---Colorado: MLK monument to be unveiled, June 9---
One of the nation's most spectacular memorial tributes to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will be unveiled on June 9, 2002 in Denver, Colorado. The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "I Have a Dream" monument sculpted by internationally renowned sculptor and local Denverite Ed Dwight will be officially dedicated by Mayor Wellington E. Webb and First Lady of Denver Wilma J. Webb on Sunday, June 9, at 2:30 p.m. at Denver's City Park. In addition, Martin Luther King III has agreed to attend the dedication. Invitations to the dedication have also been extended to Rosa Parks, and the family and ancestors of Sojourner Truth, Fredrick Douglass and Mahatma Gandhi. Work began on the project last October. Elements of the sculpture include: a three-layered pedestal supported by representations of Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, Fredrick Douglass and Mahatma Gandhi. Accessible ramps with pedestrian lighting and planters lead into a stone walkway with benches fronting raised panels containing quotes relevant to freedom, peace, and non-violent actions. Green space in the outer lying areas contains a design of Evergreen materials and flowering annuals. A combination of private and public capitol improvement funds were used to complete the project. For more information, contact Andrew Hudson at (720) 865-9016.

---Hispanic Customs Agents discuss discrimination---
Hispanic Special Agents recently filed a class action discrimination suit against the U.S. Customs Service. The class complaint was filed May 10, 2002 and alleges that the Customs Service has discriminated against Hispanic Special Agents since the 1970s in promotions, transfers and assignments, awards and bonuses, training, and discipline. The complaint further alleges that the Customs Service maintained a hostile work environment, retaliated against agents for asserting their EEO rights and discriminated against them by denying foreign language pay awards. This case is the third major discrimination class action against Treasury law enforcement agencies. The African American agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have pending proceedings to hold Secretary of Treasury Paul O'Neill in contempt for failure to comply with a 1996 Consent Decree and the African American Secret Service agents have a two year suit pending alleging systemic racial discrimination in that agency. Counsel for plaintiffs in all three cases sought to have all three cases consolidated, alleging a pattern and practice at the highest levels of the Treasury Department dating back three decades.

---Black Enterprise 100 List ----
In its June 2002 issue, Black Enterprise Magazine lists the 100 largest African American-owned service/industrial firms in the country. The magazine ranks the companies by revenue. The seven Fairfax County, Virginia companies represent more than half of the 13 Washington, D.C.-area companies on the BE 100 list. Overall, 13 firms from Virginia and three from Maryland are on the annual list. The only city or county in the United States with more companies on the list than Fairfax County is Detroit (11). The only states with more companies on the list than Fairfax County are Michigan (20), Illinois and New York (eight each).

---In Brazil ---
The International Labor Organization in Brazil recently announced a study showing how that many of Brazil’s estimated 502,000 domestic child workers are just five years old when they start. Brazil's legal working age is 16. According to reports, more than half of Brazil's child servants are poor Afro-Brazilians. Brazil imported more African slaves than any other country and was the last nation in the Americas to abolish slavery, in 1888.

---Catholic in Brazil: Vatican names first Brazilian saint---
The Vatican has officially canonized Mother Paulina do Coracao Agonizante de Jesus in Rome making her the first Brazilian Saint. Mother Paulina was born in Trento, Italy, then moved to Brazil at the age of nine where she died in 1942. FYI: The Roman Catholic Church in Brazil is the world's most populous Catholic country. The IBGE National Statistics Institute survey reported that 73.8 percent of Brazil's 170 million people described themselves as Catholics in 2000. Brazil is Latin America's largest country, and its population includes Portuguese and other European immigrants, Black slave descendants and native Indians. Brazil now has the world's biggest Catholic population, ahead of Mexico which is No. 2 with more than 80 million. The new IBGE data also showed the number of people calling themselves "Black" had risen to 6.2 percent from 5 percent while there were fewer people calling themselves dark-skinned. More than half of the population, 54 percent, said they were white.

---Jessye Norman lifts her voice for HIV/AIDS---
Jessye Norman, one of the world's most celebrated opera singers, is raising her distinguished voice on behalf of more than 13 million children orphaned due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, recently addressed the United Nations Special Session on Children. In a newly released PSA for World Vision, she reminds viewers of the grim statistics -- and the terrible circumstances they create for the world's youngest and most vulnerable. Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said that HIV exists in every corner of the planet and children and young people are its primary targets. Every day, 2,000 infants contract HIV through mother-to-child-transmission, over 6,000 children are orphaned by the disease (one third under the age of five), and 1,600 children die. Famed soprano Jessye Norman, born in Augusta, Georgia, pursued her formal musical studies at Howard University, then later at the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Michigan.

----California: the status of women----
A new report on the economic status of women in California makes clear what far too many women know firsthand: it's a continual challenge -- and not always possible -- to make ends meet. The statistics the report highlights are devastating. More than one in three single women and their dependent children -- 37% -- are living in poverty. (The national poverty rate for single women is 25%; the overall poverty rate in California is 14%.) Nearly two in five Latinas, one in three Native American women, and one in four women of African descent -- and their kids -- don't have enough to eat. Nearly seven in 10 low-income people spend more than 70% of their income on housing. The report, Failing to Make Ends Meet: A Report on the Economic Status of Women in California, was developed by The Women's Foundation in collaboration with seven project partners.

---‘B. Smith With Style’ turns six---
Television personality, restaurateur, author, and merchandiser Barbara Smith will return for a sixth season this Fall as host of the nationally syndicated weekly half-hour television series "B. Smith With Style." The series is sponsored by products of Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods. Recently celebrating her 100th episode, "B. Smith With Style" is the longest-running syndicated half-hour lifestyle program hosted by an African-American woman ever. Airing in over 200 markets representing 90% of the United States, "B. Smith With Style" is carried by such prestigious broadcasters as WNBC-TV in New York, KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, and WMAQ-TV in Chicago. Internationally, the series airs in more than 20 countries, including South Africa and throughout Latin America. Smith, a seasoned culinary and lifestyle expert, is the first African-American woman ever to be elected to the Board of Trustees of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America. Smith is the owner of three successful B. Smith restaurants located in New York's Times Square theatre district, Washington, D.C.'s historic Union Station, and the scenic Long Island Hampton Village of Sag Harbor, New York.

---Los Angeles: Tavis Smiley---
On June 3, The Tavis Smiley Show from NPR will premiere on two Southern California radio stations, airing Monday-Friday from 5-6am on KCRW Santa Monica (89.9 FM and KCRW.com) and evenings from 8-9pm on KPCC 89.3 FM. The Tavis Smiley Show, a weekday, one-hour magazine, offers intelligent talk, news, and ideas presented by one of America's most exciting, young personalities. It is also the first NPR-produced program to originate from Los Angeles. Smiley is the author of five books. His new book, Keeping the Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing and Hope from Black America is due out in September 2002. The Tavis Smiley Show is the result of an ongoing collaboration between NPR and a consortium of African-American public radio stations, including WCLK-FM in Atlanta, GA.; WNCU-FM in Durham, NC; WJSU in Jackson, MS; and WEAA in Baltimore, MD.

---Job Opportunities at the TJX Companies---
The TJX Companies, Inc., with $10.7 billion in revenues, is the world’s largest off-price retailer, and is comprised of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, and A.J. Wright in the United States, Winners and HomeSense in Canada and T.K. Maxx in Europe. Managing the finances of the TJX Companies require a strong team of entry-level and experienced professionals. The TJX Companies has a variety of Finance positions available, including the following: Senior Financial Analyst, Financial Analyst, Staff Accountant, Senior Accountant and Senior Auditor. For more information on these and other available Finance positions or to apply on-line, go to www.tjx.com. Also, you may send a resume to editors@unityfirst.com.

Thanks for reading Unity First Online. If you know of people who should receive Unity First Online, please encourage them to sign up for the newsletter via www.UnityFirst.com.

###