Hey all, I'm hoping that this weekly platform will be ONE way by which political communication across the state of Michigan can be facilitated. I have a variety of topics to present tonight, just to prime the pump for discussion.
Local Democratic Organizing
I'll start with a very brief description of one task I've just begun, namely, the duties of a Co-Chair for Precinct Organizing for the Washtenaw County Dems. Last month, I was honored to be asked to participate on this term's board for the county party, after I'd worked with the Precinct Organizing team for the past couple of years with the previous co-chairs, Chris Savage and Tad Wysor. Chris has moved upstairs to be the County Party chair, and Tad is getting more involved with other local activist groups for the time being. But they both did a terrific job, meaning that my new committee co-chair and I have big shoes to fill. Given the interest and dedication of the board members and our committee members, I'm confident we will make good progress on the foundation that has already been laid.
Last Sunday, the county Board had a retreat at which we all met and discussed some of our goals for the upcoming year. Part of our effort will include a lot of collaboration with other key committees, such as Membership, Programming, and Outreach. Another aspect will entail reaching out to other Democratic County organizations across the state of Michigan. It appears that several other counties are even better organized (in terms of infrastructure, anyway) than we are--imagine that! ;) I'm sure there will be many opportunities for all of us to share ideas and plans, regionally and statewide, but there's no reason this platform can't be one of them.
#BlackLivesMatter
Locally, we are on tenterhooks awaiting the news of the investigation by the Michigan State Police into the shooting death of Aura Rosser by David Ried, an Ann Arbor police officer. Preparations are in place for demonstrations in case we hear that there are no charges sought, a result that we have come to expect. In Ann Arbor proper, here's the plan:
The mobilization will be at 4:30 on the day after the report is released. Meeting place is Aura Rosser Plaza (i.e. in front of City Hall, 301 E. Huron in Ann Arbor).
Undoubtedly there are plans for demonstrations elsewhere in the county and the metro area as well; if you know of any, please let us know.
The Ann Arbor Democratic Party has approved a resolution calling for several actions and policy changes in the wake of Ms. Rosser's death; this article lists the basic provisions. (At present, the comments are pretty disheartening, FYI.)
Motor City Kossacks Book Club
I'm hoping that DoReMI will be here tonight to discuss plans for our online discussion of a major work of history about Detroit, Thomas Sugrue's The Origins of the Urban Crisis. We had hoped to start talking about it next week, so please see about getting your copies and starting to read soon.
Motor City Kossacks Meet-Up?
I raised this possibility last week, and then gregsullmich pointed out that the statewide Democratic convention is Saturday the 14th at the Cobo Center in Detroit. Good call, gsm, thanks!
So--we could see about having a meet-up right AFTER the Convention, somewhere downtown. What do you all think? One would not have to attend the MDP convention to join us for the meet-up.
We could still have our downriver get-together, but perhaps not till March.
OK, folks, the floor is yours!