♪♪ Just ahead on "American Black Journal", what's at stake for Detroiters in this month's primary election?

We're gonna take a closer look at the key races, and the ballot issues.

Plus the non-profit "Jackets for Jobs" teams up with a major retailer to help people get ready for the workforce.

Don't go anywhere, "American Black Journal" starts right now.

Announcer 1: From Delta Faucets to Behr Paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

Announcer 2: Support also provided by the Cynthia & Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

Announcer 1: The DTE Foundation proudly supports 50 years of "American Black Journal".

In covering African-American history, culture, and politics.

The DTE Foundation and "American Black Journal", partners in presenting African-American perspectives about our communities, and in our world.

Announcer 2: Also brought to you by Triple A, Nissan Foundation, Ally, Inpact at Home, UAW, solidarity forever, and viewers like you.

Thank you.

♪♪ Welcome to "American Black Journal".

I'm your host, Stephen Henderson.

And as always, I'm really glad you decided to join us.

Michigan residents are going to go to the polls on August 3rd, for a primary election that will narrow the field of candidates in some really important races.

Here in the city of Detroit, there are nine seats to fill on City Council.

Long-time City Clerk, Janice Winfrey, is up for re-election, and facing a challenge.

And Mayor Duggan is facing several challengers in his bid for a third term.

Plus, there are some major proposals on the ballot.

I sat down with political analyst, Mario Morrow, and WDET political reporter, Eli Newman, to help sort it all out.

Here's that conversation.

So, Eli, I'm gonna start with you.

It seems like just a few days before an election in Detroit, there should be a lot more buzz about what's going on.

This is a city that loves politics, loves elections, and it seems awful quiet.

Tell me why you think that's true, this cycle.

Yeah, it's a little strange.

Considering that the last city election that we had, was the presidential election in November, which obviously saw a lot of buzz, a lot of international attention regarding a lot of the protest action that was happening.

I think this time around, we're dealing with a city-wide election.

We're not getting those state-wide national candidates out there.

And frankly, I think there's a little bit of exhaustion, maybe from the last time that we did this exercise.

So I think we're not necessarily seeing as much as a robust response as we have in the past.

Yeah, well let's get to it, and just kind of go down the list here.

We'll start at the top with the mayor's race.

Mayor Mike Duggan wants a third term.

Something I wasn't sure he would want.

But he did say awhile back that he was gonna do that.

We've got a lot of people who would also like to be mayor.

And I think the two who stand out to me, are Tom Barrow, who's run a number of times before.

And Anthony Adams, who was Deputy Mayor for sometime.

Mario, assess this race for us.

Well, I'm glad you brought that one up, first.

But let me just add on to what Eli said.

I think COVID has a lot to do with why people, this election has not been as enthusiastic as previous elections.

The candidates just have not been able to campaign the same way they have been in the past.

Door-to-door was just a non, just was not even in the equation.

So a lot of new ways of campaigning, and I think that has to do with the enthusiasm, the lack of enthusiasm, among voters.

Now, the mayor's race.

You know, right now it's Duggan's to loose.

We know this is a primary, he's gonna have a general election.

But this is gonna be a close race for second place.

Right now, neither candidate in second, in either Mr. Barrow or Mr. Adams, seems to be over this 10% mark.

So the fight is going to be between those two.

You'll see them battling it out, battling it out.

But Mr. Duggan is looking at about a 72, 73% approval rating.

He handled COVID right.

The city seems to be on a rebound, doing well.

And again, because of COVID, the competition has not been able to successfully campaign, or even draw the interest of the voters to get involved in this race.

And might I add, the fund-raising has been dismal for most of the non-incumbents.

Yeah.

So Mario, you worked a long time in politics in this city.

Would you ever had thought that you would be saying in 2021 that a white incumbent mayor in Detroit, would have that kind of advantage over two African-Americans who are really familiar to Detroiters.

These are not newcomers.

These are people who've been around.

And Anthony Adams was the Deputy Mayor.

Talk about the racial dynamic in Detroit right now as it pertains to politics.

Stephen and Eli, times have changed, a great deal.

And I guess you're right.

If I look back 10 years ago, I probably would not had said this, or even thought it.

But the voters have gotten more sophisticated.

They're not concerned about the color of one's skin, they're concerned about the quality of life and who can get the job done.

We saw that when Mr. Duggan ran against the late Benny Napoleon.

I mean as a write-in candidate, it was unheard of for this man to win this primary election.

To get into the general.

So I think people, the voters have gotten a lot more concerned about the quality of life, what they want out of it, race is always gonna be an equation.

I do believe whoever runs against Duggan in the general election, is gonna get about 27%, 28%, 30%.

That's the norm, that's the anti-incumbent vote.

Eli, what have you heard and seen with regard to the Mayor's race so far?

Yeah, I think a lot of residents are concerned about, I think what Mr. Morrow was pointing out, the quality of life.

We are coming out of the pandemic.

And that really shook the city.

And I think people really want to see a continuation of city services, as they understand it.

But also see the addressing of, these kind of lingering concerns that have been really a persistent problem right here in the City of Detroit.

And we've heard issues about water shut-offs.

We've had issues about over-assessments on property taxes.

These are consistent political issues that the grass roots is consistently bringing up to that, to the forefront.

And I do think that there has been a certain addressing of those issues by figures like Mayor Mike Duggan who did announce a moratorium, and seeking federal assistance.

And seeking to put up permanent water shut-offs.

And then we're also seeing a lot of other kind of concurrent efforts.

Issues like Proposal P, where people are trying to make these political issues, put in the hands of voters, so to speak.

Yeah.

So Eli, you brought up Proposal P. We should talk about that, as well.

This is the charter revision.

It would be a pretty significant change to our charter.

It would sew some pretty significant issues into the founding and guiding document of the city, rather than leaving them at the legislative, or executive action.

I've seen a lot of advertising against Proposal P. I've seen less for it.

Eli, assess what's gonna happen on Election Day with this.

Is this gonna pass?

Yeah, I think from the numbers I've seen on the current polling, I believe that the no vote on Proposal P is ahead.

But I've also seen figures that show that those that are on the fence, the undecided voters, are about 25%.

So this can really tilt either way.

And I think it is going to really come down to the campaigning that goes behind it, on either side.

Like you said, we've seen a lot of advertisements on, against Proposal P. I'm sure it doesn't take much to drive around the city, and see those "Proposal P is Problematic" billboards.

And I definitely would be curious to know the funding behind that effort, a lot of those campaign finance things are a little obfuscated.

Given how some of these corporations have set up.

And I think that is something that I'm currently looking at and trying to figure out.

Yeah.

Let me help you with that.

In Michigan we don't find out, too much in advance of elections, how those things have been paid for.

It's one of the problems.

Hey, Mario, you have been working on one of the campaigns against Proposal P. But give us a sense of where you think the overall issue is with Detroiters.

Are they gonna vote for this on August 3rd?

Well, I certainly hope not.

This is, it's really an illegal ballot initiative.

The governor was against it, saying that this thing would fly constitutionally.

The attorney general said it's illegal.

They, the governor came back with recommendations to ask the charter commission to make those changes.

They said they would make it.

They made some adjustments.

But they went back to the initial ballot proposal, that they said, and they put it on the ballot.

Let me tell you, there are a lot of people in this city who are very concerned about this initiative, this proposal.

Because it's going to put the city back into a situation, where it's going to be bankrupted.

It's just no question.

There are new positions, the money funding source is not there.

The expenses versus the revenue coming in.

It's just ridiculous.

I am anti-Proposal P, and it's no secret.

And I have worked with a lot of people.

You ask about funding sources, there are people who are supporting this thing from the highest levels of our community, to the lowest levels of our community.

The retirees, pensioners, it's gonna affect them.

So I hope that if it fails, I hope that it fails overwhelmingly.

I just think that this charter commission was just, it was a joke, it was embarrassing.

So Eli, talk a little bit about the interest groups who are for Proposal P. Of course, the charter commissions, themselves, would like to see it passed.

But who are the other people who seem to be embracing this idea?

Yeah, the Detroit People's Platform, a coalition of grassroots activists, those voices that bring themselves to City Council to advocate for certain changes.

Those are really the people that we're seeing at the forefront of this issue.

We're also seeing Council Member, Raquel Castaneda-Lopez, that has been strongly advocating for Proposal P. She is not seeking re-election this term.

So I think this is one of her efforts that she is really getting a handle on before she departs office.

And yeah, I think generally we're seeing a lot of strength among that like grass-roots progressive, progressively-minded people.

Again, this charter does have provisions on setting up a reparations committee, setting up water bill assistance, setting up reduced fare for public transit.

And those are really appealing items I think for a lot of residents.

And the question is, how do we convince, or how does the conversation continue to push people in that direction, given that there are these financial constraints, and a really fairly robust expansion of the responsibilities of city government.

Yeah, yeah.

So I wanna get to City Council.

Nine seats are open, as they always are.

Four of them are empty this time, which surprised me a little bit.

I didn't think that we would have so many folks who just didn't wanna run again.

How much change other than those four seats might we see on the council, Mario?

And we should also disclose that you've contributed in District Four and in District Seven for candidates in this race.

But give us an assessment here.

Yeah without, I just think there's gonna be great change.

You mentioned the open seats, so you're gonna see new blood.

You're gonna see a new council.

Which means that there's gonna a learning curve, if you will, for those new members.

Now some who are running, have had legislative experience again, before.

Like Coleman Young II, and others.

I just think that it's always breathtaking a little bit and just exciting to some extent to have new members in leadership in Detroit, City Council government.

There's gonna be change.

The most important thing here, and I think Eli will agree with me, is the incumbents who returned to office, and the power base that they have.

They will have so much control, because they have that institutional knowledge.

Yeah, yeah.

Eli, what's your take on Council, and especially on these former legislative reps who are coming back home, I guess, to say that they wanna be in local government.

Yeah, I think City Council has, has been a very controversial kind of a position to hold.

Recently we have been seeing pretty high-scaled departures.

Earlier this year we had former Council Member, Gabe Leland, pleading guilty to state charges of misconduct in office, then resigning.

As we're speaking right now, a Council Member, Andre Spivey is facing federal charges of, federal bribery charges, allegedly having taken $35,000 between 2016 and 2020.

So there, it has been this stain of misconduct and of corruption that is currently happening.

So I think the people who are really seeking out this office really need to prove to the voters, and to the residents of Detroit, that the office is safe in their hands, and that they won't abuse those privileges.

Yeah.

Quickly, I'd love to get to the City Clerk's race.

Last time we saw a real barn burner between Garland Gilchrist, who's now Lieutenant Governor, and Janice Winfrey, who's been our clerk for a long time.

She is a tough, she's a tough out, I would say.

Denzel McCampbell says he's the person to replace her.

What's gonna happen in this race?

Janice Winfrey seems to me, to have been, just one of the more unbeatable politicians locally, Mario.

Is this her time, or she gonna have to step aside?

I think that she'll get through the primary.

And depending on who's gonna run against her, whether that's Mike Orshard, or Denzel, or Beverly Kimball Walker, that's gonna be the tell of all.

There was a close race between Garland Gilchrist and Janice Winfrey.

There's not a lot of controversy, she has name recognition.

And whoever, out of these three that are challenging her for this seat, comes out of the primary, and hopefully they're not beat up too bad.

They'll be able to give her a run for her money.

It's gonna be interesting, that's gonna be one of the most interesting races to watch.

To see if she could pull through.

Trying to add on to that, if Clerk Winfrey was to be re-elected, she would among the longest serving elected officials in the city.

This would be her fifth term in office.

Wow, wow, that's pretty amazing.

All right, Eli Newman, Mario Morrow, just a few days before election.

But thanks for joining us on "American Black Journal".

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Stephen.

The non-profit organization, Jackets for Jobs, is teaming up with a major retailer, for a back-to-work event on August 3rd.

The goal is to make sure job-seekers have the clothes they need for interviews, and for entering the workforce.

Jackets for Jobs was founded 21 years ago by Alison Vaughn to help people get back on their feet.

I spoke with Vaughn about this new initiative and how the pandemic has affected her mission.

Alison Vaughn, welcome to "American Black Journal".

Thank you so much for having me.

So Jackets For Jobs is such a great organization, and has been for such a long time.

But, tell me about this event on August 3rd, this idea of helping people get ready for the workforce, as we come out of the pandemic.

Exactly, yes.

So as you know, people have been stuck at home, people have, haven't been working, and so now, they're getting back-to-work.

So instead of saying back-to-school, like everything's gonna be happening, we're doing a back-to-work event with JC Penney.

Which is one of our new partnerships.

So we're very excited to have a partnership with JC Penny.

And on August 3rd, we're just having our clients.

Because Jackets for Jobs is part of the City of Detroit's, Detroit at Work.

And so we work with participants that are registered with Detroit at Work.

They come to Jackets for Jobs, they get an outfit, and then, as a bonus, we're giving them a $25 coupon to shop at JC Penney's to use for accessories or whatever else they wanna use.

And so, that's our incentive to get people back to work.

Hm.

And talk about what the pandemic has meant for organizations like yours.

It really changed lots of people's work.

I would imagine that for you, that was especially true.

Oh so true.

And you know, the non-profit industry, as well as, for-profit industry, the pandemic has really put a havoc on what we do and our mission.

But the good thing about Jackets for Job's mission, everyone understands our mission.

Our mission will never go out of style.

People always need a job, people always need to work.

And so, in this pandemic, we're all coming out of it.

We just have to figure out how to do something different, and how to do something creative.

So you know, as they say, "If you don't pivot, you will perish."

(Stephen chuckling) And so we just trying to pivot and stay afloat during this pandemic, and still helping people get back to work.

Yeah.

What about need?

Need during the pandemic, of course, went through the roof.

But as we come out, is need different?

Is need greater than it was before we experienced all of that?

Yes, the need is still there.

Our mission of Jackets for Jobs, helping people get off of welfare.

Helping veterans get back to work, women that are abused and battered, and so forth.

So our need and our mission is still there.

The nice thing about our thing is that we have so many clothes to be able to donate to job seekers.

And you know everybody was sitting at home, and gaining all this pandemic weight.

(Stephen chuckling) You know, me included, I had gained a couple of extra pounds.

And so, a lot of people can't even fit the clothes that they're wearing any more.

So they're like, I've gained some weight, I can't fit the clothes.

Can you help me?

I got a job interview.

And so sure, c'mon in, we help them find some clothes.

Because I know they can't fit what they're wearing, and they wanna look nice.

And our job is to make sure that our clients look really nice, and look really sharp.

Because we all know that first impressions are lasting.

And so there are plenty of jobs out here, no matter where you go.

I'm sure Stephen, as in your travels, you see the help wanted signs everywhere you go.

Everywhere.

And so, there are jobs out there.

And Detroit at Work has a website where people can go to list, to find jobs, list a resume, get help on getting jobs.

Jackets for Jobs, that's what we're here, all about, is helping job seekers overcome barriers.

Yeah.

Have barriers, either transportation, why they can't get to work.

Barriers to childcare, clothing barriers, and so that's what we're here for.

And so, I don't think everyone quite understands how important it is for somebody who is looking for a job, or interviewing for a job, to have the right clothes.

Because most of just kind of take that for granted, right?

We have something in the closet, that is our interview outfit.

But for so many people, that is the barrier, right?

That is the thing that holds them back from either, even showing up for the interview, or going to that interview with the kind of confidence that is gonna make sure that they get the job.

And then of course, if they get hired, they need clothes to wear to work.

Again, these are things that a lot of us just kind of take for granted.

Exactly, like when you and I, you woke up this morning, I woke up, everyone that's part of your staff, when they woke up, they opened their closet, and said, "Okay, what am I gonna wear today?"

It was like a no-brainer.

Okay, I'm gonna choose this, I'm gonna choose that.

You know, like you look really sharp today, you know?

Every time I see you, you look sharp.

But you're looking, (Stephen chuckling) really sharp.

And so, you don't think anything of it.

But for some people, they don't even have a closet to go to, to even open up.

Or, if they have a closet, they don't have anything in the closet.

And so, that's what we're all about, is just helping them find that proper outfit.

And like you mentioned the word confidence.

Everyone's been off of work for a really long, so their confidence skills are a little, like oh, I'm not sure how to interview again.

I'm not really sure.

So in addition to clothes, we do job training.

We do soft skill training, as well.

So we like to let people know that Jackets for Jobs is more than just clothes.

We do the training, as well.

Preparing them, not only to get the job, but to keep the job.

How to put your best foot forward.

Because there's gonna be so much, after this unemployment runs out, there's gonna be so much competition, everyone trying to apply for all these jobs that are out there.

Yeah.

Okay, Alison Vaughn, again, just love Jackets for Jobs, and I love that organization forever.

And I love what you're doing now to help people after the pandemic.

Thanks so much for being with us on "American Black Journal".

Thanks for having me.

Yeah.

That's gonna do it for us this week.

As always, we're so glad you chose to join us.

You can find out more about our guests at americanblackjournal.org And you can always follow us on Facebook, and on Twitter.

We're gonna leave you with a performance by Ron English, and the Merrygrove Jazz Ensemble.

This is "Song for My Father".

Enjoy it, and we'll see you next week.

♪♪ ♪ If there was ever a man ♪ Who was generous, gracious ♪ And good ♪ That was my dad ♪ The man ♪ A human being so true ♪ He could live like a king ♪ Because he knew ♪ The real pleasures ♪ In life ♪ To be devoted to ♪ And always stand by me ♪ So I'd be unafraid ♪ And free ♪♪ Announcer 1: From Delta Faucets to Behr Paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

Announcer 2: Support also provided by the Cynthia & Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

Announcer 1: The DTE Foundation proudly supports 50 years of "American Black Journal" in covering African-American history, culture, and politics.

The DTE Foundation and "American Black Journal", partners in presenting African-American perspectives about our communities and in our world.

Announcer 2: Also brought to you by Triple A, Nissan Foundation, Ally, Inpact at Home, UAW, solidarity forever, and viewers like you.

Thank you.