She broke down complicated Michigan, Detroit issues in 2023 | Opinion Year In Review
Free Press Editorial Page Editor Nancy Kaffer got personal in 2023, sharing hard conversations with her son, a memorable exchange from pre-bankruptcy Detroit and demanding accountability from elected leaders in Detroit and Lansing.
Detroit was never going to admit it overstepped in Detroit Will Breathe charges
"This is how the City of Detroit's ill-considered three-year prosecution of the leaders of the 2020 George Floyd protests is going:
"Tristan Taylor and Nakia Wallace, co-founders of the activist group Detroit Will Breathe, pleaded no contest to the low-level misdemeanor of loitering, receiving delayed sentences. A no contest plea settles a case without an admission of guilt, and the delayed sentences mean that by spring, the charges will be dismissed.
"A judge dismissed misdemeanor charges this spring against two more Detroit Will Breathe protesters, Bryan Silverstein and Lloyd Simpson, ruling that after 33 months, the city had violated the activists' right to a speedy trial. The city appealed the dismissals, an extremely unusual course of action — in 2021, 6,345 non-traffic misdemeanors were dismissed by judges in Detroit's 36th District Court, according to state records; in all of Wayne County, just 61 misdemeanor dismissals were appealed that year.
"This resource-strapped city has dedicated significant resources to a thus-far fruitless effort to win convictions against these activists.
"Why?"
After MSU, I have to tell my son about another shooting on campus
"In seven hours, I have to tell my son.
"He went to bed at 9 p.m., because he’s 12 and it’s a school night, before I saw the news alerts rolling in: A shooting on Michigan State University’s campus. The shooter still on the loose. One person, reportedly, slain; five at Sparrow Hospital. It’s 11:30 p.m., and I’m watching the news. The dead now number three, and there’s a blurry picture of the shooter on my screen. I hope at least they catch the guy before my son wakes up. At least then I can say it’s over."
Exchange with Benny Napoleon has stuck with me for 10 years
"The 2013 mayoral primary was shaping up to be a horse race: Mike Duggan's move to Detroit hadn't satisfied the statutory timeline; he had failed to qualify for the ballot, and was mounting a longshot write-in primary campaign. Duggan and Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, a former chief of the Detroit Police Department and a widely respected native Detroiter had traded the front-runner spot throughout the spring and summer. ...
"That summer, the Detroit Free Press editorial board was interviewing candidates in advance of our primary endorsements. When it came to Orr's appointment, Duggan's posture was pragmatic; rejecting the need for an emergency manager, he wasn't mounting strident public opposition.
"Not so Napoleon. ... Maybe local elected leadership had failed, Napoleon reasoned, but that was an argument for new leaders, not — as many Detroiters viewed Orr's appointment — a state takeover.
... "'It's wrong,' Napoleon told us, finding the words that would convey the intensity of his feeling. 'It's un-American. And the only reason someone would approve of it is because it hasn't happened to them.'
"That exchange has stuck with me for a decade for two reasons. In that moment, I saw the depth of his feeling, the anger and shame and frustration that this had happened to Detroit. Power had once again been taken from those who had fought so hard to obtain it."
Rick Snyder is fundraising for Michigan GOP. Oy.
"I'll say this for Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo: She's never poisoned a city.
"It's no secret that the party Karamo leads is in disarray, after a hard-right takeover of the party's apparatus and a subsequent rout in the 2022 statewide elections. Michiganders re-elected Democrats to the state's top three offices, which most people expected, and won majorities in the state House and Senate, which most people didn't.
"It didn't help that Republicans nominated un-electable candidates, of whom Karamo is one (she ran for Secretary of State, and believes yoga and Beyoncé are agents of Satan), or that the party's go-to donors were, let's say, hesitant to donate, a wound that time has not healed.
"Long story short: No one with two dimes to rub together is donating to the Michigan GOP. The state GOP has about $93,000 in the bank, The Detroit News reported earlier this month; insiders told the News that the party should have closer to $4 million on hand less than a year before a contentious election, and will need $30 million to $40 million for next year's election cycle. This is, we can objectively note, relatively grim.
"Some Republicans are counting on former Gov. Rick Snyder to change that."
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