Jan 23, 2019
Which Side Are You On? The Two Faces of Politics in Detroit
by Mike Espejo
When over 300 activists and workers protested outside the Auto Show Charity Preview this Friday, they were joined by newly-elected Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Detroit. As she took to the bullhorn, she made it very clear which side she was on.
“Understand…every single excuse that comes out of the mouth of Mary Barra is a lie,” said Tlaib to the group of protestors outside the Cobo soiree. “They got so much of the legislature…all different levels of government…every single person gave so much to General Motors, and now they’re abandoning us, they’re leaving our city after we gave them so much.”
It’s the kind of honesty, energy, and anger you don’t often (if ever) see from our elected officials. It’s especially not the kind of language you would ever expect to hear from a Michigan-based politician when talking about the “untouchable” auto industry.
Compare it to Friday afternoon when Governor Gretchen Whitmer met with UAW and Unifor union workers, vowing to support them in light of the recently-announced plant closures in the U.S. and Canada.
“I wanted to show up for you because you’ve always shown up for me,” Whitmer told workers at Union Headquarters. A group of those same workers would later hold a candlelit vigil before the Friday evening protest at Cobo. “We built the middle class here in Michigan…I want you to know I’ll stand by you. I’m going to fight side-by-side with you to protect jobs and protect our families, keep them together so that they’re not split up.”
Yet just a few days before, Whitmer toured the Auto Show with a noticeably different tone as she talked to Big Three execs and the media.
“I understand how people are feeling, but until I’ve got more information directly from the company, I’m not going to go so far as to castigate anyone,” Whitmer said in regards to the GM plant closures. An official sit-down between Whitmer and Barra is still being planned.
As governor of Michigan, it is tradition to tour the showroom floor, get some photo ops sitting in the front seat of some Michigan-made cars, and talk up the economic importance of the auto industry and the Auto Show itself. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters also toured the NAIAS last week with other Democratic U.S. Reps also previewing the show.
“There are going to be so many issues that are coming at them and the winds are going to be pulling them in every direction. It’s going to be a very tricky year for this industry,” said Representative Debbie Dingell from Dearborn, as reported by the Detroit News.
But to activists and workers, this kind of rhetoric is starting to ring hollow. The fraudulent pomp and circumstance of events like the Auto Show, where those we’ve elected to represent us play both sides of the fence — one minute as an advocate for labor and as a cheerleader for capital the next — can no longer be ignored. Only through their actions can we truly know which side they are on.
Join the Detroit Coalition for a Green New Deal
We are labor, environmental and community activists united in our demands for a just, green economy:
1. General Motors must honor its labor contracts and its legal and moral commitments to the places in which it has done business. This means keeping all the plants open, creating more union jobs, and ensuring they contribute to the building of a green economy.
2. If GM does not agree to keep the plants open, we demand that they be seized via eminent domain and put to public use. If eminent domain was used to take property from the residents of Poletown in the early 1980s to build the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, it can be used today to take the assets back. Public hearings on this issue are vital.
3. We demand a Green New Deal that takes us on a path to rapid decarbonization of the economy, implements a federal union jobs guarantee, and ensures a just transition for workers, people of color, the poor, and other marginalized groups.
We are:
Elected Officials
Rashida Tlaib, U.S. Representative, MI 13th District
Raquel Castañeda-López, City of Detroit Council Member, District 6
Organizations
Detroit DSA, Auto Workers Caravan, Breathe Free Detroit, East Ferry/Warren Neighborhood Assoc., Sunrise Michigan, East Michigan Environmental Action Council, Soulardarity, Boggs Center, Good Jobs Now, Good Jobs Nation, National Lawyers Guild Detroit/Michigan, League of Revolutionaries for a New America, Green Party Detroit, We the People-Michigan, SE Michigan Jobs with Justice, OneHamtramck, Detroit Jews for Justice, Detroit Eviction Defense, LP-Indivisible, Indivisible Fighting 9, UNIFOR Local 222 Political Ation Committee and Retired Workers Chapter, Moratorium Now!, We Want Green Too, Swords Into Plowshares, Detroit Community Wealth Fund, Michigan for Revolution, Detroit Solidarity, Detroit IWW Solidarity Committee, Michigan Coalition for Human Rights, Food Not Bombs/Food Not Class.
And a growing list of individuals. Add your name here.
Website: Detroit Coalition for a Green New Deal
Call your elected officials to demand a public hearing on the GM plant closures and a Green New Deal:
U.S. Rep. Andy Levin (586) 738–0116
U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence (313) 423–6183
City Council Member Mary Sheffield (313) 628–1119
Mayor Mike Duggan (313) 224–3400
