Detroit council OKs plan that touts racial separation

September 21, 2004

A majority of the Detroit City Council wants to implement an economic development plan it commissioned for $112,000 that preaches racial isolation and rails against immigration in its bid to gain economic success for poor blacks.


The crux of the plan is the creation of a business district -- dubbed African Town -- that would be funded in part with city money and made up of black-owned businesses catering to a black clientele.


The report also complains that immigrants from Mexico, Asia and the Middle East are stealing resources, jobs and other opportunities from blacks and calls on city leaders to stop the economic shift.


The report does not call on the city to stop immigration -- and the city wouldn't have any power to stop it, even if it wanted to -- but the report does call on the city to level the playing field between blacks and the newcomers who it says are economically surpassing them.


"We see this as another compliment to the exciting development going on in the city," said Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, who introduced the effort to the council earlier this summer. The plan is under scrutiny by some city leaders and economic development experts who question the legality of an effort meant to help only one race. Some officials decry the council's efforts as threatening to reverse strides made in the region to improve race relations and the city's relationship with its neighbors.


Such a plan also could further alienate efforts by Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to seek regional cooperation and funding for major projects, such as an expansion and renovation of Cobo Center.


One official calls it outright racist.


"It's reverse racism," said Kay Everett, one of two councilwomen who voted against the plan. The other council member who rejected the plan was Sheila Cockrel.


"This is foolish," Everett said. "They don't understand. They're not thinking of the city as a whole. We need to bring harmony to this city, and if we say that we do not want any other people here, then we're being racist."


Council members who voted for the plan are quick to say they are not against immigrants. They say the city must act to help blacks, who more than any other ethnic group in the United States suffer from high levels of poverty, unemployment and school dropout rates.


Kilpatrick vetoed efforts by the council in July to implement the plan, but last week the mayor met with the plan's creator, Claud Anderson, a former Detroiter who had unsuccessfully applied for a casino license. He is also the author of popular books about the economic state of blacks in the country.


Kilpatrick officials said they did not sign any agreements with Anderson, but they are working to help him find land for a business district. So far, they have been unsuccessful.


A mayoral spokesman said that while the meetings were not an endorsement of the politics behind Anderson's plans, the mayor sees merit in the portions of the plan that are focused on creating jobs and increasing the number of black-owned businesses in the city.


"As they do with any potential investors, the mayor and his development team will continue to evaluate any economic development proposal presented to the city as part of its ongoing efforts to grow Detroit," said mayoral spokesman Howard Hughey.


"This administration is committed to improving the social and economic conditions, not only of African Americans, but also other traditionally disadvantaged groups."


He said the administration is against the council's efforts to institutionalize a system that only helps blacks to the exclusion of other races. The council will find it difficult to implement its plan without the mayor's approval.


The report, "A Powernomics Economic Development Plan for Detroit's Under-Served Majority Population," says inner cities should be improved for its residents, who should own and control the businesses in their neighborhoods. He calls on blacks to support black-owned businesses, in the same way he says other groups frequent stores owned by people of their own ethnicities.


The report also says integration has failed blacks and that regionalism is a bid by whites to control the city's resources. Anderson warns city leaders to beware of non-blacks moving into the city because they will have their own agendas.


Anderson says his theories are not racist, but they are honest.


He said the city is bordering on an economic crisis, with 26 percent of the city's population living below the poverty line.


"The biggest problem in the city of Detroit -- and it's true of all urban areas -- are black leaders and white leaders who continue to use and hide behind the myth of a color-blind and race-neutral society and use it as an excuse not to deal with this dilemma," Anderson said.


"There are special problems unique to black folks, and the city needs to address their problems."


Detroit is the first city to begin to implement his Powernomics philosophy, Anderson said. He wants to create a business district for blacks, like Mexicantown or Greektown, that would include a fish factory with its own hatchery, black hair-care supplier, popcorn factory and fruit juice producers.


He said he has some investors lined up to help with such a project, but he would not reveal their names.


The executive director of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a Boston-based nonprofit created by a Harvard University business professor, said the council is right to want to implement a plan to help blacks become entrepreneurs. But the director, Anne Habiby, said black-business ownership is not a panacea, especially if there are no plans in place to help the business owners succeed. The initiative is in talks with Detroit to work as a consultant on economic development issues.


Habiby said Detroit has suffered so much population loss that its future success depends on more people moving into the city.


"Detroit must be an attractive place for people to live," Habiby said. "It's shortsighted for city leaders to create an environment that feels unwelcoming."


Activists in the Hispanic and Arab communities say the city should work to help African Americans, but they said they worry that if the plan is seen as a race-based solution, it may deepen rifts between ethnic groups.


"I do think it's the city leadership's duty to work with the community and no doubt, the priority is African Americans," said Imad Hamad, Michigan director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "We have to go by the makeup of the community. ... My concern here is that it depends how people read it or react to it."


One Hispanic business leader said the city should open its doors to all ethnic groups. She said the Mexican community has been part of the city since the early 1900s. Hispanics account for 5 percent of the city's population.


"There's a lot going on in the city of Detroit, and if there is a need for an African Town, go for it," said Maria Elena Rodriguez, president of the Mexicantown Community Development Corporation. "But we should not be knocked for trying to get a seat at the table."


And John Carroll, who heads the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, said like it or not, the city and the suburbs are tied together.


"We think it's not a good option to pursue," he said.


But seven of nine council members did. They voted in July to begin implementing parts of Anderson's plan, including a resolution that designates blacks, who make up 83 percent of Detroit's population, as the "majority minority" group and another that creates a development corporation that would operate as a loan fund exclusively for black entrepreneurs.


The mayor vetoed both resolutions, but the same council members overrode the veto.


Councilwoman Cockrel, who supported the mayor's veto, said: "I'm not prepared to support an economic development strategy that has the unintended consequences of pitting people against each other. At the end of the day ... the plan ... advocates exclusionary classifications and illegal set-asides that only serve to divide and polarize within the city and the region. And we have plenty of that already."

www.freep.com/news/locway/detplan21e_20040921.htm

I bet Martin Luther King Jr. is turning in his grave right about now.

Quoted: Detroit council OKs plan that touts racial separation The crux of the plan is the creation of a business district -- dubbed African Town --

No problem, just as long as WHITE TOWN is funded also!

Sounds like a recipe for the Disunited States of America…

Quoted: Sounds like a recipe for the Disunited States of America…

That happened a long time ago.  

"African Town" eh?

great, now i know where to go to get some good zebra shit beatles with a side order of AIDS.

i hate detroit.

african town? why don't they save up some money for a one-way ticket and experience the real thing?

Fuggin idiots.

Quoted: african town? why don't they save up some money for a one-way ticket and experience the real thing?

I'll add a very quiet +1

Not for blacks in general, just these specific asshats.

- BG

And yet there are still those out there (a lot of them) that think the black man just needs "a little bit more help" in order to "make it".

Now this proposal to "to level the playing field between blacks and the newcomers who it says are economically surpassing them."  Isn't that what "Affirmative Action" has been for these past decades?  To "level the playing field" by artificially giving black advantages that others don't have?



The ONLY way to break this cycle is for black Americans to stop listening to their so-called "leaders" and take a stand for themselves.  They just refuse to see it is "leaders" and proposals like this that keep them in poverty and behind the curve.  Whenever a sucessful black man or women speaks they are disregarded as "playing the white man's game".  No, you fucking morons, they are playing the "get my ass ahead" game and they leave you and all your Jessie and Al sycophants stuck in the ghetto while they make something of themselves and their lives.

Quoted: Detroit council OKs plan that touts racial separation The report also complains that immigrants from Mexico, Asia and the Middle East are stealing resources, jobs and other opportunities from blacks and calls on city leaders to stop the economic shift.

Can a job really be 'stolen' from you if you never actually apply for it???

Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like a recipe for the Disunited States of America… That happened a long time ago.

Yes.  As John Edwards tells us, there are two Americas.

Quoted: The ONLY way to break this cycle is for black Americans to stop listening to their so-called "leaders" and take a stand for themselves.  They just refuse to see it is "leaders" and proposals like this that keep them in poverty and behind the curve.  Whenever a sucessful black man or women speaks they are disregarded as "playing the white man's game".  No, you fucking morons, they are playing the "get my ass ahead" game and they leave you and all your Jessie and Al sycophants stuck in the ghetto while they make something of themselves and their lives.

Exactly

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like a recipe for the Disunited States of America… That happened a long time ago.   Yes.  As John Edwards tells us, there are two Americas.

At least two.

I was the only white male working for the city water department in my yard. There are 4 yards that support the water system. I got laid-off last year, after absolutely perfect attendance, NO missed sick days, NO used holiday pay, NO off time, or injuries. I never as much even scratched a city owned work vehicle. Evert piece of equipment that I took from the yard came back fueled up and in better shape than when it left with me in the morning.

I was white, I made great money, and the higher ups hated me for that...period.

The city of Detroit is a hole, and will always be that way.

Successful blacks who earned their way to the top, and who are conservative are generally not liked by the racist promoting Jacksons and Sharptons in the country.

I seriously do not believe Jackson, Sharpton et al would be happy even if we re-distributed all the wealth in this country, and gave it to all the blacks/minorites along with the shirts off our backs. Nothing will satisfy those guys, as long as they figure a way to piss and moan to expand their power and pocket books. Both are crooks, blackmailers and do their people no lasting, meaningful good!

All the honest hardworking african americans are booted out.  Thugs are whats left.  Archer was a good moderate mayor, didnt last long.  Kilpatrick is a gorilla, literally looks like one and is a thug with a personal gang.   Interesting how his enemies end up dead or get fired.

Im reminded of the episode of South Park where Saddam Hussien and Satan are having realtionship problems.

This all takes place in hell.  Saddam kills Satans new lover.  Satans new lover then reappears

Saddam: "I thought I killed you?"

Satans new lover: "Where else was I going to go?  Detroit?"

Next thing you know they introduce legislation to bus us all down there to shop.

Get off your lazy fucking asses you have the same chance as everyone else! If everyone is passing you by its because you arent working hard enough!!! Get it??????

I've always wondered why the black community has stood by and said nothing about the mass of
illegal immigrants taking all the entry level jobs.
Illegal immigration actually hurts them worse than it does the white community.

Quoted: The crux of the plan is the creation of a business district -- dubbed African Town -- that would be funded in part with city money and made up of black-owned businesses catering to a black clientele. The report also complains that immigrants from Mexico, Asia and the Middle East are stealing resources, jobs and other opportunities from blacks and calls on city leaders to stop the economic shift. But seven of nine council members did. They voted in July to begin implementing parts of Anderson's plan, including a resolution that designates blacks, who make up 83 percent of Detroit's population, as the "majority minority" group and another that creates a development corporation that would operate as a loan fund exclusively for black entrepreneurs. www.freep.com/news/locway/detplan21e_20040921.htm

This is a joke right?

Africa Town!?! Are they nuts!?!

The Asians, Mexicans and Middle Easterners are not stealing anything! They are using the system to their advantage. Wecome to America! Capitalism rules!

Detroit is 83% black. And they are still bitching about not being able to get ahead. How everyone is trying to keep them down. Friggin' "majority minority"!

Awww f**k it! It aint' worth my time.

Remember your the evil conservative racist.  Besides I'm sure it will be quite the stop and shop;  just like liberia.

Quoted: Quoted: Detroit council OKs plan that touts racial separation The report also complains that immigrants from Mexico, Asia and the Middle East are stealing resources, jobs and other opportunities from blacks and calls on city leaders to stop the economic shift. Can a job really be 'stolen' from you if you never actually apply for it???

Yeah, I see Hispanic couples here work two jobs during the week and clean homes on weekends. I dont care what anyone says but I ONLY see immigrants work this hard. American blacks call this slavery; so they refuse to work such hours. 10-years later, the Hispanic couple owns thier own business and the American blacks will still be unemployed and complaining. Same goes for Koreans and other Asians, most I've known work like 70-hour weeks! They put thier kids through college and get ahead. Can't say that about too many "others."  Call me a racists but I call them like I see them.

Detroit has become a lesson plan in what is wrong with the liberal dimokrat play book and what it has done to our country and black people in general.Detroit  has now become  a kind of third world country right here in America.Most everybody that could, has moved out of this shit encrusted hell hole leaving behind the drunks,dope heads,theives,politicians( who all live outside of Detroit),white trash and whores. Apparently 83% of the people that remain are black and now black leaders in black Detroit want to exclude anyone not black from receiving any financial aid to establish black owned business in predominatly black detroit,in a black only business district. Go figure.Sound racist?You want to know what it is like to be hated? Be white, and go to Detroit.Burned out buildings,burned out cars upside down on the streets.....drunks passed out on the sidewalks.....what a shithole.Reminds you of Somalia from "Black Hawk Down."Detroit is like a little piece of Africa right here.Detroit is the asshole of America.