Opinion, Commentary, Editorials
ingfo a ne
licy in t 'e Un
...
, NBC's Today Sho , reeled
George Bu ha decreed off stati tics which go to the
that the United States needs source of the problem. Pot
to increase its expeditionary every $1.00 New YOI' er
force in the desert and of send to Washington they get
Saudi Arabia to 450,000 .77 back in revenues. .
troops by the beginning of Federal aid use to c-
1991. count for 19% of New York
Wh t wa initially sup- city's budget. Now federal
po ed to be a force of id accounts for only 10% of
100,000-150,000 troops ill the city's budget.
DO gro to a force nearly In the critical area of
a large as the U.S. deploy- housing Mr. Dinkins
ent in Viet Nam. pointed out that for every
In explaining thi huge in- $1.00 the feds u e to 'pend
crease in U.S. forces in the on housing $7.00 was allo-
Per ian Gulf region, cated for defen c.
Secretary of State J ames No for every $1.00 the
Ba er reiterated the need to feds spend on housing Wha ne d in
defend our way of life in the $46.00 goe for the military America Is a
united States. budget.
The original cost of the . .. .. --,,.;.-- .. Yi .... r� ... lCIfe se against
u.s. deployment was I J ck I
pegged at $l.2 billion per - eddili��l!� sery
!D0nth or $15 billion a year. tion e u � by ffering'
under the Reagan-Bush 'ad­
ministration. Jack-son noted
that .55 of each tax dollar
was going to defense
Imilitary spending while
only .02 was llocated to
education.
T'he re are 30 million
people in America who are
'illiterate and another 30
million people who are
functionally illiterate.
Some 31 million people,
or nearly 13% of the U.�.
EITH PRE IDE T
Bush or ecretary Baker has
floated the figures for these
massive dditions to an al­
ready costly and unaffor­
dable force.
In the meantime entire
American cities Ii e New
York, Philadelphia and East
St. Louis, Missouri are on
the verge of collapse.
David Dinkins, M yor of
New York, appearing on
ICBIGA CITIZE PAG 5
population, is officially The in rastructure of I
listed poor. federal hi hways, bridge,
But according to state, cou y and municip I
Representative Tony Hall, ro d and bridges is crum­
Chairman of the House bling. Th .crumbling in-.
Select Committee on fr structu e is re ponsible
Hunger, there are another for a gro
13 million people who make . and fatal
up the "hidden poor" who I
live in de perate conditions , ) N AD D IT) 0 ,
but are not defined as poor America' aging and is a defense against human
by current official criteria. neglected nfrastructure is misery and s Hering; a
becoming major' drag on defense' ag inst poverty and
business, commercial and hunger; defense against un­
industrial development and employment and under­
expansion. The list of ail- employment; defense
ments whic afflict "our way against homelessness, slums
of life" is irtually without and urban and rural blight,
end. defense against illiteracy
All of this raises the ques- nd inferior education and
tion as to whose way of life mis-education; defense
is the U.S. expeditionary against infant mortality;
force defending in t Per- defense against AID and
ia G If '. . I r I. r s: defense ag inst
Cert inly not th w y of poi on air, poi on w te nd
, life of the va t number of toxic waste; defen. e gainst
urance. 3-6 million people Americans ho are afflicted racism, sexism, cultural
arc homeless. And millions by the maladies cited above. chauvinism, anti-semitism,
of people have jobs with in- For them the bloated homophobia and all forms
comes so inadequate that military budget and foreign of prejudice and discrimina­
they are joining th ranks of mis-adventures like the in- t ion; defen e again t the
a rapidly growing category vasion of Panama and the rich and super rieh who con­
of p ople who comprise the massive U.S. troop build up trol the American political­
"working poor". in Saudi Arabia are the real economy nd manipulate it
Billions of dollars are enemy. (and us) to protect and en-
needed just to repair public. It is clear that the United hance their wealth and to
schools facilities in the U.S.· States needs a new defini- maintain their power nd
that have fallen into dis- tion of "defense policy." privileges:
What we need in America Continued on P ge'
I eLUDING THE hid­
den poor, 1 of 5 Americans
lives in poverty. 37 million
people have no health in ..
repair.
e
o
Dear Michigan Citlze
My name i. Jihad Abdul
. Sha 'bazz. I am an inmate of
the Michigan Department of
Correction. In 1984. at the
age of 21. I wa: sentenced to
20-40 years for the murder of
my 72 year old. uncle. This
crime cau ed my family great
pain.
1 really don't know how to
say what I want to, but J feel a
deep need to ay omething to
the people of Detroit, espe­
cially the c ldcrty. While
living in my uncle' hou e on
Sparta treet, near Warren and
Livcr noi , my uncle aid
omething to me that ha
stayed ith me. He aid "boy
I m go na m ke you a man"
at that time I thought that I
va a man. and that he could
do nothing to make me more
of a man. I wa wrong.
Since th t ternble night, ·1
have relived event that force
me to wak with th que tion
of hy on my lip . I can not
an er that qu non. Th
nly thing that I can do. and I
'now I t ill n vcr c enou h.
•
I
is to become that man that he
wanted me to be.
I, have changed my value
from: money. drug, and ig­
norance; to family, com­
munity. education, and mo. t
of all religion as a way of life.
One r my priori ties, . tv.'
somcday assi t eld�rly pcopl�
who have done o much In
their everyday struggle (for a
lack of a better word).
I OW REAI..IZfe: how
valuable the elderly arc to my
life and without them much
happiness would be lost. I ce
our elderl y citizen' a an
as et; rather than, a a deficit.
The elderly are our links to the
pa t and our motivation for
the future. They .havc w; dom,
patience, and love, and
every time I ec an elderly per­
son. I think of the atrocities
that are committed upon them
each day.
Believe it or not, it bring
tear to my eye when 0 many
young people fall into the
cata ory that I m in. It's 'Q
obviou that elderly people
ac
have paid their due and
should be treated a Kings and
Queen.
I remember reading book
about African tribes, all the
elderly people were given the
utrno t re peel. t �ounger
me rs -of thet kidked­
up to them f: di' ecri a�d
now dge. It rts me when­
ever I hear about how elderly
people have to race home
before it gets dark out ide and
even then they are not afe.
I remember a time in my
neighborhood (Philadelphia,
Pa) when the elderly u e to
walk around the nei hborhood
at night or It on thcrr porchc
and talk with each other.
Ther a - no fear of a crime
being committed upon them.
I incerely believe that our
elderly people are a valuable
as our young, ithout th m
wh6 would teach the young
those old ti me va I ue and
moral? A I ai� before I do
plan to help the elderly peop_!e
in my community, even if I
have to pend my own money.
I GUE IT time to tate
.;1 oJ
V
J. I
(, ,
o
the reason that I'm writing but hem. I have committed many
first allow' me to li�t ome of crimes that J am not proud of,
my accomplishment. I've and it would be difficult for
completed my G .E.D., and me to clabor te on them, b�1 if
I'm three cia ses away from a l thought that my fault would
completed Paralegai cour e. be used to ave a child, I'd do
I've joined the N.A.A.C.P., it.
-and I'm a active member in I want you to know that I
O'ttr,.-tt�Iim�,...-c:'01T'M1am"ea'---O(l.n-·' t ee k 0 rg i vc n s r c-
tions and Le . I redress com- ccptancc, be au. e only God
mi ttee . But; most of all, can forgive me and if he ac­
through Jiving a God-fearing ccpt: me then that" enough
Ji� , .... have changed the con- for me. But, i . b ck to
tents of my heart and mind. ociety sorncthinu when J
Okay, my desire for writing have taken' much from
i that I may be alllowcd to them, I will feel that J have
a ist you in any program done the lea t that I could d .
that' geared for the better- In any event if you will
ment of ociety at large. I real-. need for every c fort to com­
ize that my pa t conduct may bat the force. that threaten our
cau e me to appear uri u tible lives, ur chi Idren our com­
for anything in a righteou munities, and our. ocictie ..
cause, but maybe yOLJ could and not view me a the cum
use my Jet er 4 �. • .of earth; maybe, then, y u
children wJa "bu; me cap utilize my life a a hifd
life of crime. who rew up In the hen
J believe that If young men u in crimes to be omebody
and women could actually or nob dy.
hear from a convicted felon.
that cri mc I ad to de tru tion
they may e the truth of what
th i r parent arc teaching
Jih d Sha'b zz