COLEMAN A. YOUNG (1918 - 1997)
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Politically inspiredPoets, painters and rappers reflect.by Desiree Cooper "My frame of reference for 22 years as a Detroiter has been trying to facilitate expression, working with Detroit artists," says Chris Jaszczak, owner of 1515 Broadway theater. It's from that frame of reference that he watched how Coleman Young shaped a Detroit attitude and Detroit artists. "One of his strong constituent pockets was the lower east side, an area which was poor economically and totally disenfranchised," says Jaszczak, a native east-sider. "When Coleman Young made that 'Hit 8 Mile' statement (which was actually a warning to all criminals that they were not welcome in the city), it was the first time that anyone had actually clearly acknowledged that delineation between the city and the suburbs. We grew up with that, we knew that, but no one ever had the guts to say it out loud." It was that statement, and many other controversial ones during his tenure as mayor, which made Coleman Young one of the most quotable people of his time. "Part of the package with the mayor was his glibness, sharp tongue and quick wit," says Jaszczak. It was that wit which provided fodder for a book by a group of local journalists, The Quotations of Mayor Coleman A. Young, published by Droog Press in 1991. The book is a collection of Young's most colorful quotes packaged like the famous red book of aphorisms from China's former Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse Tung. It's a jewel that Jaszczak has longed to bring to his stage. When asked which of Young's quotes most intrigued him, Jaszczak answers: "My immediate reaction is to be resistant to the quotes where he cursed. His notoriety wasn't just his ability to curse, it was his ability to cut to the chase." Instead, Jaszczak says that Young's life should be brought to the stage because of its historical relevance. "He was a Tuskegee Airman. He took on the House Un-American Activities Committee. He was involved with organized labor. He was the first African-American mayor of a major city. He was proud to be an African American; he was very patriotic." Indeed, it was Young's defense of his rights as an American which catapulted him into the limelight. In 1952 he appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee at a hearing in Detroit. At the time he was a brazen, 34-year-old labor activist. According to Quotations, Young responded to a charge that he was reluctant to fight Communism by saying: "I am not here to fight in any un-American activities, because I consider the denial of the right to vote to large numbers of people all over the South un-American." All of which, says Jaszczak, begs for theatrical treatment. Still, despite his admiration for the mayor, Jaszczak concedes there were times when "Young was always so quick to speak, he'd end up on his own sword." "He wasn't always right," says
Jaszczak, "but he was always righteous."
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