Serving Metropolitan Detroit Since 1944
Serving Metropolitan Detroit Since 1944
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The White Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, who is captured on video participating in the death of George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling the weight of his body on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes, had his 3rd degree murder charge upgraded to second degree murder by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Three officers, two that restrained him by holding him down and applying fatal pressure to his lungs and another who stood guard to block anyone from helping Floyd, were charged...
Since taking office in 2014, Mayor Mike Duggan has spent close to 300M dollars in federal Hardest Hit Funds to tear down thousands of homes in the city of Detroit. Moreover, he has stated publicly on numerous occasions that these funds were strictly allocated toward demolitions and he was powerless to spend them to keep Detroiters, suffering under a litany of burdens and abuses, in their homes. Yet, when the United States Congress passed the TARP legislation in 2008, it specifically set asidea...
n 2010, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) (also known as the Hardest Hit Fund) was established to provide help to families in areas of the nation adversely affected by the economic tsunami ignited by wild, predatory speculators in the housing and financial markets. The Hardest Hit program initially focused on five states (Michigan being one of them) with the most distressed homeowners and a funded initiative of 9.6 billion dollars that included 18 states along with the District of Columbi...
Mayor Mike Duggan's controversial 'Make Your Date' sponsorship and program came under renewed fire recently when Detroit Inspector General, Ellen Ha, released a report citing possible unlawful behavior by Duggan's chief of staff, Alexis Wiley for ordering the deletion of hundreds of emails relating to the program. The IG began her investigation last April when news reports surfaced about an alleged extra marital relationship between Duggan and Make Your Date director, Dr. Sonia Hassan. [1] Make...
Mayor Mike Duggan is soliciting political and community support to place a $250 million-dollar municipal bond proposal on the ballot in March 2020.Yet, a recent report released by Detroit Auditor General Mark Lockridge, is only the latest in a series of negative revelations and allegations that has haunted Duggan and his administration. The Auditor General revealed that Duggan's controversial demolition program contained data that is "inconsistent and unreliable" and that record keeping was...
On November 1, Reverend Jesse Jackson spearheaded the 20th Global Automotive Summit at the Motor City Casino conference room in Detroit. This year's theme is entitled, "Expanding the African American Opportunity Pipeline." The theme is inspired by information gained from a review of the Automotive Diversity Scorecard which graphically illustrates the progress (or lack of progress) of inclusion efforts of auto manufacturing in the United States. The categories range from employment, dealership...
5 year-old Black man, Ramone Jackson, has spent most of his life living in Detroit and he is intense when discussing how city government has failed the people it is supposed to represent. Jackson is convinced that, given the nearly $825 million dollars Detroiters contribute to the budget every year[1] along with hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants the city has received during mayor Duggan's administration[2], its residents should not be living in such destitution and squalor. Jack...
DETROIT - Detroit is known as one of the most poverty stricken large urban areas in the United States. And according to the 2000 U.S. Census, Detroit has the highest percentage of Black people in cities with a population of 100,000 or more. The racial fears and hatreds which culminated in defacto and dejure segregation and redlining has its genesis in the institution of chattel slavery which was legal in the U.S. for most of its history. In the first three decades of the 20 th century, Blacks tr...
On Saturday June 23, the Charles H. Wright African Museum hosted a celebration honoring the life and legacy of former Detroit councilman and African-centered activist, Kwame Kenyatta. Kenyatta passed away on May 22 after providing decades of service to the people of Detroit, a city he moved to in 1967 in the aftermath of the 1967 Detroit rebellion, and a city that strongly influenced him with its climate of resistance to racism and tradition of Black consciousness. The C.H. Wright auditorium...
In his State of the City speech last March, Mayor Mike Duggan promised to install more surveillance cameras throughout Detroit. This is in conjunction with the city's controversial Green Light Project, a 2016 high-tech camera surveillance initiative which has expanded to include over 500 monitoring devices throughout the city. It was also recently revealed that many of these cameras are outfitted with sophisticated facial recognition technology which is a point of contention among residents....
The Detroit Association of Black Organizations (Dabo) is a consortium of organizations and community groups that work together and provide resources and services for the overlooked and the underserved in metropolitan Detroit. Located at the intersection of Grand River and Wyoming on Detroit's west side, one of its slogans is "Building Unity in the Black Community." Some of the organizations that synchronize their efforts with Dabo to empower people are the Detroit Council for Political Education...
In the autumn of 2018, the city of Hamtramck warned residents that the water supply might be tainted after several samples from homes showed elevated levels of lead. City officials declared that Hamtramck would begin analyzing at least 60 samples every six months to determine if action is needed to reduce corrosion in the city's pipes. Ironically, Hamtramck's announcement came on the heels of revelations in Detroit's city schools that high levels of lead were detected in the drinking fountains,...
On March 30th tempers flared and several Detroit Charter Commission members walked out of what they described as a meeting that was not scheduled according to Robert's Rule of Order (which the commission agreed to adopt) and which violated provisions in the Open Meetings Act of Michigan. Commissioner Richard Mack made a motion on February 3rd to change the Committee of the Whole meeting from March 23rd to March 30th. The motion was voted down by the commission 7 to 2. Despite this the meeting...
Highland Park is a small municipality completely enveloped by Detroit. According to the last census, it has a population of 11,776. And although home to Henry Ford's first mass production auto assembly plant, the city has lost thousands of industrial jobs with the downsizing and removal of auto manufacturing and related industries. (Chrysler corporation, the city's last and largest private employer, moved to Auburn Hills in the early 1990's). Faced with corporate abandonment, loss of jobs, and...
In early March, the Northwest Activity Center gave a symposium to promote awareness of the opioid substance abuse epidemic that is devastating southeast Michigan and the nation. The forum consisted of Darlene Owens, Director of Substance Use Disorder Services at the Detroit Wayne Mental Health Authority; Andrew Johnson, President/CEO of the Detroit Recovery Project; Tera Miller, a pharmaceutical industry researcher; and Karl King, an expert in opioid addiction recovery. The panelists spoke on...
DETROIT - The recent firing of a White Detroit police officer after he posted a racist snapchat video of a Black woman forced to walk home in freezing temperature has stirred controversy about the screening policy of the city's police department. Officers Gary Steele and Michael Garrison of Detroit's sixth precinct stopped driver, Ariel Moore for expired license tags in late January. Although police under Michigan law can tow vehicles with expired tags, motorists are usually ticketed for this...
Statistically, the residents of the city of Detroit are some of the poorest in the nation. Detroiters are also subjected to some of the highest auto insurance rates in the United States where motorists are routinely required to pay more than $3000 dollars a year to insure their vehicles. These high rates have a negative and reverberating effect on the city's economy by reducing the amount of money residents can spend on food, clothing, utilities, housing, and other goods and services. It is the...
DETROIT - On Saturday January 26th, the newly elected Detroit Charter Revision Commissioners held their third community meeting at the Samaritan Center on the city's east side. Detroiters voted last August to impanel a commission to revise the city's 2012 charter. If the vote had not passed, the opportunity wouldn't have come again for 16 years. The Charter Commission is in a very important and critical period because it is involved in the process of making changes in the city's charter, a...
Last month, on December 8th a summit was held at the main branch of the Detroit Public Library to bring awareness of the plight of the nation's children. Speakers included Reverend Frederick D. Shaw Jr. of the Citizens Commission of Human Rights; Dr. Stephen K. Baskerville an expert on child custody and the family court system; and Dr Umar Johnson, certified psychologist, former school principal, lecturer and author. The conference covered issues related to child health and well being, such as t...
Marijuana is a green, strong-smelling plant that grows around the world. The leaves of the plant contain the chemical substance THC which medical researchers are finding more ways and means in treating a variety of illnesses and alleviating acute pain. Although marijuana is generally believed to be far less harmful than most drugs, it is not harmless. There are many studies that indicate that marijuana can do both physical and mental damage. There is also historical documentation that marijuana...
A Detroit coalition of community groups has demanded that trustees of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History cancel an exhibit showcasing Thomas Jefferson's Virginia slave plantation, Monticello. A spokesperson for the Black Legacy Coalition is questioning the museum's direction after the resignation of former CEO, Juanita Moore, who retired on July 1st after serving nearly 12 years at the helm of the museum. The Coalition is also calling for increased community representation...
On November 6, Michigan voters passed Proposal 1 which legalized recreational marijuana in the state. When the law goes into effect on December 6, Marijuana will be regulated like tobacco products and alcoholic beverages in Michigan. Like alcohol, a person would have to be at least 21 years of age to use or purchase marijuana. And like tobacco, businesses and landlords would have the right to prohibit smoking marijuana on their property. And similar to the use of alcohol, smoking marijuana in...
Professor Veda Jairrels believes African American students must read more to improve performance on achievement exams and prepare them for the fields of mathematics, science, medicine, business and other disciplines. Jaireels's book entitled, African Americans and Standardized Tests: The Real Reason for Low Test Scores, is a blueprint for parents to enhance the learning and comprehension skills of their children so they can better compete in an increasingly high-tech world. The book is...
The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that "excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted" and the Declaration of Independence declares that people are entitled by the Creator to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The American judicial system with its imposition of money bail on the marginalized, the and the destitute, and depriving them of their freedom simply because they are poor is working...
When, on a December evening in 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a White man on a segregated bus in Montgomery Alabama, she was arrested and besieged by threats from angry White racists and her courage sparked the resurgence of America's civil rights movement. Yet her commitment to respect, human rights and human dignity began long before that fateful day. Born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee Alabama on February 4, 1913, she displayed character traits of shyness and kindness, alon...
