. Blae Caucu take no
and on Blanchard plan
Fra
DETROIT - The Blac Caucus, representing all Blac
. lator in Michigan, h taken no stand on Governor
Ja Blanchard's plan to re all 18 to 25 year olds
from General Assistance and to place them in the
go rnor' Job Start program, ceordi to the caucus'
bead, Sta e Representa� elson Saunders.
Ho ver, Saunder emphasized that he personally i
opposed to the governor' plan.
"If you shut down General AssIstance I for 17 - 2S year
oldsJ, there i no category to put people in if the program
of tbe governor doesn't k, " be sta d.
He dded, ho ver, th the B Caucus itself has
ta en no position.
Both Saunders and S e Representa· EtheJ Ter­
rell, in the Highland Par area, were . ed voting
against the Governor' social service budget, hich con-
. rained esc provisio ceordi to Marian Cramer of
he Up nd Out of Poverty Committee, a coalition of com­
. munity, church, labor, d welfare rights organizatio
opposing the cut off plan.
According to hi own office, State Senator Vugil
Smith, aka representing Highland Park, voted for it
Smith was not avai ble for comment
.It.. AbllYc.1lI
DETROIT With the
opcaiDg of the "Appropriate
Qbjece' African-�rican art
. . t the Detroit Institute
of Arts (DIA), the dis ion
1.D:)D2 many local artists and
upporters is that these
effor by the D IA are too lit­
tle, too late.
Featuring the works of
seven African-American ar­
tists incl ding Maren Has-
inger, Oliver Jackson,
Richard Hunt, Detroit-native
Alvin Loving, John Scot�·
Raymound Saunders nd
Betye Saar, the-exihibit
opened on Monday June 5,
wtih $25 a ead recep . at
the Detroit Institution located
in the Cultural Center.
Committee members for
the preview reception in­
cluded people such as: Dr.·
Roberta V. Hughes, Margaret
Ward, board member of the
DIA auxilary group ed the
Friends of Africa» Art" and
Dr. Char Wr' t, chairman
and founder of the African­
American Mu eum of His­
tory.
In addition, Mayor
Coleman Young d Gover­
nor J J. Blanchard served
honorary co-chairmen of
the reception h·ch s at-
tended by over 500 perso .
Ho , despite the of-
ficialdom that endorsed the
art exihibition, it could not
completely overshado the
r� filed suit against
the DIA for cial dSaimina­
tion ag inst it's Aftican­
American employeeS.
Charles Le is, a former
DIA emp yee and a plaintiff
in· the la uit feels that the
"Appropriate Object" exhibit
is only being offered at this
time to attenipt to discredit
the aUcgatio of blatant ra­
cial • aimination at the art
institute.
ted
Another recent develop­
ment involving the DIA and
the local artist community oc­
cured when painting by
Detroit artist Leroy Fo ter
mysterio ly showed up in a
DIA gallery. In letter to the
painting owner, Leno J ax­
son, o i the director of the
Detroit-ba ed American
Black Artists, Inc.; a non­
profit agency . m promotes
local cultural initiatives, DIA
officials contend that the
Foster portr it of Paul
Robeson ould not be ap­
propriate for the collection.
In a letter to Jaxson, DIA
Director Samuel Sach II
states that: "The painting itself
I
brought to the Detroit In-
stitute of Arts unsolicited and
our decision no to display it .
a's based exclusively 00
programmatic reasons, While
we admire Leroy Foster, par-
tiallarly 1m earlier period, it C
deemed inappropriate to • �
<lisp ya . torical portrait in
isolation in allY of the current
programs of the DIA. "
According to a letter b
Detroit writer Nubia Kai, writ-
. upport of the Leroy
Foster painting being housed
at the DIA, "There are many
outstanding African-am­
reican artists in this country
and lQcally 0 deserve to be
seen by larger audience. The
Institute of Arts is a public.
facility that should be acces­
sible to the multi-ethnic com­
munity in the Detroit-Metro
area."
Jaxso has refused the re­
quest. of DIA officials to
retrieve the Robeson portrait
from the Institute. Sam' solu­
tion to this dilemna as
. spelled out in a letter toJaxson
on April 10, which said that
the painting would be more
appropriately housed at the
African-American Museum
of History. .
"We have been in discus­
sion th Dr. Marion Moore
of the Museum of African­
American History with regard
to their includin Mr. FOster's
I, portrait in an exihibition
devoted exclusively to. Paul
I Robeson. Dr. Moore has
,. responded positively. If arran­
gements can be made, I
believe this win be a far more
appropri te and meaningful
venue for the portrait. I feel
that we will do more justice to
Mr. Foster's reputation in chis
manner," Sam's letter stated
Therefore, the "Ap­
. propriate Object" exihibition
continue through July 16,
• If! appropriate 0b-
ject" of Leroy Foster's
Robe on painting will be
transferred to the African­
American Museum of His­
tory.
n
DAKAR,
SENEG L - African
nations have often
comp ined th t they
pend so much of their
me ger resource
pa' off deb to the
U.S. and other
Euro oatio that
tb ave left to
develop the· na .
The French gO\UD­
ment took a partial step
to ard ending that
eyc e last week en
President Francois
MittenaDd unced
that hi natio would
write off 43% of the
debt owed by 3S
African natio . The
are
some of the poores .
tbeworld.
Mitterand made the
an ounce ent whi
o a vi it to D kar,
SeDegal. The write-off
will total over $2.6 bil­
lion. The United States
has consi tcotly
refused p to take a
similar tep,