A New Attitude? 
Where have we been?
I was born over 50 years ago, in the same house I live in now, that was home to my mother, my grandmother, my great grandmother, and my great-great grandmother.
Two of those women were born into slavery. This is my home. Fifty years ago, there were 42 houses on my block, an apartment building, a Catholic church, a mom and pop grocery store with a butcher, and a mailbox on the corner. Everybody that wanted a job had at least one, and nobody wanted to be “on the welfare.”
Both of my grandfathers served in the first World War. In WWII my dad fought in North Africa. Two of my uncles were Tuskegee Airmen and another served in Italy. My mom was one of the first Black women in the history of the U.S. Navy.
Fifty years ago, the streetcar ran down Warren Ave like clockwork. We were a stone's throw away from my elementary school, the baseball field, the bank, the library, the movie theater, the barber, two cleaners, grandmothers church, and a business district with every type of store.
Where are we headed?
Maybe we can get back to that place, or maybe we will find another. But if we keep going down the path we are on, we are going to end up where we are headed and that's not healthy for anybody. We can't let that kind of progress be all that is left for our children and grandchildren.
I wish it was not true, but what is left is three occupied homes, the church, two liquor stores, the funeral home, some broken dreams and a few hopeful trusting faces. True, I wake up to the sounds of dozens of types of birds singing loudly, and I enjoy the appearances of the pheasants, the rabbits, and the raccoon. It's nice but it doesn't pay rent, or anything else.
It's time we sent new thinking to Lansing. It's time for change that works.
I'm Marvin D Crawford. I need your vote in the august primary.
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