SEPTEMBER 19 • 2019 | 5

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Jewfro
Selma Goode Represents
V

isit Selma Goode in her 
one-story Redford home 
and it becomes clear 
quickly that at 96 years old, she 
is purpose-driven, patient and 
proud of Westside Mothers, the 
organization she 
founded in 1966. 
Visit Selma 
Goode on the 
third floor of the 
Walter P
. Reuther 
Library — in 
archives of onion 
skin, facsimile, 
carbon copies and meeting 
agendas annotated in cursive 
— and it becomes clear quickly 
that she is a powerhouse. 
Of course, Detroit Jews 
For Justice is not honoring 
Selma Goode because she is 
diminutive and doting. They 
are bestowing the inaugural 
Myra Wolfgang Award on her 
because she is a world-class 

community organizer, an ally 
and advocate who harnessed the 
political power of a population 
at its most vulnerable, marginal 
and aspirational: poor moms.
Selma grew up in Richmond, 
Mich., a town of 1,400 people 
where her father retained his 
Orthodox observance, dealing 
scrap metal and making his 
own wine (“I thought it was 
good”) during Prohibition. He 
died before she graduated from 
high school, after which the 

family moved to Detroit.
Selma’
s job as a mother 
of four overlapped with and 
informed her career as an 
activist. In person, she marks 
milestones based on the age of 
her youngest daughter, Julia. In 
archives, you date her efforts 
by the letterhead of those 
whose attention and respect 
she commanded — Gov. Jim 
Blanchard, guber-
natorial candidate 
Sander Levin, City 
Council Presidents 
Maryann Mahaffey 
and Gil Hill, State 
Rep. Kwame M. 
Kilpatrick. 
In 1963, the 
year before Julia 
was born, Selma 
and her husband, 
Bill, approached 
local Jewish insti-
tutions about 
welcoming Martin 
Luther King Jr. to Detroit. Bill 
worked for the Jewish Labor 
Committee and Selma was 
involved with the Congress 
of Racial Equality (CORE). 
The Anti-Defamation League 
objected and ultimately 
refused for fear that the Walk 
to Freedom down Woodward 
Avenue would lead to rioting.
Undeterred, Selma and 
other CORE members worked 
with Rev. C.L. Franklin to 
dispel rumors that people were 

planning to bring guns to the 
March, which ultimately was 
both the picture of peaceful 
assembly and the first iteration 
of Dr. King’
s I Have A Dream 
speech. 
The civil rights movement 
motivated Selma, in her 
capacity as research sirector 
for CORE, to organize “ADC 
Moms,” mothers receiving Aid 
for Dependent Children. She 
made three critical mistakes 
whose lessons informed the 
next 50 years of her work.
1. Know your audience. 
Selma could not understand 
why the turnout was so low 
at the initial parlor meetings 
until someone explained to her 
that they were not comfortable 
in other people’
s houses and, 
furthermore, wanted a space to 
meet outside the home.
Once the meetings moved, 
the CORE office attendance 
grew rapidly and led to the cre-
ation, constitution and mem-
bership structure of Westside 
Mothers, a welfare rights orga-
nization.
 
2. Get out of their way. At an 
early meeting, Selma presented 
a problem she was confident 
would gain consensus and 
momentum: the absence of a 
park for children in the area. 
The women in attendance 
acknowledged her politely 
before coalescing around a 
salient issue of their own. 

Ben Falik

continued on page 10

fami
mily mov d
ed to

Selma Goode 
and Ben Falik

publisher’
s notebook

A Message to 
Our Readers

The Sept. 12 edition of the 
Jewish News started a new 
chapter in our 77 years of 
service to the 
Detroit Jewish 
community. It 
is now an all-
glossy weekly 
magazine, with 
crisp, colorful, 
reproduction and 
more content in 
a convenient size.
We appreciate your initial 
positive feedback. Despite 
planning the format switch for 
months with our new printer, 
a human error resulted in the 
tardy delivery of the magazines 
to the post office. And a post 
office automated system for 
sorting and distributing the 
Jewish News to satellite postal 
facilities for timely delivery to 
you … well, the automated 
system underperformed.
The result is that most of 
you didn’
t receive your Jewish 
News last Thursday. Many did 
on Friday, and most — but not 
all — by Saturday. We appre-
ciate your patience and under-
standing as our printer and the 
post office better synchronize 
their weekly handoff an 
d dis-
tribution.
We trust you’
ll enjoy the 
new format. It represents our 
ongoing commitment to those 
— like you — who want their 
Jewish News in print. Thank 
you again for your readership 
and encouragement. 

Sincerely,

Arthur Horwitz 

Publisher & Executive Editor

Arthur Horwitz