".
olitician nd he VA
eon true ion job
busine a usual
• • •
we are by the oaring rhetoric roaring out of the
J)I '{''';;:I 1<, onv ntion this week, the great speeches are still just that,
vord lilt deed ,
'I )it politi ians offer a clo e up study of political b in as
,2 ') milli n construction job, the VA ho pital, is underway in
.' i. I )f he I ty. Visibly absent from the jobs and contractors ranks
c! I kt ui ,Equally invisible from any e1Iort to correct the
,l) C ncc ar t ples repr entatives the politicians.
ir, an I 5 0 Bla k city, with an African American mayor and two
ncan congress people, we should be deciding how much
ol the pie to hare with suburbanites. Instead, over t� past. eight
montl • city contractors and laborers have had to suffer lntenmnable
IJ ., et line, write I , �I
t 'row one
nferen r of the ,t �
"Small Disa geOBuslDtss B participation.
All along the way, Black politicians were inposltion to impact the
number amount and level of participation for Detroiters,
City f Detroit had its chance to plug residents into the project
.anv on, It was the city that bought, demolishcd,'aI¥1 assembled tIle
• nd t( tum over to the VA for the hospital. The city had every
- pp rtunity to mandate, to demand prior to turning o�er , and as a
(' 0, in f deeding the site that city residents get a fair share of the
10 '; d IU contr ts on the hospital project.
U .. Repre entative John Conyers as chair of the Government
(Illations mmittee has had the power all along to stop the whole
pl ct until the law is obeyed. Conyers-for �hateve� rea,on- 11m
been unwilling to flex his muscle on behalf of his constituents.
Instead Conyers has positioned himself in between the contractors
and the Veterans Administration. The contractors have asked for a
meeti ng with VA Secretary Ed DeIWins� since �ovember. Inst� of
uniting his power with the voice of his constituents and fOI'ClOg a
meeting with Derwinski, Conyers office tO�d the press and the .con:
tractors over a four month period, "we are trying to arrange a meeting.
At last, a meeting has been arranged.
Instead of serving, the congressman is trying to keep control, the
contractors say.
11 [he while, suburban and out-of-state builders are hard at work
in he j . S me one-fifth of �he work �s now done �d B�acks 8J1e at
I. s k d t a meeting, hearing pronuses but no scnbbling of pens
\\ II u n J pay checks.
Furth rmore, a new diversion has been injected, the Ann Arbor VA
,1 ) pit Il i being dangled in front o� t� Black �ontractors. .
t .can mericars, always believing, chasing dreams, pocketing
prorni . queezed out, talked to exha�ti?n, worn dow�. C:;On,�
to (" for enterprise zones and a lousy billion for t� natIo� s Cities.
') 1 I..ti opportunity to earn significant amounts, bwld a business and
tep up the American way is preseved for the old boys network. ,
. Conyers should stop the shuffle. He wants to be �lected? Then
assist the contractors in getting a tasty hunk, a man-sized porti�n of
the D troit VA pie and a piece of the Ann Arbor VA. Both, not either
or. And a significant chunk, not a stingy slice.
VIEWS OPINIONS
e lie t J
predisposed to be in co
African American II
ould dare to c the tbrelbOl
his courtroom WC&rlDR
The t that Judge Sco me in
dvance hat Ken cIo 100
like is instructive to the prl b
that Scott already maintaiDccL
t February Attorney y
appeared before Judge Scott to arpe
on behalf of an African American
defendant in a felony • Attomey
Harvey ore a Kente cloth tole
around uit ith hi shirt and
tie. Even before allowing Harvey to
proceed with preliminary statemen1S
to the court, Judge Scott stated to the
lawyer that there ere only tlJrce
options: "remove the stole, resign
from the case, or let trial be without
a jury."
iftbeIe
on tbc jury,
a fact common in W D.C.
becau e It i a predomin ntly
African American city, then
jwoll would be fDflueoced by the
sight of Attorney ey's n
cloth in the courtroom. t w
indeed bizme Ding on the part
of Judge Scott, but it is &1 0
revealing.
Why do non-African American
judges fear African American
culture? Is the judge trying to y
UARE
The following letter was sent by
'the Partisan Defense Committe
Dear Sirs:
We. are writing to protest the
uop� action of judge Robert
Soott in digniMing att>mcy John T.
Harvey from his anutroom fbrwearing
a kente doth. It was an outrage:o\B
expression of bi�ted amlempt for �
jurors for judge Scott '> claim � kmte
cloth would prompt them to
automatically sympathize with Mr.
Harvey's dienllt is also a mdst recipe
for exduding BJaas from futme juries.
In addition 10 b mdst amtempt of
this judge, his action was blatantly
unlawful-violating b right of Mr.
Harvey's dieD m � atm�y of tis
cmice, m1 vidative of b separation of
dnuch and codified in � FiIst
AmetximenL & lesaI oommentak>1S
have pointed out �Ie have been � li.kt •
proscriptions against wearing a
yarmul.ke or cross in cowt-mt !O
mention the Brooks ,Brothers swt,
Cudin tie, Lloyd &' Haig sboes and
Rolc:xwatch whichappearm be the u.s.
legal system's YeJSion of the powdemll
wig.
\\'bat IUftks . judge's b� .
tim �c1JOlidarityClpftSSCd by Mr.
Harvey with opptcsscd Blacks �
<XNrDy � well in his oourtroom. �
acquiUli of tile � wOO beat Back
John T. Harvey w ng Afrtcan
Kente cloth shawl.
Editor:
I would� � 1bankyoufbrabeauliful
artidereprdingbabJZyaaoted for
weazq laDe doth.
� 8l1ide teally impm:dme bclca\!;e
I�ybecameaD1USUmm1OO1J.\1e11ed
� b Islamic faith.
Along with many OM thinp b
bIamic faithrcquiIes its fdkJwelS 10 wear
��msOOwt!drbdiet:1nmycase
I wear a lo.¢ie hal Otbl times people
will R)p and tate with uokmwing.
disbdicf. 0tIrz times I fiD1 myselfbdng
laugbcdatorJDCXirld beanBeofwbat the
media portrays tbc Middle Eastern
countries to be. Then what usually
haJ¥ns is that I lIlYe k) CIpIain scmc of
!be . IsIamicbdic mli cmo:dion
mAfdca.
Aa in Afrlam Amerlcan man it
JDOYa! me k) )tam of IxJw JOU sbJd ql
m b JudF m1 cIspIa)'Cd yom 1m
'Reader appreciates Kente story
dCspi1e the judges attempts to UIXIe�
you In America it.is well known that the
African American race has aod �
to CODX under constant attack from all
fronSs· "Some obvioos am some not so
obvio�" arXJ I think that in your cese it
was a clear of how til: political stnl:ture
attempts k> throw theefIoI1Sof�Aftican
American race.
I only wish that bre were Imre male
African American role modeh in tim
cotmtry like you am myself. I'm SUIe that
thele are IOO out there but it's �� to
be up to individuals J.ikc ourselees to bring
thtm out of the doset aod up k> � front
� of their communities.
!.ike I said PreviolSY, I was really
impired by the 8I1ide aod becauge of it I
think that I am gang k> wear my kupme
moreoftm.
motorist Rodney King was a
lC8ftioDatioD of � 0Nrt Justice
1"aIJc1 dcdIioD in lID � � c=-
.".
Lh most prl'ciol,tS .3��S melt
pnr'tlts CtUI Jive � child is timf
mlrt consistent ui�r�ytre.
,50000" or later pess through � aiminal
"justice" sys�m.
We demand that Mr. Harvey's
disrnimJ be li.{\ed.
P ul Coop rsteln
Eric William.