Uptown Notes

Apologies on my absence, now let’s go intenational to local.. feel me?

On the international tip, This week Amina Lawal’s sentence of stoning, will come before a Nigerian court. If you don’t know Amina’s case, you need to find out about it. Don’t forget our sistahs!

In Michigan, presidential politics are a hot topic! A new poll by Detroit News/Local 4. and Mitchell Poll find that, albeit by a neglible margin, more folks in Michigan want Bush out of office than in. As a sociologist, these poll results are really weak, but nonetheless, they do demonstrate that a large number of folks are looking critically about Bush. The Detroit News also ran a syndicated story on the Congressional Black Caucus’ trouble gaining political sway in this neo-conservative era.

The ground breaking for the new Policy building doesn’t really interest me, that’s why I didnt’ go. But I was intersted by the Ann Arbor News story which highlighted that Gerald R. Ford played football with an African-American…

“Ford had stood by an African-American football player, Willis Ward, when the two played for Michigan in the early 1930s and a Southern team resisted playing U-M because the team had a black player.

Ford said that the association had made an indelible impression on him, and said that Ward became a close friend and went on to a distinguished career as a state judge.”

Doesn’t that just warm your heart… U of M has always embraced diversity ;)

On Tuesday, the 23rd, a rather interesting collaborative protest will be occuring at Wayne State. The event, is a call to protest attacks on people of color in Benton Harbor and Palestine. The protest is set to happen at noon in Gullen Mall and there will be a teach in at 6pm in Bernath Auditorium. The event is co-hosted by the NAACP–Wayne State Chapter and Students’ Movement for Justice. It’s few and far between that international and local struggles come together.

As mentioned on my last posting, the recall election in Cali that features Prop 54 has been moved. But the vote will happen later, so if you’re from Cali make sure your absentee ballot stuff is straight. California absentee ballot information is available online here. Big shout out to folks of color in Social Work for hooking people up with this info. Make sure your voice is heard!