Blacks Employment

Japanese auto companies are locating most of their new American plants far from black population centers and are then hiring blacks at rates well below their representation in nearby areas, according to a new study. Blacks are under-represented at virtually every Japanese "transplant" auto factory in the United States, according to a review of Japanese hiring patterns by University of Michigan researchers Robert Cole and Donald Deskins.

Yvette Summerour decided at the age of 6 that she would become a Secret Service agent when she saw her mother crying as she ironed clothes and watched President Kennedy's funeral on television. Now the longest-tenured African American woman in the Secret Service, Summerour on Thursday reluctantly joined two other black agents in a discrimination complaint against the agency. Passed over at least five times for promotion, she said, she regrets having to denounce the agency.

Operation PUSH is intensifying its boycott of Nike Inc. products despite Nike's promise to pursue affirmative action goals more aggressively, PUSH Executive Director Tyrone Crider said Saturday. "We're going to boycott until they make a commitment to more jobs in our community," Crider said in a fiery speech to about 400 supporters at PUSH headquarters. "Nike said no to us! We're saying no to Nike!" Nike Chairman Philip H.

Two dozen community leaders and residents staged a demonstration Thursday in Leimert Park Village to call on a construction firm under contract with the city to hire blacks for a local park restoration. Work on the city park, the frequent site of jazz festivals and other events, began in mid-January to repair crumbling bathrooms and the irrigation system. Leimert Park Village has long been recognized as the cultural hub of black Los Angeles.

Karl Colbert accompanied his friend shopping at the Nike shoe factory outlet near downtown here Wednesday, unfazed by the recent call for a national boycott of Nike products. "I like Nikes, and I don't like other people telling me what to do," said the black 14-year-old Jefferson High School student. The boycott call by the Chicago-based civil rights organization Operation PUSH has so far fallen flat in Portland, the home of Nike Corp., the largest manufacturer of athletic shoes in the nation.

Members of the NAACP's Los Angeles chapter Tuesday called on the Board of Supervisors to investigate allegations that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has discriminated against African American job applicants.

A congressional hearing into job discrimination in the aerospace industry was marked Friday by sharp exchanges over the promotion policies of several of Southern California's biggest companies in the field, particularly regarding their black employees.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asked a federal court Monday to hold United Airlines in contempt for failing to hire enough blacks and women as pilots. In a motion filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the commission charged that United has failed to abide by a 1976 consent decree in which the airline agreed to hire qualified minority and women pilots at double the rate at which they applied for the jobs in relation to white males.

One of Los Angeles County's highest-ranking black executives was awarded a $90,000 settlement Tuesday stemming from a discrimination complaint alleging he was victimized by racial discrimination and denied job benefits. The Board of Claims granted the payment to Edgar H. Hayes, director of the Data Processing Department, who filed a federal lawsuit last January seeking $1 million in damages from the county.

The old soldier stared up at the formidable hill in the distance. "It's here we got the reputation," he said dejectedly, "the reputation we couldn't live down." Oliver Dillard, a retired Army two-star general, was confronting memories of the most painful campaign of his 32-year military career, a month-long struggle that he and other black soldiers waged in the chaotic early days of the Korean War over a savage piece of terrain known as Hill 665, or Battle Mountain.

Members of the NAACP's Los Angeles chapter Tuesday called on the Board of Supervisors to investigate allegations that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has discriminated against African American job applicants.

For years, they were called racist names and passed over for promotions. Now, black deckhands who worked aboard a Mississippi River dredge will split $1.2 million and get the opportunity for full-time work. In a settlement reached last week, the Army Corps of Engineers will pay $62,500 to each of the 16 deckhands who were restricted to seasonal work aboard the Hurley. "It came a little bit late, but it was worth it," worker John Boyd said by telephone Friday from the Hurley, near New Madrid, Mo.

The NAACP on Wednesday called for a boycott of Holiday Inn, Best Western and other leading hotel chains, assailing the lodging industry's record in the hiring and promotion of African Americans. The boycott is the first step in a broader effort to maximize black buying power in corporate America, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said. "African Americans spend more than $4 billion annually on travel and lodging, with much of this going to the lodging industry," Mfume said.

Virgil and Garrard "Babe" Smock pulled into Los Angeles from Oakland this week aboard a Pullman sleeper car as they had thousands of times before--but this time after a ride the likes of which neither man had ever experienced. They were not required to ferry any meals. Neither made any beds. No one asked them to shine any shoes or press any suits; they did not run for any drinks or carry any luggage.

The Pasadena chapter of the NAACP has sent letters to five local businesses threatening to picket and boycott them unless they hire more African Americans within 30 days. Charles Bereal, Pasadena NAACP president, said the organization's board decided earlier this week to send the letters to local outlets of well-known food franchises as well as their corporate offices after discovering that the businesses had few or no African Americans on the payroll.

Antonio "L.A." Reid remembers the day six years ago when he and his partner Kenneth "Baby Face" Edmonds struck the ceiling. After helping mastermind commercial breakthroughs for such recording stars as Bobby Brown and Paula Abdul, the hot African American production team had reached what many considered to be the pinnacle of their profession. But Reid and Edmonds had bigger goals. They saw themselves as entrepreneurs who deserved more than creative freedom.

Down at the office, Gideon Skhosana is a man respected. He directs a district sales team, charts the performance of his salespeople on pegboards and schmoozes with the big customers. Skhosana jokes easily there, tilting his goateed chin back with a booming laugh. That relaxed sense of humor and his marketing skills make him "a super bloke to work for," says his secretary, who is white.

At high noon, as Texas Ranger Lee Roy Young considers the Case of the Trash Can Bandit, he frowns down Farm Road 688 at the herd of Black Angus cattle grazing in a grove of mesquite and scrub oak. That's where the outlaw buried his loot. The Ranger says the bandit broke into a bank one night and lugged away $1,000 in quarters. And now the cops can't prove he did it. "The guy says the money is his life's savings," Young says. "Life savings, my foot."

The coffee cup must be placed upside-down with the handle squarely pointed at 4 o'clock. Don't hold the wine bottle by its neck. And the dessert spoon should be just above the place setting, as though a reminder of the sweeter dish to come. Fingernails must be clean. Pepperminty breath is just fine but no chewing gum.

A gathering intended to tout progress in the construction of the new Museum of Science and Industry took an unexpected turn Monday when an African American activist threatened to shut down the operation because not enough blacks are working on the project.