J
1
HIGH R
VIEWS
e h O. ed e t bli h
Hilton
i y, o!
I I m n Afric nlAfrican
merle n fir t. Over ten ye r
0, I began u ing the term
"multi-cultural" in te d of
")ninority. "
·_Tod v. "multi-cultur u rn"
h come to be ynonymou
with an emerging ac demic
curriculum and n lion. The
re ood and ju t movement.
The term, I and many
othe ee it, i a tran itional
one th t i used to identify
thq e people of color who have
come to be referred to a
minorities. It is not intended
to· repl ce the. growing
"Africentric" movement.
,
The key i to remember that
thi i a tran itional term and a
forward tran itional term, we
might add.
,·'THEREARE,HOW V R,
ome who have now come to
embrace the term becau e it i
.f fa hionabte and politically
: correct to do o. This is not
, the ca e of myoId friend and
, colleague, Michael Tucker.
Throughout our twenty
�ars of friendship, we have
agreed that it is okay to
di agree and still be partner.
Our interpretations of
"multi-culturalism" is a case in
point. Although one will see
that we are basically in
agreement.
, Michael Tucker is
ordinator of Coun eling and
T ling Dean of Students at J.
Sergeant Reynolds Community
ltege in Richmond, Virginia.
are e of his
c ents ( ad criticism) of
y columns on the topic.
Let me also remind reader
t at this year, I am
e couraging guest editorials
f r my column. This forum is
signed to provide one more
a enue for concerned and
oactive individuals to speak
o t (primarily ori education
j Sues). .
Articles should not be
gnger than 400 words. Pie e
s nd in el» HILTON:
IGHER EDUCATION, 3139
. Garey Avenue, #101,
Pomona, CA 91767
I
S ONE OF the many
p fessionals wi th whom you
h .. e discussed the term
�ority and its descriptive
p. • ers, I find that while I
s�port your position of
nt)Ui-cultural - yes; minority -
n I cannot embellish it.
While the term minority as
y have indicated in previous
writings signifies, less than,
different, inferior and
unimportant, the term
"multi-cultural" is not enough .
. In recent article, you
i�ntify several reasons for use
of the term: multi-cui tural .
rather than minori ty. While
multi-cultural does not carry
any negative baggage, nei ther
does it define us as a people
with a distinct heritage.
: Throughout the past several
decades, a number of terms
have gained popularity; Negro,
Black, Afro-American, yet
each of these terms gave way
td another supposedly more
descriptive word.
:. -Terms such as multi-cultural
are all to often diluted by the
m1ljority to encompass all
people, thereby reducing the
trength and significance of
multi -cul turalism.
,. 'WE AS A people must
icfentify a descriptive term
which speaks to our roots,
teach heritage. strength and
multi-culturali m, but a term
which cannot be dil uted by the
"majority." One pos ibility
currently exist : African
Amertcan. .
o HILTON: HIGHER
EDUCATION is designed to
dialogue with college D!,d .
world readers. EducatIon IS
ongoing and certainly not
limited to school clas rooms.
Let's talk. (714) 899·0650.
tin
the 10 n of a mule for e ch I ve.
A bill introduced in 1894 ought
pen ion for former I ve nd
their children. It a ed the U.S.
Sen te for payment of up to
$500 for all ex- I ave pI u
monthly pen ion payments r ng­
ing from $4 to $15. Both the e
move for repar tion for Black
died from white rejections.
trib I land . Then, in 1988, con-
gre pproved the payment of
$1.25 billion to 60,000
Jap ne e-American who were
interned in pri on camp during
World War II.
Hou e Resolution 1684 wa
ubmitted in 1989 by Congres­
sional Black Caucu member,
John Conyer. The bill would
e tabli h a commis ion to tudy
reparation proposals for African-
e .
BI c who re 'concerned
with equity and ju tice will top
now nd c 11 or write: their own
Congre m n; Rep. John Con­
yer , (202) 225-5126; Elder
Yehud h Ben Sibb cl h, ct«
1264 ation I Pre Bldg.,
W shington, D.C. 200'45;
Sen tor Bill Owe ,Room 314,
St te Hou e, Bo ton, MA02133;
or the National Co HUon of
Black for Repar lion in
America, P.O. Box 62622,
W shington, D.C. 20029-2622.
Get involved, because if it i
to be, it i up to "you and me.
I'm not ready to limit terms for
officials by charter mandate-at
least not today.
Perhaps it's the civil liber­
tarian in me but I'm unea y with
the "term limitation for elected
officials" tuff. Aren't people
astute enough to vote fot the man
or woman of their choice wi thout
the hampering of the electoral
process by minority of ciuz n
or elected official? (and orne
people talk about the" 0 iali m"
that' suppo ed to be in D troit al-
ready!)
OF COUR TH major ar-
gument for term limitation i
that incumbents have eriou ad­
vantages over the challenger.
Yes! political action commi t­
tee , labor union , and church or­
ganizations pl y a crucial role in
the proces .
Ye ! Big money and poli tical
endor ements for incumbents
outweigh a challenger with mall
BY WASSERMAN FOft THf BOSTON GlOtSf
1;" 8ettin�
nothing but
support -fr"om
-the people o�
Los Angeles ....
Sor4a DIamond
m n, or wom n, we ref e to
conced to our Ive th t we re
mor included to r pect the
tradition nd v lue of other,
bov nd beyond our own.
BI c ppr ci t the qu lity
of commerce out ide our neigh­
borhood , while ne lecting to
upport the few Blac -owned
bu ine e along inner-ci ty cor­
ridor . Blac will ta e up white
people ' cau e reg rding the
Kuwai tis , ur ds , or Dan
Quayle qu lification for
pre ident, before we will focu
on our own ne d .
A we spend time thi ummer
thinking more about The Bo s'
Biznes we'll be mi in' out on
bucks for u . Currently there i
a bill before the U.S. congre to
"acknowledge the fundamental
inju tice, cruelty, brutality, and
inhumanity of lavery in the U.S.
between 1619 and 1865. And to
Itt \988, 1 .WAS
C�\l'c\"Zct> fO(2. � "\
Pl�'(ING ON A I
R�C'�L
F&AAS ...
cause there is something roman­
tic about the people rising up to
thwart off the will of elected
government-particularly when
a controversial figure like Mayor
Young has been in office for
seventeen year.
I WONDER if the endorsee's
are for the limitation of terms for
all elected official . both present
and future, or ju t the limitation
of Coleman Alexande Young?
Are these the A.B.C.
(Anybody But Coleman) folks
again? My concern i that thi
action i a referendum on the
mayor. (Isn't it funny that some of
us are saying that about every voting
i ue in this city?)
"Once people are in office
perpetually, corruption sets in,
inefficiency set in .... They 10 e
their fear of the public.", Butler
aid.
Seventeen years of ny
poli tician can be dangerou , but
resource.
In many situations this is the
case, but thi 'effort i barking up
the wrong tree. What about cam-
paign-reform? .
I want the official release of
campaign contribution figure
before the election. If the Shrine
of the Blac Madonna, Detroit
Firefighter As ociation, Council
of Baptist Ministers, National
Republican or Democratic Party,
or even companie that do bu i­
ne with the city contribute to
a candidates election as group, I
wanna knowl
OU CILMAN BUTLER
and hi contemporarie should
be concerned wi th the fact can­
d ida te don't receive eriou
penal tie for failing to release
c mpaign finance before the
election. City Council candidate
C rolyn Chee -Kilpatric ad­
mi tted her finance papers-and
thi a three day before the
t
. I
.
Term limitation is· bad idea
I the term 1 i mi ta tio n the
answer to the corruption, neglect
of the people, and bad ideas that
sometime come with perennial
elected officials? Nope!
Recently Councilman Keith
Butler wa able to ama s 31, 368
petition ignature to force a
referendum on the limiting of
terms in Detroit for ci ty council
member and the mayor, The
fir t year of uch a law would
begin in 1 93.
No more than three consecu­
tive four-year term for the coun­
cil and no more than two
consecutive four-year term for
the mayor are the Objectives of
this cru ade. The i ue will be
on the fall ballot in 1992 for the
people to decide.
First of all, petition/referen­
dum i ue are alway sig­
nificant becau e they essentially
go again 1 the wishe of. elected
officials or a previous campaign.
They are alway intere ting, be-
election. Kay Everett reported
that be released hers first, but w
golng to be late on tbe econd.
We need to make ure that,
campaign law are followed.
Politicians know that they can I
get away with these laws be­
cause the voter does not find the
truth until the inauguration i
over.
The Barbara 0 e-Collins for
congre camp ign illu trated
that.
The only thing from the e
people i "Oop ! I'm sorry."
The point is that an informed
public can make decision on I
t eir own. Term limitations tell
voters that they're not mart to I
do the right thing. I re pect .
Keith Butler, but I don't -IRe I
with his position OD this i sue. . J
•
•
eanet Cole
Detroit
Jr.
