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National Financial Capability Month:
Comerica Bank backs program to promote financial education for K-12 students
Michigan Chronicle
Vol. 85 – No. 33 | April 20-26, 2022
Powered by Real Times Media | michiganchronicle.com
Putting Children First –
Rise to the Challenge Eric Doeh, JD DWIHN President and CEO
Putting the needs of our children first is a priority that we must all take responsibility for. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 6 young adults age 12 to 17 experience depression, 3 million have had thoughts of suicide and there has been a 31% increase in mental health-related emergency department visits. The Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network (DWIHN) is focused on ensuring the healthcare needs of our children are being met by providing quality mental and physical healthcare, housing and educational supports and programs. By working with our provider partners and community stakeholders, it is time that we rise to the challenge of caring for the next generation. Together we can offer the proper healthcare that will provide our young people with the Eric Doeh physical and emotional health, professional guidance and development opportunities necessary to reach their full potential as adults. The pandemic has proven to be a source of anxiety, stress, isolation and depression for everyone. Our children are feeling these same effects tenfold. Separated from their friends, masked away from the unknown; living fearful in a world that has few answers can be unsettling. As I look into my own child’s eyes, I am met with hope; knowing that she is often far more resilient and courageous than I often give her credit for. It is this innocence that we must protect. Through our School Success Initiative Program, DWIHN is investing in our K-12 schools throughout Wayne County and working with students and their families to improve mental health outcomes through education, referrals and early intervention. This has enabled us to reach more students across all grade levels, last year DWIHN served over 8,500 young people through this initiative. By providing psychoeducation training, parent supports, professional development and counseling services to children and their families, we are surrounding them with the tools needed for good mental health to develop the resilience needed to cope with whatever life throws at them and enable them to grow into well-rounded, healthy adults. There are approximately 5,800 children in the foster care system in Wayne County. This is another prime example of where we must take responsibility and rise to the challenge of caring for the next
See CHILDREN
FIRST page A2
WHAT’S INSIDE
Janice Winfrey
Shanelle Jackson
The Race for Congress The 12th District Needs Our Attention
By Donald James Senior Writer
While there has been much talk about whether an African American will win in the Michigan 13th Congressional District to take a seat in the 118th United States Congress that convenes in January of next year, similar talks are heating up in the redrawn 12th District. As the primary election on Aug. 2 draws closer, several African Americans are set to run against U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), who is seeking a third term in Congress, but this time in the new 12th, which is comprised of parts of Detroit, Dearborn, Southfield, Redford, Westland, Livonia and other surrounding cities. “I am excited about the opportunity to expand our work to include more communities that want the same access to a better quality of life, including clean air and water, affordable housing, economic justice and more,” Tlaib said in a statement after announcing in January that she would run for reelection. “Our work is only going to gain momentum and become stronger every day.” To date, the field of African American candidates in the 12th - - all Democrats -- includes Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, former Michigan State Representative Shanelle Jackson and Lathrop Village Mayor Kelly Garrett. “My run for congress is going very well,” Winfrey told the Michigan Chronicle. “A month after I announced my candidacy, I raised over $200,000. People are eager about this race, and no one is more eager than I am.” With Winfrey in the race, it represents a candidate with a proven track record of electability. She is currently serving her fifth term as city clerk. In 2016, she ran unsuccessfully against John Conyers for Congress in the 13th Congressional. While Winfrey lost, she reportedly got many votes from cities that currently are part of the new 12th. Winfrey unequivocally believes that she can defeat Tlaib. “For the 12th District to flourish, we need representation in Washington, someone who is willing to roll up their sleeves and work every day to ensure that the interest of the people in the 12th is
at the forefront of all legislation and policymaking,” Winfrey said. “Right now, that’s not happening. I am the representative that the people in the 12th need in Congress.” Winfrey pointed out that Tlaib was one of six from the Democratic Party who did not vote in favor of President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. “That bill is huge for Michigan because it brings billions of needed dollars to our state and not just for infrastructure but for jobs, clean water, broadband -- and she voted ‘no.’ She has produced very little for Michigan, and her voting record proves it. Putting our district first is what I will do in Congress,” said Winfrey. Shanelle Jackson also has a track record of electability. In 2006, she won a seat in the Michigan House of Representatives (Ninth District). Jackson is credited with working to pass and enact more than two dozen House Bills to empower Michiganders across broad spectrums, including mortgage industry reform, criminal justice reform and other issues that manifested in the communities she represented. Following her time in office, Jackson worked as the director of outreach and strategic relations at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). She was instrumental in helping unveil the Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority connecting Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. Jackson is now director of state government relations at a financial tech firm doing business in 46 states. Yet, being elected to serve the people in the 12th Congressional District, according to Jackson, would be an honor. “The reception to my candidacy has been really good; overwhelming, to be honest,” said Jackson. “I’m touching folks and listening to everyday people as I go around and talk with people in each of the communities in the 12th. I can relate to what they want and need from their representative in Congress. I believe my connection to this new congressional district really creates a space for me to serve the people.” Jackson said that she is confident in her skillset and experience to be an effective policymaker in Congress.
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“That’s why I feel that I’m the most qualified candidate in the 12th, “said Jackson, the youngest woman of color ever elected to the Michigan House of Representatives. “I’ve served on every side of the table that an elected lawmaker and legislator can experience. And I’ve passed more laws than anyone in this race, including Ms. Tlaib.” In addition to Winfrey and Jackson’s bids for Congress as African American candidates, the mayor of Lathrup Village, Kelly Garrett, has been mentioned in some political circles as a viable candidate. In 2017, Garrett was the first African American elected mayor of Lathrup Village. Gov. Whitmer has appointed her to the Commission on Community Action & Economic Opportunity. Garrett chairs the Southfield-Lathrup Democratic Club. Besides Tlaib, who is Palestinian American, other non-African Americans in the race include Bill Wild (mayor of Westland), Phil Cavanaugh (former State Representative) and Maureen Miller Brosnan (mayor of Livonia). Nevertheless, like the 13th Congressional District, many feel that an African American should serve in Congress representing the 12th.. However, if the 13th goes to Shri Thanedar and the 12th to Tlaib in the General Election (Nov. 8) there will be no African Americans in Congress representing Detroit – America’s biggest Black city – next year. In a poll conducted by Target Insyght and the Michigan Democratic Black Caucus earlier this year in the 12th, Tlaib came out on top with 62 percent of those polled. Garrett, Winfrey and Jackson were third, fourth, and seventh, respectively. “The 12th and 13th Congressional Districts are very important to African Americans in Detroit and other cities in those two districts,” Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony, prominent civil rights leader and senior pastor, Fellowship Chapel in Detroit, told the Chronicle earlier this year. “The 12th has over 250,000 African Americans, so we have a significant stake in the district. We need African Americans representing us in Congress. When we are at the table, we can speak and articulate the concerns of our people. It’s difficult to imagine the U.S. Congress without Black representation from Detroit.”
Decriminalizing Cannabis – The Fight to End Stigmas By Megan Kirk
KEM Heads to Detroit in Upcoming Concert Tour City.Life.Style. B1
Kelly Garrett
no longer attacking bootleggers and alcohol, they needed a new drug, a new thing to criminalize. They took marijuana and made that the next thing to start criminalizing and literally, some of the propaganda he used in that time was like ‘reefer makes Black men think they’re as good as white men,” said Jessica Jackson, co-founder of Copper House Detroit, a bud and breakfast and co-founder and COO of Loud Social, a social media marketing agency for cannabis companies. “They literally used racist propaganda to demonize this plant because it was associated with our community.”
With Michigan’s vote to legalize cannabis in 2019, some saw it as the state’s first step in the decriminalization of its use, distribution and consumption. Still, outdated views on the drug continue to perpetuate stigmas. As many in the cannabis field work to dispel misconceptions surrounding cannabis, there still exists a legal uphill battle on the national, state and local levels. The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 opened the doors to the criminalization of cannabis. The federal law imposed a tax on the sale, possession or distribution of hemp. At the hands of Harry Aslinger, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics Commissioner and his anti-marijuana rhetoric, a hazy cloud bloomed over marijuana
Brittany Wyche leaving many to suffer legal consequences. “After prohibition, they were
Though cannabis is used by many regardless of race, economic standing and educational background, many marijuana cases involve the imprisonment of members of the Black and
Brown communities, particularly males. Across the country, Black individuals are four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis offenses, despite similar rates of consumption when compared to that of white communities. “I know in 2018 there were like 630,000 arrests from cannabis and that was just the arrest. There were three million stops from cannabis, but from our color,” said Brittany Wyche, owner of The Weed Bar and Plant Life CBD. The 1970s War on Drugs was another key step in the criminalization of marijuana. The government-led initiative worked to crack down on users and distributors of illicit drugs, including cannabis. Categorized as a
See CANNABIS page A2