However, every
Tuesday and Wednesday
afternoons after school, she
takes a photography class at
* the Charlotte Youth Courv
. cy ' *
After graduation, Natalie
wiwts to take key punch and
computer programming at
either Biscayne College or
Kings College. She had a lit
tle help from her cousins in
choosing that particular
field.
“1 have a few cousins in
the field,” said Natalie.
They told me it’s a good
field to get into because peo
ple will probably be using
computers more in the
future.”
Natalie considers herself
“a very nice person most of
the time. I could be mean
but I like to get along with
everybody,” she replied. “I
think I’m real sweet.”
Natalie’s hobbies areT.V
watching, sports, volleyball,
softball, ping poing etc. and
photography.
The most influential per
sons in Natalie’s life are her
father and her aunt. “My
aunt always gets on my back
atxxit doing this or doing
that and getting my educa
* tion,” she stated. “She really
wants me to be good. My
father is the same way,” she
continued. “He’s concerned
about my grades and does
not want me to be low class
ed in life but to be in an up
per £lass.”
Bom in New Jersey and
raised in New York, Natalie
moved to Charlotte nine
years ago when her mother
passed away. Though her
father still lives in New
York, she said, “Even
i though I don't live with my
tamp, *** has the same
love for me as though I did
r r
live with him.”
Natalie lives with her aunt
of whom she said, “She has
taken the place of my
mother in a lot of ways.”
Natalie recalls the most
exciting time of her life as
being the first Christmas she
spent with her aunt nine
years ago.
“I had celebrated
..Christmas before, but not
the way my aunt did,” she
reflected. “I was really ex
cited when Santa Claus
came to me.”
Natalie and her youngest
' brother both live with her
aunt. Members of
Gethsemane Baptist
Church, she said, “We all
live by the Bible.”
• Natalie has three other
brothers who are older than
she.
Blacks To
Focus On
Unemployment
Washington, D.C.
Unemployment and the
Economy will be the highlight
of the Ninth Annual Con
vention of the National
' Association of Black
Manufacturers scheduled in
Washington, D.C. on May 29thi
through June 1st, 197V at the
Shoreham Americana Hotel.
The theme, "Minority In
dustry ... Impact on Unem
ployment and The Economy,"
is intended to provide the
audience an opportunity to
concentrate on the major
issues affecting majorities
across the nation. An im
pressive list of speakers and
panelists will be available to
untuis wn«i inf iea«ni
government and the private
sector can do as a means of
decreasing the high unem
ployment and the huge
nationrl deficit.
Highlights of this NABM
Conference Will be: a
i Celebrity Golf Tournament
. a Reception Honoring
Washingon Mayor Marion
Barry; an Exhibit Hall
displaying over 100 minority
manufacturing firms; and
special guest speakers from
the White House, the Small
Business Administration, the
Office of Minority Business
Enterprise, the Treasury
Department and executives
from the fortune MO cor
pora'ions.
Exi.ibit information can be
obtained from Sidney Daniels.
'202) 785-5133. NABM Is a noty
profit organization dedicated
to i he development of
* minority business
' - -
■ _
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f s
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' The SECRET of PATIENCE
is flriding something else to dr
in the meantime.
Blacks Oppose McArthur Extension
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ * * *
State NAACP Leaders To Meet Saturday
Raleigh To
Host NAACP
Meeting
The Annual Leadership
Meeting and Tribute to
Retiring Field Director
Charles McLean will be held
at the Hilton Inn, Raleigh,
N.C., Saturday, March 3.
Activities begins at 9:30
p.m.
Kelly M. Alexander, Sr.,
President of the N.C. State
Conference of Branches,
NAACP, said the theme of
the annual meeting this year
is: “SURVIVING AND
MEETING THE
CHALLENGES OF A
COMPLEX AND
CHANGING SOCIAL
ORDER.”
ine NAACP leaders will
make an evaluation of pro
gress in the program areas of
Education, with special em
phasis on the controversial
Competency Test; Employ
ment and Political Action.
The State leaders will also
view and discuss and take a
position on the serious pro
blem of conflict between the
University of North
Carolina dn HEW on higher
education; the matter of
North Carolina not recom
mending blacks for Federal
Judgeships; and the revival
of the Ku Klux Klan in
North Carolina.
Kenyon Burke, Associate
Director for NAACP Pro
grams, will head a Team of
Consultants from the Na
tional Office of develop
machinery for active Task
Forces in Employment and
Political Action. The N.C.
NAACP Task Force in
Education is operative with
Mrs. Willie Mae Winfield of
Roper, N.C., as Chairper
w**a a -a -a
Representatives of the Laborer's Inter
national Union, Frank Mason and
Wadel Johnson are trying to organise
Charlotte's 1000 blu* collar city
workers. (photo by Eiloon Hanson)
City Workers Get Union Charter
by EILEEN HANSON
Special To Ths Post
‘They say the door is
open, but it never goes
anywhere.” This is the opin
ion of one city, worker who
thinks a union would help
improve working conditions
for 1000 city blue collar
employees.
On Feb. 22 the Laborers’
International Union (AFL
CIO] presented the
Charlotte city workers with
a charter for their new local
No. 64.
“What we’re trying to do
in Charlotte is open the door
to City Hall, to go talk to the
man,” said regional manager
of the union Jack Wilkinson
as he presented the charter
to about 100 workers
gathered at the Teamsters
Hall. “Local 64 opens the
door!”
‘As it is now, it does no
good for an individual to ‘go
uptown’ with their com
plaints. Each department
makes its own rules and
changes them whenever it’s
convenient," complained
one new union member who
asked not to be named.
“What we want most is a
little respect and a grievance
procedure,” said another
worker.
Union members also want
a seniority system and safer
working conditions.
One mechanic complained
of fumes in his workshop,
and that magots and rats
come in on the sanitation
trucks.
‘The one big complaint is
safety,” said Wilkinson.
“Then comes dignity, and
wages rank third.”
Wages for sanitation
worker in Charlotte range
from S150 to $ 188 a week; a
driver gets SI88 to $228 a
week. Mechanics wages
range from $197 to $261 a
week.
During the recent bus
strike some city mechanics
realized that their wages
were less than bus
mechanics doing similar
jobs.
\ ‘They've had their union
for 40 years and it makes a
differences in wages and
benefits. I think we deserve
the same,” said one
mechanic.
The organizing efforts of
the Laborers’ Union, the 5th
largest in the AFL-CIO with
550,000 national member
ship, cover 11 city depart
ments, including sanitation,
streets, parks and recreation,
water, sewer and
neighborhood services.
According to union
organizer Wadel Johnson of
Charlotte, about iy of the
employees in blue collar city
jobs are black.
N.C. state law forbids
municipal governments
from collective barganing
.with their employees.
However, union represen
tatives say they can request
a memorandum of accord
JUizaoeth ivoontz lo Keynote
Women’s Day Celebration Here
by EILEEN HANSON
Special To Tho Pod
Elizabeth Koontz, chair
women of the National
Commission on Working
Women, will be the keynote
speaker for the International
Women’s Day celebrations,
Sat. Mar. 10 at the YWCA,
418 E. Trade Street.
An educator from
Salisbury, N.C., Koontz was
the first black woman to
direct the Women’s Bureau
of the U.S. Department of
Labor (1968-69). She was a
United States delegate to the
United Nations Commission
on the Status of Women,
and has represented the U.S.
government in 9 of Public
Instruction.
The Women’s Day
celebration, sponsored by
the Charlotte Equal Rights
Council and Metrolina
N.O.W. (National Organiza
tion for Women), is free and
open to the public.
Doors open at 630 p.m.
with a women’s fair, featur
ing local artists, displays by
service organizations and an
Elisabeth Eoonts
— Salisbury educator
exhibit of children’s posters
and essays.
The film, “American
Women." Portraits of
Courage” win highlight the
program at 7:30 p.m.
Among the dozen women
spotlighted in the film are
Harriet Tubman, who guid
ed 300 slaves to freedom via
the underground railroad;
Sojourner Truth, who
fought to free the slaves and
to get women the vote; and
Rosa Parks, an Alabama
maid who sparked the 1955
Montgomery Bus Boycott
and the civil rights move
ment in the South.
Entertainment will be pro
vided by the Performing
Arts Guild Ensemble
(PAGE), Southern Voices
Gospel group, and local
musicians. Eileen Neeley
will do a dramatic rendition
of Sojourner Truth’s famous
speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?-”
A "Woman of the Year”
will be selected from
nominations made by spon
soring groups. The honoree
will be a woman whose con
tributions have enhanced
the quality of life in
Charlotte but who has
heretofore gone unrecogniz
ed.
Three SIO prizes will be
awarded to students in
grades 1-6,7-9 and 10-12 for
the best poster, slogan or let
ter on a woman’s day theme.
Entries will be on exhibit
during the celebration. To
enter the children’s contest
contract Rebecca Vance
(333-1040).
v International Women’s
Day commemorates a
demonstration of women
garment and textile workers
on March 8, 1857 in New
York City, protesting low
wages and a 12-hour work
day.
Again on March 8, 1908
women marched through
New York’s garment district
demanding shorter hours,
better working conditions,
an end to child labor and the
right to vote.
The militancy of these
women workers in their
struggle for equality led to
the recognition of March
8th at International
Women’s Day. Today the
event is celebrated *on all
continents as a special day to
recognize the struggles of
working women, to
celebrate their past
achievements and to focus
on the current struggles for
equality and economic
justice.
For more information
contact Carrie Grave*
(374-0557)
4
Northwest Action Group
Plans “Protest” Meeting
t>y SUSAN ELLSWORTH
Post Staff Writer
A strategy for fighting the
McArthur Avenue exten
sion will be discussed by the
Northwest Action Associa
tion at a meeting to be held
Saturday at 10 a.m. in the
University Park Baptist
Church.
The McArthur extension
project, if approved by the
City Council would connect
McArthur Avenue with
Asbury. McArthur Avenue
would then form a route be
tween North Tryon and 1-77
using A tan do and Asbury.
The project is a reversal of
the LaSalle Street extension
which was eliminated from
the city’s 1977 thoroughfare
plan after the council re
ceived complaints from
north-west areas residents,
according to L.C. Coleman,
president of the organiza
tion.
Coleman said he opposes
the McArthur extension for
the same reason northwest
area residents objected to
the LaSalle Extension-an in
crease in traffic in residen
tial black neighborhoods,
andreduced property values
in nearby areas.
“We are letting the public
miuw wc ate piuicsuinj,
Coleman stressed.
The Northwest Action
Association disapproves of
the project, Coleman said,
mainly because no one in
that area, except Sen. Fred
Alexander, who introduced
the extension project, and
McArthur Avenue residents
knew about the plan.
Coleman expressed con
cern that residents of McAr
thur Avenue didn’t unders
tand what they agreed to
when they signed a petition.
‘They weren’t told about
the move causing increased
traffic.” Coleman emphasiz
ed.
McArthur Avenue
residents may be yet another
black community to have
their area torn up with con
struction work according to
Coleman because “of all the
groups, the least amount of
pressure comes from the
black community.”
“The people don’t know
how to protest,” he con
tinued. “Many of them are
poor and have no political
pull.”
Report Avaiahle
The City of Charlotte’s
Community Development
Department (CD) has sub
mitted its Fourth Year An
nual Grantee Performance
Report to the Federal
Department of Housing and *
Urban Development. The
report indicates the progress
that CD has made during
the calendar year 1978.
Copies of the report are
available at the Community
Development Department
and the Charlotte
Mecklenburg Planning
^vuiiiuniuii, wui ui me
Cameron-Brown Building,
301 S. McDowell Street; and
at the Office of the City
Clerk, the Public Service and
Information Department,
and the City Manager’s Of
fice, all located at City Hall,
600 E. Trade Street. The ap
plication is also available at
these CD site offices: 3215
N. Davidson Street, 1427
South Boulevard, 2601 E.
Seventh Street, 916 W. Fifth
Street.
The currently approved
Community Development
Neighborhood Strategy
Areas are: Grier Heights,
Noirth Charlotte, Cherry,
Third Ward, West
Morehead, First Ward Ex
tension, Southside Park
Brookhill, Five Points, and
Wilmore-Dilworth. The
three new proposed Neigh
borhood Strategy Areas.
Areas sre: West Boul
evard, Upper Greenville
and Druid Hilk. The
two new neighborhodds
approved for the section
312 IiOan Program are
'liiaheth and Chantilly.
LC. Coleman
...NAA President
CD Performance
Dimness Management Courses Set
Two small business
management courses have
been scheduled this spring
by the Office for Continuing
Education at the University
of North Carolina at
Charlotte.
“How to Start and Run a
Successful Business” will be
offered from 7 to 10 p.m.
Tuesday., March 27 to May
29, in Rooms 3 &. 4 of Cone
University Center. The
course will be taught by
Harry F. Moatc. a Service
Corps of Retired Executives
representingc and former
administrative executive
I .land ( reck Coal Co.
tcvel.T I. (Miio. The fee
is S295.
“Money Management"
will be offered from 7 to 10
p.m. Wednesdays, March 28
to May 30, in Room 9 of
Cone University Center.
Terry Lee Scott, manager of
financial planning with Belle
Stores Services, wifl teach
the course. The fee is S39S.
Both courses have been
designed to focus on the
main causes of poor perfor
mances and business failure.
Participants will be taught
how to analyze their com
panies to spot real and
potential problems and how
to correct those problems
and operate successful, pro
fitable businesses.