The city of Highl P vo ed to give i
first DCC to buy 2S city-owned properti
parcels that have rever1ed to the city for non-payment
of toe . Thi program of Highl nd Par fi the
phil ophy pre ched everywhere by M yor Li ey
Poner: "We ve to build our own community. It up
to • Keep the money at bome. Let' e care of ."
By con t, the s in Micbi ' most
dis community, Benton Harbor, tbcpredominant­
Iy African American city leadership voted at aIm t the
moment bout the concern their Highland
Part COUDterpa11l: what to do with property 0 ed by
the city. But Benton Harbor ent the wrong ay.
Those commissioners turned their bac on their own
people to give 67 pieces of property to a non- ident
board controlled by the very b nkers who redlincd the
city. This board no control the property, will it to
employ their folb in fixing up, cleaning up, mar etlng
and elling the property. City residen have tried for
years to buy the same pieces, but were ed to come
up with big money nd big pi
African Americans have been locked out of capital
ccumuladon from the beginnin of this country. It'
why there ms to be no progress. We work for others,
we don't own. We all know why. When African
Americans came to COUlltry, they came in chains and
were fon:ed for 400 years to build, improve, fix-up and
clean other folta' property.
After the Emancipation, African Americans were
exp Iy prohibited by law in most states from par­
ticfpatina in the homestead programs -live on � cres
for three years and the land' yoWl. .
While the wealth of this country---eamed on the
baeb of slave labor- used to finance the immigra- .
tion and ttlement of Polish, Irish, English, Germans,
Belgians, Norwelgians ... African Americans were
leplly bured from enjoyina any of the me frui .
Jim Crow pic � where slavery left off. ow,
sadly enough some Afrlcan American leaders fight their
own people just hard. Making it difficult or expensive
for African Americans to come into land ownership I
in the tradition of slavery, not liberation.
We Ipplaud the Highland Parle city council under the
leadel'lhip of Mayor Porter. We w h Highland Park
'liould invite their Benton Harbor counterparts for a
lesson in economic self-help. They obvio Iy didn't get
the message sent out by the young people in L.A. The
time of polidcal and ecooomic di nfranc ment i
over.
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As one elderly man told , j ,
"When heard the rdict in the .• :;
esse, our cup j t ran 0 , IDCl .'
e all knew that e 00 d not take it I'
anymore ..• We e�loded and will ':
explod a ain if e don't get I ::
j dee I , :
Amidst the -II • diurches lite, '.
the First African Methodi t ::.
Bp copal became not only a place of
refuge and sbelter, but also pllyed I
vital nhip role in belpiDa the
oomm ty not to I !lope. ::
_'
� e tbe Rev., \
Cedl t. torofFlmtAM.E.,.. .\
II with Jo Ma of the LA - :.
NAACP, the Honorlble :'
Con oman Maxine Watell,
Rev. S y, 10r of I "
Church of Christi ello hip' :�
UCC an many others provide' �
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effective aDd vaUaut hip in
the flee of formidable' :�
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Tbe problem In LoI fa
not a leadetship uo tiecausc there _
are plenty of localleade who know :
ho to take care of the
responsibilities of leadenhip.
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RACI I the problem. :;
M ive iDj dce 11 the problem. .:
These probleJDI lie not isol or· f�
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liml to Los • and t'
iDj problema tbat :'
. requlre OIL there, �
will be JlO �qui flz4t to tuation �
Lot AalICleI
Tlae crisis � I long tenn ;
ustained effort of dilmantling - ::
American apartbeid bile at the ::
IDle time rccoD81l'ucdD8tbis sodety ::
to ensure economic j tice and 1'8Cial' .'
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justice for all. I'
I
Rodney King ked the question, '. ::
"Can we all get MODl?- If and when "
there will be a fundamental social ::
transfoDDltion of this sodetj into a �
more just society, will ultimately' ::
determfne the answer to Kinl'S' :'
qu 011. In the meantime, the' ::
refrain· 0 j nee .• .no peel- ,.
tl OD Ideled Ili torleal ..
ipHlcance.
Hope poem will
combat violence
DEAR EDITOR:
I, Cherry Scott, a Black woman,
wrote this poem almost a year ago as
a message to help eliminate violence.
No one has published it.
If it could have gotten out, we
may have experienced I of the
violent rage aDd rioting that America
has experienced in the last few· days.
Won't you please publish it?
I am an aspiring author and poet
with the main objective of writing to
help eliminate violence, poverty, un­
employment, racial tension and il­
literacy. Tbaee in positions . y lhCy
wish to help those who want to help
. themselves.
I need a publisher to publish, dis­
tribute and market my book, "A
Black Woman Speaks."
I have something very important
to say In that am a product of a
direct environment that preducec
murderers, unwed mothers, drug ad·
dlcts and derelicts from some of m)
classmates (my friends) from kinder·
garten through high school. But :
survived.
I became an automotive desip.
for one of "The Big Three,-- I
estate nt, I life insW'IDCC agent
entrcpreDCur and now a poet and If
luthor.
PI� help me so that I can help
you in your attempts to heal the
wounds of the social unrest that we
ourselves have caused. My poem is
copyrighted.
If I survived, living in 8 Black
person's world, I can help others deal
with Blaclcness, for I never 10 t my
comp ion, empathy nor true sense
of self as I Black person but
moreover i member of the human
race.
CHERRY SCOTT
I.
Th Painful
Power of Rag
It kills, it hurts
It 11IDkD us cry
In it's aftermath .•
It 11IDkD us wonder
How and why.
AU too often we are pushed too
lar
Beyond our Z01II!f of comfort
Deep inside a destructive void.
It's not really you
It's not really me
To describe the leUing
Olll raging temper
One must venture far beyond
realty.
In a violent
passion, the pain explodes
and W pride tums to fire
T� hearts feels the Mat of a
piece of buming iron
Blood is boiling from head to leet.
It gives one strength
It erases all/ear
The will to forgive
Exists no more.
T1te pain Iw tumed to,..
from rage to.powt!I'
to hurt, to destroy
TIrot whJdJ 1I4f Iwt.
But .something clida
inside within
Let it bring one back .. back to
reality.
For one cannot let an emotion
called rage
Destroy a life
Maybe youn--maybe mine.
To the rage and the pain
simply say
kt's work together
In harmony, pe«t!., prosperity
and more
a peaceful and .soti.f/ybag
way of life.
Life must go on!
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fleeing repression in bloodied tep further-Haitians cannot even
ghost towns of Port-au-Prince and et foot on U.S. oil. They are
Cite Soleil. detained at a military base on
Guantanamo, on Cul)a's co l
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Since 1886 the monument has
stood, its fabled torch and patiDacd
visage beckoning to the dregs of
Europe; the starving many from an
Ireland blighted by the potato
famine; the bearded and babushkaed
Jews fleeing the pogroms of an
Eastern European pale; the hUDWl
excess of empiIes whi wane.
Upon a massive pedestal on
which' this tue stands, I let
bcaiI the . led of the t.
Emml Lazarus, ying:
..... Give me your tired, YUUI,INIIJI
Your huddled masses yeamiDg
breathe free,
The wretched refllse of your
teenllng shore.
Send these, the homeles ,
tempes�tost to me,
. I lift my lamp beside the Golden
Door!"
Lazarus gave voice to the massive
Smme of Liberty, and carvedh
atmthinto r m
00Ideil DOiI)1'W1"
The U.S.-armed army of Haiti,
seemingly but a uniformed divi ion
of the Ton Ton Macoutes, ha
stained the Haitian dust crimson with
the blood of its people, espedally
tho ho d red pport the
clndidacy of the rebel prie t
Jean-B rtrand Aristide-the
tion' first d ticallyel
pll'CliCleDt.
dC,.. �te y
o e helming majority of Hal ' ,
found hi candidacy and hi
presidency annulled by an army
cting hitmen for the elite ,
and Aristide considered, by
mo t ob ewer, lucky to ve
escaped alive.
Meanwhile, tho nds of other
With multinationals fleeing the
U.S. for a bigger profit margin
abroad, with a deepening national
dep 0 the government an
labor Ibrold compli nt Ind
hOI:�llly, no.poliUClIL
aUil ,rlciallzed by the
utoundln demon trltiona of
people' power that put Pere Aristide
into the office of president, are being
told to go back- "go back" --beck
to choking opp ion and dead-end
factory jobs, if any, for they we too
"political, It too -racial, It -too B1act
to pierce the veil of immigration.
Blac here could only hake
their heads at this dual moment of
'shame, hame that stemmed from
ack IDCI • . It; It
to ur"
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of·· .. -'·Gd-
power'to keep Haiti a te source
of cheap labor for foreign capital
. v tment.
HO HOlLO these wo
sound, when measured against the
slam of a door, utting out HalllalDi