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2004

78

I is been almost
two years since
I had the pleas-
ure of covering my
first, and last,
Detroit City Council
meeting.
The. Rev. Louis
Farrakhan spoke to
HARRY
the council during
KI RS BAUM
the Oct. 9, 2002,
Columnist
afternoon session
and, to my knowl-
edge, it was the first
time the Nation of Islam leader official-
ly spoke to any governing body in the
United States.
Surrounded by bodyguards wearing
bowties in council chambers, the rev-
erend, who touts black separatism and
once called Judaism a "gutter religion,"
spoke sympathetically of Iraq's Saddam
Hussein and shared tales of his travels
to Libya, where leader Muammar
Qaddafi treated him like a visiting head
of state.
Farrakhan also told the crowd that if
he should be killed by an assassin's bul-
let, it would come from the gun of
George W. Bush.
The fact that just-elected Mayor
Kwame Kilpatrick would only briefly
speak to Farrakhan behind closed doors
gave me some hope, but the event
soured me on the concept of the city
trying to revitalize itself.
I believed — and still do — that to
have a chance, the entire City Council
should be tossed out on their ears.
Fast forward to last week, when the
City Council voted for a plan to create a
business district called African Town,
similar to the Greektown and
Mexicantown neighborhoods, but subsi-
dized in part with city money and made
up of only black-owned businesses.
This idea was spawned by a report
commissioned for $112,000 in city
money called "A Powernomics
Economic Development Plan for
Detroit's Under-Served Majority
Population" created by Claud
Anderson, who, according to the
Detroit Free Press, is an author and for-
mer Detroiter who failed to get a casino
license a few years back.
According to the report, Mexican,
Middle Eastern and Asian immigrants
are taking opportunities away from the

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African American majority in Detroit,
and the plan is a way to even things
out.
The paper also noted that Kilpatrick
vetoed the idea in July, but he met with
Anderson recently. The mayor's office
did not sign any agreements, but they
are working together to find land for
the business district.
City councils don't choose business
districts; they support business districts
that have already been created.
People come first, business comes
next — then government taxes both.
It's the American way.
Detroit's Greektown came about
when immigrants opened restaurants
and shops near the downtown area.
They pooled money and the wealthier
helped the less fortunate. They looked
out for their own.
The government came in later with
support, such as empowerment zone
money to keep the neighborhood intact
and sustain the tax base.
It's true that immigrants have histori-
cally fared better than African
Americans in obtaining lower-interest
bank loans.
And I can understand the desire for
an area devoted to businesses owned
and supported by African Americans,
but the area should be developed
through the African American business
community, not the city.
Let the lines be drawn naturally
through a thriving neighborhood of
hard-working businesspeople, who hap-
pen to be African American, and sup-
ported by a government that promises
help in securing loans and works to
help improve the neighborhood.
I'm not sure about all the details of
the Powernomics plan, but I'm a little
leery when the City Council that greet-
ed Farrakhan so warmly starts to talk of
exclusion.
I always use a simple test whenever a
new idea is discussed.
If you can't describe a new concept in
one sentence without producing a
thousand "what-ifs," it's time to retool.
So, let's try it:
A business district called African
Town, partly subsidized by the city of
Detroit, will be created solely for
African American businesses, and sup-
ported by the African American com-
munity to stem the tide of immigrants
who already own more than their fair
share of businesses in the city.
Pretty clear, huh? ❑