Adolph Mongo is a local political commentator.
By Adolph Mongo
Action speaks louder than words. For the last 50 years, the Democratic Party and the UAW have made many promises to their most loyal base: African-American voters and workers.
Talk is cheap. And both organizations have played African-Americans cheap. And when it came time to pick new leaders of their organizations, African-Americans once again were shut out.
This is an important election year in Michigan and the Democratic Party and the UAW expects black voters to do what they have always done, blindly vote the party ticket.
Adolph Mongo
But if black voters in Detroit and the rest of the state were smart, they would do what black voters in Mississippi did recently: Leverage their vote between the two parties. Get something out of it.
Twenty-five dollar an hour plant jobs and millions of dollars in state money is a thing of the past. Detroit won't be the last city to go bankrupt. The UAW and the Democratic Party should stop selling wolf tickets to African–American voters and put together a real Marshall Plan that would bring more jobs to urban areas, rebuild neighborhoods and join local leaders in a battle to cut crime in these communities.
Both groups need a fusion of new blood at the top. If we are not good enough to lead the UAW, or lead the Democratic Party or head the party ticket, why should we support an agenda that is anti-us?
Why is Lon Johnson the chair of the party? Nancy Quarles, a former state representative, and Oakland County Commissioner has much better leadership credentials than Johnson. What has he done since being elected party chair?
Why wasn’t Jimmy Settles, long-time Vice President of Ford UAW, considered to replace retired UAW president Bob King? He certainly is qualified!
Who is Mark Schauer?
And who in the hell is Mark Schauer, the Democratic Party choice for governor? Dennis Archer or Buzz Thomas would have made a better choice with more experience and name recognition. Schauer candidacy is headed the way of Virgil Bernero, Howard Wolpe and Geoffrey Fieger: Down the sewer.
We better stop talking about the Republicans’ lack of diversity. Just look at the Democratic ticket. When it comes to diversity the Republicans have been one step ahead of the Democrats in terms of selecting blacks to run for statewide offices, including the late Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Myron Wahl’s, who ran for attorney general in 1974 and Bill Lucas who won the Republican nomination for governor in 1986. They were trailblazers.
Look at our recent history and the best years in Detroit came under a working relationship between a black mayor, Coleman A. Young, and a white Republican governor, William Milliken.
James Blanchard and Jennifer Granholm were two of the worst governors in Michigan history. Our urban cities went from bad to worst to bankrupt as a result of their lackluster leadership.
No more promises and no more lip service. We are tired of eating scraps in the kitchen when we should be eating at the dining room table.
Isn’t it time for African-Americans in Michigan, to tell the UAW and the Democratic Party to go to hell?
