Mike Duggan vs Coleman A Young II [[Joel Loving), "A Tale of Two Detroits"

[JBMcB]

Afrofuturism is thing, just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's not a thing with meaning to people.

I was confused as well, because I know what Afrofuturism is, and I didn't understand it's use that context. So I read up on the definition and, yep, pretty much what I remember.

So, yeah, calling it a practical tool is a bit confusing.

[Hermod]

In the context of administering a city, "Afrofuturism" is just a buzzword. It may have some meaning to the "arts, music, and culture" crowd or to an ethnics study major, but out there in the nitty-gritty, it is just a high-sounding buzzword. Say what you want about Al Cobo's racial views, but he took over as City Treasurer when Detroit was in deep financial doo-doo. As treasurer, councilman, and mayor, he ran a Detroit that had balanced books and was prosperous.

[gvidas]

LaFleur has the following statement on her website:

Afrofutrism is a Practical Tool for Real Change

I know what afrofuturism is, but I have no idea what she means by this. Does anyone know?

Here's an interview with Ingrid LaFleur in Thump -- VICE's vertical on "electronic music and culture", so not exactly your normal political interview -- which expands a bit on her + Afrofuturism:

https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article...uturism-techno

I think this exchange is illuminating:

How does Afrofuturism play into your specific policy proposals?
You've got to understand that Afrofuturism is a way of life, it's a philosophy. So everything that I think about doing is Afrofuturist. There are so many serious things that I need to attend to. I'm asked in the first 100 days, what are you going to do? Stop the water shut-offs. I don't think that that's necessarily an Afrofuturist thing, but for me, it's protecting the black body, which is Afrofuturist. So it's not necessarily going to be super explicit. But the very fact that I'm centering the black body makes it Afrofuturist. Nobody has tried to serve black people within city government on a mass level in a major city like this. There are people have tried, but we haven't seen it implemented yet. And it's kind of difficult to do.

I think "Afrofuturism can be a practical tool for real change" if you're willing to start with: where do we want to be? And then ask: how do we get there?

It's a subtle but radical departure from "less of this thing that we're doing, more of this other thing that we're already doing." Leading through creation rather than through criticism.

[clubboss]

What a surprise - what is the tab anyway on his now defunct hoaky, folksy, website, $20.00 maybe $30.00 dollars a month?

[Oddz313]

The bigger question, it seems to me, is does Mr. Loving [[err... Young) have a realistic shot at unseating Duggan? And, if so, how much of a chance, and why?

CAY jr has a very good chance of beating Duggan, Trump style. He has Adolph Mongo who will dirty up the race with racial over and under tones, he has the name recognition and race relations have gone downhill even further since Duggan was elected in 2013. CAY jr just has to frame himself as a populist and Duggan as a neo-liberal which he is btw. Am I a fan of neo-liberals? no not really but in a city that is still under financial review he is the best executive running.

[MicrosoftFan]

Unfortunately, those in the outer neighborhoods who vote for CAY will be like West Virginians voting for Trump. They're voting for a candidate who speaks their language but will be bad for them in the long run. People need to understand that some neighborhoods just don't have a future, and we need to focus resources on those that do, like Rosedale Area, EEV, and Fitzgerald.

CAY Part 2 will be all pomp with no understanding of the circumstances.

You can't fix a whole city in a few years. It takes time and a mayoral change will only bring uncertainty to Detroit. Despite how boring Duggan is, Suburb-City relations are improving and this is key on issues like Public Transit. CAY part 2 would throw these relations in the trash while yelling about racism and white people instead of providing effective solutions to serve detroits people. And I don't really care for neoliberals usually [[sanders supporter), but Detroit needs business more than ever to rebuild itself.

Detroit is on the right track. It'll take time. Don't mess it up.

[Michael Seven]

I'll bet a Krugerrand that Joel's a shill.

[ABetterDetroit]

It would be nice if President Obama endorsed the best qualified candidate in this race in his opinion.

Maybe took a few pictures with said candidate and made a 30 second TV spot.

Something along those lines could be a great benefit to Detroit to spare the citizens from divisive rhetoric and just keep the momentum going.

Detroit could use a break from all the sideshow garbage. To much of it never brings anyone together after the election, just leaves bitter divided citizens.

[Kevgoblu]

In her book, Soulful Reflections on the Detroit Riot, 1967, Bessie Williams Ernst begins by quoting Dr. Lionel Swan, President, National Medical Society:
“You cannot maintain the Status Quo until everyone has a little status to quo about.”

Unfortunately many do not. Young II [[Loving) will get support from people concerned that Duggan is working to "make Detroit great again".

[Wesley Mouch]

...
Detroit could use a break from all the sideshow garbage. To much of it never brings anyone together after the election, just leaves bitter divided citizens.

If he gets elected, it won't be a 'sideshow'. It'd be the main event.

Clearly something continues to bother much of the black populace of Detroit. Some think its repressive Republican policies at the state level. Others [[me included) think its divisive Democratic policies where race is placed top and center. Would be sad if Duggan were torn down because his party can't but think the world is a racist hell -- and tells everyone that every moment.

[SammyS]

I'll speak for myself here.
If there is any hint that Detroit will be returning to the god awful years of the past, then I'll be immediately withdrawing my investments.....not that my contribution will bear much of an impact but something tells me I'm not the only one with this mindset.
Whatever the circumstances or causes, whether it be timing or the bankruptcy, Detroit has certainly improved under this administration to the point where it made me confident enough to invest most of my money into its revival. I intend to protect that by any means possible.

[Hypestyles]

Petoskey-Otsego is in really bad shape, overall. It borders Russell Woods, which is of course very "stable/well-maintained", active residential/block club network, etc.
Plenty of derelict/abandoned homes in P-O, abandoned apartment structures. Abandoned school building. Not on the city short list for reinvestment, I suspect.

[Oddz313]

Petoskey-Otsego is in really bad shape, overall. It borders Russell Woods, which is of course very "stable/well-maintained", active residential/block club network, etc.
Plenty of derelict/abandoned homes in P-O, abandoned apartment structures. Abandoned school building. Not on the city short list for reinvestment, I suspect.

There is a lot of areas in bad shape in Detroit, that area was ranked the most dangerous zip code in the country not long ago. A good friend of mine lived on Broadstreet, there was a party store up until about 2011 inside the neighborhood on Broadstreet just north of Joy owned by a black couple, if we wanted to cop a cold one from there it had to be by 7-8 because they would shut down before the sun went down. If there was more than Russel Woods over there it would be near the top of the list to rehab. I think neighborhood wise outside of midtown, the only real investment is coming to the University district so far.