In June, when a white supremacist murdered nine African Americans attending church in Charleston, South Carolina, the state's practice of flying the Confederate flag over its Statehouse became the subject of national scrutiny. After nearly a month of public debate, the South Carolina legislature voted to remove the flag.
Before that happened, veteran journalist Bill McGraw wrote
a piece for Deadline Detroit reminding us that we have our own version of a Confederate flag here in metro Detroit, a statue of Dearborn's longtime mayor Orville Hubbard, a segregationist who actively promoted policies to keep minorities out of his city, which stood on the grounds of Dearborn's old City Hall since 1989.
"Orville Hubbard was our George Wallace, our Orval Faubus, our Strom Thurmond," wrote McGraw. "While his memory is fading 33 years after his death, Hubbard’s words and actions contributed much toward creating the difficult racial climate that has existed in metro Detroit for many years. In 1969, The New York Times wrote that 'Hubbard’s Dearborn is a symbol of the deep-seated racism of the North.'"
McGraw argued that it was time to remove the statue of Hubbard from what until recently was city property and into Dearborn's Historical Museum. And that is exactly what happened earlier this week.
According to the Detroit News, "[Hubbard's] will be the only statue on display at the museum at 915 Brady St. The museum, which brings in some 4,000 to 5,000 visitors annually, is on a mission to increase its public visibility. The Hubbard statue, which will face the street and ‘wave’ to passersby, is thought to help with that effort."
Read more:
Detroit News
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.