Roman Gribbs Dead at 90

[dtowncitylover]

RIP Mr. Mayor.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/obit...died/82666540/

[Detroit Stylin]

Wasnt he one of the Mayors that played up to the racial fears of White Detroiters when he was Mayor?

[313WX]

Wasnt he one of the Mayors that played up to the racial fears of White Detroiters when he was Mayor?

Yes.

STRESS was his legacy.

[Detroit Stylin]

Yes.

STRESS was his legacy.

Then to hell with him....

[Hypestyles]

Curious. He's kind of a semi-forgotten figure in Detroit's post-WWII history; situated between Cavanagh's tenure and Young's 5-term tenure.

[Johnnny5]

Wasnt he one of the Mayors that played up to the racial fears of White Detroiters when he was Mayor?

So kind of like Coleman Young, but in reverse?


I've seen you defend Young's legacy on here on a few occasions. If they both played the same game, why defend one and "to Hell with" the other?

[dtowncitylover]

While STRESS may have happened under his watch, I really don't know, his administration did begin to diversify city hall by hiring more African Americans than previous administrations.

While indifference is just as bad as a negative action, how involved was he with the setting up and implementation of STRESS?

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

I can't say I know enough about him to say much more than is in the obits and articles about him. Detroit's decline certainly continued under his watch, although it seems like did try [[somewhat misguided things) to stop the slide. Condolences to his friends and family.

[IrishSpartan]

Wow...now we find out Ray Gribbs was a hard line reactionary instead of a moderate-nominal Democrat. Interesting revisionist history. Then again, I've also read on this message board that just about every mayor of Detroit before Coleman and including Cavanagh was a racist.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

IrishSpartan, most pre-civil rights era politicians in both parties had ideas and used language we would now consider racist. Not everyone was an open hateful bigot like Woodrow Wilson or George Wallace*, but they were nonetheless. Generally, I credit people for the positions with regard to the era in which they lived. Abe Lincoln and Harry Truman were racists by today's standards; but they did very much to advance the cause of civil rights and were liberal in their racial attitudes for the time they lived and governed. I don't really know if Mayor Gribbs was a racist or not either during his mayorality or in the end of his days. I wonder if there would be anything more than anecdotal evidence now to demonstrate it either way.

*While George Wallace was a horrible segregationist during his political days, he did genuinely find God [[after the assassination attempt) and spent his later years condemning his past and trying to make amends. I do believe in redemption and forgiveness, although ultimately it is God and not me who makes the call.

[mikefmich]

Gribbs certainly wasn't like Miriani, and a few other folks before him. RIP

[IrishSpartan]

IrishSpartan, most pre-civil rights era politicians in both parties had ideas and used language we would now consider racist. Not everyone was an open hateful bigot like Woodrow Wilson or George Wallace*, but they were nonetheless. Generally, I credit people for the positions with regard to the era in which they lived. Abe Lincoln and Harry Truman were racists by today's standards; but they did very much to advance the cause of civil rights and were liberal in their racial attitudes for the time they lived and governed. I don't really know if Mayor Gribbs was a racist or not either during his mayorality or in the end of his days. I wonder if there would be anything more than anecdotal evidence now to demonstrate it either way.

*While George Wallace was a horrible segregationist during his political days, he did genuinely find God [[after the assassination attempt) and spent his later years condemning his past and trying to make amends. I do believe in redemption and forgiveness, although ultimately it is God and not me who makes the call.

I'm aware that context is key in terms of evaluating politicians, positions, speech, etc. Gribbs was mayor at a time when the city was reeling from the riots in 1967. Crime was dramatically increasing in this period and residents along with businesses were fleeing in much larger numbers compared to before the riots. I'm not going to debate the merits of STRESS on here, but it was an attempt to get a handle on a serious problem. Their was a backlash against the liberalism of the Cavanagh years, but Ray Gribbs generally was a moderate.

[Wesley Mouch]

Wow...now we find out Ray Gribbs was a hard line reactionary instead of a moderate-nominal Democrat. Interesting revisionist history. Then again, I've also read on this message board that just about every mayor of Detroit before Coleman and including Cavanagh was a racist.

Very few pass the retrospective tests for purity from racism.

I read recently that the rise of Trump is in part because normal people are tired of being labelled as racist. Since Jefferson and Wilson have been added to the list of Racists, at least its good company.

[Honky Tonk]

Then to hell with him....

There he can help Coleman count his Krugerrands.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Gribbs certainly wasn't like Miriani, and a few other folks before him. RIP

From what I've heard from older relatives, Miriani would damn near tell you to your face, that he despised blacks.

[Hermod]

Very few pass the retrospective tests for purity from racism.

I read recently that the rise of Trump is in part because normal people are tired of being labelled as racist. Since Jefferson and Wilson have been added to the list of Racists, at least its good company.

Back when I was in college [[57-61), the profs were always playing "pocket pool" every time they mentioned or discussed the "sainted" Woodrow Wilson. Amazing how this great Democratic hero became a bum in the last fifty years.

Of course the famed Jefferson-Jackson dinners the Democrats used to have have been renamed as well.

[p69rrh51]

Supposedly when Gribbs took office he inherited a budget with a 20 million dollar deficit. When he left office he left with a 20 million dollar surplus.

[canuck]

Back when I was in college [[57-61), the profs were always playing "pocket pool" every time they mentioned or discussed the "sainted" Woodrow Wilson. Amazing how this great Democratic hero became a bum in the last fifty years.

Of course the famed Jefferson-Jackson dinners the Democrats used to have have been renamed as well.

Right.

In my own twisted little French-Canucky brain, I'm thinking; how many descendants of the Jackson and Jeffersons slaves got to be famous in their own right. So many folks bear the name that it is almost a slight to the Afro-American population to have nixed the dinners, no?

Or is it the other way around?

So many are descendants of their slaves and promote the name that it therefore renders the celebrations redundant...

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Hermod, although I have a radically different political viewpoint than Woodrow Wilson did, that is not why I despise him. He was an overt racist, and officially segregated the federal workforce. He wasn't paternalistic in his treatment of black Americans, as some people like Teddy Roosevelt were at the time. He Southern upbringing regretted the freeing of the slaves, and he was not concerned about either the conditions of black Americans or seeing to it that even very basic human rights were accorded to them. A truly awful human, Woodrow Wilson, in my opinion.

[Ray1936]

Roman Gribbs was a totally honorable man. Anyone who says otherwise is misguided.

[EastsideAl]

Ray Gribbs was a good man in a very tough spot. He was a moderate and a reluctant mayor who had been urged by many to run in an attempt to try to heal a city divided and seething after 1967. He agreed with his opponent in the extremely close 1969 mayor's race, future longtime Sec. of State Richard Austin, that they wouldn't campaign on race, and for the most part both candidates stuck to it.

As mayor, Gribbs kept up outgoing Mayor Cavanagh's policy of bringing more African-Americans into the city administration, and encouraging more diverse hiring into city depts. and the police dept. He had to cut budgets to deal with a deficit that he brought under control, but this also cut spending to many of the Cavanagh era neighborhood programs. He was a former prosecutor and sheriff, who saw crime as the most important issue in the city and ramped up police activity in response, which became the defining issue of his mayoralty.

It soon enough became clear that the center couldn't hold, that the city was too divided and the city's problems were too deep for him to solve or bridge. He became the man in the middle and it wore him down. He made it known he wasn't going to run again, opening the door for the much more divisive 1973 mayoral election. Gribbs was far from the most popular mayor the city ever had, but I think very few people ever doubted his honorableness, his honesty, or his intentions.

[Steve]

Where did Gribbs live?

[Ray1936]

Where did Gribbs live?

He lived in Rosedale Park until recent years, when I believe he relocated to Livonia in his final days.

[313WX]

He lived in Rosedale Park until recent years, when I believe he relocated to Livonia in his final days.

According to the article, he relocated in the mid-90s and lived his final years in Northville.

[Danny]

So far Roman Gribbs was the last Republican Mayor of Detroit.