EDITORIAL ./ r Let' put the Clarenc Thomas matter in perspec­ tive. Th Suprem Court i lready t cked. It is no longer Supreme Court, standing for the highest ideals of the nation, but a Republican Court, repre- senting the interests of that .. party. It i powerful, but it is • I not just. Justice Thomas deserves a Senate hearing. And we . . deserve a Supreme Court J us­ . , nee, one who will provide « reasoning, remedy and relief. Clarence Thom ; � Judge Thomas is indeed a strange creature. He is the primary " beneficiary of the struggles of the martyrs: Rosa Parks, Dr. King, · Medger Evers, yet he attacks the tree that bears the fruit of their labors. His career is a product of affirmative action and government support: his matriculation from Holy Cross was affirmative action, working for Senator Danforth was a government payroll. The EEOC is a civil rights department. Th Supreme Court is a . lifetime government job. Yet he attacks government invol- , . '. vement and its measu es for affirmative action. Far from lifti,ng civil rights workers, and then carried in the arms of Danforth, Reagan, and Bush. That's sponsorship top down, not bootstraps bottom up. DON'T AGONIZETIIE Thomas issue too much. One, the courts have already shifted. , Two, Thomas ha not asked our support, ind d he has shown disrespect. our heritage. Anybody who would at: tack the legacy of Dr, King, Medger Evers, and Thurgood Marshall, should not expect to pick the fruit oftheir trees. One has the right to disagree, of course, but not the right to •• chop down the tree that bears the fruit. Indeed, Judge Thomas : has benefited more from their trees than they did in their lives, yet he attacks the 1954 decision that made this education pos­ sible. Without some expression of contrition, and the will to be-fair and just, it would be a betrayal of the heritage of our struggle to support anyone who threatens to undermine it. - Senator Jesse Jackson from a speech to the 20th Annual Operation PUSH Convention July 17, 1991. THE MICHIGAN C.ITIZEN Publl hed e eh Sunday by NEW DAY PUBUSHING ENTERPRISE 12541 S cond St P.O. Box 03560 Highland Park. MI 48203 Phon : (313) 889-0033/ Fax I: (313) 869-0430 . Westem Michigan Bureau: 175 W. Main St P.O. Box 218. B nton Harbor. M149022 (81�-1527 Publisher: Charlee D. Kelly Editor: Ter a Kelly Westem Michigan Editor: Bernice Brown City Editor: D nick C. lewl. Copy Editor: L ah Samuel Entertainment Editor: Ka cene Bark. Correspondents: D nick C. Lewl - B rnlc Brown - Mary Golliday Carla Huston - L ah Samuel· Nathanl I Scott y, ra Whit - Carolyn Warft Id· Danny Cook. Product/on Manager: Dew yn Buchana Product/on Staff: c n Blrk.· Anita Iroha I • Advertising Representative: Terry Broyl VIEWS So rd of Edu tion decision a ruling rooted in "dubio oci 1 cience." And durin hi seven-year term Ch irman of the Equ 1 Employment Opportunity Commis- ion Thom w vocifero critic of affirmative tion. What bet r weapon to have at . your disposal than Bl man who i willing to be hoc trooper for the con erv tive cau e? Little wonder that Thomas positioned to uoceed TburgOO(l Ion the bench of the Supreme Co . Brother Thomas i virtually the exact opposite of Thurgood Marshall on mo t of the critical questions f cing Bl c , minoriti , women, labor and poor nd working people. Prior to and during his tenure on the Supreme Court, Thurgood Mar­ shall was an uncompromising cham­ pion for the disadvantaged and the dispo essed and a protector of civil libertles. CLARENCE THOMAS once As a o-called elf-made man, renounced the hi toric Brown v Clarence Thom is a proponent of top Ch mical Di a In Our Communitie t.v. K ... , San �Iego Union Copaey ,....Ientce . During the last 5 years there have been an unprecedented number of petrochemical explosions, acci­ dents, leaks and other Iife-thrreaten­ ing disasters that have occurred in predominantly African American communi ties. Many of the workers in the petrochemical industry are ra­ cial and ethnic persons. More im­ portan tl y the loca tion of a disproportionately high number of these plants are located in our com­ munities. Since 1987,80 persons have died and nearly 1,000 injured as a direct resul t of petrochemical disasters across th nation, particularly in communities that have a large African American percentage of the population. In the most recent inci­ dent, an explo ion erupted at the Albright & Wilson Americas plant in Charleston, South Carolina. The blast killed eight persons and injured more than 130 people. A total of $2 billion in damage to property has already occurred as a resul t of these chemical di ters. Yet, after numerous lawsuits, in­ surance companie have been reluc- t to pay. claims that completely ver the damage from -these inci­ dents. THE, NATIONAL Safe Workplace Institute located in Chicago confirms that petrochemi­ cal disasters are a national problem. The an- n u a ,I fatality rate in the chemical industry has doubled in the last 10 years. The Con­ gress of the United S tat e enacted the Qean ,Ai Act of 1990 in part to ure t grea er federal oversight over the fcty of the petroc mical industry. In ct, the gt of the Cean Air�· Act called the eatab . hment of a federal CberiUca1 Safety and Hazud Ron . D nl VA'TAG PO T In another article, I cautioned against the "danger of kin politi ." Blac faces in high pI ces may not necessarily translate into empower­ ment for Black people. Indeed, we are witnessing the un­ folding of a trategy where some Blac elected and appointed leaders will be used willing accomplices to the containment and reversal of gains by Blac , minorities, women and labor. The rich and the super rich who control this nation have some new found partners -Bl ck conserva­ tives like Clarence Thomas who are witting and unwitting tools for a sys­ tem of white