POWERED BY REAL TIMES MEDIA
Dec. 28, 2016 – Jan. 3, 2017
michiganchronicle.com
Volume 80 – Number 15
Goodbye Cass Tech alum now a rising star on ‘Scandal’
Smokey Robinson wants Detroiters to
‘Get Ready’ See page C-1
See page B-1 POWERED BY REAL TIMES MEDIA
‛The Greatest’ A champion's champion michiganchronicle.com
Volume 79 – Number 39
Mayor Duggan's pro-Detroit speech speaks volumes
By Keith A. Owens Senior Editor
Mayor Mike Duggan caught fire in a crowded room at the annual Mackinac Policy Conference, and no one attempted to put him out for good reason.
June 8-14 2016
Duggan is known to be a solid cheerleader and political stage performer when he wants to be, frequently exuding a kind of folksy, everyman blue collar charm designed to disarm opponents and win over crowds. Duggan is a politician, and he does what politicians do quite well. But his performance at Mackinac (if “performance” is even the right word) when he delivered the keynote speech to a packed room at the Mackinac Policy
Conference was something altogether different. This wasn’t just passion, because Duggan has presented himself as passionate many times before. This was something deeper. This was a Detroiter fighting Detroit-style for his city in front of an audience not necessarily accustomed to such a ferocious pitch. And in the end, Duggan pointed twin barrels at the dysfunctional Michigan House as being a major stumbling block to Detroit’s revitalization, because if they continue to play these lunatic games with the funding of DPS, the future of the entire city could be threatened. For the first half of Duggan’s presentation, he talked about the good side of things and the vision he has for the city. “We’ve got to develop advantages that are uniquely Detroit.” “We’ve got to attract businesses and jobs at all skill levels.”
See DUGGAN page A-3
WHAT’S INSIDE
By Kai EL´Zabar Real Times Media
M
uhammad Ali, the poet, expressed through boxing like Miles Davis was the boxer expressed through music. He was a champion on so many levels beginning with his amateur boxing career. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., he made his amateur boxing debut in 1954. He won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union national title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Clay’s amateur record was 100 wins with five losses. Ali claimed in his 1975 autobiography that shortly after his return
Rappers turned actors (Page D-1)
Ron Hall Sr., brilliant businessman and committed community leader, impacted the city of Detroit in a manner that will be difficult to replicate. The remarkably handsome figure of a man had that special quality, “that thing,” which garnered him high respect from his peers and made him one of the most beloved community leaders in recent times. The founder, chairman and former CEO of the Detroit-based automotive firm Bridgewater Interiors LLC, died on Tuesday, May 31, and his passing leaves a chasmic void in Detroit's business and civic circles. Fortunately, Hall's legacy of creating opportunity and possibility for Minority Business Enterprises will remain intact as the former leader of the Michigan Minority Business Development Council leaves an extraordinary blueprint for aspiring business leaders and emerging entrepreneurs. Longtime friend and business partner Bill Pickard said Hall was a man of remarkable talent and humanity. "Here is a guy who was a math major with a 4.0 GPA when we were students at Western Michigan University. He was tall, dark and handsome and got along with everybody, from the guys from Flint to Paw Paw, Michigan. He treated everyone the same. He treated everyone with kindness and compassion.”
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was on his mind because it imbued his spirit. He was like the next black man in that sense — persecuted by the oppression that denied him self-expression and the right to be a man. So on every level when opportunity permitted, he seized the moment and conquered it, ensuing pride, hope and confidence.
Thomas Hauser’s biography of Ali stated that Ali was refused service at the diner but that he lost his medal a year after he won it. Ali received a replacement medal at a basketball intermission during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he lit the torch to start the games.
Ali’s professional career put him on track to rock star stardom but the fight that broke the camel's back was the Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston fight. By late 1963, Muhammad Ali, still known as Cassius Clay, had become the top contender for Sonny Liston’s title. The fight
THE DEFINING MOMENT
The point is that Muhammad Ali inspired strength the power to speak what
Ron Hall: 'Let's not make easy hard' By Roz Edward and Jané Riley
No one can explain it and no one expected it When the first rap stars decided to become actors it was a surprise to most.
Gettyimages/Herb Scharfman/Sports Imagery
from the Rome Olympics, he threw his gold medal into the Ohio River after he and a friend were refused service at a “whites only” restaurant and fought with a white gang. Although the story has since been disputed and denied by several of Ali’s friends, including Bundini Brown and photographer Howard Bingham. Brown told Sports Illustrated writer Mark Kram, “Honkies sure bought into that one!”
Hall was nationally recognized for his keen business acumen and incomparable integri-
See CHAMPION page A-4
See CHAMPION page A-4
ty, and in the sometimes dog-eat-dog world of business, he was revered for relentlessly championing the underdog. "Ron and I became good friends when I transferred to Western Michigan University in 1963," recalled former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer Sr. “About the time he became CEO of the MMBDC, I was becoming mayor of Detroit. ... When I signed Executive Order 4 to require the City of Detroit to do up to 30 percent of its purchases with businesses in Detroit, to make sure that order was properly implemented and followed, I reached out to Ron Hall." Ron Hall was authentically kind, gracious and caring. Few business leaders in Detroit’s business community have had the impact and left the footprint that Hall did. After saving the struggling MMBDC, Hall went on to personally and professionally dedicate himself to saving MBEs across the region. As his close personal friend Dr. Bill Pickard put it, when Pickard found himself facing daunting business challenges, Hall stepped up and assured him he would not allow him to fail. “Let’s not make easy hard,” Pickard recalls Hall saying.
See RON HALL page A-4
And good riddance By Michigan Chronicle Staff
B
etween the surprise election of real estate mogul/reality TV star Donald Trump to lead the most powerful nation on earth, and the death of so many revered icons and community leaders, the year 2016 has proven itself to be both an incredibly historic and pivotal year, as well as a year that gives many of us good reason to work for a much better 2017 and beyond. But in the midst Frances Cress Welsing Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, the famed 80-year-old afrocentrist, died on Jan. 2, 2016.
unconscious levels, to ensure their genetic survival by any means necessary.
Born in Chicago on March 18, 1935, Welsing, a psychiatrist, was noted for her “Cress Theory of Color Confrontation,” which explored the practice of white supremacy.
of it all there were certainly good things that happened as well. We at the Chronicle have gone back over our files to select what we think were some of the most memorable moments and events over the past year. No way could we include it all because, well, there was just too much going on. But we think we did a good job of identifying some major highlights, and we hope you will agree. Sometimes the best thing about today is that there will always be a tomorrow. And tomorrow is up to us.
Think of the songs: “Can’t Hide Love,” “Getaway,” “Reasons,” “That’s the Way of the World,” “Fantasy,” “Keep Your Head to the Sky,” “Let’s Groove,” “September,” “Boogie Wonderland” (with the Emotions), “After the Love is Gone,” “Open Our Eyes,” “Sing a Song,” “I’ll Write a Song for You,” “Serpentine Fire,” “Love is Life,” “Shining Star,” “Saturday Night” and on it goes. There was often a spiritual dimension to the songs White wrote, but he was never preachy.
Flint Water Crisis
Dr. Frances Cress Welsing In 1991, Welsing authored the book, “The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors,” where she stated that a system is practiced by the global white minority, on both conscious and
WHAT’S INSIDE Touching Communities. Touching Lives.™ A PUBLICATION OF MGM GRAND DETROIT
December • 2016
MGM Grand Detroit holiday parties spread joy and uplift key community organizations By Scott Talley Special to the Michigan Chronicle
On a Wednesday evening former Detroit Lions offensive lineman Larry Lee and the Back In The Day Band began performing a cover of Grover Washington Jr.’s “Mister Magic,” and like magic, the Grand Ballroom dance floor at MGM Grand Detroit began to fill. As the music played and the people danced, MGM Grand Detroit had kicked off the holiday party season, which is always precious at MGM because special members of our community are invited and served. On this special night, the guests of honor were veterans that receive support from the Michigan Veterans Foundation.
Continue on page 3
Inside This Issue • MGM Grand Detroit redefines holiday parties with special community guests • Many answer the call to support the African American 490 Challenge • Olympian Allyson Felix is headed to Detroit for Wayne State’s MLK Tribute • And much more!
Detroit names a street after Stevie Wonder See page B-1
The entire story of what has happened with Flint and its water — and Flint as a whole — is a complicated one, but what it comes down to wasn’t complicated at all: In order to save a few bucks, the lives of an entire community were deemed expendable by their own state government. Darnell Earley The clock has been ticking for former Flint Emergency Manager (and former Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager) Darnell Earley for awhile now, which is why it wasn’t that surprising when he was charged earlier Darnell Earley this month by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schette with felony conspiracy and false pretense charges related to his role in the Flint water crisis. Earley was located dead center at the eye of the storm when the issue was garnering much local and national attention in January. Death of Maurice White
The music is timeless.
Death of Gil Hill Gil Hill joined the Detroit Police Department in 1959. His skills, hard work and sterling reputation eventually resulted in an appointment to the position of inspector of the homicide division. Hill ran for the Detroit City Council Gil Hill and easily won a seat in 1989, and became president in 1997. He was not successful in a run for mayor in 2001, losing out to Kwame Kilpatrick. Hill passed away on Monday, Feb. 29. He was admitted to the hospital suffering from respiratory problems. The cause of death was identified as pneumonia. His many years with the police department not withstanding, Hill soared to national prominence when he was chosen to play hard-nosed, salty-tongued Inspector Todd in the 1984 film “Beverly Hills Cop” starring Eddie Murphy.
Maurice White was a visionary, a man on a mission. And in fulfilling that mission with Earth, Wind & Fire, he gave us some of the greatest recordings in the history of the music industry.
Maurice White Teacher Sick-Out
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After all these years under emergency management, which by pretty much any measure has been a dismal failure, the argu-
ment against returning Detroit Public Schools to local control became painfully thin, kind of like watching a schoolyard bully shrink and wither right before your eyes like a pin-pricked balloon. While it’s true that DPS (now DPSCD) has had its share of embarrassing missteps and outright screw-ups over the years — something which some of the more adamant local control advocates prefer not to bring up — the glaring fact remains that the purpose of emergency management was to be the New Sheriff in Town. Everything was supposed to work better under the smooth, wise, guiding hand of an emergency manager charting a safe course through troubled waters toward more fiscally sound shores. Obviously, that is not what happened. Death of Nicholas Hood, Sr.
ley Park compound in Minnesota, was such an artist, and his legion of fans worldwide are still in a state of shock. Prince Rogers Nelson once described himself as “ageless.” He said it in a playful manner, but he really did appear to be ageless, looking far younger than his 57 years (he would have been 58 on June 7) and never gaining a pound. It’s hard to find the words to describe an entertainer of the magnitude of Prince, or Michael Jackson, or Ray Charles, or James Brown, or Marvin Gaye, or Jackie Wilson, or Whitney Houston, or Luther Vandross, or David Bowie, or Natalie Cole, or Sam Cooke, or John Lennon, or Teddy Pendergrass, or Barry White, and the list goes on. When icons depart, it leaves a void in the universe.
The late Nicholas Hood, Sr. was dedicated to creating a city where racial unity was possible. His historic 1965 election to the Detroit Common Council was as magical as it was masterful. Within months of arriving in the Motor City in 1958, Mayor Louis Miriani appointed him to the Commission on Community Relations, a panel created to help strengthen re lations between Nicholas Hood blacks and whites after the 1943 race riot. Hood died on Sunday, April 10. He was 92. Death of Prince When giants of the music industry — the bigger-thanlife megastars — leave this earth, the loss is insurmountable, and there is not even a remote possibility of “replacing” them. Prince, Prince who very unexpectedly passed away on Thursday, April 21, at his Pais-
President Obama visits Flint You could see it in the faces of the people lining the streets of Flint in the rain, all of them waiting for just a glimpse of the presidential motorcade delivering President Barack Obama to their city to let them know up close and in person that “I got your back.” The hope and joy that shone on so many black faces all along the motorcade route that the nation’s first African-American president had heard their cries and had come to their city to let them know that Flint really did matter to him. Death of Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali was a champion on so many levels, beginning with his amateur boxing career. Born Cassius Marcellus
See 2016 page A-3