As of late, the city of Detroit has become synonymous with shame, and failure. Highly publicized industrial bailouts, corrupt public officials, and a high violent crime rate trend (City Crime Rankings 2013) have swayed the world into believing that we are a city of animals, being led by animals. To walk the streets of this city is to walk in the modern day wild west. We must change.
On November 05, 2013, Mike Duggan was elected mayor of this city. The hype brought about by this recent election flustered many voters. Mike Duggan election signs were kicked out of yards, and replaced with signs promoting opposer Benny Napoleon, and vice versa. This is the first white mayor since…blah, blah, blah. Let us stop making excuses and complaints, and stand behind our leader. Let us give Mayor-elect Duggan a chance to lead. Let us stop using racial bias as a reason to give up. I happen to remember not too long ago, a time when an African-American president was opposed because of this same type of bias. My, my, how the tables have turned; how soon they forget?
As an African-American woman, born and raised in the south, I am no stranger to prejudice and hate. For a short period of time, I worked for the Department of Commerce as a Field Representative collecting data to be used to determine the needs of the people. While working this assignment, I was treated less than a person should have been treated. I encountered people that hated blacks or “Coloreds”, and people who particularly despised the government; guess what, I was both. I was threatened, chased, and called everything other than a child of God. I cried every night that I returned home from assignment; I prayed for change. My superiors tried to reassure me over and over again that I was not experiencing prejudice because of color, but they were blind to the facts, they were Caucasian. That year was 2011, that year was not long ago, that year did bring about change; the year 2011 changed me.
I am now an advocate for what is right. With a pen and pad handy, I write the wrongs to right the wrongs. Detroit citizens opposing Mayor Mike Duggan are wrong, and an example should be made on how to follow the leader. As I prayed in 2011 for a change in the biases that separate us, I am praying now for the same. We are NOT the animals portrayed in the media, and we are not being led by animals. For change to happen, the excuses have to stop, and we have to allow the change within us individually. Follow the leader. I am a citizen of Detroit, Michigan. My president is an African-American named Barack Obama, and my mayor is a Caucasian male the goes by the name Mike Duggan. I follow the lead of President Obama in hopes of a change in America’s money woes, and I follow the lead of Mayor Mike Duggan in hopes of a change in Detroit’s dire situation. You should too!
“City Crime Rankings by Population.” CQ Press. Sage Publications, 2013. Web. 09 Nov. 2013.
