Keith Boykin, The Daily Voice
- The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both featured a prominent photo on their front pages today. It was an image of Rev. Charles Ellis’s Greater Grace Temple Church in Detroit, Michigan and it may quickly come to symbolize a new face of the auto crisis.
While much of the attention in recent weeks has focused on the wealthy and ill-prepared “Big Three” CEOs — Rick Wagoner of GM, Robert Nardelli of Chrysler and Alan Mulally of Ford — less attention has been paid to the impact of an auto industry collapse on Black America.
Last Friday’s unemployment numbers showed black unemployment at 11.2 percent, nearly double the white unemployment rate of 6.1 percent. And many blacks in majority-black Detroit are concerned about the impact on the economy if the city’s automakers file bankruptcy.
Bishop Ellis was quick to respond. His church parked three sport utility vehicles on the altar on Sunday as the members prayed that the community would make it through the crisis.
