I
prim or
hou ing
di crimination
rr-In w would be
i tho ing disaimination
settlement ever, the J\Btice De-
partment h negotiated
S350,CXX> payout by a Mount
acme apartment oomplex.
The owners am manageI' of .
Rivercr t Arms Apartmen
have agreed to pay the tines and
damages, but they have denied
any wro�doing. Theoomplex is
one C?f six in subW'ban Detroit
accused of racial b iooc 1 t
October.
The Rivercrcst J\rIm agree­
ment still needs the approval of
U.s. District Judge Nm=y Ed­
mums in Detroit.
The settlement is part of 8
national crackdown UIX1er the
1968 Fair Hoesing Act. James
Turner, acting Justice Depart­
ment civil rights chief, said dis­
crimination i so pervasive in the
Detroit suburbs he has author­
ized another round of tests.
Metropolitan Detroit is one of
the most segregated areas in the
nation. The 1990 �rB\B foWld
that 22 percen� of metropolitan
Detroit' more than 4.2 million
residents are Black, but 88 per­
cent of the Blacks live in Wayne
County.
First Black
Miss Alabama
crowned
BIRMINGHAM, AlA. - Ka­
Iyn Evel Chapman was crowned
Miss Alabama 1993 at Samford
University's Wright Center, the
first Black woman to hold the
title.
The i2-year-Qld Mobile na­
tive competed Saturday night as
'Miss Leeds Area. Miss Clap­
man replaces Kim Wimmer,
Miss Alabama 1992, and will
represent the state at the Miss
America P.ageant in Atlantic City
in September.
McPhail
challenges
legislature
Detroi t Mayoral
Candidate Sharon McPhail
called for a hal t to the attacks,
launched by West Bloomfield
Senator David Honigman,
against the City of Detroit.
Honigrnan, a Republican who
chairs the Seriate Local
Government and Urban
Development Committee,
has requested subpoena
power from the Senate
Governmen t Operation
Committee to inv tigate the
Detroi t Water and Sewer
Department. The Senate was
chedulcd to vote on the
resolution June 22.
"The Senate appears to be
ufl'der the mrs take n
impression that Detroit will
b defenseless for the next six
month becau e Coleman
Young i not runni n for
reelection. Nothing could b
further from the truth. The
Mayor i not going away and
neither am I," McPhail aid.
Hongiman i al 0 the
ponsor of Senate Bill 85,
which would eize control of
th Water and Sewer
D partment from th city and
ive it to a Regional
Authority with one
repre entative each from
Wayne, Q land" G n ee,
Wa htenaw, Lapeer, St.
Clair and Monro counties.
ICHEAL P. EAL
pee I to the ",/Chl,.n Clttzen
D orr-Wayne State Univer-
ity dispatched a team of i repre­
entativ to meet with Detroit area
Native-Americans Thursday, regard­
ing allegedly racist remarks and ma­
terial given in a course by a university
prof or.
Senior Vice-President forcommu­
nity relations Arthur Johnson led th
team to Pelham Middle for a econd
"follow up" meeting to the incident
that led to a di traught Native-Ameri­
can student dropping the course last
February.
Use of the word "Squaw" by the
moderator of a Native American Cul­
ture course (OSS 311) film and its
deferse by Prof or Bud Wright ig­
nited the controversy. "Squaw", say
most Native-Americans, is a word
used to describe a pr titute or the
female genitalia.
"It's as harmful, hurtful and de- ,
grading as the word nig--- would be to
you, excus m for using that, but it
w for effect," said Thurman Bear,
former Michigander of the Year and
long respected Native-American edu­
cation and community activi t, to
Johnson.
BFAR, POLITI AL i nee
major at WSU had Wright an in­
structor in 1970. "He has th arne
attitude John Wayn (in th cl
room) .... a teacher cannot be told what
to do."
Firing off angry entiments about
the treatment of Native-Americans at
'Wayne State historically, community
leaders and Native-American tu­
dents, and former tudents, decried to
the reverent note-taking WSU team
their demand for action against
Wright.
Their meeting agenda al 0 in­
cluded a hostofoth r gripes including
more input from Native-American
community repr entative, more Na­
tive-American tudies courses and the
lack 0 ative-American pe onnel t
WSU.
Thi controversy coincid with
recently publi hed tudi by WSU
and University of Michigan framin
unfair camp hiring pra ti . Th re
are no Nativ Am ri among t
Unive ity' 1,471-m m r f ulty,
although th re 14 in vario tat!
upport po itio .
Fall 1992 records how that out of
nearly 35,000 WSU tuden , th re
ali only 140 Native-Americans and
they have no tudent organization, re­
cruitment program, or meeting place
dedicated to them, with many other
ethnic group .
TH RE AR • N e timated
55,<XX> Native-Americans tatewide
with the high t concentration in
Wayne County and nearly half of that
in Detroit. They also have the na­
tion's highest per capita high school
drop out rate, say Native-Americans
official .
Highland Park's Mayor Un ey Port r (second from right) cut the ribbon to the new Highland
Park Job Center during ceremonle h Id Jun 17. AI 0 pictured are (I-r) F. Robert Edward •
MESC director; Edward McNamara, Wayne County Executive; Willow Hagans, Wayn County
, Dept. of Social Service and Jay Brown, president, Wayne County Private Industry Council.
Th Job Center, locat d at 16480 Woodward, i one of a few project lated for Highland Park.
•
ric
By TUREKA TURK
Michl en Citizen
President Clinton is not only los­
ing the support of conservatives in
his party, "Slick Willy" is also 10 ing
the support of The Congressional
Black Caucus (CBC), which could
prove an ill-fated move by Clinton
when his propo als reach Congres .
In a pres conference June 14,
Congressman John Conyers aid that
relations between the President and
the CBC are "at an all time low, but
repai rab le."
Conyers said that he had been
asked by the CBC not to mention
their grievances with Clinton at his
meeting with him June 14 because
the grievances and comments of all
of the CBC members had not yet
utfaced.
Clinton' withdrawal of LaW
Oui nier a nomi nee for the Justice
Department of et th 39-member
caucus. Conyers aid that orne of
the commen he' has heard from th ,
caucus include: "I voted against
Bush, not for lmto ", "They alway
di appoint us" and "What did you
lack ppor
wn to no hlnq
expect".
ONY AID that he, 'him-
self, voted for Clinton, but with
"cro ed fingers".
"I knew he'd m up," Conyers
aid.
The reasoni ng for the caucus' ear­
lier enthusiastic upport of Clinton
Conyers aid, was 12 years of Bush.
"But it' a domino theory," Cony­
ers reasoned .. "When you're up, eve­
ryb dy' with you. Wb n you're
down, (you g t tho mments)."
Conyers aid that a meeting with
the President and th cau us had
been tentatively cheduled for last
weekend. Thi meeting comes after
the angry caucus turned down Presi­
dent Clinton' invitation to meet
June 11 0 it could "reas "i re­
lationship witl. the White House.
F the CB
hav warn d that th adrnini tration
could n 1 unt on t CBC to b k
a variety of Clmt n-b cd i u
. rangi ng from campaign fi nance to
health care r orm.
The upport would especially be
haley if Clinton' budget 'plan cuts
support to child hunger and ummer
youth job programs, aid Rep. Kw i
Mfume, D-Md.
"We're n t combative, but we're
not going to roll over in blind alle­
giance and a cept things tha! hurt the
people we represent.r'Mfume aid in
pointed remar Ju '
Conyers compared Clinton' i tu­
ation wi th that of former President
Jimmy arter' durin the Panama
Canal Treaty and aid that, if Cli nton
continu to step on the to of tho e
who upported him during the elec­
tion he m y b' om a one term
pr ident.
"There ar republicans still erv­
ing because they have no repl e­
men . Clinton 1 I wing down the
pr " ," Conyers aid.
Conye aid that the CBC pl rs
t addrcs uch i u as Clinton'
inabihty t t a budget p ed, the
ituation 10 Haiti, hi ctivity in So­
maha, Clinton' tions in Health­
care and hi fum lin in the State
Departm nt.
Conyers aid that even Perot i
Some instructors are list d
thing at Central Michigan, Michi­
gan Stat and Unive ity of Michi an
but, ys FAith Young, quoted in th
South End, "a nativ t her would
never uch terminology. They
would know from th ir experiences of
living a Native-American how not
to tereotype thin ."
Th re has been recent controversy
in Michigan regardin ethnic and ra­
cial identification candal in higher
education funding. This has created a
situation where many people claim
Native-Americans tatus to receive
breaks in education ts and leverag
in hiring quotas.
Said one dvocate, when she in­
vestigated a pubJi bed Ii t of native
tudents and prof ors at a Michigan
college, few of them were actually
Indian."
EDITH YOUNG, 62, of the
Tlingit tribe of Alaska made the origi­
nal complaint against Wright. She
bristled Thursday, "How dare you (the
university) come in our country and
not give u a Native-American
teacher.
-"I think its disgrace that the arne
i u from 30 years ago till persi t. ".
Maynard, a Native-American De­
troiterwho had Bud Wright 30 years
ago noted that insensitivity to Indians
eemed to be Wright' policy'. They
once argued when Wright referred to
an Indian dress called a'regalia, as a
"costume".
"Well, who wrote the books?"
Maynard retorted when Wright sug­
gested that thi was cceptable be­
cause it was termed that way in th
book. "I had an Aunt would slap face
first, if you used that word (squaw) in
her presence."
Judith May ,directoroftheDctroit
Indian Educational and Cultural Cen­
ter, a federally funded project for \lp­
plemental Indian Education housed at
the Pelham School, took the podium
calling for wider reaching reforms.
itA OMMITM NT TO Indian
education at a public school level,"
he requ tcd, and that WSU give
course credit for tudents who attend
the upplemental program;
Also ought by Native-American
r
able to ucc fully attack Clinton
without anything in writing.
"No Democrat or Republican will
upport Perot. A 50 cent per allon
tax on g line i ridicule ," Cony-
ers aid.
Conye did ugg t orne tions
Clinton could take to r tore ties with
the CBC. They included: ,
• Cutting off the oil in Haiti,
pro ecute Ari tide' oppo iti n, and
res tore vis .
-Crea more mon y for umrner
youth.job pr rams.
• Create more programs f r urban
youth, uch ngr woman
Maxine Wat rs prop at for a pr -
gram for youn Black m n, a e 17
and older.
activis . colle e day tour program
uch U of Mt attrition preve on
programs, nd t king of Native­
American children thro bout grade
cbool. Mays recommerded " i
om of the expert' e of WSU", and
an overall upport y m to make
ure they become "that doctor, or that
lawyer."
Activi m intaln that recruitment
of Native-Americans will uffer alo
with university public relatio if
nothing i done. Belinda Franc is a
graduating high cbool senior, "We
aren't going togo there if there's g0-
ing to be teachers treating like
that...other schools have much
more to offer."
In response to the statements by
the Native trimuvirate Johnson
ured them that "every' ue" would
b addressed by WSU. Johnson said
that there may be "nothing" that can
be done about a tenured proti rbe­
having in uch a way.
Wright allegedly has made other
degrading statemen� about Indians
like "a conquered people have nothing
to say." .
Thelma Shipman, director of Ur­
ban Indian Affairs and current student
of WSU said that they get about "3 or
4 call a year to investigate problems"
at Wayne State. But Arthur Johnson
aid that no other complaint like this
had been made in his 30 years, "that
he i aware of."
Equal Employment Opportunity
Commi n 9ffi�,cr Jam. 40,
flanking Johns n at the podium, said
t .univt itt It, New Mex­
ico State, Michigan State, and Michi­
gan had been consultfd for solutiom
to better implement programs suiting
Native-American concerns.
Asked if he thought Wright would
be teaching the course again this fall
Johnson replied, "in light of what'
been said, I doubt it."
'HP casino
gambling.
proposal dies
By RON SEIGEL
Spec/.' to the Mlchl,.n Citizen
HIGIILAND PARK-A some
Michigan communities grapple with
the i ue of casino gambling a
ource of economic independence,
Highland Park' Mayor Linsey Porter
reque ted during the June 7 City
Council m ting that council reject a
proposal allowing developer Robert
Zeff to clear city land for casino gam­
bling.
Ze , with the Mayor' upport,
had made hi proposal at the begin­
ning 0 the year.
However, after listening to con­
cerns expre ed by some council
members, th· Mayor urged tabling the
i ue, in order to get more knowledge
of the gambling industry and ee if the
city could get a better deal.
During the meeting, Porter re­
q ted lefr proposal be removed
from the table and placed on the
agenda for th purpose ofletting it die.
In a letter to city council, Porter
indicated that he wanted the city "to
take a clean appro ch" to seeking pro­
posal for an entertainment complex
"and to be able to guarantee potential
developers that th re is an open door
for all and no on an advantage or
inside track to being awarded the op­
portunity to develop uch a complex
in Highland Park."
"We want to give an indication that
n n h an inside track. We want
to mak it clear that anyone i eligible
to ubmit a propo ," Porter told the
coun il.
Anoth r objection made to ZefI'
propo. al w that uch propo aIs
hould 0 to local developers in order
to keep th money in the community
a�d to proVlde more opportunity for
city r id nand busin
erv . d that opening
am would allow them
considered.
,
I
