Tragically we are on the eve of witnessing the broad daylight jacking of a Detroit historic event.

In Detroit most “jackings” are a reference to notorious car jackings feared by those daring enough to fill up South of Eight Mile day or night. Tragically we are on the eve of witnessing the broad daylight jacking of a Detroit historic event; ‘The 1963 Detroit Walk To Freedom’, organized under the indisputable leadership of Reverends C.L. Franklin (SCLC point man for Detroit), Albert Cleage Jr.(Founder Shrine of Black Madonna) and Benjamin McFall, owner of McFall Brothers Funeral Home. Critical to a grasping of the critical issue here is an understanding that the true history of Detroit Black Folk is under constant revision to suit current misleadership that are but career apologists for an unacceptable Detroit status quo. We have a political debris field in Detroit. If you don’t know you better ask somebody- right now ! I would certainly ask Jamon Jordan the official City of Detroit Historian who on June 23, 2022 in a Facebook post stated: “The March was organized by the Detroit Council for Human Rights (DCHR), which was founded by Clarence LaVaughn Franklin, pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church, Albert Cleage Jr., pastor of Central United Church of Christ, and Benjamin McFall, owner of McFall Brothers Funeral Home founders of The Detroit Council for Human Rights (DCHR) organizers of the walk The Detroit Branch NAACP Initially opposed the March. They only agreed to support it after the DCHR brought in John Swainson, former Democratic governor of Michigan, Jerome Cavanaugh, Democratic mayor of Detroit, and Walter P. Reuther, leader of the United Auto Workers (UAW).” Fine gents no doubt but the pathology of an enslaved mindset is to always seek the approval of the plantation overseers. Certainly the 1963 Detroit NAACP embraced that mindset because they viewed Franklin and Cleage as too Black too strong. I’m a paid up NAACP Life Member. It grieves me to note that it is a deceptive move for the 2023 NAACP to pretend its Walk To Freedom history is something it was not. The niece of Aretha Franklin, granddaughter of Reverend C.L. Franklin, is clear in a Facebook post: “I find this rude & disrespectful to have an invite with my grandfather being the main organizer of the Freedom Walk. With not one of my family members representing. We are not hard to find! Plus the NAACP didn't want anything to do with him 60 years ago.” (“CFranks Original” Jun 14 2023 Facebook post) If my opinion bothers you know that your silence bothers the hell out of The Ancestors and Children Unborn. Struggle Is A Constant. I will be marching with Michigan National Action Network Friday evening at 6PM to King Park from Historic King Solomon Baptist Church focusing on ending Detroit poverty, implementing real community benefit agreements to balance nation leading corporate welfare as we seek justice for Detroiters robbed in that over $600 million overtaxation travesty. We will also be resisting sham property tax reform that does not address structural racism in historical lending policies of Detroit Banks financial institutions that wouldn’t lend to Black property owners who simply held onto property not as distant speculators but as Black Americans victimized by American Racism as they tried vainly to build Black Wealth. Now these same Black property owners stand to be penalized for racist bank practices. We should end property taxes for Detroit residents. These injustices alone are justification for Detroit reparations. If Martin Luther King Jr. were to speak again at Historic King Solomon Baptist Church, King would stand with Michigan NAN’s Helen Moore who organized plaintiffs in a Federal suit for Detroit students right to read. King would stand with NAN’s Detroit Council Member Mary Waters taking on Detroit Land Bank for citizen housing & Governor Whitmer’s EGLE perpetrators of environmental racism via permit to dump human waste at the mouth of Detroit River. And King would have been arrested with Agnes Hitchcock shutting down Detroit City government to protest over taxation. King would shame the apologists and racist beneficiaries of Black pain tip toeing through the Detroit debris field. Most of all King would reject the dishonor of a bust of himself that is but a mockery when there is so much unfinished business to render Justice for Detroit. Sam Riddle, JD Political Director Michigan National Action Network