Tbl_of_contents

ANGOLA: AN EYEWITNESS REPORT, P. 6-7

IN THE VORTEX:

Paul Robeson
Chuck Jackson
Muruga
Les McCann
Horizon Jazz

KULCHUR

Coat Puller
Bill Hutton
Calendar
 

Serving Metropolitan Detroit and Greater Michigan

SUN

Coppola in Cuba

Godfather's director shares his impression of a "new culture" and a revolution in the making. p. 11.

Free Weed!

That's right, you can win a pound of high-grade Colombian marijuana, and many other prizes, in the SUN's second annual contest. To enter, see p. 31. 

Calendar

Sarah Vaughn at Music Hall & much more. Complete calendar, p. 19.

Howard Kohn

The best investigative reporter Detroit ever lost talks about the 10th Precinct Conspiracy Trial and how he went about investigating Detroit's heroin business. p. 9.

Night Train

Lion's star Dick Lane is back on the scene, but this time he's running Detroit's Police Athletic League. Joel Greer profiled the Night Train. p. 5.

Volume 4, No. 2          February 5, 1976

THE STATE OF THE CITY

By Derek VanPelt

There was a buzzing in the cold Detroit air outside Ford Auditorium last Thursday as hundreds of city workers, community leaders, and media people walked past thirty or forty white folks protesting the city's upcoming busing plan. Except for these, everyone had come to hear Mayor Young's second annual State of the City message.

As we settled into the Auditorium's red plush seats, waiting for the Mayor to make his appearance, and television crews made their preparations for the live broadcast at the edge of the stage, the comfortable surroundings seemed to war with the growing tension of exepectancy.

Everyone in the hall was ready for bad news. They knew Detroit was faced with a $50 million budget deficit, that the city's fiscal options were limited, that there were no easy answers.

Would the Mayor announce still more layoffs, after cutting the city's work force by 18 per cent in the last two years? Would he propose turning over some of the city's unprofitable operations to the state or other authorities? Would he bring grim news of deep cuts in services, or even the elimination of entire departments, as has proposed in some quarters?

Within five minutes, Coleman Young had laid those fears to rest, at least for the moment, provoking frequent applause as he ruled out what he called "the

continued on page 2

... AND HOW IT GOT THAT WAY

Redlining

How Bands Destroy Neighborhoods

By Nadine Brown

The various methods which have been used for many years, with the sanctions of city governments, to isolate certain neighborhoods, and literally box black and poor minorities into decaying areas of cities around the country, are almost as numerous as the the arms of an octopus. These practices have long been widespread in the city of Detroit.

Urban renewal, accurately labeled "negro removal" some 30 years ago, has been a major culprit. So has the rezoning of neighborhoods from residential to

continued on page 4

The central city's battle for survival is made more desperate by banks who deny loans in "redlined" areas. Economic hard times may now be driving large numbers of Detroit's heroin addicts to suicide.

316 ODs
Why Are So Many Junkies Dying?

By Pat Heron

As if the cost of heroin addiction wasn't already high enough, both for the user and the community, record numbers of Detroit's junkies are now paying with their lives.

According to City Health Department Figures, deaths related to opiate overdose or addiction totaled at least 316 last year. That unprecedented number represents an increase of 60 per cent plus over 1974 - which, in turn, brought a similar increase over the 1973 total (see graph, p. 4).

continues on page 4

Next: State-wide Desegregation? p. 3