Well here we are in the new year 2011 looking forward to a pretty exiting time in politics…on all levels.
In the City of Detroit
This is a bold and innovative plan that will need the support of the citizens but the aforementioned culture is rearing its ugly head to thwart his noble efforts.
Many of the politicians on the City Council are economic incompetents who have had their homes foreclosed and owe a lot of back taxes; a situation that makes them ripe for some bribery. Charles Pugh, the president of the Detroit City Council is only one such politician, there are many more.
Also the citizens of Detroit
Some city council members are already trying to undo what the citizens of Detroit
I am cheering on Mayor Bing and it appears that he has the support of the new governor of Michigan Rick Snyder so maybe; just maybe, Bing can bring about a true renaissance of a dying city.
Jan:
ReplyDeleteYour racism is showing.
What was the need for the statement "...corrupt and incompetent black political culture" to reference race at all?
I do agree with your assertion that corruption and incompetence has plagued the states largest city, but don't stop there. Include those same factors as problems in other municipalities as well as at the state level. That is more inline with the real problems, not race. In fact, the reference to race has no place at all in that line.
If you were referring to the racial makeup of the city or you believe it enhanced the story then from now on - in the name of consistency - refer to the race of every municipality or governmental entity here to fore that you blog about. White Novi, white Livonia, white Canton, white Redford, white State of Michigan......Only then could you be viewed as fair minded. Anything less than that level of race consistency reveals your racism.
Lastly, don't allow a potentially good blog to fall into the category of "racist wing nuts", we have more than enough of that behavior saturating the blogosphere and permeating Southeast MI.
You seem to like Gov. Snyder and Mayor Bing, then why not take a page out of their book and be a positive, non-racist voice that helps lift our state to greatness.
Heck it would even be helpful just to get you to see the error in your ways (writing). Our region could benefit from that simple tweeking.
Simone Lightfoot
Ann Arbor, MI
Simone, thanks for your comments, the feedback is much appreciated. I feel bad that I am not articulate enough to explain my position without sounding like a racist.
ReplyDeleteIt concerns me because part of my immediate family is African-American and part of our circle of friends too and we have discussed the Detroit situation openly for years so it is me and my inability to explain what I am trying to say in the blog that is the problem.
The corrupt political culture in Detroit has to be labeled as an African-American culture as opposed to a Detroit Polish (Hamtramck) or Detroit Mexican culture because that is what it is; it is not a multi-racial city culture.
Maybe the problem I am having is in the use of the word black as in white or black. That, I will agree, sounds racist.
The specific political culture in Detroit that I have been speaking about would not have the same meaning if I was to leave out the African –American designation.
It is a culture that has been developing in Detroit for many years and from a historical and analytical point of view must be looked at as a specifically African- American development to make any sense out of it at all.
I like your ending statement and will absolutely take it to heart in any future blogs about the subject and that is “to see the error in (my) ways (writing). Just because I think my writing is in no way racist; it is the reader that is the final judge of that.
Thank you,
Jan