1 -�, 1
Debor
o T
info tion bout pplying, contact
City Planning Commi ion t
oom 202 of the City County
Building (313) 224-7887.
ormation on propertie can
found t th or' 0 ce, Room
804 on the 8th floor of th City
County Building (313) 21&-3010.
To check city property taxe ,call
Detroit' Property 'I Divi ion,
oom 136 on the first floor of tb
City County Building (313)
224-3560 and to look into county
ta e , contact the International
M r et Center, Fifth Floor, 400
Monroe, Detroit, MI 48226.
Different city departments will
provide funding, nd on ite
technical . tance to individuals
and groups that meet their
requirements.
The City Planning Commission
compares this program to efforts in
the old frontier days, when "helping
was part of a community and
personal philosophy", when
neighbors got together to assist each
other in raising barns and baving
quilting bees, building up the
communi ty and strengthening
individuals who participated "by
caring, sharing, and helping."
AMY SCHUR, head organizer of
the ACORN Community
Organization that fought for this
ordinance says that "A number of
eople have gotten houses, who
wouldn't have gotten them in any
other w y."
She adds that, "There could be a
lot more and it could be done a lot
faster."
From calls coming in to ACORN,
she believes that city departments
takes a long time to let people know
if houses qualify and they do not
provide lists of houses which do.
She' suspects that part of the
problem was that some city officials
"did not want this ordinance in the
first place."
ACORN got the ordinance by
moving squatters into vacant houses,
a tactics that lead to arrests. In 1984,
the Detroit City Council passed the
ordinance in response to ACORN
protests, but Mayor Coleman Young,
who, she says, was "harder to
convince" refused to implement it.
ACORN took the mayor all the
way to the State Supreme Court and
won, forcing the ci ty to put the
program in motion.
Those wbo wish to find out how
the program works and wish to get
help in processing the application
smuld call Michigan Legal Services
at (313) 963-1840. Those who want
legal help should call Kevin
. Kanoyton at the United Community
Housing. Coalition at (313)
963-3299.
While the Horn countries are
among the poorest in the world,
their governments spent over $6
. billion on military expenditures
between 1977 and 1987.­
World Military and Social Ex-
penditures, 1989 ....
There are nearly 500,000 sol­
diers and only 967 doctors in
Ethiopia and Somalia.-Bread
for the World
We accept
all news.
information and all
signed letters to
the editor:
Send to
Michigan Citizen P.O.
Box 03560
Highland Park.
MI48203
VIEWS OPINIONS
STEAD 0 understanding the
origins of Bl an and violence,
linked to poverty and a of
powerl , many hites leaped
nized."
READERS WRITE
Muskegon pastor finds confusion surro nds Thomas nomination
Dr. R. Thomas Coleman, favor Affirm tive Action, c
Pastor of Bethesda Baptist Church, fully opposed the nomination of
Muskegon county's oldest Black Luc . .
congregation. Bush, who I am told I must per-
ceive the foe of upward mobility
for minorities, women, the disad­
vantaged, the disenfranchised, and
the disenchanted, tried to place Lu
in ch.ge of one of the most impor­
tant bureau in the U.S. Department
of Justice. A post with the ultimate
responsibility of enforcing civil rights
legislation for all: colored people,.
Black people, negroes, and African
A.meria1s rally so a to wrongly defeat
his appointment.
I must confess that I am thor­
oughly confused. spent in of
my early childhood a "colored"
person, then I became a "negro".
When I was colored or negro, if I
or anyone else in my community
called someone Black, that was
cause for a fight. None of the
colored people or negroes, I knew,
wanted to be called Black. That
was considered a perjorative de -
ignation.
Then "BI ck" became "beauti­
ful" and I was Black, and all of the
oth r people of my hue (no matter
what their complexions) were
"Black and proud". I had barely
grown accustomed to being Black,
when I had to make another transi­
tion. Along with the rest of us, I
became "African American".
AS IF THESE transitions in
identitie were not enough to con­
fuse me, along came something
called "Affinnative Action," which
ostensibly will rectify past injus­
tices done to Blacks or African
Americans or whatever, in the
cl oornandtheworkplace. The
discussion revolved wound real
and imagined distinctions between.
"quotas" and "goals," and dded to
the confusion of this colored, ne­
gro, Black, African American.
In any case, while I was not re­
ally able, at all points, to see the
fine line that distinguished "quo­
tas" from "goals," and am still not
sure how you deal with implemen­
tation without some form of dis­
crimination, I thought I knew who
ood where and why.
PRESIDENT George Bush, I
thought, was opposed to Affirma­
tive Action, while roo African
Americam WEre in fa'Va' of it Bush.
the arch-opponent of Affirmative
Action, nominated Bill Lucas, a
Bl lawyer frocn Detroit, who
struggled to obtain his education
and who.h impressive creden­
tials in government service on
both local and tate levels, for the
post of i ant Attorney General
in charge of the Civil Rights Divi-
ion.
African American organiza­
tions, Bl ck Ie and veral
negro and colored groups, along
with a coalition of gay/lesbian and
om n activists, and the pro-abor­
tion lobby, all of whom ostensibly
JUDGE Qarence Thomas, lately
of the district of Columbia, is an­
other case of a disadvantaged Black
making it through the system. Tho­
mas, as chairman of the EEOC, has
led the agency to improve the qual­
ity of life for a broad spectrum of the
ppressed in this country, including
our own people, women, and other
minorities. Admittedly, his efforts
did nothing for "colored" or "Afri­
can American" people <r institutions,
but several Black and negro colleges
received large awards because of his
efforts ..
Bush, again the arch-foe of Af­
firmative Action, nominates Tho­
mas to the vacancy on the U.S. Su­
preme Court (created by the retire­
ment of Justice Thurgood M .. shall)
and Blacks and African Americans,
proponents of Affinnative Action,
gear up to fight the nomination.
Like Lucas, Thomas has ideas
and beliefs that are at variance with
those of a lot of Black leaders and
organizations, and he is a Republi­
can. So those African Americans,
Blacks, or whatever who believe that
Affinnative Action is a panecea for
past injustices are diametrically
opposed to Clarence Thom .
The President's philosophy of
�ition to Affirmative Action and
the Black, negro, colored.or African
American pro- Affirmative Action
stand, I think it no wonder that I and
many others are kept in a constant
state of confusion.
. ..
IN ADDITION to my being
confused while wide wake, even
my ams have become confused.
In one recent dream, I w doing
some research and' located some
ne paperclippinp from way back,
which referred to another Black
Republican, who is a clergyman Ed
civil rights advoc teo In this dream,
this person was was an appointee to
federal cormlission with the title
of judge.
Bee use of th ppointment of
conservative Republican president,
there is no end to th irony of my
confusion, given th f ct that �
person in my dream i now unalter -
bly opposed to all and any ppoint­
men made by a conservative Re­
publican holding th high t office
in the land. Affinnative Action not­
withstanding.
proc ,if the person to be" -
firmed" thinks and acts exactly
they wish them to.
I find it 1range th t Neo-Na­
zi , the KKK, and other racist or­
ganizations have not ized the
moment to ck the nomin . on
of Judge Thorn and Wlm of a
minority "take-over" of America.
BUf I SUPPOSE when they
OF COURSE, du to my con- what we are doin to op-
fused state of mind, I am no longer pose the nomin ion, they can t
blessed with total ree 11, and may ured that not only will there
even be confused about What it is I never be a "take-over, " there won't
dreamt. I gu ace could be m de even be equality unless all African
for the proposition that even if thi Americans, Negroes, colored
were not a dream, and all the f cts people, Black, or whatever are
ctually transpired: the advocetesof willing to sacrifice their own ideal
Affirmative Action are only required . and integrity in the name of. false
to be vigorous proponents for that nse of unity."
Migrant farm-working families are only
part of illegal immigrant problem
I am distressed that many news­
papers continue to portray a one­
sided view of illegal immigration.
Time after time tories depict the
following bias: that most illegal
immigrants are poor, migrant farm­
working famili from developing
countries who do work that Ameri­
cans won't take.
BECAUSE I FEEL that you
believe in balanced coverage of
sensitive issues, I want you to know
the following:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
statistics and most independent stud­
ies conclude that only 15 to 20 per­
cent of illegal aliens are farm work­
ers. And while their plight makes a
compelling "news" story, reporters
often fail to point out th t all illegal
aliens come here as violators of U.S.
federal law .
Many are preci ely the kinds 01
people for whom. we generously
continue to offer 850,000 legal per-
manent resid nt vi per ye , with .
the opportunity to become citizens
after five years.
HOWEVER, I want to make it
clear to you that far too many illegal
immigrants fall into oth catego­
ries,.ruwnely, organized aimina1s d
drug dealers. And some use fr udu­
lent documents to cquire free health
c.e, taxp yer- upported public
housing. free public school bilingual
educations for th ir children and free
legal aid.
Furthermore, a ne twist h
developed in recent years: the in­
volvement of organized �e in
smuggling illegal aliens through
Canada and maj<r int.ernational air­
ports into the U.S. A Newsweek
story of August 20, 1990 tells of
smuggling rings which charge up
10 $30,000 per iDepl to take people
into the United States through our
wide-open �anadian Border and
our international airports.
In New York, • vicious Chi­
nese syndicate is believed respon­
sible f<r bringing in 30,000 people,
of which many become indentured
servants who must work in sweat­
shops, prostitution and drug run­
ning to payoff their smugglers'
fees.
PLEASE DON'T be misled
bout illegal �igration. It's a
national crisis th 's draining our
economy and encouraging aime.
Our laws provide for legal immi­
gration ... And the U.S. tU more
bona fide inlmigrants and political
refugees than the other coun .
of the industrial world combined.
PIe get the facts for your
next story on immigration by con­
tacting: Mr. 0 vid Ray,
Secretary, Federation f<r Ameri_'
can Immigration Reform (FAIR),
1666 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite
400, Washington, DC 20009, 202-
328-7004.
I will be cl Iy monitoring
your coverage of the illegal immi­
gration problem. I sincerely hope
my next letter to you will be to
peai your reporting on this .
M . Marpnt Croeth te
Detroit
ha¥ them, and initi
dialogue which can build ,
�.
Dr. MtUllling Marable is Profes­
sor o/Political SciellCe aNl History.
Ulliversity 0/ Colorado, Boulder. .
"Alo"8IM Color LiM" appetJ1S ill .
o r J1flblioalio'ts. malioItaJlY, tI1td :
is broadcast over radio stt:JtkNu :
througltolll the U1IiI«I Stales.
POEMS
In eareh of friend
I roamed the
in search of a friend.
someone to fill
the emptiness within;
from the Midwest
totheW End ...
you can't imagine
the citi in which I've
in search of a frien4.
Then I met the Man
with nail-pin in His hands­
An oute t in the I.,d-
who said I couldn't imagine .
the cities in which He'd been
. in search of a friend.
So, I'll friendship began,
and the emptiness within
has been filled by the Mill
with nail-pin in H' hands.
J eHawldns
.I'mglad I'm a girl
No sleep at all, what a nipt -
Here's the mominl and sun
is bright.
What a day to view the world,
AND I'M GLAD I'M A OllWm!
Here I lin - T. C. B.
Get the M age, baby, stick
with me.
PEACE is POWER, anditbl
up Free-
AND I'M GLAD I'M A OIRU!!!!
I know a thing or two
Could do a few for your.
TIME' in full control -
So get on board, and yon:
boW
And gre up your SOUL!!!!! :
TRUTH is my SONG­
All that's right.
I nev find the time to pick • :
fipt- .:
I'm too busy getting OUT OF :
SIGHT!!!!!
AND I'M GLAD I'M A GIRL!!!l! .
Carolyn Ann hard
Sprin& of 1965
Central PIrIe, NYC