By Philip Winterstein, Staff Reporter.
In response to the State of the Race Summit—taking place on Sept. 20—the Saginaw Men of Color Committee, led by Saginaw County District Judge M.T. Thompson, Jr, held a follow-up panel discussion on Oct. 23, at 6 p.m. in the Delta College Lecture Theater. The panelists included Joseph Hernandez, Gary Loster, Ed Oberski, Terry Pruitt, and Daniel R. Soza III, and Cal Talley moderated the discussion.
The topics of discussion were in regards to the statistics the Men of Color Committee acquired at the summit, pertaining to both African-American and Hispanic citizens. The panel was utilized as a way to ask experienced men of the community what they might do to make a change.
The first statistic shown was a list of three things that ‘most need improvement in this community’. The pie chart determined that Jobs/Economic Growth (30%) needed the most improvement, Education (27%) the second-most, and Police Community Relations (15%) the third-most.
The panelists discussed the multiple factors that make entry-level job positions difficult to come by today, especially for men of color, sometimes even in the middle class. One of the greater factors, they agreed, was a man’s felony history and how that negatively affects someone’s ability to find an accepting workplace. “We can’t kid ourselves by saying that discrimination doesn’t exist in the workplace,” Pruitt said. “Opportunities for entry-level positions are decreasing.”
Another factor for men of color struggling with employment, Daniel Soza III stated, is dependent on not only the educational background of the man, but also how the schools are preparing students for working in businesses and how businesses reflect what students should be taught in school. “We need business to directly influence the curriculum that is taught in schools,” Soza said. “We need to rethink the educational system and those connections that are made [between business and school].”
Consecutively, the men continued to discuss the need to improve education in the community. One of the most vital factors that the men made note of both on the panel and in their summit program was the strong need of parental guidance and/or mentoring. “There is a strong need for mentors for young men in the Saginaw community,” Judge Thompson stated. “They need to be taught how to act, how to learn, to grow, and how to be men.”
Lastly, the panelists discussed the strong need to improve relations with the police in the Saginaw community. As explained in the program, Moderator Cal Talley made note of a very significant statistic. “If you take a look at the charts [‘Respect from the Police Department’ and ‘Respect for the Police in the Community],” Talley said, “you can see that there’s not much difference.” This was true as the ratings from excellency to poorness between the two charts never differed more than three percent.
Gary Loster served as a police chief for the city of Saginaw beforehand. He explained how he believed that the numbers might be higher in reality and why that might be the case. “Some of the main factors of why [the statistics] are the same is because of issues with illegal traffic stops, racial profiling, immigration profiling, use of excessive force, and poor police and community relations,” Loster said. “When looking at some of these issues and seeing how they are treated–there’s no respect, there’s no trust, and there is a great lack of sensitivity with the police interactions and the people in the community.”
The Saginaw Men of Color Committee continues to work hard to bring the community closer together and provide the encouragement and resources that men of color in Saginaw as well as the areas surrounding need.
For more information about the Saginaw Men of Color Committee and their cause, contact M.T. Thompson at malikthompson@sbcglobal.net.