Michigan Chronicle Celebrates Men of Excellence
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Michigan Chronicle
Vol. 82 – No. 48 | August 7-13, 2019
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Longtime Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson dies at 80 BY CHRONICLE STAFF
L. Brooks Patterson, a Republican who seemed to revel in confrontation during his decades of leading wealthy Oakland County, north of Detroit, died Saturday. He was 80. Patterson died at his Independence Township home, months after announcing he had latestage pancreatic cancer, spokesman Bill Mullan L. Brooks said. He was halfPatterson way through a seventh term as county executive, but said in March that he would not seek re-election next year. Patterson had been Oakland County’s chief executive since 1993 and served as its prosecutor from 1973 to 1988. In 1972, he served as attorney for a group that was opposing a federal judge’s order for school busing integration. Oakland County, which is Michigan’s second-largest county and one of the country’s wealthiest, was a destination for many of the whites and middle-class blacks who left Detroit in droves starting in the 1950s. As its leader, Patterson opposed a tax levy to fund a regional transit system and fought regionalization of Detroit’s water system. The outspoken Republican had a history of verbally sparring with other regional leaders, especially those in Detroit. He apologized last year after saying he’d rather join the Ku Klux Klan than a group of CEOs he had accused of snatching business from Oakland County to benefit Detroit. Patterson was born in Indiana in 1939 and grew up on Detroit’s west side, according to a news release from the county. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Detroit and returned to the school to get his law degree after serving in the Army. At the March news conference, Patterson said his priorities were to beat the cancer, however low the odds, and lead the county until his term ended. “I’m fighting this cancer to be among the 10 percent who survive it,” he said. “I will continue to do my job as Oakland County executive alongside the members of my administration who comprise the best team anywhere in government.” Michigan
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See PATTERSON page A2
WHAT’S INSIDE
More than 1,000 people march down Woodward Ave. in support of the Green New Deal. PHOTOS: Josh Yoder
“I Want My Green New Deal”: Detroiters March for Environmental Justice
By Eli Day As the wide field of Democratic presidential candidates took their places for the second round of debates at Detroit’s Fox Theatre last week, the more captivating show was taking place outside, where a grassroots force of much greater intensity was sweeping through the streets. More than 1,000 people strong, the rally and mile-long march to the theatre was organized by the Frontline Detroit Organizing Committee, a web of local progressive groups comprised largely of working-class people of color. The banner they rallied under was simple and precise: “Make Detroit the Engine of the Green New Deal.” And their demands came together to form a clear tapestry of progressive goals — from “good, clean, local union jobs” to a “green economy that serves” “human need” rather than “corporate greed.” With the second round of debates unfolding across the street, protesters were basically pinning a list of demands to the castle gates, or more accurately, thundering them through a bullhorn. Inside were some of the most powerful people in the country. And 20 of them, spread across two nights of debate, were asking for yet more power over the lives of millions. Those gathered outside refused to let it pass without scrutiny. It’s no secret that across an entire landscape of issues, the left wing of the Democratic party has dragged the center
kicking and screaming to many of its priorities — from a $15 minimum wage to a health care policy inching ever closer to Medicare for All. The same is true of the enormous threat posed by climate change. The idea behind the Green New Deal is straightforward: climate change is a galloping threat that needs to be met by an equally forceful response in order to prevent its most devastating consequences. That response, supporters of the plan argue, should be a World War II-style mobilization of resources that cuts off the fossil fuel tap and totally transforms every aspect of our economy that relies on it. The Democratic candidates all agree that the climate threat is real, but are divided on the urgency and scale of the response needed. That divide largely
is the existential crisis for our world.” She went on to highlight her “plan for a green industrial policy” that would create more than one million manufacturing jobs and “revitalize huge cities across this country.” But more nonchalant voices were also in the building. The loudest was former Rep. John Delaney who called the Green New Deal unrealistic for including “things that are completely unrelated to climate like universal health care and guaranteed jobs.” Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper added some spice by calling the proposal “a disaster at the ballot box” and sneering that supporters “might as well FedEx the election to Donald Trump.” What both Delaney and Hickenlooper either ignore or look away from is that
Protesters were joined by Rashida Tlaib. exists along the same line that has menaced the party since 2016: progressives on one side in favor of sweeping change, and more moderate candidates on the other favoring lukewarm and gradual steps.
the Green New Deal is wildly popular: 63 percent of adults consider it a good idea according to a recent national poll, making it difficult to figure out just what exactly these gentlemen are even talking about.
Progressive favorites Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have embraced the substance of the Green New Deal.
Not to mention, progressive who call for more radical steps have the world’s scientists in their corner. Last year, the International Panel on Climate Change sounded a civilization-wide alarm: we’ve got just 12 years to introduce “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” before the
Sanders has called it a “bold idea” that stands to “create millions of good paying jobs” and “rebuild communities in rural America that have been devastated.” And Warren certainly echoed its spirit when she argued that the “climate crisis
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NEW DEAL page A2
Black-Owned Companies form Detroit Coalition to Push for Equal Opportunity in Building Boom By Chronicle Staff
Girl Power Meets Popcorn at Poppin Top Hat!
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The region’s oldest, largest and most established black-owned businesses and business associations have announced a new effort to level the playing field for minority-owned companies in Detroit. The Detroit Coalition for Economic Inclusion (DCEI), was formed under the banner of the National Business League (NBL) as part of its national initiative to champion economic inclusion and equity on development projects. Based in Washington, D.C., the NBL, founded in 1900, is the nation’s oldest and largest trade association for black-owned businesses. The coalition will work to push for changes in order to give blackowned businesses a fair opportunity to participate in the development and building of new commercial projects. The coalition is currently
See INCLUSION page A2
Coalition Members left to right: Ken L. Daniels, Darwyn Parks, Alisha Moss, Jason Cole, Greg Bowens