{"id":12703,"date":"2014-01-22T08:53:34","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T08:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=12703"},"modified":"2014-01-22T08:53:34","modified_gmt":"2014-01-22T08:53:34","slug":"bashing-the-black-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=12703","title":{"rendered":"Bashing the black city"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L.<\/a>
L. Brooks Patterson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The often outspoken Oakland County Executive is once again in hot water over comments he made about Detroit in a recent interview with \u201cNew Yorker\u201d magazine.<\/p>\n

L. Brooks Patterson is quoted in an article titled \u201cDrop Dead, Detroit!\u201d as saying he only has negative things to say about the Motor City. He made the controversial comments while giving reporter Paige Williams an extended tour of Oakland County last September.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime I talk about Detroit, it will not be positive. Therefore, I\u2019m called a Detroit basher,\u201d he said. \u201dThe truth hurts, you know? Tough s***.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 75-year-old Republican went on to say he warned his children never to travel to Detroit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to say to my kids, \u2018First of all, there\u2019s no reason for you to go to Detroit. We\u2019ve got restaurants out here.\u2019 They don\u2019t even have movie theatres in Detroit \u2014 not one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Patterson said the one thing Detroit offers that the suburbs can\u2019t is live sports \u2013 and even then a trip to the city is quite risky.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor that, fine \u2014 get in and get out,\u201d he said. \u201cBut park right next to the venue \u2014 spend the extra 20 or 30 bucks. And, before you go to Detroit, you get your gas out here. You do not, do not, under any circumstances, stop in Detroit at a gas station! That\u2019s just a call for a carjacking.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also quoted as saying a prediction he made has come to pass. He said, \u201cWhat we\u2019re going to do is turn Detroit into an Indian reservation, where we herd all the Indians into the city, build a fence around it, and then throw in the blankets and corn.\u201d<\/p>\n

A statement from Patterson\u2019s office said the seven-page article casts the executive in a false light, but didn\u2019t dispute the quotes or apologize for his actions.<\/p>\n

The National Action Network, an organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton, is calling for a public apology from Patterson. The group is holding a news conference at 11 a.m. Tuesday to request the apology.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Rev. Charles Williams II, the National Action Network\u2019s Michigan chapter president, said Patterson\u2019s remarks were \u201crepulsive\u201d \u2014 not just because Detroit is mostly a black city, but \u201cbecause it is also a direct slight to the American Indians who occupied the land before Detroit was Detroit, and Oakland County.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: CBS Detroit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The often outspoken Oakland County Executive is once again in hot water over comments he made about Detroit in a recent interview with \u201cNew Yorker\u201d magazine. L. Brooks Patterson is quoted in an article titled \u201cDrop Dead, Detroit!\u201d as saying he only has negative things to say about the Motor City. He made the controversial … Continue reading “Bashing the black city”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[2370,8105,2335,8106,8103,8104,8107],"class_list":["post-12703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-united-states","tag-black-city","tag-car-jackings","tag-detroit","tag-indian-reservation","tag-l-brooks-patterson","tag-motor-city","tag-reverend-al-sharpton"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/lbrooksp.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12703"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12705,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12703\/revisions\/12705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}