20 | NOVEMBER 12 • 2020 

I

n 1950, Albert Cobo 
became mayor of Detroit 
with a promise to stop 
the “Negro 
invasion” of 
the city’
s white 
neighborhoods. 
 On Nov. 4, 
some 70 years 
later, a scene 
unfolded 
outside TCF 
Center — what used to be 
called Cobo Hall — that the 
building’
s former namesake 
would’
ve been proud of: an 
aggrieved mass of people 
trying to halt the counting 
of ballots in a now majority-
Black city.
I had been spending 
Wednesday as I imagine 
most people were — trying 
to focus on whatever tasks 

could keep my mind off the 
election and my thumb off 
my phone. Taking clothes 
and shoes to Council Resale 
in Berkley (now accepting 
drive-up donations daily), 
getting my son ready for his 
first ice hockey practice (Go 
Falcons!), baking.
In a matter of minutes 
Wednesday afternoon, I 
received a dozen messages 
with variations of:
“We need lawyers in 
Michigan to go to TCF 
Hall in Detroit to be 
Democratic challengers. 
There are swarms of GOP 
challengers challenging 
absentee ballots aggressively, 
as of noon Wednesday. 
Who do you know that’
s a 
lawyer registered to vote in 
Michigan that can go help 

protect our votes?”
Challenge accepted! I 
grabbed my break-in-case-
of-emergency navy blazer 
and drove downtown for the 
first time in some time.
I arrived at 4:30 to find 
a substantial crowd in 
the plaza at Washington 
Boulevard and Jefferson 
familiar to Turkey Trot 
runners and people who 
don’
t want to pay for food at 
the Auto Show.
Almost without exception, 
you could identify the 
partisan divide based 
on whether people were 
wearing masks. Some, like 
the gentlemen who appeared 
to be chaperoning a group 
from Hillsdale College, had 
theirs dangling indefinitely 
from one ear or tucked into 
chinstrap mode.
The press may have 
outnumbered the Trump 
supporters — or at least the 
ones who were willing to talk 
to them. A handful clearly 
relished the media attention, 
taking short breaks to 
hydrate before summoning 
more righteous indignation. 
One man made the case to a 
reporter that Joe Biden was a 
war criminal. 

There were hand-drawn 
arrows taped to the inside of 
the glass walls that pointed 
nowhere in particular. A 
group of lawyers gathered 
together and followed the 
organizers’
 instructions 
to — like the punchline of 
a bad joke — do nothing. 
They were at capacity inside, 
both for ballot-challenging 
and COVID-19 purposes, 
we were told, and we should 
stand by in case they could 
get us in.
A woman inside held a 
cardboard box up to the 
glass that read, “Prez Trump 
wants U to chant STOP THE 
COUNT.”
The opposing chants that 
ensued — stop the count vs. 
count the votes — blended 
together to the point they 
were difficult to tell apart.
Around the time Fox 
News called Michigan for 
Biden, the chanting mostly 
dissipated. 
 But the crowd lingered, 
peering through the glass 
and plying volunteers with 
questions as they left, the 
image of “COBO” still faintly 
visible on the building’
s 
facade. 

The scene at TCF Center as 
Michigan’s fi
 nal votes were tallied.

Count
the Stops

BEN FALIK

BEN FALIK

Ben Falik
Columnist

At the TCF 

Center, Nov. 4.

ESSAY

Counter-protesters urge
officials to “Count Every Vote.”

