1
, Is housing
a huma·n
. right?
'ily Dr. Manning arable
Two to three million
ericans today are homeless,
and millions more live in
substandard housing. The
Reagan administration's major
caudal, econd .only. to the
, ,lran-Gontr deb do, w the
.m. ive graft, I waste and
corruption of the Housing and
Urban Development
Department, under "Silent
Sam" Pierce. Reagan's only
African American cabinet
member.
Inequality in social and
, economic term is clearly
• "expressed in housing statistics.
• As of 1985, for households with
incomes below the poverty line,
40 percent of the Hispanic
:families and 37 percent of
�frican-American spent at
least 70 percent of the
disposable income solely on
, .. housing costs. More than half of
.all poor Black households,
• nearly two million, and about 60
. percent of all poor Hispanic
households, paid at least one
half of their income to cover
housing costs. Less than 44
percent of all Black families
. owned homes in 1985, and only
28 percent of all low income
African-American households
held mortgages.
, Real estate agents,
. developers and bankers
collaborate frequently to deny
, Blacks the capital to purchase
, 'homes. For example, in Denver,
'according to a 1989 study, local
, whites received twice as many
home mortgage loans as Blacks
and Hispanics, and local
lending establishments gave
"three times more money to
, white neighborhoods than to
minority areas.
University of Chicago
researcher also found that
Order
Continued from Page 5
American and other racial and
ethnic co mjnuni ti e in the
United States are today in a
Vlorse ocial condition than in
1961.
THIRTY YEAR later in the
United States we find that
raci m and discrimination are
till the "order of the day." Ye',
progre has been made. but like
in South Africa, it i premature
(0 exclaim that "all is well" and
the world ha been tran formed
into a new world rder for the
betterment of umankind.
'. Our truggle or justice nd
freedom mu t continue here and
in South Africa and everywhere
oppression loom .
,
ALONG
THE
COLOR
LINE
Readers
Write
Don' buy h
produc If
you're no
repr nted In
commerical
To whom It may concern:
r I oking at your
commerci ,I w di ap-
poi nied to e that t ere
were no African-Americ n
pre ent in them.
During the e p t
month many of my neigh­
bo r , friend , co-worker
and I h ve been di cu ing
how can African American
pend our money on your
product and your company
doesn't ee the need to in­
ve t in the u ing of African
American in your promo­
tional ad erti ement to rep­
resent your company or
product publicly?
African Americans make
up over 12% of the U.S.
population and economi-
. cally gros over 200 Billion
dollars a year. How can
your company justify
African Americans spend­
ing our money on your
produ] s and then make us
invisible in your commer­
cial?
We feel that if we are
good enough to buy your
product - we are good
enough, attractive enough,
pure enough, clean enough,
intelligent enough etc. to
be part of your promotional
adverti ing campaign i.e ,
T. V., radio, bill boards etc.
WE RAISE THESE
questions to you because
they are important to us and
should be important to you!
o ve r t h ,i spa t per i 0 d
African Americans have
had a tremendous set back
as a re ult of the negative
media and president Bushs '
presidential campaign
where he portrayed African
American as __ Horton.
We feel tainted by this
betrayal! We also feel that
the correction of this nega­
tive image cannot be cor­
rected if we are denied
positive opportunities to
express ourselves.
We feel that your com­
pany practice in this next
period will he crucial in
showing the African
American community what
your company really. feels.
Will your company to
work for the et back of
African Americans by not
seei ng African Americans
as being essential in your
future promotional cam­
paign ? Giving the impres­
sion that your company
doesn't feel African
Americans can represent
your company and
product. Or will you com­
pany take advantage of the
great potential African
Americans have to offer?
We a k you to explain
why hould African
., American conti nue to buy
your products when there
are other companie that
make the arne or imilar
product that are actively
u ing African American a'
a part of thei r promotional
keem?
Your re pon e and future
practices are awesome in
building or not building
strong and po itive
relation hips with the
African American Com­
munity. We only hope you
work to build po itive one .
Kenneth nod r
n im­
the
r
f mily h nothing to
for their effort e cept
of bill . r. mith h d to
ell ome of their clothe
nd furniture to p y the
bill . hey hope their
children will h ve the oppor­
tunity to ttend colle e nd
e c pe their itu tion.
Are there ny bre ks for
poor f milie? Annette nd
the Smith will tell you "no".
It's not e a y m king end
meet, even when they try to
get he d. It' hard to get a
bre when life keep nock­
ing you down. Only if Mr.
mith lost his job or left his
f mily. They would qualify
for Medicaid and welfare.
One sign of hope is the
Family Support Act of 1988.
It requires states to help
f milies receiving welfare
benefits to enter the Job Op­
portunities nd Skills
(JOBS) progr m. Other im­
portant measures helping
poor families and children
are the expansi on of
Medicaid, ph as in g-In
coverage over the decade all
children with family incomes
below the federal poverty
level, and improved tax
credits to provide some
financial relief for low-in­
come working families with
children.
While these improvements
are long overdue but imp or-
p
Dear "Ir/Madam:
mind, wake up before it's too
I am writing you to let you late.
know how I ee the world today. My brothers and sisters work
As you read this communica- hard in the plant jut to be turned
tion, it proves that communica- around at the door of the un­
lion i the key to everyday life. employment lines. My people,
Young Black people are in the my people. wake up and look
. WAR, ir's the white man's exter- around you. Some worked for
mination of our good Black· fifty years, they said technol­
people. Why are they there. logy, not mens hands for the Iu­
ask myself and wonder, why ture, WHY? I a k.
couldn't two men sit down and
communicate together and work
hard at it for peace not blood.
shed.
Wake I:1p young people. wake
up young people, look around
you that your i nte l l ige m
brothers and sisters out there, on
the line. Some are doctor's,
lawyer' , they are somebody in
life, in life, somebody in life.
Drugs are killing all my young
Black people, wake up, it's the
white mans tool of DESTRUC­
TION-DESTRUCTION of the
Blacks were forced to live in
neighborhoods of much poorer
quality than whites with
identical, educational
backgrounds and family
incomes.
St ti tic 11y, an
Asian-American or Hispanic
who had completed a third
grade education is more likely
to live in a racially integrated
neighborhood than an
African-American with a
doctorate. A Black American
earning above $50,000 annually
in 1989 was less likely to live in
an integrated community than a
Hispanic or Asian making
under $2,500 per year.
Under the Reagan
administration, federal housing
allocations fell sharply, from
$30 billion in fiscal year 1981 to
barely $8 billion in fiscal year
1986. Reductions in federal
expenditures reduced the
overall number' of housing units
availing to the working poor, the
unemployed and households on
Aid to Families with Dependent
Children. By 1986, the
Department of Housing and
Urban Development admitted
that over 70,000 housing units
annually were "boarded up" and
another one thousand units
were destroyed because the
"repair costs exceed the units'
worth." Between 1981 and 1986,
public housing units in minority
neighborhoods dropped
severely: in Indianapolis, the
number of public housing units
declined from 3,500 to 2622; in
Sat) Francisco, the decline was
from 7,000 to 6,400 units.
Simultaneously, under Samuel
Pierce, scarce funds which
should have been allocated for
the housing of the urban poor
were funneled. to wealthy real
estate developers and
Republican Party donors. In
Columbus, Ohio, for example,
between 1987 and 1989, 2,500
minority families were denied
public housing because HUD
claimed that funds were not
available. But during the same
years, HUD gave local
developers tens of millions of
dollars directly for housing
lunds to build putting greens,
whirlpool baths, and luxury
penthouse suites worth $1,795
per month for wealthy whites.
Is decent, affordable
housing a human right, in a
country which claims to be a
democracy? How viable is any
democracy with millions who
sleep in the streets, or in
substandard housing?
Demonstrations and political
ctivism around housing are
ential.
sri n
Wright
Eld 1m n
NOW JOB"'S for Bt a ck
people wi t h ski 11 or not, 0 the
while man ay go to . chool or
job training program, But my
people lill don't get kill, 0
they go out and get on the wel­
fare jut to make it. They don't
want hand outs, they want to
work for the dollar. Wake up.
wake up my people. Where are
the job' now'!
Young Black male' look up to
athlete not them elve for
hope. Oh Why! Oh Why!, when
plus year-Old person, while in the
next room other doctors work with
an assembly line precision aborting
healthy viable life without
conscience.
MORE IMPORTANT though,
is that, if a dominate racial group is
able to impress this value system
onto the value system of a minority
group that minority group can
become the instrument of its own
. demise. 'In fact they will bring the
rope to their own lunching.
Black America is aborting its
future. It is developing as a value
system a suicidal lifestyle.
We have the highest inf nt
mortality rates, die from diseases
more often than others, are killed
more often, have the highest
unemployment and-have almost no
control over the quality of our life
ex perience in America.
The hope IS not in the present,
but in tho e who will carry on in the
future.
So when you see one of the
young women, smile and offer
encoura ement. Think of that new
life as 'a doctor with cure, a
presiden a} candidate, a teacher, a
scientist, an athlete, or anyone else
needed in the future.
These dreams can only chieve
with the help of dults who take
CHILD
WATCH
t nt, we c nnot 10 i ht of
the deter . ed people li e
Annette nd the miths who
w nt more out of life for
them elves nd their
children. Too many poor
families with children live
through the fear of losing
everything at ny time, but
by the gr ce of God they
manage to get through
another day. These familie
-- especially single p rent
with children -- face the
daily pos ibility their
children will go hungry or
homele s.
Finding way' out --
through education,
economic opportunities,
hard work -- i a dre many
parent ha for their
children. Our leaders can
no longer ignore these
families, especially the
children, who face barrier
that too often tunt their
physical, intellectual, social
and emotional growth and
ultimately stunts . our
community'S and nation's fu­
ture.
Marian Wright Edelman is
president of the Children's
Defense Fund, a national
voice for children.
they have a mind of their own.
They can be somebody, some­
body to look up to them elves,
they are number one, number
one.
The power of all young
peoples ide s can be measured
by all they touch in life. Wake
up, people, open your eyes
before it'&, to late.
Thank GOD for an education ..
Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
knew education would beat out
inju tice and equality toward
men. The Rev. Jes e Jack on
went to school and ran for the
presidency of these United
States, becau e he believed in
himself and GOD.
Thank you! Wake up,
America. Open your eye
before it's too late!
Wake Up!
Shirley Grave
Detroit
. .
'Teen preqnancy - a real problem?
Is teen pregnancy really a
problem? The simple answer is yes,
but n�thing is so clear and simple in
a multi-racial democracy. In fact
sometimes you can get so caught up
in simple solutions you can be the
cause of your own demise as a
viable entityin the society. You can
actually bring your own rope to the
lynching.
Almost daily we are bombarded
with supposedly horror stories
about the number of teen
pregnancies. This is to shock you
and cloud your judgment.
Let's examine this issue. We are
teenagers from age 13-19. People
graduate, sign contracts, fight wars,
and are dropped as dependents
while teenagers. Surely, we
wouldn't complain about these
adults having children. We live in a
society where such effort and
money i spent on existing life and
little on new life. In democratic
societies this conflict is fought at
the voting polls.
The voting popul tion favors
non-childbearers over those
entering and experiencing their
child bearing years. The effect is
that in ne room of the h pital a
team of doctors and nurses spend
m ny hours and thou ands and
thousands of dollars replacing
hearts, l�s, joints, �tc. on a 70
responsibility for future genera­
tions.
Le t the g u i It you t 0 f chit d
rearing and elevate motherhood
once again to it place as num­
ber one on the list of earth most
honorable professions.
Mr. Waymon Hodge
Benton H rbor
'Give �
communists
their due'
De r Mi hi an Citizen:
I w glad to' ee your article
on Chri Hani of South Africa
and the A C and Ollie Har­
rington an African-American
. who ha lived in Europe for
many year.
I thi I)k it i important to be
aware that both of the e great
.le ader are also communist.
We mu t not allow McCarthyi m
10 continue to bury and hide the
contributions of communi t to
the lruggle for equality,
freedom and j u lice.
John Henry
Detroit