Dec. 22, 1997 - To The Mayor From The Executive Director

Washington, D.C.

J. Thomas Cochran, Executive Director

Coleman Alexander Young: 40th President of The United States Conference of Mayors

Conference President Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke designated Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and me to represent the Conference at Mayor Coleman Young's funeral Friday, December 5th in Detroit.

We commend Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer for the support he gave to the Young family and extended family to make certain that Mayor Coleman Young's contributions to America were properly recognized in a celebration of Mayor Young's life at the Greater Grace Temple that Detroiters will never forget.

As I sat in the pulpit alongside Mayor Wellington Webb, the clergy, Ms. Aretha Franklin, Governors, Senators, legislators, business tycoons, labor leaders, community leaders, and staff, I remembered the first conversation I had with Coleman Young. It was absolutely electric. He was the new Mayor of Detroit but he had already done so much in his fight for social justice before he became mayor. I wanted to know about his confrontation with the House Unamerican Activities Committee. He had been involved in organizing black workers through the National Negro Labor Council and this was the time when many innocent people, fighting for social justice, were smeared and accused of being Communist during the McCarthy hearings. In 1952, Coleman Young got into a verbal fight when the lawyer for the House Unamerican Activities Committee referred to him as a leader of the National "Niggra" Labor Council. Mayor Young, then in his 30's, corrected the lawyer's pronunciation and alleged that he had slurred the word to insult his race. He then went on to attack the whole Committee for its activities and said, "I consider it an unamerican activity to pry into a person's private thoughts and to pry into a person's associates. I consider that an unamerican activity." He repeatedly challenged the Committee by stating that it was unconstitutional and violated basic rights of citizens. He publicly reprimanded Southern Committee members for denying blacks the right to vote and the right to economic opportunity through intimidation, fear for their lives and lynchings.

He shocked Washington, D.C. in 1952 that day but he became a hero to many Americans, of all races, for standing up against the Congressional Committee's witchhunt mentality.

Later, Mayor Young learned that the FBI listed him as a "dangerous individual who should be picked up in an emergency and the first to be considered for future prosecution." Back then, the FBI could do things to you you didn't even know about. Mayor Young felt all through his life that the FBI was not to be totally trusted because of what they did to him when he was in his early thirties. History now shows that he was right, and even today, though corrective actions have been taken, many believe strains of prejudice still exist within the FBI.

It's hard for many of us to imagine how difficult it was back then when Coleman Young was blacklisted and he fell to odd jobs such as a dry cleaning presser, a taxi driver, and a beef hauler.

But he always had so much fight in him. In 1961 he entered elective politics by being elected to the Michigan State Constitution Convention and was the leader in drafting the civil rights section to the new state constitution. He ran for the State House and lost by seven votes. He ran again and was elected to the Senate in 1964 and became the Democratic Floor Leader. He later made national history when he became the first black member of the Democratic National Committee.

At the age of 55 he was elected the Mayor of Detroit. He had already lived a full life and broken so many barriers. When he came to the Conference of Mayors, he had the vision to push us to have a capacity to speak and act on a National Urban Economic Policy. When I look back at those days over 20 years ago, I think of Dorothy Brodie, a former Assistant Executive Director who later went to Detroit to serve Mayor Young as a key staffer. Dorothy, with her academic background, merged her thoughts and vision with those of the new Mayor, full of energy and ideas of what we could do as an organization. There was also Carl Reidy. He was Coleman's "Man in Washington" and we all had so much fun working together helping President Carter's Domestic Policy Chief Stu Eizenstat come up with a National Urban Policy. During the Carter years Conference staff worked alongside White House staff and mayors, present at the creation of the first drafts of White House policies that still hold up today.

Yes, he cussed like a sailor, as my grandmother would say. He used his salty language to make his point. They all talked about this at the funeral. They also talked about his sense of humor and his understanding of the scripture. He never forgot where he came from, a son of Tuscaloosa, Alabama who moved in the historic migration from the South to the North.

At the age of 24, he joined the Army and was later transferred to the Air Corps. He was the nation's first black bombardier and was part of a group, now famous, called the Tuskeegee Airmen. While in the Army, he fought the Army. At Freeman Field in Indiana he organized 100 black officers to integrate the officer's club. Black officers were jailed after they refused to sign documents agreeing to stay out of the club. Black officers were kept under guard while German POWs moved freely about the base. One high ranking Army officer wanted to court martial and shoot the black officers. Coleman Young's protest finally resulted in ending segregation at the club.

At the funeral, former Republican Governor Milliken praised Mayor Young and former UAW President Fraser ---- Mayor Young's desire to build political coalitions. Business leaders recalled his close relationship with Henry Ford II and the establishment of the Renaissance Center.

The United States Conference of Mayors was founded in Detroit in 1932. Fifty years later Detroit Coleman Young was our President and he presided over a powerful organization that was born in his hometown.

With his passing, we see an original, a rare breed, a person who fought like hell when he could have sat on the sidelines. Without Coleman Young's fight for justice, Mayor Dennis Archer said that he and Detroit would not be where it is today. Coleman Young paved the way for many.

He is a strong and colorful part of our history. His fire, energy and the profane language he used in confronting our foes is appreciated because as John Gunther used to say, "they deserved it."

Said former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, "He is one of the most courageous urban warriors ever produced by a system needed to produce its own champions." Said Republican former Governor William Milliken, "I remember him as a state treasure, a colorful, exuberant human being, a man of glorious gifts. He never stopped pushing powerfully in the direction of his dreams of equality for all and magnificance for the city he loved."

Mayor Young's favorite quote was from Abolitionist and U.S. Statesman Frederick Douglas, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters."

He was thunder. He was lightning. He was electric. He roared for all of us with his profanity. He agitated and plowed new ground for all of us with his unbridled, unchecked political energy. He was a one of a kind urban warrior who fought and struggled. He was a fighter. He was a champion of ours -- for his time, for now and our future. In 1997, the struggle continues. We thank God for Coleman Young's life. His life gives us strength to continue his legacy to be bold, strong, restless and even arrogant if that is what it takes to get the job done for our cities and our people.

Winter Meeting/Happy Holidays

We look forward to next month -- January 1998 -- when we begin an active and most productive year under the leadership of Conference President Paul Helmke.

Mayor Helmke asks that all of you join us at our Winter Meeting January 28-30 at the Capitol Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC. Mayor Helmke also wants all of you to know that President Clinton is inviting all mayors to a special session in the White House during our meeting. We thank Mayor Helmke for his personal time and contribution as we produce an exciting and new Winter Meeting in 1998.

At this special holiday time, we wish you warmth and friendship and above all -- love -- amongst your friends, loved ones, extended family and family. And when the holiday is over, we will see you in Washington to begin anew as we bring together our dynamic Mayors of The United States Conference of Mayors to plot a course for a meaningful, productive and exciting year before us.