Detroit Pistons Annual Team Dinner Celebrating Black History See City.Life.Style C3
Michigan Chronicle Vol. 83 – No. 25 | Feb. 26 - March 3, 2020
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The Lesson of 1963 and 2020: Be Counted By Warren. C. Evans You don’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been. If you don’t know your history then the forecast for your future is cloudy at best. As African Americans, history teaches us that the right to vote was identified generations ago as our key to freedom in America. That’s because our ancestors knew that the only way to affect the changes we so desperately needed was to be Warren Evans fully counted. That meant having our voices heard in the corridors of power when important decisions affecting Black lives were being made, oftentimes by those who cared very little about Black lives. In the historic “I Have A Dream” keynote speech that he delivered in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963 for the March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom, Dr. Martin Luther King said: “We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and the Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.” Few are aware that Dr. King delivered the first draft of that speech several months earlier on June 24, 1963 in Detroit at what was then Cobo Hall. This time, his remarks were part of Detroit’s Walk to Freedom, a historically momentous occasion that was conceived by my Uncle, Rev. Albert Cleage Jr., founder of the Shrine of the Black Madonna, and the late Rev. C.L. Franklin, pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church and father of Aretha Franklin, Detroit’s own undisputed Queen of Soul.
PHOTOS: Patreice A. Massey
Mayor Duggan Ensures No Detroiter Left Out of
Detroit’s Renaissance Party I By Arthur Bridgeforth Jr.
nclusion was the overall theme of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s State of the City address. Mayor Duggan said he wants all Detroiters to benefit equally from the city resurgence from jobs, new developments, entrepreneurship opportunities, affordable housing and education and not get left out in the cold.
Duggan told the invitation-only crowd during his seventh State of the City address that he had formed an equity council that will be tasked with sharing the wealth with all Detroiters. “I wasn’t elected by the people who left,” said Duggan Tuesday evening at Flex-nGate auto parts on the city’s Eastside. “I was elected by the people who stayed.”
The Equity Council will be charged with reviewing every development deal in the city and determine if Detroiters are being included in terms of job opportunities or business opportunities in the case of entrepreneurs, Duggan said. Duggan cited Flex-n-Gate as an example of providing Detroiters an opportunity to work. The plant, which opened in 2018, employs 600 of which 60 percent live in Detroit, Duggan said. Other development projects Duggan pointed to in his address included the pending FCA plant on Detroit’s Eastside that will employ 5,000 people. Duggan is hopping that at least 2,500 Detroiters will be hired by the plant. FCA has started the process of hiring 2,500 people and is giving Detroiters the first crack at those jobs. Duggan is planning a series town hall
meeting over the next couple of months in anticipation of the new auto insurance law that goes into effect July 1. He also pointed out a feature of the law is that enables those with proof of healthcare insurance – either through Medicare or on the job – will see a significant drop in their auto insurance premiums. Duggan even announced that city of Detroit 9,000 employees would be among the first to benefit. “The city will be the first company to be certified,” Duggan said. He pointed to legalized marijuana as another area of business that he wants to make sure Detroiters have their fair share the revenue windfall from the new business.
See STATE
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As a very young man at that time who had grown accustomed to such family guests as Malcolm X, Dr. King, Coleman Young, and many others, I may not have understood everything that was going on,
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WHAT’S INSIDE
Fifth Annual Michigan Chronicle/TCF Bank Scholarship Application Process Now Open With More SWAG and Influence
Honoring Black History… this month and all year round Roots. B1
$1.00
Dustin Sims received a $5000 scholarship in 2019
Every one of us would love to have someone invest in our dreams, our future, our passion and our success. Well, this could be your time or someone’s you know as applications are now being accepted for the 2020 Michigan Chronicle/TCF Bank S.W.A.G. (Students Wired for Achievement and Greatness) Scholarship Award. TCF Bank knows a quality investment when they see it and for the fifth year they’re renewing their partnership with the Michigan Chronicle to award $100,000 in scholarships and grants to Detroit high school students and educators. The bank will fund scholarships between $5,000 and $20,000 per student to 15 awardees this year.
other education professionals, at qualifying schools can also secure a S.W.A.G. Awards school improvement grant through the program’s new Influencer Award. Five $1,000 grants will be awarded. Candidates for the awards will be identified by principals, students, and parents who nominate the individuals that go above and beyond for their students.
Gary Torgow, Executive Chairman of TCF Financial Corporation and Hiram E. Jackson, publisher of the Michigan Chronicle New for 2020, school professionals including teachers, coaches, counselors, and
“The S.W.A.G. Scholarship Awards are a continuing opportunity for our bank to further enhance our commitment to the future of the young men and women of Detroit,” said Gary Torgow, Executive Chairman of TCF Financial Corpo-
See S.W.A.G. page A2