lack
facing
economic
dep es ion
Continued rrom P ge 1
$ 17,469' wi th $34,246 for
whites.
Michigan Blacks have
been in an 'economic rece -
ion ince 1980 and must
begin preparing for a depres-
ion, aid Rep. Floyd Clack,
D-Flint Chairman of the
Michigan Legislative Blac
Caucus.
"The Black community ha
been in a recession and a
depression since the latter part
of th even ties," Clack said.
"We have to begin insisting
tbat our Black needs be met."
CLACK SAID current un
employment figures only
reflect bow many Black
people are drawing un-
employment compensation,
DOt bo many Blae are ac
tually unemployed.
"All a rational person bas
to do is look around at the
ethnic makeup at the place
where they work," Clac said.
"Many employers aren't con
sidering affirmative action
any more. They've gone bac
to traditional' (segregated)
hiring practices."
Holm agreed, saying that
President Bush's veto of the
1990 civil rights bill under
mines affirmative action and
that Blacks will bear the brunt
of job scarcity.
"Last to be hired, first to
be fired: Holmes aid. "It'
tbat pattern."
Clack said be is hopeful
that Gov.-elect John Engler
will recognize that Michigan
needs to improve its urban
agenda.
"Engler bas been around;
he's heard the arguments to
the d�e that we don't have
to educate him on thi ," Clack
said.
City/suburb e sion
economic, no racial
ByJ La u
Conti u d from Pal e 1
, I come c •• burban problems, said Mark 'Howe, dis
I trict affairs director for Sen. Rudy Nichols, R
i Waterford.
I
I
UCH 0 THE TE SION between the suburbs
nd Detroit also is bee use Oakland County rcsi
dents do not like Mayor Young, said Sen. Jack
Faxon, D-Farmington Hills.
"A lot of my people have expressed strong feel
ing bout the mayor, but we can't control what
they do in other cities," Faxon said.
en. Arthur Miller, D-Warren, agrees that the
train between the city and the suburbs i not ra
cial but an conomic and urban problem.
"The one i sue that makes it the suburbs verses
Detroit i the plan to expand the airport," Miller
aid. "Macomb re idents don't want planes flying
over their homes."
o t Macomb and Oakland residents living in
the e counti s were former Dcrroitcrs, Howe said.
He said th c untie have many Blacks living in
their communities. .
AXO ID A Y former Detroiters left the
city for n conomic rca on, wantin� better protc:c
ti 0, better homes and better Jobs. He said
D tr it' problem be an 20 yeras ago when the
. le d r to the ttitude, ... "if you don't like it,
movc out.". ow Detroit's tax base is gone, he said.
iller id meetings betwecn suburban
sen tors nd the Detroit leaders .may be the best
way to ddress the issue of jobs nd airport expan-
sion.
"We have tensions around the wotld, we don't
need them in our own b ckyard," Miller said.
M comb and 0 kland counties need Detroit to
draw national bu ines es ana create jobs in the
area, he said. Many residents in both counties also
enjoy the cultural oportunities Detroit has to offer
as well, he sid. .
Gire said area of acomb are suffereing from.
urb dec y and nemployment. She believes
"Prime Time Live" failed to honestly show the good
side and the bad side of both Detroit and the ub
urb , 'he aid.
"It' obviou the network ne wa not upfront
about the tory,· Gire said. At that level, the ne -
work news s not a are of the local effects that
story would have."
DECEMBER 2 • 8, 199 MICHIGAN CITIZE PAGE'
"You don't help the
government and the tate
wben you Illo people to
come up in poverty," be
added.
Engler will develop a com
prehensrve urban agenda to
encourage investment in
Michigan's urban centers,
aid Engler's pre cretary,
John Truscott
"WHAT WE'VE got to
do is incre e opportunity,"
Truscott said. "Money is not
the cure-all." '
Truscott said crime and tax
problems must be effectively
dealt with first in urban areas
to create n environment ripe
for bu in inve tors.
Although Engler's
relationship with Detroit
Mayor Coleman Young is ex
pected to be b Her than
Blanchard s relationship with
Young, Engler's urban
strategy ha already come
under attack.
Hi propo al to lower
phy ician liability for un
employed Medicaid recipients
was called "atrocious" by
former Legislative Black
Caucu Chair Nelon
Saunders D-Detroit.
Joe Darden author of "The
State of Blac Michigan
1990." called Engler an "old
style" Republican not at all
like former Republican Gov.
William Milliken.
Engler announced that he
favored giving taxpayer a
choice of where to end their
children for schooling, poten
tially opening the door to
. chool se rcgation again in
Michigan, criti charge.
La.:(;JSLATORS ARE
hopeful that Michigan
diversified economy will curb
the impa t of the national
rece. sion and Michigan'
P tcntial budget deficit.
Black official. arc mo t
concerned ab ut the impact of
the cdcral attacks on af J rm
au c action in Supreme Court
rulin 'S and Pre. ident BU! h'
recent veto:
"Th ci iJ right bill w
meant to return us to where
we were before the recent et
back in the Rca an Supreme
Court ruli ngs on affirmative
action." said Clac. "The
rca. on we are experiencing
the c etback is becau sc we
have become lax in inst ling
on our rights."
Whol .1 I
Ret.1I
Afric.n
Import.
S d.
Gun 18
ban
Co tlnued rro P ae I
Advocate of the bill,
such as Michigan United
Conservation Clubs' Execu
tive Director Tom
Washington, said the ques
tion is not safety, but
freedom.
"Throughout the years
there ha been thousand of
(gun control) laws passed
meant to reduce crime ...
but none have turned out to
'reduce crime of, any ort,"
s id 'Wa hington, who is
also a member of the Na
tional Rifle Association
(NRA). "Because of II of
the community regul tions,
the average citizen is put
into a position that it' hard
to get firearm; nd this is
unconstitutional. "
JOHN MI ELEY, A
member of Mid-Michigan
sportmen's club and direc
tor of a comeptitive snoot
ing s ociation, aid loc I
governments have created
so m ny different law that
it . ometimes confuse gun
owners.
·It's like having totally
different tr ffic I w in
every different community,"
Mireley said.
Wa hington agreed nd
, said citizens who own gun
should not find themselves
breaking the I w just be
cause they happen to. cross
the street into another com
munity.
Mircley aid community
regulations requiring afety
progr ms put an unlawful
restriciton on gun owners.
"They're willing to create
the r cgul at i n requiring
safety classe , but not will
ing to set up times con-
local control
venient for the gun 0 ner, •
he said. ·Safety cl e are
also expensive, and thi dis
criminates g in t the
poor,"
Washington said requir
ing safety classes in order to
. purchase a gun impinges on
a gun owenrs's constitution
. al rights.
"THE CON TITUTIO
gives citizens the right to
have guns," Washington
said," nd no where in there
doe it ay anything bout
requiring fety classes."
Rep.Perry Bullard, D-
Ann Arbor, id the bill.
would dangerously in
v lidate such loc lordinan
ces . tho e that restrict
guns to minors, require
safety training to purch e
gun, nd outlaws owner hip
of silencers.
·Wh t you h ve i total-
ly one-sided p ck ge
gains gun s fety, nd for
more violence in thi tate,"
Biard id bout the bill.
"It i totally the viewpoint of
the extremi ts Ir o the
NRA, who w nt legaliz tion
of all gun regardless of gu
safety.-
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