Editing Coleman Young (section)

==Mayoralty==

===1973 campaign===
{{see also|1973 Detroit mayoral election}}

Coleman Young decided to run for mayor of Detroit in 1973. At the forefront of his campaign, he sought to address the increasing police violence suffered by black residents in the city. By 1972, the black population in Detroit was nearly half of the population – but was patrolled disproportionately by a white police department.<ref name="deslippe">{{cite journal|last=Deslippe|first=Dennis A.|date=April 23, 2006|title="Do Whites Have Rights?": White Detroit Policemen and "Reverse Discrimination" Protests in the 1970s|url=http://www.umass.edu/legal/Hilbink/250/Dennis%20A.%20Deslippe%20-%20Do%20Whites%20have%20Rights.pdf|journal=[[The Journal of American History]]|publisher=[[History Cooperative]]|access-date=July 15, 2014|archive-date=June 17, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617125142/http://www.umass.edu/legal/Hilbink/250/Dennis%20A.%20Deslippe%20-%20Do%20Whites%20have%20Rights.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Specifically, Young notified Police Commissioner [[John Nichols (law enforcement officer)|John Nichols]] that the police decoy unit, STRESS (Stop the Robberies and Enjoy Safe Streets), was a major racially charged problem of the city.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=[[Detroit: Race Riots, Racial Conflicts, and Efforts to Bridge the Racial Divide]]|author1=Darden, Joe T. |author2=Thomas, Richard W.|publisher=Michigan State University Press|year=2013|location=Michigan|pages=100, 101, 103, 113, 114, 115, 116, 118}}</ref> Officers deployed under STRESS had been accused of killing 22 people and arresting hundreds without cause during its {{frac|2|1|2}} years of operation.<ref name="nytyoung" /> In his campaign, Young quoted "one of the problems is that the police run the city… STRESS is responsible for the explosive polarization that now exists; STRESS is an execution squad rather than an enforcement squad. As mayor, I will get rid of STRESS".<ref name=":0" /> The police responded by endorsing John Nichols, the Police Commissioner who was running for mayor against Coleman Young.

Throughout the campaign, Young had an edge over Nichols due to both a growing black population base and due to his broad political experience in local, state, and national politics.<ref name=":0" /> In opposition, Nichols took advantage of the white fear of black crime in the street in order to advance his campaign. Nichols represented a national trend of increased police power and brutality in post-riot cities, and therefore, in Young's opinion, had to be defeated.<ref name=":0" /> While neither candidate openly spoke about race, after the fact, Young admitted that in 1973, “the race was about race”.<ref name=":0" /> Both mayoral candidates were conscious of the high racial tensions in the city, but both attempted to appeal to all groups. &nbsp;

In November 1973, Young narrowly defeated Nichols for mayor, becoming the first black mayor of Detroit. His election represented a major turning point in both the city's racial and political history. In his inaugural address, Mayor Young stated that “the first problem that we must face as citizens of this great city, the first fact that we must look squarely in the eye, is that this city has too long been polarized”.<ref name=":0" /> He stated that "we can no longer afford the luxury of hatred and racial division. What is good for the black people of this city is good for the white people of this city. What is good for the rich people of this city is good for the poor people of this city. What is good for those who live in the suburbs is good for those of us who live in the central city".<ref name=":0" /> Winning by such a small margin in a racially polarized city, Young knew the burden he would have to shoulder as mayor.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:ColemanYoung1981.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Young, 1981]]Young served five terms as mayor of Detroit from 1974 to 1994. Young won re-election by wide margins in 1977, 1981, 1985 and 1989, to serve a total of 20 years as mayor, based largely on black votes.

=== First mayoral term: 1974–1978 ===
As mayor during his first term, Young promptly disbanded the STRESS unit, began efforts to integrate the police department and increased patrols in high crime neighborhoods utilizing a community policing approach.<ref name="detatl">{{cite magazine|date=January 14, 1974|title=New Men for Detroit and Atlanta|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908364,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906101942/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908364,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 6, 2008|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url-access=subscription|access-date=July 15, 2014}}</ref> Young's effect on integrating the Detroit Police Department was successful; the proportion of blacks rose to more than 50 percent in 1993 from less than 10 percent in 1974 and has remained at about that level. Both actions were credited with reducing the number of brutality complaints against the city's police to 825 in 1982 from 2,323 in 1975.<ref name="nytyoung" />

When asked in an interview about the high and low points of his first term, Young responded that avoiding the near riot he faced after the shooting of a black teenager was a high. He stated that "we found a police department, which had been guilty of excesses in the past, being professional and, even under provocation, not firing a single shot. We also found leaders, black and white who had the courage to get out there in front of angry citizens and help keep the peace".<ref name=":0" /> In contrast, his biggest challenge was the fact that Detroit had been in a depression for the two and a half years he had been in office. He stated that “most of [his] time has been spent putting out fires instead of going ahead with plans for the city”,<ref name=":0" /> something he hoped to address in his second term.

=== Second mayoral term: 1978–1982 ===
In 1978, Mayor Young won his second term as mayor and planned to execute many campaign promises unfulfilled from his first term. At the forefront of his agenda, Young wanted to ensure affirmative action initiatives in order to positively transform the racial makeup of city departments, particularly the police department.<ref name=":0" /> Young addressed the issue of Affirmative Action head on, and welcomed the NAACP to Detroit with the words, "welcome to Detroit, the Affirmative Action City – I can’t think of any recent issue that is more important to the future of minorities and women and the whole American people than the issue of affirmative action" (Young, 1978).<ref name=":0" />

His efforts for affirmative action were stalled in 1981, when a budget crisis forced Detroit voters to approve an income tax hike and city officials to sell $125 million in emergency bonds.<ref name=":0" /> Young had to convince Detroit voters to trust his plans to save the city from bankruptcy, and he had to convince state legislature and municipal workers to accept a two-year wage freeze. In addition, Black unemployment in the city remained at 25 percent – all issues that Young attempted to tackle during his third term.

=== Third mayoral term: 1982–1986 ===
Young's third term as mayor focused heavily on both the covert and overt forces of racism that divided the city and suburbs. Being mayor of a predominantly black city surrounded by predominantly white suburbs meant that Young dealt with an inescapable rift between the two.<ref name=":0" /> In 1984, Young stated that racism was "at an all time high" (Young, 1984).<ref name=":0" /> Young understood the need for suburban-city cooperation as essential for regional growth; the two needed to work with each other. Young attempted to resolve this division by attracting more jobs in the city for a stronger partnership.

From 1982 until 1983, Young served as president of the [[United States Conference of Mayors]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Burns |first1=David W. |title=Leadership |url=https://www.usmayors.org/the-conference/leadership/ |website=United States Conference of Mayors |access-date=30 November 2022 |date=23 November 2016 |archive-date=15 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050838/https://www.usmayors.org/the-conference/leadership/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Fourth mayoral term: 1986–1990 ===
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During his fourth term, Young continued to work on improving racial relations of the city and neighborhood standards. He worked on many successful projects to build more than 1,800 apartment units in the city, with “50 percent black and 50 percent white, half from within Detroit and half from outside”.<ref name=":0" /> He sought for these projects to promote economic and racial integration in the city.

=== Fifth mayoral term: 1990–1994 ===
During Mayor Young's fifth and final term, the Detroit community had sharply divided opinions about his response to the death of a young Black man [[Malice Green]] after a beating by two white police officers.<ref name="2017MG">{{cite web |last1=Anderson |first1=Elisha |title=25 years ago, Malice Green became the face of police brutality in Detroit |url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2017/11/03/malice-green-police-brutality-detroit/823635001/ |website=Freep.com |publisher=Detroit Free Press |date=November 5, 2017 |access-date=January 7, 2022 |quote=Green's case generated intense community interest and unprecedented media coverage. People held – and still hold – vastly different views about what happened that night, which was not caught on video. |archive-date=January 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107175713/https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2017/11/03/malice-green-police-brutality-detroit/823635001/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Green's death on November 5, 1992, occurred only months after the [[Los Angeles riots of 1992]], which protested the acquittal of police officers in the videotaped beating of [[Rodney King]].<ref name="2002Crackdown">{{cite web |title=IN FOCUS: Malice Green |url=https://policing.umhistorylabs.lsa.umich.edu/s/crackdowndetroit/page/in-focus-malice-green1 |website=Crackdown |publisher=University of Michigan |date=2002 |quote=The Rodney King beating in Los Angeles that had been caught on video had happened about 18 months prior to Green’s death. Even though King did not die from his beating, the four officers who were involved were acquitted in April of 1992 sparking a six-day riot in Los Angeles. |access-date=January 7, 2022 |archive-date=November 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112074354/https://policing.umhistorylabs.lsa.umich.edu/s/crackdowndetroit/page/in-focus-malice-green1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the time, a writer for the ''Detroit News and Free Press'' said, "the foundation upon which Mayor Coleman Young built his career and his administration was rocked Thursday by the beating death of a Detroit man at the hands of Detroit police officers."<ref name=":0" />

=== Legacy ===
Integrating the police department was one of Young's greatest accomplishments in improving race relations in the city.<ref name=":0" /> He also presided over two fiscal crises.<ref name=":0" />

Throughout his time as mayor, Young was an outspoken advocate for large Detroit construction projects, and his administration saw the completion of the [[Renaissance Center]], [[Detroit People Mover]], the [[Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly|General Motors Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly Plant]], the [[Detroit Receiving Hospital]], the [[Jefferson North Assembly|Chrysler Jefferson North Assembly Plant]], the [[Riverfront Condominiums Detroit|Riverfront Condominiums]], the [[Millender Center Apartments]], the Harbortown retail and residential complex, [[150 West Jefferson]], [[One Detroit Center]] and the [[Fox Theatre (Detroit, Michigan)|Fox Theater]] restoration, among other developments.

Detroit experienced a severe population drop during Young's mayoralty, suffering a loss of 500,000 residents.<ref name=":0" /> Young attributed this 40 percent drop in population to the deterioration of neighborhoods which he promptly worked to overcome. Instead of agonizing over the issue, Young came up with ways to correct some of the imbalances between land and people.<ref name=":0" /> Young's administration sought to redevelop many neighborhoods throughout Detroit in order to revitalize the city's landscape. These construction projects often led to opposition among neighborhood activists. This opposition typically manifested itself in rigorous budget debate, rather than in serious electoral challenges against Young. Most of the time Young prevailed over this opposition, seeking jobs and economic stimulus as a way to help rebuild Detroit's neighborhoods.<ref name="shaw">{{cite journal|last1=Shaw|first1=Todd C.|last2=Spence|first2=Lester K.|date=July 2004|title=Race and Representation in Detroit's Community Development Coalitions|journal=[[American Academy of Political and Social Science#Publications|The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science]]|volume=594|pages=125–142|doi=10.1177/0002716204265172|jstor=4127698|s2cid=145731409}}</ref>