BRCHR Newsletter
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The Baton Rouge Council on
Human Relations -- brchr.org – Jan, Feb, Mar 2004, Vol 39 No. 2
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Directors: Richard Haymaker, President
Marjorie Green, Vice President
Joyce Robinson, Secretary Mercedese Broussard, Asst. Secretary Dan Yannitell, Treasurer Phil Woodland, Past President Board Members Evelyn Albert Mercedese Broussard Leslie Burris Thomas Clemons James Cross Hallique Dawson Jehad Mahmoud Rogers Newman Patrice Niquille Margaret Pereboom Joyce Robinson 254 Nelson Dr. Baton Rouge, LA 70808 225 766 6432 |
Stand up for
Children
A
Rally for Children on the steps of the state capitol, Tuesday April 20, 11:00 AM, Governor Kathleen Blanco to speak, 49
(and counting) statewide organizations have signed on The program committee of the Baton Rouge Council
on Human Relations, with Phil Woodland taking the lead, proposed last December that we time our
spring forum to coincide with the legislative session with the theme: funding
for children’s issues. The Council
is now a member of the Children’s
Coalition which became the organizing base. This was the right
idea at the right time and the forum
grew into a rally in which we expect
many hundreds of people to attend.
We will invite all legislators.
The rally will focus on preserving and expanding funding for pre K and
health care for children. Our
success in influencing state government depends crucially on turnout at the
rally. Please make every effort to
be there for one hour. Parking will
be available on the west side of river road near the state capitol. The
flyer is enclosed. An electronic
version is available. Contact us at
our email tbrcohr@yahoo.com to receive a copy. Please copy the flyer as you wish and
take it to your place of worship and other gathering places. Please help spread the word. |
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February 19 Membership Meeting
Speaker,
Dr. Annette Bookter
The Director of Human Resources for
City-Parish government, Dr. Annette
Bookter, spoke at our February membership meeting. When she stepped in over a year ago the
office was “under a cloud” due to a high profile firing of the previous
director. Dr. Bookter has a mandate to
move quickly to plan a diversification program. The Council is offering our
help in building public support for her vision. She described four steps for implementation:
· Leveling the Playing Field: The grievance process has been revised to bring it more in line with EEO policies. Over 2000 employees have been trained on “Work With Respect”. She is working to expand the selection pool for new hires from the present three top scorers on the civil service exam.
· Educational Programs: There are mentoring programs and awareness courses integrating diversity throughout.
· Workforce/Succession Planning: Over 65% of the current workforce will be retiring in the next few years. Benefits are good but salaries are low. She plans to add more employment levels to provide for fair compensation for highly qualified persons.
· Evaluation: The present employee evaluation has two levels: satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Beginning in January 2005, the system will change to allow finer gradations.
We ask council members to be aware of the difficu-lty of changing an entrenched bureaucracy, to let us know of any relevant information, and to participate in any initiatives in support of Dr. Bookter.
Annual Humanitarian
Award
The 24th annual Powell-Reznikoff Humanitarian Awards this year went to Rev. Charles T. Smith and to Tom and Kathy Gess.
Rev. Smith is the pastor at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, on Eddie Robinson Sr. Drive, a landmark institution offering programs and broad support for so many people in the community. He is also a member of several community organizations including the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Directors of the Young Leaders Academy and LSU’s Community Advisory Committee for Campus Diversity.
The Gesses have been involved with the Battered Woman’s Program, the Interchurch Conference Committee on Criminal Justice and Friends of Families. For the past eight years, they have focused on Louisiana Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants or CURE. They have received both national and local awards for their work.
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Neo-Nazis
Attempting to Organize in South Baton Rogue
The Neo-Nazi “National Alliance”; their founder, William Pierce; and the novel they promote, “The Turner Diaries,” have become household words after the Oklahoma City bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in 1995. Their ideology was a major influence on Timothy McVey.
This organization has now distributed recruiting flyers to over four hundred homes in the Kenilworth subdivision and surrounding areas.
A resident of the area, Dotti Berry, received one of the flyers and acted promptly to report it in every way she could. She located the Human Relations Council through our registration in the East Baton Rouge Parish Library. She reported the incident to the Southern Poverty Law Center. We wish to commend her for raising community awareness and reminding us that it can happen here.
There is a New Orleans P.O. Box address on the flyer. The web site can be found through Google and one can see how insidious an organization this is.
The B. R.
Advocacy Coalition for Economic and Racial Justice
The Council is moving forward with this initiative which we reported in the last newsletter. Invitations to join the coalition have been sent to organizations on our advisory committee for their final review: The YWCA of Greater Baton Rouge, Working Interfaith Network, Bien-
ville House for Peace and Justice and the Greater Baton Rouge Federation of Churches and Synagogues. The YWCA has joined.
Our mission is to be an information clearinghouse for organizations that have the elimination of racism as part of their mission. We will post on our web site (i) a profile of each group, (ii) contact infor-mation, (iii) links to their web sites and (iv) a calendar of events related to this mission. Our goal is to bring more cohesion to the movement to end racism and to become better acquainted with all efforts in the community.
Abraham’s
Salon
The BR Council is co-sponsoring a pilot interfaith dialogue among the faith communities stemming from Abraham. This is a response to a book by Bruce Feiler: “Abraham – A Journey of Three Faiths.” The group will seek representatives of both synagogues, both mosques and Catholic and Protestant congregations. Hopefully the pilot group will lead to further dialogue groups across the city.
Co-sponsors are the National Conference of Com-munity and Justice and The Greater Baton Rouge Federation of Churches and Synagogues.
In Memoriam
Two of our very close friends on the Council passed away recently. Dorothy Newman and Kathleen Burns were both dear to our hearts as friends and activists working along with their Council member husbands Rogers Newman and Paul Burns. They will be missed. Our hearts go out to their families.
Dorothy Newman
Dorothy Alice Willis Newman passed away on January 21, 2004. She was serving as a board member of the Council at the time of her death.
Dorothy was born in Monroe, Louisiana. She received degrees at Southern University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison and continued her studies at LSU, Harvard University and
Columbia University. She joined the English Department at Southern University in 1953 where she remained until her retirement in 1998.
Donations in her memory may be made to Southern University English Faculty Scholarship Fund, Department of English, Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA 70813
Kathleen Burns
Kathleen C. Burns passed away on March 14, 2004. She had served as a director on the Council board.
Kathleen was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She served in many capacities during 49 years at the University Presbyterian Church. Her volunteer work included many Baton Rouge organizations including Meals on Wheels, International Hospitality, Friends of Public Education, Operation Upgrade, Peace Links and the YWCA. She received the Wade-Mackie Peacemaking Award from Bienville House for Peace and Justice.
Memorial donations can be made to University Presbyterian Church, 3240 Dalrymple Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70802
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Email Database
The council now has an email address: tbrcohr@yahoo.com (remember the full initials). We would like to get email addresses from the membership. Very often the directors are alerted to events of interest. We will be able to contact the membership more easily and with no cost if we have your email addresses. Please send a brief message, including your name, to our new email address and then we can capture it and enter it into our new database.
Newsletter of the Louisiana Council on
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