Duggan as the Modern Jerome Cavanagh, in the Summer of George Floyd
This post will serve as an account of Mayor Duggan's record on the Black Lives Matter era. When the history books are written, they will not look kindly on Duggan's reign; the corporate media currently portrays him as a Maybury or a Pingree, when in actuality he is closer to a Bowles or a Miriani, historically speaking. I would like to correct that perception, by stringing together a series of stories on negative incidents, which taken separately may seem isolated and harmless, but when seen as a cohesive whole are a damning indictment of the mayor's moral standing. At very best, Duggan can hope to be compared to Mayor Cavanagh...
May 30th, 2020:
As early as March 6th of 2019, columnist Bankole Thompson wrote,
"Despite the racial reckoning that is taking place inside Detroit’s police department, which could possibly set this city on an ugly and perilous course, Mayor Mike Duggan seems to have taken a back seat. He has yet to convene a press conference or media briefing to fully address the issue as other mayors around the nation have done in similar circumstances."
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/bankole-thompson/2019/03/06/bankole-duggan-fails-rise-racial-healer
Duggan is an awful lot like Mayor Jerome Cavanagh, the nice guy who got blindsided by the infamous 1967 Rebellion / Riot on his watch, ruining his political career. For what it's worth, it was policing issues like the ones we have today that directly led to the '67 Riot. Like Duggan, Cavanagh was a liberal who believed that his city was a "model" of urban harmony, and who was in denial about the fact that there were "two Detroits."
The more we pretend that racial and police relations in this city are fine, the closer we inch to another Minneapolis, or another 1967. The more that City Council remain silent and idle on these issues, unwilling to go against Mayor Duggan, the more complicit they become in whatever backlash eventually occurs. I'll say it again: Duggan is another Jerome Cavanagh, an arrogant liberal who values order over justice, and who doesn't really know what's going on in his streets. The "Two Detroits" are colliding, just like they did in 1967. Don't be so foolish as to forget our own history so soon.Duggan is an awful lot like Mayor Jerome Cavanagh, the nice guy who got blindsided by the infamous 1967 Rebellion / Riot on his watch, ruining his political career. For what it's worth, it was policing issues like the ones we have today that directly led to the '67 Riot. Like Duggan, Cavanagh was a liberal who believed that his city was a "model" of urban harmony, and who was in denial about the fact that there were "two Detroits."
Cavanagh failed to recognize that there was extreme tension simmering beneath the tranquil surface of the community, and did not recognize the racial and economic disparities right in front of his face, which were about to explode into violence. The poor black community had recently been shunted out of the Black Bottom area by the construction of the freeways, exacerbating the housing crisis in the city at a time when blacks still couldn't just move into any area they wanted. Most of the Black Bottom community resettled along 12th Street (Rosa Parks Blvd.), causing tension in the already overcrowded area. The racist all-white Detroit Police routinely conducted brutal intimidation tactics in that area, intended to keep the blacks in line, so to speak. Backlash against this is what sparked 1967.
Today's Detroit Police under current Chief James Craig and Mayor Duggan, have been using similar tactics in order to keep the newly white and affluent cultural island of downtown "safe" from the black people that the gentrification that created them have driven out. Gentrification is today's PC version of "negro removal," and whenever you have stark housing / quality of life disparities coupled with discriminatory policing, you are eventually going to get civil unrest.
Prior to 2020, here are the main DPD scandals that made the news during the Duggan administration...and our mayor has done nothing to rectify any of these conditions during his two terms in office:
1) Despite loud public opposition, the DPD insisted on continuing to use facial recognition technology, which has been proven to be ineffective / discriminatory against black people. Police Commissioner Willie Burton was even arrested for speaking out at one of the BoPC meetings regarding this issue—an extraordinary extralegal display of draconian tactics.
2) DPD have yet to address the fact that there are no less than 54 active officers as of 2019 who have been found so untrustworthy that they are barred from giving testimony in a court of law.
3) Then there’s the officer who was convicted of beating a woman at Detroit Receiving Hospital in 2018, somehow still receiving a promotion:
4) The Detroit Police Department has been dealing with "existing internal racial turmoil," as exemplified by Officer Steele’s racist behavior toward Arielle Moore and his viral video mocking her while walking in the cold; but beyond that, an audit following the incident found that there was a pervasive culture of racism within the 6th Pct that he belonged to, which was hurting morale between white and black officers and undermining community trust.
https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2019/01/31/white-detroit-police-officer-reassigned-after-taunting-young-black-woman-in-snapchat-video
A chronology of the Summer of George Floyd, under Mayor Duggan
May 30th, 2020:
Mayor Duggan announces a curfew to stop demonstrations downtown in response to the murder of George Floyd. He and Chief Craig attempt to discredit those calling for police accountability by claiming the protestors are "outside agitators," organized to cause violence and vandalism in Detroit. According to the Free Press, "Duggan and Craig declined to discuss any evidence they have that the demonstrations have been infiltrated by insurgents," however...
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/05/31/mayor-mike-duggan-police-chief-james-craig-protests
May 31st, 2020:
May 31st, 2020:
Besides ongoing nightly harassment, assault, and mass arrests of demonstrators downtown, the DPD was now arresting and assaulting journalists doing their job covering the protests, which is blatantly unconstitutional:
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2020/05/31/detroit-news-reporter-detained-other-journalists-say-they-were-shoved-detroit-officers-during-protes/
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2020/05/31/detroit-news-reporter-detained-other-journalists-say-they-were-shoved-detroit-officers-during-protes/
June 1st, 2020:
An article by prominent black attorney and civil rights voice Tina Patterson details why “we should immediately make some strong demands for change within the Detroit Police Department, which is not innocent of a racist police culture or discriminatory practices that disproportionately target black people and feed the public’s current mistrust of the police institution”:
June 4th, 2020:
Governor Whitmer and Mayor Duggan marching down Woodward with protestors after George Floyd's murder is a bunch of pandering Kumbaya photo-op bullshit, and it was designed to lull us back to sleep before we began to draw a line between Minneapolis, and the DPD's issues. What is actually going to change because of this movement? What tangible policy moves are we going to see, ma’am and sir? Your selfies accomplish nothing except self-aggrandizement and virtue signaling.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2020/06/04/gov-whitmer-mayor-duggan-join-unity-march-through-detroit
Columnist Bankole Thompson quickly pointed out that Mayor Duggan has failed to be a racial healer for Detroit, despite having several slam-dunk opportunities to stand up and do so, during the various troubling policing issues that have occurred in the city under his watch. The mistreatment of Arielle Moore was one perfect example, where a racist officer was eventually fired, but instead of taking the reigns and condemning racist behavior in the DPD (as one might expect from a diplomat), Duggan hid behind Chief Craig, letting him handle all the dirty work, and take the bad press. The mayor didn't even weigh in. If the George Floyd case had happened in Detroit, I think we know now how Duggan would react.
Governor Whitmer and Mayor Duggan marching down Woodward with protestors after George Floyd's murder is a bunch of pandering Kumbaya photo-op bullshit, and it was designed to lull us back to sleep before we began to draw a line between Minneapolis, and the DPD's issues. What is actually going to change because of this movement? What tangible policy moves are we going to see, ma’am and sir? Your selfies accomplish nothing except self-aggrandizement and virtue signaling.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2020/06/04/gov-whitmer-mayor-duggan-join-unity-march-through-detroit
Columnist Bankole Thompson quickly pointed out that Mayor Duggan has failed to be a racial healer for Detroit, despite having several slam-dunk opportunities to stand up and do so, during the various troubling policing issues that have occurred in the city under his watch. The mistreatment of Arielle Moore was one perfect example, where a racist officer was eventually fired, but instead of taking the reigns and condemning racist behavior in the DPD (as one might expect from a diplomat), Duggan hid behind Chief Craig, letting him handle all the dirty work, and take the bad press. The mayor didn't even weigh in. If the George Floyd case had happened in Detroit, I think we know now how Duggan would react.
June 12th, 2020:
Mayor Duggan called for a meeting with police accountability protestors "Detroit Will Breathe" in order to "find common ground," but naturally it was a sham; an example of the establishment attempting to "choose our leaders for us" by offering them a committee position on a do-nothing task force in order to manufacture consent and control the narrative. This tactic was also used against the civil rights leaders in the 1960s, where politicians would pick certain people who they saw as malleable, who they could control, and could therefore be used to undermine the movement by controlling its message in the media. Just the headline alone of a "Meeting between protestors and Mayor Duggan" sounds like a truce has been achieved, and that's enough to pacify most people and win political points. Civil rights advocate Whitney Young was manipulated in this same manner by President Lyndon Johnson, to offset what other black leaders (such as Martin Luther King) were saying against the unpopular Vietnam War, and to make Johnson look more palatable to black voters.
Mayor Duggan called for a meeting with police accountability protestors "Detroit Will Breathe" in order to "find common ground," but naturally it was a sham; an example of the establishment attempting to "choose our leaders for us" by offering them a committee position on a do-nothing task force in order to manufacture consent and control the narrative. This tactic was also used against the civil rights leaders in the 1960s, where politicians would pick certain people who they saw as malleable, who they could control, and could therefore be used to undermine the movement by controlling its message in the media. Just the headline alone of a "Meeting between protestors and Mayor Duggan" sounds like a truce has been achieved, and that's enough to pacify most people and win political points. Civil rights advocate Whitney Young was manipulated in this same manner by President Lyndon Johnson, to offset what other black leaders (such as Martin Luther King) were saying against the unpopular Vietnam War, and to make Johnson look more palatable to black voters.
In the meeting Duggan also arrogantly tried to convince the young march organizers that they should step back and quiet down, because "You can't displace the people of this city who have already been at the table and working on these issues for years" (to their credit, they obviously did not take the bait, and are still marching today). But what Duggan was really referring to was his cadre of black loyalists, who he keeps under his political thumb, such as Rev. Anthony, head of the Detroit NAACP. These pastors and other "community leaders" are merely figureheads to prop up behind the mayor at press conferences to give an appearance of black alliance with the Duggan administration; they don't fight for real change because they can't do anything to defy or embarrass the man who they depend on for their political privilege: Duggan.
Detroit per capita is the blackest city in America and also boasts the largest chapter of the NAACP in America. The NAACP is supposed to be one of the vanguard civil rights groups. So where has the Detroit Chapter of the NAACP been all this time? When have they led the fight or spoken out on the critical social justice issues of the day? They have failed to speak out on water shutoffs, gentrification, the $600M overtaxation, facial recognition, or even one single instance of police brutality in the DPD under Duggan. Duggan also repeatedly tried to point out that the marchers "are not the only activists in Detroit," and that they ought to "work with other groups who have been around longer." What Duggan failed to realize in his supreme arrogance is that those "old guard" groups and their languid efforts are included in precisely what the Detroit Will Breathe movement was protesting against. They have refused to meet with city officials again unless it was in public.
June 24th, 2020:
Detroit makes national news, with the first case of a person wrongfully incarcerated due to mistakes made with the facial recognition technology used by the police. Despite this, Mayor Duggan and Chief Craig cling to their use of the flawed and racist method.
June 28th, 2020:
The DPD ran over nonviolent protestors with a car on Vernor Avenue. The cops were not under attack, and there was no reason for this. This is the DPD’s departmental culture on display; they are not the “kinder gentler” department that people have been trying to tell us they are.
I did not believe for a damn minute Chief Craig's preposterous claim that his officers actions in running over nonviolent protestors was justifiable. Incredibly Mayor Duggan and Chief Craig both issued statements defending the cop’s actions, claiming that the officer driving thought that shots had been fired. Duggan even said on WDET, "What are you supposed to do?"
There are multiple videos out there, none of which support that. I've seen the videos, and read the accounts of people who were there, and I watched Chief Craig's press conference (where he even changed his story on the fly). And the police dashcam video of the incident was another one of those ones that mysteriously had no audio, which means Craig was deliberately trying to omit sounds that would tell the real story on whether the cruiser's rear window was smashed out before or after the officer ran people over, and whether shots were fired. Craig also failed to appear before City Council on June 30th to account for the incident, when summoned.
July 10th, 2020:
Hakim Littleton is killed after a controversial confrontation with Detroit Police, sparking a heated protest by locals at the scene. DPD immediately responded with riot gear, making brutal arrests against the demonstrators. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel was asked to conduct an independent investigation of the incident, due to community distrust of the DPD.
July 11th, 2020:
The footage of Hakim Littleton's death at the hands of DPD was released without audio. How come Chief Craig managed to release this footage in mere hours when it seems to exonerate officers of wrongdoing, but whenever footage might incriminate officers, then getting it released is like pulling teeth, or it ends up deleted? Also, the absence of the audio from the footage masks how many gunshots were fired in the encounter, and when they were fired...it masks the fact that one officer continued to fire into Hakim's head even after he had been tackled to the ground and was no longer a threat to police.
The footage of Hakim Littleton's death at the hands of DPD was released without audio. How come Chief Craig managed to release this footage in mere hours when it seems to exonerate officers of wrongdoing, but whenever footage might incriminate officers, then getting it released is like pulling teeth, or it ends up deleted? Also, the absence of the audio from the footage masks how many gunshots were fired in the encounter, and when they were fired...it masks the fact that one officer continued to fire into Hakim's head even after he had been tackled to the ground and was no longer a threat to police.
Anyway, here is the hot take from Attorney Tina Patterson:
July 30th, 2020:
Detroit Police shoot and kill another man armed with swords in the middle of Grand River Avenue:
July 31st, 2020:
"So far this month, Detroit police have shot four people, and Craig has defended each shooting as justified."
"DPD Chief James Craig announced Thursday that he signed a “duty to intervene” executive order as part of an overhaul of the department’s use-of-force policy. Police who violate the order can be fired."
Pfft, they get fired? LOL, this is about as enforceable as anything that was already in place. Don't be fooled—this was another ploy to distract us from actually making them abolish qualified immunity and implement other *meaningful* accountability measures. Also, how do cops not ALREADY have a duty to intervene in an illegal act, whether it's committed by their coworker or not? Explain THAT one...
August 11th, 2020:
There was a brief social media movement to get people to post signs around Ilitch-family-owned vacant properties, in order to draw attention to their neglected state. Back in June, the Ilitches allowed Detroit Police Department use of their tax payer subsidized arena to detain anti police brutality protesters. On August 11th, Detroit Police Department stationed a police car outside 64 Edmund Place to protect it from people posting signs that the property is owned and neglected by the Ilitch family. This is what the DPD prioritizes. It's right in our face, sleazy quid pro quo arrangements between our city's police, and the local private billionaires who receive tax breaks to build stadiums, with money that was supposed to go to our schools. This is "business as usual" under Mayor Duggan's reign.
August 24th, 2020:
Another night, another batch of footage of DPD brutalizing peaceable citizens (and shooting their pets—see next link)....While Kenosha was in flames, DPD seemed to be trying really hard to make Detroit the next Midwestern city to erupt in anarchy.
August 24th, 2020:
On the same damn day, this video shows a Detroit cop loses control of his K9 and then shoots a citizen's dog that posed no actual threat:
August 31st, 2020:
Injured protestors file a federal lawsuit against the DPD...and the Duggan administration announces a countersuit. Yes, you read that right: the City of Detroit is using our tax dollars to fund a court case against a group of people that it injured, for protesting the city's bad habit of injuring protestors. You can't make this shit up...I mean it's like now Duggan's pulling pages out of the Trump playbook!
September 4th, 2020:
Detroit Police are sued for wrongfully assaulting a grandmother and her grandson. It all began on Nov. 20, 2019, when Detroit police officers responded to a 911 call for help at a house three doors away from Ms. Wright's home, where there was shooting at arriving officers. Immediately after the shooting, as police were searching the area for the suspect, Wright and her attorneys claim officers dragged her and her grandson out of their home and caused them injuries. Officers "subjected plaintiff to unlawful searches of her person and property, wrongful arrest/detention, unnecessary and violent abuse, false arrest, and other unconstitutional conduct."
September 8th, 2020:
Detroit lawmakers at the federal, state and local levels (Rashida Tlaib, Stephanie Chang, and Councilwomen Sheffield and Lopez, cc Dana Nessel) called for an independent investigation into the DPD:
September 24th, 2020:
Duggan receives the "Golden Padlock Award" of the Investigative Reporters and Editors (a national journalism organization with more than 6,500 members), which is given annually to the nation's least-transparent public institution or local government.
September 26th, 2020:
Three Black men were violently assaulted by police while attending a birthday party. DPD officers saw a crowd of mostly young Black men and began to harass them and quickly escalated to brutalizing them. One of the men, Darius Bell, was beaten by police and arrested because he asked for the names and badge numbers of DPD officers as they tazed, maced, and beat his friend. The assault left Mr. Bell with serious injuries that required medical attention. DPD officers denied him medical care when he requested it, and Mr. Bell was only taken to the hospital after a nurse at the Detroit Detention Center required it. The assault was captured on camera and shared widely on social media.
September 28th, 2020:
Detroit Police Chief Craig actively uses the national mass media to discredit the protest movement striving to bring accountability to his department (Mayor Duggan still perfectly silent):
https://thepulseinstitute.org/2020/09/28/detroit-media-enables-police-chief-craigs-anti-black-lives-matter-propaganda
https://thepulseinstitute.org/2020/09/28/detroit-media-enables-police-chief-craigs-anti-black-lives-matter-propaganda
October 9th, 2020:
The Board of Police Commissioners is supposed to be an independent civilian oversight committee to serve as a check on the power of the police, but here in Detroit it is mostly stacked with people friendly to the police (or actual ex-cops), and therefore it merely functions as a rubber-stamp committee—with the notable exception of Commissioner Willie Burton, who was infamously arrested in the middle of a meeting last year for speaking out of turn...so yeah, that is the state of police oversight in Duggan's Detroit.
"At least three Detroit police commissioners have recently filed or plan to file complaints with several government offices against Board of Police Commissioners Chairman Willie Bell for reasons that include abuse of power, neglect of duty and violation of parliamentary procedure. The three commissioners—Willie Burton, William Davis and Darryl Brown—are seeking to have Bell removed as chair. They say Bell shuts down commissioners when he disagrees with their views and signs documents behind their backs, violating board rules."
If we expect real progress to come to the DPD, the BoPC must be overhauled. As things stand now Chief Craig will never resign, and neither Mayor Duggan nor City Council will dismiss him. I am hoping the coming new city charter will address some of the issues with the BoPC and DPD (per comments I and others submitted to the Charter Revision Commission), but even that board is under duress from the Duggan machine.
The Board of Police Commissioners is supposed to be an independent civilian oversight committee to serve as a check on the power of the police, but here in Detroit it is mostly stacked with people friendly to the police (or actual ex-cops), and therefore it merely functions as a rubber-stamp committee—with the notable exception of Commissioner Willie Burton, who was infamously arrested in the middle of a meeting last year for speaking out of turn...so yeah, that is the state of police oversight in Duggan's Detroit.
"At least three Detroit police commissioners have recently filed or plan to file complaints with several government offices against Board of Police Commissioners Chairman Willie Bell for reasons that include abuse of power, neglect of duty and violation of parliamentary procedure. The three commissioners—Willie Burton, William Davis and Darryl Brown—are seeking to have Bell removed as chair. They say Bell shuts down commissioners when he disagrees with their views and signs documents behind their backs, violating board rules."
If we expect real progress to come to the DPD, the BoPC must be overhauled. As things stand now Chief Craig will never resign, and neither Mayor Duggan nor City Council will dismiss him. I am hoping the coming new city charter will address some of the issues with the BoPC and DPD (per comments I and others submitted to the Charter Revision Commission), but even that board is under duress from the Duggan machine.
October 16th, 2020:
DPD Scandal of the Week—Investigation into DPD drug unit finds fraud and corruption. Mind you, this is the same DPD that still wants us to think that it is a "model department"...
November 4th, 2020:
Chief Craig's obvious political bias was exposed in pure black and white (quite literally) in his blatantly different responses toward different groups of peaceful protestors. Yesterday white Trump supporters—arguably "outside, suburban agitators," to quote his own words that he once used to describe BLM protestors—blocked a road near TCF Center. No force was used against them, no riot gear, no kettling...the police presence was minimal from what I saw. On the other hand, under Craig when the DPD has responded to protests against police misconduct comprised mainly of black and brown protestors from the inner city, his response is teargas, beatings, illegal arrest of journalists, impounding vehicles, and intimidation.
Chief Craig's obvious political bias was exposed in pure black and white (quite literally) in his blatantly different responses toward different groups of peaceful protestors. Yesterday white Trump supporters—arguably "outside, suburban agitators," to quote his own words that he once used to describe BLM protestors—blocked a road near TCF Center. No force was used against them, no riot gear, no kettling...the police presence was minimal from what I saw. On the other hand, under Craig when the DPD has responded to protests against police misconduct comprised mainly of black and brown protestors from the inner city, his response is teargas, beatings, illegal arrest of journalists, impounding vehicles, and intimidation.
 |
| The chief of police answers directly to Duggan, but where is the leash? In Trump's hand? |
That reminds me—the DPD actually offered protection for an armed Nazi march designed to disrupt the LGBT Pride Festival back in June of 2019...The DPD were informed by the FBI that the Nazis were coming to town with the express purpose of inciting a worse version of the Charleston massacre / riot. When the Nazis showed up with guns, they could have been arrested on that suspicion. Why exactly the DPD made the choice to instead enable aggressive Nazis in their agenda is up to speculation. We wouldn't give ISIS the same leeway if they had made a threat of terrorism and then showed up in Detroit with guns, would we? Mayor Jeffries would not have allowed Hitler's SS or Emperor Tojo's troops to demonstrate in Detroit back in the 1940s, so why is the Arsenal of Democracy catering to Nazis now under Mike Duggan?
While under DPD protection, the Nazi marchers then proceeded to disturb the peace, make threats, shove people, and urinate in public, all of which are illegal and none of which qualify as "peaceable assembly." Chief Craig is an Uncle Tom, and Mike Duggan is the "massah" of the Detroit plantation.
And apparently Craig forgot about all of that when he came out in the media in January 2021, making disgraceful statements claiming that there was no racial disparity in how law enforcement handled the Trump Insurrection at the Capitol versus how they have handled BLM protests...
Which sends the signal that if an armed Trump mob were to come to Detroit seeking to commit violence against citizens, Craig would not put up any serious resistance to it, and we would be largely on our own. Duggan of course said nothing to put Chief Craig in check for this.
* * *
Before I wrap up, I would like to mention the DPD's controversial Operation Green Light, which began under Mayor Duggan and Chief Craig in 2016, incorporating high definition cameras and facial recognition technology that business owners can pay to have installed on their business. So essentially it is "pay-to-play" policing, a throwback to the historic role that police have always played since the inception of city constabularies in the 1800s: a public-funded security force at the beck and call of the wealthy merchant class who can afford (unlike the average citizen) to pay for protection of their property from the "criminal class" (the poor), rather than to protect the lives of the poor from the predatory schemes of the wealthy.
I have my own beefs with the program, namely the fact that there are now so many of these damn flashing lights in the city that you could have some sort of a damn seizure from just trying to drive down McNichols at night...and what happens when one of these cameras catches the police doing something illegal, or brutalizing someone? Do they do the right thing and turn themselves in? Or does the footage conveniently get deleted? Who will watch the watchers? I am also extremely uncomfortable with the fact that the DPD's camera system is tied into not only the Wayne State University Police surveillance network, but also local oligarch Dan Gilbert's vast surveillance empire. Is there any real oversight over how this network is used, or who controls it?
There are also plenty of questions as to whether the program actually makes Detroit safer from crime, which was its entire premise...
