Supporters to re-affirm Chelsea anti-discrimination proclamation for MLK Day
A nearly year-old anti-discrimination proclamation signed by city and community leaders in Chelsea will be the focus of a re-affirmation ceremony Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Supporters say the ceremony is meant to draw positive attention to a changing community and more awareness of the mostly unheralded proclamation.
"We're becoming a destination community and maybe not everybody knows that Chelsea can be a very welcoming place and the majority of its citizens want it to be a welcoming place," said Joanne Ladio, one of the event's organizers. "It's not the homogeneous community that it's been in the past and we hope that it keeps changing."
The Chelsea Area Communities Proclamation Position on Equality & Human Rights was signed in February 2012 by leaders including Mayor Jason Lindauer, Police Chief Ed Toth, former schools Superintendent David K. Killips and Washtenaw County Sheriff Jerry Clayton. It recognizes the Chelsea area communities as "progressive communities that recognize the fundamental equality of all individuals" and "do not tolerate prejudicial or discriminatory treatment of any person, whether a resident or visitor in our communities."
Supporters plan to re-affirm the proclamation Monday at 7 p.m. in the council meeting room at the new Chelsea Police Department building at 311 S. Main St. The room will open at 6:30 p.m. for residents to sign a copy of the proclamation, which supporters plan to frame and present to the city.
Civic and community leaders are invited to attend and say a few words before the proclamation is read aloud, and a book will be available for people to sign in support. Other events planned are readings of quotes attributed to the fallen civil rights leader and live music.
Ladio said she and other supporters wanted to make sure the city's tradition of marking MLK Day did not come to an end. A Facebook page she and other supporters created in support of the proclamation has amassed more than 100 Likes since it was created less than two weeks ago.
"It sort of came out quietly, and those of us who feel very strongly that Chelsea needs to be a diverse community and certainly doesn't need to discriminate felt it was time to make it more visible," she said of the document.
Contact freelancer Sven Gustafson at sventg123(at)gmail(dot)com, or follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Clay Moore
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 11:42 p.m.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l13AlHzLhs&feature=player_embedded
Pablo
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 6:52 p.m.
What a wonderful day to re-affirm inclusiveness for us all.
Buckybeaver
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 3:13 p.m.
Chelsea schools are open today.
jondhall
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 2:22 p.m.
Someone tell me why this s necessary? Please! Is there a item in Chelsea we need to see? Or is a liberal mainly making a statement of some sort?
buvda fray
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 5:11 p.m.
Got it. It's just a way of saying that while things are the way they are and most everybody in town is totally fine with it, it seems like somebody should step up and say something like things could be different just like the other end of the county where everything is so much better in every way and everybody in Chelsea just keeps forgetting to move there, especially people that proclaim things. We have diversity in Washtenaw: every zip code is unique and different and should be respected for what it is and not forced to conform.
Chip Reed
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 12:45 p.m.
Chelsea was not always "homogenous". African-Americans lived on the north side of town near the mill, and while the stove works was in operation, people came from all over to work there. After 1890, with the end of conflict with Native-Americans, rural and small-town America became increasingly "homogenous" (white). There are many reasons for this. For anyone interested in learning more, I recommend "Buried in the Bitter Waters", by Elliot Jaspin.
Superior Twp voter
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 3:38 a.m.
Said "Joanne Ladio, one of the event's organizers," Barf for diversity. Even though it changes. Oh my.
DBH
Sun, Jan 20, 2013 : 11:45 p.m.
@TDS, you may be right. If you "resign" your phone contract, your phone company may very well be happy ("feel all special inside"), depending on various factors, primarily on how timely you have been paying your bills, I would guess. However, a contract is a contract and they may not allow you to "resign" your contract if the duration of the contract has not expired unless you pay off minimal remaining charges of the contract. Now, if you should mean you will RE-SIGN your contract, then your comparison to this event in Chelsea would be ludicrous. (1) Unless you publicize your re-signing in some way, no one will know and, therefore, no one will (or even be able to) care. (2) And, even if you should publicize the re-signing, I highly doubt anyone would care in any case, unlike the event in Chelsea. And that large group of the non-caring likely would include your phone company unless, of course, your re-signing included an extension of your end contract date. Even then, I doubt they would care very much. So, although their advertisements (or your internal thought processes) appear to have convinced you they would care enough to "feel all special inside," I hate to break it to you that I doubt they would. They're the phone company, after all.
DBH
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 3:01 a.m.
@TDS, it might if I was, but I wasn't so it didn't. Once again, you are confused. I CAN say that a SIMILE is a type of metaphor, but a metaphor is not a type of an analogy. All three describe comparative relationships, of course, but saying that a metaphor is a type of analogy is like saying blue is a type of red (see what I did there?). Of course, in the squirrel world, that might be true. Don't know, don't care. But, in the spirit of Mr. King, I do forgive your errors. This might be of some help: http://www.copyblogger.com/metaphor-simile-and-analogy-what's-the-difference/ And this: http://www.annarbor.com/lifestyles/is-verbal-intelligence-rising-or-falling-in-the-united-states/
jcj
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 2:59 a.m.
DHB You should have quit when you THOUGHT you were ahead!
TheDiagSquirrel
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 1:14 a.m.
DBH: A metaphor IS a type of analogy. Ouch, it must hurt to get outsmarted by a squirrel. The Diag squirrels are crafty and conniving!
DBH
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 1 a.m.
Well, then, @TDS, I am surprised I did not hear of your original signing of your phone contract when it occurred. Kept that quiet, did you? And I think you meant analogy, not metaphor. But, hey, you're a squirrel, right? In the future I will keep my expectations of literacy on your part consistent with the size of a squirrel brain. It's only fair and just. And I think Martin Luther King, Jr. would approve, don't you?
TheDiagSquirrel
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 12:05 a.m.
DBH: I am a squirrel. Due to a lack of opposing thumbs, the fact that I can sign ANYTHING is surely a big deal, and would be front-page material in the internet viral news story age. Of course, you could always read WAY too much into a simple metaphor instead :)
TheDiagSquirrel
Sun, Jan 20, 2013 : 10:32 p.m.
I will resign my phone contract in honor of this special occasion! It will change absolutely nothing, but it will make everybody feel all special inside. Well, mostly my phone company
Dog Guy
Mon, Jan 21, 2013 : 12:18 a.m.
Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day tomorrow, TheDiagSquirrel! As diag suirrel were my chief source of protein throughout the 1960's (Just hold out a semi-closed hand and they would rush to put their heads in it.), I consider you my friend (more friendly after boiling in several changes of water to remove excess flavor). Again, Happy SAD!