Buffalo Criterion, 1989-12-22

              rochester vol 64 - n 51 established in 1925 we make america better when we aid our people."—e l goodwin sr we record black history every day voice of the black community niagara region the buffalo criterion wny's oldest and largest afro-american weekly for over 60 years - featuring paid legitimate circulation thursday december 22-28 1988 merry christmas max robinson 1st black network television news anchor dies max robinson a former news anchor on the abc television network died wednesday december 20 1988 j robinson 49 died in howard university hospi tal in washington d (' robinson was the na tion's first black network television news anchor he made broadcasting his tory in 1978 when he an co-anchoring abc 1 - world news to night from chicago with peter jennings in new jftat and the late frank ' reynolds in washington in 1969 he became the first black to anchor newscasts on a major washington station he appeared on the is and 11 p.m news on wtop now w usa with anchor cordon peterson he had great presence on the air he was very meticulous about his on air performance he rarely made a mistake said james snyder vice president for news for post newsweek stations who worked with robinson at wto p it had been three years since robinson had work ed on ■ regular basis in television he worked in 198-1 1 co-anchor at wmaq-tv in chicago according to a hospital spokesman robinson's death resulted from com plications stemming from acquired immune defi ciency syndrome max robinson minister wishes all a merry christmas the rev a charles ware pastor of friend ship baptist church 402 clinton st wishes to thank the officers mem bers and friends for their support through the years while pastoring friend ship he also wishes everyone a merry xmas and a happy and prosper ous happy year brown to serve time — singer feared for his life a judge recently sen tenced soul singer james brown to six years in prison for failing to stop for police and trying to run over two officers in a two-state car chase circuit judge hubert long's ruling of december . 15th gave brown a choice on his conviction of assault with intent to kill pay a 6,000 fine and spend five years on probation or do six months in prison according to prosecutor robert harte brown won't be able to make that decision until after he serves the six-year term prior to receiving his sentence brown 55 also known as the godfather of soul said he would do anything in avoid jail the singer who could have drawn a 20-year term will be eligible for parole after serving im years he could win earlier eligibility for good behavior or prison work harte said afterward brown told the judge about his delingquency as a juvenile and the difficulties he faced in early life the only thing that held me together was when ! looked at the i u.s brown - james brown naacp speaks jubilee day celebration slated by daniel acker the buffalo branch naacp is sponsoring the annual emancipation proclamation jubilee day program sunday jan ist at 6 p.m at st luke ami zion church 314 e ferry st the rev robert l graham is pastor the speaker will be the rev leslie braxton pas tor of shiloh baptist church music will be furnished by the choirs the relevance of the program for 1989 this great concept of release freedom or emancipation has been appropriated by blacks since the historical signing of the emancipation proc lamation by president abraham lincoln january 1 1863 the first crucial victory for the north in the battle against the smth was the battle of an tielam this was the victory the north had needed before lincoln would announce on sept 22 1862 that if the slates in rebellion did not return to the union by january 1 1863 he would declare their slaves to be forever free the siuth rejected the idea si on new year's day 1863 president lin coln issued the emancipa jubilee day - rev leslie braxton bush choses kemp for cabinet post eyes sullivan congressman jack kemp has been selected by president-elect george bush to become secretary of housing and urban development hud the outgoing western new york congressman a republican from ham burg n.y had served 18 years in the house he did not seek an additional term in office this year mr bush said he was asking kemp to bring his innovative solutions to the problems of homeless ness housing and jobless ness in the nation's inner cities the naming of kemp to oversee hud is seen by most to be good selection by the new administration as of this writing mr bush is expected to appoint medical educator dr louis w sullivan to head the department of health and human ser vices dr sullivan would be the first black to be named to the new incoming cabinet the official announce ment had been set for earlier in the week but was delayed when contro versy over dr sullivan's stand on the issue of abortion arose however bush was said to be determined to move ahead with the appointment further developments on the sullivan appoint ment will appear in the next week's edition of the criterion rep jack kemp thinking about the poor at the holiday season ft norman hill the december holiday season is the lime of year when people think alx.ut the poor the various movie versions of ifftotrte iflitiw/is • ffis<i'hwli'?x^sqfn help to remind us that there are many millions give money to sidewalk santa clauses countless others mail contri butions to their favorite charities unfortunately in recent years concern about the poor has been especially appropriate and the same is true this year people living in our largest cities land many of our medium and smaller-sized ones see the number of homeless swelling to alarming propor tions si urbanites don't need scholars or statisticians i tell them lhat something is wrong bui data gathered by experts can tell us more precisely and comprehensively what is happening - and why it is happening as well the stale of working america 11988 a report by the economic policy institute found that real family income has been stagnant since 1979 tad that's the good news the bad news is thai the families thai maintained their income over the 1979-87 period had to work more hours and send more of their members into the work force those families that didn't send another member into the job market suffered income declines from i to 6.5 during those years the study also found that the income gap between the rich and poor has grown in this decade the upper 20 and especially the top 5 of families experienced significant income gains after 1979 but the bottom 40 . and especially those at the very bottom saw their incomes fall after that year a major reason for this is that in recent years income has shifted from labor to property property income rents dividends and interest increased by 49.9 lielween 1979 to 1987 while labor income grew by a mere 16.7 . real wages and salaries actually fell but growth in the work force and in the number of hours worked by the average worker created a net gain in total labor income as usual when bad news hits the nation black communities are hit worse still fare from the dream recent developments in black income employ president of th a philip randolph institute mini and poverty oil 1988 issued by ibe center on budget and policy pri orities provides the details both mad alw<mli|i|i'pm*ri;y'|-;lti lver."ti?gh/t nr 1987 than at i comparable stage of the economic recovery of he late 19705 bui the black it rt rate ha grown more furthermore the black poverty rate grew from ill in 1986 in 3.1.1 in 1987 while the u bile i ■)<■< lined from 11 to 10..v . perhaps most alarming the poverty rati for black children under 6 jumped from 15 6 to 19 i in 1987 a 1 of the senate fludgel com mittee wages of american workers in the 1980s sept 19*8 ... aides an important reason for declining income and increasing poverty the v.rv first sentence of the report summary states the matter cogently the dominant trend in job creation during the 1980s has been for low-paying jobs l.i replace those winch provided a middle-class standard id living in 1979 64 of all american jobs paid middle-level wages between 11,612 and 46,444 of all new jobs created from 197 iti 1987 only 38 was at this middle-wage level more than 50 a the employment increase was in low-wage jobs 11,611 and below 11 remaining 12 of new jobs were nt the high-wage level 46,445 and above so people ii corrett when they sense that beneath the relatively low unemployment and inflation figures flaunted by the administration some thing is awry what is the answer so long as poverty exists there will be a place in very decent society tor private generosity charity is good for the giver as well as the recipient but charity alone has never been enough to lift the poor out of poverty and it certainly cannot deal with the structural economic defects that create poverty much as some people hate to hear it the public sector — government - baa a key role to play in ensuring a decent standard of living for all in january the 101 st congress will convene in my next column i expect to offer a legislative agenda in help reverse the unfortunate income and job growtl trends discussed here ._ in the meantime i wish mv read a happy holiday season see page 7 see page i the criterion is dean of all minority media price only 25 per copy nationally — ll