Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer may be on his way out. Many Democrats believe it is time for new leadership and will select a new chair Feb. 23 at the 2013 party convention in Detroit. “Mark Brewer is one of the most ineffective chairmen we have ever had. He is absolutely not producing,” said political analyst Art Blackwell. “You can’t point to one election he was directly responsible for and he ...

City Council voted Feb. 12 to impose furloughs on its staff. The vote passed 6-2 with Council members Brenda Jones and JoAnn Watson voting “no.” Councilmember Kwame Kenyatta was absent. The vote came a day after the Financial Advisory Board reportedly voted in favor of furloughing about 600 unionized city employees. Council’s furlough days for its 40 staffers amount to a 10 percent pay decrease. ...

The things that we are known for in Detroit are cars and arts. The arts save lives. It keeps the kids focused on math and science so that they can focus on art. It is so much we can do with the art. It is very important to keep the arts; it’s hope. ...

The effort by the state to take over Belle Isle is not likely to fade away. Instead, local corporate media (LCM) is using this situation to redouble its efforts to denigrate and distort the opposition to state-foundation-corporate driven development. After the City Council refused to consider the offer by the state to lease the island, Gov. Rick Snyder said he was pulling the deal off the table. The central ...

After laying out a progressive agenda for his second term in his inaugural address, President Obama followed up with a series of specific proposals in his State of the Union address Feb. 12 that include increasing and indexing the minimum wage, repairing deteriorated infrastructure, and investing in education and clean energy. ...

Rosa Parks, “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement,” was born Rosa Louise McCauley 100 years ago on Feb. 4, 1913. Her Centennial was celebrated last week at many events, including the unveiling of a special stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service. Most celebrations focused on Rosa’s courage, saying little or nothing about the Montgomery women whose visionary organizing of t ...

To mark Black History Month, The Michigan Citizen reached into its photo archives to repost a variety of events that tell some of Detroit’s recent history. We encourage readers who can add to the narrative of any of the photos to please do so by submitting comments to editor@michigancitizen.com ...

Turning through the pages of an over-sized portfolio, Paradise Gray, the well-known producer and visionary for legendary hip hop group X-Clan, showed Michiganders his collection of original New York hip hop party flyers from early 1980s, a time when hip hop artists were first becoming stars. As a guest of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum, Gray visited University of Michigan Ann Arbor Jan. 22 in celebrati ...

After her position was eliminated following 20 years of dedicated service in Human Resource Management, Dawn E. Trapp stepped out on faith and began her own business. “My position was eliminated so I retired and we parted on good terms,” Trapp told the Michigan Citizen. “My position with the company, in addition to my main responsibilities, required that I organize company picnics, holiday parties, etc. I t ...

By Frankie Darcell In life, there are people that will travel though your life and make a rest stop, but then there are those like you, Detroit, that will travel the entire distance. Thank you for riding shotgun with me.   ...