"
,
,
lA If LORID S)-
Under pI n filed in federal
court last Friday Dade County
(Miami) would be divided into
nin commi ion di tricts in­
cluding five dominated by
Hlsp nic voter and two
domin ted by Blac . Current­
ly even of th nine commi -
ioners are white lthough
70% of the Dade County
population i Black and
Hi panic.
The new plan w filed
ultofa court finding that the
current commissioner sy tern
di crimi nated again t
minorities. If the new structure
is approved, long delayed
county election could take
pi ce soon February 17 of
next year.
u.s. Government
defends Ku
Klux Klan
A DYH LLDOR 0
c."".' H • «va
Rep -elect Al Kukuk of Macomb
Tow hlp credited hiI victory to a
nearly 2-10-1 vote dvan in
home- t which territory
for incumbent Kenneth J. De-
Sea ert, D- e Baltimore.
Kukuk downplayed the role of
Perot ticket- plitters whom some ay
put the ldbo h on Clinton coattails.
DeBea crt' old b e w on
of four "cannib lized" di tric th t
directly accounted for Republic n
victori , id Ken Br , director 0
the Michig n Democr tic Coor­
dinated Camp ign. Th othe he
listed were tho e previously held by
incumben Tecla Hunter, D-Detroit,
Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit and Jam
Ko teva, D-Canton.
Rep. -elect S ndy Hill, R­
Montro e, aid ticket- plitters and
people fed up with Lansing gridloc
helped her to victory, but the newly
LA I G - Political pundi
hoc ed by th Republican po er­
wing in the Michigan Ho are talk­
ing bout everything from
"throw-the-bum -out" voter men­
tality to omething called the "Perot
factor."
But even colorful theori are
pun, experts and candidat quietly
agree th t redi tricting prim rily
made the Republican coup po ible.
"IT' THE TALK of the state
right now t" he said. "It may have bad
some (effect), but I really don't buy
into IL •• in the end I have to attribute
my victory to my bale."
Lour Rawls gets early jump on holiday post office rush - Grammy Award winner Lou Rawls. who
hosts the annual ·Lou Rawls Parade of Stars· telethon, beat this year's holiday crowd by mailiny his
greeting cards early. Rawls said the message he's sending to 3,000 of his closet friends is to
encourage them to ·watch the telethon on December 26, make a pledge and share the dream of a
college education with young people across America.· The telethon, now in its 13th year, benefits
the United Negro College Fund and its 41 member institutions. For more information, call Carla
Holmes or Alonzo Byrd Jr., Fleishman-Hillard, .Inc. 314/982';'1700.
drawn 47th di trict in Gen Coun-
ty w the ey.
"There w no w y I could have
run out 0 the former 7 th di trict
which I 75
o
Public Sector Consultan in Lansing
aid hi firm did an exit poll ho wing
that Perot upporter voted
Republican 2-to-1 on th t of the
tick t.
"Clearly the Perot turnout helped
Republican candid te more than
Democratic candidate," he aid.
"The Perot voter... tended to vote
Republican when they got down th
ticket."
far the House w con-
cerned, the anti-incumbent mood of
the voters was mostly a myth, ccord­
ing to Bill Ballenger, publi her of In-
ide Michigan Politics new letter.
Only ix incumben running for re­
election were ousted, making for a 93
percent return rate, he aid.
tilt' astounding to me that there
wasn't more turnover," Ballenger
said. "It was a 10 t opportunity for
Republicans in the nse that if they
had gotten any help at all from the top
of the ticket th y probably would
have clearly gained control of the
House."
Pending final recounts, the House
i plit 55-55 between Republicans
and Democrats. Both partie are
looking for defector in the hope 0
electing a House Speaker from their
party and gainin clear control of th�
House.
THE PRE ENT SP AK R,
L w Dodak, D-Montrose, was
defeated in a stunning upset by n w­
comer Mike Goscbka of Brant, who
received heavy upport from
Republican top-guns in Lansing.
While Dodak 10 t about half of hi
fold district after reapportionment,
Goscbka said he struck a chord with
r Grebner, Democratic In­
h m County commi
pelitic 1 consultant,
vo rs oci ted Dod '
La in gridloc .
"Lew Doda wal ed round that
district with a big t rp nd bull eye
on hi ch tying' get me, get
m .. .I'm th Spe er of the House,
I've been in the center of Lansing all
the e years."
The candidate and experts
mbled to di c the election out-
come t a first-ever "pundit summit"
ponsored by Ballenger in East Lans­
ing on ov. 10.
Hili get 10,000
P r seeech
o LAHOMA CITY, OK.
(NBNS) - Ani ta Hill - the
African American profe or
who ccused Supreme Court
Justice Clarence Thomas of
exual harassment know com­
mands $10,000 or more to give
peeche before various
groups. Most of the grou in­
viting . Hill to peak are
European American and';
female.
However, her allegations of
exual harassment by Thomas
helped spark upport from
both Black and white women
and many analysts feel she also
played animportant mle in
ti Itt :r w
elected to lite U.S. Congre ,
d ring lions.
Hill is a full professor at the
University of Oklahoma Law
Center. During a recent
engagement in the nation'
capital, D.C. Mayor Sharon
Pratt Keliy said of Hill "She
did for women what Rosa
Parks did for the civil rights
movement."
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The
tatue of the founder of the Ku
Klux Klan, Albert Pike, stands
in Washington, D.C. in the
Judiciary Square. Pike, a
known Satan-wor hipping
racist, distributed terrorist
propoganda for Klan night­
riders and his statue has tood,
t government expense for 90
I )'11', 1"
Friday, ovember 1 , ac-
tivist Rev. James Luther
Bevel and Anton Chaitkin
were arrested in front of Pike's
statue and charged with
. "statue climbing. tI Bevel and
Chaitkin have been campaign­
ing to bring the Pike statue
down since September. Cur­
rently there is a resolution
before the Washington D.C.
City Council, introduced by
City Councilman William P.
Lightfoot, which calls for
removing the statue.
J wish victims
reimbursed for
holocaust by Nazis
WASHINGTON-Quietly,
the German Government has '
signed an agreement to pay
millions of dollars to
European Jews who survived
Nazi persecution.
Categories for payments
under the new agreement in­
clude Jew who were confined
to concentration camps for six .
months at least, those confined
in ghettos for at least 18
months and tho e forced to
live in hiding for a minimum
of 18 months. A spokesman
estimated that as many as
50,000 European Jews from
countries other than Germany
would be eligible to file
claims.
Police harassment
urvey
WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBNS)
- The National Black New
Survey (NBNS) has recently
received several requests sug­
gesting that there has been a
dramatic increase in incidents
of police beatings and harass­
ment of Blacks nationwide.
NBNS would like to know
what you think.
If you know of incidents of
unreported police beatings and
harassment hare your tory by
writing NBNS, 1221 Mas.
Ave., NW, Suite 522, Wash.,
DC 20005 or call our hotline
202-895-5246. Keep phone
comments to two minutes or
less.
Thanksgiving is cruel reminder of bitter pa t
By SUSAN VELA common stereotypes of savage war-
C.plt.' NWI. Service riors.
Several school districts are trying
LANSING-Some of Michigan's 'to follow Dunham's advice. For ex­
ample, the sixth-grade students in the
Mt. Pleasant School District are now
offered a six-week Chippewa lan­
guage course.
Native Americans hate November.
They say the Thanksgiving holiday is
an unbearable reminder of how the
American school system has dis­
torted their culture and its contribu­
tion to American history.
"It's the only time teachers deal
wit Native Americans," said Anish­
nabe tribe member Pam Dunham,
who was raised in the Upper Pen­
nisula, near the Bay Mills Reserva­
tion in Brimley. "Then it's blown O\4t
of proportion with cutesy things done
in the classroom."
Teachers don't tell their students
that the Indians were here before the
Pilgrams and taught them how to
prepare the New World foods, she
said. .
She also noted that most teachers
seldom teach that Fall Feast occurred
in November to celebrate the end of
the harvest and for Native American
families to get together one last time
before winter arrived.
Teachers don 't
tell their
students that the
Indians were
here before the
Pilgrims and
taught them
how to prepare
the New World
foods.
MOST OF THESE experimental
programs have sprung up in school
. districts located near Michigan's
"HISTORY DIDN'T START reservations. The seven reservations
upon the Europeans' arrival," said are still home for more than 23 000 of
I?unham, �ho now ==. th� Na- the state' Chippewa, Otta�a and
tive-Arnerican Program within the Potawatomi tribe members.
Michi�an D pa �ent �f Edu.cation. Mt. Pleasant High School teacher
. Unlike tates like WI consm, th�re Kathy Ling aid the city's large Na­
I no, tate �andate to teaCh. N�tive tive American population and the
Am�ncan histo gan Saginaw Chippewas Reservation 10-
pu�h� cho�l ystem. Instead, state cated nearby has resulted in a district­
official Imply recommend that wide effort to be sensitive t Indian
chool di tricts treat all races fairly. concerns.
So D.unham said �he spends much Ung aid she tries to give her tu-
of her time advocating that teachers dents more information than what's
give �ore a.ccurate .informa�ion provided in textbooks. Forexample,
regarding Native American contribu- she id she often gives lecture relat­
tion, ,to American government, ing the U.S. Constitution to the Iro­
medicine nd language versus the quois Confederacy.
But most Michigan students must
still rely on textbooks as their source
of Native American history.
Hillsdale High School teacher
Dan English said textbooks have
been changing during his six years of
teaching American History. He aid
the books are making an obvious at­
tempt to include Black, Hispanic and
Native American perspective ,
"I'VE NOTICED A big turn­
around with Native Americans,"
English said. "There's a part that the
books call the Cowboy Myth ... The
text menti ns their contributions to
white society (and) they've included
book excerpts that include Indian
perspectives. "
While some critics have said these
new textbooks are tarting to leave
out bits of American history in order
to provide minority perspectives, a
Michigan State University profes or'
said those minority viewpoints are
baby steps in the long road that must
be traveled.
"It's the same basic story with
commercial breaks for Blacks, Latino
and Native American perspectives,"
said Darlene Hine, of MSU's history
department. "What these groups
have to do is help re-write history so
that their perspective becomes part of
the center stage,"
It' okay if minoritie re-writing
history results in orne bit of
American history being nudged ur
of high chool and univer ity
textbooks, Hine aid.
"WHAT HAPP
D I TH
past i that whole minoritie were ex­
cluded," she continued. "Now we
have to not over-ernpha ize to the
point' of exclusion but create a more
inclusive story ... with high priority on
certain parts."
Improv� texts �ould go � long HE AID SHE approve of the
way to�ard Impro�mg the el,f-:lmage Wisconsin legi Iation mandating that
of Native American, aid Joan Native American history be included
Spalding, director of the Lansing
North American Indian Center.
The center provide youth ac­
tivities for children aged 11 to 17
years. Because of low self- teem,
Spalding said many Native American
children risk succumbing to tqe
dangers of alcohol and drugs,
Low elf-esteem has been a prob­
lem with the Native American
population for close to a century, said
Wilma Henry, a Chippewa tribe
member born on Minne ota's White
Earth Indian Re ervation.
She currently works out of the Mt.
Pleasant High School, but is hired by
the Chippewa tribe to remind
teachers of their responsibilitie to
Native American tuderus, he aid.
UNTIL rHE 1930 , Native
American children were taken from
their homes and forced to attend
boarding school and mis i nary
schools.
The children wore uniforms, had
their hair hom and weren't allowed
to peak the Native American lan­
guages often spoken by their parents
or grandparents, Henry said.
"When the government took away
their language and their culture, they
conquered the nati n," he aid,
"And when you d n't know your lan­
guage nd you don't kn w 'your cul­
ture, where arc y u going to learn
th m from?"
Henry aid ne remembers being a
tudent in th 194 and hearin one
of her teacher' ay, "the only good
Indian is a dead Indian."
"I thought, 'Go h. I don't want to
be Indian," he aid.
in the public school curriculum. She
said smaller legislation fro Michigan
would help decrease the high school
drop-out rate for �ative Americans.
Director Betty Keinitz, of the,
Civil Rights Department, Indian Af­
fairs Commission, said she doesn't
think uch reg latlon is necessary at
this point.
"Textbooks and other thing are
improving," she said. "But I do
know tha t there is a lot of
misunderstanding regarding Native
American ."
Conyers seeks
federal investigation
into beating death
Malice Green case
By RON SEIGEL
ItIlchlll.n CIUz."
,DETROIT - Congre sman John
Conyers' announced that he has asked
the U.S. Attorney General and the
Director of the FBI to investigate the
death of Malice Green, w.hich wi messes
charge occurred because of ult by
police.
"WEMU WORK on thi intel-
ligently and rationally," he'd.
Calling thi incident," a murder by
police, " he said, "When a gang of armed
people jump on a ingle person, you
don't know what will happen."
Noting the physical beating of Rod­
ooy King, Conyers said, "Rodney w
nearly dead (when it ppencd)."
.----
/ .