LETTERS
Granholm falls short on EMU appointments
With the appointment of two white men to become regents at Eastern Michigan University, Governor Granholm has continued her flawed Moynihanian benign neglect philosophy regarding black people in the state of Michigan. She believes that if she ignores black issues they will go away. There are now eight white regents out of eight positions at a school with more than 20 percent of its students being black. I was told by several local politicians that blacks will get a chance later to be appointed. Where have I heard that junk before? I believe it was in the '60s.
The governor engages in that smiling-faces-political-mentality where she will say and do most anything to get a vote, but once she is elected she forgets where her vote majority came from. And likewise, the Democratic Party continues to pay lip service to the needs of the black community and when elections are over we are the proverbial one night stand. They really do take our vote for granted.
If the Republican Party would stop its race baiting ways, I am certain that they would find a more receptive audience in the black community. Many of us are fed up with the Democrats, but we have no choice in most elections.
I guess we need to vote our consciences in the 2006 elections by not voting for either party. If we don't vote, then Granholm doesn't win. Just ask former Gov. Jim Blanchard what happens when the black community purposely decides to stay home. He lost because the blacks in Detroit were fed up with his benign neglect philosophy. Maybe the governor thinks that we will forget her insensitive and misdirected policies by Election Day. It certainly is a gamble.
Stanley M. Stewart, Ypsilanti