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i—i—_■■■ jj. THE CHARLOTTE POST • Thursday, August 7, 1986 Number 9
___^
See "B” Section
EHsa Williams
. • •••‘Rl*,n8 ninth grader
sa Williams Hopes
To Travel Extensively
ilPlgs
In turn, El 1m visits Lancaster to
sss hsr cousins and h«r thro*
Ksy*psrin?h*miay* ** ***
I think my MosinsUko comln/hers
than! Ilka going thoro,“sho
EUm would Hka to travsl to mors
fM away placos, howovor. "1 want
to to to Now York and maybo
vawtionl^HawairsN lists. "I'd
|^|| wit-h
iKWMMtJI
best friends," says Elisa. About her
buddies, Elisa says she started out
with one but now she has five. "We
go everywhere: shopping, to the
movies, out t6 eat."
One reason this young lady may
have so many friends is because of
her personality, which she describes
simply as "nice." "I don’t Judge
people by the way they look but how
they treat me," she elaborates. "I
love being with people," she adds.
"But ! also like to be by myself
because Mike to think," Elisa
points out. ;v;
What she finds herself thinking
about most is her future and career
choices. Elisa reveals that she'd like
to be a computer operator. She finds
computers to be vary interesting.
She gets a lot of practice on them at
school and also at home, where she
has a personal computer,
On her home computer, Elisa says
she can "make pictures, put in
programs, go math," and she
comments, "you can put In business
Information. But 1 haven't gotten
that far yet. However, when I have
problems with my homework I get
the computer to help me out."
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Was Robert Clay A Victim
Of Sexual Discrimination?
By Loretta Manago
Post Managing Editor
Robert Clay’s brief employment
with the City of Charlotte began in
the water department and ended at
Animal Control in two years.
Terminated from his position as
security assistant at Animal
Control In April of 1985, Clay still
bears the scars of his dismissal.
"I feel that I was discriminated
against and that if I had not
transferred from the water depart
ment to the animal control I would
still be employed.”
, Clay alleges that his former boss,
Diane Quisenberry, discriminates
against men.
“There was the time when I called
in later than the half-hour deadline
to say that I would be late coming in.
It was the first time it had ever
happened pnd I got AWOL,” Clay
.^explained that AWJL mdtrtt' pointer
were placed against an employee
and he or she had to have three
before they were fired.
But in the same situation Clay
contends that a female employee at
Animal Control who canne in late
but didn’t call prior to reporting to
work had no action taken on her.
‘‘The lady said that her daughter
forgot to call as she had asked her
to,” asserts Clay.
In still another incident Clay
recalled what happened to another
male employee. "This guy was
written up for a tattoo that he
couldn't find on a dog, even though
the Humane Society said that there
was no way that he could have
found it. The guy jvas suspended for
three days.”
"Diane pressured my immediate
supervisor, Nancy Skinner to
change my appraisal from expected
to unexpected. She (Nancy) later
told me that the appraisal I re
ceived wasn’t warranted." Mrs.
---'
.Wants justice done
Skinner was contacted; however,
because she is still employed at
Animal Control she was unable to
confirm or deny Clay’s statements.
She did say that if Clay needed a
recommendation, she would be
more than glad to give him one
Before Clay was dismissed he
maintains he was at Step Three, one
level from being fired, but that a
female employee was at step four
and should have been fired, but was
not.
' When Diane Quisenberry was con
tacted about Clay’s allegations, she
said, "I know everything he has said
and everything he has said is untrue.
Other than that 1 have no
comment."
Clay, however, maintains that he
is not the only person who has
suffered sexual discrimination at
the hands of Ms. Quisenberry He
says that Charles Keith was also a
victim
Keith was employed at
Animal Control from July of '83 to
July of '84. His comments tend to
support those of Clay's.
“I think that if you begin to look at
the hiring practices, promotional
practices and the turnover of su
pervisors, then you’re bound to see
that there’s some discrimination
involved," cites Keith.
“I scored above expectancy on my
appraisal and got passed over for
promotions. Ms. Quisenberry
hired people outside of Animal
Control to fill openings.
"My feeling was that she
'Diane) did not like strong, male
figures It was as if we threatened
her power and I never questioned
the fact that she was the boss
“I did duties that were outside
of my job classification, but still got
overlooked. I hpye never been one to
try and make trouble but one day my
supervisor informed me that Diane
just didn’t like me She told other
people I was stupid In the end I
knew that either I was going to have
a nervous breakdown or have to
quit." Keith quit
Keith asserts that he always felt
that justice and fairness would
prevail, but to this day, he feels he
was mistaken “I still cannot get a
job with the City and I have been led
to believe by other people that
someone Diane knows is keeping me
from getting a job with the City."
A third person who wishes to
remain anonymous gives credence
to the charges that have been made
Also a former employee of
Animal Control, John Doe worked
there for two and half years on a
part-time basis
"I admit that I am a bit hazy when
it comes to the details of Clay's
situation, but I know he was out a lot
While I know that absences aren’t
tolerated, it was still unfair that
female employees who were absent
just as much got by with no action
taken against them
"But if there was ever a case of
discrimination, there is no doubt
that Keith had grounds Keith was
one of the better workers that you
would ever see I've personally
witnessed her verbally abuse him
like you Wouldn't believe
“Concerning Clay. I do feel that
there were some real justifications
for his assertions There was
definitely some things that they did
with him that they didn’t with
women There were always cases of
duties that were pushed on men, that
the women did not have to do ”
Referring back to Keith, John Doe
recalled a time when Charles Keith
was told to come in at night to do
heavy cleaning that should have
been done by female employees who
were hired to do that very work
“Eight months ago, I would have
said that sexual discrimination was
the big issue. But I really believe
Diane's problems have gone far
beyond that What's so amazing is
that the City knows about it and does
nothing Apparently, she had some
strong connections There are jusi
too many incidents that have
happened.’’
"She's sure gotten away with an
awful lot for a long time," agrees
Keith
“I just want justice done," voices
Clay "I don't think it's right for her
to get away with what she has done
I feel the discrimination is still go’ng
on To me she does everything in her
power to have a female-dominated
staff ”
Kditor's Note: Unsuccessful
attempts were made to reach
certain City officials for
comments The opinions in this
article are not those of the Post
FarraL tian trtr_ ihices New Line Of Products
Chicago • "You tried to stop
everybody from making the pro
ducts for us,” Minister Farrakhan
said as he held high the bright
orange, yellow and red plastic
container, "but here it is, Clean 'N
Fresh Shampoo made by POWER.”
Fulfilling his promise to produce a
line of products to be sold In the
black community, Minister
Farrakhan beamed with the Joy of
victory as he unveiled the first line
of POWER products at his Welcome
Home Celebration recently In a
downtown Chicago hotel.
Nearly 8,000 supporters Joined
their voices In an explosive chorus of
FAR-RA-KHAN, FAR-RA-KHAN,
when a radiant Minister Louis
FirraJthan, National Representa
tive of the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad, glided onto the stage of
the Chicago Hilton and Towers
Hotel, surfacing for the first time
since Ms return to the United
States from an 11-nation tour that
took Mm around the world.
The oration grow In Intensity as
the realisation sank in that the
internationally recognised leader of
blacks In Amerioa, introduced as the
"greatest living blaek man on this
earth," by event co-sponsor 17th
Ward Alderman Allen Streeter, had
overcome government threats to
arrest and rumors of CIA
assassination attempts, and was
back with hls beloved people.
The audience exploded as the
Clean 'N Fresh products appeared
one after the other on the rostrum,
You can do your commercial for
bear, for wins, for whatever you
want.! have never lent my name to
K it'f- l ‘ jf aErjk
MlnUter Farrakhan raleea bottle of Clean 'N Freeh
ehampoo made by POWER daring Jane M Welcome
at the Chicago HIHoo and Tower. (Photo by
Jamoa Muhammad, PCN)
anything but Islam, but here It la..,"
tha obvloualy pleased world tra
veler stressed.
"Clean 'N Praah shampoo: gata It
clean, keeps It nice, won't burn your
ryes, good for the beblea, and good
for you. Hera's some Clean 'N Praah
Body lotion. When you get out of the
tub and you're a little shy and you
want to rub It on down, Clean 'N
Praah is the way to go., he said.
Amidst cheers, laughter and even
tears. Minister Parrakhan shared
theee precious moments with an
audience that had bean trans
formed into one happy faralty. The
Mlnlatar. having a gtod time, con
tlnued even though tired after hi*
nearly three hour lecture In which he
aaked the rhetorical queatlon of
white Americana, in light of the
a trod tie* and International abuses
of the Reagan administration,
“Are you any better than your
father?"
"And her* la aome conditioner...
living In alavery, working In the hot
aun from can’t see to can't see, a
little conditioner Is always needed to
keep your curia right, or the kinka
right...and her* la tome Clean 'N
Freeh fahower and bath) Liquid
s»ap and all you do la juat a little
dab’ll do you; go on and scrub uo.”
*
Minister Parrakhan said, sur
round*] by supporters and family
members.
The introduction of the products
was one more surprise for Ow
thousands who came to welcome
home the peramount spokesman far
the black man and woman In
America, who also announced a law
suit agalnat President Reagan and
members of his Cabinet.
The first POWER products,
marketed under the Clean ‘N
Freeh label will consist of sham
poo, hair conditioner, hair pomade,
shower and bath liquid soap,
body lotion, and roil-on deodorant
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