". 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 � 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.