Embargo
·ghtened
NASSAU, Baham s- The Or­
ganization of American States
voted Sunday to tighten its
embargo against Haiti as
punishment for its continued
failure to end dictatorial rule
nd permit the return of ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aris­
tide.
OAS foreign ministers
urged member nations to keep
embargoed goods off com­
mercial flights bound for Haiti
and to close their ports to any
ship that 'picks up or unloads
cargo in Haiti.
WORLD, NATION
He compared hi arre t to the
deaths of two blacks - Deon Wil­
liam ,19, and Fred Carter, 18, both
of Toledo. They were hot and
killed in hotel room about two
weeks apart.
P LI W trying to ar-
re t William and Cart r on various
char e , including armed robbery.
Civil right leader and Black Mu -
lim have led everal marche to
prote t their deaths.
•• We believe that th Toledo
police department ha engaged in a
war - not only against our youth,
but against trong effective Black
leadership in our community. The
city of Toledo has set itself up as
judge, jury and executioner,"
Muhammad said.
I ck all
h y r no
, law
enfor ement 0 ici I Thu day
condemned 10 I civil rights c-
wh id the polic dep rt-
ed ina w r gins t
mmunity.
"I an y that it' d finitely
not true that there' any war
ag inst bl ck in Toledo, to aid
Harold Mo eley, 35, former
pre ident of the Afro American
Patrolm n' League of Toledo,
which h about 90 members.
"I think thi critici m i com­
ing from people who are just
trying to see themselves on TV or
their picture in th new paper,"
he aid.
.The police department h
been criticized in recent weeks by
local civil rights leaders. They y
police officers routin ly mi treat
Blac in the inner city - stop­
ping them for no reason and often
arre ting them without cause.
Charle Muhammad, the head
of the local Black Muslims, aid
this week that he was physically
and verbally abused by officers
who arrested him in front of his
home May 8.
MUHAMMAD WAS
charged �ith obstructing official
r
MICHIG
CITIZEN
.9
"THE POLICE division i
engaged in a war again t crime
and if that crime happen to be in
the Black community, then we
have to confront it," aid Sgt.
TH DlVI I '160 com-
mand officers have been attend­
ing eight-hour racial diver ity
training eminars, which are
de igned to make them more
aware of their prej udi e .
Mo eley aid minority repre-
entation in the department i in­
creasing. About 20 percent of th
department i Black, compared
with les than 10 p rcent a decade
ago,
At that point, he was told he was
under arre t for ob tructing official
busine , th report aid. The of­
ficers aid he truggled before he
was ubdued and taken to the Lucas
County jail. Muhammad aid the
officers never aw him driving the
ar and that he didn't re i t arre t.
"The two arre ting officers
refused to accept my explanation,"
Muhammad aid. "The arre ting
officers both phy ically and verbal­
ly abused me, handcuffed me. The
handcuffs were so tight it broke
veins in my left arm. They shouted
insults that were demeaning and
disrespectful.' ,
Felker said the department
would inve tigate the allegations if
Muhammad files a complaint. He
aid he believes the officers acted
properly.
A Latino in
Ame lea; From war
to discrimination
By RICARDO FLORES
R rlnted from L.bor Not.. '
My father, Frartci co G.
Flores, is a .Mexican-American
and a laborer from Kerriville,
Te as who served with the
's 103rd Infantry Division
( during the war with Germany.
Like hundreds of thousands of
other Latino-Americans between
1941 and 1946, my father helped
defeat Hitler's war machine.
Talking about the war was not
easy for him. Often he became
very emotional when he
described the horrors of war.
"The average American can­
not begin to imagine what war is
like," he aid.
Now 69, my father can still
recall the awesome sight of
thousand of American Troops
po itioned along the front line
facing the mighty German army.
He remembers that most of these'
troops had come from im­
poverished areas in the United
States. Like my father, many
worked as laborers and had li ttle
or no chooling. For many who
were Latino, their understanding
of English was limited and the
induction proce s had no mean­
ing for them.
NO MORE
DISCRIMINATION?
When he returned to America,
my father hoped that Latinos
would no longer be discriminated
against. My father hoped that the
live of Latino would be le s im­
poveri hed than before the war.
They were not.
My father was wounded
during the war and' cia sified as
40 percent disabled. He wa
awarded the Purple Heart. When
he returned to Texas, my father
worked as a laborer for $35 a
week in the field as a migrant
farm worker traveling with his
family to Indiana and Michigan
planting tomatoe , picking
peaches, cherrie ,and apples, and
back to west Texas to pick cotton,
completing the migrant circuit.
For the year he earned $600 or
$700.
The work as a. migrant �as
nece ary to supplement what a
laborer's job would not pay for­
clothes for the children and other
basic needs,
According to my father, union
involvement could not be part of
his work life. "When applying
for jobs workers were asked if
they had union ympathies or had
belonged to a union. If you said
yes, no job."
"Unions in west Texas were
unheard of," he said. "There was
always a need for unions but they
were fought against by the rich."
With no unions, there was no
one to fight for the rights of the
working person. Martin Luther
King, Jr. wasthe first in long time
to speak out for poor and working
'people even though he knew he
would be killed.
LATINOSrAND UNIONS
It is this fear of speaking out
about discrimination and injus­
tice that i& holding Latinos back.
I don't think that there will ever
come a time when discrimination
is ended for our people or any
other, but we must still speak out.
Much credi t should be given to
labor unions for their part in help­
ing to eliminate racial discrimina­
tion and inj ustice in our society.
However, much more is
needed in terms of opening op­
portunities for Latinos. Unions
should encourage Latino involve­
ment as a nece ary part of build­
ing unionism.
More Latino are needed in
leadership position's within
unions.
Our union leadership should
develop more bilingual iruorma­
tion and programs for Latino
workers.
Unions hould allow Latinos
to hare their talents with their
union brothers and isters. Our
history and tradition of trade
unionism can become a base to
organize immigrant workers as
well as the traditionally unor­
ganized worker in this country, if
it i utilized.
Ricardo Flores is a labor car­
toonist and member of UA W
Local 977 in Marion, Indiana.
----------------__,
PubUah d e ch
Sunday by
N w Day Enterprl e
12541 S cond Street
P.O. Box 03560
Highland Park, MI 48203,
(313)�69-OO33
FAX (313) 869-Q430
WSU GRADUATE HONORED - Quincy Lawrence Allen (right) of Detroit, recipient of Wayne
State Univer tty'. 1992 How'ard A. Donnelly Award, Is congratulated by WSU School of Bu In.
Dean William Volz during WSU' spring commencement program. The award Is presented annu Ily
to the man and woman of the spring graduating clas who have made outstanding contribution. to
the university in the areas of student ctlvities, leadership and service, consistent with high
acholarshlp. Allen received a bachelor' degree In bustne administration with a major In finance.
Fire destroys house of jailer
accused of beating prisoner
BENTON HARBOR
BUREAU
175 Main Street
, B.nton Harbor, M149022
(616)927-1527
FAX (313) 927-2023
Publisher:
Charles D. Kelly
Editor:
Teresa Kelly
Managing �dltor:
Wanda F. Roquemore
Office Aasistant:
Catherine R. Kelly
"
Contributors:
Bernice Brown
Salama Gordon
Mary Golliday
Allison Jones .
Flodean Riggs
Leah Samuel
Nathaniel Scott
Ron Seigel
Carolyn Warfield
Vera White
they have the opportunity to ee that
justice is being served."
The jailer, Donna Grigsby, wa
accused by Albany attorney Jame
Finkelstein of being one of three
white jailers who allegedly beat his
client, Oletha Cowart, while he
was being held as a probation
violator. Ms. Cowart i Black.
BY ELUOTT MINOR
M.ocl.t«l Pr ... Wrlt.r
under investigation. "It's a susp -
cious fi re," he aid." It was a tot
10 s." . I
Production Manager:
Kascene Barks
Production:
Kai Andrich
Anita Iroha
Account Executive:
Earlene Tolliver
Marketing executives:
Alvin Clemons
Nehru Johnson
ALBANY, Ga. -The local
NAACP pre ident said Thursday he
hopes a suspicious fire that
destroyed a jailer' house wa not
et by someone upset over the al­
leged beating of a prisoner.
WRIGHT AID Blacks in Al­
bany are angry and have lost con­
fidence in the criminal justice
y tern. Racial tensions have been
heightened in the south Georgia
city since the Rodney King verdict
in California and the March death
of Henry Cole, a Black man, during
a scuffle with white police officers
in Albany.
According to a letter from
Finkelstein to District Attorney
Britt Priddy, Ms. Cowart was in­
jured when he was dragged out of
her cellblock, knocked to the floor
and kicked. Later, she was hit in the
face, the letter aid. Ms. Cowart
was treated at the emergency room
of a local ho pital. Dougherty
County Sheriff Jamil Saba has
denied that anyone wa beaten.
"I would not like to believe that
this was a retaliatory kind of
thing," aid William Wright. "But
you cannot control people in the
community. You cannot tell them
not to do this kind of thing unless
M . Grigsby confirmed
Thursday that her hou e wa
"torched" la t week, but he
declined further comment. No one
was injured. Albany Fire Chief
Henry Fields said the fire i till