((ELEtl
ME AND
IILL SAVE r'
DETROIT.
EDITORIAL
A lot hangs on the
'roll of the dice.
The people of Detroit are voiceless, Without respect
from their own leadership. The citizens voted three
time to ban casino gambling within the city, only to
di cover the powers that be are trying an end run around
them.
Plans of two Grosse Pointe-dwelling developers for
a casino in Greektown were splashed across the front
page of the paper Sunday. The two men will donate land
to a nation of Native Americans in the upper pennisula,
who then will open the casino.
Detroiters are told that 4,000 jobs are to be created,
the ativc Americans will receive 60 percent of the
profit , that spin-off development will snow­
ball ... Detroit will be saved!
. Dangling the allure of gambling profits before the
oor ha been uccessfu in the past. Twenty years ago
,. nncr cities were told L ery was goll\g' �'! tlie
school money they badly needcQ. Detroiters and other
inner city residents responded, channeling their num­
bers money into the legal state lottery. The result was
less and Ie s of the state's general fund went into educa­
tion while the lottery money poured out of the inner
cities into Lansing only to be doled out to rural and
northern regions where Blacks fear to go.
An added twist to the current proposal is that this
time, not one, but two minorities are being exploited in
pursuit of the project: Native and African Americans
suckered together.
The current developers who are out front with the
plan - who else is behind the project is unclear - both
arrived in this country less than 25 years ago. Since
then, they have become Coleman Young partners in a
failed private business and Coleman Young partners in
a' successful city-subsidized business, recipients of
large city and federal development grants for projects
in the Greektown neighborhood. .
Though the Mayor has not publically endorsed the
project, he has always pushed casino gambling and the
involvement of his business partners in the development
makes it very unlikely he is in the dark on the issue.
Gambling is one of his favorite pasttimes, reports say.
It appear the ailing Mayor has found a way to back
door a pet project. .
However, in not openly opposing the plan, Young
.. insults his constituents and ignores his real boss, the
people. Three times the gambling issue was on the ballot
and three timesthe voters said no. That constitutes a
mandate, the Mayor has a moral obligation to honor.
Meanwhile, the people of Highland Park have said
yes to casino gambling and that is the only place
developers have a right to be looking.
But gambling should only come to Hightand Park if
community folks are in charge. No community should
subject itself to what Atlantic City and Las Vegas en­
dure. Studies of gambling addiction, speculative real
estate markets, declining local business base all point to
the disaster of outside interests controlling gaming.
If gaming comes to an African American community,
then it must be residents in charge, collecting the
profits and controlling the roll of the dice.
o
THE QU TIO I, however,
who is willing to tand with M yor
Dinkins in hi call for multiracial
unity in the pursuit of racial justice
and economic empowerment for all?
Beware of all tho e who would throw
rocks of division at Mayor Dinkins
T E C Rodney King,
Malice Green, \leI Salazar, d
many others expo e the horrible
racial brutality that pI ce under
the color of police lawl ne that'
commonpl ce in urban nd rural
reas throughout the country.
The acquittal of the
African-Americ n defendent,
Lemrick elson, Jr., in the killing of
Yankel Ro enbaum during the
Crown Heigh racial conflict, only
exposes another double standard of
justice.
The jury ha been everely
criticized because of the not guilty
Leste 's Wo I
2
p rsons wh ar
confli t on m
j tice.
Th pro lem of ra i I inj ti ,
bi otry and hatr d i rtainly not
confin d within th ity limi of
ew York City. TIl probl IDS re
national and international.
et, it i i nifi nt th t yor
Dinkins ha in fact done more th n
any previous mayor to "heal" the city
not by pr tendin th t there re no
racial problems but by in tron
advocate for racial justice even hen
it ha not een perceived to be
poli ticall y e pedient to p a for
racial justice and harmony.
We alute Mayor Dinkins for th
courage of his 2 "Thanksgiving
Mes age" that wa aimed at reducing
racial and ethnic tension. As an
African -American leader who
knows well what it i like to be
discriminated again t becau e of
race, Dinkins ha emerged a a
consistent national voice for racial
tolerance and mutual respect for the
dignity of all humanity.
ITI APPALLING that there are
some who are trying to exploit the
CIVIL
RGH
JOUR L
verdict for el 0 beca e, ome
y, there were African-American
and Latino juro
ould even m e
yor Dinki re po ible for the
outcome of the verdict. A e
Afric n-Americ n defendants
granted the right to be presumed
innocent mtil proven guilty? The
jurors in the tri greed that the
prosecution had not proven the guilt
of elson for the alleged crime,
U TIL TEE CAN BE
!aim , equal justice and a pirit of
mutual respect the tensions in New
Yor will tay high. Yet, Mayor
Dinkins reached out to all of the
racially diverse communities ofNe
York City, and thus far, e have
ob erved, the Mayor ha done a
remarkable job under a vel)' trying
set of circumstances. Without bold
mayoralleadershlp exemplified by
Dinkins, New York City .will find it
difficult to render justice, and thus
have peace.
" .
From an
darkne
"Pssst!"--"Pssst!! Yo, Mu! Mu!
You up?," asks the halo-Cherokee
tier runner, his accent betraying his
South Philly roots.
Stirring from the mattress, I
trudge to the cell door, look down to
where Mike stands, and glower athis
bright face.
"What's up, man?," I grumble, at
sleep's interruption.
"You ready for this?" Mike asks
rhetorically, his face ablaze with a
smile.
"Man, what' up?," I demand, a
bit peeved at the WOrdplay.
"Jay Smith??-- He's going
home!" Mike announces, a d a
heartfelt sense of -happlness at
another man's good fortune lifts my
mood instantly.
"No Shit, Mike?"
"Swear to God, Mu-he' packin'
his gearright now. Sez he gotta order
from the Supreme Court throwin' out
his conviction! Ain't that
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ARE YOU
DRI;SSED
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KILLED?
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choln
A tep into light
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somethiIi'?"
. "Yeah, �. That's some thin ,
wonderfUl! Long live John Africa!
That's good news, man!"
JA Y .SMITH, a common,
Anglo-Saxon, everyday American
name, belonging to a quiet, old,
grey-haired, professional whi te dude
who, until recently, was among 149
ouls on Pennsylvania's Death Row,
the result of a conviction for three
illings that sparked nation I
attention, several books and a
television movie.
Prosecutors, police and the press
painted him as an archdemon, a
.twisted sadist, a triple-killer, and an
all-around not-so-nice-guy, light
years from the Lower Merion school
principal and army reservist his
neighbors and students knew.
Having read in a news clipping an
article depicting him as cold, evil
with"goat-like"gfeyeyes, when I met
him half-expected to see him
bounding around on two cloven
hooves.
But, on appeal, it appeared as if
the real animal (skunks) sent him to
Death Row, for the Supreme Court
reversed his conviction, citing
prosecutorial misconduct, and his
lawyer steadily uncovered lying
cops, hidden evidence and secret
deals between investigators and a
Holl ywood novelist for inside info on
the case.
HIS PROSECUTOR, who rose
tQ national office on his case, fell just
as swiftly when arrested and
convicted on cocaine-related
charges.
On Fri., Sept. 18, 1992, at midday,
the word came to Smith that his case
was over; the prosecution
discharged; the defendant free to go.
Encaged in Pennsylvania hellholes
and on Death Row ince 1979, Jay
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MUMIA
ABU
JAMAL
FROM
DEATH
ROW
Smi th packed his meager
possessions, sent a few bye-byes
around, shook the ashes of 12 years
off, and walked away from the House
of Pain, stepping back into life.
. All the books, the multi-million
dollar movie of the week, the
damning news articles paled beside
the reality of one man, walking from
the tagnant cesspool of prison into
the vibrant explosion of freedom.
W�n one reporter asked him his
plans, he replied, "I dunno. I've been
fighting so long for this that I hadn't
planned for anything beyond. I'm
64-maybe in year I can collect
social security?"
But what "security" exists in a
sy tem that plotted, lied, connived
and hid evidence to destroy one
man's life, that took 12 years from hi&
life, his profession, his family?
., .