VIEWS OPINIONS
EDITORAL
The report in this weekend' JOA publication, the jolnt Detroit
pape�, that State �eprese�tative Alma Stallworth w making
Insurance law while owrung an insurance company was first
reported in thi paper two months ago. The tory only points up for
us what is a major, major problem for the African community: too
many African Am rican politicians repre ent their own elf-intere t
or the economic interests of the community that has fled the inner
citie rather than the interests of the constituents who voted them
into office.
Whether it' the Enterprise Zone legislation in Benton Harbor,
or the Chrysler project in Detroit, the Tiger Stadium deal for
downtown Motown or the County Jail that Highland Park 10 t to
Hamtramck, the agenda Black politicians pursue is set by someone
else.
Blac leadership pins i wheel in a reactive mode. Whatever
the money folks in Birmingham, S1. Joseph or any other suburb
decide will go on in the inner city, that' what the Black leadership
se out to ccompli h.
What person living south of Eight Mile Road gets one penney
o�t of �e Tiger operation? And who in Detroit wants to support
With their tax dollar or voter approval a plan to enrich a multi-mil­
lionaire owner or players earning a million dollars a year.
And who among the unemployed and hungry are happy that
HUD dollars helped another millionaire pizza king pave the street
.. infront of the Fox Theater with old-fashioned bricks?
. Our point is, that our 'leadership' is so busy atisfying the money
mterests of the weathly, they neglect to erve the people who elected
them.
Part of that is our fault. We don't vote, or we vote without
studying the i ues. We go by personality and not issues.
Right now, our block club s and churches should be hollering to
: high heaven about Detroit Renaissance, that exclusive club of
tI! millio�ires who can pick up the phone and tell the Mayor what they
want him to do for them with out tax dollars. Detroit Renaissance is
peDding money (some of theirs, some of ours) right this minute as
you read this getting Belle Isle ready for the Grand Prix in June.
.. But the money is not circulating in depressed Detroit, but going to.
suburban contrac.tors. No jobs for the city residents who support
this annual pollution party with tax dollars to provide police, street
• crews, and other amenities.
Yeah, our public servants are hard at work -on other people's
: priorities. Let's get them to work on ours. What is our agenda? An
economically viable community that offers a safe place to raise kids.
• We've got a long way to go on our agenda. .
9 ag
a
READERS WRITE
old the election
. Hold the election! Stop the vote
cQunting ... we cannot have this elec­
tIDn until we first go back and rewri te
hiStory. The 1952 election has been
revisited and Adlai Stevenson has .
been elected President ... you see
there is this rumor about Ike and his
chauffeur during WWII. The
democrats really won in 1952 �d
1956. JFK won in 1960, but was
never assassinated, rather he was
driven from office because
'of •.• uh ..• um ... oh, you know.
IBJ .. .see the� wu this child from
this woman he knew ...
We should be less worried about
"family values" being preached by
the right wing Republican Party ...
you know those values defined by
Conservatives, to fit their perfect
view of an ordered ociety ... that
peeks into your bedroom, checks on
the movies you watch, and tbe art we
all appreciate.
Why do they not accept our
definition of family values as being
those which put food on the table, a
job for the mother or father, at­
tainable college education, health
care for when son or daughter, gets
ick.
George Bush needs to start put­
ting more emphasiS on the im­
morality of a person out of wor
(7.1 � ... up. from 5.4" in 1989) ... an
economic growth rate of 1.7" (1/2
that 0 President Jimmy Carter) a
family that is forced to take a service
job at minimum wage when when
their industry closed the door. "See!
The recession is rebounding. Look
at that sign at Burger King. • now
hiring. '" (Attributed to Dan
Quayle).
LET'S DEAL WITH details of
a long range plan ... not just a short
term panacea designed to crate im­
mediate euphoria and mid range
depression.
Desert Storm ... what did we
win? ... but George Bush sure made us
feel good doing it.
Dennl. F. Shrew.bury .
Canadian group
looking for
PenFrlend
We have been operating an Inter­
national Penpal Correspondence
club here in Canada for the last tWo
years.
We have many members in
Canada, The Caribbean and Africa
reque ting .coloured penpals from
�USA.
Since membership is limited, we
are offering Free memberships in
your area and would appreciate it
very much if you can publ h our
name and address in your publica-­
tion. Michigan Citizen.
The PenFrtend. (31 E)
Box 5038, Office LCo.1, .
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada LBL 801
Communi m h coll
E tern urope nd th
Soviet Union. But .
coll in in U.S.
employment, omel ,crumbling
in.ner-citie , an aling cnsi of
dru ,crim nd violence, declining . e
q lity of ed tion, poisoned 'ch every pe
and polluted environment are but m t guaranteed
few of th co eq of the cal- principle.
10 rule of th rich the uper-
rich. Th hi toric contradictio of e m t invi the people to join
m h ve 0 erw lmed it mo ement dedica d to the true-
turin of Socially Re po ible
either of the b bment p - Economy centerpiece of the
, ti or any of their m t "electable" De economic order hieb e en-
candidate h the i ight or the . ion; an economy based on the
courage to pea the truth to the principl 0 economic democracy
American people on the e fun- and equality; economy eb will
dam ntal i ue. Hence the politics rein in and regul te the be vior of
ua1 prevails in the midst of enor- the trans-nationals and all corpora-
mo human mi tions and m e them ccoun ble to
Th rule of the rich and the uper- the orkers, and the communi ti in
rich goes unqu tio�ed and unc. _. hieb they are ituated; an economy
lengedbybothe bli hmentparti . ,which discoura monopoly and
Who Will pe the truth to the and encourag community control-
people? led nd directed, democratic
economic enterpri e eg., com­
munity development corporations,
communi ty-worker owned and
directed enterprise ; a peace
economy free of the dictatorship of
the military-ind trial comple ; nd
an economy b ed on the principles
The entire history of thi country
h been ch terized by the tru
gle of tho e who were left out and
locked out to win greater political
and economic democracy.
. THE STRUGG TO abolish
lavery, the labor movement, the
women' uffrage movement, the
civil right movement and the
women' liberation movement are
among the people movemen hich
have trived for greater democracy
in this country.
Almo t without exception, the
victories won by these move men
were achieved over the staunch op­
position of the rich and the super­
rich. To the extent that people
movements have succeeded, it is be­
cause th e movements challenged
the rule of the power elite in the
streets and at the ballot box. And so
it must be in 1992.
In that context, engaging in the
politics as usual via the Democratic
and Republican presidential
primaries is a meaningless exercise.
Both establishment parties must
share the blame for the profound
economic crisis which grips the U.S.
The fatal flaws of the U.S.
economy were never made more
manifest that through the onslaught
of Reaganism and Reaganomic -
Unabashed greed, corruption and
scandal, the complete militarization
of the economy and the gro mis­
management of the nation's resour­
ces, all in the interest of the minority
of rich and the super-rich individuals
and giant corporations which rule
this land.
Workers, women, minorities and
the poor, the majority was victimized
to satisfy the whims and privileges of
the minority.
AS A RESULT the U.S. now has
the greatest concentration of wealth
in the hands of the few in the history
of this nation.
The ruling elite, however, now
presides over an economy which is
reeling under the impact of their mis­
management
u
h
By BENJAMIN F. CHAVIS, JR
The sight of President George
Bush locking arms and hands with
Mrs .. Coretta Scott, King while sing­
ing "We Shall Overcome" was truly
a sight to behold. The President at­
tempted to use the recent national
celebration of Dr. Martin Luther
King's 63rd birthday as an occasion
for political manipulation. We cer­
tainly believe and support the posi­
tion that the President of the United
State should pay official tribute to
the living legacy of Dr. King.
The problem' that once again
Bush insul the African-American
community when he chose that
acred moment to articulate his per­
sonal pride in his record in "support
of civil rights." Who does the Presi-
, dent think he is fooling? Just a few
months ago, the President did every­
thing be' could to block the page
of the Civil Rights Bill of 1991.
In fact, Bush w qui te successful
in making sure that the proponents of
the Civil Rights Bill would have to
take out of the legislation the neces­
sary stipulations that would have ig­
nificantly prevented employment
discrimination. The President
played "racial politics" by making
the false charge that the Civil Rights
Bill was a "quota" bill. Now he
THAT TASK, the of peak-
ing truth to the people, the task of
ing truth a capon in the strug­
gle to create a new soc ety, tell the
people that the purpose of govern­
ment and the economy is not to
promote and protect the interest of
the rich and the uper-rich.
The purpose of government and
the economy must be to promote the
human fulfillment of all of people
who live in thi society.
The purpose of government and
the economy is to insure that very
person in this nation has a job with
good wages and benefits; an affor­
dable home in a afe and ecure en­
vironment; health care; quality
education; and a clean and
wholesome environment; the rights
of women and minorities must be
afeguarded and right of workers to
organize and maintain unions must
THE ONLY
in '92 i to build a movement and a
ne political party committed to the
politics of social transformation and
new ociety.
ROil DtlIIids sows 4S PresitlDal
01 1M I1LttUute for ColftIftIUIity Or­
gallizatioll QIId Development ill
YOIUIgstowrt, Ohio. He may be con­
tacted at (216) 746-5747.
•
Ing
ou
of
wants to be remembered as a cham­
pion of civil rights because he wishes
to be re-elected President.
President Bush is "out of touch"
with the African-American com­
munity and when he attempts to sing
"We Shall Overcome," he definitely
sounds "out of tune." At a time when
the misery level of millions of
African Americans, Hispanic
Americans, Native Americans and
others is rapidly increasing, an insin­
cere song and dance from the Presi­
dent exhibiting his pseudo-support
for civil rights and racial justice only
exacerbates the problem.
WE ARE THANKFUL. that Dr.
King's youngest daughter, the
Reverend Bernice King, took
prayerful exceptiop to the
President' deception. She prayed
forcefull y, "How dare we celebrate
when more than 40 million
Americans are without health
care? .. How dare we celebrate in the
mids t of a rece ion, when nobody is
sure whether their jobs are secure?"
The President's failW'C to take ex­
ecutive action to help tem the rising
tide. of overt racial violence in this .
nation i another indication of his
in en itivity and political im­
morality. One point, however, that
the President does understand cor­
rectly is the fact that the African­
American vote in 1992 can be
crucial to determining Bush's politi­
cal longevity • It is important, there­
fore, for the implementation of an
effective voter registration, educa­
tion and mobilization national cam­
paign.
The million of homeless, un­
employed, and victimized hould be
organized into a "tbird political
force." It is interesting that the offi­
cial foreign policy of the United
States toward African and other
developing nations is to demand im­
mediate "multi-party election .".
Democratization is being defined
through the lens of multi-party elec­
tions. Well, the truth is there are no
multi-party elections in the Uni ted
States.
THE PRESIDENTIAL cam­
paign of 1992 already appears to be
a contest between the "powerful v .
the more powerful" while the intere t
of the po en are not even being
articulated. The Democrats sound
li e the Republican and the
.ltepublicans sound like DavidDuke.
The present "two-party" system has
not and does not erve all of the
people.
un
CIVIL
RIGHTS
JOURNA
Of course, the Republicans are
expecting that the sense of hopeless­
ness engendered by poverty and 0-
cia! abuse will keep the millions ofi
victimized away from the voting,
booths. But one thing i certain, the.
poor may be poor, but they are not
tupid. President Bush i gong to
have to do a great deal more than sing
"We Shall Overcome." .
The lability of the nation and its
future well-being will be determined
by how tho e in political and
economic power address the i uea
of poverty, raci m, arid inj lice. It
is time once again for the "righteo
to march" and demand ocial trans­
formation. .
