Why Is Coleman Young so hated???

[Buy American]

[quote=Detroit Stylin] Those who are openly biased and wouldnt piss on the city of Detroit if it was on fire...."

I've probably put out more fires in Detroit than you are old...and they weren't put out with piss.

Primary belligerent??? Just tellin' it like it is.

[mikefmich]

as a person born in 1977. I knew of Coleman Young in his later years. The thing I always gathered from studying history, and reading this forum is that he was a great mayor for his first 2 terms, and after that everything just went to hell !

1977 was the last year I worked in the city, study more you gathered wrong.

While I won't claim Detroit would be just fine today, the depths this once great city has fallen to wouldn't be nearly as deep if he never was mayor.

I will grudingly give him one thing, he got a lot of attention in Washington and a lot of $$ wound up in this city because of his influence.

However what happened to those $$ after they got here is another discussion.

[kraig]

In Detroit, Coleman A. Young was far more loved than hated. Period.

[Ray1936]

http://tinyurl.com/2d9t9pj

Scroll down to the lower right corner where flowers and tributes are usually posted.

[jcole]

http://tinyurl.com/2d9t9pj

Scroll down to the lower right corner where flowers and tributes are usually posted.

No big surprise there

[Detroitej72]

http://tinyurl.com/2d9t9pj

Scroll down to the lower right corner where flowers and tributes are usually posted.

I can't read anything, it has been turned off for being misused.

[jcole]

I can't read anything, it has been turned off for being misused.

I think that's the point

[Ray1936]

I think that's the point

Exactly. Not too many entries on find a grave have been turned off for flowers or tributes.

[Meddle]

In Detroit, Coleman A. Young was far more loved than hated. Period.

Ummm, no. He wasn't.

[Buy American]

Ummm, no. He wasn't.

You're right Meddle, he wasn't loved as much as some of these posters would like to believe.

[Meddle]

He had a strong core of loyal supporters, but it was a small core. He kept getting re-elected because the general populace tolerated him more than any of his competitors over the years, but I think if the right candidate had run, he could have been beaten.

To be honest, I think he was more hated than most people ever realized. I half expected to hear of his assassination almost every day he was in office. He knew he was at risk too considering the army he had around him and the armored limousine.

[Danny]

Young was a bully and a thug to most white folks, Republicans and including President Ronald Reagan, but he was a savior to black Detroiters especially to the poor blacks living the ghetto. Some given an opportunity to own a cheap Detroit home and to establish their own business. That was Coleman A. Young's vision. Blacks running a major American metropolis.

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

While Detroit became Africantown


Neda, I miss you so.

[Danny]

He had a strong core of loyal supporters, but it was a small core. He kept getting re-elected because the general populace tolerated him more than any of his competitors over the years, but I think if the right candidate had run, he could have been beaten.

That's right. When Coleman Young won as first black mayor of Detroit in 1973, he only recieved 10 percent of the white vote. But its the 90% out of the total populace of nearly 470,000 black Detroiters in 1973 that won the election.

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

As Coleman holds up the Nixon fingers.


Neda

[R8RBOB]

Young was a bully and a thug to most white folks, Republicans and including President Ronald Reagan, but he was a savior to black Detroiters especially to the poor blacks living the ghetto. Some given an opportunity to own a cheap Detroit home and to establish their own business. That was Coleman A. Young's vision. Blacks running a major American metropolis.

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

While Detroit became Africantown


Neda, I miss you so.

I have to agree with you in regard to Black businesses. Don Barden has to thank Coleman Young each day he wakes up. To be given the contract to wire the city for cable television, basically having an monopoly and then sell the business to Comcast which still enjoy that monopoly in Detroit and then get into owning casinos. Barden owes his wealth to Mayor Young.

[EastsideAl]

Whatever his other failings in office, and in my view they are many [[I pretty much agree with barnesfoto above), most of this open hate you still see and hear comes from the simple fact, unforgivable to many, that he was the first mayor of Detroit who didn't look like them.

That he became mayor by defeating the favored candidate of many white Detroiters back in 1973, the bellicose wannabe fascist John Nichols who appeared to believe in keeping the darker folks in line by shooting to kill first and asking no questions later, and that he had the temerity to speak his own mind on his own experiences with and anger with American racism [[thus turning him into a 'black racist' to those didn't like him airing their dirty historical laundry) made it all that much worse.

So much so that here we are nearly 40 years later, 17 years after he left office, and 13 years after the man's death still arguing over him. It seems to have become an article of faith amongst many suburban white people, passed down through the generations, that the City of Detroit is some sort of paradise lost, and that the person who "ruined" their paradise is none other then that evil dark usurper [[well, not all that dark really - kinda light beige), that nasty person who brought racism to Detroit [[because, of course, there was no racism here before...) bad ol' Coleman Young. So much so that black Detroiters today are still often called on to somehow account and atone for a Mayor who hasn't held the office, or even been alive, for well over a decade.

Other cities and areas may change and progress, but in the Detroit area racial hate, divisiveness, willful lack of understanding, finger-pointing, and just plain stupidity seemingly goes on forever.

[kraig]

Ummm, no. He wasn't.

That must be why his son has won elections in Detroit. Because Detroiters hate Coleman Young. Get real.

[Swimmaven]

Let's see:

1. Canfield Avenue was ripped up for years. The urban pioneers who purchased houses there were not his
people.

2. A Rembrandt was stolen from the DIA. I read a couple of yeas ago about a person from Detroit [[living else
where) owned a Rembrandt. ? Why didn't the FBI investigate the theft?

3. There were some mansions [[maybe old slumpies neighborhood) that were to be rehabbed but $3M of grant
money went missing and there was no investigation.

4. An art center my friends and I showed in became headed up by a Coleman Young relative and her people. My
friend had a drawing stolen and another defaced. Another friend had his work stolen but he said it
was valued at $50K, so it mysteriously reappeared.

5. I and my friend, Johanna had our photo taken with him [[we were always crashing parties back then). He had
on a bullet proof vest. Probably before kevlar.

He was a character. Called Reagon Ole" Pruneface. His name was on everything. He was so corrupt it just
magnified the decline. He didn't do anything for Detroit except wreck it further. And he was a racist role model for the citizens who have come up since.

[iheartthed]

When they changed over to the big rolling garbage containers to be put in the front of the house and closed off the alleys, DPW was seldom on time picking up the garbage.

Not to discount your experience, but the rolling trash cans came under the Archer administration.

[Buy American]

That must be why his son has won elections in Detroit. Because Detroiters hate Coleman Young. Get real.

Name recognition is all that is needed for some Detroit citizens to vote for someone. Look at Charles Pugh.

[Buy American]

Not to discount your experience, but the rolling trash cans came under the Archer administration.

Sorry iheartthed but they were introduced during Young's administration. I don't know the exact year, but I left Detroit in 1993, Young was still Mayor and we had the rolling trash cans for many years before that.

[EastsideAl]

Gotta love folks who are so adamant in calling Coleman Young a racist who were so quick to flee their neighborhoods when the first dark faces showed up on their block. I'm old enough to remember what that time was like, and there was more than enough racism in the city to go around, and most of it didn't come from African-American politicians.

Whatever one thinks of Young's many failings as an administrator, he did run the first actual multi-racial administration in the city's history, far beyond the one or two much ballyhooed tokens in previous administrations. He may have talked openly about his own experiences with racism, which caused many white former or soon to be former city residents to hate him right off, but it didn't show in his inner circle. From beginning to end many of his top advisers were white, he maintained strong relationships with many white political friends in the Democratic party from his days in Lansing, and he was always involved with and friendly with white business people and real estate interests. All much to the dismay of more nationalist types like Ken Cockrel Sr.

These relationships were often to the mayor's and the city detriment, like his entanglement with Kenneth Weiner etc. But these failings were clearly not symptoms of the 'black racism' he is so often accused of by white suburban detractors. Of course many, if not most, of those same detractors would have found 'reverse racism,' danger, and fear in any non-white person controlling things and putting other non-white people into positions of power, as one can still see from the hysterical over-reaction by some to our current - and very moderate by historical standards - President.

[barnesfoto]

^^You hit the nail on the head again.

[BrushStart]

Whatever his other failings in office, and in my view they are many [[I pretty much agree with barnesfoto above), most of this open hate you still see and hear comes from the simple fact, unforgivable to many, that he was the first mayor of Detroit who didn't look like them.

.....

So much so that here we are nearly 40 years later, 17 years after he left office, and 13 years after the man's death still arguing over him. It seems to have become an article of faith amongst many suburban white people, passed down through the generations, that the City of Detroit is some sort of paradise lost, and that the person who "ruined" their paradise is none other then that evil dark usurper [[well, not all that dark really - kinda light beige), that nasty person who brought racism to Detroit [[because, of course, there was no racism here before...) bad ol' Coleman Young. So much so that black Detroiters today are still often called on to somehow account and atone for a Mayor who hasn't held the office, or even been alive, for well over a decade.

Other cities and areas may change and progress, but in the Detroit area racial hate, divisiveness, willful lack of understanding, finger-pointing, and just plain stupidity seemingly goes on forever.

I would adopt this portion of what you said as my own. This thread is an aweful, dirt-churning reminder of what seems to never end. It is an agonizing shame. I wish the generation that holds these grudges and embodies these feelings would move the hell away from here. Many of these bitter, angry cranks tries to indoctrinate each new generation with spite and hate. Time to move on, get going, get lost, and get the **** out of this region. We don't want you or need you. Coleman Young is DEAD. White flight is OVER. It's HISTORY. You folks had your chance and you missed it. Your turn at bat is up. Step aside and shut up or take your foul, misery-sowing selves somewhere else.

[kraig]

Name recognition is all that is needed for some Detroit citizens to vote for someone. Look at Charles Pugh.

Yeah, but there is such a thing as bad recognition. Just ask Reeves and Bates. They ruined their own names. CCK's bad name recognition is about 90% due to the actions of Kwame and her ex. Coleman Young's name is still popular [[loved) enough amongst Detroiters to have gotten his son elected. After all, people knew that they weren't voting for the father.

[Buy American]

I would adopt this portion of what you said as my own. This thread is an aweful, dirt-churning reminder of what seems to never end. It is an agonizing shame. I wish the generation that holds these grudges and embodies these feelings would move the hell away from here. Many of these bitter, angry cranks tries to indoctrinate each new generation with spite and hate. Time to move on, get going, get lost, and get the **** out of this region. We don't want you or need you. Coleman Young is DEAD. White flight is OVER. It's HISTORY. You folks had your chance and you missed it. Your turn at bat is up. Step aside and shut up or take your foul, misery-sowing selves somewhere else.

Wow, quite a diatribe there BrushStart. What generation are you talking about here? Who is the "us" against "them" in this? I do agree that those who hold grudges and feed on hate need to go away; but this is a double edge sword as you know.
Is it blacks don't need whites or whites don't need blacks? I need you to make that clearer. "You folks"? Who are "you folks"? I sense some racial connotations here.