Wednesday, August 24, 1903
Pago 2
Daily Nebraskan
Black Torofessionals find success Mmd fomLi
'rn
in white-dominated businesses
By Tcri Spcrry
Numbers may be few, but the achievements are
many among Lincoln's black business and public
figures. '
One man who has had considerable success in a
white-dominated field is Alan Young, owner of Alan
Young Buick Inc. at 421 N. 48th St.
He bought the business four years ago, after
completing training in a car dealer development
program. General Motors began the program in
1972 to increase the number of black and other
minority candidates for car dealership, Young said.
In the early 1960s, the average black person
would have felt it impossible to achieve this position,
he said. He said he does not think his race is an
important factor today in his career progress.
"It is a difficult job for anybody ... I'm here to serve
the public," he said. "It doesn't really give me a lot of
time to think about the situation being black or
white. The product speaks for itself."
Young also said black franchise ownership is
essential for social equality. "I think the success of
any minority group is dependent on their ability to
get involved in small and medium business
ventures."
Blacks still have significant problems, he said, but
unlike minorities in most other countries, they have
opportunities to solve those problems.
"America is the greatest country in the world,"
Young said. "I hope that during the next generation,
all blacks and other minority group members can
gain the opportunity to be involved in all segments
of American society."
Making Hopes a Reality
Gerald Henderson is working to make Young's
hope a reality. Since June 1 968, Henderson has been
an Equal Opportunities Officer, directing the
Lincoln Commission on Human Rights. He has
experienced discrimination personally, so he finds
his position as a civil rights professional especially
rewarding, he said.
Henderson said improvement in minority
conditions can best be achieved through the legal
system.
"I don't care about the person's attitude toward
me," he said. "They may hate me because I am black.
But . . . I'm not interested in changing their attitude;
I think it will change as they comply with the law."
He said education is the key to success, not only
for members of minority groups, but for all people,
and that schools must be racially integrated. He
stressed the importance of neighborhood and
business integration.
"Things change. And the real change ... is that you
and I get to know each other," Henderson said.
E. Shelton Burden is an attorney and assistant
1
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Staff photo by Craig Andresei.
Lincoln businessman Alan Young
director of programs for the Nebraska Commission
on the Status of Women. She attributes her
achievements to her drive to do every task as well as
she possibly can, her willingness to make sacrifices,
and luck. She said a great deal in life depends on
knowing the right people and "being in the right
place at the right time."
Changing Majority Attitudes
Burden said she has been able to accomplish
some of the goals she has set, but she does not
consider herself successful. Personal success must
include improvement for one's ethnic group, she
said, because, "regardless of how high a plane a
black person may reach, in the mind of the average
person on the street, he or she is no better than the
least of the members of that ethnic group.
"I was black before I became a lawyer. I was black
before I even became a woman," she said.
When she first came to Lincoln as an
inexperienced lawyer seeking employment, Burden
said she believes she was turned down for many jobs
on the basis of her sex, race or both. However, she
said her skin color has not presented problems in
working with women across the state of Nebraska.
"Women are aware of the fact that the race
problem and the sex problem are one and the same,"
Burden said. She said the problem must be
eliminated by changing existing majority attitudes
as well as by enacting civil rights and regulations
"We must attack it from all angles," she said.
Although she said she faces frustrations
concerning her work, her personal life, and racial
issues, Burden shares an optimistic outlook with
both Alan Young and Gerald Henderson.
"What keeps us all going is the hope that things
will get better," she said.
AIDS spread
By Chris Welsch
Although only one case of Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome has been confirmed in
Nebraska, Lincoln blood banks and plasma centers
are taking steps to prevent infection t hrough blood
and plasma donors.
The first and only AIDS fatality occured in Omaha
in March.
Dr. Paul Stocsz, director of disease control for the
Nebraska State Health Department, said most
"educational activity" on the disease is coming from
the news media in Nebraska.
He said AIDS is a possible threat only in Lincoln
and Omaha, where the largest gay communities
reside. Healthy heterosexuals have little to fear
from the disease, he said.
Shelley Tanderup, manager of the Lincoln Plasma
Cent er, 202 1 O St., said each donor is asked to fill out
a questionnaire on his or her medical history.
Some of the questions on the form pertain to
AIDS, Tanderup said. If a donor answers yes on
questions about the symptoms of AIDS (recurring
dizziness, heavy night sweats or swollen glands) he
or she is asked not to donate plasma.
The questions also cover the five groups most
prone to AIDS: Haitians or visitors to Haiti,
intravenous drug users, male homosexuals,
bisexuals or partners to one of the above.
Sandy Czaplewski, head nurse at the Community
Blood Bank, 2966 O St., said the blood bank also uses
medical history questionnaires asking questions
about AIDS symptoms. They also check for swollen
lymph glands during the physical examination prior
to donation.
Donors may decline to answer the questions,
Czaplewski said, but they are not allowed to donate
blood.
Don Eitel, spokesman for Phoenix-based
Associated Bioscience, said his corporation has to
abide by the AIDS guidelines set up by the Food and
Drug Administration in March. The guidelines
include questions on AIDS symptoms' and
examination of iymph glands before allowing a
person to donate blood or plasma.
Associated Bioscience runs five University Plasma
Centers across the country, including the center at
1442 O St. in Lincoln.
Eitel said Associated Bioscience has not noticed
any significant decrease in blood donations as a
result of AIDS.
"Being across the street from major campuses, we
don't see that," (decrease) he said. "If we were
located downtown in a major" city, like San
Francisco or Los Angeles, where AIDS are more of a
problem, we might see a decrease."
Director hopes to 'energize' Sheldon
By Kelli Kellogg
Leaving the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
to assume directorship of Sheldon Memorial Art
Gallery wasn't a hard decision for George Neubert to
make.
In fact, he said he wonders how he could have
ever left Nebraska in the first place.
Born in Minnesota in 1 942, Neubert, who replaces
the retired Norman Geske, graduated from Beatrice
High School in 1960 after living in Nebraska for 10
years. He said a fifth grade experience helped
determine his career and, eventually, his return to
Nebraska.
Neubert's father, who was interested in history
and natural science, decided to take his three
children to visit Morrill Hall.
"We saw that big elephant," Neubert remembered,
"but I had a little more energy and ran to the top
floor, which was then the old art department and
museum."
At that time, he said he had no idea that art was
supposed to be "good" for him, or that the objects
around him were worth money.
But a Calder sculpture caught his eye, and intrigu
ed him.
"It raised a lot of questions in my mind, which
turned me to books. It really got me excited,"
Neubert said. "Why I came back to Nebraska probab
ly relates to that boyhood experience."
The director said he hopes to give back to the
gallery the energy and enthusiasm it once gave him.
Beyond his duties as director, his first priority is
to "energize" Sheldon.
"I think because it's been here now over 20 years,
it's become something taken for granted," Neubert
said.
In order to reverse that trend, he wants to expand
programming and, with the help of an additional
wing he hopes wUl get underway soon, bring in
specialized shows without taking down the gallery's
permanent collection.
However, he said limited space isn't the biggest
problem. Neubert said he believes that university
professors could and should increase their use of
Sheldon's materials.
"I feel we can be an integral part of the educational
process," he said. "I hope that professors, when
giving assignments, can be reminded what a resource
the Sheldon collection provides for numerous depart
ments and colleges.''
Adding to those resources is one of Neubert's
main goals. A reverence for 19th century art prompt
ed him to develop an exhibits program for the
Oakland Museum Art Department during his tenure
there as chief curator from 1970 to 1980. Neubert
would like to do similar projects at the Sheldon.
Historic value is one reason why he loves 19th
century landscapes.
"If we had looked at those paintings 75 years ago
and understood their message," Neubert said, "we
would not have the problems with conservation
(and) pollution."
Continued on Page 6
- T , tAfI photo ty John Zoz
George Neubert, director of Sheldon Memor
ial Art Gallery.