Gary Peters looks white. I never heard him say he was. Hansen Clarke has said he’s black. Does it matter? Some say he’s Latino, others said they know he’s Arab, but both men are running for a national office from a city that is minority-majority black, a city that has been the “black and proud” city for 40 years.
Have times changed since President Barack Obama called for “No African-Americans, no white Americans, just Americans” in his no red states, no blue states, just the United States speech? The ruling Republicans redrew the district lines in Michigan to try to get blacks faces out of Congress.
Nine people are running for two seats in the 13th and 14th Congressional Districts. One commercial features black leaders in Detroit from unions to civil rights telling the people of Detroit to vote for Peters even though he is white; that skin doesn’t matter. Others are trying to prove that Hansen Clarke is white.
Should the people vote away the color of Detroit and have a white person representing the black city? Does this mean Mike Duggan or Geoffrey Fieger could win in Detroit as mayor? Have the times changed the way we vote?
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