By CLIFF RUSSELL
One of the more infuriating aspects of the takeover of Detroit by the state of Michigan has been the various attempts to blame the city’s demise on African Americans and on the city’s governance since black Detroiters assumed control.
I’ve heard and read more than a few recent comments, from both whites and blacks, proclaiming that Detroit’s problems were 40 years in the making or that Detroit has suffered from 40 years of mismanagement.
"The city’s problems have much more to do with its lack of money and jobs than its lack of management," Cliff Russell writes.
Coincidentally it was exactly 40 years ago that Detroiters elected their first black mayor, Coleman A. Young. Incredibly, he's still blamed by many whites -- and some blacks -- for Detroit’s woes.
Most experts and observers, including Gov. Snyder and Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, agree that Detroit’s decline began at least 60 years ago. The fall of Detroit did not begin with the election of black mayors and the era of black political control.
Shortly after Mike Duggan, a viable white candidate, filed his signatures to be placed on the mayoral ballot, the major local news outlets began advancing the idea of a white mayor for Detroit. A black columnist for a local major daily newspaper even bragged that she called for “the election of a white mayor” to fix Detroit 10 years ago.
Ironically, the title of her column was “Detroit voters must look beyond race,” as if Detroiters did not have a history of electing white candidates, such as Maryann Mahaffey, Sheila Cockrel and Mel Ravitz. Anyone who specifically calls for the election of a white mayor is not “looking beyond race,” but is implicitly saying we don’t need to elect another black one.
Beware of Shallow Thinking
Duggan's candidacy also has led to some fascinating political conversations among black folks in Detroit. These conversations have shed light on the beliefs of a number of blacks who believe their own black politicians are the cause of Detroit’s problems. Certainly, not every black person who backs Duggan feels this way, but there are definitely some blacks whose support for Duggan hinges on the fact that he is not black.
Suggestions that Detroit’s current problems are due to 40 years of black political control are shallow, incorrect, diversionary and ultimately racist. Any reasonable and honest explanation for Detroit’s current predicament will conclude that the city’s problems have much more to do with its lack of money and jobs than its lack of management. It is, at least, wrong and, at worst, sinister, to specifically blame black folks for Detroit’s maladies. Beware of people who do so.
But also beware of those who say black Detroiters are just hapless victims caught up in the ongoing machinations of powerful, moneyed racists. We have played a role in the decline of Detroit, too.
Some of Detroit’s most pressing problems are, in fact, linked to our collective failures as blacks. Our failures are not so much political or administrative or fiscal, but spiritual, social and communal. Our failures are self-inflicted wounds that violate our own economic, political and social well-being and push so many of our people toward lethargy, anti-social behavior, or just plain foolishness. Our failures spring from the self-hatred, fear and apathy that have historically hindered our progress.
Our most fundamental failure as blacks has been our inability to collectively learn, understand and apply the lessons of our own history. Black Detroiters have received ample instruction in what is necessary to overcome the challenges we face as a people: our civil rights organizations have taught us unity and activism; our churches have taught us morality and charity; our black businesses have taught us entrepreneurship; our community organizations have taught us participatory citizenship; our elders have taught us courage, sacrifice, and the value of education. We just need to put into practice what we’ve already been taught.
Timid Black Leadership
Detroit has produced and experienced such clarion black voices as William Lambert, Fannie Mae Richards, The Detroit Plaindealer, Rev. William Peck, Robert Millender, Coleman A. Young, Erma Henderson, Ken Cockrel, Sr. and many others. To the extent that we have ignored the guidance of our historic leaders, we have succumbed to damning distractions. Perhaps it is the timidity (or the dearth) of contemporary black leadership that has failed our people the most.
Given Detroit’s population and demographics, the problems that disproportionately affect black folks have a seminal impact on the entire city. Our failure to protect and uplift our own communities is how we as black folks have failed Detroit.
Understand that the people who are promoting and supporting the current takeover of Detroit benefit greatly from the lie that black folks caused the downfall of the city. Acceptance of this falsehood as truth by the general public helps to mask and justify the horrible reality that voting rights have been abrogated, elected officials have been nullified, and democracy has been completely hijacked in the American city of Detroit, Michigan.
It remains to be seen exactly what Detroit will become once the state and the state-appointed emergency manager have finished doing their handiwork in the city. However, it is a certainty that black Detroiters will need to do what we’ve always needed to do: Embrace and put into practice those crucial lessons that promote self-love, self-reliance and self-preservation as we move into this uncertain future.
Cliff Russell is a former radio journalist in Detroit who was spokesman for former Mayor Dennis Archer.
