The fracas last week about the existence of strip clubs in Detroit brought a lot to the fore about how leadership in politics and religion comes to bear on either the most important issues that shape the ordinary lives of citizens, or the trivial matters that have less or no consequence on senior citizens scared to come out of their houses even during the day because of drug infested neighborhoods.
It was very telling to watch and hear those individuals who were oozing with sweat in their unlimited desire to dictate the operation of sexually oriented businesses in Detroit that pay taxes.
Arriving on their own self-defined chariots, they came before the Detroit City Council ranting and raving, wagging their fingers, putting the city to a morality test and almost declaring Detroit a Sodom and Gomorrah town because of strip clubs.
In the face of burgeoning unemployment, crime, escalating home foreclosures, the only declaration left out in the mounting opposition against a business whose employees include struggling single Black mothers with children to take care of, was to officially proclaim Detroit a theocracy.
Despite the pressure unleashed on the City Council from those who say that their moral calling against strip club activities is dictated by a higher power, the opposition met another person whose calling is equally authorized by a higher power.
Unnerved, unrelenting and unmoved by the scare tactics, the Rev. Andre Spivey, the only ordained minister on the Detroit City Council, took the uncompromising position that the city cannot ban alcohol in strip clubs.
Not only did he think it was illegal to do so but the pastor of St. Paul AME Church had to walk a fine line between the demands of political and religious expediency and the economic and legal realities of that action.
“I understand that I’m the pastor of my congregation. I’m not here to pastor the city of Detroit. I’m not just a City Council person to Christians in this city. I’m a City Council person for Christians, Muslims, Jews, those who have no faith at all and those of any other ethnicity or faith that may be represented in Detroit,” Spivey told me Monday afternoon in his office.
When I asked if the alcohol decision forced him to think about his faith as a man of the cloth and if, in fact, he thought going against an alcohol ban in a strip club was a one-way ticket to hell, Spivey laughed.
“I didn’t go that far but I did feel I took the brunt of the criticism which I understand is going to come. I think all nine of us are going to have our day where we are going to be thrown to the lion’s den and have fingers pointed at us,” Spivey said. “Yes, as the only clergy person I got a lot because it was said that “why is the pastor doing this?’”
Why the pastor did what he did, Spivey says, is because he understands that alcohol is not illegal and not banning it probably spared Detroit a barrage of lawsuits from strip club owners.
“I’ve said that alcohol is not illegal. Drugs are illegal,” he said referring to drug houses that have been the hallmark of some neighborhoods where some of the city’s churches are located.
Spivey agrees with those who make the argument that those in the religious community who are so full of angst about strip clubs should use the same energy to tackle drug houses in the community, including using “our congregation, block clubs and community groups.”
“I saw some very passionate people last week (during the strip club hearing). And I appreciate them coming down but I hope that same passion doesn’t wane when other issues come up,” Spivey said. “We know (drugs) are illegal and we see the damaging effects of what happens to a person who takes drugs and we’ve seen what it does to our city. It damages neighborhoods, takes lives away and it stops people from wanting to move into the city.”
Drug-ridden houses in the community present a challenge to law enforcement.
“And it’s more work for our police to do. I would rather our police department look at all businesses…but use their limited resources on areas that really affect the public safety of our city,” Spivey said.
A graduate of the storied Morehouse College, the alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Spivey, who received his ministerial training from Colgate Rochester Divinity School in New York, said he is poised to make a difference in Detroit the next four years.
“On the campaign trail I made it known that I would support all the (strip club) ordinances except for the alcohol portion. It was written and verbalized,” he said.
It turns out the alcohol ban was the teeth of the ordinance that some sections of the religious community, headed by Pastor Marvin Winans was pushing for.
“If we take the alcohol out the age for young women who could come and perform, work or even patronize the place will drop down from 21 to 18,” he explained. “With that alcohol police could come in and regulate anytime they wanted.”
But who in the religious community are against the strip clubs? Aside from Rev. Winans, no other prominent minister has gone on the record as opposing these businesses.
Spivey, who voted only for the ordinance to ban VIP rooms and lap dances, but refused to give in to what would have been the death knell for strip clubs (the ban of alcohol), said in conversations with some in the religious community, not everyone feels the same way as Winans.
Some clergy members, he said, had this to say:
“I appreciate what Pastor Winans is doing. That’s his fight, but I’m not really interested in being a part of that fight. We have some issues that we need to deal with other than strip club establishments.”
Are strip clubs a stumbling block to Detroit moving forward?
“No. I don’t think so,” Spivey said. “But I think it was good that we dealt with it now because we have more pressing issues to deal with. Perhaps the biggest one is our deficit. Crime, education, blight in our neighborhoods are issues that affect the entire city, not just a certain segment that may disagree having those sexually oriented businesses in the city.”
Does this send the wrong message to the business community, including small and large businesses?
“I would hope not,” Spivey said.
Wheels of Government Turn Slowly
Notwithstanding the strip club fight, Spivey said he’s gotten down to business and has discovered since being on council that red tape and bureaucracy is in the way of delivering services to residents in the city.
“I’ve learned the wheels of government turn very slow. We have little initials on our agendas. We put the initial BB (Bring Back),” Spivey said. “There are lots of layers of government that I didn’t know when I was on the campaign trail. I’m enjoying my time here. I think people put us here to try to move things along where we can fit in.”
As a member of the Budget and Finance Committee, Spivey said he now gets to see the lax accounting process and other unacceptable practices that have for years strangled the overall delivery of service
s.
“I’m shocked by some of the practices that are still taking place that should have been changed a long time ago. We’ve had some audits from different departments,” Spivey said. “How we process income tax returns, practices in the finance department, the People Mover audit report, police department, 36th District Court. I’m just shocked at how we’ve let certain things perpetuate themselves and done nothing about it.”
The city of Detroit, he said, is a $1.6 billion business and “we have to act like it. A lot of things that are happening have to stop. We may not be a popular council in the next four years because we may do things that may not be popular in public opinion, but I feel better at the end of the day if I’ve done something that moves this city forward.”
Time Management Key on Council
With the growing demands of what the electorate needs, Spivey said time management is very crucial for him to deliver on his electoral promises.
“As we are getting adjusted, the Dave Bing administration is getting adjusted as well. The amount of time it takes for a business to get a permit, that has to stop, the amount of time it takes to get a house torn down, police response time, that has to stop.”
He is confident the council has a handle on things because “the tone is different” and staff members are getting more prepared before legislative sessions to brief members on the issues to be tabled.
Spivey is currently heading the Detroit Census Task Force that is helping to mount the campaign to reach residents in the April 2010 Census. He calls such an assignment a big-ticket item that should have all hands on deck.
“I would have thought that late 2009 we would have been moving forward, letting people know, especially if we are in an area that’s very important and that people may not get out and hear the message,” Spivey said. “We are trying to send the message out that our congressional seats are at stake, billions of dollars for infrastructure, Head Start, senior programs are at stake here.”
He said he and council member James Tate, co-chair of the Detroit Census Task Force are urging community groups as well as taping public service announcements for the census.
The 2010 Gubernatorial Election
Detroit, as always, will be a hotbed for any of the candidates seeking to be governor this year. Though the city votes 90 percent Democrat, it is still in play for Republican candidates who want African- American voters not to see them through the diatribes of the Rush Limbaughs and Glen Becks of the world.
“I would hope that we as a nine-member council would set of agenda for whatever candidate we decide individually or collectively to support,” Spivey said. “If history repeats itself, we probably would not all support the same gubernatorial candidates. But I think we ought to have the same agenda we present to each candidate. Whoever is elected governor or secretary of state is very important to Detroit and to the Detroit Public Schools.”
In balancing faith and politics, Spivey, said his young family is key. He wants to attract other young families to enjoy what the city offers despite tough times, just as he and his wife, Shema, and their two young children Andre II and Kendall, are.
Watch senior editor Bankole Thompson’s show, “Center Stage,” on WADL TV 38, Saturdays at 1 p.m. This Saturday’s program, March 6, is the first debate between the two Democratic contenders for Michigan Secretary of State, Janice Winfrey, Detroit City Clerk, and Jocelyn Benson, Wayne State University law professor. E-mail bthompson@michronicle.com.