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Call The World of Travel 860 West Long Lake Road, Suite 100 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302 248-203-0022 sheri@askouragents.com 10 April 4 • 2013 JN metro BURTON GORDIN from page 9 Staffer Suspected Miller, who said he identified Gordin's body at the morgue in the aftermath of the killing, has never accepted the Detroit Police Department's panicky- robber finding. "It was our view, and the family's view, that he was assassinated:' Miller said last month. "He was not just murdered; it was political. He was not robbed; no money was taken. We not only thought he was assassinated, but we had picked out somebody. We think someone on his staff murdered him. We gave this infor- mation to the police.' Miller recalls a particularly painful moment right after the funeral. "This guy [the one they suspected of the murder] came to the shivah house [house of mourning]; can you imagine how awkward it was for those of us who had the information?" Miller asked. "Nothing in his demeanor was a tipoff. "There was an ideological dispute with this person on the staff — there were dif- ferent currents in the civil rights move- ment at the time, sharp controversies about whether you were an integrationist or a nouveau segregationist:' he added. This staff person, Miller believes, was part of the movement away from the commission's traditional mission and toward a black nationalist agenda. Remembering that period is Dr. Robert Newby, who retired in 2006 after 23 years as a sociology profes- sor at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant. Prior to that, he taught at Wayne State for 14 years. From 1966- 1970, Newby worked on the staff of the civil rights department, a couple of levels below Gordin on the still-modest organi- zational chart. "Everything revolved around deseg- regation and integration [at the depart- ment] until 1966-1967:' Newby said last week. "It was 1966 when Stokely Carmichael gave the movement a new slogan: Black Power. The movement had been toward integration; there was a turning point in that period. "Shortly after that, the rebellion in Detroit took place [July 1967]. In a sense, the commission was betwixt and between. The mission was still desegre- gation of housing and schools, but it also had to be advocates for young people in the schools:' he added. "The commission was attempting to fill both roles; protect- ing the rights of people for self-determi- nation and also enforcing integration and desegregation7 Newby said that Gordin and his dep- uty, Walter Green, were very committed to integration and that the mission of the commission had remained unchanged. After the 1967 Detroit "rebellion:' he said that while the commission didn't endorse "Black Power; it had to accommodate it. "Those of us who were younger want- ed the commission to move faster," he said, and found it to be "tepid" in light of the explosiveness going on in the world. Newby was representing the commis- sion's Department of Civil Rights at an out-of-town conference when he learned of Gordin's death. He said that police thought it was a botched robbery, "but the suspicion was it was something else He said he did hear that some depart- ment staff members had been questioned heavily by the police. While not wanting to speculate, he said if Gordin's death was caused by a staff member, "it would not have been a civil rights issue:' He recalled there were some department employees who were unhappy because they felt they should have been promoted or weren't getting the salary they wanted. "I think the person they were ques- tioning heavily had filed a few grievances and had some serious disagreements about position and pay:' he recalled. Despite the cross-currents within the department, Newby said Gordin was well regarded and respected. "There were no gripes about his com- petence and commitment," he said. "The fact that he was the leader of this very progressive agency speaks volumes about his place in history. Those of us who were younger wanted the commission to move faster, but he was an excellent director7 Michigan Chronicle View The editorial following Gordin's death in the Detroit-based and black-owned Michigan Chronicle captured the tur- bulence of the civil rights movement's philosophical tug of war and Gordin's attempts to navigate it: "Burton I. Gordin, as executive director of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission from its inception in 1964, was both conciliator and contender for the equal rights of mankind. Angry militants in the battle for civil rights progress declared him too conciliatory. Antagonists in the battle found him too contentious. "That speaks more eloquently than any rhetoric that comes to mind for his unswerving determination to conduct himself with both compassion and digni- ty in a most sensitive post in these times of strife, turmoil and terror:' A Son Remembers For Eric Gordin, it's about justice for his father, acknowledgement of his early involvement in the civil rights movement and remembrance of his role in shaping and leading the state's first civil rights agency. He recalled last month the growing fear seared into his 11-year-old mind as he waited for his father to come home from work as afternoon turned into eve- ning. "I absolutely felt something was wrong that he had not come home said