Detroit Seen

Well this issue of the FE is a little late in coming out because three-quarters of the staff is off taking a much awaited summer break. This is the last FE you’ll see until September (this issue is a double issue—July/Aug.), when we hope to be back in the swing of things...

As usual, we’re operating the paper by the skin of our teeth and would like to thank all of those people who resubscribed and sent in those much needed donations—it saved us this month. If you received a “renewal” notice in the mail and haven’t re-subscribed yet, we hope that you do so soon since it’s your subscriptions that help us cover costs each month...

Two women living in the Cass Corridor area were raped and brutally beaten in their apartment last month. The crime was met by a natural outrage from the community residents and wishes and support for their rapid recuperation were expressed by all—with perhaps one important exception. It seems that the building in which they lived, upon inspection, proved less than totally “safe.” And after spending a combined two weeks in Detroit General Hospital (with one of the women on the critical list for a week) they spoke to their landlord requesting that he make the necessary repairs to secure the building, like a bolt lock for their door, latches for the windows so they could be closed, and the removal of the tree the rapist climbed to enter the apartment. They assured the landlord that he could keep their security deposit to cover the month’s rent while they reordered their lives and prepared to return to their jobs. Well, Monroe, owner of this building and others in the area, responded by serving them both with eviction notices before the month was even up. One has to suppose that any sympathy Landlord Monroe felt for the women dissipated rapidly with thought of a possible repair bill...