European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 24, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Investment not hatred should be aimed at cities Clarence Page Marks relatives Back in Korea arc worried about him. They have seen the awesome and awful news about the los Angeles riots. They have seen the painful pictures of Korcan american women crying Over the ashes of their burned out store korean american merr standing guard with rifles and shotguns in a Korea town against looters and korean american mourners crying at the funeral of a Man who As it turned out shot by a fellow korean american in the riots confusion. Marks relatives must think All hell is breaking Loose in the United states. They probably think african americans hate korean americans and will Rise up with blood lust to Torch any korean shops and any koreans they see. I wonder if they know that Black owned shops were torched too. I wonder if they know a virtual Rainbow coalition of looters trashed a Rainbow coalition of victims. 1 wonder if they know the reported a race riot just As much a clash Between classes. I wonder if they know my Middle class african american family still has its regular sunday breakfast in Marks restaurant in our quiet Azalea adorned Washington suburb. That s life during wartime. Perhaps like countless other foreign visitors they would be amazed to Sec for themselves that the . Is 1 a very big country that 2 unfortunately contains too Many Small minds. The Joy with which my 3-year-old son greets Mark every sunday reminds me of How i As a child growing up in Middletown Ohio in the 1950s, knew neighbourhood shopkeepers with names like Guido and Musberger. Shop keeping always has provided newcomers with an Avenue into the american dream. Only the surnames and Points of origin have changed. Unfortunately the conflicts seen in major cities today Between native Blacks and korean Arab and even West Indian shopkeepers Mark a new wave of bitter resentment by native born Blacks who see themselves left behind by a departed Black Middle class and a targeted a in the words of one new York Black Leader on a recent sunday today show by an advancing army of korean merchants. The targeting talk is nonsense born of unfortunate ignorance of How markets work. Merchants set up shop in neighbourhoods where they think they can make a living. It is not the color of skin they search out. It is the color of Money. A poor inner City neighbourhood will attract any merchant who feels the cheap overhead and High consumer needs arc Worth the High crime risk. It is not the fault of newcomers that they understand How capitalism works better than we native Borns do. To see our periodic temper tantrums against the japanese for example smashing up Toyota and the like you might think capitalism is a recent japanese invention designed to invade America take All of our Money and leave us with a pile of Vars. Not so. Capitalism is a two Way service for the Benefit of producer and consumer. It is Only when the Exchange is knocked out of balance by a Lack of information by one Side that the other is invited to take unfair advantage. When that happens bitterness and resentment eventually result which benefits no one. The message capitalism works but so far in America Only for some. Our Challenge is to make it work for everyone. Koreans on guard during the los Angeles riots. Think about it Urban life would be far different today if More capital had been invested in the �?T60s, when we saw traditional factory jobs disappearing to upgrade workers skills and provide us with better equipment so we could maintain our advantage in global markets. It is our political choices As a nation that have allowed growing numbers of unskilled and under skilled americans to languish in poverty bitterness hopelessness and As we saw in los Angeles anarchy. Compare this sad picture to the billions of dollars Germany a government is pouring into massive efforts to bring its underdeveloped East up to the economic and educational productivity of the West. Germany a unification government knows that political Unity cannot stand without equalized Opportunity. Already it is experiencing a new wave of anti immigrant hostility a rising Neo nazism and rampant reports that businesses Are firing Blue Collar West berliners to hire East berliners at half the salary. That a Only a taste of what a to come if Opportunity is not equalized on a National level. The question we should be asking ourselves is what does Germany know that we done to How can we Advance into the 21st Century if a big chunk of our population lives in third world conditions where is our concentrated Effort to upgrade our ghettos with top Quality education economic investments and Short term Loans after All we re All americans Arentt we Tho Chicago Tribuno police work Means a lot to figure out Andy Rooney 44 the policeman Slot is not a Happy one Quot . Gilbert wrote in his operetta pirates of Penzance. You can sing that again. The policeman Slot in America Isnit going to get any happier either after the not guilty verdict in the Rodney King Case. I done to care what the profession is a doctor lawyer beggar Man thief a there Are a lot of Good ones and a few bad ones. We form our opinion about All of them based on what we be heard about the few bad ones. If i were a cop id be outraged at not protective of those bad cops in los Angeles who beat King. Most professions protect their own. Lawyers Are slow to blow the whistle on other lawyers. Doctors Are reluctant to suggest malpractice in their ranks. Cops arc the slowest of All to report that anyone in their department is doing anything wrong. There a a code among cops. They done to report corrupt colleagues. If they know a cop on the beat is shaking Down the bars and restaurants they done to report it even if they themselves Are otherwise honest. They think of it As a code of Honor but its a code of Dishonour. One of the cops in that Circle surrounding King should have stepped in and arrested the officers who were beating him. At the very least they should have written it up in their report. Its difficult to know what determines the character of a City a police Force. Most often its the chief of police. In be been arrested twice in California and i done to like los Angeles cops. Its my impression that under Daryl Gates they have a storm troopers mentality. New York cops Are just the opposite. They re beaten Down. If they see a crime taking place they re Apt to turn away rather than get into All the problems that an arrest entails. New York is the Only City in the world where an impatient cab Driver will honk his Horn at a slow moving police squad car ahead of him. I done to know which attitude is worse but i prefer the new York cop. You wonder Why anyone wants to be a cop. If you do the Job right its a dangerous profession. Last year 118 cops were killed in the United states. I suppose people like to be cops because of the Power they have but it Isnit a bad Deal financially either. The average pay for a new York police officer is Between $45,000 and $50,000. Some make a great Deal More. A new York cop can retire after 20 years at half of his highest yearly pay. A lot of them retire before they re 45. If a cop convinces a Board lie is disabled he gets 75 percent of his highest pay untaxed. There arc 5,577 retired new York cops who get the total disability payment a and you can bet some of them work full time. California is our biggest state and it has the most cops 77,500. They arc paid $4 billion a year. New York pays its 67,000 cops $3 billion. Vermont has the fewest cops 1,159. Washington d.c., has 4,600. That a 74 cops for every 10,000 people. West Virginia on the other hand has Only 17 cops for every 10,000 people. The police in a Community usually Cost each resident Between $200 and $300 a year. In the nations capital the police Force costs each citizen $898. The Detroit police Force is predominantly Black As is the population of the City. There a less friction police and the citizens because of it. This seems like an eminently sensible idea. The Philadelphia police used to be at War with the Black population of the City when Frank Rizzo police chief. Peace broke out when Willie Williams took Over and now willies going to . To replace Gates. Ill be More comfortable when i go to . With Willie As chief even though in a a Small time criminal. My most serious offence in los Angeles jaywalking on Beverly Boulevard. Tribuno mud adv icon May 24, 1992 sunday a Page 9
