Tuesday, November 05, 2024

In Motor City, jobs and justice dominate as Detroit voters head to the polls

ON THE GROUND


Detroit, home of the US auto industry, has seen good times and bad. It’s also the most populous city in Michigan, a battleground state in a tight presidential race. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have made several campaign stops in the Motor City, whose residents could well decide who will be the next US president.


Issued on: 05/11/2024 -
Leela JACINTO
View of downtown Detroit skyline, in Detroit, Michigan, on October 18, 2024. 
© Charly Tribailleau, AFP


Bishop John Drew Sheard captured the mood of his church on the last Sunday before what many Americans call “the most consequential presidential election of a lifetime” on November 5.

“She’s in Detroit! She’s in Detroit! She’s in Detroit! Come on, Detroit!” Sheard cheered as Kamala Harris made her way from the front pew to the pulpit of the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ.

When the roar of the congregation subsided, and some of the more excited members of the historic Black church finally took their seats, Harris immediately hit the central theme of her 12-minute address.

Acknowledging a “church that has stood for justice in over a century”, the first multiracial female presidential candidate in US history said she believes the country is “ready to bend the arc of history toward justice”.
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US Vice President Kamala Harris joins the prayers at the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ in Detroit, Michigan, November 3, 2024.
 © Leah Millis, Reuters

Harris began the final Sunday of the 2024 campaign in Detroit, the most populous city in Michigan, a Midwest battleground state with 15 electoral votes that she needs to defeat her Republican rival Donald Trump.

In the 2016 race, Hillary Clinton lost Michigan to Trump by only 10,700 votes despite pre-election polls consistently showing the Democratic candidate in the lead.

This year, the opinion polls show the two candidates locked in a tight race, with Harris in danger of losing the once reliably Democratic Arab-American vote as anger over the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon mount.

Read moreIn the ‘capital of Arab America’, voters plan to punish Harris for Israel's wars
‘Calling us ugly and then asking us out on a date’

Detroit has long been a Democratic stronghold, but 2024 has not been a year to take anything for granted on the campaign trail. Trump has tried to woo Black male voters, auto industry workers as well as business owners, making several trips to Michigan over the past few months.

He has not always succeeded in swaying the city’s residents. Last month, Trump insulted Detroit while campaigning in – Detroit. During an address to the Detroit Economic Club, Trump warned that “our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president”.

His comments drew criticism from local Democratic officials who noted that the city, once infamous for its urban blight and bankruptcy, had turned the economic corner by stabilising its finances, improving services and reviving several neighbourhoods. In a post on X, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel was scathing about Trump’s comments. “This guy is calling us ugly and then asking us out on a date,” she noted.

Stepping out of the Greater Emmanuel church after the Sunday service, Sharon Jackson dismissed Trump’s repeated warnings of Harris’s inability to handle the economy.

“If Donald Trump can do it, or thinks he can do it, Kamala should be able to as well. She's got a proven record, look at her history. I think she'll be good for the economy,” said the IT professional.

Sharon Jackson (R) outside Detroit's Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ on November 3, 2024. 
© Tahar Hani, FRANCE 24

Harris’s message of social justice especially resonated with Jackson, who has been attending services at the imposing church at the corner of Schafer and Seven Mile roads for years. “If Donald Trump is in [the White House], the rich are going to get richer, just like he promised. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer or stay where they are. But with a president like Kamala Harris, I think that everybody will benefit from her being in office,” she said.
Can’t forget the Motor City

The wheels of the economy in these parts are run by the auto industry, which has earned Detroit its “Motor City” moniker. It’s a beloved nickname, often used by loyal residents and former residents whose families have moved to neighbouring areas, lured by jobs in manufacturing plants and auxiliary businesses linked to the auto industry.

But the term is also redolent of a once glorious past, when Detroit’s car industry turbocharged the American economy, which in turn drove the global economy.

That was before Japanese cars rattled the supremacy of American cars in the 1980s, fueling a panic over the loss of jobs and the decline of “the Big Three” – Ford, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler – all headquartered in Michigan.

Today, the threat comes from China, with the Asian giant grabbing the electric vehicle (EV) market with low-cost manufacturing plants and business deals across the world.

On the campaign trail, “EV” turned into a major debate, which was seized and manipulated by Trump – until a new billionaire backer, Elon Musk, head of EV maker Tesla, endorsed the Republican candidate.

Trump has described Harris as a “globalist”, telling workers who had lost jobs in the auto and subsidiary industries that the Biden administration’s bid to promote the EV industry was the cause of their economic woes.

The pitch resonated with many unemployed voters. “I’m going with Trump,” revealed Sorwar Khan, an Uber driver who lost his job at a plastics manufacturing company that supplies components and sub-assemblies for automobiles.

“President Joe Biden, I don’t know, ” he said as he zipped past Detroit buildings named after Ford, from offices to cultural centres, museums and libraries. “We trust Trump. Trump says that people like you, if you guys give me one more chance, I will do my best for us people, you know,” added the Bangladesh-born US national.
A rally on union lawns

But not all hard-pressed employees and former employees are sold on Trump’s promise to help workers by bringing jobs to America via tariffs on Chinese products.

At a “get out the vote” rally on the lawns of “Solidarity House”, the headquarters of the United Auto Workers (UAW), one of the largest US trade unions, Dynita McCaskill scoffed at Trump’s pro-workers spiel.

“Trump's history has shown him not to be a friend of workers – not workers that look like me,” added the African American labourer with a smile, in a pointed reference to her race. “No, definitely not workers who are in my median income because we are just that to him: Workers. We're not colleagues. We're not people to be considered valuable.”

As the setting sun cast an orange glow on the Detroit River abutting the Solidarity House lawn, several UAW members strode in, wearing “Vote Harris” T-shirts proclaiming, “Trump is a scab,” using the pejorative slang for strikebreakers.


A UAW member at a rally on the union's Solidarity House lawn on November 1, 2024. © Leela Jacinto, FRANCE 24

McCaskill and her colleagues at the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Detroit have been on strike since September after prolonged union-management negotiations over work contracts failed to yield an agreement.

While most of the T-shirts at the rally displayed a UAW logo, McCaskill proudly sported a Teamsters message, referring to another major national union in the US.
Teamster member Dynita McCaskill at a "get out the vote" rally at UAW headquarters in Detroit on November 1, 2024. © Tahar Hani, FRANCE 24

The Teamsters member was at the rally to “support the UAW”, she explained. “The amount of support that we received from the UAW locals in and around Detroit has been absolutely unbelievable,” she explained as a chill evening wind blew in from lakes Erie and Huron, which separate the US from Canada.
‘No one should be left behind’

America’s federal unions have long provided a loyal vote base for the Democratic Party. But while the UAW and the AFL-CIO – the largest federation of US trade unions – have endorsed Harris, the Teamsters declined to endorse any candidate.

Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien shocked the left in July when he addressed the Republican National Convention, where he praised Trump, calling him “one tough SOB”.

Labour experts examining the two candidates’ policy platforms say Harris is consistently pro-union, including her support for the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which Trump opposes.

But the Republican candidate’s rhetoric on “illegal migrants” stealing “American jobs” has found many takers among workers even as their union bosses, in most major US unions, support Harris.

The political differences between rank-and-file members, as well as the political splits between unions do not bother McCaskill. She’s focused on bread-and-butter issues and is committed to organising on a local level.

The Teamsters failure to endorse the Democratic presidential candidate has not dented McCaskill’s loyalty to her union. “We are not a monolith. In any organisation, everyone has a right to believe what they want to believe based on their households. I actually prefer for political decisions to be a personal thing,” she noted.

She also refused to be drawn into the EV debate. “Okay, I work for the refining industry, so I have no interest in electric vehicles. That's the antithesis of what I do,” she chuckled. “But things change, you know. At some point they were riding around in horses with carriages. Things are supposed to change, and I'm comfortable with change. What’s important is the way the change happens. No one should be left behind.”

When asked about how Trump or Harris in the presidency could change her life, McCaskill’s reply revealed the wisdom gained from years of commitment to a cause and her union.

“I understand how politics works, and I understand that whoever sits in that White House doesn't really decide how impactful things are for me. It's the House and the Congress, the Senate. Those folk are the ones who make those decisions,” she said, rattling off the names of Michigan Democratic candidates running in down-ballot races. “There are several of them who are fighting for us, even if they don't believe in the industry that we work in. They're fighting for us because I'm a person, I'm not the refining industry. I'm a person.”

As the Motor City heads to the polls in elections that have stressed people across the US, and in many parts of the world, McCaskill displayed the resilience of her city, perched on a waterway connecting Lakes Huron and Erie, whose fortunes have changed with the economic tides.

“I don't think Kamala Harris winning – and I would like for her to win – will change my life. And I don't think Donald Trump – who I don't want to win – will change my life,” she maintained. “I'm still going to go to work, still going to take care of my family. I'm still going to have responsibilities. I'm still going to be honest, and I'm still going to work on the union.”

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