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April 10, 2000 The Honorable Senator David Jaye Dear Senator Jaye: Please find enclosed a copy of an "open letter" to the White people of the United States. It's pretty much self-explanatory. The open letter seeks do de-mystify racism. It exposes the contradictions and paradoxes of race-card politics and its negative consequences on white people. For your information, we have mailed this open letter to the private residences of, at least, 1000 White people who live in Sterling Heights, Utica, and Shelby Township. This is the first step of our continuing effort to get the whole truth on race to the white people in your district. The Committee selected your district because of your legislation history, and that you are an out-spoken critic of affirmative action. Our committee has no quarrel with your right to express your views They are constitutionally protected. But as you know there are two sides to every coin. We believe that the present one-way, pre-packaged racial message, arbitrarily dropped on the doorstep (figuratively speaking) of White people in your district -- in effect tells them who and what to vote for -- thereby providing no opportunities for them to participate in the political process; which is the only way get the whole truth on race. To meet this problem, we respectfully urge you to call a Town Hall meeting, in your district for the express purpose of having a full and open discussion, not a debate, on affirmative action and any other racial issue. Those in attendance should be given full opportunity to express their own opinion and participate in the discussion. Through this democratic process, White people will be able to see both sides of the racial coin. The main speakers at this Town Hall meeting should be, Senator Jaye (or his designee) and myself, Ernie Dillard, Chairman of The African American Committee to Communicate the Whole Truth on Race to the White People of the United States. Senator Jaye, the Committee is puzzled by your prioritization -- the pecking order of the issues for which you choose to fight. According to the record, you have been battling against affirmative action for more than five years and have proposed a constitutional amendment to end it. Your press release dated August 13, 1999 stated that ".... Senator Jaye was one of four state legislators who helped launch a statewide campaign to recruit students who were denied admission to the University of Michigan due to affirmative action. After this all-out "State-wide" search to find victims of affirmative action, you (Jaye) reported the results -- "a white woman and man." Both un-named and un-identified in your news release. Nevertheless on behalf of this anonymous couple on August 13, 1999, you issued a press release calling upon ... "the parents and grand-parents of Asian and White children to join in a lawsuit against the University of Michigan's affirmative action program." Clearly this action smelled a bit like overkill -- but, I guess, for you, it provided the technical basis for an issue which provides benefit to you - personally. Out of this process you received free political publicity on television, radio and in print. A reasonable white voter could wonder -- was all of this a scam in the first place? But my question is -- What about the real nitty gritty problems of the Whites in your district -- What was their quid pro quo? Did they have economic problems rising to the level of those of the "White woman and man?" Let's check the record. According to the U.S. Census Department, on August 13, 1995, when you opened your assault on affirmative action, the total number of people in Michigan, living in poverty was 1,225,586; the total number of children in Michigan living in poverty was 327,993. It should be noted that since the Black population in the State of Michigan is only 13% - the overwhelming majority of people in Michigan living in poverty are white men, white women and white children. But that is not all; according to the Michigan League for Human Services... Just over half of all working poor families with children in Michigan, 54%, were headed by a single female... and ... "The vast majority of working poor families with children in Michigan are white, 71%. Just under one fourth are Blacks..." In Michigan today there are nearly a million white people without health insurance, and there is no need for a four-man, "state-wide" search committee to find the "victim" above -- they are your relatives, friends and next door neighbors. As noted earlier, for more than five years, Senator Jaye, you have been Michigan's up-front, in your face, flame-thrower against affirmative action -- but you remain, to this day, strangely un-agitated -- and you maintain a grave yard silence in the face of the fact that 71% of the working poor in Michigan -- are white -- and that a million white men, white women and their children do not have health insurance. The Committee finds your indifference to the above problems, cold and uncaring. Does your public silence and total inaction result from your fear that White voters in your district will not -- again -- buy your political propaganda for blaming the problem on Big Labor, Blacks and Liberals. Or is it just a cunning strategy to stay the course, rather than risk awakening and raising the expectation of the sleeping White Giant (white voters, who have not used their immense and available political clout to improve their own economic conditions), as indicated in the above statistics. Senator Jaye, since you spent more than five years of your time and talent fighting (according to your personal report) a victim-less issue (affirmative action) we believe that white people in your District would agree, that it is your duty and obligation -- under your Oath of Office -- to accord Equal Accommodation -- personal time and talent, Aggressive Legislation and state-wide outreach efforts to deal with the real economic problem of real live people -- a million white people without health insurance and hundreds of thousands of the white working poor, in Michigan, living in poverty. And as in your anti-affirmative action campaign -- here too - you should actively urge "the parents and grandparents of Asian and white children" to join you in the democratic process of persuading your colleagues, Democrat and Republican to pass -- now -- critically needed legislation. The above are questions and concerns -- that will be raised in the meeting. I am sure you will ably respond -- it is from this process that white people become fully informed and are then able to make a more rational political decision. I hope to see you at the meeting. Sincerely,
Ernie C. DilIard, Sr. |
