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HOMEFRONT Comerica and The Parade Company host students for early Thanksgiving Dinner and Parade sneak preview
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Volume 79 – Number 14
Can she do it?
WHAT’S INSIDE Museum elects new board leaders (Page A-3) The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History recently announced the results of elections for the leadership of its Board of Trustees during the recent annual membership meeting.
The City of Detroit’s Office of Faith-Based Affairs held a one-day conference addressing the importance of strengthening the partnership between city and faith-based organizations. With nearly 200 faith leaders and clergy attending this year’s FaithBased Summit, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan provided vital information on important city services to be shared with their congregations and surrounding community, maximizing the impact city programs have on the lives of city residents.
Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, recently issued an apology to city leaders for police action that led to the shooting of a black teenager. But many believe it was “too little, too late.”
There was a time when there was bipartisan support for gun control, but not so today notes Jesse Jackson. It is now a bitter partisan issue and “common sense gun control won’t happen until this partisan divide is broken.”
Legacy in Motion (Page C-2) The Michigan Chronicle’s recent Legacy in Motion was a major success, attracting movers and shakers from all over metro Detroit. See photo highlights from one of the biggest events of the year.
It’s a family affair (Page D-1)
Moving Detroit forward through faith By Jason Flowers
Embattled mayor apologizes (Page A-5)
United front for gun control needed (Page B-4)
December 16-22, 2015
“The City of Detroit offers an array of services and great programs for our residents, however, they can’t truly be effective unless people know about them and how to access them,” Duggan said.
Janice Winfrey – Jason Flowers photos
Janice Winfrey, congressional hopeful, says she will 'bring home the bacon' By Keith A. Owens
he once was.
SENIOR EDITOR
“This race is not about the Honorable John Conyers, it is about the 13th congressional district, “ said Winfrey.
T
he obvious first question for Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, who in September formally announced her intention to scale Mt. Conyers, is...why? But it is the inevitable follow-up question that provides the root of an answer: why not? After all, Congressman John Conyers has been in office representing Detroit for 50 years, since 1965. That equals 26 consecutive terms that the man has been elected to office. To say that Con yers has been in office a long time is like saying it is somewhat hot on the surface of the sun. And although some consider it heresy to even suggest that maybe, just maybe, Conyers has been on the job long enough, it has to be considered a reasonable question and concern that someone who has done the same job for 50 years — and who is now 86 years old — might not be as effective as
No one, including Winfrey, has ever argued that Conyers is not honored, revered and widely respected for the enormous contributions he has made over the years. The seniority and institutional knowledge Conyers has acquired during his lengthy stay can certainly be considered a benefit. The question Winfrey wants voters to consider, however, is whether this will remain a benefit, and whether it is more important to allow Conyers to retain his seat out of respect and admiration as opposed to what is best for the district.
Lalah Hathaway, like Natalie Cole and others, is carrying on the grand tradition of her father, Donny Hathaway, one of the greatest artists of all time. Her album, “Lalah Hathaway Live,” is being especially well received.
“First and foremost, we know John Conyers as a congressperson of the nation, a national congressperson whose work is well-respected. We all love and are endeared to him. And at the time, 50 years ago when he was elected, we only had about 10 African Americans in Congress. And we needed a national voice as African Americans. We needed someone to speak for us. To share our platform and even to create our platform to some degree,” said Winfrey.
The mayor and other city officials addressed efforts to curb homelessness, job re-entry for returning citizens to reduce recidivism, aging with dignity, community policing, grant writing and fund development, the Affordable Care Act and more. “When I get up every morning I think about what we can do to make the city’s comeback include everybody,” Duggan said. “And of course, the faith-based community has been in the business of including everybody in this town since its inception.” Duggan shared his vision on “moving Detroit forward” through what he calls a “natural partnership” between the city and faith-based organizations with expanding his summer jobs program. Grow Detroit’s Young Talent, a citywide summer jobs program that employs young adults between the ages of 14 and 24, put to work 5,600 young people this past summer — that’s 3,100 more youth employed than in 2014, its inception year. But Duggan has a goal to employ 8,000 young people in the summer of 2016. This past summer Duggan said that he believes one of the reasons why the homicide rate dropped dramatically this year is a result of employing those 5,600 young people. “I can’t prove this in the way social scientist would accept, but this is what I believe,” Duggan said. “When we put young people to work it is really difficult for them to be getting in trouble at 2 a.m. when they have to be at work at 8 a.m. I think the way to deal with violence is to put people in jobs.”
“But we find ourselves, 50 some odd
The Downtown Detroit Partnership is leading the effort to engage local companies in the program and has hired Edward Duggan — son of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan — as chief recruitment officer.
See WINFREY page A-4
Mayor Duggan is seeking the par-
See FAITH page A-4
Volkswagen apology ads ignore Blacks and Latinos By Stacy M. Brown
Nor were they placed in any of the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP) newspapers, which serve 41 markets in 39 states with a combined circulation of more than 23 million readers, according to the NAHP.
NNPA NEWS WIRE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Still facing an uphill battle to regain its reputation as a trusted automobile manufacturer, Volkswagen has turned a blind eye to consumers in the black and Latino communities. To some, it’s puzzling that the scandal-plagued automaker would ignore African Americans, whom a Nielsen Company study revealed possess $1.1 trillion in collective buying power that’s expected to increase to $1.3 trillion by 2017.
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Equally inexplicable is the company’s exclusion of Latinos, whose college enrollment has more than tripled since 1996 and
who now represent 20 percent of the white and gray collar labor force. In an effort to garner some needed goodwill, Volkswagen earlier this month placed advertisements in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and 28 other newspapers apologizing to
what it called its “trusted consumer” base for its misdeeds. Those ads were not placed in any of the more than 200 National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) black-owned newspapers that carry a combined weekly readership of more than 20 million people.
“While new vehicle purchasing remains steady overall, more Latinos and African Americans are buying new cars, yet we do not see Volkswagen engage with our communities, especially when brand loyalty is one of the strengths of our consumers,” said Martha Montoya, president of the NAHP and publisher of the award-winning El Mundo newspaper. Montoya provided statistics that revealed that Latinos and Af-
See VOLKSWAGEN page A-4