Description

Meet Coleman Young (1918-1997), son of a dry cleaner, founder of the Postal Workers Union and first African-American mayor of Detroit, Michigan. Young was elected mayor in 1974 following the same election cycle that saw Maynard Jackson become the first African-American mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. Both figures divided public opinion sharply as they tackled deep-set racial inequalities in their respective cities.

In a city where socio-economic and racial divisions are co-extensive to an unusual extent, even by the standards of the USA, Young’s consistent support of the working-class and under-class is often criticized for having polarized race relations in the city. A strong advocate for swearing, his oratorical style was ever colourful and to the point. “Racism is like high blood pressure—the person who has it doesn’t know he has it until he drops over with a God damned stroke. There are no symptoms of racism. The victim of racism is in a much better position to tell you whether or not you’re a racist than you are.”

During his mayoralty (1974-1993) an illustrated poster circulated that directly compared Young with the ancient Greek statesman and general Pericles. Ironically, Pericles’ own legacy as democratic leader is highly controversial, and his policies towards the ethnically different were themselves highly contradictory: while welcoming foreigners in the city, he legislated to exclude all children from citizen privileges unless both their parents were of recognized Athenian families.

On the left you can see a drawing of a helmeted Pericles with the Parthenon behind him, and in roughly the same configuration on the right hand side, is an image of Young backed by the General Motors Renaissance Center. The RenCen, as it is affectionately known, was built by Henry Ford II in 1977. The building complex (a city within a city) is the tallest building in the state of Michigan.

Snaking around Young’s head is the Detroit People Mover, commissioned by Young and built in 1987. The DPM is an elevated 2.9-mile railway system that runs around in a loop connecting various parts of downtown Detroit. Before Young’s mayoralty much public money was spent on a bus service linking the largely white suburban population to central Detroit, whilst the travel links within the largely African-American downtown were extremely poor.

Dated 1986 the unknown artist (‘Regina’) pairs the controversial Mayor with Pericles, seemingly in a celebrative comparison of the iconic public buildings of both leaders. Pericles’ quotation reads: “Yet ours is no work-a-day city only… Public buildings to cheer the heart and delight the eye day by day.” And Young’s: “There must be unity among us… Together we must build this city.” Detroit is advanced as a modern-day Athens and Coleman Young, the new Pericles.