John Conyers worries Michigan's new EFM law could unfairly target black communities

AP File PhotoU.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit).

U.S. Rep. John D. Conyers (D-Detroit) is criticizing a proposed state law to drastically strengthen the powers of emergency financial managers, calling it unconstitutional and saying it implicitly targets minority communities.

March 11, Michigan Messenger: The takeover provision of the legislation – allowing the dissolution of locally elected bodies — implicitly targets minority communities that are disproportionately impacted by the economic downturn, without providing meaningful support for improved economic opportunity.

The bill — which will give EFMs in troubled municipalities and school districts the power to void collective bargaining agreements, sell off municipal assets and dissolve elected bodies — has been approved by the state House and Senate. Gov. Rick Snyder is expected to sign it into law this week.

Conyers isn't alone in questioning whether the bill could have racial motivations or unfairly impact cities with heavy black populations, such as Detroit. Political website Crooks & Liars wondered much the same thing in contemplating how the new EFM law could play out.

March 12, Crooks & Liars: It shouldn't come as any surprise that Detroit is one of the targeted cities. And while I wouldn't dare say it's race-motivated without some evidence beyond the obvious observation that Detroit is where Kwame Kilpatrickis was mayor, Dave Bing is mayor, and is a city where over 80% of the population is black. No, I wouldn't suggest it's racially motivated at all, but then again...

The piece goes on to quote state Sen. Jack Brandenburg countering concerns about local control, claiming "in a lot of these places there is no control.”

Of course, Detroit and majority-black suburbs like Inkster and Ecorse aren't the only municipalities struggling.  Allen Park, for instance, is 95 percent white and in the grip of serious fiscal issues. And Hamtramck, with only a 15 percent black population, is on life support.

But Conyers still raises a point worth considering. Over the past 11 years, Michigan governors have declared financial emergencies in seven municipalities, including the largely black cities of Ecorse, Benton Harbor, Highland Park, Pontiac and Flint. Meanwhile, the state has taken over Detroit's public school system twice since 1999, both times with dismal results.

In almost all of these instances, of course, the financial troubles have been dire indeed. But rather than acknowledge the debilitating affects of deindustrialization, white flight and corporate disinvestment on places like Detroit and Flint, too many observers have been content to simply blame changing racial dynamics. Has this then made it easier to target black-run cities in Michigan with legislation like the proposed EFM law? And will the new law be driven by, or exacerbate, these perceptions?  

The proposed law carries a number of disturbing implications, of course, not just racial ones. In figuring out the financial problems facing the state's cities and suburbs, we should be clear that the problem really comes down to one color in particular: Green.