www.michronicle.com


VOLUME 73 – Number 37★ Child missing


June 9-15, 2010 479 Ledyard • Detroit MI 48201 313.963.5522 $1.00 Taking back our streets Dalmar Sha Parkman, a 14-


year-old student at Crossman Alternative School, has been missing since Feb. 18. The family is asking anyone with information to call (313) 596- 1000 or the Detroit Police De- partment.


WHAT’S INSIDE


Vice president visits Kenya (A-2) Vice-President Joe Biden


flew into Nairobi on Monday amid unprecedented security and quiet despair in the cor- ridors of power over what is seen as failure by the Obama administration “to be helpful” in finding a solution in Soma- lia.


Fifth Third, Red Wings encourage student volunteerism (B-1) Last fall, an initiative led


by Fifth Third Bank and the Detroit Red Wings encour- aged Southeast Michigan high school students to volun- teer in the community. The S.H.O.T.S. program (Students Helping Others Through Ser- vice) was designed to encour- age high school students to volunteer their time and efforts while creating a competition among the student groups with monthly and overall win- ners taking home prizes.


Young Detroit Builders (B-1): After 15 years of helping


young Detroiters to transform their lives, Young Detroit Build- ers (YDB) continues to fulfill its mission.


Delta Dental advises parents to act quickly (B-6) Delta Dental of Michigan


recommends following steps if a tooth is chipped, broken or knocked out.


Motown, year by year (D-1)


Music editor invokes David Bianco’s book “Heat Wave: The Motown Fact Book” as he takes a look at highlights of Motown from 1957 to 1972.


MLK students benefit from IDEA program (D-4) Nearly 100 students from


Martin Luther King Jr. High School got a taste for what to expect in the business world as they competed for scholar- ships offered by of Improving Detroit through Entrepreneur- ship Advancement (IDEA.


DPS Master Facilities Plan undergoes changes (D-9) After an exhaustive com-


munity vetting process, which included more than 40 local community meetings and nine town hall meetings, Emergen- cy Financial Manager Robert Bobb has made significant changes to the district’s five- year Master Facilities Plan.


www.michronicle.com 6 89076 06419 4


Bankole Thompson


LYVONNE CARGILL (left), mother of Jerean Blake, the 17-year-old student allegedly killed by Chauney Owens, is comforted during a prayer vigil at which justice was demanded for Blake’s senseless death. —Andre Smith photo


Detroit NAACP rallies coalition for holistic steps to address crime


By Bankole Thompson CHRONICLE SENIOR EDITOR


I


attended the Mackinac Policy Conference last week, not with excitement but with caution, knowing that this annual politi- cal ritual on Mackinac Island more often than not creates a political stalemate on


the most important issues rather than working cohesively on solutions.


For that reason, the gubernatorial forum did


not offer much with regard to how Detroit and the rest of Michigan can get off the Titanic.


COMMENTARY Thus I have since de-


cided I would not waste any ink on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who called for Detroit to become a federal tax free zone. What Gingrich did not explain is what he did for Detroit when he was in a position to during his tenure in Congress.


I found it amazing and


ridiculous at the same time that Gingrich, whose


new book, “Saving America,” compares Presi- dent Obama’s administration to Nazi Germany under Adolph Hitler and Russia under Stalin, will assume a medical doctor role, offering pre- scriptions to the state and its largest city.


Yet one thing I walked away with from Macki- nac Island was a commitment revealed at a re-


BUILDING BRIDGES FORUM Participants in the June 14 Anti-Violence Rally


REV. WENDELL ANTHONY leads the charge to arrest violence in the city of Detroit and ad- dress community policing, among other issues. —Monica Morgan photo


ception hosted by the Detroit Branch NAACP to tackle violent crime in Detroit.


It is beneficial to talk about the critical need


for a productive, vibrant, safe environment, one conducive to businesses thriving. Focusing on business policies without addressing crime amounts to building castles in the sky.


See OUR STREETS page A-4


■ Detroit Branch NAACP ■ Mayor’s Office, City of Detroit ■ Office of Congressman John Conyers, Jr. ■ U.S. Attorney’s Office (Eastern District of Michigan) ■ Detroit Police Department ■ Michigan State Police ■ Detroit Public Schools ■ Wayne County Sheriff’s Department ■ Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality ■ Federal Bureau of Investigation ■ Faith-Based Community ■ Flip the Script ■ ARISE Detroit! ■ Black Family Development ■ Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity ■ Dr. Carl Taylor, MSU Professor ■ NOBLE (National Organization of Black Law Enforcement)


■ ALPACT (Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust)


■ The Skillman Foundation Wrong move by Mayor Bing on schools


By Sam Logan CHRONICLE PUBLISHER


Mayor Dave Bing used the recent


Big Four discussion on Mackinac Island to signal his readiness to take over the Detroit Public Schools once Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb’s contract ends.


I have been scratching my head since


that announcement because Mackinac was the wrong place and time to make such an


COMMENTARY


announcement, one that would only reignite the takeover and racism sen- timent some Detroiters have from the past.


We all agree that DPS has gigantic


problems that the Board of Education turned a blind eye to. We know that the board appears to be more concerned with contracts and gigs than curricu- lum for Detroit children.


Yes, we acknowledge that there are


deep problems with DPS as the ongo- ing investigations into corruption at the district reveal.


But the question of whether or not


the mayor should be in control of the schools must be left up to voters to decide. The decision is theirs.


What Mayor Bing and Gov. Jenni- Sam Logan


fer Granholm said on Mackinac Island played right into the hands of those who have long been suspicious that racism has been part of the driving force behind DPS’ problems. While that thinking, in my view, has little merit, DPS’ problems have a long history and go beyond all the superintendents the district has had in the last 15 years.


Robert Bobb has come in to clean up the culture of corruption and get


the district back on track. But his de- tractors have branded him as one out to destroy DPS. Yet these same people are not offering any alternative to the crisis that has gained national media attention.


The mayor would do himself and


all of us a favor if he let the commu- nity make the call for mayoral control. Anything less than is doomed because despite his good intentions for the schools, he will be entangled in anoth- er “takeover” and race battle.


Meanwhile, Mayor Bing has a lot on


his plate. I don’t think he wants anoth- er battle that will take away from put- ting the city of Detroit, that is awash in red ink, back on the right track.


Both Bing and Granholm may have


the best intentions for DPS. But those intentions cannot be trumped at the expense of what voters want for their school system. We cannot circumvent the process. The mayor’s advisors should have known that the discus- sion around taking over the schools belongs in Detroit, not on Mackinac Island.


Regardless of what happens, for the


sake of the students, there has to be a cohesive relationship between the su- perintendent of schools and the mayor of the city of Detroit.


Dr. Robert E. Johnson


names Johnson as first Black president


CHRONICLE STAFF REPORTS The Becker College Board of


Trustees has appointed Dr. Robert E. Johnson as the 10th president of Becker College. He is the college’s first African-American president.


See JOHNSON page A-4 Becker College


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