I
I VIEWS OPINIONS
O.Hi on
• recent even merely
indicate that ome major
"Afrocentric" adjustments need
mad pronto.
Bee of th ay I often
,_,thA41A things. some ay that
I am analytical. always
looking beneath the surface.
That· true. If e only too
things at face value. there would
be very little reason for . ous
scientific research.
I am the kind of person who
won'tBUNDL Y endorse some-
one bee knil .. ethnicity,
inclu' Clarenee Thomas or
Thur Marshall.
- A f years ago, there was a
popuI saying that' went like
this. "All that glitters ain't gold
IIld all that's Black ain't got
soul."
In the case of Clarence Tho­
mas and Supreme Court Power
Politics. it seemed ollly logical
th most Africans would cor­
rectlyexpress the opinion that
. the position is more �t
than the individual.
However. if Africans think
that because Thomas is of the
same ethnicity of Justice
Marshall tltathe is goingtoregu­
"'lycornedown squarelyon the
same side as Marshall would
have. they /we missed the boat.
I DON'T THINK Africans
missed the boat. I repeat, the
position is more important than
the individual.
At the same time. those Af­
ricms with influence within the
Democratic Party need to do
short and long range planning to
insure that amore liberal minded
African will eventuallv take his
or her place BESIDE Clarence
Thomas and not in place of him.
A very clear message has
been sent around this nation and
perhaps the world. and that is
that the African American giant
is still a giant. even though some
of its leadership (i.e. prominent
personalities) began to take it
for granted.
It is not surprising that the
power brokers and their assis­
tants/prominent personalities
within the GOP and the Demo­
<ntic parties continue to be ea­
gerto "show people of color that
they have two clear choices.
But in reality. there are more
than two choices. Perhaps a
very real side effect of the
Clarence Thomas Debate will
be the new awareness on the part
of African Americans that
" Afrocen1ricity" is more power­
ful than any modified One Party
System (which is wh we have
in America).
If -there is 0 tural trait
that prominent
have understood well. it is
the one that Africans have his­
torically displayed a blind pride
in seeing and then accepting
high visibility Africans as auto­
matic le.ders.
It' still too soon to ay for
ure, however those young
people whQ may now be giving
the Republican Pwty a closer
look. e say. "Look as close
ible before casting do
your buckets _:_ Permanently. "
so ELL DEC
couldn't name for you a per-
"th Tho off-
� MURDER CAPITAl-.
� THE WORLD -
Send all poetry to The Michigan Citizen. P. O. Box 03560, Highland
, Park, Mi. 48203.
MAYBE IT'S MY
IMAGINATION
TO PRESIDENT BUSH
PEACE can be helping
talking
learning
from one another
Peace
should be
should be
••• aa ay
fundamental position.
Shouldn't have
shouldn't have
•••••••••••• a.y
little wiggle rooms.
and
after
here
there
everywhere
name calling ill � exist .•
Melinda RanIeri
SKramento, Ca
Only time to cleanup your space.
's
THE LIBERALS' criticism of
Thom • Willi onied, had gone
e too fw. "(1born ) has been conve­
niently transformed into a mons
READERS WRITE
Black
and that they spoke for all African
Americans. The lead hav
vowed to bring down the institutions
that care nothing about the Blacb of
this country and everything about
themselves.
conservative
Th . a onn cloud brewing
on th horizon of African America
today. It hangs he vy with the
deep convictions and morals of a
leadership in an African America
that h b ically been i1ent.
These n w leaders have an
agenda that will change the course
of the torturous voyage that Black
America pe doomed to ail.
When this onn hits it will
wreak havoc on the system that
has held African Americans as a
pennanent undercl for so long,
It will take on the welfare state.
support �d bring about economic
independence. an clear the Afri­
can American agenda of dead
weight like womens rights, gay
rights. and other non-essential is­
sues.
It must be realized that African
America is making stand today REV. RON ROSS
to no longer sit idly by and How Chairman, African American
her people to be lead down the Committee
paths of destruction by the tomism
of the liberal leadership. It is time
that the toms who support the lib­
eral agenda begin to eek shelter,
for ,this is not a movement of the
upper echelon but rather of the
grass-roots African American,
whose power does not lie in his
salary but in his ability to vote.
MAKE NO MISTAKE about
it - group like the Congressional
Black Caucus. NAACP. Ur�an
League. and others are in grave
danger. Unless these groups get
back to their grass-roots people,
their future looks very bleak.
For quite some time Ameri­
cans have been led to believe that
because the 1 ership of Black
America has been attaching every
liberal issue to the civil rights
movement, all African Americans
are totally liberal. This is just not "MANY OF THOSE Michigan
true. By tr dition African Ameri- residents live in Detroit. The results
csn people tend to be conservative are gainfully clear. In 1989, the most
when it comes to morals and val- recent year for which statistics are
ues, even though there have been- available. the national infant mortal­
constant attempts to dispute this ity rate w 9.7 deaths per 1.000
fact. births. In Detroit it was more than
As new and old issues that double that - 21.3 deaths per 1,000
destroy the African American com- births,
munity become more and more "In that same year the national
powerful (with no relief in sight) life expectancy was 75.2 ye .
African American leaders who In Detroit it was 67.5 years.
have been silent on the issue of "Clearly, Michig_ needs a new
conservative vs. liberal are begin- health care policy that ures that all
ning to speak out. individuals have access to quality
t>uring the week of September health care services.
10, 1991. Black Americans from Regardless of where they live.
all aroWld the country came to- how they pay for it, or bether they
gether to create a new leadership. have special health c needs. That
a leadership that will not 11 tradi- means that the cost and availability
tiooalBlaclcvalu forthirtypiece3 of health insurance rmpt be ad-
of ilver. Th leaders came to- dressed, well as a patient's
gether in our nations capital to to medical specialist and to extended
support Judge Clarence Thoma c
and to attend a Black genocide
conference.
The African American Ie
who attended th events were
fed up with liberals pretending
dley knew what fc:rBlacks
THE TIME has corne for Blac
politicians to op pouting empty
rh oric d pporting unsound pro­
- grams. Th African America of the
future..,ants solid answers and p-oven
solutions to her problems.
She wants it to be known th be
will "keep hope alive" if she is given
hope; she will fulfill "the dream" if
given the tools; she will know that
she is "somebody" if he is empo -
ered with true kno ledg of an eco­
nanicsystemthatmanyhaveworked
so h .. d to keep her ignorant of. She
will believe that "our time has come"
only when the clock chirn ith true
equality not. quotas.
Why Michiga
needs a heart
care policy
"The United States is the world's
leader in medical technology.
We also ve th ost expensive
health care sy �e world.
"Despite our wealth and exper­
tise. something is badly out of kilter.
Today 37 million Americans do not
have health insurance coverage. One
million of them live in Michigan.
"The result is that one million
MiChigan residents .. e deni ac­
cess to the full spectrum of health
cwe services available to everyone
else.
"We can no longer tolerate •
double standard of care, a 1 one
for poor people and a better on for
those who have better financial cir­
cur:�U1Oes. Wem thaveapublic
health policy in this te that .
equitable. Ordable and that will
help everyone. from the young
child to the old tmenandwomen.
"I URGE THE Governor and
the Legislature to ark togeth to
develop a health care policy for _�_..
Michigan which meets this goal."
Coleman A. Youn
Mayor, Detroit
Nanie your
sources
In the September 7 issue of the
Michigan Citizen. correspondent
Danny R. Coo reports on the
demise of several night clubs in
KalamazOo. ome BI k-owned
and others that catered to largely
Black clientele. Cooks suggests
that some "un-nameable movers
and shakers of K lamazoo's Black
corrmunity" are being "cynical yet
safe by admitting that Mafia types
control the dollars and cents flow­
ing through much of downtown
Kalamazoo ... " ,
,_� , r, rHESE ARE SERIOUS
- charges. 1 moved to Kalamazoo
newly three years ago from Pitts­
burgh, and I have seen the influ­
ence of the Mafia in that city (al­
though it has been verely dimin­
ished in the past decade). How­
ever. the President of Down­
town Kalamazoo Incorporated. I
have seen no indication of any
"Mafia" or organized crime activ­
ity "controlling the dollars and
cents flowing through much of
downto KaI.,nazoo."
On tile contrary. I tend to agree
with Fred Jones. Economic pres­
sures are greater today on minor­
ity-owned businesses than they
have been for decades, and this is
especially true to businesses re­
I ted to alcohol. Insurance and
financing are difficult to get for
any night club, because the risks of
lawsuits and the rate of failure are
very high.
In ddition, the per capita con­
sumption of alcohol i dropping
(which -I personally believe 'is ,a
good thing). and the population .
aging, which means there are fewer
young people - often the most
frequent p trOllS of night clu .
IF MR. COOKS or �y of his
urtnamed sources have specific
information regarding Mafia con-
trol of businesses or fund
"flowing 'through" downtown
Kalamazoo. they hould have the ,.
•
counl to step forwn IIld present
their evidence. To hide behind
"un-n.neable" sow and make
such leg tions without facts to
substanti te them i certainly irre­
sponsible journalism.
ncerely,
David M. F han
dent, Downtown
Kalamazoo Inc.
, .
,