Buffalo Criterion, 1983-07-27

              niagara region the buffalo criterion rochester vol 58 — no 31 wednesday july 27-august 2 1983 i nat'l u l confab set for aug 2nd the two top civil rights officials in the reagan administration and two individuals who have often been at odds with the administration's approach to civil rights will share the same platform on tuesday morning aug 2 at the 1983 annual confer ence of the national urban league in new orleans appearing on the forum entitled civil rights who will enforce the laws will be w bradford reynolds assis tant attorney general for civil rights and clarence thomas chairman of the equal employment oppor tunity commission they will be joined by dr mary f berry a member of the u s commission on civil rights and elaine jones an attorney with the naacp legal defense fund dr berry is one of the three commissioners that president reagan has at tempted to replace on the commission with his own nominees thus setting off a major controversy ms jones directs the legisla tive program for the legal defense fund which plac es her in constant contact with the federal establish ment giving her a first hand knowledge of the workings of government ihe forum is one of a number of special events that will highlight this year's nul conference which formally opens on sun july 31 with the keynote address by john e jacobs president and closes with the conference dinner on wed night aug 3 in between these two events a number of plenary sessions forums and special programs have been scheduled the theme will be building stronger communities together two forums will be focused on the growing strength and political ma turity of the black voter one of the forums will be presented on monday morning aug 1 and will explore the mobilizing the black vote in 1984 moderating this session will be eddie williams president of the joint center for political stu dies another forum devel oping a black political strategy will explore the value of the various options that are open to the black voter in 1984 including a black presi dential candidate this forum will be moderated by m carl holman president of the national urban coalition bishop john hurst adams chairman of the administration's two top civil rights officials to attend meeting congress of na.,onal black churches a coalition of the nation's seven largest black religious denomina tions will discuss the black church as an instrument of community development and self help on mon after noon aug 1 th organization head ed by bishop adams who is the presiding bishop of the 2nd district of the ame church came into being for the purpose of uniting the black protes tant churches embracing 65,000 churches and 20 million members in a movement that would combat economic social and political ills the people have spoken by dr charles e.cobb the abuse of the rights of citizens under the color of law is the first stage of tyranny the roost hein ous form of this official misconduct is racially mo tivated police brutality when society becomes prey to its so-called protectors we are witness ing the seeds of insurrec tion the poor and black communities have histori cally been the primary victims of this brutal form of racially motivated vio lence in new york city when police brutality has reach ed epidemic proportions we have even seen black ministers pumroeled by groups of police requests for relief from the city administration and spe cifically mayor edward koch have fallen on deaf ears in light of this response on the part of the , mayor and chief of police m 1 __._- 1 i black community leaders took their grievances to washington having in vestigated the national increase in racially moti vated violence congress man john conyers chair man of the house sub committee on criminal justice welcomed the community representa tives and immediately scheduled congressional hearings to be held in new york this action was immedi ately followed by accusa tions of a witch hunt and unfair by the mayor and police officials on the day of the scheduled hearings to be held in harlem the nation's largest black community and the scene of repeated incidents of police brutality an unex pected 1,000 people appeared to hear testi mony this enormous turn out should have clearly demonstrated that severity of the problem it was at this point for some unknown reason that the congressmen unilaterally decided to cancel the so-called official hearings this was no less than an insult to the community who had placed their hopes for relief in the congressional hearings the mayor of new york has consistently demon strated disdain and uncon cern regarding the needs of the city's minority community thus the crowd's negative reaction to his presence should have been expected even by the most casual obser ver during the singing of the black national an them the mayor remain ed seated while all others stood t>ut one more indication of the arrogance that has been the mark of the koch-administration at the urging of black leaders unofficial hearings were held and contrary to mm&m.mmxxhintm did.pro _ ceed in an orderly fashion over 50 witnesses testified to the brutality they suffered from new york police those congress men state assemblymen religious and community leaders who remained to hear the more than 7 hours of testimony should be highly commended for i . ... they recognized that the needs of the people surpassed political back scratching and backroom deals the events sur rounding the hearings should demonstrate the need for political account ability of our elected officials some have said that the hearings were designed to fail and that they were sabotaged we may never know who deserves the blame we can be sure however that it does not lie with the community the hearings were a success and most importantly the people have spoken this is charles e cobb of the united church of christ for civil rights journal thank you for listening patriotic american bows to liberty bell artha l williams who has been running for the democratic nomination for councilman-at-large aa a patriotic american advo cating the utilization of american-made products and services where and whenever possible has withdrawn from the race giving his whole-hearted support to businessman clifford bell mr wil liams stated that cliff bell has many of the same interests that he was expounding and will safe guard the liberty of the common person the essence of art ha l williams campaign was to allow every buffalonian to pursue the american dream — which is a chance to work a chance to own his own home and a chance for their children to get the best education that they are capable of learning artha will remain at the forefront to see that no city resident is denied equal justice and services be cause of age sex religious beliefs or ethnic heritage klenk to present petitions ann klenk endorsed conservative candidate for president of buffalo's common council at 1:30 p.m today will present approximately 10,000 signatures to the erie county board of elections dsignating her as demo cratic party candidate for council president only 2,000 signatures are re quired for presence on the ballot for city-wide office i have been over whelmed by the response to my candidacy said mrs klenk i have not realized that my emphasis on cooperation on work ing together would gen erate such a response in the people of buffalo lan now confident that the response will be even greater on primary day sept 13th pawarski in race for 5th legislative dist announced his candidacy for the office of erie county legislator in the sth district mr pawarski an ad ministrative consultant in the county division of budget and management and an enrolled democrat will water the democri tie primary campaign for the legislative seat being va cated by shirley c stolar ski mr pawarski 28 is a graduate of canimus col lege where he majored in accounting and finance and of the california western school of law he also attended sunyab law school before joining the coun ty budget division mr pawarski worked as a legal assistant for the office of court adminis traton as a law clerk for county clerk jane staros ciak and as an associate deputy comptroller under alfreds slominski he has pledged to wage a vigorous campaign and looks forward to meeting the voters in the sth legislative district timothy j pawarski has urban bankers affiliate formed forums planned the buffalo chapter of the national association of urban bankers an affili ate of the national associ ation was founded in 1975 as an informal forum for minority bankers and em ployees of legitimate fi nancial institutions the buffalo chapter which was formed early in 1983 plans to sponsor educational forums and seminars for he citizens of the community local founding mem bers are ricarda james james daniels sylvia moye calvin walker patricia williams darlyn bratton dan workman carolyn smith rodney richardson and june hoeflich the group met at jerry butler's big play restau rant in bailey aye south of kensington aye persons interested in be coming affiliated with the buffalo chapter of urban 1 bankers may address communications to p.o i box 704 ellicott station ( buffalo n y 14203 training program the housing assistance center hac will conduct a housing rehabilitation training program spon sored by flare at 115 wakefiled classes will meet on tues aug 2 three cited for community service these four outstanding citizens are shown as they posed for a criterion photographer recently three of the four were presented awards for outstanding community service by the masten republican club shown from left are commissioner james d francesco of the erie county board of elections jessie dray klein and phelix harris also shown ii mrs klein's granddaughter little miss jessica x atroni • former councilman feted by promiseland rev horace billy johnson former masten district councilman and associate minister of promiaeland baptist church was recently honored by promiaeland baptist church rev johnson served under the leadership of the late dr t davis founder the appreciation service featured bro leeland jones as the guest speaker remarks and presentations from city and county officials the photo shows mrs johnson rev johnson rev charles jennings pastor of promiaeland ad mrs mattie robbins m 1 nudtes a p re~n tation mmmtuum v sue makes a presen dinner followed the service help needed in pilgrimage to washington i i have a dream these four words uttered :•' by dr martin luther king jr in washington d c on august 27th ; 1963 have echoed in american politics for two ' decades and have become a symbol of hope for people of all races and ethnic groups ' this summer hundreds of thousands of americans from all parts of the country will converge on washington d c to mark the twentieth year of king's dream and re affirm their commitment to making king's dream a dream that will come true the southern christian leadership conference the group founded by dr king in 1957 will be sending hundreds of buses to the nation's capital from every major city in the country the erie county chapter would like to make a name for buffalo as a proud united city by sending at least 10,000 people 250 buses from the greater buffalo area help is needed to defray the costs of transportation a contribution of 1450 will sponsor one bus 362.50 sponsors one fourth of a bus 181.25 sponsors one eighth of a bus and 40 sponsors one person in return your organization unless you request otherwise will be known as a supporter of the washington rally it will be known that your organization is united with the people of buffalo behind the common goals of peace jobs and free dom please send your check for any amount payable to the southern christian leadership conference erie county chapter rev herbert v reid is president of the erie county chapter islamic & ethnic unity day fest on august 6th and 6th the friends of the ameri can muslim mission f.a.m.m will observt its second annual islamic and ethnic unity day festival on sycamore st corner of michigan training program see page 4 unity day see page 31 " j serving working leading in wny inner cities i since 1923 1 ' price only 20 c per copy