A tough week

When Monica Conyers resigned from the Detroit city council after pleading guilty to bribery charges I was overjoyed. This was one of the finest days in the city's recent history. But my glee was short-lived.

Before I had an opportunity to prepare invites to my Farewell Monica party, two young men shot seven other youths on the city's west side in broad daylight. Suddenly, Monica was just another corrupt politician who mattered little. What mattered more was the fact that young people are now literally running the streets gunning others down like we live in the old Wild West. This is truly lunacy. What a week!

It took me a few days to write anything because I was conflicted. I was wrestling a plethora of emotions. Happiness, sadness, optimism and pessimism. We can't seem to take a step forward in this city without taking two steps backward. Progress, transgress, digress, outrage and sadness -- that seems to be the formula, and we have been on a steady diet of it for decades.

Remember the shooting at the Freedom Festival Fireworks in 2004? Nine people were wounded. No one ever went to trial for the crime. The police may get the shooter in this week's assault near Cody High School of seven summer school students. The first suspect arrested has already been released. Two gunmen were captured on a gas station videotape at the crime scene running around firing wildly as the victims tried to flee. I hope that they are eventually arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for life. I have hope, but not confidence.

I am even less confident in the fact that the culture of violence in the city will dissipate anytime soon. I want to be more hopeful for the future of young Detroiters, but the reality is that anyone raising young people here ought to think about bolting -- now. What are the prospects of a viable future, a thriving city, if we cannot guarantee the safety of those who would lead us tomorrow anyway?

Dom, you will be missed

He left way too soon. But he made an impact on me in the short time I knew him.

Dominick Gircius was a classmate of mine in the Social Justice master's degree program at Marygrove College, and he passed away suddenly on June 4. He leaves behind a wife and 8 year old daughter, along with scores or relatives, friends and colleagues. I hope I was among his friends, as I consider him a friend. I trust he's in a better place.

I will miss Dominick both for what he was and what he wanted to do. He was one of the most passionate members of my social justice cohort, despite the fact that his conservative views were often counter to the liberal leanings of the course presenters. He would often remark that he was the lone Republican voice in a course of study I sometimes refer to as "social justice for Democrats."

Yet Dominick was determined to soak up everything the discipline had to offer him like a sponge. He read everything that instructors suggested and then some, he told me, even though he had a reading challenge to overcome. I say he overcame it, but know it was a perpetual struggle to do so. The last conversation I had with him, less than a week prior to his death, he talked about disputing an A- he had received in a prior course.

The quest for social justice is also never ending. If you don't know, social justice is the balance between power and inaction, as the result of suppression, apathy, lack of knowledge, or other factors that contribute to society's failure to act against those with influence.

His passing is especially important to me because at a time when more people are suffering because of our nation's economic mess and other ills, we need all hands on deck. Dominick not only wanted to become a social justice advocate, he wanted to train future advocates, as a college professor. Alas, that will not happen now, and the world is worse off for that fact.

Hey Dominick, I know you are reading this, you will be missed. Not only by those who knew you, but by those you could have impacted. They would have, in turn, helped so many others. That is truly a tragedy

Be careful of what you wish for

I own a piece of General Motors ... and so do you. I hope not for long. I'll even let the company keep the money it owes me. You may not be as forgiving.

The issue for me is, whatever it takes to help the once-mighty auto giant reclaim some semblance of form, I am for. I just hope all of the people who wished failure on GM are happy, because I think that now, most -- if not all -- of them finally get it.

During it's heyday, as one popular executive of the company who was tapped by the government to man an important post once suggested -- what is good for GM is good for America, and what is good for America is good for GM. That once was true. Not so much anymore.

Now that the viability of thousands of dealerships across the nation is in question -- threatening the stability of suburbs far removed from Motown -- people are starting to take notice.

Dealerships across the nation not only provide income for tens of thousands of Americans, they support charities, sports leagues and other businesses in communities big and small, as well. So in addition to all of the companies in the supply chain, the jobs of folks who aren't tied to the "big, bad unions" are in jeopardy. In the balance hangs the nation's middle class, already shrinking at break-neck pace. More families are heading towards poverty, and fewer businesses (and their workers) are going to be left stable enough to provide donations. More people who never struggled before will find themselves needing help, with fewer places to turn. Now that those who wished the worst for Detroit's automakers when they had to go before Congress with hats in hand just a few months ago, probably understand the fallout from their struggles do affect the rest of the nation. I suspect that as they watch those around them face unfortunate circumstances, the importance of the survival of the auto industry is bolstered. I am encouraged. I am also sorry it had to come to this.

I hope GM spends less time in bankruptcy than Chrysler did. But I worry that this episode won't end as relatively well (it is after all, early in the game for Chrysler). Time will tell.

I am heartened by the fact that I believe that this sad chapter in the life of an industrial powerhouse has taught thousands of smug people across the nation a lesson. Be careful of what you wish for.