Buffalo Criterion, 1983-12-14

              rochester wny's necessary minority newspaper - featuring paid circulation niagara region the buffalo criterion vol 58 - no 5 wednesday december 14-20 1983 ... . ■■ - - ■■-■ * out-of-tuwn 2 c nat'l policy institute planned for feb shown from left at the planning meeting are julian c dixon first full full figure at table chairman congressional black caucus gracia m hiliman executive director of the national coalition on black voter participation donald tucker president national black caucus of local elected officials and eddie n williams president of the joint center for political studies black elected officials to meet on nov 9th the heads of the nation's major black political organizations issued a call to a national meeting of black elected officials to be held on feb 29th to mar 3rd in washington d c jltka.'**m-f*~i tfntimrl l*i|'*t j 9 for . black elected officials which will take place at the start of the 1964 primary season will be an important oppor '" tunity for black officials to articulate their concern and demonstrate their collective strength and leadership participants will develop political strategies discuss policy issues and explore the problems of governance the sponsoring organi zations for the fourth national policy institute are the congressional black caucus chairman representative julian mm dixon of inglewood cali fornia joint center for political studies presi dent eddie n williams judicial council of the national bar assoc chairman judge revius o ortique jr civil district cp-fu-t tev or leans la national assoc of black county officials l*r-«rid--t webster j . guillory orange county calif national black cau cus of local elected officials president councilman donald tuck er newark n j nation al black caucus of stale legislators president state . senator clarence mitchell 111 of maryland national caucus of black school board members president william b ingram of ferris calif and the national confer ence of black mayors president mayor johnny l ford sr of'tuskegee alabama this will be the first time since 1975 that black elected officials have met nationally since then their number has increas ed by over 50 percent in the past year alone over 20 black mayors over 25 black state legislators and 3 members of congress have been added to the total citibank offers free smoke detectors citibank i nys an nounced that on tues dec 20th only three downtown branches will each give 200 coupons for a free smoke detector to individuals who deposit 100 or more in any new or existing account the offer on a tirst come first-served basis is good only at citibank branche located at 409 main st 2150 delaware aye and 410 kenmore aye coupons will be redeemable at any one of nine area distribution cen ters involved in the buffalo smoke detector program also while supplies last buffalo residents who qualify for a citibank mortgage at any branch receive a free smoke detector coupon beginning jan 1 all city residential dwellings will be required to have smoke detectors citi bank's offers follow - a donation of 1500 to the city's program for use by families who cannot afford to buy their own smoke detector we make our fortunes and call them fate benjamin disraeli minister farrakhan says jesse jackson is a man of destiny by abdullah luqman minister louis farrakhan repre sentative of the honorable elijah muhammad and the present day leader of the nation of islam was in buffalo saturday at st john baptist church for a great cause for a man presidential candidate jesse jackson who has set out to change things in america for the better for for ever more the rev dr bennett w smith host pastor and trusted aide of rev jackson in the push programs stated that it was an honor and privilege to have a muslim speak at his baptist church he said that as he grows older and older there are less and less things that he disagrees with in the philosophy of the hon elijah muhammad he further commented that there ought to be a middle ground for different religious leaders to come together for the common good of their followers dr smith's aspirations are that this was the beginning of religious people working together in unity in the interest of brotherhood minister farrakhan put the over flowed crowd into the spirit of ecumenical harmony he opened by saying that as muslims we accept all of the prophets of allah god we believe that they all have equal ligitimacy before god one is no more legitimate than the other god chose certain prophets for great responsibilities and he chose others for lesser responsibilities we are not supposed to look at the prophets as though this prophet is so great and that prophet is insignificant whatever god chose them for that was their responsibility and they did their job he related the story of how he was brought up as a dedicated christian he found the message for changing the living conditions in the teaching of the hon elijah muhammad he recalled an incident at his college town in north carolina that had segregated rest rooms in the church that he was attending blacks in those days were not respected even in the outhouse of god's house minister farrakhan has grown to hate division and is out to bridge the knowledge gap of understanding he cites that language has divided us all life comes from god so everybody and everything owes its existance to god love is the highest expression of his law and anything that destroys the family destroys the nation the eloquent orator presented the strongest case against abortion that we have ever heard he said that when god gets ready to liberate a people from bondage he chooses a woman to bring forth a man with the longings of the past to change the living conditions of the present and solve the problems of the future the fruit of the wombs of oppressed people is where salvation comes from not only the leader but all people is where salvation comes from not only the leader but all of the others are required to implement the changes we ponder how many people who love jesus believe in abortions under the moral codes of then yesterday today and tomorrow people who are believers in abortions could minority business enterprise procurement conference scheduled the u s postal ser vice empire district pro curement services office will conduct a minority business enterprise pro curement conference to be held in the board room of the urban league of buffalo at 455 william st the conference will be held on friday jan 13 1984 from 10 a.m to 2 p.m the purpose of the conference is to provide a central location for minori ty entrepreneurs with an informal forum to discuss the expanding opportuni ties for providing supplies in the form of u s postal service current require ments in the form of invitation for bids and requests for proposals will be available the principal feature of . the conference is person to-person discussions be tween buyers and sellers technical personnel will be on hand to answer questions regarding speci fications and unique postal requirements every effort is being made by the u s postal service to provide con tracting opportunites to minority business enter ! prises questions concerning the conference should be directed to patrick o cain at 716 263-6791 those planning to at tend the conference may send in their name and their firm to manager procurement service off ice empire district u s postal service p.o box 1200 rochester n y 14692-1200 by december 21st home announces settlement of 1st havens fair housing suit scott w gehl execu tive director of housing opportunities made equal has announced that the settlement of western new york's first fair housing case brought un der the supreme court's havens doctrine this settlement resolved a suit filed in u.s district court last july against edward j szczerbiak of idlebrook court in lancaster the complaintants home and one of its volunteer inves tigators alleged that szczerbiak had discrimin ated by race in the rental of an investment property he owns at 18 houghton st on buffalo's east side following up a report of possible discrimination on may 27th home dis patched a black investi gator to view mr szczer biak's apartment sworn affidavits allege that the imfekffia-iwff ilu jftfc szczerbiak provided to the black investigator differ d dramatically from that provided to a white inves tigator a few days later further it is alleged that mr szczerbiak attempted to discourage black investigator from renting the apartment and that when she persisted the investigator was told the apartment was no longer available - when in fact it was the settlement — which does not constitute an admisison of guilt pledges szczerbiak to non discrimination in future rentals and to listing fu ture vacancies at 18 houghton with the hous ing assistance center of the niagara frontier also involved was an undis closed cash payment to the plaintiffs the plaintiffs were represented by at torney francis x carroll this suit was the area's first based on the land mark 1982 u s supreme court decision in the case of havens realty corp v coleman that decision authored by justice bren nen affirmed the standing of both testers denied truthful information about the availability of housing in violation of section 804 d of the fair housing act of 1968 and of fair housing groups frustrated in their efforts to assist equal access to housing through counseling and other referral services before havens only ifotfa mil iiomeseelcers had standing to sue the cases of discrimination home executive direc tor scott gehl termed the case a significant step forward for fair housing in western new york as home expands its audit ing of housing suppliers we will not hesitate to use havens where we find definite proof of discrimin atory practices housing opportunities made equal is a not-for profit organization which since 1963 has led the struggle for equal oppor tunity in housing on the niagara frontier uncf's lou rawls parade of stars raises over 90,000 in buffalo the lou rawls parade of stars an entertain ment special to benefit the united negro college fund raised over 90,000 in buffalo last saturday the telecast hosted by sandy white and wivb tv on-air personalities bob koop and dave layne aired on wivb-tv channel 4 enthusiastic support in buffalo made the western new york state parade of stars a success for the fourth consecutive year said carol holmes special project coordina tor for uncf in buffalo the people of buffalo and western new york are determined to keep united negro college fund insti tions strong these colleges offer high quality education to thousands of deserving though disad vantaged young people i am very pleased that the citizens in the greater buffalo area have given their support lou rawls ed mc mahon and marilyn mc coo hosted the parade of stars from the cocoanut grove in hollywood a few of the celebrities who appeared on the five-hour variety special were stevie wonder paul mc cartney lionel richie roberta flack sister sledge stephanie mills thelma houston barbie benton susan anton and taste of honey earlier in the day wblk radio hosted a radiothon to benefit the united negro college fund the radiothon which aired from 10 a.m - 6 0.m raised over 5,000 after taking an hour to shift operations wblk simulcast the parade of stars tv special it was a great day for the united negro college fund and wblk is proud to have been a part said freddie patrick station manager of wblk our staff and listeners all believe that a mind is a terrible thing to waste among others who visit ed the parade of stars studios to pledge support and contributions were county executive and mrs edward j rutkow ski roland hooks of the bills mrs phyllis tolli ver president of the buffalo inter-hellenic council eric eves and the winner's circle donald l hilliard to donald l hilliard the supervisor of music for the buffalo public s-ihafl siten*i mum has charms to sooth a savage breast and much much more to him music is his love his life his educa tion his profession his work his play and a large facet of his religion the talented supervisor exhibited his interest and love at an early age as a piano pupil of the late hulit merriweather curry while still in grammar school at the former public school 32 which is at clinton and cedar streets his discerning parents the late mr and mrs john and ertie hilliard recog nized and invested in the development of the musi cal talents of their young est son by providing him with the music lessons which were to be the beginning and the founda tion upon which his exemplary career was based although his outstand ing family always lived in what is known as the core area or the ghetto mr and mrs hilliard had little difficulty in raising their seven children six of whom are still living to become outstanding and distinguished citizens donald has two older surviving brothers the rev john hilliard who is minister of the humboldt parkway baptist church and the rev clarence hilliard of chicago the oldest brother william is now deceased his three sisters are armalive hilliard who resides in texas and yvonne who is employed at providence mutual in surance company and hortense hilliard who works at the erie county dental department which is located in the rath bldg mr hilliard pursued his musical education persis tently and with unwaver ing steadfastness his education in music ex panded at hutchinson central high school and at the university of buffalo from which he earned a bachelor of fine arts degree mr hilliard holds a master's degree and has 30 hours towards his phd from new york university in new york city when viewing his amaz ing background one might easily wonder how a child raised in the heart of the black community could become so steeped in classical music and so proficient in classical re ligious music expression mr hilliard said i lived most of my young life from walnut to hickory streets but donald really never lived in the streets for he was too busy learning practicing de veloping and preparing for the great success that he is to be too much a part of anything that did not fit into his formula for perfec ting that which he wanted and loved most — his musical education and his extraordinary musical tal ent after graduation from college mr hilliard taught in both island park long island and in new rochelle ny he also was the music instructor for project pep in skidmore college sara toga spings new york and has held teaching positions additionally in manhattan and in buf falo while studying in order to broaden his knowledge and teaching the ener getic mr hilliard found time in 1976 to found the buffalo arts and music school he is executive and artistic director it is at this school that he helped to organize and direct the former st philip's boys and young men's choir which was also the brain child of the rev father e dorm taylor then of st philip's church the youths were chosen to sing in budapest in the summer of 1980 he also organized a girls chorale group — the cecilians each group contains sing ers who are aged 7 up to young adults and the bam youth choir mr hilliard's expres sion is joyful as he speaks of these groups which consume a large part of his after school working hours outside of their practice room in st philips parish hall one can hear mr hilliard painstakingly lov ingly and patiently prepar ing his young chorale members for their next performances the concert for which the singers are now preparing will be perform ed at the st philips espicopal church on christmas eve where they will sing the christmas segment of handels messiah • the care with which donald hilliard prepares his groups is based upon years of experience at directing chorale groups he is no novice having prepared a high school group and adult groups known as sounds of the city for performances with the buffalo philhar monic orchestra this past fall the choirs enchanted those attending ' the tribute to dr martin luther king jr and the dedication of the statue in uncf see page 7j jesse jackson see page 2 winners circle seepage2 j serving i working leading in wny inner cities l since 1923 i price only e 20 c per copy