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The following article is taken from The Michigan Chronicle, May 24-30, 2000. Activist Aims at
Former UAW official author and political activist Ernie Dillard has exercised his vast resources and leadership abilities in the fight for affirmative action for more than 50 years. His latest target is Michigan Republican Sen. David Jaye, who is an outspoken critic and opponent of affirmative action. Dillard, chairman of the African American Committee to Communicate the Whole Truth on Race to White People of the United States, has initiated a mailing of more than 2,000 letters to the private residences of Whites in Sterling Heights, Utica and Shelby Township and suburban areas in Jaye's district. "The open letters seek to demystify racism by exposing the contradictions and paradoxes of race-card politics and its negative consequences on White people," Dillard said. "We're hoping to get the whole truth on race to the White people in Sen. Jaye's district. Our committee has no quarrel with Jaye's right to his views because we know they're constitutionally protected. However, we believe when people are informed there are two sides to every issue." "The committee believes the present one-way, racial message delivered to White people in Jaye's district in effect tells them who and what to vote for -- thereby providing no opportunities for them to participate in the whole political process which is the only way to get the whole truth on race." In addition to letters mailed to district citizens, a second letter entitled An Open Letter on Affirmative Action was mailed to Jaye. "We urged the senator to call a town hall meeting in his district for the purpose of holding a widely-publicized educational discussion, not a debate, on the issues of affirmative action and other related racial issues. Also the letter requested that those in attendance be given full opportunity to ask questions of the speakers and join in the discussions with their own opinions. The meeting, we proposed, should feature Jaye or his designee, and myself," Dillard said. Dillard said his objective in this affirmative action campaign is to provide a democratic process by which Whites will be able to see both sides of the racial issue. "According to his senatorial record, Jaye has been battling affirmative action for more than five years and has proposed a constitutional amendment to end it," Dillard said. He challenges Jaye on the issue of neglecting and ignoring the real problems in his district. " What about their real needs like jobs, health insurance, housing and education?" "While Sen. Jaye launched a four-man, satewide search for victims of affirmative action, he could have checked out his relatives, his friends and neighbors who need economic help. There are nearly a million White people without health insurance in Michigan -- and nearly 71 percent of working poor White families with children in Michigan -- just under one-fourth are Black. Basically, the overwhelming majority of people in Michigan living in poverty are White men, White women and White children, according to the Michigan League for Human Services," Dillard said. These facts, Dillard said, clearly show that Jaye has plenty of work to do if he wants to help the people in his district. He has no time to send out press releases asking White and Asian voters to vote against affirmative action at the University of Michigan. Several weeks have passed and Dillard is still waiting to hear from Jaye on the town hall meeting. There are two questions Dillard wants answered: Does Jaye's public silence result from fear that White voters in his district will not buy the political propaganda for blaming the problem on "big labor, Blacks and Liberals?" Or is it just cunning strategy to stay the course rather than risk awakening and raising their expectations of "sleeping White giants" (voters) who have not used their political clout to improve their economic condition? "The committee finds the senator's indifference cold and uncaring," Dillard said. |
