2017 Discover the Unexpected Fellowship program winners explore Detroit
Friday, June 30, 2017 MotorCity Hotel
Page B1 POWERED BY REAL TIMES MEDIA
Volume 80 – Number 39
michiganchronicle.com
June 7-13, 2017
Mayor Duggan speech wows Mackinac crowd, but what now? By Keith A. Owens Senior Editor
On Wednesday, May 31, Mayor Mike Duggan gave a speech at the 2017 Mackinac Policy Conference that was praised by many as the urban version of the Sermon on the Mount. But not everyone was bowing down. In a strictly-the-facts presentation, Duggan educated the (still) overwhelmingly white Mackinac business crowd about the root causes of Detroit’s historic and devastating woes, letting them know in no uncertain terms that DeCOMMENTARY troit, contrary to what many of them may have believed prior to his address, is not responsible for all of the ills that have beset us in the past half-century. We did not put the noose around our own neck and then jump. Detroit has been strategically ostracized, victimized and cannibalized. And then blamed, as if this is the fate we would have chosen for ourselves. In informal conversations with a number of conference attendees after the speech, most of whom were upbeat about its content, the main thing that stood out to them was that it seemed to be the first time any of them had ever heard a mayor — let alone a white mayor — speak so bluntly about weaponized racism and how much it is directly responsible for the destruction of a city. These days, most choose to avoid any conversation about race at all costs, but Duggan jumped in with both feet. The fact that he chose to do this in front of the Mackinac crowd made it that much more awe-inspiring. But not to all. By now the twitter attack launched by Motor City Muckraker’s Steve Neavling listing all the reasons why he believed Duggan’s speech was fraudulent has been gaining some attention and making the rounds, especially among the Don’tTrust-Duggan crowd. Although some of the charges leveled by Muckraker were questionable, or at least not readily verifiable outside of his own reporting or quite fair, it would be wrong to say he was totally off-base with all his charges, as the Metro
See MACKINAC page A-4
WHAT’S INSIDE
Detroit’s seniors deserve better in their ‘golden years’ By Roz Edward Managing Editor
More than 80,000 Detroit residents are at-risk and vulnerable targets of predators on numerous fronts. The city's elderly citizens, many of whom lack the capital to secure appropriate housing services or the resources to pay for quality in-home care, are relying on the kindness of relatives and due diligence from paid health workers. But as the baby boomer population ages and the senior population increases in Detroit, so too does the problem of affordable, quality care in those golden years. Statewide statistics indicate that one in 24 seniors, 60 and older, are the victims of elder abuse. In Michigan, as many as 90,000 older adults are victimized each year. In 90 percent of reported instances of abuse, the perpetrator is a trusted family member, while only 10 percent are abused or neglected by paid caregivers. The problem of protecting older adults and stopping or preventing abuse is compounded by underreporting, and severely hindered by the victims’ fear of retribution, a sense of shame and in many cases their reluctance to send the abuser, who may a family member, to jail. Primary forms of elder abuse include physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse and neglect and exploitation. Elderly women are abused more often than elderly men, and those with physical and mental disabilities are abused at a much higher rate in both groups. In April, Faith Abdullah and her brother, Christopher Hood, of Detroit became aware that there was something terribly wrong with a 91-year-old relative when they came across a private message on Facebook. They found their beloved cousin, Edward, a former engineer, bedridden and covered with debris-filled bed sores. “We
saw the conditions he was living in and the type of people who had attached themselves to him,” said Abdullah. Neighbors who’d promised to care for the senior in his home for a fee of $2,800 a month not only failed him miserable, they robbed the fragile elder of tens of thousands of dollars. “His accounts had been closed, and there was money taken from them with no receipts or accounting for the missing money.” Edward who was removed from the home by Detroit police, has received therapy which doctor’s believe will have him up and walking soon. “I thought people were coming in to my home and stealing from me,” said an 89-year-old victim who requested her name not be used. “I told some relatives about it, and they didn’t take me seriously. Then they started moving things around to add to my confusion and maybe accelerate my demise,” she said, adding that she suffered a minor stroke prior to the property
Page B-1
$1.00
Although this victim’s account is relatively mild in comparison to more heinous offenses and violent crimes committed against area seniors, any level of abuse is injurious and damaging for these more fragile citizens. Like when Ralph Ford, a resident of St. Francis Nursing Center on Detroit’s east side, wandered off in March of this year, only to be found dead later in a trash bin outside the nursing center. “We felt secure there,” said Ford's niece, Carlas Parker. “We thought everything was covered, that he would be safe there. It was a good place for him to be.” An analysis of the death certificates of persons who died in nursing homes revealed that over 7 percent, or 1 in 15, of the deaths of seniors in nursing homes were caused, at least in part, by neglect,
See SENIORS page A-4
Detroit leaders laud local action, condemn Trump on climate change and pollution Lee Claire and Chronicle Reports
Trailblazing athlete Godfrey Dillard used sports as weapon against injustice
theft pranks, which evolved into theft and robbery.
change and ignores the demonstrated harms of air and water pollution. Lives are at stake, especially for the one million Michiganders who suffer from asthma and for low-income and disadvantaged communities, which are disproportionally impacted by pollution and climate change.
Detroit climate advocates were joined by others to criticize the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt for failing to protect Detroit families from dirty air and water. In a press conference hosted by Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (DWEJ), speakers condemned the Trump administration’s plan to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and gut the EPA’s budget and staffing, which would hurt the agency and its mission to protect Michiganders from dangerous pollution. “According to the recently released 2017 CAPHE Public Health Action Plan, two to three metro Detroit residents die every day from illnesses attributable to
poor air quality. We cannot stand by and do nothing when the federal government drops the ball,” said Michigan State Representative Stephanie Chang. President Trump continues to deny the danger of climate
“Local power is now all important, given that the federal front is abdicating its environmental responsibilities,” said Guy O. Williams, president and CEO, DWEJ. “Fortunately, this is an election year for Detroit. The Trump administration may be shortsighted when it comes to clean air and water, our environment, our health. But we can’t be. And we won’t be.” Speakers also noted that Pruitt, who sued the EPA 14 times as Oklahoma attorney general, is hostile to public health
protections and is cozy with fossil fuel companies, having taken nearly $350,000 in campaign contributions from the polluting industry. “President Trump proposed a dirty budget to rig the system in favor of polluters at the expense of our air and water. Slashing the EPA’s budget by 31 percent is unacceptable. This budget is setting us on a path towards disastrous public health consequences and we need to stand up and tell the Trump administration this is unacceptable,” said Keith Fusinski, chief steward VP for Professional Unit, AFGE Local 704. The event concluded with speakers pledging to hold President Trump and his allies accountable for any attempts to roll back climate action.