9
t
8y C r Murray
Capit I N� S�"'k.
LA SING-Limited
re ource will keep state
funding for soci I services
in Gov. James Blanchard's
propo ed new budget at cur­
rent level, ays t e
vernor' chief tax and
venue naly t.
Dougl sOra e also ac­
ting director for education
budgeting, s id devoting the
t te's limited resources to
rim
·DS
to he p
Unless more money goes
into education, the st te j
imply maintaining a system
of people dependent upon
social services, Drake said,
and that will end up hurting
people in the long run.
BUT REP. DAVID Hot­
Ii. ter, chairman of the Hou .e
Appropn tions subcommit­
tee on ocial service , said
the gove rnor ' fi cal 1991
budget for social ervices is
improving the quality of K-
12 education i a better
long-term olution to the
problems of poverty than
pouring more money into 0-
cial ervice programs.
"You've got to make
some tough choice when
you have limited resource
base," Drake said. "You've
got to make choices that
look like they're going to
give you the be t chance to
get out of thi long term."
aM
Positive Brothers of Today -
. Shedding light of truth on history
By F n S. R •
SIll/[ Reporter
DETRorr - M . ng sure the
correct ory is told is important
for tomorrow' African
American students aid the
Po itive Brother of Today,
PBOT.
An all mal group of high
chool tudents formed June,
1989 to inform other of what
- they h d learned.
Re ding boo about Mal­
colm X and other notable
Afric n American scholars
gave PBOT m mbers new his­
torical perspective.
Learning that the rust being
to the earth 100 ed just like
the'm par ed a curiosity en­
couraging them to further re­
search their African American
p t.
Contradicting statistics in­
dicating young African
ri males are susceptible
to living live of crime, becom­
ing incarcerated, being killed or
filing in an un killed/un­
emp oyed group, PBOT estab-
. bed programs to set positive
examp
HE GRO P form d
to prom te Black m les as p . -
tive role m del ". on member
said.
Saying PBOT is pro-African
American, groupmember ex­
plained a part of their agenda.
-We go around to schoo
and tell t e truth: they aid.
·We tell other students (in
. hopes of) w . up as a
ole."
Groupmembers' 0 e-o -0 C
sessio with younser students
. the group's speciality to date.
During which they detail his­
tory tuting with the evolution
of the present d y human being
beginning in Africa, they said,
dding, these students have the
respon ibility to spread their
newly acquired kno ledge to
others.
Marked radical and ra . t,
groupmember continu their
mi ion.
TH SAID the labels are
ccepted but the "WeI? ter' •
Dictionary definition tr dtion­
ally assigned to it, they refute.
While the dictionary mean­
ing of radical lays better with
groupmembers, they attac the
tag r cist, aying they are not
oppre sing anyone by teaching .
uninformed people history.
In ord r to be racist, a form
of power must exist to di -
criminate or per ecute.
Racist - One who practices
racial discrimination, persecu­
tion, etc.
Radical - Favoring basic
change, a in the social or
economic structure. .
Groupmembers aid they
have gotten D gative feedback
from their highschool official
also.
W nthe' MichiganCitizen·
attempted to interview group­
members inside of their school
the principal a ked the the
reporter to leave.
The students were not in
class, the school had been dis­
missed before noon and the stu­
dents had waited around at the
requ t of one of their teachers, .
one student said. But they were
still not allowed to be inter­
viewed in school, no questions
. ked.
PBOT member when they
attended the el on Mandela
March in February. At first
they were not taken eriously by
adult marchers.
Again contrasting the lost
Black male" image, member
led a crowd of older activists in
. chanting land firing up the
march from the Museum of
African History to Henry Ford
A uditorium. I
APRIL 15-21, 1
underfunded and that law­
maker will h ve to come up
wi th about $250 mill ion
above Blanchard's request.
Hollister, D-Lan ing, has
been . n out poken critic of
Blanchard's social services
policies.
David Weiner, and ide to
Hollist r.. aid the purchas­
ing power of the proposed
budget for ocial services i
less than it wa 10 year ago
due to inflation, despite the
increase in the actual
mount allocated.
"If the increase is less
than purchasing power then
we'll fall behind," Weiner
said. "We're (the state)
trying to hold our own, but
we don't have lh revenue to
pay Ior ba ic services. It' a
bad situation."
The HOD e ubcommittee
on social crvice voted 4-3
on April 5 to a k for addi­
tional funding for
Blanchard' ° Healthy Start
Program because there i ° not
enough money to upport the
program undc r the
governor' re uest. Healthy
Start i a 13 million pro­
gram designed to provide
health care for children of
moderate-incom familie
who cannot obtain health in-
urance
'nOLLI T R AID THE
1 te cannot foucs on -12
- education without helping to
fund ocial ervice
programs .
"Our children are coming
to school abused, wirhout
food and clothing. They
have a multitude of
problems," Hollister aid.
"They need upport crvices.
We houldn 't have to choose
between education and 0-
cial crvices."
Weiner aid the tate'
emphasis on K-12 education
is not the only way to help
people c c pe poverty.
. "We need to think bout
helping the whole per on,"
he said .. "How do we con­
olidatc .erviccs? Social er­
vices only dc a ls with the
ymptoms."
Marian Kramer, executive
director of the Michigan
Welfare Right -
Oraganiz tion, said the
governor's prop sed budget
is d trimental to the state'
children.
" A (4'AR AS I am con­
cerned, Gov. Blanchard doe
not ce children or Iarnitic
as a priori ty. Hi budge t
prioritie re an attack on
I ivi ng tandard," Kramer
said. "Hi o-called
program are only a ham
becau e it does not lead to
jo that et people off wel­
far ."
By n t r j I ng mor
money for ocial ervice
CmGAN CI11ZE Pap 3
programs uch as Aid to
Families with Dependent
Children and General A i -
tance, Blanchard i helping
to maintain "a plantation
st te," Kramer said.
"The governor wants to
maintain a permanent army
of -the unemployed,". she
said. "The state need to in­
crea e funding for welfare."
ancy Duncan, a budget
analyst with the Dep rtment
of Social Service, aid that
although the tate con ider
the welfar of its citizens a
top priority. DSS will
receive only wh t i avail­
able under exi ting bud e t
con traint .
She aid that may not be
enough.
"Within th amount of
money vailabl , we pay our
cl iern only a fraction bove
the poverty level," Duncan
said.
Charles Steinberg. execu­
tive director for the Black
Child and Family Institute in
Lansing, id the la k of
tate and federal funding is
"forcing agcn .ies like hi. t ..
rely on the private sc tor
and to explore w ys of creat­
ing elf-help.
But Kramer aid sh dis­
agre s with that pproach.
"That will get us nowhere
but deeper and deeper .into
poverty," he id.
There'
time to an er
he cen u
If you haven't mailed b c
you completed 1990 cen us
que ti nnaire, there's till time
to do so.
"Though April 1 w official-
. tyee us Day," explains Census
Bureau Director Barb r
Everitt Bry nt, can still ac­
cept completed qu tionnaires
because our computer will be
able to log them in before we
create the list of ho eholds not
returning the form."
Over 88 million census forms
were mailed to households on
March 23 and another 1 uUI­
lion were delivered directly to
households by census per nnel
for m iling back. All census
qu tionnaire pac ges contain
an instruction guide nd a
postag paid return envelope.
Anyone. needing assistance
completing their form may call
toll-free number - 1- -999-
1990 - and receiv help. The
hearing impaired may call 1-
800- 7TI -0978 for TD D a is­
ranee.
. Starting in late April, an
army of follow-up census I er
will visit tho e ho hold that
yet returned their question­
naire.