READERS WRITE
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As I sat at th police desk thinking
about how our young people are wast
ing their lives, a young lady walked
up to the police desk inquiring about
her boyfriend th father of her baby.
The young lady was 15 years old
and claimed h r baby was months
old. The inmate that he inquired
about was 17 years old, of March
1993. He (the inmate) was being held
for murder. He hot a man in a drug
deal gOr¥! bad. .
It w around seven thirty wh n
the young I dy arrived :'It the police
desk. After being told that th inmate
herboyfriend, would be going to court
at 9 or 10 a.m., he decide4 to wait.
When told that he faced life in pri on,
if convicted, he w saddened.
She poke of h r. baby and how
they would make it omehow. She
took two dollars from h r pocket and
bought some candy and potato Chips
for her boyfriend.
As I gav the sn to the young
inmate, I thought how .young they
were, how th ir lives have all but been
desjroyed. I wondered if this situation
was due to family neglect, a need for
money or just greed.
I D 'T H P but feel
ony for the young lady who at tim
fought b k th tears. Th young man
tried to appear hard-core but I could
ee that h w cared.
I returned to the police d k and
ntinucd my nve tion with th
yo un I dy only t di cover that he
had only completed middle chool,
th th grade. S w uld tart high
chool 10 th all of nus year. The
mother f th youn I dy was eri
ously III and received' i' tan from
the state. The fath r was in another
tate. That there cue eight ( ) children
in her armly and he w th young
est. And that he w aJ 0 eeking a
job.
I have policed th treets of High
land Park for twenty-two years plus
but lately, the. ituati n with our ctul
dren i dev tating. I ked my. elf
ar they really old enough, expen
enced enough or matu enough to
make th rucial d I 10 that
could mean th differ nee tw n
life or death, freedom or jail.
It' fnght ning wh n I think about
it. I make pur-of- h -moment deer-
ions on a gular b I. Often nrn
I critique my' tt ns and if given an
other chance, I would have don
thin different. nd th • with pro
f ronal trainin and almo t thirty
yeazs 0 experience.
WHAT' 111' lution to the
thi ituation? More amily participa
tion? More community programs?
Earlier intervention by paren tea h
e and/or police a enci . The old
method of b IC cours llmg i n t
workin . We need th e counselors
that can relate that und tand the.
problems and the o nal iti in-
volved.
As a police officer, home owner
and taxpayerofthi comm nity I will
continu to give that needed attention
and upport to our youth.
Hub rtYopp,
Cltlzen/Pollce Offlc r
Highland Park
NAACP
commends the
Michigan Citizen
o ar Editor:
Transforming the dream of 1963
intotherealityofl _ I mdeed clo er
to tuahty thanks t your' I tance.
Toe March 0 19 3 with over
250 people 10 downtown Detroit
of every ethnic. cial educational,
and r Ii 10 a k round, w indeed
hi toric.
It exc eded every hope and expec
tall n. We all h uld thank th al
mighty God and the enero ity of hi
people or th pint and cooperation
dem rstrated In thi recent event. We
must pleased With th f t that not'
on 10 ident urred to detra t from
Reverend Wend II Anthony
Pre Ident, Detroit NAACP
"progress"
HA�RIS
y on
118t whi fol
f.
ve iven up on
a
illu-
I are till 3/5 of
a human bing a collective com
munity.
Even President Clinton was
wi tbdrawing t Lani Guinier nomi
n tion, (for fear of provoking a divi-
ive racial debate) the nations
new papers were filled wi th reports
of th exi tence of discrimination
b ed on the color line in this nation.
Denny' Restaurant chain and
Sboney wer both identified
bus in wh affiliates had dis
criminated agai t their Black cus
tomers.
A report in USA Today cited an
incident in AJ xandria, Va., where a
Black woman w denied a room at
a major botel because of her color.
W bingt n Po t carried
tensive tory detailin 1
crimination in mortgage lending in
t ter D.C. metropolit
o m U r how much politici Ii e
Bill Clinton would like to ignore it,
ra iaJ di crimination i till very
prevalent in American ociety.
ot only i racism being ignored,
ther i growing r entment of tbe
fact that African Americans are till
pressing for civil rights law and af
firmativ action to remedy the dam
ag of p t and present egregation
aoo di crimination.
Jet Magazine published the re
ults ofa urvey thatclearty indicates
that young whi are particularly re-
entful of the persistent eompl .
about raci m voiced by African
Americans.
Whi resentment is boiling over
into incidents of racial violence, am
resi tance to any policy or program
that is p rceived being primarily
beneficial to Blac alXl minoriti .
THE D MINANT vrzw ex
pressed by WID Americans i that
AS PRE5IDENT, I'VE W TO
YOU, IGNORED YOU AND TAKEN
® EQR GRAMIED 'Uh ••
WIll YOU HELP RE-Elf{J ME?!!
THE u.s. IS till a whi country
who titud are deeply colored
by . m. Hence, the death and de-
tructiOD, tbc gony am pain of Hfe
in tbe urban ghetto can be Ignored
or imply attributed to some cultural
or genetic of those who uffer.
African Americans cannot give in
to the e�ion that we be ilent in
the faceofoosm and genocide. We
must not let our people uffer peace
fully. Nor can those of us who have
been permitted to prosper afford' to
forget or n our I fortunate
siste and brothers.
-:
INJUSTICE 0 any African
person anywhere is an injustice to
every African everywhere. Hence,
we must continue to stridently charge
racism and genocide and tru gl to
am th economi and political
po reak tbe 1d of white u-
premacy over our llv on and for
all. .
Ameticaand its Fourth of July can
never ve meaning for African
Americans unti] the fes ring cancel
of racism has been eradicated from
the American sys m.
Ron Daniels serves as President
of the Institute for Community Or
ganization and Development in
YoungstoWn, Ohio. lie may be con
tacted at (216) 746·5747.
On da 10 th late ixti when]
was compleun my graduate tudi �
at th Uruvcrsity of I wa, my land
lord, th form r upenntend nt of
h Is at Iowa City. declared With
d' t that meum new pap rs
VIO ly fa > mforma-
By James E. Alsbrook
taught that poli c eneraU ere
community ervan who .upphcd
afety, con rn and prot cuon. But
Black peopl know Her. caus
they have een the double tandard
of condu t ased on arrogant dorni
n tion and violent uppr' Ion f r
Blacks.
You can understand th Bla r
action only when you understand
t t to millions of Blac tlu 7 dd
econd pecta le was a compr ed
version and a painful ree pitulation
of th total Blac e pcnence 10
America
vid otape?
Police brutality w USed against
my mother and me many years ago
and the r. ult bow today on my
f ce and head.
HE I Weight or nine
yearsold I kedmymotherwhyshe
fr quently took me aside and mes
a ed the right side of my forehead.
Sh finally told me that when I was a
few months old she fell on me when
h w p bed down the teps of a
rai lro d chai r car by a whi police
man t the Oklahoma border with
Kars . '
out further talk or he would arres t
her. . .
HE ABANDO ED her trip to '
Texas and let the train go wlule try
ing to care for her baby' bead and
noise. She too the next train ba k to
Kansas and found a doctor. My head
am nose remain different d pite the
doctor's care and my mother' I v
ing, long-time effort
Rodney's beating forced me to
remember many unpleasant ra ral
encounters over the years, but many
other Blac have memories worse
than mine.