[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 12, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E9333-E9334]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            EXPOSING RACISM

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 12, 1999

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, in my continuing efforts to 
document and expose racism in America, I submit the following articles 
into the Congressional Record.

  Plan to Change Confederate Park to Cancer Memorial Draws Complaints

       Memphis, Tenn.--The Civil War battle that surrendered 
     Memphis to Northern hands took place just below bluffs on the 
     Mississippi River.
       For 90 years, a 2\1/2\-acre city park atop the bluffs has 
     served as a memorial to the Confederacy. But now, a squabble 
     is brewing over a plan to rename the park in honor of cancer 
     survivors.
       The R.A. Bloch Cancer Foundation of Kansas City, MO, which 
     finances parks to honor cancer survivors and encourage cancer 
     sufferers, has offered the city $1 million to fund such a 
     memorial, plus $100,000 for maintenance.
       John Malmo, Park Commission chairman, said the city needs 
     the money to improve and maintain the park, which is in the 
     right location for what the Bloch Foundation wants.
       Civil War and Southern heritage buffs are less than 
     pleased. ``I don't think we're just going to take it lying 
     down,'' said John T. Wilkinson III, a Memphis lawyer and 
     member of the Tennessee Division, Sons of Confederate 
     Veternas.
       The General Nathan Bedford Forrest Camp, Sons of 
     Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the 
     Confederacy, have announced a rally at the park on May 19.
       The Park Commission has a meeting the following day but is 
     not expected to make a final decision on the proposal until 
     next month.
       The park has been part of the Memphis parks system for 170 
     years. It originally was part of the Public Promenade, 36 
     acres along the riverfront dedicated in March 1829 as open 
     space for public use.
       It was named Confederate Park in 1907 and was placed on the 
     National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
       The park sits close to where a Northern armada launched a 
     spirited, but brief, battle on June 6, 1862 that ended with 
     Memphis' surrender.
       Ed Williams, Shelby County historian, said the park offered 
     a good vantage point for citizens to watch the Battle of 
     Memphis, and a Union contingent reportedly docked below the 
     bluffs on the way to accept the city's surrender.
       In the early 1900s, reunions of Confederate veterans were 
     held on the site, Williams said.
       The park includes several plaques honoring Civil War heroes 
     and a statute of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. It 
     also has memorials unrelated to the Confederacy, including a 
     Ten Commandments tablet.
       Still, Judith Johnson, executive director of Memphis 
     Heritage Inc., said the park holds an important place in the 
     city's past and changing it should be approached with care.
       ``I know a lot of people at the end of the 20th Century 
     feel the Confederacy is not someting we can hold up as a 
     value we can embrace, but we can't erase our history,'' 
     Johnson said.
                                  ____


       Auto-parts Maker Making Progress as Spinoff From GM Nears

                           (By Brian S. Akre)

       Troy, Mich.--Delphi Automotive Systems Corp., the auto-
     parts manufacturer with locations in Mississippi and soon to 
     be independent from General Motors Corp., has no more money-
     losing plants, is getting cooperation from its unions to cut 
     costs and is winning more non-GM business, its chairman said 
     Monday.
       As the world's largest parts-maker, Delphi also plans to be 
     a major player in the industry's consolidation through an 
     aggressive acquisition drive, J.T. Battenberg III told 
     reporters before departing on a worldwide roadshow to raise 
     his company's profile among investors.
       Delphi was once a disparate collection of parts operations 
     that, with parent GM, was near bankruptcy in the early 1990s. 
     Though it lost $93 million last year because of several one-
     time costs, Delphi earned $284 million in the first quarter 
     this year.
       GM is cutting Delphi loose to focus on its core business: 
     building cars and trucks. Delphi executives say they expect 
     their business to grow as other automakers no longer have to 
     fear working with a supplier owned by their biggest 
     competitor.
       There's evidence that's already happening, even though the 
     spinoff won't be completed until May 28. In the first 
     quarter, Delphi won $4 billion in new contracts with GM and a 
     surprising $2 billion worth of non-GM contracts. Delphi stock 
     price increased 18 percent in its first three months.
       ``The stock has performed well,'' said analyst Jonathan 
     Lawrence of Bear, Stearns & Co. ``They're certainly winning 
     business, and that's picked up since their announcement of 
     the spinoff.''
       Delphi, based in Troy, Mich., and Battenberg will face 
     their first big test come summer when they will work out 
     details of a new contract with the company's largest union, 
     the United Auto Workers. Talks already are under way with 
     some UAW locals and Battenberg said there has been progress.
       UAW it Delphi with two strikes last summer that shut down 
     GM's North American assembly plants and cost Delphi $450 
     million. Both companies are trying to repair their long-
     contentious relationship with the union.
       Battenberg declined to comment in detail on that 
     relationship but said he was in ``personal touch'' with UAW 
     leaders. Though company insiders say UAW president Stephen P. 
     Yokich has been cooperative, publicly he has criticized the 
     spinoff and urged GM to retain 51 percent of the company.
       The Delphi-UAW talks will coincide with the union's 
     triennial contract negotiations with GM, Ford Motor Co. and 
     the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler AG. The UAW is expected 
     to demand that Delphi's hourly workers get virtually the same 
     deal as GM's hourly workers.
       Delphi no longer has any plants that are unprofitable, in 
     some cases because its unions agreed to relax restrictive 
     work rules, Battenberg said. In Kokomo, Ind., for example, 
     the UAW agreed to work rule changes to allow the electronics 
     plant to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
       Battenberg said Delphi plans to focus on acquiring 
     companies that can supply future technology, especially in 
     the area of high-tech electronics as computers and satellite 
     telecommunications become more integrated into the design of 
     car and truck interiors.
       ``I look at Delphi becoming an electronics company that 
     makes products for vehicles, which is a lot more attractive 
     than a traditional auto-parts company,'' Lawrence said.
       Though Delphi has been trimming its work force through 
     attrition, the company may end up adding workers if it meets 
     its goals to increase new business, Battenberg said.
       Later this month, Delphi will debut a $1 million TV-and-
     print advertising campaign to coincide with the Indianapolis 
     500 auto race. The campaign and 20-city roadshow are intended 
     to make Delphi a brand known outside the auto industry.
                                  ____




             Biloxi Not Sure What To Do With Historic House

                            (By Tom Wilemon)

       Biloxi, MS.--The home of Glenn and June Swetman is like a 
     time capsule with a paradox.
       Inside the home, uranium glassware glows magically form 
     display cases. Underneath the home, the stark cement walls of 
     a fallout shelter stand dark and dank.
       The Swetmans were living the American dream during the 
     early 1960s, but they knew that a nuclear nightmare could 
     destroy everything.
       Coping with the Cold War is only one chapter in the history 
     of this house, which is a virtual treasure chest of 
     fascinating objects.
       But its new owner and caretaker, the city of Biloxi, does 
     not yet know what to do with it. Biloxi assumed control of 
     the house in January after the death of June Swetman last 
     year.
       June Swetman and her husband envisioned their home becoming 
     a city museum or a residence for the mayor when they arranged 
     in 1982 to donate it to the city. Either use is unlikely.
       Setting up an official residence for the mayor is not a 
     priority for Mayor A.J. Holloway or the City Council. Nor are 
     city officials planning to open another museum.
       The Georgian Revival home sits on a quiet street near the 
     beach, has no public parking and is in an area zoned for 
     residential use.
       ``Originally, the house was slated to be a historic museum 
     dedicated to telling the story of a day in the life of a 
     country banker,'' said Lolly Barnes, historical administrator 
     for Biloxi.
       ``That was the original purpose Mr. Glenn Swetman had in 
     mind. Whether or not that will be the purpose I don't know,'' 
     Barnes said.
       Glenn Swetman was the owner of The Peoples Bank and one of 
     the Coast's most respected civic leaders. He had a penchant 
     for collecting things.

[[Page E9334]]

       The collections include valuable antiques, whimsical 
     walking canes, uranium glassware and Japanese woodblock 
     prints. Virtually every piece has an interesting story.
       The prints once belonged to the architect Frank Lloyd 
     Wright. A Victorian dining table came from the estate of 
     19th-century social reformer Dorothea Dix.
       The house, which is on the National Register of Historic 
     Places, has been offered as a headquarters for some Coast 
     performing arts organizations.
       The Gulf Coast Opera is in process of setting up an office 
     in one of the second-story bedrooms. But that does not mean 
     the public will get to go inside.
       ``We don't anticipate a lot of foot traffic,'' said David 
     Daniels, president of Gulf Coast Opera ``What we mainly need 
     is a phone line and computer space. It's mainly a place where 
     people can call and make reservations for performances. That 
     space is ideal for that.''
       Two of Swetmans children, Chevis Swetman and Nancy 
     Breeland, said they were pleased that the opera will use the 
     house because their parents avidly supported the performing 
     arts.
       Their parents established a trust fund that now totals 
     $85,000 to pay for maintenance and repairs at the house. An 
     assessment of the house by the city's risk manager found no 
     major structural damages or problems.
       The property has a value of $183,000. ``We are looking at 
     some preventive maintenance and some minor repairs,'' said 
     Vincent Creel, public affairs manager for Biloxi. ``The city 
     is still assessing its long-term options for use of the 
     property. The antique and art collections inside the house 
     belong to the Peoples Heritage Trust, a foundation the 
     Swetmans set up at Peoples Bank to preserve and protect the 
     Coast's historical properties.
       ``As far as I know, the uranium glass collection is one of 
     the more extensive in the country,'' said Chevis Swetman 
     ``Years ago, people didn't know what it was that made it 
     glow. The opalescent glass, which glows under black lights, 
     was created by adding uranium to a glass mixture with a high 
     arsenic content.''
       Outside the home, Chevis Swetman pointed to the fallout 
     shelter and noted that his father was a survivalist as well 
     as a collector of fine things.
       ``The fallout shelter has four escape hatches in case some 
     of them got blocked by rubble,'' he said. ``They were all 
     built at right angles because radiation travels in a straight 
     line. We were prepared for the big one.''
                                  ____


                  JUCO Campuses Hold Joint Graduation

       Biloxi, MS.--Sean and Stephanie Harris of Lucedale 
     graduated from separate campuses of Mississippi Gulf Coast 
     Community College, but took part in the same graduation 
     ceremony.
       For the first time since 1968, the Jackson County, 
     Jefferson Davis and Perkinston campuses of Mississippi Gulf 
     Coast Community College united Monday night for a joint 
     graduation ceremony.
       A few months ago, the Harris couple worried about having to 
     miss each other's graduation.
       ``I was very relieved to find out it was on the same day in 
     the same place,'' Stephanie Harris, 25, said Monday night as 
     she and her husband prepared for the processional at the 
     Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
       ``We both wanted to go to each other's graduation,'' said 
     28-year-old Sean, who completed the paramedic program at the 
     Jefferson Davis campus.
       Stephanie Harris finished at the Jackson County campus with 
     an associate of arts degree.
       With increasing enrollments and record-high graduating 
     classes, the three campuses of Mississippi Gulf Coast 
     Community College have grown too large to hold separate 
     ceremonies in their gyms. More than 800 students took part in 
     the Monday night ceremony.

     

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