"This does not sound very much like shared sacrifice to me," Detroit's NAACP president Wendell Anthony says of outrage being voiced over possible DIA art sales to pay off city creditors in a municipal bankruptcy. "It does not sound like everyone is at the same table."
Wendell Anthony sees "a visible indication of those who are not concerned about the creation of two communities."
[Photo from CBS Detroit]
In a Michigan Chronicle commentary, the longtime NAACP branch head wonders where the same critics' outrage was over the emergency manager's appointment, voting rights and talk of selling other Detroit assets.
He frames objections to Kevyn Orr's art liquidation warning as an example of class divisions:
Why must the pain and the sacrifice always be made by the poor and those not wealthy enough to impact and influence those political leaders who have the authority to make laws governing their lives?
Many of the same people who were high-fiving when Kevin Orr was brought into Detroit by the governor and Andy Dillon are now turning a thumbs down on his work. This has a potential to create one of the most visible and widespread divisions within our community.
It is a visible indication of those who are not concerned about the creation of two communities. Those communities are one of the haves and the have-nots. . . .
It’s all right to take the Water Department. It’s all right to take Belle Isle. It’s all right to take our voting rights. It’s all right to damn the people, but at the same time long live Picasso!
Rev. Anthony, who has criticized the creation of Orr's position from the start, notes that "I like good art just like everyone else" and "supported the recent [DIA] millage along with the members of my church and the people throughout Wayne County."
We believe in protecting the jewels of Detroit. Yet we also believe in protecting the rights of the people, preserving families, creating jobs and ensuring our right to vote for our own elected officials.
