MARQUEE @TailoredInNYC October 2016 | Page 2

Schools across the country have settled into their respective grooves. After having been a product of the Detroit Public School system from K-8 and as a graduate of the University of Detroit High, I pride myself on paying attention to the current educational goings-on in my hometown. And, probably always will. The PUBLISHER’S Pen Short of packing my bags and returning to the scene of my birth, I've rediscovered some very valuable resources to help me navigate the new civic landscape: Detroit's Black Press. I'd delivered the Detroit News to keep a couple of dollars in my pocket when I was ten years old. I couldn't, legally, be a "paperboy" until I was 13 or 14. However, it wasn't against the law to hang out at the neighborhood newspaper station and hope like hell to make some tips by helping the REAL paperboys fold their issues into the projectiles that landed on your porch daily. But, every Wednesday, I had to have a Michigan Chronicle. THAT was my go-to source for reading stories about folks who looked like me. Of those that I aspired to emulate. Thangs have changed in the City of Detroit. Now, the non-muted Black voices seem to blend across media as print columnists are also radio hosts and TV commentators. So many of these same "journalists" do their damndest to steer abundantly clear on matters of race. Meanwhile, Detroit's assets are being looted left and right. And, guess what: The local mainstream media (and its advertisers) looks the other way. It’s laughable.