•
After all the interferance from headquarters, the Detroit Chapter
NAACP branch is finally slated for an election January 17.
And though there has been much ado about the interference from .
the national office, the election means too little to too many tQ count
for too much.
Who heads up Y local chapter makes little difference, because
the NAACP has to first make some major change to become
relevant. .
First, the group has to be willing to confront unresponsive' and
irresponsible leadership of all colors.
While unemployment and all the despair and destruction that
flourishes in jobless communities thrives in Michigan's inner cit­
ies, there are publicly funded construction jobs going on with
non-resident workers.
Take a good look at the construction of the Veterans Admini­
stration Building in Detroit, the revamping of the Davison in
Highland Park, the construction of the new DSS building in Benton
Harbor, and you cannot find many, if any African American
workers on the job.
Thus, suburban folk drive. into the community, work for decent
wages and drive off with the money while jobless men walk the
streets.
Yet there are African Americans in decision making spots
supervising all these projects. These are African Americans who
could do something on behalf of the community if they would be
willing or courageous enough to put their community before their
personal careers. These are leaders who, if they took the time to do
their homework and study the issues, they could find ways to
combat the racism of the systems they have inherited.
And the NAACP- remains mum, incapable of mounting public
pressure-to force open the competition for jobs and contracts on
these projects. .
. Then there is the case of education. Again, Detroit is but an
example that is duplicated across the state. Incompetence and
bloated bureaucracy siphon off education dollars contributing' to
overcrowded, underequipped classrooms where African American
children suffer inadequate, inferior education. Yet, the school
boards in charge are African American. And where is the NAACP?
Until the NAACP redirects its energy from raising money to
reviving our communities, the whenever, whereever aQd whoever
of chapter elections will remain largely irrelevant.
Which God?
Wh n District Judge Alex J. Allen dismi ed an involuntary
manslaughter charge agairst Detroit SgL Freddie Dougl ,the cop
broke down in tears and thanked God, pointing to a pin he w
bearing that read, "God is able."
Sgt. Douglas is the man, witnesses say, who arrived on tbescene
during the beating, told the as ailants --all of whom were his
subordinates, bound to obey him-to "take it easy," but did nothing
else to save a fellow man's life. Douglas did not exercise his
authority under civil law to uphold the law and follow due process.
Nor, did he exercise any moral authority to save an unanned man
being beaten to death by three flashlight wielding officers.
We just want to know who is the God that Douglas claims.
�
AACP
I'
CERTAINLY THE DAILY
public report concerning the
ituation in Bosni and HClZCgovina
I
..
GOboththeHo e
epresenta and the Senate
p cd concurrent re olution
"relatin to humanitarian relief and
thehumanrlgh tuation "
·The re olution pa ed by U.S.
Co does not hav the forces of
I ,but it an important ofllcial
actno ledgem t of magnitude
of the ti in Sudan.
The con t 0 the Co onal
action mented that "the
government 0 Sudan enga in a
co . tent pattem of violation
of internationally recognized human
righ ... and undertaken a cruel
campaign to relocate orne 500,000
internally displaced Sudanese from
the outskirts of Khartoum, the capital
city, to inho pi table camps far from
the city, and announced plans t
relocate an dditional 250,00
eli placed Sudanese in the co
months to a di taDt desert camp.
Now we have learned that in the
remaining days left in the Bush
Administration there are upportets
of the brutal regime in Sudan who are
inside the U.S. Department of
Treasury who would like to pprove
another U.S. b c loan to SUdan
om the Intern lion 1 onctary
Fund.
. It our hope that er January 20,
1993, President Clinton ill e.
imm te to block any further
financial upport of the regime in
po er in Sudan.
The t urgent roblem now,
bo ever, the deplo ble conditio
and terrible treat ent of the
Suduese � Ie, part! arly tho e
in the outhem region.
To offer your support, ple e
contact Paul Anade Otho of the
Sudan Relief and Reh bilitation
Association, P.O. Box 27171,
Raleigh, N.e. 27611-7171. There is
just too much opp ion and human
ufferlng in the world today. No
child in any nation hould be allowed
to starve to death.
� w are bearing and responding
\ to the cries of the people of inalla,
Bosni and from other tragi pmce,
please do not forget about the people
otSudan. .
byTim ackson
. . �
hetto Grocers Inc.
HPCG
LLOYD AID the audit delay was
caused by contract problems with an
auditing firm called Deloitte. &
Touche, which the Highland Park
School System hired to impress the
state.
The board gave Deloitte &Touche
a three year contract and S40,CXX> in
advance, but became dissatisfied
� when the firm failed to give a pro
report. HP trustees voted to dismiss
the firm a few months after hiring it.
continued from Page 1 Uoyd admitted there might have
._ been a misunderstanding. At the
blame for the college's troubles and .,. .
urges thzeo resign. meetl�g dlsmlSSm� them, a repre­
sentative from Deloitte & Touche was
I DR.. LLOYD not allowed to speak and complained
MAS , serving to the state
as Administrative Consultant to the • , .
Highland Park School Board, says the U�yd said �e S� Supennten-
real roble . the fact that the State dent got � hot and felt there must
p m IS. be something wrong;"
Department of Education makes con- "
flieting demands impossible to fulfill, The state demanded �elOltte .&
and created negative publicity through Touche to be restored, which the city
"sanctioned bashing" ofHPcc, "com- board agreed to.
plete with 'leaks' of dubious motiva­
tion."
--------�---------------------------------------I
He said that if th college closed,
Engler would have $5.5 million extra
to deal with the state deficit. ,
"He closed Lafayette Oinic. Now
he wants to close Highland Park's col­
lege." Uoyd said.
The Governor's Publicity Office
representative could not be reached
for comment.
Root said the problem was the
failure of the HP Board of Education
to provide an audit to th� tate for
1990-91 and 91-92 as required by
state law.
, .
ROOT CONCEEDED that the
Highland Park School Board passed a
resolution restoring Deloitte &
Touche, but said the company was not
currently working on the audit. .
Company representative Doug
Fuhrman said that the firm was not
doing the audit, but answered "No
comment", when asked why. He
refused to say whether it was because
of an action by HPCC. or its own
refusal.
He also refused to comment on
whetherlhe reasons Uoyd gave for the
compa�y's original dismissal were ac-
curate. '-._/
However, ci ty School Board mem­
ber Mamie Cooperjold The Michigan
Citizen that �n for the failure
of the company to begin work on the
audit was a delay in getting certain
material from the HPCC �usiness of­
fice, adding that this would only be
temporary.
Uoyd said the state school board
conducted its own audit in an ar­
. bitraIy and capri�o manner."
ANOTHER PROBLEM arose,
because the board transferred its fund­
ing to computer and eliminated paper
receipts, lloyd said, in order to make
the work more efficient. The state, he
said, charged the board with eliminat­
ing the receipts to hide something,
even though the records were on com­
puter ..
Root said that the state audit was
not a full audit, but only a "balance
sheet audit" trying to determine the
fiscal position of the college. He said
the state found HPCC was over $2.5
million in debt.
Uoyd said a lot of the reason for
. that was the failure of the state to
provide aid. He said if the state res­
tores the $2.2 million in state aid, the
city had a plan to end the deficit in
three years.
According to Lloyd, recently
retired HPCC President Charles
Mitchell, Jr. opened the door to such
actions by asking the State Depart­
ment of Education to select a commit­
tee to a "study committee" to
review the urriculum and physical
plant of the college.
For the committee, the tates
elected representatives of other CQm­
munity colleges who were com-.
petitors of HPCC and had a vested
interest in getting rid of it, Uoyd said.
. WHE LLOYD wa asked
whether racism was involved (be­
cause HPCC was a predominately
Black run college serving African­
American students), h said, "I find it
hard to separate class bigotry from
race bi otry", charging the committee
had "a negative attitude toward poor
people", and had a negative "mind set
when they crossed Eight Mile."
After completing the audit, the
State Department of Education staff
made another analysis of the college,
charging �gement, stating that
it was firing people or moving them
around, creating "a great deal of dys­
function." The report also charged
Highland Park board members with
putting relatives on the payroll, either
as employees or performing services,
such as painting, without competitive
bidding.
Uoyd said, "In a community thi
(small) size (as Highland Park), you
are sure to have some staff member
related to the board." • •
Lloyd contended that denying
employment to people because they
had relatives on the city school board
would be "discrimination".
He added that HPCC cut ad­
ministration and staff for budgetary
reasons to th bone, adding, "We can't
afford to do any more downsizing."
HPCC has a Highland Park
residency requirement for "staff,
which, according to a college ap­
pointed study group, the State Board
of Education also wi hes to change.
'FORMER HP C President
,Comer Heath agreed with the board'
Charges, adding some department
head and faculty were retiring because
of poor morale or because "they were
lea,(ng a sinking ship."
See HP.CC, A7