ci m 'run
d
p
\'IE\\ S & ()PI'J(f�
airport, the zone round
ldenc:e of P dent d
the central po ce
num 0 rpl ere a
by UNlTAin coordi e
ttempt to impo "coup d'e
01
Once aiD. ho ever, th people
of Angol re ponded and m lnly
through civlli n "people'
re ponse" the ttac' nUT
troo ere expelled from th pita!
city ofLuan .
Ironically, I received an wer
from the Whi Ho to my let r
bout An 01 j t prior to UNIT '
failed military offe ve on Luanda.
In a letter dated October 16, 1992, on
"The White ouse" tionary,
Willa Hall Smith, 0 ce of Public
Liaison writing on beh If of
P idcnt B h, tated, "Your let r
identl many of the ob t cle
which threaten the ting uccess of
Angol ' DC democracy.
"We have made clear to all parti
our determination to have the resul
of the elcctio respected. We have
con i tentIy and repeatedly
underlined the re ponsibili ty of
President dOl Santo and Dr.
Savimbl to eusUlC their supporters
do 'nothing to endanger the
establishment of a government that
reflects the choice of Angolan
voters. ,
"Our role in Angola has been to
help the Angolan people transform
their society from a one-party state to
a multiparty democracy in which
basic human rights will be
observed."
THE TRUTH IS THAT the
communications equipment, the
weapons and ammunition, and the
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READERS WRITE
•
I
Voter want
ue .to
When Highland Par city official voted last wee
to give away 15 ere to non-re ident developer , they
voted according to long tradition in America: racism.
La t Spring when Sear announced it was moving
out of Highland P r , the Mayor bravely 100 ed the tax
10 in the eye and t unchly decl red, "We (African
American) have to help our elves. We have to invest
in our future, build our own neighborhoods."
W 11 cheered and thought a new era of promise
for the inner cities was dawning. •
And while many stood around moaning and groan
ing the 10 of Sears, one successful city bu ine sman
an African American - stepped up and said he wanted
to develop a shopping center on the vacant Woodward
. and Manche ter site.
Now we find out he met with city officials. But that
was the end of it.
Enter DEVCO. This staff works for the city. The
taff is well compensated. It gets paid from the mil
lions Chrysler paid to the city in exchange for the city
o ay for the car maker to leave for Auburn Hills.
DEVCO is charged with creating tax base to help
offset the loss of the Chrysler move.
The DEVCO staff, responsible for business and tax
.base inside the city, took hundreds of thousands of
dollars and paid consultants - not to help city busi
nesses present qr future- but to help DEVCO find an
outside developer.
So, with the consultants helping the consultants, the
d: up land, giv up "t t!
.make a t ui d Sout field ri e
ignoring its own taxpayers.
All the old artificial banters went up. DEVCO's boss,
Hamiet S�IStein, ignored tbe taxpaying African American
because, "I was looking for experience. " And, Black was once
again invisible, not worthy even of consideration, automat
ically overlooked, dismissed.
Thus, while Africans may control institutions, whole
cities even, the mindset and motions are the same as
50 years ago. •
African American leaders are guilty of following in
, lock step the patterns laid down before they arrived on
the scene.
And it's not just Highland Park. From Detroit to
Benton Harbor city dollars and energy follow the old
worn paths to the same old folk.
That's why the inner cities get only worse, instead
of better. All the dollars pumped in to solve the "prob
lem" are simply channeled right through the cities to
established, non-African companies making a killing
off of inner city misery. .
Mayor Linsey Porter was on the right track mentally
when he said it is time for inner city dwellers to develop
the inner city.
Communities can't leave the task of finding the way
up to the politicians. It is up to the communities to
force the leadership to put their money where their
mouth is.
In pi te of centurie of violence to intimidate the olan
colonizationandopp ion,in pite democr tiz tion proce nd
odd of difficult truggle for electio •
liberation, in pite of tragic 17 year "Inst door for
civil ar eled by the Unit Sta democracy in this can
andSouth 'ca,in piteofexternal i 0 obvio thatUNlTA
pre to ccelerate p of to re tart the tragic c vil
democratiz tion and multip rty Angol ifUNITA' not fulin
election, nd in pite 0 rene ed the ming I' The
terrori t violence, the people and the co e ecnons, people of
Angol have right to ch their
government of the Republic of future without armed intimidation.
Angola remained victorio in their "The United State hould
. long nd valiant truggle for immediately terminate all upport to
freedom, overeignty and peace. UNITA and How the people of
Angola' victory' a victory not Angola to ezpre their political will
ju t for democr tic forces freely and democratically. The
throughout the world, but tbis l a current foreign policy of your
victory for all of tho e who are dmini tration towards Angola I
haclded in po t-modem oppres ion. immoral and in contempt of any
Is it really po ible to ert a tandard of hum� decency."
notion of "victory" in the Angolan
ituationwhichis tillevolvingwith THE U ITED ATIO S
renewed violence and uncertainty? monitored the Angolan elections and
We ay, "Ye , there are many facets certified that they were "fair and
ofthecurrentdevelopIlftntsinsideof n:eely held." The fact that nearly
Angola that are cause for celebration mnety percent of Angolans eligible
in spite of recurrent difficulties." to vote actually voted in the n tion'
Victory, of course, is to be first multiparty elections in plte of
claimed by the overwhelming UNITA's armed intimidation and
majority of the people of Angola violence prior to and during the
who have and continue to exercise elections is itself cau e for
their fundamental right of celebrating a victory for democracy.
self-determination and freedom. Yet, tragically our prediction and
I HAD THE privilege to visit waniing to President Bush bout
Angola prior to their nationa1 Savambi and UNlTA proved to be
elections held on September 29-30, accurate.
1992. Upon returning to the United As soon as it became clear that
States, I sent a letter to President President Jose Eduardo do Santos
Bush about what I had witnessed in and the MPLA party had won the
Angola. national election in Angola,
In my letter to President Bush Savimbi threatened to restart the
dated September 11, 1992, I stated, civil war.
"While in Angola I found detailed' Savimbi has not exhibited the
evidence substantiating the fact that capacity to respect the will 'of the
the group known as UNIT A, led by people of Angola and as a result over
Jonas Savimbi and supported by the 1,500 more Angolans have died
government of the United States, has during the last month due to the
recently committed numerous acts of escalation of renewed civil war.
EDITOR:
The rumors can now end. Former
Micliigan Supreme Court Justice
Denni Archer is officially a mayoral
candidate. And although Mayor
Coleman Young refuse · to say
whether or not he'll run for an un
precendented sixth term as Detroit'
chief, mo t people believe he will
until he says he won't. The political
temperature in Detroit is beginning
to simmer.
I haven't endorsed anyone yet
but, I'm happy to see Dennis Archer
in the race. He's intelligent, and has
the name recognition it takes to take
on Mayor Young. For the la t
several elections the mayor hasn't
faced a formidable challenger. In
fact the candidacies of Perry Ko -
lowski (1977), Erne t Browne
(1981), and Tom Barrow (1985 and
1989) would make for great mayoral
trivia questions.
Coleman Young's accomplish
ment are numerous and he'
probably the greatest mayor Detroit
has every had. No one has faced the
type of economic problems that he's
faced in the la t 18 years. The
Detroit Lions left Tiger Stadium for
the Pontiac Silverdome in 1975, and
the Pistons broke out a couple years
later.
. The city faced near bankruptcy in
1981. Hudson's closed shop in 1983
and left their massive building be
hind. Detroit has taken several hi
teer mayoral race
but continues to come back.
BUT THE 1989 mayoral cam
paign (my first as a voter) left me
salty. Mayor Young didn't talk
about the future. He ran on his past
achievements: Virginia Park
development, affirmative action on
the police force, and the Cobo Hall
expansion.
Giant billboards boa ting the
mayor' political record hung over
Detroit' treets and freeways. The
election was a referendum on the
past
Furthermore. I didn't know
whether TQm Barrow was running
on a platform or a pace hip. When
the media focused on his campaign,
he was usually too busy defendin
allegation like New Center
Hospital's financial books, and
imply uttoring the now cIa lc
cliche '" Time for a change."
Mayor Young refused to debated
Barrow. He wouldn't even mention
Barrow' name during the cam
paign. But what he didn"t say
pecifically, h certainly implied:
Tom Barrow is a Black man, who if
. elected, will give our city back to the
white boys.
But I'm not only blaming the
mayor and Tom Barrow for a ence
of is ue disc ion during the 1989
campaign. Detroit's electorate
d erves some of the blame too .•
VOTERAa