Michigan in Color
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

The unexpected valentine

Wednesday, February 8, 2023 — 7 

Truth or Lies is an original 
column written by Felicia Wilbert. 
Every 
short 
story 
published 
under the column is either “truth” 
(nonfiction) or “lies” (fiction). 
Readers have to wait until the next 
issue of Groundcover News, to 
check if “The unexpected valentine” 
is truth or lies!
“Good 
morning! 
You 
are 
currently rocking with K-M Vibes 
of Manhattan, New York, the 
station that plays all your favorite 
hits. DJ Chopper is the greatest, 
chopping out hits from old to 
new…”
Jack 
Harloway, 
aka 
DJ 
Chopper, was a popular upcoming 
disc jockey. Chopper had won a 
five-year 
radio 
apprenticeship 
during his last year in college 
at 
Musicland 
University. 
All 
throughout 
school 
he 
never 
participated in any programs or 
dances, 
considering 
everyone 
teased him about the birthmark 
on his face. It spanned from the 
middle of his eyebrows, curving 
around his eyes and ending at 
the tip of his nose, shaped like a 
heart. He did ask Ashley Blake to 
the prom in high school; however, 
she shut him down, criticizing the 
birthmark. He had a crush on his 
science partner Dapheny Pager 
in college, but he never acted on 
his feelings. Ultimately, he never 
gave up on his DJ career and was 
ecstatic about his position at the 
local radio station.

It was his third year working 
at the station, and he was now 
working the morning shift. This 
position was very important to all 
his co-workers; everyone wanted 
the morning shift except Chopper. 
He knew the position came with 
a lot of public association and 
appearances. His co-worker, “DJ 
Head,” was a confident handsome 
man, popular with the ladies. DJ 
Head often teased Chopper on 
and off the radio about talking to 
women…
“Good day, ladies” — DJ Head, 
the smooth operator — “smooth 
with the ladies, playing the 
smooth sounds of love. Unlike 
Chopper, always chopping up your 
smoothness with his uncouth 
sense for love.” It was Chopper’s 
turn to speak. “Chopper fans, 
hop on to this beat!” He played “I 
Need Love” by LL Cool J.
Being a shy man, the evening 
shift was perfect for Chopper: he 
could express himself without 
being seen. Unfortunately for 
him, Valentine’s Day was the 
next holiday on the schedule. 
The holiday he hated the most. 
He often remembered the only 
valentine 
he 
ever 
received 
in school that read, “Be my 
Valentine, Scarface. Sike!” 
The station decided to hold 
an auction at the state fair 
auditorium to raise money for 
muscular dystrophy. The winner 
would receive a free movie and 
dinner date with their favorite 
DJ. He was worried that once 
the winner saw the birthmark on 
his face they would be appalled. 
DJ Head was an arrogant man, 

talking about the auction and 
how the ladies were going to come 
out and bid for him. On the other 
hand, Chopper was totally shy, 
trying to avoid his questions about 
who was going to bid on him. He 
wanted to opt out of the auction; 
however, it was mandatory that 
each DJ participate in the auction. 
One morning two weeks before 
the auction, Chopper had had 
enough abuse from his co-worker, 
and he just told his story on the 
radio. He expressed how he did 
not like Valentine’s Day due to 
the prank that was pulled on him 
in school. He also stated he was 
looking for a wife, not a playgirl to 
break his heart. How he wanted 
to love one woman and have 
children in the future. 
DJ Head assumed that he had 
embarrassed 
Chopper, 
asking 
about his birthmark on the radio, 
and that the women would not 
like him or bid on him due to 

his birthmark. The holiday was 
quickly approaching. It was four 
days before the auction, and 
Chopper got off work and went to 
his car in the parking lot. 
He could not believe his eyes — 
his car was covered in Valentine’s 
Day cards, even the roof. There 
was a large card signed by fans 
and a red bow sitting on the hood, 
surrounded by other pink, purple 
and red cards. He gathered all the 
cards, planning to read them once 
he got home, where he fixed his 
dinner and put on the TV. 
To his amazement, they were 
talking 
about 
the 
upcoming 
auction on the news. Just then, 
he remembered the cards and 
retrieved them from his car to 
read them. Reading the first 
three cards, he was flattered and 
blushing — feeling something he 
had not felt in all his life. 

FELICIA WILBERT
Groundcover Vendor No. 234 

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Amy Deng/MiC

Stop ignoring homeless 
people on State Street

If you ever find yourself at the 
University of Michigan, chances 
are you’ll take a trip down State 
Street. During the early evening 
hours after the last classes for 
the day have ended, State Street 
comes alive. Many of the local 
campus eateries, shopping and 
living complexes are centrally 
located there. Although it is a hub 
for college students and located in 
the heart of one of the country’s 
best college towns, Ann Arbor is 
still a city where individuals and 
families with no association with 
the University reside. 
Recognized as the third best 
public university in the nation, 
it is no surprise to University of 
Michigan students and associated 
employees that the cost of living 
in downtown Ann Arbor and its 
surrounding 
neighborhoods 
is 
high. The level of prestige, elite 
status and innovative research 
tied to the Michigan name alludes 
to an exclusive lifestyle attainable 
by the average student on campus. 
It’s important to acknowledge that 
the average U-M student most 
likely doesn’t have an issue with 
meeting housing costs due to help 
from family members or other 
resources. The median student 
household income of a student 
that attends the University of 
Michigan is $154,000, while the 
average 
American 
household’s 
median income is $67,521.
Therefore, 
when 
apartment 
complexes located close to campus 
like Foundry Lofts, The Hub and 
The Varsity begin charging more 
than one thousand dollars per 
occupant in a unit, it’s no shock 
that other complexes in Ann 
Arbor have started following suit. 
According to PayScale, housing 
costs in Ann Arbor are 16% higher 
than the national average. In 2023, 
the average Ann Arbor apartment 
is predicted to cost between $1,368 
and $1,917 per apartment. With 
47,659 students currently enrolled 
as either an undergraduate or 
graduate student at the University, 
there is demand for housing that 
needs to be met. And as recalled 
before, the average U-M student 
has the means to meet prices put 
in place by landlords. However, 
where does this leave low-income 
and/or unhoused residents of 
Ann Arbor not associated with 
the University? And how do they 
manage to survive in a town built 
to cater to those who come from an 
upper-class society?
According to the Washtenaw 
Housing 
Alliance, 
in 
2020, 
2,800 
individuals 
experienced 
homelessness or sought emergency 
housing. More recently, at the end 
of 2022, the demand for a place in 
Ann Arbor homeless shelters rose 
by 30%.
During my time as a student, 
I’ve noticed the housing crisis gets 
worse on everyday walks down 
State Street as the population of 
unhoused 
people 
continuously 

grows. 
There 
is 
a 
common 
misconception that those who face 
housing insecurity or financial 
troubles misuse their money or 
“don’t spend it on the right things.” 
(Who are we as a society to police 
the way people choose to spend 
their money? Unhoused persons 
may 
struggle 
with 
addiction 
and 
when 
medical 
resources 
are unavailable, treatment for 
substance abuse is unattainable.) 
However, research shows that the 
average person is only one or two 
paychecks away from experiencing 
homelessness. 
In 
general, 
society holds extremely negative 
perceptions of people in poverty 
experiencing 
homelessness. 
It 
often leads to the dehumanization 
and 
criminalization 
of 
the 
homeless population. 
Unhoused 
persons 
are 
more likely to be subjected to 
violent 
crimes, 
harassment 
and public degradation. There 
are 
rules 
present 
in 
cities 
across 
Michigan 
prohibiting 
sleeping, receiving free food or 
loitering, all activities unhoused 
persons engage in to survive. 
In Ann Arbor, the Michigan 
State Police once threatened to 
evict residents of Camp Take 
Notice, a tent community that 
provides food and shelter to 
individuals in need. The policies 
established to erase Ann Arbor’s 
homelessness 
crisis 
continue 
to 
isolate 
homeless 
persons, 
restrict 
them 
from 
receiving 
help and further perpetuate the 
idea that an individual’s actions 
are what got them to that place. 
It fails to acknowledge other 
non-controllable 
and 
systemic 
circumstances that can cause 
someone to become homeless.
Furthermore, 
people 
tend 
to look away when they see a 
homeless person on State Street. 
For some reason, they have this 
elaborate fantasy that they’ll be 
singled out by an unhoused person, 
where they will then be forced 
to offer money. When the people 
of Ann Arbor turn a blind eye to 
the town’s homeless population, 
it 
denies 
their 
experience, 
ignores the realities of the Ann 
Arbor housing crisis and further 
alienates unhoused persons from 
society. 
Extending a hand or simply 
smiling at someone is an act of 
kindness that’s often forgotten 
about. Walking past someone 
asking for food or money in front 
of our local Target or Starbucks 
is a form of dehumanization that 
U-M students actively participate 
in every single day. As another 
student, 
I 
understand 
that 
sometimes we can be trapped in 
our own world with tunnel vision, 
focused on being on time to the 
next class or meeting. However, 
when you consciously put in your 
AirPods, fake a phone call with an 
imaginary friend or decide to cross 
the street early before you are 
approached by a homeless person, 
it becomes clear that they are not 
seen as a person in your eyes as 
they become invisible to you.

ANCHAL MALH
Previous MiC Senior Editor 

Trotter Multicultural Center: the legacy of 
Black student activists and their vision for a 
multiracial University of Michigan

This article is a reprint and 
originally appeared in Groundcover 
News in Issue 5, Volume 10, [May 
2019].
“The Trotter Multicultural Center 
serves as an iconic and programmatic 
symbol for all students; as an open 
and inclusive facility that fosters 
intercultural 
engagement 
and 
strengthens connection between and 
among communities; as a supportive 
and environment to those committed 
to social justice and diversity; and as a 
space that celebrates the tradition and 
legacy of the Trotter Multicultural 
Center and the activism of students.”
– University of Michigan Vision 
Statement for the new Trotter 
Multicultural Center
In the 1960s, young Americans, 
especially college students, found 
themselves in revolt. Activism to 
change the world was in full effect. 
There was activism for women’s 
liberation, including reproductive 
rights. There was activism to 
protect the environment and save 

the planet. There was activism for 
educational diversity, equity and 
inclusion. And of course, there was 
a major civil rights movement to 
end racial injustice, social injustice, 
economic 
injustice, 
healthcare 
disparities, 
racism, 
poverty, 
militarism, 
discrimination 
and 
inequality. 
With Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr.’s leadership and the involvement 
of millions of “ordinary” people, 
Congress passed the 1964 Civil 
Rights Act. The following year, 
in 1965, Congress passed the 
Voting Rights Act. Both were 
signed 
into 
law 
by 
President 
Lyndon Johnson. That same year, 
President Johnson came up with 
a 
non-discrimination 
executive 
order; it created a national office 
for affirmative action compliance. 
The key goal of this executive 
order was to encourage colleges, 
K-12 schools, state governments, 
local governments and businesses 
to take serious actions to recruit, 
train and retain people of Color. 
The federal government wanted 
any organization that was getting 
government 
contracts 
to 
help 

promote 
diversity, 
equity 
and 
inclusion in America. The Civil 
Rights 
movement 
pushed 
for 
a 
multiracial 
democracy 
and 
Johnson’s administration used the 
compliance power of the federal 
government 
to 
ensure 
more 
multicolored 
and 
multi-cultural 
college campuses and workplaces.
The assassination of Dr. King in 
Memphis, on April 4, 1968 was an 
earthquake that shook the moral 
conscience of our nation. It led to 
riots and profound demonstrations 
in most of the major cities and 
towns. 
There 
was 
sadness 
everywhere. Dr. King’s death led 
to increased activism by Black 
students and their multiracial allies. 
Those activists did sit-ins, protests 
and even occupied buildings which 
housed university presidents and 
other administrators. There was 
always a list of demands.
At the University of Michigan, 
students demanded more students 
of Color be admitted, more faculty 
and staff of Color be hired, that a 
building be designated as a U-M 
multicultural center and that a 
Center 
for 
Afroamerican 
and 

African Studies be established. 
The implementation of the above 
demands, 
among 
others, 
was 
gradual, and some have yet to be 
met. In the early 1970s, the William 
Monroe 
Trotter 
Multicultural 
Center was first established off-
campus at the corner of Washtenaw 
Avenue and South University Street. 
The University’s community of 
students, administrators, faculty, 
staff and alumni were happy to see 
the relocation to a more central 
campus location.
Trotter’s legacy
William Monroe Trotter was 
an African American journalist, 
civil rights activist and real-estate 
businessman in Boston. He was 
born on April 7, 1872 in Chillicothe, 
Ohio and died April 7, 1934, in 
Boston. After Trotter graduated Phi 
Kappa Beta with a distinction from 
Harvard University, he founded and 
edited The Guardian, a progressive 
newspaper that was published in 
the building that had previously 
housed an abolitionist newspaper, 
The Liberator.

WILL SHAKESPEARE
Groundcover Vendor No. 258 

The racialization of Washtenaw County’s unhoused population

CEDRIC McCOY
MiC Assistant Editor 

This article is part of a special 
collaboration between Michigan in 
Color and Groundcover News. Read 
the rest of the joint issue here.
In the last decade, scholars 
across academia have begun to 
investigate 
the 
phenomenon 
of 
homelessness 
through 
contemporary, 
intersectional 
lenses. 
Historically, 
being 
unhoused has been understood 
as unimpacted by societal and 
systemic 
influences 
and 
more 
often interpreted as resulting from 
a series of an individual’s choices 
or circumstances. Modern studies 
have deemed this framework to 
be objectively false: homelessness 
is a complex issue that requires 
multifaceted approaches in order 
to determine its root causes as well 
as its catalysts. As Vijay Mago et al. 
describes in “Analyzing the impact 
of social factors on homelessness: a 
Fuzzy Cognitive Map approach”:
“Homelessness is a complex 
social problem with a variety of 
underlying economic and social 
factors such as poverty, lack of 
affordable 
housing, 
uncertain 
physical 
and 
mental 
health, 
addictions, and community and 

family breakdown. These factors, 
in varying combinations, contribute 
to duration, frequency, and type of 
homelessness … Homelessness is 
difficult to define, thus governments 
struggle with uncertainty when 
creating and implementing policies 
they hope will effectively manage 
or eradicate this problem.”
The 
rise 
in 
our 
unhoused 
populations 
is 
problematized 
further by concurrent factors that 
act as limiting and oppressive, 
such as race, gender, ability and 
immigrant 
status. 
This 
article 
takes a look at the demographics 
of Washtenaw County’s unhoused 
population along one of those 
axes, race, in order to demonstrate 
the dramatic overrepresentation 
of People of Color in our local 
community.
In 
his 
article 
“Racialized 
Homelessness: 
A 
Review 
of 
Historical 
and 
Contemporary 
Causes of Racial Disparities in 
Homelessness,” Dr. Matthew Z. 
Fowle describes the narratives that 
have formed around homelessness 
in the last half-century: 
“Research 
examining 
the 
prevalence of homelessness by 
race and ethnicity implies that 
homelessness prior to the 1980s 
was predominantly experienced by 
single older White men. However, 

a broader understanding of the 
histories of homelessness among 
Black, Latinx, and Native American 
people suggests substantial racial 
overrepresentation has existed for 
far longer than the past 40 years—in 
many cases, for centuries.”
Fowle goes on to identify the 
early 
manifestations 
of 
what 
would become “homelessness” in 
the colonization of America. By 
making connections to the forced 
migrations of Indigenous peoples 
and enslaved Africans primarily, 
Fowle crafts a new narrative — one 
in which the displacement of People 

of Color in America is understood as 
a cultural institution that has been 
operating since the “conception” 
of this nation by Europeans. This 
understanding directly parallels the 
origins and histories of Washtenaw 
County and its municipalities. For 
example, the name “Washtenaw” 
is an English approximation of 
the Ojibwe (sometimes “Ojibwa,” 
“Ojibway” or “Chippewa”) word 
used to describe the land that 
various peoples inhabited prior 
to colonization. Not only is this 
land stolen and its peoples forced 
elsewhere, but so are its name and 

cultural significance.
The Detroit metropolitan area 
became one of the larger centers 
of trade and commerce in the late 
18th–19th century for the early 
Midwest. Originally colonized by 
the French, Indigenous peoples 
were the first to be enslaved and 
used in the fur trade industry. 
These Indigenous slaves were the 
primary labor force of the area, 
until wealthy French slave owners 
and their African slaves began 
to settle in the region soon after. 
Harvard professor Dr. Tiya Miles 
describes these early enslavement 

practices and demographics in her 
2017 book “The Dawn of Detroit: A 
Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom 
in the City of the Straits” as well as 
her U-M UROP program Mapping 
Slavery in Detroit. Immigration to 
(as well as migrations from) Detroit, 
located in modern neighboring 
Wayne County, had a significant 
impact on the racial demographics 
of 
surrounding 
areas 
in 
the 
coming centuries. By the peak of 
American 
industrialization 
and 
the subsequent Great Migration 
in 
the 
20th 
century, 
Black 
Americans as well as Latine and 
Indigenous 
peoples 
began 
to 
constitute 
significant 
portions 
of the regional population. Upon 
the collapses of major American 
manufacturing 
industries 
and 
factories in the Midwest during the 
mid-20th century, however, newly 
immigrated 
populations 
lacked 
the social and economic capital to 
relocate again; thus, many of these 
communities have remained a part 
of the makeup of the region.
People of Color in the state 
of 
Michigan 
in 
general, 
but 
Washtenaw County specifically, are 
demographically underrepresented 
in the population when compared 
to the national average. 

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Washtenaw Community College

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

