u h·
for hi
utiliti .Ircc parkin and r e
fr m the d e
ut the twi ted
Detroit teachers and board
are looking· the wrong way
The Detroit teac rs strike drags on as we write this. Both ide appear to
have a hidden agen .
For the teachers the focus might be more on their retirement than the
enefit of th kids. We ay that because over 40 percent of them are now
eligible for retirement within the next five years. And, in their retirement
benefit i based on the five years highest wage, they n ed mo money, mo
money, mo money now to get mo money, mo money, mo money as they run
to Florida or up north on retirement. .
Then the bard acts like a lapd g of the Bush admini tration, pushing
B ucati arfnan I ce, e powerment and all the other catch
word of the "education" p�cmt.-... I
Trouble i , the board "reforms" did not pring out of any community
dialouge or input. The fancy talk was drafted by 5 million consultants and
taken largely from Bush propaganda. Ask any parent of children in the Detroit
sy tern what empowerment is, and we'11 bet you can't find five who can
provide an answer.
Top down reform is no reform, and we understand the teachers objecting
to forceed reform.
But, adly, both side are 0 caught up in their own agenda they have 10 t
ight of the real ill: inequity in education funding.
While Detroit students have $3,700 a year pent on their education, there,
are uburban schools within a pebble's throw where double that amount is
spent.
We urge both ides to press the real is ue: the State of Michigan mandate
children up to 16 years of age be educated, and the burden of doing that lie
with the state. Initiate the necessary reforms to guarantee every school age
child equal access to quality education.
Both ide in the dispute need to focus on Lansing, that' where the
problem is.
READERS WRITE
D'EVCO corrects the record
To the Editor:
We were pleased to see two articles in the August 30th i ue of the
Michigan Citizen briefly describing Devco' initiative designed to
improve the economic situation of Highland Park and its business
community. However, the article on the propo ed newsletter was
incorrect, and I hope you will be able to publish the following
correction to Mr. Siegel's article.
Our propo ed 1992 new letter i de igned primarily for the
manufacturing, wholesale and distribution business community, to
create a network of contacts that can help these basic busines e
tabilize or expand. .
In addition, we only plan to publish once every other month. (The
newspaper article incorrectly stated that we would be publishing
twice-a-month.) If the newsletter goes well, and proves useful to our
business community,) then we could consider a more active publish
ing scheduling.)
We feel an approach to retail information for the community
should be quite different. In the past, we have worked with the
Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Citizen, and individual
entrepreneurs, to provide more "retail/community oriented" business
news.
W IIA V UPPORTED several "Shop in Highland Park"
initiative and will continue to do o. Our new letter will certainly
include some new about the retail sector, but we feel that advertising
and listing such as the "Shop In Your Community and Watch It
Grow" ection of the Michigan Citizen i a more appropriate place for
retail and community ba ed information.
In 1991, the Michigan Citizen provided a feature on a Highland
Park busine almo t every week. I found tho e helpful and informa
tive articl ,and would hope that the Citizen could bring back that
feature approach. ' .
We look forward to publishing our first new letter by the end of
S pternber. We . will evaluate each i sue through the feedback we
recieve from our readers. Busine cs or residents who are interested
in receiving the n wsletter, or in receiving a copy of th HP Devco
"Renort In th Community: 1989-1991", should call our office at
?C\2-01c\"_
Harriet B. Saper teln,
President, HP DEVCO, Inc.
VIEWS/OPINIONS
nd
World@1992
An l,w
riti ] comm nt.
In particul r Broth r Ch rle
B rkl y at time during th gam
wi th Angola appeared to be too
a re iv and even aultive. Th
"Brother " from Angolan team
were trying to understand the motive
of their "Brother" from American
who everely elbowed and push d
them dunn the gam between the
U.S. and Angola.
Barkely wa quoted as aying,
" ext time. maybe I hould pick on
a fat guy. You never know though,
tho e kinny guy could wind up
being like M nute Bol-got a pear
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
YEAH DOG ...
JUST HAD TO
BUST A FEV'J
CAPS,
OAT S ALL.
BENJA I
CHAVIS
CIVIL
RIGHTS
JOURNAL
H • I "QUITI e po d t
th Olympi re both economic nd
o ial. The di pariti betw n the
ri h and poor countie are
a tounding. For tho e who live
inside the United State, no one can
afford to insult, �::4ult, or mi treat
others, in particular, in the aftermath
of ports events between nations.
Everyone hould be thy brothers'
and thy i ters' eeper.
Ye ,Blac m n can jump, but
mak ure you know why you are
jumping and what changes it will
facilitate.
.. _ .
SAY BROTHER THAT'S A
REALLY NICE COAT.
,
YES IT IS. AND ALL I HAD TO DO TO GET IT WAS
SHOOT A BROTHER IN THE BACK AND TAKEJT.
Prison v
It' been over a decade ince the
unprecedented boom in U.S. prison
con truction, leaving this country
with the highest incarceration rate in
the entire world.
Not urprisingly this rna sive
tran fer of public taxes to the pri on
economy has left tate coffers nearly
empty, and many public needs
unmet.
In a recent report relea ed by the
National Conference of State
Le gi latures, the e conernic
condition of 47 American tates w
described as in "dire fiscal straits."
The reason i simple: increa ed
government spending v . a
dimini hed tax base, resulting in
s ta te re erve termed" nearl y
nonexi tent" and "inadequate."
On what has the government been
pending? Prisons. Increa ingly,
the bulk of America' tax buck goe
to uild or maintain America
growi ng penal colonie .
MUMIA
ABU
JAMAL
ILe ter'
YO ...
HOME BOY!
DAT COAT
IS DOPE!
A RECENT ABA report, cri tical
pre-school
•
of thi expensive trend, paints a
powerful picture of the expensive
costs of putting prison needs above
social heal th needs.
The report, the result of a 3-year
tudy by the American Bar
Associ a ti 0 n Criminal Jus tice
Section, is sharpl y cri tical of
incarcertion as dangerously
ineffective and, in a en e,
elf-defea ting.
Instead of decreasing the crime
rate, the report contend • the
experience of incarceration may
actually provoke more crime.
"It may be that the experience of
being incarcerated inculcate or
olidifie anti ocial attitude and
behavior and/or foster uch
dependency that the likelihood of
criminal behavior upon release is
much greater for orne than if they
had never been incarcerated," the
report notes. Prisons, as long have
been uspected, are criminogenic,
meaning they generate criminal
behavior.
The report found that it takes the
combined annual income taxes of 18
Delaware residents to pay the costs
, to incarcerate one person for one
year, meaning tho e taxes could not
be used for education, health care,
environmental protection, or a
myriad of other governmental
services.
FURTH R, THE ABA Report
found that the co t of con truction,
financing and operating a 1000-cell
pri on 'in Wi consin for one year
would pay for 11,000 children in that
tate's Head Start Program.
Presently. orne 30,000 eligible
pre- choolers are excluded from
participation in the Wisco in Head
Start Program b caus of lack of
funding.
In Penn ylvania, libraries are
being closed and university
appropriations are being cut 0 that
pri ons can be built. The 1992-1993
fi cal year began with co ts for state
pri ons at over $500 million, or half
FROM'
DEATH
ROW
a billion dollars. California just
closed out a budget for its biggest
prison expansion in the U.S., with a
price tag of nearly 2 billion
bucks-in one year!
Every hungry, ill-housed,
uneducated, unemployed person in
the U.S. owes hi wretched
condition in some degree, to a
poli tician who made a policy
deci ion to let a family go homeless,
or a child unscho led, 0 that a
pri on cell could be bui I t.
It is precisely this quasi-economy
of legal repre ion that fuels the
outer economy of Depression.