news
Mr. President
cal lines under the pretext of democracy, Detroit does not believe that being anti-Obama is the solution to creating jobs.
And Detroiters should not
allow their cries for jobs to arrest the painful unemploy- ment lines we see in the city every day to be drowned by the Tea Party’s voice of discord, division and race baiting.
We in Detroit understand
that instead of working to divide the country, as some are proudly doing claiming their God-given right to do so, the challenge is for the private sector and small businesses to collaborate with the Obama administration and communi- ty organizers to create jobs in a much needed environment like Detroit.
“Being anti-Obama” would
not help the mother with five children who just received a pink slip from the automak- ers.
“Being anti-Obama” would
not help the small business that got drowned into the belly of the beast by companies that don’t want small businesses to exist despite knowing that these businesses are the engine of the economy.
“Being anti-Obama”
tify and effectively deal with their primary economic chal- lenge: jobs.
These individuals, young
and old, Black and White, all made a commitment that send- ing Obama to the White House would make much more sense than dispatching Sen. John McCain who could not re- member how many houses he owned.
So in juxtaposing the qual-
ity and merits of both candi- dates at the time there was an understanding among the over- whelming majority of Obama supporters that he is closer to the very ideas of struggle and a deep sense of justice – be- cause of his background and experience – than the other candidate whose lifestyle pre- vented him from remembering his many houses.
And so in Detroit there is
a majority of everyday work- ing people who embraced and appreciated Obama’s back- ground, and in the words of Nelson Mandela, his “triumph of the human spirit,” knowing he would work to address the critical jobs issue.
THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE
From page A-1
waiting to have food on the table before they can make sense of the health care legis- lation. They can be guaranteed of health insurance, but their future is even more troubling if they can’t provide food for their children.
The tax cuts for the middle
class and the auto bailout worked but it has not stopped the bleeding.
Mr. President, this is your
opportunity to show that you want Detroit to become a suc- cess story, and that you want to be part of that story.
You can help write that suc-
cess story for an economically challenged city whose alle- giance has immeasurably ben- efited the Democratic Party.
This year there is a con-
tentious gubernatorial race where Republican candidates would like to make the cam- paign partly a referendum on the Obama presidency and what he has done for Detroit. What happens in the Novem- ber election will be a precur- sor of things to come in the 2012 presidential election.
For a lot of reasons,
would not solve the de- caying state of the De- troit Public Schools de- spite the inescapable role of the federal govern- ment in aiding with dol- lars. The greatest educational security for our children’s future will have to come from men and women of goodwill in this community, not those who have enriched themselves by exploiting innocent DPS children.
“Being anti-Obama” would
not create an instant econom- ic boost for Michigan as the Tea Party and their sympathiz- ers would want you to believe, conveniently forgetting the dismal effects of the President Bush economic blueprint on the Wolverine state.
Yet President Obama
should be challenged to look at Detroit as the centerpiece of Michigan’s overall futuristic outlook. The 11th largest city in the nation, and the only one in the state that consistently votes 90 percent Democratic, deserves a visit by a Demo- cratic president.
When more than 35,000
people showed up in the last stretch of the presidential campaign in 2008 in front of the Main Branch of the Detroit Public Library on Woodward to hear candidate Barack Obama talk about how Wall Street has exploited Main Street, most of them were there fueled by the belief that Obama would iden-
“Mr. President, this is your opportunity to show that you want Detroit to become a suc- cess story, and that you want to be part of that story. You can help write that success story for an economically challenged city whose allegiance has immeasurably benefited the Democratic Party.”
The couple of times I sat
down with candidate Obama during the campaign, he in- dicated his commitment to making Detroit a model of urban centers in the nation.
In Grand Rapids, the heart-
land of the west side of the state, he again told me he was committed to aiding the De- troit Public Schools.
That was candidate Obama
then making the case to be en- trusted with the most difficult job.
Now we are waiting for Pres-
ident Obama to bring to frui- tion that commitment of help- ing to revitalize a city whose manifested potential could be the flagship for Michigan’s economic recovery.
An opportunity to make
a significant stop in Detroit would allow President Obama to look at Detroiters in their faces and explain what he is going to do to make life better for them.
Health care legislation
passing in Congress is indeed a major demonstration and will secure insurance for thou- sands of people in Detroit. But health care and jobs go hand in hand.
There are families that are
including the very pre- dictable governor’s race, President Obama should be after Detroit and Michigan’s heart this year.
Out of relative obscu-
rity, Mr. President, you made it into national prominence, cata-
pulted into the pantheon of American and world history in part because Detroit identified with your story so much.
Some of those I interviewed
during the campaign said they were voting for the first time because they believed in the promise your presidency up- holds.
They understand that you
are not a miracle worker, yet they know that this major urban center cannot succeed to the fullest if it has no strong ally in the White House.
Those who are working dili-
gently every day to make De- troit a better place would like to see their efforts augmented by a jobs package for this region — and a visit from you, Mr. President.
Watch senior editor
Bankole Thompson’s weekly show, “Center Stage,” on WADL TV 38, Saturdays at 1 p.m. This Saturday, May 1, will feature a roundtable with organizations telling the story that “Dateline NBC” did not tell in its special report about Detroit. Thompson is the author of the forthcoming book on President Obama and Black America to be released this summer. E-mail bthomp-
son@michronicle.com.
R&B star Usher speaks about his lyrics
By Tonya Pendleton
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Usher Raymond IV has been
around a long time, yet he’s only 31 years old. That’s what happens when you start your career as a teenager, become one of the most successful art- ists in the burgeoning Atlanta music scene and become a hot attraction following in the skilled footsteps of superstars like Michael Jackson.
But Usher has had his share
of controversy. He apparently enjoys women who are much older than he is, as his rela- tionships with Chili and now ex-wife Tameka Raymond have shown, and he’s not above using those relationships for for subject matter on his albums.
On his latest, “Raymond
Vs. Raymond,” he ready to sign those papers (and in real life, he did) and looking for a “little freak.” While the father of two sons with his ex-wife appeared to be settling down on his last CD, “Here I Stand,” his fans weren’t quite ready. We found out what was on his mind by culling some of his most recent interviews as well as some ones from the past. Here’s what’s going on with Usher these days in his own words.
ON THE NEW CD
“With ‘Raymond V Ray-
mond’ I’m coming back to what people know me for. If you bring back what people loved about you and remind them nothing’s changed, then they’re right back where they were before. This album isn’t specifically about my mar- riage. It’s about the tug-of- war between man and woman, and the honesty a man has to have.” — New York Times, 2010
“Part of the reason why I
did this album was so you can understand the full spectrum of who I am as an artist. My life has been kinda played out as
‘Reinventing American Cities for the 21st
Century’ forum April 28 at Wayne State University
Judith Rodin, president of
the Rockefeller Foundation, will discuss “Reinventing American Cities for the 21st Century” on Wednesday, April 28, at Wayne State University’s McGregor Memorial Confer- ence Center, Room B/C on the first floor, 495 Ferry Mall. The free public lecture, scheduled from 5:30-6:45 p.m., is spon- sored by the Richard C. Van Dusen Endowment at Wayne State University.
Prior to joining the Rock-
efeller Foundation in 2005, Rodin was president of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), an appointment which distinguished her as the first woman to serve as the presi- dent of an Ivy League institu- tion.
Usher
a journey and going through different chapters, with the albums representing the chap- ters. It’s the sixth album for me. And when I look back to the people that I admire, (it is) people who take you on a journey to where they have been, musically, places they have gone, the culture of that time that affected them, the cultural movement. All of that, they figured out a way to en- compass it in the music they made. That’s what this album is.” — MTV News
ON GROWTH
“The last two to three years
of my life have taught me a lot about myself as a person, becoming a businessman, get- ting married, having children, going through a divorce. And there lies a responsibility, an
obligation as an artist that I just can’t ignore. Finding a bal- ance between those two places is what ‘Raymond V Raymond’ is all about.” —
MTV.com (UK)
ON R&B MUSIC
“The essence of R&B is real
experience. It’s based on soul. It’s based on feeling groove and rhythm and a combination of all them coming together to make a piece of magic. It sort of puts artists in a vulnerable place where they’re emotion- ally drenched, pouring some- thing out. If you think back to Whitney Houston’s earlier days, Aretha Franklin’s earlier days, Bobby Womack’s earlier days, it’s like they were crying to you on records. Sam Cooke, you felt him. James Brown, you felt him. That’s what it is, that’s R&B.”
During a decade of leader- ship at Penn, the university doubled its research funding and tripled both its annual fundraising and the size of its endowment; launched a com- prehensive, award-winning and internationally acclaimed neighborhood revitalization
Judith Rodin
program; attracted record numbers of undergraduate ap- plicants and created Penn’s most selective classes ever; and rose in the leading nation- al ranking of research univer- sities from 16th to fourth.
A pioneer in the behavioral
medicine movement, Rodin taught at New York Universi- ty before moving to a 22-year career on the faculty at Yale,
where she held appointments in both the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine. Rodin graduated from the University of Penn- sylvania, earned her PhD from Columbia University and has received 17 honorary doctor- ate degrees. She has written more than 200 academic arti- cles and wrote or co-wrote 12 books.
Rodin holds several promi- nent non-profit board posi- tions including AMR Corpora- tion, Citigroup and Comcast Corporation. She served on President Clinton’s Commit- tee of Advisors on Science and Technology and is a member of several leading academic societies, including the Insti- tute of Medicine of the Nation- al Academy of Sciences.
Reservations are required to attend the forum. Visit www.
specialevents.wayne.edu/van- dusen-lecture-detroit-orienta- tion, or contacting Jill Horner at
jmhorner@wayne.edu or (313) 577-8819.
Neighborhood Service Organization to announce drastic funding cuts to services
Neighborhood Service Or-
ganization’s (NSO) Homeless Services Division is being dec- imated by catastrophic cuts in its program that provides out- reach, permanent housing and services to Detroit’s homeless population.
A news conference will be
held on Wednesday, April 28, at at NSO’s Project Helping Hands to discuss the impact these cuts will have on our community. Project Helping
Hands is located at 3523 Cass Avenue (on the corner of Cass and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.)
These cuts come on the
heels of a national study com- pleted just a few weeks ago that finds that more than half of Detroit’s homeless are at risk of dying on the streets of the city – a 9 percent increase above the national average.
NSO and its partners will call for the State of Michigan
to immediately restore fund- ing to these vital outreach programs. NSO will also call on the City of Detroit, Wayne County, the Michigan State Housing Development Author- ity, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Develop- ment to come together with the Homeless Action Network of Detroit to develop a long- term comprehensive strategy to provide homeless services for our community.
April 28 - May 4, 2010 Page A-4
WADL promoting the Census
Rap superstar and actor Ludacris (center) was in the Motor City recently to encourage Detroiters to participate in the Census, in conjunction with WADL TV 38. WADL president Lewis Gibbs has been lending his voice to the Census cause by running announcements on the station, in part because Detroit’s future depends on it. “Luda” is pictured here with fans. — WADL photo
Michigan Labor Unions assemble Freedom Weekend luncheon
Michigan unions are sched-
uled to participate in Freedom Weekend’s Labor Leaders Luncheon on Saturday, May 1, 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at Cobo Con- ference Center. The theme for the Freedom Weekend signa- ture event is “Labor and Civil Rights: Two Roads, One Des- tination.”
Labor and civil rights his-
torical pictorial selections will be on display outside the luncheon room, depicting photographs of 12 Michigan unions. Members of the dais, leaders of the various unions will walk through the path of photographs to make a grand ceremonial entrance.
The keynote speaker will
be the incoming president of the UAW, Bob King, who has been serving as vice president since 1998. King, one of the original members of the AFL- CIO Elected Leader Task Force on Organizing, also founded the region-wide International Labor Solidarity Network. Currently, he directs the Ford, Severstal, and Competitive Shops/Independents, Parts and Suppliers Departments.
Among a number of other accomplishments, King played
a major role in both the UAW Ford 2007 National Agreement and the 2009 Modifications of this Agreement, and also pio- neered the use of innovative partnership agreements with employers giving workers the right to join the UAW without interference from their em- ployers. Presiders for the dis- cussion, following the keynote address, are Saundra Williams, president, present, Metropoli- tan AFL-CIO and Tina Abbott, Secretary of Treasury, Michi- gan AFL-CIO.
Confirmed panelists will
lead labor discussions in the following topics:
Labor and Civil Rights: Al
Garrett, AFSCME, president, Council 25
National Health Care:
Marge Faville, president, SEIU, Health Care Michigan
Healthy Living: Rick Block-
er secretary/treasurer, United Food and Commercial Work- ers, Local 876
Employee Free Choice Act:
Henry Gaffney, president, American Transit Union, Divi- sion 26.
Also invited: “Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!”: Michael Aaron, Laborers Local 1191
Education: Dave Hecker, pres- ident, AFT – Michigan. Confirmed as event mod-
erator is Jamal Simmons, a well-known political strate- gist and frequent television commentator who appeared on CNN, MSNBC regularly supporting Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination during the 2008 presidential primaries and caucuses. The night Obama won the Demo- cratic nomination, CNN, with Simmons as part of the team, won the highest ratings among every cable and broadcast net- work.
Tickets for the luncheon
are $25 and may be purchased online at
www.freeinst.org, onsite on event day or by call- ing 313.347.2834.
The Freedom Institute,
founded by Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony in 2001, is a not-for- profit organization specifically created to enhance the social and economic impact of Af- rican Americans and others. More than 20 events have been scheduled for Freedom Week- end IX. Obtain updated list at
www.freeinst.org.
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