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MICIDGAN
CITIZEN
PubUahed each Sunday
by
: New Day Enterprl e
: 12541 econd Street
P.O. Box 03&80
, High nd P rlt, MI48203
, (313) 9-0033
, F�(313)88�
BENTON HARBOR
BUREAU
175 Main Street
, Benton Harbor. MI 49022
(616) 927-1527
F�(313)927-2023
Publlaher:
Charles D. Kelly
Editor:
Teresa Kelly
Managing Editor:
Wanda F. Roquemore
. Contributor.:
Bernice Brown
Salama Gordon
Mary Golliday
Allison Jones
Flodean Riggs
Leah Samuel
Nath,"iel Scott
Ron Seigel
Carolyn Warfield
Vera White
Productl�n Manlg r:
Kascene Barks
Production:
KaJAndrich
Anltalroha
.
Account executive:
Earlene Tolliver
, Marketing executive:
AMnClemons
,Cft!s
•
ADVERTISE
, -
WORLD/NATION
the du ty
town 0 EI Carmen 120
ou t 0 Lima, holds f -
tiv I th t promote pect of
Peruvian BI ul ture like cui ine,
poetry, m ic and dance.
oon t y can wal boys
re learn to play percussion instru­
men like the cajon, a wood n box
_r1 ........ .Jv � .. &AI'�"UI&O' 5 9,
Peruvi p tronize BI c ,
but don't try to understand their cul­
ture.
"People organize homage to
me, but they're really just taking d­
de cen-· vantage of poor Bl c man for their
anding, own ends," B llumbro io said,
brought looking around at his bamboo roof
and crumbling p ter alls. "They
T U� .. &�UI'.&J,'"
dants of the Yoruba,
Congo and Propo tri
, 'But if I c rt to think, then
they're ubve ive - people don't
Ii it," be ide
Santa Cruz i th nephew of
icanor S nta Cruz, Peru' be t­
ownBI c poet
In the capi tal, Lima, Bl c main­
ly crowd into cramped ho ing in
rundown nd crime-infe ted neigh­
borhoods. The few who e cape
poverty do 0 by e ceiling in music
and ports like bo ing, volleyball
and occer,
Green tutur
for di placed Mozambican farm - r
"I was tired of running," aid
Em to Rodrigues, one of two mil- LO G tim ,we ere
lion Mozambicans displaced by forced to focus on keepiDg people
more than a decad of civil war in alNtwi e rgency rations offood
their homeland. "1 remember pray- because 0 many were dying of tar­
ing every day that my wife and 1 vation," says David Neff, who
could stay put somewhere safe." recent! y ended a three-year tenure
Two years ago, Rodrigue and his director of Mozambican programs
wife, Co tanza, were thrown off for CARE.
their land by anti-government forces. . "Although we're tilJ"p vidin
The soldiers destroyed their farming emergen y relief," Neff continues,
community, taking all the wheat that "because fighting in the southern
bad just been harvested. The couple part of th country has quieted, it's
was left with nothing but the clothes now po ible for us to look toward
on the,ir backs. . the future."
"It was awful," Rodrigues ex- Nearly three thousand farmers
plains, "but honestly, we were a lot who fled to relative afe baven in the
more fortunate than most. The southern province oflnbambane are
rebels tortured and killed nearly all being helped to cultivate the land set
of our. neighbors when they took aside for them by the government.
over. We urvived without any in- "This is a mo t fragile first step in
juries." the difficult transition from relief to
Late in 1991, the situation development, explains Neff.
throughout outhern Mozambique "During peacetime, green and
began to improve. Western aid lush Mozambique could easily feed
group such � CARE, the world's itself. But in this civil war, self-suf­
largest private relief and develop- ficency is impossible."
ment organization, gave thousands
of the country's homeless the chance RODRIGUES IS one of the
to rebuild their lives and their farmers who is being helped by
livelihoods .
CARE agricultural experts. Late I
year, he w given vegetable see­
dlings and training in best methods
to cultivate them.
"We've got enough tomatoes
growing in lnbambane alone to paint
the whole state of Arkansas red."
Neff ays.
Rodrigues's wife is also working
with CARE. She and thousands of
Noiambtcan wives and mothers are
learning how to get the most nutri­
tional value from the foods they have
available.
"LOOKAT THIS beautiful gar­
den," Rodrigues says with pride. "A
year ago, there was nothing
there.Now we have pride. A year
ago, there was nothing here. Now
we have lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage
and collard greens. In a few months,
sweet potatoes will grow.
"Our lives are better here than
when we are on the run," he con­
tinues. "But this camp isn't really
our home. Perhaps one day, when the
war is over, we'll return."
Several leaders of Orlando'
b ck community said they did
not take the union too seriousl y
becau e they don't believe
PAIN's upport is widespread
and that the Klan's influence has
dwindled ignificantly.
Klan and Black
separatists share goals
of African 'repatriation'
ERNESTO RODIGUES is one of the farmers who is being
helped by CARE agricultural experts.
Officer compares King beating to
'matador and bull' situation
By Linda D utach
AssocitJUd PIWU WrIt"
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - A
policeman harged with assault
compared his confrontation with
Rodney King to "a matador and a
bull type situation" but denied he
treated the black motorist like an
aninlal. '
Officer Laurence Powell, one of
four white 1.0 Angeles police of­
ficers charged in the beating, ended
two days on the witness stand fend­
ing off cross-examination by a
prosecutor who accused him of lying
on a police report to cover up exces­
sive force.
In a surprise move, Powell's
lawyer, Michael Stone, passed up the
chance to retrieve lost ground and
asked no redirect questions.
DEPUTY DIS'JRICT Attorney
Terry White suggested that officers
left King battered and bleeding,
handcuffed and hog tied, by the side
of the road like a discarded animal.
"Mr. King is a human being, isn't
he?" asked White. "Yes," said
Powell.
"Even if this man is a suspect he
deserves to be treated like a human
being?" asked White.
"Yes," said Powell.
"He wasn't an animal, was he?"
"No," said Powell. "Just acting
like one."
"Was he acting li� a gorilla?"
asked Whi teo
"No," said Powell.
White continued to capitalize on
a judge's ruling that allowed the
issue of racism to be introduced.
Jurors were then told that minutes
before the King beating, Powell bad
referred to an encounter with a black
famil y as right out of the movie
"Gorillas in the Mist"
POWELL, 29, IS charged with
beating King after a high peed chase
ORLANDO, FI& (AP)- Plans
of a black separatist group and a
local offshoot of the Ku Klux
Klan to work together toward
"repatriating" Blacks to Africa
have drawn a mixed reaction in
Orlando.
"It's totally preposterous,"
said the Rev. Andrew Wade,
director of a drug-treatment pro­
gram for black men. "Wboever
is embracing (the Klan) is a small
minori ty in our culture."
The black group is the Pan­
African Inter-National Move­
ment, or PAIN. It advocates the
"return" of American blac to
Africa to develop their own na­
tion. Espousing the same con­
cept is the Invisible Empire
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
"They're in support of our
objective, and we do not dis­
criminate when groups support
us," aid Osiris Akkebala, head
of PAIN.
John Baumgardner, grand
dragon of the Orlando-based
KKK chapter, has beenpushing
the idea for some time and says
it i time to replace racial hatred
with cooperation to reach that
goal.
"WE WERE WRONG in
the past. We're big enough to say
that we were wrong," said
Baumgardner. "We believe that
eparation cannot be achieved
tluoughintinrldationbutUuougb
education.' ,
The union is unwise, but it
does pointto tIie "frustration and
defeatism" that exists within
segments of the black com­
muni ty, said the Rev.. Sam
Hoard, long active in Orlando­
area civil rights ca�. "If they
unite with the KKK, that would
show how dissatisfied and utter­
ly hopeless they are for any gains
in American society," Hoard
said.
THE ORGANIZATION
OF Afrikan Unity, an Orlando
monitoring group that promotes
African-American culture, does
not Object to the relationship be­
tween the two groups.
"I am in support of it because
it's not about violence," said
Prentiss Jackson, the group's
head. "We foster a lot of nega­
tive stereotypes without giving it
an opportunity."
Akkebala, 54, also known as
Jack Mitcbe1l, was one of three
founders of PAIN in 1983. He
ran unsuccessfully for Orlando
mayor in 1972 and in 1980 for
the Orlando City Council. An or­
dained Baptist minister, he said
he dropped his Christian beliefs
to adopt AfriC8J1 religious credo.
"I CAMETO the realization
that the system w not going to
be the answer to the liberation of
our people in this country," Ak­
kebala said last week.
Ba\UJ1gardner said his group
has about 30 .active members in
Florida. He and Alckebala met
when Baumgardner appeared on
a radio talk show run by Ak-
ebala.
Akkebala would not disclose
the membership of PAIN.
:
Rodn yKlng
on March 3,1991, then falsifying an
official report about it. The beating
was videotaped by an amateur
cameraman, and its 1V broadcast
sparked nationwide outrage over
police brutality. It also heightened
racial tensions in Los Angeles.
Also on trial are Sgt. Stacey
Koon, 49 and officers Timothy
Wind, 31, and Theodore Briseno, 39.
Koon had testified that King gave a
"bear-like yell" and was like "a
·wounded animal. '
Asked if he agreed that King
.sounded like a bear, Powell said,
"I've never heard a bear yell. "
WHITE THEN SAID someone
who mistreats an animal might leave
the body by the side of the road.
"I've heard of that," aid Powell.
, 'You would do that to an animal,
but not to a human being?" asked
White. '
"No," said Powell. "We don't
deal with animals."
White asked Powell repeatedly
about the first blow he struck in
which' he claimed King "collided"
with him and his baton.
ASKED WHY BE didn't fall
down when hit by the bulky King,
Powell said he moved.
"It's kind of like a matador and a
bull type situation," he said. "You
get out of the way."
Several times, Powell noted tbat
his memory of events does not coin­
cide with the videotape.
Asked if every blow shown on the
videotape was reasonable, Powell
said, "I don't know because 1 don't
remember that"
"YOU DON'T WANT to say
that, do you, that every blow you see
on the videotape was reasonable?"
asked White.
"I can't say that," said Powell.
Wbite challenged Powell's writ­
ten report on the beating as "a
coverup" and asked the officer why
he wrote certain things. Powell
seemed to blame Koon fur orne of
the comments in the report.
He said be obeyed the sergeant's
commands that night- because "he
has the extra stripe. "