Sweatshop Debate Students Seek Changes in Clothes-Licensing Deals

SWEATSHOP DEBATE STUDENTS SEEK CHANGES IN CLOTHES-LICENSING DEALS:[CHICAGOLAND FINAL Edition]
Pamela J Appea, Washington Bureau. Chicago Tribune Chicago, Ill.:
Mar 27, 1999. p. 10

(Copyright 1999 by the Chicago Tribune)

In a burst of campus activism, college students around the country are staging sit-ins and other protests in hopes of ending "poor and inhumane" working conditions at factories licensed to produce clothing bearing their school names.

In response, some colleges and universities are adopting measures intended to remedy sweatshop conditions at overseas apparel factories. Seventeen colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale and Duke, earlier this month announced they would join a new factory-monitoring group, the Fair Labor Association, which has established a code of conduct for apparel producers in addition to providing measures for monitoring plants for violations.

The anti-sweatshop movement has gained momentum with successes on campuses such as Georgetown University, where students in February occupied the president's office for 85 hours before reaching an agreement for the university to exercise stricter control over its apparel licensing, including disclosure of plants producing university-branded apparel.

Anti-sweatshop action also has increased in recent weeks at universities such as the University of Arizona, University of North Carolina and UCLA. Student activists say they are "actively" negotiating with school administrators over apparel-licensing provisions that include "livable" wages, protection against child labor and sexual harassment, and measures permitting factory workers to unionize.

"Many of us are proud of our universities and can't live with the idea of seeing our mascots dragged through the mud by our universities' collusion with sweatshop labor," said Thomas Wheatley, 24, a sociology graduate student at the University of Wisconsin- Madison and member of the Madison Anti-Sweatshop Coalition.

Students at the University of Michigan, after a 51-hour president's office sit-in, claimed victory earlier this month when the administration endorsed a code of conduct and said it will require licensees to provide full disclosure of manufacturing locations.

However, Michigan sophomore Peter Romer-Friedman, 19, a founder of Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality, said many Michigan students think they have not yet reached a "complete agreement, but rather a down payment to an agreement," because the university has not accepted a timeline on obtaining livable workers' wages.

In the past several years, public awareness on sweatshops has spurred student activists who say they are motivated by the desire to uphold a truly "global economy" in which factory workers have fair and safe conditions.

According to Tico Almedia, 22, a senior at Duke University, public awareness of factory conditions became a pressing issue after the media spotlighted Kathy Lee Gifford's popular clothing line--which reports revealed were made in a Honduran sweatshop--and conditions at plants producing Nike products.

The student activism has support from organized labor, including UNITE, the textile and apparel workers union, which often has sought to draw attention to abusive working conditions at foreign apparel manufacturing plants that supply U.S. retailers.

Stanley Ikenberry, president of the American Council on Education, said the Fair Labor Association provides an effective way for colleges and universities to address sweatshop code-of-conduct issues.

The association, developed with the encouragement of the White House and the Labor Department, is composed of several human- rights groups and some prominent manufacturers such as Nike Inc. and Reebok International Ltd., whose practices have been criticized in the past.

The FLA code of conduct prohibits forced labor, discrimination and child labor in internationally based factories or free-trade zones, where collegiate apparel is produced. "We will enter into licensing agreements only with companies that meet FLA standards," said a spokesperson for Princeton University.

In his letter to the education council's membership of 1,800 colleges and universities, Ikenberry said that while the Fair Labor Association accord is "not a perfect agreement, it does lay the foundation for creating a practical and enforceable monitoring system that will help improve working conditions."

The colleges and universities affiliating with the Fair Labor Association are the University of Arizona, Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Florida State University, Harvard University, Marymount University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Rutgers University, Smith College, Tufts University, Wellesley College and Yale University.

But some student activists, including Nora Rosenberg, 19, a Brown University sophomore, are skeptical that the Fair Labor Association will produce results.

Charging that its code of conduct is "inherently flawed," Rosenberg asserted that the agreement embodies a "conflict of interest" that may enable the association's corporate board members to influence how their plants and suppliers are monitored.

Under the Fair Labor Association's proposed code of conduct, selected factories will be inspected at announced times to receive the Fair Labor Association's stamp of approval. Rosenberg said that FLA board members may be able to influence the selection of supposedly independent factory monitors.

Performance is Driver Behind Alt Allocations

Performance is Driver Behind Alt Allocations
By Pamela Appea
Alternative Investment News

The numbers are in—hedge funds are out front, driving institutions to allocate into the arena. With alternative investments beating the traditional stock and bond markets, institutional investors are expected to continue their move into hedge funds in 2001.

Buoyed by the sector’s strong performance, in general, many investment officers at pension plans, foundation and endowments are looking at entering or increasing their investments in these alternatives, consultants said. Hedge fund managers also report an uptick in interest from institutional investors.

“Last year told the story, and that convinced people who were sitting on the fence,” said Terry Jones, managing director at New York-based Arden Asset Management, a market-neutral fund of funds. “They really had to see it to believe it.”

Indeed 2000 was a banner year for hedge funds which, according to the Hennessee Hedge Fund Review returned 6.25% for the year, outperforming the Nasdaq Stock Market (-39.72%), the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (-9.73%) and the Lipper Mutual Fund index (9.54%.)

“Last year was the first year, in perhaps five, that hedge funds really proved the mettle,” added Ross Ellis, a consultant at Oaks, Pennsylvania-based SEI investments.

Charles Gradante, a principal at the Hennessee Group, said it is clear that more institutions are choosing to invest with hedge funds. Preliminary figures from the Hennessee Group’s soon-to-be-completed annual survery show a large jump in institutional investors.

“The initial results ….indicate …2001 will entail the largest increase in institutional allocations to hedge funds—ever,” Gradante said.

Market Neutral, Arb Strats Seen as Top Picks
Market neutral hedge funds, which returned 7.05% last year, according to the Hennessee Hedge Fund Review, will continue to be in top demand, predicted consultants and hedge fund managers. These funds have relatively low votality, and though their returns may fall far short of stellar, they ae uncorrelated to traditional bond and stock markets. Because of the sector’s characteristics, Joseph Aaron, president of the hedge fund consultancy Wood, Hat & Silver said he felt it would continue to be a good fit for institutional investors.

Merger and convertible arbitrage strategies, which according to Hennessee, returned 17% and 8.61% in 2000, will also be strong draws for institutional monies, predicted Jones. Whereas most hedge funds often tinker with their styles, the arbitrage strategists tend to stay more true to form, he noted. Institutional investors are far less tolerant to style drift than affluent investors.

For those looking for higher returns and willing to take on more risk, healthcare/biotech and distressed debt strategies are worth watching, consultants recommended. The healthcare/biotech sector which was the top-performing last year, at 62.37% could present a high-risk high-reward opportunity through the first half of the year, predicted Richard

Bookbinder, a general partner and portfolio manager for Roebling Fund LP, a New York City-based fund of funds that invests in about 10 different low-volatility strategies. George Abraham, a hedge fund manager for he Arlington, Virginia-based biotech fund Friedman Billings Ramsey, underscored biotech is a long-term strategy. He noted between research trials and waiting for Food and Drug Administration approval, the final product can take up to 10 years to appear, and, consequently show a profit.

Many in the industry are predicting distressed debt may provide lucrative opportunities, but they underscored this is a risky strategy. Gradante said while most in the industry feel distressed debt will do well, he feels it is premature to say there is an abundance of opportunity in the market. Scott Reid, managing director of the Portfolio Management Group, said distressed debt will be a challenging place to make money, as it always has been.

“There are opportunities and you have to be very, very selective.” He emphasized highly experienced managers will probably see the best results. Emphasizing the risk, Gradante noted a slew of big-name companies are in danger of going out of business, such as Xerox, Friend’s Ice Cream, Grand Union Supermarkets, Rand McNally, TransWorld Airlines and Chiquita Banana. “There are winners and losers,” Gradante said.

“Those companies that were ahead of the [technology] curve are taking market shares away from the weaker companies.” Institutions may want more hedge fund investments, but that doesn’t mean hedge funds necessarily want their money. Many hedge funds are not eager to take institutional money, noted Aaron.

Echoing Aaron, Gradante estimated 40-50% of hedge fund managers are not interested in taking institutional money. Still, recently some larger hedge funds have shown an increased interest in courting institutional investors, he added.

A key breakthrough for pension funds investing in altenatives came in the summer of 1999, when The California Public Employees’ Retirement System announced it was planning on investing a whopping $11.25 billion in hedge funds, noted Jones.

Although the initial commitment was later decreased to $1 billion, in the nearly two years since then, other pension plans have followed suit, significantly increasing their involvement with alternative investments. And the same trend is beginning in several European and Asian countries. The choppy markets of last year, coupled with the sector’s strong performance has opened the doors to making institutions increasingly important investors in the sector.

Copyright 2001 by Pamela Appea.
Alternative Investment News, of Institutional Investor.

Food Stamp Applications Down, but Hunger Continues, Relief Group Says

Hundreds of thousands of eligible recipients are passing up food stamps so they can avoid missing work, waiting on long lines at the county welfare office and filling out lengthy and intrusive applications, a report finds.

Over the past four years, food stamp applications across the U.S. have decreased by more than 33% to a participation rate of only $17 million people in the first quarter of 2000, says America’s Second Harvest, a hunger relief organization based in Chicago.

Marcus Fruchter, senior policy associate at America’s Second Harvest, says the demand for food remains constant, with 31 million people in the U.S. “food insecure”—hungry or at risk of going hungry.

Fruchter says he’s hopeful low food stamp participation rates won’t affect the program’s funding. He says aggressive outreach to vulnerable populations will help make food stamps work better before its reauthorization in 2002.

“The obstacles the poor and the hungry face to become self-sufficient are often daunting enough for most people,” the report says.

“Federal rules and state administration should not be creating a red tape divide for needy and hungry people.”

Second Harvest recommends federal policy makers simplify and shorten food stamp applications so more eligible people will apply.

While the strong economy accounts for some of the decline in food stamp applications, one-third of people potentially eligible for the food stamp program don’t participate, the report says.

People who are eligible for food stamps feel discouraged by red tape and the stringent application process, the report says. To compensate, more are relying on help from charity groups and food banks like Second Harvest.

The survey finds 29 states and the District of Columbia have food stamp applications 10-36 pages long. And some applications ask for detailed information on childrens’ income and bank accounts; income from baby-sitting; charity and gifts from churches and synagogues and income from panhandling; bingo winnings, plasma donation and garage sales, the report says.

Info: 800/771-2303; For a copy of the report, www.secondharvest.org. USDA, 202/720/3631.

Copyright 2000 by Pamela Appea for Family Services Report, Community Development Publications.

A Bitter Pill? Black Boys and Ritalin

By Pamela Appea

pjappea@hotmail.com

It’s a common September scenario. A child refuses to stay in his seat or won’t stop acting out in class. He’s restless and fidgety and he likes to talk and talk…and talk. Frustrated teachers quickly think of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and equally frustrated parents quickly acquiesce to requests that their child be evaluated and possibly medicated.

It’s a difficult decision to make, especially amid growing concern that children are being overdiagnosed and overmedicated, especially with the ADD/ADHD miracle drug, Ritalin. A study from the Journal of the American Medical Association found the use of drugs like Ritalin among children aged two to fourteen tripled in the 1990s.

When this problem child is black, the complications only increase. While many in the black community have decried a rush to medicate minority children, especially boys, with Ritalin and other drugs, others have argued that black boys, while disproportionately diagnosed with learning difficulties, in fact receive far less treatment than other students.

“There are a lot of children suffering,” says Dr. Marilyn Benoit, a child psychiatry expert at George Washington University “Many don’t get the treatment they need.”

What they do often get, Benoit and others agree, is a stigmatizing label, and sometimes a one-way ticket to special education classes. The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University found in a 2001 study that black public school students in the US are three times more likely than whites to be identified as mentally retarded or in need of special education services. In addition, the study said, black students with learning disabilities are often misdiagnosed as being “emotionally disturbed.”

Beyond ADD and ADHD, kids now are tested for a veritable alphabet soup of disorders, including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD). But with symptoms for ODD like “often argues with adults,” “often loses temper” and “often deliberately annoys people,” many parents – and teachers – wonder how to tell the difference between a bona fide medical condition and the behavior of a grumpy, spoiled or bratty child.

Such broad definitions, when combined with studies like Harvard’s that suggest how quickly black children are seen as “trouble,” make for a combustible combination.

“I know that a lot of black boys are labeled as having behavior problems and are placed in Special Ed. Classrooms,” says Xoli Dyasi, a fifth-grade teacher in the New York public schools.

The National Medical Association, a DC-based group promoting the interests of black doctors and patients, has spoken out against the disproportionate placement of African American children into special education programs.

Still, Dyasi says, some children do have learning disabilities and benefit from the diagnosis, when followed by proper treatment. She says she leaves the diagnosing to the school psychiatrist. Therein lies the problem, some minority child advocates say. Most teachers are not like Dyasi — a rush to Ritalin is common, with teachers sending notes home to parents demanding that their children be medicated.

What children do need medication? ADHD experts like Dr. Laurence Greenhill, at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, say some tell-tale signs of ADHD among young children are an “insatiable” curiosity or “excessive” temper tantrums. “A child with ADHD may appear restless, aggressive, demanding, argumentative, or noisy,” Greenhill says. Evelyn Polk Green, president of Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD), a Landover, Maryland-based advocacy group, lists some real life examples – the child who has no friends or playmates, who has been expelled from day care centers, who is no longer welcome at larger family functions – that indicate the potential need for medication.

Polk Green, a Chicago resident, early childhood educator and parent of an ADHD teenager, says she struggled with the idea of medicated her child. “His temper tantrums were long and uncontrollable, yet he could be the sweetest, most loving child in the world,” she said.

And it wasn’t the amount of discipline her son received, she says, recalling how she and her husband tried every trick in the book. “None of the standard behavior modification techniques seemed to work,” she says. “Eventually, my husband and I realized that we could not do this alone.”

She says she initially worried ADHD medications would transform her smart, creative son into a zombie. But the decision paid off. Polk Green said her son is doing well today — still on medication but an active, college-bound high school student.Success stories like Polk Greens combine many factors – concerned, committed parents being the main one – that many kids diagnosed with ADD/ADHD lack. When parents lack health insurance, or the school system is uncooperative or even hostile, the results can be disastrous.

Despite laws like Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA, an amendment that advocates blended classrooms, (in conjunction with the Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975), children diagnosed with learning disabilities are often placed in special ed classrooms, taught a watered-down curriculum, or tracked into nonacademic programs.
And even when an ADHD-diagnosed student stays in a regular class, he or she faces counseling sessions, special group times, break times for medication, and other specialized parent-teacher meetings. The stigma can spread to a student’s peers. It’s not a secret who has ADHD, especially among urban school districts. Just ask the kids who takes medication and who doesn’t – they always know.

“I am actually torn with this topic,” said Dyasi. “I think that some medications do more harm than good for the child who is diagnosed as having ADHD. It may work for some kids and it may not. I think it really depends on the seriousness of the symptoms. It's really up to, I think, the experts – the doctors whose interest are really the children and not the doctors who are willing to only test out medications on children that may not need it.”At the same time, she says, all disruptive children should be evaluated immediately once they get into school—at age five or six – rather than letting problems fester.The topic of black children and medication is so controversial that one staff member at Florida A & M university in Tallahassee asked not to be identified when she said she feels more kids and adolescents within the African American community probably should be on medication. While not a popular opinion, her argument is echoed by recent findings in one Virginia school district that, while 17 percent of white boys are on Ritalin, only 9 percent of black boys are. All agree that parents and teachers must communicate better about ADHD and other learning disabilities, and that parents should inform themselves of their children’s rights and the medical and non-medical options for treatment. After that, says Polk Green, you just make the best decision for your child.

“Taking meds is a huge decision and should not be taken lightly,” Polk Green said, but adds, “if my child needed glasses or a hearing aide, or insulin or even chemotherapy, I wouldn’t hesitate to give him the treatment he needed.”

(This is an unpublished article prepared for http://www.africana.com/ in 2002)

Please DO NOT re-distribute this article without my consent.

E-mail me at pjappea@hotmail.com. Thanks!

Expecting times two or three or four

Expecting times two or three or four
Clinic Cares for women pregnant with twins or more*

Barbara Luke is a firm advocate of bed rest.

At least that’s what she prescribes for women expecting twins, triplets or quadruplets.

Luke, a nutritionists and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan, founded her 4-year-old clinic to provide personal care and specialized treatment for women expecting multiple babies.

The clinic helps to meet a growing need. Statistics from the National Center for Health show that there were more than 110,000 multiple births in the United States in 1997.

“It’s a huge rise in the last 10-15 years,” Luke said.

Luke, 49, said her method gets results.

Women who go to her clinic have babies that are born later, heavier and healthier than those of mothers who don’t get such counseling, she said. Luke hopes to reach even more women with her recently published book, “When You’re Expecting Twins, Triplets or Quads” which she co-authored with Tamara Eberlein, a New York mother of twins.

Luke’s patients quickly find out that their pregnancies are different from what she calls a singleton pregnancy.

Kristi L. K. Mawby, 31, who lives in Ypsilanti Township, first went to see Luke when she was eight weeks pregnant back in 1996. The rules laid down by Luke at Mawby’s first appointment were intimidating, Mawby said.

“First you will gain lots of weight,” she recalled Luke saying. “I was hoping not to. Second you will eat protein, red meat, until its coming out of your ears; third was all of the vitamin supplements; fourth you will rest. You will stop working; you will be lazy and gestate.”

“Maybe I was in denial of what a twin pregnancy was about,” Mawby continued. “At first I thought, “You’ve got to be kidding. It’s not that bad.”

But as Mawby learned more about twin pregnancies, she began to see Luke’s advice as sound. Put on bed rest for eight weeks, Mawby later delivered at 38 ½ weeks. Her twins, a boy and a girl, will be 3 in May.

Although multiple births have become more common, Luke said. many people don’t seem to understand the risks involved , including low-birth weight, learning disabilities and other long-term effects if babies are born prematurely. Good nutrition and proper care help to significantly reduce these risks, she said.

Many expectatnt mothers of multiples, Luke said, are guilty of not taking care of themselves or continuing a high-paced lifestyle at work and home. And the main detrimental result of not slowing down is the risk of premature delivery, Luke said.

Part of her job as a nutritionist, coach and advocate for women expecting multiples, she said, is to get mothers to relax and take the time to gestate.

A multiples pregnancy is different physically, Luke said. Women get larger faster than if they are pregnant with one child. For example, a woman expecting triplets who is 24 weeks pregnant may look like a woman pregnant with a singleton at 36 weeks, Luke writes in her book.

At first many mothers of multiples are determined to work until their ninth moth, not always realizing that their children may be born a few weeks early and that working can cause stress related problems on the pregnancy.

That’s why early on, Luke counsels her patients on the importance of scheduling time off from work well in advance.

Ann Seifart of Jackson took Luke’s advice to heart when she found out she was pregnant with quadruplets in 1996. Seifart, now 46, took off work from her dental hygienist job when she was four months pregnant. Her quadruplets were born at 31 weeks and, though small, all thrived.

“I took things one step at a time,” said Seifart. “I had success and unfortunately there are women who haven’t.”

Tim Johnson, chair of the OB/GYN clinic at the University of Michigan, said Luke’s clinic and research on multiples is an effective part of the [University of Michigan’s] multidisciplinary effort.

A woman’s regular check-appointment may only be 15 minutes, Johnson said. So that’s why it’s important that a team of nurse-midwives, nutritionists, social workers and other health care providers supplement the prenatal care women expecting multiple babies receive, Johnson said.

“You can imagine why patients love Dr. Luke. The doctors love her and the hospital loves her. Having healthier babies is good for everybody,” Johnson said.

At a patient’s first visit to her clinic, Luke puts the emphasis on nutrition, particularly during the first trimester. The early weeks—the first 13 to 14 weeks— of the pregnancy are the most crucial. “That’s really when the major organs are formed,” Luke said. “The risks of birth defects are greatest during that period.”

Luke finds patients often get unhelpful advice, such as, “Try not to gain too much weight,” from family members and others. Luke’s advice is to eat as much as possible during a multiples pregnancy.

One of her biggest battles, Luke said, is convincing women that during such a pregnancy is not the time to watch her weight.

Luke has counseled mothers of 150 sets of twins, a dozen sets of triplets and Seifert, the mother of the quadruplets.

Despite the long hours, Luke said she can’t imagine doing any other type of work.

“I really love what I do,” she said. “I realize admire my patients. The women have tremendous strengths.”

And the best thing for the nutritional health expert, she said, is hearing from former patients months or years afterwards about their children.

“It’s a vote of confidence that we’re doing it right,” Luke said.

Copyright Feburary 2000 by Pamela Appea for The Ann Arbor News.

Are Black Girls Growing Up Too Fast?

By Pamela J. Appea

When Nicole Turner (not her real name), then an eight-year-old second-grader, got her period, developed breasts and grew pubic hair all in the same year, she was the first in her class to hit puberty.

That was 15 years ago. Now, early puberty is more common than ever; and some are worried about its possible impact on black girls.

The Chicago resident, now 23, remembers being embarrassed at the time because she had to wear a bra to school.

“Starting puberty sooner does make you grow up faster. You’re not a kid anymore,” Turner said. “My mom was shocked when I first got my period. I’ll never forget the look on her face.”
The trend overall for American girls is that they’re reaching puberty sooner and developing at an early age – some feel too early.

But research shows the early onset of puberty is particularly salient among black girls, who, according to some studies, start menstruating and developing as much as two to three years sooner than white girls.

On average, black girls get their periods before age nine. White girls typically start their periods a little later, at around 10. Just 10 years ago, researchers measured the average age of menarche, or first menstrual period, at 12.5 years of age.

In a 1997 University of North Carolina study headed by Dr. Marcia Herman-Giddens, more than 17,000 girls ages 3 through 12 were surveyed during routine doctor’s visits for signs of sexual development.

About 27 percent of black girls started developing by age eight, while only seven percent of white girls had started puberty by that age. About ten percent of the girls in the sample were black, while the rest were white.

In the North Carolina survey, the results of which were published in the medical journal Pediatrics in 1997, researchers reported they found 48 percent of black girls and slightly less than 15 percent of white girls had begun breast or “secondary” hair development — pubic and armpit hair — or both, by age nine.

Surprisingly, Herman-Giddens and her research team also found three percent of the 1,700 black girls in the study showed some sexual development by age three, while just one percent of the 15,300 white girls showed the similar development at that age.

Herman-Giddens, who is now an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, said she and others she worked with noticed five- and six-year-old girls were coming into the clinic with developing breasts or pubic hair when she was working as a physician’s assistant years ago.

Girls who started puberty any time before the average age had previously been considered “abnormal,” and sent to a specialist for evaluation and possible hormone treatment, Herman-Giddens said. But the study’s results saw the incidence of puberty among younger girls as less an anomaly or abnormality than a trend, with the exception of girls under five.

What’s behind this trend? And if it does seem to affect black girls more than whites, why? Although researchers have raised a number of possible causes – from birthweight to diet to stress levels – none has been proven.

Among the general population, and the parents and educators of girls in particular, the riddle of early puberty is especially alarming within the American context of ever-younger exposure to sex in the media. Girls in our society, many fear, are being forced into maturity before they are ready to deal with it.

Turner said that when she first got her period, as the oldest daughter growing up in a rural Illinois community, she didn’t know what was happening at first. Turner’s mother, who was still in her twenties at the time, took her daughter aside and showed her how to make a mini-pad using toilet paper.
But Turner didn’t actually start using sanitary napkins for some time, because she didn’t know about them or where to get them. “I don’t know why my mother didn’t buy pads for me.”
Turner knew the family’s finances were tight at the time — she had several young siblings — but looking back, she still doesn’t think the family’s tight purse strings was the only reason. Her mother may have been embarrassed, and may not have wanted to believe her eight-year-old daughter was menstruating.
“I feel sorry for all these young girls growing up before they have to,” Turner says.
Dina White, a 28-year-old Maryland resident, remembers growing pubic hair around the age of seven or eight, and getting her period at age eight or nine.
“My body was developing much quicker than the other girls in my neighborhood,” White said.
White thinks a high-fat diet may have something to do with the fact that black girls seem to have a tendency to start puberty sooner.

“I think one difference [between us] is our eating habits. We eat more fried foods, we eat larger portions — but not always a balanced diet,” White said.

Growing up in an all-black neighborhood in the Orlando area, White says she and her friends would always eat a lot of junk food. “I was always a thick little girl,” White says.

“My friends and I ate cookies, chips, Hostess cakes and all that. Then in the summers, when I went to the country to visit my grandma, we ate full breakfasts every day with grits, bacon and eggs, biscuits and sometimes even cornbread,” White recalled.
Researchers like Dr. Frank Biro, professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati, have conducted research that backs up White’s hunch.

The pediatrician found that heavier black girls are more likely to get their periods and develop faster than other girls, including skinnier black girls. Black girls who were “early maturing” were 1.61 times more likely to be overweight at age 15, while less overweight black girls started menstruating at 12.2 years, more or less in the “normal” time frame.

According to the three-year-old study, black girls who were late in maturing were 0.71 times, or much less likely, to be overweight at that same age. The study also pointed out that “early maturing” girls are overweight at an early age, and they may be less likely to lose that weight later on.

But overall, researchers and scientists agree that more puberty-oriented research needs to be done not only on blacks, but also on Latina, Native Americans and Asian girls.

Average age figures for puberty were reached by studying exclusive samples of white girls several decades ago. Now researchers aren’t sure why there is a “puberty age gap” between black and white girls. Researchers say it’s possible that black girls have been developing and getting their periods earlier than white girls for decades, or even centuries.

On the other hand, data from some African countries, like Kenya, show the average age of menstruation falling from 14.4 years in the 1970s down to 12.9 in the 1980s, according to the Population Information Center at John Hopkins University in Baltimore.
No matter the cause, the effects of early maturation may be profound.

An Oregon puberty study surveyed a community sample of boys and girls, including blacks, and found early-maturing girls and late-maturing boys were more likely to have adjustment and behavioral problems than other teens.

The implications of the Oregon study for blacks, if the results are duplicated in future research, are significant: poor urban black girls, who live more stressful lives, may menstruate sooner than their wealthier, suburban counterparts. If proven, this could have significant implications on social issues such as teen pregnancy.

Irene Johnson, 31, a Virginia resident, works regularly with elementary to middle-school children on a volunteer basis. Johnson says she feels black girls overall are definitely developing earlier than they did a generation ago, when she was growing up in a town 90 minutes away from Cleveland, Ohio.

Johnson said she is “concerned” that girls are developing as early as they do. Johnson credits today’s parents for telling their kids more about puberty than they did a generation ago, but popular culture still gets in the way. Developed kids, she says, act older than they really are.
“I think girls today are developing a little quicker,” Simmons says. “I was an exception, but today, I see middle-school girls at the bus stop who look like grown women with hips and butt and breasts.”

Although Nicole Turner says people are more open to talking about sex today, she still doesn’t feel black girls get the information they need on puberty as early as they should.

Puberty101.com, an informational Web site for adolescents, posts an open letter to parents: “Do you think your child is too young to view this Web site? According to recent research, one out of six girls start puberty by age eight.”

D. Sands, a 25-year-old Maryland resident and mother of a two-year-old girl, says she plans on talking to her daughter when she thinks the time is right. Sands says she wishes now her mother had told her more about puberty before it actually happened.

Sands said she got her period at age 11, roughly around the same time as most of her peers. But Sands quickly grew into a D-cup by seventh-grade. An aunt who was a nurse at Howard University Hospitals told Sands at age 16 to seriously consider a breast reduction after the teen reached size 42DD. Later, Sands’ mother counseled her daughter “not to worry about the unsolicited advice,” and the issue was dropped.

Sands says that if her daughter develops in the same way in a couple of years, she will try and give her the information she needs.

White, who now has an 11-year-old daughter, said it’s hard to know all the answers.
“The next generation of black girls — and their parents — will not be as prepared for puberty, especially if they’re getting younger and younger.” She worries that girls will get their information not from parents and professionals but from their friends.

“We have unknowledgeable kids teaching our kids about puberty. And that’s a shame.”

2001 Article written by Pamela Appea for Africana.com

Please do not re-distribute or re-post this article without my consent. Thank you!
pjappea@hotmail.com.

Sexual Abuse Of Women on Prison Called an Epidemic

Pamela J Appea, Washington Bureau.
Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Ill.:
Mar 5, 1999. pg. 5
Full Text (395 words)

Stepping up its attack on human-rights violations in this country, Amnesty International charged Thursday that widespread sexual abuse of female inmates is "virtually a fact of life" in U.S. prisons.

Amnesty's report cited court records and accounts by female inmates of sexual abuse by prison guards, including being sold to male inmates for sex, groping pat-down searches, rape and prurient viewing of women while dressing and showering.

"These degrading and dangerous abuses reflect an epidemic of violence against women and the continued second-class status of women in the U.S.," the report said.

Amnesty International said that, although it is difficult to estimate how many women are victims of sexual abuse or assault, the number of women in U.S. prisons and jails has more than tripled since 1985, to 138,000, increasing the likelihood that a greater number of women will be subject to human-rights abuse in a prison system primarily designed for male inmates.

Amnesty claims that 12 states lack laws prohibiting prison guards from having sexual contact with female inmates.

Coercive sexual abuse was the report's most frequently cited abuse, said Christine Haenn, media director for Amnesty International in Washington.

The report cites the case of a female inmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago who alleged in a federal court hearing last October that she was forced into a sexual relationship with a staff member in return for contraband hair products and food.

The woman said she was groped and fondled by another employee on a number of occasions after the first employee bragged about what he had done.

One of the employees has been reassigned to a job where he has no contact with female inmates, Amnesty said.

Amnesty's report also said the penal system's medical system and prenatal resources for female inmates are inadequate. It said shackles are sometimes used during hospitalization, including childbirth, by various institutions, including Cook County Jail.

The report recommends that prisons place women with infants in halfway houses so they can be with their children for at least part of their prison term.

Illinois permits qualified inmates--those without a history of violent behavior or severe mental illness--in residential programs for up to two years.However, only 15 slots are available for this program. In 1997, the report states, at least 120 pregnant women were incarcerated in Illinois state prisons, and 51 babies were born to prisoners.

Theology conference encourages spiritualism, racial unity

Thirty years ago James Cone, currently of New York’s Union Seminary burned the midnight oil, like any other intellectual, in order to write.

Cone, who had studied the great Western theologians and thinkers for years in the seminary, decided, however, to break away from what he deemed to be the uninspiring type of publication produced by his peers in order to pen the groundbreaking book entitled Black Theology & Black Power. This single work opened the floodgates to theological and intellectual discourse across the nation on the discipline of black theology, a previously unheard of concept.

This past weekend marked the first U of C black theology conference, arguably the first black theology conference held anywhere in the United States. It was hosted by the Martin E. Marty Center and the University of Chicago Divinity School. The conference, organized by Associate Professor of Theology Dwight Hopkins, along with Divinity School students, was entitled “Black Theology as Public Discourse: From Retrospect to Prospect,” and helped to honor the 30th anniversary of the publication of Cone’s book.

“I think we needed to be better prepared for the overwhelming response, said Hopkins. “Hotels were not available. People called and said they could not come because there wasn’t a place to stay, particularly students. [This response demonstrates that] black theology is an essential issue.”

Over 2,500 community leaders, students and faculty congregated in Hyde Park in order to discuss, debate and question black theology and examine black theological issues in relation to every day social reality of blacks, both during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and current times.

Cone, Cornel West, professor of Afro-American studies and religion at Harvard University, Manning Marable, professor at Columbia University, and Emilie Townes, of the St. Paul School of Theology, were featured speakers for the conference. The conference also featured workshops and panel discussions.

West spoke Friday, April 3, at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel about the relevance of black rage with black individuals’ intense desire to be considered human, which every individual grapples with in their lives from a theological standpoint.

“[Cone’s] classic … changed the lives of thousands and thousands of young brothers and sisters who were trying to reconcile the times of the Civil Rights movement and their own Christianity,” said West.

Cone spoke on the afternoon of Saturday, April 4 for the annual University of Chicago Aims of Religion Address at the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. Cone talked about his awakenings, prompted by the unjust assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The Civil Rights and the Black Power movements awakened me from my theological slumber. The curriculum at Garrett and Northwestern did not deal with the questions that black people were asking,” said Cone.

Cone detailed the beginning of his search for this “theological identity.”

“Malcolm taught me how to make theology black and to not be ashamed of my African roots. Martin taught me how to make theology [truly] Christian and to deal with socio-political injustices,” he said.

In that time period, Cone declared that his identity was transformed from a Negro theologian to a black theologian.

“As someone who has followed black theology, it has challenged me to be critically engaged with issues of black liberation … and to rethink creatively the foundations of the black theological movement,” said Kazi Joshua, director of the organization for the conference, research assistant to Hopkins, and a third-year student in the Divinity school.

Cone went on to discuss the idea that liberation theology must strive to include disenfranchised individuals of other minority groups.

“After the Holocaust, theologians asked whether anti-Semitism was an extractable segment of Christianity. [Then] Feminist theologians asked whether patriarchy is so deeply rooted in Christianity. Gay and lesbian theologians are asking whether homophobia is part of Christianity, third-world theologians are asking the same,” he said.

Cone challenged individuals to explore Christianity, which he says has been used for unjust purposes by white theologians and white ministers.

“Christianity was used to justify slavery, colonialism, and socio-economic injustices for over 500 years. I sometimes wonder how they are not embarrassed to deal with the issues,” he said.

Cone concluded that individuals should not give up hope. However, Cone believes that the “racial edge of theology” should not be dulled or dropped, but rather honed for education, racial healing and theological discourse.

Copyright 1998 by Pamela Appea for The Chicago Maroon.

Chocolate Vault Proves to be a Gold Mine

A Tecumseh (Michigan) institution, The Chocolate Vault offers patrons a chance to savor home-made raspberry cremes, amaretto truffles and double dipped brownies.

And that's just the beginning.

Since husband-wife team Jim and Barb McCann opened the Chocolate Vault in 1985, the shop's popularity has drawn customers coming everywhere from Toledo to Windsor.

Locals, who are regulars, also support the store, Barb McCann said.

Large corporations commission Chocolate Vault staffers to make end-of-the-year chocolate gifts. Kids in Harry Potter book clubs request custom-made chocolate frogs for the group.

The shop's name was inspired by several community banks that the building housed in the 19th century and early 20th century. And the 110-116 W. Chicago Blvd. address has seen a number of other shops and businesses open and fold in its 150-year history, Barb McCann said. Doctors treated patients in the building, insurance companies did business, and postal clerks sold stamps.

The McCanns also previously operated cake decorating, candy shop and bridal-service businesses from the 1970s to the early 1980s at the same address. But the couple decided to convert to an all-chocolate business by the '80s to simplify everyday operations.

Focusing on selling chocolate and ice cream was the natural next step for them, said Barb McCann.It's the kind of store that makes Tecumseh a destination, said Cindy R. Helinksi, economic development director of the city.

The store gets visited by regulars who must have their weekly truffles or turtles or a pound of mixed chocolates for their relative, said Jim McCann.

And the staff are glad to oblige with the requests they get for unusual or specialized chocolate molds orders.The McCanns have filled orders for 500 chocolate train engines, 1,000 post office boxes, 500 boxes of chocolate with chocolates inside (with the company logo on top of the box)

Even a chocolate brain.

The Chocolate Vault will do it all.

Despite the old-fashioned community feel to the store, most of the Chocolate Vault's business flows from the Internet, said Barb McCann. Since the Chocolate Vault went online in September 1998, the majority of the Chocolate Vault's customers haven't even met the McCanns or sipped on a coffee or ice cream shake in the old-fashioned seating room there.

"Fifty-five percent of the candy business is from the Internet," Jim McCann said.

According to Jim McCann, the Chocolate Vault's candy sales total in 1999 was up by 13.1 percent as compared with the previous year. Breaking the numbers down, local sales in 1999 went up by .25 percent, while Web sales went up by 42.5 percent.Most days are long, said Barb McCann, who routinely works 14 hours a day, 7 days a week.

With a few staffers on board at the shop, Barb McCann works a full day on the Web and Jim McCann juggles orders for special occasions like Valentine's Day, working the counter and acting as the technical support.

"We like what we do" Jim McCann said.

Copyright 2000 by Pamela Appea for The Ann Arbor News