Building Detroit: Black Architects of Detroit Money. A5
Michigan Chronicle
Vol. 84 – No. 37 | May 19-25, 2021
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COMMENTARY
Why Does DTE Energy Invest in So Many Community Causes? By Jerry Norcia DTE President and CEO
People ask me from time to time why DTE Energy pushes beyond its well understood core mission – producing clean, affordable, and reliable energy for our customers – to serve many other community needs. The questions come with hint of skepticism and go something like this: “Why did DTE give $1 million in grants to 45 domestic violence shelters across Michigan? Why did you give computers and free internet service to 51,000 Detroit public school students? Why did you order your supply chain team to locate and donate 2 million KN-95 masks to hospitals at the height of the COVID19 pandemic? Why did you publicly condemn the murder of George Floyd, and why do you support voter rights?” These are fair questions, and they deserve an answer: The are several reasons why we stand for what is right and good in the communities we serve. Jerry Norcia First, DTE’s 10,000plus employees live in those communities and they deserve DTE’s support outside the workplace. They are your neighbors, your family, and your friends; their children attend public schools and their families suffered through the pandemic; they are crimes victims and they own small businesses; they are voters, and they know people who are forced to choose between buying prescription drugs or paying their electric bills. Our committed and dedicated employees are one reason why DTE Energy and the DTE Foundation invests millions of dollars in programs that serve people in need. Another reason DTE Energy strives to be a force for good is because a corporation must consider itself a citizen with all the responsibilities that come with citizenship. Most people don’t care about our bottom line – and they shouldn’t. But most people will judge us based on how well we serve our customers who need us the most. For me, as DTE’s president and CEO, this is personal. My grandmother, who lived in a poor rural village in Italy and had no education and none of the comforts of heat or running water, often told me when I was growing up, “Doing good on to others opens doors and creates prosperity. Not doing these good things closes doors and reduces prosperity.” While far from perfect, we at DTE firmly believe that being good to our employees and our communities has been fundamental to much of our success as a company. With those explanations, allow me to flesh out a few recent examples of how we strive to meet our responsibility to our employees and our communities. • During an intense six-week period, our public affairs and supply chain teams worked with the state’s county emergency relief agencies to buy and distribute 2 million KN-95 masks during a critical shortage of the life-saving gear. • The DTE Energy Foundation invested $21 million to support COVID-19 relief efforts in 2020 alone. These efforts included supporting more than 500,000 families with basic
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CAUSES page A2
WHAT’S INSIDE
The State of Mental Health in
Black America
By Donald James Special to the Chronicle
May is Mental Health Month. Since its creation in 1949 by the National Association for Mental Health, now known as Mental Health America (MHA), the month of May has been designated to raise acute awareness to better educate the public about mental health and wellness concerns in America. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is defined as “a state of psychological, behavioral, and emotional well-being in which an individual realizes his or her abilities to cope with the normal stresses of life.” While WHO’s definition seems ideal, the “state of psychological, behavioral, and emotional well-being” in the Black communities of America is not easily defined. Simply put, in today’s atmosphere of heightened hatred, discrimination, violence, and poverty, all rooted in systemic, blatant, and unadulterated “racism,” the “state of well-being” for far too many Black people is one of depression, hopelessness, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal thoughts, and other mental conditions. Most mental health experts conclude that there is a direct link between racism in America and the mental health and wellness of Black people. And experiencing prolonged scenarios of racial discrimination and injustices can take a heavy emotional toll and trigger chronic stress, depression, racial trauma, which could lead to physical illnesses. “There are many stressors that impact Black Americans on a daily basis, one of the most deleterious being that of racism,” said native Detroiter, Dr. Riana Anderson, an assistant professor of health behavior and
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HOMEFRONT
Comerica’s Christine Moore Honored for Notable Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Work
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Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, Mike Brown, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. Many mental wellness experts agree that when Black people continually see the horrifying images of police brutality unfold – in person or on televised news shows or social media platforms, internalizing the injuries and violent deaths can lead to severe mental health issues, increasing the risk for depression, anxiety, stress, trauma, and the gravitation to substance abuse. Last year, the horrific murder of George Floyd helped deepen the mental anguish that Black people, especially Black men in America, know so well. There for the entire world to see was an unarmed Black man, in handcuffs, lying face down in the street with a White police officers’ knee planted on his neck for more than nine minutes. While Floyd’s murder appeared to be just another unarmed Black man killed, and the story would go away to wait for the next episode, that wasn’t the case. The ex-police officer that killed Floyd was found guilty of all three charges, which included second-degree murder. In the eyes, hearts, and souls of people around the nation and beyond, Floyd’s death and trial ushered in the birth of a sweeping advocacy of movements clamoring for and demanding real change against police brutality not seen in this country…maybe ever. So when will police brutality end and the physical and mental safeness of Black people be upheld? Many hope that H.R. 7120, also known as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, will be the “quantum leap for national change.” The Bill addresses sweeping policies and issues sur-
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HEALTH page A2
Officer, Why Are You Stopping Me? By Chief Ralph L. Godbee, Jr. (retired)
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health education at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. “Racism, both for Black adults and youth, impacts virtually every element of mental and physical health.” Anderson believes that various acts of racial discrimination, whether separate or part of a larger systemic pattern in America, are linked to Black people feeling that they are not safe in their communities and elsewhere. “The idea that I may not be here tomorrow is a pervasive fear for Black residents,” Anderson said. “whether it be at the hands of police officers, racist groups, the COVID-19 pandemic, or shorter life expectancies in atrisk and underserved Black communities.” Such mental dispositions of Black people are not new because racism in America is not new. Since 1619, when Black enslaved men, women, and children were first taken out of Africa and transported to the New Land, Blacks in this country have been marginalized, oppressed, and disenfranchised more than any other race of people. As a result, the people who are darker than blue have unique concerns, trauma, stress, obstacles, and challenges due to their historical experiences, cultural differences, and social disparities caused by being Black in America. Perhaps one of the most pervasive experiences that has constantly placed an immense spotlight on racism in America is police brutality, defined as the violent, excessive, and unwarranted use of force against a human being, a violation of one’s civil rights. There have been thousands and thousands of cases of police brutality against African Americans just over the last decade. The list is too long to compile. However, the shortlist includes Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Trayvon
Traffic enforcement at its inception and viewing it from a pristine point of view is at its essence a means by which this new phenomenon called the automobile could be operated in a manner on public and in some cases private thoroughfares that is safe and minimizes the chances of vehicle and pedestrian accidents, a public safety measure. When I say new phenomenon, it is from the perspective of world history; January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his vehicle powered by a gas engine. Mass production of combustible engine vehicles in the iteration that is most familiar in American automobile history began circa 1908 when Henry Ford introduced the Model T and William Durant founded General Motors. The traffic stop in the American lexicon has been described as one of the most dangerous yet routine tasks of the many enforcement options that an American police officer can engage in during one’s course of duty; in most if
not all instances a discretionary stop that is left totally up to the officer as whether to initiate a traffic stop or opt not to initiate the stop of a motor vehicle driver. Although discretionary I would opine that any reasonable person would have an expectation or even believe that Ralph Godbee an officer was duty bound to intervene either by the officers’ personal observation or by a report of a driver operating a vehicle in a manner that is objectively reasonable to believe could cause serious injury or death; if there is not a concerted effort by law enforcement to interdict and mitigate the reckless operation of a motor vehicle by attempting a traffic stop. There are ostensibly two types of traffic violations; first there is a moving
violation, for example excessive speed or disregarding a traffic signal and secondly there are administrative violations that are codified in state law or city ordinance delineating qualifications for operating the vehicle and for specifications of vehicles that are to be licensed and permitted to operate on public thoroughfares; for example obtaining a driver’s license; or operating a vehicle with automobile insurance; or proper registration of the vehicle. In summation, there are some things codified in a state or local jurisdiction’s motor vehicle code that have no primary enforcement prioritization that directly speaks to if a motor vehicle in the moment that the officer engages the vehicle is being operated in a manner that is unsafe and presents any imminent danger on the roadway. If one is to accept the inherent dangers of the traffic stop as espoused by law enforcement and universally agreed to; albeit the Bureau of Labor Statistics may disabuse one of that accepted belief as law enforcement is not in the top 10
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ENFORCEMENT page A2